Boomerang Escapes-I finally made it | Travel Research Online

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Boomerang Escapes-I finally made it

I have finally landed myself in New Jersey, but not before a few more hiccups in the road. I was delayed leaving Wisconsin due to issues with the closing on my home. After an additional 5 days with my sister, I decided to pack up and head east to Vermont where my parents reside. I made a few pit stops along the way to catch up with other travel colleagues. The beauty of our business is all the friends we make across the country and the world. I probably could have spent the whole summer just traveling and catching up with everyone. I truly feel blessed to be a part of this industry.

I set up shop at my parents while I continued to wait for the closing issues to resolve. As luck would have it, the day before I was due to be in Charlotte for my mastermind coaching meeting, the path was clear to close. I already had plans to depart for North Carolina from New Jersey thinking I would have been there, so it was only a minor change in schedule to drive into Newark the night before to sign my papers. Thanks to Bluetooth, driving didn’t even interrupt my pre-set client appointments for that Wednesday. I took my planning session calls on the road.

With papers signed, and now officially the owner of a condo in New Jersey, I flew to North Carolina. I went in a day early because during all of this, I had received an invite from American Airlines Vacations for a dinner event in Charlotte. I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity to learn and catch up with another amazing travel agency owner who operates out of the Charlotte area.

Friday morning was my half-day of coaching. I was really relieved when we dove deep into my numbers, both personal and business, that I wasn’t nearly as bad off as I felt. I’d taken a bit of a hit with the divorce, move, and purchase and was worried about my business. My business is like another child for me. With my worst fears over, we devised some immediate cash flow goals and some long term development goals. Part of the short term goals are developing a group strategy and sales incentives for my independent contractors. In the future, I will actually be morphing into a lifestyle brand with the travel, being one of the components as a base for building the new, larger company under my tag line “Return to Your Happy Place.” More details on this will evolve as the year goes forward, but for now I will be concentrating on the groups and profit strategy for Boomerang Escapes.

Another funny coincidence (or divine intervention) was while visiting the Gifted Travel Network’s offices (sister company to the GIFTE coaching), the representative from Mark Travel was in for a meeting. I was invited to stay for the meeting. It ended up being Travis, whom I just met in May at the Karisma breakfast in Memphis. How weird is that? The afternoon meeting ended with an invite for me to their Summit in September at the Moon Palace, Cancun. I don’t know about you, but I believe things happen for a reason. I’ll report on that before the end of our series, but now back to the present.

With a clear picture of the future in my head, I returned to Vermont, packed up my things, and headed back to New Jersey. I have been here just over 2 weeks now, and it has been very busy. I officially got myself registered as a resident and then got the business established as a New Jersey LLC. I’ve been working on installing a new phone system with RingCentral to give my clients a toll free number and an easier system for myself and my ICs to stay connected given we are in 3 different time zones now. I’ve also continued speaking to a couple new prospects to hit my goal of 10 independent contractors. So, while my condo space for my business and me is in complete chaos, it is definitely business as usual now. Going forward, it’s a matter of getting as organized as I can before hitting the road for three trips that are pretty much back to back: Australia, GTN conference, and the Mark Travel Summit.   See you in September!

Lisa Rossmeissl is the owner of Boomerang Escapes, a home-based agency located in Memphis, Tennessee New Jersey. She has been a professional travel consultant since 2008 and specializes in Australia and the South Pacific. Australia, Tahiti, Fiji, and Cook Islands are among the specialist certificates she holds.  Her agency’s focus is on creating itineraries with their client’s wants, desires, and budgets in mind.  She and her planners believe in getting to know the traveler to ensure they have a vacation to remember.  With each planner specializing in a different market area, Boomerang Escapes can offer a wide ride of leisure vacation planning.

 

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