Educating Travelers

Name: Tina Bradley

Agency and Location: Wish You Were Here Vacations, LLC, a Stockton, Calif.-based independent agency in the Avoya Travel network

Host: Avoya Travel

My Former Career: After teaching kindergarten, I followed my heart and went to work for a fabulous before-and-after-school program for 10 years.

I went from being a teacher to running the program for 200-plus students a day. I loved this job because it allowed me to have fun, meet amazing people and cultivate my creative side.

Why I Chose a Travel Career: My husband and I started our travel agency in 2012 when we couldn’t find what we wanted in an agent. We felt there was a hole in the market for an agency that was about the traveler and not just about pushing for a sale. The local agents we talked with seemed to be after just a quick sale.

We were experienced travelers, but we wanted a guide to help us find the best value and get the most out of our vacations. We thought that we weren’t alone, so we decided we could fill that need.

Why I Chose My Host Agency: I came to Avoya Travel from another great host. They were good, but I needed customer leads when I wanted our agency to change from a part-time business to be my sole source of income. Needing a higher and more consistent income, I chose Avoya for its Live Leads program.

My Biggest Challenge Starting Out: Finding clients. Getting your name out there is hard.

How I Solved It: With Avoya Live Leads, new customer leads are sent exclusively to our agency for the products we like to sell. I was no longer spending energy trying to promote and market, and quickly started to build a higher income.

How My Former Career Has Helped Me Run My Travel Business: Between teaching and working in an administrative position within the school system, I’ve worked with a wide variety of personalities. This prepared me well for working with the people and personalities within the travel business, both on the supplier and on the client-side.

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