It’s all too easy to get frustrated when things don’t go as planned, both for ourselves and for our luxury travel clients. I was reminded of this as I sat in the Maui Airport on Jan. 6 awaiting my redeye flight, which had been delayed until 2 a.m.

As I took many deep breaths and forced myself to stay awake until boarding, I thought about how lucky I was to “only” be traveling back to Los Angeles and not having to worry about missing my connection to a snow-laden city, like most holiday travelers. Little things like an unexpected flight delay are a great reminder that while not all is within our control, we can always find the upside in a situation.

After a busy year filled with both challenges and exciting successes, I am starting to realize the importance of focusing on the “wins” as I grow my luxury travel business in a slow but steady fashion. Of course, I still need to swiftly address and deal with issues and obstacles as they arise, but I try to learn from them and understand how I can better handle them in the future.

Heading into 2014, one of my biggest “wins” has included adding several incredibly talented people to my luxury travel firm. One of them previously worked in sales and marketing at luxury hotels, another runs a top high-end concierge business based in London, and yet another is a super-energetic and enthusiastic young new advisor who is going to work closely with me to manage my high-level clientele.

The best thing about adding her to the team? She worked for a big travel agency in the past and knows the GDS, a skill that is not easy to find in combination with young talent. I decided a few months ago on a visit to London that my goal would be to find the right person to partner with and open an affiliated office in that city. Setting goals is a sure way to motivate myself to achieve them, as the opening of our London office became a reality.

Apart from these additions, I have also continued to look for ways to streamline operations and introduce guidelines that will allow each member of the company to have quicker, easier access to the answers to their questions so that they can successfully resolve challenges. I took the opportunity to personally chat with each of my independent contractors before 2013 came to a close about their goals and strategies.

Surrounding yourself with the right people for your brand is of utmost importance. I am the first to admit that when it came to this, I made a few missteps in 2013, but they were easily corrected when it became apparent that we needed to reorganize some key responsibilities.

Bringing on people who are excited about helping me grow the business and the brand that I created — and have invested so much time and passion in — is on my short list of biggest wins, and it is what I consider to be one of the most important keys to success.

At the end of the day, what I love doing is working closely with my top clients to plan their travels worldwide. This is something that I will continue to do because it is the backbone of my business. But I also have learned the importance of continuing to delegate some of the time-consuming logistics to my very capable team.

Now that our team numbers 20, our brand is about more than just me and my clients. A winning business can’t sustain itself on just one person’s efforts, and when it comes to successfully selling luxury travel, this is true across the board.

Without the involvement of the right partners and suppliers, we could never take care of all of our clients’ ongoing requests. Focusing on choosing the best partners, working closely with them and continuing to build relationships is ultimately what will allow us to grow both our brand and our revenue.

One of my yoga teachers once told me to make a list of everything I had accomplished in the previous week. Putting in writing the list of all that I had accomplished, instead of focusing on all that I still needed to do, was an incredible and enlightening way to achieve a bit of peace and further motivate me to power through the rest of that “to do” list.

If you want to be successful at selling luxury travel, you should always have a “to do” list, because your work is never complete. Any bad day can always be made better by focusing on the “wins” for your business!