SmartFlyer, the high-touch luxury Virtuoso agency that I founded in 1990, features a team of travel advisors based in major U.S. cities like New York and Los Angeles, as well as a growing number of home-based agents in destinations like Austin, Boca Raton, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. The secret of our success is that we have been able to integrate our staff and home-based agents in an environment where they are in essence in the office together.

It’s critical to us at SmartFlyer to enable every individual in our organization to have all of the tools needed to be successful, and to have them at their fingertips.

Collaboration is key. At SmartFlyer, we use technology to enable our homebased agents to replicate – at least to some extent – the feel of a traditional brick-and-mortar office. As a case in point, Alejandro Bataller, the CEO Spain-based Sha Wellness Clinic, was in town to say hello and tell our team about his amazing wellness sanctuary.

We put him up on the big screen and drove it to our home-based agents’ computer screens and gave them the opportunity to interact and ask questions – just as though they were right there in the New York City SmartFlyer office.

My advice to all prospective homebased agents is to look for the right agency match – and proceed only if they are definitely going to swipe right, just as they would with a dating app. In the end, there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to finding the right agency to work with. Different people, after all, have different needs.

Home-based Character Traits

SmartFlyer’s home-based agents feature character traits that make them great at what they do. Most importantly, they are self-starters, which is the key. If you can’t get out of your PJs before 9 a.m., it just won’t work.

Another trait that our homebased agents share is the desire to socialize on a regular basis. A lion’s share of our home-based agents attend industry events with colleagues and suppliers in order to build and maintain relationships.

Their social skills extend way beyond that, however. For instance, one of our home-based agents is famous for meeting new clients at airports and on planes.