Homeworking Guide: Getting started as a travel homeworker

Becoming your own boss is a big step. So it’s understandable for anyone embarking on a career as a self-employed travel homeworker to feel anxious.

“Becoming a homeworker for the first time is a very exciting and ambitious move,” says Abbie Heaton, sales manager of Blue Bay Travel’s new homeworking division, Personal Travel Consultants. However, Heaton admits: “Starting out can be the hardest part.”

Not Just Travel co-founder Steve Witt agrees. “It’s natural to feel daunted, but when you join you realise you’re not alone. It’s like a big family,” he says.

Step one: Planning

One of the first and most important steps when starting out is to write a business plan – this is the foundation on which to build the business.

It should feature short and long-term targets including a realistic end goal, financial planning, strategy, marketing and customer service.

Witt says: “It’s important to have it right from the start to help you stay on track.”

Without a plan, homeworkers are in danger of ending up with “a lack of direction” and under-achieving, says InteleTravel UK director Tricia Handley-Hughes. She stresses: “Be realistic with your ambition.”

Heaton suggests homeworkers create a plan for years one to three, including how to gain turnover in quiet times and how to prepare for peaks. She says that many firms ask homeworkers to write a plan as part of their application to decide if they are “right for each other”.

Holidaysplease brand and business growth executive Cat Reeves says the plan is discussed at the interview stage and revisited over the next two years to ensure agents are “on the right path”.

Importantly, it needs to be written “honestly and realistically”, she adds.

Travel Specialists by Advantage asks applicants to work out minimum monthly earning expectations and a monthly marketing plan to acquire new customers, while Hays Travel Homeworking has introduced pre‑interview ‘insight’ sessions where a business plan can be discussed or worked on collaboratively.

Hays Travel Homeworking marketing and homeworking director John Milburn says: “We find these sessions to be powerful, giving applicants realistic expectations.”

Step two: Setting up an office

During the pandemic, kitchen tables have become the new desks, but the key to any home office is comfort.

“As long as homeworkers can be comfortable and concentrate, then anything goes,” says Kelly Cookes, leisure director for The Advantage Travel Partnership.

There needs to be space for a laptop and phone, but Reeves also suggests homeworkers find somewhere they feel “inspired”.

And while a kitchen table can work initially, most firms agree a space away from distractions is sensible in the longer term.

Heaton says: “Find an area, ideally a room, where you can create a professional office area.”

Witt advises homeworkers to create an office they “want to be in”, using inspirational travel pictures, maps or family photos.

Step three; Generate leads

What stage homeworkers reach after six months will depend on the time and effort put into the job. “You’ll get out of it what you put in,” says Milburn.

Handley-Hughes believes training is key for travel newcomers. “Allocate your training hours as a discipline,” she says.

Teaming up with local businesses such as wedding venues for joint promotions and building a social media ‘shop window’ is key early on.

Cookes says: “Start with one social media platform and get that right, rather than launching on all of them at once.”

Marketing can be cheap, even free, by networking with businesses, sports teams or special-interest groups, but acquiring customers is likely to take up much of a homeworker’s time in the first few months.

Agents should aim to have a contacts database and be making daily sales, says Witt. “Everyone you speak to is a potential customer,” he adds.

Heaton says product knowledge, being comfortable selling and offering the “right fit” for clients is crucial to success. She encourages agents to work hard on creating relationships, asking friends to spread the word and focusing on small gestures such as birthday cards and ‘welcome home’ notes.

“Sweat the small stuff,” she says. “Customers will remember that for next time.”

Step four: Analyse and adapt

After six months to a year, most homeworkers should have settled into a routine while starting to earn commissions and gaining loyal clients.

For those on instant commissions, earnings will start to come in soon after bookings are made. Reeves says: “By six months, agents start to see some customers travelling too, so the income can begin to grow more quickly.”

Now is a good time for homeworkers to start making the business their own.

Heaton suggests identifying booking patterns or marketing opportunities. “It’ll still be tough, but the resilience will pay off,” she says.

A strategy to generate last-minute and future bookings is wise to maintain income levels as this can be a tricky stage for homeworkers who have prioritised holidays with long lead-in times.

“Homeworkers will have put a lot of time into their businesses but may not yet be seeing huge amounts of income,” warns Cookes.

Handley-Hughes’ advice is to build customer relationships. “Understand your customers so that you can adapt marketing and products to suit them,” she adds.

Step five: Long-term goals

Repeat bookers and customer referrals are a sure bet to generate income in the long term.

Looking after clients through having regular communication and advice that they cannot get elsewhere is vital. “They will have no reason not to return,” says Witt.

Existing customers are also agents’ biggest advocates. As well as asking customers to give recommendations, Cookes suggests encouraging clients to post positive reviews.

Homeworkers should look to further local relationships through networking or social media and consider investing in professional marketing material or merchandise to promote their business.

“Spread your business further,” says Heaton. “Offer incentives to local firms to book with you and support them in return.”

Debbie Mynard, Travel expert, Holidaysplease

Q. Why did you become a homeworker during the pandemic?
A. I started in November 2020. My employer, Voyager Travel Direct, had gone into liquidation and my father died in April after contracting Covid. I had redundancy money as well as inheritance, but missed the buzz of travel.

Q. How difficult has it been?
A. It was a challenge! I’ve had to put everything into it. I didn’t have many customers so I set up appointments for my first day from the enquiry pool [sales leads] at Holidaysplease. They are ‘lookers’ and I had to turn them into ‘bookers’.

Q. What was your first sale?
A. One of my first bookings was the biggest I’ve ever done, a £17,000 ski booking. In the end, it couldn’t go ahead due to Covid, but the client has since booked with me. It’s not been easy but now there’s more hope.

Q. How quickly did you start earning?
A. We get half the commission upfront in the month after booking. I took a booking in December 2020 for 12 people going to Mauritius, and was paid half in January and will get the other half this November.

Q. What does it take to be a homeworker?
A. You have to be disciplined and have a strong sales drive.

Cheryl Mallon, Homeworker, The Holiday Village

Q. Had you thought of becoming a homeworker before now?
A. I’d flirted with the idea over the years but timing, financial circumstances and working in a specialist area of tour operations for years meant it never struck me as the right thing to pursue until recently.

Q. What hours do you work?
A. I work around my customers so I don’t set an open and close time. I manage what comes in and react to it.

Q. What is the key difference between your previous job and now?
A. In previous roles I worked with suppliers and ground handlers directly, so it’s taken a bit of getting used to being a customer of the tour operator.

Q. Was it harder than you thought to get started as a homeworker?
A. Understanding the different media and what works was a puzzle initially, as was adapting to being on the other side of the fence after many years on the tour operator side. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy during the pandemic, but I thrive on challenging myself.

Q. What’s the best thing about homeworking?
A. The flexibility, knowing that my passion is my success, and having an amazing, supportive team behind me.

Q. Will you stay in it for the long term?
A. Absolutely. After 30-plus years in various travel roles, I know I’ve made the right decision.

Travel homeworking: Ask the experts

Paul Harrison co-founder, Not Just Travel
“Pick a company to work with that has a proven track record. No matter how experienced you are, ensure that whoever you choose to work with has the team, tools and support to help accelerate your business to the next level.”

Tricia Handley-Hughes, UK director, InteleTravel
“Create a business plan and keep it to hand. Good admin will help you keep on top of payment deadlines; use files for your customer bookings and documentation.”

Mark Smith head of business development, Simplexity Travel
“With working from home the ‘new normal’ there has never been a better time to consider a remote position. To succeed, you need discipline, self-motivation and drive. We’ll help with the rest.”

Sarah Hillard premier homeworker, Hays Travel
“Have a dedicated workspace, plan but be flexible and work with your company for results. Most importantly, enjoy it. You have the freedom to be your own boss and build a business. Don’t be impatient, your hard work will pay off!”