Subscribe & Review on Apple!

Get first access to our latest episodes! If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to the Travel Agent Achievers podcast. Each week we release a new episode that will help increase your knowledge and expertise as a travel agent. Click here to subscribe to Apple.

Once you’ve subscribed, leave us a written review on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform.  Simply click here to give us a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review.” 

If you have any colleagues that this information may be useful for, share an image of this podcast on socials and make sure to tag us! 

@travelagentachievers 

 READ THE TRANSCRIPT IF YOU PREFER - BELOW 

Building a Team and Thriving Travel Business with Systems with Holly Velardo

Ros: Okay. Hey everybody, it's Ros here from Travel Agent Achievers. I am bringing to you right now a super quick, very focused podcast episode with the one and only Holly from HollyDay Travel. She doesn't even know that this is going to be recorded until right now. Hi Holly, welcome back.

Holly: Hi Ros. Thank you for the notice of asking me to just jump on and not telling me what this is about.

Ros: I said to Holly, hey, can you just jump on a zoom call with me? I want to have a quick chat, and she has no idea what this is all about. And I think this is one of the best things about running a travel business, right? So Holly, I've known you for several years now, and your journey has taken you through different things. We were just talking about systems. We were talking about team. We were talking about your journey with going out on your own and starting your own travel business. You're now doing something different by giving back to the world as well, and you are starting a podcast. Tell me, what is this podcast? And welcome back.

Holly: Thank you, Ros, thank you so much for having me. Well, the podcast is called travel business unlocked, and it is all about giving back to everybody who's helped me. So you were my first guest. Of course, there's no one else I would rather have you have been unbelievable in helping me build my travel business. So it is going to be all about my journey, what I've been able to achieve, but how I've done it, and who has helped me. So it's all about the communities and the people in my world who really made a huge impact in my business. So you, of course, were that first one.

Ros: I love that. How long have you been in travel? 25 years. This year, five years. How long have you had your own travel business for? You've been an employee for a number of years, and you started out on your own. So how long have you had HollyDay Travel for?

Holly: It'll be eight years coming up almost eight years.

Ros: Eight years, okay, what since we've started working together, what has been one of the biggest shifts that you have seen in your business, other than hanging out with me, of course?

Holly: Well, you, of course, you were my, the biggest shift in my travel business, but absolutely the systems and processes and having so much structure in my business, without that, I wouldn't be able to cope. I wouldn't be able to have the team. I wouldn't be able to have a team leader there training new people. But I also wouldn't be able to go on holidays or even just have a day off if I didn't have these in place. 

Ros: Yeah, so when we first met, I mean, I I was teary over how much you were working. You have four kids, five kids?

Holly: Five

Ros: Five kids, with the youngest, the twins, right, who are now at school. But at that time, when you and I met, I remember you saying to me, "Ros, I'm working until 2am" you know, and I'm getting back up at six or at five because I've gotta get school lunches ready, husbands are gonna go to work. Like, what was the pain right there? Like, why did you initially reach out to me?

Holly: Oh, I was so stuck. I I always knew growing up that I wanted to be different. I grew up with parents who worked. They worked jobs, but they didn't own businesses. They they were happy just living their lives. You know, they had what they needed. They didn't want anything extra. But I always wanted so much more. I always wanted an extraordinary life. I always wanted choices. And so for me, I thought back then, if I just work and work and work and work, then I'll be able to achieve it. I didn't really understand that. I needed systems. I needed processes. I needed help. I needed planning, I needed goal setting, all these things I just wasn't aware of. We had run a family pizza bar for 12 years, but it was very different to running a, you know, a service business where we're providing, you know, travel agency and and everything else. So for me, it was covered that I really was like, Oh my gosh, I started this business. It was amazing for two years, and then everything's gone. I'm refunding.

Ros: Right.

Holly: So I searched, I just Googled travel agents in business and everything, and your podcast came up and your and that's how we connected. And for me, if I didn't find that I know today that I probably wouldn't be here, and I probably would have given up.

Ros: So when you first joined our achievers mastermind and the programs that I was running, and listening to the podcast, you said that systems was the big thing that you needed help with, or you didn't even know that you needed, like, it's so unsexy, right? You think there's a process like that is so boring. Like, why are we even looking at that? But what is one thing there that you just went, Yeah, this is what I need to do.

Holly: Look for me, even just saying systems. I was so overwhelmed. I was like, Oh my God. What do I even do? When do I. Up and then, and then, like you said to us, one of the Achievers, mastermind sessions, you said to us, just write down a list of everything that you do in your business. And even that for me, I was like, wow, this is huge. Like, this is I need so many systems. I'm so overwhelmed. And then the next session, I think it was you really broke us down and said, Okay, let's see what you need most. And I think without having you there, well, not I think I know, without having you there to help us break that down and go, Okay, that's everything you did, and you might feel overwhelmed. But now look at what it is that you need the most. What is the number one system? What is going to change it for you. And you know, that changed over time. Obviously, to start with, for me, it was only me. I didn't have a team, so I needed something that I could work really quickly on. So it was a good CRM system, or, you know, it was email management, whatever it was, that's what it was, basically for me back then. Then it changed as the team grew. It then became we needed systems in place. We needed to be able to onboard people. We needed training programs, but we needed a project management tool as well, and something that streamlined everything within our business so new people could come on. And there was a process that we could follow.

Ros: Absolutely. There was always that next thing, that next thing. And it kept getting bigger and bigger with your business. And as I say, coming back to you're working all hours, the overwhelm, there were so many things that you were doing you, you felt like, Okay, what's the one thing that I can break down, or what's the one thing that I can then create that process for that I know can be repeated time and time again. As you started doing that, I then saw you also start building your team. Who was your first hire?

Holly: Usha, she's now my team leader.

Ros: She's now your team leader. And what did you hire her for?

Holly: I just hired her for admin tasks. So initially and just general, yeah, she was just hired to do the invoicing. Put in the information in the invoice. It's very basic. Obviously, I checked everything before it went out to clients. Then she was loading Travefy, she was drafting email. She was really learning to speak like me and sound like me. And she was setting up email templates and all of that type of thing. It was definitely just admin, and now she is my team leader. She does all of our training. She onboards everybody. She's got the most incredible training program that she's put together. She is she's so tough, and she's so amazing, and she's on at me as well to follow everything properly, because she's put all these incredible systems in place and more processes.

Ros: Yeah.

Holly: By looking at what it is we need, because she's the one who works with the nitty gritty, with the team day to day, so she knows what it is, but without setting that up initially and getting her to start with those simple tasks, we would never have got to this

Ros: True. So then once you said, Cool, she she's creating time or giving back time to you by doing some of these tasks. You then hired again.

Holly: Yes.

Ros: So what was the next hire? The next hire, the next hire? How many team have you got now?

Holly: I've got five now. So yeah, I've got five. I had six, but unfortunately, one of them is going through some personal stuff at home, and he's having a long break, so we never know if she's coming back or not but that's what it's like. So I've got five at the moment, and so the next one was airfares. So for me, it's not my favorite thing. It's not what I love doing. Yes, I've done it forever. Yes, I can do it, but it's not what I love. It's not my passion. I don't want to sit there and search and find and give all these different options and you know, with NDC and all these new things coming out as well, I just thought that will save me so much time. So my second hire was an airfare specialist who came in did all the ticketing, took care of all the queues in Amadeus, took care of all of that, so my brain could just not have to think. And I stopped having all the flight mayors and all the way and waking up at 3am and stressing out. Did I forget to ticket because I knew I had someone there who was doing it fro me.

Ros: Yep. And then from that, you then got was it another admin or?

Holly: Yeah, no. So from there, from there, I really knew that I needed some help with the social media side of things. So I oh, gosh, it just took so much time, and there was so much to learn, and things were changing so quickly. So that was when I hired Tracy. She is amazing. She is still with me. She works so incredibly hard, but initially she was literally just doing some social posts for me. She's a content creator, and that was her background. And now she does all of our weekly EDMs. She is editing this podcast, my podcast that's coming out. She is doing absolutely she is doing absolutely everything for me. Helps write blogs. She does. I can't even tell you everything, everything that I don't.

Ros: Marketing person, marketing was third. Okay, so admin, essay specialist, yeah. Then it was marketing, yep.

Holly: Yep. It was really finding where I was spending the time and what I could give up, and also things I didn't love doing so that were really, really time consuming. I didn't mind doing the social media, but it was so time consuming, and I then wasn't giving value to my clients. I wasn't there for them, and I that's where the money comes in, is the clients and those bookings. So I needed to get rid of the tasks that wasn't creating the money as such. Obviously, marketing brings in people, but me physically sitting there doing a post and thinking about it was way too much work. 

Ros: So I think that's it, because you and your marketing team members, so in Tracy, you're able to collaborate, and she helps build awareness. That is the purpose of marketing is to build awareness and build business visibility, so that you can then bridge that gap between marketing and sales, and they're two different things. So build the awareness and then be able to get the bookings or the inquiries in and bridge that gap, which is then your area of expertise, because you're the face of the business, you're the one that's able to convert the inquiries, you're the one that's able to do all of these things, whereas having somebody to assist you with because you've created the systems and the processes and the step by steps and saying, this is how I want it done, you've built other people up to replicate and have that time given back to you. Essentially.

Holly: Yeah, absolutely. And, and then the next time was a bookkeeper, because another thing that I really, really don't enjoy doing, and it is tedious tasks. And again, it's not creating me any money. They're just tasks that need to be done. So that was my next time was bookkeeper after that, so that, again, like I, you know, the time I spent with her this last month, just talking and, you know, and if I had to physically do that work, it, I wouldn't have made any bookings this month. You know, yes, the team make bookings, but I just wouldn't have had the time so that, for me, I'm thankful every day that I'm not doing those tasks. 

Ros: With all of the the team, though, now that are you spending more time in meetings, or are you able to actually do the sales and come up with the group ideas and do the big picture marketing and planning?

Holly: Well, because we do a staff meeting every single day, we have an hour that we dedicate every single day. They keep all their questions for that time. They know they've got me where and I'm going to give them the time that they need. They're going to have the time to ask me everything, whatever's going on with bookings, whatever it is they might need. I found that works incredibly better than if they're just messaging me throughout the day, because that takes a lot of time. Or if we're picking up the phone or chatting, obviously, if there's something urgent, we can they can call me. I'm always there to be available if needed, but that one hour a day just gives us that really dedicated time for what we need. So, so no, I don't think so. I think knowing we've got that has been incredibly helpful. And they're very aware that I am. I mean, they have access to my calendar. They know when I'm with clients, they know when I'm doing interviews, they know whenever I'm doing anything, and they don't get in touch. So they're very self sufficient now as well, and they're very good at problem solving, so they can normally work it out for themselves.

Ros: But you've spent time with them to train them, to get them to

Holly: 100%. Yeah, 100% that took a lot of time and training. You know, also the next hires after the bookkeeper were travel consultants, more travel consultants. So these ones came with a whole lot more experience in terms of back end experience. And, you know, they worked for Expedia back end, or they were able to multi task. They had a lot more product knowledge and things like that. Then initially, a couple of the hires that I had initially, and then who obviously no longer with me. So this, you know, you've got to try things. You've got to see what works and what doesn't. So for me, this meant they were coming on, and they could just instantly step in. But also following Usha's, you know, procedures and systems.

Ros: And see the step by steps and everything that had already been pre created, yeah, then help them get. Yeah, absolutely them up for success. And this is one of the beautiful things that I love about you, Holly, is that you want to champion others as well and see them succeed, and you want to help grow other people. And this is, you know, part of who we are as humans as well. And I don't think that everybody is like this, but there are people like you who want to champion, want to see other people succeed. You are creating jobs. You are getting out there and helping people explore this incredible planet that we live on in a beautiful, big way. Your growth and the changes that I have certainly seen in you over the years is just, I'm so honored to be part of that journey and and walk with you and celebrate the successes along the way with you and your team and see the growth in them like it's so cool. I mean, really, we're very grateful for for what we all have in life, but it's the systems, right? It's the systems that really helped you change things up.

Holly: Yes, yes. Without the systems, I wouldn't be able to have a team. I wouldn't be able to have the time to even spend with my family and cook dinner every night, because I would still be just sitting here constantly, not knowing where everything was or not. You know, project management is a game changer. You know that alone, to have every booking there, it just clears your brain. It clears your mind. You know that there's a system in place and you can't achieve everything in the day, but you know there's a system there that you can go back and and make sure you haven't missed anything. 

Ros: Yeah, as you said before, the the flight mess, right?

Holly: Oh my gosh.

Ros: It's having that step by step to say, You know what, and even if you don't have a team, I still believe that knowing your customer journey, understanding what has to happen next in a process, is incredibly important, because we keep so much of it in our heads as travel business owners and those that don't have support team, or those that are growing at a rate that they're like, I feel overwhelmed. I don't know what else I need to do. How can I actually take that next step by saying, let's just look at the basics, even though we don't want to, because we're feeling as though we've got to just keep moving forward and working really fast and managing all these things. If we don't take that time to really assess the business, focus on the structure, the support that's there, understand all the things that you do, it will fall over. That's where burnout happens. That's where the overwhelm happens. That's where people get sick because they just are trying to do all the things it's I mean, I've seen it in relationships. You know, the working until 2am the forgetting things, missing deadlines, making mistakes. And I know the majority of travel business owners, we have such big hearts because we want to help so many people, but that's where we start beating ourselves up as well. Yeah, did you find that over the years as well? There have been times where you've just gone, you know what, I can't do this. I'm not good enough and and what have you done where it's been so hard but you've made changes to go, you know what? Yeah, I can do this.

Holly: Well, I think having your community has been unbelievable, because when we're having those meltdown moments, there's someone in the community. If it's not you, it normally is you, but there's always someone to be a sounding board. You know, we're not in we're not alone in this. You know, by being part of travel agent achievers, we really aren't alone in this industry. And I think that's so unique to anything else that's out there, because people genuinely do care within this group. They care about what is happening in each other's lives. And when we've all had those moments, we've all, I've come on calls, I've broken down, you know, I've reached out to you separately, when I'm having a really hard time or I'm stuck. But there's, there's always a way, like, set a goal, you know, and just believe in yourself like you've taught me. You just championed me like so much, and you celebrated every win, but everything that I achieved, I wouldn't have got there without having somebody behind me and backing me. And I think you need to surround yourself with the right communities and the right people within this industry and reach out. We're all here to help each other, and it's all about being there for each other.

Ros: Absolutely it takes, takes a village to donything, right?

Holly: Yes, um, yes.

Ros: Well, Holly, thank you for just being very spontaneous and jumping on this zoom call with me. I wanted to talk about these things because there are so many advisors right now that feel quite alone and that they don't know what the next step is, and hearing your story and how far you have come just reiterates that there are opportunities out there, that there are things that we need to do as business owners, as you said, you didn't come from an entrepreneurial background. Neither did I. My mum was a nurse. My dad was a teacher. But it's that love of what we do and wanting to do things differently that has spurred us to be in this industry, but also to now look at it and treat your business like a business. So Holly, thank you for jumping in and just having this super quick chat with me, because this is what we do, and this is one of the reasons why we are running our systems event in Sydney next week. It's going to be two days where people are able to come together and actually get. The work. Look at the business overall, and then say what is most important to me, how can I create the steps and put it into place? It is doing the work together, not alone, and also making sure that your business is able to run at the same time. So that is one event that I want everybody to take a look at travel agent achievers.com We'll link to it in the show notes. Come and join us.

But also, Holly, I am so looking forward to being able to travel with you again. We have incredible events a year you're coming up, I hope to our end of Year day, maybe end of year planning session. We've got to work on your travel dates, right? Because, and then also to meet the team next year in the Philippines as well for our third international retreat. I am very much looking forward to having you there. We are still working on your schedule with the amount of things that you're doing and the events, but everybody come together. This is what it's about. Together we all rise and and thank you again, Holly, for being here.

Holly: Thank you so much for having me, Ros. You're amazing. Thank you for being on this journey with me.