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"Make or Break: Why the Next 90 Days Could Define Your Travel Business Success"

Ros: Well, hello, hello. Hello. There. Travel Agent, Achievers, my friends, it is make or break time. I think for a lot of us in the travel industry right now, and I wanted to share this episode with you, because it is a brand new financial year here in Australia. It's the beginning of July. I was asked the other day by an American friend of mine, you guys are crazy. Like, why are you doing financial years July to June? That just does not make sense. And I know that we are unique in that sense. But it is a brand new financial year here in Australia. It's the middle of winter, and whilst we are layering up and keeping warm, our northern hemisphere friends are soaking in the sunshine and absolutely slowing down. I love this for you guys, for anybody that is listening from North America or Europe or somewhere in the northern hemisphere, enjoy this beautiful time. I always look forward to it with our Australian summer. But for you, this is your opportunity to take a bit of a break, I believe. And for me, that just sounds crazy.

So wherever you are this time of the year, it certainly holds a bit of power for us as business owners. And why do I say that? I say that because, statistically, this is the moment when most people quietly lose their year.

Now that might sound a little bit crazy, but this is also a time where a number of travel advisors feel the pinch of cash flow, and I've been having conversations over the last couple of weeks around this and working with a number of advisors on looking ahead, where are their numbers laying at the moment? How are they feeling? And it's a really good reminder for each and every one of us as travel business owners to be also thinking, I am not going to compare the back end of my business with the front end of somebody else's. And so we might see great social media posts out there, people that are doing EDMS and great marketing, please do not compare what you are seeing on social media or what you are seeing out there to what might be happening behind the scenes in your business, because this is a really good opportunity if you are doing that, to go into a spiral. And I do not want that for you. What I want for you is to be able to look at your business and what you're doing right now and how you're going to be moving forward over the next three to six months, because this is your time right now to reset, reflect and actually look at your business and say, Hey, I'm ready to go for this. I was reading emails and book by a gentleman called Brian Moran, who runs in 12 week years. So he has a great book around this topic. I take bits and pieces out of it myself. In my own travel business, we work on a 12 monthly plan, but we break it down into 90 day blocks, so three monthly blocks, and work towards what's next, and especially with our Travel Agent Achievers mastermind group in June, we just settle all of this up for the next 90 days ahead. So for July, August and September, what are our priorities and what are we going to do? But what Brian recently said was whether the first half of 2025 was a win, a wash or a total whirlwind. It's what you do next that matters most. And this is why I say it is the make or break quarter, because you have a decision now, right now, at this point in time, the six monthly mark of the year, to say, am I going to continue to achieve the goals and strive for them, or am I going to just accept that, hey, I'm not going to get there and it's fine and whatever, I'll just pick it up next year. It's the make or break.

So I want this to be the make for you over the next six months to really achieve those dreams that you set for yourself, either towards the end of last year or at the beginning of this year, and we're going to work on it together. So I'm going to give you some tips and some tools, some resources to look at, but to come back and really say I am ready to do this, and these are the things that I'm going to do to move forward. So looking at quarter three now, and I say quarter three because I'm talking about July, August and September, it doesn't announce itself and say, tada, I am here. Are you going to make these changes? It doesn't announce itself with any of that sort of drama. It's very quiet. It is subtle, but can also really challenge you. This is when I see from a travel, business owner perspective, and even myself, you know, June, there were times that I questioned what I was doing, and I'm like, why are these numbers not adding up to the goals that I'd set for myself? What are we not doing and really re checking, but this is when I see for a lot of advisors that I work with as well. This is when the energy drops. This time now is when the motivation fades. When clients are traveling, when the bookings might stall, and whether you are having an absolutely cracking quarter and you're doing really, really well with your bookings, or whether things have slowed a little bit, it becomes very easy right now to slip into the I'll deal with it later mode. Before you know it, it'll then be October. Your goals will feel out of reach, and you'll accept that 2025, just wasn't your year.

So life is getting loud right now. It might be end of school year, or the kids might be preparing to go into their next season of their activities. Or you're in school holidays at the moment. Wherever you are right now, you might be taking a break. You may have scheduled to go on your own holiday, you might be traveling with your clients. There's all sorts of things that happen. This is when life gets really loud, but it is also when motivation can slip. That's why I look towards the next six months and say, what are the goals? What is it that you want to achieve? And how can we get there? It's often when advisors feel that they're a little left behind, or that they haven't reached what they were wanting to reach, and so therefore those goals might be unattainable. It might be when the focus fades as well. You're looking at your action list on a day to day basis and going, Oh, I'm just doing the same thing over and over again, and I'm not seeing the needle shift right the sales might dip. Clients may not be booking like they were previously. Many, many clients might be pushing their planning to, oh, after the holidays, or I need to end this financial year, and then I'll make action. Oh, all cash flow is really tight right now. Or I don't know what's happening in the world. So whether I should be planning this far in advance, and this is where momentum dies. So for travel business owners, this is where you might be thinking, well, you know what, if nobody else is going to do anything, then I'm not going to either. But you still have time. You still have six months of the year. And this is really, really good news, because with the right systems, the next 90 days could actually be your most focused, it could be your most profitable and it could be your most fulfilling stretch of 2025 but it starts right now with reconnecting with your goals and cutting out all that noise, right? Really focusing in on what you want to do. And this is where I say you still have time, but you definitely need a plan.

So some of the things that I want you to be doing right now is I released a podcast episode back in May this year called what I'd focus on if I was starting my travel business today. It has been one of our most listened to in a long time, but it's one that I hadn't done similar to this for several years. Now, what I would suggest is have a listen to that, but also, and I'll link to it in the show notes, but also, what I would what I would focus on right now is looking at those goals that you set for yourself, revisit them. Are they still relevant? Are they still aligned with what you want to achieve for this year?

The next thing that I want you to do is let go of perfection, let go of comparisonitis, let go of other people's opinions. Because right now, progress and taking action is the priority.

I want you to ask yourself the third thing I want you to ask yourself, What's working right now, what is draining me and what is moving the needle? So I know in my travel business, the moment that I continue with sending direct email marketing or speaking to clients over the phone or just making that human connection. That's when the needle moves. If I am doing follow up emails or connecting with people that I haven't heard from in a while, that's when the needle moves. It may not be for me social media. It's not, it's not one of my big things that I focus on. Majority of my clients are in the professional space, but they are small to medium sized business owners, or they are luxury high end and so they're not necessarily spending a whole lot of time on social media themselves. They are looking for that human connection.

And they are looking for the trusted advisor and somebody who knows their stuff. So for me, I know what needs to work for me, I want you to ask yourself, what is working for you? What are you enjoying doing? What are you feeling as though is just ticking things over? Have you got your dashboard set up that you know how many people are joining your email list? Do you know how many people are on your social media platforms? Do you know what posts are really working if that's where you are, but also what's draining you? And if what's draining you, you feel as though you're just chasing your tail all the time, or you're working on your administration and that's just sucking up all of your energy on a day to day basis, or you feel as though you're being ruled by your email inbox, then we need to have a look at that.

Because if we're working on these things, we're letting go of perfection. We're revisiting the goals, and we're seeing if they are still relevant, it will actually help you decide what it is you need to focus on next. So three things to work on that I'm suggesting for you right now is to review and refocus your goals. Just block 15 minutes and ask yourself, what is still possible for the next 90 days. And I want you to dream big when I do. And last month we had a two hour planning session inside the achievers mastermind. And we work through every area of our business over that two hours, and we actually write it all down and say, These are the things that I want to focus on over the next 90 days based on the year plan that I had, the clients that I work with and what I want to achieve. And we break it down, and I suggest having three to five things at the most that you're going to work on over the next 90 days for you right now, I want you to be thinking, what sort of system have I got to stay on track if you need somebody that is going to walk you through this process, please reach out to myself and my team here at Travel Agent Achievers, because we have the systems, the structure and the processes to help you move forward, specifically with what you want to achieve in your business.

But what is possible for you over the next 90 days? Is it possible for you to put together a sales and marketing plan and know what you need to do. Is it possible for you to reach a certain sales target? Is it possible for you to reconnect with certain clients as well? Have a think about over 15 minutes. What is possible for me over the next three months? July, August, September. Now, if you're saying to yourself, oh, I'm on holidays and the kids are out and I've gotta go and do all of these other things, just give me two right two, two key goals. What are just two things that you need to work on that's going to help you move forward? Because it is about that progress. The second thing is your systems. If you're feeling scattered right now, or if you're feeling as though you're not keeping up with what's happening in your business day to day, if you're not sure what to do next, or you come into your office in the morning and say, oh my gosh, I've got all these bookings, but I don't know where people are at or you're keeping everything in your head. If you are feeling that way, if you're feeling scattered or frustrated or lost, it's probably an area of your business that you need to work on, and that's your systems. So setting up the structure of a day to day process is an example of your customer journey and flow, of your marketing plan and how each and every month you're going to achieve the goals that you set for yourself. How to put together your social media, you know flow. It could be your systems that you need to come back to and say, I actually need to work on this so that I can move forward in a clearer way.

I've just launched our upcoming systems to scale two day event in Sydney, Sydney, Australia, on September the fifth and the sixth. And that's exactly what we are going to be working on over those two days. It's a Friday and a Saturday. And the reason why I put it on those days is because I want you to come into the room and do the work. I know that you will have clients that you need to take care of, emails to be done, flights to be ticketed, any of those sorts of things. But this is an opportunity to really work on your systems and get them done right. Actually look at your project management system or build one out to design your SOPs and say, Alright, I now need somebody to help me with this, this and this. What can I do to outsource? What can I do to get support in my business, to allow me to focus on the things that are going to shift the needle, as we say, or to move the mark, or to reach the goals that we actually set for ourselves? So systems to scale? I'm going to leave you with a link to it. You can check it out on our website as well. But it's really where you're going to work on your business, the workflows, the client journeys, the automations, the team systems. We'll probably touch on AI as well, because I have some great prompts that can help you actually map all of this out. You're going to come with the chaos. I get that, but you'll leave with clarity. And this is one of the foundations to finish 2025 strong, and then to be able to scale into 2026 it is for travel business owners. And you know anybody who wants to actually look at the structure in their business from a systems perspective so that you can scale. So check that out. So those are a couple of things. Just block the 15 minutes and ask yourself, what is still possible for the next 90 days, two goals, right?

Just two things that you can work on to help move yourself in September, book into the systems to scale come along to the event. Set aside the time to actually do the work on your business and move forward.

Then I've also got another thing for you to do. I want you to think about your future if we're looking at systems as an example. I also have another a Podcast Episode. Episode 61 which was delighting clients with Travefy. So Travefy is one of the tools that we use in our travel business. It's a great example of a time saving system and tool, not only for us, but for our clients as well, a way to connect with them whilst they're traveling, to see where they're up to to be one step ahead. It's something that I absolutely love, and it is a tool and a resource that I think, inside a travel business, you can surprise and delight your clients without them even knowing about it. And then I want you to set your future in motion. I want you to think about yourself in 2026. I want you to say to yourself, these are the things that I really want to achieve here in 25 but into 26 as well. Now if you're working on experiences or groups and travels for your clients in 2027 that may not be the focus over the next three months, the focus for you might be in actually getting some ideas out of your head or putting together your marketing plan, or reconnecting with your clients, or setting up your email lists. Or it could be in looking at your email templates as an example. What are the things that you need to do that are tying you down right now, or that are frustrating you that you say I might need to work on this so that I can get to that next stage as well. We've got our interview planning session within Travel Agent Achievers. All that information is on the website. It's not just another workshop. I can guarantee you for that. It's an opportunity to walk away with a plan that I know you'll actually implement. We do this every year inside the achievers mastermind, but this year, I'm doing it differently, and I am hosting it in person in my hometown. So love to see you, if you can come along to that.

Alright, so really, I don't want this year for you to be another year of I should have done this, because too often I hear advisors say I should have launched that, or I should have followed that up, or I should have put myself out there more. Let's not repeat that this year. Let's let's not look at that and beat ourselves up, because I think we already do that. Anyway, I was talking to an advisor this morning who is very dear to my heart, and I will champion them as long as they continue to champion themselves as well. In this industry, you know, I believe in everybody that I work with, and it's one thing that we touched on, and I've been saying it a few times, even lately, over the last few days with people that I've spoken to in our industry, particularly here in Australia, I find that if we put ourselves out there and we are doing the marketing, we are promoting our business, we are celebrating the success of our clients, we are sharing the testimonials that we will often get cut down for that.

Now I know that if you're listening to this and you're in the northern hemisphere, this will be very strange to you, and it's one of the reasons why I love traveling to see my friends and colleagues over in America so much, and North America in particular, because the celebration is natural for you guys and and that's I love that I love that energy, and I love that you celebrate each other, and you celebrate the wins, and you celebrate the successes, and you champion people who are doing things differently and put themselves out there. So for if you are here in Australia, and you're listening to this, you should put yourself out there.

Now I'm not suggesting you go and share what you have for dinner, right? That that's our parents era now on Facebook, but it is around looking at you and your business and what you want for yourself, right? It's not selfish. You just want to share what an incredible plan it is that we live on and the experiences that are available to our clients. So if you find yourself saying, I should have, I should, I should, I could. I would have, I should have done this, then let's not repeat that. I don't want to repeat that here on the podcast, but definitely also not at the end of the year. I don't want regret. This isn't going to be a year of regret. This is going to be that year of action. So this quarter, now, this next three months, is your opportunity to own the rest of the year, really take action and say, I am going to do things differently, and I'm going to be here to support you every step of the way. You don't need to hustle more, right? You You definitely need, don't need to be trying all the different things. What you do need is that focus, the action and the support. So whether it is joining a program or a community that can give you motivation and give you that opportunity to really take action. I would suggest you take that leap, whether it is joining the achievers mastermind or being part of a different community here in the travel industry, there are people out here who want to champion you, and we want to see you succeed. I know that it's one of my greatest joys, being able to work with travel professionals and see them make mountains move, almost in their business, things that they didn't even think about or hadn't seen for themselves, or where they thought they would be, and then actually taking action and realizing the results that they're able to get. Or it could be for you that you need to get in the room of a live event. You need to put yourself out there. Even more, it may be that you just need to listen to a podcast episode of some sort to spark your next move. There is absolutely something for each and every one of you in putting together your goals and understanding what is the next best thing for you. So as I said, here's the things that I want you to do is just take 10 minutes right now after this episode and revisit your goals. Be honest with yourself, have a look at them and say, Is this still serving me? And what do I need to do right now to move things forward? Be honest. Then ask yourself, What's one thing that I commit to, that I can commit to this week? Yes, it's almost the end of the week, so maybe next week. But what is one thing that you can commit to? What is one thing that you can do to take action on and then celebrate that at the end of next week? I want you to share that with me, because setting the goal and aiming to achieve it is what's helping you move forward. Now, as I said, whether it's joining a live event, applying to the mastermind, or finally setting up your email workflows, I am 100% here to help you, and I want to see you succeed. So let's not let the next 90 days slip away. Let's make them count. If you have questions, please reach out to me. Ask me, like, let's not make the next six months, sorry, the next three months something that you say, Oh, I wish I could have done things differently for you. It's now time to shine. Let's make sure that the next 90 days define your year, so that you say, Yes, I am so glad that I stepped up, that I did something different, that I took action, and it's going to prepare you and build that momentum for the next three months to come as we end out 2025 making this your best year yet.

Thank you so much for listening. I absolutely love sharing all of these things with you. I look forward to connecting and reach out to me, send me an email, let me know what you're working on at the moment. Where are you struggling? What's going on for you? Our email info at travel agent achievers.com. It comes directly through to my team. They always let me know, and I'm here to help support you on your journey. Take care. Stay warm. For those of you that are here in the southern hemisphere and enjoy the beautiful sunshine. I'm so jealous. For those of you in the northern I will be back in the US in August, and I absolutely cannot wait, looking forward to seeing anybody around in Las Vegas in those two two weeks of August. Looking forward to it can't wait to catch up and speaking with you soon. Bye for now, everyone you.