Carrie’s passion for travel takes her on a business journey

Travel has always been Carrie’s passion and it shows through every aspect of her business. Before having children, Carrie was previously an air stewardess so appreciated the importance of putting customers first. Here she tells us how she started her own business journey as The Holiday Fixer.

“I offer a bespoke travel and concierge service for luxury holidays worldwide; from the beach to city, ski to safari, cruise to adventure and tour holidays there’s something for everyone.

It’s my job to do all the research and find the ideal holiday, anything my customer requires, I endeavour to meet their request. I love to make people feel special and put together their perfect itinerary. I also offer a concierge service which is at no extra cost. I make dinner reservations, book baby sitting and crèche services, check customers in for their flight and print boarding passes. Anythingto make their travel experience seamless and stress free!

It’s important for me to build relations with my customers so that I get to know them and their needs. I’m their personal travel agent so it’s important to me that I get it right. It’s a truly special job that I’m immensely passionate about. I get to create amazing memories and wonderful once in a life time experiences.

I left my cabin crew role after my first child and decided to take on a local receptionist role after my maternity leave ended. I quickly realised that I wanted and needed more. I love a challenge and have always dreamed of owning my own travel business one day. After having my second child George, I wanted it more than ever. I also wanted the flexibility of being able to do the school runs and the availability to attend school events and activities.

I was on maternity leave and decided it was now or never. I had a small window of time that gave me the opportunity to work towards my dreams. I have worked in travel previously and wanted to explore it again.

A friend of mine was probably sick and tired of listening to me babble on about travel being my passion and going on about my business idea. She shared the Successful Mums Networking event from Facebook as she thought I maybe interested. I took my 6 week old baby along to see what networking was all about. From that event, I learned that I could do a Business Start-up Course. I met the criteria to do it for free! I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. It was like the stars where aligned and it was my destiny!

The course was brilliant and made me explore my core values. It made me understand me and my prospective brand. It also gave me the confidence and that push I needed. It was great to be in a group with like-minded women who were in a similar position and had similar goals. We were like a little family in the end. We were so supportive of one another but also objective. Bouncing ideas off each other and sharing our experiences was so beneficial. There were some amazing women who inspired me and made me believe in myself again.

After I completed the course I was ready. I had the opportunity to use a brand that was already in business that shared the same core values as myself. I basically pay a monthly fee to use the brand name “The Holiday Fixer” However, I run it as my own business. I have to market myself, find my own business and manage everything on my own. I’m my own boss, I’m accountable for everything I do.

I love being my own boss. The flexibility is perfect for family life. I’m learning more about myself and I’m more determined than ever to be a success.

The feedback I get from customers and my personal recommendations is the best feeling. I genuinely care about people and want to provide them with the very best experience.

There are still challenges, like marketing on a shoestring budget! Having little money to invest in marketing can be frustrating but I have to be savvy and navigate around this issue. It’s also frustrating when people use me to gather information and then book on the internet because they’ve saved some money. The internet doesn’t give you the experience, knowledge or personable service!

It can be hard to get people to see who I am, what I’m about and to trust me. You learn to be thick-skinned! Time management is another challenge, but I’m learning to do better. I’m working hard to grow my social media presence and I’m proud of how I’ve grown to date.

The most important thing I’ve learned along the way is to keep going, I will succeed. There’ll always be knockbacks along the way but hopefully, it’ll make me stronger. The course really pushed me in the right direction. I loved the guest speakers, I really did learn from them. It was great to listen to these inspirational women. I came away having the courage to go for it and here I am.

It was a hard slog, I knew it was going to be tough but nothing could have prepared me for the setbacks I had. However, I’d say if you’ve got a passion for something and tenacity, go for it. “Don’t wait until later becomes never.”

I’m excited and curious to see what the future holds.”

If you would like to find out more about ‘The Holiday Fixer’ check out Carries Facebook page HERE and the website HERE.

Do you have a business idea? Are you wondering whether now is the time to take it forward? IT IS… so why not join us for one of our new online courses and get your journey started! Register your interest in our new courses HERE.