Travel Agent TRUTH

Now, being a travel agent gives you flexibility, obviously the opportunity to travel, best job on earth [bell dings], and as an entrepreneurial venture, when we go over the cost, this is probably one of the lowest startup costs and one of the lowest risk business ventures that you can possibly start.

Now, I'm a professor.

You know I love talking nerdy, so I like to talk numbers, right? And real data.

So according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 68,000 travel agents in the United States, so this is a very popular career path and a very popular entrepreneurial path.

And travel, short of the pandemic, is a pretty daggone stable and safe industry.

It doesn't really matter what's going on with the economy.

There's always people who are going to prioritize and be willing to pay for travel.

So the question then becomes, how exactly do I become a travel agent? Well, it's, it's surprisingly easy once you know what you're doing and what to look for and what landmines to avoid.

But the first step for a newbie is signing up with what's called a host agency.

You'll be signing up as an independent contractor, so that means you're not employed by the agency.

They're not paying you a traditional paycheck.

You're not getting paid every two weeks.

They're also not withholding taxes and all that kind of stuff.

You are an independent contractor.

Now, when it comes to the host agency thing, this is where it gets a little tricky.

This is where I got really confused, and obviously a lot of other people get confused, and this is where it can start to feel scammy because there are a lot of different host agencies and host agency models out there.

Some of them don't always seem trustworthy, and some of them probably are not trustworthy.

We see in the news all the time about such and such travel agency shutting down and keeping clients' money, and it's a big old fat mess.

So before you just go ahead and sign with any host agency, be it the one that I personally recommend and own or any other, make sure it is a vetted, credentialed agency, and that you're talking to agents who are actually working with that agency and you know for sure it is a legitimate agency.

Now, the host agency that I'm with now I can personally vouch for, and that happens to be my own host agency.

I was with two other hosts prior to this, and earlier this year I decided to start my own host.

So when you're looking for a host agency, there are a few things that you want to consider.

I have made mistakes.

I've seen what some hosts do well and what other hosts sometimes don't do so well, and I try to put together the perfect version of the best and eliminate the worst.

But here are the things you really wanna look for.