As you all know by now, I have trouble ever deciding what I want to be. I figure life decisions aren't supposed to be rushed. My old boss Jon Lee can attest to this. I worked for him for about 3 years and during that time, we sat down regularly and he would ask me what I wanted to do next and every time my answer was to shrug my shoulders and say "I don't know". At the time, I felt stupid that I couldn't figure out where I wanted to go from planning since all of my friends knew exactly what they wanted to do next. But now I know that my biggest fear was of jumping out of a frying pan and into a fire. I hated the job I was in and had sought it. What if my next decision was just as awful. P.S. It was.... .com Planning sucked a lot worse than Merch Planning.
So, I have sat here for the last 177 days trying to figure out what to do next. And I have finally taken a step toward my next career. It might not be the final step, but it's a step. I may have to seek other employment to keep me in wine and peanut butter while I am getting this venture off the ground. But again, it is a step. I am opening my own home based travel agency. The name of my agency will be Places You'll Go Travel. I have purchased a domain name, www.placesuwillgo.com which isn't live yet because I haven't figured out how to build my website and I am currently going through loads of training. Presumably part of the training will have to do with building that website.
Monday I will be in a webinar most of the day. I have Royal Caribbean and Carnival training slated for next week as well as Funjet and others. Right now it is all a little overwhelming. But I know how much I enjoy planning trips, it is almost as much fun as taking them and one of my greatest pleasures is telling someone about a great trip that they should take and then hearing back about it when they return. So, I think this is the route for me. It will be a few weeks before I am really up and running. But if you have been thinking about planning a trip, please give me a few weeks and let me see if I can help. The vendors pay my commission and if you find a great price on line, I can at least match it. So, going through me won't cost you a thing plus I might be able to find you some extra deals.
Getting back to the name of my agency.... Places You'll Go Travel. Obviously it is based on the Dr. Seuss book Oh! The Places You'll Go. I gave this book to my nephew Chris for his high school graduation along with a note about the cruise we would be taking together a few months later. I wish I had thought of it for Matt and Jacob (my two older nephews). It is a perfect graduation "card" for them to keep and refer back to and remember the trip that they went on with the "fun aunt". It is also a great reminder about how to get through facing life's ups and downs, particularly when you are in one of life's downs (which occur much more often than a recent high school graduate might expect). Rebecca and Tim will each get a copy along with details of their graduation trips. And now that Aunt Susan has a travel agency, the prospects of those trips could become much better. I found a recording of John Lithgow reading the book yesterday on YouTube and have listened to it about 10 times in the last 24 hours. I'm currently working on a slogan for business cards and the website since my training yesterday told me to do so and I thought listening to this, might help. It certainly can't hurt....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQRWeZy-S8Q
"So be sure when you step,
Step with care and great tact
And remember that Life's
A Great Balancing Act." - Dr. Seuss
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