We recently connected with Tyler Stiscak and have shared our conversation below.

Tyler, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.

I’m going to answer two questions: my thoughts on working in a family business and how I started my own business.

My name is Tyler, and I am the owner of CS Elements Travel, as well as the Vice President of Operations at Horses Landscaping & Garden Center Inc., a business owned by my father. I grew up working with him from a young age—spending summers on job sites, weekends at farmers’ markets, and working trade shows. From ages 19 to 35, I worked full-time for the company, starting as a laborer and working my way up to project supervisor and eventually VP of Operations.

In 2017, I started my travel agency, and by 2023, I took my last paycheck from the family business to focus primarily on growing CS Elements Travel. While I still contribute in a consulting role and step in when necessary, my main focus is now on scaling my agency.

Working in a family business is both one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences you can have. It takes years to learn how to communicate effectively and, just as importantly, how to separate work from family life. There’s an incredible sense of pride in building something together and carrying on a legacy, but with that also comes a heavy weight of responsibility. Additionally, there’s the outside perception that being part of a family business makes things easier—when, in reality, it often means higher expectations and more pressure.

One of the biggest turning points in my relationship with my father, both personally and professionally, was starting my own business. I was terrified that he would be upset since I had always been expected to take over his company. Instead, it strengthened our relationship and deepened our mutual respect. We now support each other in growing both businesses, sharing insights and experiences to help each other succeed.

Tyler, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

How I Started My Business
I’ve always had a love for travel. I used to spend hours searching online for the best flight deals and then planning trips just for fun. In 2016, one of my close friends was having a destination wedding and hired a travel advisor. I gave him a hard time about it, insisting that I could have planned the trip for him. Determined to prove my point, I spent hours searching for deals—only to call his travel advisor and find out she had a better rate.

That moment changed everything for me. We’ve been conditioned to believe everything is cheaper online, but not only did she have a better price, she also provided concierge-level service to handle any issues along the way. I was baffled. So, I did what anyone would do—I Googled, How do travel agents get paid? And that’s when it all began.

From that day forward, I knew I wanted to be in the travel industry. I spent the next year taking every training I could find while still working for my family business. During that time, I built a website, launched my LLC, and started networking.

Growing up in landscape construction, I was familiar with sales and trade shows. When I discovered bridal shows, I was thrilled—unlike home and garden shows, where only a small percentage of attendees were interested in landscaping, at a bridal show, every person there was planning a wedding or honeymoon. At my very first bridal show, I booked five honeymoons and two destination weddings.

That early success, however, came with challenges. I had no real industry experience, no systems in place, and no CRM for managing group travel. As we continued to grow, I dove into researching software, tools, and best practices to streamline operations.

Then, just as we were gaining momentum, COVID hit. While it was devastating for many established agencies, it was actually a blessing in disguise for us. We had little overhead, and I still had my full-time job in the family business. During that time, we were given incredible opportunities to attend industry events, trainings, and supplier meetings that we wouldn’t have had access to otherwise. Suppliers were eager to jump-start travel again, and as a result, we built relationships and gained invaluable knowledge that helped propel our business forward.

By 2021, everything changed. Thanks to some amazing mentors in the industry who took me under their wing and shared their expertise, we were able to refine our processes and truly start scaling. Since then, we’ve grown to three employees, brought on multiple independent contractors, and continue to expand as we chase our dream!

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

Honestly, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend my approach, but I used my full-time job, credit cards, and loans to get the business off the ground. From the start, I was always looking for additional funding before I needed it, which helped keep balances low while allowing us to continue expanding.

There were definitely stressful moments—seeing maxed-out credit cards and looming bills was tough—but it also gave us the flexibility to take calculated risks and keep growing. Once the business started to stabilize, I implemented Profit First, and that has been a complete game-changer in how we manage our finances.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The only pivots i have made is one chasing my dream of being in travel and distancing from my family business that i was set to take over, and also going from attempting to sele every type of travel and then realizng it was not only exhausting an dhard and adding little value to my clients it also was the wrong approach. Since then i have niched into weddings and honeymoons an dgroup travel in specific destinations an dhave built a team of independent contractors who have specialities different from my own

Contact Info:

• Website: https://travelcselements.com
• Instagram: @cselementstravel
• Facebook: @cselementstravel
• Linkedin: @cselementstravel