We were lucky to catch up with Carrie Blackwell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Carrie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

I started out in the travel business in late 2022 after my husband and I completed a 10 month road trip around the United States. I didn’t know anything about being a travel agent but all my friends were raving about the things we did on our trip, wanting to repeat it. I happened to see an ad on LinkedIn one day. The ad said something like: “Book. Earn. Repeat. Dreaming of turning your passion for travel into a career? You’re not alone — so many people are choosing to become Travel Agents and create a life of freedom, adventure, and purpose! Imagine helping others explore the world while building your own dream business. Ready to take the first step? Let’s make it happen!”

Not exactly those words, but enticing enough to draw you in. So I scheduled an appointment to here more. I got on a zoom call with a lady who tells me “it is so easy, you will make tons of money. You get 80% of their booking in commission and you get discounts on travel. You will have me there to help you as a mentor and you will have access to a community of people that can help as well. There is a one-time fee of I think it was $160 and then a monthly fee of $69.99 and that gives you access to the booking portals through which you can book your clients. Blah, blah, blah” Okay cool, sounded great so I immediately signed up. I learned quickly that in all reality, you get 80% of a PORTION of their booking. For example: 80% of a $5000 booking is $4000. What you really get–and was not explained to me this way before signing up– is 80% of 12-20% of the booking total. So for the $5000 booking you may get 15% comission from the vendor you used so you’ll get 80% of the 15% which would be $600. Wayyy different than $4000. You do not get commission until after they’ve traveled and if they don’t end up traveling, you don’t get any commission! But I got my login information, picked a name for my agency, Carrie On Adventuring, I’m good to go now (So I thought).

I had to figure EVERYTHING out on my own. There was little to no training on anything; how to get a client, how to set up your business, how to book someone, what vendors were best to book with, etc. I was having to Google or look through Facebook groups for help. Anytime I had a question, it was near impossible to get into touch with my mentor and was always sent to this Discord group with thousands of people, it didn’t feel helpful or like a community. I felt like I was brushed off to the side.

After several months of non-stop hustle trying to figure out what the hell I just got myself into, I came across a group on Facebook called: “Maximize Your Travel Advisor Business: Building A Profitable TA Career.” As I scroll through the comments I am starting to realize several things:
1. Oh shit, I have started an actual small business. I am not set up to act like a small business though. I didn’t have a business bank account or credit card, I didn’t have a CRM that I could use to manage my clients, I didn’t have an LLC set up, I didn’t have an EIN, I had terms and conditions that I copy and pasted from something off the internet. Come to find out, that is not legal! Thankfully I didn’t have any issues. There were tons of things I was seeing that I had no idea I even needed. My mentor didn’t even mention it!
2. I had joined an MLM travel host, what does that mean?! A travel host is the company that you are an independent contractor for. You use their information to book your clients. MLM companies in the travel business are much like most MLM companies. MLM’s focus on you signing up other agents under you and then you “mentor” them. You get a percentage of their commission. The more people you sign on, the higher up the chain you go and the more potential for you to earn more because you will be getting percentages of more people’s commissions. Seeing more and more comments about this particular host company and other MLM’s travel agencies, I decided to do some real research into hosts and find one that fit me and my needs. There are tons of host agencies out there and they all provide you with different training resources, CRM programs, travel opportunities, etc. After some research, I was able to choose a new host agency. But switching host agencies wasn’t as easy as it would seem. If you have bookings with the old host and you quit the contract with them, you will forfeit the commission from the outstanding bookings that you have with them. So you either forfeit the commissions or you pay for two host agencies until all old bookings have traveled and you get the commission from the first one host.
3. I also didn’t realize what and how I needed in order to market to my clients effectively. Marketing is like 75% of what I do and I had no idea how to market myself (I am still currently learning and working on that part!) I wasn’t given videos or a how-to on marketing. I was told to post “deals” to my Facebook site and/or website.
4. I needed to have systems and processes into place…. wait what the hell is that? I was just winging it every time I had a consult. Trying to remember everything I was supposed to do and had done for the last clients. I didn’t have email templates or a workflow set up, no task list, no nothing.
5. I was trying to be everyone’s travel agent instead of picking something I loved and niching down. You quickly learn you cannot simply know things about every where and provide great service to your clients. I’m not just a booking engine! If you focus on what you want to sell and areas/destinations you love it is easier to learn about them and retain the information and then it is easier to create outstanding itineraries for your clients and you are less likely to burn out.

I could go on, but we’ll stop here! ; )

Carrie , 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?

My name is Carrie Blackwell. I am a Travel Agent & Registered Nurse from Athens, GA. Currently living in Abingdon, VA with my husband and three cats, Echo, Freya, & Juno. When I started dating my now husband, Scott, in 2018 I had never really traveled much. I had literally been to maybe a handful of states and I had never traveled internationally. Scott was well traveled and had been all over the world, whether it was for leisure or work. I always wanted to travel, just never did. I remember seeing a picture of Machu Picchu in 8th grade Spanish class and said, “I must visit that someday.”

In June of 2018, we went on a 10-day trip to Sitka, Alaska to visit a friend of his. WOWWWW. I was in awe, it was absolutely gorgeous there. So much wildlife. I couldn’t even believe this was a place in the United States! I was in love. Soon after that trip, we booked 10-days in Costa Rica, as well as a 4-day trip to Cancun/Riviera Maya, Mexico. In October 2021, I wanted a change in my nursing career, I was burnt out. We decided to sell our condo in Florida and we were going to travel the US for a while. Our original plan was to get an RV and do it that way, but our condo sold in days and we had to stay in Georgia at his parents house for a few weeks until we left. W ditched the RV idea and decided to set out on the road 2 days after Christmas in 2021 with our two cats at the time (Echo & Bella) in our Jeep Cherokee. I planned our trip with everything we wanted to see and do. Every little detail, and I usually had a plan B option as well. We stayed in different air BnB’s along the way for days to weeks/months at a time exploring different areas. We spent the month of April in Oregon where we eloped, and we spent the following six months based in Seattle, WA where I worked as a travel nurse for a while.

Our amazing trip consisted of: 1 elopement wedding, a car break-in in Seattle, 1 ER visit/ambulance ride in Kanab, UT when Scott got altitude sickness, one 911 call in Jemez, NM to rescue our dumb-asses from getting the Jeep stuck in the snow!, a speeding ticket in Idaho, our cat Bella passed away and we got a new kitten (Freya), completed our first skydive over the Grand Canyon, had 4 international trips and visited 2 different countries (Mexico & Canada), 4 National Monuments, 14 states, 18 National Parks, & “Rhonda” (our jeep) took us ~29,000 miles.

Once we left Seattle in mid-October, we were planning to make our way back home to GA for the Thanksgiving holiday. Early October, Scott’s dad fell and hit his head causing a brain bleed. By Halloween, his dad was not doing well and we had to alter our plans and head straight home. We were in Wyoming at the time visiting the Grand Teton National Park. We booked it home and after many complications, Scott’s dad ended up passing away. One day during all of this is when I happened to see the LinkedIn ad to become a travel agent. “Easy money” they said. And in November of 2022, Carrie On Adventuring was born.

I customize romantic and [typically] kid-free vacations to the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Belize, Hawaii, Iceland, Portugal, & US. I provide white-glove luxury service to all of my clients. I service every piece of their vacation from the time they hire me until they return home, including airfare. Because let’s be real, your client can’t actually get to a vacation unless they fly. If something goes wrong with the flight or at the airport and you’re not there to service them, that is the impression you will leave on them. And then they have a shitty start [or end] to a vacation. My clients crave epic authentic vacations that are both relaxing and adventurous. I charge a concierge care fee (determined by the factors of your vacation and discussed with you on your complimentary consultation call), work by appointment only, and only take a select number of clients each month to ensure I can provide the best luxury white-glove service. I am very detail-oriented, organized, and I love research and finding hidden gems. I provide all my clients with tips for within the destination, passport & visa information, packing tips, weather, airport hacks, etc.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media is hard, yet it is everything. Today, you have to be present on social media to be successful. It’s so hard to understand the algorithms and every platform has it’s own algorithm to figure out. I decided to pick one platform to be my main platform for advertising. I can’t do it all and I was struggling to post on my business page, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, all the things. It was time consuming and I didn’t feel like it was bringing in many clients. I decided to focus my energy mainly on a private Facebook group. My aligned client lives on Facebook so that was perfect. This would be my living room; my place to share and be me, my authentic self. Owning a business also means I need to show my face. People want to see me, not my logo or brand colors. They do not care. They want connection and they want to know that I am a real human being, not some internet robot.

Marketing is the majority of what you do and you have to be consistent in your presence. You have to post 2-3+ times a day. Yes a DAY! You need to show your face, create reels, post live videos so people can hear your voice. Respond to every comment always, even if it takes you a few days. You have to show up and connect and you should do that as your most authentic self. Afterall, it is called social media.

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

In late 2023, early 2024 I was starting to get burnt out in my travel business. I was trying to be everyone’s everything and as I mentioned before, I had no systems in place, I was constantly getting ghosted after doing hours of research on places and providing “quotes” to clients with 3-5 options per quote! They would take this information and book on their own leaving me high and dry. It was exhausting to say the least, and I only booked like 2/10 of those clients. I thought about throwing in the towel and giving up multiple times. I kept coming back and saying “you can do this, this is YOUR BUSINESS that you have created and now you have to build it” but I needed to adjust my business model. I needed to put systems and processes into place, make email and task templates, figure out what areas I wanted to focus on, and define my aligned client. I want to make money doing travel and I want to be successful enough that I can quit my nursing career and focus solely on travel. It can be done, but it takes a lot of work. And I no longer wanted to book everything for everyone. But mindset is EVERYTHING. If you think you’re gonna fail, you will fail. If you believe you’re going to be successful and think that you can and will get your dream life. You will.

Thankfully, I found one of the best TA coaches in the business, Marcie Muensterman, and I have used and put into place everything I have learned from her courses and freebies which has made a world of difference. I started calendar control and I stopped being available to patients 24/7. I am available now by appointment only for consultations. I started charging a concierge care fee, I eliminated the dreaded (but oh so popular among travel agents) inquiry form, and I DO NOT ask the clients for a budget, because no I cannot get you a swim-out room with an ocean view and butler service for 7 nights on a $2000 budget. The inquiry form confuses clients because you have listed all these options out for the client to check their desires, but then asking them for their budget which in turn makes them think you can get them all of the things listed for the budget they have.

This is where the consultation call comes in, I am able to ask the client questions relevant to their vacation and I can tell the client what their dream vacation will cost based on their requests and we can adjust from there based on the clients reaction to the information I have provided. After the consultation call, the client gets an email reviewing what was discussed and three options: hire me, I wanna think about it, and thanks but no thanks. If the client decides to hire me, they will then pay my concierge care fee and I will create their proposal for them. I no longer provide clients with 3-5 options for anything, I use my knowledge and expertise to put together a proposal with one option (if it is a multi-city it is one option from each city).

I have also pivoted what I market and sell. Like I said I don’t want to sell everything, I don’t want to sell Japan (even though it’s stunningly beautiful and I’d love to visit) but like Japan is A LOT to learn. I don’t really like cruises, and again a lot to learn and a bunch of cruise lines. To really give your clients the care and service they deserve, you need to be passionate about every place you sell. I selected destinations I want to learn more about and want to visit over and over again to focus my niche on.

When a client reaches out now for something I do not sell, I have learned I can say no. I do not have to work with this client. Not every TA is a good match for every client. I will now help and release them by introducing them to a fellow agent who does specialize in what they’re asking for or provide blogs, websites, or other information that they can look up themselves. This means I now have more time with family and more time to provide white-glove service for my aligned clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://carrieonadventuring.com
• Instagram: Https://www.instagram.com/vacayswithcarrieonadventuring/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vacationswithcarrieonadventuring/
• Other: Yodl: https://yodl.travel/advisors/carrie-blackwell/

Image Credits

All photos taken by Carrie Blackwell except skydiving photo (Paragon Skydive)