We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Mclaurin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I’ve had the opportunity to work for other owners and I think with anything when you’re an outsider looking in, you can see what you would do differently. Finding ways that you could help your own team grow through a loving and encouraging environment where everyone on your team feels equal and their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed were definitely at the top of the priority list when we were considering opening our agency.

Being the Co-founder of Something Magical Travel Company and helping lay the ground work has been a dream come true! I’ve always prayed to find a job that I love showing up for. Getting to touch a tiny piece of other family’s vacations by helping them plan all their important details is as magical as it sounds! It’s so exciting to be able to pour into my clients with all the bits of travel information that I’ve collected in my brain for years and now I get to extend that further to our travel planners as they learn and grow their own little communities!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I went to Disneyland on my 30th birthday and it became my entire personality. The way it felt to walk through the gates and be transported to a magical land where my biggest decision is what snack I was going to eat next was heavenly!

It truly feels like magic when you see everyone smiling and being nice to each other. From the way it smells and when the castle comes into view, it’s like your whole world is free floating. When you leave and your magic money doesn’t work anymore and the people at the airport aren’t as nice to you as they were in the parks, you realize real quick what a special place they have created and I run back to the magic as often as I can!

No two trips are the same, I’ve been to the same destination 5 times in one year and I never had the same experience twice! That’s what makes this so exciting, everyone in your family can enjoy different parts of your vacation and I love that so much!

After planning a trip for my extended family, I came home and thought about all the ways that I could help someone else who would otherwise be guessing about their vacation plans. There is a lot to know about! Things like where to stay, how to get in, how to skip the long lines, special benefits for certain groups of people, where to find the best margarita…you know, all the important stuff. As someone who wasn’t given the luxury of travel growing up, I sure have made up for it as an adult, which makes me the perfect candidate to help someone else plan their trip, you can’t beat real life experiences!

I was given the opportunity to work for my first agency and that’s where I got my sea legs and taught myself everything I needed to know to help my clients have amazing vacations! It also gave me the wings to fly when I felt like I had the tools to help other travel planners start their adventures of planning magical vacations!

How’d you meet your business partner?

When I was a brand new baby travel planner, I had the opportunity to travel for in person training! I’m a millennial to my core and the thought of going somewhere new and alone was terrifying. Also the thought of talking to a coworker that I didn’t know and asking them to be my roommate was equally as terrifying but I faced my fears and went with option two! I opened up a spreadsheet and found the first person who didn’t have a roommate listed and I did the only logical next step and stalked her on Facebook. After she passed my very official test, I messaged her and the rest of history!

Life has a funny way of giving us things or in this case, a soulmate friend, that you didn’t know you needed but I’m so thankful that I found, now she’s stuck with me forever but don’t worry..she knows what she signed up for!

Watching someone you love take their dreams of owning a company and then being able to come beside them and help them is just so special. I’m so proud of us and all the work we’ve done to get Something Magical Travel Company up and thriving!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Finding clients has had its ups and downs! I have a very small village in my hometown which proved to be a difficult source for clients, I switched gears and started focusing on my social media since I knew that would likely grow the base of my business. Instagram is my favorite platform, it’s where I feel most comfortable! When I started to reach new followers and get clients there, I started getting referrals from my friends and previous clients!

Getting a referral is the best complement, knowing that someone trusts me enough to let me help them plan details of a vacation is so special and then they go and tell their friends about me too? It instantly makes the early mornings, late nights and all the hours spent behind the scenes worth every second!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.somethingmagical.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soarinsomewheremagical/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleykaymclaurinsmtc