We caught up with the brilliant and insightful J’Metria Anderson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, J’Metria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

If I could go back in time, I wish that I had started my business much sooner. I started October 2019 which was right before covid really hit the U.S. I didn’t know the impact that covid was going to have to my business but it hit it pretty hard. However, had I started my business when I first started arranging travel I would be much further along than I am now as far as customers go. I have always been the planner of vacations and group functions but I didn’t have the business to do it, and get paid for it.

J’Metria, 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?

Well I am originally from Gulfport, MS but have lived in Raleigh, NC for over 20 years by way of the Marine Corps. I fell in love with travel at a young age, but wasn’t able to really travel the world until my late 20s. I remember traveling to New York as a young child to visit family, it would be nothing for my mom to put my siblings and I on a bus to go to Philly or Cali to visit her siblings but it was my tour in Cuba that really made my eyes open to other cultures and food! I got into the travel industry just being tired of doing all of the work and not being paid for it. I would plan and research vacations and excursions for my friends and I and not get paid for it and that got tiring so I decided to research how to be a travel agent and found a scholarship program for veterans that I jumped at. For me, it’s a natural fit, because I love to travel and I think that’s what my customers appreciate the most, that they have an agent who loves to travel and who will research the best locations for them.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I will tell anyone the best way to build your business is to get referrals. Referrals have been my biggest driver of business. Without the referrals from friends and family I’m not sure that I would be in business. Word of mouth can either make you or break you, so I always try to go above and beyond for my clients to ensure the referrals keep coming. You can’t always depend on family to help sustain or build your business but you can always ask them for a referral or two of people who would fit your business model. Now, as far as my reputation goes, it’s my love for traveling and planning that has helped build my reputation within my market.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn thinking that everyone is my customer. Not everyone is your customer, and this is ok. Because I work a sometimes hectic full time job and have a family to care for, I cannot take on every client who requests my services. Most times people are window shopping but window shopping travel is rather interesting because we (travel agents) don’t get paid until our clients return, so when you window shop around asking different agents to price the same trip for you, that means that once you have decided on who to use, the other agents have just waisted a ton of time researching locations only to be told you’ve gone with someone else. So for me, I choose only those clients who are loyal to my agency only and who actually want to work with me. So as soon as I hear, I’m looking for the cheapest or I’m shopping around, I explain my services and describe what I can do and that I don’t compete with other agents as we are probably using the same vendors and getting the same pricing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.amarevacations.com
• Instagram: @amare_travel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amaretravelandvacations

Image Credits
J’Metria Anderson