We were lucky to catch up with Lori Stephens recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lori, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I want to leave a legacy of grace, hope and mercy. I want everyone’s interactions, experiences, and conversations to always be infused with love, mercy, and hope. It’s SO easy for conversations and relationships to go sideways because of pride, trauma responses, etc. I want everyone to feel safe with me. Whether they are family, friends, employees, contractors, suppliers or clients; I want them to always trust that I have their best interest at heart and that their interaction with me would prove to be helpful and heartfelt. My goal is that their relationship and/or interaction with me creates a ripple effect that helps them deal with their trauma, hurt, pain, and lack of faith in humanity and convert them to BE the change that impacts the world. All it takes is one. One conversation. One phone call. One friendship. One act of showing mercy and grace. That’s all we really need to change the world.

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

I entered the travel industry as an employee of Delta Airlines in 1998. Later in life, I began my career as a travel advisor. It started as a very part-time career in 2011, and I was using it to gain a little bit of extra income to support my family while I was pregnant with my fifth child, my now 12-year-old. In 2014, I dug my heels into the travel industry as a full-time travel advisor. This decision was made so that I could balance a career while also homeschooling my children amidst a divorce that left me a single mom to 12, 6, 4, 3, and 2-year-olds.

In just a few short years, I achieved top sales in various niches, created some financial freedom and stability in my children’s lives, and eventually bought a home in the North Georgia mountains in 2019. In late 2019, I met my now husband and we started cultivating our friendship. Life was on my side. I was FINALLY winning.

At the tail-end of 2019 with massive business success, no one could have predicted the looming crisis. In just a few short months the world, and my business, came crashing down. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the entire travel industry and essentially halted the progress I had made. This time of uncertainty caused me to question everything. One bright spot of the pandemic, however, was marrying my husband the day before Georgia’s “Shelter-in-Place”. That one decision changed the trajectory of my life and my business. Together we weathered the pandemic, months of no commission all the while working on cancelled and rescheduled bookings on repeat. Over and over. It seemed to never end. I contemplated giving up. I’m so glad I didn’t.

Towards the end of 2020, when we saw a glimmer of hope that travel would start recovering, I told my husband my dream was to start my own travel agency so that I could enable others to come into an industry that changed the lives of me and my children. With his blessing and support, I moved forward with this huge business dream of mine and started Sojourney Travel in January 2021. The travel landscape was still uncertain, and we were constantly pivoting with changing regulations, but one thing was certain – people were eager to travel again.

After this massive leap of faith, we experienced tremendous business growth and were recognized by many suppliers for our efforts. I became a mentor and taught my advisors everything I knew thus far, while also learning more along the way in the shifting sand of the “post-COVID travel world”. Today, Sojourney Travel has nearly 70 travel advisors, we’ve doubled our sales annually and we are winning awards and gaining nationwide recognition.

Sojourney Travel is a broad-spectrum, global-focused travel agency dedicated to curating luxury travel experiences that change people’s lives. We specialize in crafting personalized itineraries, ensuring that travelers embark on unforgettable journeys that are tailored to their unique preferences.

Our travel advisors cater to many interests, offering personalized experiences for individuals, families, and groups – no matter the destination. We have partnerships with travel companies worldwide, allowing us to offer unique packages to our clients.

Beyond being trip planners, our advisors are active listeners, destination experts, problem solvers, and advocates for our clients. We go above and beyond basic requirements, consistently aiming to exceed our client’s expectations by custom-curating adventures. It’s more than arranging travel; it’s about creating an exceptional journey that fosters a deep emotional connection between advisor and client throughout the entire planning process.

We have worked to carefully curate a team of travel advisors who are truly passionate about what they do. We’re very proud of the work that they do and the ways that they go above and beyond for their clients. I am also super proud of the infrastructure my leadership team and I have built over the last 3 years to help our internal customer, our independent contractors, work more efficiently and seamlessly all while we provide support and mentorship to help them run their businesses better. We are constantly analyzing and pivoting, when necessary, to make the BEST decisions possible with the entire team in mind.

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

By degree, I was a commercial photographer for many years. I also had my Cosmetology license from finishing high school early (yes, I was homeschooled, too!). I learned the art of retouching and digital makeup LONG before filters were a thing. I began teaching photographers the painstaking art of skin and blemish correction, highlighting and shading, and color (aka painting blush, eyeshadow, etc). This became a high-demand class and in a very short period of time earned my Craftsman Degree through Professional Photographers of America (PPA). This was a highlight of my photography career.

Personally, I had been in turmoil. I was told in my late teens I wouldn’t be able to have children. Amid my photography career however, I miraculously became pregnant with my first child. Following my first child, I had three subsequent children in a very short amount of time. Because of the demands of the photography industry, and the schedule of traveling and teaching, I needed to scale back and quit shooting. I needed to make a big, BIG change. Along with the desire to make the change came an immense level of burnout associated with having babies back-to-back, not wanting to leave them to work outside the home.

I thought of my passions, having worked for Delta years before, and recognized my love of travel. I reached out to a friend who owned an agency and started selling travel on the side to help with household expenses. It was truly diaper and grocery money at first, but I’m thankful I took the leap. That one decision paved the road to where I am now.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

My side hustle absolutely turned into my full-time career. As I previously mentioned, I started as a part-time travel advisor purely to bring in a little bit of extra income for diapers and groceries. My biggest priority when starting this side hustle was to use it as a resource to care for my family. However, after many life changes, I decided that I wanted to develop a career where I could have the flexibility to stay home with my five children. This side hustle grew into a full-time role, and I was able to develop my craft over the years, building incredible relationships with clients, suppliers, and wound up achieving top sales within an agency consisting of hundreds of advisors.

After growing my personal business as an independent contractor, I began to see the need to mentor other people into the industry. Travel advising is a very enigmatic career. It is a VERY misunderstood career field with lots of liability. In an industry that is regulated by the government, but does not provide certifiable education and licensing, I began to realize that there was a need for strong mentoring and coaching in this craft. I decided to take my business to the next level by opening my own travel agency. In the travel industry, a solid agency provides high levels of mentorship, coaching, support, and services to independent travel advisors.

In January 2021, I brought on a small (but mighty) team of 9 advisors. This was during the chaos of the COVID19 pandemic, and the world was just starting to open back up to travelers again. To say it was a risk is an understatement. One thing was for certain, though – people had an innate desire to travel again. The world temporarily shutting down left people eager to explore all over again, and with shifting travel regulations, many were turning to travel advisors to help navigate their journeys.

Since opening Sojourney Travel with a small team of advisors, we have grown tremendously. Business has boomed and we have doubled our sales year after year. We’ve expanded to a team of nearly 70 travel advisors, have received recognitions among many of the industry’s top suppliers, and we’ve even been recognized as a Best of Georgia travel agency.

Growing a business, especially one that starts out as a side hustle, is not something that happens overnight, and it is not something for the faint of heart. It is a multifaceted journey that takes tenacity, determination, a vision, and a whole lot of outside support.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sojourneytravel.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sojourneytravel/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SojourneyTravel/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sojourneytravel
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SojourneyTravel
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/sojourneytravel

Image Credits
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