We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephanie Coalson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Stephanie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

One of the biggest challenges for me as a travel advisor is that a lot of the general public does not understand how we work or they think travel agents are a thing of the past. I currently do not charge any fees for my services as an advisor to my clients. I am paid directly by resorts/hotels/cruise lines, etc, that I book with AFTER my clients travel. Sometimes that is a long way in the future! I currently have things on the books for 2026, but I won’t see any money for that work until well into 2026. I think some people think we get paid for quotes or there’s a catch or hidden fee somewhere to work with an agent and that’s just not the case. That commission is already built into the price you pay, whether you use an agent or not. So when I have potential clients come to me for help with a vacation that end up using the quotes or work I’ve done to book on their own, that leaves me without pay and time lost. It happens so many times over the course of the year with people who are either price shopping, or just want someone else to do the work and then they book it themselves. There are some advisors out there that do charge fees for their time, but that’s not something I have chosen to do at this point in my career. I have shifted to being very upfront with potential clients about how I work, in hopes to weed out those that are less serious.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a wife and a mom to 4 girls. We became a homeschool family in the fall of 2020. I have been a travel advisor since fall of 2019, so going on 5 years now! I am an independent contractor with Travelmation and I couldn’t love my job more! It all started with my love of Disney and my desire for our family to be able to make memories together in the most Magical Place on Earth! I learned about Travelmation through another friend who worked for them and actually planned a Disney vacation for us. After working with her, I decided this was something I was interested in doing and the rest is history! I started out just wanting to plan Disney vacations and wanting to make enough money to take our family to Walt Disney World each year. It has blossomed into so much more than I ever expected! I am now planning honeymoons, Disney/Universal trips, cruises, all inclusive vacations, Europe trips, and even destination weddings! My job is to make planning my clients trip as stress free as possible and handle all the details so they can just enjoy their vacation. The process starts with getting to know my clients and what they’re looking for in their trip, moving to quotes and then booking the vacation once we’ve narrowed down their options and found the best fit. From there, all the secondary details are put in place: transportation, excursions, dining reservations, etc. I handle it all and am available to you pre, during, and post travel.
I travel as much as I can, without sacrificing time with my family, the whole reason why I started this in the first place. That travel allows me to not only learn the destination with boots on the ground, but to build relationships with suppliers so that if my clients do experience difficulties during travel, I know who to call to fix it! I just had a situation like this with a client that experienced several issues with their room at a resort in Mexico. I immediately got on the phone with my contacts and we got them moved/upgraded to a much better situation so their vacation ended on a better note.

It brings me so much joy when my clients return from their trip and share their happy memories with me! I do not take it lightly that they are trusting me with not only their hard earned dollars, but also their families memories. We have this saying around Travelmation: “Leave this world with memories, not dreams.” That’s what I’m aiming to do for my clients. Those memories are priceless and irreplaceable. Take the trip! You will never regret that time spent together!

One of the things I am most proud of, is being able to stay home with my girls and give them a great education while building a business. I became a Top Producer within the company in 2022, and in 2023, I reached our Gold Level of top producers, putting me in the top 5% of the company. The fact that it has grown so much in five years that my income has been able to sustain our family since my husband lost his job in late November is amazing to me! Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would be possible when I first started out.

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

The most effective thing for me with growing my clientele is to know the destinations that I am booking very well. That allows me to provide excellent service and knowledge to my clients to ensure they have a wonderful trip. That leads to more referrals. I have the best clients! I would say 90% of my business at this point is referrals or repeat clients and that is just the best feeling!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Again- I started out wanting to book Disney and know Disney. I remember the first time I was ever tagged in a social media post by a client as the “Disney girl.” I couldn’t believe it but that lit the fire that I could do this and the more knowledge I could gain, the better of an advisor I would be for my clients. That led to many trips to Walt Disney World, a Disney Cruise, and most recently I made it out to California to experience Disneyland for the first time since I was a little girl. My clients that have started out as Disney clients, have come back for other types of trips because of the kind of service they experience and because I learn how their family likes to travel. It’s about knowing not only the destination, but your clients as well!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @scoalson104
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/travelmationStephanieC
• Other: Email: [email protected]