Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vanessa Natteal . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Vanessa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
When I started Koala Escape Travel it was simply an homage to my mom. She always wanted me to be successful. I thought what better way to show how she had her hand in my decision making on the naming of my business. My mom was an avid fan of koala’s and I wanted something that would always remind me of why I am where I am and why I have the opportunity I have. I wanted something that people could close their eyes to and visually see the koala escape and want to be the koala that’s getting the escape. So, after long conversations with my fiancée about how I wanted to bring honor to my mom and give people travel deja vú, Koala Escape Travel was born. Once we expanded into the notary spectrum we became Koala Escape Travel and Notary.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
So, for me getting into this industry was quite like other people. After working a part time job as a site manager for one of the biggest after school care sites in my city and obtaining my BBA, I began working for the OAG. About three months into that opportunity Covid reared it’s ugly little head and bam I had been furloughed. I worked cleaning buildings for a bit but stopped because I have children and didn’t want to bring home whatever was out there in the world. I then started working in life insurance and for me I’m not the pushy type, if you say no thank you I’m not going to make you feel bad about it and force you into buying something you don’t need or want. So, needless to say it had almost been a year and I really had no options. My fiancée sent me a link she found while she was looking for her next move and it happened to be for a travel agency. I thought oh wow what a wonderful opportunity I LOVE to travel with the family, I love planning the things we do and I really enjoy eating! So, I really got into it. We were told it’s our agency we are just affiliated with the parent company and the dream took off. For about a year and a half we only offered travel now we offer travel services and mobile notary services. We are currently working on adding the remote notary service to our platform as well. We are open 24/7/365 and we are mobile. At the hospital and it’s 2 in the morning and you NEED a document notarized we are coming, reach out by phone, email, social media, smoke signal we will be there. We know how important this is to always be ready and available for our clients and once we add the remote option that’ll make us more accessible to more people around the world. I believe what sets us apart is simply the fact that we make it easy to connect. We come to you, we will be offering remote options for those that don’t have transportation or have weakened immune systems that makes it hard for them to get out into the world, as always our travel services are always remote. We don’t just offer travel services, Koala Escape is not a business that is going to spam your email or your phone with a bunch of marketing emails, calls, and texts. We want you to feel like family and we want you to have the greatest experience whenever you do do business with us. We want you to say wow their services are exceptional, they blew us away. They took everything we said we wanted and needed and provided the travel deja vú they said they wanted to give. We want the notary process to be one of the smoothest most warming interactions you have. How many times have you stood in line for the notary and they come out looking at you with that look, take your ID and say sign this and then they sign and you’re off to go pay? That is the most impersonal service no conversation is really needed but, here we want you to feel like we are a member of your family we want to make you feel like we aren’t just offering you a service because there are way too many businesses with a purely transactional business model and here at Koala Escape Travel and Notary you are NOT just another dollar to be made you are truly family. We want to get to know you, we want to open our doors to you and want you to feel like you have known us all your life. We want you to tell your family and friends just how much of an experience working with us is and we want it to be all good things that you say. Our approach is simple, we are going to treat you like the elder of the family. We are going to take our time to hear what you are saying you want your travel experience to be and we are going to give it to you within the budget allotted with a few little extras as a special way of thanking you for trusting us with your travel needs. For our notary services, we want to achieve the same thing, we want you to know no matter the reason for using our services, whether it be mobile or remote, we are always here and it does not matter the time of the day or night, we are here to help and we are here to do it all while giving you an experience you can feel warm leaving the table with. We want your experience to be just that and a breathtaking one at that. We want to change you from a tourist to a true traveler. You face so many other nightmarish things in the world we want to be the complete opposite we want to be a dream experience. I am proud that we are beginning to expand into different areas of the business industry as a whole and we plan to continue to grow into other industries. For us it’s about legacy what are we leaving behind and is it the image my mom can be proud of, because at the end of the day no matter how far we expand, there would be no Koala Escape Travel and Notary. Because my mom had a heart of gold and would bend over backwards for others, we are going to continue that legacy and give back in way she was not able to even though she wanted to. We want it to be known that any product or service Koala Escape Travel and Notary provides is an experience that is guided by you. How well you communicate the needs you have and what your budget looks like determines the experience. Now, that’s not to say that we can’t plan you something spectacular with only $100, what we are saying is the more you give us as far as what you are trying to do the more of an experience we can provide. We are only sending you to top rated places because you deserve the best especially when you travel.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
About two years ago, I started having unexplained headaches that eventually lead to the finding of other health issues. Naturally, I began to wonder if even having a travel agency was going to be worth the fight when I had another battle brewing. Naturally, I leaned on my fiancée and expressed to her my feelings and she kindly and politely reminded me of why we do what we do. So, I began looking for other ways to expand the business so we can reach more avenues. So, instead of giving up and walking completely away from it we looked the lion in the mouth and said that’s not going to stop us from giving people an experience of a lifetime no matter what industries we expand to.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
We keep in touch with our clients through phone calls, text, and social media. Our first line of communication is our social media we have two pages on Facebook which will eventually be brought under one localized page but you will be able to access it through the other. We have an Instagram page, I can be found on telegram, LinkedIn, and we also have our Linktree set up. So our clients can always reach us to ask about our services we provide. For our travel customers we have a dedicated website they can go on to request a quote. Mind you our website we do not post pictures anymore but our clients are more than welcome to upload their experiences. That’s how we foster our brand loyalty. You can access us anywhere anytime of the day and we are there. Our response times are, in my opinion, impeccable and there is no where we can’t send you for the best experience. I truly feel that being available to your clients anytime they need you to be is the best business practice any business can have. Also, having an actual live person to talk to helps especially in the times we are living in now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.evotravelagent.com/koalaescapetravel
- Instagram: @koala_escape_travel
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086095643747&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/koalaescapetravelandnotary
- Other: Telegram: https://t.me/koala_escape_travel
Image Credits
Family photo credit: My Fiancée Dee Europe photo credit: Maurice