What Nobody Tells You About Becoming a Travel Advisor | Goofy Getaways Podcast Episode 2.11
Every job has its best moments and its hardest ones. This final minisode from Episode 2.8 is where Amy Blades and Travel Advisors Amanda Worsley, Noddea Skidmore, and Aaron Guest get the most candid about both, plus the one misconception that trips up more new advisors than anything else.
In This Episode:
Meet the Advisors:
The Best Part of the Job
Every advisor in this episode agreed the best part isn't the travel itself. It's the relationships. It's a client trusting you enough to text a photo of their pirate-night outfit just because they want to share it with someone. It's watching a couple who booked their honeymoon come back years later planning a trip with their own kids. Noddea put it simply: getting to watch a client's "phases of life" unfold, trip after trip, is one of the most meaningful parts of the job.
The Hardest Part Nobody Warns You About
The conversation doesn't stay in that warm territory for long, and that's exactly what makes it useful. The biggest misconception, according to Noddea, is that advisors get their clients handed to them by the agency. They don't. Goofy Getaways provides leads, but as Amy said plainly, "they are not going to be enough to sustain you." Building a client base is entirely on the advisor, and because advisors are paid on commission after a client travels, that work often goes unpaid for months. Amanda made $200 in her entire first year.
Then there's the part almost nobody warns you about going in: watching friends and family book with someone else, or not book at all. Amanda talked candidly about how much that stung early on, and about clients who ask for a detailed quote, go quiet, then book the trip somewhere else entirely. Both advisors agreed the only way through it is developing real tough skin, while still caring enough to do the work well.
So How Do You Actually Build a Client Base?
This is where the three advisors' answers diverge, and it's worth hearing in their own words in the full minisode. Amanda built her business almost entirely on referrals, backed by a referral gift-card program that thanks anyone who sends a client her way. Noddea invests small, consistent amounts into her local Grand Rapids community: a table at a Halloween event, sponsoring a small theater production, deliberately aligning herself with the causes she genuinely cares about. Aaron, two years into building his business, has leaned into a polished online presence and shown up in person for the agency, including representing Goofy Getaways at an Epic Universe preview event.
Three advisors, three different playbooks. None of it happened by accident, and none of it happened overnight.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If this conversation has you thinking seriously about becoming a Travel Advisor, we'd love to talk. Visit https://www.goofygetaways.com/join-our-team to learn more about our team, our training, and what building a travel business with Goofy Getaways actually looks like.
And if you're not looking to become an advisor, but you are looking for one: Meet Your Advisors and we'll help you find the right person to plan your next trip.
