<blockquote>“I sold £329k-worth of holidays in January without any former experience in travel” says commuter weary 36-year-old Ben who quit his job to work from home and start a family

“You can work full time and aim to sell millions of pounds worth of holidays or you can use it to enjoy a bit of travel and earn a bit of pocket money.”

Travel consultant Ben Casey</blockquote>

Ben, 36, had a job which required him to travel all over the UK five days a week. He also wanted to start a family with his husband, Chris, so he began looking for franchises which appealed to him.

The Travel Franchise (TTF) was an obvious choice because Ben, 36, had never worked in travel before. As the number one travel franchise for those new to travel he knew TTF would give him the training and support he needed to kickstart his business but at the same time be his own boss.

“I wanted control of my own business, my own life, my own decisions, and I didn’t want to answer to anybody else,” says Ben.

As you don’t have to work full time when you invest with The Travel Franchise, Ben continued to work as regional marketing manager for McCarthy Stone, a retirement home developer, until his travel business took off.

He didn’t have to wait long.

In his first week of his business Ben had 10 potential clients, one of which resulted in an £8k booking to the Maldives. Ben soon decided to give up his full-time job and concentrate on growing his business and achieving The Travel Franchise’s unique Money-Back Challenge where investors can get their franchise fee refunded if they sell enough holidays in the first 12 months.

Despite losing over £250,000-worth of holiday bookings in 2020 due to the pandemic, Ben succeeded and got his business for free.

“The chance to build my very own travel business for free won me over from the start. No other franchise offered it and I could see lots of other agents had won it.

“The Travel Franchise gave me all the support, encouragement and guidance I needed to make a success of my new travel business, despite having never worked in travel before.

“It gave me a structure and well-trodden path to follow which gave me the focus I needed to win every penny of the money back.”

While some investors prefer to keep their travel agency small, working in their spare time, others like Ben look to scale up quickly. The Travel Franchise is so flexible it enables people to work alone or employ other members of staff. Once Ben and Chris had their son in summer 2020, it wasn’t long before Ben recruited Sarah.

“Sarah enabled me to keep expanding the business but do the little things like pick our child up from school and be present at a play or school event which is really important to me as a dad.”

Ben then went one step further recruiting Karen offer a concierge service, pre-booking seats, completing online check-ins, advising clients about travel regulations and offering guests restaurant recommendations.

Ben’s business has now skyrocketed, but he still has time for his family, he doesn’t have to commute all over the UK and he gets to enjoy discounted trips abroad.

“Last year I took £1.2m-worth of bookings and this year I'm on target for £1.8m. I did £329k sales in January which is a 30% increase on last January (£250k).”

“I love being a travel consultant. It’s flexible so you can fit it in with your lifestyle. You can work full time and aim to sell millions of pounds worth of holidays, or you can use it to enjoy a bit of travel and earn a bit of pocket money. You can make it what you want it to be.”