Top 3 Business Mistakes Travel Advisors Make (and How to Fix ...

Treating your business like a hobby.Treating your business like a hobby means failing to do the things necessary to take yourself seriously so that clients will too. Mistake #1, listed above, is part of this. But there is more. Here are some signs you are treating your business like a hobby:

a.? You have an email address that ends with @gmail.com, or @comcast.net, or @windstream.com (or any other free email service provider);

b.? You have not incorporated, or at least created an LLC;

c.? You do not have a separate bank account for your business;

d.? You don?t pay yourself salary (if you?ve been in business for more than 2 years);

e.? You don?t have a separate phone number for business;

f.? You see your business as a part of your host agency, so you don?t have a separate website and have not established a different name;

g.? You have no marketing activities you do on a REGULAR, CONSISTENT basis.

How to fix it: Turn around and DO all the things in the list above. Go purchase a domain with your business name or your personal name and get a new email address with THAT domain. For example, I can jump on to www.godaddy.com and purchase the URL, www.meredithhill.com and when I am checking out to pay the $10 for this domain, I can add email addresses to this domain for a few dollars more. Go do that.

By all means, please incorporate or set up an LLC so that you legally separate your business from your personal. You don?t need to spend hundreds of dollars on legal fees. Just go to www.legalzoom.com and they will simplify the process for you.

Once you have a separate legal identity for your business, you can then open a separate bank account. And when you have found the courage to step into your specialty, in just a short time, you will find you need a place to put all those big commissions you are now earning.

Then, to follow IRS standards, pay yourself a regular salary ? this is a frightening, yet profoundly empowering move. It took me a LONG time to do this. But once you do, you realize how it makes you act different ? you make different decisions in your business because you are always thinking about how you will be able to pay your salary next month. It really puts a fuel under the fire.

It?s also time to realize that your host agency is NOT your employer, IF you are an independent contractor. And if so, you must act like a business owner ? get a different name, market yourself and your business separately.

Finally, PLEASE do me a favor and commit to doing 1 single marketing activity on a regular and consistent basis. My favorite is the electronic newsletter, but if you want to choose something else, that?s fine. Just commit to it and do it.

Source: http://www.travelbusinessu.com/top-3-business-mistakes-travel-advisors-make-and-how-to-fix-them-2

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