Eek! I am so excited. I love transformation. I’ve always been a sucker for the makeover shows whether they involved people or things, especially HGTV shows. Before and after photos are my jam. If you know me personally, you know that I unknowingly married a guy who knows how to do all the home renovations I had always dreamed of doing. Soon, we were living the reno life and we pretty much still are (our goal is to be done with all home projects by the end of next spring which will hopefully be the end of the pandemic and we can get back to being social butterflies!)
To sum up, I love design. I have recently realized that this love goes beyond home renovations. Designing all the elements of my brand from forms to workflows to merchandise is very satisfying. Clearly, my favorite thing to design is a fabulous vacation, but I am really making use of this down time to ensure everything is in order when the world opens back up, and we are all traveling like it is 2019.
Design is such an important component of the client experience. My email list allows me to communicate with hundreds of potential clients each week so it is a very important part of my marketing strategy. Thus, using the right email provider is pretty important. You might remember that I unveiled an email renovation a couple of months ago. However, the changes were within the email platform I was already working in. My emails were still not as fabulous as I wanted them to be, I knew I needed to switch providers.
However, switching providers seemed like a huge undertaking and one more thing for me to deal with during COVID so I have been putting it off … Then, last week at the travel industry conference I attended, a few fellow travel advisors mentioned a new product they were using called Flodesk. I researched the the platform and was really impressed. So, I decided to dedicate the time to make the switch and oh la la, I am happy I did!
A new email platform is not the only thing I learned about in last week’s conference. I learned a lot about mindset, best businesses practices setting up workflows, and more. I also learned a lot about what travel suppliers are doing to ensure that those who are ready to travel can do so safely. My biggest take away from the conference is this: Capacity is going to be limited in 2021, so that travel providers can ensure social distancing is practiced. Thus, if you plan on going anywhere in 2021, you should book early.
I think a lot of people have the mindset that there will be a lot of deals next year, but I do not think that will be the case. I think capacity restraints coupled with pent up demand means pricing will be at pre-COVID levels, maybe more.
Whether you plan to travel in 2021 or wait to see how things pan out, I will continue to try and inspire your future travel with my past travels via my weekly Wanderlust Inspiration below …
I hope you all have a productive end of your week and a Happy Halloween. We are letting the boys trick or treat this year, but plan to scale back to only visit houses that are giving out candy outside. I have already been told three times this morning that Halloween is in three days, so it is fair to say that my little Spider Men are ready for the big day!
Keep dreaming,
