[00:00:13] Steph Lee: You are listening to Travel Agent Chatter Volume 33. Travel Agent Chatter is an audio series produced by the team here at Host Agency reviews each and every quarter, and sometimes they're late like this quarter. So thank you for your patience.

Now, today we are diving into one of the most uniquely branded agencies that I have ever come across.

Picture this, a black tent. With Gold Dragons, a white Jeep with fantasy branding, dragon on the hood, driving to Renaissance fairs, and an entrepreneur who has turned his Lord of the Rings obsession into a thriving business.

 Our guest went full-time after his military retirement, and he chose a business name by surveying his Dungeons and Dragons community, he has almost hit double digits, New Zealand Lord of the Rings themed trips within just 20 months of getting started.

And during that time, he's also mastered or is working on mastering the art of vendor events. He has turned $35 investments into multiple five figure bookings, and he has built some key partnerships with companies with the same clientele as him, like Mapmakers and IV therapy business. But here's what I love most about Rocky's story.

So he's not just building a travel agency, he is building a fantasy travel empire with dreams of brick and mortar shops in downtown areas across the country. So keep your eye out for those. Today you're gonna walk away with concrete steps to find new ways to market at vendor events, and to find the best vendor events for you.

You're gonna learn about partnership development, community building, and the courage to brand fearlessly around your passion. Now a quick note on the HAR news front. If you loved host week, boy do we ever have exciting news for you? Mark your calendars for October 14th through the 17th for HAR's Inaugural Tech Week / HAR*Wired.

Um, please add clapping like people are really excited for the audio person. That's right with our new travel agency tech profiles and the reviews on our site, we thought it would be the perfect time to put on a virtual event that is gonna have software demos, it's gonna have education focused on the tech that you need to run your agency.

And of course, as always, we will be throwing in some harsh shenanigans as well. And if you have never heard of Host Week when I mentioned it, well now you have. So it is our annual event the last week in January. Every year it's full of education host and consortia interviews, and loads and loads of fun.

Both events are free, so make sure that you follow the link in the show notes to register for both. Tech Week and Host week. You can find that by going to host agency reviews.com/tac and clicking on episode 33.

Alright, it is time for you to grab your favorite fantasy novel, a notebook for all the great information and let's get onto the show!

[00:00:54] Intro

[00:00:54] Steph Lee: Welcome back Travel Entrepreneurs. I am Steph Lee, the founder of Host Agency Reviews, and I'm so glad you're here with me today. I am beyond excited about today's guest, who is Rocky D'Amico, the founder of Flights and Fables Friends. His agency is branding done right now. Rocky pretty much went full-time from day one after he went on a life-changing trip.

Bucket list trip to New Zealand. That sparked his aha moment. I want to start a travel agency, but this just isn't a. Another niche story, although it's that as well, it is a masterclass in building a brand that people cannot ignore even if they want to, because it's not every day, at least for me, that you see a travel advisor dressed as a wizard, setting up a booth where those lucky enough to sign up for his newsletter list, get to do so with a Harry Potter wand.

It just doesn't happen!

So Flights and Fables is close to selling double digit lord of the Ring theme trips to New Zealand, uh, he has expanded into anime slash samurai slash Japan travel, and he has started to set up and booking his first escorted group trips. And all of this is in just under 20 months.

Another thing to mention is his vendor event strategy alone has generated multiple five figure bookings from investments as low as $35.

Now, there have been some flops in there too, and we'll talk about those and how you can avoid those and make sure that the events that you're going to work best for your agency.

But Rocky's approach to partnerships, networking and community building has something that every entrepreneur can borrow or steal. So we're talking about his Chamber of Commerce connections that led to four different media articles about him and his agency. To the creative partnerships that he's formed with people that have similar or the same audience, things like mapmakers or the IV therapy business that helps people with jet lag, to the New Zealand destination photographer.

And we also hear about how he found a mentor to advise as his travel business grew. So whether you're looking for information on niche development, we've got that.

If you wanna know what fearless branding looks like. Or just wanna see Rocky dressed as a wizard. We've got that for you.

Or if you need ideas for finding clients through in-person events, because that's where you excel, we've got that.

This episode is really gonna knock your socks off. Plus we get to stick around and hear about Rocky's big dreams for brick and mortar or storefront fantasy travel shops in downtown areas across the country.

All of the links and resources from today's show can be found in the show notes, which you can find by going to host agency reviews.com/tac and clicking on episode 33.

Now today's roadmap is:

• We're gonna talk about beginnings. How did Rocky get started?
• We're gonna talk about how he decided to go full-time.
• Then we'll talk about client acquisitions, the psychology of entrepreneurship, and what to do when you make those mistakes.
• We'll talk about the partnerships and media.
• We'll talk about how he plans to scale and how he is scaling, and then we'll wrap things up with our usual last segment, which is indispensable.

So Rocky, welcome to Travel Agent Chatter.

Beginnings

[00:04:35] Rocky Dimico: Hi. Thank you for having me.

[00:04:37] Steph Lee: Oh, so excited to have you here. I hope those of you that are listening on audio have time to drop by our YouTube channel, or going to host agency reviews.com/tac and clicking on episode 33, 'cause Rocky's got a really fun background.

Um, and it kind of goes with the whole theme we're gonna be talking about. So I don't, I want, I wanna jump right in 'cause we've got a lot to talk about today. So let's paint a picture of your background for everybody who hasn't had the pleasure of meeting you. Um, and I wanna talk about how that kind of played into where you are today, the owner of Flights and Fables.

So go ahead and tell me where your love of travel started and how you ended up going from the military into travel advising.

[00:05:21] Rocky Dimico: Cool. Awesome. Yeah, thanks for asking. Uh, it's, it started with, you know, growing up in a military family. Um, my dad was a Marine, my mom was a Marine for a little bit. Um, from an early age, we just traveled.

We, we started out, you know. Different parts of the country. But then very quickly, uh, I was going to elementary school in, in Yemen. So now Yemen back when it was, you know, north and South Yemen before they were unified. Um, and then from there we went to Helsinki, Finland for a couple years. And so I did some more education, some more my early on years there.

Um, like I tell a lot of people, like my first beach experience was the Red Sea, you know, and my first time seeing animals in real life was on safari in Kenya. My, 'cause my dad made sure that like, we weren't just gonna be stationed there, we were gonna be out experiencing things. So, you know, traveling through Europe, traveling through, you know, Africa and in the Middle East, um, when we lived there, you get back to the states and, you know, the first time you go to a zoo after having been on safari, you're like, this is kind of, is a, a little bit of a letdown.

And, uh, so I, you know, we moved all over the place. We ended up settling down. My dad retired in, in Washington state and so. Two short years later, I graduated from high school and I was like, I too am going to go this route. And I decided to join the Army instead. And before I knew it, I was already in Germany, um, all throughout the Middle East.

Uh, I was stationed in Europe for quite a bit of my time, so I've got to go a number of places in Europe. And that's where I think the bug really took off a little bit was you'd get a lot of four day weekends there. And so you would just kind of use, uh, different apps. And a lot of my, a lot of the people who I I served with were like, Hey, just find out where, where Rocky's going this weekend 'cause he always knows the hot spot to go. So you, through the past, you're in, you're in Prague, you're in wherever. Um, and I was always somewhere different every weekend that we had off. Um, and that kind of led to it. And then I moved, you know, we had to unfortunately had to come back. I didn't wanna leave Italy, but, uh, we left Italy and had to come back to the States.

And so I, I ended up retiring where my dad did in Washington State. I got out and, and worked for the State of Washington for a few years as a diversity consultant. And then I saw an amazing deal come across, you know, my, my Google searches and it was like cheap flight best we've ever seen from Seattle to, to New Zealand.

And I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan. New Zealand's always been at the top of my bucket list. And I said, you know what, I'm gonna go on this. And so I went on the trip, got to New Zealand, and I was driving the north and south island. And I remember this moment on the South island where I was like, just taking in the Remarkables and, and Queenstown in itself.

And I said, I have to do this for a living. Like I have to share this with people. I have to help people understand like all this stuff exists, um, in the world. And so I got back home called up some friends, uh, who were travel agents or one friend in particular from high school who was a travel agent. Um, she gave me some great advice and, and then from there, I, I did the Google search.

Um, you know, how do you become a travel agent? You know, what, what is all the steps? And then, uh, and that's how I stumbled upon host agency reviews. And, and I looked at the course long and hard and I said, you know what? If you're gonna take this seriously, you know, what's a couple, you know, what's a little bit of money to put into this?

If you're gonna invest in this, if you're gonna be serious about this, invest this money into this course. And like I tell everybody, it's the best, you know, best money I've invested into my business to this date. And I, and I say I put a lot of money into a lot of different things here and there, but that was by far the best money because it walked me through the steps of opening a business, a travel related business, how to, you know, develop your niche, how to develop all these, I mean, you, you look at everything.

I mean, like, I have a very unique niche. Um, I feel I've got the right host agency. Um, I feel like my financials and my, everything has been set up correctly from the start. So. That was kind of my journey from growing up as a kid who traveled a lot and par, you know, whose parents made sure that I got to see the world, you know, um, to doing it myself and then just, you know, cultivating that love, you know, just right when I got there I was like, this is, this is it.

This is what I want to do.

[00:09:45] Steph Lee: That's so amazing. I love it. Um, so I have a off topic ish question, but how did your marine parents feel when you went to the Army?

[00:09:56] Rocky Dimico: So, my dad, he gives me, he gave me a hard time, but he had said to me early on, he said, the Marine Corps for people who have something to prove to themselves.

He's like, you know what you wanna do? He's like, you are, he's like, the Marines will kind of put you into a, you know, you gotta kind of find your way in the Marine Corps. He is like, but with the Army, he's like, you know exactly what you wanna do. He's like, you wanna jump out of airplanes? He's like, you want to do all this stuff?

He's like, you know exactly what you wanna do. He's like, so go for that. He's like, don't take a chance, go for that. And of course, you know, there was always gonna be the inner service rivalry. Uh, my own daughter, uh, just left, you know, she's joined the Navy about six months ago, and so she's in a different branch.

And so it's a weird, it's a weird dynamic. Um, but it's, it is what it is.

[00:10:40] Steph Lee: It's hysterical. 'cause um, a good friend of our downstairs neighbor went into the Marines like a, a year ago, and in case I ever forget, which I never do, every once in a while I'll hear like, hooah downstairs and I'm just like, uh, Nico, you, you know, there's no Marines around here, right?

Are you just down there chatting with yourself? What's going on? So I've been learning a lot about the Marines lately, uh, which is very exciting.

[00:11:09] Rocky Dimico: Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

[00:11:11] Steph Lee: Um, okay. So one of the things that I really loved when we chatted, so. Rocky took our course and I'm a big sci-fi and fantasy reader as well.

And so I, Rocky was like, Flights and Fables. This is what I'm gonna specialize. I was like, OMG, I'm so excited. And so we chatted, but, um, I, I think it was really interesting because the way you, I mean, you followed the course and kind of the suggestions about niche and the name, but you said the name that you had originally kind of thought, uh, or leaned towards when you put it out there to your friends and family.

They weren't like, they weren't on the same page as you. So tell us a little more.

[00:11:52] Rocky Dimico: So going through the, kind of the whole naming convention thing and, and taking the advice of like, you know, X amount of characters so that people don't misspell things. But in my mind, in my first thought it was Imagination Expeditions.

This is where I was gonna go. And I, and, and I thought that, but. You know, through the course, they, you know, there's that part where they talk about, you know, get the feedback from people you know, does it match this criteria? Is it easy to remember? Is it, you know, and all the different criteria they have.

Um, so I said, you know what? I'm gonna run some different names. I'm gonna, you know, use some generators and run some different names. Um, so of course I went to the people I was going after. So I went to friends I knew who played Dungeons and Dragons, who, who were heavy gamers, very into Lord of the Rings.

I mean, I think one of the neighbors I I gave it to had a, you know, the, you know, speak friend and enter Lord of the Rings math, um, going into their doorway, uh, Harry Potter fans, and then also people who weren't into that because I wanted it to also be relatable to people who weren't into that. So we did the jot form and I sent it out to everybody and, and I said, share it with your friends.

And we got quite a bit of feedback 'cause they said it to all their communities. So, nice and surprisingly, egg Imagination Expeditions came in second. It was, it was a good name, but it was. Handedly defeated by flights and fables, which I was shocked with. So I repeated, I rinsed and repeated with the logo.

So I went in and decided to let me develop a couple different logo ideas and, and I knew I wanted like dragons or castles or something in the logo. Um, so I did the same thing and then I sent it out and I said, you know, I sent the, the jot form back out. I was like, well, this was the name that Juan, thanks to you all.

I was like, but now with that being said, take a look at this logo and which logo do you think would best fit a business. And then I gave kind of the criteria of what we were going after. You know, these are the types of trips we wanna plan, you know, but also being a travel agency, first and foremost, which of these would go?

And that's how, you know, this logo, uh, came to be. And I put it on everything. And so, you know, I mean, it's literally on like, you know, my travel mug, ev it's, uh, it's all about brand. It, I think you're on mute, Steph.

[00:14:01] Steph Lee: Thanks. I had the, I had the dogs going by. I had to mute myself. So, um, Rocky has an incredibly strong brand, so I would encourage those you that are listening to the actual podcast to stop by the site and check it out. Like black and gold, they're kind of the main colors. There's a dragon and the, the writing is very kind of old English, uh, Lord of the Rings esque.

So it, it very much tells the story right when you look at it.

Yeah. Um, okay. Let's move into something that you did that's kind of unique.

[00:14:34] Fees and Full Time from the Get Go!

[00:14:34] Steph Lee: So not that many new travel advisors that are out there choose to go full-time right away, or I should say are able to like it. You know, it's a little bit of a luxury.

You have to have either a second income that you can live off or be able to have some kind of income coming in to help you through the first couple years. So you went from day one from full-time, um. And you gave up your six figure job at the state of Washington to kind of go on, start this agency that you didn't know if it was gonna work or anything like that.

Um, but you committed fully to building the business. So talk us, talk with us about like, your decision process, um, and why you decided to go full-time, who you think it's good for. Like any risks, any pros and cons to it, that sort of thing.

[00:15:24] Rocky Dimico: Yeah. Um, so I think it, it is, you know, one, I I I will be the first to say I was blessed with having a retirement that I came in from.

And again, disability from the army, it gave me enough income to sustain myself. I knew I, you know, um, I knew kind of the risks going into this risk of, you know, losing the, the income that I had and I was growing accustomed to for, you know, the years I was working at the state.

[00:15:50] Steph Lee: Mm-hmm.

[00:15:51] Rocky Dimico: Um, but I was. You know, you get that entrepreneur bug, you go through the trainings, you go through stuff and you kind of realize, like you, you know, one, I, I knew I was kind of destined to be an entrepreneur.

Two, I knew I was passionate about travel, so putting the two together kind of worked perfectly for me. But I, you know, having that ability to, to have that income, having, you know, a spouse who has a good job, you know, and makes enough money, um, allowed me to really say, you know what, if I'm gonna go into this, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go all in.

And, and I was confident enough in myself. I knew I had, I, I just know the niche is going to eventually be super successful. Um, I know that I feel confident enough with my education and my background and, and my people skills to be able to sell travel. Like, I know I can sell travel. I do have things to learn like everybody else.

I still need to learn the art of closing the sale. I still need to learn how to, to, to close a deal. Um, maybe not be so. Filter list, I guess, sometimes. And, and, and remember to sell that, that trip. Um, but I had lot to learn, but I was supremely competent in my abilities to, to make a business be successful.

Um, and so I took the dive. I said, you know, I wanted to be able to devote everything to this business because, you know, it's the same thing for, it's not the same thing as other individuals who do it, but like, people who put them themselves into their restaurant, to their, to their, you know, office or, or whatever, that they, you have to kind of commit to it sometimes.

And I think it allowed me to do the, the trainings and stuff. Mm-hmm. One thing I was, you know, luckily for me, like I, I did start the business officially with the LLC in September of 2023. Um, but what I did do was I was still working for a few months, um, before we relocated to North Carolina from Washington State.

We relocated to North Carolina. And so in that time while I still was working, I would get off work in the evenings and I was doing supplier trainings. I was learning everything about my host, learning everything about, um, bookings. I was practicing bookings, I was running through software and learning and stuff.

Um, and so I took all that and then I did, you know, I said, I'm gonna make this jump. So I had a few months and I did the official launch in November of 2023. So I had a couple months in the background of building things, learning, trying to get, you know, and then there was that time in November, I said, well, you know, this is getting around the time when people start wanting to talk about travel.

And they get around their families and they get around and they're interested in travel. I was like, this is the time to launch. And so then I went in and launched. Um, and it's been a blessing, but you know, again, I, I think for the people it's for is people who have. A, a, a partner who has, you know, income or if you are retired and you have the ability to have a, a, an income coming in, um, to go full-time.

I, I think, you know, or if you have the ability to, you know, you have an, you know, an economy and, and a, and a, and a part-time job that would allow you to do this full-time. But I, I think everyone sees the same numbers that we all see from, you know, the host agency review report that comes out every year about, you know, salaries and things like this and how much we make it, it, it's, you know, even with a great niche, even with I think a sense of business, it still takes that time to build.

Yep. And so I think you have to have that. Um, like the advice that my friend who who helped me get into the industry was, you know, put a little credit card debt down if you're not afraid, if you're, if you're, you're successful enough, put a little credit card debt down. Um, I cashed out my, my retirement from the state of Washington.

I took what little bit I'd earned in five years. I cashed it all out and I, um. And I put it onto the business, you know, to all my branding into all my logos, into my software. So I, I, you know what, uh, minus what the army gives me for the rest of my life, I have no other money sitting there saved anymore.

Like I took every last penny I had and I applied it to my business. And I think I see it's paying off, but, you know, I just, you know, that's who I think it would be best for is individuals who have that ability to do that. But it's amazing the amount of part-time advisors who are now my mentors who went from part-time to full-time.

Um, people I see in on Facebook who just recently retired from their job or told their job that they're done because they now make enough money doing their business to do it full-time. So I love watching that. It's such a great, me too Rocky.

[00:20:18] Steph Lee: I, whenever I, like when someone switches, is able to switch and able to quit their full-time job, like, I'm always like, my heart is so happy for them because it's such an accomplishment to be able to do that.

Uh, and. It. Yeah, it's as an entrepreneur to be able to go full-time and to be like, yeah, my business has made it. We've all heard the kind of dismal stats on how many, not just agencies, but small business in general don't make it. And to say that you've built yours up to one that can provide a stable income for you and your family is huge.

Yeah. Um, let's see. So one of the other things that you did from the very beginning, so for new advisors, deciding to go full-time and part-time is tricky. One of the other things is this big question about fees and we cover both fees and kind of income and those reports Rocky mentioned earlier that we do annually.

So we're gonna link to those in the show notes. For those that aren't familiar, they are a wealth of information on what you can expect income wise, what people are charging for fees, how much they're charging, what type of travel they're charging for fees. So it really helps make you more confident in your decisions.

I think. Is one of the biggest values, at least for me as an entrepreneur, it would just make me be like, okay, other advisors are charging around $200. I'm not out of the ballpark here. And um, so Rock, you decided day one again, you are gonna charge fees. So talk with us about why you decided that. And I know you've a couple times strayed from that.

And then maybe tell us the stories, the lessons learned when you strayed from it.

[00:21:54] Rocky Dimico: Yeah, I mean, it, it was funny 'cause I was listening, I think one of your podcasts I was in the gym working on, I was doing my, I had my podcast in and I was doing my walking like I do in the mornings. I, and I was, you know, kind of going through the information about fees and like, you know, what should you do?

And, and you know, I was like, I was like, you gotta start from the beginning. And, and I, and so when you talk, you know, when you listen to all the podcasts and you read all the things you're like. There is a big disparity between who wants to charge fees and who doesn't. And again, like in a perfect world, I would rather not, but I feel like there is a value and a worth to it.

And so that's what I kept hearing from everybody's, like, it allows for you to get paid what you're worth. And I was like, if I do it from the start, I don't have to surprise anybody later on down the line when I go ahead and say, Hey, I'm gonna start charging fees. Um, and like you, you, you alluded to, like, I definitely got burned early on with it.

So when I did it, I, I said, I'm gonna, I'm gonna set up fees. Um, and I tried to come up with something a little bit whimsical. You know, I, I came up with three different tiers because I felt like with this being a very unique niche that doesn't have a lot of, there's not a lot of product out there, so you have to do a lot of this on your own to build it.

And I say, so I need to be able to compensate myself for my time if I build all this, if I build all this, these fees. Um, and so I said, you know. What do I think I'm worth? I'm like, well, for a one to seven days, you know, it should only be a hundred dollars for a person, and we're gonna call that a, an excursion.

It's just, you know, quick. And then I was like, for, you know, eight to 14 days, if I'm working on someone's two week trip, that's gonna take a lot more time and energy. So I was like, let's just do a flat fee of $200. Um, and then, you know, I called that one a journey and then I said, you know, the third one, we'll call it an expedition.

Um, and that's for, you know, uh, 15 to 21 days. And then I put on my website, I said, you know, anything beyond 21 days, let's, let's sit down and have a talk. Um, mm-hmm. And again, I, I'd be very inclusive with the pricing. It's, it's, you, you know, I put on there like six people I think is what I consider a family, you know, as family unit.

But again, it, it's, it's whoever comes to me, it's, I'm not, it's mostly to hold people true to, to booking with me. What I learned early on though, is I was like, some people would come to me and I would offer like a military discount. I wouldn't charge a fee, um, or. You know, I just was super nice and just decided, I, you know, I was like, oh, I'm just, I'm gonna throw this in there for free.

And all of those, I got burned on. Um, they, I did all their planning. Uh, one individual wanted to go to Iceland. I built their whole trip for Iceland. And, um, all also, I didn't hear from 'em anymore. And then I saw Facebook photos, uh, months later from this person. I, I didn't know them, but I'd seen them post in a similar group that I had been a member of, which is how I found them or how they found me.

And, uh, you know, I see them in Iceland enjoying what I imagined was a trip that I had built for them. Um, and, and I've had other people who've, um, I built the trip for, they paid my, paid my planning fee, and they didn't, um, they didn't end up booking with me, but they, I did and I built their itinerary. And I'm like, well, at least my work didn't go for nothing.

At least like, and, and they found better deals than what I could offer. And I, and I completely understand that I, I'm not here to try and. Rip anybody off. So if they found it cheaper than what I could provide for them, but they still paid my planning fee. I, my work was compensated. Um, the third one I always find funny was I got an inquiry form.

I had back to back calls one night for a discovery call and one, one, um, younger, younger, uh, lady and her friends, you know, 21st birthday party, wanted to go to California. Very small budget, very small budget. Um, I told 'em my planning fee. They were like, okay, cool. We'll pay it for you, you know, for you. And, and we'll get started.

Um, immediately after I, I had the call, I had an individual, I think their budget was somewhere 14 to 21,000, you know, 14, 10 to 14 day trip to, to, you know, a couple countries in, in Europe. Um, pretty, pretty easy. I mean, it would probably have some logistics, but it didn't seem like anything very hard. It was the major ones, you know, I think it was Rome, Paris, and London, you know, very easily connected.

I told him at the end of the call that I had a planning fee and, and he said, oh. You know, so-and-so down the street doesn't have it. I'll, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna go with them. And so, you know, who doesn't charge a claim fee? So I thought it was interesting that someone who had a very limited, you know, $5,000 budget, $3,000 budget, I think was willing to pay a hundred dollars for they saw the worth in me.

And then you turn around and someone else who had a 14 to 21,000 budget didn't see enough to pay a $200 planning fee. So I said, and it's kind of just solidified and, and just made me feel good about my decision to, to kind of stick with my planning fees.

[00:26:40] Steph Lee: Yeah. You, I feel like those anecdotes bring up two really important points for me is like, one, you just never know who you're dealing with, what you know, like, don't judge a book by its cover.

Um, and then two that, um, with those, those planning fees, they're really, uh, 'cause I, I liked when we chatted prior to this and we were talking about the people that ended up booking, you know, they found it for X amount cheaper. People are on budgets, and that's a reality. And so for me, I always think, you know, if, if I was selling travel and I had a client and they weren't able, um, you know, they could save a thousand dollars going somewhere else, I'm not gonna hold anything against them if they go there, especially when you charge a planning fee.

And I think that's part of it, is because of the structure of how travel agencies work, where you're not compensated until somebody books and then after they travel, this gives you the insurance that, um. Like, when I started HAR, one of the things I thought of is like, how much do I need to make so that not a lot is gonna ruffle my feathers?

Because my theory is if your feathers are getting ruffled a lot and you're getting irritated with your clients, like one, maybe this isn't the right job for you, but two, you need to kind of reevaluate and figure out what do I need to do to make this so that I don't feel like I've wasted my time and I'm not upset with people because I, I always feel like it's kind of a sign when you're getting upset with your clients all the time that something isn't set up where you're not feeling like people are appreciating you.

[00:28:18] Rocky Dimico: Yeah. My biggest sale to date, um, you know, they actually just got back, but it was funny. They met me and I know we'll talk about vendor events at a point, but like, they met me at an event last year, early last year, I think it was April last year, 2024. They met me, went into a booking, paid my planning. We were going to book them for that July, August.

But things came up and I, and I kept, you know, you know, trying to like slowly nudge 'em and say, Hey, you know, you paid this planning fee. Like, I, I just, I know you wanna travel at some point. And finally I sent him a email in January, you know, I revisited and said, Hey, it's been a while since we talked, you know, I was like, there's really great deals going to Scotland and in the UK for like Harry Potter $30,000 later, you know, on a, on a trip.

You know, I mean, 'cause you knew that he had paid for it, you know? Yep. So you knew that this client wanted to go. Um, but it's kind of one of those things, like, it, it lets you know, like when you're engaging someone, like if they're, if they're how much time you're gonna devote. 'cause you know, as we all know, time is money.

As you start getting busier and busier and you have to know when you're gonna devote energy and effort to these individuals who aren't responding back to you, and you're like, I've got all these other people on my list. Yeah. But if they paid the planning fee, you're like, well, they paid, so they're invested.

So I know that they're, they're in this with me. Like they don't take $200 lightly.

[00:29:35] Steph Lee: Yep.

[00:29:35] Rocky Dimico: What they do, we need to talk more, but, um, but like, yeah, so it helps me prioritize and like, all clients are important to me, but if you've paid my planning fee, I know where that you are committed to this as much as I am.

And you know, here, I'm gonna keep checking in with you to, till we get that perfect itinerary bill.

[00:29:52] Steph Lee: Oh, it's so true. You know, I, this is just an aside, uh, but I always feel like, so when I'm giving away things at the house or something, like for me it's sometimes I'm just like, oh, I don't wanna post it up somewhere for like $15 or $10.

Like, it's not worth my time. I just want it gone. Um, but I found whenever I offer something for free that, you know, it takes a thousand times longer because so many people drop out. They'll be like, yeah, well come, you know, this evening, and then they never get back to you or. There's definitely something about charging people that makes them so they've got a lot more skin in the game and take things more seriously.

[00:30:33] Client Acquisition

[00:30:33] Steph Lee: Well, let's start, we're gonna move into the next section that I wanna talk about, which is client acquisition. Something you do incredibly well. So a lot of agents really struggle, especially as they're starting out with this, finding new clients. But you have really, um, and one of the things I love about Travel Agent Chatter is that we get to talk to advisors from all walks of life and everybody does it differently.

I always get, uh, the reason at Har we only have the seven day setup course, like on how to start up your agency is because that's very factual and like, this is how you do it and you should follow this kind of step-by-step process. But after that, I feel like there's so much creativity for how you want to build and run your business, and that's what's really exciting about it.

And so. You have chosen, you know, some people find newsletters or social media works really well for them, or public speaking gigs, but you've really focused in on vendor events, which I don't think we've interviewed someone that has before. And so by vendor events we kind of mean like, you know, the, the local gardening show or, um, comic Con or things like that where you see like there's a vendor booth and then someone would have their travel agency at like a honeymoon and destination wedding event or something.

So you don't just show up at these random events. So how do you decide which events to go to and, um, if they're kind of worth your time and money. So maybe you can talk about some of the experiences you've had.

[00:32:03] Rocky Dimico: Yeah, absolutely. Um, I mean, again, having that beautiful niche of knowing like. We who, you know, it comes down to like, again, when you're getting into the business and you have to identify like, who is your client?

Like, who are you going after? I think that's like the first and foremost thing is like you have to develop what we always call the client avatars and things like this. So I have my avatars built. I know who I'm looking for. I know their age, demographics. I know where I should be.

[00:32:27] Steph Lee: Tell us about them. Who are your, who's your avatar?

[00:32:31] Rocky Dimico: Well, I mean, the main one is, I call them the, the, the fantasy traveler. Mm-hmm. And they're usually between 30 and 50 years old. Um, they re, you know, they're heavily into Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter Game of Thrones. Uh, they play Dungeons and Dragons, or they have some type of magic. The gathering. I mean, there's a number of different things we know to find them at comic bookstores, at game stores.

Um, in libraries, uh, and then we start looking at what kind of events. And so that kind of like narrows down, where do these people go? And so, you know, you start getting into Facebook pages of like, vendor events and you find, so obviously the first one that comes to mind for anybody who's into this thing is, you know, you, your first thing you're thinking is Comic-Con.

You know, like this is, they become more than just about comic books. They've become, you know, thanks to the San Diego Comic-Con, they've become premier events for releasing, um, new movies and new, you know, books and, and, and, and everything. And so those are the people you're going after, especially in this niche.

We're going after those type of people who like those types of things. So that's the first thing you start looking at is like, okay, where are the local comic cons? Um, you know, what are they gonna do? Uh, then you find kind of like you start attending different ones that, and then those people will be like, oh, you should really check out this one.

So like, a prime example was. You know, we talk about good and bad. I did the Fayetteville Comic-Con, uh, here in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Not very good return on investment. We spent a lot of money for it. It wasn't very good. We turned around and did a local one for a library. It was called the Lee County Library, LCL Pop Con.

It was just a pop con. Um, I paid $35 for that. I had sweet double the email subscribers. I booked three trips off of that, whereas I booked no one off of the other one. Um, and so for $35 versus I think it was 250 for the Fayetteville Comic Con versus $35 for this Pop Con, and I've already booked three trips and I've got a fourth one coming up.

Um, you, it's just, it's, you know, like, it's just finding that, and you've gotta kind of tweak 'em and, and, and again, learning where everyone's at. So in that event, you know, I learned about Geek and Grub, and that's a local one in Raleigh, North Carolina, where they do a lot of. Um, themed events each month where it's fantasy travel or fantasy one month, and it was anime another month and Pride one month and wizarding the next month and book nerds the next month.

And so they have tons of these. Halloween is a big one. They do. Um, so they have 'em themed and you go to that and they're, and you meet people there and they're like, oh, you should go to this other one called Festival of Legends in Holly Springs, which is where a lot of people with, you know, a lot of good income reside.

Mm-hmm. And so then you expand to that one. And so before you know it, you've got all these, you're going to all these events. Uh, Fayetteville does this, they do these fourth Fridays, but twice a year they do one called the Nerd Market. And so again, you're thinking, this is my demographic, these are the people I'm going after.

I'm of course going to pay $60 to go to a nerd market. On a, where other vendors who are selling similar products, you know, comics and cards and uh, fantasy themed and related to items. We all go and we all sell the stuff, but you're being kind of one of the first in that. Um, mm-hmm. And then one of the big ones was, you know, I'm Italian American and I lived in Italy, Italy for a long time, so I obviously have no problem selling Italy.

So I do sell a, a lot of Italy. Um, and so I reached out to one called Festa Tana, which was a, you know, probably about a, I think it's a $250 commitment for that one. Um, but 15,000 people showed up for that one. Wow. Including a person who saw me at that one and said, Hey, you know, we would love someone who sells Europe to come and go to our Christmas markets, to sell Christmas markets.

Um, and so that's what I started realizing is like, if you have a niche, if you have a, a particular region you sell to, that's where you should be going. I've always said like the same thing with like interviews when I was interviewing for jobs, when I got outta the. My resume. If I can get my, if I can get my resume through to you to where I can speak in person, I can sell myself on you.

It's the same thing. I think with travels, I'm confident enough in the way that I am passionate about what I sell, that I can sell you on travel. I just need to get you in front of me. Social media, you know, I'm not the best at knowing what's the right wording to put in a social media post or how to gain someone's attention.

Um, you know, flyers, all the things I put out, they, they, they hit or miss. But when I'm at an event and I have my pop-up banner and my wife and I watch it, every time we're at the, with these events, my pop-up banner has a big hobbit hole on the front of it, and people walk by my bed, my tent with no pay, me no mind whatsoever, but they will see that hobbit hole.

And they will stop and we will count down. Like here they come, three, two, and they walk back and say, Hey, tell us more about this. Tell us what you do. And that's all I need. I just need the invitation to open up to them, say, Hey, this is what we do. And people usually are like, I've never heard of this. I didn't know that this is a thing.

And I was like, well, it's something I'm developing. It is a thing. Now I've, you know, I and others have created this and we've done similar things and, and I, and I go through with it, but I sell myself. I feel, I feel like I'm passionate about this type of travel that I can sell people on it when I'm in person, and that's where I'm strong.

Um, you know, I, I, I think for people who sell, like, you know, all inclusive, like if there's a, if there's a Caribbean fest or if there's a, you know, any type of these small vendor events, I think if you, if you're not paying a lot of money, it's worth it, you know? Yeah.

[00:38:15] Steph Lee: Um.

[00:38:16] Rocky Dimico: I use my ROIs on my new email newsletter, and I know this is something we didn't talk about in the last one, but my newsletter, you know, I took a lot of courses and they said, you know, I didn't take my newsletter serious in the beginning.

Um, and I had just left at like seven people. Now I'm up to like 240 people out and I'm still trying to grow it at each of these events. That's how I determined how successful my event is, is how many email subscribers I got based upon how much I paid for the, for the, the vendor event. Well, I did a Christmas market.

I'm doing a Christmas market river cruise next year, and within 30 minutes of my email going out to the subscriber list, I already had three, and I think I have a fourth one setting up a meeting with me to talk about going on this river cruise and all off of my email subscriber list. Mm-hmm. So, I mean, in river we all know river cruises are pretty good with the, with, you know, your commission, so that could be a huge selling point.

And so the ROI stacks of you pay X amount of dollars, you get yourself in front of, you know. 14,000 people, 8,000 people, 6,000 people. You get so many people to subscribe to your newsletter, which means you are gonna keep coming into their inbox every so often, once a month, twice a month. Um, and then you book the trip off that.

So it's just understanding, like it's a process. It's, you gotta give it time. No one walks into my booth 99% of the time saying, Hey, I'm ready to book a trip today. But if I can stay in front of them, if I can get in their mind, then maybe, you know, I'll get them six months down the road. Like I've said in a couple of these examples, I've gotten them a few months down the road, which is what matters in the end.

[00:39:48] Steph Lee: Mm-hmm. The, so a couple things stick out to me when you're telling and talking about this. One is you have a way of measuring the return on the investment or the ROI, instead of just being like, I'm gonna go to this show. We'll see no one calls within six months. It just isn't worth it for me. You know, the, the newsletter list is something that's very tangible.

It allows you to stay connected with people. We all know that it's a long sales cycle. In most cases for travel. And so getting these names now that they're interested enough to sign up with it, um, you know, within two years, if you're not getting anything from that list, maybe it wasn't very good, but you should always wait a little bit.

The other thing is talking about your pull up banner. That's super exciting because I know you talked when we were earlier speaking that you really invested in the booth because you're gonna be doing all these vendors events and having booths. And so can you describe, you've got this pull up banner with this hobbit hole on it.

Um, what else do you have that makes your booth kind of pop amongst all the others?

[00:40:53] Rocky Dimico: Well, I, I spent the money, so when I said I pulled my money outta my retirement and I, and I put it into the business, one of the things I said I, I wanted was this booth setup. So I did the, the tablecloth with the logo on the front so it, it drapes over.

Um, and of course my crown jam is my tent. You know, I have a, I have a standard tent by tent tent, but I went to a local company, and again, this is a thing that, um, I have a strong believer in is, is keeping everything local. You can go to these major companies, these major corporations, they're not buying travel off of you.

Mm-hmm. But if you go to, you know, Susan's printing down the street, she might use you for something later on. You know, when she's ready to travel, she write, you know, you gave her business, she might give you business. The large companies who I won't name are not going to probably give you business, but keeping things local in the community does.

And so I went to a local print shop in the community. They did my banner, they did my tablecloth, but they did my tent, which is an all black tent with my low, my website, you know, on the, on the, the little flaps that come down. But on the top is this giant dragon with my, with flights and fables on it, on all four sides.

And there's been a number of times I've been at. Places and people would come up and say, I, I saw you from the parking lot. You know, I saw you. I had to come see if this was what I thought it was. If this was a fantasy travel agency or a, you know, whatever they wanted to call it. And they would see it from the parking lot.

So a lot of people go and buy what they can buy and again, big, you know, do what you gotta do to get out to the event events. But I knew from the start I wanted to invest in this. Um, and I wanted to invest because I knew I was gonna be in a lot of vendor events. I knew that's where my strong point was at.

So I invested heavily. I'd say, you know. About a thousand dollars is what I put into this entire setup. 'cause the tent was the most expensive. It was.

[00:42:34] Steph Lee: Mm-hmm.

[00:42:35] Rocky Dimico: To get it custom made, it was about 800 to $900. And then the popup banner and the tablecloth were not that bad. They were, they were relatively cheap.

Um, but I have my flyers out. I, I have my little flyers that I have, which I call my trip inspiration flyers.

[00:42:48] Steph Lee: Oh, hold on. I'm gonna pull them up. While for those that are watching the YouTube video, you'll be able to see it. For those that are listening, you're gonna have to go to our website and, and check out the landing page.

So go ahead. I'm gonna pull it out while you're chatting. Yeah.

[00:43:01] Rocky Dimico: And so they're just little fun flyers of like, giving people inspiration of where they can go. 'cause they're not set trips. It's like, do you want go to a Lord of the Rings, you know, inspired trip in New Zealand. Like, here's what it could look like.

Here's some of the things we could book for you. You know, a Harry Potter themed trip in the, in the United Kingdom. Um, you, you know, I always do Vikings and vampires is, and everybody unfortunately gets a confused like it's Vikings and vampires. I'm like, no, it's. Just run outta space on these tables. So I just put Vikings and vampires the Double Vs together.

And, and, but I explained 'em, you know, you can go to the vi the vampires stuff in, in Romania. Um, you can do Vikings in Scandinavia. Um, yeah. And so I love just being able to like, give people this inspiration of like places they can go. Um, but yeah, so those sit on my table. I always try to have like little knickknacks that I pick up from other, I have a Harry Potter wand, um, for my signup list that people use.

Um, and as I go to these other events, I meet other vendors and I sell, you know, I'll grab little products from them and just kind of put 'em on the table. I bought, uh. Someone was selling a cute little knickknack of vampire teeth and a little bottle with like some cryptic writing on it. And I put that, I put that in front of my Vikings and vampires one just as a, as a fun prop just to get people excited, just to get them interested.

And you're selling another vendor's product, or you're getting a vendor's product, they're giving you your stuff back. Um, it's just that whole sense of community and networking that I do.

[00:44:34] Steph Lee: Yeah. That's fantastic. We'll put, um, kind of those inspirational flyers because they're visually delicious looking.

We'll, we'll put them up so everybody can take a look at them on, uh, the landing page. And then, um, you know, you also talked about the newsletter, how you've taken a lot of trainings. We did a couple during host week, we had a couple sessions on newsletters the last few years that I'll link to for people that wanna get their kind of wheels spinning a little bit more on how to better utilize their newsletters.

Um, okay. Let me see. I felt like there was something else with your booth, but now I can't remember it.

[00:45:14] Entrepreneur Mindset + Handling Mistakes

[00:45:14] Steph Lee: Um, all right, so let's kind of move in. We're gonna talk about, um, oh, you also said you did some sports events too. How did those work out?

[00:45:25] Rocky Dimico: I did. And so those were pretty petty those, so we have a local minor league affiliate team of the Houston Astros called the Fayetteville Woodpeckers Gorgeous Stadium.

Um, and we have a hockey team called the Fayetteville Marksmen. Um, very, very well turned out event, but every year they do a back to Hogwarts or a wizarding night that they call it, where they use themed jerseys and things, uh, themed products that they sell with the, the local team stuff with a very Harry Potter ish.

Um. You know, theming to everything. But, so I thought, you know, back to Hogwarts night, you know, I'm, I'm gonna go to this Fayetteville Woodpeckers and I'm gonna do this event. And it, it was well turned out. Um, it is the largest night. There was people waiting an hour and a half in line to get into this event.

The maximum capacities, I think about 6,000 people at these stadiums. So they're, they're very well turned out events. But, um, it was a good lesson learned in that people come to sporting events to check out sports or to get the merchandise or the memorabilia. Um, it, it, you know, in my mind, the, the, the niche matching with that, being able to be a vendor at these events, um, was, was a good idea.

But I, I learned through trial and error that it wasn't, and it was an expensive lesson, um, that mm-hmm. I'll say like, uh, it was an expensive lesson and I think the one thing I've taken from going forward is that we don't sign up for events randomly anymore. If we see something that we, like, we, we we're in the long game, we're gonna attend the event, and then we're gonna go and, and see what the event looks like, see who's walking around, what kind of, you know, crowd are they getting.

And then from there, say, okay, next year or when, as soon as the application's open, um, we're going to, we're going to sign up for this because people are, are, are kind of, um, timid to put a travel agent in there. A lot of times I've noticed a lot of events.

[00:47:22] Steph Lee: Interesting.

[00:47:23] Rocky Dimico: They are, they, they, they, there's a scams and other things that people are, they're, they're not looking for.

Um, MLMs. MLMs is basically what they tell me. A lot of times you'll see a lot of these events, like, we're not looking for MLMs, um, at these events. And so they'll tell you like, but you have to go in and explain yourself. And so I always go and talk to everybody and say, yeah, this is what I do. This is what I sell.

And that's what I'm going to, you know, this is why I feel like I'm a good fit for this. And usually they'll respond back like, absolutely we want you there. Especially for the fantasy themed ones.

[00:47:55] Steph Lee: Mm-hmm. That makes, for those that don't know what an MLM is, that's multi-level marketing pyramid schemes, we'll link to an article on it so you can learn a little bit more.

But, but talking about kind of these, you get some wins, you get some loses as you're starting out. Um, and you know, that's just kind of the journey of entrepreneurship. It's always kind of, you win some, you lose some. So let's talk about, um, there's a couple things about entrepreneurship I wanted to talk to, like you mentioned learning from your mistakes.

Um, and that there, there have been some expensive mistakes. Like for instance, when you were working with the DMC or destination management company where it was like a $12,000 trip and you had misunderstood how it works, so you only made something like $200. Can you tell us more on that?

[00:48:43] Rocky Dimico: Yeah. So it was, uh.

You know, I became, I, I got to, so the, the story behind it is, um, I went to New Zealand for a myself a meal, um, through the New Zealand Tourism Board and I was able to go and while I was on some tourism boards and some, you know, travel agent tourism boards, you know, people kept saying, for New Zealand, who do you, who do you, who do you use to sell?

And so I found ans and so I set up a meeting with them and I said, Hey, I'm gonna go over there and I wanna meet you all in person when I go on this trip. And so we set up a meeting, it was great. Um, I still love them as A DMC, they're still my favorite DMC, but it was my first time working with them. Um, I was still learning net commission.

You know, what, what is a net commission and what is commissionable rates and. I was learning all this. Um, and so I was sitting, I didn't ever think to put like, what commission I wanted to get back on this. So I, I said, well, here's my client's budget and here's what we've got. And, and it came back and when it was all said and done, it was like $12,000.

I was like, okay, well how much of that am I gonna get? And they're like, well, you didn't put, you know how much commission you wanted to get. You just said you wanted to spend this. And I had already promised this to my clients, like, this is all the things you're gonna get. Um, so in the long run, yeah, this $12,000 honeymoon, Lord of the Rings themed honeymoon, $12,000, I made about $258 off that trip.

Um, and, and it was a great lesson learned though. I mean, it, it was, you know, I think the one thing we all talk about is like. I don't look at it as a loss. I look at it as like, one, they were great clients and I, and I still talk to them to this day and they gave me an amazing review. So their trip was awesome.

My DMC was awesome, and I learned from my mistake on how to work with DMCs moving forward. Um, it was my first true time working with the DMC at this point, so I really learned a very good lesson. Um, but I got, I got great clients out of it. They had amazing honeymoon. Um, and I, I got a great review off it.

Those things, I think Trump, you know, the, the commission sometimes because when people go to my website or they go onto my page and they can see this glowing review from this client. You know, that's, that's worth it in the long run. Mm-hmm. But we don't do that anymore. We, we, we definitely make sure we get our markup on those types of things now that we know.

Um, but great lesson learned. I mean, it was, you know, I think it's just one of those things that I think every travel agent goes through as you have those lessons learned.

Mm-hmm.

[00:51:07] Steph Lee: Yes. Exactly. And one of the keys to being a successful entrepreneur, I feel like is having resilience because we all have made really stupid mistakes.

Uh, if anyone tells you they haven't, they're lying when they're talking about their business.

So, and, and one of the other things is it can be a little bit lonely when you're working from home, being your own boss. And I know you've kind of built out this community with, um, networking with other entrepreneurs, travel advisors, and outside the travel community, um, and that those communities are not just helping with new ideas and seeing things differently and making things, it less isolating being a home-based entrepreneur.

But you've also had like some partnerships that are come out of it and things like that. So maybe do you wanna talk about, let's have you chat on the Chamber of Commerce, how you've used that for networking, um, and learning from other entrepreneurs and what good things have come from that.

[00:52:05] Rocky Dimico: I mean, the Chamber of Commerce was so, you know, I was told, you know, from my dad who also opened his own business when he got outta the military was the Chamber of Commerce is super important to be a part of. I think the first and foremost thing is it, it offers validity that you're not. You're not just a run of the mill person who's doing this, you know that you've like, you're investing in the community and the community invests in you.

Um, and so it allows you opportunity to go to a number of different meetings to meet people, to showcase your business, to show and, and, and to kind of see like, well, okay, I didn't know you sell this. I mean, one example of a person I met at one of them is they, they do TSA pre-checks here locally. Like they're one of their side things that they do in their office is also TSA pre-check.

Okay, cool. Like, I can partner with you. I can send my clients when they don't know where to go to get TSA pre-check or to do a background investigation or to get their passports. You know, I can send 'em to these, to these people to help with these different things. So you learn so much from other businesses and it's just listening to them and seeing how can I work with you?

Um, and from that we, you know, I met. A smaller group of entrepreneurs, like this other smaller group of, of entrepreneurs who have kind of become like our backbone. We're all in the chamber of commerce together, but we're like more of the small, the self-employed, self-owned businesses, um, realtors and, and web design and, and things like this.

And we all, we all work together, um, kind of just getting to meet and, and share experiences and, and, and share our stories. And it's become a really powerful thing.

[00:53:39] Steph Lee: Um, did you all start at the same time, roughly your businesses?

[00:53:43] Rocky Dimico: I think we're all like not far off of each other. I think some that's for a little bit, but I think the group had been around for a few months before I had gotten into there, but it's really strengthened and grown over time, um, including other people.

And now we bring in like guest speakers and things like that instead of just all of us chatting about our stories and what's going on in our lives. It's been very helpful to have these as well. So, yeah. And, and, and I think the biggest things are they're a support network, so like. I think when we were talking earlier, um, you know, Fayetteville's a pretty decent sized city.

This, this community around here is, you know, depending if you incorporate the base, uh, you know, you're talking somewhere between 200 and 400,000 people. Mm-hmm. And there's a very large Facebook group that, you know, I think everybody goes to. It said, I think that 60,000 members and it's, you'll have this moment where somebody will say, Hey, randomly, once every couple months, hey, I'm looking for a travel advisor.

And you think, you know, 'cause you don't see a lot of travel advisors, you think you're this one shining star in this, in this city. And you realize quickly, very quickly, 40 50 travel agents come out of the woodwork and you're like, holy cow. I did not know there was this many of them. But where that network became so important was while everybody else is like, Hey, I'm a travel advisor.

Hey, I'm a travel advisor. Hey, I'm a travel advisor. I get in this group, Hey, I'm rocky with flights and fables, and then I get. My fellow entrepreneurs, Hey, Rocky, with flights of fables. Hey, Rocky, with flights of fables trust, flights of fables flight. And so now, instead of this being pe, 40 different people mentioned one time your business is mentioned 7, 8, 9 times over everybody else where they're only mentioned one.

So we build this thing and so all, some people start saying, okay, this person's mentioned nine times. These ones are all mentioned, and I'm sure they're great people, but this person's mentioned nine times by these other entrepreneurs or these other people or however they, they come across. And so that's such a strong network right there where we do it that for each other.

And of course I would do the same thing for all them. Um, and so that has developed into a lot of the different partnerships that we, I know we're gonna talk about, and I don't want to segue until you're ready to it, but I've built some of my strongest partnerships, um, from those, from those events.

[00:55:58] Steph Lee: Yeah.

[00:55:59] Partnerships

[00:55:59] Steph Lee: Well, let's jump into the partnership section because you've done a lot of creative partnerships that I think a lot of other advisors could be really inspired from. Um, so I know you've got a map maker on there. You've got someone that does IV hydration on your website. I'm gonna link to the page on your site, uh, that has kind of the, the regional partnerships that you have going on.

But let's have you, you talk about how you decide who you're going to partner with, how you create that relationship.

[00:56:32] Rocky Dimico: Yeah. And so it has to make sense, like, first and foremost it has to make sense. So the first one was, uh, Chris Ward Photography. She was in our, in our network group, and she was a, she was a photographer and she, we hadn't gotten a chance to meet yet.

Everybody's like, well, she's heading to New Zealand. And, and when we finally had to meet, she's like, Hey, I really wanna talk to you. I'm heading to New Zealand to do this photography shoots where I'm gonna learn about, you know, New Zealand and doing shoots in New Zealand. And I said, oh, she's like, we can chat when I get back.

I was like, why too, I'm going to New Zealand for, you know, my second trip to New Zealand. So I was like, we'll chat when I get back. So we set up a meeting, we talked, she wanted to expand her photography business into destination photography. Mm-hmm. Well, travel advisor, destination photography. I mean, kind of a match made in heaven.

So we're working on a lot of different things where, you know, whether she gets the client and they want to go somewhere and they say, Hey, you know, Rocky will book us everything. You know, he'll put it all together. Or me, where I'm like working on some of these group trips in the future as I want to bring her along and have it as a, Hey, while we're on this trip, you can have this destination photographer.

You know, who's gonna come with us and, and do these cool epic shoots and, and things like this. We're looking at doing something like Iceland with Viking themed, you know, getting people to get their hair done and put on fur coats and, and do these inspired themed shoots. Um, so it's just a natural match made, you know, with somebody who wants to do destination photography and you're a travel agent, you're booking the travel forum, you're helping with the logistics so that she can focus on doing the pictures and, and the, the shoots, and you're just worried about making sure they get their, you know, and get everything taken care of.

[00:58:06] Steph Lee: Mm-hmm. Um,

[00:58:07] Rocky Dimico: then the, i, the, the Prime IV and hydration one was, um, we were talking and, and I got to meet Savannah and, and she was opening up her business, you know, a little bit after mine and, and we were talking and she's like, well, I do, you know, jet set or jet lag IV drips? And I was like, well, I mean, I have a lot of clients who do a lot of long haul trips to New Zealand, to Japan, to wherever.

I was like, they're gonna need. You know, to get this, this, uh, you know, it's a great way. So she offered slight discounts, you know, offered a discount. She's like, if someone comes from your company, you know, from one of your trips, and I'll give them a discount when they come in and, and I send her products out, the jet lag ones to my clients.

When I send 'em on a trip with their trip pack, I like, Hey, when you get back, you're, you know, more than welcome to get a 30% off discount if you wanna get like a jet lag iv. Um, and then, you know, of course the fun part is she, she calls it the flights and fables chair, you know, because we partnered with this.

And so her jet lag IV one that has a little plane on it, she calls it the flights and fables chair, and we do marketing for each other. When she has a jet, um, you know, she's doing a jet lag or jet set IV post, I will share it with my clients and she'll do the same thing when she's talking about travel with things like mine.

She'll share my post. And the same thing with Chris with the destination photography. We do the same thing. Um, the map maker was just a really unique opportunity where, um. He came to, he was at one of the events that we were vendoring at. I went there and I started talking to him and I said, you know, travel maps, he does these amazing fantasy maps.

I said, you know, let's talk about what a partnership could look like. And I was like, I can offer your products as a gift to clients or something for them to take as a token of remembrance from their trip that if it's a Lord of the Rings inspired vacation in New Zealand, they can do a really cool map that's very, you know, he does 'em in Lord of the Rings esque map vacation.

Yeah. Um, and so, you know, some clients who go on like a larger budget trip, I would splurge on something like that for the client, you know, as a way to say thank you and to say, Hey, here is a memento for your trip. Or, um, something like that. But at the same time, advertising for him, you know, and, and so we partner, you know, so people are looking at his maps and saying, huh, I'd really love to go to New Zealand and see the Lord of the Ring sites.

And he's like, wow, it's funny. You should ask. I know a person who does that. And so you're finding those unique things. And there's smaller partnerships I've done with a lot of other people who have. Uh, unique candles that have like Lord of the Rings, you know, Shire inspired candles or people who do, um, you know, just very unique things.

They will offer it up and I will give it to clients as a gift with their business card in there and, and having, you know, promotion for them. So we're all promoting each other locally. So if someone asks about a trip, they'll send them my way. If someone gets one of my packages and says, I really loved that bath bomb, and I know it sounds weird, but we have a, a very amazing entrepreneur, two young girls started out at 17 and I think 14 or 15.

Whoa. And they for years, and they won the award for the Fayville Greater Chamber of Commerce or Greater Fayville Chamber of Commerce, like up and Coming Entrepreneur of the Year award last year throughout the community. So they do these back bombs, and so they give me these dragon egg. Bath bombs or, um, different things that they'll give me and, and they don't ask anything in return and I just put their business card in there so that if people are interested in them, they can come back.

So I'm just always trying to navigate unique opportunities and some work and some don't, but, you know, it's a lot of fun along the way 'cause you're promoting fellow businesses and they're promoting yours and it's just this great sense of community amongst entrepreneurs. I think it's easier to do it when you're not doing it with other travel agencies as much as it's when you're doing it with people who you find a way to offer that unique relationship.

[01:01:53] Steph Lee: Yeah. Like when you have the complimentary or the same audience, it's a perfect fit. 'cause you know, people that love fantasy have a lot of the same things that they like. And so it's, it's very helpful to introduce people to, to cute new products or things along those lines. Now this is a less traditional partnership, but I know that there's another fantasy travel advisor that is in your area, which is I, 'cause I've never heard of a fantasy travel advisor before, which is why I was so excited.

Um, so tell me more about that relationship because I think it's easy for a lot of people to feel like, oh, there's another destination wedding and honeymoon advisor around here that's poaching my clients, potential clients. But your relationship seems totally different than that.

[01:02:44] Rocky Dimico: Yeah, I mean, we're we, it started out when, um, I was posting in my host agencies, you know, thing about going to a, an event in Atlanta and someone was like, well, I'm driving down from North Carolina, so, you know, I don't know if I'm gonna go.

And, and I was like, well of course I'm gonna stalk this person to see, you know, oh, they're in North Carolina, where they at? And then you find out like. Wait, they sell. What I thought, I thought I was very unique in this. I thought I was like one of the only ones who did this. And so you find out like, one, we're in the same host agency.

Two, we sell the same stuff, and three we're an hour away from each other. Like what are the chances? When I was doing all my research for this, I didn't find a lot of these, you know, fantasy, I guess travel advisors and she uses a different name. She uses Nerd Ventures for hers, which I think is awesome.

[01:03:28] Steph Lee: Mm-hmm.

[01:03:29] Rocky Dimico: I love it. But we beca, what we realized was like there's enough travel to go around that we're only gonna make ourselves like tired if we're fighting each other. In fact, we said cooperation over competition and in doing so, we cover down for each other on trips because she knows that when she sends a client to New Zealand for Lord Ring, she has a person who's very capable of understanding.

All things, Lord of the Rings, all things New Zealand or Harry Potter and vice versa with her, I have, if I'm going and I need someone to cover down for me, I know she's very capable of covering down on that trip for me and making sure my clients are getting the absolute best experience. And so we develop, we learn new suppliers, so I'll find out that, hey, there's this new company I heard about, they're offering X, Y, and Z.

And she'll say, I didn't hear about 'em. And, and we'll go and explore 'em together because it's so much more fun when you're just, you're friends and you're not, you know, you're cooperative and not competing with each other. And, and we've just had a great relationship since then and we just worked together on everything.

So it's, it's been a real, I think it's a thing that I, I wanna see more people do is like, you know, I mean, I understand you have to be competitive like that. You

[01:04:43] Steph Lee: mm-hmm.

[01:04:43] Rocky Dimico: You're not gonna let everybody walk all over you. You're, you're in charge of your, your livelihood and your business and your family and everything like that, but.

If you're, if you're not in an oversaturated market and you're selling something, you know, decently unique, and there's two of you in the same area, just work together and just realize like, Hey, yeah, there's.

[01:05:05] Steph Lee: It seems like you guys have a like very similar personalities too. And I, I, you know, it doesn't work with everybody 'cause let's be honest, some people are just kind of jerks and you don't really wanna be working with them, but it is just so nice to find somebody 'cause you're going through the exact same challenges.

Um, and I, I think one thing I learned early on, um, 'cause there was someone that copied our site and it really upset me when it first happened and I was like, you know, this is just so rude. Who would do that? Like, the nerve. Um, and I was really upset, but then someone gave me like a, a, a piece of advice and I started realizing it and it's that like, no one can be you and that's, they can copy.

Cause you know, they were copying the text from my site that I had written on each host agency. It was just really frustrating and I was like, yeah, you can copy the text about a specific host agency. But you know, I have a very, you know, I'm kind of quirky, a little bit weird and like to have like a ton of fun and and integrate that into my work. And that's not something like no one can recreate my weird, random things that pop into my head where I'm like, I'm gonna write a love poem Haiku for the end of my Travel Agent Chatter podcast today. That's brilliant. Like, you know, no one else thinks like that. And so those are like things to really embrace about yourself and be confident about.

I, I think a lot of the, um, a lot of the time when people are really competitive, it can also be rooted in not being super confident and the uniqueness that you bring with your personality and the way that you do things. So that's something like, I think, um, entrepreneurs can definitely work on that are feeling really self-conscious or upset about others in the field or the industry.

[01:06:57] Rocky Dimico: Yeah, and I think one thing her and I have talked about is like, we're two different people, like you mentioned. Some people are gonna feel more comfortable. I, I mean this is a, you know, I mean we've seen the numbers. This is a very, you know, woman and female dominated industry, you know Yeah. From a very male dominated industry.

And I had to come to one quite the opposite. But some people are gonna feel more comfortable going to someone, you know? Yeah. Different than, and some people might feel more comfortable with the way I do things. And so we offer that perspective to people. I think, 'cause we do vendor at a couple events at the same time.

And it's, it's again, people have their choice. They can go to either person and say, Hey, this is a person that more naturally fits my style. This is who I feel more comfortable with. And I think giving them options is sometimes a great thing because. If you're working with somebody you don't really want to, you know, if they, if they're working with somebody they don't wanna work with and you don't really wanna work with them 'cause you're not a good match, then it's never gonna be a fund.

You're, you're just doing it for the money at that point. And are you really helping them travel or are you just collecting a paycheck? And I don't think that's what we all really get into this business for.

[01:07:59] Steph Lee: No, exactly. And you'd talked earlier too about, you know, like you specifically wanted to do this Lord of the Rings, the fantasy.

And you gave this cool anecdote of a, of a friend that you were taught, or like one of your first clients that like wanted to go to Hawaii, which you're not a beach person. And you were like, okay, you walked on through it, you sold it, you booked it, and then the next year they wanted to go to New Zealand.

So tell us what their, um, what they told you about. Booking New Zealand with Rocky versus booking Hawaii with Rocky. 'cause I think this is awesome.

[01:08:36] Rocky Dimico: Yeah. It goes to being passionate about what you sell. Um, and I had been to Hawaii, um, again, like you, you perfectly alluded to, I'm not a fan of, like, I, like, I've been to 63 countries in this world, and most of them are Europe, Oceania, Japan.

It's not, I mean, I think I've been, I've touched a little bit of the Caribbean. I've been to Hawaii just since, say, I've been to all 50 states. Um, not my happy place. It's not a bad place. I, I, I, I understand why people enjoy it. It's just not my cup of tea. Mm-hmm. And so someone asked me, Hey, would you be willing to book, you know, would you be willing to book this for us with Hawaii?

I was like, sure. You know, I was like up to Hawaii. And so I went through it and I was kind of, you know, felt going through the motions, you know, I just was like, yeah, this is what I did. This was really good and this will match up what you wanna do snorkeling with turtles and this and this. And I was putting it together and.

So they came back later and they said, well, you know, hey, I really think about doing like Australia and New Zealand. And so of course, you know, this triggers in me like, I'm like, oh my God, New Zealand. Like I, and I tell everybody it's my favorite country in the world, 63, and it's number one by far. Um, and so I just get super excited about it.

I'm like, oh my gosh, you're gonna, you like, you go to Auckland and you do this, and you're gonna get down to Wellington and do this, and when you get down to Queenstown, oh my gosh, like one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And he's like, hold up. He's like, well, when you were selling us Hawaii, he's like, you were very, just matter of fact, he's like, you.

He's like, he's like, you definitely make me want to go to New Zealand now. He's like, 'cause the passion you have for New Zealand versus you know, Hawaii. He's like, he's like, you did a great job with Hawaii. He's like, we loved it. We had a blast. He's like, but the passion you would in with, in which you speak about New Zealand.

He's like, I, I've gotta get there. I've gotta go. And so it really was like a light bulb for me is like, if you sell something you're not passionate about. People are gonna see right through it. It's the authenticity of it, you know, and that's what you have to do in this industry is you have to be authentic.

And I'm passionate about Europe, I'm passionate about New Zealand. I'm passionate about all my fantasy travel. I mean, that's how this all came to be was when I went through the Host agency review course and we were looking at how do I, how do I sell? You know, what is my niche gonna be? I looked back on all my travels and I was like, I knocked Stonehenge off.

And I was like, I went to Harry Potter three times in London, um, and I did Viking stuff and I, I went to see Pele's Castle and Brand's Castle with all this Viking inspired stuff and or vampire inspired stuff in Romania. And then Lord of the Rings in New Zealand, you know, my, my bucket list trip. And I was like, that's who I am.

I was like, I'm this guy who travels all these mystical and these fantasy locations and Game of Thrones. And, and so I think when you're, when you're passionate about it and you're something you believe strongly and you're gonna sell. If you don't like a, you know, I had to eventually come to a point where I was early on and you're trying to, I'm like everybody else.

You're trying to sell everything. You're trying to just get something. And, and I was selling cruises and I was selling this, and I had a great piece of advice from our chief operating officer, um, and the head of marketing for my host agency. And we sat down in a, one of his sessions and it was like, you're not passionate about it.

People are gonna see right through you. Yeah. And so I doubled down on it and I said, you know what? I'm not gonna sell things I'm not passionate about. So I go to these vendor events. People are like, well, do you do Hawaii or do you do this? And I was like, I, I could, but I don't. I said, I said, there's a, there's a thousand people in this community who can sell you Hawaii, who can sell you the Caribbean.

I said, but I guarantee no one's gonna build you a Lord of the Rings trip. Like I can. I guarantee you, no one's gonna give you an non-authentic, you know, Romania, Viking or vampire experience. You know, I was like, I, I'm pretty confident in my abilities to get you an amazing trip based upon what you want.

And I think that's where you sell people is when they know, you know your stuff. Because a lot of travel advisors go to a lot of places in the world. But I think to go to the unique places I've been, I think gives me a just a little bit leg up of like, you know, when I see other travel advisors, and again, not knocking other travel, I'm just saying when people say I sell everything, I think what I've learned to do with myself is like, I don't sell everything.

Like, I'm not gonna sell you on a place I've never been. I'm not gonna sell you on a place. I don't know, when you get booked, traveled me, you get in someone who's got firsthand experience who's been there. You know, I might not have seen it all. And I gotta tell 'em, I haven't been to every hotel in London.

I've stayed in a few. I do know at least the experiences in the right neighborhoods you should be in and where is gonna be the easiest way to get around on the tube and whatnot. Mm-hmm. And I, and I think that's where I sell myself.

[01:13:08] Steph Lee: Yeah. And it's even things when we were chatting and talking about how you were so ex I was telling, so my partner is super into Lord of the Rings, like constantly quoting it.

And I can't remember movies for the life of me, so I'm always missing references in different things. But it's things like, you know, Rocky's talking about the fire ring, there's a fire ring scene and you actually get to see the fire ring that is in the movie. And he was so excited when we were chatting that it was contagious.

[01:13:38] Rocky Dimico: It really is. It's just, you know, and, and it's, it's, I think when you stick to your niche and you, and you and you stick to things, you know. Like I, and I've heard on your podcast before about you should travel someplace new every year, but you should also like reinforce your, your niche. Yeah. And so like, our plan is, I think to go back to London again this year to do Harry Potter, um, because I've never seen it in the winter and I need, you know, the last time I went, I wasn't a travel agent, I was just, you know, traveling to London, um, for the third time.

And, uh, but now I'm going with the emphasis of like learning a couple different new things. I wanna try out some stuff that I've read about and I, I've booked clients with and I want to get that experience. I wanna take pictures. Um, we're gonna stay at the, a very wizarding themed hotel that has a couple rooms that are themed just for Harry Potter and they do a great, uh, breakfast that's Harry Potter themed for kids.

Um, and so these are the things that I want to go and see and take pictures and see it in the winter time versus always having seen it in the, in the summer, in the spring. Um, and so it allows me to go do that. But like New Zealand, going to New Zealand, I went the first time and I saw Lord Lor rings things.

But I went the second time purposefully to make connections with people that I would be possibly selling travel to or, or selling their travel to other people. And then seeing things that I had missed. And again, like you said, the the potatoes scene from Lord of the Rings going to the actual fire pit, you sell those fans of that movie and say, here's a picture on my phone.

Like, look, you can see the actual fire ring. It's still there, you know, years and years later you can still go see it in that. If that doesn't sell 'em on it, nothing probably will.

[01:15:13] Steph Lee: It's so true. Um, so speaking of niches, because something that kind of surprised you is you started getting a bunch of people asking for anime, which you're not really into, but it's like, uh, the Venn diagram and it seems like.

It, it overlaps with the audience that you're in. So you decided to start adding anime. You did some research, you took a trip to Japan, which for, um, to just kind of get a feel for things, and that's not cheap. So talk with us. What made you decide to take the leap into anime? Was it worth it for you? Um, like what kind of signs were telling you?

Okay. This is something I should probably look at because my audience is very attracted to it.

[01:15:58] Rocky Dimico: Well, I think the beauty of these vendor events is that, and again, I, I keep coming back to it, but you're, you're, you're not. It's not a one-way conversation, it's a two-way conversation. People are asking you about things.

They're, they're asking, Hey, or do you lead these trips? Or do you do this? So you start listening for things like, do I need to start doing more group trips? Do I need to start doing, I

[01:16:15] Steph Lee: go on your trip, Rocky, just so you know, when we lead a trip, I'm gonna be right there.

[01:16:20] Rocky Dimico: Uh, yeah, I mean, come on. It's gonna be fun.

We're, we're, we're, we're starting 'em. Um, but like the one thing I kept hearing was anime and I, I had never, it's one thing I didn't get into. I mean, I grew up with some of the smaller stuff in the early years, but it was never anything I got into. I was very fantasy, fantasy related. Like, that's my, that's my baby.

It's fantasy. Um, but I kept hearing it and I said, well, I don't wanna leave this, this niche. I was like, I've always wanted to go to Japan. I was like, I wanna sell Japan at some point. 'cause I love the Samurai aspect and I was a big show gun fan and I read the book many, many years ago and was passionate about it.

Um, but I was like, let me go look in the enemy. So I had so, so many people asking about anime. So I said, alright, I'm gonna put together a trip, you know. What the client sees versus what I do. You know, the client's going to see what they see and they don't know to know that I, you know, use points or miles or I book it at the cheapest place ever and whatever.

Like, they don't need to know that. And I, yeah, I just, they, but I just need the experience. And again, like I kept telling people I won't book this until I've been there. And I am very thankful that I did that because now after doing, you know, I did quick, you know, eight, nine days in Japan. Um, I did the major things.

I did, you know, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. Um, but it was one, I got great pictures. Two, I learned a lot. Um, when people come to me and ask about Japan, I'm like, for your trip, you're gonna want to be in this area. You're gonna want to be in this area. You, you don't wanna be here because it's gonna put you so far away from all this other stuff.

Um. Tea, tea ceremonies and, and sushi making and 'cause people don't wanna just go to these places just for the anime or just for the Lord of the Rings or just for hair. They wanna experience everything else. And you've gotta have that well-roundedness to be able to, to sell 'em on the rest. 'cause I've noticed with all the fantasy stuff I sell, they're there for a part of it.

I've had I think one or two diehard trips where it was all, you know, it was all this all the time. Um, but for the most part it was, I wanna see this, but I also want to see this. I want to take a part in a, in a traditional samurai museum or something like this. And so, um, it was really beneficial. Did that and, and I started thinking like, these are what I call my little scouting trips.

You go and you take pictures and then when you feel comfortable, you sell 'em and. It was successful. Um, because once I got back and started telling people and I shared all my pictures on Facebook, and everybody's like, oh my gosh, like this looks amazing. I shared both on my personal page and my business page.

Um, people were really excited about it and within two weeks, not within, but there was a two weeks span recently where I had four trips booked for Japan. Um, all somewhat animate themed or you know, something there, you know, related to it. And, um, you know, the first clients are, first of those clients are actually leaving here in two or so, two and a half weeks.

So it's very quick turn. I mean, they're all leaving. Three of the four clients are leaving within the next month and a half. And that all came back when I came back from Japan. That's so, so cool. But it's just, I think it goes really important about like. If you know your, if you know it, you can sell it.

And, and once you've been to Japan, and like, again, I only scratched the surface of Japan, but I got enough, I saw, I went there with a, with a different mindset when I traveled in the past and was like, okay, I need to understand the districts in Japan. I need to understand where things are located. What is walking distance?

What are the customs? What are the things, where am I gonna add value to my clients that they can't find online? And that's knowing the places to book them, where to book them, where to put them down, what experiences I discovered team lab planets in Japan because one of my. Friends who wants to go to Japan said, Hey, you need to go to Team Lab planets.

I was like, I dunno what this is.

[01:20:08] Steph Lee: What is it?

[01:20:09] Rocky Dimico: You, it is the most immersive art studio in the world. I almost skipped it. We almost skipped it. And my wife and I will say it was one of the coolest things we've ever done in our life. There's a water exhibit where you take your shoes and socks off, you put 'em in a locker, and you walk through water and they have like lights that portray these like little fake koi fish going through the water.

You go up a, it's just super immersive. It's uh, like an interactive art museum, but it's like really interactive. Like everything is meant to be touched. Felt seen. Nice. And so now I saw everybody on it. I'm like, you've got to go to this. You've got, and so, you know, I mean, it's just this uniqueness about going on these trips and seeing these things.

[01:20:54] Steph Lee: It is, you know, I, one of my old college roommates is from Japan, so I went and visited her maybe like 10 or 15 years ago. And, you know, I didn't plan anything. She planned our whole trip for us. But we, when we were in Kyoto, she took me to, like, I'd heard of the Geishas, of course, but I hadn't heard of, I think they're called Mickos.

Like they're geishas in training. And so we're in Kyoto, we have this nice lunch with Soen noodles, everything's going great. And she's like, now we're gonna go. And it's, um, it was like in a basement and it was where you, they, they do your hair like, so I ended up being dressed up like a, a maiko, but. Looked like a geisha to me, but I mean, it was, okay.

So I'm gonna, as a bonus for everybody, I'm gonna put a picture of me, um, of the pictures they took of me. 'cause you, you barely even know it's me, um, at these studios. But everyone, like, first of all, I'm a giant in Japan, and like, all the women are so tiny. And so there's this tiny little area for normal sized Americans, like, you know, like with 20 different things.

But you know, they wrap you up so tightly I couldn't breathe. And they put this little, uh, like a hump on your head with like a wig. And they, you know, they paint your face white and then they're taking these pictures and I'm not the most like delicate. Person in the world and they're trying to get me to like hold this little paracel umbrella in this pretty way.

And I kept getting it wrong and there was a language barrier, but it was, it was such a fun experience. But it's things like that when you go and you can experience 'em and then sell them. Uh, 'cause I was like this, well, I mean, it's hard to find clothes that fit in Japan, so I think that might be a limiting factor, but it's a really cool experience that I didn't even know existed.

Mm-hmm. Um, until I went there.

[01:22:48] Rocky Dimico: Yeah, absolutely.

[01:22:50] Steph Lee: And I'm gonna link to this Team Lab planets when I find it for everybody in the show notes, so you can find it there.

[01:22:57] Scaling

[01:22:57] Steph Lee: Um, well, okay, so let's move into, I wanna talk about scaling your business because even though you just started a year and a half-ish ago, you've already got big dreams, Rocky.

Um, you've built this incredible brand. And one thing we haven't mentioned that I wanna make sure to mention is you also have a matching Jeep, uh, your black Jeep. And then how is it decorated?

[01:23:18] Rocky Dimico: Yeah, so it's a white Jeep with a black. I took the, the, the, the inverse of this logo that if, if you, everyone can't see it, but it's got, um, it's got my logo on the side of the door.

Um, and I put travel agency underneath of it just to make sure that everyone understands it's a travel agency. But my favorite part of it, the one that everybody loves, is there's the dragon, the dragon that I have on everything sits on the front of the hood. Um, and so it's this, you know, as you're seeing this white Jeep go down the, there's this black dragon sitting on the hood and it gets people thinking.

They look at it and it's got my website on the back. Um, uh, a little saying, you know, turning imaginations into dream vacations on the, the side of the, the back of the vehicle and the website going down the, um, down the, the back quarter panel of the vehicle. $250 with a local guy. Local guy. Mm-hmm. Did it all, he printed it $250.

I don't know how much marketing I, I, you can see when you go to places and you see people stop and they, and they're looking at your vehicle and then you'll see like little hits on your, on your website or on your Facebook, you might find like a new follower or a new, uh, follow on Instagram or something.

You're like, okay, it's working, it worked. You know, it got someone to look at it. 'cause they see it, they see the logo and they love the logo when they go. So yeah, it's the, it's the whole brand thing with that.

[01:24:30] Steph Lee: Yeah. And so, one thing I'm gonna link to our article on tax write-offs for everybody, but if you're like leasing your vehicle or something along those lines and you have it, um, with your logo and different things on there, know that you can also write that off.

But, okay, so going back, you've kind of expanded into group travel, which I don't know if you. Started off with that in mind, but it kind of fell into your lap, um, with the Sons and Daughters of Italy partnership. But now you're kind of thinking about doing group cruises that are like face, have like a, a big fantasy element to them.

Chat with me more on that.

[01:25:09] Rocky Dimico: So the, the like going to the vendor events and you're hearing people talk and they're like, I think a lot of people wanna travel, but I think where they feel most comfortable is when their travel advisor's going with them. When they know like, all I gotta do is show up and this person's gonna make sure everything's taken care of.

And I think I keep hearing that reoccurring theme. So one of the things I decided is like I wanted to start expanding into groups, um, because of that. And so I started off with quick wins. So the sons and daughters of Italy, they were looking for, I'm Italian American. They were looking for a travel advisor who could help them with that.

So. I started out with some quick wins with doing these group trips, and they've become very successful for next year. We've got most of the slots sold for, you know, um, both trips already when one of them is a sole use bus in Sicily. So that's 44 slots. We've got 32 of 44 sold so far. Um, and we still got a, I mean, we're not, we're still a year and a half out, I think, from that trip.

Um, but those were quick wins and there were things I knew were gonna sell. What I'm ready to start getting into is now the fantasy travel, like how do, and that's gonna take more logistics. Um, but I wanna do more of the group travel 'cause I want people to feel like comfortable, like, Rocky's gonna lead us, he's gonna take us all the spots.

This is what we want to do. And I think it really helps the business, um, you know, expand because it's so much easier to do, I think group travel, I think sometimes, and it, and it, and it's what everyone markets towards when you get to these, you talk to these suppliers like they're, they love you, but if you can sell them, if you can sell their groups.

They're gonna be hard. But for the fantasy related stuff, that's where it becomes difficult is you have to find people who are willing to put together specific itineraries that don't already exist and do 'em for a group. And so that's where it's taking a little bit of time to get into that because you have to, I mean, looking at New Zealand, having been to New Zealand a few times and doing Lord Ring stuff, it's a lot.

And if you're gonna give someone an immersive Lord of the Rings experience, it's gonna be expensive probably. And it's gonna require a lot of logistics, especially on a country that far away that's separated into two islands that have a ferry or a plane flight to get from one to the other. But you have to be on both to do a true Lord of the Rings experience.

'cause both islands are very iconic with the movie. So you, it's a lot of logistics. But I mean a lot of, I think my host agency offering group training in person was a really big thing that made me comfortable understanding attrition rates, understanding contracting, I think. You know, it goes back to like, if you can do training to make yourself feel more comfortable with these things, it makes it easier to get into these fears when you, when you get over like, I'm just gonna book a group.

But I think there was, you know, there was a great session, not trying to remember whose podcast it was, it was somebody who was like, come With Me Travel. It was one of the, one of the sessions someone had about a Come With Me travel training and that was the one that sold it. They were like, you don't, you only gotta put like 12 people together and you're gonna go on this.

Come With Me trip. Ever since then I've been like, okay, like I just need to do this. Like, that's, that's how I need to do this.

[01:28:07] Steph Lee: Yeah, there's a couple resources. 'cause like groups travel is something you definitely want to have some training in before you embark on it because obviously if you mistake there, it's times 24 or 48.

Um, versus if you just do it for one person, so highly recommend it. But I'm gonna link to, um, the Travel Agent Chatter podcast episodes with people that do groups for tips on that. There's also a webinar with, um, Jen Lee. She did come with me groups and she breaks it, she breaks it down really, really well and is very inspirational.

So if it's a seed that has been planted for you but you're not sure how to make that sprout, uh, check out those resources on our landing page. Um, okay. So let's see. Okay. I'm trying to think which question to ask first because Okay. Let's start with. This is so visually exciting when you told me this. So a lot of people, when they think about their agencies, they always envision them being staying remote.

You have a different vision, you know, you've spent so much time and energy building the core brand for flights and fables because in the end what your vision is is having storefronts across the US and major cities. So tell us where this kind of rooted from and then paint the picture because it's so fun.

[01:29:32] Rocky Dimico: Yeah, I mean, when I think about like my, one of my end states is I wanted to franchise this and like I, and like I think I tell people all the time, I'm brand first. Everything with me is about building my brand first. Hence everything's got the logo on it, everything's got the logo, colors, um, it's all after the niche.

It's all about brand first. And so when I was thinking about it and I was like. You know, you go to these old downtowns in like these quaint cities and, and like, you see these like really like, I'm like, what is the things that piqued my interest? And for me as a fantasy fan, I looked at the place with like the little rickety pub sign or something and I thought to myself, like, I was in little town called Southern Pines and I was looking at their stuff and I was like, man, I was like an old English style sign with the, with the dragon on it and flights and fables on it.

And I was like, that would be something people would stop. I think. I was like, people would stop in and see that just to see what's going on. And then I thought about it and I was like, you put in Lord of the Rings inspired stuff and, and cut outs and movie stuff. I mean like the world's your oyster when you do that.

And so I thought about that and I went to another town up the road called, you know, Benson and I found an in-person travel agency that had a, a storefront and they had. Merchandise and themes stuff, and a person working there who's just selling this stuff and they said, Hey, it's a weekend. The, the travel agents will be back on the, on the weekday.

I can help take your inquiry and stuff, but I was just so impressed by how the location was and you're in the downtown. You don't have to worry about it being a destination. And I think that's where I think a lot of us, when we think about businesses, the affordability rate is gonna be in a place that's gonna be out where no one's going to.

And I think when I think about travel agencies is you're not a destination place. No one's gonna hop in the car on a Saturday, nine times outta 10 and say, Hey, I'm gonna head to flights and fables on Route 27 out in the middle of this field with this like one little building. No one's gonna do that because it's not on their way to anything and anything.

But if you're in a downtown location that has a very older downtown and you're trying to do an older themed, you know, pub style, old English, you know, visual sign and stuff, and your window front's got, you know. The Shire from Lord of the Rings, or a wizard on it from Harry Potter or something. People are gonna stop while they're shopping and they're gonna go and say, what is this place?

Let me go in and check this out. And the foot traffic is worth that. But again, it's, it's gonna be a minute before you get there because downtown locations, as we all know, are gonna be more expensive and it's gonna take a lot more to do that than to be out somewhere remote. So it's about, again, in the meantime, continually building the brand.

And as the point comes, instead of just dumping my money back into myself when that money comes in that I have it, I'm probably gonna throw it into that, into doing that to then increase the business more. I think it's a chance I'm gonna take. Um, but I'm gonna put the chance, I'm gonna take the money and put it into the business, and the business hopefully will reward me with, with foot traffic and, and things like that.

So that's the eventual hope. And then, you know, the long-term goal would be, of course, to, to franchise at some point to be successful enough to have one in major cities, or at least suburb areas, major cities that people would be able to, that you get into those geographical regions.

[01:32:52] Steph Lee: I'm gonna suggest to you in Minneapolis, there's along the river, um, it's called St. Anthony Main. It has cobblestone streets and like old buildings. That might be an option for you, Rocky, in the future. So remember this,

[01:33:08] Rocky Dimico: I'm gonna remember it. That's it Sounds like that sounds like what we're looking for.

[01:33:12] Steph Lee: Um, okay. So beyond this brick and mortar vision, um, something you're also doing is you're kind of, when you talked about.

The grand vision here. You also talked about hiring employees there rather than contractors, and that's, again, something that kind of goes against the grain. But you mentioned you wanna make sure that you're go paying good wages and giving commission opportunities on top of the salary. Why is all of this important to you and, and what was your thought process behind it?

[01:33:42] Rocky Dimico: So it's one of the things it's not talked a lot about in, in the industry. Like a lot of people tell you, like by the time you start thinking about scaling, you, you, you're, you're usually swamped and you're like, I need someone to help me take this, this load. And like, um, I need someone to help me with this.

But by that time, you're already swamped. And so if you're not thinking about it ahead of time, uh, when it, when the moment comes that you need it, you're going to, it's not gonna be the right time or you're never gonna feel like it's gonna be the right time because you're so busy. But you're like, when am I gonna find time to train someone?

When am I gonna find time to decide if it's an ic? Versus this. And so going back to what we were talking about just, you know, before this was the brand, the brand is everything. And I want people to, to work for the brand. I want them to sell fantasy travel or to sell, you know, the parts of, of this that, that they feel comfortable with.

And to me, I'm so passionate about just the connectivity with humans, that I wanna make sure that I'm in the right place to, to hire someone on responsibly to make sure they're earning not just a living wage, but that they enjoy being here. That mm-hmm they feel valued that they have medical insurance covered by me.

Um, so that's why I won't take on anybody until I'm able to do all those things and make sure that they're, when they get hired on by me, I have the time to train 'em. They understand like a brand, you know, like what, this is what we're about. Like this is how we're selling the business for, this is about these fantasy trips.

It's got to be about this. And, and making sure that they, they are bought in on that. I mean, it's crazy. These vendor events, how many people come up and always ask me if I'm hiring and I have a list. Oh, really?

[01:35:14] Steph Lee: Oh, that's so cool. I didn't know that.

[01:35:17] Rocky Dimico: I got a lot, I've got a list of people who, when the time comes, I'm gonna put out a, a, a blanket.

But I got a couple people, I'm, I'm gonna make sure, I definitely send 'em a personalized email saying, Hey, we're ready. But, um, yeah, and I want to, I wanna make sure I, like, I see independent contractor subagent, it's all fine, but I don't know. I feel like there's a certain thing about giving someone the ability to, to work and to let someone, you know, grow and develop in your, in your, in your, in your brand and in your world.

And taking care of them financially, helping them financially, and then sharing in the wins with them, like when they sell

[01:35:54] Steph Lee: mm-hmm.

[01:35:54] Rocky Dimico: A $30,000 trip. Sharing that win with them and saying like, thank you. I mean it helps our business, but like, here's your part of this. Like you sold this, you completed this deal.

Here's your part of this commission as a bonus. And then when fam come up, if they haven't been to a place, like let's say they've been to Harry Potter or they've been to maybe Game of Thrones and, and like Northern Ireland or Croatia, but they've never been to New Zealand, but they really have always wanted to, and a fam opportunity comes up, you send them on that say, hey, so you can sell New Zealand better and you can sell more the rings.

I'm gonna send you on this FAM opportunity and you are going to go learn about all this stuff and it's work, but it's also fun. And so that's how I envision being an employer in the future, is I wanna have employees who work for me, who love coming to work every day because they're selling fantasy travel, they're well taken care of, and they're getting opportunities that they wouldn't get in other places.

[01:36:47] Steph Lee: Mm-hmm. I love that.

[01:36:49] Mentorship

[01:36:49] Steph Lee: Um, okay, so. Let's talk on touch on mentoring really quickly. 'cause you and I had mentioned this before, and that for so many new advisors, they'll come in and they'll be looking for a formal mentor. And that's really difficult to find within the travel industry for most people, because if you, I know when people have asked me and sent me an email, will you be my mentor?

I'm like, oh boy. Like mentoring sounds so formal. Like, I don't know if I can commit once a week. Like I just get really stressed out. Um, and so a lot of times what happens is kind of like these more informal mentorships where it's a slow build. You kind of meet each other and you're asking questions over time, and then you're kind of like, oh, they're my mentor.

They've really, they've really helped me through a lot of stuff. And I know that you have a mentor in the travel industry. So tell us, um, kind of what your experience was, what your advice is for new advisors or even experienced advisors that are looking for a mentor. Perhaps don't want to scare anyone like myself with a more formal proposal.

[01:37:55] Rocky Dimico: I, I think the, the way it was for me, so like obviously there's not a lot of people who sell fantasy travel, but there are a lot of people who sell Europe and, and in other places like this. And so through a lot of group events, both through the consortia with travel leaders and through, you know, my host agency and a lot of in-person events, I found, I found a person, um, she sells a lot of the same things that I sell a little bit, you know, it's definitely different, but it was, we had a very similar mindset when it came to business.

And so what it started out was, was just kind of picking their brain, you know, just saying, Hey, do you mind if after this event we can kind of connect, you know, if I can shoot you an email every once in a while, just kind of ask you a question. And, and that's very not intimidating, you know, for a person that's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, send me an email, especially how busy, you know, this person is.

Um, and so over time I was able to send them an email or do a phone call like, Hey, do you mind if I, if I call you about this, I got a really, like a big. An issue. I'm wondering if I'm doing this correctly or something. And, and, and she was not, she did not hesitate in any way, shape or form to, to do that.

And so over time, what comes is like it becomes a mentorship naturally over time. Like over time I'd be like, Hey, you sell a lot of X, Y, and Z. Like who is A DMC you prefer? And she's like, well, if your client's budget is this, or if your client's budget is this, these are some of the ones I would recommend.

And the more you connect, the more you do that. It just naturally forms into this mentorship where you just kind of call them a mentor and it's just like, yeah, it's like this person's like really my mentor and I think. I wish more people would do that and take people on. But again, it is, like you did say, it's gotta be organic, I think in order for it to work correctly.

I think, um, this one just kind of completely worked out that we, you know, had very similar business mindsets. We, you know, were at a couple group events or events together where we were able to just kind of talk and, and get to pick each other's brains. And, and that just really created this like foundation and it's gotta the point where we set time aside to do things like, so when I went to go revamp my process, when I just said, Hey, I really need to re-look at how I'm doing my process.

We sat down on the phone for like an hour and a half and I walked through every step of my process and she gave me great pointers of where, areas where I could have had friction points or where I needed to probably look at doing something. But that's a year of time of knowing each other was when we were finally able to do that.

But you're in this for the long game. You're, you're in it with these, with these people for the long time of basically saying, Hey. I'm gonna spend time of building this and, and, and, and maturing this relationship of, you know, mentorship. And so it, I, you know, I attribute a lot of success to having someone who's willing to take a little extra time.

And I would say to other travel agents who are, who are seniors, like, if you run into a situation where a person's asking you, like be open and receptive to being able to, even as busy as you are, that couple emails here and there are, allowing a phone call every once in a while could definitely help, you know, blossom someone's career from being something where they give up and just say, Hey, I'm done with this.

I'm not gonna do this anymore. It's just not, I'm not making any money to being wildly successful. And there you are, you know, peers or, you know, contemporaries doing this together.

[01:41:08] Steph Lee: Yep, exactly. I, I like kind of the piecemeal approach because I think when you're trying to reach out to someone that's successful and busy in their time is, um, limited.

If you, if you do your homework beforehand, because there's nothing more frustrating than someone not doing their homework and then wanting you to do it all for them. Um, but you do your homework beforehand, you're asking a really good question and it's a bite size so that the person reads and is like, oh yeah, I can answer this.

Um, instead of like, you know, asking for the world and a formal member mentorship, it's a lot easier if you're asking very specific things to build those relationships as you go.

[01:41:47] Rocky Dimico: Yeah. Like who's your favorite insurance provider? Like, who do you use for most of your clients for this insurance? Or who is your DMC for this?

Or, I just made a mistake. Is this gonna cost me something with this? Or what should I do? Like, really simple, like, not things that, you know, and sometimes the calls will turn into a 30 minute call or an hour call 'cause we'll just catch up about stuff. But it's mostly just like, like you said, little bite sized chunks of like, Hey, who's your insurance provider or what's it, what's your experience with this?

And that helps tremendously.

[01:42:20] Steph Lee: Exactly. Okay. There's one area I forgot to ask you earlier 'cause I got so excited. I, I jumped onto the next section, but I wanna jump back really quick kind of to these partnerships that you've been building, because I know with the Chamber of Commerce that those relationships, I think it was the Chamber of Commerce that ended up giving you four different articles across like regional or state papers all from this Chamber of commerce.

And, you know, you weren't even after going after getting media coverage and it happened. And so I'd love for you to kind of retell the story so that advisors listening in can be inspired and be like, wow, like this is what could happen. Um, you know, as I'm building. 'cause sometimes it can feel like you're networking and not a whole lot is happening.

Um, but yeah, if you wouldn't mind sharing. Yeah.

[01:43:07] Rocky Dimico: Um, so I was at the Chamber of Commerce event and one of the major players of this is a, is a, the editor of a, of a magazine called Up and Coming Weekly, which is the entertainment. Magazine for this area, and it's, it's, you know, it's available everywhere.

People pick it up and they're going standing in line for something or at the grocery store, you pick it up just to see what's kind of going on in the area. And so he said, Hey, I really want, you know, I'd love to hear more about your business. And so he sent, you know, one of his, his writers over and they did a phone call interview with me and said, Hey, she was very passionate about, you know, this type of stuff.

And she's like, Hey, I really wanna do, um, an article, you know, based upon his recommendation, I wanna wanna do an article on you. And, um, so she writes this, this really great article about the business and the unique niche that we have. Um, and then from there, the business journal, the local business journal read it.

And so this person was like, Hey, you know, I saw your article in this up and coming weekly. I'd love to publish you in the business journal. And so now you're getting exposure in the entertainment

. You're getting exposure in this business journal that where all the business, you know, personalities in the area read or subscribed to.

And then of course from there, the local newspaper. You know, the actual newspaper for this area that is throughout the area picks up your story and says, Hey, we wanna interview you and do this whole, um, article on you as well. So they're all told differently. It's the same story, but told through three different lenses based upon, you know, each of the different writer's perspectives.

But it was great because they were all passionate about this, like no one was there against their will. Um, in fact, I was at one of my vendor events for one of the geeking grub events up in Raleigh, and I saw one other person, I had never met her in person. We don't even done the phone interview. And she's like, Hey, I'm here at this event, but I saw, you know, I finally got to see your, I see your tent.

She's like, it's my chance to finally get to introduce myself in person. She's like, as you see, I go to these events regularly, so I am passionate about this. I love your niche. And so it was just really cool. And then from there, Raleigh had a magazine called Voyager, Raleigh. Um, you know, which is our second largest city in the state.

And so they picked up, you know, wanted to do an interview. I mean, in fact, they just sent me an email a couple days ago saying, Hey, we wanna do a follow-up interview. We want to, we wanna come back and do another interview with you. And just so it, you know, like it's just the networking, the, the in-person stuff, um, that allows you these opportunities.

And like I tell people this, you know, whether you're doing this part-time or you're doing this full-time, you can still be a part of the Chamber of Commerce. Our Chamber of Commerce has a number of evening events, um, that I go to and I meet a lot of people at these evening events. But again, because I do this full-time, I'm able to go to some of our networking things that are during the day, during work days.

But I, I credit a lot of my early success to, to being able to do in-person networking, in-person events, in-person, everything. Which has, I think, led to a lot of just random success of someone meeting you and saying, Hey, I wanna do an article, which leads to another article, which leads to another article and leads to another article.

Um. Four articles in, you know, six months, I think. That's amazing.

[01:46:01] Steph Lee: Yeah, especially when you weren't trying, it's not like you were pitching people trying to pick up your story, but, um, you know, if someone is looking to learn how to pitch journalists, one of our past episodes with Courtney Nichols, she does a ton of outreach for pr.

We'll link to that for people. Um, let me see, I, and, and like Rocky, I feel like, I mean, you're great at networking. I think the, when I hear you talk some of the things that. Stick out on what has made flights and fables take off so quickly is you have the strong brand. Your niche is very unique and pinpointed that it makes a great story.

Um, so for any writer, they're gonna look at that and say, oh, that's such a unique, cool angle, I wanna write about that. It's not like you're getting another, like, oh, they opened up a laundromat on 26th in Lyndale Avenue. You know, they're like, oh, cool. Uh, flights and fables, travel agency. Yeah. So, and, and like the other thing is you know what your strengths are. You know that those face-to-face events are where you're really gonna shine, and that's where you've chosen to focus your marketing, which I think is super smart. And it, uh, goes to show with the success that you've been seeing for the last year and a half with how many bookings you've made.

So, yay, congrats. So excited for you. Thank you. Uh, okay.

[01:47:20] Indispensable

[01:47:20] Steph Lee: So before we wrap up, we have our signature question we ask everybody every time, and that is indispensable. Like what person book technology has been indispensable to the growth of your agency? And then tell us why.

[01:47:35] Rocky Dimico: You know, I knew you were gonna ask this, and so I thought about it long and hard and I will say, you know, if I had the leadership of my host agency, I think is what makes me successful.

Um, I can't really pinpoint any one person, so I have to say it's like literally the leadership team because. Between the CEO's ability to talk business, like dive really deep into the business. Every week we get an email about just the business side, and you're just like, oh my gosh, this makes so much sense to the chief operating officer talking about marketing and branding to the training people, to the group.

I mean, like the leadership team. They do everything so well in their jobs that it makes you so much more, it makes it so much more successful in my business. Like I, I, I've taken something from each one of those people that it's been like, just miraculous. Like I, I, I always feel like I have a whiteboard up in my office now, and I, I'm, I'm listening to them on their webinars that they're doing, that they do for us, that they put out for us as, as, as members.

And I'm always taking something and I'm like, I need to incorporate this. I don't know if it's gonna be today or tomorrow, but I need to incorporate this. And so. I know it's a cop out of an answer, but like the leadership team and how they each have a specialized lane, um, has just been phenomenal. And I just, and I think like, I mean, I'm very confident I'm gonna do very well in the future, just because if you're, if you're not confident, and I mean, why you should, you are, you should.

That's true. So I'm very confident I'm gonna do well in the future. And I think in the end I'm gonna, I'm gonna owe a lot of credit, one to, to them and two to, to your, to your website and your course. I mean, I, I tell every single person who's thinking about being a travel agent, like. The first and foremost thing you should do is take that Host Agency Reviews course.

'cause that will be the determining factor, and that's your monetary commitment to being a travel agent. Much like we expect a person to give us a hundred to $200 to book their travel. If you're serious about being a travel agent, you should be giving a hundred to $200 to, to take this course to make sure that this is the right fit for you before you drop X amount of time and x amount of dollars into this.

Um, so those are my two things. Like I just, I don't, I think when I'm successful will look back and, and say, Hey, these are the, the two things that, that got me to where I'm at today.

[01:49:55] Steph Lee: Uh, that's fantastic. Well, thank you for the kind words about HAR. Uh, it's, it's the reason I love what I do is because it's so fun to help other entrepreneurs and you're, you're talking about the taking the tidbits from all these webinars you're listening to.

And Shayna, our managing director, was just telling me the other day that she's implementing with the team, um, a backlog. So when people come up with good ideas during meetings, she, we put it into this backlog and then every month we'll, like, kind of based on what's going on at the company, be like, okay, do we have, do we have enough room on our plate to add any of this?

If not, no. Okay, we'll leave the backlog alone. But that way those ideas are like sitting in one place ready for you whenever you have the time and the energy and when things are right. Yeah. Well, that is perfect.

Uh, Rocky, thank you so, so much for your time and sharing your expertise.

[01:50:51] Rocky Dimico: Thank you. I appreciate you all having me on.

I, it's, it means a lot to me.

[01:50:55] Steph Lee: Yeah. And, and those, I I, if you've listened to our podcast before, you know that I usually do, uh, a one and a half to two hour interview with the person beforehand just to really get to know their business. So, um, with Rocky, I think it might've been a two and a half hour call.

And then this is a very long recording as well. So he has spent a ton of time chatting with us, um, to share kind of his experiences. So an extra special thanks for that too. Thank you.

All right. Well thank all of you for tuning in. We will be back for our Q3 Travel Agent Chatter podcast coming sometime in Q3, possibly Q4, depending on how quickly I'm or how behind I am on things I should say.

Have a wonderful rest of your day and we will see you all next time. Thanks, Rocky.

[01:51:43] Rocky Dimico: Thank you. Bye.

Outro

[01:51:45] Steph Lee: In case you forgot, since this is possibly our longest ever episode, remember that you can read all of the transcript, you can view the show notes. You can watch a video of today's episode. You can listen to it all in one place. And that is by going to host agency reviews.com/tac and clicking on episode 33 of everything you're looking for .

And you know what else you can find on that magical landing page? A top secret link in the show notes where you can find some bonus items, including one, A cute photo of me dressed as a maiko from my photo shoot in Japan, and two A behind the scenes photo of me during the interview, because right now it may look somewhat professional. But it won't surprise you that I have three dogs at my feet, but what may surprise you is I have a computer balanced on a footstool on top of a walker with the ring light tied to the cup holder, and I think that deserves some serious points for creativity.

Lastly, to wrap things out, for those of you that have stuck around this long, which I really appreciate, 'cause we don't have any credits to keep going and saying who's helped out with our episode, here's some fun fantasy factoids about me.

So my favorite fantasy author is Brandon Sanderson. My favorite series of his is Mistborn.

My sister and I have license plate frames with quotes from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series on it, and I am still waiting for the day where someone honks excitedly or even knows what my license plate frame is.

Don't forget that we have another listening delight for you on our podcast stream.

Season one is our Travel Agent Chatter, which comes out quarterly and season two is our Friday 15s, which come out weekly.

So you can tune in weekly to the Friday 15 podcast where we answer your industry questions that you have submitted every Friday at 12:00 PM Central time. You can sign up for emails with the questions that we will be answering ahead of time at hostagencyreviews.com slash friday one five or you can follow the link in the show notes.

We'll see you all next time.

⭐⭐ Bonus ⭐⭐

 You made it this far. Go you! Here's your bonus photos: