In my last blog, I shared 5 hacks to help you be productive as a work-from-home travel advisor.
One of the keys to productivity is learning how to prioritize, but how do you know what the priorities are and how do you then prioritize what to do every month/week/day?
How to Prioritize: Get Clear on Your Goals
As you can imagine this is one of those topics with multiple layers, so hopefully I can share some nuggets with you that you can easily implement and see results.
I personally believe that to determine your priorities you must first get clear on your GOALS.
- Determine the areas of your life you seek to see change or growth – personal (spiritual, health, and family), and business.
- Write out your goals for those areas of your life.
- Write out how achieving those goals will benefit you.
- Create a plan, working your way backward based on an end goal date.
(For example, if you want to make $100,000 as a home-based travel advisor, you will choose a date by which you’ll achieve that goal and work your way back from there.) - Break down your goals into milestone markers and realistic goals to achieve every quarter, month, week, and possibly every day.
- Use these milestone markers to determine your priorities each day and thus plan your week.
How to Prioritize as a Destination Wedding Travel Specialist
Let me give you an example if you had a goal to make six figures as a destination wedding travel specialist.
First, write out all the ways making $100,000 per year in your travel business will benefit you. For example:
- Quit your 9-5 so you have more work-life balance
- Debt reduction so you can quickly pay off your debt and reduce financial stress thus giving you and your family a better quality of life
- Discretionary income for investments, retirement, or major life goals like buying a home
And then, create a benefit statement. Something like this:
I want to achieve financial freedom to enhance my work-life balance, eliminate debt faster, and secure extra income for investments, retirement, or major life milestones like homeownership—creating a better future for myself and my family. Less stress. More fun.
Breaking Down Your Goals
Let’s jump into how we use our goals to determine our priorities each quarter, month, week, and day.
Goal: $100,000 in one year from selling destination weddings
Average Earnings per Wedding: $14,000 ($13,000 commission + $1,000 planning fee)
Close Rate: 50% (You close 1 out of every 2 consultations)
To reach $100,000, you need to:
- Earn from Destination Weddings:
Number of destination weddings required: $100,000 / $14,000 = ~7.14 weddings (round up to 8 weddings) - Consultations Needed:
To close 8 weddings at a 50% close rate, you need to consult with 16 couples.
Our big, hairy, audacious goal has been decided. Now what? Let’s look at how to break this down and make it not-so-scary.
To meet your $100,000 goal, you need to generate 32 leads, conduct 16 consultations, and close 8 weddings over the year. Focus on consistent lead generation, maintaining a steady flow of consultations, and closing deals regularly. Adjust your strategies each quarter based on performance to stay on track.
Suddenly, this big goal doesn’t seem too hard. The key to prioritizing is to have a plan, but you won’t have a plan if you don’t know what your goal is. Your goal is meaningless if you don’t take the time to recognize why you want to achieve it and how it will benefit you.
Unless you first get clear on your goals, you will not prioritize your time. You will allow your day to run you instead of you running your day. You will allow distractions and start saying “yes” to things that don’t align with your goals, and take you off the focus of your goals.
Final Thoughts
I’ve only scratched the surface here on this topic, but I hope it helps you realize that you can achieve your goal of having a 6-figure travel business just like Lou and I have been “preaching.”
If that is what you’re looking for, I honestly believe that specializing in destination weddings is the fastest way to achieve a 6-figure home-based travel business.
I have an on-demand training that you may want to check out. It is free and will give you the blueprint we implemented in our business to make multiple six figures specializing in the destination wedding and honeymoon travel niche.
