How to Become a Group Leader and Travel Free
If travel is your passion, and you can’t visualize yourself sitting at a desk all day, answering question about travel destinations which you would rather be visiting, becoming a Group Leader, may be your best solution.The cruise line industry caters to the group sales methodology to fill up cruise cabins. Most of the major cruise companies will provide a free cruise for a Group Leader who sells 8 cabins or 15 full paying passengers. Some cruise companies require the group leader to pay for taxes, fees and upgrades. Smart group leaders, usually will book themselves, into an Interior cruise cabin. That way no one in the group has a less expensive cabin.The Group Leader can sell his/her cruise or, cruise for free. This option is what makes the group leader’s opportunity so popular.Experienced Tour Conductors, usually generate multiple methods to market their cruises or group travel events. The most common way is to locate established groups, who want to save money by traveling together. Other successful groups include special interest travel.Because the majority of Group Leaders are not, travel agents, they may have regular jobs, and belong to social organizations and church groups which puts them in touch with hundreds of potential travelers.There are a number of ways to get started as a Travel, Group Leader. If you are a junkie traveler, you can use your own experiences to build your confidence and your sales.If you have a limited travel background, yet travel is a passion, you can take a home study course, or enroll in a couple of classes at your local junior college. There are also courses online, which are extremely affordable. Travel is a billion dollar industry and there are many options for learning different phases of the travel industry.My own path through this maze was to enroll in a UC Berkeley Extension (Berkeley, Ca) course, on Group Travel. My instructor was one of the most successful group travel professionals in the country, at that time. My next step was to volunteer as a group leader for a social club who was attending an annual ski summit in Vale.It is not necessary to spend lots of money on schooling be become an effective Group Leader. However, it is mandatory that you learn everything you can about your destination and the travel involved.Once you have secured a basic knowledge of the type of group travel you want to offer, you can then seek out a host agency. A Host Agency is a licensed, bonded travel agency which allows travel agents or outside travel agents to book travel using their company name. There is a split in the commission, as the host agency is the legal business which allows you to book travel for your clients. Most host agencies charge a fee, and an annual fee, but not all. Fees for joining a Hosting Agency can range from zero dollars, up to $500.Another option is to contact your local travel agency and let them know you want to work as an outside agent. Be prepared to explain what types of travel you want to offer and to what type of groups you want to specialize in. The agency owner, or manager, will provide you with the commission structure, if any, policies and procedures. Some travel agencies only offer free travel to group leaders, while others offer, free travel, and commissions.When first starting out, it is almost always better to join a group in process, or, create a fun, 2 day trip, to get experience. My own experience included learning the procedure for a particular cruise ship. For about 5 years, every time a Princess Cruise ship docked in San Francisco, I thought I should further my travel education and be aboard ship when it cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge and out to sea. My efforts landed me in the Captain’s Circle and qualified me as a Platinum Cruise Member.It is easy to find clients. Below is a list of ways to market your travel events.1. Informing your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, church members, club members, organizations, friends of friends, twitter pals, and your personal email buddies, is a great way to find new clients.2. The second best way is to invite friends, neighbors over for a travel party or a cruise party. Ask the cruise line or the resort, for a video tape and free promotional material to share with the guest. Provide guest with snacks and (cheap) wine. Keep the wine coming! No need to be aggressive. Travel sells itself, especially, if the destination and price is of interest. You can provide your clients with a bottle of fine wine aboard ship.Remember to ask for a deposit. Stay focused, your job is to provide information and collect checks. Ask friends to sponsor a travel party. The more parties you have, the more people you sign up. It’s that simple!3. Make announcements at your church and your organization. Include the information in the church bulletin or your organization’s newsletter, as many times as possible.4. Have flyers made up, but not before you have business cards printed, with your name, contact numbers, email address, name of travel event, dates and starting cost.5. Distribute flyers, at public places or public events.6. Use classified ads, online and offline to promote your travel event.7. Pass out your cards, everywhere you go. Doctor’s office, cleaners, grocery store, beauty shop, stores where you shop, your children’s school, your favorite neighborhood bar, and eating establishments.Paper work is extremely important and without it, nothing happens. Paper work must be completed correctly and forwarded to the host agency or travel agency in a timely manner. Failure to do so could result in an ugly situation, which could escalate into a legal battle.Checks should be made out to the host agency or the travel agency. Even if the travel agency says its OK for your clients to make the check out to you, don’t do it. Get you commissions from the host agency, unless you have a Seller of Travel license. One you turn in your deposits and payments, the host agency or travel agency, will provide you with your commissions, based on your agreement.Outside travel agents usually work under an Independent Contractor Agreement and are issued a 1099-MISC at the end of the year.
Holistic Approach to Pet Health Care – Preventing Disease in Dogs and Cats
Preventing Disease in Dogs and Cats with Holistic Health CareHolistic health care uses knowledge of what causes disease to make preventative lifestyle choices. For people, holistic health has a history that goes back 5,000 years to India and China, but for pets, the concept is modern.Often times, Western medicine hasn’t been on the same page as holistic health care. In Western medicine, scientists identified germs as outside causes of disease, and created synthesized chemicals to destroy them. People made unhealthy lifestyle choices and assumed health problems could be “fixed” if they got sick.While it is wonderful to be able to cure disease, wouldn’t it be a better approach to prevent disease in the first place?Promoting optimal health and disease prevention are the main goals of holistic health. As a pet owner, you can choose to use holistic health with your pet. The benefits include:
Lower overall health care costs (prevention is cheaper than curing)
Pets with greater energy and freedom from infirmity
Having a disease-free pet who lives a longer, healthier lifeHolistic Health Care Diets for Dog and Cat Holistic health care for dogs and cats is simpler than it is for people. Why? Because dogs and cats are have simpler needs and are easier to satisfy.For many people, the most challenging aspect of maintaining holistic health is consistent emotional balance. The human mind creates its own worries in the over-stimulated world we all live in.However, a dog or cat that has a bed to call their own and gets exercise and belly rubs on a regular basis is likely quite content. For owners, the simply purity of our pets happy state of mind is one of their great charms.The food we give our dogs and cats, however, is dubious from the holistic health perspective. Many dogs and cats go their entire lives eating nothing but processed food. This creates imbalances with essential nutrients, fatty acids and digestive enzymes.Providing a well-balanced diet for our pets can be challenging but is the most important factor in achieving optimal health. Many people barely keep up with cooking healthy for themselves, much less their pets. Although commercial pet foods are convenient to serve and most pets gobble them up, they are often quite poor in nutritional value and can even lead to many adverse health conditions such as allergies, skin problems and digestive disorders.Nutritional supplements can provide a consistent means for ensuring your pet receives the nutrients they need to lead healthy lives.Natural Support for Anxious Pets While dogs and cats don’t sit around worrying about bank accounts or politics, being part of the human world can be stressful. Unfortunately, we have also bred traits into dogs and cats that leave some animals susceptible to not only physical problems, but also anxiety disorders.Holistic health offers help for nervous pets. Herbal remedies are similar to giving a nervous dog or cat a soothing cup of tea. This calming effect allows your pet to learn how to deal with anxiety provoking events like being left alone or loud noises.Holistic Health and Everyday Choices Every day you make a variety of choices about how you live your life – what you choose to eat, whether you exercise and how much you sleep, how you handle stress, etc. Your pet cannot choose a holistic lifestyle. It is up to you as the owner to make everyday decisions that have a cumulative, long-term effect on your pet’s health.Exercise and attention are everyday essentials for holistic pet health. With a complete diet, your dog or cat will be happy, active, and require fewer trips to the vet.The average pet owner usually has little choice but to use processed foods. Adding nutritional supplements is an everyday choice that ensures your pet is getting essential nutrients in their diet. Over your pet’s lifetime, you will spend less on health care and have a healthier pet.
Cats Health Care – Natural Is Best!
Cats health care is complex, but simple at the same time. This seemingly contradictory statement stems from how humans view the world. All humans have a belief system set up, that is personal and based on their upbringing, their culture, their environment, their education, their religion, etc. When any of this is challenged, it can feel very uncomfortable, unsafe even.Cats health care is complex because every aspect of your cat’s life needs to be examined. No stone can be left unturned. This is regardless of what you feel is good for your cat or not. Your preconceptions must not get in the way. You need to be very open minded.So when you feel that you cannot examine an aspect that perhaps you need to, that may be necessary to get to the route of the problem your cat may be suffering with, you may be challenging your current belief system. Scary stuff indeed!Cats health care is simple, because when you look at the whole picture, in its entirety, it can be easy to see where and why your cat may have a health issue.Let’s first look at how cats in the wild live. This is how they evolved. This is why cats are so successful today.At least three things spring to mind immediately – diet, freedom and health care.Let’s deal with the last one first, as most people would be asking ‘where is health care in the wild’?Animals seek out medicinal plants and herbs, to cure a variety of problems. They know which ones are good for any given ailment. They are far more savvy than the average human. Grass is a good example – cats use it to clear a digestive problem.Animals also know that rest and sleep can cure a large number of problems. Field doctors in a war zone discovered this too. They found that the patients they were unable to help immediately, fared far better than those they got to first.There is a magic to life that most humans know little about. Self healing is very strong in every living being.The second item, freedom, may not be optional for many cats for safety reasons. However, cats are free spirited and do suffer without some freedom. It is well known that cats confined indoors all the time are less healthy and life shorter lives, than those who have free access outside.How you go about addressing this depends on where you live. Securing a safe back yard may be an option for you. Some breeds take well to walking on a lead. Just making a closed run where they can feel the grass and the sun, may make all the difference to their lives.Probably diet is the most important aspect of everyone’s health care. Yet diet is dismissed by many as being irrelevant to health. That’s a bit like saying that the type of fuel you put in your car is immaterial to how it performs.The fact is that the typical commercial cat foods fed to most cats is the cause of most of their health issues. It also means that by changing the diet of your cat to a natural one, it is highly likely that they will improve or even recover from their health problem.Cats health care begins and ends by looking at the whole picture. Start by feeding your cat real, quality, nutritious food and watch the results.
For more information on a natural diet and health care for cats, click on the link below.