MIN HARIKE LUXURY TRAVEL DESIGNER, BEAUTIFUL JOURNEYS, TRAVEL-PA I joined Travel-pa in July 2023. I’m also a freelance make-up artist and I used to help my clients book their honeymoons and then the penny dropped that I could do this as a job. I had no sales experience, but had worked for British Airways and Emirates in the past. I remember the managing director of Travel-pa, Hamish Kaumaya, saying this time next year I’d be among his top 10 sellers – and most months I am. I’ve done about £200,000 in sales since my first booking in September 2023 up to May this year.
Min’s typical day Morning: No two days are the same, but Monday is my rest
morning. I take time off for “me time” because I’ve usually had a busy weekend doing brides’ make-up. I’ve worked as a make- up artist for 18 years for Indian and English weddings. I call Tuesday ‘Travel Tuesday’ – I go through enquiries and itineraries I need to put together and get back to clients. Travel tends to be my complete focus on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Afternoon: I go for a walk or a coffee between 1.00pm and 2.30pm a couple of days a week to catch up with friends. Then I do my travel admin and deal with any enquiries. I also fit in chats with brides or admin for my make-up business. The travel business is my ‘baby’. I don’t have children; I had a tough fertility battle for seven years and after having therapy it helped me to make the decision to cut back on my make-up work and start my travel business. A lot of my travel clients come from my make-up business. Initially I focused on selling honeymoons, but then I started to get hen parties and family bookings. The two businesses are complementary. I thought it would be split 30% travel and 70% make-up, but it’s more like 50-50.
Evening: I tend to work in the evenings – it’s a habit I’m trying to break! I stop around 6pm to catch up with my husband and sometimes we take a walk before dinner. I log back on after we’ve eaten at about 8pm. I’ve had a few days where I’ve worked really late on complex itineraries. I also log on in the evening to do my make-up admin work. My clients tend not to ring me at weekends because they know I’m usually busy with make-up jobs. I have often worked 18 hours on a Saturday: Asian weddings start early and brides have to be made up by 7am, so I would start at about 4am!
What was your first booking? A £65,000 corporate group booking to Las Vegas for
staff from my husband’s company. There were 26 people on the booking. I hadn’t actually finished my training when I made the booking, so one of the other Travel-pa homeworkers helped me with it.
travelweekly.co.uk
JULY 2024
13
PICTURE: Shutterstock/Saitee
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