Career Change?

I have never had a job for more than three years. I've never really worked in a chosen profession for much longer than that. I think that if you add up all the time I've spent as a “writer” and/or “editor” at various jobs I've been in my current profession for near four and a half years. I've been in the travel industry for a bit over three years. If you count my time as a freelancer while living in Romania, it's closer to four.

I made becoming a writer a top priority for me. Realizing I was on a path to being a librarian for the rest of my life I purposely took myself off that path and put myself on a path to being a writer, and ultimately a travel writer. It was not easy. It did not happen overnight. There were times when I didn't know how I was going to make it happen. But I did it.

Now after all that work of getting myself to where I am now, I'm considering making another change. And I'm very conflicted about it.

Am I doing the right thing? Is this just part of a pattern of never staying at one job for too long (though not all the jobs ended by my choice!)? Is the risk I’d be taking worth it?

I am thinking about becoming a travel agent.

I believe I could be good at it, or at least parts of the job. I believe I would enjoy doing it, or at least certain pieces of the job. Is the fact that I know already I might not be good at, or enjoy certain parts of the job an indication that I shouldn’t do it.

There are certain parts of being a writer that I don’t like.

But here’s the thing. I don't know if I was born to be a travel agent, while I do know I was born to be a writer.

Of course, just because I'm thinking about becoming a travel agent doesn't mean I plan to give up writing. I want to continue working on my fiction, and continue to work as a travel writer part time. It’s just that I don’t want to do the journalist thing full time anymore.

I also like the ideas of working for myself, and helping people find the right cruise (or land vacation).

What I don’t like is the idea of being a salesperson, and I especially don’t like the thought of having people come to me to complain when they didn’t have a good vacation – which is absolutely a job requirement!

So, I’m conflicted. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if the risk is worth it when there is a definite possibility of failure.

So that’s the question really? Is fear a good enough reason to not take a risk? You tell me!

Sometimes Rich People Get It

“Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you for introducing yourself.”

I heard these words repeated over and over again at a recent travel agency conference. But what was interesting was that the two people repeating these thank you's are 20-something boys... er young men – the sons of two brothers who co-own one of the industry's largest companies. Rich beyond anything I can ever hope to achieve, they have clearly been groomed to be gracious.

From the way they make eye contact when greeting someone to how they shake hands, these guys have been taught everything they need to know to succeed.

Of course, I'd love to see how they act when they're not “on,” especially the really good-looking cousin, who KNOWS he's good-looking!

But I will say their fathers have done a great job preparing these boys for their eventually take over of the company. What I find most impressive is that each cousin is doing an intensive two-year on-boarding program, where they will work in every department of every company their family owns. They're even each going to spend a day at a travel agency seeing what a travel agent does, and more importantly deals with, every day.

I think this is fantastic, and truly says a lot about their dads. Rather than simply hand the reins of a company over to an inexperienced and spoiled son (like an employer I had previously did), these fathers are making their sons work first, and making sure they understand all the different elements of the company, and what their employees do.

I wish more companies would do that, not just if they have heir apparents, but for any executive who is running, or will run the company.

Delta revisited

Having to fly for work nowadays means not having any control over what airline I fly. Since some its merger with Northwest, Delta has implemented a lot of anti-flyer policies and fees and for that reason whenever possible I choose not to fly them. However, on my current work trip to Cruise3Sixty in Vancouver, my flight was booked for me on Delta.

The actual flying experience was a mix of good, not so bad, stupid and bad.

I'll start with the good:

* There was very little turbulence -- good job pilots!
* The desk staff and flight attendants were nice --- the ones in Minneapolis and from Minneapolis to Vancouver were super nice (guess that's the Northwest contingent).
* They gave free cookies, peanuts or pretzels -- hey, at least it's something.
* Although the flight was full, I found the seats to be roomy enough for me (I'm only 5'2") and there was plenty of room under the seat in front of me to put my big overnight bad without having to stuff it.
* On my first flight no one sat in the middle seat making it even more comfortable -- although good, I can't really give Delta credit for that though.

The Not So Good:

* If you're going to charge people to buy food on board at least offer something worth eating -- it's ridiculous to sell overpriced junk food when people are flying over dinner time! Offer a sandwich for cryin' out loud!

The Stupid:

* Maybe someone can explain the rationale of making people who are on a flight to Vancouver, with a stop in Minneapolis, switch planes and seats even though its the same flight, with the same flight number. I don't get that!

The Bad:

* No entertainment of any kind. Each flight was more than 3 hours but they didn't even have the overhead TVs. Boring!

* Charged to check my suitcase. I know all the airlines do it, but it still doesn't make it right.