Donna Hann
Roslyn Ranse is the epitome of resilience. As a travel professional for almost 15 years, building a multi million dollar travel business from scratch several times, Ros is the inspiration behind travel agent achievers, which is a company born out of her passion to share her knowledge and expertise with her travel industry peers. With the arrival of the global pandemic, the travel industry as we knew it, grounds will halt overnight. And like so many travel professionals, Ros watched as the travel industry disintegrated before her eyes. Not one to shy away from a challenge though, Ros was able not just to save her own business, but was an integral part of supporting other travel professionals to save their businesses too. In our chat, today, we're digging deeper into resilience, and Ros will share her story, and her strategies for sticking with what you love as a business owner, when the going gets really tough.
Donna Hann
Hello, I'm Donna Hann, a business coach, and an online course creator. And this is the chaise in business podcast. You can think of me as your business bestie, who's a few steps ahead of where you are right now. As a month fueled with ambition and determination. I've created and sold three businesses. I've learned the lessons made mistakes, and I understand the daily juggle in the hustle. I also know what it's like when relationships fray and burnout taps you on the shoulder. That was my world until I reshaped and transformed the way I ran my six figure business. Today I help women to transform their businesses and go from being the overwhelmed entrepreneur to becoming the thriving entrepreneur feeling energized, empowered and fulfilled within their business lifestyle. I want to inspire your business journey and help you to stop spinning your wheels, because I want you to burn bright instead of burning out. And I'll invite other entrepreneurs to share their real life stories too, because I want you to know that you're not alone. You can be the savvy entrepreneur that you are born to be, and enjoy the freedom to do the things and be present with the people that mean the most to you. So if you're ready to rise to the next level and build a business by design, this is the She's in Business podcast for moms who made for more.
Donna Hann
Welcome to another episode of The She's In Business podcast. My name is Donna Hann and I am here with I think the most resilient businesswoman I've ever met. When you walk into a room Ros, if she's there is just the most warm, inspiring, friendliest person. And oh my god, resilient beyond comprehension. So welcome to the podcast, Roslyn Ranse.
Roslyn
Thank you so much for having me, Donna, I feel as though you need to press pause right now. Because I might need to grab a tissue you've just made. Because you've, you've flooded back all of these emotions. And you and I just spoke before we hit the record button. I am tired. And as a mom, you know, we're trying to do everything. But the emotions have just come up going, oh my god, I really try to be that person. I love humans being around them. Sometimes it's tough to show up. But yeah, the tears have just come up to say thank you. That really means the world to me that you said that. Because sometimes we don't think that we're very strong yet other people see things from a different angle.
Donna Hann
Oh, it's so strong. And I remember the first time that I met you in person, because we're part of a business group together. And we met in person for the first time in Noosa. When was that? 2000.
Roslyn
And that was last year 2021 Noosa. It was in between lock downs. And it was like it's really narrow opening. Let's get together.
Donna Hann
Yeah. And I remember having a chat with you, and just, you know, discovering who you were and doing the Hi, who are you and what do you do and all of that kind of stuff. And you started telling me and I was like holy moly. That's just Whoa. And and you know, particularly because, you know, I live just outside of Gladstone. And it's so insular here. And we were kind of in this beautiful pocket where this all of this stuff was happening around the world. And you know, I hate to say it because I know that some people had like, such a different experience. But for us living here it was like we're in a little bit of a bubble for a long time. Eventually that bubble burst and you know, COVID came through but for a while there it was very, very, like safe in that bubble, but your experience in telling me just opened my eyes. So before we get into all of that kind of stuff. Um, would you share with our lovely listeners, who you are, what you do and kind of what your business journey has been like since you started?
Roslyn
Wow, okay. First of all, this, this has been an absolutely crazy time, but I work in travel now. And my whole background, my life has been around hospitality and tourism and education. I became a Travel Advisor quite late on a number of people would think, but I came from a corporate background. So I was Hospitality and Tourism got into marketing, international education. And I really stopped that career path. After about 12 or 13 years, I was the director of international marketing and sales for a group of colleges all over Australia. And my job was to promote Australia as a destination for international students to come and study. And then I progressed through the ranks where I traveled around Australia as like a careers advisor, you know how kids when they're in like year 10, and year 11, and the nine, they get an opportunity to talk to a whole lot of education providers and go and do their career week, and those sorts of things. So I was there really nurturing the next generation, and giving them any guidance or support or encouragement, trying to find out what their skills were to what they should do later on in life. It's a very big, very big question at that age and modern pressure.
Roslyn
So I in that role, and as Director of Sales and Marketing, I was responsible for not only international budgets and sales targets, and the marketing of the business and getting the message out there to the world. But I was also traveling, and I had I was, you know, have a team of sales staff all over the world that I would fly into a destination. So I'd land in South Korea, and I would present on stage to hundreds of teenagers and their parents and talk about Australia as a destination and what it was like to study in Australia, whatever they were looking to do. But I was on the road for, you know, nine months of the year. And even though a lot of people looked at that and said, Wow, you know, you are traveling all over the world you're in so glamorous, so glamorous. And you're in Norway the next week and then stop over in Singapore. Yeah, it was absolutely incredible. And I don't regret a moment of it. I loved it. But I also just wanted to come home. And as I got older, you know, it was it was a beautiful lifestyle. Becoming I was missing things at home, I was missing family, birthdays, friends, were getting married, there were kids that were getting born. And so I pretty much made a snap decision to go, you know what I need to finish this part of my life right now, at the top of my game, and I'm going to be an advisor, I'm going to be a travel agent. I, I had friends and family and a lot of people asked me, Ros, I'm going to Japan, you know, where should I stay? What should I do? And you know, what's the train system like, and how do I get around? It was all over the world, though. And so for me, geography I loved, I traveled, I had the experience, I had business knowledge. I just didn't understand the travel booking systems that was purely apt for me. And so I only saw that as my one little hurdle I could do the rest. And I became a Travel Advisor. A lot of people told me I was really silly, why would I leave a high paying powerful career to work from home as a travel agent, like they just thought that I was crazy.
Roslyn
I wanted the lifestyle. I wanted to be able to travel on my own terms. I wanted to be able to work from home, I wanted to build a business that worked for me. And instead of making big companies, you know, multimillionaires, I wanted to do something for myself. And so becoming a Travel Advisor was a really natural progression for me and I started with nothing. So I got in I was like, oh, okay, I can help. You know, my aunt get to London, the first experience that I had I'd forgotten to put the taxes on her flights. And I was like, Oh my gosh.
Roslyn
But it was understanding the systems, right? Yeah, I knew how to market I knew about business stuff and you're about cash flow, all of those sorts of things. It was purely the system. So I learned that very, very quickly. And I built a highly profitable travel business within somebody else's business. Look at the numbers and I went you know what I need to do more more for myself here. And I grew it to be selling you know, a couple of million dollars of travel a year. And I did that very successfully. And then a whole lot in my world changed and I had a child.
Roslyn
Oh my gosh, kids can just change everything.
Donna Hann
Totally. Can you relate? Absolutely.
Roslyn
Yeah. And I was listening to one of your podcast episodes how your experience when kids came along, as well. And so for me, I didn't know how to manage both. Like nobody told me how hard it was to just keep a human alive all day, every day, I was so used to running a multimillion dollar business on my own, that I knew things needed to change. So systems became incredibly important to me, I hired a team, I had other people come into my business so that I could still remain the face of my travel business. But I could have other people assist me in the tasks that I didn't have to do. And so rebuild the business, I took a massive cut. Initially, I just had to tell clients that I can't, I can't manage both of these things until I get myself organized, and then rebuilt it again. And I saw very similar patterns henbit happening in the industry with other advisors. And that's where travel agent achievers was initially born more as a hobby to help other people, but then grew from that over one, one thing that I would never have anticipated, which was covid.
Donna Hann
Yeah, so you still have your travel agent business or your yeah, I got and then you've and then you've got the travel agent achievers, which is where you support and coach and mentor other businesses
Roslyn
Correct.
Donna Hann
It really well, right?
Roslyn
With travel advisors, because that's where my heart is, and touring and coaching travel advisors to build the business that they absolutely deserve to have and that they want to have. But they've become stuck in the doing. So I help them with their systems, with their marketing, with their sales with their processes with dealing with clients. Yeah, all of those all other things behind the scenes, because I know how good they are at actually booking travel and being the face of the business. Yeah.
Donna Hann
Yeah, absolutely. Can you tell me to share with me what was the health of the travel industry, like before COVID was even a thing like before it was even on our radar? What was that like?
Roslyn
Oh, it was fantastic. We were seeing, you know, booming trends for advisor for travel businesses, and the growth of them, but also for the consumer. So I know that there's some statistics around pre COVID, the Australian population, for instance, they were spending about $3,000 per person to travel internationally each year. Now, it wasn't everybody that spent that or it wasn't everybody that traveled. Whereas now postcode we're seeing it's $5,000 that people are spending on average to travel because the landscape has changed so much that for for the industry in general, there was a huge spike and progress in the cruising industry, we were seeing, you know, mega ships come to Australia, lots of high end luxury, that whole market was increasing. But also just in general, you know, a lot of people wanted to go and see family and friends. And we were traveling very regularly. In order to do that. A lot of the younger generation were taking gap years or, you know, going over to Europe and having their Kentucky holidays and experiencing the world straight out of school. The industry was quite healthy. There has always been though, companies that go under, there's always pressure of different stuff happening that's across any business. And I think we've seen it really highlighted and a huge focus specifically on travel.
Roslyn
But as an advisor, a lot of it is outside of our control. Now we are there because we have the knowledge, the expertise, we have the the skill set, to help our clients achieve the dreams that they want. We really want to curate an experience and those memories that they're ever going to have. It's one of the very precious things in life to be able to explore this incredible planet that we live on. And having an expert in your quarter to give you the guidance and the support is just something that I don't think is recognized enough. And now our training like you'd be surprised a lot of people say in business Oh yeah, I might spend an hour a week working on my business. Well, a Travel Advisor will be attending 234 training sessions a week not just on the systems that we use, but also on product knowledge and information, knowledge and specific hotels that are coming out. We're always reading, always learning so that we've got everything there or the consumer. So the industry was very healthy. And, you know, we were being compensated by airlines or by providers. And there wasn't necessarily particularly here in Australia, there wasn't the willingness, I think from an advisor to respect themselves or their self worth, or their knowledge and their expertise, they weren't necessarily charging clients for that information, they were really just relying on suppliers to be paying them a wage in order to keep themselves afloat a roof over their heads, that has completely changed.
Roslyn
Now, post pandemic, a lot of the suppliers are reducing their commissions to us, airlines have pretty much cut it all out. So no idea about this side of it. Yeah, there's, there's this whole different side of things going on that as an advisor, and a travel business owner, the struggle is even worse. Now. Through COVID, a lot of advisors were, if they were able to, and this is, you know, a whole jungle jigsaw piece in itself. If they were able to get money back, then that's what they were doing. And they were handing back the money to clients. But what clients haven't realized is that a lot of that was being paid by a supplier. And that's what kept a roof over and advisors head. So they were actually handing back money that they may have used to put dinner on the table three months ago, and you know, waiting for hours to travel, and they went backwards.
Roslyn
So we have seen a huge decline in experts in the industry, because they had to go and get second jobs, there wasn't the funding or the support for them to stay and keep their business afloat. Or they've just decided, You know what, I've had one too many kicks in the guts, I can't do this anymore. And they've decided to leave the industry. So there's been this huge exodus. And this is what I'm seeing now is that the advisors that have been able to hang in there or stick around there, courage and resilience is so strong. But it's tough. And we're trying to the industry, we're trying to change the consumer perception that you know, what we do have the experience, the knowledge, the expertise, the destination information, know which right, the suppliers are going to be right for you. And how can we make sure that your money is protected here in Australia, because even that we saw money go offshore, and we can't get that back? There's no legal, you know, system for us. And our travel systems aren't designed to go backwards, which is why even now I'm seeing ad months, two years later, we are still trying to get refunds for clients. So if as a reveler, any of your listeners are out there, we have done everything that we possibly can to get you the best possible outcome. And we are continuing to try and do that to make sure that as a consumer, you'll be able to travel in the future, that suppliers are still going to be there, airlines are going to be there. But as business owners, we also need to be there as well to support through this time.
Donna Hann
Yeah. Wow. Like I just didn't realize like you see it all sort of happening. But who tells the story of what it's like, as a travel professional in like, I just, wow, that's kind of like a spin in my head.
Roslyn
We've all gone quiet because the media just bagged. You know, the industry out so badly. And it became this massive bashing that advisors have gone you know what, I don't need this. I've seen so much devastation that I can't even talk about it. And the tears just come up for me because it's hard.
Donna Hann
Yeah. And do you remember when you started seeing it? Like, how did you hear about COVID? Like, what was when did you first discover that this thing was happening on the other side of the planet, and it was something to really sit up and take notice about it?
Roslyn
I knew about it before it was even a thing. So and the reason why I knew about it, and this wasn't everybody, it wasn't the industry. It wasn't any big secret. The only reason that I knew about it was because I had a very specialist client that would send people to China in order to get products to bring back to Australia that they would then sell on Amazon and Shopify and those sorts of things. So I was specifically sending clients to China to experience that and when I started to see it come out, well, of course China shut down first. And so I started to see the ramifications for that and right we need to be bringing people home really quickly. We need to make sure that everybody is safe there so I I knew about it. And like November, I think November December, and was just keeping an eye on it be because as a Travel Advisor, I see stuff that's happening all over the world that the general consumers don't see. We know about things that are happening pretty much in real time or very quickly. And so we would make assumptions, which you know, we all know what assume means to make an ass out of you and me. But for us, it was really what's happening? Is this going to stay? Is this going to gain traction? And we have to also try and predict that and none of us have a crystal ball. Nobody does.
Roslyn
So we were just doing everything that we possibly could to make sure our clients were safe, but keep an ear out what's happening over there. How's it panning out? To make sure that our clients in the future we're going to be safe?
Donna Hann
Yeah. Yep. And then. So in those first early days, you said that you're trying to get people home and all of that kind of stuff? Did you have a strategy? You know, once you had a sense that this is sticking around? This is a very serious, real thing, putting damage control measures in place, like what was the first thing that you did for your own business? And then what did you do when you realize that this was affecting so many other like, was travel agent achievers around before COVID?
Roslyn
It was, but it didn't have as big of an impact? I think, because I was I was treating it like a hobby. And having a multibillion dollar travel business myself, it was finding the time and the right, the right place. For travel agent achievers, it was more of a fun thing and giving travel advisors the tools and tips to systemize and organize their business, but there wasn't a real push from myself. So as you know, we got wind that the borders were going to close. We were straight. And for me and my team, we were straight on the phone to our clients. And I at that moment, I remember a phone call to clients that were skiing in Japan. And we knew about it about a week beforehand. And I was preparing all of my clients to say, Are you sure you want to travel, this is going to be the ramifications. If you decide to travel, I might have to cut it short. Or, you know, if you decide not to go, you're going to lose a lot of money because there was nothing really in place to say, if you don't travel, you can or can't get your money back like there was there was a gray area. So as soon as we knew, and I think we were given maybe 48 hours before the borders would have shut. I had clients that were in Japan skiing, and I called them I woke them up and said, The borders are going to close in 24 hours. I need you to pack your gear today. I need you to get to Tokyo airport, and I will have you on a flight tonight. And they were like what are you talking about? Like, come on, Ros. We've just got here. And it's parents, though it was their first holiday away from the kids, they wanted to have a bit of fun. And I was like, I just need to get you home, I want you to be safe. We don't know how long the borders are going to be shut for. We don't know what's going on, I just need to bring you home. And so the lucky thing is that they trusted me with that. And that's one of the things that I know for myself and the advisors that are part of our community.
Roslyn
We have the skills, we have the expertise. And we also can run at this high adrenaline pace. When there is disaster happening all around us, we can remain super cool under pressure to say these are the things that need to happen in order to get our clients home safely. So for me, those clients trusted me and they pack their bags, they left their ski destination made their way back to Tokyo by the time they arrived in Tokyo off the bullet train. I had them on business class seats that night. I think it might have cost them you know, $200 each. And yes, they had lost a couple of days of ski passes. But the fact was that they were on that plane, they were coming home and they were able to get into Australia before the board is closed. So they didn't have to go into quarantine and all of the other things that you and I know then happened.
Roslyn
It then became an absolute disaster from there. So for us, it was let's find out what's happening with the airlines. Let's find out what's happening with suppliers. We were working around the clock, but I knew as a business owner, the things that I needed to do would check my cash flow. Yeah, it was right. Where are we at? How long can we survive without, you know, commission or payments or service fees or any of those sorts of things. It was also where our clients right now, and I worked on a day to day basis. But I also said to my team, I need you guys to be on the phone to quantities for five hours at a time. I need you to be abreast of all of the information that's coming at us so that we can then determine what's going to be the best course of action for our clients. And we were seeing like three to four rule changes a day.
Donna Hann
It was confusing from where I was sitting, let alone from where you were sitting.
Roslyn
Yeah, it was confusing. But I knew what I had to do as the face of the business, I had to be live. So I was on Facebook, and a couple of times a day in those first few weeks just to tell our clients what was going on what we were hearing what we knew what the facts were, because the media also went on this whole rant as well. And I had to just keep very consistent to say, I will deliver the facts. And I will tell you exactly what's going on and what we know specific for your travel. And I then worked day to day who's traveling next? How can we then take care of them? who's traveling next? How can we take care of them? Yeah, for me, it was just being the face.
Donna Hann
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Donna Hann
How did you manage your own resilience? How did you, you know, keep stepping forwards keep moving through it without just falling in a heat, which I'm sure at some point, maybe you did. And maybe there was times? Like I just have to? Cry into a pillow and then I'm back.
Roslyn
Yeah, absolutely. I think that that's a really important thing to bring up is you know how it was. And the mental health. For me, I've always been really positive person always glass, glass half full. I always look for the positive. I always look for the wins, I always look for the good and the bright side of things. So even though it was incredibly challenging, and hard. And yeah, I was in tears, I've got photos, even when I speak on stage. Now I've got a video, I've got photos of me with what I call the ugly cry. Because the face is puffy, the eyes are red, I'm holding a glass of wine. For me. I'm very blessed with a husband who is incredibly supportive. My son as well always made me smile. And he even says now he's like mama do you have to go on Zoom, do you have to do this, and I'm like, this is you, this is my world, I need to be talking to these people. So I'm very, very fortunate and privileged to have that support structure around me. But I was also allowed to cry, just get it out when I needed to, and have, you know, communities around me. So that's where the community that you and I are both a part of with her Empire Builder. It was a safe place. Yeah, and I didn't have to share all the crappy stuff that was going on. I didn't have to do that. But just to have other people around me that were also going through tough times, was in itself really positive for me to go, you know what, I can still help somebody else. And that makes me feel good.
Donna Hann
One of the reasons why I created this podcast is to really help share the journey, when it's not smooth sailing, because business isn't always smooth sailing, it's, it's a hard gig. And so I don't want listeners to feel alone, I want them to have a sense that what they're experiencing is maybe you know, normal in the world of business. And, you know, as you explained, business can be tough and curveballs can come our way. And we just need to kind of be ready to deal with those things. But also, you know, have that resilience have you know, when things don't go to plan those coping skills. So if you could offer maybe three things, three tips, advice, three learnings, perhaps that you've had through your journey as a business owner. When things get tough to cope, you know, what would the kind of things that you would be that you would be able to share to be able to, I guess, work through that and come out the other side feeling maybe stronger, maybe, you know, having a new skill that you've developed or a new way a new strategy of managing what you do.
Roslyn
I've always been a learner. You know, education is really important to me, but I don't think I don't see it in the traditional sense. And this is one thing that I love about you, Donna and what you have with she's in business and your podcast and your courses and your programs and those sorts of things very similar. As females, as mothers as business owners, I think community and education is incredibly important. So for me, I've never stopped learning. It's the learning and being around people that are supportive, then get you because I can't talk to my husband about certain things, he doesn't get it, or he just wants to get it, they don't get it.
Roslyn
He wants to fix it. So I think having that community, and the education is incredibly important. I'm never going to stop any of that. And a lot of people say to me, oh, my gosh, Ros, you know, you're part of this. And you're part of that, and you know, all of these people. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I absolutely love it. And so that's been a really big thing for me to help me get through those tough times to help me because I'm not alone. And being a part of a community and a support group like that, and I say support group, you know, quite lightly, but also with some sincerity, because I know that if I was to call you, you would just completely understand, you'd be like, Yeah, I went through that as well, a couple of years ago, and this is how I dealt with it. That is not only educational for me, but it's also the transferring of support there as well to say, Hey, I've got you.
Donna Hann
And I just holding space without judgment, just holding space for someone to speak about what they're going through what they're feeling, what the challenge is, and yeah, you know, I think we can, there's that natural instinct sometimes to want to fix it and offer advice or ideas. But sometimes it's also just about sitting in that space.
Roslyn
Correct? Yeah, sitting and listening. So I think that that's been a really big thing to get through is having the education and continual education and also the support in the community. And now on on the back about education, it's also about implementation. If I didn't act on the business knowledge that I was gaining over the years, or the people that I was being surrounded by, there's no way that I would be where I'm at now, absolutely no way. And the networking and seeing who is an expert in different areas, and being able to talk to them and get their insights and skills. That's huge. And I think as business owners, and especially as moms in business, or you know, women in business, there, I think that's a really supportive community. And we can be there for one another. But I also find that females are more willing to give themselves and support others when either they ask or they're there. And we can show up for one another. So I love that as well. That's definitely helped me get through.
Roslyn
Yeah, awesome, something that I coach my clients through, is looking for the lesson in the experience, especially the really tough experiences, because I feel like those things that really test us also bring the best lessons. So now that we're seeing the travel industry start to kind of get back on its feet a little bit right, as you said, there's still a long way to go there. But what would you say has been the greatest lesson for you that has come out of all of this from a business perspective.
Roslyn
Two things. One is collaboration over competition, definitely in the travel industry, pre COVID. It was every man for himself. And there was a lot of competition amongst agents and coming from a scarcity point of view. So collaboration over competition will definitely be the first thing that I am so proud of our industry, but also as business individuals as well that we can come through the tough times together. The second part of though, and I think the greatest lesson, and this is for anyone in business would have to be that education is important. But you need to know your numbers.
Roslyn
If you don't know your numbers, are you sticking your head in the sand, then I highly recommend, you know, do a short course or speak to somebody that knows more than you so that you can just start looking at them and understanding them know what your minimum viable product is. Know what your base level like what are the costs that are what do you need coming in? Yeah, so that you can cover your costs. And then from that, you know, I think it's ground up. Yep.
Donna Hann
Yeah, awesome. Well, like so many travel professionals that you've helped in the travel agent achievers space. I'm so grateful for your time today in sharing your experience and your advice around resilience, and also educating me as well on the way that the travel industry works because I've got a whole new level of appreciation now for travel professionals, which I didn't have before. You're one in a million and the world is so lucky to have you Ross so thank you so much for your time today.
Roslyn
My absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for having me, Donna. I am forever grateful for you your friendship and the work that you do for your community and it's an honor and a privilege to be here to talk to you today. So thank you so much for having me. And, you know, let's get out and start exploring the world again. I can't wait to travel with you in the future and I know that we will be doing some together. Yeah, a lot more in the future done.
Donna Hann
Yeah, absolutely. I can't wait. Thanks Ros.
Donna Hann
Thank you for listening to this episode of The shiz in business podcast. If you enjoyed it, please share it on Instagram and Facebook and I'd be so grateful if you could leave me a review on iTunes. Be sure to include your business name and Insta handle so I can give you a shout out to if you want to know more about what I do the programs that I offer, then head over to www dot Donna hann.com and follow me on Instagram at Donna underscore Hann underscore s IB. I hope this podcast inspires you to be courageous and take action in carving out your very own business by design, where you can avoid burnout and shine like the universe is yours.
