The Dreamer’s Blog

February 12, 2024

The Art Of Starting Over...

I have tried to figure out many ways to begin this blog entry, I first thought of “dear reader…” but nah. That did not work. I thought to type “hey everybody,” but that didn’t seem to fit either. So instead of trying to find the intro, this is the intro.

I was sitting in my living room reflecting on this year being our fourth year in business. I started the travel agency in 2020. 2.5 weeks before the world shut down by the way... I was devastated. Growing up, I had such a strong passion for travel. Thanks to my mother, I have been blessed to travel around the world to different cities, states, and countries. I have been able to experience other cultures and how life works abroad. With this knowledge and passion for travel, Dudley’s Dream Vacations was born. Then, the world stopped. I would like to talk about the Art of Starting Over.

Listen, I know that we found ourselves in a pickle once the world slowed to a halt. I was *this* close to reaching platinum status with a cruise line. Life was good, amazing even. I had heard so many great things about the year 2020, and how it was supposed to be a monumental year. That, it was. A year of monumental failure. That’s right. I used the word, failure. See, I had invested money into setting up the business, securing contracts & partnerships, advertising, and had even begun looking for funding. All of that came crashing down once I was told on more than one occasion “the leisure travel industry is dead at the moment.” I remember the gut wrenching feeling of failure luring over me. I had just posted to all of my social media accounts about my new venture. I begin telling family members and members of my community. Things were so exciting, until they were not. I found myself in no man’s land. At this point, I stopped. I said to myself “well, there’s no point in selling travel, when travel is nonexistent if you’re not an essential worker.” It was easy to quit, but it was hard to let the hope go. How do I let go of the dream I FINALLY launched after?

That’s when I told myself, “I’ll just start over.” This was the first time.

The second time I started over was around the end of 2020 going into 2021. As the world still found itself reeling back into normal paces and spaces, I thought that this would be a great time to begin a new campaign. I wanted people to know that we were still here. I wanted people to know that Dudley’s Dream Vacations still had the desire to make travel dreams come true! But what do you do when people stop dreaming? The world started to slowly open back up, and I saw a new horizon in the distance. Surely, I could jump ahead of the wave and get back into business and be successful, right?! Well…

I was met by a new challenge, inflation. This one little word had the biggest impact on our industry. Let’s be honest here, a trip to a popular theme park whose mascot may or may not be a mouse, cost less in 2019, than it did beginning in 2021 - forward. This left people confused, and to be honest, angry. No matter the amount of discounts I applied, the man hours I put in, or the contracts that were secured, inflation had taken its toll. At the time, I had been told that my prices were astronomically high. I had been told “I can find it cheaper on [redacted].com.” You name it, I heard it. On a side note, I do wonder if those people that were looking for cheaper options ever truly found what they wanted. Ehh, oh well. Inflation gave room to its cousin, distrust. There were some potential clienteles who assumed that was being dishonest with my pricing and that I was “out to get them” or take advantage of them. That was never the case. The fact of the matter was yes, I am motivated by the idea of selling an affordable quality vacation package. I am also motivated by the idea of making money off of selling an affordable vacation package. See how the two go hand in hand? It’s a beautiful harmonious relationship. However, my desire was never to create a business relationship that only benefited the company. I genuine want to provide an experience that will leave the whole family saying “wow.” I want to inspire that 6-year-old child on their first trip to the mouse place. Surely, they’ll come home and tell all their friends about their adventure. That’s why I got into this business, to provide joy in travel. Yet thanks to inflation, I found myself in a place of great relationships and low turnaround. YIKES. I remember I paid X amount of dollars to a radio station to advertise in an effort to get sales. It didn’t turn out great, so I pulled the ads off. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I found myself having to start over… again.

The year is 2022. Theme parks are open. Cruise ships are sailing. Airplanes are flying. Rental cars are flying out of the parking spaces. Islands are welcoming visitors again. Countries are welcoming visitors again. Miami (which never stopped) is welcoming visitors again. Yet, here I am at the height of it all, and it felt like everything around me was moving, but I was not.

Then, it happened. I got the call to do a group cruise for [Redacted] cruise line. I could not believe my ears. This is the moment for which I’ve been waiting. My time to shine! Quick Shout out to my mother and business partner, who always made sure to refer us to just about everybody she comes across. Okay, back to the story. I began collecting names, itinerary choices, deposits etc. Finalizing transportation options. Everything that goes into making sure a trip is successful, I had done. Then, I got the call. “They would like to reschedule this trip due to concerns about the ‘vid being still having a strong presence in the world.”

My heart sank. How does months of excitement dwindle down into nothing in just 5 minutes? I went from feeling like the most successful travel agent in the world, to the most unlucky one. I didn’t give up, yet. I kept my head high. Rebooked the cruise for the following year. Of course, thanks to the fear of the future, it was not as high of a number of passenger volume as I hoped. But thankfully, we survived. Booked a few theme parks here and there, rental cars, hotels, and even some additional cruises. Still, I found myself in a place of not feeling like it was enough. To be honest, it wasn’t. Have you ever heard of the saying “don’t despise small beginnings”? I had not considered just how small a beginning could be. It was very, very, very, small. I was still working my 9-5. But this was not how it was supposed to be! If the ‘vid never happened I would have been on top of the world right now, right?! Who knows... that’s the thing. Who actually knows? So here I am, working a 9-5 and running a travel agency. My dilemma here became do I trust my job, or trust my passion? I had mouths to feed, so I went with the former. Thus… I stopped… again.

2023… what a year. Actually, not really. Besides a few advertisements, trips here and there, and that group cruise that got rescheduled... I lost the passion. I become so inundated with day-to-day life, that I forgot what I loved to do. Someone asked me that year “what do you want to do?” As I looked at them, with disappointment and confusion, I simply said “I don’t know....” I went through the entire year only booking trips for current clientele. I refused new clientele because of being afraid to fail, again. The sky is supposed to be the limit, but I made the ceiling my limit. I just kept hitting the ceiling.

Finally, I made a choice. When you have something you love, you have to make the choice to continue to love and care for it (you can put that in your valentines’ cards by the way). I found myself getting tired of wishing, and wanting. There it was. The spark I had been trying to find. Do you want to know what inspired the spark? Belief. I believed in myself again. I believed in the business model I created. I believed in the original vision that was given to me by God. I want to inspire the person reading this. You may be a travel agent, or just a traveler. Whatever your field is, I hope that you remember to choose your passion. I did. I chose to dream again. I chose to hope again. I chose to laugh again. I chose to find joy again. I chose to help others again. Most of all, I chose to start over... again.

-KD
Dudley’s Dream Vacations
Making Your Travel Dreams Come True!