Kate Willett: Changing my job and changing my life

Travel Counsellor, Kate Willet, joined us in January 2017. Hear her story and find out why it was the best decision she ever made.

Kate had always had a passion for travel, that was evident.

“If I could do any other job for the day, I’d be cabin crew so I could see lots of different countries! But I can’t pick my favourite travel memory, there’s so many! Staying at Blue Waters in Antigua with my husband was special: such a beautiful hotel and island and so relaxing” she said.

So, after enjoying the sunny shores of Gran Canaria as a tour rep, testing the waters in Sales and Marketing and teaching in a Primary School, Kate knew she’d found her calling when working in a high-street travel agency. It was a brilliant start in the travel industry, but after a few years, things started to change, with the high-street hours making childcare impossible.

Craving more flexibility, Kate needed to improve her work-life balance to work around her 8 and 10-year old children. Being the driven and confident person she is, becoming her own boss appealed to her: “I can do what I love, what I'm good at, work around my family and provide a much better customer service and experience.”

Seeing a friend of hers become a Travel Counsellor the choice was obvious, so Kate got in touch.

“I watched the webinars which really helped to paint the picture of what my life would be like as a Travel Counsellor. I spoke to Cathy Oldfield from the New Franchise team and came to a one to one meeting armed with questions and she was able to answer them all for me. It was really productive and worthwhile, considering I had to travel 3 hours to get to Manchester and 3 hours home in one day!”

But, as ever, getting in touch was the easy part. The final decision took time.

“I really wanted to make sure that my next career move would fit around my family. I really liked the TC culture and I felt that my values fitted within theirs. I knew it was the perfect fit and I just had to take the leap and go for it… but it still took me a year after leaving the high-street to decide!”

After being guided through the next steps and told what to expect from her training, Kate completed her pre-induction training on our new e-learning system COACH and joined us in Head Office for the first week of her 8-week training programme.

“The whole team were fantastic: very friendly and accommodating. I came away from that week really pleased that I had joined TC and felt well supported by everyone.”

To keep up with the industry that famously moves so fast, Kate uses COACH to continue her training at home, with the webinars on Phenix and supplier training particularly useful. A weekly watcher of TCTV, she makes the very most of all the support on offer.

“I didn't realise I'd receive so much support from the New Starter Business Development team. I really enjoy talking to my BD Coach, Teri Hughes, as she has so many good ideas!”

And if she could sum it up in one word? “Life-changing! I can be here more for my family now. Before I'd feel very stressed trying to manage children off sick, school events, rushing to collect children from school and then the pressure of managing a team at work! I don't have any of that now, thank you!”

If like Kate, you are looking for a life-changing career move, get in touch to find out more…