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TC Life

Angela Weideman rejoins as a Travel Counsellor

Angela was a Travel Counsellor previously and she has just rejoined again after an 8 year gap. She is currently doing her induction at the Cape Town Head Office and on Friday the 5th of October , she will have completed her induction training and will be on her way home. Angela will leave head office being fully trained on all her systems and she returns home with her new laptop that is fully loaded with all the microsoft packages, her emails, along with her fax / scanner / printer and all her marketing materials, both her leisure and business websites are live along with her own dedicated Facebook page to promote her business.

We caught up with Angela to ask her a few questions.

What is your background and where did you work before becoming a Travel Counsellor?

I was a Travel Counsellor in Knysna in 2008 after having lived in London for 4 years. After 2 years I moved to Cape Town, and then I went straight back into working for a retail travel agency, where I stayed until August 2018. Now that I had a choice of where I wanted to be in the travel world, it was a no-brainer for me to contact Travel Counsellors again. I am back and excited to start my journey.

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I am married and addicted to my hubby, kids and kitty. We live in Paarl, our eldest daughter is at Varsity College studying to be a Psychologist, our son is in Matric and off to Tukkies next year to study Forensic Anthropology (yip, don't ask!)

My hubby, Deon is in real estate and runs an NGO called Vuselela School Makeover with a cycling initiative for previously disadvantaged kids. I am pretty involved in this initiative as well, training with the kids and doing races. My hubby and I try to cycle as much as we can, and my goal is to run more trail races. I have been very fortunate to have travelled quite extensively on family holidays and with friends since I was quite young, visiting Mauritius, Europe (whilst on a Contiki Tour), UK, Dubai, USA and Canada.

What does becoming a Travel Counsellor mean for you?

I have always believed that to have a balance in life is when we succeed the most. This is what I believe that being a Travel Counsellor will bring to me. So for me whilst running my own travel business I want to be able to work hard, and still have the time to do the things that I enjoy like exercise and spend quality time with my family, all alongside giving my clients the best service that they need.

What motivated you to start your own travel business?

Being a Travel Counsellor brings a great work - life balance. This healthy work & personal life balance ultimately provides me the opportunity to give the best of myself to my clients and to my family.

What are you looking forward to most about being a Travel Counsellor?

The freedom to service my clients in the best way possible with no boundaries that an office presents e.g. being able to go to see them instead of them hustling about coming to see me. It's this type of service that they really appreciate.

Have you set yourself any goals or milestones for what you want to achieve in your first year?

I would obviously ideally like to become a Gold TC (hey, who wouldn't LOL). I would like to service all of the Film Industry as this is a niche market that I have tapped into already. and something that I am quite passionate about.

Have you started planning how you will grow your business and find new customers, and if so how?

Yes i have a lot in the pipeline. I have spoken to some corporates, used the networking opportunities around me, had strategic meetings, i have been given referrals.

What do you love most about working in the travel industry?

Because I have travelled so extensively, I can understand the importance of offering clients not only the run of the mill itinerary, but something that will be different, when I travelled it was about finding the "unusual" or "local" spots that didn't necessarily appear on a standard itinerary. Giving my clients something extra that makes their travel experience different and unique.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Africa - I have been as far as Mombasa and that is it!

Interested in becoming a Travel Counsellor?

It’s a big decision, that’s why we’re on hand to help you.

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