Melissa Mitchell

Travel has really picked up despite political events. We had to cancel our trip to Dubai and I gave everyone full refunds because I don't play with people's money. That's how you get in trouble. Most people don't know that travel insurance doesn't cover acts of war or terrorism, so if you can't go to your $20,000 deluxe Dubai trip because of war or terrorism, your insurance is not going to give you your money back. I gave my clients their money back and told them we'd figure out somewhere else to go. The challenge is that my experiences aren't cheap, and only certain people can afford them. It's like the difference between first-class tickets, business class tickets, and the nosebleed section. It depends on what's worth what to other people. But I want happy clients and repeat clients. We have moral codes in our company too, so just do people how you want them to do you. Super simple. The opportunity is that everybody's talking about solo travel, but solo travel is dangerous. I get women who want to go to Australia but wonder what they'll do by themselves. With my group trips, you meet people before you go, we're all on WhatsApp, and we go slow so you can actually enjoy things. I try to make my trips a better experience than the impersonal tour groups where you're rushed through everything.

I don't want to live counting down the days until I can retire. I want to enjoy every day. That's why I asked myself what I would do if money wasn't an issue and what I would do for free, where I'm not sitting around saying I can't wait to retire. Making people happy and creating these experiences is very challenging but rewarding. I don't play with people's money because that's how you get in trouble. When I had to cancel the Dubai trip, I just gave everybody a refund even though they had insurance, because I wanted to do right by them. That woman who lost her job and got her money back is going to recommend 5 people to me and give me good reviews because she knew we had her back. We have moral codes in our company too, so just do people how you want them to do you. Super simple, not complex. I don't want a big, impersonal company. I want a small company that I can live reasonably comfortable off of. I always have more than one thing because I don't believe in having just one source of income. In this day and age, that's kind of dangerous. I'm trying to create a situation where I have a little generational wealth to leave to my family. I don't have a husband or kids, but I have over a dozen nieces and nephews, and I want to leave them something.