Sandy Everin

I would have to say that I am the kind of person that is tenacious. I do not give up. I can pivot where I need to pivot. I am someone who stays open. So I would attribute it to my mindset and my attitude. I think having that openness has helped me a lot in what I do for a living and also in my personal life, because I'm trying to listen and learn, even if I know something. You know, I might not always be right, as much as I would like to argue that with my husband. I've learned that staying open to different perspectives and being willing to adjust my approach when needed has been key to my success.

The best career advice I've ever received is to not be the smartest person in the room, even if you know. Just sit back and listen, and learn from others. This was a major learning curve for me with growing my perspective and opening up my mind. I feel like that openness has helped me a lot in what I do for a living and also in my personal life. Even if I think I know something, I try to just listen and learn from what others have to say, because I know that I might not always be right.

I would say to stay open. Definitely set a goal list, but not necessarily where you get fixated on 'I have to achieve this by this.' Set a goal list and be open to the flow of it. The direction you think you might go, or expect to go, could be different. Stay open to that, and just trust your gut. I didn't think I would ever be in sales - I thought, no way, that's just not me, I'm not a salesperson. But I discovered that anything you're passionate about, that you believe in, that you know can help people, you can sell. If I believe in it and I know it's good for people and I know what it does for people, I'm all in. So stay open to possibilities you might not have considered for yourself.

I would say that the biggest challenge in my field right now is that people are brainwashed into believing that they have so many choices in travel, when really the travel industry is heavily concentrated on big companies and conglomerates owning multiple brands, and people aren't paying attention to it. For example, companies like Expedia and Booking.com own so many brands, and when you're price comparing online, you're really comparing it against itself. The biggest thing for us is educating the customer to be aware of this. People think that because a brand sounds familiar, it's better, but that's not necessarily true. It's kind of like how people in the insurance and healthcare industry face similar challenges with consumer education. The other challenge is that as a smaller business, we don't have the budget of the big companies, so we have to get really creative with how we put our name out there. But I see this as an opportunity too - if we can educate consumers about the reality of the industry and show them the value of working with a smaller, more personalized company, we can really make a difference for them.

I would have to say that I value trust, I value integrity, I value honesty, and I value kindness. I value kindness and honesty, trust and integrity over being friendly. It's sometimes hard in customer service, because you always want to be friendly, but that's not always the kind thing when you have a harder conversation. I'm an extremely dedicated human being, and I believe in recognizing people's limits and honoring their own beliefs, and not trying to push what I believe onto others. That openness has helped me a lot. I've learned that being a Midwesterner, we are notoriously friendly, but friendly is not always kind. You have to have the courage within you to have conversations that are honest, that can truly help people, and not just play nice or sugarcoat things. I feel like that doesn't do anyone any favors.