Many travel agents are not aware of the many reasons that converting to a home based travel agent can be so beneficial.

One of the more compelling reasons is the tax breaks you will be eligible for. If you are an employee, you have relatively few opportunities to reduce the taxes deducted on every pay cheque.

But all that changes when you go home based. Now you are running your own business, and there are many tax breaks associated with operating your own home business. You can expense a lot of things, including potentially your household costs (condo fees, mortgage payments, utilities, etc.) and writing off all business expenses.

Be sure to consult with an accountant to make sure you take full advantage of this.

But the benefits are not all financial. Some are actually priceless. We often hear the phrase “work/life balance”. When you run your own business, an improved work/life balance is actually achievable.

You are now the boss! It is up to you to decide how many hours you work, and what those hours are. You can work from anywhere; just take your smart phone with you when you go to a doctor’s appointment, or to the gym, or to pick up your kids from school. Stagger your hours…work when you want to!

With today’s technology, you can literally be anywhere and still look after your clients. You can manage your life as you choose.

Another benefit that home based agents talk about is being able to sell the product you want, meaning that if you want to specialize in a certain destination like the Caribbean, or Europe, or Asia, or type of product like cruise or coach tours, …then you do that. You no longer work for an agency that tells you what to sell!

You can choose what you want to promote on your own website and In other marketing tools.

Using a good Customer Relationship Management tool (CRM), you can reach out to your clients regularly, and remember their birthdays, anniversaries and other important milestones.

Setting yourself up to work from home is easier than you think. The key is to find a host agency that provides help in all of these areas, and has the systems, training and programs you will need to be fully supported in running your own business.

The best part is when you think about all the time you spent getting to and from work in traffic or on crowded transit!