Lilypie Waiting to Adopt tickers

Friday, August 15, 2008

Another referral from Thailand. Yaay!

This morning I woke to 15 emails in my yahoo inbox. It could only mean one thing and, YES, another referral to a couple in our Yahoo AusThai group for expectant adoptive parents and adoptive parents who already have their children home. This little boy is 2.5 years old and his parents are understandably overwhelmed at their good fortune. I understand his nickname is Kan. Congratulations new parents :)
There were noises from Thailand that July would be a great month for Aussie referrals and, from their perspective, these are July referrals. They take a while to actually get to Australia as there are lots of things to be done before the referral is sent on.
So, very exciting stuff here in the land of adoption.
I can hear you asking : does this mean we will get our referral too? Well everyone, I truly, truly, truly hope so. We have been waiting now 13 months, 1 week and 4 days. It's not unheard of to have a referral at this stage however I have always had a feeling about November.
It's not anything solid though. It's just a feeling. If we had a November referral we would travel December/January which would be just fine. Actually, anytime would be just fine. If we were told we had a referral and had to travel tomorrow. That's just fine too :)
Anyhow, enough dreaming for a moment. A girl could make herself crazy.
There are clients to book travel for and new clients to bring onboard!
Take care.
Kim

Monday, August 04, 2008

Changing gears for arrival of kiddo number one

There has been a lot of changes in our life recently. As we inch closer and closer to receiving notification that our child is waiting for us in Thailand, subconsciously I'm planning.

Scotty is the more relaxed, patient and calm type who will take things as they come along. Me, I'm a planner. Thank god that he's the practical one, he grounds me so I don't float away with all of the plans!

In the last 2 weeks we've heard some great news. One couple have received a referral from Thailand after waiting 11 months. Another of our friends has been updating us with news of their little guy from Taiwan - who is doing splendidly having been home with his new Mum and Dad a couple of months now. He's 8 months old, this little one, and I can't wait to meet him and have a little snuggle. What fortunate parents you guys are!

Anyhow, the point to all of this is that things are changing.

Just under two weeks ago I resigned from Qantas after being there just over 6 years. A huge step for me but one that was necessary considering I'd been wanting to put myself into a position where I can be working from home, have a more flexible schedule with our future child in mind but still earn so that our standard of living doesn't dip drastically.

I've wanted this for as long as I can remember, to work for myself, to give employers the old flick.

Then, along came Travel Counsellors, the franchise. All setup for a Travel Agent, working from home for myself but with the support of Head office with the payments, receipting, back office stuff, marketing, ticketing, moral support and numerous other very important facets that are imperative when you're starting a new business. They do everything that's needed except for servicing my clients - that's my pleasure and my speciality! Unfortunately they don't do my tax but you can't have it all, I guess.

So, suddenly I find myself in charge of how much I make each week, free as a bird, able to watch the Olympics (yaay!) and be here to create a really great relationship with my clients, anytime they have need to call me.
This point about creating a relationship with my clients is something that just wasn't possible or encouraged at Qantas. Being in an environment such as I was, the importance was on getting through as many client bookings a day as we could and not so much on the quality of the interaction. After all, we weren't travel agents, we were Reservations.
So from quantity I move into quality. I like it, I like it a lot!
Not to mention I can now cook my husband dinner every night (when I was night shift I rarely got to do that), spend time with our dogs and take them walking up the mountain every day (they love this), I don't have to travel an hour to work every day (we live out of town) and my quality of life has improved immensely. It's the best decision I've ever made in my working career!

I'm loving the difference.
Shameless Plug Ahead :
Need a travel agent or know someone who does?
Call me on 03 62663800 or email
kim.magrath@travelcounsellors.com.au
(Even if you're not in Australia, I can still make your booking quite happily and easily!)
Kim
xo