- Funding for Working Capital is provided by the Friends of KTWU, Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation and Kansas Department of Commerce.

Sometimes you just need to get out of the office, get away from the house, maybe leave the kids behind, maybe take 'em with you, maybe some old friends you reunited with at your high school reunion.

But you need a place to go and you need someone to help you get there.

So today we're with Hannah Johnson from Travel by Hannah.

So welcome to Working Capital.

You help people find these great places to go and make these lifelong memories.

So that, first off, tell us a little bit, gimme the elevator pitch about your business, and then I want to figure out where you worked first in your career and what brought you to opening this up.

- Okay.

So I'm Hannah Johnson, and I am traveled by Hannah.

And I started this by creating girls groups.

We started taking family and friends and doing girls trips every year.

And then it just kind of grew from there.

Yeah.

So I started helping individuals plan their trips.

I was the person behind the scenes creating all of these fun things we're gonna do, and I thought, someday I think I'm gonna do this.

So it just went from there.

- And in today's day and age where it, it seems like internet, you can find anything, there's reviews and stuff, but it, it, I still think it helps when you hear it from someone and you can, that someone you've met and, and help with those experiences.

That's kind of cool.

Yeah.

- So - Before you came back around to this, what, what did you do?

What does your, what does your family do?

What, tell us a little bit about you before you jumped into this business.

- Okay.

So I owned and operated a small bar and grill in northeast Kansas.

- Oh, - Yes.

- So you're used to brutal hours.

- Yeah.

But - Customer service.

- Customer service and, and so those girls groups I was talking about were our girls.

- Okay.

- And so my aunt had taken us on our very first getaway out of the country, all inclusive, and we got a taste for it.

And so I'm like, we need to do this as a group, you know, every year.

And so we'd pick a place and we'd play in all year long and we'd save that tip money.

Yeah.

And away we'd go.

So I did that for about 10 years.

And sadly, my father received a terminal diagnosis.

And knowing what a bar and grill takes out of a person for time, I decided that, what am I gonna do to step outta here to have a little more time with him?

Yeah.

And then we had the pandemic, and so then it all just rolled right into one.

- Everyone had to go the route you needed to go anyway.

- That's right.

Perfect.

- Perfect - Time - To actually pivot.

- Yes.

And so I pivoted and I started doing research and education on the back end until I was comfortable actually promoting myself to clients, to the public social media and things like that.

Yeah.

It's very important.

Huge.

- Actually, I mean, in a little bit, we'll talk about this, but that, that's how I found you social media, word of mouth.

So, sorry.

- Yes.

So I studied hours upon hours and watched webinars and zooms and met with hotel chains, tourism boards, different things of that nature.

And I was race, ready to go.

I got my first invite, Hey, come join us and let's learn all about our properties and stuff like that.

And it just has gone from there and it's been amazing.

- Yeah.

I I think one of the, was the one more recent ones you did was was going to Aruba, invited by them to come learn about the experiences because of what you've been doing - Yeah.

For your - Clients.

So we'll get back into the other bits of this, but first tell us about that.

I mean, what kind of experience was that?

'cause you got to, you don't get to go on all these trips with everybody.

- Right.

- Granted, I think if they need someone, I'm, I'm sure they could probably hire you to go along for the trips, but tell us how it was being on the other side for a second and feeling that hospitality Yeah.

And learning about it.

So you can pass that along.

- So it was very, it was very exciting when I received the invitation from the tourism board of Aruba.

Yeah.

Hey, can you join us for a week?

We'd love to show you everything Aruba has to offer.

Sounds - Horrible.

- And I was like, wake me up from this nightmare, you know?

- Yeah, - Yeah, - Yeah.

- But anyway, so of course, you know, a lot of people think we travel for free and that's not the case.

But they invited us over.

It was a small group of about 10, and we spent the entire week with the tourism board.

We did excursions, we did different hotels, all the dining experiences, everything that you would use to prepare something for your clients to have that amazing experience.

And so it was so nice to take that all in.

I had been there once, but only just a cruise stop.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- So little day trip.

So I tried to fit everything in that day, but you cannot.

- Yeah.

- And it's such an amazing destination.

So explorable, like you can just leave your hotel and go checking things out, you know?

And you don't have to worry about being scared and having to have a guided tour.

You can rent a car.

- So a lot of the places that you work with, it's, you can have a total itinerary - Or - Just go and wait for things to happen and see what you kind of like.

So - Yeah.

- You can have everything pre-booked for them or here's your experiences.

I can help you find those.

And I, you really do cater for their, their lights.

It's not That's right.

Here's your ticket.

Here's the, here's the hotel.

There's some drinks included.

Go for it.

Yeah.

You like, you like the experience part of - It.

Oh yes.

The experience is very important because you're not just booking a vacation for somebody.

You are creating experience.

And, and that's a lifelong experience that they will remember.

And so you're not just getting, as you said, here's the hotel in your vouchers, you're getting from me.

Here's your plane ticket information, here's what you do with all of that.

Here's who's picking you up at the airport.

Yeah.

And all of that.

Yeah.

When you get to the hotel, here is all of that backing up.

When you get out the airport, take a left.

After you exit customs to the desk on the right, you will find da, da da da.

It's gonna pick you up, you know, very, very personal.

Yeah.

And I mean, I think for myself, that's how I would want it to be.

And so I pour a lot into that.

You know, it's not just a reservation.

- Well, on that side, repeat clients.

- Have - You had that already?

- Oh, yes.

- Because I know I, I've only been overseas once and the, and, and I was actually with my father finally got to go on a, he was his only time overseas before he had bad health stuff also.

But like a lot of people, I'll go back to that.

We don't take enough of our vacations.

- That's - Right.

People save up.

So whether you take one a year, one every four years, it is lifelong memories.

Hopefully people start taking more.

But, but on on that grounds, you know, the, the person we met through travel there, and then she was our booking agent, but she lived in Scotland.

But she took us around, but she became family.

- That's right.

So, - And knowing her, and now we're, we're we're social media friends especially.

But she's come to Kansas, she goes to places where she met people that came to visit her and she got to show her place off.

So has that happened yet?

Have you had any of those kind of exchanges?

Like are you friend and friends and family with a lot of your clients now because of this?

- Yes.

And not only clients, but my suppliers and my, - So - Pretty tight-knit industry.

Yes.

We as travel agents, we have our own little, we help each other.

I mean, some people wouldn't necessarily say that there's not a competition.

I mean, it can be for some folks.

Yeah.

But for those who, let's think about it.

Honestly, there are so many things to do in this world and so many specialties and so many people that I can't service everyone.

Yeah.

So if I can help you service your client, - I'm here for that.

Everyone wins because one person trying to do too much and then not doing a good job.

That's right.

First the whole industry.

So then everyone does just go, I'm gonna go, go Travelocity and click this.

But they get someplace and, and they don't know a lot about it.

They're just Right.

They don't know someone firsthand with the experiences.

- Right.

And you know, with some of my supplier wholesales and hotels, we've made very good connections and we stay in touch.

You know, we're social media friends.

But furthermore, that helps my clients and myself more than most would even know like, Hey, Jim and Jane got to their room today and their water is not coming on in their bathroom sink.

Yeah.

So, hey Ally, can you take care of this right quick?

So - You will help with even those little problems Oh yes.

To, to help keep them the stress level anxiety down 'cause Yeah.

'cause that's huge.

Yeah.

Because you know, you go, you do go to some of these beautiful out of the way places, but there's not a lot of turnover there.

And sometimes it is a little more rustic and stuff happens and you wanna have a calm day.

So if you know someone else is at least looking for it on the back side where you can still go out Yes.

And explore something and come back.

That's a huge part.

'cause Yeah.

If you do it on your own - Yeah.

It's - You, - You're not, it's you.

You're not gonna be able to dial up Google Yeah.

And say, Hey, my water's not working.

- Yeah.

- How do I fix this?

- Yeah.

- But if you have someone in your corner, it makes a difference.

- Been there, been with those people, at least a lot of the places you're already building those relationships.

That's nice.

And I'm sure every place you send someone to, you're building new relationships.

So - Always.

- And it seems like it's kind of, kind of a continuing education between locations and you're probably learning histories and not a lot different things to do there.

Or even what's on the cutting edge of entertainment there.

You know, whether you want to go skydiving or parasailing or, I like the idea of snorkeling and scuba diving, but there's certain aspects I don't like.

Like I just don't wanna run into a shark.

And there's lots of places, and I know lots of sharks are great, but I think you kinda had an experience like that too.

- I did.

- So you can help people almost cater and make sure they don't go to places that may give them a little anxiety.

So let's talk about an experience you had on a trip though real quick.

You were telling me about learning to walk on water.

- Yes.

- So if you want to, she'll help you not walk on water or help you go someplace where you can walk on water.

But tell, tell, tell everyone what happened to you on this.

- So we had planned a day trip excursion.

We were in Belize.

And so we're staying in San Pedro, we're gonna go to Peacock.

We're gonna do, you know, a handful of things today.

- Beautiful day.

- Should have known when one of the things on the itinerary said shark ray alley, things might be bad.

I didn't hear that - Part.

Yeah, no, that's whoa.

First time.

Okay.

- Yeah.

So, but here I am.

I'm here for it.

You know, you're - Here for the rays - Though.

I'm here for it.

The - Rays not the sharks.

- I've got my elderly aunts, my mother.

I'm thinking I can do this.

You know, we're, we got it.

So our first stop whole chan, we decide we're gonna snorkel here.

So we have an amazing tour guide.

God love him, even though, so he decided it would be a great idea.

Once we get in the water, he would chum some fish in.

And I said, okay, this is cool.

So I'm snorkeling away and all of a sudden some bait lands next to me.

And I was like, okay, well in the distance I see this giant black outline coming and I'm panicking and I'm like, what?

What do I do?

And so I lift up out of the water and I start backpedaling.

I'm trying to swim backwards.

I'm trying everything.

And I jump in the boat and I'm like, I'm gonna get eaten by a shark.

The tour guide is laughing.

Everyone is laughing, but it's not funny.

Like it, it was funny at the time, but to this day - Still, - I'm not snorkeling.

- Anxiety.

Yeah, yeah.

- I'm not snorkeling.

- Was it kind of felt like the, the cartoon character spinning?

- Yes, - It is.

That day and age for social media.

No one had to GoPro.

There's not footage of this.

- Right.

- I know there's footage.

Did you, you - Could like the footage.

Well, we have pictures, but we were not videoing at the time.

If anybody was video, it was me.

And so that wasn't happening.

Yeah.

'cause I was panicking.

So - Were, were your mom and aunt.

Was everyone in - The water with you?

They're all just snorkeling and laughing.

They're with you.

- And they just watched it happen and - They were - Scared.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- I'm with you.

I'd be like, no, I, yeah.

Oh, - I spent the rest of the day in the boat.

- Well, he was good at providing experiences.

- Yes.

You will - Not forget that.

- I will never, - If you didn't see a shark, you may have forgotten that spot and mixed in with the other beautiful snorkeling spots.

- Right.

That's right.

And you know, a funny story is I was honored to be asked to come back to Belize for the ribbon cutting ceremonies of Margaritaville.

I had sold the first honeymoon couple.

And so I was meeting with the Prime Minister, several other Oh my agents.

Yeah.

And in my room is the itinerary for the excursion day.

I instantly picked the phone up and called my mom and I said, I don't know what's gonna happen.

How, what am I gonna do?

I have to do this.

And she said, do you have to do it?

And I said, it looks like I have to do this.

And God bless one of my business development managers.

He was like, I'm not really into snorkeling.

Do you like to float?

Maybe we could just get our life jackets in float.

And I was like, thank you.

Thank you Jesus.

My prayers are answered.

So I did not have to do it, but I had to relive it again.

That's amazing.

I know.

- Stick around when we get back, you'll learn about a few more amazing experiences.

You're watching Working Capital to catch up on previous episodes of Working Capital.

Scan the QR code with your phone or go to www.watch.kw.org.

Welcome back.

So let's get into something that, well, I, I guess I'm gonna chum the water here with something a little bit different.

Let's, let's talk a little bit business.

I'm assuming that a lot of people shy away from using travel agents anymore because it's at their fingertips online and they think they're gonna pay more of a premium and probably more money to hire someone like you for those services.

How does that work?

How, how does a independent travel agent make their money?

Or, or anything off that?

Why, why do you do this?

- Yes.

Very good question.

So, a few things about that.

I think a lot of people don't use a travel advisor probably because they think it's gonna cost them more money.

Yeah.

While some agents do charge fees upfront or you know, along the ways for extra services.

Yeah.

That's something I don't do.

And so people say, what do you mean you don't charge fees?

How do you get paid?

And I say, well, we don't get paid for spending hours putting vacation packages together.

What we actually do is once we've booked your package, secured your reservation and you travel, then 30 to 60 days after you travel, we receive our commission check for that service.

And so that circles you back to why some agents do charge fees.

- Because just in case someone backs out or something else, you, you, they need to go have fun and enjoy themselves and then you see the benefit from it.

Right.

Other people, especially if it's more probably a larger city and stuff and people in and out, they may back out before they leave.

Yeah.

And so you'd be out that money - Right.

- Because of the weight.

So Right.

You've kind of, you've kind of built yourself a little buffer around there it seems like.

And just being able to provide that service for that, I think that's huge.

It's a huge advantage.

It is.

Because there's a lot Yeah.

A lot of people are scared, especially today's economic climate.

Yes.

Whether you're a single person or whether you're trying to get a family reunion to go on a destination.

Yeah.

I I would, I would think if I'm booking someone like you, it's gonna charge me per person almost.

- Right.

A - Percentage.

So, - So why wouldn't you just get online and just book it cheaper because - Yep.

But - Then you have - Information and - Knowledge - Once again your warrant emergency pops up.

When I was in Scotland the very first day, someone had to go to the emergency room and so they had to split off from the group for half the trip until they were able to be discharged and meet back up with the group.

Stuff happens.

- That's right.

- From that model then does that, I'm guessing that's how you definitely hit home and keep that those clients there.

- Yes, of course.

Because who doesn't want to pick up the phone and know the person on the other end every single time.

Yeah.

Who wants a chatbot when you're stuck in an airport?

Yep.

When your transfer didn't show up, when you get to your room and the water doesn't work when you booked an ocean front view and they put you in the construction area.

Like who's gonna help you with that?

- That and, and to me, even looking at it this way, my mother, if she wants to start going on vacations again with, hopefully she does by herself.

So if I help her book that, sure, I can book stuff online, but if I help her book that through you, I have another person there that I can trust.

And it takes a level of anxiety knowing my, my, my mother's off on her own someplace, but I don't have to worry as as much.

- Yes, of course not.

- It's almost a reverse kid thing, you know?

- Or, - Or you're sending your kid off.

So there's just that extra level of security there.

- Yes, of course.

And you know, myself having to travel as I travel very heavily in these destinations to provide my clients this education, we're not allowed to take people along with us a good portion of the time.

So myself, that has become very, very important for my clients.

I feel pretty confident most of the time because I'm doing this with my clients, I'm leading them, you know?

Yeah.

But it's because of firsthand experience.

I've had to make that step outside of the box by myself landing in an unknown place, hoping my transfers there.

You know, studying these DMCs and tour operators and, you know, language - Barriers.

- Yes.

Language barriers.

Passing the phone back and forth in the vehicle with the translator on, - Which probably helps a lot these days.

- It does.

Thank goodness for that because we didn't always have that.

Yeah.

You know, the translator when you're trying to talk to the maid, you know, all the different things like it, it's a situation.

Even trying to - Say the right way to say thank you - In the right - Way instead of just picking a random language you think may work there.

- Yes.

Yes.

Because a lot of people do that and little - Bits of that help, you know, it - Does something - A little bit of languages or something if you're going someplace, but just the big, just the thank yous even in - The correct - Way.

Yes, - Yes.

It goes a long - Way.

- So with myself doing the travel like that and you know, being a little concerned, I've had the opportunity to help some individuals who were very scared or nervous to take that leap Yeah.

On their own.

And you know, without them knowing I'm holding their hand, I held their hand.

Yeah.

And you know, I laid out on the paper for them, I, we've have conversations.

I will do anything, you know, to make sure, even if we have to go sit down and have coffee, I will make sure that you're confident, you know, in doing this and why you should be.

Do you - Give little bullet point lists or anything like here's, here's some local, - Local - Things to know or, or just in case or a place to, - Yes.

- When someone books with you, what do you provide for them?

Like, - So once they get - There, - It's a two, three step process.

Once they have secured their reservation and I send that back to them, I ask them, is there, you know, first of all, are you celebrating anything?

You also need to know whether or not your clients have any dietary restrictions, huge a DA restrictions.

All of those things make a difference.

And a lot of that stuff is more of qualifying your client for this before you get to this point.

Yeah.

However, what excursions do you want to do?

What are some bucket list items?

Let me provide, you must see and do attractions that are close to you.

Here's the tour link for that.

You know, I've got great people, if you wanna do this, this and this, let me know.

You know, all of those things can be put together for them to where they don't have to worry about anything.

You know, whether it comes down to the private dinner, you know, going on the snorkeling and catamaran tour.

Yeah.

Whether they want to go to the Mayan ruins, you know, whatever.

Or - In that regard also, like I have these fears or what, you can also steer them away from places just in case or you know, maybe someone has a fear of heights in small roads, but you know, some attraction they think they wanna see is some little jungle road for half a mile that won't make it pleasurable.

I mean there's even that.

Right.

That's kind of, kind of, - Yeah.

And that even plays into like specific destination, you know, like, hey, I really wanna go to Negri Jamaica and this is exactly what I want to do.

But there's a few of us in our party that are get very nauseous, motion sick, car sick, things like that.

And so I instantly know right there we need to talk about, this is an hour and a half trip on a very windy, let's talk - Dramamine road.

- Let's have let you tried - These things yet.

Yeah.

- You don't want to take and skimp on a shared transfer that's gonna be in a big Greyhound bus with a hundred stops.

You know, you know all the things.

Those are very important in creating someone's vacation or ruining it.

And - Sometimes if you book on your own, you may not think that far ahead.

- That's right.

You're, - You're looking at price only then and not how you may be damaging your experience when you get there.

Because Yeah.

A stop every 10 minutes on a Greyhound bus in a, in a humid, any place in humid Kansas.

- Yes.

Not a - Pleasurable part of your trip - Probably.

Unless - You meet someone really special on that, - That box.

That's right.

That's right.

So you can really blow it, you know?

Yeah.

So sometimes that's when you need to consider, you know, your budget if the cheapest thing's not always the best option.

Yeah.

But the expensive, the most expensive thing is not necessary.

- Sometimes it's priced for the people who can just spend that money.

- Yeah.

I, - There's levels - To it.

So I mean, I'm here you can, - You can find the ebb and flow of it for them and - Really cater.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm here to give them the knowledge based on the in destination facts to keep them from having, you know, these problems or situations that, you know, could have been curbed in the beginning.

So yes, I just actually helped some clients for Alaska and if, if you have ever heard of Tracy's Crab Shack, it's a very large popular thing to do in Juneau.

And the line is miles long.

And because I had been there and I found Tracy's two, I knew it was off the beaten path down the way a little bit.

And I've had so many people say, thank you so much for that recommendation.

Like, the line was so long there.

- Well, on that note then, for some of these relationships you make, you wanna sit 'em through the big, the big spots too.

'cause that helps their tourism wherever they're going.

But when I shot advertising for a while, we'd be in some, some level vacations like Savannah or whatnot.

The big stuff would have hour long lines.

But we would go in the alley and ask the cooks, where do you guys eat?

So we'd get the off the beaten path where the local cooks love to eat and get those flavors that way.

So it sounds like you kind of get some of that also Yes.

Because of your experience and who you're dealing with.

- Yes, absolutely.

That's important.

I always look for the hole in the walls.

Yeah, I love that.

I mean the, the but the - Local mom and pop bar - And grill Yes.

- Can be one of your best experiences.

And you may meet someone you're lifelong friends with - Who That's right.

- Will live there forever and who knows.

- Yes.

But yes, I want to know what restaurant do the locals dine at?

Where do they hang out in the evenings?

What's their favorite pubs?

You know, what is their extracurricular activities?

Like, you want to see and do the tourist things, of course, you know, to a certain point, but you don't, you don't want to be like everybody else.

You want to do something different that somebody else may not have experienced.

You know, there are so many things left unturned in destinations because everybody goes straight to those hour long lines.

- The the bucket list gotta check these that they've seen everyone do and they feel like that's the only thing they can do.

- That's right.

So - I, - Yes, - It's amazing how it's amazing you're able to start this - And - Learning that really kind of, it's for free in a way.

Upfront.

You're getting, you're getting reimbursement for, but that entrepreneurial spirit is because of the love of what you're doing for these people.

- That's right.

- So it's amazing and I I I found you through social media, a single friend of mine, you made an amazing experience for, for her.

But also, I mean, you go all the way up to, to 40 people in larger groups.

So - Yes.

On - That note, we're at the very end here, but h how can we find you?

H how would someone out there find you online?

- Well, I do have social media.

- Okay, - We'll, we'll, - We'll put up the QR code and, and show some links here too.

- Okay, perfect.

You know, I leave my phone line open to phone calls, to text messages messenger, email tiktoks.

It's that day - And age.

You never know where - It comes from.

Don't 'cause - Of what social media.

- You don't, my main focus is probably Facebook.

That is where I, you know, daily you will see something from me.

Yeah.

Whether it be a resort highlight, whether it's something I've got coming up, whether it's clients that have just returned, whether it's an awesome beach special that's posted, you know, for the day.

But they can reach me there and you know, through the QR code, we'll bring you to my link tree.

Okay.

And you know, they'll be able to access all of those things, which you know, would be my email, my phone, and all of those.

And I would love to help anybody curate an amazing destination.

So that's awesome.

Just reach out and I'm happy to help.

- Hopefully you book a destination here soon, maybe here around Kansas.

It's been great being with you.

Thanks for watching.

Working Capital Funding for Working Capital is provided by the Friends of KTW, Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation and Kansas Department of Commerce.