Case studies: Business travel counsellor: Tim Andrews

Tim completed a business travel management degree and is now a self-employed business travel counsellor...

After graduating from my degree I began to apply for jobs in business travel companies. I needed to be persistent in order to secure my first job and made many applications. However, I succeeded and I have now actually worked in three different business travel agencies.

While I enjoyed this work, I decided that what I really wanted to do was to set up my own business. I felt that having worked in the industry for several years I had gained enough experience and knowledge to successfully start out on my own.

I therefore took the step of buying a franchise from Travel Counsellors and I now operate independently from home with the support of a head office.

My subject of study is very relevant to my job. It helped to secure my first job as it gave me some practical knowledge and helped to prepare me for what I would be doing in the job. To become self-employed I needed to have numerous years of experience working for travel companies, which my qualification helped to supply me with. My studying involved many key aspects of what I do now.  

A typical day involves liaising with clients and advising on and booking their business travel. I also offer impartial advice on the costs and logistics of what they are trying to do.

My ambition is to grow my business into a successful and rewarding company - I am constantly developing the jobs I take on and am continuously learning new skills.

I really enjoy the flexibility and freedom of my job, as well as knowing that what I achieve is down to me. I have the ability to grow my own business and this makes me strive to improve.

The most challenging part of my job is making people understand that the service that's on offer is exactly what I say it is. Getting past people's mentality of it being just another sales call and making them aware that this is actually a good service can be difficult.

One of the best things about working in the travel sector is learning about other countries and improving my geographical knowledge.

To succeed in this career I would say you need to have patience and be willing to keep on learning.