The Homeworker: ‘I owe everything to my “yeah, why not!” attitude’

The pros and cons of being a homeworker, whoever you are with, are the same. Not having set hours and working from home can blur the line between work and family life, and occasionally we need to check we are taking time away for other things – or that we’re putting in the time and effort needed to get great results. It’s this balance I try to help other homeworkers achieve.

The positive is total flexibility. Jodie home-schools our autistic daughters, and being homeworkers affords us that opportunity. Then there are the less serious perks of being able to pop out for impromptu ice cream when you want. Most importantly, it means we scoop up business by being available when high street travel agents are not. Customers love that.

As well as running my own business with Jodie, I spend 20 hours a week in my independent support role. This involves regular calls with homeworkers, discussing their issues, talking through previous sales, and encouraging them.

We mutually set soft targets ranging from commission and training to social media awareness and branding. It all depends on the individual homeworker and the areas in which they feel they need to grow.

I help solve any urgent problems for our homeworkers, such as by assisting with tricky customers, complicated bookings, last-minute changes or problems – whatever helps.

We’ve enjoyed some incredible successes recently. January 2023 was our biggest ever sales month within ITE, with new homeworkers performing above where we expected them to be so early. There are undoubtedly very bright times ahead.

I revel in the success of our own business achievements, but having an active role helping others achieve success gives me enormous satisfaction, more so when you consider we have just endured the worst years in history for the travel industry.

We came to ITE with business and media skills but no real travel experience, and as someone who is inherently shy, I’d never had a support role that requires good communication skills. Taking it on has broadened my skillset and the role is a great fit.

So I’d like to think we are proof that hard work and a “yeah, why not!” attitude can really take you places!

Daniel Oates is a homeworker support executive with the Independent Travel Experts. He lives in Southampton with his wife Jodie, with whom he runs the Awesome Adventure Company, and their two children.