Meet Michael: Not Yet 30 and Running His Own Agency

Not long after taking his first cruise to the Bahamas, Michael Ramdial followed his sister into the travel industry. Now, Ramdial, who is 28, owns a CruiseOne franchise in Orlando, Fla., and his sister is coming to work for him.

Ramdial got his start in travel as a customer service agent at World Travel Holdings, where his sister worked at the time.

Ramdial loved the work. His enthusiasm showed, and he worked his way up to a position in lower management, supervising three other agents.

But success took Ramdial away from doing what he really loved – speaking with customers.

Finding his path
It was while attending a World Travel Holdings training program at the CruiseOne offices that Ramdial found his direction.

During breaks he talked with CruiseOne executives and realized that his dream of owning his own business and working with his own clients was not out of reach. CruiseOne put him in touch with some franchise owners, and he was sold.

“The ability to work from home, to run the marketing as well as the sales, to own my own company – it was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up,” Ramdial said. “And not a day goes by that I have regrets.”

Getting started
That’s not to say that his first year in business was easy. As a World Travel Holdings employee Ramdial got a significantly reduced rate on the franchise fee, but it still cost about $3,600.

Even working from home with no overhead, and with a part-time side job that covered his health benefits, he laid out $1,000 on computers and fax machines, $500 on office equipment, $1,200 on marketing materials and trade shows.

Still, he hit the ground running, opening for business in January 2013. “I was already starting to generate a clientele while in the training program,” he said.

A big undertaking
Despite his insider knowledge of the travel industry and his experience selling travel, Ramdial was surprised at the amount of work it took to get his fledgling business off the ground.

“It was a lot more than I expected,” he acknowledged.

As for his clientele, “I realized quickly that my list of friends and family that seemed so long was not going to be enough. Not everyone is ready to travel right now.”

At one point business was so slow he considered giving up. And then along came a new customer, out of the blue, who wanted to make a group booking. And suddenly things started to pick up.

Renewed confidence
Now 18 months into the business, Ramdial feels confident he is going to make it.

He credits his passion, his dedication, his readiness to revisit his business plan and his willingness to work, work, work until he meets his goals.

“When I purchased my franchise I was in a low-income situation. I wasn’t making $50,000 a year; I didn’t have a big bank account. I was only 27 years old,” he said. “But I had a passion, and 18 months later, I’m thriving.”

The sister who led him into travel is graduating college and will soon become his first employee.

Can-do spirit
Ramdial extends his attitude that “you can do anything you set your mind to” to his customers as well.

“Some people think they will never be able to cruise, but it’s only $3,000 to cruise to Alaska. It’s not just for the rich,” he said.

“If you are serious about wanting to travel, with a little bit of planning and saving you can go anywhere in the world. And anyone, from any walk of life, can be a franchise owner.”