The Road Goes Ever On with this Travel Advisor

When Flights & Fables owner Rocky Dimico tells people he’s living out the adage of when you do what you love for a living you’ll never work a day in your life, he’s not just talking about the joy he finds in helping his clients have the best vacation possible.

It’s his unique niche that makes his life a dream come true.

“I’m that guy who’s super nerdy,” he said. “The whole reason I went to New Zealand was ‘Lord of the Rings.’ And I’ve been to London three times and all three times I went to the ‘Harry Potter’ studio. All the castles, Stonehenge… That’s me!”

Like when he went to Munich and made sure to go see the props and backdrops from “The NeverEnding Story.”

That’s his passion when he’s traveling. And it’s something he’s found other people want to do as well.

Catching the Travel Bug

Growing up in a military family, Dimico developed a taste for travel early.

“My first beach was the Red Sea,” he tells TMR, adding that he’d spent time living in Yemen and Finland, and traveling all over Europe by the time he was 18. His travels didn’t stop there. He joined the military himself after graduating high school and added to the list of countries that he got to live in and travel through.

After leaving the military, he spent five years working for the state of Washington, but he missed travel. For a time, he considered becoming an air marshal or a diplomate, just so he could get back to traveling.

When he came across a deal to go to New Zealand for “dirt cheap” he jumped at the chance.

“When I got there, I was like this is what I like. I just want to keep doing this for the rest of my life,” he said. “So, it really started with, how do I travel for the rest of my life?”

Turns out he had a high school friend who was a travel advisor.

“We sat down, had a conversation, and she led me down the path.”

If helped that multiple aptitude tests he’d taken when he was getting out of the Army indicated he should go into entrepreneurship.

“That’s really where it matched up, when I started exploring the travel advisor world and knowing that that would be me getting to be an entrepreneur… and then my passion for travel. Oh, this is it.”

Finding a Niche

Once Dimico made the decision to open his agency, finding a niche was a cinch. It was clear almost from the start that so much of the traveling he’d done in his own past always had a “nerdy element to it.”

“That’s my passion. Every time I go to these place, I find these unique things that I love from movies, books, video games and so on. That’s my niche.”

What took a little longer to learn was how to say no to things outside his niche.

“There was time in the beginning where it became, do you sell cruises? Yeah, I sell cruises. I’ll sell the Caribbean, whatever.”

But he added that he learned quickly that he didn’t do well at selling those products or those destinations that he didn’t know as well.

“I’ve been to 63 countries, but I’ve only spent a little bit of time in the Caribbean. I don’t like cruises… I started realizing, if you know what you sell and you’re really comfortable with it, you’re going to do a lot better,” he told TMR.

As an example, he told TMR about a client who asked for a Hawaii vacation. Because he’s been to Hawaii he said, yes, but it’s not a destination he’s completely familiar with. When the client asked off-handedly if he also sold New Zealand, he was able to talk more expansively about it.

“He told me, you are night and day different from when you are talking about Hawaii. You’ve got me wanting to go to New Zealand so bad now.”

Dimico added, “That was the first time it really registered. If you’re passionate about what you sell, you’re going to sell it. If you are middling about it, you’re doing to be doing a disservice to your client, rather than adding value.”

These days, he says no, if asked by prospective clients if he sells cruises, the Caribbean, or other destinations he’s not familiar with. (With repeat clients he turns to other advisors at his Host agency for help with things he’s not familiar or comfortable with as he’s afraid to lose them.)

Finding His People

When you have a niche as unique as Dimico does, finding clients has to take a unique approach as well.

“Where am I going to find my people? Obviously, Comic Cons, card shops, comic bookstores, places that are heavily in the fandom. Because those are the places I go,” he told TMR.

While not everyone who goes to these places is in the market to book a trip, many didn’t even know such trips were possible until they were introduced to the idea of them by Dimico.

It comes right back to basic marketing — the more your name is out there, the more people know who you are and what you do, he said.

He also attends similarly theme events in his local area – Geek and Grub in Raleigh, the Nerd Market in Fayetteville. To spread a wider net for those who aren’t actively in the fandom community, he also attends non-themed events locally, where he, again, introduces the concept of fantasy-related travel to people.

“People’s natural love of “Harry Potter,” their natural love of “Lord of the Rings” come out,” when they see him, Dimico said.

Because he also sells Italy, having lived there for a number of years, he also attends the local Italian festival, which has brought him a lot of business, as well. Even there, he added, people discover his “inner nerd” and then they get interested in his fan trips too.

(Most of the trips he plans for clients have a touch of fandom, rather than being 100% fan-driven. For instance, 90% of the people he sends to New Zealand want to go to Hobbiton but don’t need the rest of the trip to be about Lord of the Rings.)

It’s these local events that he says have had the highest ROI for him. Whether fandom-themed or not, people are not typically expecting to see a travel advisor at these events, which makes him stand out.

Expanding His Niche

Because Dimico’s niche – and hook – is fandom related travel, he pays close attention to where fans are interested in visiting.

“I listen to what people are asking for. I want to expand into the areas that I think are going to match up with what my clients are going to want.”

For instance, Japan isn’t just hot with “regular” travelers. It’s big with fans of anime who are requesting trips in big numbers.

“I started hearing it at these conventions… I wouldn’t sell it until I went there. I’m a firm believer that you don’t sell something unless you’ve been there and experienced it yourself. That was one of the best decisions I ever made was to go to Japan. Japan is my number one seller as of right now.”

His next big expansion, he says, is into Romania for the vampire aspect.

“That’s the one I get a lot of interest in,” he said, adding its’s also one of his favorite trips he took while in the Army – “to go do all the Dracula stuff.”

Other “mystical” and “spooky” destinations he’s got on his list are Peru for Machu Picchu and Egypt.