Arnie Weissmann
I have met more New York taxi drivers who have earned a Ph.D in their country of origin than I have met travel agency owners with a masters in business administration.
Which raises the question: How much formal training does a small travel retailer need?
Like many who are attracted by the idea of selling travel, Chris Niemeyer, the 35-year-old CEO of MissionTravel.org, was long on passion and short on business education. When he began exploring where he might fit into the industry, he observed that many successful travel advisers had been migrating toward a portfolio of luxury products for a wealthy clientele.
But he sought an under-exploited area of specialization and, in the end, built a contrarian book of business selling economy air tickets to the poorest of travelers: missionaries. Finding himself almost alone in this niche, he was soon selling $3 million in consolidated air, his volume earning him double-digit commissions.
Seeing greater opportunity than he could handle alone, he grew from a home-based agent to a host, bringing in another $2 million in sales from independent contractors using his model and technology.
You get the picture: Niemeyer is a very entrepreneurial millennial who, with more instincts than training, had found a successful model and was doing what he could to grow it.
Niemeyer joined his local Chamber of Commerce, not to woo business from fellow members but to gain insight from them. An item in the Chamber's monthly newsletter caught his eye: Goldman Sachs, in collaboration with Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., was soliciting applicants for its "10,000 Small Businesses" initiative, which provides opportunities for CEOs with a minimum of four employees, revenue of at least $250,000 and two years under their belts to receive, for free, high-level instruction in business administration and entrepreneurship.
He applied, and following a few telephone and video interviews, found himself among 150 business owners nationwide to be accepted.
Niemeyer also became the first seller of travel in the program's six-year history.
He finished the course in November, and we spoke last week about what information he could share that might benefit Travel Weekly's readers.
The curriculum, he said, included modules on finance and budgeting, sales and marketing, leadership, human resources and operations. He learned about which metrics to monitor and about developing and documenting systems and processes.
The class was divided into four groups, which participated in video conference calls, then subdivided into "growth groups" of five or six people who met with an experienced "virtual business adviser" hired by Goldman Sachs. Fellow students acted as sounding boards during weekly conference calls.
Additionally, all 150 students convened twice at Babson's Executive Conference Center, with all expenses picked up by the program.
"I've enjoyed some success in our little niche, but we're in a challenging industry," he said. "We learned how to identify disruptors, to anticipate and mitigate risk and leverage opportunities. I was blown away by how well-structured and thoughtful the process was."
What he learned that could be most easily shared and applied by others were some overarching approaches that successful businesses have in common, regardless of industry.
One that struck me as particularly important -- and difficult, particularly for smaller enterprises -- could be boiled down to seven words: Work on your business, not in it.
"You get in the weeds of day-in/day-out, personally booking clients and managing employees," Niemeyer said. "We're really good at selling travel but don't carve out the time for working on our businesses. You have to be intentional with your time. Think of it as an investment. I spent 10 to 12 hours per week for 12 weeks in the program. That was a lot of time out of my business, but it will pay great dividends."
Although he spoke of preparing one-, three- and five-year plans, I asked him, given the rate of technological change and the dynamic geopolitical and economic landscape, if it was a good use of time to project out that far.
These were not business plans, he said, but growth plans.
"Business plans are things of the past," he said. "A growth plan is a living document. You never finish it and revisit it every quarter. A graduation requirement is that we stay in touch with a Goldman adviser every quarter and update how our plans are going, reporting growth in employees and performance against identified opportunities."
Niemeyer was inspired to add a completely new marketing strategy to his business, and, in what he freely admits is "a nerdy sort of way," he wants to run his ideas through the processes he learned.
While he did not want me to share these specific plans with Travel Weekly's readers, he did make this generous offer: When he graduated, it was stressed to alumni to look for others in their industries who might benefit from the program, and if an application comes in with a recommendation from a previous course graduate, "they will be put to the front."
I warned him he might be inundated with potential applicants.
He wasn't fazed. "I'll develop a system to handle it," he said.
You can reach Chris Niemeyer at Chris@MissionTravel.org.