I read lots of articles about the Home-Based travel agent in addition to working closely with them as CEO of one of America's well respected Host Agencies, Coral Sands Travel. ( Sorry, I couldn't help the commercial ). I can come up with many serious and laughable thoughts which I will share with you. I even plagiarized some work of others because I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and I want to make this a interesting discussion.

I will begin by saying that all home-based travel agents are not the same. They range from those agents coming from the "brick and mortars" to the newbie who wants a second income and all those agents in between. There are full time, part-time and no-time home- based travel agents. I do not separate them for this article as it would take up too much space, but you will get the picture.

Working at home can break up your marriage, alienate your kids and the family pet and do irreparable harm to your social life. Now with that understood let's discuss why you would have created this situation in your life in the first place.

The very first thing anyone deciding to set up a travel business in the home should ask themselves these questions.

1. Do I really enjoy selling and helping others with their travel plans?

2. Do I have the love of travel, the motivation and desire to make this business a life long career?

3. Am I a multi-tasking and organized person?

4. Am I willing to divorce my spouse, put my kids up for adoption, and euthanize the family pet? If you answered yes to at least three of these questions, you should consider a career as a home-based travel agent.

Now that you have the ingredients as to the type of person it takes to start your business, let's look at where in the house would you set up shop. It's not the kitchen table, it's not next to the TV set, it's not next to where the kids scream most of the time and it's not next to the cat's litter box.. Ideally, it's a separate room that is not being utilized. More often, it should be space in the quietest area of the house, maybe your bedroom, where you can shut the door and work sanely.

The next most important consideration is your computer. If you have an old Packard Bell, that won't work, or if your computer is more than 3 years old, that could be a problem. The operating system should be XP business or professional. Never Vista Basic. I don't really care about any of the Vista programs yet. The XP Professional is my first choice if I can get it. Naturally, there are lots more ingredients that you need. There are plenty of sources where you can find this information. I just don't have the patience to make you a list right now.

Obviously, there are many steps you need to take on the way to making yourself a valuable travel professional. For example, should you remain fully independent or go with a Host Agency? Which CRM program should you use? Where should you go for training? Which organizations should you join? How do you market yourself? The list goes on and on but these are some decisions you must make. Find someone you feel comfortable with as a mentor and who still has their head on straight in this business and do hold on to them. Marry them if you can. I would be pleased to recommend ideas from a private email but I can't marry you.

Some email addresses drive me crazy. New agents believe it's OK to use the old chat room handle. For example, addresses like puppydogeyes@aol.com or tarzan3452@yahoo.com aren't very business like. Get yourself a travel domain and email address if you want a better chance to have some credibility.

Should you bring clients to your home? Unless you want to take the chance of the dog peeing on their leg or the kid throwing his toy at the client, I would recommend that you meet at the client's home or a quiet coffee shop. Starbucks would be good. No loud restaurants and no lounges unless you have other ideas.

Another problem with operating your business at home is the sheer loneliness. I am also home based and experience loneliness at times. My remedy is to either pick a fight with my wife or go out and feed the raccoons. I find it healthier to do my raccoon thing. Join an organization like STARS where you can chat in their discussion forums. I don't want to be biased, therefore, you might also try OSSN or NACTA, not as good but very acceptable.

Since you're home-based you have a tendency to not get dressed in the morning and hang out in your PJ's. I don't recommend this. You should go to work at home dressed pretty much the way when you were working outside as you did when you had an outside job. I'm assuming it was an office type job and not a cook in a restaurant or a circus clown.

I can't leave this article without mentioning training. Training means different things to different people. To a new home-based person it may mean sending your dog to obedience school or potty training for your child. In the travel business it means learning about the travel products you want to sell, the many destinations, how to be a better salesperson and so on. Training for the travel agent is a career long requirement and not reading a "How To" book or attending an MLM cult rally.

One final jab at the MLMs. There is no such thing as a "Home- Based Referral Agent". You are either a real home- based travel agent booking travel yourself or simply an "order taker" trying to fool your friends into thinking you are a travel agent.

Now that I have shown you how to succeed in the travel business, is that job at Wal-Mart looking a lot better?