One of the consistent things we hear from home-based agents is how travel was always in their blood and has always been their career choice. Not so with Kimberly Kane, president of Greenville, IN-based Personal Travel Inc. (www.personaltravelonline.com). "I had worked in real estate and retail," she says, "when one day, I passed an agency with a 'Help Wanted' sign in the window. So I went in, had an interview and got the job." Within two years, she was the office manager, and responsible for training new agents. Perhaps it was in her blood after all.

You've probably seen other agents on television being interviewed during a busy travel period, such as Christmas or Mother's Day. How were they chosen? Chances are, it wasn't by accident.

The Travel Agency industry must grasp control of its own destiny and determine its own future—including how professional travel agents are defined and identified, says Bruce Bishins, president of the Travel Retailer Identification Program (TRIP).

Sales pitches surround us all day, every day, in one form or another. Product branding is trumpeted at us from the time we pour our breakfast cereal in the morning to the time we go to bed, watching the television commercials and infomercials dance on our television screens as we nod off to sleep. All throughout the day, we encounter billboards, newspapers, mail and e-mail, phone calls and fliers... the list is endless and all are intended to sell us something. How can you separate your sales pitch from the clamor of all the others?

When agents tell their stories of how they got in the business, a burgeoning love of travel at a young age usually tops the list. However, few agents can say that initial love of travel extended so far as to rating the digs of competing suppliers. "As a kid, when I would go on a family vacation I always wanted to see all of the other hotels in the area," says Jennifer Byrne of The Tropical Travelers in Malvern, PA.

Unlike many agents who close up shop at 5 p.m. or are closed on weekends, Michelle Duncan, owner of Odyssey Travel, Inc., of Centreville, VA, believes it's imperative to field a 24/7 operation. Duncan's home-based agency, which also employs 20 other home-based agents, touts around-the-clock access as a critical client service. "In this fast-paced age, we have to be more flexible to meet the needs of our guests," Duncan stresses.

It happens to all of us: Relationships falter and friendships fail. Sometimes parting is not such sweet sorrow, especially when the end of the relationship also removes a thorn from your side. But what do you do when the difficult person is a client? Can you afford to turn away his business, or will it be more of a personal sacrifice if you remain committed to the relationship? The decision will likely come down to what amount of strife you find personally tolerable in your professional life. Your "unbearable" client may be another agent's "challenge." Read on to learn how some agents determine between the difficult ones and those that need to be let go.

Some might believe that new home-based agents really aren't equipped to sell world cruises. Just don't tell that to Cary Haskin, the owner of Cary on Travel, a new home-based agency affiliated with Cruise Specialists (a Virtuoso member) and Luxury Travel Network in the San Francisco Bay area.

Perhaps it's a coincidence, or maybe someone is trying to tell me something, because twice in the last two days I have come upon a reference to a sign on an Alaskan highway that reads, "Choose your rut carefully. You'll be in it for the next 200 miles." Consider this as it applies to your business: How long have you been doing the same old thing? As a small business owner, you are the captain at the helm of the ship. Is it time to chart a different course, or branch out in a new direction? Do you need to shake things up a bit? With a little introspection and perhaps some constructive criticism, you may find that making a few small adjustments will add new vitality to your endeavors and new life to your business.