Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Hendrix.
Hi Nikki, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
When I was younger, we did not have much but my parents prioritized experiences and making money over things. This is a value that that I am so thankful they instilled in me from a young age.
In the ’90s, my father worked for the Disney company so we were able to visit every 6 months. We’d get to stay at the Polynesian for $50/ night while packing Pop-Tarts and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches to eat in the park.
In my twenties and thirties as I got married and started having kiddos, my husband and I made it a priority to make memories together over collecting material things. Of course we took our kiddos and foster kiddos to Walt Disney World any chance we could find!
The love of making memories and Disney worked hand in hand as I became a theme park focused travel advisor in 2015. Since I was already known as the crazy Disney lady, and had a background in sales and marketing, I was able to grow my business quickly. Pretty soon I was giving business away to other travel advisors because there was just too much.
In 2019, we decided as a family that it was time to launch our own agency. My father already had a fun blog talking about his favorite ways to spend time with the grandkids and spoil them. Since it was about making memories and we had an aligned audience, we spun off the name and that’s how we got Favorite Grampy Travels.
Over the last 6 years, we’ve grown to 70 concierge travel advisors across the United States, have won numerous awards, been featured on several podcasts, and have started coaching other agency owners on how to scale their businesses.
Looking back at all the highs and lows, I would not change a thing because it got us to who and where we are today
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
This journey has not been without its bumps. The original agency I was with made it a bit complicated to leave. Covid, of course, was a huge hurdle but we fought through and stayed positive. We doubled down on building an amazing foundation, solidifying our processes and growing our team so we could ramp up as the world reopened.
I’ve also had to learn how to keep the small agency feel and protect our culture even as we grow in size as an agency.
We’ve been impressed with Favorite Grampy Travels , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At Favorite Grampy Travels we specialize in helping busy families make precious memories together.
As a full service concierge, we are not just generic order takers in a call center. We are experts in the industry, with countless partners around the world to customize unique experiences for each of our families that hire us.
Family travel is our specialty, with a focus on multigenerational trips. These are usually epic, memory making vacations with kids, parents and grandparents to wonderful destinations around the globe. We’ve done everything from expeditions cruises to the Galapagos, luxury river cruises to the Christmas markets, unforgettable trips to Disney, or once in a life time experiences in Africa. There are endless possibilities!
With almost 300 x 5 star reviews on Google, our clients return time and again for each new family adventure.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
In this industry, I’ve learned that not all growth is good growth. It is so easy to think you need more agents, more clients, more everything to grow. I’ve seen friends burn themselves out trying to grow faster than they could support just to get the most recent industry accolades.
But if you don’t have strong processes and scalable training in place first, growth will actually create more stress than success.
At Favorite Grampy Travels we’ve been very intentional about how we scale. We try to grow in a way that protects our culture and sets our travel advisors up to truly thrive, not just survive. It means taking our time, saying no to some opportunities, and having a high bar for our advisors, but it has made all the difference.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://FavoriteGrampyTravels.com
- Instagram: @FavoriteGrampyTravels
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/FavoriteGrampyTravels
- LinkedIn: https://LinkedIn.com/NikkiHendrix
- Twitter: Facebook.com/NikkiHendrix
Image Credits
Nikki Hendrix
Kirsten Andrade
