Сondos for sale in Tulum
13.12.2022
Alex and Elise Coleman are the founders of Here & Now Travel, a boutique travel company.
The company started in 2019 and, despite the pandemic, has more and more customers.
Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to save money before even thinking of a business.
Elise Coleman, 28, has always loved to travel. While studying at Texas A&M University, she cometed a study abroad program in Puerto Rico. In her first full-time job after college, she traveled to Argentina for https://propertiesbaymx.com/property_location/real-estate-tulum/ a month-long training program.
Both trips were well organized, group oriented and encouraged interaction with the locals. "It was a cometely different experience than if I was just traveling alone or with a friend," Elise told Business Insider. "There should be something like that for young professionals too."
Elise and her husband Alex couldn't let go of the idea. In May 2019 they founded the travel agency "Here & Now Travel". "Here & Now" offers adventurous group tours for groups of 10 to 14 peoe to eight international travel destinations. Trips range from US$979 (€865) for Latin American countries to US$2,279 (€2,013) for Greece. The company works with local tour guides at ea of its locations, and trips are open to all ages, with the Colemans saying the primary target demographic is 21 to 35 years old.
In July 2021, 16 months after laun and despite an unexpected hiatus due to the pandemic, Elise and Alex quit their corporate jobs, sold everything they owned, and turned Here & Now from a side job into a main hustle. Advantage: Your travel agency allows you to live around the globe.
As of January 2022, Here & Now enrolled 196 travelers for the year. Alex thinks it will be 300 soon. Based on the six-digit sales figures for 2021 and the trips already anned for 2022, Here & Now sales are expected to increase by 137 percent this year.
Start saving
Elise and Alex met at university and moved to Houston where they worked in companies for five and a half years - Alex in sales at Shell and Elise as an engineer at another oil and gas company in the area. They didn't necessarily an to save to start a business, but they made finance a priority from their first payeck.
"When we got out of college, getting out of debt was very important to us, " says Elise, adding that they followed Dave Ramsey's method. Early on in their relationship, they agreed that paying off their student loans as quickly as possible was a priority for both of them. They saved about 70 percent of their salary for four years, Elise says, and were able to pay off all debt 16 months after their marriage.