"There will never be a 'right time' to take the plunge" with Megan Lundquist and Kristen Sargent
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Megan Lundquist and Kristen Sargent were co-workers and travel buds who became known for their annual friends’ trip abroad. One year 16 people went on a vacation they planned to the islands of Belize, and that’s when the two decided it was time to turn their travel passion into a business. Since then, these two friends have traveled to over 100 countries and hosted trips around the world from campervan touring New Zealand, to a Dia De Los Muertos celebration in Mexico City. They’ve hosted hundreds of guests with their boutique travel company, Legit Trips. www.LegitTrips.com
Can you tell our readers about your background?
We both fell in love with travel when we studied abroad in college. While our experiences were quite different in Spain and Australia respectively, we both came home with a never-ending curiosity about other cultures, people, and places. We’ve been traveling ever since, accumulating experiences and airline miles from our hundreds of days on the road every year.
What inspired you to start your business?
We had a very popular annual friends trip that kept growing year after year when we finally realized we could make it a business. We were inspired to share our knowledge and experience with others so they could have some of the same transformative experiences we had ourselves had through travel. We wanted to help people see the world. We wanted to take the fear out of traveling alone and bring people together with like-minded travel buddies.
Where is your business based?
Our business is registered in Austin, TX where Megan spends some of her time, but we both live in motorhomes full-time and are always on the move. We’re lucky enough to be able to live that ‘laptop life’ and take our work anywhere we can dream.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
Deciding to make it a business was the first step. We were sitting in swings on the beach in Belize during our annual friends’ trip when we decided to come back to that same place in exactly 1 year, with clients who paid to be there. So we already had the when and where of the official start and had 365 days to figure out the rest.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Our business has grown largely due to word of mouth. Nearly all of our guests have been friends of friends of people who have traveled with us in some capacity before. We use social media to share our offerings and help show people some of the beautiful places we get to visit, but our awareness is almost exclusively referral based.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
There’s a lot of unknown in traveling around the world, different procedures and policies than we are used to in the US. We’ve forgotten to budget for electricity surcharges in tiny island destinations. We’ve forgotten to research additional taxes before going to a new country. We like to think we only have to make every mistake once, and then we learn from them and get better for the next time. All of our tiny mistakes have added up to a wealth of knowledge and while we often feel quite confident about our knowledge base, the world is always changing and it’s partly why we love working in travel, no two days are ever the same.
How do you stay focused?
It’s pretty easy to stay focused on work when your work is what you love to do. We love to travel, plan trips, learn about other countries and cultures. It’s what we would do with our free time anyway, so it’s easy to stay focused on what we love. Logistically speaking, we have dozens of spreadsheets to keep track of trips and guests, and we meet twice a week to make sure we’re both focused on the right things at the right time.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Our itineraries are hand-crafted to show guests the best of a place, and also some local secrets. We allow plenty of time for spontaneity and going your own way during our trips. Our groups are small, usually between 8-12 guests. And our trips are all hosted by one of our travel experts. It’s all very intimate and personalized.
We are with our guests from the moment they decide to go on a trip, until the weeks following the travel when they’re sorting through photos. We guide our guests every step of the way with how to prepare, what to pack, introductions to their host, and other travel mates. Our guests just have to book their flight, and we do the rest.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Doing a great job delivering travel experiences you can’t find anywhere else. Like we said earlier, our business has grown exclusively through word of mouth. We focus on delivering the best experience for the best value, and the guests do the rest :)
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Dive in! There will never be a “right time” to take the plunge. We say to get started however you can. If you have to work another job and do your passion on the side, just do it. Just get started.
What’s your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
Our favorite app is Planoly for planning our social media posts. Sometimes we’ll be visiting somewhere remote and we can schedule our posts in advance to keep the travel inspiration strong on our social channels.
Our favorite blog is Rachel Off Duty. Rachel inspires people to travel even if they still work a 9 to 5. We’ve had the pleasure of traveling with Rachel, and just love anyone who’s out there living their life as an inspiration to other people.
Our favorite book is You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero. We love the entire Badass series and listen to and read it often. Jen Sincero is inspiring people to live their best lives through personal development, which is really important to us both personally. And professionally, we curate our trips to include some elements which will push people into a new comfort zone, we aim for each guest to have a transformative experience when they travel with us.
What’s your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Google Suite for sure. We use the Google enterprise to run our business, everything from email to docs to video meetings.
Who is your business role model? Why?
Marie Forleo. She just brings so much joy and authenticity to what she does. We’ve read Everything is Figureoutable and participated in BSchool and we continue to come back to lessons learned there again and again. She taught us to be who we are and build the business around that because the way that we bring ourselves to the business is what makes us unique and special. We’ve held on to that tightly in our 4 years of business.
How do you balance work and life?
Our work and life are pretty integrated right now. But luckily we’re a two-woman show and it’s totally possible for us to cover for each other when one person needs a week to totally disconnect. We’re always working and traveling and feel like it’s the best of both worlds. We really wouldn’t change anything, but our work (travel) is our life.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Scuba diving! It transports you to another world. Your breathing slows down. You’re totally connected to nature. It’s our favorite :)
What do you have planned for the next six months?
We’re introducing a few new domestic trips for 2021 and we’re excited to offer safe ways to travel closer to home for our guests who are itching to get out and explore!
How can our readers connect with you?
Visit our website LegitTrips.com or follow us on Instagram @Legit_Trips