Your First 30 Days as a New Travel Homeworker: What to Expect

Originally published: 30 July 2025 | Last reviewed and updated: 14th August 2026

Starting a travel business is exciting, but one of the biggest questions new consultants have is surprisingly simple:

What actually happens after I join?

Do you receive a login and start selling holidays the next morning?

Do you spend weeks training?

When do you get supplier access?

When should you start marketing?

And what happens if you reach the end of your first month without making a booking?

The Independent Travel Consultants is the homeworking division of Jamie Wake Travel, and our onboarding process is designed to take you from applicant to trained, live Independent Travel Consultant in a structured way.

That means your first 30 days are not a race to make a booking.

They are about building the foundations of a professional travel business.

First, Your 30 Days Might Not Look Exactly Like Someone Else's

There is no magic rule saying every consultant should be live on Day 10 or have made their first booking by Day 30.

Our formal training is delivered through Coassemble and can be completed at a pace that works for the individual. The important thing is understanding the material rather than rushing through it. 

Someone entering travel with previous industry experience may move through certain areas quickly.

Someone completely new to travel may want more time.

Someone building the business alongside a full-time job may train predominantly during evenings and weekends.

That's fine.

Progress is based on readiness, not an arbitrary race against the calendar.

So think of this guide as what your first month of the journey is likely to involve, rather than a promise that everybody reaches every milestone on exactly the same day.

Before Day One: Agreement, Membership and Onboarding

Your ITC onboarding journey begins once the required joining steps have been completed.

There is currently no joining or upfront training fee. Training forms part of the £50 monthly membership, which begins when you move into onboarding and make your first membership payment. 

From there, we can begin moving you through the practical steps needed to prepare your travel business.

Behind the scenes, that ultimately includes setting up the accounts, permissions and access you'll need once you're ready to operate.

But there is an important distinction:

being onboarded is not the same as being live.

Until you have completed the required training and go-live process, you are not yet handling live client enquiries or making bookings.

Days 1–7: Build the Foundations

Your first priority isn't finding a cheap holiday to post on Facebook.

It's learning how the business you're about to operate actually works.

Start Your Foundations Training

Formal training is delivered through Coassemble, with the ITC Training Hub providing additional guidance and resources alongside it. 

Your foundation learning introduces areas such as:

• how the UK travel industry works;
• different travel products;
• suppliers and tour operators;
• client enquiries;
• customer service;
• booking processes;
• compliance;
• customer protection;
• and how The Independent Travel Consultants operates.

You don't need to memorise the travel industry in seven days.

You do need to begin understanding the principles behind the work.

Start Thinking About Your Business

Training is also a good time to start thinking about the business you want to build.

Ask yourself:

• Who might my first customers be?
• Will I trade primarily under my own customer-facing brand?
• Are there types of travel I already have a genuine interest in?
• Which social platforms do I actually want to use?
• Am I building this part-time or full-time?
• How much time can I realistically commit each week?

You don't need every answer yet.

Your business will evolve.

But beginning with some direction is considerably better than reaching go-live and asking:

“Right. What do I do now?”

Days 8–14: Turn the Theory Into a Business

As you progress through your initial learning, the focus starts moving from understanding travel to understanding how you will operate in practice.

Our current training journey specifically includes preparation around managing enquiries, how bookings are structured, client communication and consultant processes before somebody is approved to go live. 

Your Training 1-to-1

This gives you an opportunity to explore areas that make much more sense once you have worked through the foundations.

It is also the point to ask questions.

Lots of them.

You may understand the definition of a package holiday from a module but still wonder:

• What happens when a real customer asks me for one?
• Where do I search?
• Which system do I use?
• How do I know whether a price is commercially viable?
• What do I send the customer?
• What happens when they want to book?

Those practical questions matter.

Start Preparing Your Launch

This is also when the business starts feeling more real.

You can begin preparing things such as:

• your business identity;
• social-media profiles;
• introductory content;
• a simple launch message;
• your initial marketing plan;
• people you want to tell about the business;
• and the types of enquiries you'd particularly like to attract.

But don't confuse preparing to launch with taking bookings before you are authorised to do so.

Our current training guidance is clear that operational systems and the ability to work with clients come at go-live. 

Days 15–21: Prepare for Go-Live

This is where the different pieces begin coming together.

Before launch, there is a final readiness stage to ensure your required training is complete and you understand the key processes involved in operating as an Independent Travel Consultant. 

Your Pre-Launch Preparation

By this point, you should be getting more comfortable with questions such as:

• What happens when an enquiry arrives?
• How do I research options?
• How do I produce a compliant quote?
• How are customer payments handled?
• What do I need before confirming a booking?
• How do I record the booking?
• When does the customer receive their documentation?
• Where do I go when I'm unsure?
• What do I do after the customer books?

You are not expected to know every answer from memory.

You are expected to understand the processes and know where to find support.

Your Go-Live 1-to-1

Before launch, we review your readiness.

This isn't about trying to catch you out with an exam.

The purpose of go-live readiness is to make sure the foundations are in place before real customers and real money enter the picture. The current ITC Go Live Checklist describes this as confirming that training is completed, core processes are understood and the consultant feels prepared to start working with clients. 

If something still needs work, deal with it now.

There is nothing impressive about rushing through go-live and then discovering you don't understand the basic booking process.

Go-Live Day: Your Business Becomes Operational

Go-live is the milestone where you move from learning how to be an Independent Travel Consultant to actually operating as one.

At this point, the operational access required to run the business is released and your consultant setup is completed. ITC's current published Go Live Checklist describes this as the stage where consultant email, systems, booking tools, intranet access and operational resources become available. 

Depending on the access relevant to your business, your wider ITC setup can include things such as:

• your consultant email;
• PTS.cloud;
• booking and quotation systems;
• the consultant intranet;
• relevant supplier access;
• operational guides;
• support channels;
• consultant permissions;
• Slack;
• shared operational mailboxes where appropriate;
• the Weekly Huddle;
• and your consultant profile information.

Some accounts are prepared during onboarding behind the scenes, while operational access is controlled around go-live.

This is the point at which you can begin handling live enquiries and working with customers.

Your First Week Live: Don't Make “Get a Booking” Your Only Goal

Of course you want a booking.

Everyone does.

But making “I must get my first booking this week” your only measure of success can create terrible decision-making.

It can lead new consultants to:

• discount unnecessarily;
• chase unsuitable enquiries;
• panic when people don't reply;
• post random offers constantly;
• compare themselves with other consultants;
• or believe the business has failed after seven days.

Instead, your first week live should be about activity you can control.

Tell People You're Open

Don't quietly change your Facebook bio and hope somebody notices.

Tell people.

That might involve:

• an introduction post;
• personal conversations;
• an email;
• local community connections;
• previous colleagues;
• friends and family;
• networking;
• relevant Facebook communities;
• or other audiences where you already have genuine relationships.

You are not asking everybody you have ever met to buy a holiday immediately.

You're letting them know:

“This is what I now do, and this is how I can help.”

Complete Your Consumer-Facing Profile

ITC consultants can also have visibility through our Find a Consultant directory.

Treat that as another way customers may discover you - not as a guaranteed lead-generation machine.

Your own marketing and customer relationships still matter.

Practise the Enquiry Process

Your first genuine enquiry is exciting, but it can also make everything you learned suddenly feel very real. This is where having a structured client consultation process matters. Our guide to what to ask before planning a client's trip covers the discovery questions that help you understand what the customer actually needs before you start searching.

It can also make everything you've learned suddenly feel very real.

Take your time.

Follow the process.

Ask the right questions.

Check details.

And use the support available if something is unfamiliar.

Nobody wins a prize for pretending they know something they don't.

Your First Enquiry Matters More Than Your First Booking

This is an important mindset change.

You control far more of the enquiry experience than you control whether somebody ultimately books.

Your first enquiry lets you practise:

1. discovery;
2. research;
3. supplier selection;
4. pricing;
5. quoting;
6. presentation;
7. follow-up;
8. record keeping;
9. and customer communication.

If they book, wonderful.

If they don't, you've still experienced a real piece of the business.

Then review it.

What went well?

What did you struggle with?

Did you ask enough questions?

Did you send too many choices?

Was the budget realistic?

Did you follow up?

Every real enquiry teaches you something.

What If You Don't Get a Booking in Your First 30 Days?

Nothing catastrophic happens.

There is no guaranteed timetable for receiving enquiries or making your first booking.

Established homeworkers interviewed by Travel Weekly describe the early stages as involving a learning curve, self-motivation and the need to actively develop clients rather than expecting them to appear automatically. 

A consultant can have a productive first month without generating commission.

For example, you might have:

• completed your training;
• gone live;
• created your brand;
• established your profiles;
• told 100 people what you do;
• generated five enquiries;
• produced three quotes;
• built a list of potential future customers;
• begun networking;
• developed your first specialist interest;
• and established a proper working routine.

That's progress.

A client considering a £7,000 family holiday next summer may take longer to decide than somebody buying a £30 product online.

Don't judge a new travel business solely by what reached your bank account in Month One.

If you reach the end of your first month without a confirmed booking, that does not automatically mean anything is wrong. We have a separate guide on what to do if you haven't made a sale yet, including the activity you should review before deciding your marketing isn't working.

Your First Booking: Slow Down

Then it happens.

Somebody says:

“Yes, we'd like to book.”

This is precisely the moment not to rush.

A booking means real people, real money and real contractual arrangements.

Follow the approved process.

Check:

• passenger names;
• dates;
• airports;
• accommodation;
• room type;
• board basis;
• transfers;
• baggage;
• total price;
• deposit;
• balance;
• cancellation terms;
• supplier;
• protection arrangements;
• and everything else relevant to that particular booking.

Excitement is allowed.

Skipping checks isn't.

Understand That Booking and Earning Are Different

Your first booking can feel like:

“I've made £X!”

But consultant commission isn't necessarily immediately payable.

With The Independent Travel Consultants, consultant commission is paid once the client has paid their booking in full and the relevant suppliers have been paid.

The timing varies between bookings. Some suppliers can be invoiced and paid before travel, while others do not issue their final invoice until the client has checked in or checked out. In those cases, the booking may not be fully reconciled and the consultant commission may not become payable until after the client has travelled.



This is why a new consultant should think in terms of a commission pipeline, rather than assuming every booking creates immediate income.

Build Your Weekly Routine Early

Once you're live, one of the most useful things you can do is create a rhythm.

A simple week might include time for:

Clients

Responding to enquiries, researching holidays, preparing quotes and looking after existing bookings.

Follow-Up

Checking in with people who haven't yet made a decision.

Marketing

Posting useful content, promoting relevant offers, talking to your audience and developing visibility.

Administration

Updating records, checking deadlines and keeping your bookings organised.

Learning

Travel changes constantly.

You won't finish your initial training and suddenly know the industry forever.

Your Learning Doesn't Stop at Go-Live

ITC isn't designed around “complete your training, receive your passwords, good luck”.

Formal onboarding gets you to the point where you can begin.

Professional development continues from there.

Alongside supplier learning, training sessions and operational guidance, we publish new practical CPD and learning content for consultants every day.

That ongoing content covers areas such as:

• travel sales;
• marketing;
• quoting;
• social media;
• email;
• supplier relationships;
• customer service;
• compliance;
• aftercare;
• accessible travel;
• business planning;
• client retention;
• sales psychology;
• product knowledge;
• and running a self-employed travel business.

Travel Weekly's current homeworking guidance similarly emphasises ongoing learning and support as important parts of becoming established rather than treating the initial course as the entire development journey. 

Go-live is graduation from onboarding. It isn't graduation from learning.

Your First 30-Day Travel Homeworker Checklist

By the end of your early journey, a much healthier checklist than simply “Did I make a booking?” is:

Training and Readiness

• Complete your required Foundations Training
• Attend your training 1-to-1
• Complete your pre-launch preparation
• Understand the core enquiry and booking process
• Complete your Go-Live review

Business Setup

• Decide how you want to present your business
• Set up your customer-facing profiles
• Complete your consultant information
• Decide when you will normally work
• Identify your first likely audiences

Systems

• Activate the operational access provided at go-live
• Familiarise yourself with PTS.cloud
• Learn where supplier and booking resources sit
• Know where to find operational guides
• Know which support channel to use when you need help

Marketing

• Announce that you're open
• Introduce the service rather than only posting offers
• Start telling existing contacts what you do
• Begin building local and online visibility
• Develop a simple posting routine

Client Development

• Respond professionally to every genuine enquiry
• Practise client discovery
• Follow up quotes
• Record where enquiries came from
• Ask for help when you need it

Professional Development

• Read the daily ITC learning content
• Attend relevant supplier training
• Join the Weekly Huddle where possible
• Keep notes of things you want to learn
• Review your first real enquiries and bookings

That's a much better definition of a successful first month.

Five Things You Should NOT Expect in Your First 30 Days

1. To Know Everything

You won't.

Neither does somebody who has worked in travel for 20 years.

The skill is learning what you need to check.

2. Guaranteed Customers

ITC does not guarantee a client base.

You are building your own travel business.

3. Immediate Income

Travel commission has a long pipeline because customers frequently book months before they travel.

4. To Feel Confident About Everything

Some things only begin making complete sense once you encounter them in practice.

5. To Have Your Entire Business Figured Out

Your brand, niche, marketing and ideal client may all evolve.

Allow them to.

Frequently Asked Questions About Your First Month as a Travel Homeworker

Your First 30 Days Are About Building the Business

The most useful thing you can do in your first month is stop comparing it with somebody else's.

One consultant may make a booking three days after going live because their neighbour was already planning a £10,000 honeymoon.

Another might spend their first month building relationships that result in five bookings two months later.

Neither journey tells you which consultant will ultimately build the stronger business.

Focus on the things you can control:

Learn.

Launch properly.

Tell people what you do.

Handle enquiries professionally.



Follow up.

Keep learning.

And build from there.

If you're considering becoming a travel homeworker and want to understand the complete current ITC proposition, including fees, commission, training and support, visit Join Our Team.

If you're here because you'd rather have an Independent Travel Consultant plan the holiday for you, use Find a Consultant to find somebody who can help.