Second-Act Careers: Before They Were Franchisees

Expedia CruiseShipCenters Franchise Partners are
Pursuing Their Passion in Act Two

From retired advertising executives to stay-at-home moms, some of our most successful franchisees joined our organization with no travel industry experience. All of our Franchise Partners have two things in common, however: a passion for travel and a passion for people. With those two traits and a drive for results, the possibilities for building and growing a travel business are limitless.

How do we help regular people become exceptional franchisees? At Expedia CruiseShipCenters, we’re continuously improving our systems, training, and support programs to help our franchise owners grow their businesses and achieve their financial and lifestyle goals. After all, their success is our success. That’s why our mission is to ‘empower our franchisees with a proven system to grow a profitable and valuable business’.

Here are a few examples of people enjoying Second-Act Careers as Expedia CruiseShipCenters Franchise Owners:

Joyce Mariner  |  Expedia CruiseShipCenters Franchise Owner in Merrick, NY
First Act: NYPD Homicide Detective

Prior to becoming an Expedia CruiseShipCenters franchisee, Joyce was a retired homicide detective after 25 years of service with the New York City Police Department. She first considered the prospect of becoming a Vacation Consultant with the company, but decided to pursue her calling as an entrepreneur and team leader by investing in the franchise opportunity instead.

Initially, she thought selling travel would be a completely new and different retirement business, but she’s since noticed some surprising similarities to her position with the NYPD. As a detective Joyce learned the skills to interview and interrogate people. Now at Expedia CruiseShipCenters she’s learned to ask customers better and more thoughtful questions so she can provide them with best possible vacation experience. As NYPD police officers, Joyce and her colleagues would joke around and say, “Book ’em!” when they made an arrest. At Expedia CrusieShipCenters, she now helps her team of Vacation Consultants sell travel experiences and says, “Let’s book it!”.

While Joyce’s first act provided many transferable skills, she tells us she’s happy to now be “sending people away,” to a place they actually want to go – on a spectacular vacation!

Patrick Walker  |  Expedia CruiseShipCenters Franchise Owner in Frisco, TX
First Act: United States Coast Guard

Patrick is a retired Coast Guard veteran who first started thinking about the possibility of franchise ownership at a military expo. He wasn’t retiring from military for over a year but continued thinking about the idea of a second-act career in franchising until the end of active duty. In 2015, Patrick noticed the Expedia CruiseShipCenters opportunity during a virtual franchise expo and decided he wanted to learn more about the business.

As a creative problem solver with a passion for people (and of course travel!) Patrick was looking for an opportunity where he could interact with customers, work flexible hours, and be rewarded directly for the hard work he was putting into his business. Expedia CruiseShipCenters was the perfect fit for his financial and lifestyle goals.

Patrick is set to open his new travel agency franchise with Expedia CruiseShipCenters in Frisco, TX next month and already has eight Vacation Consultants who have joined his team!

Chris Meyer  |  Expedia CruiseShipCenters Franchise Owner in Orange County, CA
First Act: Newspaper Editor

Before pursuing franchise ownership, Chris was deputy editor for local and business news for the Orange County Register, one of the largest newspapers in the United States. When the bottom fell out of the industry, however, Chris started to consider a second-act career at age 54 rather than manage the long inevitable decline of a newspaper.

During his research, he stumbled upon a targeted LinkedIn ad for Expedia CruiseShipCenters and started investigating the franchise opportunity. Chris hadn’t planned to become an entrepreneur, but he was impressed by Expedia CruiseShipCenters’ business plan and liked the idea that a big digital company was also opening brick-and-mortar locations to appeal to every segment of the market.

After covering business in his area for a long time, Chris knew about Orange County’s economy and also knew who in the market would be likely travelers. Chris is a risk-averse person, but he crunched the numbers to figure out what it would take to be a successful franchise owner, and decided to roll the dice. Now 5 years into the business, Chris is breaking sales records and still gets his writing fix by penning for local travel blogs. You can read more about Chris in his full Q&A.

Clay Platt  |  Expedia CruiseShipCenters Franchise Owner in Chula Vista, CA
First Act: Long Haul Truck Driver

Clay was looking for a second-act career and wanted to be a business owner after several years as a long haul truck driver and instructor. He was spending many hours and miles in his truck driving across the country and wanted a business that would keep him close to home so he could spend more time with his family and wife Lupe of 25 years.

When looking at various franchise opportunities in several different industries, Clay remembered that he and his wife Lupe loved to travel, which led them to begin researching Expedia CruiseShipCenters. The couple immediately loved the franchise opportunity – the industry, the flexible hours, and the ability to continuously build a team of Independent Contractors and scale their business over time.

As active members of their community in their local church and serving on their city’s planning commission, the husband and wife team is poised to leverage their network and begin building their Expedia CruiseShipCenters franchise set to open in June of this year.

Are You Ready For Your Second-Act Career?

Many Expedia CruiseShipCenters franchise owners enjoyed successful careers in their first act before pursuing franchise ownership as a retirement business. The cruise industry is booming with 24 Million people expected to take a cruise in 2016 alone!

There’s never been a better time to join our team. If you have a willingness to learn, an affinity for team leadership and a passion for navigating spectacular vacation experiences, you can enjoy a second-act career as an Expedia CruiseShipCenters Franchise Partner too.

Learn more about Expedia CruiseShipCenters

For in-depth details about the Expedia CruiseShipCenters industry leading franchise opportunity, download our free franchise report. You can also learn more by visiting our research pages