Latest / Travel Agency in a Year / Day 261: Audit the Hardware That Runs Your Travel Agency
Transcript
- Rachel: Welcome to the Travel Agency in a Year podcast. I'm your host, Rachel K, and I am a travel agency owner helping you build business. If you have any questions on how I can help you other than this fantastic, super informative and educational, mildly entertaining podcast, you can head over to elevate with Rachel K.com. We have a 12-month program. Let me write this down so don't forget. And I forgot on the other one. And then there is custom one-on-one mentoring that's a 12-week kind of intensive program. So I kind of built it like a personal trainer would. You can come to my group fitness class, or you can get custom training exactly to meet your needs. You want them gains? All right. Today is day 261. we're gonna be talking since two episode 258. If you're brand new, I do things in clusters of information so you aren't overwhelmed with hours of it. But we started on day 258 with the systems, tech, and tool audit. Since we are right around the Q3 review, might as well talk about it. Should probably be doing this at least once a year. And today is the physical side, the hardware. Yesterday we did talk all about the software. Day 259, we talked about your processes. But yesterday was the subscriptions, the platforms, and the keep, kill, consolidate framework. When you need to cancel a subscription, maybe for some software or consolidate or keep it because you absolutely need it. Today we're gonna step away from what's in the screen entirely and look at something just as easy to neglect. The actual physical equipment. The equip monk, if you will. Your business runs on. So software does get audited quite often with most travel advisors, at least like once a year. And sometimes it might come from like a scarcity panic where I'm spending too much money, I'm not making enough money, let me do an audit. And I talked about the I talked a little bit about that yesterday with like regards to mindset. If you do this regularly, if you look at your finances regularly, it doesn't get to be so scary. And you tend to notice more often, like if s if a subscription is renewed or it goes up in cost, that's gonna force you to notice it. But hardware doesn't really announce itself that way. A laptop that's gotten slower doesn't send you an invoice. It's just quietly costing you a few extra minutes here and there. A little clunky just day after day, or desktop, or monitor, or I have this mouse pad here that is seven years old that the rubber backing. I I really need to get that's not hardware, but as an example. I mean I guess it could be hardware. I should get a new one, but it's a black and white mouse pad with kitties and they're in a little yin yang symbol, so I'm like, but I like it. But you're not gonna notice those little things. until your phone completely craps out on you. Your phone you're probably going to renew more often because I know a lot of people finance their phones and once it's paid off then it's like, I can get an upgrade. Your laptop may not be that case. Your desktop may not be the case. Your ring lights, your gimbal if you do a lot of like GoPro type stuff for your content, your microphones, any of that stuff. That's all hardware. your pens and your notebooks your Dry erase board, dry erase markers, those are I would count it as hardware. but you're not gonna notice all that stuff slowly day to day and if you aren't doing like a regular kind of like a if you're not doing a hardware audit regularly, then it turns into like one whole day where you have to completely reset everything up on a new laptop or you have to like back everything up on your phone because you weren't prepared for it to go get a new phone. Or maybe your content quality goes down on social media if you do like face To video camera stuff because your phone's getting older and the stand you have it on is just not keeping it together, so the phone's like at an angle, whatever. And that turns into additional time that you have to stop everything because you waited until it completely fell apart rather than doing this sort of hardware audit. Okay, let me pull up my notes here. this is not just a hunch, by the way. I'm speaking from experience and also There was a study that was done by the research firm J. Gold Associates across thousands of small businesses in general, not just travel agencies, and they found that people were using computers older than roughly three years were measurably less productive, with lost time translating into thousands of dollars a year, potentially in estimated productivity costs per person. Once you count for like slower, Like booting up times, longer load times, and more frequent freezes or crashes. This is why I'm a huge fan of the profit first method, because you can set money aside to upgrade your hardware. Anyway, another study found that aging computers. in businesses are significantly more likely to need repairs than the newer ones. Duh. Meaning the hidden cost isn't just slower work. It's also a higher chance of an unplanned repair or replacement at the worst possible moment, like when your computer totally crashes and if you need to completely replace it while you're trying to get final travel docs sent out to an entire group. That's not going to be fun and you're going to have a very long stressful day. So for someone who is a solo track TA, or maybe you have a small travel agency, this matters even more and not less compared to like a large company with an IT department that quickly handles replacements on a schedule. If your laptop freezes during like a Zoom call, or your phone dies mid-trip while you're trying to handle an urgent client issue because the battery can't battery anymore, there is no backup system stepping in. Just you and whatever you are currently relying on. You don't have an IT department. So the main core bits of hardware categories to actually like walk through when you're doing this audit, your primary computer, whether it's a desktop or laptop. I'm a fan of laptops, I have multiple laptops. depending on where I want to be. So, sidebar, I have multiple laptops because I have a new laptop for like all of my travel stuff. However, I don't like the camera on it, so I film actually this podcast on my old laptop. Also, my old laptop is six years old. So it has to just stay plugged in. The battery is not battering anymore. So that's why you see me with no background, because I'm just in my office. So, how old is your primary computer, desktop, or lap laptop? How old is it really? Does it struggle with the software that you're using, like your CRM, your itinerary builder, your if you use any like video editing software tools? Is it like slow performance here doesn't just cost you time, it quietly discourages you from doing those very tasks you need, like batching content, building proposals, setting up templates. And that's this whole podcast has been built around like let's make it easier for your travel agency. Well, let's make it simpler for your travel agency. Starting your own business is not easy. Otherwise everyone would be self-employed. Keeping that in mind, because you're awesome for doing this. Alright, another hardware tool that a lot of TAs use is your phone. Again, most people finance their phones, so they're just gonna get an upgrade in a few years anyway. They're gonna pay off the phone and then there'll be the ATT or Verizon, whatever, is gonna be like, congrats, you got a free upgrade, just another finance payment. But this is probably more mission critical than the laptop or desktop, because that's how clients can reach you in travel emergencies, regardless of what you're doing, how you handle any urgent issues like calling suppliers for backup if there is a travel issue. and it's how everyone films their content. So the battery health of it, the storage space available, the camera quality all directly affects your ability to do real client and content work on the go. And also I'm in that boat right now. Like I have my new laptop, no big deal. I'm a weirdo and I like to pay for my phones in full and then I just keep them forever because I don't care. But I realize I need to care. You know what I mean? Like I'm not concerned with like taking beautiful video and photo content however the phone I currently have that I'm upgrading this week actually it is six years old It has a great battery life unless I'm traveling internationally and I just learned that like just this year I went on a trip internationally and my battery was just z even though I was on the resort's Wi-Fi. It just would not hold a charge. It was crazy. so there's that, and my camera quality is terrible. I cracked the zoom lens years ago and I was like, that's fine. So I do need to upgrade my phone for those reasons. It still functions great and I'm having a hard time like I don't know why. I'm like, I need to go to the store and just like go pick up a new phone. But I'm having a hard time just getting that done. It's fine. So be prepared if you're Following me on any of my other social accounts, the content quality, the lighting, the sound, and the video is gonna get significantly better pretty quick. Alright, another hardware. Uh-oh, spaghettios, are you even considering this one? Your internet, your router. I yep. Mm-hmm. And if you live in the country, listen up. If you don't live in the middle of nowhere, it doesn't really matter. But I have another story about this. So slow or unreliable home internet connections, outdated routers, quickly sabotage your video calls, how quickly you can get things done, uploads if you have like large itinerary files, anything that you live stream for some reason, in ways that are easy to blame on the platform itself when it's really just your internet. So when I first started working in travel, it was a side hustle. So it didn't really matter to me. Then COVID hit and I went all in on becoming a full-time travel agent. And I had issues with internet and cell phone signal. I was in the middle of nowhere, a mile away from like a gas station, and there was like government housing up the hill between where I lived and that gas station. And that gas station was like the edge of town. And The only internet we could get, because there was no cable internet available, was some terrible it was like it's called well I'm not gonna name it 'cause I just said terrible. A terribly slow internet service that was satellite. And I would blow through my data so quickly and then I'd have to like buy more tokens just to be able to operate my travel agency and was like, this is ridiculous. And I did it for like six months because I was like, what am I gonna do? Because I really wanted Starlink and Starlink wasn't quite available yet. And there was really no other option. I was kind of stuck with this terribly slow. The modem I remember before I switched to Starlink was a good six years old and I called the company because it was their modem. And I was like, hey, I think this modem needs to be replaced. And they're like, no, it doesn't. I was like, I hate you guys. So that was one big bottleneck. And then, for some reason, they only had one shared cell phone tower near, like within like three miles of us. And it was shared between all the networks. And it was like right by like the government housing up the hill. So it wasn't very far from us. So I was like, why all of a sudden, certain times of the day in the summertime, like from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then again from like five to seven, I had no cell phone service. and this I think I picked up on this, it got really, really bad in like 2021, like over the summer. It got to the point where I'd have to drive up the road to this little shopping center by the gas station just to be able to talk to my clients on the phone. Or the other option was if I jankly angled my phone in the bathroom window, so just sounded like I was on the toilet, you know the echo. could take client calls. it was so frustrating. And one of my clients actually was in a similar situation and they lived in North Carolina. So fortunately they referred me to the cell phone extender thing you can purchase once the phone company approves it. And it was like a six hundred dollar piece of equipment, but it was like this cell phone extender tower thing that you put outside and then you routed it like through your attic or whatever. And then it had an indoor cell phone signal and that boosted our signal from like zero to half a bar to four or five bars easily. And that like I ha hadn't made that investment. So you might run into things like that, people, is what I'm saying. And then I invested in the Starlink once it was available in my area. And then we were rocking in a rolling, but for a minute, I think it was like summer of 21, honestly. And I remember I had to download this weird software to send to my phone company or go on this website and do like a signal audit of the towers near the house to get it approved, because this can disrupt airplane signals, this tower thingy. It's like a little tiny thing you just clip. outside your house somewhere, but it can mess with that, so it has to be approved. And there was a tiny airport not too far from this home as well. So When I downloaded the or when I looked at the map of the tower signal stuff, it looked like you know how when you're watching a storm on the radar and it's like green is just like rain, and then red is means like nightmare, seek shelter, it's part of the storm. It was like that red craziness right around the tower in that government housing. And so I was like, All of these people are sucking up the availability of the signal, the tower, probably because they are using that instead of internet to like stream or whatever. And that's why in the summertime it was like 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Because the kids were home, most likely, was like what I deduced from that. and then it would peak again in the evenings if they were streaming something to watch on TV. So it's like, all right, so I had this proof and then I could get this tower. But that is super important to have good, reliable internet. Make sure your router is up to date. Make sure you do speed tests regularly with your internet. Also, because if you can get a competing internet service provider with higher download and upload speeds, then you have something to at least negotiate to with your current ISP. Anyway. Backup and storage. where do your client files and like your story bank if you have that, your business records, where do they actually live if your primary computer failed tomorrow? An external drive that hasn't been checked in over a year, or cloud backup you assume is running, but have never actually verified, is a real risk hiding in plain sight. And we're gonna go into the printer because you might print everything off, but do you have like all the physical copies? I You might, you might not. and speaking of printers, scanners, any kind of physical filing, I personally don't use these tools myself anymore, but I know a lot of travel advisors do. And it's a quick check if you use these at all for like passport copies, if you're brick and mortar, signed contracts, physical materials for any local marketing efforts, like the print materials we discussed back in day 229. Your filing cabinet, your filing cabinet systems, is is the lock busted? Is it is it a lockable cabinet? Should be. And then additional hardware, All your adapters for when you're traveling. A portable charger, a laptop bag that protects your equipment. your mouse. Is it a wireless mouse? Your keyboard, if you don't use the keyboard that comes with your laptop, or maybe you have a custom keyboard for your desktop. your ring light or any kind of lighting situation, your microphones, are they up to snuff and working? All of that tech stuff. Like I've got this, I think I showed this a few episodes ago too. I just got this Which is awesome because you can like bend. No, I'm not selling anything to you. If you are not watching, it's like a gooseneck collar thing you can put around your head and then you can just film content which is really cool and you can adjust how this phone the phone attaches so it's like great if you're gonna be like cooking and stuff but it's also a nice decent stand that you can just set down a few feet away from you and be totally hands-free and speak. And so I was like, well, I could use this for both. And it has a gooseneck that's totally adjustable. Like you can bend it however you want. It's pretty cool. It was like 20 bucks. I don't remember what the brand is. But that those kinds of things. So for each of these categories, ask yourself three questions. Is this genuinely slowing me down or creating risk in a way that I've gotten used to rather than actually solved? You know what I mean? Like, am I just used to it being janky? You're worth more. is there a real specific cost to replacing or upgrading it? And does that cost make sense against your time or the risk it's currently costing you? Third question: Is there a backup plan if this piece of equipment failed completely tomorrow? Could I keep serving clients without a significant gap? So just like The tech stack audit, the systems audit. This isn't a call to replace everything immediately. Some hardware genuinely has real years of useful life left in it, and upgrading purely for the sake of having something newer is its own kind of a waste. the goal here is the same discernment that we have talked about at the start of this series. Identifying what's genuinely costing you time, money, or risk, and prioritizing. Fixes there first rather than like treating every piece of equipment as equally urgent. What I'm saying is, can you imagine if you had to in the same day completely replace your laptop, desktop, tablet, and your phone, and you had to send group travel docs out? You'd be like, This is my nightmare. We are preventing that by doing simple little hardware audits. Alright, if something in your audit is heavily used and clearly riding the struggle bus, your primary work laptop is usually the one. I'd say probably about every around five years you need to consider replacing it, if not three. that's worth prioritizing even if the cost feels significant and why you should do the proffer first method, because you'd have money for the upgrade and pay yourself and pay all your bills, no big deal. But leaving it alone, that daily productivity cost will likely exceed that replacement cost within a year, based on The info I've spewed at you in this episode. So lower stakes items like an older printer you use maybe once every six months, that kind of stuff can wait. like having like the GoPro gimbal, that isn't a total necessity. It does make for some beautiful content. But that could wait if you needed to upgrade it. Your mouse. Not a big your mouse pad. I really want to show you my mouse pad in this YouTube, but I'm not gonna, because it's I'm attached to it. I gotta say goodbye. Okay. Anyway. So walk through your primary computer for work. If you have a secondary one, probably check on that because if let's say you do a lot of desktop work and you have a laptop for backup, but you don't use that laptop and that laptop battery isn't getting charged and the laptop's not getting used, that battery could crap out on you. And then when you need that backup, it's not gonna work. Your phone, any of your content creation equipment, your internet, connectivity, backup, storage, any physical filing, printer scanner, any travel adapters, all that fun stuff. For each of those, ask whether that item is quietly costing you time or creating a potential rick risk in your business, what it would cost to fix it, what it would cost to replace it. And if you can't replace it or fix it, what would be the backup? And if you don't have a backup, then you're just gonna have to eat it and spend the money, sorry. But prioritize based on genuine daily impact, not just what feels the newest or the most exciting to upgrade, or someone's like, you should totally get this product because it'll change your life. We don't know that. Discernment. Tomorrow we're gonna talk about like if you have a team involving them in this audit process. Okay. This was day two sixty one of the Travel Agency in the Year podcast. I ran over because I was rambling about upgrading to Starlink. Sorry about that. have a wonderful day. I'll see you tomorrow.