116 – Living the Tuscan Dream with Pam Mercer of Tuscany Tours
Tuscany Tours is a small business owned and operated by Pam Mercer and her husband, Sam Hilt. They work and live in a small hilltop town near Siena, Italy.
It all started with a trip from California to Tuscany just over 25 years ago. Little did they know that this experience would change their thinking and change their lives.
Their first official Tuscany tour was in 1997 and they’ve been growing ever since.
Pam calls it a privilege to receive travelers and share the beautiful countries of Italy and France. In groups of no more than 16, she connects her travelers to local places and people, tastes and traditions.
Pam calls it magical and I can see why!
Pam and Sam’s Story
The trip that started it all [5:27]
There wasn’t going to be an excuse to put it off [8:02]
Making the big move to Tuscany [9:23]
A peek into the culture … you’ll feel like you’re there listening to the bells calling for mass! [10:50]
The mission of Tuscany Tours [12:26]
Candle Flickering Moments
Working through problems with travelers and the way to look at mistakes [27:28]
A story of when things didn’t go so well and how Pam dealt with it [30:44]
Should you let a customer know there is a problem? Sometimes yes! [33:06]
Business Building Insights
Choose your url wisely [9:49]
Make your business different from others. Tuscany Tours isn’t your standard tour biz [14:47]
The importance of staying true to your core business [16:40]
How big should you grow your business? [17:53]
The value of Facebook Groups for building a community (and more bells!) [21:40]
How to establish trust and credibility on Facebook [26:18]
Why you should qualify your customers [34:01]
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Keeping the team structured through specific communication plans [37:00]
Whatsapp – fast, simple and secure messaging and calling for free.
Skype – online communication on desktop and mobile devices.
Asana – team project management.
Recommended Reading and Listening
Turning Tuscan by Sam Hilt
Contact Links
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
Hi there.
Speaker:You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 116.
Speaker:I suppose there are people who would say we just jumped
Speaker:and we had great success,
Speaker:but we really built this business.
Speaker:And we also built our life because we moved from one
Speaker:culture to another.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee,
Speaker:Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gift to biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time to light it.
Speaker:Welcome to gift bears on wrapped your source for industry specific
Speaker:insights and advice to develop and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Mona height.
Speaker:Before we get into the show,
Speaker:I have a question for you.
Speaker:Do you know that you should be out networking,
Speaker:but you just can't get yourself to do it because it's
Speaker:scary. Are you afraid that you might walk into the room
Speaker:and not know anybody or that you're going to freeze?
Speaker:When you get up to do that infamous elevator speech,
Speaker:where you talk about yourself and your business?
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Speaker:price of buying me a cup of coffee.
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Speaker:you everything that I know about networking and how I have
Speaker:personally built two multi-six figure businesses,
Speaker:primarily through networking.
Speaker:You'll walk away with a solid understanding about how networking can
Speaker:truly grow your business.
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Speaker:to give you 10 fill in the blank template that you
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Speaker:Just go over to Bitly forward slash network Ninja.
Speaker:That's B I T dot L Y forward slash network Ninja.
Speaker:And now let's move on to the show.
Speaker:Hi, there it's Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped
Speaker:podcast, whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online
Speaker:or are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover a new insight to gain traction and to grow
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:And today I have the joy of introducing you to Pam
Speaker:Mercer of Tuscany tours.
Speaker:Tuscany tours is a small business owned and operated by Pam
Speaker:and her husband,
Speaker:Sam hilt.
Speaker:They live and work from a small Hilltop town near Sienna,
Speaker:Italy. That is when they're not out touring with a home
Speaker:of their travelers,
Speaker:but boy,
Speaker:doesn't that sound like just a little bit of heaven.
Speaker:It all started with a trip from California to Tuscany just
Speaker:over 25 years ago.
Speaker:Little did they know that this experience would change their thinking
Speaker:and change their lives?
Speaker:Their first official Tuscany tour was in 1997 and they've been
Speaker:growing ever since Pam calls it a privilege to receive travelers
Speaker:and share their beautiful countries of Italy and France in groups
Speaker:of no more than 16.
Speaker:She connects her travelers to local places and people tastes and
Speaker:traditions. Pam calls it magical,
Speaker:and I can see why Pam welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thanks dude.
Speaker:That was a wonderful interview.
Speaker:Objection. You stated beautifully what it is that we do.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:I'm so excited to hear more,
Speaker:but before we get started,
Speaker:it's a tradition here on the show to have you describe
Speaker:yourself in a little bit more of a creative way.
Speaker:And that is by having us envision your ideal motivational candle
Speaker:that really speaks to you.
Speaker:So if you were to tell us the color and the
Speaker:quote on your very own candle,
Speaker:what would that be?
Speaker:Well, the color would be Indigo blue and there's the blue
Speaker:that the sky gets in Colorado.
Speaker:It also is the same.
Speaker:I've seen the same blue in Sicily,
Speaker:much deeper than a Robin's egg blue.
Speaker:And it would simply say on plug and that could be
Speaker:meditate in the morning or sit out and watch the sun
Speaker:rise. So it would be to take a moment every day
Speaker:where you are not tuned out through social media or relating
Speaker:to anyone else,
Speaker:but you are tuned in and connecting through the beauty of
Speaker:nature or through meditation to your spirit and your soul.
Speaker:I think that's so important.
Speaker:And a lot of people are really talking about this now
Speaker:because as people who own your businesses,
Speaker:there's so much stress that they're showing that some of that
Speaker:health-wise is really,
Speaker:really important and beneficial.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's funny because there's this feeling when you own your own
Speaker:business, that your work is never done,
Speaker:and there's some truth to that.
Speaker:But on the other hand,
Speaker:if you're constantly chasing it and constantly your brain is trying
Speaker:to problem solve,
Speaker:everyone talks about this has been proven,
Speaker:scientifically that if we actually take some time away from that,
Speaker:then we can do everything so much better.
Speaker:And I think multitasking is really not a good idea for
Speaker:business owners,
Speaker:because then you really can potentially lose a really good solution
Speaker:that you might arrive at if you're really paying attention and
Speaker:meditating or taking time out helps you to be able to
Speaker:develop that kind of attention.
Speaker:I agree With you there.
Speaker:Absolutely. All right.
Speaker:I want to go back to the beginning of your story
Speaker:because it's so intriguing.
Speaker:Tell us what happened on that trip almost 25 years ago,
Speaker:or so what,
Speaker:how did everything get started?
Speaker:How did this idea form,
Speaker:This was back before Tuscany sort of everyone came.
Speaker:So we had friends who had been living here.
Speaker:They had actually discovered this tiny little village.
Speaker:They said,
Speaker:come and visit us.
Speaker:So we came and visited.
Speaker:They were the only Americans who had lived in that area
Speaker:ever. And every afternoon in the summer,
Speaker:a lot of people would go and sit outside underneath this
Speaker:huge tree,
Speaker:because it's really hot in the summertime in Italy.
Speaker:And we were working at that time in the corporate world.
Speaker:And we would sit out under the tree and for the
Speaker:first half hour where we would Twitch,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like people were doing nothing,
Speaker:they were reading or playing cards or reading the newspaper,
Speaker:or, you know,
Speaker:just talking.
Speaker:And after a while though,
Speaker:we could feel time's starting to shift.
Speaker:And we began to relax and really relate to the people
Speaker:that we were hanging out with.
Speaker:So we fell in love with the culture,
Speaker:but also Sam,
Speaker:my husband was studying a Renaissance philosopher at the time.
Speaker:And we went to the FEC,
Speaker:which is where all the great Renaissance paintings are.
Speaker:And he saw the paintings,
Speaker:which he had seen many years before when he was in
Speaker:college traveling,
Speaker:but he said,
Speaker:I am going to switch my PhD and I'm going to
Speaker:write about the paintings.
Speaker:And so that was sort of the germ of how it
Speaker:all got started.
Speaker:And then you fast forward to when he actually had his
Speaker:PhD completed and the Dean of the Unitarian church,
Speaker:one of the colleges in San Francisco,
Speaker:Sam was teaching a class on sacred art.
Speaker:And the Dean of that seminary asked him,
Speaker:would you like to do a two week seminar in Tuscany?
Speaker:And I will market it to all of the Unitarians across
Speaker:the country.
Speaker:And by that time,
Speaker:and I had been coming to Italy every time,
Speaker:every chance we could get on vacation for a few years.
Speaker:And Sam said,
Speaker:Oh, yes,
Speaker:let's do that.
Speaker:And we didn't know at the time that we were going
Speaker:to have a three month old baby with us,
Speaker:but we committed,
Speaker:she sold out the tour.
Speaker:And then we discovered that,
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Our first child was going to be born three months before
Speaker:that. And Sam said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we don't have to do this.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:are you kidding me?
Speaker:We're going to do this.
Speaker:And so we did.
Speaker:Wow. That's crazy.
Speaker:Well, that could not have been a hard decision to say
Speaker:yes to that.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it was all set up perfectly.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:but this could have been a very pivotal point,
Speaker:Pam and I think this is interesting for our listeners to
Speaker:think about is you had every reason to say,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:not right now,
Speaker:because your daughter was being born.
Speaker:She would have been young.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:there was definitely another element of the whole trip,
Speaker:but you said,
Speaker:no, we're still doing it.
Speaker:That's actually a really interesting point for people who are wanting
Speaker:to start their own businesses.
Speaker:Because I think a lot of times we think,
Speaker:well, you know,
Speaker:we can't do this.
Speaker:If the kids are little and making sort of just committing,
Speaker:yes, you can do it.
Speaker:And sometimes in fact it's even better because you can,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:our kids used to travel with us and you have to
Speaker:get support.
Speaker:We had an Annie obviously,
Speaker:because I didn't want to be leading a group and having
Speaker:somebody needs something and not being able to meet that need
Speaker:to get your kids involved in your business and help them
Speaker:to understand I run this business and I am going to
Speaker:not be able to be there at dinner with you,
Speaker:but tomorrow for lunch,
Speaker:we'll sit down together and I will focus on you.
Speaker:So it can be a deterrent,
Speaker:but it can also be something really wonderful for your kids
Speaker:to see.
Speaker:Sure. Because they're really experiencing that side of the business with
Speaker:you. So there's a little bit of ownership there too.
Speaker:Yeah. And learning how grownups Take responsibility and can be creative
Speaker:and have an entrepreneurial spirit.
Speaker:I bet my kids will someday run their own businesses because
Speaker:they've always seen us do that.
Speaker:Sure. So as your business was advancing,
Speaker:how did it come to be that you decided,
Speaker:cause you were living in California for a while.
Speaker:And then when did you make the switch and how did
Speaker:you guys decide?
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:We're leaving America,
Speaker:we're planting ourselves a hundred percent over in Italy.
Speaker:We did it slowly funny because I suppose there are people
Speaker:who would say we just jumped and we had great success,
Speaker:but we really built this business.
Speaker:And we also built our life because we moved from one
Speaker:culture to another.
Speaker:And we did that very slowly,
Speaker:building a group of friends here,
Speaker:building a community so that when we came,
Speaker:we would all feel that we were coming to something that
Speaker:was already created.
Speaker:And after we did that first seminar,
Speaker:we created a website that was called welcome to the Renaissance.
Speaker:But the URL was www.tuscanytours.com.
Speaker:And that URL has really been the backbone of our business
Speaker:success. Oh,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:That was way back before the term super highway had even
Speaker:been created,
Speaker:but we were doing it part time.
Speaker:So we have this wonderful job.
Speaker:We were consultants.
Speaker:We called our own time and we would always say,
Speaker:when we signed a contract,
Speaker:look, we're gone.
Speaker:We will con but we will be around during that time.
Speaker:So we would come over and leave one or two tours
Speaker:a year.
Speaker:And we kept doing both.
Speaker:We had a corporate training company,
Speaker:we would do that.
Speaker:And then we would come over and do this.
Speaker:And now I'm going to wait for just a minute because
Speaker:the bells,
Speaker:right? Oh,
Speaker:is that what it is?
Speaker:Those are bells.
Speaker:Yeah. That is super.
Speaker:Okay. So gift biz listeners,
Speaker:you have to understand Pam is in Italy right now.
Speaker:Describe where you are for everybody right now.
Speaker:Just real quick.
Speaker:Okay. So I'm sitting,
Speaker:looking out at beautiful stone walls with those gorgeous tiles on
Speaker:them. And the bells are ringing for the six o'clock mass
Speaker:and at least 20 people from the little village,
Speaker:which there are only 250 people.
Speaker:We'll be going over to the six o'clock mass.
Speaker:You may hear them talking outside my window and it's really
Speaker:as beautiful and magical as you imagine it to be.
Speaker:That's wonderful.
Speaker:And I'm so glad that that's happening right while we're here
Speaker:recording. That's perfect.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:It's interesting.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:the Tuscans still really have a relationship to time.
Speaker:That's very much controlled by the hours of the day.
Speaker:For instance,
Speaker:at the end of the day,
Speaker:there's a bell that tells everybody it's evening come in from
Speaker:the fields,
Speaker:even though nobody's out working in the fields anymore.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:they have their cell phones to tell them what they're doing,
Speaker:but the bells ring on the hour,
Speaker:every hour,
Speaker:they stop at midnight.
Speaker:They start again at seven time is marked in this really
Speaker:beautiful way.
Speaker:Oh, that's wonderful.
Speaker:While we're on this subject,
Speaker:because you just heard Pam explain a little bit about the
Speaker:culture and that's what is so great about your tours?
Speaker:I've been fortunate enough to go girl trip with you.
Speaker:We had five of our family members all together.
Speaker:We were probably like part of your tour group that you
Speaker:worry about because we were also crazy.
Speaker:However, I know a lot about the value that you bring
Speaker:with the group.
Speaker:Explain a little bit about your theory,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:or your mission behind your tour.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's so interesting because one of the things that I feel
Speaker:like we've sort of lost a bit in the culture in
Speaker:America is that slow time.
Speaker:And there's,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a huge movement now in Italy.
Speaker:And I think America to slow travel,
Speaker:slow food.
Speaker:And the idea is that you really take time over a
Speaker:meal and you enjoy your food and you really have a
Speaker:conversation. And one of the things that Sam my husband does
Speaker:with art is he has this way of opening up the
Speaker:art in a way that your imagination is really interacting with
Speaker:and encountering the art.
Speaker:Yes, it's important who painted it and when,
Speaker:but that's like such a minor thing.
Speaker:The rest of it is okay,
Speaker:look at that face from this angle.
Speaker:What do you see?
Speaker:How does it look now,
Speaker:walk around to the other side and your imagination wakes up
Speaker:and you start to encounter these sculptures,
Speaker:which when they were created,
Speaker:people who were looking at them actually believed that they could
Speaker:communicate to you not straightforwardly,
Speaker:but in a magical artistic way.
Speaker:So we're sort of trying to give people a deep experience.
Speaker:That's what I would say of the art,
Speaker:the food,
Speaker:which is extraordinary,
Speaker:the wine.
Speaker:And then just to give them a place where they can
Speaker:breathe. We have sometimes three hour meals and people will say,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that was just amazing.
Speaker:I learned so much from the people at the table that
Speaker:I was sitting and talking with somebody once said,
Speaker:it's like camp for grownups.
Speaker:I would agree with that for sure.
Speaker:Yeah. And you,
Speaker:do you get immersed just like you were talking about earlier,
Speaker:when you were sitting under that tree,
Speaker:one of the first times that you were there and it
Speaker:took a little while to click into like a slower pace
Speaker:and just living,
Speaker:just being,
Speaker:not thinking about the next project you had to do or
Speaker:something like that tours so often are just that you said
Speaker:you have lunch real quick and you gotta do it fast
Speaker:because you have tickets to go to the next observation or
Speaker:site or whatever.
Speaker:And so you're always running so fast and pretty soon the
Speaker:trip is over,
Speaker:but you haven't really necessarily experienced anything.
Speaker:What I've found when I traveled with you is we got
Speaker:a lot of that really deep experience and counterintuitive a little
Speaker:bit because it was slower,
Speaker:but the experiences were deeper.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that's interesting too.
Speaker:Cause I'm trying to think about how to relate that to
Speaker:people who are wanting to start their own businesses.
Speaker:In some ways we really did not follow a path of
Speaker:let's create a tour company,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:which is what we have,
Speaker:but that's not what we created.
Speaker:We took something we loved and we went a different direction
Speaker:with it.
Speaker:Then most people would,
Speaker:if they were starting a tour company for us,
Speaker:it's much more about the art,
Speaker:the experience we didn't say,
Speaker:okay, how can we put in all these things?
Speaker:So that will attract the most amount of people.
Speaker:It was more like,
Speaker:okay, we're going to have less people who will want to
Speaker:travel with us because we're going to attract the people who
Speaker:probably don't want to go on a tour,
Speaker:but they want these other things that we're offering.
Speaker:So we found something we loved and we sort of went
Speaker:a different direction than everybody else was going.
Speaker:And that's a way to maybe think about if you're starting
Speaker:a business or you want to follow your passion is what
Speaker:do I love about it that nobody else is doing with
Speaker:it? Absolutely.
Speaker:Because then what you're doing is defining yourself and separating yourself
Speaker:to be different than anybody else.
Speaker:And that also then can go through all of your marketing.
Speaker:And just like you're saying,
Speaker:Pam, you're not going to be the one for everybody,
Speaker:but there is a group of people out there who so
Speaker:want what you offer and you are the only one you're
Speaker:unique in that way.
Speaker:Some people think that when the audience is smaller,
Speaker:it's going to make it harder.
Speaker:It actually makes it easier.
Speaker:Yeah. That's the point.
Speaker:I think you just put your finger on it.
Speaker:That's exactly the point.
Speaker:And it works Telling us it works.
Speaker:And I know it works cause you keep expanding more tours
Speaker:and all of that.
Speaker:But I thought this was really interesting too,
Speaker:Pam, you and I last week when I started asking you
Speaker:about whether you would be on the show had just come
Speaker:back from Poland and I'm thinking,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:are you guys expanding into Poland?
Speaker:And what did you tell me Said,
Speaker:no, I went there because I'm a singer.
Speaker:That's what I do on the side.
Speaker:And I went to a singing workshop and I would never
Speaker:want to go past France or Italy,
Speaker:maybe Spain.
Speaker:We're probably going to add a little bit in Spain.
Speaker:It's for two reasons.
Speaker:One, one of our goals is to connect travelers,
Speaker:to real people in an area.
Speaker:So not just like we call an incoming tour operator and
Speaker:say, give us any guide on this date,
Speaker:but we want to meet all of the guides.
Speaker:We want to know their personalities and we want to choose
Speaker:the ones who fit our travelers.
Speaker:So we spend at least six to six weeks to three
Speaker:months overall in a place before we will ever even begin
Speaker:to think about an itinerary for a trip.
Speaker:So that's one thing.
Speaker:And then our expertise is really in the area of Italy
Speaker:and France.
Speaker:Poland is a completely different culture,
Speaker:the Italians and the French think they're really different,
Speaker:but there's a lot of similarities there.
Speaker:And we don't want to try to step out of our
Speaker:area of expertise.
Speaker:So when you're growing,
Speaker:you're growing,
Speaker:but still within what you already do and are known for
Speaker:versus bringing on another layer.
Speaker:I think so.
Speaker:And I also think that at some point had to make
Speaker:a decision to not grow past a certain point.
Speaker:And I'll give you an example.
Speaker:At some point in time,
Speaker:we decided Sam and I go on all the tours.
Speaker:It's either both of us or one or the other of
Speaker:us. Then we also have local guides who people meet and
Speaker:they always ride and say,
Speaker:Oh, how's Chiara or how's Lee,
Speaker:or we miss them,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:so they get to meet local guides.
Speaker:And then we oftentimes will have an escort who goes on
Speaker:the tour with either me or with Sam.
Speaker:So we give a lot of real hands-on attention.
Speaker:But at some point in time,
Speaker:we realized we can't do more than 10 to 12 tours
Speaker:a year because we will burn out.
Speaker:So how can we use the knowledge we have and go
Speaker:in yet another direction?
Speaker:And so what we decided is that we would do some
Speaker:trip planning for people who want to come,
Speaker:but they don't want to go on a tour,
Speaker:but we'll set them up with the guides we've met.
Speaker:We'll send them to the restaurants where the people we know
Speaker:own the restaurants and know they're coming from us and we'll
Speaker:provide them with a magical trip that we may or may
Speaker:not meet them.
Speaker:But we're sharing the resources that we have.
Speaker:And at a certain point in time,
Speaker:if someone calls me and they say,
Speaker:well, we want you to plan our trip.
Speaker:I may have to say,
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:I can't,
Speaker:because right now I have too many travelers and I don't
Speaker:want to not give you the attention you need,
Speaker:nor do I want to pull my attention away from them.
Speaker:And that's a scary thing to say no to work,
Speaker:but in the long run it works because then my sort
Speaker:of philosophy is,
Speaker:and I suppose,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:this is an American business philosophy.
Speaker:I think that is really true.
Speaker:If you deliver what you are promising with the best quality
Speaker:and the most care and you follow through that is the
Speaker:greatest key to your success.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:in your example,
Speaker:if you were to rush through,
Speaker:because you didn't want to say no,
Speaker:the product that you produce for them may be sub par
Speaker:and that's not what you want to start getting known for
Speaker:either. Right?
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:So I think if as listeners,
Speaker:there are a couple of really important business guidelines that we've
Speaker:just talked about.
Speaker:So I want to review them real quick.
Speaker:The first one is sticking to the core of what you're
Speaker:already known for.
Speaker:Okay. So in this example,
Speaker:cam is known for the culture of the countries that she's
Speaker:working within,
Speaker:the knowledge that she has.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's her core business.
Speaker:That's what she knows.
Speaker:So an extension of that core can be individual tours,
Speaker:but this idea of picking up a country that is totally
Speaker:different in culture,
Speaker:like Poland would be isn't where she should go.
Speaker:So she stayed with her core.
Speaker:So relate that a little bit to your business or what
Speaker:you're thinking about with your business.
Speaker:The second thing is she's talking about her level of growth,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in how much she wants to actually do.
Speaker:We're so fortunate as business owners that we can define how
Speaker:big our business is going to be.
Speaker:And continual growth growing,
Speaker:growing, growing may not be the best thing for you.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there may be a certain point.
Speaker:You want to cap it and say,
Speaker:this is as much as I can do because this allows
Speaker:me to retain the happiness and the joy and the passion
Speaker:that I had in my business in the first place.
Speaker:If you try to always continue to grow and grow,
Speaker:you might grow yourself right out of what you loved and
Speaker:why you started what you're doing in the first place.
Speaker:Couple of things to think about there.
Speaker:Pan, I want to switch it up a little bit because
Speaker:I know you're going to have some really interesting things to
Speaker:talk about on this angle.
Speaker:And that is customer service because clearly you are interacting with
Speaker:your customers.
Speaker:You have to,
Speaker:that is the business.
Speaker:Not only when you're on the tours,
Speaker:but before the tours,
Speaker:after the tours,
Speaker:potentially all of that.
Speaker:How do you work with your customers to make sure that
Speaker:from the initial point of contact,
Speaker:they're getting a stellar experience all the way through?
Speaker:Well, let's talk about the tours that we do first.
Speaker:And it's interesting because we actually do set up a private
Speaker:Facebook page for our group.
Speaker:So nobody else can see it.
Speaker:And no one else is a part of it,
Speaker:except for the people who travel.
Speaker:And that's been a really wonderful thing for us.
Speaker:And here are the belts again,
Speaker:just to remind you,
Speaker:if you didn't hear them the first time we're going To
Speaker:have a musical podcast today.
Speaker:That's So funny.
Speaker:I think it's sort of like,
Speaker:that's very Italian.
Speaker:It's like we'll ring them at six.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:people are kind of slow and they sort of forget that
Speaker:we rang them.
Speaker:We'll ring them again individually.
Speaker:We'll all arrive at mass.
Speaker:Oh, that's funny.
Speaker:So these Facebook groups,
Speaker:are they individual per tour or is it for anyone who's
Speaker:taken a tour?
Speaker:We have right now individual pages.
Speaker:And eventually we will have one for anybody who has traveled
Speaker:with us in the past.
Speaker:I will tell you about the individual pages first.
Speaker:It's a wonderful way for people to get information.
Speaker:One of the people who works for us,
Speaker:her name is Karen.
Speaker:And she is fantastic about saying,
Speaker:okay, here's a video of the Duomo.
Speaker:Here's 10 things you need to know about packing.
Speaker:So they get a lot of information through that.
Speaker:Facebook page we've even had people who were on it in
Speaker:an airport and they would say I'm in the Chicago airport
Speaker:and I'm about to leave.
Speaker:And somebody else who was coming on the tour,
Speaker:who they didn't know would say,
Speaker:Hey, where are you?
Speaker:We're over at Joe's bar and grill.
Speaker:And they'd say,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:come on over.
Speaker:So they would meet up before they even came because they
Speaker:were messaging,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:on Facebook.
Speaker:So it's a way of creating a community before people arrive.
Speaker:And it's also a way of giving people the information,
Speaker:because when you travel,
Speaker:you need to know a lot of things.
Speaker:So that's one thing.
Speaker:And then we are in the process of setting up a
Speaker:travelers page for people who have gone on any tour at
Speaker:any point of time.
Speaker:And the reason for that is that people had started now
Speaker:coming on to tours,
Speaker:three tours,
Speaker:four tours.
Speaker:And there's sort of this Tuscany tourist community.
Speaker:Well, not sort of there is.
Speaker:And they all speak to each other a lot on my
Speaker:Facebook page because I friend people who travel with us and
Speaker:they share information and they share memories and they serve photos
Speaker:and people start to get interested in people's lives.
Speaker:That is sort of happened,
Speaker:not intentionally on my part,
Speaker:but it's been a by-product of Facebook and it's been a
Speaker:wonderful thing.
Speaker:It helps people to sort of feel connected to the world
Speaker:of travel,
Speaker:to Italy,
Speaker:to food,
Speaker:and then to each other.
Speaker:Yeah. And to feel connected in an easy way,
Speaker:because so many times with a trip afterwards,
Speaker:you'll get people's email addresses,
Speaker:but it's still a challenge to stay together.
Speaker:And on Facebook,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:when you create a Facebook group,
Speaker:like what you're talking about so much easier just to be
Speaker:able to jump in real quick,
Speaker:see what's going on,
Speaker:add your 2 cents and really stay connected.
Speaker:The power of Facebook groups.
Speaker:Everybody cannot be underestimated.
Speaker:Everyone who's in the group starts to feel a little bit
Speaker:of ownership contributes.
Speaker:So even though you need to jump in or have a
Speaker:community manager,
Speaker:who's looking at the group from time to time,
Speaker:they really do start fueling themselves.
Speaker:It's really true.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:and I now have people who are Facebook,
Speaker:friends, who one person's been on that tour.
Speaker:One person's been on that tour and they've never been on
Speaker:a tour together,
Speaker:but they're constantly talking about whatever they're interested in.
Speaker:And one of the things that that can do for businesses,
Speaker:it helps people see that you're real because there are people
Speaker:who are real,
Speaker:who are relating to you,
Speaker:especially if it's an online business,
Speaker:people want to understand that you really exist.
Speaker:And if they see other people relating to you through the
Speaker:Facebook page,
Speaker:they get a sense of like,
Speaker:well, those people are talking to her.
Speaker:She must be real For sure.
Speaker:That's a really good point.
Speaker:I'm glad you brought that Facebook pages.
Speaker:I think really help establish credibility,
Speaker:especially if you're really interacting for real,
Speaker:when it's not just marketing.
Speaker:Most of our travelers are from the U S I would
Speaker:say 75%.
Speaker:And then we have Canadians people from South Africa,
Speaker:really people from English,
Speaker:speaking countries,
Speaker:a lot of travelers from Australia,
Speaker:the Australians and the Texans love to travel.
Speaker:We get a lot of people from Texas.
Speaker:Interesting. And so just one final comment,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:on the Facebook groups is when you're talking about it,
Speaker:makes people know that you're real,
Speaker:that's really important because of the international flow.
Speaker:If you're not in the same country,
Speaker:you might be able to relate a little less or are
Speaker:a little bit more concerned in this.
Speaker:Totally eliminates any concern on that.
Speaker:That's a really good point.
Speaker:And sometimes people don't even realize that we live in Italy
Speaker:full time.
Speaker:They think,
Speaker:Oh, they are now they'll be back another point.
Speaker:This is not just exactly connected to what we were just
Speaker:saying. But if you're an expert in an area and part
Speaker:of what your business is about is sharing your expertise.
Speaker:Facebook can be a brilliant way to do that.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I love to post paintings and then write a little something
Speaker:about them or post an article about the top 10 restaurants
Speaker:in Florence and say,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:the top three,
Speaker:they're horrible.
Speaker:I been there recently.
Speaker:So it's a way for me to share the fact that
Speaker:I know what I'm talking about.
Speaker:I know what I'm doing.
Speaker:I live here.
Speaker:Right. And Facebook is a way of showing that.
Speaker:Excellent. I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker:Okay. I'm going to twist this a little bit,
Speaker:possibly make you a little bit less comfortable.
Speaker:Pam, is there a time when you had an issue with
Speaker:some of your travelers or something happened that you really were
Speaker:challenged about how you were going to deal with the situation?
Speaker:I'm thinking all in,
Speaker:under the umbrella of customer service,
Speaker:because we all know we're all different as people and dealing
Speaker:with people can sometimes get challenging.
Speaker:Is there one that you saw that you're like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:this was such a struggle.
Speaker:And then what did you do to make it all?
Speaker:Okay. In the end,
Speaker:This is an uncomfortable question.
Speaker:I'm sure it would be for anybody.
Speaker:I'm a perfectionist.
Speaker:And so when I can't fix something,
Speaker:it's very difficult.
Speaker:And actually this is something I think if you are going
Speaker:to own your own business,
Speaker:I've had to learn this,
Speaker:but you sort of have to be able to face.
Speaker:Was it a mistake that I made that I could have
Speaker:controlled? And I really should've done something differently or was it
Speaker:a mistake that was really out of my control and I
Speaker:can't lose sleep over it because I really couldn't have controlled
Speaker:it. And then just let it go.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:like an example of the first thing is I had a
Speaker:couple arrive once in Venice and their hotel had not been
Speaker:booked. We had booked it,
Speaker:but we hadn't gotten the final confirmation.
Speaker:The hotel thought we didn't really want it.
Speaker:So they arrived.
Speaker:They're exhausted.
Speaker:They have no hotel room,
Speaker:totally my fault.
Speaker:And so I had to fix that and they loved their
Speaker:trip. And,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the way I fixed it was by finding them a wonderful
Speaker:hotel and calling my friend,
Speaker:Diane, she's married to an Italian and she owns one of
Speaker:the best restaurants in Venice.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:Diane, I need to send these folks to have dinner with
Speaker:you and just I'll pay you later.
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:of course.
Speaker:So they went to Alcoa,
Speaker:had a wonderful dinner and they forgave me because I think
Speaker:they realize that we're all human and sometimes mistakes happen.
Speaker:Now that's the only time that's ever happened.
Speaker:Knock on wood,
Speaker:but it was my mistake.
Speaker:I had to fix it.
Speaker:They allowed me to fix it and forgive me for my
Speaker:mistakes. That was a good time.
Speaker:Let me stop You hearing,
Speaker:just make a point about that.
Speaker:There's a couple of things that are really great.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:you have personal connection with a lot of contacts.
Speaker:A lot of them are the people that you are going
Speaker:to the restaurants with hotels.
Speaker:So forming those relationships,
Speaker:the value for our gift is listeners.
Speaker:They're probably more vendors,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:people who they're getting product from perhaps whatever it is that
Speaker:allowed you to call in a favor when you really,
Speaker:really needed it.
Speaker:I think the other thing I want to point out again
Speaker:for our listeners is sometimes when you make a mistake,
Speaker:it's a golden opportunity because just like Pam,
Speaker:did she took responsibility for what happened and not only did
Speaker:she correct it,
Speaker:she over-corrected.
Speaker:So it's an opportunity to really show that the value of
Speaker:your business lies in the experience that your customers have.
Speaker:So you get to above and beyond.
Speaker:And I would guess that this couple Pam went back and
Speaker:talked about how great the trip was and the fact that
Speaker:they had this super fabulous dinner as a make good for
Speaker:what happened.
Speaker:So it probably put you in even a better light,
Speaker:even though initially it was a challenge and a struggle,
Speaker:Totally paid off.
Speaker:They've been back again and they refer people to me all
Speaker:the time.
Speaker:That's not why I did it as much as I really
Speaker:wanted them to have a magical time.
Speaker:And it was totally disturbing to me that it was starting
Speaker:off not magical.
Speaker:So I had to make it magical.
Speaker:I had to do a twist to make it magical and
Speaker:it did work.
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I think customer service is like,
Speaker:obviously caring so much is a lot of what causes success.
Speaker:So a good point.
Speaker:So if we're ever in that situation,
Speaker:what we should do is just stop for half a second
Speaker:and think,
Speaker:okay, how can I turn this around so that it will
Speaker:be really,
Speaker:really good for the customer.
Speaker:Most importantly,
Speaker:and you know,
Speaker:what can I do to turn this from a lemon into
Speaker:lemonade? The best example I can say right now.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So you were talking about this one you were in control
Speaker:of, I think you had one that you were going to
Speaker:share with us about when you weren't.
Speaker:Okay. One That I couldn't fix,
Speaker:it was actually a kind of a cumulation of things.
Speaker:We will buy tickets for our private clients to go and
Speaker:see things like Michelangelo's David,
Speaker:the board,
Speaker:gays, a gallery,
Speaker:so that they have a reservation.
Speaker:We had bought tickets for a family of seven to see
Speaker:the Borges,
Speaker:the gallery,
Speaker:and the day before they were to see it,
Speaker:I got an email that said,
Speaker:we've oversold the Borges gallery,
Speaker:and you won't be able to get these tickets.
Speaker:We had ordered them months before we had paid for them.
Speaker:And I didn't even know I'd never experienced that.
Speaker:And why that was able to happen is kind of a
Speaker:long background story,
Speaker:but it happened.
Speaker:And it was like,
Speaker:I had to tell this family who was only in Rome
Speaker:one day,
Speaker:I'm sorry,
Speaker:you can't go to see the board David gallery.
Speaker:I had my staff working,
Speaker:trying to see if there were any tickets,
Speaker:anywhere else.
Speaker:We probably spent 10 hours just go here,
Speaker:go there,
Speaker:call that person,
Speaker:do this.
Speaker:And we couldn't fix it.
Speaker:And it was horrible for me.
Speaker:And yet I knew that there was nothing,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that I did everything I could to mitigate it and fix
Speaker:it. And I couldn't.
Speaker:So finally,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:after three or four days of having a knot in my
Speaker:stomach, I just said,
Speaker:I got to let go this.
Speaker:I just have to let go of it.
Speaker:And also never use that company again.
Speaker:It was a reputable company though.
Speaker:And you do have to buy tickets from someone there's all
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:But when somebody else does something,
Speaker:you can't control it.
Speaker:That's when it's really hard,
Speaker:but you have to let go of it.
Speaker:I think the quality of your life will just be horrible
Speaker:if you are constantly worrying about everything.
Speaker:Yeah. So what did you do?
Speaker:How did you approach the customer and what did you do
Speaker:with them for that day?
Speaker:Then We offered them a different experience.
Speaker:They were not happy and I think they did not ever
Speaker:forgive me for it.
Speaker:So I had to get over that too,
Speaker:because they were people that I really cared about.
Speaker:I had worked with them and cultivated a relationship and I
Speaker:really did care about them.
Speaker:So that was hard.
Speaker:I had to say,
Speaker:okay, I'm sorry that that was your reaction,
Speaker:but I really couldn't control that one,
Speaker:but I was very clear.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:immediately when we found out,
Speaker:when I got this email,
Speaker:I forwarded it to the clients and I said,
Speaker:look, I need to let you know that I just got
Speaker:this email.
Speaker:And I am now going to go to work to try
Speaker:to fix the problem.
Speaker:And this is actually interesting because sometimes you don't want to
Speaker:let your client know that you have a problem because you
Speaker:might be able to fix it.
Speaker:But in that case,
Speaker:I really needed their expectation.
Speaker:If they had their expectation that they were going to do
Speaker:this, plus I needed to find an alternative that they would
Speaker:like. And the more time I had to find that the
Speaker:better off I was.
Speaker:And so I wanted their input.
Speaker:If I can't fix this,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what's your next thing that you would like to do the
Speaker:most that I can help happen?
Speaker:Well, it's a good point because unfortunately we can't control everything
Speaker:as much as we try to.
Speaker:Unfortunately, there will be times when a customer is disappointed after
Speaker:you've done everything you can.
Speaker:And sometimes I found this in my business,
Speaker:although it's rare.
Speaker:Luckily, sometimes the customer just isn't a good fit.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's just not going to work out.
Speaker:And so sometimes you have to let those customers go,
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:in this case,
Speaker:I think the customer was a good fit.
Speaker:It was just their disappointment.
Speaker:But what you just said made me really think of something,
Speaker:which is,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that old term from sales of qualifying your customer.
Speaker:One of the things that I do for our tour business
Speaker:is I call people when they request information and they give
Speaker:a phone number and I'm calling them,
Speaker:obviously, because I'd like to sell my tours to them.
Speaker:But at the same time,
Speaker:I'm really telling them what we are like and finding out
Speaker:what they are like,
Speaker:and whether they're a good fit.
Speaker:And there are some people who I will call and I
Speaker:will talk to them.
Speaker:And I will say,
Speaker:I don't think we're the right company for you either.
Speaker:You need to go to a more luxurious tour company where
Speaker:you're going to be staying at five-star hotels,
Speaker:or maybe Rick Steves is a better fit for you.
Speaker:Hey, there's a plug for Rick spade.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:or whatever it is.
Speaker:And that works so well because then when I get these
Speaker:groups on tours,
Speaker:everybody always says,
Speaker:Oh my God are all your groups this amazing.
Speaker:And I say,
Speaker:they are.
Speaker:And it's because when I talk to them,
Speaker:they know whether they like what I do,
Speaker:what we do,
Speaker:and they know whether it's right for them.
Speaker:And I know whether they're right for us,
Speaker:that's a huge key to our success is getting the right
Speaker:fit. I love that.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:there's also a responsibility in a way indirectly to the rest
Speaker:of the people who were in the group,
Speaker:because you want everyone to feel good about being together and
Speaker:be comfortable with each other,
Speaker:to the extent.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you're not in control of that either,
Speaker:but just by knowing what their expectations are and their personalities
Speaker:a little bit helps to make that work properly too.
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:Well, we could go on have so much great information Pam,
Speaker:we could go on for so long,
Speaker:but I want to circle into now a couple of things
Speaker:that you perhaps do in your day to make sure that
Speaker:everything comes across properly.
Speaker:Is there a tool or something that you use physically,
Speaker:like, so in the office that you're using all the time,
Speaker:maybe it's a scheduler.
Speaker:I'm not sure what it is in your industry,
Speaker:but that you think would be valuable for our listeners to
Speaker:know. Well,
Speaker:I have a colleague who works in California,
Speaker:so we have a California office and then we have a
Speaker:woman who works.
Speaker:Part-time in Florence,
Speaker:Italy, and then she's,
Speaker:part-time in Florida in the U S and we now have
Speaker:just started working with a wonderful young woman here in Italy.
Speaker:So the four of us really need to be able to
Speaker:communicate with each other a lot.
Speaker:And we use WhatsApp and we use Skype.
Speaker:We have Skype meetings at least once a week.
Speaker:And we use a team project management program.
Speaker:It's not really project management,
Speaker:but it's more like having a team to do lists.
Speaker:It's called a sauna.
Speaker:Some of us love a sauna.
Speaker:Some of us hate it.
Speaker:We're still kind of trying to get our minds around it.
Speaker:But within that,
Speaker:I will say that one of the things that has been
Speaker:helpful for me is to try to define what tools we
Speaker:communicate on.
Speaker:And by that,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:in Skype,
Speaker:we have meetings where we have conversations,
Speaker:but if somebody texts me in Skype and says,
Speaker:I need this from you,
Speaker:I say to them,
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:Remember that when you need something from me,
Speaker:you send me an email because I'm not going to go
Speaker:back through Skype and try to figure out what my action
Speaker:items are.
Speaker:So Skype is for talking.
Speaker:Email is for what you need.
Speaker:And WhatsApp is for talking.
Speaker:There are all these technologies out there for communicating.
Speaker:And I think if you have to go and look at
Speaker:all of them to figure out what is needed from you,
Speaker:it can make your brain blow up.
Speaker:So defining and I have clients now who will start to
Speaker:text me on messenger and I'll say,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Paulette, would you mind please sending me an email?
Speaker:Cause I want to steer her away from thinking,
Speaker:because I don't look at messenger every day,
Speaker:but I look at email every day.
Speaker:So qualifying your technology is what you're going to use.
Speaker:Each thing to do,
Speaker:I think is a helpful thing That is really smart.
Speaker:And then making sure you continually educating people that that's where
Speaker:they should go for this particular project,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Yeah. I actually use a VA in the Philippines after we're
Speaker:done right now.
Speaker:I let her know that this is done just by what
Speaker:I put on the little boards and that I've ticked off
Speaker:my responsibilities.
Speaker:So she'll know then,
Speaker:and can pick it up and she'll do the initial edits.
Speaker:And then it triggers back to me to review the final
Speaker:edits, you know,
Speaker:and all the other stuff that we do.
Speaker:But so it's nice because you can just see right in
Speaker:a sauna when the projects getting handed back to you.
Speaker:So anybody who's in that type of a situation,
Speaker:I agree with you.
Speaker:Assata's fabulous in that manner and Pam great description in terms
Speaker:of different technologies for specific purposes,
Speaker:I'd love that.
Speaker:That's perfect in terms of keeping yourself up to date with
Speaker:the industry or possibly the culture or new things that are
Speaker:going on,
Speaker:is there a book or some other resource that you continually
Speaker:go back to to help you stay up to date?
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:And it's interesting because once again,
Speaker:Facebook helps me.
Speaker:I have so many connections to particularly food people and like
Speaker:Alec Lebruno in France.
Speaker:And I rely on his going out and eating at all
Speaker:the restaurants in Paris.
Speaker:So I don't have to because,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I can't really do that,
Speaker:but he does.
Speaker:And I have identified that his taste is my taste and
Speaker:my clients are probably also going to be more like me.
Speaker:And more like him.
Speaker:Katie Parla is a wonderful food blog,
Speaker:history, wonderful,
Speaker:incredible person in her own.
Speaker:Elizabeth men,
Speaker:Chile, she's got great apps,
Speaker:I'm a generalist.
Speaker:And one of the things I love is finding specialists that
Speaker:I can then connect my clients to.
Speaker:And there are people out there who are writing on the
Speaker:street, food and Sicily,
Speaker:that's their thing.
Speaker:And so I find them and I find them by doing
Speaker:online research,
Speaker:I find them because they're connected through other writers that I
Speaker:connected with on Facebook.
Speaker:Sometimes I'll find them in travel and leisure.
Speaker:Although I feel like that tends to be more of a
Speaker:generalist and less of a specific place,
Speaker:but one person's blog that is listing all the people they
Speaker:read is worth a million dollars.
Speaker:Absolutely. Would you be able to email me three of your
Speaker:favorites that I could include in the show notes page?
Speaker:I would love to.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:That'll be awesome.
Speaker:I just thought of somebody else,
Speaker:Cathy McCabe at dream of Italy,
Speaker:she's got this amazing way of finding these little experiences that
Speaker:are way off the beaten path.
Speaker:And she writes beautifully about them.
Speaker:She has a magazine called dream of Italy that we all
Speaker:read and use as well.
Speaker:Yeah, I'll send you links.
Speaker:Perfect. And also while we're here,
Speaker:why don't you give a little bit of an introduction into
Speaker:Sam's book Sam,
Speaker:actually Four books out there.
Speaker:The one about our lives here is called turning Tuscan.
Speaker:And it will make you be careful that you're not drinking
Speaker:red wine when you read it,
Speaker:because at one point you will laugh out loud and you
Speaker:will spit your wine across the road.
Speaker:He loves this place,
Speaker:but he's not writing from the romantic point of view.
Speaker:He's writing from the realist comedic point of view.
Speaker:He has a chapter called David's penis,
Speaker:right? So he has a chapter on toilet seats.
Speaker:It's a very intriguing book and it's not really along the
Speaker:lines of I came here.
Speaker:It was so wonderful.
Speaker:I loved it.
Speaker:And everything was,
Speaker:it was like,
Speaker:Oh my God,
Speaker:I came here and it made my head spin.
Speaker:And here's some things I noticed along the way.
Speaker:Very fun.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:And give biz listeners just as you're listening to the podcast
Speaker:today, you can also listen to audio books.
Speaker:I'm not sure if any of Sam's books are on audible,
Speaker:but I've teamed up with audible for you to be able
Speaker:to get an audio book for free on me if you
Speaker:haven't done so already.
Speaker:So if that's of interest to you,
Speaker:just jump over to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and you can make a selection of your first book
Speaker:that is gift biz,
Speaker:book.com. Pam.
Speaker:I now want to invite you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What's inside your box.
Speaker:That's a very,
Speaker:very good question.
Speaker:I think my goal is actually pretty basic,
Speaker:or it's not a goal.
Speaker:It's a dream because I haven't yet started to do anything
Speaker:about it.
Speaker:I would love to have retreats for women,
Speaker:which are not motivational.
Speaker:And by that,
Speaker:what I mean is we're not trying to improve ourselves.
Speaker:We are going away and we are going to not look
Speaker:at email or well,
Speaker:WhatsApp you'd have to have,
Speaker:because you'd want to be able to have access to your
Speaker:kids. You know,
Speaker:that's the thing you can not go away from,
Speaker:but you spend the morning in silence,
Speaker:reading, painting,
Speaker:walking, nobody talks,
Speaker:but you're there in a community.
Speaker:Then you have an amazingly wonderful lunch,
Speaker:some wine you go and you do an activity like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you go to an art museum with a guide or you
Speaker:have somebody come and talk to you about the fabrics of
Speaker:the Renaissance or whatever the group is interested in.
Speaker:You have dinner together.
Speaker:And obviously you would talk about your business,
Speaker:your kids,
Speaker:your struggles,
Speaker:but it would mostly be an unplug.
Speaker:This goes back to at the beginning,
Speaker:my candle,
Speaker:just a time for people to really nurture their souls.
Speaker:And so that's a dream I've had for a long time.
Speaker:I'm so busy with my daily running of the business that
Speaker:I haven't figured out a way to try to actualize that.
Speaker:So it's a good thing that you came along to push
Speaker:me. Well,
Speaker:it's so interesting because I was so curious where this was
Speaker:going when you first started.
Speaker:But the other thing that made me think about this a
Speaker:little bit too,
Speaker:Pam, is this would open you up to possibly some local
Speaker:people too,
Speaker:because how often do you sit?
Speaker:Like I'm only 20 miles from Chicago.
Speaker:I never go in there.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:cause I always think,
Speaker:well, it's so close.
Speaker:I'll access it later.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I do go down to the city sometimes,
Speaker:but there's so much around that maybe even some of the
Speaker:local people,
Speaker:little village over or so don't really experience because it's so
Speaker:close, they don't even think about it.
Speaker:So that could be a whole new audience for you actually
Speaker:as well as travelers coming in,
Speaker:who knows.
Speaker:But I love that idea.
Speaker:I mean just the whole concept of unplugged,
Speaker:which I'll go back to in a second,
Speaker:but give his listeners we've covered a lot.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that there's going to be a show notes page.
Speaker:I'm going to have all of Pam and Sam's a link.
Speaker:So you can see all,
Speaker:everything about Tuscany tours,
Speaker:the social media sites,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:They'll also be links to all of these resources,
Speaker:the blogs that Pam's been talking about.
Speaker:So all of that will be over on the show notesPage@giftbizonwrap.com
Speaker:and Pam.
Speaker:This has been absolutely fabulous.
Speaker:You have exceeded my expectations because there's a lot of things
Speaker:that we've gotten into that I wasn't anticipating and really,
Speaker:really some great information you have,
Speaker:like the dream job.
Speaker:I think all of us could look in and say,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:if only we could be Pam because you're living in an
Speaker:area that is so beautiful and so interesting and so peaceful
Speaker:and this whole idea of being able to unplug,
Speaker:I think all of us want to be there and be
Speaker:experiencing that.
Speaker:So thank you for sharing that concept with us also,
Speaker:that's something that we can take from you and I'll try
Speaker:to incorporate a little bit in our lives right now,
Speaker:actually again,
Speaker:thank you for meeting up with me on a Friday night,
Speaker:we know it's Friday and we know lots of people have
Speaker:plans because those bells had to keep ringing to get them
Speaker:there. My wish for you is of course that the business
Speaker:continues to grow to the point and in the way that
Speaker:you would want.
Speaker:And Pam may,
Speaker:your candle always burns.
Speaker:Where are you in your business building journey,
Speaker:whether you're just starting out or already running a business and
Speaker:you want to know your setup for success,
Speaker:find out why taking the gift biz quiz,
Speaker:access the quiz from your computer at fit dot L Y
Speaker:slash gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting gift
Speaker:biz quiz to four four two,
Speaker:two, two.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
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Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing help to increase the
Speaker:visibility of this on round.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,
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Thank you so much for this interview! My husband, daughter and I have created Euro Travel Coach, a travel company with similar mission, values and objectives as Tuscany Tours. They have a remarkable business that we can learn from as we grow our business and begin this journey. This is a powerful conversation and I enjoyed it immensely!