That was almost two years ago. I am still working as a market research interviewer and the business is slowly growing. It's been an ongoing dilemma to me, whether to give up the interviewing and just concentrate on the business. At some points I have been doing market research six days a week, so really have not had much time or energy to devote to the business. However I have been loathed to give up the steady income. By the same token if I don't focus on the business then it will never really take off.
My initial business was Europe a la Carte. I thought that there was a niche in the market to assist people who were looking for something different to the traditional package holiday, put together a tailor made trip to Europe. It is possible to do this yourself on the Internet but it's pretty time consuming. I reckoned that there was a significant minority of people who would value some assistance with planning and booking their trip.
From enquiries I received I began to realise that there was demand for cultural and activity holidays in Europe. The sister site, European Cultural & Activity Tours, was started in January 2003. May aim was to build up a good selection of holidays offered by small specialist suppliers throughout Europe.
I have to say that I am extremely lucky that one of my sons is really good on the computer. He has designed my sites and databases. My other son has also helped me with newsletters and photos.
I have begun to get more bookings and last week I had my first repeat customer. I have learnt a lot in the last two years about IT, the Internet and marketing. I have tried my hand at writing articles for the websites.
I have had some interesting trips to meet up with suppliers and visits to the areas that I promote. I have worked really hard but I haven't really minded that as I have, on the whole, enjoyed the work. I am working toward my dream of having a profitable business in a field I find fascinating. I believe that I have found what I want to do now that I am grown up!