Guest interview - Wendy Shand of Tots to Travel
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When I read about a company called Tots to Travel I thought it sounded a really good idea to have a selection of accommodation chosen for families with young kids and asked the founder Wendy Shand to do a guest interview.
1 What is the aim of your business?
The central aim of Tots to Travel with Totstofrance and Totstoitaly is to provide parents with genuinely family friendly holiday accommodation so that they stand the chance of having a relaxing and peaceful holiday! All our self catering properties have been vetted to ensure that they are safe and fully equipped for families with small children and babies whilst still appealing to our adult sensibilities about what makes delicious holiday accommodation!
2 What prompted you to start your own business?
Personal experience! We went on holiday to France with my two small children and got there to find that it was just seriously hard work and a bit scary - no stairgates, tiled floors, no equipment and so on. The bit that sealed it was when my little boy, then aged 2.5 fell into an unenclosed pool - thankfully we were all sitting around the edge and we were able to pull him out - but it was then that I had the sharp realisation that this was not a game and that things can go horribly wrong on holiday. The Houseowner then sent me a feedback form which I helpfully filled in with all my thoughts and therein was the seed of the idea. It really was the holiday that changed the path of my life!
3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own business?
There are lots of bits that pose a challenge but I think the hardest bit is that it is just such hard work and never goes away! We have only recently begun to be able to take a holiday without dragging the laptop with us… In many ways it is like having another child. I had not envisaged the emotional rollercoaster, the immense highs and profound lows, but overall I have to say that it has been the most exciting and satisfying thing that I have ever done in my professional career and would not have changed a moment of it.
4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your own business?
In the early days we identified that we wanted to grow our database of contacts so set up our ‘Tots Club’ which would keep interested parents up to date with new developments. As an incentive we offered a free branded bib to every new club joiner which worked well and really helped to grow the database. The problem came when we were hit by a scam called FreebieHunters ie. a website devoted to people who just want to get things for free. All of a sudden we saw a surge in new club joiners and thought thatour luck was in! It did not take long for us to realise that we had been scammed and had to take swift action to remove the free offer before it got out of hand. At the time it was really quite stressful but I can laugh at it now and I suppose that out of every challenge you learn more to take you to the next stage.
5 Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?
Hindsight is a marvellous thing! I think on balance that I am pleased with most of the decisions that we have made. Many of themistakes that we have made are due to the fact that we could not have predicted the sheer growth of the business - 6 fold growth in year 2 and double in year 3. Every six months we have found ourselves in a completely different place from where we had been only six months earlier. I am fairly pragmatic about this, you can’t make decisions based on information that you do not know. With the benefit of hindsight I would have started to register our trademarks much sooner than I did as when we came to do it, one of the names that we wanted had already gone. C’est la vie!
My comments - This brings back memories of going on holiday to Greece with our 13 month old twin sons. The accommodation had stone flagged floors. Our sons couldn’t walk and were still crawling around. Therefore they had to spend most of their time indoors in their cots. Coming from a carpeted home in the UK, we really hadn’t considered the hazards of a stone floor. We’d also assumed that they could crawl around on the beach but the sand was too hot for most of the day. To make matters even worse the brake on their twin buggy had been damaged in transit, so if they were sitting in the buggy someone had to hold the buggy securely.
I know exactly what Wendy means about the highs and lows of running your own business which is why I have entitled my Twitter updates “Everyday agony and ecstasy of a non techie Scot running a travel business and blog”.
