How I Did It: Chris Aves
by John Hawks

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Q. Why did you decide to become a home-based travel agent?

A. You need to know about my background. I was born and raised in Southern England -- Chichester, Sussex, to be precise. I came to the United States in 1973, courtesy of Texas Instruments, that tiny little outfit that calls Dallas home. As a Chartered Accountant (the English version of a CPA), I was to be indoctrinated in the ways of U.S. business, and then promptly returned to the United Kingdom to bring the restless natives into line.

Well, I never made it back to the U.K. to live. I met my geologist wife Helena, whom we call “Doc” due to her Ph.D. degree, and in 1976 we married. In 1979, we both quit our corporate jobs and went independent, she looking for oil and gas in the Gulf Coast region, and I assisting the J.R. Ewing types with their oil and gas accounting. To cut a long story short, we have two children, Wendy and Chris Jr., and in 1991 we all moved to Raleigh, N.C., for a change of pace and scenery.

So many of our friends and acquaintances would say, “Can we come with you on your next trip to England?” In 1995, we decided to test the waters, and off we went with our good friends, who were our neighbors in Dallas, and with our respective daughters, hoping that spending the next two weeks in each others’ company would not harm our friendship. Rather than the usual Buckingham Palace, Stonehenge, and Windsor Castle, we took them to places that few American tourists get to see – cute little thatched roof country pubs, little-known stately homes, and massive thousand-year-old cathedrals. So successful was our trip that, on our return back to the United States, we formed a new business with the name British Country Tours. Not only do we offer scheduled departures for our most popular tours, but we also do a roaring trade in custom small groups (both escorted and non-escorted).

Many of our tour clients subsequently approached us about other travel arrangements. Can you book a cruise for us? Get a Vegas hotel? Rent a villa in Tuscany? This list went on. What we witnessed was the birth of our home-based travel agency. So in answer to your question, we had no conscious intention of opening a travel agency -- we just fell into the business!

Q. Why did you decide to specialize in trips to the British countryside?

A. Our tours are not inexpensive. Trafalgar Tours, Brendan, and the others do a good job, at a reasonable price, getting the first time U.K. visitor to see the major sites. We decided to specialize to the more upscale demanding marketplace that was not being adequately served. Our clients want a more in-depth visit to be immersed in the culture, and they do not want to be constantly surrounded by tourists. Our groups tend to be themed: artists looking to follow in the footsteps of Turner and Constable; or literary and book club groups wanting to study Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, etc., where they lived, when they wrote each novel, where they died, and where they are laid to rest. Being a native son does afford me a degree of credibility. For example, I wonder who in OSSN land knows where the first American fatality of World War II is buried? Feel free to send me an email with your answer.

Q What’s been the biggest challenge for you in focusing on British Country Tours?

A. Not so much a challenge, more a pain in the rear. We specialize in the countryside, using small hotels steeped in history, located in small country towns. Most of these properties are locally owned and operated and claim not to pay travel agent commissions. It took a while for us to assemble our own preferred list of hotels that our clients find very acceptable. Then, we negotiated with the owners to either reduce the rates and/or pay commissions, which was very time consuming.

Q. Can you describe your business? For example, do you operate solely from home, how many outside agents or inside employees do you have, etc.?

A. We are lucky that we have a very large house, with a beautiful walkout basement overlooking the rose garden and pool that comprises about two thousand square feet that we utilize for our business interests. It has its own entrance and parking spaces. We liken it to living over the store. Helena and I, plus Jake and Elwood (our golden retriever “Blues Brothers”), are the only employees working in the house each day. We have four outside sales agents, two of whom are our children. The majority of our tour business emanates from our web site, driven by referrals from satisfied clients, and of course from the travel agent community across the country.

Q. What two or three pieces of advice would you share with other OSSN agents about how you've built your business?

A. Make sure that you are not driven by the profit motive. It’s all too easy to be blinded by the old “how much is in it for me” approach. When we first introduced our tours, we made little or no income from them, working on the basis that happy and satisfied clients would return, along with their friends, and their friends, and so on. It may take a little longer, but it pays dividends down the road.

For me, networking with fellow OSSN members is an important factor in my success. We cannot be experts in everything, so when I need information about a destination, a property, a country that I am unfamiliar with, then I turn to OSSN members and the OSSN bulletin board for answers. Of course, anyone can Google to find information, but what I want is a personal recommendation from a person who has “been there and done it.”

Q. What other interests do you have besides your agency and tour company?

A. I love teaching even though I was never formally trained to do so. I can remember when I graduated with my MBA degree I was the shy guy who had a big problem talking in front of large groups, or small groups for that matter. Since then, I have given endless seminars, on a wide variety of topics, from using niche market computer software, to seminars on sales and marketing. I started my own seminar business last year, offering seminars on “How to become a home-based travel agent”, and “How to run a successful EBay-based business”, to name just two.

I am now teaching evening classes at two of our local community colleges titled “Home Based Travel Agent.” The community college pay check just about covers my gas bill to get there, but I find it very personally rewarding, getting young and mature students alike started in the travel business and headed in the right direction.

(NOTE: Chris sells his British tours to other travel agents and pays commissions. For more information, be sure to visit his site at www.britishcountrytours.com.)

(Credits: Chris Aves)