SPECIAL REPORT
RIDING HIGH ON
THE RECESSION
Jackie David
talks to two agents
who realised their
dream of setting
up on their own
after being made
redundant
Shevaun Joy (above) built the
new business with colleague
Lisa Manditsch
28 | Travel Weekly | January 29 2010
After 16 years with the same
West Yorkshire travel agency,
redundancy could have spelt
disaster for Shevaun Joy.
Instead she and colleague Lisa
Manditsch turned adversity to
their advantage.
They were the first agents
to sign up to Advantage Travel
Centres’ new managed services
option, which helps new
starters get into the market.
“After losing our jobs, Lisa
and I decided we wanted to
start our own travel agency
together called Destination,”
said Shevaun.
They’d even gone as far as
approaching their boss with a
takeover proposition, but were
knocked back because the
Silsden branch of Specialist
Travel was tied up with other
businesses.
She said: “We couldn’t buy it
as a standalone business, and
knew if we were going to do it,
we would have to do it on our
own. Then, when we lost our
jobs, we got the opportunity.”
Specialist Travel went
into liquidation in February
last year, and suddenly the
pair were able to realise
their dream. They pooled
their redundancy money,
which was a pretty meagre
statutory payout, but that
“If travel is in
your blood and
you want to do it,
you’ll just do it”
didn’t deter the new partners.
“Whatever we got we
put in as working capital
for the business. We put
our own money in as well,”
said Shevaun.
“We were also quite ahead
of the game because we ended
up getting the lease on the
old shop and we bought the
contents from the liquidators.”
In fact, Shevaun reckons
there are some bargains to be
had during a recession. “Rates
and bills are expensive, but as
far as other things go it’s never
been cheaper – flooring for
example, any sort of decorating
materials are a really good
price at the minute, so there’s
never been a better time in
some ways.”
They got advice from their
local job centre, Business
Link, and the small business
support centre Airedale
Enterprise Services on how
to start a business – they also
helped them identify grants
they were entitled to.
All was going according to
plan until they submitted their
bonding application – in the
same week Freedom Direct
went under.
“It was bad timing, to say
the least. It made us realise
it would be difficult to get
bonding in our own right.
“We also realised we were
going to struggle to get
merchant services because
they would see us as a phoenix
company, rising out the ashes
of the old one, which we were
not,” said Shevaun.
That’s when they turned to
Advantage Travel Centres to
discuss their new managed
services option. It offers all the
benefits of normal Advantage
membership plus merchant
services, bonding and ABTA
membership. In addition,
there is plenty of marketing
support and they can avail
themselves of a variety of
financial services such as
supplier failure and airlines
failure insurance. There are
also good commercial terms
and commission, and they
supply the agency’s front and
back office systems.
“They take care of all our
supplier payments. So it’s ideal
for a start-up, or for someone
who may have worked for a
Shevaun
Joy and Lisa
Manditsch
are now
co-owners of
Destination
after pooling
their
redundancy
money and
setting up
on their own
company and wants to start up
on their own but doesn’t quite
know how. Or for someone
who takes over from an old
owner and doesn’t want to use
their bonding.”
Advantage Travel Centres
head of business development
David Moon said:
“Advantage was delighted to
have Destination as it’s first
managed service branch. They
had a well thought-out business
plan and a huge amount
of enthusiasm.”
Destination has been
trading since June 28 2009 and
so far, business is booming.
“As soon as we knew we
were getting the lease on the
business we put signs in the
window saying: ‘under new
ownership, please bear with
us, we’ll be open very soon’.
Because we are in a little
Yorkshire Dales village the
loyalty is phenomenal.
We’ve even known people
who haven’t gone on holiday
while we’ve been closed
because they didn’t want to
use another agency.
“People have said we must
be mad, but we didn’t want
to do anything else. If travel
is in your blood and you
want to do it, you’ll just do it,”
said Shevaun.
www.travelweekly.co.uk
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