Travel Advisor Success Story: Lori Stephens, Sojourney Travel

26.03.2024 - 17:49 / travelpulse.com / Claudette Covey

Lori Stephens. (Source: Kayla Smith)

Success Stories focus on veteran travel advisors and how they achieved success. Here’s a look at Lori Stephens, CEO of  Sojourney Travel.

How did you get your start as a travel advisor?

I kicked off my travel industry career at Delta Air Line in 1998, and that’s when I caught the travel bug. Fast forward to 2011, and I turned my love for travel into a part-time advisor career. At the time, I was pregnant with my now 12 year old, and this career mainly served as a ‘side job’ to make some extra cash for diapers and groceries while juggling four home-schooled kids.

One year later, I faced a separation that ultimately led to divorce. Post-divorce, I found myself at a crossroads, either opting for daycare and diving into a nine-to-five job outside the home or fully committing to the travel industry. In 2014, I chose the latter and became a full-time advisor. This allowed me the flexibility to raise my kids and not compromise any time I had with them while pursuing my career. Over the years, I put in the effort, excelling in various niches and securing a top sales position with an agency that had hundreds of advisors. 

I remarried in 2020 and because of the support that came with having a spouse with a steady job, I decided to start my own agency. Sojourney Travel was founded in January 2021 with nine advisors. We’ve since grown to nearly 70 advisors. We opened for business as the world was beginning to open to travelers again. Travel regulations were constantly changing. I found a niche mentoring new independent contractors on how to become quality advisors while I was also learning to navigate all of the crazy changes to our industry. I worked hard to coach and mentor them on how to build a solid foundation as advisors while building strong relationships with wholesalers and suppliers as a new owner.

Since then, we’ve continued to grow and serve our clients who have trusted us since the beginning. And we are experiencing amazing growth as a team and agency, in addition to revenue growth.

How did you build your business over the years?

I grew my business by focusing on the quality of growth rather than the speed of growth. Anyone can speed their way through training, spend thousands on advertisements and rapidly expand their brand reach. While this method attracts people at a rapid rate, it does not necessarily mean that it is attracting the right people. Sojourney Travel was built on a ‘slow but steady wins the race’ mentality.

Business boomed shortly after our launch in January 2021, but this was largely in part due to the support we received from family, friends and travelers who were looking to explore the world yet again after it had been shut down for so long. We