Last updated on September 5th, 2024
JourneyWoman and the Travel Coach Network partner to offer new opportunities for travellers
by Carolyn Ray
Years ago, I decided to become a life coach. I had a busy career at the time and thought it might someday become a nice sideline when I actually had the time to pursue my dream of becoming a travel writer. For months, I took training sessions, practiced my newfound skills on others, and shifted my own mindset to focus on my own desire to find purpose, feel fulfilled and live a life with meaning. As a result of that training, I quit my corporate job to follow my heart, which showed me the value in coaching. I’ve been an advocate ever since.
When I heard about The Travel Coach Network (TCN), it struck me as a brilliant idea. Founded by Sahara Rose in 2019, this community of Certified Travel Coaches helps travellers set intentions for their trips and use travel as a tool to reach personal and professional goals. It also provides women who have a deep passion and experience in travel to help others find their way in an increasingly complex and sometimes overwhelming sea of travel choices.
A female backpacking globetrotter, Sahara founded The Travel Coach Network (TCN) to connect, inspire, and help other travellers to build the travel-focused business that they envision. A certified Transformational Coach, she has been coaching travel business owners and coaches for over five years, and is also a published author, a global speaker, and was named as one of the “Most Influential Women in Travel” by TravelPulse in 2023, the same year that I was included in this list of dedicated women.
What is a travel coach?
You might be curious how travel coaching differs from regular coaching or travel advisors. According to Sahara, travel coaches do not focus on the booking phase of a trip. They are more like guides, whereas travel advisors book travel and tend to focus on specific niches.
“Travel coaches focus on putting the power back into the hands of the traveller by setting specific intentions first, and then choosing the destination,” Sahara says. “Every time that we travel, it’s for a different reason and we are a different persona. Travel Coaches are the experts who guide you through the entire travel experience from inspiration to the post-trip phase.”
When we are more purposeful about travel, there is an opportunity for transformation, healing, self-development and reaching new goals.
In September, we’ll be launching a new “Travel Coach” section of our Women’s Travel Directory, which will feature TCN and JourneyWoman-approved coaches who specialize in wellness, solo travel, adventure travel, and more. Stay tuned!
How to become a certified travel coach
The TCN is home to the Travel Coach Certification Program™ for ambitious travellers to become internationally certified travel coaches with CCE credits through the International Coach Federation (ICF). The TCN provides travel entrepreneurs with programs, membership, networking opportunities, exclusive mastermind event, and tons of free resources and tools to having your dream travel coaching or travel-centric business.
“Every travel coach is different because as travellers, we all have unique experiences, knowledge, skills, passions, interests, and areas of expertise,” Sahara says. There’s also an opportunity to have a niche such as moms who travel, solo travelers, retirees, sustainability, wellness, career breaks, digital nomads, expats, transformative experiences, remote workers, business travel, people of color, a specific destination or religion.
Join our travel coach information session on Monday, August 19, 7 pm ET to learn more
Join our webinar with Carolyn Ray and Sahara Rose to learn how travel coaching offers new revenue streams for travellers.
We’ll talk about:
- What is travel coaching?
- Why and when do you need a travel coach?
- How has travel coaching developed as a career path?
- How do you get certified, and why is it important?
- How long does it take to complete the program?
- What is the income potential?
- What skills are required?
- How TCN supports mentoring and development
- What’s hot (or not) in travel coaching
- How to specialize in solo travel, wellness, adventure and other areas
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Carolyn Ray
In 2023, Carolyn was named one of the most influential women in travel by TravelPulse for her work advocating for women over 50 in travel. She has been featured in the New York Times, Toronto Star and Conde Naste as a solo travel expert, and speaks at women's travel conferences around the world. She leads JourneyWoman's team of writers and chairs the JourneyWoman Women's Advisory Council, JourneyWoman Awards for Women 50+ and the Women's Speaker's Bureau. She is the chair of the Canadian chapter of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), board member for the Cultural Heritage Economic Alliance (CHEA) in support of Black and Brown businesses, a member of Women's Travel Leaders and a Herald for the Transformational Travel Council (TTC). Sometimes she sleeps. A bit.
Hi, I can’t attend at 7pm EST, will the webinar be recorded please?
Yes it will – we will send it out to all who registered and also post on this page and in our events section.
Thank you Carolyn
Interested in more info
Hi Cindy, what other information do you need?