The Human Touch in Travel: Building a Travel Business in the Age of Online Booking With Ali Raymer
I joined Mike Konrad on The Reluctant Entrepreneur to talk about my path from teaching to travel, and what it actually takes to rebuild a business from nothing.
What was the first moment I realized travel could be more than a hobby?
I was a high school English teacher taking students on fundraised trips overseas when my husband's aunt pointed out I could be selling travel to people with money instead of kids with none. I didn't even know that business model existed.
What did teaching give me that helped me as an entrepreneur?
So much of what I do now is still education, just about destinations instead of literature. Teachers are natural problem solvers and hustlers, since most of us have another job on the side and we're not afraid to put in the extra hours.
What surprised me most about leaving a structured teaching schedule?
Boundaries. When I taught, I was fully off duty by 3pm. Running a business where clients can be halfway across the world in any time zone turned into a truly 24/7 job, and figuring out how to manage that was one of the hardest transitions I made.
What happened to my business during COVID, and how did I rebuild?
It fell apart completely. I made $3,000 that year and had to lean on my mentor's advice to just stay the course. A FAM trip to Cabo in 2021 changed my whole mindset, I'd already lost everything once, so I had nothing left to fear. Living in Italy for a month the following year became the best business decision I've ever made and turned Italy into my number one bestseller.
Where did the name Peace & Pearl come from?
My son's name is Paxton, and pax means peace in Latin. My daughter's middle name is Margaret, which means pearl. I built the agency around the two of them.
Why do humans still matter in an AI-driven travel industry?
It comes down to relationships. My real Rolodex is a WhatsApp full of contacts I've built over years, like "Ollie" in London who rescued a Beatles tour five days before a client's trip when the original operator wouldn't budge. That kind of leverage and trust doesn't come from an app.