From Friends to Franchisees

A year ago, longtime friends Laura Krausen and Kendahl O’Hara, found themselves facing similar situations. The stay-at-home moms were both ready to re-enter the workforce but still wanted to have time to devote to their families. They found Cruise Planners to be the ideal business and entered into a business partnership.  

Although Krausen’s career had included selling corporate travel services for American Express, it was her husband’s experience in the travel industry that ultimately inspired her to become a Cruise Planners franchisee. “My husband has been in the travel business his entire career. For five years he worked for cruise lines, which is when we fell in love with cruising,” Krausen recalled. “We were very fortunate because Cruise Planners happened to be one of the agencies he dealt with, so he was familiar with them. Cruise lines respect Cruise Planners and they are a very reputable company with good follow through, so I felt very comfortable from the beginning with who they were and what they stood for,” Krausen said.

Aside from some retail jobs, O’Hara, a mother of five children ages five to 18, hadn’t worked outside the home in some time. With her oldest child going off to college, she was ready to get back into the workforce. “I told Laura that I was looking for something and she was exploring Cruise Planners and looking for someone to do it with her, so the timing was perfect,” O’Hara said of her decision to join Krausen and co-own a Cruise Planners franchise.

Business Ownership Makes the Balancing Act Easier
The women have been friends since they were 11 years old and now as co-owners of their Cruise Planners franchise in Crystal Lake, IL, they’ve formed a partnership in the truest sense of the word. “We divide work duties, or do them together,” O’Hara said. But their teamwork goes beyond their business tasks, “From childcare swapping, to cooking a large pot of dinner, we do whatever it takes to help one another balance the mother/wife/home responsibilities with being business owners…Sometimes we hold meetings in the car driving from place to place,” she said.

Owning their own business has benefitted them both personally and professionally. “With Cruise Planners, we’re not punching a clock so we’re able to pick up the kids when we need to and be there for them if one of them is sick,” O’Hara said.

Krausen agrees, “It’s a fulfilling business to be in, and my daughter is still at home, so if she needs me, I’m there for her. It’s a balancing act, but it’s easier to balance this than having to go drop a child off at daycare, go to work for eight hours and then try to accomplish everything else that you need to,” Krausen said. Both women have home offices and get together often.

Selling Fun is a Great Business for Women
“Cruise Planners is absolutely a great business for women to own because vacations are such an easy subject to talk about. We can go to schools and talk to teachers and other parents about the vacations we’ve been on. It’s not like selling widgets, you can talk to everyone about going on vacation,” O’Hara said. “We can go on trips with groups of our friends and then they return and tell people about their vacation, so it’s good word of mouth marketing,” she added. 

The Advantages of Joining an Industry Leader
“Cruise Planners is large in the eyes of cruise lines so we receive higher commissions for the trips we book, than if we were an independent, startup agency,” Krausen said of the competitive advantages she and O’Hara enjoy.

“Cruise Planners wants us to be successful. Training prepared us to sell and handle every aspect of the business…and experts are at our fingertips all the time to answer any questions that arise,” Krausen said.

In addition to comprehensive training and support, the company also provides franchisees with powerful marketing tools that help them promote and brand their business. “We have a website that we customize and we can create pages specific to us and our target audience. Web marketing and the professionally designed direct marketing pieces that we have access to have also been very important to our business,” O’Hara said.

The Rewards of Creating Memories That Last a Lifetime
Krausen and O’Hara love that they get to put their creative stamp on their business, but note that prospective Cruise Planners franchisees don’t necessarily have to share their creative abilities. According to Krausen, the ideal Cruise Planners franchisee should have, “Excellent follow through skills, and not be timid about promoting oneself.” “Being organized and motivated is very important as well,” O’Hara added.

 “We love helping people plan their dream vacations. Our tagline is ‘Are you ready to schedule a memory?’” Krausen said.  “We get to be part of peoples’ lives when they’re having fun and creating memories with their friends and families. What’s more fun and rewarding than that?”