Many travel entrepreneurs ignore the importance of the inner work, especially because of how hard it can be. They talk about strategy, niches, commission structures, and client acquisition, and treat the mindset piece as a footnote. What top producer Katie Crago's story makes clear is that the mindset work isn't separate from building the business, but is the foundation on which the business is built. For Katie, that work started before she had any momentum to lean on.

She launched KHC Grand Travel in the summer of 2020, a few months into a global pandemic that had effectively shut down the travel industry, in the same season her husband lost his job. There was no playbook for that moment or reassuring data to convince her it would work, yet she was willing to go all in anyway. That willingness is a crucial mental muscle, and Katie has been exercising it ever since.

Like many travel advisors, Katie came into this business through Disney. She had a deep, personal love of the brand, having worked for Walt Disney World right out of college, first through the college program, then in finance, and eventually teaching the company's legendary Traditions onboarding for a year. Disney was part of her identity, and therefore, a natural niche for her business. Theme Park trips were the natural starting point when she started planning travel, and she was good at it. Her clients loved her, and the referrals flowed in.

However, what Katie recognized early was that passion for a destination and a viable business model are two different things. If Disney trips are your primary product, the revenue math becomes a real conversation. Ten percent commission on a $5,000 booking doesn't build a 7-figure agency, not if that's where you stay.

So instead of staying, Katie used Disney as a foundation and expanded from it, showing her existing clients what else she could do as they began to ask. She signed up for FAM experiences offered through GTN that opened doors to luxury products she could sell with confidence. She traveled with her family to places like Hawaii and came back able to speak to destinations in a way no website can replicate. The willingness to move beyond her starting point led to growth in every direction.

Once the business started growing, the question shifted from “How do I book?” to “Who do I actually want to be working with?” She got clear on her ideal client, set parameters around the Disney trips she would accept, and stopped taking bookings that no longer made sense for the business she was building. While the one-night hotel booking in Montgomery served as excellent practice a decade ago, her business had evolved since then, and she had to evolve with it.

This shift from working with “anyone who asks” to “the right fit” is harder than it sounds, because the impulse to say yes to everything usually comes from a scarcity mindset rather than a strategic one. The advisors who learn to hold that line and trust that the right clients exist in sufficient numbers consistently find that the business grows once they do.

Ultimately, Katie’s hardest mindset challenge came in the form of a hiring mistake and the steps she had to take to correct it. She talked to someone she felt had a good personality, asked them what she believed were the right questions, brought them on board, and then found herself in the painful position of having to let that person go. For someone whose entire approach to business is rooted in warmth and care for the people around her, that experience was genuinely difficult. But knowing when to ask for help instead of white-knuckling through is its own kind of mental fitness, and Katie leaned on her community at GTN and sought guidance from Jen Cochrane, our CEO.

What she took from the experience was the clarity she hadn't known she was missing. She learned that she had been assuming others would naturally see things the way she did, an easy trap for someone who leads with intuition and high standards, and that assumption had cost her. The second time around, she built in a trial period, defined the role more precisely, and gave both herself and the candidate a realistic on-ramp. That candidate, who came through a client connection and stepped into the role almost three years ago, has been with her ever since.

Whether Katie was pushing past the comfort of her niche, learning to say no to the wrong clients, or trusting someone else to manage the details she used to own, the work was always internal before it was external. The business reflects the mindset, and the mindset is always a work in progress.

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If you love hearing stories like Katie's, tune into The Travel Business Unpacked podcast! Each episode dives deep into the real stories, practical strategies, and transformational moments that turn travel dreams into thriving careers. Listen and subscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and check out Katie's full episode here.

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