WISER TRAVEL AGENTS BUSINESS FORMS

MEET THE WTA FORMS CREATOR


PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Picture of forms creator
Celeste Cooley

ABOUT CELESTE

Meet Celeste Cooley, the WTA Forms Creator (Wiser Travel Agents Business Forms and Documents).  A Chicago native who has resided in Southern California all of her adult life.  She has been developing administrative forms for decades.  This former luxury travel advisor closed her agency business in 2021 to retire from the travel industry. 

Celeste proudly served in the U.S. Navy (Petty Officer 3rd Class). Trained as a Hospital Corpsman during the Vietnam Era, it as her responsibility to assist with the medical treatment, care, and recovery of injured troops returning from Vietnam.  Enlisting in the Navy during this period was a very humbling experience.  “I am proud to have served in the military.”

During enlistment, a strong work ethic, integrity, sense of humor, and leadership qualities impressed her Commanding Officer so much that he elected to send Celeste to Officer’s Candidate School in Annapolis, Maryland.  However, having very little interest in a Naval career, Ms. Cooley declined the opportunity to become a Naval Officer. Instead, aiming her sights on working in the entertainment industry as a writer and producer.  Decades later and through dogged determination that goal to be a writer in the entertainment industry was realized. 

WTA FORMS CREATOR’S CIVILIAN CAREER PATHS

After leaving the Navy and embarking on many different work endeavors, from creating her own businesses to working for a Federal Judge, and then assisting corporate executives and producers at entertainment studios.  In fact, her creative and detail oriented attributes helped Celeste develop and design business documents early on with ease.  Inherently artistic, this high achiever enjoys the design process infused in her blood which fuels her vivid imagination from concept to completion. Understanding the administrative business needs of a company or industry has aided her in the development and creation of business forms, documents, or manuals.  

Designing forms came naturally when Celeste began working in the corporate world.  Instantly, she noticed the lack of certain forms needed to perform her duties.  As a result, she designed and created those essential documents to fulfill many of her work assignments.  Subsequently, this administrative go-getter, researcher, and problem solver also authored and developed many training manuals to aid coworkers in their collective duties as well like the first ever Courtroom Deputies Manual for the US District Court Central District of California in the early 1980s.


TRAVEL EDUCATION

As an avid history buff and someone who loves to travel, becoming a travel agent was a natural career transition for Celeste.  After finishing travel school in 1996, she built a successful luxury agency with her then husband who helped market the business.  Her knack for planning and arranging very upscale and intricate family vacations, intimate romantic journeys, and historical tours became her specialty.  Also by arranging short exotic getaways, small group travel, and coed golf trips was the key to developing that luxury niche.  Ultimately, in the process of planning trips for others she learned how to travel smarter and safer which were important elements of her travel business.

This WTA Forms Creator actually began developing travel agency forms when she first worked at a storefront travel agency to learn the ropes.  Noticing there were very limited amounts of administrative forms needed to carry out her duties, an urge to create a few new forms put her on that path.  While the agency had about four forms they used for gathering client information there were no forms for agents to track personal sales and commission earnings.  Furthermore, she also needed a way to track her client’s budgets and travel costs more efficiently.  Creating forms came from the need to better carry out her daily duties more efficiently and to service her clients more effectively.

THE TRAVEL AGENT / ADVISOR

Absolute Journeys’ motto and mission statement were born out of her work ethic.  Being a dedicated travel professional she strived to make sure her client’s “travel dreams” became a reality every time. 

Celeste’s Mission Statement was: Let us help you experience the joy of travel

While her company’s motto was: “We treat all our clients like Celebrities.”

Furthermore, besides trip planning, this agent dedicated much of her time to relieving her clients’ stresses by reassuring and pampering them like VIPs during the planning process.  Always providing her clients with up to date information and the assistance they needed for successful trips. Regardless of the complexities, her desire was for them to enjoy the planning process effortlessly which was key and evident in all she provided. 

With a desire desire to ensure that her clients relished their individual travel experiences, to make them feel extraordinarily special, and helped them return with positive experiences and unique memories for a lifetime.  Consequently, a strong belief in honesty, reliability, trustworthiness, and transparency is what made her consulting, planning, and arranging of trips painless.  Attempting to fulfill her clients’ specific needs by providing the most remarkable journeys as possible with fewer headaches and hiccups was her goal.  


HER PASSIONS

The travel bug bit her as a child, from the annual road trips by car with her family to solo travel as a teen and young adult.  Alternatively that curiosity of travel was fueled by a love of world history.  Then there were the different cultures with their culinary delights that she encountered growing up in her westside Chicago neighborhood.  A melting pot of people from around the world with different traditions, histories, and stories to share.  All of these elements planted the seeds of curiosity from which grew her deep enthusiasm to travel the world. 

We can’t discount her enjoyment of writing that includes travel articles, posts, and a relaunch of her Boomer’s Travel Blog.  Celeste enthusiastically shares her travel experiences with her former clients, family, and friends on social media through storytelling, writing, and sharing photographs and videos. 

Other leisurely pleasures are playing golf, practicing yoga, walking her canine companion, riding her bike, reading everything insightful, learning languages, and creative writing.  However, spending personal time with immediate family: her adult daughter, her younger sister, nephew, and her nine-year old male Chihuahua-Min Pin mix service dog. Plus, quality time with extended family and close friends round out her enjoyment list.  Life is great in her Golden Years!  


WTA FORMS CREATOR – THE BUSINESS DOCUMENTS

Celeste, the WTA Forms Creator got the notion for this project after she shared some of her business forms with a few agent colleagues via email.  Soon other travel agents began requesting those forms as well. Consequently, she knew that fulfilling these requests for forms would be a huge undertaking and a timely task using email.  Since the forms included her agency branding they would need a generic updating. Plus, the forms had to be modifiable and easy so travel agents could add their own branding. 

At the same time, this creator began thinking about a quicker means of delivering all those forms to travel agents instead of “one by one” via email.  Obviously, the forms also needed packaging in some way.  And they would have to be digital and downloadable for immediate and easy access.  So, in taking on this task she created an online business, Wiser Travel Agents Business Forms, to make this digital format accessible.

CURATING HER FORMS

Initially, Celeste produced these travel agency business forms out of necessity eons ago for her personal office use as a travel agent.  In the beginning, the thought about sharing these documents or even selling the forms on a small or large-scale never entered her mind even though there was a growing demand.  These documents were simply created to save her time and to help run her travel business more efficiently.  Then in late 2016, the need was evident by all the requests she had received.

Although it became an arduous task to edit and update the first fifty of these travel agent business forms; she began this adaption process in early 2017.  The entire process of revising, editing, and reformatting these documents took about four months to complete.  Shortly after completing those updates, Celeste put the project on hold for two weeks to go on a planned Travel Media FAM Trip to Ethiopia.  Upon returning home, the continued effort to build this website took two more months for her to complete.  Nevertheless, after overcoming all sorts of unexpected delays and technical challenges with setting up the website, all the work was finally completed and the site was published in July 2017.  It wasn’t until then that she realized her goal to develop and complete this task to make these forms available to travel agents online via digital download was met.


HER VISION

The initial goal for this WTA (Wiser Travel Agents) Business Forms Creator was to revise and complete just a few of the more important client and administrative forms.  No amount of planning could prepare or calculate the scope of this project and the time it took to complete it.  Nevertheless, once the revisions were underway it became clear that every document she used fulfilled a particular need or task and did so chronologically.  Celeste knew then that it was imperative for her to include, add, and revise more forms than she had originally planned to offer her colleagues through her website.

Although she had shared a few forms in the past, it was only after commencing this project that she realized her forms could possibly become the standard business documents used in the travel industry by English Speaking agents around the world.  Celeste now envisions other ways she can develop this travel agency documents business by adding other products and services in the near future like travel agent business consultation and travel agent mentoring.  Perhaps offering these forms in other languages too.  Currently, she hopes the documents offered here can one day help fulfill the business needs of travel agents worldwide.


WTA FORMS CREATOR – IN CLOSING

Finally, it’s been a pleasure to create and update these professional Travel Agents Business Forms and Documents for you.  I’ve enjoyed preparing my treasured WTA business forms for agents as a whole.  Our industry so desperately needed these standardized agency business forms.  Even though it was a laborious, often frustrating, and time-consuming task I prevailed.  In doing so, I completed this project without losing my mind.  It was so important to make this happen so I strived to  fulfill my goal and deliver what I promised.  In the process, another idea was born to deliver a service related to the forms. 

Therefore, I offer travel agents and other business owners my Custom Designed Forms service too.  On a clean slate, I can create any type of form imaginable that anyone would need, have in mind, or suggest.  Subsequently, just call me a “human forms wizard” since I’ve been creating forms from scratch for decades. So, if you need it done, I can do it.

My new mantra, “Retirement is not an option,”  and my personal mottos, “Always have something to look forward to” and “keep moving.” 

RETIRED TRAVEL ADVISOR

Even though I’m retired from the travel industry as an advisor, my vibrant life goes on.  In fact, I’ll stay busy by writing, traveling, and working on some interesting tasks everyday just for my personal enjoyment, fulfillment, development, and enlightenment.  Maintaining that something to do mentality is about doing all the things I enjoy doing daily or wanted to do when I had no time for hobbies.  Activities aid in my youthfulness, healthy lifestyle, mental alertness, physicality, and positive attitude. Although I’ve hung up my travel advisor hat, I plan to stay informed on travel trends and current travel industry tips; plus, remain exceptionally happy.  Of course, I plan to travel more often and write about my journeys (travel storytelling) on a separate website (Absolute Journeys, A Travel Blog for Boomers).


GET IN TOUCH! 

Celeste looks forward to hearing from and responding to travel agents who  purchase her forms or have questions.  Also for anyone who would like tailor-made documents through my custom design services, or assistance with your website content, or would like travel business consultation or mentoring, I’m ready to help you. 

Please leave a review on the products page if you have purchased any of my forms to let me and others know what you think, how well my forms worked for your business, etc.  I want to know if these forms have helped you to become more efficient as they have helped me during my years as a travel agent.

Thanks for your interest and support!

Celeste Cooley

 

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