Lucy Daniels - Start-up Case Study
Lucy Daniels graduated in 2024 with a degree in International Tourism Management. She is the founder of Explorer Travel Holidays by Lucy, a one-stop Travel Advisory service selling a range of different holiday packages, holiday extras and tours across the UK, Europe and Worldwide.
What does your business do?
My business is called Explorer Travel Holidays by Lucy. I am a one-stop Travel Advisor selling a range of different holiday packages (pre-packaged and tailor-made), holiday extras and tours across the UK, Europe and Worldwide. Check out my Instagram at explorertravelholidaysbylucy.
How did you get the idea to start your business?
I am the go-to person in my family for booking holidays and for knowledge and information about holiday destinations. I like learning about holiday destinations and familiarising myself with hotels and airports/airlines nearby. Having graduate with a degree from LJMU in International Tourism Management, I thought that I could use all of this and create my own job, setting up my business that sells holidays and provides customers with holiday advice and information.
How did the Start-Up Hub help and support you?
The Start-up Hub helped me to work out my finances for the year including business expenditure and gross profit and also provided advice on how to set up a business bank account. I also received help and information on local networking events in the area, where I can promote and network my business. The Start-up Hub also supported me by having regular teams meetings to discuss my business development and was able to offer financial support to help me grow.
What has been the best thing about starting your business?
The best thing about starting my business has been the freedom. I have never liked the idea of only having a certain amount of holiday and having to work certain hours. By setting up my own business, I am able to work whatever days and times I want. I am also not restricted to a certain location and can work from just my laptop!
What is the best thing about doing business in the Liverpool City Region?
The growth of Liverpool Airport and increase in flights departing out of it, it makes it easier and more accessible for local people to fly from the local area. The arrival of Jet2 at Liverpool Airport in March 2024 has led to huge growth and I am able to offer more holidays flying locally.
What was your biggest challenge in getting started up?
The biggest challenge was creating my social media presence and developing brand awareness. Independent travel agents face huge competition from big tour operators and other local travel agents. Promoting myself to attract new customers is crucial.
What advice would you give to an LJMU student thinking of starting their own business?
I would personally say just go for it! What have you got to lose? It's better to go for something and not have regrets about not trying. If it doesn’t work out, then you can always learn and grow from the experiences.
Are there any exciting plans for the future you can share with us?
Currently I am just working on building my customer base up and attracting new customers. For the future, I would love to travel across Australia and still continue to run the business from over there.
Support from the Student Futures team
If you want to talk about potential careers options with your degree, need help finding opportunities or want support with your CV, application forms or preparing for an interview, you can get advice and guidance by booking a 30-minute 1-2-1 careers meeting with a Careers and Employability Adviser from the LJMU Student Futures Team. You can also come along to a Careers drop-in or CV Café which take place weekly at the Careers Zones for quick careers queries.
If you are thinking about starting a business, freelancing, pursuing a side-hustle or have an idea that you want to explore further, email the Start-up Hub and a member of the team will be back in touch, or visit the Start-up Hub website.
For help finding part-time, temporary or casual you can fit around your studies, email the Unitemps team or visit their website.