Hello, I’m Erin, your travel specialist. Get to know me!
I have rebranded myself many times during my life.
After college, I followed in my parents' footsteps to work in retail. I hated retail: the long hours and low pay. I got a new job, actually using my Psychology degree, working as a Research Assistant for a Psychiatric Hospital. 9 months after we got married, my husband and I relocated to Philadelphia and I got a job working for Kelly Services as a Supervisor and then an Office Manager, which I loved!
A few years later, we decided to move back home to Pittsburgh to raise our children near our families. At that time, my mother was a REALTOR and suggested that I become one too. This career would offer me flexibility with a young family. I spent 5 years building a thriving real estate business.
In 2001, my husband got another job opportunity in North Carolina, so we packed up and moved 500 miles away. Since we had no family support, I knew that I would have to put my career on hold for a bit to be available to my children. I always wanted to be an involved mother, as I know that time with your kids is short and you never get it back. I did some part-time work to keep busy and involved myself in numerous volunteer projects. After my mother passed away and my kids were getting older, I wanted to find something to do for my empty nesting years. I decided to open a meal preparation kitchen, where people would make meals that they took home to freeze, heat and cook. I started this business at the beginning of the recession (who knew?) and kept it going for 5 years. And I closed it as soon as I became an empty nester.
At that time, I knew I needed to do something I loved again and decided to get my North Carolina real estate license. I spent 5 years growing another thriving real estate business when another job opportunity presented itself to my husband in Washington state. We were excited to move to a different part of the country and be near our son, who had moved to Seattle a few years before. I made the decision that I would think long and hard before I decided what I wanted to do for my next business. I am definitely an entrepreneur. I immediately got my Washington state real estate license, in case I decided to do something in the real estate field. But I knew deep inside that I had been a REALTOR in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, built successful businesses and then moved to different states, where I couldn't take that business with me.
I decided that the next business I started would have to have a few requirements. The first is that the business would need to be "portable" meaning that I can move the business with me if we decide to relocate. It also had to be a business that I can work with my entire network. Since we have moved a few times, I have relationships with people in PA, NC, WA and friends and family who live all over the country. And I have a passion for travel and have thought about working in the travel industry before, but the timing was never right. 2021, as the pandemic is winding down, seems to be the perfect time to start my new travel business. And the best part is that I can use all of the skills that I used in real estate for the travel business. Every business I have started has 1 common thread: "The Personal Touch". In real estate, I knew that building relationships was essential as my business was strictly based on referrals. And that philosophy continues with Personal Touch Travel Design.