Today we’d like to introduce you to Susie Chau.
Hi Susie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I got bit by the travel bug HARD when I studied abroad in France, which was my first big international trip. I went into consulting because I thought it’d give me the best chance to work internationally. And it did – within 3 years, I worked on a 5-month project in Rome and another project where I lived in London for 2.5 months and Paris for a month. I used to joke my career peaked at age 25!
But then I spent MANY years going through the motions of corporate life feeling misaligned with my work, burned out, and in need of change. In a turning-lemons-into-lemonade moment, I took a yearlong sabbatical to travel with my husband to all 7 continents after he found out he was laid off due to an acquisition of the company he was working for.
I also took a couple of month-long sabbaticals from Corporate America to explore the world and myself. Sabbaticals gave me the confidence and clarity I needed to leap into starting my own business. Those sabbaticals gave me the confidence and clarity to take the entrepreneurial leap to start my travel business in 2016 to help other busy professionals explore the world more deeply.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My entrepreneurial journey has been quite a winding road. I started my business as a side hustle in 2016, then I moved to part-time in my Management Consulting job before finally leaping into working full-time in my business in 2018.
As you can imagine, Covid took a toll on my travel business, but I see it as a blessing in disguise since I welcomed my son into the world in the summer of 2020. It made my maternity leave much easier than anticipated and I was able to ease back into work on my terms as travel started back up again.
The other bright side of Covid is that it gave so many people the opportunity to work remotely. This enabled a whole new segment of professionals the ability to work from anywhere in the world that I can now serve.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Carpe Diem Traveler?
Carpe Diem Traveler specializes in helping busy professionals travel abroad for a month or more without sabotaging their careers or breaking the bank.
I craft done-for-you customized itineraries covering all the travel arrangements needed for a seamless trip, so you don’t have to stress about the details. I expertly guide you through the whole process from figuring out how to take care of your job, house, pets, and school to packing for your dream adventure abroad.
I shrink tens of hours into minutes by using my unique set of expertise traveling to 50 countries, taking multiple sabbaticals, planning trips since 2016, and 13 years of management consulting to pull that into a proven planning process.
I have been recognized by Condé Nast Traveler magazine as a Top Travel Specialist for the last three years.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Covid took an enormous hit on my travel business, as well as the industry as a whole. But now the travel industry, and my business, have bounced back in an unprecedented way.
It’s an interesting parallel to taking a sabbatical – I tell my clients that sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. In that slow-down period, society as a whole was forced to slow down and reevaluate their priorities in life.
Many discovered that travel was a very high priority for them and, in fact, a part of their core identity. But they didn’t realize it until the ability to freely travel was snatched away in an instant.
For me, the slowdown gave me a renewed sense of purpose to help others travel in a way their soul craves – to get that connection when you go a level deeper, not just scratch the surface.
Post-COVID, I doubled down on helping busy professionals *actually* take those dream trips that they don’t believe are possible.
Life is short and there will be no “perfect” time to pursue your dreams.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.carpediemtraveler.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carpediemtraveler/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carpediemtraveler
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susiechau/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0JUY7cas56rRD7gOi4HgpQ
Image Credits
Alyssa Dawson
