Meet Jeff Romeo of Life for Incredible Wellness Travel in Park Hill

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Romeo.

Jeff, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I worked in luxury travel for a number of years as a Travel Advisor catering to wealthy entrepreneurs for a members-only concierge in Los Angeles and realized I wanted to take it to another level and provide a little more than just lavish vacations.

I went out on my own to focus on the wellness side of the travel industry and founded LFI, a luxury travel agency that coordinates tailored experiences with a lasting effect for high-net-worth individuals in the most awe-inspiring regions of the world.

Little did I know this segment would quickly become quite trendy with everyone in hospitality wanting to jump on the bandwagon. Throughout the years I began to question how I wanted to help my clients and realized it’s not just about yoga and smoothies while you travel, but it’s about presence and connection.

I discovered planning personal travel is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It’s about hyper-personalization. It’s about growing with your clients and really understanding their needs from one experience to the next.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Of course not. I learned in order to have a quality over quantity selection of clientele, people I actually respected and got excited for when I planned their valuable time away, it required being selective and turning down business.

When and how often an individual travels is unpredictable, especially when your target clientele loves to work and run businesses.

You can’t lure them away from their passion and lecture about how time away from work actually helps their growth both personally and professionally. You have to show it to them when you do get those opportunities to coordinate that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy.

So from this reluctance to work with the wrong clientele combined with the uncertainty of when that next client trip would be, I quickly realized this wasn’t a full-time gig for me – at least at that moment in my life. It wasn’t going to pay for the eventual diapers. And yes, there are diapers now to pay for.

It wasn’t steady enough to be a full-time gig and I decided that’s ok. Perhaps one day it will be. It took me a while to accept this as ok – as not, “I failed trying to make it as an entrepreneur”.

The pressure of trying to make your dream business succeed was not smooth. The pressure of not letting others down who believe in you was not smooth. The pressure of wanting to start and support a family, but not want bills to affect my attitude on a daily basis, was not smooth.

I eventually took on a steady position as the Sales and Marketing Manager for Island Outpost (a wonderful collection of luxury boutique hotels in Jamaica). This was a big turning point. I didn’t look at it as giving up on my dream. My dream still exists. This move just released a heavyweight on my shoulder.

The amazing Seth Godin couldn’t have said it better on his podcast, Akimbo:

“If you can do your art without the pressure of knowing you need to do it to make the rent, it’s entirely possible your art will be more generous, more heartfelt, more magical. Ironically, the less you need your art to make money, the more it’s possible that your art will make money.”

This quote explains it all. I wish all people striving to be a successful entrepreneur would read this to understand how strong your art is when you’re not pressured to use it to pay the bills.

Some people use that pressure to make their businesses work. That’s great, but I am not one of them. Some say you have to be “all in” if you want to succeed with a profitable business.

It’s important that people realize there is no one-size-fits-all approach with this. It’s different for everyone, and it’s up to the individual to learn what works best for them – what goal they are trying to reach when starting a business, how big they want their business to be, and what ‘success’ means to them.

We’d love to hear more about your work
I run a small luxury travel business in which I show some of the most influential people in the world that the best breaks lead to breakthroughs.

Simply put, I am trusted with the most valuable time in one’s life – the time spent away with loved ones, away from their work, exploring the beautiful world around, and spending their hard-earned money making memories.

And I take that responsibility very seriously because to me that is where we grow the most, when on holiday, and I want to ensure I am planning those vacations as if I’m planning my own.

As a Personal Concierge, I coordinate tailor-made experiences, including:

– Luxury Hotel/Resort Accommodations

– Luxury Ground Transportation

– VIP Airport Services

– Fine Dining Reservations

– Exclusive Activities & Experiences

– Pre & Post Trip Guidance – suggestions for staying active, healthy, & present while away

– Pre & Post Trip Consultation – to discuss goals, expectations, feedback & future trips

LFI serves individuals who:

– Are leading entrepreneurs, business owners, or executives (preferably fun ones)

– Allocate at least $30K per year to kick-ass trips & bucket list experiences

– Are not ungrateful/arrogant snobs

– Appreciate personalized service, exclusivity, epic views, & the finer things the world has to offer

– Value personal health, time with loved ones, & privacy

– Don’t have Expedia or Travelocity in his/her vocabulary

– Equally, desire both spontaneous adventure & quiet nights in

– Live for the next great once-in-a-lifetime experience

– Live to grow

– Live for incredible

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I plan to continue what I’m doing – enjoy my full-time gig with Island Outpost while running my business on the side.

There are a ton of benefits working on both the hotel side and agent/advisor side of the industry. You’re always thinking about how to enhance the guest experience. You’re always thinking about how to raise expectations for the client. You’re always hungry to learn more.

The luxury travel industry is a small world. In the future, I look to build on those relationships I’ve made throughout the years and cultivate them.

There are always ways to improve, whether that be embracing a new technology or finding a new story to share in a region of the world that’s relatively unknown.

As the world becomes more and more crowded, and over-tourism becomes an issue in more and more regions, we have to redefine what luxury travel is. That definition is different for everyone and that’s the best part of it all – learning how different people tick and what experiences they find peace, restoration, connection, and inspiration from.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.liveforincredible.com
• Phone: 631-235-1879
• Email: jeff@liveforincredible.com
• Instagram: @liveforincredible
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/liveforincredible/
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffmromeo/

Image Credit:
Jeff Romeo

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