lloydie gardiner not just travel

• Business advice

“Networking has made my travel franchise almost £1m in sales”

Posted: 03 Jun 2022 | 4 minutes read

Not Just Travel franchise owner, Lloydie Gardiner, shares his top tips for those thinking about using networking to grow their business

In the middle of 2020, the pandemic was in full swing. While many businesses had to survive, travel agents had a particularly difficult time. They had to be available to refund or reschedule customers’ holidays, all while making no new revenue.

It’s at times like these that support networks were vital. Thankfully, Not Just Travel franchise owner, Lloydie Gardiner, was a member of his local BNI chapter. They continued to meet virtually and provided much-needed camaraderie during the lockdowns. But that wasn’t the only benefit of having like-minded people around. As well as being highly active in all areas of his business, Lloydie made sure he remained a valuable member of the chapter. And now, because of his efforts, he’s managed to create nearly £1m in sales through his local chapters alone.

Here are his top three tips for how business owners can succeed at networking.

1. Be yourself, but be prepared

Lloydie explains that you don’t have to be overly rehearsed but you should definitely have your introduction prepared in case you’re asked to speak. He advises: “Be prepared. Get yourself ready just in case you need to do a 60-second or 10-minute presentation. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Just be yourself. Talk to them naturally and tell them what you do.

“As a travel agent, I say I’m their easiest referral because everyone wants a holiday or knows someone who does. Any time I ask ‘who knows someone who goes on holiday?’, everyone puts their hand up straight away. I say great – you all know the perfect person to refer to me.”

He also says to be clear about what type of referral you don’t want. This stops you from wasting your own and others’ time dealing with leads that won’t go anywhere.

2. Don’t expect too much, too soon

Lloydie is clear that your first year should be spent building great relationships with the group. It’s certainly more about giving to receive than expecting everyone to refer others to you cold.

He says: “It’s all about helping others before they help you. You have to give more than you get. But then it comes back; it just flows back. This part is just a no-brainer for me.”

3. Ignore the stereotypes

Badly run networking groups can be a drain – you get little in the way of a supportive community or new business. But Lloydie’s clear that good groups are a vital part of his business growth. He also says that you may want to reconsider any preconceived ideas about what to expect.

“The old ‘men’s club’ image is totally gone now. It’s a very modern and very welcoming environment. There are apps and virtual meetings to go along with physical ones and it’s a really friendly place to be,” he says.

Lloydie also highlights that it’s not all about getting new customers. He sourced lots of great suppliers and got great free advice for his own business too.

“I’ve met marketing and financial experts who provide so much free value. I’ve also met my printer who’s absolutely amazing. I even get my car valeted through someone I met at the chapter!” he says.

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The trains and stations of the Moscow Metro

2 Comments · Posted by Alex Smirnov in Cities , Travel , Video

The Moscow Metro is the third most intensive subway system in the world after Tokyo and Seoul subways. The first line was opened on May 15, 1935. Since 1955, the metro has the name of V.I. Lenin.

The system consists of 12 lines with a total length of 305.7 km. Forty four stations are recognized cultural heritage. The largest passenger traffic is in rush hours from 8:00 to 9:00 and from 18:00 to 19:00.

Cellular communication is available on most of the stations of the Moscow Metro. In March 2012, a free Wi-Fi appeared in the Circle Line train. The Moscow Metro is open to passengers from 5:20 to 01:00. The average interval between trains is 2.5 minutes.

The fare is paid by using contactless tickets and contactless smart cards, the passes to the stations are controlled by automatic turnstiles. Ticket offices and ticket vending machines can be found in station vestibules.

Tags:  Moscow city

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Tomás · August 27, 2012 at 11:34 pm

The Moscow metro stations are the best That I know, cars do not.

Alberto Calvo · September 25, 2016 at 8:57 pm

Great videos! Moscow Metro is just spectacular. I actually visited Moscow myself quite recently and wrote a post about my top 7 stations, please check it out and let me know what you think! :)

http://www.arwtravels.com/blog/moscow-metro-top-7-stations-you-cant-miss

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Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

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Centers of gravity, not black holes:experts discuss new moscow metro stations, united kingdom architecture news - jan 22, 2015 - 10:42   4564 views.

In 2015 Moscow will see a wide range of new capital transportation facilities, and their design is just as important. We asked four jury members of the recent design competition for metro stations Solntsevo and Novoperedelkino to tell us more about this aspect.

Erken Kagarov, Vice President of The Academy of the Graphic Design, art director of “Art. Lebedev Studio”:

“Being a designer, first of all I did my best to evaluate the visual aspect of the offered solutions. Besides that it was important for me to see something new and original. Otherwise, why bother organizing a competition?

As for the results of the contest, I am under the impression that we tried to get everything at once, and that was a mistake. The winning projects are quite expressive and not too expensive. Unfortunately, they are not at all ground-breaking. If we take a look at the history of Moscow metro and the work of one of its best creators, Alexey Dushkin, we’ll see that he was constantly inventing and reinventing certain techniques and materials: he was the first one to use stainless steel to decorate Mayakovskaya, he came up with the idea of columns lit from below for Kropotkinskaya, he put up stained-glass panels underground, where the sun doesn’t ever shine, on Novokuznetskaya...... Continue Reading

> via  archsovet.msk.ru

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