Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesse Alexandre.
Hi Jesse, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am the son of Haitian immigrants. My parents moved to Boston in the 70’s, which is where I grew up. My parents worked double shifts to move us into a better part of Boston. When I was young, my parents enrolled me in a program called METCO (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity).
This program enrolls Boston students in Kindergarten through 12th grade in suburban public schools, as opposed to attending city schools. The schools I went to were in Scituate, MA, about 45 minutes south of Boston. Going to school in Scituate not only allowed me to receive a better education, but also the opportunity to learn and communicate with a more diverse student body than I would have been a part of in Boston. I attended these schools from 2nd grade until I graduated high school.
I then attended Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. After Johnson and Wales, I worked in several professions, which is when I started in the travel industry. Despite my love of the travel industry, I ended up in the sales/corporate industry for 12 years. During those 12 years, my ability to travel increased which only enhanced my love for travel. As my son grew older, he became very interested in Clemson University, setting a goal to attend college there.
Knowing this likely meant I would need to relocate and that I would need to have a job that could travel with me I was fortunate to stumble across an advertisement for Independent by Liberty Travel. The program they offer allows independent agents to have their own travel business while being able to use all of the resources that the travel juggernaut Liberty Travel possesses. With that, Play Harder Travel was created.
At first, it was just a hobby that would allow me to do something I loved on the side while also providing the potential to turn into something bigger over time. Eventually, the business grew to the point where I needed to choose between the corporate job of 12 years or to take a leap and going all in on the travel business. With the support of my wife, I made the choice to bet on myself. Concurrently, my son fulfilled his lifelong dream and was accepted into Clemson University. My wife and I sold our house in Rhode Island and picked up the business and family and moved to South Carolina.
Now my wife works with me in the business and we’ve fallen in love with South Carolina. We see ourselves being here for a very long time, even beyond our son’s college education at Clemson. Play Harder Travel continues to grow every day and we look forward to helping our new community make family memories through travel.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The road to opening my own business was not smooth by any means and there were moments of doubt at the beginning. The lifeline of any travel business are clients and it can be difficult to build a solid client portfolio. This takes time and patience. We now have a great portfolio that includes clients from all walks of life whom we enjoy working with. I’m proud of the brand that is Play Harder Travel.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Play Harder Travel?
Play Harder Travel is a business that plans, books and coordinates travel needs for our clients, both personal and corporate. We specialize in the Caribbean, cruises and group travel. We also can create trips in Italy, Greece and Costa Rica. As we expand our portfolio, we are able to specialize in more destinations.
Our favorite type of travel to plan overall are group events, especially destination weddings and family gatherings. We work with several families who travel annually as a group to all stay connected and have fun together. Every year these trips grow in numbers. Being a part of this kind of trip is what makes us smile whenever we receive feedback from our clients after a successful vacation.
The biggest thing I have learned since starting the business is that service is a premium. There have been cutbacks almost everywhere in society due to increased costs, but the one thing we have control over is the service we provide to our clients. I made a promise to myself that no matter what, Play Harder Travel would treat every client as we would want to be treated ourselves. That means clear and honest communication, timely responses, and patience and understanding in our client relationships. We want our clients to feel like they are fully prepared for all trips that they invest in and we will do all that is necessary to make sure that is the case.
How do you define success?
Success is being able to go to sleep at night knowing that you did all you possibly could to satisfy the client. If that is done, then everything else will fall in place.
Contact Info:
- Website: playhardertravel.com
- Instagram: @playhardertravel
- Facebook: @playhardertravel
