I know what you’re thinking: if he lists his contact information, then what is it? Let me get the formalities out of the way upfront.

Hawaiian Joe, Inc.

Hawaiian Joe Publishing

Email: Joe@Hawaiian-Joe.com

          There you have it upfront. However, don’t be surprised if you get an auto-responder. I rapidly screen most of all my emails - because I get 100's daily. The only time I answer my business line is when I’m either caught up – which is very – very rare, or I’m just in a good mood at the time and taking a break.

          Nevertheless, daily I get, at a minimum, 2 to 3 calls and dozens of emails from strangers asking for my help or advice of some sort daily. Honestly, most of the travel calls are related to Airfares and they are wanting me to save them money on plane fares without giving any thought whatsoever to my time or to pay me for my trouble.

          Hence, I’m a copywriter, consultant and marketing entrepreneur and a professional health practitioner with very little time to waste. I do give away my time on occasion, but that’s normally to my not-for-profit endeavors. Any other time I have free, I devote to my family and grandchildren.

          I read a post by Bob Bly regarding this same subject a few years ago. In his writing, Bob noted that if you’re going to approach a stranger (that being me), guru or expert for help or some type of advise, then you should follow two simple rules in order to increase your chances of getting a positive response:  

• Don’t waste the person’s time.
• Be cooperative.

         In the not so distant past, I had over 400 websites with approximately half of them being travel related. I’ve tried to design each of them in a manner whereby you can make your own reservation just like you would do if you clicked on the Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline or any other link when you are searching for a cheap airfare to Hawai’i. Fact of the matter is – I partner with every one of these companies.

          My title within the travel industry is Travel Consultant – not Travel Agent. I not only consult on travel, but on writing, medical issues and other things as well. I also love to write copy for web pages which pays me handsomely. Plus, in addition to my other endeavors, I write e-books on various topics of interests which also pay’s very well.

          As a Travel Consultant I demand a minimum of $300 per hour for my time. So, the next time you want to get my attention as I screen my phone calls, just upfront state something similar to the following: “Joe, this is Becky from Tennessee. I just booked an hour of your time for a trip I plan on taking to Hawai’i and would like to consult with you about it. I can be reached at 423-000-0000.” You can book as many hours as you like by clicking this link:  http://www.Hawaiian-Joe.com/travel_consult.html

          Rest assured, I will get back to you as soon as my schedule will permit me to devote a whole hour of my time to your needs.  Normally, we can get through what your needs are within a hour. Does that mean you’re going to command my entire day for the initial $300 Travel Consulting fee and I’ll be making all of your travel arrangements for that one price? The answer is “No”. This is just an initial consulting fee just like you would pay a Plummer to come out and give you a consult on fixing your busted latrine line. It may take two, three or more hours to finalize your travel arrangements – depending on how much detail is involved with your travel needs.

          My travel search engines, found on all of my travel websites, will search many different sites at one time to give you the best current available prices without you having to search each site one-by-one and taking all day or night to save maybe $20. Remember time is money - and my time commands a minimum of $300 per hour,

          However, I will tell you this upfront. Airfares change constantly. What you see as a good deal at this very moment may not be there when you come back to buy it an hour from now. Why? Simply because of the rules of supply and demand and, you’re not the only person on the planet shopping for those cheap quality products or services. Here in Hawai’i I’ve seen fare wars hit the TV News stations one minute and be sold completely out an hour later.

          My travel consultation service priced at $300 per hour is for serious travelers who want the best accommodations without having the hassle of taking days to search the internet for that “Special” price that they may or may not find. In my profession, time is money. I know these Hawaiian Islands and I can point you in the direction of your interest while visiting here. I have enforced a one hour minimum consultation fee of $300. Fractions of an hour will be billed at $75 per 15 minutes.

          Nevertheless, I just a few minutes ago received a call from a young lady in Arkansas that violated both of the rules referenced above by Bob Bly. She was looking for a travel agent to help her save on her vacation to Maui. It’s a service I don’t offer. Not because I don’t want to, but just because it’s not economically sound business practices. I told her so immediately, and offered to hook her up with one of my websites with links to websites like Expedia, Orbitz, et cetera. Airline fare sales have stopped paying any real commissions a long – long time ago. Delta pays somewhere around $3 per ticket sold regardless of the price. Hawaiian Airlines, on the other hand, is my best paying Airline Partner.

          As much as I would like too - I’m not in the “Savings” business – I’m in the “Quality” business. less, this young lady commenced telling me her story about why she needed two round trip tickets from Arkansas and one one-way ticket for her daughter because she was staying on O’ahu after her wedding. Apparently, she was going to marry a military man stationed here on O’ahu, get married on Maui and they would return back to O’ahu after their honeymoon.

          Why would I be interested at maybe making maybe $25 for approximately two hours of my time that she was trying to demand of me? I had already told her I was not the one she needed and politely was pointing her in the direction she needed to go – to one of my websites whereby she could devote all day and all night searching for the savings she had in her minds-eye. I certainly was not interested.

          So I cut her off, not because I want to be rude, but because I am an extremely busy person. To reiterate, time is money in my profession. That’s why I have all those travel sites that are user friendly for the most part. They pay decent residual income from volume traffic for people who have nothing better to do with their time. I have hundreds of General Partners. Choosing one to shop with is just as simple as a click of the mouse and typing in your needs.

          Then she began telling me how she was not that familiar with using the internet, somewhat indicating that she couldn’t be bothered to do as I had instructed. I gave her the URL www.Hawaiian-Joe.com anyway and wished her luck. Then she commenced asking me the difference between what I do and what a travel agent does – like I have the time or inclination to sit and chat with her while having deadlines pressing from every direction. “I’m a travel consultant, copywriter, and health practitioner” I answered. “What’s a copywriter?” she asked, as if now I would spend more of my time giving her a dissertation in the profession of writing. Again, I instructed her to another of my websites www.HawaiianJoePublishing.com to find that information and abruptly ended the call.

          This is just a small example of how people will try to infringe upon a professional persons valuable time. Similar episodes by the droves could be cited whereby people get upset or angry when professional people in my profession will not stop everything they have pressing to listen or chat with or give an opinion on something they are doing without paying any fees whatsoever. I give a lot of FREE things away, but my time is in very high demand and very short supply. A lot of our readers of our free newsletters often are surprised and offended when we impose limits to our free advice. Yet, most of them will never buy a service or any of our products.

          I practice and write within the critical care and family practice health profession. Would you go come over to my ICU and ask one of our Pulmonologist to do an intubation on one of your family members for free?  Would you expect that Plummer reference above to come out to your home and fix your busted latrine line for free? Then why would you expect a Travel Consultant to work for less than minimum wage or for free? If you needed an Article written, would you expect me, as a writer, to do your writing work for free also?