In my 20-plus years of booking travel, I have learned many valuable lessons. Of late, to my great surprise, I have learned a rather obvious one: It's all about me! Consequently, I offer this advice to you: It's all about you, my fellow, highly valued travel consultants.

Of course, we all know we're client-oriented. That's a given. We know the good, the bad and the ugly hoops we constantly jump through to add great value to the travel we book for our VIPs. But while we're VIP-ing our clients, let's not forget to VIP ourselves.

We, too, are very important people. Our clients trust us with their dreams of a lifetime, spend huge amounts of their hard-earned dollars with us, and count on us to make sure they're traveling smartly and safely.

What's my point? Invest in yourself. Ongoing education in the travel business is simply a must-do and is key in our ever-changing industry. You cannot afford not to constantly educate yourself. There are countless free webinars on every subject imaginable, from our suppliers' latest, greatest travel offerings, to the most recent and fun marketing technologies, to extremely innovative and informational business classes.

Most of these classes are even recorded for your convenience. You can become an expert in a destination or a cruise line or in a niche market by completing classes online at your leisure. You can become an accredited certified travel industry executive or an accredited master cruise counselor.

And guess what experts get — additional commissions, leads, bonuses, complimentary or reduced travel opportunities. But, most importantly, you get to be responsible to your profession. You get to "walk the talk," so what are you waiting for?

Attend travel conventions. Meet your extraordinary suppliers in person. Enjoy business lectures by the travel industry's finest mentors. Watch travel documentaries. Read a business book. Above all, travel whenever you can. It would be a mistake not to. Learn how to be the best travel consultant you can possibly be to your highly valued clientele.

In a time when we still hear questions like, "Do travel agents still exist?" or "Why would I use a travel agent when I can book online?", we need to separate ourselves out as often as we can. Staying current with the endless education offered 24/7 by our industry will help us accomplish that.

I doubt that your clients are being offered the sorts of industry tools we have at our fingertips. It might be easy for them to Google the word "safari," but sorting through the many choices to find the most appropriate one, analyzing promotions, researching which inoculations are needed, discovering when the weather is best for travel, and so on, might not be so easy. But with your finger on the pulse of our industry news, updates and educational tools, you'll be way ahead of the game.

I know what you're thinking. You cry, "I don't have time to go to school. I'm too busy taking care of my clients." I think you'll find that when it's all about you, your clients won't mind a bit — especially when they reap the benefits.

I highly recommend ongoing education in our business because I have learned from personal experience what a great difference it can make. If time is a problem, well, there's a time management class I could recommend. It helped me immensely.