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From Stranded at Sea to a Lucrative Travel Business: How One Couple Turned a Side Hustle into the Life They Always Wanted

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Why This Matters

This story highlights how resilience and leveraging personal experiences can transform a crisis into a successful entrepreneurial venture. It underscores the importance of relationship-building and authentic credibility in the travel industry, inspiring both consumers and industry professionals to pursue innovative paths. The case exemplifies how side hustles can evolve into full-time, lucrative businesses with the right mindset and approach.

Key Takeaways

Many people dream about becoming their own boss and charting their own path. Debra and Tony Thune did it, and the story of how is one you have to hear.

Their start was not a polished business plan. It was an 81-day cruise that the COVID pandemic cut short, leaving them stranded at sea off the coast of Africa for 17 days. While other passengers panicked, the Thunes used crisis-management skills from their previous careers as correctional officers to help everyone around them find food, information, and a way home. By the time they got back, they had their first 75 clients.

They never set out to build a company. They built one anyway. Today they have served nearly 2,500 clients, traveled to 121 countries, and sailed 32 different cruise lines, almost entirely through word of mouth.

Join us for a free webinar, From Stranded at Sea to a Lucrative Travel Business: How One Couple Turned a Side Hustle into the Life They Always Wanted, produced by Cruise Planners and Entrepreneur. Moderated by AI consultant and corporate trainer Terry Rice, this webinar will feature the husband-and-wife team who went from careers in law enforcement to running a lucrative travel business that funds a life most people only see on Instagram.

Attendees of this webinar will learn:

Going from side business to full-time income

Learn the financial signals that tell you it’s time to go all in, and why treating your venture as a serious business is what unlocks real growth.

How to get clients without cold outreach

Discover the relationship-first approach that built a sizeable client base through conversations, not pitches.

Firsthand knowledge as your edge

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