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‘A Desire to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone’
By Paloma Villaverde de Rico
As one of
Avoya Travel’s
most successful agencies—
Epic Jaunts
—with sales topping $5 million in 2023, it’s hard to believe that Dave Levine and Ryan Warshaw made the leap into selling travel just a few short years ago.
The luxury travel agency, which specializes in ocean and river cruises as well as tours with a focus on affluent travelers, retirees and families, was launched because both Levine and Warshaw knew it was time for a new chapter in their lives.
“We both had really long careers at Best Buy, supervising some 1,500 to 2,000 employees. We were used to being on the road for weeks at a time, we have run big business, albeit for other people,” says Warshaw. “At one point, though, during the pandemic, when things were ‘getting back to normal’ and we’d had [the opportunity to have] dinner with our families every single night for 59 or 61 weeks, we both sat back and said, ‘Hey, if we’re going to do something different now’s probably the time.’”
RYAN
As long-careered salespeople, though, their “new” career could’ve taken them in multiple directions, but they chose travel because, simply put, they love traveling.
“We love traveling with our families, taking the in-laws, taking the parents, taking our kids,” says Levine. “We’ve always helped with [the travel plans for] friends, family, colleagues and have always had an affinity toward the industry and toward travel
in general.”
The two—who have known each other since growing up in South Florida—approached this new venture in a “creative way,” says Levine. “We took a week of PTO and shacked up in a condo that we had in the family and pretended to be travel advisors for a week. Just took a bunch of leads and it went pretty great. And we said, ‘Yeah, we can probably make this work.’”
They did it part-time for a handful of months and it kept growing to the point where they knew they were ready to do it full-time. “It’s nice to do it on your own terms, your own timeline, your own way, not really being forced into it. So, we got to kind of trial run it for a handful of months before we ripped the band aid off.”
They point to their sales background and everything they learned while working at Best Buy as one of the many reasons for their success in such a short period of time, but they also say they push each other and that helps grow the business.
“I think the other thing that’s probably unique to us,” says Warshaw, “there’s a couple of husband-and-wife teams, but I don’t know that there are a lot of partnerships [within Avoya Travel]. So, we’re constantly driving each other. This is a business for us, and we’re driven and we want to grind it out.”
DAVE
Adds Levine, “Ryan and I have just always had a great capacity to be able to take on a lot of responsibility, run fast. I think that’s another piece, too—we probably always take on more than we can chew, but it’s probably still 10 times more than anybody else is and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re bored when there’s not a lot going on and chaos at every point, so I think that all helps accelerate to a degree, so, it’s kind of how high is high.”
And they advise other advisors that are just starting out to have the “courage to not be afraid to swing for the fences, to talk to people and ask to take their credit card for a six-digit trip.”
So, why Avoya? “It’s the position they’re in right now,” says Levine, “growing the business. I mean, it’s rapid acceleration; it’s amazing to see. It’s just fun and exciting to see people making investments, not just being content with the way that their business is currently running, even if there’s great financials. It’s just nice to see perpetual innovation, a desire to grow, a desire to get out of your comfort zone.
And that’s where he and I thrive anyway. So, it just resonates really well with our personalities.”
Additionally, continues Levine, “Ryan and I are fiercely loyal people. We worked for the same company for 25 years and never even thought about going anywhere else. We love the Andersons. We love what they’ve done in the past; we love where they’re going in the future. The technology’s amazing, the family’s
amazing, the support team’s
amazing— there’s nothing else
that compares.”
COVER
SANDALS
Table of Contents
SANDALS SPREAD
Editor's Notes
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Advisor Speak: ‘A Desire to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone’
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