What a Trip!
How one couple's jaunt led to an entrepreneurial journey
Most people return from vacation with useless souvenirs and
T-shirts, but Daniel and Joan Lupton came back from their 1993
getaway as the owners of a cruise-only travel agency that's
turned into a million-dollar business.
When Daniel was laid off after more than 20 years in the
technical service field, having traveled all over the United States
and moved several times, he was ready to let other people do the
journeying. Fortunately, the Luptons found a business that allowed
them to work from home and let others enjoy tours of the globe.
While the couple was on their way to visit their daughter in
Florida, Daniel ran across a newspaper ad in USA Today for
Fort Lauderdale-based CruiseOne and decided to look into it when they
arrived. "After a lot of investigating, we agreed to go
through their training program while we were there," Daniel
recalls. "Then we came home and started the
business."
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The Luptons put up a $2,300 chunk of Daniel's severance pay,
and they have seen their investment grow into a flourishing travel
business that "has grown every year," with estimated 2000
sales of $1.5 million.
"It was a risk. I could have lost it all," Daniel
says. "The first couple of years we didn't make a lot of
money, but I had faith in it, and it worked out fine for
us."