When he started Travel Counsellors 20 years ago, world domination was the last thing on David Speakman’s mind.

Following an unlucky stint running restaurants, he returned to the world of travel seeking a low-cost foothold back into the industry that he had walked away from seven years earlier to help reboot his bank balance.

“When I set up Travel Counsellors based on an idea I’d had, part of the thinking was that I didn’t need travel agencies, didn’t need bricks and mortar shops – therefore it was a cheaper way to get back into an industry that I knew and loved,” he told Travel Today.

“So when I came back to travel, it was initially just to survive.”

And while the steadily building success of the business model saw Speakman “looking on the bright side”, it was more a case of facing the challenges each day and adapting to them than working to an ambitious business plan.

“Once you’ve got past the teething problems, once you’ve got a solid base, then you start to think about where you can take it,” he said. “But when you first start it’s just about will this work?”

It took about four years before Speakman came around to the growing potential of the business, he revealed.

The company now has more than 1,200 agents worldwide, with the company attributing that growth to the support it provides its agents and its range of technology solutions developed in-house including the Phenix platform which allows agents to access to nett rates.

“They can build a tailor-made holiday, they can do it all themselves and become the tour operator, the wholesaler. Therefore, not only do they give the advice, but they personalise it for the customer,” Speakman explained.

While access to nett rates gives travel counsellors the ability to be competitive, Speakman stressed that the company does not sell on price but rather places its emphasis on “adding value”.

But expansion has not been without its challenges – primarily the rising empowerment of the consumer at the hands of the internet.

“Before, you had to go to a travel agent to book a holiday or travel, so the agents were the ones who were empowered. The travel agent was an essential part of the travel booking process,” Speakman said.

“Then what happened was the internet. Websites empowered the customers. Therefore the thing that was the agent’s monopoly, the customers could do themselves.”

However, the tide has turned, according to Speakman who revealed a growing “mistrust” of the web was seeing consumers head back to travel agents in their droves  in search of trusted opinions and impartial advice, he said.

Another major hurdle for the company has been getting agents to value themselves once again in order to thrive amid an increasingly cluttered landscape, he revealed, highlighting the issue as a worldwide problem, with agent training at its root.

“In Australia, and it’s the same in the UK, travel agents are trained badly,” he said.

“They’re told they’re worthless, that what they offer is worthless, that it’s all about the price of the holiday. So they don’t value themselves at all.”

Retraining agents to believe in themselves has therefore become part of Travel Counsellors’ strategy with the company enlisting the help of motivational guru Mike Finnigan who has toured the world to teach its consultants how to change their way of thinking.

“We empower them to become new people and I’m proud of that," Speakman said. “We retrain people to understand what society needs and society needs carers.”

Meanwhile, Travel Counsellors continues to grapple with negative perceptions of home-based agents – a concern voiced last year by general manager Australia Tracy Parkinson who complained that people often think of home-based agents as only part-time or “not as serious or professional” as traditional bricks and mortar agents.

“But that’s not what we are,” she insisted. “In fact, it’s the exact opposite – we are made up of only full-time professionals that are looking to build up a good business.”

Speakman identified the root of the issue as the idea that home-working jobs are about “stuffing envelopes” and pulling together little bits of money “from here and there” rather than a profession.

But he stressed that, while the number of hours work are at the discretion of each consultant, it is a “serious” job.

“What we say to our consultants is we want you to be serious about it. So we don’t want you to have another four or five jobs – if you have a job it has to be this job,” he said.

“We don’t mind you having a work life balance and we can’t police how many hours you do, but if you’re not serious about it, don’t waste your time joining us.”

However, the perception is evolving, with Travel Counsellors’ UK success seeing it expand internationally and the rise of a number of other players also using similar models.

The company launched in Australia in 2007 with it now counting nearly 120 consultants among its ranks.

However, launching into a new market also has its issues, Speakman admitted.

“In Australia, it is a massive leap to move from a salaried job to commission only – I understand that,” he said. “But if you know you’re good at what you do, it’s really a no-brainer. You can empower yourself.”

In June, the Australian business arm reported a 16% increase in new agents so far this year compared to 2013.