Entrepreneur: One who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.

Entrepreneurs are special people. Without them, capitalism would simply cease to exist. I enjoy it when I have the opportunity to sit down and talk to an entrepreneur about their business. I find it exciting to hear their story. Every time I sit down with a business owner and discuss their company, I always come away with some nugget of information that I can apply to my own ventures.

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with Rhonda Sand and discuss her adventure through life and her business, TMI Tours & Cruises. I hope you enjoy this insight into Rhonda’s thoughts and reflections about her life and her business.

Rhonda Sand was born in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and has lived here all of her life. After graduating from Coeur d’Alene High School, Rhonda went on to take several courses at North Idaho College (NIC). While she enjoyed the courses, she decided that obtaining a college degree was not a priority for her. She entered the workforce, landing a job with a local company that required her to arrange private and corporate travel quite a bit for them. In her role with this company, she was responsible for making most of the travel arrangements for both commercial and private aircraft – a task that she enjoyed. Due to a lay-off by this employer, Rhonda went to work for a small travel agency in CDA. It was during this time that Rhonda refined her skills as an agent, learned the importance of superior customer service, and really caught a vision for what she truly enjoyed – exploring the world. After working with this company for a couple years a larger company found out about her skills and perseverance and hired her when the smaller company was struggling. She was with this larger company for well over 10 years in sales and management. This agency was sold and the owners wanted to manage the agency themselves. Selling the competition seemed impossible to Rhonda and since the travel industry was small in Coeur d’Alene, Rhonda decided to start her own travel agency in 1994.