When the Holidays Reveal What You’ve Built

The holiday season is basically the world’s biggest synchronized travel stress test. 

Airports swell to the brim, roads snarl to a halt, and families converge (usually with some shouting). Everyone is trying to be in two places at once, with one less hour of sleep, and somehow still be charming about it. It’s chaos, but the beautiful kind. 

Most of us think the holidays are about endurance: survive the season, get ready for wave, keep your head above water. 

I think the holidays are actually about something more strategic. The season reveals what you’ve actually built. Because when the volume spikes and emotions run hotter, your business stops being what you say it is and becomes what it really is. What I mean is: 

• If your processes are clean, the season proves it. 

• If your communication is proactive, the season amplifies it. 

• If your boundaries are mushy, the season punishes it. 

• If your client experience is inconsistent, the season exposes it. 

This is not judgment (there’s loads of things we want to improve here at WorldVia, too!). It’s just that physics and high pressure reveals weak joints. 

I saw a tiny version of this at home the other night. My wife, Jillian, and I were doing the classic end-of-year juggle: kids’ stuff, work stuff, life stuff, and the endless “one more thing” stuff. One of my daughters asked for help with something that was genuinely important to her, right in the middle of my brain trying to solve fifteen other problems. 

My instinct was to do the entrepreneur thing: “I can’t right now, I’m slammed.” 

Instead, I stopped, took five minutes, and just did the thing (it was lightbulbs before her friends arrived to the house, in case you were curious). 

Nothing magical happened. No movie soundtrack. No dramatic life lesson speech. Afterward, I realized that those five minutes weren’t “extra.” They were the point. 

That’s what so many clients are really paying you for in this season, too. 

Not the booking. Not the itinerary. Not the supplier relationship. They’re paying for the feeling that someone competent is with them in the chaos. 

The spirit of the season, translated into your business 

Across every tradition this time of year, there’s a common thread: light, warmth, generosity, togetherness, and renewal. 

In our business, that looks like: 

• Clarity: People don’t need ten updates. They need the right update, early, with next steps. 

• Calm: Your tone becomes their nervous system. If you sound steady, they borrow your steadiness. 

• Consistency: Clients can forgive a disruption. What they struggle with is uncertainty and silence. 

When everyone is overwhelmed, the business that feels most stable wins. Not because it’s flashier. Because it’s safer, and safety is a luxury. 

So, I hope you get time to celebrate in whatever way matters to you and your family. I hope you find some quiet moments in the noise. And I hope you notice something you built this year that you’re proud of, even if it’s imperfect, even if it’s still under construction. 

You don’t have to have everything figured out to be the steady hand for someone else, and even if your business cracks a little under the pressure of the season, don’t panic—we’ve got a whole new year starting real soon.