Mercedes Martin spent 17 years anticipating what other people needed before they asked. Now, she tells Executive PA how that instinct became the foundation of a completely different career — and what it actually cost her to make the leap.
For 17 years, my job was to anticipate what other people needed before they asked for it.
As an executive assistant, I managed complex schedules, coordinated logistics across time zones and learned to read what an executive actually needed, not just what they said out loud. What I didn’t expect was that those exact same instincts would become the foundation of my next career.
Today I run Vantage Travel, a luxury travel advisory business. The more time I spend in this industry, the more I realise the EA skillset might be one of the best possible backgrounds for it.
The overlap is bigger than people think
Planning an executive’s itinerary and planning a luxury holiday require almost identical instincts.
Both demand attention to detail most people never notice until it’s missing. Both need discretion. Both mean managing multiple moving parts (flights, transfers, timing, preferences) so the person you’re doing it for never has to think about any of it.
The difference is what you’re solving for. As an EA, I was protecting someone’s time. As a travel advisor, I’m protecting someone’s experience. But the muscle is the same.
I had a client recently with kids aged five and three, living in the northern beaches. There were two flight options, one departing at 6am, one at 9:30am – same price. I knew straight away that the 6am flight meant a 3am wake-up for those kids, which would ruin the whole first day of the trip. So I booked the later one.
That’s the real difference between doing this well and doing it adequately – knowing your client the way you’d know your executive, applying judgement rather than just booking whatever’s cheapest or most convenient on paper.
Every EA knows, or should know, their executive’s preferences down to the smallest detail – window or aisle, dietary requirements, whether they can be spoken to first thing or need to be left alone until the caffeine kicks in. It’s the same instinct with clients now, just applied somewhere new.
What was hard about the transition
I actually tried to quit my EA job three times before I finally did it. The first time I resigned outright – but since I wasn’t going into another job, my employer suggested I go part-time while I built the business. So I did.
But the workload didn’t reduce to match the part-time hours and I was now struggling even more. So I quit again, for good that time.
Then a great role came up – executive business partner. Great company, great title and lovely people. The job title and the salary stability were too good to pass up. I told myself I’d build my client base and leave once I was making decent money from it.
Two months in, a really demanding role and I couldn’t concentrate. My memory wasn’t sharp. I wasn’t the high-achiever I’d always been. I was juggling a new company, new people and systems while building a business, building social media, meeting people in the industry, learning about destinations and caring for my eight- and six-year-olds. No matter what I did, I was letting someone down.
There was real fear in it too. I’d worked hard to become senior and trusted as an EA, and walking away meant becoming a junior again – having to ask questions, being vulnerable, not knowing the answers.
Being the trusted senior EA versus being a beginner again tipped me into a bit of imposter syndrome. How could I sell something I didn’t have direct experience in? Who’s going to trust me with their holiday? I did have the experience. I just needed to learn how to apply it using different tools.
Why this matters for EAs thinking about what’s next
The catalyst for me was realising I wasn’t motivated by the corporate goals anymore, and I felt like I was letting people down by not being fully in it.
My ultimate goal was never to be a high achiever with a fancy office and good lunches – it was the satisfaction of contributing to a client’s experience and helping build memories. My children were a big part of it too. I’m a planner by nature, always thinking about the future, and I realised I was spending so much time planning for it that I barely had time for the present.
My EA experience wasn’t going anywhere. If everything else failed, the worst case was that I’d taken some time to slow down and be more present. Building a business isn’t an easy fit – it’s a huge learning curve in itself. I weighed the pros and cons, and despite people encouraging me to stay, I decided I’d rather try and fail than not try and regret it.
If you’re an EA wondering what a second act could look like, I’d encourage you to list out what you’re good at – not your job title, the underlying instincts. Anticipation. Discretion. Composure under pressure. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and figuring out how they’d want things done. Those transfer further than most people realise, and they’re not something a typical career-changer walks in with.
I’ve always embraced technology and I’m a fan of AI. But the human touch and human connection will always be the one thing that can’t be replaced.
vantagetravel.com.au
