Kalyn Salinas Helps Busy, Sophisticated World Explorers Create Authentic Travel Experiences Through Curated Itineraries And Guides

I am the founder and Chief Travel Officer of The Citrine Compass, a boutique travel advisory group that helps busy, sophisticated world explorers create authentic travel experiences through curated itineraries and guides. 

We have local tastemakers all over the globe that provide luxury travelers with exclusive, relevant and personalized recommendations wherever their travels may take them.

I spent 13 years in executive recruiting in the fashion and financial services industries before launching The Citrine Compass, my dream and passion, in late 2022. I live in Los Angeles with my amazing husband, gorgeous daughter and another baby girl on the way!

How do you push through your worst times? What are some tips on how we can motivate ourselves when we’re not really feeling it?

If someone has already started a business, then they know the tough times keep rolling! For those that are toying with the idea, being an entrepreneur is one of the most empowering things in the world but it’s also one of the most challenging paths you can choose to take. At its worst, entrepreneurship can be lonely, deflating, defeating, frustrating and honestly, soul-crushing. If things don’t work out, you can’t just say goodbye to your coworkers and leave that messy pile behind for someone else to deal with. You have no option but to rise like a phoenix from the ashes and either keep trying to make your business happen or pivot completely.

But at its best (which is why you do it!) entrepreneurship can be the most rewarding, thrilling, glorious, motivating and fantastic experiences out there. You’re doing something for work that you choose fully and wholeheartedly - you’re in the driver’s seat and have full creative control in your pursuits. You fight through the darker times to get to that rewarding place and the way I stay motivated is by exercising with consistency, sticking to my routine and celebrating my little wins. 

I’m a freak about exercise, I typically do cardio 5x per week (Peleton rides or bust) and mix in some strength, pilates and barre. Even when shi*t is hitting the fan, I prioritize morning exercise. Those feel good endorphins will change your mood and perspective every time, which will in turn change your relationship to whatever is happening in the business, be it good or bad. Plus, a lot of good ideas can arise amidst physical challenge!

Morning exercise also ties in to my second recommendation, which is to stick to your routine. Even when you’re hitting a rough patch, being an entrepreneur requires you to be very focused with your time and energy in order to make the day productive. In my morning journaling, I typically choose two or three priorities for the day that I want to get done, even if my day goes astray. Then I build out my calendar with every little thing I want to do that day including when to respond to emails, do personal tasks, conduct client follow-up, etc. I do my morning workout and then jump right into what I’ve calendared out for the day so I can create my own energy in the business. 

Last but not least, I always celebrate the little wins. Big wins are magical when they happen but there are little wins you can celebrate every day if you look hard enough. Maybe the new marketing email you sent out had a slightly higher click-through rate than the last one, or you finally finished writing that new press release you’ve been working on. My no-fail trick to ensuring that I have something to celebrate is by doing an end-of-day reflection on those two or three priorities that I set for myself in my morning journal. If I set goals for myself that I can check off the list at the end of the day, then I will always feel like I made some forward progress.

How do you create the right mindset for yourself and your team in the time of the great resignation? How do you maintain a great company culture where people want to say and succeed?

I’m still in the early start-up stage so I don’t have full-time staff yet but my background is in executive recruiting and I do have freelancers so I find this question really interesting. I chose to start a business in this industry because I absolutely love to travel. I love to plan travel, talk about travel, consume travel content, meet people while traveling, dine at new restaurants, experience new cultures and I love the time and space I have to think while I travel. All of it is intoxicating to me. I’ve realized in my journey of onboarding my Tastemakers (we have 34 currently) that I’m not the only one who lives and breathes this stuff. 

I enjoy building The Citrine Compass because I’m unwaveringly passionate about helping people explore the cool, lesser known and hidden corners of this beautiful, wild world we live in and my team brings the exact same passion to the table. They genuinely care about how people experience the city or country where they’re living and they consistently go above and beyond in their interactions with our clients and their contributions to our marketing and social channels to drive forward our mission of helping others have authentic and curated travel experiences. 

I think what has helped solidify company culture is that I make sure from the get go that I’m hiring the right people with the right attitude who are on board with our vision and are going to add value to the team. I set expectations up front that this is a fluid, client-first start-up, that I’m a solopreneur and bootstrapped (and a mom to boot) and that I will rely on them for their feedback on our business processes and also their intel as the local experts. 

All of our Tastemakers are working professionals so they meet with clients and create guides and itineraries in their spare time because they love it and it's a creative outlet for them. They are bought in to what we’re doing here and it has organically created an environment of positive collaboration and dreaming big. 

If we had to burn all the books in the world, but keep just 3… Which ones should we keep and why?

What a fun question! The first book I would keep would be Yoga: The Science of the Soul by Osho. He’s a spiritual teacher/guru that caused quite a stir with his cult up in Oregon (the Netflix docuseries, ‘Wild Wild Country’, was wild indeed and so worth binge watching) but this particular book talks about the spiritual and mental roots of yoga and ultimately how to free yourself from pain and suffering by meditation and mindfulness.

The second book I would keep is Italian Days by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, a late Italian American journalist who traveled throughout Italy in the ‘80s and wrote an honest, funny and thoughtful memoir of her time in Italy by region. The book is extremely dense and long (which is one of the reasons I would keep it, I love to read and need something juicy if I only have 3 books left) but it’s also a beautiful look at how travel can be both a magical and arduous journey.

I think my last book would be a classic, most likely 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. I like books that transport you to another place but force you to really reflect, challenge the way you think and ultimately change for the better…kind of like travel, some would say. 

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