“I used to travel the world for work, but I never got to see it!! Now I run my own travel company I have time with my family and time to go on holiday!”
Former marketing executive Jo Hyder used to travel to exotic locations like the Philippines, the Middle East and South America for work and now she’s turned her love of travel into a business.
Jo, 49, finished her training with The Travel Franchise in January 2019 and within twelve months, she hit her target and earned back her Elite £15,000 franchise fee with the company’s pioneering Money Back Challenge. She now works from home as a travel consultant in Smallfield near Gatwick and said it was wonderful to be able to be around with her family and young children.
“I wanted a job where I could do something I loved and work flexibly from home, so I could be around for the kids and my husband and maybe even get a dog.”
A marketing executive for more than 30 years, Jo worked in high powered positions with brands including Unilever, Coca Cola and Virgin Atlantic. She said: “I used to travel all the time for work, but I never got to see the places. I went to Sao Paulo for 1.5 days and once went to Toronto for three hours to give a presentation. I have young children and it was hard to do story time over Facebook Live, I would cry and then go and do a training course. When I was made redundant from my job in 2018, I went ‘right, that’s it, enough.’ I had been stalking The Travel Franchise for a while, doing my due diligence. I wanted a job where I could do something I loved and work flexibly from home, so I could be around for the kids and my husband and maybe even get a dog.”
“I’m creating something for my family in the future.”
Since starting her business, Jo hasn’t looked back, although she said she had worked long hours in her first year, she had really enjoyed working for herself and helping give people a fantastic holiday experience. And most importantly she has more of a balance with her family, she said: “I can now drop the kids to school at 8.50am and pick them up at 3pm, I’m here to be with them and do homework and run them around to clubs, it’s just really nice. It’s definitely brought us closer as a family, we laugh a lot more! It’s been fun finding out who we are when we’re not working under corporate pressure. There’s still pressure, but it’s created by me, I’m creating something for my family in the future.”
Jo added that the corporate world was very male dominated, and she had to act ‘like a man,’ especially as she was often the only woman in the boardroom. She said: “You had to act in quite an aggressive way, now I don’t have to do that. I can just be me. My husband said, ‘it feels like I have you back.’ You get so caught up in being the person work needs you to be.”
And the family are looking forward to their latest addition, a black Labrador puppy called North, who will soon be joining them!
” Travel Franchise was fantastic and there was a ‘great community’ of fellow Travel Consultants who were willing to help if she needed anything.”
Jo said the support given by The Travel Franchise was fantastic and there was a ‘great community’ of fellow Travel Consultants who were willing to help if she needed anything and she is looking forward to going on the company’s Millionaires Retreat to Cyprus in March.
Joanna is just one of many Money Back Challenge winners, see more here.
