When Joanna signed up with The Travel Franchise in October 2022, she had a plan. Complete her training in early December, go live before Christmas, and hit the ground running for January Peaks.
Then, the day before her launch, she broke her wrist.
“My first few bookings were done left-handed, pain relieved, because I needed it all pinning back together,” she says. “For the first three months it was all a little bit like, what on earth have I done?”
Three and a bit years later, she is expanding her business, managing a £53,000 client relationship she built during a Middle East conflict, and recently spent an evening at the Olivier Awards at the Royal Albert Hall as a guest of Cunard. The wrist, it is fair to say, has healed.
Why she made the leap at 53
Before joining The Travel Franchise, Joanna spent four years as a charity fundraiser. She loved the cause, but the role had taken its toll. Unsociable hours, weekend events, a relentless pace, and the creeping sense that she was sacrificing the family time that mattered most.
“My son was late teens when I set up my business,” she says. “I thought it was a bit crucial to start spending a little bit more time within the family.”
She had worked in travel years earlier and had always wanted to go back. When she started researching franchise options, Not Just Travel kept coming up. After doing her research and speaking to the team, she made the decision to join.
One friend questioned the decision. Why start a new career in your 50s, she asked, when you could be thinking about winding down?
“Absolutely not,” Joanna told her. “I’m just getting started.”
A night at the Olivier Awards
About three months ago, Joanna booked a Cunard cruise for one of her regular clients. When she went to register the booking with Cunard, a pop-up appeared offering the chance to win tickets to the Olivier Awards at the Royal Albert Hall.
She entered and two weeks later, she found out she had won. Two tickets, as the only winner from the entire entry pool.
She and her husband got dressed up, something neither of them would normally do, and headed to London. They walked the green carpet alongside industry guests and celebrities, attended the Cunard reception inside the Royal Albert Hall, watched a three-hour ceremony featuring the likes of Boy George and Elizabeth Hurley, and then headed to the after party at the Natural History Museum, lit up in Cunard red.
“It was just something you’d never get to experience in your general day-to-day life,” she says.
But the story did not end there.
Before the event, Joanna had a client who had been quietly considering a Cunard cruise. He had never sailed with Cunard before and was taking his time making the decision. The cruise in question was a Queen’s Grill penthouse suite, a serious booking. Joanna messaged him ahead of the awards evening, telling him she had been invited by Cunard as a special guest.
What she did not know was that he is deeply into theatre. Plays, musicals, opera. He watched the Olivier Awards broadcast on BBC Two that evening, looking out for Joanna in the crowd.
When she returned on the Monday morning, his email was already waiting.
He said the whole event looked amazing and he wanted to book the cruise. Just short of £13,000, over the line.
“I think he possibly would have booked it anyway,” Joanna says, with characteristic honesty. “But that was just the thing that made him think, let’s just do it.”
Cunard were thrilled. The booking came directly from the relationship Joanna had built and the credibility that came with being invited as their guest. She has since been in touch with the Cunard team, who could not be happier with the outcome.
When a client needed her most
Earlier this year, Joanna had clients in Dubai when the situation in the Middle East escalated. They were on a luxury holiday, booked through ITC because of the nature of the trip, flying home business class.
Missiles were flying over. The client could hear banging from her hotel. Debris came down at the hotel on the opposite side of the water.
Joanna was on it immediately. She kept communication open throughout, working with ITC behind the scenes, making sure her client had clear updates and no reason to panic. The client was on the beach when Joanna messaged. She was in the Emirates lounge sipping champagne when she flew home, on the same day she was originally scheduled to leave.
“She had no stress at all,” Joanna says. “Because I was behind the scenes working with ITC to get her home.”
That client had spent £53,000 on her first booking with Joanna. She has since booked again. And Joanna is clear about why.
“That experience will make her a client for life. Because I was there to help and hold her hand and make sure things were sorted. It gives her confidence to keep booking with me.”
Around 60% of Joanna’s business now comes from repeat clients. Many of them refer their friends. She also runs a strong Partners in Travel relationship with her local hospice, the Kirkwood, where she worked before starting her business, and has just launched a second partnership with a charity called Be More Ruby.
A supportive community that you can’t find in other businesses
Joanna went on the Millionaire’s Retreat in Crete, hosted by EasyJet in what was the airline’s first time running the event. She found the peer community as valuable as the training itself.
“You’re working away at home thinking, am I doing this right? Is this the right approach?” she says. “And it’s nice sometimes to have a forum to share ideas with people who actually understand what you’re doing.”
The Elite Experience in Mauritius with Beachcomber came later, when Joanna was further into her journey. She found herself in a position to give back, joining Paul on stage for a Q&A with newer consultants.
“I felt like I was valuable there. I felt like I had something to share.”
Her business consultant Danielle has been a consistent presence throughout, even when Joanna admits she does not always reach out as often as she should. One moment stands out. A young couple had been going back and forth on a tailor-made itinerary, then told Joanna they had priced it individually online and found it £2,000 cheaper.
Joanna went to Danielle. Danielle came back with a response centred on the value of protection and personal service. Joanna sent it on. The client called that afternoon and booked.
“I could have high fived her and hugged her,” Joanna says. “She came with her magic wand.”
What is next
Joanna is now expanding. A former travel colleague is joining her team in August, a part-time school worker with a young daughter who cannot wait to get started and is already helping Joanna with her social media in the meantime.
“Running your own business is a real privilege,” she says. “Not many people get that opportunity. And being in travel and booking people’s holidays, even when times are tight, it’s such a pleasure. It’s a really special thing to do.”
Her advice to anyone still on the fence?
“Go for it. Without hesitation. Just go for it.”
