Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Lindsay Blain, Creator of Self Worth to Wealth Discussing Running a Business You Actually Love

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Lindsay Blain—wife, mom of three, and travel industry mentor living just outside of Memphis, TN.She became a travel agent while pregnant with my daughter, driven by the dream of staying home with my kids while contributing financially to our family. But like many, she struggled to make it work—juggling motherhood, self-doubt, and the uncertainty of where to start. Everything changed when she discovered a system that transformed my business. In her first year using it, she booked over a million dollars in travel.Fast forward to today: Her business partner, Kim, and Lindsay built Castle Explorers, a thriving agency with nearly 100 agents, and our business has grown to over $15 million in travel sales. But my true passion? Mentoring and coaching travel agents. Lindsay believes success isn’t just about knowing how to book trips—it’s about confidence, mindset, strategy, and having the right support system.If you’re ready to build a thriving travel business, break past the struggles holding you back, and create the freedom you’ve always dreamed of, she can’t wait to help you get there. Let’s make it happen together!Learn more: http://www.selfworthtowealth.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-lindsay-blain-creator-of-self-worth-to-wealth-discussing-running-a-business-you-actually-love

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with this Lindsay Blaine, who's the creator of self-worth to wealth, and we'll be talking about running a business you actually. love. Lindsay, welcome back to the program. Hey, happy to be here. You know, when I hear that opening

running a business you actually love, it makes me think about the people that go, oh, I hate my job. I'm going to go start my own business. But in reality, you're just, you know, run by the business. And you just happen to be working for yourself and like people that go, oh, I want to run my own business so I can have less hours. Well, in reality, you're probably working 80 hours a week. and you should just go back to corporate America if you want to work a 40-hour week job. So running a business you actually love sounds exciting to me because I know you have some great tips on helping people with work-life balance and building a business. So get us started with where should someone think about with this concept of running a business

that you love? You know, that's funny that you say that because I saw this meme on social media that talked about. I was so sick of my nine to five job and working all week that I created, started my own business and now I work double and weekends and night. That's exactly what it is because. Yeah. But when you're doing it with something that you love and feel like you have purpose then, it makes all the difference. And when you're growing something that is from you, it makes such a big difference when it's your own thing.

It's whether you success or fail is up to you. And I remember that feeling of having my own business and working for a commission base. So this industry, like a lot of sales businesses, are commission based. And so I, when most people are like, ooh, that's really scary to do full time. I was really excited because I could, there was no limit to what I could make. So what I could make was directly related to the work that I put into it. And I am something that likes to. pour my whole heart and soul into something. And so becoming a travel agent and and me being the only

one to put the limits on what I was doing was really exciting because the sky was the limit. It could, what started out as, oh, I need a little bit of extra income so I can stay home with my daughter. Ended up being something that was, oh, this could change our family's life and and continue to grow. So that's what this business is to me is finding finding the reason why you're doing it and being able to grow it into whatever that means for you. We have some travel agents that want to do this part-time, and they love their job. And that's great. They just want to travel more and have more expendable income or have more opportunities to travel with their families. Some people are so tired and withering on the vine like I was with our business that we were in, that they are wanting something

to replace their income. So this could be whatever you want it to be in your life. But I think that you're bringing up such a good point because if you were looking for side hustle, extra income, or something you can really jump into and make it big and make a big difference, you know, monetarily and for your family, whatever that is, you need to choose something that you can really,

like we're talking about, love, meaning there's probably some things. Like, for instance, I could probably look at a franchise in the accounting field and go, wow, people make millions and it would just irk the daylights out of me because I

hate numbers. So you've got to figure out something that you love. And if maybe building your own business, starting off small on the side and travel excites you, okay, now we're talking. But then it can morph into something that takes over your life. So talk a little bit about balance. Yeah, you're exactly right. It can be as little or as big as you want. But if you are passionate, it and it you people can feel it and that balance i feel like so many people as uh as a mom as a wife as a daughter a business owner all these things we're pulled in all these different directions and um all of us as human beings were pulled and and need to do all these different things and um so many people talk about oh you have to make sure everything is balanced and balance balance

and i think that's such a lie and i feel like it's such a myth for people because Because to me, there's like this mental vivid picture of me standing there. And I have all these sticks. You know the plates on the sticks. And you're like trying to keep everything up. Yep. At any moment, it gets all crashing down. Yeah.

Yeah. Such a lie that balance, you have to have things balanced. Because in my life, what I realized, when I let go of that idea, we are really big in our family about the Blaine family team. So what we talk a lot about. is sometimes there are times when dad has a really important meeting or mom has a really big thing that she's working on or she has to go on this trip to help her agents and mentor and coach and to get to know them better. And there are things that happen in our lives and it's so important

that you are working together as a family that you're working together as a unit to be able to do the things that you need to do. And so the balance of this business is that sometimes different things take precedence. And when you're you're working on things and growing your business, sometimes that means that different things will take a backseat. But every day, as we talked about last episode, your focus, every day you get to choose what is the most important thing. And as long as you're continuing to take little tiny steps to move your business forward and to do the things that are going to bring that business in for you, you're going to keep learning and growing and keep shining to who you're meant to be. Yes. You know, and conversely, because you were talking about,

oh, there's sometimes mom needs to go take a trip. But on the other hand, there's sometimes that you're going to block off a chunk of time because the kid's soccer game is Thursday mid-morning and you're going to block that off and not take a business call or a business meeting or do some things for the business. Right, because that is the flexibility of this. I get to show up whenever I want and feel like it's necessary. And, you know, one thing that we are, that is at the core of our agency is who, when things happen, like last year, my baby, he was, he wasn't quite a year old yet. He was born with a cleft soft palate and had to have surgery when he was like 11 months old. And it was like six weeks of major recovery, like thousands, not thousands, hundreds of stitches.

I think he had over 300 stitches in his mouth. It was this huge crazy thing. And it was a real struggle for our family. And I think back to those things and have watched our agents experience things. And if you are, if that was a full-time job, I would have lost my job. If I had chosen to show up for my son like I wanted to and needed to and I did, you know, people don't wait on you. And so the flexibility of being able to show up where I need to is, is everything to me. Yeah.

And then when that passes and moves on, then you can dive back in and really, really focus back on the business. And then when the next thing comes up, maybe it is the, you know, whatever the case is, maybe not a big issue like you described. or maybe it's just, you know, the kid's soccer game or whatever those things are. Flexibility is key. So thinking about the people that you've coached, talk a little bit about the shifts that you see in them, not just in their business, but in maybe some of the personal development aspects that you have seen them kind of take some of those steps and get some momentum. That is a great question.

I feel like one thing that I want to be clear about, is yes, this program that I've developed and created for travel agents is specifically for travel agents. And really, it could apply to any person that has a side business that's trying to to grow a passion of theirs, right? But what I'm teaching is not just travel industry things. Yes, we use those as specifics, but what this is is looking at the person as a whole. So we We take a woman, for instance, and I'm not helping her figure out how to make her business a success. We're starting from who she is as a person and growing the person as a whole. And as you're working on yourself and reading good books and working on things that help you grow and that mentally stretch you and your mindset shifts and things like that, I have watched these women thrive, not just in this business.

which is what we want to help them with because those results are going to give them the freedom and flexibility to be able to be home and to have what they need for their families, but to watch them thrive in all areas of their lives. So be better moms, be better wives, be better women, and fill their own cups and accomplish the things that they want to accomplish. You know, I will use one as an example. We just got done doing our full, first full, release of the program and I took a very small amount of people because I wanted it to be a small group, sort of a beta program. And one of agents in there, I had never met her before. And she was, we were working through things and, you know, she had an aha moment during one of the

classes. And she was talking about how her whole life she had felt like her, this call for her was to help people focus and and fix themselves internally and to focus on health. So wellness, health, she was really big into yoga and all those things. And she said, I never understood, like, knew how to connect those two worlds. And she, so through the program and through figuring out and listening to what she felt like she needed to do and what she was being led to do, she has now changed her whole business to where she helps to plan retreats for families or men and women that want to come and have go on this trip on a beautiful beach with an all-inclusive and have all those things.

But where their focus is mental health. It's like learning those parts of themselves that are more and deeper and to focus on the holistic side of who they are and who they are. want to become. And so it's really cool to watch these women take their business where here is a business that you can do. But what is it that is you that you need to bring to the table that will change everything? Now, I see her and she's just barely started getting into this and all of a sudden her inspiration was flowing. She knew exactly who she wanted to be on social media when she was true to who she was and figured out who that was and had the confidence to do that after our after this

class and and she is she is talking about to the people she wants to talk to she is saying the things she needs to say and she's putting out so much more good in the world than she was before but to watch these agents step into who they're meant to be that also has to do with travel you know it's it's more than just oh you're a travel agent that's great but who are you meant to be within this and even bigger. Yep. 100%. I mean, it's sometimes it's like we need to raise our own awareness to motivate ourselves

because that ties in self-worth like we were talking about last time. A lot of times people think about, well, they're in the weeds and they get paralyzed by fear. Talk a little bit about what happens then because. that goes beyond just here's what I want to do. If the vision is too big, they feel fearful that they can't get there. Right. And it stops their progress because they see where they want to go or they see where other people are and they compare themselves.

And when you are, you know, comparison is the thief of joy. And when you are comparing yourself to other people and to their success and seeing what they're doing, you're not able to live true to who you are. and when you're true to who you are and figure out what that long forgotten person really wants, because you probably let other things come in between like who you really are and things distract you, because we all do, right? When you really get to know who that person is again and to feel that, that is when you have something to say. That's when you figure out who you want to speak to. And, you know, we talk about our, we help them figure out who their ideal client is,

more than just who's your ideal client what do they look like where do they shop right that's great it's more than that it's deeper than that but when we help them figure out who that person usually their ideal client and i i haven't told them this but i think it's awesome to watch it happen but it's usually the you that was trying to do what you want to do like five or ten years ago and it's usually you in the past that you're wanting to help yeah that same type of person that who your ideal client is usually. Because you tend to resonate with that kind of even on an internal subconscious level. You know, it's like, there's just something about you that I just really click with.

Well, if you really dug in, it's like, oh, well, they've got something that you didn't have or wish you had or whatever the case is. Yeah. And what did you learn from those experiences that you've had? And you're trying to help the people that are just a few steps behind you. And everyone thinks they have to have it all figured out. And they think that they have to be experts and know every. resort and know everything about their field and be certified in all the things. And you know,

you're missing the whole point of doing this is you don't have to have all that. You just have to remember that the person that you're talking to and trying to help, you're just a couple steps ahead of them. And it's the same with what I'm doing. Like when I was developing this program, I'm like, okay, some of these things I still struggle with. Like the fear and past the things and I know all the tools and everything to do it, but I still have to make myself do. it, but I'm just a couple steps ahead of maybe something that you're struggling with. And I have people that are a few steps ahead of me that I really look to and really. And that is like the, the motivational speaker, Les Brown says jump and grow your wings on the way down. Exactly. And so

you don't have to know everything. You just have to know who you're speaking to. You have to really know who you are and what you want to say and accomplish. And when you get clear on that, that's the piece of the puzzle where everything else will flow and make sense. But that was what nobody talks about in this industry. And nobody teaches. And so I guess that's the reason why I felt like it blowed out of me. And I knew what I needed to talk about because the things that I wish I had someone had taught me. Because a lot of the people like, oh, look at this superstar. Look what they were doing. look at this and you're like, that's 19 steps beyond where I'm even beginning. And it's just on a table, it's nice to hear, you know, success stories. But when people are thinking about maybe

starting that side hustle, side business and maybe travel is where it's at, what do you say to the person that thinks I might want to start, but it's just too late for me. I'm X age. You know, maybe it's just, you know, it's just too late. Yeah, or like that have led other things. So there's a lot of, and I talk to women a lot. We have lots of men, but I usually talk to women because they're the majority of this industry. But there are so many women out there that have lost themselves, either in motherhood, in their business, in their somebody else's job, in being this person who is trying to help other people. And they have forgotten who they are. I'm surrounded by people in my life who are these beautiful, kind.

self-serving, like sacrificing people who have lost their spark and what fills their cup. And, you know, I talked earlier about going on trips and what I thought this business was when I started, I'm like, oh, I can travel and I can go experience these new places. But holy cow, when I started to travel by myself, first of all, it was super weird because I'm like my family's not with me. This feels so weird. But what started happening is I use those opportunities to fill my cup. I am doing the things that I feel purpose and that I love. There's so much purpose that I feel in this and I feel like I'm helping people that this traveling for me has become something where I can take a moment to get away from life for just a minute and to grow this thing that I'm

really passionate about and to have experiences and these agents that are traveling are getting to know these places so they can be better for their clients. But I take those moments and I really focus on, okay, how am I doing as a mom, as a wife, as a business owner, as all of these things, how am I a good friend? Am I being a good daughter? Am I doing enough? And sometimes those are the moments where it's the only moment that I've had in months. to reflect on who I am as a person. And that has been, that is way more than just, let's go see an all-inclusive. It's really knowing that you're not too late.

You're right on time. Wherever you are in your journey, there's a reason why this business was attractive to you. And there's a reason why this came into your life. And it's because sometimes through travel, you can really find who you are. And maybe the timing wasn't right. before, but maybe it is now. And instead of thinking like, oh, I wish I would have done this sooner, be grateful for the path that led you to where you are because all of those things were learning

experiences. And you don't need to do it all. You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to start. You know, I do a lot of work with financial advisors. And one of the things that they talk about is we're taking better care of ourselves and the health care system is better. and we're living longer. And what you might think, like, oh, it's too late for me to start that thing because I'm whatever age. Let's just pick, you know, 55. You might have 35 more years to, you know, and we're not talking about digging ditches

where it takes physical labor. We're talking about things that you can use your brain and, oh, you want to travel anyway. So I think that when someone would say, you know, it's too late for me, compared to what? And if in reality, you're going to create something so that maybe, you can make a better life for yourself now and maybe in your later years. Because most people, if you were to say, when you retire, what do you want to do more travel? Well, now you're just prepping the way. Yeah. And if I think back on the experiences that I've had and what that is

brought into my life, it's all been been leading to this. And I feel like I see so many times, And I have watched my parents who like worked their guts out, their whole lives to do something and wanted to travel so much and like waited till they were older. They were like, when we get older, we're going to go to Europe and go to England and Ireland and all these places. And a few years ago, my dad got sick. And he's not able to travel anymore like he used to. And I see so many people's lives.

And they are waiting. for something to happen or waiting for later. And these kids, when our kids are young, my parents, thank goodness, they took us on trips. Even when I remember my parents would, when we were really little, they had a boat. And it was like all that they could scrape by. And we would have a garage sale on Saturday morning so they could afford the gas to go, be able to go to the boat, go to the on the lake for a day and then come home. And it wasn't anything big and it wasn't this huge, like, luxurious thing, but it was building

memories. And if you wait, if you wait any longer, the time could pass and it's already passing so quickly. And so it's so important to take the time to listen to your heart, listen to the feelings that you're having and to know that you're made for this. And you are stepping into who you're meant to be so you can have an amazing rest of your life so you can have this dream that you feel like has been put into your heart for a reason. It is there there because it's supposed to be. And you don't have to be the loudest voice. You just have to be your voice and to be able to go and do the things that you've always

dreamed of. You can have that life you want if you just take a leap of faith. Well, let's wrap up with this. This has just really been powerful. What's one truth that people should. should realize as they pursue business and their personal purpose. One truth would be that everything you need is in you already. You don't need to read every book. You don't need to do everything that's out there. You don't need to keep looking. You already have all of the amazing talents and abilities and skills and gifts

that you have and you have them within you. All you need to do is to tap into who that person is and to take that little step forward into the dark and have people that have your back that want to support you. And if you need a cheerleader, I am here. If you ask anyone that knows me, I am the best cheerleader in and will help you figure out what you want out of this. I walk through every little piece and every step for agents and friends and people that I know and love and help them figure out that they, who they are inside is everything that they needed to be all along. And if you just will take a step in the right direction that you will have everything you've ever wanted.

I love it. That is just amazing and great, great advice. If someone was interested in learning more and reaching out and connecting with you, what's the best way they can do that, Lindsay? You can find me on social media on exploring with Lindsay and our website, self-worth towealth.com. That is awesome. Thank you so much for coming back on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you.

Thanks for having me. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www. www. www. Influential Entrepreneurs

Radio.com.