Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Lindsay Blain & Kim Downs Owners of Castle Explorers Discussing The Power of Travel Agents

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Castle Explorers is more than just a travel agency—it’s a community built on passion, connection, and opportunity. Founded by Lindsay and Kim—two moms, business owners, and travel enthusiasts—our mission is to help families and travelers create unforgettable experiences while empowering travel agents to build successful, flexible businesses they love.With industry-leading training, mentorship, and exclusive vendor partnerships, we equip our agents with the tools, support, and confidence to thrive in the travel industry. Whether you’re booking dream vacations or growing your own business, Castle Explorers is where passion meets purpose.Lean more: http://www.castleexplorerstravel.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-lindsay-blain-kim-downs-owners-of-castle-explorers-discussing-the-power-of-travel-agents

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 with us, Lindsay Blaine and Kim Downs, who are the owners of Castle Explorers, and we'll be talking about the power of travel. and the agents who make it unforgettable. Ladies, welcome to the program. Hi.

Hey, thanks for having us. Hey, you're welcome. I'm excited to talk about what you guys do, how you do it, why you do it, and all the many intricacies of your world. I love travel. In fact, I was emailing to someone recently. I'm planning a trip to Hawaii to visit our daughter who lives there. And so it's just all the intricacies that go into travel.

But before we dive into that, give us a little bit. bit of your stories and background. And what made you wake up one day and go, we should start a travel agency? It's crazy, right? I'm so excited to talk about that because our story, I feel like, has been something that we were definitely brought together. And it's been really cool. So we were both travel agents with another agency. And I had been a travel agent for a couple of agencies trying to find the right place and the right fit. And so we met. together and we're starting to work together and plan some things of what we're going to do as travel agents. And actually all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I actually got fired as a

travel agent, if you can believe it. It was crazy. Yeah, right? I know. I was trying to be my best, but I actually got fired because I stood up for what I believed in. And, you know, when things like that happened. I had no regrets and I had no doubts in what I was doing. And so it sort of left me with like, oh my goodness, what is the next step for me right now? I love travel. I had such a passion and was working like crazy. My husband and I were building our own businesses. We had our own shop that we were running. And so I didn't know what to do next. And my husband looked at me and he was like, I know exactly what you're going to do next. And he said, you're going to start your own. travel agency and i was like i was thinking in my head there is no way i want to do that after

after going through something like that and and so but i knew very quickly that night i was like but could i could i actually do that and i was going through things and thinking about what i wanted to do and i knew that i had one thing that i was very sure about and it was that my friend kim and i needed to do it together. And so then I had to ask her, which was scary, but she agreed. And so Kim, do you want to tell us where you were about this point? Yeah. So I was always a product developer from the time I left college and had my degree up until the moment I met Lindsay. I really started as a travel agent at the agency where I met her just because I was looking for a way to make some extra money to take my family on a trip every year.

And met Lindsay on an agency trip and didn't know how much I needed her in my life, just going through some personal things. And she was such a great friend to me. And the crazy thing to me is that her and I had only met three times in person before she asked me to join this venture with her. No part of me hesitated on, yes, I want to do this with her. It was more a matter of, I have a family and I am working a corporate job that is way more than 40 hours a week. How could I possibly manage this? But here we are. And not even, I think it was about three and a half months after we started the agency, I actually quit that corporate job.

It was a huge leap of faith that she took and what we were doing. So it was fantastic. And so we knew from the beginning that we wanted to create a culture that was very different from anywhere else we'd been. It was in this industry. So much of it is a mean girls club or like claw your way to the top and step over people. And we knew that we did not want to do that. And so we created something that is very different from most agencies out there. We are community over competition first, and we care about each other and are truly trying to build business owners and a family at the same time.

So we are so proud of what we've created. That's awesome. And I think that touches into something that I was thinking, which is I can sense your passion, great, you know, because if you were boring and we're just, you know, filling in the blanks and checking the boxes, you know, you can do that online. So you guys have an enthusiastic passion for what you do. But what makes you different than other agencies? Because I think there's about two or three other agencies in the whole universe that also do travel. And you can find them online. You can find them down the road.

What are some of the things that make you guys a little bit different that people need to know about? Oh, definitely. We are very different in a lot of ways. And a lot of it is, and there's tons of agencies out there. but a lot of what we wanted to do was to be travel agent thoughtful. So we were travel agents first. And so everything we did was with the travel agent in mind. So we have very different ways that we handle benefits.

We do trainings differently. And so the biggest thing that sets us apart is our family feeling. So we build where we talk to each other and we help each other. Kim, do you want to talk about our training team? Yeah, so we believe so much in providing our agent's support because that's really a piece that Lindsay and I are missing and how we took our experience from the agency we came from and it was what was missing there that we want to be able to provide. And it was having those resources and support, not in just training to make sure that, you know,

they have the resources necessary to be a travel agent and provide information to their clients and plan a perfect trip, but also just the general support of you can do this and we're going to be here to guide you and support you and help build your goals and help build your marketing plan. And that has, Lindsay and I started doing that just her and I and that it evolved into, we have an entire team that are travel agents themselves for Castle Explorers, but they also lend their expertise to help all of our other agents, especially the ones that are just new when starting out. They each have a different niche that they are an expert in, and they really, truly just help build our training program and help answer daily questions to our newer agents

of, hey, I have a family that wants to go to Bermuda, and I don't know what resorts are safe to send them to. We've got an all-inclusive expert that will jump in and help that agent, like one-on-one, with building the perfect itinerary for that family. Yeah, it's really a huge deal to be able to have that support because like she said, we definitely didn't have that in most places don't have that. And so we've taken agents from the beginning that have never had experience and some that have come from other places where they weren't very supported and helped given them the things that they need to help make their business a success. We have, we love helping business owners. And Kim and I even have a chat that we do every week where we talk through mindset.

that we help get them over their things that are making them self-conscious or things that they feel like they're not they're not don't have self-esteem or self-worth as much we help coach them and those things too and not just the practical pieces that we also do as well yeah so it sounds to me like like you've said this before but family and community and if I can help you it might take a minute out of my day, and I could be doing some other things for my clients that I'm planning travel for, but I need to help you because you're part of our team. And then the whole team wins because about the time that they need something a week or two later, now that other co-workers come into their rescue. So I think that's really neat to be able to, and you probably

have like a workspace, you know, where there's, you know, either electronic like chat, like, hey, is anyone had this or maybe in person where people are going, hey, who can help with this? I think that whole warm, vibrant buzz just really sounds inviting. Yeah, that's exactly. You absolutely have it right. We have chats. We do trainings. We actually like to travel together as an agency, which I think is rare.

We didn't know that you could go on so many awesome trips as an agent until we started looking into it. And so now we give our agents so many opportunities all throughout the year because we know when our agents try. that they will have more experience for their clients. They have more footage and things for their social media. And so we love it when our agents travel. So you're absolutely right.

Yeah. So I know that there's probably no way to get knowledge and experience other than doing it. So that's where you're going, hey, go out and travel because now you can go, ooh, when I went here, I had this issue. Here's how I overcame it. Or here's this cool spot, you know, in this location. what is having a knowledgeable travel agent that has experienced like that, how does that help enhance someone's vacation experience as a customer or client?

And then what do you look for? Like if I go, oh, travel agents are still a thing, let me go get one from my next trip. What should people be looking for when choosing the right agent? That is such a great question. I think that happens a lot where people are like, oh, travel agents are still a thing. and they don't realize the value that a travel agent can offer them.

A travel agent should be taking the stress and of planning a vacation and all the decisions that go into that and really are just, they're your problem solver, they're your stress reliever, they're going to create the perfect trip for you and all you have to do is answer a few questions and pay for your trip. That is what your true ideal experience should be. So your travel agent should be offering you that guidance on where are the safe places to stay? You can tell them, you know, I want to go snorkeling. They're going to have the perfect resort and Cozumel to send you to.

They're going to save you time because you don't have to then get on in research where the safe places and the best places and the best snorkeling is because they either already know that because they're an expert in where you're looking to travel to or they're going to take the time and do that research for you. The other thing that I love that travel agents are able to offer is they're usually able to find different promotions or perks that you may not be able to find just by Googling online for where you want to travel to. We also have an option to, we can get on the phone and talk to those vendors and say,

hey, my client wants to go here. They want to do these sorts of activities. And they may even help us find an option that you can't find online, which I absolutely love that something that as a client yourself, you're not going to be able to call and get that same service. And you don't want to sit on the phone and do that anyway. So let your travel agent do that. Yeah. You know, it reminds me of, I was, I took my family to Honolulu for the holidays this past year. And my wife has a co-worker that grew up and went to college on Honolulu. So she was texting her going, what are the places we need to go to? Well, we,

Got three, four recommendations, did a couple of them, had a great little time. And that's exactly what you are talking about doing as a travel agent to go, yeah, not only are there some cool tips, but here's a money saving opportunity. Here is a time saving opportunity because we're going to do it all for you. And oh, by the way, here is a special perk that no one else could get because we in the industry have these given to us. Right. And some people don't even know that it doesn't even cost them extra most of the time to use a travel agent. it's already built into what they're doing. So it'd be silly not to.

One of the things we love that will happen is Disney is a vendor that tends to launch promotions all throughout the year. And what a lot of clients don't know is even if you booked your trip six months ago and there's now a promotion that's during your travel stay, your travel agent is going to go in and see if they can apply that promotion without you even say an award to them. and you might get a fun little message, you know, a phone call, a text message or an email that says, hey, guess what? You're saving this amount of money on your trip because I found a promotion ad. Well, at least the Castle Explores travel agents do for sure. Yeah, that's a really, really good point. And I would also venture to say that there's going to be some opportunities that come up that go, I would have never thought about that.

You know, so I think that, you know, when I mentioned my trip with my family, that was like all of my kids, their spouses going to Hawaii for the holidays, those were creating lifelong memories. You know, we're sharing pictures back and forth. We're creating a, you know, memory book. What are some of the most rewarding moments you guys have experienced as travel agents, either in your own travel or helping clients and hearing back from them after the trip? So I'm going to share my own personal travel story that actually launched me into this entire business. And the crazy thing is it was just about five years ago. And if you can recall, the world was different five years ago. But our trip had been planned prior to that. And it was actually

the first time that my husband and I had taken our children to Disney World. And knowing, you know, the pandemic that was starting to happen in this country, it was like that was taking over. But yet it had not taken over enough to where places had shut down. And so, So we went on our trip and had the most fabulous week with our children. We were actually just watching videos recently of to remind the kids of like, wow, this was five years ago. But the biggest takeaway, I think for our entire family, was that in that week that we were on vacation together, and it didn't matter where the vacation would have been,

it was just full of magic and full of us spending time together. We didn't have to think about it's time to get up for school or, oh, I need to go to work or, oh, shoot, we need to get, you know, Aubrey off to dance practice tonight or softball practice. It was just truly about spending every day together full of joy, having fun, sleeping in, staying up late. And that trip for me was the light bulb of how do I do this as often as possible with my family. I want these memories where we don't know what's happening in the world because we got to the airport to head home and start seeing the flood of news articles of, oh my gosh, this, you know, the world is starting to shut down. Disney's closing. There's not going to be flights out and was like, oh, my gosh. Like we were in a whole entire different universe that felt like on that vacation.

So for me, that was, I want this for myself. I want other families to experience the same sort of memory creating amazingness. Which that is really funny because our growing up, my dad was always really, really good at making sure that our family traveled and that we went places. And he made sacrifices and both my parents did so we could do that. And I know for a fact that that is a reason why me and my siblings are as close as we are and have such great relationships. and our kids are all friends. And I really wanted that for my family. And that connection, having experiences together are the connections that keep you going

throughout your whole life. And that is one of the coolest things that I've experienced. And so my kids are homeschooled. And being, when we made that decision a few years ago, it allowed us the opportunity to also travel way more and to have flexibility and freedom. But the thing that I love the most is it is part of our. life now. And so my kids have been to different countries and they've seen different places in the world. And now when we talk about Mexico or Jamaica or all of these places, we study and learn

about them and then we go to those places and experience those things. And I never would have had those opportunities when I was younger. And I just look at my kids' lives and I am so grateful for what travel has brought into my life and into theirs. And it's changing their perspective of the world and helping them realize how much we have and how gratitude works. Yes. Well, there's a whole other, you know, mini seminar right there in that last statement that you made, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, we can travel, have fun, yay, take some pictures, you know, create memories. But there's a lot more that goes into it than that. And I think that that just makes trips, like you said at the beginning, just unforgettable. And I think that that just really is powerful.

So I think that becomes a transformative experience for your clients, right? Right. And I wanted to share a quick story because we have done that in our own personal lives. And now we're doing that with our agents. And it's been really cool because for our retreats, we always try to give back as an agency. We want to make sure that we tell like things better than we found it always. And so last year for our retreat, we went to Jamaica and we were able to, collect school supplies and all of our agents did that and some of our clients to, which is amazing.

And we donated school supplies and took them to a school in Jamaica and read to the kids and brought them new things. And that experience changed so many of our agents' lives. And that is what we are trying to do here. It's different because it's bigger than just an agency. It's people's lives and it's making a difference out there. Wow. Yeah. I think that. is is just massive. And when you can add it layer in, you know, having fun with team building, with personal development, with also helping out from a charitable nonprofit, helping the kids approach, boy, that just becomes a 360 degree holistic approach to, you know, the true meaning of success, in my opinion. I agree. Well, ladies, this has been super exciting to hear about your journey and your

passion and the mission that you're on. If someone is interested in learning more about Castle Explorers and reaching out and connecting with you, what's the best way that they can do that? You can find us on all of the major social media networks, so TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. It's just at Castle Explorers. And then you can also visit our website, which is www.cestleexplores travel.com. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for coming on.

It's been a real pleasure talking with you. Thanks for having us. You as well. Thanks. 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.w.com.