Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:15 — 25.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

Connect with the Investor Mama Tribe

Joy Owens loves outdoor activities, travel and staying home with her two little ones. She is also passionate about learning how to make money grow through real estate and business. Joy quit teaching to stay home with her children, and now owns and manages Butler Travel.

Key Takeaways

1. Stop Shrinking Yourself — You’re Not “Just” Anything

Joy spent her first year as a business owner doing the same work as her employees — answering emails, booking tickets, trying to stay “on the same level.” She didn’t start calling herself CEO until almost two years in. And when she finally did? Everything shifted — how she made decisions, how she carried herself, even how she talked about her company. Her 4- and 5-year-old kids now proudly tell people “we own Butler Travel.” If you’ve built something — a business, a side hustle, a career — stop introducing yourself with “I just…” You earned the full title. Use it.

---

2. Ask the Uncomfortable Question: “What Are We Getting Wrong?”

Joy didn’t sit behind a desk and guess what her clients needed. She got on a plane, flew to California, sat down with her biggest client, and asked: What do you love? What’s not working? That takes guts. The answer? Their after-hours support was terrible — clients were stuck on hold for two hours during emergencies in foreign countries. So Joy built her own 24/7 emergency team. That decision literally saved an 8-year-old girl’s life when a missionary family in Tanzania needed an emergency flight home. Most of us avoid asking “what’s broken?” because we’re afraid of the answer. But that one uncomfortable conversation became the thing that set her business apart. Whether you run a company or manage a household budget — ask the hard questions. The answers are where the growth is.

---

3. You Will Outgrow Your Circle — And That’s Okay

Joy joined a community of mom entrepreneurs early on. It felt great at first — supportive, relatable, everyone figuring it out together. But after a few months, she realized the conversations were about things she’d already figured out — setting up a website, getting on Instagram. She wasn’t growing anymore. So she made a scary (and expensive) leap into a room where people were scaling to $300 million. Suddenly she was the smallest fish — and that’s exactly where she needed to be. Here’s the real talk: it can feel guilty to outgrow a group, especially one full of women you relate to. But staying in a room where you’re the most experienced person isn’t humility — it’s hiding. Joy’s advice? Whether it’s a podcast, a book, a coach, or a mastermind — put yourself in the room that stretches you, not the one that just comforts you.

 

Butler Travel

Instagram

Facebook

Episode #150: How this Mom Bought A Travel Business and Lessons Learned with Joy Owens from Butler Travel