From Employee to Business Owner: How One Travel Advisor Took the Leap

There comes a time when a travel advisor who works for an agency considers working for themself instead. Starting one’s own travel business comes with great benefits, like higher commissions and more flexibility, but can also be daunting. 

For Sue Ball, the most difficult part of taking that leap was making the decision once and for all. 

“The biggest obstacle I faced in starting my business was myself,” Ball told Travel Market Report. “I had spent most of my career working as an employee within travel agencies, and making the decision to step out on my own was the hardest part.” 

Ball is a lifelong travel advisor who studied air ticketing in the ’90s, worked as a call center agent, and most recently was a salesperson and a manager at a storefront agency in Grand Rapids, MI, before starting Sphera Travel in 2020. Here’s how her journey led her to becoming her own boss and where she plans to take the business next. 

Getting Her Chops Early 

Ball’s wanderlust sparked when she moved from her hometown in Michigan to New York to become a nanny after high school because “I met au pairs from all over the world, and for the first time, I was exposed to different cultures, perspectives, and ways of life.” 

Having only known travel as trips to Michigan’s upper peninsula as a child, “it opened my eyes to how big and fascinating the world really is, and I knew I wanted to help others experience that too,” she said. 

That brought Ball back to Michigan to attend a travel training school in 1991, where she took a six-month course focused on airport codes and airline ticketing, back when everything was hand-written. She received a certification there that she half-joked “probably holds no weight now” – however, understanding air sales deeper than other advisors does give her that extra edge.  

“It seems like anyone can become a travel agent right now, so I don’t think that really means much,” she said, “but it does help me every day. Every day I use what I learned.” 

Through the travel school’s job placement program, she landed at a call center, where she quickly became call center manager. Though it was “kind of crazy, seeing 100 calls waiting on the board,” the type of work she did helping agents with their air bookings was “fantastic,” she said. 

When the company closed in 2001, she took a break from the travel industry to work at a local church and raise her young children. But the travel industry beckoned her again in 2014, when she and her husband, Andy Ball, became empty nesters.  

So she began working at a brick-and-mortar agency in Grand Rapids, MI, where she was a salaried employee serving in the roles of both travel advisor and storefront manager. 

“We were on a busy street corner in Grand Rapids, and everything walked in the door, from doing $700-a-person cruise to a $50,000 trip,” she said. “I was finding that I wasn’t focused in what I was doing.” 

Branching Out on Her Own 

Sue knew she wanted to start a business of her own, but it took the Covid-19 pandemic for her and Andy to officially co-found Sphera Travel – Sue as the luxury travel designer and Andy as the client experience specialist.  

The goal was to plan custom luxury itineraries for empty nesters like themselves, as well as retirees and families. Not only did starting the business give Sue more freedom to sell the types of trips she truly enjoys planning, it also increased her income – she gets 100% of the commission as opposed to a cut as an employee – and the flexibility to travel more. 

“Looking back, I realize I could have done it much sooner, but that experience gave me the confidence and clarity to build the business I have today,” Sue said. 

Researching host agencies, finding a reliable customer relationship manager (CRM), and creating the website for Sphera Travel were the biggest tasks when first starting out. Sue remained connected to many of her previous clients, who followed her to her new endeavor for their travel needs. 

While the lull in travel during the pandemic allowed Sue and Andy to build the bones of the business, the “revenge travel” era helped it really take off. 

“We’ve been doing great since then,” Sue said. “I’m making more money than I did when I was at the brick and mortar. I’m traveling a lot more myself, which clients love to see. Once the once the world opened up, partway into ’22 I would say, it’s been really good.” 

Continuing to Grow the Business 

In 2025, Sphera Travel’s sales dipped a bit – but only because Sue traveled so much throughout the year, leaving less time for crafting itineraries. Instead, she was on her own journeys to Switzerland and Antarctica, where she hopes to send clients in the future. 

Now after nearly six years of pouring love into Sphera Travel, Sue finds herself booking all kinds of trips again and wants to refocus. To do this, she plans to hire subagents this year – a real full circle moment for her. 

“It’s good for new advisors to start out that way and work through some of those smaller trips,” Sue said. “I’m not necessarily looking for people that are travel trained. I think that we get into bad habits, and it would be nice to find people that are well-traveled themselves, have a network, and are good with technology.” 

The hope is that hiring more agents to handle less detailed travel will give Sue the time to book the big milestone, luxury trips she most enjoys. For example, she recently booked a couple’s honeymoon on the same itinerary she traveled in Switzerland.  

Sue wants to do this while still servicing all travelers who want a vacation, no matter the destination or price point. By spring of this year, she and Andy plan to fully launch a website for newly hired sub-agents. 

After all, the name “Sphera” derives from the couple’s last name, Ball, and represents their commitment to family and connecting people through travel. When asked what’s most rewarding about the business, Sue said “the people.” 

“It’s meeting new people all the time, hearing what their dreams are for travel, and then bringing those to fruition for them,” she said. “It’s amazing to be able to help people see the world.”