Exploring Life & Business with Deirdre Butler of Big Round World

Today we’d like to introduce you to Deirdre Butler.

Hi Deirdre, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I’m a Brit by birth. Hiking and a keen interest in the fauna and flora of the natural world have always been part of my life. At a young age, my mother, a keen self-taught naturalist, would take me for walks near our home in Jersey, English Channel Islands, and in response to my incessant questioning would identify all the wildflowers in the hedgerows. Later we moved to southwest England to live on the edge of Dartmoor National Park where the rest of my childhood was spent having adventures on horseback and foot exploring the wild moors.

Fast forward to my early working career. As a Product Manager for surgical equipment, my job included teaching surgeons how to best use our products in surgery. Traveling throughout the Far East extensively, and alone, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and drew great satisfaction from my work helping surgeons help their patients. One is never truly alone when traveling; there are always others on the road and talking to strangers expands one’s horizons.

In 1997, I had an opportunity to take a 2-year placement in America. As the first employee ever to be placed abroad by my company, I leaped at this opportunity. Living and working in a different country, and trying something new, did not feel risky. It didn’t take long for the special features of this country to sink in – the vast expanses of wilderness, the forests, and the mountains.

Two years turned into taking US citizenship, establishing a home in Lyons, Colorado, and taking early retirement from my corporate job. Early retirement allowed me to return to my passions of traveling and hiking. I started by leading trips for a non-profit, but with encouragement from family and friends, I started my business, Big Round World, in 2018.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The first 12 months of starting my business were hectic: designing, planning, and booking international trips to start in 2019. We had a fabulous year and our bookings for 2020 were looking magnificent. Then splat. The pandemic hit us all. I remember contacting the owner of a small family-owned hotel in Dolomiti, Italy. I felt bad as I was reaching out to cancel my reservation. She was so gracious and said she understood.

In response to my question about the pandemic, she responded by saying every morning she woke up to the news of yet more of her neighbors had died overnight. I wept upon reading her email. My business struggles were trivial. Our Big Round World trips restarted in September 2021 and we’ve kept busy ever since.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We offer hiking and sightseeing tours embracing a sustainable, local-centric approach to relishing natural beauty and local culture. Our focus is on personal connections and building lasting relationships connecting our trip participants with local guides and service providers. It does indeed take a village to achieve excellence. Big Round World specializes in small group sizes (8-14) giving participants a more intimate and fulfilling experience as our travelers describe in their accolades.

Our deep and abiding passion for natural environments, fauna, and flora compels us to actively practice Leave No Trace on all our trips. Picking up trash along the trail is a natural habit for us. We believe in responsible travel. Knowledgeable local guides add a depth of insight into the little-known sites we visit supporting an authentic experience and flavor of everyday life.

What does success mean to you?
Success is having fun and staying safe. Helping clients fulfill a bucket-list dream, providing a safe and supported environment for them to achieve successes they would not attempt on their own. On my first ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mike signed up for the trip. He was an MD and he had multiple sclerosis.

He was heavily involved with the MS Society and wanted to summit Kili to prove to fellow sufferers, that life can, and does, go on with MS. Mike was accompanied by his girlfriend, Liz. Liz was in good health, younger though a tad overweight. Summit day is tough for everyone, ascending over 4,000 feet to reach the top at 19,310 feet.

At the summit, unbeknownst to all of us, Mike pulled out a diamond engagement ring and proposed to Liz. Oh my. What an emotional high at the “top of the world”. My favorite saying at the start of a trip is “we might start our adventure as a group of strangers but we end our trips as a family”. Many of our clients develop lifelong friendships with their roommates and go on to enjoy future travels together. This is a success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bigroundworld.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigroundworld.walking/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wheregreattripshappen