What does it take to build a successful aviation company from just $25, a single leased helicopter, and an unwavering love for flying?

I sat down with Heather Howley, founder and CEO of Independent Helicopters, to explore her remarkable journey from taking her first helicopter lesson to leading one of the Northeast's premier helicopter companies.

Heather shares it all! The realities of building a business in a male-dominated industry, overcoming setbacks, dealing with criticism, creating systems that allow her to step away from the business, and why JOY has been a driving force behind her success.

Whether you're building a business, leading a team, or simply wondering if you're capable of something bigger, Heather's story is a powerful reminder that resilience, trust, and purpose can take you further than perfection ever will.

3 Key Takeaways

Build the Business—But Don't Lose Yourself

Heather's story is a reminder that while our work can be deeply meaningful, it should never become our entire identity. Real leadership means creating a business that can thrive without you, so you have the freedom to rest, grow, and simply be.

Joy Is a Better Strategy Than Proving Yourself

In a male-dominated industry, Heather faced bias, criticism, and countless opportunities to question herself. Instead of spending her energy proving people wrong, she stayed focused on serving others, doing great work, and finding joy in what she loved most.

Trust Is Built Through People and Systems

Whether you're leading a small team or a growing business, trust doesn't happen by accident. Heather shares why clear communication, documented processes, and empowering your team are what allow leaders to let go without losing control.

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Transcript

Hi, I'm Lori Pine, the Joy CEO, and welcome to the Joy CEO Podcast. We are so glad to have you here today with our wonderful guest, Heather Howley, who is the founder and CEO of Independent Helicopters. I'm delighted to have Heather here with me. Not only is she a dear friend and part of my coaching community, but she is this ambitious, wonderful entrepreneur that you are going to be delighted to hear from today, and wait till you hear about her business.
Heather, welcome. Thank you so much, Lori. It's funny, I, I wonder what people think of me when they hear my name, if it's ambitious first or helicopter first. It's gotta be helicopter. It's gotta be. It's not many women that we're talking to who run and own helicopter companies. Yeah, yeah. So let's talk about that.
I mean, who are you and how did you become the owner of a helicopter company? Oh, man. Okay. So obviously my name is Heather Howley, and right here in New Windsor, New York, so in the Hudson Valley, [00:01:00] I own Independent Helicopters and have for now 18 years, which is crazy to think that it's been that long. But I- we do all things helicopters, so flight instruction, charter, tours, airport transfers, gender reveals, proposals, weddings, all kinds of things, and training of course.
So the short story on how I got started, I mean, there's two stories that I always tell. One is how I got into flying, which is I went for one flight and fell in love. It was basically love at first flight. And I don't really know what made me go for the first one other than I was really curious into aviation and, you know, I had a woman that mentored me and she said that I should check out helicopters.
She was an airplane pilot and a helicopter pilot in the military, and so she suggested it, and there was an ad for a free ride and I went and that was it. I was like, "How do I sign up? Take all my money." My mother thought I was crazy and that I was gonna die, and that it wasn't the safest decision for me to make, of course, and a waste of money and time, all the things.
And I basically gave her an ultimatum. I said, "Either co-sign my loan or don't, but this is what I'm doing." So that was in 2005. And started flying, took lessons in California, San Diego, and then moved to [00:02:00] Colorado, finished up my ratings there. Moved back to New York in the Hudson Valley here at Stewart Airport.
Worked for a company for six months before they went bankrupt. Now, I'm, I love helping people and so the, the catalyst, if you will, for starting the business was really I wanted to help the students from the bankrupt school achieve their dream of flying helicopters. So I was working for another company after that one and said to them, "I'd love to lease this little R22 helicopter and help these students from the bankrupt school."
They said, "Yeah, great. Give us your resignation letter. You know, we'll be business partners." So at 25 years old with $25, I started Independent Helicopters DBA. Looking back now, I'm like, "Oh, my God. What was I thinking?" The amount of liability that I took on- Yeah ... with helicopters and students and training and all the things, but I leased the first helicopter, and no one from the bankrupt school came and trained with me.
I think I had one maybe. And so it didn't really pay the bills, and I found one student who ended up pre-paying the first 10 hours, and that's how the, I paid for my bills the first month. And it was like that for the first probably three years where I was, I say robbing Peter to [00:03:00] pay Paul kind of thing, but just on a shoestring budget really- A lot of grit to get through those first three years, but here we are now 18 years later.
Yeah. W- wow. And I think that's the story for almost every entrepreneur the first three years, right? It's shoestring budget, robbing Peter to pay Paul. But you, you have a vision. You, you have heart. You have something inside of you that says, "Oh, I can do this. This is bigger than me." Maybe it's you're gonna help a bankrupt school or not, or you're just gonna find somebody with a passion- Yeah
who aligns to your passion. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I think when you get into business, right, it's important what your motivation is. So if you're getting into business to make a lot of money, that's probably not... I mean, it's a great motivation, but it may not be the thing that people resonate with, 'cause they wanna feel taken care of.
They wanna feel supported. And so for me, it was, how do I help the people? And then I got into this, I'll call it a cycle, of I just can't quit now. Like, I've gotten to this point, let me just go a little bit further. And then, oh, what's next? A little [00:04:00] bit further. And so it just, I mean, one little leased helicopter, we ha- now have nine helicopters in two locations, and it's just grown, grown, and grown, and grown, and grown, 'cause I just don't know when to stop.
Yeah. I think a lot of people listening can relate to that idea that they don't know when to stop, and when you grow, like, inch by inch and you actually take inventory and look back, you're like, "Wow." Mm. "Look at what has happened." So nine helicopters, two locations. And I've been to your hangar. It is beautiful.
It is not just like some little shack with a couple of- ... you know, helicopters in it. No. It is state-of-the-art, a beautiful space. And you do amazing things. I mean, just this weekend you were doing something really cool. Oh, I love... So we filmed the Boston Pops, the, the fireworks spectacular, and the drone show that was out there at the Hatch Shell in Boston.
It's amazing. We used to do it every [00:05:00] year up until COVID, and then COVID hit, and things sort of shuffled a little bit. So this is my first year back doing it again this year, and I mean, as much as it's, it's a lot of work, I really love it. Like, I remember flying, I think it was on the 3rd or the 4th, and I was like, "Oh my God," like, "I love my job."
We literally have the best job in the world. It was awesome. Yes. Yeah. But you get phone calls to do really big events. You do- Mm-hmm ... you know, phone calls for FIFA, phone calls for the US Women's Tennis Open. Like- Mm-hmm ... your phone rings to do these incredible events. So you've really made a name for yourself.
Yeah, yeah. Which I didn't realize I was doing at the time, in fairness. Oh. I didn't go out to be like, "I'm gonna be..." You know, no, it's just- Isn't ... it's interesting, 'cause I was at the airport in Boston, and three different people came up to me, and they were like, "Oh my God, are you that girl from TikTok?" I'm like, "Oh, man."
Oh. Here we go. But they recognize me, so I'm, uh, it is, I've, I've created quite a reputation. Yeah. So let's talk about that, because you really are in an industry that is [00:06:00] still overwhelmingly male, right? Mm-hmm. And yet, at 25, you probably didn't think much about that. But here you are 18 years later, and there might still be some repercussions of that.
O- Yeah ... what, what is that like? That's a great question. It's funny, I heard someone say recently, instead of saying male-dominated, we should say male-populated. And I love it because it, it changed my perspective on it a little bit because it's not that they're dominating the industry because there are many women that are in it.
I think we're at 6%, maybe 7% now are women in aviation, which is a lot-ish, if you think of it- ... but really still not very much. And it's interesting 'cause I used to really get upset about the men in the industry and how I was treated, and I remember I had one man that said to me, "Oh, y-," so I was vacuuming out the simulator that we had.
And he goes, "Oh, you know, you're doing what you finally should be doing as a woman." And he was joking, but I still, like, took it really hard. I was like, wow, like, that really sucked to hear that comment. But what I love now is when I'm out, like, let's say I go [00:07:00] fly somewhere, we land for fuel. A stranger walks up to myself and my client, who's typically a man, and they always ask the man first.
And typically, the student looks at me and he's like, "I don't understand what this guy's asking me. Like, what do I..." And so then I end up answering. So it's nice to kind of put people, I don't want to say in their place necessarily, but to just be like, "Yes, I am this person, and, and I can answer the question for you probably much better than this other person can."
So I've had a lot of give and take. There's also, I will say, a lot of benefit to being a woman in the industry. We're smaller, we're lighter, so as far as helicopters go, it's very important for those things. We get a lot more work because of that. And when I speak on the radio, when I'm talking to the tower in ATC, I actually get, I don't want to say preferential treatment, but because my voice sounds different than the other guys on the radio, they hear me, right?
And so I usually get responded to quicker than the guys do, which is kind of nice. Yes, you're very distinct. Yeah, I think that. Coming over the radio. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Do you think that there was a moment when you started being taken much [00:08:00] more seriously in aviation? Did something happen? You know, I would s- there's like a yes and no answer to that 'cause I think even now, if you look at any of my social media and the comments that people put, it's horrible.
Like, I can't read them. And people often say, "Oh, she's an idiot. She doesn't know what she's talking about." I had one guy who said to me, because I'm not a military pilot, I can't have any nighttime or instrument time or all these other things. I was like, "I can't be where I am right now without those things."
So he obviously didn't know enough about the industry to be even commenting that. So I think a lot of what I get is, is people who lack the education to understand how I've gotten to my position and what I really hold, if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. It does. And so how do you combat that? Like, h- how do you, how do you walk through life with that?
Okay? So there's this one saying that I love is, "Someone else's opinion of me is none of my business." I love that one. That's so good. Right? And so it's just kind of like I ... You think it, it's a reflection of them is how I t- I try to look at it. Like, you say whatever you want, and [00:09:00] sometimes it stings, but if I can just- Mm-hmm
churn, you know, and I'm gonna keep going in the direction I'm going rather than focus on that, 'cause that's not serving me, right? That's super- Yeah ... it's drama, and I don't want to engage in it. I don't want to encourage that behavior either. So I'm just gonna refocus and do something that's more productive, because that's a better use of my time and energy.
Yeah. I love that- Yeah ... so much. It's hard. Yeah. But- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have a son who I, I always said was, like, Teflon. Like, nothing ever stuck. It just- Mm-hmm ... it would just bounce right off him, and I always aspire to be a little bit more like him, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just to not let things stick.
So you, you have reached a really high level of competence, and sometimes when women reach th- these high level of competencies, they confuse their skill with their whole identity. When you do that with flying or owning the business, how do you make sure that you keep the [00:10:00] two separate? Competency and skills.
Yeah, that's such a great question. Yeah. Such a great question. If you had asked me this question probably even a year ago, I would've said that I am Independent Helicopters, right? Like- Yeah ... it is my entire identity. And just this year I finally took six weeks off. I left. I went on this trip of a lifetime with one of my girlfriends.
We had such a good time, and I found myself again. So my identity wasn't tied to Independent Helicopters or me being a helicopter pilot or a business owner. I got to just be me again, and it was the first time in a very long time that I was like, "Oh, this is who I am without that business, without that identity."
And it, it has shifted my perspective a little bit because I really, I've, for the last three years I've been trying to sell the business, in all fairness, and I was like, "Okay, well, who am I once I sell the business? Will people wanna be friends with me? Will, will I have business? Will I still have the reputation and the clout, you know, wherever I go?"
And I think I got to this place finally where I was like, "I don't care." Like, I, I really don't care. Like, [00:11:00] I want to, I wanna have ease and flow in my life, and yes, I can still have fun flying helicopters, but it doesn't have to be everything that I am. And so it's given me this nice pause to reflect and appreciate and acknowledge where I've come and still be like, okay, I can still be that girl who goes out in my garden and, you know, picks weeds or- Yeah
you know, plants flowers or goes on this epic vacation. Like, there's, there's so much, there's so many facets to every individual. I like to think of somebody like a little diamond, right? Like, as you turn it or reflect it, like, it changes the perspective of the diamond, so that's who we are as humans. And so understanding that I can just shift that a tiny bit, that little diamond, a little, little glimmer, you know- Yeah
and then I can see a different side of myself or somebody else for that matter. So it's hard to, it was really hard for me to break that identity. But it's, it, it feels so good to know that I am just me without all the things, you know? Yes. And man, the light sure does shine differently when we just move just [00:12:00] a little bit and a little bit- Mm-hmm
and let that light shine in. I really love that answer. Thanks. How... So six-week vacation, and it was an epic vacation. It was. I kind of got to see some of those behind the scenes. How far into the six weeks before you were able to kind of breathe a little? Three weeks. Three weeks. Halfway. Three weeks. Yep.
Yep. So for anybody listening that thinks, you know, "I'll just take a week off, I'll be good, I'll be refreshed," probably not. We probably need a reset of, of- Yeah ... some really sorts that allows us to just fully decompress. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll be honest, it was three weeks till I, like, broke it, if you will, and then I had about a week that was really awesome, and then at week five, I was like, "Oh, my God, I need to get back to my business.
It's falling apart. I have to get back." And then that passed, and by week six, I was like, "I don't wanna go back. Don't make me." Yeah. I can totally see that happening. Mm-hmm. Yeah. [00:13:00] Yeah. Yes. Yes. So a good reset and a good six weeks away. I think everybody could use six weeks away. I'm already planning, like, my next two trips.
I'm like, "How do I get out of here more?" Which is great to be at that point, right, as a business, to be able to walk away and have it still, you know, run and do its thing. So, yeah. Well, let's talk about that because that was an important lesson for you- Yeah ... in this particular trip, right? Like, you set up an SOP.
Yeah. You had somebody in place. You were able to, you know, put all of those people, procedures in, in order- Yeah ... so that you could walk away. Yeah, yeah. And I think where it got the hiccup was people weren't actually following the SOP. I was like, "No, this is the purpose. This is why we created it. This is what I want.
This is how I wanna be communicated with while I'm gone." And the first probably week or two, they didn't do that. And I was like, "Okay, whether you like it or not, or like me or not, I don't care. This is how it needs to be, you know, while I'm gone." And so then it [00:14:00] finally got into a rhythm, which was really nice.
And then there were some decisions that were made that they thought were good that weren't necessarily, that I probably should've been involved in, which is why I was like, at the week five, I was like, "Ugh." Yeah. But now moving forward, it'll be easier for me to be gone for, you know, a week, three weeks, a month, you know, here and there, so it won't be so bad.
Yes. And your business is going through a growth period right now. Huge. Huge. Yeah, we're actually... So I hired four. I'm trying to think. I have one, two, three, four, maybe five. Five. Amazing. Um, yeah. And what's really interesting is that they're all women. And so we have a, a female pilot coming on. I have two admins coming on that are both women, and then the operations person, I'd originally hired a man, and I'm thinking about putting a woman in that position now, so we just interviewed another woman and I really liked her.
So that'll be, 50% of my staff will be women, which has never been the case in 18 years of business. So I'm very excited. We are just changing the tides here. Yeah, yeah. [00:15:00] Yeah. It's really good. Incredible. Incredible. So you personally fly with your clients, and- Mm-hmm ... you, I think, take a great deal of pride in that.
H- why do you still show up in the pilot seat, you know, when there's so much of running the business to do? So if I go back to, like, I genuinely care and I wanna support people, right? 'Cause that's how I started the business and, and it still holds very true for me. They... I tend to be the fixer, so when people, students for example, are ha- are struggling to learn something, they give me the student and I fix them, right?
So like I can bring them to the next level, whatever that may be. Because I have, you know, 19 years of teaching experience, that I can take that to the student and go, "Okay, this is where..." I go to the root cause of what they're- Mm-hmm ... whatever their issue is as opposed to the surface level experience, and that tends to move them through a little bit quicker.
With this Boston Pops thing, for example, it's because of my experience and the reputation and the, the relationship that I have with that company. They could have used a company in Boston. In fact, when we [00:16:00] were in Boston, there's a company that's there that lent me wheels, and we got to hang out in their, their office space and everything, and the guy who works there worked for me before.
And so I'm very... They, that company could have handled it, but because of my relationship with the film company, we got that job and got paid to fly out there and do the job and fly back. So it's a lot of that. I think it's my reputation that, that people still want to come and fly with me. They feel safe with me, and I really enjoy it.
Like, I got into this business because I love flying. And so for me, it's because I love it. I get to choose who I, I get to fly with and what I wanna do, and the jobs that I don't wanna do, I give to my staff, right? But I still really enjoy those aha moments with students, the really cool watching the fireworks from the air jobs, you know, those types of things are, are...
They keep me going. They keep the passion alive for me. Yes. I think it's so critical to know your strengths. To know that your strength is teaching and seeing where somebody might be struggling and helping them get to the [00:17:00] root cause. Whereas you could spend all your time in the business and crunching numbers, right?
But that's probably not the best use of your time. And so really knowing your strength and where you can just put in a little bit and it will go so far- Yeah ... and make such a big impact. I think oftentimes we can get lost in, in losing our strength to the business- Mm-hmm ... and kind of, and kind of leave that behind, and I love that you are, you refuse to do that.
Yeah. I try and do it all. Well- Wear the 15 hats, but, yeah. Well, then there's that. But there's also something to be said about, like, do the things that bring you joy, right? Mm. And so if that brings me joy, I don't wanna give that piece up- Yeah ... because then, like, my energy within the business, like, directly correlates to the bank account.
So if I'm not having fun or enjoying the business, then my bank account shows, you know? So if I can keep that piece, then the rest of it follows. For sure. For sure. Yeah. And, and there's [00:18:00] proven statistics around joy in leadership and what happens to profitability. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's funny, I had one of my staff tell me the other day, they said that they really love working for me, right?
That, that I'm, like, the best boss they've ever had, and I laughed. I was like, "You know what's funny is I don't have an MBA. I've never run an organization. I've never managed anything. This is the very first one that I've really done, and I have no idea what I'm doing." So... And he's like, "No, I think you're doing a pretty good job."
I'm like, "Okay, thanks. Thanks for that. I really..." Like, it was so nice to hear that from my staff, and I still, in the back of my mind, I'm like, "But do I, am I really? Do I know what I'm doing?" So I think there's some, some truth to that, that it's okay to not know what you're doing, and to, to follow the joy, really.
Yes. To follow the joy, to follow your intuition, to follow your strengths. To give away what's not your strengths to other people- Yeah ... that you hire, like these five people you're hiring. Let them be experts in their lane, and then all the tide rises, so all the ships rise. Exactly. That's the beauty of leading.
Mm-hmm. [00:19:00] For sure. Exactly. Yeah. For sure. For sure. So what would you tell a woman who is already established in her career, but might want to start over and do something like fly helicopters? How would she do this? It's so funny. I always... I have a friend who I've, I've said-- We've had this conversation, her and I, and I always ask her, I'm like, "What's the worst thing that happens?
You fall flat on your face, you pick yourself up, and you do it again. Like, no big deal." But I, what... Like, I don't wanna be that person, and we've heard this a million times, right? But I don't wanna be that person on my deathbed that says, "Oh, man, I wish that I had done this." Like, I don't... And I don't have any regrets in my life.
There are things that maybe I could have done a little differently, but I got to where I am because of the choices that I made. And I never expected to be where I am, A, but I also was like, "What's the worst that'll happen?" Right? Like, okay, I start this business, and it doesn't work out, then I'll go somewhere else.
Like, no big deal. So I think a lot of... The other comment that gets said to me is, "I have to have all my ducks in a row before I can start," right? And I [00:20:00] don't agree with that either. I'm very much a I-jumped-and-built-my-wings-on-the-way-down person. Yeah. So literally. But I, I think you can get stuck in fear, and I don't think that that's a healthy place to be.
And so it's easier, for me anyway, to just take action. Okay, what's one small step that I can take right now towards whatever my goal, my dream is? Because if I get stuck in fear, then I'll sit there, and I'll, I'll spin and spin and spin, and then I won't get anywhere, and then I'll be more resentful, more regretful, whatever other word you wanna attach that.
So I think just do it. What's the worst that can happen? Yeah. For sure. Fear can always manifest as perfectionism. Totally. And that will paralyze us. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. For sure. Okay, what's the hardest part of being a woman-owned business in an industry where most of your customers, competitors, you know, people are probably men?
So I can't think of what the hardest part is, but I'll tell you a recent story. [00:21:00] We got calls to do, I don't, something out in Sullivan County. They wanted the helicopter to come, and I think we were letting a skydiver out and then landing and doing something for some summer camp, right? And my admin, you know, Zuki, who's down in the office, he was talking to them first and coordinating the whole thing.
And then he said, "I have to check with our chief pilot to see if that's something we can do." And so he calls the guy back and he says, "Okay, our chief pilot said that she would be the one to fly because she's the only one who does skydivers and all these things." And the guy was like, "Oh, it's a woman?" And he was like, "Yeah, it's, that's who owns the business."
And the guy was like, "We can't have a woman come. We will not work with a woman." And in some instances ar- in our area, right, it's, it's a cultural and/or religious reason- Oh, yes ... that they can't have me there. Yeah. And so I was like, "Okay, I get it, but I'm not letting anyone else do it." Yeah. And I'm not upset to lose that job.
I can understand... And, and part of me is I wanna understand, right? Like, why can't women do it? So I always ask these students or these, these clients these questions like, "Well, why can't I? Tell me more. I'm very curious about your religious or cultural belief that makes it so I can't." Like, I wanna [00:22:00] understand.
You can do whatever you wanna do. I, I hold no fault against you, but I wanna understand so I can move forward with it. So that was a recent story of, of that, you know, being a woman in a male-dominated or male-populated field, which I'll say from now on. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I think if I thought a little harder, like the hardest part is that, I mean, people just don't think I can do it.
You know? I get a lot of that, like, "Oh, she's just a, a girl. She's just a woman. She doesn't know what she's doing. She can't..." I, I mean, case in point, like pulling out a helicopter out of our hangar, right? Like, they, they think it's crazy that I do that. So I, I call it the boss card, not the girl card anymore.
I'm like, "Can you guys pull out my helicopter and push out my helicopter for me 'cause I'm the boss, not a girl who can't do it," 'cause I can totally do it on my own, and I have other resources here that, that can aid me in that. But smaller frame, not as big muscles, it's hard to push a 2,500-pound helicopter out of a hangar.
Yeah. Yeah, I bet. You know? But, but yeah, I think that, that story of, you know, they wouldn't have a woman do it is probably the, the one that stings a little bit, where I'm like, [00:23:00] "Oh," like that, that's unfortunate that you don't know who I am and, and the amount of hours that I have and experience that I have in order to be able to do that job is the best you'll get, but you think that you need to have a man, you know?
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. St- stings. Stings. Let's talk about trust in a helicopter, because there's probably no other place that I... I mean, there's maybe a couple other places, but really than a helicopter where you need trust. So someone's, like, trusting you with their life- Life. Mm-hmm ... when, right, when you're up in a helicopter.
What has that taught you about trust in the rest of your life, your business, your relationships? God, like, this is such a hard question for me, because trust is one of those things that I used to just give willy-nilly and be like, "I trust everybody," until I got burned, and then, you know, I paid the price.
And now, I- it's funny, I always tell all my clients, I'm like, "Trust but verify." So for example, we fill up the helicopter and they put the fuel cap back [00:24:00] on. I say, "Okay, it's great that you want to trust them, that they put it back on, but I'm gonna verify that it's in fact on. I'm gonna verify that the helicopter has been pre-flighted or whatever."
In the helicopter, I feel very confident, you know, and I, and I know what to look for as far as trust goes and all those things. In my personal life and, and personal relationships, I find that to be much more of a challenge for me and something that I'm still working on. I think that that may be a lifelong work on.
But I think it goes back, I mean, you had said intuition earlier, you know, and I think leaning more on my intuition and trusting my gut has, has lately been my go-to. So if I feel something or sense something, I'm trusting my gut first, rather than, oh, let me now mull, mull it over in my head and think about it five million times and find all the reasons why I should or shouldn't trust this person.
If my gut says no, it's a no, period. Right. And then- Yeah ... I may look for evidence to support that, but I'm gonna go with my gut much more. Yeah, that's, it's a tough one. That's hard. Yeah. How about in business? Where do you, [00:25:00] where does trust come in in business? With my staff. So what I found with my staff, and it's funny 'cause I was having this conversation with my right-hand man here, and I was like, "When we assign somebody a task, right, I need to trust that they're going to complete the task and/or do it in the way that I set them up.
And if they don't, then it's on me to change how I trained them or the SOP that I created, so that way they have a resource to go to, so that will build trust within our relationship as an employee-employer." But I think relinquishing that tru- that, I don't wanna say trust because I'm not relinquishing trust, but I'm...
that control. So they get to do the job, and I can trust that they're gonna do the job well and be okay if it's not exactly as I would do it. Right. And I think that's where that control sort of comes in, where I'm like, "Oh, it has to be, and if they're not gonna do it right, then I'm gonna do, do it myself."
I don't have time for that, right? Yeah. So I need to delegate and trust that they're gonna do what I've asked them to do in the way that I've asked them to do it, and be okay with some minor imperfections here and there, you know? Yeah. Yes. But any other relationship outside of my own staff- Yeah ... I try and put in, I'm a [00:26:00] big communicator, right?
So, like communication is huge for me, so I'm going to communicate very clearly what my expectations are and by when, so that way there are clear markers for people to, to communicate back with me. And if I'm not getting the communication that I want back, I'll communicate more until I get that, so that way I, I feel like I can trust them, 'cause it's an internal thing for me.
Yep. Yes. So important. So important. Well, what does it feel like to be the person everyone assumes has it handled? You know- ... you're up in the helicopter- Yes ... and it's weather or it's mechanical or it's a nervous first-time flyer, and everybody looks to you, and you're the one that's, you know, gotta be cool as a cucumber.
So I had an engine failure years ago, and I had Mom, Dad, two small children in the helicopter with me. It was the last ride before I was getting fuel, and I was two and a half miles out from the airport. And I remember looking at my gauges, I was like, "Hmm, something's not quite right." And I, like, adjusted some things with the controls.
I was like, "I don't like it. [00:27:00] I'm turning around and going back." And so I turned around to go back to the airport, and I watched the problem get worse and worse, but I didn't tell my passengers. And so they were asking me questions. "What got you into flying?" You know, "How long have you been doing it?" All the questions basically that you've asked me today.
And I'm trying to have a normal conversation with them while monitoring my helicopter, like, "Oh, my God, I'm gonna die." And I'm like, I'm like, "Should I land? Should I not?" I, and I didn't say anything to them. And so I, I landed the helicopter, and the engine ended up dying, like, as I was coming into a hover.
And we set it down further away from where we had taken off from, and I said, "Oh, sorry, guys, this is where I'm gonna have to land to get fuel. Thanks for coming." My staff comes out. They're looking at me like I'm crazy. And I'm like, "Yep, just take them." And, and I'm like, "The engine just died." They're like, "No, it didn't.
You're fine." I'm like, "No, I'm telling you the engine just died." They're like, "No, no, no. Start it up again. It'll be fine." I was like, "I'm telling you, it's done. Like, I shouldn't start it back up." They're like, "Start it up again." So what do I do? I start it up again, and oil and smoke comes all out of the helicopter.
Yeah, I had killed half of my engine, basically. And so to answer your [00:28:00] question, I would say fake it till you make it. Yeah, I don't know. I just, I go into things and I'm like, "Okay, they don't know that I feel this way," right? And so why would I... Sometimes I'm very honest and like, "This is how I'm feeling, guys," and sometimes I don't.
You know, I think wearing my emotions on my sleeves is a good thing, and people will often tell me that they know exactly where they stand with me at any given moment because I'm very honest and forthcoming. I, I won't talk bad about you behind your back. I'll just tell you to your face. Amen. It's like, yeah.
But in that case, it was just like I, I wanted to make sure that their experience was still a good experience, and I wanted to make sure that I could do what I needed to do without their panic on top of it. So it was just kind of thinking about the, the consequences or the outcome that could exist and what do I need to do or how do I need to act in this moment in order to make the final outcome be what I want it to be.
And so it was thinking 10 steps ahead to then react in the moment. Amazing. Because [00:29:00] had I been the person in the backseat, right, I would have so appreciated the fact that you just kept your calm and did not tell me that the engine was failing. So- Yeah ... well done, Heather. Oh, yeah. Yes. That poor... I mean, I think they must know now if they follow me at all, like I've mentioned-
that story quite a few times, and I'm sure that they're like, "Oh, that was us." Yeah. Oh, gosh. Amazing. Well- Yeah ... well done. Great training. Amazing skill set- Oh ... getting everybody safely to the ground. That actually reminds me, when my Jackson was 14 months old, he had a medical emergency and had to be airlifted.
Mm-hmm. We, we lived in a small little town in Mississippi, and he had to be airlifted to Memphis to the children's hospital. And, you know, I didn't know anything about how those things worked at the time. Well, mommies and daddies do not get to go on the helicopter- Yep ... for obvious reasons, like if there's a medical emergency [00:30:00] while in flight, the parents would be in the way.
Yeah. And they need, you know, it's such a small space, they need all the room that they can get. But I often think about that, you know, the, the, the small space, the need for an emergency, and the need for the paramedics to be able to do their work up there, and how- Yeah ... tensions are already running high, and they've got to take care of somebody who's really in critical condition in order to be- Yeah
in a helicopter, so- Yeah ... unbelievable. Um- You know, when I started flying, I wanted to be an EMS pilot. I was like, "Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do." And then I quickly realized that I pass out when people bleed, so, or like veins involved. Yeah. So Yeah, yeah. So- Not a good choice. No. Not, not a good choice. Let's just get you- No
right in the pilot seat. Yep. Yeah. Well. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about, like, the business side of it. Do you think of yourself as ambitious? Because, like, a lot of women flinch at that word, but do you? No. God, no. No. Me either. It's my [00:31:00] identity. Yeah. Ambitious, driven, yeah, all those things. Like, I, I think driven is the word that I lean towards most.
You know, I have a lot of grit. Like, those three words I take a lot of pride in, actually. Like- Yeah ... yeah, I'm ambitious. I run five companies right now. Like, yeah. Yes. The helicopter one's just the biggest one. I don't know. Same. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. No. No. Me either. Me either. Okay.
And if joy and success ever competed for the same hour of your day, which one wins, and how do you decide? Can I just say both? 'Cause they kind of go hand-in-hand for me. But I would lean more towards joy, I think, and I say that, but it's, it's hard because... Actually, no, it's not hard. I would definitely say joy.
There have been instances where I was like, "Okay, I could go do this flight that I don't really wanna do, or I could choose something that makes me happy," and I've always chosen the joy, and then delegated the other thing. So yeah. Yeah. It's almost like a, a both/and situation there, but I would definitely lean more towards joy than anything.
Yes. I [00:32:00] think the joy, if we fee- keep feeding the joy, the joy ultimately becomes the success. 100%. Like, it's the natural path- Yeah ... to the success. Yeah, agreed. Yeah, and I think, I think, I don't know if I said this earlier, but I'll say it again, it's if you're not joyful in your business, it directly shows in your business, right?
In your bank account. But not in a good way. Yeah, totally. There you go. Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. It sh- it shows. I mean, people know when you're miserable. Yeah. They know. Yeah. They know, and they're not really signing up to work with you or for you or around you. Yeah. Energy's a thing, man, and I don't think we give it enough credit, but the, the saying, you know, fill your cup first before you can fill other people's, this is exactly what we're talking about, where if you're having fun and joyful and at ease and flow, then everything else around you will be.
You know? Or you can be the thermostat and affect the temperature of everything else. Do you know what I mean? Yes, I know exactly what you mean, and I, I think we talk a lot about time management in, you know, our country, our world, our [00:33:00] business minds, but it's really energy management. Mm-hmm. Like, where are we putting our energy?
You know, I have a friend that says, you know, "If it's not a hell yes, then it's an F no," you know? Yep. Like, like really. Yep. And- Yep ... and how do we start to differentiate those things and, and go where our energy's really telling us to go? Yep. And do that sort of work, and then find ways to delegate the stuff we, we just aren't good at, don't wanna do, can't do, whatever it is.
Yeah. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. Okay, my last question for you is a fun question. Tell me what's the worst job you've ever had Oh, man. Oh, I have to really think about this one 'cause I'm, like, the worst one. So my mind immediately goes to... I used to be a, a animal vet tech assistant kind of thing, and my mind immediately goes to working there, like, working an overnight.
And this is gonna sound really morbid and really [00:34:00] gross, but I'm gonna say it. We had a dog that they thought had rabies, and the only way you can test for rabies is in the brain, and so having to decapitate a dog at 2:00 AM was probably the worst job ever. Yeah. I would think. Yes. Yeah. That's awful. Yeah, yeah.
There were a lot of things I loved about that job, like doing C-sections on dogs and, like, bringing puppies into the world was awesome, or kittens into the world. That was my favorite part, but the worst part was probably doing things like that or, you know, having to... all that. It was kinda gross. And wait, what was the purpose?
Like, that sounds more like an autopsy. They thought he had rabies. Yeah, right. And so y- you have to bring the head to the clinic to have them test the brain for rabies. But, but why did you need to know after the fact? Because he had... They thought... So it's a long story, but they thought that this dog had bitten somebody- Oh, okay
and so they needed to test- Right ... to see because he was the- If- ... a pet of a- If the human ... homeless man, essentially. Yeah. Yeah, if the human may be infected. Correct. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was probably... That was horrible. Not a fun story, but- No. Yeah. [00:35:00] No. Yeah. No. That was pretty bad. I thought I was gonna do that for the rest of my life.
I was like, "Yeah, I'm gonna work with animals." That's what I went to school for, my biology degree, everything, and I loved it, and it was hard though. And it was hard. Yeah. Yeah. I, I have a client who's a veterinarian, and it, according to her, it's very difficult. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just, like, fun working with dogs and horses and, you know- Yeah
that sort of stuff. It's, it's hard- Yeah ... yeah, to do. Okay. What is on your radar for joy? Mm. On my radar for joy? That's a great question. So we have the summer. Obviously, we're in summer right now, and it is our busiest season, so we have a lot of events coming up. And I think I really love the events because it's my way of sharing what, what my joy is, right?
My passion, which is flying. And so to take people up for their first helicopter ride or, you know, little kids that, you know, may be scared or parents that are scared but their kids really wanna go, and just breaking that, you know, to be like, look, it really can be fun and peaceful in the air, and [00:36:00] it's really...
That brings me so much joy. It actually re- reignites my own spark to be like, "Oh, this is why I love it. I can see it through their eyes now." Oh. I can experience their excitement in the air. So we have a lot of events this season. I think we're going straight through to the middle of October, and I love it.
It's so much fun. So fun. So in your business, you train people to become helicopter pilots. You give tours to people who live in the Hudson Valley or are visiting the Hudson Valley. And where do these tours go? What kind of tours can people take? So our most popular one out of our Stewart Airport location is the West Point tour.
Oh. So 30 minutes, you get down over West Point, up over Bannerman's Island, Mount Beacon, and back. We also do New York City, so if you wanted to go and do, like, a sunset over New York City, that's beautiful. Highly recommend. And New York City, I would say you could do year-round. So even in the winter, the city still looks really cool from the air.
Amazing. And a fresh snowfall is also really pretty. So those are probably the two most [00:37:00] popular here. We also have, in Saratoga at our second location, the downtown Saratoga and the racecourse for the horse track that's up there, so the Saratoga horse race. And then we do Lake George as well, which is also stunning, and you can see the Adirond- Adirondacks from up there.
Beautiful. So. Beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful. And you can even do a wine tour by helicopter, 'cause we do that, too. Ooh, say more. Yeah. We call it the High Spirits Tour. So we go land at, like, a winery, a distillery, a cidery, or any combination that you'd like. There's a bunch that we- that we're partnered with.
And so we go land, you have your little tasting, I wait for you, and then I take you back and either bring you to another one or bring you back if you only wanna do one tasting. Yeah. And so I'm your driver essentially for your- your wine tasting. So for anybody listening who wants more joy in their life, it sounds like Heather could- Yeah
be the delivery option for that. So. 100%, yeah. All right, Heather, and where can people find out more about you and your services? So independenthelicopters.com is probably the easiest. That's our website. Or if you're on any social media platform, it's [00:38:00] Independent Heli on any social media. Yeah. And clearly TikTok has become a sensation.
Yeah, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Those are... I mean, TikTok started, I was, like, not a fan of TikTok, and my guy's like, "No, no, you need to do TikTok." I was like, "Okay, fine. If one video goes viral, then I'll- I'll do it." The very first video I posted got like a million views overnight. I was like, "Damn it." "I didn't wanna do that."
Yeah. And now you're being recognized in other cities- All over ... and yeah. All, other countries too. I- Even New Zealand I got recognized, yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Well, Heather, what a pleasure to have you on today. Thank you so much for sharing so much with all of us. It was really just a joy. Thank you so much