Interview with Liv Jones of Result Based Training

Self-Start Mums showcases mothers who have created their own self-employed business. To find out how they juggle family, work and personal life, stay tuned.

I’m delighted to share my interview with Liv Jones, Business Owner of Result Based TrainingThis series features sponsored content.

My Interview with Liv: Business Owner of Result Based Training

1. Tell me about yourself?

I’m Liv Jones; Wife, Mum, Business Owner, and die hard fan of Nigella Lawson.

2. Tell us about your self-employed business?

We have three main businesses, plus there are always some side projects running.

RBT Gyms – 20 locations to date, opening five a quarter, we aim to have 32 by the end of 2018 and 50 by the close of 2019. We’re almost up to our seven year anniversary. Truth be told I didn’t start this business, but my husband and I have grown it from the beginning, it grew from an overwhelming desire to transform people’s lives through health and fitness. It’s a family, and it is safe to say, our first baby. https://youtu.be/2lyjJB13h5o

Think Tank Movement – For the last six years my husband and I have been coaching business owners internationally with huge success, we travelled, we worked beyond what may seem possible, and we loved every minute of it. Every dollar of this business was reinvested into RBT’s rapid growth that required huge capital investment from us, or into facilitating the growth of our coaching business.

During the growth of this business we had our first child Jaxon, now three. As surprise babies usually have to, Jax slotted into our insane schedules. He was on a plane to Sydney for a conference at two weeks old and on a plane to Ireland at three weeks.

The first year of international travel was easy, Jax is a superstar to this day, he takes travel in his stride. The second year, a little harder as we had a walking talking little pocket rocket, but when we found out we were having our second child, we changed tactic and opened the Think Tank, which is completely focused on coaching Australian based SMEs in service industries.

This meant we could continue coaching businesses, which I love, it allows us to change the lives of business owners and show them that success is more than possible it’s inevitable. You just need the right tools. Plus, now we don’t have to travel as much, win/win.

Attain Digital Agency; one of the things we needed to get really good at, and fast, was Social Media Marketing. When it’s your own money, and you need clients into your existing and new businesses, you need to understand Facebook Marketing.

Without a doubt we are the best in the business when it comes to Return on Investment based Social Media Marketing. We initially ran it all in house for all the gyms and took on a few clients here and there. When we hit ten gyms, Travis and I could not sustain the marketing all on our own, plus grow the coaching and have a child… we were running out of hours in the day.

So, a year ago we formally branched out a third company, Attain Media. It facilitates the marketing for all of our gyms, we have an amazing team, and of course we now have over 30 other clients in various service-based businesses and growing every day. We love the challenge of the strategy, playing the game of Facebook, and giving our clients back the hours and hours spent desperately trying to turn on the tap of unlimited leads.

3. How did you transition to working for yourself?

I moved home from London and we decided it was all or nothing, and that in order for RBT Gyms to reach its potential and for us to live the life we wanted. We needed to go all in.

4. What was your previous career?

 

I worked for ten years as an International Sales Manager, Product Development and Design Director. Then I was poached to work for a Design Company in London as National Sales Manager for UK and Europe.

5. Describe a typical day in your working life?

My days have always been flexible, but since the arrival of children it has become far more structured. Our youngest is now six months old, so he is no longer in the office with me, but we have a babysitter than minds him from 9.30am – 3pm.

My days typically start:

• 6.30am – Up with the little one
• 7.30am – Gym
• 8.15am – Shower, breakfast, feed and dress kids, and all the chaos that is leaving the house
• 9.30am – Babysitter arrives, drop Jax to daycare
• 9.45am – 2.55pm Work, Work, Work!
• 3pm – Home to the baby (If he is sleeping, get a few bonus things done)
• 4pm – Pick up Jax. Its’s madness until 8pm when both kids go down… fingers crossed, all the mummas understand this is a daily gamble
• 8pm – 9.30pm – Clean up, set up for the next day, finish off any outstanding issues to win the day, talk shop with the hubby
• 9.30pm – 10.30pm – Downtime

Then repeat!

6. How many hours do you work per week on your business?

In the beginning we worked every possible moment, there was no off time, we will outwork nearly anyone. Now, I do my very best to balance, work, mum, wife, life. I don’t win every day but I am a huge believer in goal setting.

We would not have been as successful in business had we not always had crystal clear goals. The trick is to know whether you won or lost the day, week, month, so that you can shift and change to get the best result. I work hard now so that when my kids are at school, playing sport, play dates, parties, I can be the mum in the canteen, the bake sale queen, and never miss a game.

That being said, my kids are my number one priority and we have built our businesses so that we can always be there for them.

7. Do you supplement your income in any other ways?

Our businesses pay the bills, that is why they are there. If you have a CLEAR PLAN, and goals, and you have no plan B you will always make it work. You have no other choice. Burn the Ships.

Being a business owner isn’t for everyone, it’s high stress, there is always a new obstacle, a new path, choices, responsibility and bills. So, make sure this is for you!

8. How do you manage your family and working for yourself?

I had a nanny for Jax from seven months old between 12-5pm. We worked from home in a separate area of the house. We have always lived in houses that facilitate what the business and family needs were at that time and have been creative as to how we can make it work.

Jax transitioned to Day care 5 days off turning one.

Finn is six months old and we will have the babysitter for the next few months, until then he will also go to day care. The aim is four days a week for the boys by the end of the year.

Travis, my husband, and I, are a team, we work together! No matter what we have each other’s back.

We communicate daily, our goals and important outcomes on a daily basis, team meetings weekly, we have date nights, and we support each other in what is important to us. Ultimately the key is communication and unwavering support. And letting the little things go. We work as hard on our relationship as we do our work, without each other, without the family… why am I doing this?

Our kids are our ‘why’, our reason and our driving force. Everything we do is to build a better life, and a better world for them.

9. What challenges did you face in setting up your business?

There are always challenges in any business, great staff is a huge challenge always, and building systems and processes that make you redundant in the day to day. Critical steps in any business, but always hard to take the first steps for both.

10. What’s the best thing about working for yourself?

Ha ha it’s a double-edged sword but 100% it is the freedom to control my own life, for better or worse, whatever happens, I have the power to change it, make it or break it!

11. What’s your best advice to another mum who is considering setting up her own business?

You can’t do it all, so figure out what is important to you, and decide what will best facilitate this happening. Set goals and stick to them. Burn the Ships.

12. What’s next for you and your business?

Always growth! I love that everything we have done has started from nothing, we just continue to evolve and grow. I love what we do every single day. We have a lot of new projects coming up which we are so excited about. 2018 is going to be a year of exponential growth!

You can visit Liv’s business here and follow her on Facebook.

I hope you enjoyed my interview with Liv Jones from Result Based Training.