Myself and my wife Alex have just celebrated 10 years of being married. We have actually been together for 18 years but there is something symbolic about actually being married.
We had great night in London by visiting a Sicilian restaurant (we got married in Sicily) and talking about all of the stuff that had happened over the last 10 years (there we are below enjoying London)
It’s a crazy journey full of ups and downs.
Here’s a brief summary:
2004 – got married, jointly borrowed over £1m to buy the Financial Services company I was working for (when banks were lending money!), bought a second house
2005 – increased turnover of company by 50%, decided to start a family
2006 – bought a 3rd house, had our son Harrison
2007 – business wasn’t doing too well and had to make some redundancies (had 30 staff)
2008 – had to leave company, lived in Dubai as Financial Adviser, had 2nd child Georgina, moved back to UK with mother and father in law, no job
2009 – struggled to get another job while living with in laws, started another company, moved back into old house
2010 – won incentive to Portugal for being one of top Financial Services company in UK, hated my job!
2011 – sold shares in company as didn’t enjoy, no job, started PT qualifications,
2012 – nearly lost house again as no money coming in, cash in kids savings plans, value brand shopping, started PT Business in the August
2013 – moved into own premises as took business to over 100 members
2014 – grown to nearly 200 members, doing something that I love with my wife, started PT 100k Club to teach other trainers how to do the same,
The dark days over the last 10 years were when I was doing something that I really didn’t enjoy. This was followed by a really low period between 2011 and 2012 when I had left my other Financial Services company (which is still going strong today) and was not earning enough money to support our bills. With 2 kids that I naturally want to provide the best for in life this was really really tough.
As a result my health deteriorated. I was in and out of hospital with stomach pains and had to have an operation on my shoulder.
However, as I look back now I know with certainty that you have go go through these periods to then truly appreciate the light that follows.
I’m in a good place right now. I genuinely love what I do. Alex and I are in better shape now than we were 10 years ago. Mentally I feel more experienced and more equipped now for the challenges that life will throw our way, and I’m getting a huge buzz out of working with our clients that are trying to change their bodies and trainers that want to change their businesses.
I love my wife Alex more than ever and our kids continue to inspire me to keep moving forward each and every day.
If someone had said to me on our Wedding day that this is how the last 10 years will have turned out I think I would have struggled to believe them. I would have been over the moon with the RESULT / OUTCOME, (kids, houses, businesses etc), but horrified by the rocky road taken to get here.
So in summary, here are some key things that I recommend you try to stick to on your own journeys:
- Be guided by your intuition – this is incredibly hard at times as I found out when I walked away from the only industry that I knew to try something that I loved. It is uncomfortable and those around you will try and put you off as it makes them feel uncomfortable. If your gut is telling you to do something then listen to it and take action in that direction.
- Keep Believing – if you don’t believe in yourself then no one else will. No matter how tough things get you HAVE to keep believing in yourself. The moment you stop doing this is when things start going wrong.
- Love – do something that you love. If you don’t love it then figure out why. Then take action to do something about it.
- Reward – write down your ideal day, places you want to travel to, restaurants you want to eat in etc. Remind yourself of them regularly and then take action to get yourself there. Set some income goals that when reached you will treat yourself to the things you want to do.
- Gratitude – be grateful for what you already have, even if you don’t think it’s a lot. Your health, clean running water, food on the table, family that love you, clients that pay you, etc. I’m guilty of not being grateful enough of these things in the past and things have dramatically changed since my gratitude moved up a level.
Here’s to the next 10 years then.
Ricky
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