No Job, 2 Kids And Living With In Laws!

It was November 2008. My second child Georgina had just been born and as a family we were living with my in-laws.
I had no job and my Wife Alex was being managed out of her role while on maternity.

We had no car, very little savings and were relying on help from Alex’s Mum and Dad to get by.
This was not how I was expecting my life to look like at age 32.

What Went Wrong?

Just a couple of years prior to this life was very different. I was joint owner of the largest mortgage brokerage in our area. We had 30 staff and were turning over £110,000 each month. Myself and my Wife had 3 houses, a couple of lovely cars and had 2 expensive holidays each year.

The only problem with all of this is that I hated it. I hated the job that I did. I hated wearing a suit and I hated sitting down for hours on end talking about mortgages. It was boring. The hours were incredibly long and I didn’t get to see Alex and my son Harrison (who had been born in 2006).

I remember being on holiday in the South of France in the August of 2007. We were at one of those outdoor water parks, Harrison was playing in the toddler pool with Alex and I was basking in the sun reading a business paper to catch up on the news back home. There was news about the economy taking a dive and the mortggage market collapsing.

If this happened it could mean the end of my company. Thousands of £s had been invested into that company and most of it had been borrowed. Deep down though I had a sense of relief as it could represent a possible way out. My heart wasn’t up for a fight to save the company.

Within 8 months I sold my shares to my business partner for £1 and walked away as the global market entered the Credit Crunch. The company went into liquidation 3 months after this.

Started Another Company

Whilst at Alex’s Mum and Dads in that November of 2008, I should have used it as an opportunity to start a new career and do something that I had a real passion for. But I bottled it.

I looked at my responsibilities as a Father and Husband and decided that I would start another Financial Services company. That was all that I knew how to do and so felt that my risk would be minimal.

I took on a business partner within a few months and by the end of the first year we were one of the most successful brokerages within our network. This was history repeating itself. We were turning over £20,000 per month with just the two of us, but again it meant long hours, and loads of bureaucracy. I hated this industry!
I felt trapped. Life is too short to be doing something that you hate. That horrible nauseating feeling that you get on a Sunday night. Counting the midweek days until the Weekend was here. I have always read a lot. Biographies of successful people, inspiring books by others that had done well and the one common message that came out of them was that they all did something that they loved.

“I never worked a day in my life. It’s not work when you love what you’re doing” David Shakarian

‘If only’ I thought.

This Time It Was Different

So by 2011, I’d had enough. Once again I sold my shares in the company to my business partner for a nominal amount and walked away with a load of company debt that I had personally guaranteed.

This time it was different though. This time I had a plan. I had decided that I was going to start up in an industry that I had always had an interest in – health and fitness.

I was still doing a little bit of financial services business just to cover the bills, while I was getting re-qualified in this industry as a Personal Trainer. It was incredibly tough. We had very little money coming in and had to cut right back on our monthly spend.

 

We had to raid the kids savings accounts to cover fuel, shopping bills and mortgage payments. It was incredibly tough and there were plenty of people around me asking me to come to my senses and get back into financial services.  I’ll admit that there were times when this was tempting.

I didn’t want to lose our house and move the kids to a different school. But I had to stay strong and have belief that what we were doing would come good in the long run.  Alex helped me to believe this. In fact she had more belief than I did.

New Fitness Company Is Launched

By August 1st 2012, I had my first early morning bootcamp programme. There were 6 women in local park and me. I couldn’t believe what I had done. Family members and friends were questioning my sanity for walking away from an industry that I had done very well in.

Here’s a photo of my initial outdoor bootcamp. Just a handful of ladies in a local park. All my leads were coming in via groupon at this point!

I made £237 that first month and the naysayers were back. We were incredibly close to having to walk away from the house that month, but had to see this thing through.

The difference though is that I was doing something that I really enjoyed. Despite the financial pressures it was great fun. But fun alone wasn’t going to pay our bills.

Fast forward to 22 months later.

We have nearly 200 paying members at our 3000 square foot indoor facility in Northampton. I’ve produced a home workout programme that has sold copies all over the World. I’ve been featured in satellite TV channel Fitness TV, BBC and ITV as a fitness expert.

I’ve also set up a consulting business that helps other Personal Trainers to do the same as me which is called the PT100k Club.

Alex has trained and qualified as a Personal Trainer and works in the business with me. My brother in law Kristian left university with a Masters in Sports Science and also works in the business. When I go down to our unit to train our members it never feels like work. We have helped hundreds of men and women achieve amazing results and life changing transformations.

I now focus on helping busy men over 35 and Alex focuses on the ladies side of things.

It really is fun. I am actually now doing something that I love. I cannot believe that we’ve made it happen without losing our house and racking up loads of debt!!

As is so often the case with this sort of story, you read about the initial struggle and then in a flash you’re reading about the success. What you don’t see is the journey and the steps taken to get there. In my belief this is why so many that have attempted this journey in the past have failed because they’re not aware of what needs to happen.

The Journey

By setting up the PT100K Club, I outline the exact steps that I have taken and continue to take in my training business. I test drive every theory first and only suggest others follow the stuff that I know definitely works.
I’m going to be outlining the main steps and lessons learnt on this blog over the next few weeks.
Starting right now with

Don’t Listen To The Naysers

If I had listened to those around me that were saying I was mad for walking away from a career in Financial Services to start in an industry whereby the average wage is £17,000 per year then I would still be doing something that I hate. Intentional or not this can be very damaging to your long term success.

This has been a big lesson for me and one that I encourage others to take note of. Don’t let other people’s negative mindset drag you down and knock your belief.

Because of this stance, I am selective about who joins our training facility and who joins my Personal Training 100K Club. I will move heaven and earth for any of our members that want to change and improve their lives. But if they are resistant to this change and keep coming up with objections and reasons why they can’t do things then it’s best to part ways.

I have politely asked people to leave our facility that are negative and damaging to the rest of the group.
That’s not to say that everyone has to be ‘Happy Clappy’. Far from it.

I choose to only work with people now that are willing to listen and implement the advice that I offer.

So don’t let the naysayers drag you down. Believe in yourself and the help that you can offer others.

UPDATE 13th JANUARY 2017

I thought it was worth adding to this original article with a quick update. 

It’s now January 2017 and my ladies gym now has nearly 300 members. We have 5 trainers that work there and I have no day to day involvement other than helping with marketing. 

We then have a men’s only gym as well. Both bricks and mortar and online. This is continuing to grow every single month as well. We’re currently up to 70 members and again I have no day to day involvement. Just focus on the marketing side. 

All sales for the above 2 businesses are automated. Well 90% of them as we still get people that contact us via our website direct that require a bit more contact from us. 

The PT100K Club membership site is now up to 125 members and is also going great. It’s awesome to be able to have such a huge impact on other fitness professionals businesses.

Comments like this are great:

 

The above has now allowed us to reserve a property in Marbella, Spain that we move into on March 31st 2017 – only 10 weeks away as I write this. 320+ days of sunshine each year, kids in private school and will be bilingual within 12 months and a beautiful property with views over the sea and the coastline of Northern Africa. 

Check out the view from our infinity pool where we will be living and also our family Christmas Day lunch for 2016 below:

My role within each of the 3 businesses is deliberately engineered in a way that allows me to work exclusively from my phone and laptop. 

I still have to pinch myself at this a little bit as it’s been a crazy ride so far over the last 4 and half years, but finally I feel like I’m in complete control. I have designed it this way. I know how to design it this way, and I continue to help others that wish to do something similar. 

I don’t write this update to show off. 

I just want those reading it to understand and believe what can be achieved with the right focus and determination. 

I am nothing special.

I was Mr Average at school. Average at sport, average at pretty much all subjects, average looking. 

I left school at 18 with average grades and then left University after 1 week because I couldn’t face any more education. 

If I can create my own version of success within 4 years  in a brand new industry then you can create your own version as well. 

 

UPDATE 12th AUGUST 2017

Well we made it – right on schedule as well.

Here’s a post I put up the day before we left:

 

The crazy thing about all of this is that as excited as I was about moving out here, there was a niggling fear that our businesses might stop growing – or even worse go backwards as a result of us not being in the UK.

I couldn’t have been more wrong!

All 3 businesses have continued to grow.

It then made me wander how many people do not fulfil their dreams and ambitions because of FEAR.

Also, at our farewell party back in the UK, everyone was coming up to use and saying we were brave. They were saying they would love to do something like this but just didn’t dare.

• usual reasons – mortgage, kids, jobs etc.

But since moving out here we realise that we’re actually pretty late to the party…..because most people that we meet have been living out here for years. It really doesn’t feel like we’ve done anything particularly special, because we’re surrounded by others that have already done it.

Just interesting how your perspective changes depending on the type of people that you surround yourself with.

Here’s a little video that I had made that shows the journey of the last few years:

 

Ricky

ps: If you’re a Personal Trainer, gym owner or fitness professional and fancy a little bit of help growing your biz and creating a bit more freedom, then check out my PT100K Club where I basically teach the things I have learnt (and continue to learn) over the last few years. 165 members strong at the minute.

Click HERE if you fancy some more info