If, like with Boost, your domestic business has grown at such a pace that this country can't contain you and you're standing on the edge, staring into the great unknown of international expansion, then congratulations! You have achieved something truly amazing. Pause for a moment and celebrate your achievements. This is something we often forget to do in the crazy world that is running a business but you should always take time to appreciate how far you've come. But what if you're just starting out and part of your launch strategy is to break into a foreign market? When is the right time to launch into a new territory, how do you know your business is ready and how do you choose the right market?
Let me preface this section with the comment that every business is unique in the area of international expansion, but I think fundamentals can still be applied. The way that we have expanded overseas is by using a ‘master franchise' model. You can enter overseas markets in this and other ways as follows:
I am sure there are a dozen more ways but, however you launch overseas, there will be positives and negatives.
Following are the top five things I learned from my experiences in expanding overseas:
Like any baby, a business eventually grows up and becomes more independent and Boost is no exception. As we began to expand into more overseas territories and our team grew stronger and more experienced, I began to realise, hey, I can take a holiday and the sky doesn't fall in. And my phone is ringing less often at strange times of the day and night! That's when I began to realise that the great team we'd hired was doing exactly what we hired them to do and our little business was getting to be all grown up. But when you've been in the thick of the action for so long it can be hard to switch off. That's when I realised it had been quite a while since I properly took care of me.
Ever feel like a mouse on a wheel? You know, running and running and going nowhere … fast. Sometimes you need to get off that wheel, for the sake of your mental and physical health. As entrepreneurs, we are so driven by our own passion for our project that we can be our own worst enemies. This section is all about ensuring you're happy with your work–life balance, and taking care of you — regardless of what stage of the journey you're on.
Do you feel like there just never seems to be enough time in the day to fit in everything you want to get done? If you're anything like me — a parent, with a business to run or a job you're passionate about, and a partner whom you love to spend time with — the days probably fly by. Sometimes the pace of my life is enough to make me wonder whether somebody has actually dropped an hour or two out of the standard 24-hour day without telling me.
In the early days, you give everything to your business to ensure it succeeds. But as the business matures and you start to get more experience and more people in the business, you need to start letting go of certain areas. Often entrepreneurs are ‘Jacks of all trades' — and you have to be — but as you grow, you can get specialists into the business to do the job ten times better than you can do it yourself. Your plan should always be to do yourself out of a job. Although this may take years, a great business is one you can go away from and know it will still run smoothly. This is what we all need to aim for to achieve that elusive work–life balance.
Work–life balance is something that's talked about a lot these days. But what does it mean? To me, it is all about finding happiness and contentment; getting enormous stimulation from my work, yet being equally happy to sit down and play Monopoly with my 17-year-old for two hours. Sometimes I do find it hard to drag myself away from work — when you're really passionate about your job, it can be all-encompassing — but I'm getting better. I'm learning to switch myself off from the office and enjoy the other aspects of my life as well. I think that we will all be better wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, employees, leaders and friends if we find that happy medium.
Work–life balance is about prioritising what's important to you, and having equal space in your life for your job and your family. Unfortunately, a lot of employers only pay lip-service to flexible work hours and ‘family time'. The reality is that you get paid to do a job and the job has to get done. Having said that, work–life balance is becoming recognised as an important strategy in creating a healthy corporate culture. The best companies are certainly making great steps in that direction and they're finding great improvements in productivity in the process.
When Boost Juice first started I worked from home, juggling my three sons and a growing company: the two little ones were still at home, and the oldest was at primary school. It was important to me to be home when my oldest son walked in at 3.30 pm. Eventually, my business baby (Boost) began taking over room after room of my home, and more and more hours in the day. I ended up despising my house, and particularly the rooms used for workspace, because I never got away from work. It was a relief to everyone when Boost moved out of the family home and into corporate offices. Things became much easier for me once I had a definite demarcation between work and my personal life. The advantage was that home became my sanctuary again. The disadvantage was that the kids couldn't see me when they walked in after school. So I made sure my kids also felt at home at the Boost offices. One of the first things I did when the business moved was to buy a large toy box and a television for the premises, and I also made sure there was a spare computer so the boys could come in and do their homework.
Another step I've taken is to set up ‘non-negotiable' dates. These include dates such as school sports days and concerts — if it's important to the kids, I'll be there, no matter what's going on at the office. I'll walk into one of these events and see my son scanning the room for me. When he catches my eye, his face lights up. It means everything to my children that I'm there for these events, and that matters to me.
You may be thinking, That's great Janine, but you live within two minutes of your work and you have your own business. My work won't allow me to do that. You're right, I do have a lot of freedom, but that's because I've created my freedom and I've done it through hard work. It's only now that my business has the executives in place that I do not need to be there 24/7.
I'm not stepping away from the business; I love it too much. But I have realised that I cannot allow it to consume my life forever. Any good businessperson should be constantly hiring people to do themselves out of a job.
Remember: being organised and setting yourself up to succeed with good support around you will get you the life that you want. But — and this is a big but — do not fool yourself or have unrealistic expectations when just starting out. Very little work–life balance is possible in the early days of growing a business. As you have read through this book, you have to make sacrifices to grow a business, and you will likely spend some time getting the pendulum just right.
What I have found is that your thirties to forties are really the years to be focused on making your mark. It was only when I was well into my forties that I truly could say I had genuine life balance — but I wouldn't change one thing.
Whatever choices you make, ensure they are working towards you having a full life. While I'm no expert in this area, having made many mistakes, the following are a few things I've learned along the way.
You will never get what you want if you don't know what that is.
It's time to stop seeing work or your business as something that finances the rest of your life, and start thinking about doing what you love and making money from it. I know I've reiterated the idea of passion several times in this book, but that's because I feel so … well … passionately about it. If you're still not sure how to define your goals and dreams, find a mentor to help.
My kids are my priority, but I believe that children are in your life; you're not in theirs. Admittedly, this gets easier as kids get older. I work killer hours, there's no doubt, but I fit them in around quality time with my children. When I'm at home with them in the evening, it's their time. We do normal things such as reading and watching television until they have to go to bed. Then it's my time again, the laptop comes out and I do what I need to do. Yes, it's a long day, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it.
Of course, I would like to say that there's no way I ever compromised family life by letting my work take over completely but, honestly, work did sometimes take a front and centre position. None of us is perfect and life forever is a balance — trying to keep all the plates spinning in the air at the same time does not always work. I have taken my children to school when no school is on, and they have gone in the wrong uniform many times, but mostly I did get it right — and, hey, that is life.
Jeff and I are both passionately involved in Boost and Retail Zoo. Do we ever see each other? Do we ever talk about anything other than business? The answers are yes and yes. I must admit we do have corporate meetings over dinner, but both of us are aware of the importance of letting each other switch off. We understand when one of us arrives home from work and simply doesn't want to talk about business. We also make time to go away together. We have a good, open relationship (which is vital) and enormous respect for each other. Even with that kind of partnership as a base, you will have your ups and downs; Jeff and I always talk through our differences — sometimes at a loud volume.
I am very lucky that, 20 years on, I am madly in love with the man I married. Like with any marriage, he drives me mad and at times I could throw him under a bus, but that only lasts an hour or so and then we are laughing again.
Who said that you have to do everything? Women in particular suffer badly from the ‘I must' syndrome: ‘I must put in a full day's work, organise the family, clean the bathroom, collect the dry cleaning, bake for the school fete' and so on. Get over it! Terrific people are working hard to make a living doing those things you don't want to do. Let them. Whether it's a cleaner, a gardener or a caterer you need, call in the professionals and save your energy for chasing your goals — and do not feel guilty. A happy woman is a happy mother and wife, and if we are happy we are so much better at both.
There's a tendency today for us all to be working at making as much money as possible — without really knowing how much we need. You don't have to curtail your financial ambitions, but if it's money that's driving your workaholic tendencies, it might help to sit down and cost your ultimate lifestyle. Once it's written down, you may find you don't need as much cash as you think. Or you may find the motivation you need to start overachieving!
It is healthy to have a hobby or social activity outside of work that helps you relax and forget the problems of the day. I feel very strongly about this. I do yoga five days a week, and this is a time where I can focus on nothing else but me. Whether it's dinner with your mates, a visit to the gym or whatever — don't get too busy for something that helps you cope with life's pressures. You can always find time for the things that are really important, so make this important.
Here's how to really focus on improving your work–life balance:
I am 50 and I have never been fitter and healthier. I believe taking care of you is taking care of business. You can't win in business, or in life, unless you look after yourself first. When you're chasing a goal it can be easy to overlook simple things such as sleeping, exercising and eating right. All I can say is don't. Working around the clock makes you inefficient and unfocused. Sitting on your backside all day makes you sluggish and, let's face it, overweight. A diet of caffeine and fast food will leave you low in energy and not looking or feeling your best. It does not matter how financially successful you are; if you do not have your health, you have nothing.
As I've said before, I'm passionate about eating right and I don't miss my yoga for anything. I also do my best to get a decent sleep every night. But I am human — I understand what it's like to be so stressed that you physically can't eat. The key is balance.
We all have heard the saying, ‘You are what you eat — and drink'. Boost defines ‘eating for success' as eating naturally, and avoiding artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. The emphasis is on fresh and nutritious. It's a theme repeated in one of my favourite books on the topic: Laugh with Health, by Manfred Urs Koch, which focuses on health, diet and natural foods. Of course, I'm not suggesting you suddenly adopt a macrobiotic diet — it's more about doing what you can do within the confines of your busy life.
What do I do? I eat as much unprocessed food as possible — I eat a lot of fruit and veggies. If I pick up a packet of food and the ingredients label has numbers and words I cannot pronounce, then to me this is not food. Yes, I have a smoothie or juice (sometimes both) every morning. I'm a big fan of all our juices; the simple ginger, carrot and apple juice is my ‘go to' juice. Lunch is usually a big sandwich packed with chicken and salad. We try not to eat a big meal at night, because the body simply cannot digest the food quickly enough before bed and, if I eat anything too big, I find myself tossing and turning. So our big meal is during the day and we go light at night. (The kids are different — they need the calories and the carbs to grow into healthy, strong adults — so we tend to cook a meal for them and something light for Jeff and myself.)
This is how I eat most of the time; however, life sometimes gets in the way and I find myself not eating the way I should. When this happens, I cannot sleep and feel and look lousy — and I know I need to get myself back on the health wagon. I could not do what I do if I did not eat healthily.
I'm very conscious that what I put into my body is the only fuel it has to run on. Given the pace of my life, I do my best to make sure it's efficient. I could always do better, but I do what I can with what I've got. I'm lucky that juices and smoothies are such a fast, nutritionally packed option! (I know it sounds like a sell job, but it really is true.)
If you do only four things to help keep your health on track, make them these:
So how did I get here? What's the secret to it all? There isn't one. I believe that my personal success is due to a combination of many factors: naivety, my certainty that there is a solution to everything, and the great people who surround me. I now believe in myself and, if I'm given a challenge, I don't question that belief.
I believe Boost has been such a phenomenon because it's a great product, we are always, always honest and it's marketed well; every store acts as a billboard for our brand. Beyond that is my unshakeable faith in the necessity of doing the right thing, of having the right people and looking after them, and of understanding your customers and giving them what they want.
I'm passionate about health and I want to do everything I can to help counter the terrible toll that the fast-food lifestyle is having on our society — particularly on our children. The desire for a healthy alternative for my own kids was a large part of my initial interest in juice bars; that desire hasn't wavered. Passion can't be faked. Our sincerity is one of the reasons our customers have taken to Boost Juice.
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