genf006.eps

Acknowledgements

I have mentioned throughout this book that if you surround yourself with great people, great things happen; I am who I am because of the people I choose to be surrounded by. One of these people is my best friend, Amy Hart-Doering, who is an accomplished businesswoman and mother, and also had the challenging job of helping with the writing of this book. I thank her for her blunt honesty, humour, and her endless patience with my grammar and all the words that I made up along the way — remember I did go to Knox Secondary College.

Amy has the amazing ability to get the best out of me, she has a kind and compassionate heart, and I love having her in my life. This book would never have been completed without her bossiness, her timelines and her insistence that after every yoga session we did together (which is a lot because we do it five times a week!) we work to get this book just right. I love you and thank you.

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Introduction

I walked into a book store last week and realised there really is a book on anything you could possibly be interested in. If you want to know how to speak to the dead, a book is available; if you want to make a cupcake, over 300 books are available on this subject alone (I checked online). There are over 10 000 business books printed each year — what you can learn from many very successful (and some not so successful) people is mind-boggling.

There are books on dealing with generation Y and on how to work less for more money, and hundreds of books with steps or particular units — like Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People or de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. There are many more ‘how-to’ books, such as How to Win Friends & Influence People and, one of my favourites, Good to Great. I also like the animal business books, like Eat That Frog, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?, Purple Cow or (my favourite title) Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive.

So why on earth am I writing another book to add to the enormous number that is already out there on shelves and in e-stores? I can tell you one reason I’m not doing it for, and that’s the money! As you will read in part I, I tried publishing with my husband, Jeff, and now know is not for the faint-hearted — unless you are a JK Rowling or a James Patterson, writing books is not a business that you get into for the money. (And I’m not holding my breath waiting for Universal Studios to pick up the phone and tell me they want to do my life story and that Julia Roberts has agreed to play me. Mind you, I think Andy MacDowell would do a better job.)

There are, however, three main reasons I’m writing this book.

The first is that I often get stopped by young women or men who have started or are about to start their business, and they tell me that I have inspired them to do so; that they have followed my journey, believe that they have a similar spark and now want to start on their own business journey.

The second reason is for me — when I started to write my story, it was the first time that I had actually stopped to look back and revisit the Boost Juice journey and how it all unfolded. Two of the most common questions I’m asked is whether I could have imagined that the business would grow to where it is today, and whether I knew when I started that it would become a real Australian icon. The honest answer to these questions is I never really thought about it, but I always believed that there was no other option but to succeed in creating a profitable business that I was proud of. The reality was that I was too busy growing the business and putting out the fires along the way to think about the business not being where it should be. I was (and still am) a terrible networker, and the isolation caused by this meant I didn’t know whether what I was doing was better or worse than another businesses — I just assumed that it was worse, so I kept pushing forward. I also had people along the way who kept raising the bar, so I never really felt that I had arrived at the final destination. (When you have a friend like Geoff Harris, whose business turns over billions of dollars, your business always appears small.) Writing the book enabled me to relive my thoughts on each part of the journey and see the young scared woman who was winging it along the way. Through the writing, I was also able to watch her as she grew up. Writing the book has also enabled me to think back in other ways, and focus on the people who were with me along the journey. I can now look at these people with a more mature head on my shoulders, and understand some of what they did through their eyes — not the eyes of a scared, stressed young mum — and appreciate everything that they had to offer.

The third reason for writing this book is you — the person who is reading these words that I am typing on my laptop while in the background my young daughter is playing dress ups, my oldest is interrupting me by sending me texts saying he arrived in NZ safely (and no, he has no plans yet), my second son is also interrupting me by asking to go for a surf and my youngest boy has ‘Call of Duty’ turned up far too loud — all of which I would not have any other way.

The story on how Boost started may inspire you to make a change in your life, or you may simply find it an interesting read. The tips and insights through the second and third parts of the book are things I wish I had known before I started in business — all the mistakes I have made have cost money, often at a time when we could least afford it. Most of the tips and lessons learned are what I use in everyday life and all are what I do business by. Throughout the book, I’ve also included insights and extra detail from three people who were very important in my Boost journey: Jeff, my husband, Geoff Harris, co-founder of the hugely successful Flight Centre, and Kristie Piniuta, our in-house lawyer for many years and now with her own legal practice (Kubed Legal). These add another perspective to my journey.

And (as the title promises) there truly are some of my secrets in this book — there are many things in the book that I have not written about before or that are not in any interview you may have read about me.

Or the book may be one of those that you pick up, read a bit and put down to be finished at another time. I know I have at least five books on the go at any one stage, and usually an audio book as well.

Whatever your reasons for reading this book, I hope you enjoy my journey, and I will feel I have done my job if you do take something away from the tips and lessons learned. I hope through Boost Juice bars and our other businesses that we can continue to grow and produce products that you love. And I truly wish you as much luck as I had in creating my business that I love.

And remember — love life!

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