Jen (00:01.466)
Emma, welcome to the MumSafe Movement podcast. How are you?
Emma (00:05.509)
I'm feeling really good. Thanks for having me.
Jen (00:08.654)
I'm excited that you're here. Now I will premise this with I'm in Singapore at the moment and I don't have my usual setup. So we've got our fingers crossed that all the wifi and all the sound and all of this stuff is gonna work really well. Yeah. Me too. Hey, let's kick off with the way that I love to kick off every episode with a word, a win and a working on.
Emma (00:23.212)
Hop so.
Emma (00:33.224)
Oh, my word is uplifted. My win would be a really cool meeting with a women's health physio just before this podcast. Um, and something, all right. So she, she contacted me to connect and I know, so it was good considering the journey that I've been on with physios. Um, I was actually reflecting back on the initial.
Jen (00:47.522)
Tell us about that.
Jen (00:52.114)
Mm-hmm. How does that get?
Jen (00:59.222)
Yeah.
Emma (01:03.252)
you know, as we might touch on it later, to where we've come to today, where I've got a physio contacting me to work together. So I went to her studio, and it felt like it was a bit of an interview, actually. It was really strange. But it was... I felt like she was interviewing me. But it was good because I felt confident in what I was talking about, and she wants to pass all of her... She's currently...
Jen (01:19.05)
So you were interviewing her or she was interviewing you?
Emma (01:32.536)
trains women inside the studio. She wants to pass them all on to me. So yeah, that was cool. I think so. I walked away like, I think it went well.
Jen (01:34.685)
Thank you.
How good's that? So did you pass the interview?
Jen (01:44.202)
We will soon see.
Jen (01:48.286)
It'd be fun if she ever listened to the podcast and she's like, Oh my goodness, I wasn't interviewing you. Or the flip side, like I was absolutely interviewing you to make sure that you could look after my clients.
Emma (01:52.544)
Hahaha!
Emma (01:58.612)
And I think that's what it was. It's just making sure that she's passing them on to someone she believes that can look after them.
Jen (02:04.638)
Yeah, well, it's a two way straight, isn't it? It's like you're technically interviewing her too, to make sure that she's someone that you want to refer your clients to as well. And also someone that you can work in like hand in hand with.
Emma (02:17.748)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Jen (02:18.986)
Yeah, yeah. Cool, and then what are you winning at?
Emma (02:25.732)
working on or winning?
Jen (02:27.494)
Oh, working on, sorry. I got mixed up. You've already done your winning.
Emma (02:29.652)
Working on filling, well, to be honest at the moment, it's filling places because we've just come into term four and working on a presentation that I'm doing for a mother's group.
Jen (02:39.565)
Yep.
Jen (02:44.75)
Cool, what's the mother's group?
Emma (02:47.968)
Raising Mamas, that's a local mother's group that run educational classes for moms, new moms. So I've been asked to do a presentation later on this month.
Jen (02:55.911)
Good luck.
Jen (02:59.746)
That's exciting. Have you got a topic?
Emma (03:04.76)
Yeah, I think it's related to new mums. So we're going to talk about, you know, the six week checkup, the reasons to go and see physio and why we should return to exercise safely and give them some education to walk away with and being able to, you know, a few tips and then they know where to go to after that.
Jen (03:24.266)
Yeah, absolutely. So moving people really from that, come out of hospital, don't know what to do, don't know what you don't know, and then going, hey, here's a starting point and this is what you do next.
Emma (03:35.328)
Yep, absolutely.
Jen (03:37.46)
Awesome. Nice, I'm interested in the word uplifted. Where, like what's that coming from? Is that just a today thing or?
Emma (03:44.924)
Yeah, I think there's just a few things happening recently. And I think it's the consistency of things and being around people that uplift each other and being around, I think the physio meeting just kind of made me feel that way as well. Just that, I feel like we're just all in a space of helping each other within the Mumsafe team, within physios, other trainers, and it just come to mind. And I think.
Jen (03:55.693)
Mm.
Emma (04:14.184)
It's more of the consistency of doing things that then makes me feel uplifted.
Jen (04:19.414)
Yeah, I like that. And I like the word consistency, consistency has been on my mind a lot of light. Even just listening to podcast, I was listening to a podcast this morning. And it was talking about, you know, we underestimate what we can do in a year, but we overestimate. No, we overestimate what we can do in a year, but we underestimate what we can do in 10 years. And I know 10 years seems like a big time frame for a lot of people. But
you know, we're going to turn around at some point and go, well, we're 10 years down the track anyway. And did we consistently continue to move towards what we were trying to get done in the world, or did we, you know, do these little short, sharp sprints at things and not really lay the layers and be consistent because we were too busy going for the next big quick, quick fix or the thing that was going to change everything. And really there is nothing that's going to change everything apart from consistency. So I like that. And I love that uplifted came from that.
Emma (05:13.001)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jen (05:19.374)
Nice.
Emma (05:19.8)
That was more from your podcast as well, Jen. So I think listening to that made me think about all the things that we do consistently. Sometimes you can feel like you're in a bit of a hole and not getting anywhere, but then keeping consistently trying to stay on track. And like you said before, try not to do too many things at once. Sometimes you wanna do more things, go for the shiny things, but I think just peeling it back and laying down those layers first.
Jen (05:29.237)
We're done.
Jen (05:48.746)
Yeah, I think shiny, I think doing a couple of shiny things is good, but if you spend your whole life doing all the shiny things, not good. But I do think you're right about the, you don't realize the layers that you're actually building and the consistency that you're doing when you're in the doing. So being able to kind of rise above that and check in and figure out, you know, what is worthwhile doing and what is not worthwhile doing. So, nice.
Emma (06:13.654)
Mm-hmm.
Jen (06:14.046)
Hey, I wanted to get you onto the podcast because there's a real, I'm focusing a lot on, you know, really helping trainers right now to understand that consistency in the layers and how to become the go-to trainer in their area. Because at the end of the day, where the mission is safe and effective exercise for women at every stage of motherhood, the more people that we have as part of the army to do that, the better. And as having as many trainers have as many tools as possible to
be able to lay those layers and have the biggest impact in their community and in their life is something that means a lot to me. And you, whatever way I look at things is you're a real shining example of someone that's kind of gone, this is what I'm committed to. I'm gonna do the work over and over and over again to get to where I wanna do, where I wanna be. And not only have you done that once, but you've done that twice. So can we go back right to the beginning? Share with us like,
how you even got into the fitness industry, how you ended up working with moms. And then we'll talk about the fact that you shut your whole business down and then relaunched it in a completely different state. So let's do the first bit first and then we'll go into that afterwards.
Emma (07:27.38)
Yeah, this is exciting because I was starting to make some notes before and I think you can forget of, you know, how far you've come and you can just forget the small things that you didn't know back then, but you do know now. So I had wanted to be a personal trainer for about 10 years before I actually studied to be a personal trainer. In 2020, February 2020, I completed my course, but throughout the course I knew, so I completed the
the PT course, I knew that I wanted to work with mums. That was my thing going into that course. I had my vision. I knew inside that PT course that that's what I wanted to do. And as I was doing that course, another trainer who was training me, told me to do your Safe Return to Exercise course. As soon as I was qualified PT, I went on to do your course. And I just wanted to do all the things straight away. So in...
February 2020, I complete the course. And March 2020, I started working in a gym for a short period of time before everything was locked down.
So that was the kind of start of me figuring out what I wanted to do going forward. I sat the Safe Retention Exercise course, finished that and with a lot of overwhelms, I just was newly qualified, went into your course, loved it, but I knew there was so much I needed to learn, so much. Off the back of the course, I joined the Mumsafe team.
with, there was just no question. I knew that I wanted to just jump in and learn as much as I can. And I think it was the first, one of the first posts that I put into that group. And I was a bit hesitant to start with. I didn't want to post in the group. Didn't want to draw attention to myself. And I think it was just, it was all the questions. You know, I want to start a group class. Where do I start? How do I market it? Who do I ask? And it was, and I think that's when you said let's do a...
Jen (09:21.767)
I'm sorry.
Emma (09:35.804)
a one-on-one together, and that was three years ago. And eventually kicked off the classes.
Jen (09:45.038)
I can't believe it was three years ago for starters. Like that feels insane. But you were some three and a half, yeah. But what made you know through your PT course that you wanted to work with moms? Cause some people know straight away and then another people takes them a really long time to get to the people that they really want to specialise in working with. Was that because you were a mommy self or were there other factors?
Emma (09:51.284)
Three and a half, no, yeah.
Emma (09:55.414)
Mmm.
Emma (10:15.112)
I think it was my journey of having my first child. I was always been into exercise. And as soon as I had my first, actually my husband bought me a voucher for a moms and bubs exercise class in Sydney. And I went into that and I feel like that saved me from, I'm not gonna say it saved me from postnatal depression, but I think that it really helped me get out there, exercise, do what I wanted to do and be out.
meeting other mums. So I felt like I had a place to go where I could chat to other mums, I could exercise. There's a bit of freedom and they are childcare, on-site childcare. So, but I remember talking to one of the trainers and I said to him, this is what I want to do. I want to do this. I want to start my own business. And he just laughed at me at the time and said, you know what, it's hard work. And that put me off for a while. Yeah. So.
Jen (11:09.087)
Hmm.
Jen (11:12.286)
I feel like I know, I know this business, don't I? I know, yeah. We won't go there. I had a bit of a couple of run-ins with said business. But look, the people that are out there working with moms in whatever capacity, I think is awesome. I don't love that, well, there's two sides to it, isn't it? When someone tells you that something is hard and maybe it put you off, but also, as you moved forward, maybe it...
Emma (11:17.249)
Yes. Yeah.
Emma (11:23.861)
Mmm.
Emma (11:34.901)
Hmm.
Jen (11:38.758)
ignited that, did you ever have like that, well, I'll show you what I can do kind of thing or that's just not part of your drive at all.
Emma (11:46.076)
Yeah, it was. It was. It was like, I want to do that. And I did hesitate for a little while, but I just knew that's kind of what path I wanted to go down.
Jen (11:55.914)
Yeah, so you did say pretend to exercise. I heard you say it was overwhelming. What was overwhelming?
Emma (12:03.732)
I think it was just me learning something new off on the back of already just learned like being in a course for six months and then it was face to face. So it was, you know, two evenings of a week and then all day on a Sunday. And off the back of that went into your course. And I think I was just trying to get my head around everything I've just learned plus learning something else new. So I think I wouldn't change it because
Jen (12:11.339)
Yep.
Jen (12:20.692)
Mm.
Emma (12:31.368)
I think going into the Safe Return to Exercise course, why I was motivated to carry on and was good for me, but maybe trying to let things settle first would have been a good idea, but I definitely wouldn't change it.
Jen (12:43.594)
Yep. Yeah, it's interesting. I see two different types. Like the trainers that want know that they want to work with moms immediately, generally do okay, even though it's a lot when they learn safe return to exercise. It's like, I've got the foundations now and I need to go into the marketplace to implement it. Trainers that don't really know what they want to do. And then they doing like grasping at doing all of the different courses, you just don't retain that information at all. So I think it was really good the way that, you know, you did the course and you went, I need to continue to consolidate this.
with your continued learning and obviously ultimately you jumped into MumSafe. But so when you said you were working at a gym before we went into all the lockdowns and then that's when you decided to launch your own business, right? Tell us a little bit about that next part of the journey.
Emma (13:31.136)
Yeah, so my idea was to work in a gym for two years. I thought to myself, get some really good experience on the ground. And this time that I was working in that gym, I learned a shitload. Like I learned so much hands-on stuff, just being around people in the gym. And that was in February, March, lockdown. I'd worked in the gym four weeks and then I'm at home, newly qualified. What the? I'm like, what do I do?
Jen (13:41.173)
Okay.
Jen (13:58.355)
Throw you in the deep end. Yeah.
Emma (14:00.668)
Yeah, so I sat at home for a couple of weeks and then I think me and my husband had a chat and it's like just start your business you've been wanting to do this whole time just take out the two years that you wanted to work in the gym and let's do it if that's what you want to do. It was so supportive so yeah I started my business Motivate Mums.
Jen (14:23.278)
Cool, tell us about that part of the journey.
Emma (14:27.756)
I didn't have the first idea about business, not the first. And, you know, registered the business name, all the things that, not all the things, but the things that I needed to do to start, but you know, I still didn't, I did not have a clue. And it wasn't until I jumped into the Mumsafe team, I actually started to understand how much work there was to do. But I was so keen to learn. So keen.
Jen (14:30.478)
Hehehehe
Jen (14:41.111)
Mm.
Emma (14:57.928)
Um, we started working together one-on-one sessions and we have done ever since. And I think just looking back then to what I know now, um, you know, even the very basic things, learning different systems, understanding financials, all the things that you need in place to run a successful business.
Jen (15:18.786)
So what are some of the things that you didn't know that you learned that you needed to know like really early on?
Emma (15:27.944)
Oh, Boundaries was a big one, huge. Cause when I first started my business and I ran it for a few weeks without the support from you was you just try and take on anything, anywhere, anytime, you know, at any price, really, it was like, you just, you're doing everything for other people and not for you and your family. I'm leaving the house at five o'clock in the morning when I've got two young kids. My kids were quite young at the time. Um, and yeah, there's probably an aspect of that you've got to do early on, but.
Jen (15:49.39)
Mm.
Emma (15:58.296)
I feel like I had the opportunity to learn it straight away. So, boundaries is a big one, setting the boundaries out for me and my family and the life values that we talk about, which is such a huge one that's kind of shaped my business. Definitely.
Jen (16:16.462)
So when you say values, like I've talked about values a little bit for anyone that's not heard me talk about values before, what does the values stuff mean to you?
Emma (16:27.64)
So my two values are honesty and excitement. And I always just bring myself back to if it doesn't make me excited and I'm not being honest to me or my family, then I can choose not to do it. But sometimes, yes, sometimes I step outside my values, but as long as it's for like a short period of time, then it's fine. But I've done things that push me outside of my life values and it just doesn't sit right with me.
I think, oh, I could do with the extra money, or I'll just do it for a short period of time. But as soon as I take it on, it's just like a gut feeling that this isn't gonna work. Like I can't do it just for the money. It's gotta really sit right with me and my family.
Jen (17:13.186)
Can you think of an example of something that's been like that or a, yeah, a situation?
Emma (17:20.724)
Yeah. So I got asked to do some personal training, like mobile personal training at someone's house. Oh, this was a few months ago and for a higher price. So I was going to make more money. I accept, you know, I said I would do it twice a week and I done it for the first week. And then I had to be honest with the client and say, I just can't, I can't do it. Because, you know, it just wasn't being honest to myself or them, you know. So it just, it just didn't make sense to carry it on.
Jen (17:46.647)
Mm.
Jen (17:51.242)
Yeah, and how do you think you would have handled that had you not understood your values or had them as a guiding principle?
Emma (18:00.896)
I feel like that's how people become burnt out. I feel like if I hadn't have learnt that stuff early on, I would have just been doing things for other people, thinking I've got to commit to things on their timeframe, around their hours of work, around what they want to do rather than what I want to do. So probably burnt out would have been the end result.
Jen (18:04.671)
Mm.
Jen (18:21.751)
Yeah.
Yeah, and I think, you know, we can end up so quickly in conflict. We, you know, we build these businesses to be there for our families, especially those of us that are moms and the majority of our moms have teen our moms. And I imagine the most, most of the people listening to the podcast are moms and we can fall into this trap of, you know, we build this thing that we're supposed to be supporting our family with, but very quickly it takes us into conflict with our whole family. And, you know, it stands out for me every time I travel.
And it's really interesting because I actually have a hard, although I love travel and I love what I do, I have a really hard time leaving my kids, even though I'm also someone that's like, everyone needs to have time out away from their children. So I find even having that philosophy in my head of knowing that I need time away from my kids really hard to kind of balance. So I'm consistently coming back to like, my two values of courage and connection. And it's like,
Am I being courageous by leaving or am I being courageous by choosing not to leave? And where does that connection, where do I need to prioritize the connection? And have I been prioritizing connection with my kids? And now it's okay to have courage to leave them and connect with people that I want to teach. Or is the courage and the connection in choosing not to leave my kids and letting go of that opportunity? Because right now I need to be at home with the kids. And it's really...
nice to have and powerful to have like exactly like you said, the guiding. Um, it's your true North, isn't it? It's, it's what I spoke about at the mom safe retreat a couple of years ago. It's your principles. Oh, sorry. Your values are your true North and you can't create a business that is legitimately what you don't love if you know your values. So I love, and you've said it a lot of times. I've heard you say it a lot of times that you're having that early on in your fitness career was really helpful.
Jen (20:14.782)
Um, there's a lot of traders that don't learn that till later on. And you know what? It's absolutely okay. It's just, you've got to then have the courage or the honesty or whatever your values are to then drop a lot of the stuff that you're now doing that doesn't align in order to build the business that you want to have. Yeah.
Emma (20:34.408)
Yeah, I feel so grateful that I could learn it all. It's like, I didn't make the mist, no one makes, we don't make mistakes, but I feel like I didn't make mistakes in the business because I had the guidance from you and the team. It's like right at the beginning, I could be led on the path that I wanted to lead rather than work in the gym for two years and then probably get, I don't know if I'll get stuck there. Like, you know, it feel like you're, I felt like I had the right guidance and support right from the start.
Jen (21:05.006)
For a lot of people it's hard to jump in really early. It's like that whole, my business is not making money or I don't have money yet to, so I shouldn't be investing in my business upskilling. Like what made you do that really early on?
Emma (21:23.768)
I think I was just, I really just wanted to learn as much as I could from the right people and I'd researched the Body Beyond Baby team as it was back then and I just had a feeling it was going to be the right decision. So it come out of, well it wasn't making money at the time, so it was an agreement that I said to my husband that this is what I want to put into the business to get it off the ground because eventually I'll make more money back, you know, early on.
rather than do the things that I don't want to do for 12 months, two years, and not invest in the business. So I didn't hesitate at the start. I just jumped in as quickly as I could.
Jen (22:07.914)
Yeah, tell me about that conversation though, because I speak to a lot of, especially women and it shits me to tears, although I get it. I get it, but then I don't get it. It's like, why are we asking permission of our husbands? And it's often when we're on maternity leave or we're technically not earning money. Having said that, the podcast with Mel Brown like a few months ago, if you know, I thought that children were a...
a joint responsibility, not just her responsibility. And she's, you know, staying home looking after the kids. So the cost is not all associated with her income, but how did you choose, did you guys have savings or did you, I'm just thinking about other people's circumstance and how they might figure out what the best thing is to them. Or did you have like $5,000 that I'm gonna invest in the business or, you know, what, how did you do that?
Emma (23:06.496)
Yeah, I had no savings at the time. I think I put all my savings into the PT course. It was just an outgoing, that it was part of the family outgoings. You know, I'd worked full-time in an office role prior to that. And it was my choice to be on maternity leave and wasn't getting an income. I decided that that's what I was doing and...
Jen (23:29.046)
Ha ha
Emma (23:29.888)
you know, Peter Griggs, because I feel like we work hard when we're on my tenant relief and it was just time for me to prioritise something that I wanted to do. Um, so it was an easy decision for me and I understand not everybody's in that financial situation, but if you can do it because in the long run it's gonna, it's gonna pay off.
Jen (23:39.209)
Mm.
Jen (23:50.75)
Yeah, okay. And then so how long before you were covering your immediate expenses in your business? Because, you know, I know that there are expenses, but we're not talking bricks and mortar and paying rent and all that kind of stuff. So generally, a group outdoor group fitness business has low costs. It's relatively risk, risk free for most people. So yeah, what happened next? What did you do? When did it become financially viable? Tell us more of the story.
Emma (24:22.056)
Yeah, so I kicked off my classes in, it was just the end of March, start of April 2020. So right in the thick of COVID. Um, but I think, I think that it worked out well because mom's wanting to get outdoors, the gyms are closed. As long as we abide by the rules, then you could still run your fitness business outside. So, I mean, don't get me wrong. It took me six months to make traction.
being out there in the community and trying to get clients. I had one client to start with in one class and I only opened one class at the start and I had the same client coming along, week in, week out, and then there was two and it was a slow process. And I think sometimes you can get lost in that slow process but if you just keep going and getting out there, it definitely started to pick up for me.
Jen (25:12.811)
Hmm.
Emma (25:19.552)
It was about six months until I started earning some, like a bit of money. I sold out, I think it was one class within six months and then I waited to open a second class. So I only opened one class, sold out that one, then opened another class and it was one class at a time when I was in Sydney. And I would always make sure that class was full before I opened a third class. So by the time I left Sydney...
I had three classes all fully booked out and that was November 2021.
Jen (25:57.642)
Okay, so it's like 18 months to build two, three completely oversubscribed sessions.
Emma (26:07.648)
Yep.
Jen (26:08.502)
Yeah and you were running PT as well?
Emma (26:14.408)
Yeah, so I actually took on quite a bit of PT in Sydney. So I had 15 PT sessions happening. That, that picked up a bit quicker than, than the groups. So I was really busy with PT. So yeah, before I closed down the business, it was about 15 PT sessions, three full groups, and then I launched the online membership as well in November, 2021.
Jen (26:40.182)
Tell us about what's the online membership. Why did you do that?
Emma (26:46.476)
I done that originally to make an extra bit of income. So just a different way of making income and being able to reach more moms online. And then it turned into a membership that I could still train my Sydney clients when I moved up to the Sunshine Coast. And it just become, it's evolved over time. So it was me running three classes a week.
Jen (26:55.915)
Mm-hmm.
Emma (27:10.892)
Um, with my Sydney clients. And then after I moved that continued, but then I partnered with two other mom safe trainers and actually messaged them to say today to say, we've got such a good thing going on because it's just, it's, it's doing really well now. Um, it's took, it's took a while. It's took a while, but I think as soon as you start putting your effort into something, you can see how it starts to, to pick up so you can see the reward. Um.
Jen (27:23.374)
I'm sorry.
Jen (27:35.851)
Yeah.
Emma (27:36.532)
So now it's, there's three of us that are all on the MumSafe team and we provide the nine, nine live classes to mums all over Australia.
Jen (27:46.338)
So let me just paint the picture for people. You launched a online membership or online training so that you could add another income stream to your business that you could one scale, but to maybe upsell some of your current clients and then add other people in there. And then when you moved to Queensland, you kept your Sydney clients in there and then collaborated with Lou of Strong Mums and Rach of Mums Run Club. And now...
it works well because you run nine sessions between you, but each of you only run three sessions each. Is that, that's right.
Emma (28:22.54)
That's right, yep, that's how we do it.
Jen (28:24.106)
Yeah, cool. And what happens if someone goes on holiday or something?
Emma (28:30.068)
Well, we cover each other. So I took five weeks out and we come to an agreement now that we pay a small fee to each other to keep the classes going. And we've got a really good agreement between us that we treat each other's clients as our own. So it's not like they're your clients, they're mine. We treat them all the same. Or sometimes I don't see my clients that get trained by Lou and Rach. So...
Jen (28:47.451)
Mm.
Emma (28:57.204)
We've come together to create something really special that if one of us steps away or if one of us sick or something happens, we can always look after each other.
Jen (29:06.346)
Yeah, I love that. I love the collaborations that come out of the Mumsafe team. And I think you guys have done that really, really well. Nice work. Well done.
Jen (29:18.77)
Let's talk then. So let's talk numbers. Can you remember what, so you had 15 PT sessions, three sold out classes. Do you know, can you remember what your financial, like your income or your revenue was when you left Sydney?
Emma (29:40.216)
I can't exactly remember, we could work it out. So my three classes, all that. I know that I'm learning more now, that's what I know. I've got it all in my spreadsheet.
Jen (29:44.38)
Hahaha!
Jen (29:53.79)
Yeah. Yeah, that's okay. So you had like, so you've got three, three sold out classes, 15 PT clients. We'll let people do the maths on, you know, whatever that looks like, but you guys then make the decision to move from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast. And what that means is you're going to completely shut down your business and race start. How does that feel?
Emma (30:18.648)
Shit, at the start. Yeah, I mean, at the start it was because I built this business up and it was my, like it's my baby, it's, you know, it's from the start. I'm all about my business, it's just me. So to shut it down was really hard and daunting at the time because we decided to move in quite a short period of time. But.
Jen (30:20.588)
Hahaha! Fair enough.
Jen (30:30.349)
Yeah.
Emma (30:48.24)
After I, I started, even before I shut the business down, I started contacting people in Queensland because of the stuff that I already knew from running my business in Sydney. It was like contacting physios, contacting like people in the local area, posting in the Facebook groups, started putting the layers down before I'd even moved, which I think massively helped because I had that education and I could apply it.
into restarting the business. So it was scary at the time. All the thoughts go through your mind, can I do this? Is it gonna be Monza? Do you want to train with me? What's the area going to be like? But I think because I'd done it once before I knew I could do it again.
Jen (31:35.25)
What were some of the key things that you've done in Sydney that you knew you needed to do straight away? I mean, you talked about your women's health physios, but what else?
Emma (31:48.372)
I think the person in the Facebook group contacting a lot of the allied health professionals in the area. Flyers, so as soon as I moved up here, I had my flyers ready to go. So I was walking around town with my flyers. I was just getting out there as much as I could in the community. I was down at the local coffee shop as soon as I moved every single day, telling them who I was, giving them my flyers, and wear my branded stuff. You know,
constantly got my branded clothing on everywhere I go. And as soon as I moved to the point where I'd posted that much in the Facebook groups, that people were recognizing my car the first week that I moved here. They say, oh, I've seen you posting in the groups. Then I've just seen your car drive down the street. And I got a couple of messages off the back of that. Yeah.
Jen (32:33.515)
Hehehe
Jen (32:38.323)
I'm sorry.
Jen (32:43.518)
And that's the beauty, like that's what we want, right? We want you to be this presence in your local community that people just, you know, the second they think about working with moms, they think about you and you've had the van, I know the van's kind of gone to wherever vans go when they're no longer with us, but you've had the Motivate Mums van that's been driving around Budgerman and was in Sydney for a bit, like, what are you doing now? What are you gonna get? Are you gonna get another van?
Emma (33:11.816)
No, I'm not going to get a fan, but it's going to be branded. No, it's going to be branded to hell. Like, I know I'm sad as hell. I'm very sad about the van, but there will be a car driving around fully branded up very soon, for sure. It's like part of me. It's part of my brand. Feel naked without the car.
Jen (33:13.29)
Oh no! I'm scared!
Jen (33:33.59)
Yeah, you have to do that again. So what were, so you started to lay the layers as soon as you came to the Sunshine Coast. What were the internal things in your business like maybe around knowing your numbers, knowing your capacity, knowing the things that you needed to do in order for you to, I guess, get the same traction that you'd already had in Sydney. Yeah, what were those things that you were doing behind the scenes?
Emma (34:00.896)
I think a big one is what you speak about a lot, Jenny's the campaign calendar. I think when you get lost within your business, going back to what that is, and that's a spreadsheet of, you know, we run, I run by term. So every term we do exactly the same process. And sticking to that really helped me put down the layers. So it was, you know, three weeks before I was going to launch the business, it was contacting.
people in the area who'd already inquired, contacting all the allied health professionals in the area, going around the parks with my flyers, knowing how many clients I had to get to get back to what I was earning in Sydney. So understanding what that all meant.
Jen (34:43.554)
Mm-hmm.
Jen (34:47.138)
So you had your campaign calendar and also the numbers of like your capacity and all that kind of thing.
Emma (34:54.664)
Yep. So starting off with.
Jen (34:55.782)
What are some of the
No you go. That's alright.
Emma (35:01.632)
I was starting off with the one class again. So I didn't want to risk opening up five classes, you know, and then spreading myself over five classes to open up one class again, one class. I had two clients for a while and it was going through that same process again, but I knew that it was going to get busier. And I knew if I stuck with the consistency of putting everything down like I did in Sydney, that it would work.
Jen (35:28.426)
And did it go quicker than in Sydney? Like, what happened?
Emma (35:34.548)
It did, it went a lot quicker. Within six months, I was earning more than I was in Sydney because I had the confidence. I think building a business, I did, I lacked a lot of confidence, but this time I knew I could do it. So I got out there a bit more with confidence and with, I think more consistency of handing out the flyers to the moms.
Jen (35:40.814)
Mm-hmm.
Emma (36:02.2)
there was no hesitation this time. Like in Sydney, I'd be hesitant of giving them a flyer. But now I'm just like, this is what I do. Do you want a flyer? And nine times out of 10, I'm like, oh, I was just looking over and I really wanted to come and talk to you, but I knew you'd be busy or whatever it may be. And it's, I think you said it, you always say that you kind of do them a disservice if you don't go over because they probably want to train with you. So it's being able to just back yourself and know that what you're delivering.
Jen (36:06.146)
Hahaha!
Emma (36:32.361)
is a good service.
Jen (36:35.402)
Yeah, I think one of the big things that you, well, you didn't say it out loud, but when we start something again, it's like we're not starting from scratch, we're starting from experience. And that's a quote that I don't know who the quote comes from, but your journey really stands out to me that you were able to get in six months or potentially less than where you'd got to in Sydney in 18 months, which makes me kind of go, what would you be doing in Sydney now? Like, there's two ways to it, right? Like it could be just steadily growing.
And this is exactly what you needed to land in another place and have that confidence to grow the business quicker. Or the business in Sydney now could be like three times the size and all that kind of thing. And we'll never know, but it's been incredibly awesome to watch you just go. I know what to do. I know how to do it. And I'm not saying you don't have those ups and downs along the way and the self doubts and all that kind of stuff, but yeah.
Emma (37:21.076)
No, we won't, but yeah, I have often thought that myself with what I'm over doing in Sydney.
Jen (38:44.61)
Yeah. And I do think like you're in such a great community now, like Sydney's interesting. Like I definitely think you get community in Sydney, you do. But where you are on the sunny coast, I think it's I don't know, it just feels like it's that closer knit community a little bit, maybe less transient or maybe not with all the Sydney people coming up there. But what Emma, so you've kind of, you know, you've built the becoming locally famous or you are locally famous, you know, you were in Sydney, you are again.
Emma (39:02.68)
Hehehehe
Jen (39:14.562)
in Budroom and the surrounding area on the Sunshine Coast. What have you started to do that builds your business from there because as trainers that work with moms and that run a service-based business, there's often a cap on the amount of money you can earn because it's all this, you've got to show up to deliver a session, to get paid for the session. So it's a real time for money exchange. And I know that...
You know, you've got financial goals and you don't necessarily want to, you know, you've got boundaries as well and you don't really want to do more sessions, although sometimes I know you will if, if it aligns with the goals that you've got, but what are some of the things that you're doing to build your business beyond the face-to-face element?
Emma (39:58.604)
Well, we keep building the online platform that we talked before. That is my aim to build that bigger than what it is now. And then also run community events. So I ran an event last June. No, this June. I don't know where I am. June, which was, yeah, I was like, when was it? Which is a family fun, like fitness event. And that was just another way to get the community together. Make.
Jen (40:16.194)
than that long ago.
Emma (40:25.48)
money in a different way. So it's just another income stream. It meant that I didn't have to run several sessions. It was just a one-off session in the park to involve kids, families. So, and my plan is as well to run some little, like little wellness days, little things throughout the year that won't take a lot of time up, but add just little bits of income.
Jen (40:48.131)
Mm.
Jen (40:51.518)
Yeah. And you launched a podcast.
Emma (40:54.736)
I did. I launched a podcast last, that was last year. That was last June. Um, Mum Life Untangled podcast, which I felt like it was such a big win for me. Like the thought of launching a podcast was just like overwhelming. And I think that was one of my goals in the mastermind last, last year. And being able to launch that podcast just was huge for me. And I think.
Jen (40:57.002)
Tell us about that journey.
Jen (41:02.414)
Yeah.
Jen (41:19.04)
Mm.
Emma (41:24.096)
This year I've really put a bit of effort into it, contacting local businesses. So every two weeks there's a new one released and it's all about helping mums untangle the complicated things that happen in mum life. So it's been a good one to like talk to local businesses and it's a good networking tool to then expand your networking area. So each, every two weeks I'm talking to a new business on the course that helps support mums.
So I feel like that's such a good way of brightening your search and getting people to know you and then have that big network.
Jen (42:03.874)
Yeah, and I think you've done that in a really strategic way, having people in your local community to do that, because, I mean, you know, you get the opportunity now to go outside of that if you want to build your online business. So, but making sure you're always kind of pulling it back to that, the local element when you're trying to build, you know, more moms in your local community is super important. But it does really take you into that next level of becoming beyond locally famous, which.
you can then leverage all of the foundations you've laid, all of the layers you've laid, and your podcast becomes this next layer that's, yes, helping you to connect with local businesses, but then it's taking you way beyond that as well, because people can obviously listen from wherever they are in the world and then eventually join up to your online classes and whatever else you're gonna birth into the world.
Emma (42:49.336)
Hmm.
Emma (42:52.513)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah and I love seeing how many listens and how many downloads and whatever it is on. I'm like yes!
Jen (42:59.586)
Hahaha
that it's called Mum Life Untangled. I'll put a link to that into the show notes as well. Em, if you think about your journey from where you are to where you are now, what are some of the things that you would, you know, I don't love advice, I love experience, so that you would share with, you know, any trainer listening that has a similar goal or a same goal to you as growing.
business in the kind of mum space, what would you share with them? Like what are your words of wisdom?
Emma (43:38.484)
I'd say don't give up because it is too easy to give up or say that something doesn't work. It doesn't work because I've been working on it for a few months and I can't get clients. It will work and I think you just, not just, you have to get out there, getting out there in the community because sometimes we can be scared to get out there and talk to people. But.
Jen (43:43.47)
Hmm.
Jen (43:55.645)
Hahaha!
Jen (44:05.134)
Mmm.
Emma (44:06.304)
Yeah, I would not give up at all because keep going. And yeah, I feel like sometimes I can get swept away with, it's not working. And then you bring yourself back to looking how far you've come. Even if it was, you had two clients at the start of term and now you've got 10, amazing. All right, what's next? Like working on that next thing all the time and celebrating the small wins. You've taught me to do that.
Jen (44:31.914)
Mm.
Emma (44:33.728)
And I actually said that into the MumSafe group the other day, because someone was saying that they're a bit lost. And I said, remember to celebrate the small wins, because you do forget these little wins over time add up to a lot. And then you look back over a couple of terms and you've come a long way.
Jen (44:53.418)
Yeah, I think the don't give up is so incredibly important. And it's if you're consistently, if you're not doing the things, we'll fucking either give up or just start doing the things, right? Like if you're sitting there in the background going, I'm not doing all the things, like I've been given all this information or guidance that I'm sitting there wishing that it's gonna happen, we'll then find totally different story. But if you are somebody who is taking on actions to do and you're out there in your community and doing those things, then not giving up.
is, has to be, one of the best pieces of advice that you could give people. If you're genuinely doing the work, don't just stop. Don't stop too early. It's so sad when people stop too early or give up too early.
Emma (45:33.473)
Mm.
Emma (45:37.532)
It is. And I find I get the fire in my belly when I just, I'm not giving up. I can do it. And just believing in yourself, having the team around you is a big one. You know, the mom safe team, knowing that they're all in your corner, celebrating all the things with you as well. So get in the mom safe team is what I would say.
Jen (45:56.247)
haha
I love it. I love it. And I've got one more question for you. And I have asked you this before. What do you stand for?
Emma (46:08.undefined)
What do I stand for Jen?
Jen (46:10.062)
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Emma (46:14.109)
I stand for helping new mums return to exercise safely after having a baby, but I also help mums through all journeys of motherhood. So I never want anybody to be excluded, all inclusive, and I'm going to take over the world with Motivate Mums.
Jen (46:36.106)
I love it. I love it. Well, I just think, you know what I've just had in my head now? Like a motivate, imagine having like a motivate mom's bus and the bus rocks up into your suburb and you get on the bus and you do your workout or you've got these big speakers and you take all the equipment out of the bus. Like I can see all these motivate mom's buses around England, as well as around Australia. How cool would that be?
Emma (46:40.92)
I'm sorry.
Emma (46:55.488)
Well, that was a thought on the weekend when I was camping. I was like, I could travel around Australia with a Motivate Mums bus, giving workouts to mums. I just went on this big tangent pace, like, oh my goodness me. And I know when I've come back from the mum safe retreat, a few friends were saying, like, what are you gonna do now? And I was just saying, I feel like I could take over the world. I feel empowered to just like, just go for it. Do whatever you wanna do, just absolutely.
Jen (47:05.282)
How did we do that?
Jen (47:24.78)
Yep.
Emma (47:26.328)
Go for it. So, yeah.
Jen (47:27.722)
You have to give it a go. Like whatever it is, we have to give it a go. Um, and if, if someone is a mum and they're listening, how do they get in contact with you if they think you're awesome and want to come train with you? How, um, yeah, where do they go?
Emma (47:30.965)
Yes.
Emma (47:42.8)
I'm on Instagram, motivate underscore mums. You'll find me on Facebook and check out my podcast, Mum Life Untangled. You can hang out with me on there and always welcome to a DM.
Jen (47:55.646)
Awesome. I love it. And thank you so much for taking the time out. Like you're someone that I'm always very actually aware of when I ask you to spend time with me in some way because you always do it. So I'm like, I don't want to ever fall into that space of assuming that you will give your time and your energy to come and talk on a podcast or do a masterclass or any of that kind of thing. So thank you for always being willing and know that I'm always.
just wanting to make sure that there's not too big an ask going out into the world. And I know that you're a huge inspiration for many of the members of our Mumsave team. I love working with you because you just fucking get shit done. And you're an awesome human. So thank you so much for spending time with me and with us. And I can't wait to see what the remainder of 2023 and the 2024 Motivate Mums bus brings to the world.
Emma (48:48.024)
Woohoo! Yeah! Oh, thanks for having me, Jane. I have loved working alongside you for the last, what, three and a half years. And you just keep helping me grow my business and personally as well. So thank you for everything you do.
Jen (48:52.771)
I'm sorry.
Jen (49:04.298)
Always, always. All right, sweet, enjoy the rest of your afternoon and I will talk to you soon. Bye.
Emma (49:07.96)
Thank you. Bye.
