Peter Conroy is 53 years old and is an aspiring digital nomad. His business journey has been one of accidental success created by simply following his interest and passion which is based in Traditional Karate. In 2009, Peter evolved into a personal trainer, now enjoy working with people in the mainstream health/fitness/wellbeing industry.
When Peter asked to write for this event (even though he thought he writing skills are lacking… and I’ve left the post largely unedited so his voice wasn’t lost) he wanted to inspire the older folk that it’s not too late to follow your dreams. He also said:
” Many Of the DMs I have connected with are desperately trying to create something New or Original ( cool ) but they then find both knowledge and skill shortfalls and find the need to employ experts or build a collaborative team to work with , This is a great option and the right way to go for loads of people
For some of us ( me ) Show me a business that’s running and successful , educate and train me ! recognise me when I kick a goal or two ! and support me on my journey ! A Virtual Franchise has loads to offer for a tiny financial commitment and a blue print to build a dream business almost a dummies guide to entrepreneurship. “
So here’s Peter’s story and maybe diving into a franchise is your step into the digital nomad world…
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Its December 2008 and I am celebrating my 28th year in the Australian Wine Industry 30kgs over weight driving a successful business for a top 5 Australian Wine Company and earning more money than my wife and 3 kids can spend.
“Success “
Company Car along with a healthy salary and all the usual corporate benefits I should have been the happiest man in Australia I am actually paid to eat in Hotels and Restaurants and Drink!
2002 Saw the birth of our 3rd Child Katrina and that was the end of any free or leisure time as I knew it also sadly for my health the end of a 20-year romance with Traditional Karate.
6 years later my commitments to a corporate life style had grown as had my young family
Sadly, so had my waist line I was now 30kgs heavier than in 2002!
As a married man my concern about appearance was ZERO,
I was however getting out of bed after an 8 hour sleep still tired
Tired of my Job , Tired of my lack of fitness Tired of my life !
So at 45years of age and living in a small country town Camperdown Vic Australia pop 3,800 I did what no self-respecting parent/husband should ever do
I resigned from my job with absolute nothing to go to!
Nothing!!
This was neither bright or recommended but something that I am sharing with you to highlight the despair of my situation.
I didn’t so much have a goal or vision of what I wanted it was more I had developed a distaste for what I had had and to be fair enjoyed for many years!
I had a lifelong vision that there must be a way, some way to create an income without being away from home for 5 / 6 days every week .
Was traveling 1,000kms / 2000km every week really the only way?
I simple came to a cross road in my life and had to find another way a better way to live as what I had been doing up until Jan 2009 was more like existence the excitement and challenge of my career had ceased some were in its 28-year journey, I had stopped learning and growing intellectually, I was no longer interested or stimulated in a career and industry that once excited me.
So armed with a crystal clear vision of what I no longer wanted in life
- Poor Health
- Corporate Australia
- KPIs !!!!!! WTF
I began in my mid-40s to rebuild my life and starting with health/Fitness /Wellbeing .
My First step was back to my love Traditional Karate and with the help of my new instructor Frank Mc Kenzie
Together He helped me
- a) rip off 30kgs of unwanted body fat in 12 months
- b) Re Opened my Dojo
- c) Established a tournament squad who successfully compete at Local /State /National level
Great I feel Alive Again
This mid-life career change had however now taken its toll on our family savings,
My health and fitness were now back on track it’s just a substantial drop in income that’s our next real challenge.
As I mentioned Camperdown Vic is a population of 3,800 people and not exactly loaded with employment opportunities for golf playing chardonnay drinking ambassadors of commerce like myself.
So I searched for inspiration and my inspiration came from the feedback from family and friends.
I was so busy being a screaming success I had failed to notice that many of my friends married to both their jobs and their families were in exactly the same Health Crisis as I was
Over Worked and Under Exercised some like me had given away competitive sport 10/15/20 years ago causing a massive change to not only their health but their wellbeing.
Q How the heck can a fellow in his mid 40s drop 30kg body weight and get back involved in tournament KARATE ?
The truth is How the actual mechanics are fairly easy
Its why that’s a little tougher
Discover your WHY and watch your future fly
So I charge out and successfully complete a cert iv in fitness and develop a program called Slipper Camp ‘boot camp for beginners “
It’s perfect I can do it locally
It’s not that different to my karate training
And best of all I get to help others achieve what I have now achieved for my self
Brilliant My New Thing
The Japanese call it Ikigai and I was getting closer I had discovered my calling , lt was simply lacking a little in the getting paid section
March 2012 a gorgeous gal called Zoe Tattersall starts to speak to me about a wholefood supplement called
Juice Plus +
I had never heard of it
Zoe is a sweet young thing and didn’t take too long to convince me that as a Personal Trainer I have a responsibility to my clients to learn about supplements and be in a position to offer them something better than they can purchase via their local Coles or Safeway Supermarket.
She was dead right
It Just Made Sense !
People come to a personal trainer to get results quickly safely and better results than they can generate with a 20 min walk twice per week and some synthetic multi vitamin they have seen on the gondola end of their local supermarket.
So I complete a 4-month trial on Juice Plus + Hmm good very good so I then buy my wife and 3 kids a box of juice plus and watch with interest as their health / fitness develops.
So impressed with my personal experience and the journey of my wife and 3 kids I buy a virtual franchise and get a business relationship underway
A Virtual Franchise as I later discover allows me to build a business in any 1 or all of the 28 member countries around the world today!
Bill Gates ( Microsoft ), Mark Zuckerberg ( face book ) ,Larry Page (Google ), Richard Branson ( Virgin Air Etc )
All great entrepreneurs and 1 thing they all share is they all developed something new, something original something that most people in the world today either want or need a simple formula to success.
What nobody ever speaks of are the challenges
I call them the How toos How to Finance?
How to Staff?
How to protect your world changing concept with intellectual property development?
Supply chain management?
Marketing and Advertising?
Product development?
How To Grow?
How to manage international currency flucation and banking?
I have never considered myself bright enough to build a fancy new app for smart phones, or design the next great search engine, built an IT company that catches the imagination of the world, start an airline
I am just not that gifted and frankly have no intention of ever working that hard again!
So September 2012 was a profound time in both my personal life and my career direction.
This product and company “The Juice Plus + Company “
found me Literally
At first glance I had discovered a wholefood supplement that was allowing me to train harder (great) I felt amazing and my clients and students were all commenting that I was even looking better! (impossible I know Ya !!)
I was then taken by one of Australia’s leading mentors John Pilato and introduced to a community of people who all share the same Mission
“To Inspire Healthy Living Around the world “
Improve your own health and help others do the same for themselves and get paid every month!
So my potential market resides in any 1 of 28 countries and simply wants optimal health for themselves and their family
(something that the world needs) Yes better health
John helped me to learn and understand that via social media I could build my business beyond town boundaries of Camperdown a concept that I had previously never considered possible.
His comment to me was
“Shortly you will have clients both interstate and overseas people who have never been into your gym people who will never visit your gym
You can impact on the health and wellbeing of millions of people world-wide, not for a 10-week boot camp but for a life time!
All from a lap top on your dining room table
So excited I could hardly sleep
Wow here is a company who will train and support me
Help me understand and grow an international business from a lap top located any were in the world
Celebrate my wins and development
And already has all the infrastructure warehouses, staff, IP product and programs in place and On top of that is widely recognised as a global leader in the Wellness Industry
Have a home office that actually handles 95% of the work
Pays me residual income on the 10th Day of Every month
Where has this been all my life I am thinking
A classic relationship style business
Very well suited for people with a flair to Care
For the last 20 years Of my professional life in the wine industry I dreamt of some way to earn a living and live where I choose have time for family and friends have time to train in Karate some 6 months ago my best friends daughter returned from a trip to Chiang Mai and spoke about the community of digital nomads
Her comment to me was Uncle Peter you must go there just like you!
I didn’t get it but she was speaking of how I run my juice plus + business from a lap top she said you’re a digital nomad you just don’t travel as much as the rest
So that’s my journey into a world I had dreamt of for years but didn’t really know existed, In mid-life I had created a health and fitness journey that has become the most exciting and personally rewarding career I could ever imagine
Acknowledging and fixing my own health / fitness Issues both opened the door and qualified me to work in the Global Wellness Industry the fastest growing industry in first world countries today
I have been blessed to have been discovered by a company and community of people who are all on the same mission as myself to Inspire Healthy Living Around the World and create a dream life style doing it
Tips for DM Start Ups and General Business Success
There are very few blue sky opportunities in the world today, Blue sky is a vibrant market were you and your product or service is the only 1 of its kind available Sales simple flood in as there is no competitor in your market niche and in huge demand a Circus Monkey could run and develop a business like this profitably
If your beginning your life as a DM or simply rebuilding your income base to enable you to travel and experience all the cool things your heart desires I have a few thoughts to share
1 ) Don’t go it alone
Team Work Makes The Dream Work
In school we are drilled to study and sit exams all by ourselves, so we take ownership of the learning and the results and that’s fine However as soon as you venture into the business world you will discover that 1 man or woman businesses tend to be small and struggle , Business is a team game you want a great accountant , great legal team , gun web designer etc etc etc Its lots more fun to link arms with these people and work together than to hire them all .
You will see most famous music artists doing it a collaboration recording or concert with another artist who they respect or who’s music they Love
What actually happens is both artists benefit from exposure to the others fan base ! Hm Win Win both artists can grow their following via collaboration
So for me team or community is important both to my personal success and pure enjoyment of life!
My Tribe at this year’s Juice Plus Conference in Melbourne Australia
2) Discover your “WHY “
Do you have a Why that makes you cry ?
Why do you want the DM life style?
Are you looking for that 1 magic connection?
Romance? ,Lust?, Or both ?
Are you searching for fame and Fortune?
Is adventure and life experience what drives you ?
3)Is a powerful legacy important in your work?
Question and Challenge your personal motives for doing what you do ?
Do you want your work to be remembered as life changing in the lives of others?
Or are you simply trading a few hours for a lots of dollars to do some globetrotting and sitting in the sand on a glorious beach location sending selfies back to your previous co-workers
We have all heard or read make your passion your business and you will never work another day in your life.
Hm Maybe it depends on how well your passion rewards you? If your passion is making coffee in a café for $20 per hour and its costing you $250 a day to live you are going to be passionately employed for 10 hours per day just to break even.
There has never been anything exciting about break even! Ever
4 ) Get a coach / mentor
Somebody who has been there /done that and succeeded and somebody who wants your success as a part of their life story
5)Go to work on your self
Its not so much back to school but back to the books /dvds/seminars start to learn and develop the skills that you need to build your dream business.
There are literally millions of ways to create income and compensation plans that vary from a few dollars per hour up to endless streams of residual income that flow for a life time or more , Don’t focus so much on the result ( dollar ) look hard and long at the journey and who you’re on it with
You will somehow know it in your heart when you’re on the right path
6) Finally
Learn about residual income if it’s a new subject to you and then build some!
Build lots
You Can Become a rock star and fund all your dreams
But like everything in Life structure and timing is important
