Lisa Raleigh talks to us about how she evolved herself, her brand and business from Personal Trainer, to Media personality through The Biggest Loser, to Wellness Expert and now working mum.

Show notes

• Go behind the scenes with Lisa Raleigh, The Biggest Loser trainer, as she tells us what it was like to train the contestants on the show... and how that experience changed her life.

• We discuss what it feels like to feel the fear of failure in the face of the huge opportunity to be on screen

• The sacrifices she made to step change her business

• How her business pivoted as she grew and changed and saw gaps in the market

• She answers the question - why don't we as humans do what we know is good for us?

• What it takes to change your behaviour on a long term basis

• The 3 things that successful people have in common

• The power of consistent small changes in your health and wealth to long term success

• The impact of becoming a mum on her life and her business

• How she copes as a working mum, and helps working mums cope

• How she's started to productise her business

• How she's helping working moms to easily start their health and wellness journey

Learn more from Lisa

• www.lisaraleigh.com

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TRANSCRIPT

Today I'm joined by Lisa Raleigh, she's a fantastic human who is really a wellness expert, but also a successful businesswoman. Like many of us, has been managing the transition from having her own brand and business to having her own brand, and business, and new husband, and baby. So it's a fantastic time for her of growth and transition, but many lessons for all of us to learn. Welcome to the program.

Lisa Raleigh:          00:49       Thank you so much, Lisa. Great name.

Lisa Linfield:     00:53       So Lisa, many of our listeners are in America, so can you tell us in a short matter, who is Lisa Raleigh?

Lisa Raleigh:          01:01       Okay, so I have kind of evolved over the years from personal trainer, probably 15 years ago now, it seems like a really long time ago, to a wellness expert. There's been quite a ... Not a linear journey, it's been quite curvy, and up and down. But, one of my biggest breaks was becoming the trainer on the Biggest Loser for South Africa. That was about almost 10 years ago, so almost a decade ago. So I went from being a personal trainer and having a mobile training business to owning gyms, and getting this big break, and being catapulted into the media, and then being responsible for that new position. I had now a voice to people on radio, in media, on television, and I had a message that I wanted to share.

So I've used those platforms to the best of my ability so far, and I've still got a long way to go, to share the message of wellness, and being the best version of yourself, and how it can be easier than you think it can be, and how it's bite sized chunks. So education, inspiration, motivation, teaching people how to fish when it comes to their health is really my biggest message. Just recently I started to launch my own product, and ebox, and merchandise, and estore, and kind of productizing all that's in my head, all my experience, my thousands, and thousands of house, my 10,000 hours with clients, and consulting with individuals that have actually taught me more than any textbook could ever teach me. I've taken a lot of acknowledgement, and I'm productizing it, and putting it out there to inspire and motivate others to change their lives for the better.

Lisa Linfield:     02:25       Wow, that's a fantastic journey in a short matter.

Lisa Raleigh:          02:28       Yeah, I tried as quickly as I could.

Lisa Linfield:     02:31       So many people look at someone like yourself, and they say, well, she's just lucky. She got a break to be on a TV show, the Biggest Loser, so that won't happen to me. Is it something that you kind of suddenly just stepped into this glamorous limelight and it all just flowed onto your lap? Or what si the story behind that?

Lisa Raleigh:          02:54       Okay, well, I think a little bit of luck, a little bit of personal pursuit, and a bit of a personal mission. Timing was also quite good. Let's just say I was seven years a personal trainer and business owner, owning little gyms. So I had three in Durban all at the same time, which was very challenging, trying to be in three places all at once. When people do expect the business owner to be hands on. They always ask, where is Lisa today? At the other gym, or I'm at home doing spreadsheets, or whatever the case may be, and people want to see you. So that was very difficult. I always wanted to inspire more people than the people I could physically see, or train, or inspire within my four walls.

I've always felt my life was bigger, I felt frustrated. I enjoyed what I did. I was very passionate, I was good at what I did. But I knew I needed to help more, on a bigger scale. I needed to make a difference, and leave my mark, and leave my legacy like everybody wants to do in some way or form. So after seven years of blood, sweat, and tears, and I promise you, it was blood, sweat, and tears trying to build a business with loads, and loads of fitness instructors, and personal trainers, and dieticians, and all kinds of wellness and fitness service providers, which isn't the easiest industry at the best of times. I was getting a little bit tired of running a business now, because I had three, and being a personal trainer to some of the most loyal people in the world, been my clients for seven, between five and seven years, didn't want to go to anyone else. Then I got this opportunity.

I was told by a few people that this Biggest Loser is coming to South Africa, why don't I put my name for it? So I got the entry forms, and I did so. I sent in my CD, and then they sent a crew. That crew was responsible for interviewing you on camera, to see if you could actually speak on camera. Now this was my first time ever kind of ... Well, not ever, but pretty much, speaking on camera. You had to kind of pass that test. If you could pass that test, then they gave you a really obese client to motivate. You had to show that you communicate, that you're capable of uplifting somebody and not degrading them in any way. You had to kind of pass that motivational test, as well as your knowledge. You had to tick all the boxes with your CV, your qualifications. Then you wait.

I waited about two months or so, when I got the big call from Real Pippa Pictures, which was the production company behind the Biggest Loser SA, and they said that I've been chosen as the female trainer on the Biggest Loser SA. I was like, life changing moment. [inaudible 00:05:09] and the amazing part of it was I was actually training my very first client I ever had at the time. She had become a really good friend, and mentoring me as sort of a second mom. It was Monday lunchtime, I had Elsa with me, and that's when they called. It was quite strange, that they called then, and it was such a life changing moment for me. The very next Saturday, so literally 10 days or so later, we started shooting at four o'clock in the morning. Just like that, my life changed.

Very little time for preparation, and now trying to fit it in. What you signed in your contract, which was five times a week for three hours, and what you actually ended up physically doing, which are very different things. I almost lost my business over that time, because of the dedication. I do things 100%, I was totally emotionally invested in that show. It was very time consuming, often leaving in the dark and traveling from the north of Durban all the way back into town, way after it was dark, hungry, haven given a 12 hour day, sometimes seven days a week. Yeah, it was an emotional journey of note. I cried more in that 12 week shooting period than I'd cried, I think, my whole life.

Lisa Linfield:     06:12       Why?

Lisa Raleigh:          06:14       Because you're assigned people that you've never met before. They're different races, they're from different parts of South Africa. They have different reasons why they're in that state. Nobody gets grotesquely over obese by choice. Most of the time, in fact, all of the time, it happens because of some kind of trauma. All of my seven contestants had had some kind of past issue, whether it was rape, or molestation, or whether it was abuse at home, divorce, poverty, you name it. I had it in my group. It was very real. It was a hard journey to see these incredibly overweight people that were scarred giving their best. Every week, somebody leaving, and training them through the night, in black bags, dragging tires along a beach, starving, thirsty, and you're breaking these people.

What's required of you is drastic results to make awesome television. The weight lose had to be crazy in order for people in the audience to go wow. You know? One can go, I can do that at home. It had to be like eight kilos in a week. So what you put those people through, and what you saw, and the tears, and the breakdown, and the hunger, and the dedication, and the commitment was really amazing. It was awe inspiring, but also to understand what led them to that point. When you got to see behind the curtain was really sad.

It opened up my mind a lot to no longer just being a personal trainer, but wanting to study further into nutrition and behavioral sciences, and understanding what makes a human being who they are, and why they're there. It was because of Biggest Loser that I studied further. I started a wellness after that that helped people holistically and organically, and supported them in all other areas of their lives. Not just fitness, because fitness is so puny. Fitness is one little thing. You have to look at all the other pieces of the puzzle to make it all come together beautifully. If you're not, if you're neglecting any of other pieces, it will never be wholesome, it will never be whole.

So that Biggest Loser, I owe my whole career to that life changing hands up moments, where literally, it took me from a very passionate, hardworking youngster, somebody that loved people, loved fitness and wellness, but took me from owning gyms and just helping the people around me to saying there is so much more to this. I have to help people, but I have to help people in a very holistic way. My whole career changed from being fitness to being wellness. What does it mean to be well? So yeah, it was a life journey. It's been hectic. But it was life changing.

Lisa Linfield:     08:43       I'm sure. So when I started my podcast, when I started my business recently, there were a number of people who said to me, wow, you're clever to start a podcast. Inside, it was quite a challenge for me, because it's got nothing to do with it. It's got to do, in my opinion, about being brave. You can only be brave in the presence of fear.

Lisa Raleigh:          09:07       Yes.

Lisa Linfield:     09:07       It's not a brave thing to get up and have breakfast, because you don't fear it. But it's brave, and you need courage to overcome the things inside you, when something is so overwhelming. I think about what it must have been like in those 10 days, when the theory became a reality, and all of a sudden, you were going to be hugely exposed for personal failure. The things that scare me about having my own podcast is I'm putting myself out there for everybody to judge me, and listen, and think oh my goodness, she doesn't speak well, or whatever it is. I mean, if I was to put myself in your shoes, I would have been terrified.

Lisa Raleigh:          09:44       I was terrified.

Lisa Linfield:     09:45       Fear on a level of major scale, because you're putting yourself out there, on an audience, and these incredible human beings whose lives are sitting in your hand, in front of like billions of people.

Lisa Raleigh:          09:57       Yeah. You're speaking to somebody who is really scared of failure. That is my biggest fear. So here you are, catapulting me into the media, something I've never been trained on. Speaking on camera, TV presenting to a certain degree. Being an expert in front of a million cameras. It was a lot of people on set. Sometimes in a day there would be 30, 40 people. Cameramen, soundees, producers, directors. Everyone. It was a crazy, amazing experience all at the same time, but completely overwhelming. Having to trust my personal trainers to take over my entire clientele, people that had been with me for a very long time, who were happy for me, but not really happy for them, because it meant that they were losing their personal trainer, for three months, for three months plus.

So it wasn't just for a week or two, it was for a good chunk of time. My staff, being happy for me, but not actually, because I was now the one that had the most amazing opportunity that most personal trainers in the world would dream of. Yet it was my job, my opportunity. It was a very overwhelming, daunting experience. I also think that's why the tears, a lot of the tears, because it was so scary. Every day was a new challenge, something you had never done before, you had to shine, you had to say the right things, you had to motivate the right way. These people counting on you, the result had to be there, you had a huge pressure from the producers to live up to expectations.

Yeah, I mean, I remember the very last finale, we did one of our last weigh ins with the top three. I had full blown tonsillitis. Now that when I look at the footage again, which I haven't done in years, but when I did last, they couldn't shoot me from the front, because I looked like a bullfrog. So they had to shoot me from an angle, so that my jawline would kind of still be there. I went to the hospital that morning of that shoot, and they said, we need to admit you, you are and to well. Your tonsils are so inflamed they need to come out, you need antibiotics, you are so sick. I said, I can't. Like, there is absolutely nothing I can do. I have to go and shoot. I could barely swallow, I could barely talk.

The day before that, I had tonsillitis, and was the day that the Biggest Loser contestants had to train the trainer. So they were drilling me, because they wanted to get me back for everything I had done to them, even though I was the softy personal trainer out of the two. They annihilated me. I was so sick, and you just had to put on that brave face. Then that Friday, I had full on tonsillitis, I had to shoot, could barely swallow, and I had to get through that shoot. I couldn't hear anything, my ears were blocked. But I just ...

It was a lot of those moments where I was pushed to the last degree. I was so exhausted, I was so emotionally charged, nervous, overwhelmed, ill, overworked, stress about my companies, and now I've got this amazing role, and I shouldn't be stressed, I should be so grateful and so happy. But I've got so much drama happening in my businesses because I'm not around. It was a very hard time. It happens more often than not, because there are many entrepreneurs who get some form of break in something, a post goes viral, something happens. They suddenly have to deal with the tsunami of opportunity that comes at the same time as everything else that was in their life, that they had been trying to juggle.

Lisa Linfield:     12:58       Absolutely. What did you say to yourself in your head to get you through that period of time?

Lisa Raleigh:          13:03       Just how privileged I am. I need to have some kind of perspective, because this is an overwhelming time. I could lose a lot, friendships, and staff, and all kinds of things, income, because they don't pay you very handsomely for Biggest Loser. I earned a lot more personal training and selling my time than I did on that show, that is for sure. But just that how lucky I was, they had chosen two people in the whole country, one male, and one female, and I was the only female. Suck it up. I was very lucky. Still to this day, oh, I get goosebumps, I am so grateful for the opportunity, because I would never have been able to have helped and inspired the number of people that I have, and I'm only just beginning. So I'm not even close to there. But I would have never had that hands up without that opportunity. But it wasn't easy.

Lisa Linfield:     13:47       I think that's the thing that I see a lot around me, is that people look at people who are already successful and assume that it's always been that way. Forget that the biggest battle for every human being is the battle of the mind. I don't think there is a bigger battle in the world than that. You could have not put your hand up for it.

Lisa Raleigh:          14:04       Yes.

Lisa Linfield:     14:05       Even once you had got it, you could have actually said, listen, this is not going to work for me. You can run away from opportunities. I have a thing on my desk, and it says 'she who is brave is free.' That's exactly the thing. You only get the freedom once you've stepped through the fear. Until then, it's a whole bunch of wishes, and dreams, and thoughts, and can dos. You know? Also, financial strain, because you have to, at certain stages, take financial strain in order to invest in yourself, or your business, or something like that, in order to go through those things.

Lisa Raleigh:          14:36       It was a huge financial strain. That entire experience really drained my cash flow. I didn't earn as much as I could, what I would have, because all of my income, from my clients, was going to pay personal trainers to do my job for me. Also my relationships took huge amount of strain, I was never home. My friendships, I had a business partner in the one business, she never saw me. So her business, her investment was suffering, because I had this personal opportunity. It was a very, very difficult thing to navigate through, and to juggle.

Lisa Linfield:     15:05       So you're 10 years on the other side of it.

Lisa Raleigh:          15:07       Yeah.

Lisa Linfield:     15:08       How has your business now changed?

Lisa Raleigh:          15:10       You know what? My business has morphed into so many different things over the years. It's just as trains have come and gone, and as different things have become more popular, and as I've changed as a human being, and my stage in life, and where I want to be. It's just changed so many times. I wrote a book with Darren Scott many years ago, which did very well. I used to consult a lot. I had franchises, or kind of wellness licenses that I licensed to people to use my programs, and this was [inaudible 00:15:35], all over. Then I realized I was actually becoming more of a business owner and franchise all, and that was an awful thing. I kind of got out of that, and I got more involved with the media, got some really big sponsors that I work very closely with in creating beautiful content, and sharing their message, and kind of sharing my message through them.

My business has changed so many times, but the message behind it has always been, I want to help you to live your best life. I want to empower you, inspire you, motivate you to move more, eat cleaner, have more energy, live life to your fullest, because if you don't have your health, you definitely cannot have wealth. That's been my message all along. Things that I was passionate about two years ago, I'm not as passionate about now, for instance, I love people. But I don't necessarily love business. Now that seems so scary to say out loud. But it's true. I mean, I could consult all day. I could stand on a stage and speak to thousands of people all day, and do beautiful wellness getaway weekends and workshops, and create beautiful content on social media, and on TV.

That is what I love. It's my personality type, I've just studied a life coaching course at the moment. I'm number three on the Enneagram. So I'm the front runner, they call it. I like to be the star, and I like to inspire, and motivate, and be first, and do cool things. I don't like anything behind the scenes. I don't like the admin, I don't like the business, I don't like the money talk. So what we are talking about today with financial is it's not my strength. It's actually not my strength. I love people. I like to see people shine, and grow, and improve, and be better people because of me.

Lisa Linfield:     17:08       So one of the challenges is everyone of us knows that we should lead great, healthy lives.

Lisa Raleigh:          17:16       Yes.

Lisa Linfield:     17:16       We all know we should eat nicely, we all know we should have lots of the ... All the colors of the rainbow on our plate. We know we should exercise nicely. We know all of these great, good, things. Why don't we do it? Because that same question is everybody knows they should be saving for their retirement, and investing, and they all know that you can't work for 30 years and retire for 40 years and not have saved for that, the math just physically doesn't work.

Lisa Raleigh:          17:41       Yes.

Lisa Linfield:     17:41       If we know something is good for us, why don't we do it?

Lisa Raleigh:          17:44       Gosh. You know, a lot of the time, what I have realized in all my years of consulting and experience is that if people don't wake up until they're woken up, unless there is something physically wrong with you, so let's just say you're seriously overweight and it's affecting your relationship, and your husband kind of [inaudible 00:17:58] and says, I really think you should do something about it, and physically, emotionally affects you, or you go to the doctor, and now you've got some kind of cancerous growth, or you've got a brain tumor, or you have whatever. There has to be some kind of jolt to the system, some kind of shock tactic to get people to wake up and realize they're not invincible.

You take it for granted that you wake up in the morning, some days you feel better than others, and you carry on with your day. If you don't feel great, you take an energy drink. If you've got a headache, you take a Panado, or pill, or something. You just put a plaster on the wound the whole way thorough, but you get through. You wake up every day, and you go to bed every night. A lot of people don't know how feeling good really feels, until they've really put the effort in, and they've dedicated some energy and some sacrifice, some time, to sorting out their lifestyle, cleaning up what they're eating, sleeping better, drinking more water, cutting out smoking, cutting out the drinking, exercising on a daily basis, even if it's only 20 minutes, but it's consistently.

Very few people have put anything into practice for a long period of time, and actually felt the benefits of being consistently healthy, and feeling what feeling good feels like, and how addictive that feeling is. Very few people have ever been in that situation. I can tell you that. So every day, we just take it for granted that this is how we feel. I feel tired today, and yes, I also felt tired, and today I've got a headache, and my tummy aches. You just think that that's life. Until one day you decide, let me give this a go. I've got a friend, or my hubby, or a colleague, or somebody that is in radiating health, they look amazing, they've got so much energy it's contagious. What are they doing? I want some of that. You try something for the first time, and you've never felt so good.

That feeling of feeling good is completely addictive. We go through peaks and drops of motivation levels, we do it. There are times where I've been super duper healthy, where I won't even put any type of sugar in my mouth. Then there has been times where I've been a lot more moderate and balanced like I am now, because it suited my lifestyle, and the amount of energy and time that I can dedicate to it. But just generally, most people go through life taking for granted that they'll always be healthy, that they'll always wake up. Until one day, they are shocked with some kind of news that even somebody close to them, or themselves, are no longer well. That is when it all changes, it's like that epiphany moment. Or there is an epiphany moment.

I had a client once, he was really, really large. A little toddler ran across the road, and he couldn't get to his toddler in time. Luckily it wasn't fatal, but it was a massive wake up call that he was so slow, and so big, that he couldn't move fast. That was his big motivator, I cannot do this anymore. I have to be fit now for my kids. Everybody has a different epiphany moment. Your favorite pair of jeans don't fit you anymore, that's mild. There could be a wedding day, it could be going to the doctor and finding out you've got high cholesterol, and it doesn't even run in your family. You know, there is so many reasons. But as-

Lisa Linfield:     20:37       So do you have to have an epiphany moment before you can-

Lisa Raleigh:          20:41       You know what, there is always that point of no return. There is always that this is no further. All the people that I have consulted with that have been successful over some kind of journey with me have all had that moment of enough. That reason of enough and why they got there is very different for everybody. Everyone's journeys are so unique. But actually lack them to get to that point. That desperation point where they are actually angry because it fuels a fire in them, that motivation, that determination that I need, because losing weight, getting your life on track is hard. It takes sacrifice. All your favorite things go out the window, at least a lot of the days of the week. You know? I'm miss moderate. I'm miss balance, miss moderate, and I have a following of people that lack my philosophies, because I don't believe in the drastic all or nothing, too many pills and potions.

Lisa Linfield:     21:30       It's the same for money, because it is pretty similar. It doesn't how many times I say to everybody, you can start exercising when you're 60 or when you're 70, it's never too late to start. But if you want the best returns, you need to start earlier and in best consistency.

Lisa Raleigh:          21:44       Yeah, some things aren't reversible. So that's the problem. It's never too late to start. So you need consistency over time to get results. Nothing drastic.

Lisa Linfield:     21:52       Nothing all or nothing. That's exactly the same as financial stuff. In my health and well series, I was talking about the fact that even though I know in my head, I have the knowledge because I'm a physio, the experience that I had is I'm surprised how much consistency helps, because recently, in October, I had a surgery, and I was off for six weeks. I went back, and I had this amazing moment where this girl next door to me was half my age, was huffing and puffing at level five or six on the machine. I was on level eight, and cruising it, and I just recovered from surgery, you know? There was nothing more than for five years, I have consistently been with my trainer. It's the same as money. You can absorb a financial shock, or setting up your own business, and not contributing to retirement funds for two years, or a certain period of time, if you've consistently been doing this stuff.

Lisa Raleigh:          22:47       If you built a foundation, right?

Lisa Linfield:     22:48       If you've built a foundation.

Lisa Raleigh:          22:50       Muscle memory.

Lisa Linfield:     22:51       [crosstalk 00:22:51] too, there is like muscle memory. And it's a habit. I always say exercise and money are very similar, because the thing that's common is a habit. The second thing that's common is you've got to have a desire that helps you get through that moment of temptation. Absolutely.

Lisa Raleigh:          23:11       Your why has to be super strong. That is definitely. So with my clients, I don't take on one new person until I've interviewed them. So I do like a 90 minute consultation with lots of figures, and stats, and body compositions, and PH, and I do all of that with my clients. But I always speak to them about why are you here? What brought you here? What's your epiphany moment? I go into a lot of detail, and I dig to try to find the voice, to try to find the strengths and weaknesses of that client, and how I'm going to give them the tools that they need to set them up for success. Everybody is different. I mean, some people are strong here, but weak here, and other people are strong there, and weak there.

So I need to know, how am I going to support you? Because maybe you need no help in diet, you just need help in training, because you hate it, or vice versa, you actually love exercising, but you're addicted to wine, and sugar. How am I going to help you to be the best version of yourself, supporting you in your weaknesses? But I make sure that that 90 minutes with the client, I always dig deep. One thing that has always been incredibly, stood out for me, was that the people that succeeded always had a couple of things in common. The first thing was they always had that epiphany moment or that why.

That why was so strong that it got them to say no to cake at work, or the lady that comes around with the trolley, or going crazy at the Sunday buffet when they're away. They just didn't feel the need. Their motivation was so believably strong to get them through all those obstacles, and all the temptations that would always, inevitably, come their way. Number two, they always had support. In some way or form that was your love one, your best friend, social media support, joining a team, joining a group, personal trainer-

Lisa Linfield:     24:39       Accountability.

Lisa Raleigh:          24:40       Accountability. People that had some kind of support generally did better than going it alone. Nobody even on a mission. No one to support them on their down days. Nobody to be accountable to, or pay in advance, or whatever. The third thing was organization. People had to plan. They had to, had to plan, because if you're hungry, and you get to the fridge, and there is nothing healthy there, because you haven't done your grocery list for the week, you haven't done your meal prep for the week, and you're going to have a slice of toast. You're going to have a bowl of popcorn. You're going to eat noodles.

You're going to do something, because you're starving. Right then and there, your blood sugar is a rock bottom, and the only thing you can eat is something instant. So the people that would put their effort in, and the time, and sacrifice, and do planning, preparation, those are the people that succeeded. That planning and preparation got them through the first month, which is always the hardest. That month got them to see the results that they needed. Then the results is what took over from there. So those three things were the things I found set people up for success.

Lisa Linfield:     25:34       The great thing is that feedback loop. If they can get through month one, they get the feedback loop of goodness, the scale is better or I'm feeling healthier, or you know, I can do things that I couldn't do. Then the tracking and measurement element that then feeds into that kind of motivation for, hey, actually, this is working. You know? How do I do it? One of the things, as financial advisors, we always say, if you want to start saving, you can start with 50 ran. Even if you're in huge debt. Just start with 50 ran, because get into that habit of saving, and then suddenly that 50 ran starts growing, and then you see that actually the 50 ran is 80 ran, and goodness-

Lisa Raleigh:          26:06       This works. Wow. It becomes addictive. You would rather save before you spend.

Lisa Linfield:     26:11       Absolutely.

Lisa Raleigh:          26:12       So that's exactly what happens with health. It does become addictive. That feeling of feeling good is an amazing feeling, and you want more of it, and you want to say, well, if I feel this good making these changes, imagine if I made those changes, how good I would feel. Imagine how my productivity would improve, and maybe I would make more money, I'd have more energy, and I'd be able to stay up a little later, or do a little more, and give more to what I do do. I really encourage people to celebrate small successes, like you said, with the 50 ran, people have these big goals when it comes to their wellness. They want to do Imen, or they want to lose 50 kilos, or go down five dress sixes, or get a six pack, and they've never had one before. It's like these huge, huge, huge goals.

I always say to people, please, can we focus on health related goals? Because the weight lose will follow, and celebrate all the little successes. So a lot of the time, people come and see me, and their whole lives are kind of out of balance. So they're not sleeping properly, which is incredibly common. Nine out of 10 of my clients have a sleeping issue. [inaudible 00:27:01] problems, very, very common, especially amongst women, and teenage girls. Then they're obviously not eating 100% clean, and they're not making time for activities. They've got all these problems, but a lot of them are health related. Like, they've got eczema, or the water in their eyes are like a yellowy color. They've got acid bumps, they are chronically fatigued, or they just never have energy. They can't believe how much they're putting into their health routines, but they've got no energy, so maybe they've got Candida or something along with their digestion system, or whatever.

So I say to them, celebrate the little things. When you start going to the toilet every single day, when you used to go twice a week, that is amazing. When you start sleeping six hours uninterrupted, instead of waking up seven times because you've had coffee at four PM or whatever bad habits you were into, celebrate that. The more you celebrate the health successes, and the little gains, the more that fuels the goal, the motivation levels, the more you want to succeed, the more you throw at it, the more you try, and it becomes this is an amazing journey. I'm getting healthier, and happier every day.

Eventually they get to their wellness goals, and their weight loss goals actually happened alongside it, and they didn't even notice it. They were feeling so amazing that it didn't become the focus point anymore. So I'm a very sort of holistic coach. I like to teach people wellness, weight loss follows. Let's not focus on the weight loss, because it becomes quite a thing. The scale is not our friend, especially when you do weight training. Your body could be shrinking, turning, looking amazing, everybody is complementing you, but the scale is actually going up. I mean, how demotivating can you get?

Lisa Linfield:     28:28       That's my excuse for the Christmas holiday, by the way. My excuse is I gained muscle. I went skiing, and I gained a whole bunch of leg. It's got nothing to do with the awful strudels, or anything else that everyone has in Austria.

Lisa Raleigh:          28:40       But luckily you had an active holiday. It could have been a whole bunch worse had you not done all that skiing.

Lisa Linfield:     28:44       Absolutely. It's the same thing that I say with people and their money, is when you say to people, okay, this is how much money you need for retirement, they all go, oh my god, this is never going to happen. They quit. The thing is, well, if I was to say to you, okay, you have to run an ultra marathon, if you've been sitting on the couch, of course you're going to quit. You're going to go, not a hope, can't do it. But the challenge is that ultra marathon is going to come whether you're ready or not, and retirement is going to come whether you're ready or not.

Lisa Raleigh:          28:44       Baby steps.

Lisa Linfield:     29:10       The bottom line is take the baby steps first, and bite into bite sized chunks. I always say, our first retirement goal is that you can pay for your medical aid, you can have food that you eat, and shelter over your head. That's it. So let's aim for that first. Then once we've done that, let's work out the fact that we can actually drive a car, and do all these other things that we want to do. Then let's work out that we can do movies, and fun holidays, and things like that. Then, goodness, let's go for overseas holidays.

Lisa Raleigh:          29:35       Yes.

Lisa Linfield:     29:35       But take it into steps. Say, okay, if you're in debt, save for that debt, but put 50 ran every single month aside, so you start that saving habit. Okay, let's work on 100 ran. Then let's work on 200 ran. Sure, you can afford your medical aid now in your retirement.

Lisa Raleigh:          29:51       Awesome.

Lisa Linfield:     29:51       So you won't be a burden on your child. You know?

Lisa Raleigh:          29:53       Baby steps are the answer. Same with one that's often said of people, just imagine over a year, because how quickly does a year go? I mean, almost at the end of January, and you can't believe it. So you save 52 changes over the year, and every week you just change one thing. So you get up 10 minutes earlier. The next week, you change your regular salt maybe to your Himalayan salt, or your regular oil to your coconut oil. You make these small little changes that don't seem very significant. You think, what's the point in this? How is this really going to get me to my goal? But at the end of the year, you've made 52 lifestyle changes, progresses, whatever, and you look back, and you go, oh my gosh, I am feeling so much better, I've lost weight, I have my health back, I have my energy levels back, my sex drive back, I sleep better, it's changed my business. You start to join the dots backwards, and you realize if it weren't for me just making that first little lifestyle change, I never would have been here right now. It's bite sized chunks.

Lisa Linfield:     30:41       Absolutely. You know, one of the challenges that I think we're all have been in that mindset, and it was quite prominent in the '90s of only if you exercise four times a week at maximum capacity, and eat a lettuce leaf will you be like the model on the thing. I think one of the challenges is we haven't been brought up in this thing of consistency. Consistency is king. I have a person who I've known for a while, and 12 years ago, I said to them, you need to save 500 ran a month. Don't do any more than 500 ran a month. Still hasn't. By now, we worked out that at retirement, they would have more than seven million ran if they would have started the 500 ran a month. It's just consistency, and time-

Lisa Raleigh:          31:25       Consistency over time.

Lisa Linfield:     31:25       Absolutely.

Lisa Raleigh:          31:27       And success.

Lisa Linfield:     31:27       Your health benefits change. So you joined the forces of the working mother recently. How has that changed your view on your business, on your goals, all of that side of your life?

Lisa Raleigh:          31:40       Sure. Well, it wasn't only becoming a mom. At the same time, I became a wife, 2016 was a very big year for me, because I found out I was pregnant, I got married four months later, luckily I was engaged before I found out I was pregnant, I promise. Then four months later eloped, went to Cambodia with my two stepdaughters and they were my bridesmaids. We decided, because it's for both Steph and I, it's our second marriage. So we decided, we've done the big thing, this time it's what we want to do. It's like, no one but family, and Bella was in my tummy. So we took just our kids, and we went to Cambodia, and we eloped. That was a really, being married quickly. Then two months later, Bella was born.

She was born prematurely, she was a month early. I had preeclampsia. I had a very healthy pregnancy, but she was born with emergency caesarian, and I was very unwell. My entire body was failing, all my organs collapsing, my platelet count was really bad. I had high blood pressure. The doctor was literally said to Steph, we may need to chose on the table. So you better decide who you're going to choose first. He's like, well, my wife. Thank goodness he said that. But yeah, so I had that huge shock to my system, where I almost died giving birth to her. Then a couple of months later, I moved to Jarburg, so I moved cities. Then a few weeks after that, I moved home. So all of that happened in 11 months.

Lisa Linfield:     32:53       Wow.

Lisa Raleigh:          32:53       It was a huge year for me. I definitely suffered from postnatal depression, but I didn't know about it at the time. I just knew that life was really hard, and I was really tired. Bella didn't sleep well. She drank well, she was an amazing little baby, but she didn't sleep well. So she woke up between three and eight times a night. I was exhausted come January 2017. This time last year, I got a sleep trainer, and she changed my life. I can recommend it to any mom out there that is not able to function adequately and does not know what's wrong with her. You need to sleep. So I got a sleep trainer, and they're kind of sort of turning things around for me. I was able to have the energy in which to exercise again, the energy in which to feel a little bit more motivated to eat cleaner, to really start pushing my business.

Now that I am a mom, I'm a working mom, that's a whole different market. So I've had to relook my business and say, in order for me to believable out there, on social media, and to everybody I touch, I'm no longer the Lisa I was two or three years ago. Like the fitness bunny, or just the wellness expert, or whatever you wanted to call me. I'm now a working mom that's trying to balance it all, that is also into health and fitness, that owns a company. I am trying to be a lot to a lot of people. I am, like all working moms, I struggle. There is some good days, and some bad days, there is some days where I think I've got it all together, and this is amazing, and I recommend it to everyone to work and be a mom. Then there is other days I think I can't do this anymore. I'm so tired. I've got big projects on late night, early morning, Bella didn't have a good night, and I'm just like a mess.

So I'm just like everyone else. I have good and bad days. My whole business has had to morph around who are the people I want to talk to now? Who are the people I want to help and support? My target market has to be a market that can personally identify with me, and that is the working mom. That is very committed to birth, that kind of feels torn, a lot of the time, guilty, a lot of the time, trying to balance it all. That is the mom I want to talk to, because that's who I am. I know that it's as hard for me as it is for them, and vice versa. In fact, for some moms, it's even harder, because they maybe don't have the same privileges that I have.

So I've had to really look at my business and say I'm no longer, that's no longer my target market. I have evolved, I've moved on, and I need to speak to my market, because that's where I am in my life. It's what I'm going through personally. I have found that. I found that I'm getting more and more of a following of working moms that lead active lives, and they want to be more active, or do it right, or make sure it's productive, or what they are doing is effective, or the moms that are still six years later, carrying all their baby weight, and need to get it all sorted out, because it's starting to affect areas of their lives. It's difficult. There are some days I really resist it. I'm thinking, oh my gosh, this is really difficult.

Now we're at that stage, now, where Bella is 18 months, and soon I need to start thinking about a second child, like whether it's a three year gap or four year gap, or I don't know, something around there. I haven't had to think about it up until now, which is wonderful. If it happened, oh my goodness. But now, I have to think about it. The first one, Bella was a little bit of a whoopsy. So the second one will be more planned.

So how do I build that into my career knowing that the second time around, I want to develop a pregnancy program for moms out there? Because there just isn't enough support for pregnant moms. There is so many questions that you have when you're pregnant, especially first baby. I would like to support moms through that journey. Then afterwards, giving myself that six month off, that grace, which I never had in baby one, because I wasn't prepared for her. She came early, and she wasn't planned in my career cycle. So I had her, and I had to go straight back to work. That's also one of the reasons why I think I had PND, because I was so tired, and I was having to work. So the next time will be different.

Lisa Linfield:     36:26       You can never understand what it's like to have a child. It doesn't matter what you think or read about. You physically can never understand it. Also, the challenges. So I had planned for a six month gap, then I was going to full bring baby number two, get it, quick as can be, and four years later, it was a massive ...

Lisa Raleigh:          36:45       You got twins. Two for the price of one. Oh my goodness me.

Lisa Linfield:     36:50       Absolutely. That's exactly ... So that's one of the challenges of this phase for us as working women, is that it's a really difficult thing. You've had your first child, you still have career ambitions. I've always said, I've shared with you earlier that I got a new boss, and he said, what do I need to know about you? I said, I'm slightly schizophrenic. He looked at me with a big question mark. I said, no, not that way. The reality is one day I'm going to want you to push on my career, and another day I'm going to want no more responsibility because I want to be a mom, you know? I went half day, and it fundamentally changed this massive career plan that I had. I think that as you're describing it, the word that stuck with me is versatility. You have to be versatile in this phase of life.

Lisa Raleigh:          37:31       And flexible.

Lisa Linfield:     37:32       And flexible, absolutely.

Lisa Raleigh:          37:33       Whoa, do you have to be flexible.

Lisa Linfield:     37:35       Absolutely. And respond to the changes, and the opportunities that you see. I think that's with any brand. I think one of the challenges with a business, or with a brand, is that old companies and old business miss trains because they're so stuck in their every day ways. The reality of, or the opportunity in the chaos of new motherhood is the fact that the whole world is spun upside down and you see opportunities, and you see needs that you can-

Lisa Raleigh:          38:00       Gaps, like there was just so many gaps all over the place. Especially in my industry, fitness, wellness, getting your body back. Also, exercising whilst you're pregnant, nutrition whilst you're pregnant, what you feed your baby.

Lisa Linfield:     38:00       Absolutely.

Lisa Raleigh:          38:11       Oh my goodness me. So in the process of all of this, I'm developing all this amazing content as I'm experiencing these things, saying, I have to help others. I have to help other moms, specifically in my industry, to overcome these challenges, these big questions, these big obstacles. I need to help others and support others. So again, my message is never different, it's always been the same. But it's just changed, who I've spoken to, and how I've spoken to them, and why I've spoken with them slightly differently. But it's always been to empower, motivate, inspire, educate people when it comes to health and wellness, and to try to make it as easy for them as possible so that they don't look at it as this daunting, overwhelming task, but actually, it's the bite sized chunks principle, just start. That's all you need to do is just start.

Lisa Linfield:     38:50       Yeah. So how have you evolved your business? You mentioned that you were kind of starting to evolve into productizing.

Lisa Raleigh:          38:58       Yes.

Lisa Linfield:     38:59       One of the challenges for people when it comes to their money, when it comes to their health, when it comes to their everything is that whole thing of just start. Where do I just start? What is the first step of all of this? So how are you helping those of us working moms that sit there and go, oh my goodness, it's January, Christmas has been a little less on the healthy and wellness kind of front than it should have been. How are you making it easier for someone like me to now start my health and wellness journey for this year?

Lisa Raleigh:          39:31       Okay. So one of my all time favorite products, which I've been handing out to clients over the last, I'd say, six, seven years, since I've had my wellness clinic, is it's called Elim8. So it's Elim, so E-L-I-M-8, the number 8. 'Cause it's eight different food products that you eliminate out of your diet for 10 days, and then you reintroduce them bit by bit. The reason why I launched this product first is because it's the one that yields the most results the fastest. You see the effect within days. That is why, especially for moms that have no time, they are desperado. They are so low on energy, they are on caffeine, they're ingesting sugar, they are drinking wine at night to cope. They need to see something very quick.

So my Elmin8 cleanse, you know, the first couple of days are hairy. You're going to be a bit moody, and a bit headache-y, and a bit tired, because you don't have any stimulants in your body, and that just shows you how addicted you really are. It's a bit of a shock to the system. Then after day five, you start feeling better and better, and by the time you've finished your cleanse, you're asking me, can I live like this? Can I eat like this forever? I've never felt so good. Like I'm sleeping better, no stimulants, digestion is better, my skin is better, people are telling me, what are you doing/ You're looking so healthy. I've got more energy, my kids are saying I'm a better, happier person. It's good, this is all good.

The Elimin8 cleanse is the one that gets people the quickest. It motivates people the most, and it helps to eliminate strongholds and abuses within what people are eating and drinking, and to try to get rid of that as quickly as possible, and not to do the slow approach. But get people there quickly. Be impatient, the world is fast moving, we need to see results.

So Elimin8 is there, it's my own personal manifest, because when I was five months pregnant, Bella was five months old, I was trying to find something that I could do from an exercise point of view. Something that was quick, effective, something that worked muscles, and heart rate, cardio, all at the same time. I had been rebounding, so that's your little mini trampoline. Rebounding on and off for many years, knowing the benefits for emphatic drainage, water retention, which I still had a lot of, I was still breast feeding for a long time. I had a lot of water retention. I couldn't lose my weight until I stopped breast feeding. I didn't know that, though, at that point, when I started rebounding. I just knew I needed something fast and effective.

Lisa Linfield:     41:48       So what did she do? Well, in true Lisa style, she went and researched everything she could find on YouTube, and found that actually, there wasn't that much, and that this hadn't been a huge focus in her fitness industry. So she went out and developed and amazing program on rebounding, and what the benefits are, and how you do it. You can check out her website, and find that program, and not only will you find a video on the benefits of rebounding, but you'll also find a manual that you can download that has four free workouts. You can also buy more workouts, or get her rebounder, which is portable, able to be picked up, moved, so when you go on holiday, you can take it with you.

That was Lisa Raleigh. I feel very privileged to have spent some time with her, because we all learn from each other's businesses. We all learn from each other's struggles, and achievements, and we all learn from just listening to stories of great women. The thing I think I learnt most about Lisa is that especially when you have a business that relies on your personal brand, you need to remain authentic. You need to keep yourself true to who you are as you change and develop. Your audience will change and develop with you. That transition from pre motherhood to working mom is a hard one. It changes us, and it changes us in terms of who we are, our interests, and it also provides us with new opportunities. I think that's another thing I learned from her is the ability to pivot. You need to be able to see the opportunities and changes in the market, and take your brand and your business to them, to find great ways to help others and serve others. I'm Lisa Linfield, and this is Working Women's Wealth. Please subscribe to our podcast, and visit Lisa. Cheers.