Redundancy (and Paul McKenna) changed my life

TotallyHypnotised · 18-02-2008, 06:20 PM

I saw this in theNottingham Evening Post:

I moved to Nottingham in 1987 after university and had a fantastic career for 14 years at Boots in sales and marketing.

I spent much of my time working on healthy living ranges.

In 1992, I was offered voluntary redundancy and I decided this was my opportunity to do something new with my life and so I accepted the offer and took the money!

Up until this point I had never been entrepreneurial in the slightest - working for a big company, married to someone who also worked for Boots and with two children - Jack, now 12, and Katie, now ten. But when the kids were toddlers we went to stay with a friend who had a big farmhouse in the south of France and I loved it - the life, the weather and the food!

So when my marriage broke up, I decided it was time to take the plunge and do something different so I spent a year researching and visiting the area around Nice and finally bought a one-bedroom apartment overlooking the harbour in Antibes which I still rent out today to pay the mortgage.

I got the property bug then and bought a second apartment that needed renovating. I did it up and rented it out. I then sold the apartment, freeing enough cash to invest.

Meanwhile, I got the opportunity to go on Paul McKenna's Change Your Life in Seven Days course. It's a fabulous training programme and truly changed the way I look at my life. I realised that I wanted to be more involved in helping people get fit and improve their eating habits and so with the tremendous support of my ex-husband (who looked after the kids at the weekends), I undertook a part-time personal training and nutrition course. I enjoyed it and decided that with my commercial background, I would like to run my own fitness business.

So I looked around for businesses to buy and bought Finbow's Health and Fitness in Stapleford in January 2006.

Finbow's proved to be the most challenging and rewarding purchase of my life - not just the business but also because I met Neil, my husband when he came to design my business signs for me. We've been together ever since (married in November last year).

I have run Finbow's (www.finbows.co.uk) for two years. Our company values are very much 'be fit for the life you have'. We have over 500 members who range from 14 to 92. It is the most rewarding business and we have some really inspirational members.

This year, we expanded into a new market and created a ladies only 30 minute workout - called Fit club @ Finbow's which offers women the opportunity to come and exercise in a friendly environment which has been designed like a spa room. We have a fountain (which had a few members running for the ladies), soothing music and aromatherapy all designed to make exercising a more pleasurable experience. The early reactions are positive and I am enjoying the challenge of helping women who would otherwise not benefit from gyms.

I am also passionate about eating well and we offer a weight loss programme. To help me with this, I am working with Nottingham Trent University who have funded me to research into the impact healthy eating has on cognitive function.

So I am a busy business woman coping with running a business and raising my two children - plus my four stepchildren. I do walk the talk though and exercise regularly and eat well so that I too can be fit for life which, after all, is our businesses motto.

18-02-2008, 06:20 PM	#1 (permalink)
TotallyHypnotised Paul McKenna's biggest fan Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 38	Redundancy (and Paul McKenna) changed my life I saw this in theNottingham Evening Post: I moved to Nottingham in 1987 after university and had a fantastic career for 14 years at Boots in sales and marketing. I spent much of my time working on healthy living ranges. In 1992, I was offered voluntary redundancy and I decided this was my opportunity to do something new with my life and so I accepted the offer and took the money! Up until this point I had never been entrepreneurial in the slightest - working for a big company, married to someone who also worked for Boots and with two children - Jack, now 12, and Katie, now ten. But when the kids were toddlers we went to stay with a friend who had a big farmhouse in the south of France and I loved it - the life, the weather and the food! So when my marriage broke up, I decided it was time to take the plunge and do something different so I spent a year researching and visiting the area around Nice and finally bought a one-bedroom apartment overlooking the harbour in Antibes which I still rent out today to pay the mortgage. I got the property bug then and bought a second apartment that needed renovating. I did it up and rented it out. I then sold the apartment, freeing enough cash to invest. Meanwhile, I got the opportunity to go on Paul McKenna's Change Your Life in Seven Days course. It's a fabulous training programme and truly changed the way I look at my life. I realised that I wanted to be more involved in helping people get fit and improve their eating habits and so with the tremendous support of my ex-husband (who looked after the kids at the weekends), I undertook a part-time personal training and nutrition course. I enjoyed it and decided that with my commercial background, I would like to run my own fitness business. So I looked around for businesses to buy and bought Finbow's Health and Fitness in Stapleford in January 2006. Finbow's proved to be the most challenging and rewarding purchase of my life - not just the business but also because I met Neil, my husband when he came to design my business signs for me. We've been together ever since (married in November last year). I have run Finbow's (www.finbows.co.uk) for two years. Our company values are very much 'be fit for the life you have'. We have over 500 members who range from 14 to 92. It is the most rewarding business and we have some really inspirational members. This year, we expanded into a new market and created a ladies only 30 minute workout - called Fit club @ Finbow's which offers women the opportunity to come and exercise in a friendly environment which has been designed like a spa room. We have a fountain (which had a few members running for the ladies), soothing music and aromatherapy all designed to make exercising a more pleasurable experience. The early reactions are positive and I am enjoying the challenge of helping women who would otherwise not benefit from gyms. I am also passionate about eating well and we offer a weight loss programme. To help me with this, I am working with Nottingham Trent University who have funded me to research into the impact healthy eating has on cognitive function. So I am a busy business woman coping with running a business and raising my two children - plus my four stepchildren. I do walk the talk though and exercise regularly and eat well so that I too can be fit for life which, after all, is our businesses motto.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search