What it’s taken to spend a year abroad.

We started assembling the pieces of the “year in Spain” puzzle in January of this year. I can hand on my heart say that I have done at least one thing every day since then to shuffle us towards that goal. Setting our lives up to permit us to step away for a year has been so fucking hard. I have never experienced anxiety like that that I’ve experienced this year. There is so much risk involved, so much uncertainty, so much change. I like risk, I like change, I like uncertainty. I rarely take the easy route in anything, but f*ck me.

I do feel the need to acknowledge all of the privilege in that statement and this entire article. “Oh no, the white girl had to endure some stress in order to move from one developed country to another”. That is not lost on me. So please know, I recognise that.

But in any case, here’s some reflections on what it’s taken to get us this far. I wanted to write this primarily for my own reflections. I’ve stared down unreasonably long to-do lists every day for the last eleven months. It’s easy to never look back and see that you’ve actually completed each item on them, so I did want to do that for myself. Secondly though, I love hearing insights from other business owners, the behind the scenes stuff that is rarely shared. I suspect that someone will enjoy or get something out of this, so why not make it public.

So here goes, what we’ve done in 2022 to permit us to spend 2023 in España.

Firstly, the business stuff.

I formally went in to business with my fiancé.

John Paul and I have worked really closely for the last 3-4 years. Our coaching businesses and incomes have been completely seperate though. John Paul ran club coaching at TSF at night; I ran my personal training business out of TSF in the mornings. The models were different, systems were different, billing was seperate.

In order to systemise, stream-line and future proof the whole TSF machine a big step and one of the first steps for us were to combine the two businesses.

All of my clients became TSF members and in that, a good portion of our income streams became blended. We became business partners and had to start making business decisions together. Historically, we’d give each other advice on the two seperate businesses but one person was left to make the final decision on things. This has been an adjustment.

It’s been a big deal for us emotionally; our lives are like, really intertwined now. For me (a staunch feminist) it’s been a little daunting having so much of our finances blended. We’ve had to look at accounting and how things will work at tax time; have conversations about what would happen if we seperate. It’s a lot.

But it’s worked well. We extended the coaching hours at TSF to include both mornings and nights, members have a lot more flexibility in their training, we’ve created uniformity across all hours, it’s made it a lot smoother to recruit a team and train them in one set of systems, and it’s been a big step towards making a career for each of us. I’ve operated as a sole trader for a long time, which had no scope for me to take time off for illness/travel/parental leave. I never had a “real job”. Now we have a team that can support each other through all of life’s stages. So yeah, this was a big step. Not only towards permitting us to travel, but towards making coaching a career we can have for life.

Fiancé, cat dad, business partner.

We systemised everything at TSF.

Before we could expand the team, we needed to systemise the business. Goddamn it is true that you don’t realise how many inefficiencies there are in a business until you write the systems out for someone else to follow.

TSF still used paper programs until April. We created all digital programs and one by one moved all members over. Our tech for running comps was a mess. Cables on cables on cables. John Paul liked to say that all of TSF systems were neatly organised in his head. But getting that on to paper was impossible. We upgraded all of our tech: iPads, Apple TVs, internet router, etc so that our comp days could be largely wireless. All the systems required to run the gym needed to be recorded — how to direct a meet, how to place an SBD order, how we write our programs, where we order toilet paper, payroll, staff superannuation contributions — all of it.

This was honestly a monster task. This couple of paragraphs I do not feel fairly reflects our efforts here. We now have a clear guide for how to keep the business ticking over which is huge for having uniformity in our service provision. And our systems are about 1000% less clunky which is nice for everyone.

We recruited a team.

At the start of 2022 I was a sole trader and the TSF team consisted of JP as head coach, Matt as assistant coach and me as unofficial HR and admin bitch. Then…

January — Faye joined the fam. She came on board as PT, running her own business under the TSF roof.

February — Josh started interning at TSF, with the view that if things went well he would come on board as a TSF coach at the end of his 12 week internship.

March — we started adversing for our second assistant coach. Molly sent us in her interview and she joined the team that month.

May — Josh finished his internship and comes on board as TSF assistant coach.

After five huge months, things were running smoothly. We had our team.

To be clear, recruitment is no easy, quick or cheap process. Dollar crunching, forecasting, recruitment advertising, job descriptions, employment contracts, sub-contractor contracts, interviews, onboarding. We don’t have a HR department. Just me + JP. So January to May were fucking massive. They were busy, stressful, emotional, scary, hopeful, full of change and honestly fucking exhausting.

June — Matt resigned. Matt, we love you. But holy fucking shit John Paul and I cried some serious tears. For about a month, we didn’t respond, we didn’t “handle” anything, we didn’t pivot. We just cried hysterically any time that we were in private. We were so sad and so distressed. Sad to lose a colleague that we love so much. Our self-esteem was rattled; we must be bad employers. Daunted by the task ahead to “replace” Matt. Things felt heavy. We postponed our trip and just sat back until we were ready to face up to the next challenge. We felt really human, which is hard.

I must say in business there can certainly be an expectation that you always have your shit handled; that you are ready to respond to every curve ball that comes your way. Business can be unforgiving. It can really feel like you’re not permitted time to feel your emotions. We certainly felt the pressure of that. I don’t use the term lightly, but we needed to grieve. And we really had to resist the pressure to make quick decisions until we were able to think somewhat straight. For years it had just been John Paul, Matt and me under the TSF roof. And in extreme ignorance in hindsight, I think John Paul and I just thought (fantasised) that the three of us would be together forever. The reality of the impermanence of staff smacked us like a bus.

A few weeks later — Lizzie messages JP the worst message ever: “Hey, can we tee up a call. I want to talk to you about something”.

Important side note. Never ever send someone that message. If the recipient and/or the fiance/business partner of the recipient has anxiety, this is the worst message ever to receive. For the love of god, provide context. “Hey, can we tee up a call. I want to talk to you about something. I have an idea for TSF that I think could be positive.”

Anyway, Lizzie presents the idea of coming on board as the TSF manager. As soon as we settled on a dollar figure, she was hired. John Paul explained Lizzie perfectly recently: she’s like a goddess and an angel wrapped up as a gentle cat lady. So Lizzie comes on board as TSF ops manager and it’s one of the best things to ever happen to us. We regain hope and we smile again.

July — we’re ready to respond. We advertise for our new assistant coach. Universe looked after us and our applicants were fucking fire. We hired Jeremy J-Hole Moletti and he has slotted in to the TSF fam and taken on his coaching role so smoothly. Onboarding Jeremy was laughably easy.

So now (touch wood) we have a team of three coaches. Joshy as head coach, Molly and Jez as assistant coaches and Lizzie as captain of the TSF ship. Things are going smoothly and we’re working together well. Our values are aligned and our systems are working. We’re all very different and we each offer something unique, sharing from our own personal experiences. But importantly, we offer a consistent powerlifting coaching service, that is becoming more uniform and more cohesive each week.

Now John Paul and are I are learning to relinquish control. Which is so much easier said than done. We are also learning to be the employers of a team — learning to support a team of four, learning to be available to them, learning to mentor them, learning to provide a positive work environment, learning to create inspiring career opportunities. (How do I tell them I’m just a powerlifting coach?)

Growing a team has been extremely challenging and extremely rewarding. I am totally petrified by the responsibility and simultaneously extremely excited about where the six of us can go together

The TSF team — before a day of comp coaching.

After a day of comp coaching.

TSF branding.

The old TSF website burned me. It was functional and easy to navigate, but goddamn it undersold us. “We have a stack of Eleiko plates” seemed to be our major selling point. One thing we have gotten really, super ultra-clear on over the last few years is that our target audience is not powerlifters, and our communication should not be directed to powerlifters. Our target audience is people that live in Melbourne’s inner west, who have an interest in getting stronger. And then secretly and discretely over a few years in the gym we trick them in to being powerlifters 😇

Our messaging needs to be directed at people who want to improve their strength, health and/or fitness. Who probably find gyms and particularly powerlifting gyms a bit daunting. And we need to tell them that they are welcome and belong in our gym. That they don’t need to be strong; but if they want to be strong then we will help them to do that. We need to tell them that the people in our gym are just like them. We aren’t big and scary. We aren’t different. We are normal humans just like them, who happen to enjoy strength training.

So we sat for hours and got really clear on how we want TSF to be perceived by our local community. We wrote copy accordingly. We got a stack of photos taken of our members and we rebuilt our website. It was a monster task. S/O to Renae Roberts and Nick Mangos for helping bring it all together for us.

The new TSF website showcases our team so beautifully.

I rebranded and systemised my online business.

I obviously still have my own brand and coaching service that is seperate from TSF. I affectionately call it my contingency plan.

I’ll effectively be a full-time online coach for the next year, so it is important that my business branding and messaging is appropriately conveying what the hell I am doing. My personal brand and business has evolved a lot over the last few years but my website had not been updated to reflect that. So I rebranded, including completely rebuilding my website and upgrading all of my online coaching resources — programs, contracts, forms, etc.

Rochene Hawley wrote recently: “Branding is deeply personal. It is so much more than colours and logos. It influences how I show up in the business world and how connected I feel to what I’m doing in my work. When I feel connected, creativity absolutely flows.” I really feel all of that; and I feel my work has upleveled a lot since my branding has been revised.

It’s also important that my systems are efficient. It is costing me a lot in time, money and emotion in order to be abroad for a year; I do not want to be wasting that time with clunky systems. I reviewed all of my coaching delivery and removed any double handling, most significantly in how I deliver my programs

I moved all of my online coaching service provision to Monday to Wednesday each week. Now I’ll be able to complete all of my coaching work in around 15-20 hours across three days, leaving me with four days per week to take long haul flights, do multi-day hikes and generally explore, have fun and let my hair down.

My old branding was a little more “holistic health” vibes, with service provision including personal training, group PT, nutrition coaching and yoga.

Now, “hey, what’s up? Wanna lift conmigo?”

We vacated our home and sold all of our personal belongings.

Business aside, we still needed to pack up our personal lives.

We have sold everything we own, like everything. We have a suitcase of stuff each to take with us overseas and a couple of boxes of books in storage at the gym. That is it. I’m not a material person at all, but even still seeing your home completely empty except for one suitcase is pretty fucking emotional.

I moved out of home for the first time almost 12 years ago. I’m very much a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” type of person, so a lot of what we had in our last home has moved around the country with me for 12 years. Blankets, tea towels, blender — all trivial and unimportant things but collectively makes for significant familiarity. That was hard, and a lot of hours on Marketplace.

We also leased out our first home, This was the first house we both owned and the first thing that we owned together; the first thing that really bound us as a couple. Again, emotional. And also a bit of work navigating private leasing/leasing through a real estate, choosing a property manager, contracts, open houses, repairs on the house and compliance checks.

Sitting on the floor of your first ever home, and the first and only place you’ve lived for more than 18 months in your entire adult life — bruh.

I’m writing this at the end of October — still to come we have to re-home Princess + sell our car. Can we have a moment to appreciate what huge tasks just those two things are? Man, packing your life up is legit.

Our visa applications.

Our visa applications have been a beast. Spain only issues 250 working holiday visas to Australians each year and the application process is rigorous.

Most notably, there is a requirement to speak a “functional level” of Spanish. As at January of this year, my Spanish was absolutely non-existent. So in the midst of all of this ^^^^ business and life stuff, I was also frantically trying to learn Spanish. In January we decided on the visa we were applying for; my Spanish exam was booked for May. I had 125 days to achieve a functional level of Spanish. And holy fucking shit, I did it. I studied everyday. Some days my study was bomb; other days I could not hold my eyes open after a 12+ hour work day and I’d fall asleep with a book on my face a few minutes in. Passing this exam is up there among the top accomplishments of my life.

Once I passed the exam we started tending to all the other parts of the application: police checks, health checks, numerous application forms all in Spanish and well beyond my ”functional” level, lmao.

All in all, the visa application has consumed a lot of hours across this year. And we did that alongside full time coaching + full time running a business + selling everything we own + moving house + rehoming our cat. Bruh.

IG reel. My 125 day Spanish exam prep.

Now, it’s the end of October. We leave in five weeks. I ordered a new suitcase yesterday, as well as packing cells and a sleep mask. I replaced the charger cord for my power bank and bought a European travel adapter. I created a WISE account to manage my money overseas. Our car is getting serviced this week and I need to get Princess in to the vet for a health check. I also need to get her a new name tag and update her microchip details with those of the person that is looking after her while we’re away. I need to cancel our car insurance and our phone plans. We should reaaaally make sure our wills are up to date before we leave (we have assets now, ya know?)

If you’re reading this before you adopt a kitten / own a gym / invest in property / fill that property with worldy possessions — my oh my if I had my time again I would flip this order of events and travel before accruing so much responsibility. It looks pretty glam owning a gym and travelling the world. Listen up kids: it’s stressful as fuck and I would prefer not do it this way.

Anyway, we fly to Spain on November 24. Check in twelve months from now to hear if all of this is worth it ✌️