How does a single mother at 27 who left high school at just 16
go on to create one of Australia's most successful businesses?
Why is taking full accountability for all of the decisions you make in your life,
both good and bad, set you up for success?
G'day, it's Luke Darson.
The idea of self-improvement and leadership both on and off the field
has been a lifelong passion of mine.
With one of my oldest friends, we created a leader collective
and have had the privilege of working with thousands of leaders
in education, sport, industry and the arts
that have helped shift to what we see as the 21st century style of leadership
where everyone has a voice.
In this podcast, we hear stories from these iconic leaders.
In 2000, with no formal business experience, Janine Ellis opened a juice bar
along with her husband, Jeff, with a vision to make healthy living tasty and fun.
Boost has gone on to become one of the most popular and loved juice and smoothies
brands in the world with 580 stores and counting in 30, 13 different countries.
It is an extraordinary entrepreneurial success story.
Janine's expertise has seen her expand the portfolio as executive director
at Retail Zoo, which includes now Salsa French Mex, Chibo Espresso and Betty's Burgers.
Janine is also a bestselling author, keynote speaker, star of Network 10 Shark Tank,
competitor on Australian Survivor and a mother of four as well.
You've crammed a bit in, Janine.
In your lifetime, you'd almost suggest that's five times a lifetime's worth of achievement
in your one life.
When you look back and you hear that intro and reflect on your success, what are your thoughts?
I think it's just, look, I'm a believer that, you know, we've got, as far as we know at this point
and we all have different beliefs, but this is one life and I don't want to go at the end of it
and go, I wish I had of.
And yeah, and so I think I'm sort of one of these people that's addicted to busy
and I think my heart.
I'm definitely not an entrepreneur at heart, but I definitely am an adventurer at heart.
And, you know, I'm into my 50s now and never felt better and fitter and, you know,
expect to continue to do active, fun things until the day I can't.
Love life has been the boost juice motto.
I might come back to that because, you know, you can see the smile on your face.
It feels like you're living that every single day.
But going back to your history, you left school at 16.
You went to an old tech school, which for those listening that maybe don't understand,
designed really to send people into trades effectively, weren't they?
And they finished in year 11, which is why you were left at 16.
You're a girl from Baronia in the suburbs of Melbourne.
You know, it's not the private school, you know, flash uni degree background.
You know, to think about that and what are the traits that have set you apart, Janine, from others?
Look, I don't know.
You know, all I wanted to do when I was a kid was to win the grand final in netball.
You know, I was obsessed with netball and if I could, you know, I played it, you know,
four nights a week and played rep teams.
I did all sorts of stuff.
But I definitely wasn't that person that sold lemonade at the lemonade stand.
And to your point, I didn't know anyone who was anyone that was a manager.
We were workers in that area.
And the tech school, as you said, was designed to create trades and workers, not leaders.
There was never a discussion on leadership.
And my parents were definitely in that zone too.
So there was not even a space there that they'd go, right, Janine, you could be a lawyer
or you could run a business.
It was more like, gee, you know, let's make sure you don't go.
So it was sort of – but the thing is, though, I was one of – I was the last one of four
kids and I sort of just was one of those ones that sort of ducked and weaved with the other
kids and really all I wanted to do was travel.
I just wanted to, as soon as I possibly can, get out of Australia and see the big wide
world, which is what I did at 21.
Yeah, and you did that at 21 and, you know, incredible chapter of your life.
I think you went, from what I understand, Janine, with Camp Australia and you ended
up staying for six years.
And maybe fast-tracking that story slightly, but you arrived back in Melbourne then, 27
You're a single mum.
You've got, you know, a two-year-old boy.
From there, you know, to really one of Australia's most successful businesswomen ever, that is
a long road it feels at 27.
You have to move back in to mum and dad's house in Baronia.
I mean, what advice would you give to someone who wants to have a go like you did?
I think the thing that kills people is their own thought process and how they think about
And they limit themselves on what they think they're capable of.
Actually, one of the interesting things of doing Survivor is that's what I sort of discovered.
You know, here I am, I think I was 54 at the time, up against, you know, elite athletes
and footballers, like, you know, probably you know most of them.
And yet, I'd sit there and I'd be doing a challenge and they'd be dropping like flies.
I'm going, mate, guys, hey, I'm 54.
What are you doing?
And it wasn't that I was, my muscles were stronger or I was better.
It's just that in your head, you just kind of, I think the body gives up so much.
And I think that does that in life, too.
I think we are so, we can't because of, I'm not smart enough, I'm not educated enough,
I'm not good enough.
And I think that self-taught is probably our detriment.
I think the greatest skill I had growing up and not having any exposure to anyone with
business was I never had a barrier.
I was completely naive.
I didn't know what the hell I was doing, so I just did it.
And that was, and I think traveling.
I think you brushed over it, but traveling seven years on my own and eventually becoming
the single mom overseas, that's what happens when you travel, it's all sorts of trouble.
You had to just solve problems.
And I think even in that situation where I can't speak another language and back then
half the countries I went to didn't speak English, you just work it out.
And I think that when I came back to Australia, it was just another, let's work it out.
And when I came back to Australia as a single mom, living back in,
after working for David Bowie and hanging out at the Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco
Grand Prix and all these exciting things, suddenly a single mom back in the burbs was a bit of
a, huh, here we go again.
And I think that's the other thing is quite often, as you said, I'd left school at 16.
I've never had a university degree.
The only thing I'm qualified for is a bit like your wife as a yoga instructor.
Not that I'm sure Beck's more qualified than me, but that's the only certificate I've ever
So, so really, you know,
I think the meaning of life is learning and learning doesn't end when you're at school.
In actual fact, learning begins when you leave school because you've actually got to focus
on what you want to learn.
And, you know, that's why, you know, podcasts like this are great because people can go,
can actually hopefully inspire them to start to think differently.
You know, Luke, I have, I think there's two people in the world and I think that two types
of people in the world.
And I think we, every human can go into either categories.
I think you can either choose to be a verb or you can choose to soar.
Now, a verb is someone who's a victim.
They're entitled.
You know, I've been in this job 10 years.
I need a promotion.
They need to be rescued.
They always come to us for, you know, this has gone wrong.
And they blame the world for their woes, which is pretty much every politician that's out
there at the moment.
And then the other people at the moment, and this is where we need to aim for, you know,
and this is what I think is the crust of leadership is soaring.
You know, you're solution based.
Your shit happens.
In actual fact, things are going, if things aren't going wrong, you're not trying hard
So really it's about solution base.
It's, you know, and that's what I learned traveling overseas because, you know, we haven't
got time to go through some of the stories, but I got myself as a young, naive girl into
all sorts of pickles.
And so, you know, so solution base, it's ownership.
You know, I think that as a leader, we love it when people come to us and say, I made
a mistake, right?
It was, it was me, right?
I'm going to take ownership for it and I'm accountable for the outcome.
So this is what we're going to do about it.
It's a solution based and I'm responsible for whatever comes from it.
So it's, and that's what leaders do.
Leaders go, Hey, it's me.
And this is what we're going to do about it.
And even in our communication, you know, quite often when we get an email, it's a negative
The first thing we want to do is sort of approach it as a sore.
Like I'll be, I'm hurt.
You know, you've hurt my feelings.
I'm a victim, you know, instead of just going, okay, solution based, let's just attack it
And truly, I know it's simple.
But truly, if you can, whenever you have the verb thought, if you change it to the
sore thought, life changes.
It's a great message.
Great life lesson, Janine, that you've articulated there.
And I have heard those words from you and in research for our chat today, that idea
of being accountable for everything in your life, good and bad is a common theme away.
It seems you've approached your life.
And, you know, we hear that with a lot of the great leaders we're speaking to, Janine.
And they, radical responsibility is a term that, you know,
we hear a lot and that idea that you put your hand up, you accept the good and bad
and that's how you learn it and you move on.
I mean, why has that been so important to you and where did it come from?
Has it always been part of you?
I think if you think that you know everything and that nothing goes wrong, it's always someone
else's fault, you actually can't go to the next level and learn.
I think one of the seven most deadly words in business is we've always done it that way.
And if you, I actually think that every single day,
if something goes wrong, it's always someone else's fault.
If there's something in my life I need to improve.
Now, is it my health?
In business, is it a process?
Is it, you know, whatever we do.
So if every day there's something I do better, then it can only go in one way.
And, you know, of course, a life is not, you know, in one direction.
You know, you have, it's like a car ride, you know, particularly with me,
because I have a terrible sense of direction.
There's a few U-turns, there's a few wrong turns.
But as long as you have the destination, you can always get there.
And I think that,
particularly with solutions,
and I think, I don't know whether you get older
and you just become a little bit more,
the more knowledge you know, the more you know you don't know.
But I truly believe, as I said before,
it's the meaning of life is, you know, just learning.
And you can only learn by acknowledging you get things wrong.
And we often hear, you know, about that great leaders like you, Janine,
talking about constant, never-ending self-improvement
in every area of their life
and the love of wanting to keep learning and collaborating.
As you said, I want to go back to your two types of people you mentioned.
You know, the verbs,
who are the victim mentality
and those that choose to soar and solve problems.
I mean, you employ thousands of people now
across the businesses you're involved in.
I mean, clearly, you're going to have categories of people
that are in that victim mentality.
Do you avoid them?
Do you try not to employ them?
Do you try and coach them?
What's your model there?
I think at the end of the day,
you try and hire them, first and foremost.
It's a bit like, you know,
that, you know, get the right people on the right bus, you know.
So, and I deliberately ask questions at interviews
to try and see if they're a verb or a saw.
And I know my husband once,
he hired a recent accountant in another business, Jeff Scott.
And she was on the phone
and she immediately said all the things which a verb would say.
And him and I just looked at each other and went,
oh, whoops, got that one wrong.
And we thought, no, no, it'll be fine.
And sure enough, it always ends poorly.
Look, often, sometimes people can change.
Sometimes people can learn if they really have self-aware.
But I think mostly it takes a long time for a verb to become a saw.
And look, and I can absolutely tell you
that I have been a verb in the past.
We all have, you know.
But I think the good thing about it is because I'm aware of it,
I can actually hear it as it comes out of my mouth.
And sometimes, you know, Janine, interesting,
that perception versus reality.
People listen to this and,
and you see the end result
and you see the success of Boost Juice
and you see you loving life as the mantra goes.
But along the way, clearly there's all sorts of challenges.
I read that you woke up one morning,
you might've been a handful of years into Boost Juice
and you find yourself on the young BOW rich list
with a net worth of 30 million or something like that.
But in reality, you know,
Boost Juice is fighting for its cashflow
and fighting for its survival.
How have you dealt with those challenges along the way?
What's been the attitude that's got you through them?
Um, I think when you're in it,
like when you're in that moment,
like, you know, when we've had, you know,
say bad media for whatever reason,
or you, you know, there's, you know,
there's a cashflow issue or whatever happens in business
or, or God forbid a pandemic, a real pandemic
that means you have to shut all your doors.
You have little problems like that.
Um, I think you're just in it.
So you're not thinking about, um,
you're not thinking about, you know,
the future or the past.
At that moment, you just have to solve the problem.
And apparently what I do,
the first thing I do is I put my hair in a ponytail.
So it must be my wall, like, right,
hair's in a ponytail, it's out of my face.
Now let's solve this problem.
And, you know, I think that if, if you had told me,
you know, five years ago, Luke, and said,
um, okay, in three years time,
there's going to be a pandemic
and the whole world is going to shut down
and your, every single store that you have
will have to close.
You would have just gone,
oh my God, there's no way out of that.
Like there is, I can solve problems.
I can't solve this one.
we've lived through the worst case scenario
of every business, you know,
and look, unfortunately,
some business haven't survived it.
But I think that end of the day though,
you just work through problems as they occur.
And we've never had problems
like we've had in the last two years
that we've actually worked through.
And, and I've got to say,
I've been so proud of the team that,
you know, I'm on board a number of boards
and the amount of people who've stepped up
in the last two years in leadership
and really, you know,
have gotten businesses through
has been actually quite extraordinary.
Can I delve into that a little,
a little bit deeper, Janine?
And clearly there'll be some of it that is,
you know, Retail Zoo and Boost Juice IP.
So not specifically going there,
but stores close,
the ponytail's up and you're on.
What are the first handful of things
that you do in that scenario?
You know, like everyone
who had their businesses closed,
no one really had a model for that
or had thought about that in the past.
What are the first few calls that you make?
Well, the only thing you can do,
obviously you get your key executives together, right?
So no one, and the reality is
no one person will have an answer.
So it really is getting your smart people
that you've hired and you trust.
You set them, everyone sits around
and they go, okay, how are we going to solve this?
And what are the solutions?
And you get all the key stakeholders,
the directors, everything.
And it's, and you have crisis meetings,
which has became a regular daily occurrence.
And you just, you just,
look at, you can only make decisions
on the information that you have at that moment.
So you get all the information you can,
you get as many experts as you can to talk to,
and you make the best possible decision
you can at the time.
And that's all anyone can do.
And then as day, and look,
as we've known these last two years,
things change rapidly.
I mean, we pick up the paper and it's two days old.
You go, well, I can't, can't even look at that
because it's the data's all, all, all, all old.
So that's all you're doing is,
and that's what anyone can do,
whether you're in a pandemic or not,
is you look at the information that you have
and you make the best possible decision
you can with the informational hand.
Information changes, decisions are wrong.
Just adjust, adapt, and keep going.
But the only thing is,
and I think you, you, you touched on it.
You have to have good people in the first place.
And quite often what you'd find,
and I don't know if you've been into in,
in life, life and death situations
or critical situations,
the people that you think are the strongest
and the ones that have it together often aren't.
And often it's a quiet person in the corner
that really comes to the forefront
and is, becomes a hero.
Yeah, it's a, it's a fascinating insight there as well, Janine.
And I think listening to you
and the ladies we're talking to,
when you're actually open to listening to,
you know, people, no matter, as you said,
it might be the quiet person in the corner,
but if they haven't got a voice
and don't feel like they can share it,
then you probably miss out on that, that opportunity.
And it sounds like you do a great job
in your environment of capturing that.
I wanted to talk about, you know,
going back to your story.
And to me, it is, it's an incredible story regardless,
but then I take it as a female entrepreneur
and, you know, the home you grew up in,
your mum was a proud housewife
and I've heard you talk about your grandma before.
And, you know, she would have, as you said,
you know, trying to keep you out of the factory,
but certainly never would have thought
that it was possible that you'd run your own business
or be a leader the way that you are.
Have you seen the influence that you've had
on particularly young females
who are following the path that you've cut?
I mean, can you share some stories of what that's meant
and the sort of people you've influenced?
Yeah, it's quite humbling actually,
because, you know, if I do a keynote
or I'm in the street and someone comes up to me
and sometimes it's quite, you know, quite surprising
that, oh, because of you, I did this
or thank you for the inspiration
and men and women actually, in fairness.
But so, and really when I started,
there wasn't many women, any women really,
or very few women
that were actually founders of businesses.
So you were kind of the first one
that sort of got it started.
So, and so, yeah, no, it is a hard one
because, you know, it depends on where they come from.
Sometimes it's from Survivor and they go,
oh my God, you can't believe that, you know,
a woman over 50 could do that stuff.
I mean, neither could I.
And then other times it's from Boost
or other times it's from Shark Tank.
So it's a really interesting mix.
Of people who sort of do sort of tap you on the shoulder
and go, gee, thanks.
But I think it's interesting because it's never set.
I'm never comfortable with it because I feel like saying,
oh, trust me, I seriously get things wrong.
I mean, one of the things, you know,
I made a great friendship of Pia Miranda on Survivor
and she'll always say one of the things she loves about me
is because I'm absolutely goofy and I make up words.
And so, and I'm making mistakes all the time.
So, you know, that you're not,
you're not perfect, you're completely flawed.
So it is, but I do just embrace life.
I want to live my best possible life.
And, you know, as we were talking a bit earlier
before we started, you know,
that included moving to New South Wales.
Yeah, and we were talking briefly before
about some of your daily routines
and I know you've had a great passion for yoga.
You've crossed over with my wife, Bec,
had a few yoga retreats in the past.
Can you share a little bit of that,
the daily routines and habits that have enabled you
at, you know, 54 years of age to go on Survivor
and knock over all the ex-athletes
who couldn't cope along the way?
What are some of those routines
that keep you strong and healthy?
Look, nothing crazy.
Like I look at these people that run kilometers
or literally appear to all these crazy fitness people.
But, you know, I think yoga and I think Bec would agree with me
is incredibly holistic, body, mind, spirit,
every muscle is you.
So it's an incredible sort of sport.
It's an activity.
I don't know what you would call it.
And I didn't take it up until I was 40.
And so I was pretty much insane from 30 to having babies,
doing the business from 30 to 40.
So I didn't take up anything until then
because I didn't have the time.
So it was really at 40 I took it up
and I took up a style called Ashtanga.
One of the things I wanted to do was
I wanted to get wet every day in the ocean.
I find the ocean is incredibly therapeutic.
It's therapeutic.
It was difficult to do that in Melbourne.
So my sister lives in New South Wales
in the Northern Beaches.
So we moved to the Northern Beaches
and every day I will either swim
or I will surf in the ocean.
And I'm a terrible surfer,
but I'm determined to get better at it.
And there is just joy that comes
from getting out of the ocean.
And, you know, there's a great documentary on grounding,
which is all about, you know, being close to the earth.
And I think as I get older, you know,
I definitely want the stimulation of business
and the mental stimulation,
but I really want to be strong and fit
and, you know, believe that, you know,
you know, one of the...
Aging is something you can control.
You know, one of the things I love is surfing in the ocean
and there's women that's 60 and 70 surfing with me.
Sounds like an idyllic start to the day.
And I think you've just jumped out of the water,
you know, this morning before our chat.
And, you know, I love that you always seem to find a way
to make those things happen.
And I suppose just touching a little bit,
and we have briefly as well,
but a mother of four as well,
there'll be a lot of people listening to that
and saying, that's not possible.
I mean, how do you do that?
Does something have to give?
I mean, what was your process in managing,
you know, incredibly crazy, busy life
and having the success and the family life at the same time?
You know, I was definitely the mother that, you know,
never knew what the kids were doing at school, right?
My kids always went to school in the wrong uniform.
You know, when you rock up to school and you get a car park,
you go, oh my God,
I've got a car park and the school wasn't on.
You know, so, you know, I was, it was a shocker sometimes.
But, you know, and I remember once, you know,
because one thing everyone,
anyone who's listened to this and have adult children,
they know that there's a point where your children sit in front of you
and to say, let me tell you all the things you did wrong.
And I wanted my son to say,
because I went out with him and said, okay, give it to me.
And he said, you weren't present.
You were there in body, but you weren't in mind.
And he was probably fair enough.
And, you know, but I think the one,
the one thing that you can't do is, is guilt.
You know, I, I think that guilt is completely overrated.
For me, I am a happier mother, wife, person, if I'm working.
And I, so I don't feel guilty about it.
And did I do things, could I have done things better?
I mean, I have the best bad parent stories.
But at the end of the day, I sit in front of my kids.
Everyone digs each other.
And, and that's probably the only time I feel truly,
truly successful is when my kids are all there
and everyone likes and wants to be there.
You know, you see here,
these horror stories of incredibly successful,
so-called successful people on paper in dollars terms.
And the family is dysfunctional
and they're suing each other for money.
But I, but I truly say I have four great humans.
And, and they, and one's a full-on hippie.
I mean, that kills his own food to eat.
I mean, who, who knew Luke that roadkill was just roadkill?
Apparently that's a steak.
And then equally, I've got an entrepreneur
who is smashing it, killing it as a YouTuber.
So, you know, you just, and you know,
with your kids, how completely different they are.
And in some respects, you're just basically feeding them
and guiding them.
And really, you haven't really got much input
in how they turn out.
Yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a great thought.
Again, I've got the words of,
I interviewed Scotty Pape, the Barefoot Investor recently,
you know, as a, as a different leader.
His, his line is tread your own path.
And, and, you know, if you're trying to be someone else,
then you're going to fail at that, you know, clearly.
And clearly you knew what was going to make you happy.
And that, you know, that parenting guilt
is an interesting thing.
I think all of us at some point have that, isn't it?
You know, are you getting that?
Am I working too much?
Am I away too much?
But I think to me that, that you articulate it beautifully.
If you, if you're not filling yourself up properly first,
you're really never going to be the parent you want to be
at any stage, isn't it?
And I'm with you, isn't it?
Same DNA, same environment.
The, the, the, the, the quirky twists that come out
are sometimes hard to believe, aren't they?
The other thing I truly believe in,
this is what Jeff and I did, was if mum and dad are solid,
like if they're, if their relationship's really good,
then the family's good.
And so people sort of sometimes go,
I can't get away from my kids.
I can't leave them.
And I, and we never celebrated our anniversary,
but every year we made sure we went away
for at least four days.
And whether that was a health retreat or a holiday
or whatever, but we went away.
And we, so we never really did date nights,
but we made sure that at least,
once a year we would go away as a couple.
And I think we, we share that in common.
I was a big driver of that in the early days.
We'd be with four kids like you.
And I remember her, you know,
in tears all the way to the airport the first time we,
you know, we left them.
And now I think she cries on the way home.
We've got to come back.
So it's true, isn't it?
Oh, that's because you've got teenagers.
But you're making that time as you're right.
If, if, if you're solid on the home front,
I think maybe that is one of the pieces of the puzzle
that perhaps works better than others.
Hey, Jen, I want to do,
Just one more thing on that, Luke,
is that, you know, I know your wife,
she's gorgeous and nice and smart
and she's got all the bits.
The one thing you can't get wrong in life,
out of all the things you can get wrong,
don't get your partner wrong.
Yeah, because that, if you,
because, you know, there's times when,
you know, you're frantic and she's frantic
and you want someone to push you in the back,
pushing you forward,
not grabbing you, dragging you back.
And you can really get through anything
if you're a good partner.
If you've got the right partner.
And I think that's what I'm instilling in my kids is get,
I don't care what you get wrong,
do not get the partner wrong.
In actual fact, I'm at the point
where I believe in arranged marriages.
I think I should pick them.
They don't agree with me, but I think I should.
I love how you cut through, Janine,
and you go to places others ask.
And you know what, I completely agree with you.
And I feel lucky.
I feel lucky at one sense,
the randomness of meeting your partner
and then genuinely still being in love with them
and love hanging out with them.
And you know, I say to, you know,
but we could have fun.
We don't have to go far.
We could go up the road to Bacchus Marsh
or over to Bali, which doesn't matter.
We just like spending time together.
But I also know we put a lot of time
into making sure we do like spending time together.
And I've lots of friends who have got success
in other areas, but don't,
haven't ever put that same amount of time
into their partner.
And I'm with you.
It's the thing that, what would you regret the most?
Either finding the wrong partner
and you see the pain that that ends up causing people,
or having the right partner,
but not putting enough time into it.
It may be the greatest tragedy you could have, you know?
So I think it's good advice.
And you're right, isn't it?
Our oldest is 18.
The next chapter is them finding their own partners.
It's probably as big a call as you can make,
I think, as you said.
I mean, it really dictates happiness, really.
Is that one decision will dictate, you know, pretty much.
And it's, hey, it's a quick way to lose half your wealth too.
And all that comes with it, isn't it?
It's still a nuclear event, you know,
at that age we've seen,
great friends of ours separate.
It's nuclear, isn't it?
Even the ones that are separating.
Janine, we're talking to and really enjoying
a diverse range of leaders.
And I love your story in every sense
and how authentic you are.
But we're seeing there's similar traits that define leaders
and dimensions of great leadership.
And keen to ask you about it.
So please expand, Janine, as much as you like on these.
But self-leadership is the first trait.
When I ask you about self-leadership,
what do you think of?
What do you mean when you say self-leadership?
What do you mean?
It's a good, well, I mean, for me,
it means how you look after yourself
and your thought about how you improve yourself
and what you do as your own sense of self.
I think starting as a leader,
if you haven't got a sense of that,
it's hard to impact others.
So I think we see that as being the place to start.
Does that make sense?
You know, I leave collaborative.
I don't, people don't work for me.
They work with me.
And I'm very, and I'm very much,
and I'd like to think that I'm a big listener,
but ultimately they know that, you know,
you've got to at some point make this decision and move on.
But very collaboratively, I would say,
and I really hate the word, you work for me.
Because I just think that to achieve anything,
you need a team and collectively,
everyone contributes to that outcome.
You know, I've never really sort of thought
about you just at that stage, just doing, you know, pretty,
as I said, I was, you know, for the first 10 years,
it was just hanging on for the ride and working it out,
getting it wrong, picking myself up, dusting yourself off.
I mean, there was one point where I sat down and said,
when was the last time I ate?
And I think it was four days.
Because you're just so, you know,
you're in that adrenaline stage of fight and flight all the time
because you're just cheating yourself, really.
Well, I think it comes out really naturally in you, Janine.
Whether you had a sense of self at the time,
even when you're starting out around,
I'm going to authentically lead the way that I am.
And if I did, and that's sort of a real community,
talking about collaboration, I'll ask you about that,
you know, in a moment.
But I think, you know, people get found out really quickly
when they're not being authentically themselves.
And the people working with you, you know,
the sporting coaches that I speak to a lot, Janine,
you know, the players pick up in a nanosecond
if the leader in front of them is not authentic.
And clearly you knew that with your own sense of style.
You get the chance to impact thousands of people
with the success of Boost Juice
and your other ventures with retailers.
Do you consciously think about the impact you have
on others in the environment?
No, honestly, don't consciously think about it.
You just do, really.
And, you know, it's a bit like even we started the business,
you know, we didn't sort of go, okay,
let's make it worth this much money.
we just figured that if we did the right thing today then the outcome would be the right outcome
so you know i you know i think just by you know gotta remember back at when we had boosts at the
start we had no money so the only way and i was a publicist so i knew how to you know understood
how media worked so it i put myself as the face of it because that was how we got people to know
about the brand and then that kind of just led one thing to another and it opened up opportunities
whether it was shark tank or survivor or you know a celebrity apprentice you know and i i'm a um
positively skewed person so i think in life that you should say yes before you say no
and uh and i think you say yes and then or even this way you say yes until it's a no so you say
yes investigate it think about it and then it's either a no or a yes once you know more information
um i think you can't go out to inspire people i think you either do or you don't i i just think
who thinks that they're going to go out and be this person i think just be you and you either
will or won't yeah great answer and and um yeah it's it's it's feels as though that is is your
life story the next the next question i want to ask was about you know creating and sharing your
vision and how you've gone about and i want to ask that in the context of boost i mean you probably
answered it then in some ways you know if you did something you're passionate about and you just
kept doing that it was going to take care of it did you have i mean could you have dreamt you're
13 countries and 580 stores was there that sort of big global world domination vision or is that
just the result of you doing what you do we um we do and i think every business should stop every
six months particularly in the early days and said all right what we're six months in what's
the next six months look for and we we then go back and go okay if we want 100 stores how many
staff do we need how much money do we need you know so we were very much always looked ahead
so it was one of those things that you know overseas was an accident we actually actively
went right okay we've got growth in australia where's our other arm and then it was like okay
well we've all been overseas and we know that there's brands we know that our brand is as good
as any um let's pursue that and then we had a lot of particularly if there's an australian open or
something international as soon as people came to australia we've got oh my god this great brand
and we have a lot of inquiries for international so it was a deliberate strategy um but i think
that you know when you're on a train it goes really fast but you're sitting on a train you
don't realize what's happening around you i think it's a deliberate strategy and i think it's a deliberate
strategy and i think that that's pretty much how i sort of felt with boost is because every day
there's a problem to solve you didn't really and you didn't really think about you know getting
there and also i'm a firm believer that are you there yet never i'm never there so when people
say oh you've got a really successful business like yes but we're only in 13 countries so there's
a lot more countries and there's a lot more to do and there's a lot more business so as soon as you
think you're there i think you need to hang up your shackles because you're never there life
you're never there as a person you're never there as a business you always have to find growth and
improvement i've heard you mention the word curiosity a lot janine it's a common word
we're seeing with these range of leaders that we're talking to regularly and a lot of leaders
then through curiosity that's how they think about learning and growth and development
when i when i ask you about that that term curiosity what does it mean to you i think that
the i said earlier that meaning of life is knowledge and i think that the way to get
knowledge is to have the curious mind
you know it's like and and you know the curious mind means that i can learn from
anyone you know i my 23 year old son who's on youtube who's smashing out of the park i'm going
right let me understand how this works or you know i've got um i'm in a i've got a group of
gorgeous guys that i sort of catch up with a couple every couple of months who are in their
70s who are again have incredible insights that i can learn from so you know i think that having
that curious mind of how does it work how does it work how does it work how does it work how does it
work and how much i can learn i mean i'm actually listening to a lot of david sinclair at the moment
about longevity i don't know if you're across him or not and he's a professor at harvard and
you know it's really fascinating i go gee i'm 56 and this life of i'm living is pretty cool i want
to be as healthy as i possibly can and some of his insights are really interesting with regard
to some of the studies and again just having that curious mind to sort of go okay how does
that fit for me you know what what does that you know what is that so i think
having it's the people i feel sorry not sorry for but i think the people live a half life if
they think they're already there i've got i've got to follow up a couple of things on that firstly
i've got i've got to find out what's the 23 year old uh what's he doing on youtube so riley so he
has a um youtube channel called major kill and it's a um it is he he basically tells you the
backstory of uh this game called warhammer and he um and through that he has merchandise and he has
you know and it's very interesting and it's very interesting and it's very interesting and it's very
male like it's actually his target market is i think 70 percent american you know so and he has
he sell these minis and you know so he's actually doing a great job but you know like if anyone
listens to it it is he does swear it is crass it is very much a male dominated thing it's not for
the like faint-hearted if you like ball rat you'd like this one i love our you know you find your
own path isn't your own passion and uh and and how extraordinary that world is and what it opens up
i would have thought that you could connect with a 70 american audience i'll um you know i'll look
that up with interest and i've got a follow-up on uh david sinclair at harvard so what can you
give us a little snapshot you know talk about longevity and long health what what's the reader's
digest version of what you're taking out of that look i think the key thing is that um he is a
scientist and a passion for longevity and believes truly believes by doing certain activities and
taking certain supplements you can actually reverse the the thing
of aging and it's not it's not on it's not like crazy stuff it's literally stuff that we already
know it's you know how much exercise you do and if you do some high intensity exercise
it's actually um he's a big believer in intermittent fasting um and then supplements
and he talks about nmns and he talks about um uh i can't pronounce half of them but you know
there you look he's it's a podcast um i i think it's really interesting i think that it comes from
a great uh a great background of science
and i think it's really interesting to see what we can do but the philosophy is that
obviously aging creates it has diseases and people don't die off old age they die off a disease it's
related to aging and if you can do certain things and live a certain lifestyle then you can um you
know and look we know that you know you i see 80 year olds who look like they're 50 and 50 year
olds look like they're 80 i mean you know it's it's type of lifestyle you choose yeah that's a
topic for almost another chat i'd love to have with you at some stage but you're right isn't that
idea that you can live a healthy and fulfilled life my father-in-law is is 84 and you've never
seen anyone as fitter runs swims in the ocean every day uh you know incredible daily routines
that keep him so strong and you know still arm wrestles our kids and beats them all he's a
remarkable example of finding your own path of health and seeing him age uh as amazingly as he
is is incredible still runs his legal practice still works and he's a great guy and i think
six days a week the norms don't have to equate do they and as you're right 50 year olds who look
like they're 150 yeah through lifestyle choices and equally if that you did a biomarker on him
he'd probably be probably 56 or 57 or maybe 60 because he's he's done all the things that keep
and you know it's what's fascinating about david and you know people should get onto it because i
think it's really fascinating is um he talks about the fact that because of exercise it triggers this
you know and so i just think it's fascinating and look at when you get to when you when you get
to 50 you're kind of at that how old are you i'm 47 in july um so right so getting not too far away
from there and i um i have i'm going to be bold enough here because beck's a couple years older
than me i'm saying i'm about to have a you know my partner's going to be 50 so we're at that that
stage and then we start thinking about uh about the aging process a bit more yeah well i think
50 you sort of feel like you're at the top of the age range and you're at the top of the age range
pyramid don't you sort of go oh hang on let's if i live if i can live to 100 i'm really smack in
the middle and but i'm gonna say you know i'm 56 you know i did survivor at 54 um that i feel as
good as i did actually probably better i'm probably fitter stronger healthier than i probably ever
have in my life and so the biggest crime that we can do to ourselves is say we are old or feel old
i think that and i think one of the things i love about in the northern beaches is i literally hop
into the surf and i'm one of the young ones like it's and so you're surrounded by these people
that just go you know they're just a fit and strong and you know so i certainly think that
i think your father-in-law's got it right yeah that's a great a great message um getting back
to these dimensions of leadership we're passionate about uh janine a couple more to ask you about
you're an incredible communicator we see leaders really thoughtful about communicating with clarity
you what's your process i mean clearly that's been a great strength you getting the
message of boost out to so many people how have you gone about it look i think it's really
important that every business has a communication strategy and it might sound like it's a strategy
so it must be very important but really it's it's like who speaks to who and when now we've got a
franchise network and i can tell you now if you have poor poor communication skills then people
will make up what they don't know it'll be 10 times worse than the reality and so there's a and i
think one of the things that i thought um mishad who's our ceo and the team at retail zoo did
through through the last couple of years was communicated you know and if you're not
communicating very effectively you're a poor leader you know leaders people want to be people
want to to know where the answer is and and where you they need to go and if you're not
clear simple uncomplicated then um then people just won't follow you people lose faith and i
think one of the scariest people you can come across and we've all come across in our business
and i'm sure people listening to this and go yep i know them
the ones that talk the talk but don't walk the walk you know when you come across someone and
they sit there and they sound really intelligent they say words really clearly and but they say
a lot but you leave and go i have no idea what that person just said right i know they said a
lot and it sounded really good but god damn it i i couldn't tell you what the key message was or
or anything like that so they're the dangerous ones because you believe them because they have
this confidence so it's um it's a really clear simple communication is is really what they're
aiming for and communicate often you know and and when i say a strategy communication strategy
should be how do you communicate weekly bi-weekly annually biannually um how you're communicating on
social media on internal external like it's face to face like it really has everything on how the
people get together and speak and so i am also i'm also a believer that you know if i have someone
reporting to me i never just have a meeting like the meeting has to have an agenda it has to have
an outcome it has to have an agenda it has to have an agenda it has to have an agenda it has to have
minutes and those minutes then get recirculated for the next one because if not you're just
talking you're just catching up so you need to have a very clear outcome and keep people accountable
to to it you know if the person that that works for me says i will deliver it on tuesday that's
not wednesday that's tuesday you know and you know i i will do what i say say what i do but i expect
that of others too yeah that accountability uh piece that uh you hear so much in uh in the way
that you run your life you run your life you run your life you run your life you run your life
and you mentioned collaboration before when i asked you about self-leadership and that you
really try and set your world up around collaboration and not i'm the boss and i
employ people how important has that collaboration been to you um i think it's worked really well i
think i i have had some incredible executives over the years that an incredible team and the first
team that we had at boost were i was 32 um and i think everyone else was their 20s and we just did
you know that you know no one was was doing at the time and you know even to this day you know
those four women who are now growing up with kids and um have um you know we all think fondly of that
period because we were all learning it and sort of working it out and we acquired businesses and
we went overseas and you know we i remember being with um uh one of my executives jacinta sitting in
dubai doing a deal with you know these sheiks you know and it's just like this crazy world but
i never but i never ever because i looked at the um the financial controller and went right that's
your role but never thought she works for me yes i own the business and yes there was an understanding
but i don't think any of them had that feeling that you know ultimately you know they they didn't
run their own race and i didn't trust them and you've also collaborated you know janine with
some of your early you know investors have been some of the great successful you know business
you know men in australia jeff harris from
flight center was it was an early investor in boost i understand that the beast and family
have been great investors and great support how about that you know influence and collaborating
at that level with your partners how did you go about that look again people will be listening
to this and having horror stories of partnerships and and um some great outcome and and equally i've
had some you know horror partnerships through throughout my times with you know in other
businesses and equally having someone like jeff harris who who to this day is still a friend
is you know and a really important part you know 20 years ago for a young girl who was just trying
to work it out and having someone like jeff come in and you know having that calm sort of it's okay
it's not i'm getting on again armageddon who's um that uh that you know it was was fantastic so
equally like a your partner and husband choose carefully because i actually think it's easy to
get rid of a husband than a business partner so you know um so you know you really need to get
and go into it with an exit strategy so if it goes pear-shaped how do you get out of this
mess yeah great advice i think anyone who's probably been down the path of
on their business nature probably says you're going to come across you know partners that don't
work i mean how did you go i mean you've obviously it's happened to you and and i've certainly had
that experience before is it setting it up right at the first as you said if there's an exit strategy
it's clearly documented and you know that you can get out of it is that the best thing you can do
is spend the time to get the right partnerships is that the best advice or look it is it is but you
know quite often people get excited and they're in the honeymoon period and everyone trusts each
other and you know it's all happy days and then um you know money gets involved or someone works
more than the other person and you know we we all know that the old stories um but yeah so i think
having that hard conversation it's only that prenup that you need to have with it with the
if in the meeting going okay we think it's going to go well because we wouldn't be doing it in the
first place but we're going to do it in the second place and we're going to do it in the third place
but if it goes pear-shaped how do we get out of this what do we do what's the process of of
unwinding this and you know and hopefully you know the people that you're in business with are good
people and you can work it out maturely and get through and sometimes it works and sometimes it
doesn't and you know we've all heard the horror stories of of when it hasn't worked out so well
and we'll live the horror stories yeah good uh good advice isn't it good people maybe with shared
values maybe it's a good place to start uh with with partnerships some two final questions you
these of uh all the iconic leaders like yourself um who has been the greatest leader in your life
do you know it's really hard um when you say leader um because people have sort of helped
in various ways and i think i don't necessarily see people as leaders not leaders sometimes the
best leaders in my life are the ones that have really done bad things you know and i think we
always learn well i remember i was running a cinema in singapore and working six hours a day
wearing my ass off turned it around you know from a negative to a positive and the leader the my boss
came and sort of mentioned that i should wear sleeves that are a bit longer and i just went
really that's all you got to say to me like hello you know and um so then i took that into my own
business and went i don't care what you wear like if you're a lawyer and you want to wear shorts
look yourself out wear what you like i don't care um so i think sometimes we take we take lessons
but people you know some of the people that have really assisted me you know the gillespie's from
baker's delight you know they could not have been more helpful for me in the early days
particularly when it's this young girl just trying to work it out they were amazing
you know harris jeff harris was you're always there at the other end of the phone
you know um a guy that james who started muffin break he was happy to sit down and have a coffee
with me so it was sort of all those people you know even you know jerry harvey you know met with
me and went okay this is something some things you can and can't do and i think it's really
important to be able to sit down and have a coffee with people that you know are really
helpful and that you can't do so um and katie and katie was they're a funny couple they're so nice
but um but i think people have um i think people have always been very generous to be able to sit
down and take a phone call and you know help me along the way um with leaders you know i think
that the the b-hag league leaders the people that really are truly changing this planet like you
know jobs and and musk and you know uh uh you know zuckenberg and all those people that
the people that are sort of go hey can one person change the world well do some people can
so you know those sort of people you go wow that's that's pretty pretty cool yeah pretty
interesting insight into you jen clearly you've you've picked up the phone and and and gone to
people for knowledge and uh and it's brilliant to think you know clearly they've learned from
you along the way as well but the opportunity is there isn't it sometimes you get a no but
but clearly there's other success stories that have benefited you and you've benefited them
along the way in the spirit of collaboration because we're still in the middle of a pandemic
seeing great leaders really love collaboration asking this question is where if you could
collaborate with one person janet could be on anything um is there someone that springs to
mind you know i probably jeff bezos like you know i think that i love the way he thinks
i mean i never met him probably met him and go oh my god no way but um yeah i don't know i think
there's someone who is really just thinks outside the box you know i think um there is there is so
many but i mean i'm sure i'll get off this this call and go oh my god
i've got 10 people i want to tell you about but look you know i don't know i think um people i
think that's interesting is that anyone that i know i don't really sort of pick on because you
know them and you you've already dragged all the information i need from them but but it's like
when i worked for bowie as a young girl at 21 you know yes you always imagine them to be superhuman
and you know never be flawed and because they're rock stars and movie stars and then when you meet
them they've just got the same dreams and flaws and as a result they're not going to be the same
but um i think in business i think someone like an elon musk the way he um just has that again that
classic curious mind it doesn't feel like that there's any barriers he can't cross
i mean those sort of brains are fascinating i probably wouldn't be able to understand half
of what he said but um but i think someone yeah those sort of people you just go oh wow that'd
be incredible well it's funny yeah janine you you say that uh lindsey boyd is a incredible
entrepreneur in the uk that i spoke with a business called one earth and she's doing
things in that space and her mind went immediately you know to to the similar names and elon musk as
well it's like you know put my uh thoughts together with someone like that you know we
could change the world so so clearly there's a big thinking part of of the way you operate and
it's been a great uh pleasure to need to sit down and hear from you firsthand and hear your story
and it sounds like there's many more chapters to unfold that constant improvement uh is a big part
of of who you are love life i love your your mantra at boost juice and it sounds like you're
having that in a very authentic way uh thanks for your time i really enjoyed it today no my pleasure
anytime empowering leaders was presented by me luke darcy produced by matt dwyer with audio
production by darcy thompson start your leadership journey i encourage you to go to
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