Think Different. Be Different - Justin Devonshire

In today’s episode, I have Justin Devonshire as a guest. We will be discussing the intricate topic of entrepreneurship, and what it means to be a leader from an investor’s point of view.  Justin shares his story of the hardships he has had to endure to get to where he is now. 

Justin is the founder of Fitness Business Blueprint, as well as an investor and mentor. 

Tell us about your backstory? (01:13)

• Justin tells me that when he was working at a gym as a college student, his intention was not to be a business owner; he was satisfied just working with fitness clients. 
• However, he was putting in a lot of extra hours, until the owner eventually gave him the keys and told him he can do as he pleases. Even though he was putting in all this time, he wasn’t receiving any revenue or even acknowledgement for his efforts.
• Family friends of theirs had an apartment in Cyprus and offered to let him stay there while trying to start his own fitness business. This was about 10 years ago. 
• He thought it would be easy to start up, but it wasn’t until he nearly got evicted after losing all his savings that he realized he needed to go back home and learn more about marketing and running a business. 
• Being a great coach won’t necessarily make you a good owner of a coaching business. 

What drove you to Cyprus, was it a lifestyle choice, or did you see it as a business opportunity? (05:31)

• He says growing up in the UK, he always wanted to live in a warmer place like the Mediterranean. 
• Then the opportunity arose to move to Cyprus. He saw it as both a good change of scenery as well as a business opportunity. 
• It was primarily a lifestyle choice. He explains that his father worked very hard to retire on an island in Greece, and gave him some solid advice on life. 
• His father said that after working hard his whole life to make his dream a reality, he was bored because his best years were behind him. 
• Justin says his goal is to create a career in a place where he can see himself retire, rather than waiting for retirement before moving to the place of his dreams. 

What are some of the biggest changes you made to make this thing a success? (10:16)

• Justin says when he was trying to start his own business, the mistake he made was in not taking factors like finances and systems into consideration. He was just trying to replace a job and pay his salary, he wasn’t thinking of growth. 
• He has since learned to position himself as unique, and to know the value of what he has to offer. 
• Instead of trying to tell people his worth, he started showing them by allowing people to come in and try his programs for free, or at a very low cost. Thus allowing the product to sell itself.
• He learned a lot about his target market and marketing itself. Becoming aware of aspects like organic marketing and the use of social media. 
• He started placing more focus on social media like Facebook and Youtube and adds that these were nearly the only two platforms so it was very easy and very cheap to make videos that ranked for keyword search terms, as no one else was really doing it.

Talk to us about your company, who is your team? (27:36)

• Justin says he works with different business partners, clients, and long term friends. These are typically entrepreneurs with great entrepreneurial potential.
• In team building, they distinguish between integrators and visionaries. Visionaries being the impulsive people with the ideas, and integrators being the individuals who can put a structure in place. 
• He has a consulting team, which acts as the operational team. They are there to assist him, as he can’t run all the operations himself. 
• He also has an operational manager, an executive assistant, and a few implementers. This team is in charge of implementing systems, tracking finances and working on the long term strategy.
• In addition, they have individual teams and coaches, an online business, and a partner in India that handles online fitness throughout Dubai, India and the Middle East. 

What’s your criteria for investing; not just monetary, but your expertise as well? (30:16)

• Justin says in the past he made the mistake of investing in a person because they had a great business idea, but they are not the right person for the business. 
• When this happened, he tried to overcompensate with his own knowledge, but these businesses never work out, because there’s no heart in it. 
• The entrepreneur has to be the ultimate leader with a vision for their business, and doing what it takes to make it a success. 
• If he comes across someone with a terrible idea, but they have what it takes to be a leader, he is willing to invest in them. What he looks for is a person who can be a leader, and who wants to invest their all into a business.  

Resources

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn

Visit JustinDevonshire Website