WBS Interview - Meet Anna from Citrus Fitness

Meet Anna from Citrus Fitness – The Body Transformation Specialists

Anna is an entrepreneur who currently is the director of 3 businesses – Citrus Fitness Australia, The Australian Health and Wellness Co. and Anna Q Corpin International. She is a heart-centred health, fitness and medical professional who is on a mission to educate women on Health, Fitness, Nutrition, Mindset, Lifestyle and Fierce Self Love. Anna will be speaking about Self Love – The Key to Ultimate Happiness and Success. She understands the challenges women in business face especially when it comes to prioritising their own needs and will be giving some tips on simple ways to put your needs first.

Qualifications: BHSc(Ambulance Paramedic), Cert III and IV – Fitness and Personal Training, Metabolic Precision Level 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Anna has spent 8 years as a Senior Ambulance Paramedic with Ambulance Victoria and gained her Certificate 3 and 4 qualifications in Fitness and Personal Training in 2010. Anna resigned from her full time position in 2011 to start her business – Citrus Fitness in 2011 while still working casually as a paramedic.

Currently in her 6th year of Citrus Fitness operation she has helped transformed over hundreds of client’s lives and also gained further qualifications in:
• Metabolic Nutrition
• Kinesiology
• Strength and Conditioning
• Athletic conditioning
• Pregnancy and postnatal nutrition and exercise

Her passion is her own self-development, always striving to be the best version of herself and helping all of her clients do the same. She works alongside other allied health professionals such as a Chiropractor, Physio, Sports Masseuse, Podiatrist, Mindset Coach and Psychologist – to continuously improve her knowledge and to deliver an outstanding and holistic service to her clients. Her transformation programs have a strong focus on success mindset, changing habits and self-love.

Outside of work and business, Anna loves spending time with her husband and daughter, training, eating loads of delicious food, reading, writing and travelling.

Tell us about your business

My company is Citrus Fitness Australia. My partner Ryan and I are aBody Transformation Specialists and our target audience are people who want to truly transform their bodies, without dieting, over-training and quick fixes, and want a sensible, sustainable, life-long approach to health and wellbeing that produces success for life.

Our mission is to Educate, Motivate, Inspire and Empower our clients to become the best version of themselves and to live the best life they possibly can. Our programs are always based on the most up-to-date research in health, fitness and fat loss, and using this research, we strive to educate first and foremost. We aim to motivate our clients daily inside and outside of our walls. We inspire clients with our own transformations, constant growth and progression, and to truly walk the walk so we can talk the talk. And finally, to empower our clients by providing them with the education and the tools to successfully implement everything they learn into their own lives so that they can teach their own family and children.

As coaches, we understand that most people are time poor, confused by conflicting advice from all sorts of experts, unsure of what exercise they should be doing, and some simply don’t know what they should be eating and what is or isn’t healthy. Our job is to cut through all the BS, to deliver clear, time efficient fitness and nutrition solutions for our clients. Our services include I.C.E (Intense Cardiovascular Exercise), F.I.R.E (Focused Resistance Exercise) and Nutrition coaching (which focuses on lifestyle, mindset and habit changes for long term success).

Asmedical, health and fitness professionals (I am a paramedic and my partner is a nurse), our point of difference is our expertise and knowledge when it comes to special populations, medical conditions, injuries, rehabilitation, pregnancy and postnatal clients. We also work very closely with a team of other allied health professionals – chiropractors, physiotherapists, GPs, surgeons, nurses and psychologists to provide the best care and a holistic service for our clients.

Please tell us what being a business owner means to you and why you became one in the first place?

Being a business owner means doing things on my own terms – using my own gifts and talents to be a person of use – to drive change and to truly help and contribute to society. This also means being able to work the hours that I want to work, helping the people that I want to help, making the money that I want to make, growing in every way possible and taking 100% responsibility for my own life and happiness.

I came from a medical background and was employed by Ambulance Victoria as a Qualified Senior Paramedic for 8 years.

Although I absolutely loved my job as an Ambo, the shift work and constant change of sleep patterns started to affect my own health and became unsustainable. I was constantly exhausted and cranky from work, and spent my days off just recovering from my 14 hour night shifts only to readjust and then start work again. Something had to change so I took a leap of faith. I took a risk to leave a secure, well-paying, government job to start my own fitness business and start helping people in a more proactive way, rather than reactive.

What or who has been your greatest influence in business and why?

My business mentors (I have 2) – they have achieved financial success as well as life success, having time to enjoy life on their own terms.

Successful entrepreneurs, business people, celebrities that are all “heart led” who use their statuses and success to be of use, to create change, and to make a difference in the world.

What would you say is your greatest professional accomplishment to date?

Helping hundreds of clients become healthier, happier and more confident individuals who now have positive body image, a great relationship with food, have balance in their lives and are chasing their dreams andgrowing in their own ways.

Building a tight knit and loyal community of like-minded people who share the same values as I do, who support me, my business and everyone in our entire community, and having them come back to continue training with me year after year.
What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our readers?

In order to succeed in business, you must put yourself first. Your health and wellbeing should be your number one priority because, without it, all the success and all the money in the world mean nothing. Work on yourself, and the rest will work itself out.

What has been the most effective marketing initiatives or programs you have used to promote your business?

Facebook has helped me build my business from the ground up. After having my baby, I felt so disconnected with the world and the people around me. Once I decided to rebuild my fitness business, free marketing and the use of Facebook was my way of reconnecting with friends, colleagues and acquaintances (and then all of my client’s friends and family) to invite them to try my services. After that, it has purely been word of mouth.

What is one thing you learned as a small business owner that has served you well over the years?

There will many highs and many lows, and you just need to keep riding the waves. There were many times when I felt like I was not “progressing” in my business as I was not bringing in a whole lot of new clients, however, looking back, those were some of the best times because I was able to concentrate wholly on my existing clients and really foster and nurture relationships and form strong bonds within my entire community.

My business works on systems and structures that my mentors have helped me create in my business according to my own dreams and goals. I would say that finding a mentor/person who has achieved what you are looking to achieve in a similar field and asking for their guidance – having someone show you a possible path is invaluable. Sometimes, you need to search far and wide for these mentors and put in time and effort to see them – one of my mentors lives in Noosa and the other, I drive about a 3 and a half hour round-trip to see each time.

Other resources I have found useful are the self-development books that I have bought. I have an entire library full of them.

Do you have any new projects coming up (or have you just completed a big project ~ reached a milestone, etc.)? If so, please tell us about it.

Business for me is always about that “next project” – I can tell you that I have hundreds of ideas written down in a little book ready for me to tackle as soon as I have ticked one off the list.

My next new project involves a lot of networking and collaboration especially within the medical and allied health professionals community.

What do you do for fun/relaxation?

Training/lifting weights is my ultimate hobby – health and fitness is my life so naturally, I have a lot of fun doing it. I also love to read, travel overseas and holiday with my family, and finding challenging activities to do that put me outside of my comfort zone to help me conquer fears and get the adrenaline pumping.

What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?

Success can mean different things to different people. My definition of success is a balanced, healthy, happy, harmonious life that doesn’t involve high stress levels every single moment of every single day, and doesn’t involve me working all day, every day.

Flexibility and the ability to prioritise the most important tasks on a daily basis – Sorting out the things that need doing vs the things that I want to do. If my child is sick, and I have a hundred other business things to do, nursing her back to health will always be my priority.
Good communication skills and building rapport with your clients and community – business is never about you and what you have achieved. It is about helping your clients achieve what they want. Communicating means asking your clients about their needs, their wants, their dreams – and molding your business to help them achieve that.
Learn to love failure – we all want success fast, but most of the time, you do a whole lot of failing before you can succeed. I love making mistakes because I learn from them, and if it’s a whopper of a mistake, I will know never to do it again.

What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?

I honestly don’t have any fears anymore. I used to fear public speaking but then went out of my way to learn to be comfortable speaking in front of my peers. Now I thrive on it. I used to fear big dogs – but again, I put myself into situations where I have learnt to be calm around them. I used to fear failure – but I have failed at so many things that I now believe that it is necessary for success. I know now that when I fear something – I need to faceit and conquer it.

What makes you happy?

Time with spent with my family doing the things we love. Creating and maintaining meaningful and fulfilling relationships that add value to my life. Seeing my clients grow, achieve their goals, and then use everything they have learnt to continue to further grow in their own lives. My own growth and knowing that I am progressing all the time.

What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?

I don’t feel that I have had to sacrifice anything for my success. In my past, I was a serial workaholic. Out of 24 hours, I worked for 19 hours and slept for 5 – I would often have two jobs at one time. So from the get-go, I wanted to create a business on my terms so that I did not have to sacrifice time with my family and friends, and so that I had time to look after myself. I have created a business that I work IN for less than 10 hours a week (and now even less with hubby on board). This has created so much more time for me to spend with my family, work ON the business, to network with other professionals and to continually work on myself and my personal goals and dreams.

Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?

The businesses of my mentors – hence why I have their guidance in helping me build mine.

Where do you see yourself and your business in 10 years? 20 years?

In 10 years, I see my company as the epicentre of health and wellness – the place where people go to when they have had enough of fad diets and fitness programs that no longer work for them, and need a successful, sustainable and sensible approach to weight and fat loss. With the collaboration of allied health professionals and GPs, I would love to see clients being referred to us, rather than being prescribed weight loss pills and lap band surgeries.

In 20 years, I really hope to be immersing myself in philanthropic work.

What book has inspired you the most? (OR What is your favorite book?)

The Success Principles – Jack Canfield – It is your one stop shop when it comes to success and covers just about everything. I read it at least twice a year.

Howdo you measure your success in business?

I measure success by how happy my clients are and that they are finding value in my services and are progressing to achieve everything they have ever dreamed of.

And also by how happy my family and I are. I see no point in having a successful thriving business if you personally and your family are not happy.

Do you have kiddies if so how many? And what is there favourite activity to do with you.

I have one daughter who is 3 and a half years old. We always have so much fun doing active things like rockclimbing and gymnastics, or running around at the park picking flowers, but our absolute favourite that we love is reading together, and cuddling on the couch.

Anna W was the WINNER of the WBS Business Woman of the Month – March