As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Busy, Busy Me... Thursday, September 20

When people ask me why I don't have kids, I'm always confused at how the hell they think me looking after another person would even be possible when I spend my day running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, juggling being an entrepreneur, a coach and a pro athlete.  

I've got business emails and meetings to deal with, clients to check up on and train, and then of course my own training that already takes up a massive chunk of my day.  I've got two dogs here and even looking after them requires a co-parenting juggle.

On Thursdays I go out for breakfast so I had that to look forward to.  I then had the printers to visit, my design team to contact, a new manufacturer to seek out, an interview to do, laundry to catch up on, and about 2 dozen thank you notes for the Lil' Sistas Project to write up.

I never did get to the gym for training, instead I slaved away all day at Empowered.

Tomorrow I've got a meeting to go see the possible BGC location again, for a second time.

The work never stops, I love it, but then there are days like today that I feel rather overwhelmed by it all.  I was asked about it by one of my morning PT clients today.  She asked me where I got my drive and entrepreneurial spirit from.  I'd like to say that I got it from my parents but I didn't in the sense that most would expect.  I was raised by two parents who played it safe.  My dad got a job right out of high school and continued working there for the rest of his working career until he finally retired.  My mom juggled a few jobs here and there, like church secretary and bus driver, but even she worked a regular 9-5 job that had regular hours and expected pay.  They took vacations with the family the same two weeks every summer and so that meant every summer for those two weeks we'd go camping.  My parents thrived on the predictable and stable life because it was safe and it was sure.  I, on the other hand, have never been one to play it safe and do the predictable.  I went to Korea for a year and came back 11.5yrs later, I married someone that didn't even speak my language until I started teaching him, and then moved to the Philippines with someone I had only known for about two months.  

Where I got my entrepreneurial spirit though was when my parents refused to give me extra spending money.  We got a small allowance but that was only when I was really young.  Once I was able to work, it stopped and I had to make my own money so I started taking on jobs.  I started as a babysitter and newspaper delivery kid, and then I started my own sewing company using the scraps from my mom's sewing projects.  I had figured out pretty early that the more I worked, the more money I made, so I was going to do a job where I delegated how much work I'd take on, like my sewing company.  Since I was a kid though, I've always taken on jobs where I can either delegate my workload or can make up and beyond what the average pay is, like tip money.  I was a waitress at a few places, a bartender throughout university, and then even in Korea I started tutoring on the side.  So ya, in a sense I got my entrepreneurial spirit from my parents but not in the fashion people would assume.  

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