Janine Allis - The Secrets of My Success: The Story of Boost Juice, Juicy Bits and All

First published in 2013 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

Typeset in 11/13.5 pt ITC Berkeley Oldstyle Std

Allis Investments Pty Ltd 2013

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Author:Allis, Janine, 1965

Title:The secrets of my success and the story of Boost Juice juicy bits and all/Janine Allis.

ISBN:9781118648179 (pbk.)

Notes:Includes index.

Subjects:Allis, Janine, 1965

Success in business.

Businesswomen Biography.

Women-owned business enterprises Management.

Dewey Number: 658.4092082

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

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Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

To my patient husband, Jeff, who does not always get the credit he deserves. To my mum, Joan, for her selfless commitment to me and my four beautiful children. And to those four very different, yet individually amazing children thank you for your patience. Thank you for your forced flexibility, and sitting through more than a few dinner conversations with your Dad and me talking Boost! Without these loves of my life, nothing would be worthwhile. Thank you Jeff, Mum, Samuel, Oliver, Riley and Tahlia for making my life complete.

Acknowledgements

I have mentioned throughout this book that if you surround yourself with great people, great things happen; I am who I am because of the people I choose to be surrounded by. One of these people is my best friend, Amy Hart-Doering, who is an accomplished businesswoman and mother, and also had the challenging job of helping with the writing of this book. I thank her for her blunt honesty, humour, and her endless patience with my grammar and all the words that I made up along the way remember I did go to Knox Secondary College.

Amy has the amazing ability to get the best out of me, she has a kind and compassionate heart, and I love having her in my life. This book would never have been completed without her bossiness, her timelines and her insistence that after every yoga session we did together (which is a lot because we do it five times a week!) we work to get this book just right. I love you and thank you.

Introduction

I walked into a book store last week and realised there really is a book on anything you could possibly be interested in. If you want to know how to speak to the dead, a book is available; if you want to make a cupcake, over 300 books are available on this subject alone (I checked online). There are over 10 000 business books printed each year what you can learn from many very successful (and some not so successful) people is mind-boggling.

There are books on dealing with generation Y and on how to work less for more money, and hundreds of books with steps or particular units like Coveys The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People or de Bonos Six Thinking Hats . There are many more how-to books, such as How to Win Friends & Influence People and, one of my favourites, Good to Great . I also like the animal business books, like Eat That Frog , Who Says Elephants Cant Dance? , Purple Cow or (my favourite title) Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive .

So why on earth am I writing another book to add to the enormous number that is already out there on shelves and in e-stores? I can tell you one reason Im not doing it for, and thats the money! As you will read in part I, I tried publishing with my husband, Jeff, and now know is not for the faint-hearted unless you are a JK Rowling or a James Patterson, writing books is not a business that you get into for the money. (And Im not holding my breath waiting for Universal Studios to pick up the phone and tell me they want to do my life story and that Julia Roberts has agreed to play me. Mind you, I think Andy MacDowell would do a better job.)

There are, however, three main reasons Im writing this book.

The first is that I often get stopped by young women or men who have started or are about to start their business, and they tell me that I have inspired them to do so; that they have followed my journey, believe that they have a similar spark and now want to start on their own business journey.

The second reason is for me when I started to write my story, it was the first time that I had actually stopped to look back and revisit the Boost Juice journey and how it all unfolded. Two of the most common questions Im asked is whether I could have imagined that the business would grow to where it is today, and whether I knew when I started that it would become a real Australian icon. The honest answer to these questions is I never really thought about it, but I always believed that there was no other option but to succeed in creating a profitable business that I was proud of. The reality was that I was too busy growing the business and putting out the fires along the way to think about the business not being where it should be. I was (and still am) a terrible networker, and the isolation caused by this meant I didnt know whether what I was doing was better or worse than another businesses I just assumed that it was worse, so I kept pushing forward. I also had people along the way who kept raising the bar, so I never really felt that I had arrived at the final destination. (When you have a friend like Geoff Harris, whose business turns over billions of dollars, your business always appears small.) Writing the book enabled me to relive my thoughts on each part of the journey and see the young scared woman who was winging it along the way. Through the writing, I was also able to watch her as she grew up. Writing the book has also enabled me to think back in other ways, and focus on the people who were with me along the journey. I can now look at these people with a more mature head on my shoulders, and understand some of what they did through their eyes not the eyes of a scared, stressed young mum and appreciate everything that they had to offer.