Only way is up

SITTING upstairs in his Pakenham home, Robb Evans glances up from his computer to a parable that has been printed on A4 paper, laminated and stuck on the adjacent wall.
It is a reminder that he can no longer return.
When the Grecian armies first landed on the enemy’s shore, the commanders ordered the troops to take everything off the ships, go to shore and “burn the boats” they had arrived on.
As masters of motivation, the Greek commanders would order the boats to be burned to instil a psychological imprint on their soldiers – there was no turning back. As a successful accountant, Robb had it all.
Happily married with two kids, Robb enjoyed a comfortable transition from university into a high paying job and was quickly working his way up the accounting hierarchy.
But in April 2007 that changed.
Robb decided that it was time to chase a long-time dream, so he burnt the bridges connecting him to his accounting past and turned his focus to burning the calories from his clients.
That year, Robb formed his home-grown personal training business and in the winter of 2009 he formally withdrew his subscription to Chartered Accountants, removing himself from the prosperous world of accounting.
Despite calls from those around him to return to the industry, Robb knew there was no turning back.
“It was the most nervous first time in my life,” the 42-year-old said.
“I was going back to no income and during the first 12 months I would be at a loss. I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t know it would be as hard as it was.
Robb always had an enthusiasm for fitness, but only when he had a run-in with a bully at university did he discover his passion for it.
As a 20-year-old, Robb was packing up his things at the end of a lecture when a peer “who wasn’t quite right in the head” shoved Robb and his desk into a wall, threatening to kill him for laughing at a joke the bully had made earlier in class.
It was at this point that the pint-sized Robb, who was sick of being picked on, decided he would do something about it.
“I was going to get big.
“I was always the kid that got pushed over and dragged down the hallway but it was this day I said ‘enough is enough’.
Robb enlisted in a local gym, put on 10 kilograms in 10 weeks and never again was the victim of schoolyard bullying.
Despite achieving what he set out to do, he continued to work out at gyms, helping others with their fitness ambitions, all the while continuing to make a name for himself as an accountant.
But as Robb admits, he “could never be an accountant forever”.
Registering his Studioz fitness business in 2007, Robb was told he would never be able to earn a living from an industry flooded with self-proclaimed trainers and young wannabes.
But the committed Robb had a mission and he was out to achieve it.
“I am a big believer in setting goals for oneself and working hard to get them,” he said.
Robb’s ability to commit shone through as an 11-year-old who wanted to take on the world with his bagpipes.
“From a very young age I have been very motivated in whatever I do,” he said.
“One weekend Mum took me to an Easter Carnival where there was a bagpipe display and she said on the Monday after, ‘you are going to learn to play the bagpipes’.
“I didn’t want to learn bagpipes, I wanted to play the drums, but they took me along to one session and after that first night I was hooked.
“From that day I was very focused. I wanted to be the best in Australia and I practiced three hours a day to make sure that happened.
“I went through all different grades of solo piping, winning at every level … so I set my goals to world champs,” Robb said.
At the age of 22, Robb joined the first Australian bagpiping band to qualify for the world championships held in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1990.
Returning with a respectable placing of 14th out of 28 countries, Robb had a newfound confidence and despite achieving his long-time ambition of making the world championships, he longed for something else.
Robb finally achieved that something else in 2007, beginning his personal training career with one client – a workmate from his RACV accounting job.
“The first 12 months was hard. Not having customers and no income was one of the hardest times of my life … I can see why businesses fold in the first 12 months,” he said.
But after the hardships of those 12 months, his Studioz business began to take off.
Last year, Robb was awarded the recognition award in the home business category at the 2010 Cardinia Business Awards night.
According to a judge, he had one of the best presentations ever seen at the awards but because his business was still establishing itself he didn’t have the year-by-year comparisons to get him over the line. But this year his figures are stacking up.
As of earlier this month, Robb had helped clients lose a combined 706 kilograms and, for the first time, achieved a 100 per cent client satisfaction rate through exercise and nutrition.
He believes that through his uncommon approach of combining exercise with a nutrition timetable he is able to guarantee weight loss, something that many other fitness centres cannot do.
Although his reputation has grown, the driven Pakenham resident demands more from his business. Back in his office, Robb stares up at his wall and alongside the Grecian Army parable is another laminated A4 piece of paper.
“By 2013 Studioz will be recognised throughout Pakenham as THE health and fitness expert providing phenomenal results and 100 per cent guarantee rate,” it reads.
“I have found the career I want to do until I die so I am going to put everything into this to make it work.”