From 14 Hour Days and Struggle to Multi-Six Figures and Golfing Mid-Week: Learn from This Mom Entrepreneur Success Story

In this episode, Laura sits down with Leslie Robertson, owner of Prime Personal Training in Ottawa, Ontario. Leslie shares the evolution of her 14-year fitness business journey — from grinding through long days as a solo trainer, to navigating motherhood, COVID, burnout, staffing challenges, and ultimately rebuilding her business in a more sustainable and aligned way.

Together, they talk about what it really looks like to shift from overwhelmed operator to empowered CEO, the mindset challenges that come with hiring and leadership, and how simplifying your business can completely transform your energy, capacity, and quality of life.

This conversation is honest, practical, emotional, and deeply encouraging for any entrepreneur who feels exhausted by the way they’re currently running their business.

In this episode you will hear:

00:03 — Introducing Leslie Robertson and Prime Personal Training

02:03 — Leslie’s background in teaching, athletics, and personal training

03:55 — The realities of running a fitness business for 14 years

06:28 — COVID, motherhood, and the hardest seasons of entrepreneurship

07:42 — Why Leslie knew her business model needed to change

08:53 — Burnout, exhaustion, and realizing something had to give

10:07 — The shift from online hustle to simplifying the business

11:26 — Losing a key team member and rebuilding after revenue loss

13:00 — Creating more simplicity, space, and CEO time

14:21 — The studio transformation that changed the business

15:31 — Hiring fears, team growth, and understanding business numbers

16:44 — The power of local marketing and community visibility

18:09 — Moving from business operator to true CEO

20:58 — How one DM led to hiring an incredible trainer

21:24 — Leslie reflects on burnout, stress, and constantly hustling online

23:49 — Why coaching felt different this time around

24:49 — Letting go of grind culture and creating alignment

25:24 — Building a business that allows for real life again

26:07 — Leadership, hard conversations, and managing a growing team

28:16 — The identity shift that happens when your business evolves

29:36 — Why investing in support changed everything

32:32 — Leslie’s philosophy on sustainable health and fitness

35:11 — Why women need support, not more extreme strategies

37:29 — How to connect with Leslie and Prime Personal Training

Leslie's Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getfitwithles/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primepersonaltrainingottawa/

Website: primepersonaltraining.ca

Website: https://getfitwithles.com/

Join This Mother Means Business : www.thismothermeansbusiness.com

Laura's Links:
• Website
• Laura's Instagram
• LJSocial Instagram 
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• TikTok

Transcript

Laura Sinclair (00:03.438)
Welcome back to another episode of this mother means business. I am so excited about today's episode because I am joined by one of the most incredible humans and we're going to be talking about her. We're going to be talking about her business. We're going to be talking about her journey, how she found herself here. This is a human that loves to send me messages on a regular basis to tell me how chill her life is now that she business is growing or leads are coming in and she's just on the other side of.

Kind of like a rough season, there was a lot going on and I am joined by Leslie Robertson. She is the owner of Prime Personal Training in Ottawa. She is an amazing human being that I'm just so grateful for and I am so excited to dive into her journey where she's at, how she built her business. Leslie, welcome to this mother means business.

Leslie Robertson (00:34.946)
Mm-hmm.

Leslie Robertson (00:50.562)
Thanks, Laura. I'm so honored to be here. can't wait to get into it. Yeah.

Laura Sinclair (00:54.298)
It's been a journey, you and I, I was trying to think before we started recording. was like, when, how long have we been in each other's worlds? A few years anyway.

Leslie Robertson (01:00.556)
Gosh. Yeah. Yeah, like more than three for sure. But it was through Instagram. Like I saw somebody share something about the first like online program you did. And like that's how I first found out about you was like a social media course, right? Yeah. Grateful.

Laura Sinclair (01:17.61)
Yes. my gosh, you've been part of like my whole evolution too, which is really cool. That's right. You did my like social business accelerator course back in the day. And then I like working with you back when I first started my online business and was really just helping with marketing. And then when I started to transition into more masterminds, I think I messaged you and was like, Hey, so I know we were talking about social media, but I really think that you should come and be my mastermind and

Leslie Robertson (01:26.326)
That's right. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (01:39.543)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Laura Sinclair (01:45.954)
or on the back end of just having finished a year working together, which is crazy. So much has happened in that time, but we're going to dive into all of that because truly your transformation, not only as a human being, but in your business has been incredible. But for our listeners who are maybe meeting you for the first time, they don't know who you are. Do you mind introducing yourself? Tell us a little bit about you.

Leslie Robertson (01:49.1)
Mm-hmm.

Leslie Robertson (02:03.202)
Sure. So I'm Leslie Robertson. I'm a 42 year old mom, two boys, they're six and nine. I live in Ottawa, Ontario, but I'm originally from Hamilton. I actually was born at McMaster Hospital and grew up in Ankafser. And then I actually went away at 19 years old on a volleyball scholarship to the University of Southern Mississippi for four years, got my teaching degree. My first career was an elementary school teacher. And then after a really short stint of doing that,

somehow personal training fell into a personal training career that I've been doing since 2008 and I can't imagine doing anything else. And I am using my degree, you know, like I went to school, I kid kinesiology and physical education. So now I'm just moving from children to adults who like genuinely want to be there, right. And are committed to, improving their health. But I always knew I wanted to do a job where I was going to be helping people be more active.

have more energy, get stronger. So it's really cool that I am, know, sometimes you go to school and don't use their degree, but I do feel like I'm doing that. But yeah, I've a certified full-time personal trainer since 2008. And I now have my own personal training studio that I've called Prime Personal Training that I've been running now for, many years? 2012, so almost 14 years now. And I also have an incredible online membership as well, my virtual gym.

that I'm really, really into as well. So I see people in person and online, but my most favorite people to work with are women who struggle to take care of themselves. So I like to share a sustainable and realistic way just to like simplify health because people, doesn't need to be complicated. We need to find a way to fit it into your life. So just helping women prioritize their health is my main thing. Love doing that.

Laura Sinclair (03:55.742)
Man, 14 years of running, of full time and 14 years of the studio.

Leslie Robertson (03:56.97)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Surviving COVID, that was a tough time with a baby, baby and a three year old running a personal training studio that wasn't open for basically two years. So, and that's why like your story resonated with me too, because you were a gym owner as well and went through like the having a gym before and after babies. And it's, was, you know, it was worth all the pain and struggle, but we've come a long way still doing it.

Laura Sinclair (04:10.766)
That's so wild.

Laura Sinclair (04:23.714)
Yeah. I'll be honest, like there are days where I really miss it. I didn't used to miss it, but now I find myself in like this season of life. Now that my kids are a little older, being like, man, should I just open another gym? Like, I just miss it. There's something about the community and the people. And obviously we're doing a lot of events now with this mother means business, which I think like brings some of that energy back, but you can't replace what it's like to be in front of a person.

Leslie Robertson (04:28.064)
Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (04:37.738)
Yeah, come on. Yes.

Leslie Robertson (04:46.466)
Mm-hmm.

Laura Sinclair (04:51.852)
And I totally agree that you are absolutely using your degree because we're all just children walking around in human costumes. Like, let's be honest, in adult costumes, I mean, so, you know, we're totally using it.

Leslie Robertson (04:52.066)
amazing.

Leslie Robertson (05:00.278)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Yeah. And I mean, I think the thing that I love the most about my job, you know, regardless of what people are coming for is everybody enters and leaves a different person. Like they come in, they're stressed, they're tired, they're anxious, they don't want to be there. And then they leave and they're like, wow, that was like, I feel so much better. So like that like really is the best and most part of my job is helping completely transform how somebody feels in like an hour.

Right? So, yeah, pretty much.

Laura Sinclair (05:30.658)
You get to be the best hour of their day, which is such a gift. And you have a gift for it. I you and I have chatted about this. You know, I miss it, but you literally have the perfect personality for doing what you do. Well, you're just like, you are a person that genuinely cares about people. Like you are a genuine hype girl. mean, you are inside of the inner circle. You've been in my world for so long. Everybody gravitates to you because you just have this energy that's so welcoming. And people are like, who? I don't know.

Leslie Robertson (05:42.754)
Gemini. Yes. Thanks.

Laura Sinclair (05:59.95)
anyone that dislikes Leslie Roberts and it's not possible to do because you are just so, you're just so sweet. And I'm really, really grateful for you. I want to talk more about your offers and the things that you do and the work that you do. And certainly, we'll say at the end for all of our listeners to learn more about your programs, if they're not in Ottawa, how they can be part of your virtual gym. But I'd love to sort of go back on the journey, obviously owning a gym for 14 years.

Leslie Robertson (06:04.32)
Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (06:20.002)
Mm-hmm.

Laura Sinclair (06:28.142)
you've seen a lot of things. We mentioned the pandemic, which really threw a lot of that the gym industry, the online, the in person fitness industry for a loop really like catapulted the online fitness industry. Like there was online fitness before, but nothing even close to the extent of what it was post COVID. Plus you had two children in that period of time. That's a lot of things that's you've seen a lot of things in those in those years, when you think about it, like

Leslie Robertson (06:30.368)
Yep. Yep.

Leslie Robertson (06:43.51)
Yeah. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (06:50.144)
Yeah, yeah, very little. Sure is. Yeah.

Laura Sinclair (06:57.87)
Is there a moment that was like this was the hardest season? Like if you were to look at the 14 years?

Leslie Robertson (07:01.292)
Youth.

Leslie Robertson (07:04.77)
Yeah, think so yeah, COVID was one of them. I think just in like when I became a mom, that's when I had to really reevaluate how I was how I was doing things. Because I used to work, you know, six in the morning till eight at night, I would do like 14 hour days, five days a week. And then when I had my son, I could I couldn't be working at night, right. So what I had to do was find a way to supplement my like evening clients. That's where I did

And this was before online became a thing. So I think back in 2018, I hired a mentor. I spent like tens of thousands of dollars to help create an online program. And thank goodness I had that because that helped carry me through COVID. And I like did different variations of it. But I think when I had my son, like you cannot grind yourself into the ground anymore. Like there's someone else to take care of, right?

So that was a huge shift for me. So getting away from working mornings and evenings and finding a way to supplement that income. And then I would say during COVID as well, when I couldn't see people in person, that was my main source of income. So some people were good doing Zoom sessions, but some people weren't. So then I'm like, okay, like there needs to be a shift again. And then I think the next shift for me came from when I had my, during COVID I had my second child, but when I just felt

so exhausted. I don't think I've never ever fully completely burned out because I have quite a lot of energy and I love what I do. But I think I was like, there's no more to pull from. So like I can't be seeing all the clients doing all the things. So I think my next evolution really was when I started working with you, Laura, when you're like, you can't continue like this. Like it's you're gonna die. And like, yeah, I'm pretty close. So I think it's when you sat down with me, was like, okay, let's like look at everything you're like the capacity.

Laura Sinclair (08:44.76)
Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (08:53.378)
And instead of ignoring how tired I was being like, you don't have to continue like this. So you're like, have you ever thought about hiring someone? So, and I did, I hired someone before I connected with you, but it's, she left right before we started, right? And then I was kind of scared to hire someone, like afraid of being burned again. So just you teaching me like how to go about finding the right person and creating a system to like onboard them and.

It was really me knowing that I could not continue doing what was doing for another 10 years in order to be a good mom and a good business owner and be able to help more people. So there's been a few trends. So becoming a mom, COVID, and then losing a really important team member and then having, hiring you like Laura and you know, we can't keep doing this. So those are some big evolutions for me for sure.

Laura Sinclair (09:40.75)
think everyone that works in fitness, whether that's like, Plotty's Gym, like traditional fitness has gone through like kind of the blender over the last six years. Because we think about it, right? It was like pre COVID, a lot of people had really great in person businesses. And then during COVID, you had to shift your business online. So everybody went online. And then that worked for like 2020, 2021, 2022. And then 2020

Leslie Robertson (09:43.106)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Blender. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (09:56.418)
death.

Leslie Robertson (10:01.014)
Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (10:05.538)
couple of years.

Laura Sinclair (10:07.552)
to 2023, people were like, okay, this isn't now I'm going to start stepping back into a gym environment. There was like, some people were doing really well, but I was finding people like 2324 coming to me being like, I launched my online business during COVID. And now I have no clientele, like everything is struggling. And so then when I think about you, when we started working together, our year started at beginning of 2025. And I think you were like, okay, we're going to work on this online business. And I was like, actually, we're not going to do that.

Leslie Robertson (10:09.44)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (10:21.834)
Nobody wants it.

Leslie Robertson (10:29.046)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. No.

Laura Sinclair (10:37.058)
weird, we have to look at like what's your lowest hanging free right now you own this studio. It was you and you had just lost this team member which was so devastating. Employing people is the hardest part and gosh, I remember crying every time a coach left because it was just like, how do I fix this?

Leslie Robertson (10:42.636)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (10:55.586)
take it

Laura Sinclair (10:57.934)
so personally and then you're like, there must be something wrong with me because I've hired the wrong person. And I see this so often with people they hire, whether it's a coach or a VA or somebody, right? They try to hire someone, it doesn't work out. And then they just like, well, I'm never going to hire anybody then I'm just going to do it myself forever. And, and I'm so grateful that you were like willing to hear me when I said like, Leslie girl, this is not this is not going to work. We need to, we need to make some shifts.

Leslie Robertson (11:02.156)
Right?

Leslie Robertson (11:07.628)
Yeah. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (11:14.516)
Right? Yes.

Leslie Robertson (11:26.434)
But the other crazy thing, which I'm so grateful for you for is like when I lost that team member, that was like a huge hit to my revenue, right? Like she had all these clients, I couldn't take them on. I was fully booked. My other trainer was fully booked. So like I literally lost a big chunk of my income and I'm like, Laura, like I, we gotta figure something out. And then that is like, you helped me to create something that wasn't going to take more of my time, but was a scalable offer that was able, like something that I was excited about and I didn't see a lot of people doing.

So, you know, thanks to you, we helped create the virtual gym, which is still going strong. We've had coming and going like 50 members, but it's growing and I'm loving it. I'm constantly evolving that too. But yeah, like I, I could have like shut things down. There are multiple times I got to shut it down, but also I like love what I do too much. So I'm like, I got to figure it out. So that's something I do find that I'm very good at is I figure it out. I hire the coach, I do the program. I,

I hustle, but there's only so much that you can do until it just becomes too much. So it's also something that's Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Laura Sinclair (12:32.226)
Yeah, as a 25 year old childless trainer, sure, you can work, you know, 8am, 6am to 8pm and that's fine. But as a 42 year old mother of two who has been grinding for so long, like at some point, something's got to give and like, it's was going to be you, you know, like if we hadn't made the change. You know, when I think about some of like the big changes that we made, the ones that stand up out for me are ones around like

Leslie Robertson (12:42.568)
No.

Leslie Robertson (12:46.112)
Yeah. Yeah. Right? Right?

Leslie Robertson (12:57.408)
Mm-hmm.

Laura Sinclair (13:00.834)
just creating simplicity. really simplifying what your online offer is, but also like your schedule. Tell me a little bit about like how some of that stuff has felt. And if there's, when you think about like simplicity in your business, like what are the things that feel.

Leslie Robertson (13:02.41)
Yo, yeah. Yes.

Leslie Robertson (13:09.932)
Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (13:13.29)
like having days that I don't train clients. What? Is that a thing? So yeah, yeah. You're like, what's your dream schedule? Like, well, I'd like to not have to go into the studio every day and have people available. Just having more space in my week has been huge. So I can like, you know, take a deep breath or, you know, maybe have calls instead of like in the evening or in like the 15 minutes in between clients, I can reserve time to do things that I was trying to cram into little minutes of my day.

so yeah, creating more space to be more of a CEO, right? and actually not working at 6 a.m. every day so I can do a workout. Like, is that, I was just getting my workouts in when I could. another thing too is, is like improving the space because it was a way for so long. And Laura's like, you can have more trainers in here, but your gym's not really set up for that. So when you came and did my, my all day intensive and you walked in the gym, you could tell that I was like,

You know, I was proud of it, but I'm like, yeah, like there's some things we could work on. So when you help me like with the reconfiguration, like putting flooring down, it so, took me like six months to finally make that move. But since the flooring, like we put, we covered the whole floor with rubber tile, like our studio is at capacity. So that was huge. So helping me do things that I was kind of putting off her to think that were important.

Laura Sinclair (14:21.294)
Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (14:38.562)
And then also creating better systems for onboarding clients, my virtual gym, and hiring people like a virtual assistant. And then getting experienced trainers that I didn't have to train. But then still taking on that CEO role and managing people, that's something you've really helped me with, and communication. And then setting boundaries with clients as well. So many things, Laura, so many things.

Laura Sinclair (15:06.968)
So many things. mean, let's be honest, running a brick and mortar business, people always say like, like, what's your they say to me, like, you know, what's your business experience? they're like, honestly, running a brick and mortar gym, like there is really not much that doesn't have that, like, there's not much that isn't there. From a business perspective, right, you're managing clients, your customer service, delivery, marketing, sales, like

Leslie Robertson (15:08.354)
Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (15:18.946)
Yeah

Leslie Robertson (15:24.224)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.

Laura Sinclair (15:31.544)
There's a brick and mortar dream. Jim is truly like a microcosm for almost any business challenge, any business piece, because you're doing so much of it. When I'm thinking back to our time together, I think one of the most impactful moments was when you were experiencing a lot of fear around hiring. And I think a lot of people have this, right? Because you're like, well, I can't afford to hire a person. What does that look like? What if this happens? There's all these reasons. And you and I sat down with an Excel spreadsheet.

Leslie Robertson (15:36.598)
Yeah, totally.

Yeah.

No, you ain't.

Leslie Robertson (15:50.05)
Mm. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. Ugh.

Yes. yeah.

Laura Sinclair (16:00.438)
And we actually looked at what does it cost to have the staff member and how much money could this person make you, right, as an income consuming? Because there's a difference between an income consuming and an income generating employee. And you had this hang up, which so many people do, where it's like, can't hire, I couldn't do that. That's what do mean? I'm going to have five staff. Like, that's going to be so expensive. And we looked at, you know, how many trainers you needed and how much money they could make you.

Leslie Robertson (16:08.939)
Yes.

True, yeah.

Leslie Robertson (16:15.777)
Mmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (16:26.379)
Yeah.

Laura Sinclair (16:29.196)
And I remember you just sitting there and being like, what? Like, I could be doing this. And I was like, yes, we could be doing this. And sometimes we just have to look at the numbers. And then we had the, put the foundations into place so that you could start getting leads in, like getting involved in your community. Like, tell me about that. Remember that market that you went to that was like, went to this market? Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (16:32.949)
Yeah, right.

Leslie Robertson (16:44.149)
Yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, right, the marketing. Yeah, Pines in the Park. Pines in the Park, was like $45, put a table up, I got like a little flag, and I think we got five new clients out of that, right? it was, yeah, like 500 a person, yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, I did.

Laura Sinclair (17:01.282)
which like average lifetime value of five clients is like probably 20 grand for $45. Yeah, it was just about getting into your community. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (17:12.243)
I did zero marketing in the personal training, like with the studios, all about online, online, online, online, like forever, right? Because I only, it was just me, I was full, I couldn't take more clients. So now that I had the space and time and you giving me ideas, that's where I like really exploded, was like going in the local paper, doing like this big collaboration contest post that also brought us tons of people. Just like help, like the marketing piece was huge, which.

Laura Sinclair (17:40.64)
And you got your SEO figured out with you worked on that we worked on some of your funnels, like so many things. Who would have thought? Who would have thought? I know. It's it is crazy. And I think like, what's so interesting is, you know, when you go to school to become a personal trainer, and you had had your gym for what, over a decade at that point, I you celebrated your 10 years of having the gym. Nobody teaches you about the business side of things like nobody, there's nobody there for that. And

Leslie Robertson (17:42.377)
Yeah, the website, the blog, writing a blog's been huge. So many leads, yeah.

Leslie Robertson (17:56.577)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No, definitely not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Laura Sinclair (18:09.912)
think for you, like you really have made the shift from being an operator of your business to being a CEO in your business. And you still train people because you want to and you're good at it. And you love it, which is wild to me. But you love it. And so great. Like, I think that you have to come into a coach and like for me as a coach, I come into every relationship like, okay, what do want your life to look like? And I'm not here to judge it. Although I will be like, I can't believe you want to train that many people. But

Leslie Robertson (18:12.864)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 100%.

Love it.

Love it. So wild. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (18:34.914)
Yum,

Laura Sinclair (18:39.95)
like, it's okay, great. So then how do we how do we build that? And you already had this broken mortar business. So was like, well, this space cannot sit empty. If you're paying rent in this space, maybe consider empty at like 3am, nobody needs to work out at like that time or midnight. But if there if there are hours here, let's fill them. And you did that.

Leslie Robertson (18:40.002)
Yeah, yeah, yep

Leslie Robertson (18:49.312)
Mm-mm. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (19:00.054)
True. Yes, that was something else that was really helpful when you're like, when I'm like, you know, let's just say, let's say I want to make like a million dollars, how does that work? And you're like, all you need is three trainers training an hour, eight hours a day. And I'm like, what? So like, not that that's like necessarily my goal, because you know, more money, more problems, but when you were like, you're losing money, like every time the gym's empty, like you could be, there could be something going on. So when you said that, I'm like, Kate, it's not just me working.

that is going to generate revenue, like there can be other people. So now like four to five hours a day, there's like two to three trainers training at a time. I never thought that was possible before. That was always my goal. And the initial, when I opened, I'm like, okay, we're gonna have three trainers, three clients, but we're doing more a rent model versus a fee per service. So that also was huge. Yeah, there's a few things that you really helped me with, Laura.

Laura Sinclair (19:55.246)
Yeah, I think one of the biggest things to Leslie is like, just having a person to be like, do the thing. Like, I remember when we were, you were like, I need to find a new trainer. And I was like, great. Who do we know? Who do you want? And she, you were like, there's this guy that I know. And that I would be like, that would be so awesome if he worked at my gym. Do you remember what I said to you?

Leslie Robertson (20:02.605)
to the thing. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (20:15.744)
Yeah. You're like, okay, well then can you like message him? Right? Yeah. And I did, he didn't answer.

Laura Sinclair (20:21.74)
Yeah, and you were like, I don't I don't know. Like, why don't you just message him? He didn't at first.

Leslie Robertson (20:29.206)
Nope, and then I harassed then I found his email and I sent him an email and he replied immediately. Yeah, right? Since August and he's now at the point where he can buy a house. He just bought a house, Laura. Him and his wife just bought a house and he said, thanks to you. Yes. So amazing. my gosh. That's like, I love that just as much as helping clients is helping other people be able to like make a good living, right? I never thought I'd.

Laura Sinclair (20:34.508)
Yeah. And now he works for you.

Laura Sinclair (20:42.028)
We did? Because of you.

How cool is that?

Laura Sinclair (20:58.028)
Yeah. All because you sent a DM. I think there's so like, there's so much on the other side of just like doing the thing that feels impossible. Right? Like, because nothing is impossible. And if you're listening to this, and you're a person that owns a business, and you maybe feel like Leslie did before, like I remember you saying to me, when we first started, you're like, I went to this event, I think you're at the high five event, you're like, I was just crying. And I was so stressed out. And everything was stressful, like

Leslie Robertson (20:58.668)
be able to do that, it's best. Yeah, right?

Mmm. So.

Leslie Robertson (21:15.104)
Mm-hmm.

Leslie Robertson (21:20.258)
my god.

Laura Sinclair (21:24.546)
There is a way through, but it is usually on the other side of asking for help. Tell me about that, like where you were before versus where you are now. I'd love to reflect on that.

Leslie Robertson (21:25.876)
Yeah, yeah, you gotta do something different. my gosh. I was just like, I was literally like chasing the next coach, the next dollar. So the in-person business was always running pretty well, but I was still working a lot. But I just like, know, I'm showing up for my clients, I rarely miss. So I was just really exhausted, I was stressed, I was.

Constantly trying to get people to join my 12 week program that I officially you gave me permission to shut that down I was just constantly like launching and hustling and I was really stressed like stress financially tired And feeling like I could never fully show up and then my health was suffering too Like I'm a personal trainer, but I can't even you know take care of myself because I'm staying up late like

you know, creating content or setting emails or, you know, so I was so stressed, so exhausted, but I'm like, well, there's no other way. This is how it is. I didn't know any other way. Cause I, since I opened my studio, I guess it was 2014. I'm like, Hey, you just got a grind hustle. Like that's all I know. So like just exhausted, overwhelmed and working way too much and not knowing that there was another way to do it.

and just really like, like the money was coming in and then I was just going out, right? Like really great at making money. But then somehow at the end of the month, I'd be like, what's happening? Like where, where is all this amazing money that I made? so yeah, health suffering, super exhausted and just had no idea how to do it any differently. Cause I'm like, well, the in-person is good. I have to sell more online, more online programs, more online, like make a new program, make it six week, make it 21 day, a seven day. So I was just,

trying to create anything that anybody would buy and just always hustling to get more people into my world. Because the in-person, I couldn't do anything more in-person, right? So was like all about bringing people into my online thing. And then that got exhausting. And then I met you and you were like, when we did that, it was the roadmap. Remember that? And then going over that whole breakdown of like,

Laura Sinclair (23:44.75)
Yeah, that's the roadmap,

Leslie Robertson (23:49.6)
what's going on and then goals. So, so when I actually sat down, because I've done, I worked with lot of other coaches, right? I've worked with a lot of coaches since I wanted to get into the online space. And truly, it's the first time I've worked with someone one-on-one who understands me as a person and wants to get to know what matters to me, not like, here's my like protocol, and here's what everybody does. Here's my math and here's my formula. But it's the first time I've actually had someone get to know me as a person. And instead of just like,

here's what I think you should do. You're like, no, what do you want to do? And how can we make that a reality? So that was huge. So then when we went over the roadmap and started like, you the one-on-one calls are really helpful and chunking away the different things I was either going to get rid of or add or do a better job of, it just, it really helps me to have like, you know, realistic things to do that like are going to make my life easier, right? Not just, so I really appreciated that.

Laura Sinclair (24:43.822)
you

Leslie Robertson (24:49.525)
but yeah, the biggest thing for me was you giving me permission to not have to grind and work so hard and do things that didn't feel in alignment with me. Even if it was going to make me money, if I ever wasn't feeling it, like, well, what are you doing? Are you excited about this? No, then why are you doing it? because, you know, people like it or it brings me clients, but it wasn't in alignment anymore. And like even my own philosophy and training styles changed over the years as my own journey has evolved too. So I think.

permission to do things differently has been huge.

Laura Sinclair (25:24.184)
Yeah. And now it's like Tuesday at one o'clock. We're recording this and I'm your last call of the day.

Leslie Robertson (25:27.401)
Yeah. Yeah. And, and normally I don't have clients on Tuesday, but because like I just got us two new clients today. So because my other trainers are full, I got a sprinkle back in and take a client once in a while. So, but yeah, like tonight I'm doing golf every Tuesday. Now I'm starting, which I never would have done before, but I have the energy and the desire to do it. So I've joined a ladies league, so we're golfing tonight every Tuesday. So that's exciting.

Laura Sinclair (25:52.814)
Bye!

I love that. I love that. Sounds like you need to hire another trainer. Sounds like it's time.

Leslie Robertson (25:56.598)
Yeah. Yeah, I do. You know what I do. And I do have a girl ready to go in the evening and weekend. So I just got her a new client today. It's just exciting. Yeah, sprinkling in. Yeah. More space in my schedule.

Laura Sinclair (26:07.758)
That's awesome. Okay, I love that. So new clients are just the clients are coming in. You've got a great team. You've got systems for team. You've stepped into your leadership, which I think I honestly think that running a like having a team is the hardest part of running a business always right. And I know that for a lot of people, that's like, I don't want to have a hard conversation. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I want to, I want to just like be everybody's friend and

Leslie Robertson (26:29.525)
Yes, yes, yes.

Laura Sinclair (26:34.99)
I know you had some of that and certainly I see it with everyone. I think it's a, I don't know if it's a woman thing, it's a mom thing. It's like, we just want to be kind. And I think there's a way to lead people, you know, like even today, somebody on my team made a mistake that I was like not happy about. And there was a part of me that wanted to just be like, you know, but I didn't, you know, you take a breath and you're like really upset about something you're bothered about something, but it's like, can we lead in a way that

Leslie Robertson (26:36.725)
yeah.

Leslie Robertson (26:42.123)
so.

Leslie Robertson (26:57.057)
Hahaha

Leslie Robertson (27:04.555)
Yes. Yeah. Yes.

Laura Sinclair (27:05.074)
is fair and is kind and is direct. And I know that, you know, for you, as you're growing your team, you're dealing with like new people and new personalities. I think about, you know, we've had so we had so many chats about how to handle the stuff that was coming up and how to handle these hard conversations. But now I feel like you're, you're so well, you're a pro at this stuff now.

Leslie Robertson (27:15.883)
Yes. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (27:20.405)
so many.

Leslie Robertson (27:27.489)
No hesitation. Yeah, so much easier. Because you helped give me the confidence. Like, I just needed to do it. But I'm like, I don't need to do it. I avoided it for years. And then you like, just gave me the confidence, right? It was like, I was sitting on this nail and I couldn't get off it, right? So yeah, I was so grateful for you. Yeah, I did.

Laura Sinclair (27:47.618)
One of my favorite things to do is to let people blame me. Like, look, it's really hard. Just go say, hey, so I started working with this business and she says I have to do this. That's like the first, she's relevant. That is the first sort of, I allow that for the first hard conversation that you have to have with someone on your team is like, or your partner or whoever it is, like, just blame me, it's fine. And then until we feel like solid on our foundation, our ability to say like, hey.

Leslie Robertson (27:58.156)
She's relentless. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks.

Done.

Leslie Robertson (28:15.765)
Yeah, so much better.

Laura Sinclair (28:16.246)
Also, some of it too, like, for a lot of people, and I don't just mean you, Leslie, but like, when you kind of build this business as it's yours, and you've been doing things for a certain way, and you've been up, you've been kind of the singular operator that all of a sudden, we're now going to be a CEO, we're now going to step into team, there's actually a lot of mindset stuff that comes up, there's a lot of, like self doubt and a lot of, my gosh, you know, what if, or like, who am I to all of those things. But I do feel like

Leslie Robertson (28:20.456)
Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (28:24.359)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Leslie Robertson (28:31.457)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (28:38.113)
Yeah, what if? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Laura Sinclair (28:45.378)
you know, in the work that I do, I love, of course, seeing people make more money because we need that, right? You need to make money. I love giving people their time back, but I love watching them change. Like it's my favorite. And I think about, you know, the version of you that I met three, four years ago. And you know, the one in my, when I was sent that first DM, Hey, I think you should enjoy this ambition mastermind.

Leslie Robertson (28:50.133)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Leslie Robertson (28:56.449)
Totally. Yeah.

Mmm.

oof

you

Laura Sinclair (29:09.416)
God, like it's so different. Like your energy is so different. Like who I am speaking to right now is fundamentally so different. And like, that's my favorite part for sure. You do? Yeah. You should. Like you are.

Leslie Robertson (29:11.713)
Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's true. I feel it. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I do. Yeah. And honestly, some people hesitate to invest because maybe they've been burned before or it is a big investment, but listen, it's...

Laura Sinclair (29:31.586)
Yep. There it is.

Leslie Robertson (29:36.841)
it's never not been worth it. Even like other coaches I worked with too, you know, I've taken something away from everybody, but the biggest thing after working with you is like, I feel like I have everything I need now or before there was always something missing where now I'm like, I genuinely feel like I never need to hire a business coach again. And I, no, sorry, but, but I'll send everyone to you. Yeah.

Laura Sinclair (29:54.03)
I love that. I worked myself out of a job. No, it's it's fine. But that's my goal, right? Like, that's my goal. Like, I don't want you to be with me forever. I don't want every client with me ever. I mean, I have the inner circle and I love that you're part of it. And you love that you hang out with it. You're like, if if a client has to be with me forever, then we're probably aren't getting them to where they need to be. I have clients that I've had for years that have stayed with me for three, four years. But those people are adding

Leslie Robertson (30:05.153)
Yeah, I would love to. Yeah. Yes.

Hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, totally. Yep. Yep.

Laura Sinclair (30:23.16)
complexity to their business intentionally, right? We're adding more things. doing this, we're doing that. I mean, when the day comes where you decide that, I'm going to move to a new location, I'm going to add all these other things, then like, yeah, maybe we're back in. But for now, like in this moment, you've got what you need. And we're months out of coaching, you are still I still get messages from you being like the leads are pouring in. You just told me two clients today, like my job is to come in and fix your business architecture.

Leslie Robertson (30:31.457)
You

Totally. Yeah. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (30:44.993)
Two new clients, five more hours a week, just like that.

Yeah. Yeah.

Laura Sinclair (30:52.428)
set up your actual systems, clean up the things that are on fire, and help you run your business effectively. Do I personally want to hang out with you forever? Yeah, I do. But I also know it's a big investment to work with me or any mentor. And I think that if my clients don't get to the point where they don't need me anymore, I'm actually not doing my job. I need you to not need me. My job is to help you not need anyone. Otherwise, what am I doing?

Leslie Robertson (30:58.635)
Check.

Yeah, it's so worth it. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (31:11.894)
Right?

Yes. Yes.

Right? But also the pain has to be so bad that you are, like, you gotta be ready to change, right? Like, and I've had clients too where it's like, yeah, they make a big investment, but then they're not fully invested in the work they need to do. So I think that was the difference for me this time is like, okay, I am like listening and showing up and doing the work, right? And if you're not sure, it could be, you know, not a great use of your time and money, but I was like, okay, like,

Laura Sinclair (31:28.034)
You do. Yeah.

Leslie Robertson (31:48.821)
we were making this is a Hail Mary. We gotta make this happen. It's gonna work. Yeah, totally always. It's like a down.

Laura Sinclair (31:51.202)
Who's that Hail Mary? I mean, yeah, I think like you did so many things scared. And I think that's the part of it. Like, the reason that you're where you are right now is because you were like, this is terrifying and I'm gonna do it, which I think. Yeah, I mean, and so many people need to hear that, right? Like, most of the time, you're doing things here, like I'm still doing things scared right now. Today.

Leslie Robertson (32:05.621)
Yeah, have to.

Leslie Robertson (32:10.305)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Me too.

Laura Sinclair (32:18.402)
But you have to, still have to do them. You can't allow that to be a reason why you don't do a thing. You have to do the thing and you did and you're here and I love it.

Leslie Robertson (32:24.127)
Yeah. Yeah. Yay. And right. the option for me was never to quit. know sometimes maybe the best option for people is to just wrap it up. Right. And that's scary too. But for me, it's like, I know that I'm meant to do this and I love doing it so much, but how can I do it better? And without like literally sucking every last ounce out of me. So, so I'm grateful. I'm grateful we're here.

Laura Sinclair (32:32.824)
Can be,

Laura Sinclair (32:46.382)
And what's and what's super cool is like you've had people in your world being like, so can I come work at your gym? Like, how what a compliment. What a compliment people seeing what you're doing and wanting to be part of it, because you really are incredible at it. And one thing that I love about you, and as someone that used to work in the fitness industry, and really got burnt out on the fitness industry, because it's brutal, is you're so true to who you are, you don't give into

Leslie Robertson (32:52.211)
Yeah, right? Such a compliment. So honored. True. Yeah. Yeah, thank you.

Leslie Robertson (33:11.265)
Yeah.

Laura Sinclair (33:15.586)
the fitness industry bullshit, frankly, and like, feel like you have to look a certain way, be a certain way, push a certain message. That's, that's just not who you are at all. So tell me a little bit more and tell our listeners a little bit more about who you are and your approach to fitness.

Leslie Robertson (33:17.729)
Mm-mm.

Now...

No. No.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the biggest thing for me is like, I have done all that. I have done the fitness competitions and the, you know, getting ready for a photo shoot. So I've done all that, but that was all like before kids, right? So we have different schedules, different capacity, different priorities. So I have done all that. So when things really changed for me, at least with my body and the way that I, I,

look at health and fitness, it's when I became a mom. So it's like, it's not about how you look, it's about how you feel. So once I went away from like, you know, I have to be, you know, disciplined and follow the plan and it's not about that. It's like taking care of yourself. So then once I took better care of myself versus beating myself up, cause I wasn't, you know, the way it was before kids or, you know, couldn't see every single muscle popping in my body, but you know what? took 30 minutes of my day to do something for me.

Leslie Robertson (34:23.295)
That's when it shifted. So that's what's helped me to be so consistent. And I think that's what draws other people in. It's not the fact that you're lazy and it's all or nothing. It's just the fact that, you know, let's make it simple and intentional. Let's find a way to be consistent and filled into your real life because your life is so much different than it was before. So that's what I help women do is like, okay, your life's busy.

Like your kids are awake from six in the morning till eight at night, you work, you've got all the other things. So how can we make it fit in your life? As opposed to like you following, you know, some 25 year old fit girls meal plan, workouts, cardio, supplement routine. Yeah, that was, that was never me. So.

Laura Sinclair (35:02.968)
who were born with the six plaque because those are genetic friends. Those are not something that you just have.

Leslie Robertson (35:11.539)
We also, we don't need more time. just, like to help people with a better strategy. So that's where I go. So short, effective workouts. And I'll talk specifically my virtual gym. So in person, if you're in Ottawa, we'd love to have you come into the space. We do one 45 minute to one hour sessions. But the virtual gym is like short, effective workouts. It's, we're just shifting around like intensity, like less intensity, more consistency.

And we're all about making it work so that you can show up consistently for yourself. So that's around nutrition, sleep, and movement. So there's no extremes. There's no like this formula, that's this protocol. It's like, what do you want to do? And how can we make that work for you? I want you to be someone, become someone who's taking care of your health instead of getting back on track, right? So we're becoming the person that takes care of ourselves, not

Laura Sinclair (35:48.718)
Amazing.

Leslie Robertson (36:07.435)
trying to lose 10 pounds all the time. We're starting over on Monday. It's like, how are we going to show up for ourselves this week? And you don't need more strategy. You need support, really. You don't need to be doing anything more than what you're doing, but it's just dropping the guilt and finding a way to make it fit into your life. Rambling.

Laura Sinclair (36:26.41)
No, you're good. There's a GPS driver at my door. One second. I'll be right back.

Leslie Robertson (36:28.949)
Okay. Get it.

Leslie Robertson (36:55.297)
And I'll just add, I you're gonna edit this out, but another thing I'll add, I think what makes me different than other coaches is the fact that I coach real people who have like real lives, right? And I've been a mom now for almost 10 years, so I've worked with moms for over 10 years. And then I'm really huge on doing things that are sustainable and realistic. And I'm also huge on like the community and accountability aspect as well. So supporting the whole person, not just did you do your workouts?

drink your water, like trying to get to know the person as a human being. Yeah.

Laura Sinclair (37:29.619)
Yeah. You're like the me of fitness. was like, well, all of that sounds really familiar just from a business perspective, which is why we vibe. Let's see, how can our listeners learn more about your virtual gym? Where can we find it? Where can we learn more about Prime? Tell us more.

Leslie Robertson (37:31.625)
Yeah, right? Yeah. That's right.

Leslie Robertson (37:40.607)
Okay, yeah. Well, I'm actually working on a brand new link to bring people into like to try it out for free, I guess. So I will share that when I have it. But Instagram is a great place to find me. So at get fit with less, or you can send an email at info at prime personal training dot CA or you can visit prime personal training dot CA as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for that.

Laura Sinclair (38:04.654)
You got to check it out. Lots of women inside of the Inner Circle are members of the virtual gym. I love seeing people that I follow on Instagram. They're like, I did my workout, my 30-minute workout with Les this morning. I love that. Be a part of it. She's incredible. Leslie, thank you for sharing your story with us. Thank you for your trust. Thank you for coming on this journey with me. I love getting all your messages and I'm going to be a Leslie fan for life.

Leslie Robertson (38:10.913)
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. I'm going to be a Laura fan for life. will continue sending ladies your way as well. Thank you for for all your support and help and just being such an incredible human and so grateful for my journey and evolution with you. So thank you.

Laura Sinclair (38:31.374)
Thank you.

Laura Sinclair (38:35.694)
and

Laura Sinclair (38:39.886)
Yeah. And like just getting started. I'm excited. I'm listening. already, I mentioned it on the show when you need a bigger gym, when you outgrow that space, because you will if you want to. Well, you will if you want to, you know, I think that's a big piece of it. It's like, if you want, you get to decide and you're in a place where you get to golf on Tuesdays. So that's, that's beautiful in a big way. Yeah. Thanks for being here, Leslie. I appreciate you. And thank you for listening. We'll see you next time.

Leslie Robertson (38:50.401)
So needed. Yes, you're right. You're right. It's so true.

It's Woo, four, yep. Thanks, Laura. Thanks so much.

Thank