On Daily Routines, we profile successful leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, executives and athletes to explore their routines, schedules, habits and day in the life.
When Janine Allis first set out to launch a juice bar after a holiday in the US, she was imagining it to be more of a lifestyle business.
On maternity leave from her public relations job at United International Pictures, and also juggling two other young children at home, the Boost Juice founder initially thought it would be “a little business” and that she would be able to “work my own hours, probably part-time, be a mum,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2009.
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That wasn’t to be the case. Within a few years of Janine opening up the first Boost Juice Bar in King William Street, Adelaide, the business had 175 stores operating across Australia and New Zealand. By 2020, they had gone global, opening up stores in Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Estonia, Indonesia, Latvia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Kingdom and Vietnam.
Over the years, Janine has leveraged the success of Boost Juice into multiple ventures, including becoming the part-owner of Retail Zoo, the parent company of Boost Juice, Salsa’s Fresh Mex Grill and Cibo Espresso, being the Director of Michael Hill Jeweller, appearing as one of the sharks on the Australian version of Shark Tank, and authoring a book, The Accidental Entrepreneur – The Juicy Bits.
The vision of running a lifestyle business was long gone. “I had a plan of how it would be with work and kids,” she recalled in an interview. “But you have these plans and they don’t work out, not even close. The hours that I put in were like 80 hours a week, seven days a week, two o’clock in the morning, juggling everything.”
Janine Allis’ daily routine: smoothies, yoga and no early meetings
After decades of working non-stop, the mother of four has been spending the past few years trying to slow down and find balance in her life. She says it wasn’t until she hit 40 that she actually re-gained some life balance.
“It was like right, I have no more adrenal glands – they’re all gone. I have no friends because I have no time for them. It’s now time to relook at my life,” she told Kid Spot. “I took up surfing, I took up yoga, I took up horse riding. I had this new energy. I made rules so that I don’t go into the office on Monday or Friday, and I never book meetings before 11.30 so I have time for yoga and to get my life in order.”
On a typical day in her life, Janine Allis is up at around 6.30am. After getting the kids ready for school, she’ll have a smoothie made up of: kale, banana, blueberries, lemon, coconut water, chia seeds, psyllium husk, Metagenics EnergyX supplement, Metagenics Omega Brain Plus, probiotics, milk thistle, whey protein powder, Boost super greens, liquid iron and liquid vitamin D.
This is the founder of Boost Juice we’re talking about — her smoothies have to be epic!
After her morning shower (”I love my shower in the morning; all my best ideas come in the shower”), she’ll get dressed in her work outfit, which just so happens to double as her yoga gear. “I find if you dress for exercise you are more likely to do it,” she told Mamamia. “I always dress for comfort.
During the early days of running a business, Janine found it challenging to delete work and switch off. Over the years, she’s gotten better at this aspect of her job. “Now that I am older and have great people in the business we have, I can now switch off at night and be a better mother, person and wife,” she said. “When you are surrounded by smart and driven executives it is exciting to work with these people.”
While she undoubtedly spends most of her working day sitting in on meetings, Janine makes sure she always has space in between each one so that she can gather her thoughts. “Manage your diary before it manages you,” she says.
When it comes to exercise, while Janine has dabbled with multiple activities, yoga remains her favourite. “Yoga is my moving meditation,” she said in a Women’s Health interview. “It’s great for strength, breath and focus. When I get off the mat, my goal is to feel balanced. If you can get the day started well, the rest falls into place; or even if it’s going pear-shaped, you often manage it better if you’ve had a good start!”
After her smoothie in the morning, for the rest of the day, Janine will stick with relatively light meals — “a good quiche for lunch and then for dinner I eat a light meal like fish and veggies or soup.” But that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have cheat meals here and there. The whole point of her new lifestyle is finding balancing in every aspect and maintaining it.
Like everyone, I have my days when I have a couple too many drinks and enjoy a good slice of pizza, but if I eat healthy most of the time then that is okay. I also like to give my body a break at least once a week and keep to 800 calorie day. This is probably not for everyone, but this is what I have found works for me.
The wellness commandments Janine Allis swears by | body+soul
Before you go…
Check out more daily routines from Barack Obama, Arianna Huffington, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Michelle Obama, Sheryl Sandberg, Richard Branson, Warren Buffet and plenty others.
