Rebekah Strachan is a 2020 Brisbane Young Entrepreneurs Award Finalist and the founder of Raw by Bek, Australia’s first HIIT-to-the-beat fitness experience.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I studied a bachelor of Business Management at uni, and studied my personal training and nutrition certificates in the early years of my degree, so I could work as a group fitness instructor and personal trainer whilst studying.
I fell in love with group fitness and when I graduated, went full-time into running a personal training business and teaching group fitness classes at local gyms.
From there I saw this gap in the market for HIIT-to-the-beat group workouts (essentially the fun and atmosphere of group fitness, plus the challenging element of HIIT) and set out to create what is now Raw by Bek (RBB) – Australia’s first HIIT-to-the-beat workout!
My current role is running the company, plus running a handful of classes, taking on one-on-one clients, and everything else in between!
2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
My alarm goes off at 4:15am and I’m in the studio by 4:45am to open at 5am. I run the first few classes of the day, have a few personal training clients, and then move onto ‘running the business’ at about 11am.
This is different every day, and I wear lots of hats, such as overseeing and managing my team, planning, marketing, sales, and systemising, as well as creating content (the workouts), finding new music (because every workout is to-the-beat of music), and doing backend admin tasks.
I try to take a little break mid-afternoon to walk my dog, and chat with my boyfriend – we are in a long distance relationship, so facetime is my best friend! – before cooking dinner and sitting back down to finish off some final tasks for the day.
I get to bed way too late every night – usually around 10:30pm, before starting all over again at 4:15am the next day!
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Partially. I absolutely love running classes, so have chosen to run the majority of the early morning slots, to allow me the freedom to work from home from lunchtime and not have to go back to the studio – I leave this in the capable hands of my team!
However, I can at any time choose to not teach or take on sessions, and this would mean I could do my job from anywhere.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
This is something that I’m continuously working on and adapting. Having the freedom to leave the studio after my classes means I can work from anywhere, and take a nap or get my hair done at any time of day.
I find I work best knowing I have a small portion of rest every day, so I work hard to allow myself little treats, such as walking my dog, listening to a podcast, or having a mid-week massage regularly.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
2020 was a big year for the fitness industry! We were physically closed for over three months, which enabled the launch of RBB online – a live-streamed and on-demand workout program.
This has now enabled us to have members all over the world, as we’ve reopened and kept both arms of the business running. However, the stress of last year played havoc on my skin, so for the first time I have started investing in regular facials, microdermabrasion, and LED light treatments, and I LOVE it!
My skin has never been clearer and I feel even more confident to speak to a camera at 5am every day!
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
My favourite business-related podcast would have to be Seize the Yay by Sarah’s Day, my favourite business book is a tie between Winging It by Emma Isaacs and Money and Mindfulness by Lisa Messenger.
My favourite ‘fun/downtime’ podcast has to be Girls Gotta Eat.
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
Yes! My Apple Watch is amazing. I love tracking my steps, sleep, everything, in one spot. We also use MyZone in the studio and I’ve never seen myself or my members work harder in their workouts!
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
Love her or hate her, I think Kris Jenner is an absolute weapon.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Comparison is out of bounds! You need to determine what is YOUR ideal day, then work towards achieving that. It will be different for every person.
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