- Tobi Pearce is engaged to Instagram fitness star Kayla Itsines.
- The couple are worth a combined $46 million today.
- Pearce used to be homeless and was living in a hut at age 19.
- Pearce met Itsines at the gym in 2012 and they developed a 12-week fitness program together.
At 25, Tobi Pearce and his fiancé, fitness trainer Kayla Itsines, are worth a tidy $46 million.
But a few years ago, all this was still a distant dream for the young entrepreneur, who usually appears in the background, while Kayla, with 9.6 million Instagram subscribers, is the face of the fitness empire.
Yet Pearce's story is no less impressive than that of his prolific girlfriend.
From homeless to millionaire
Pearce grew up in a small town in Australia. In interviews, the 25-year-old is reluctant to discuss his difficult childhood, disclosing only that the family of four had many problems.
In July 2017, he gave his Instagram subscribers a little more insight. He wrote: "My sister had a severe case of bipolar, and from when I was 10 years old [it] often meant she would have manic outburst, resulting in personal family attacks, suicide attempts and more."
Talking to Business Insider, he said: "The more straightforward answer is that my life at home as a teenager was not as positive as I'd have liked. So I decided to leave because I wanted the chance to improve my quality of life."
By the time he was 16, Tobi had his driving licence and wanted to leave home, so he did. "One day I drove off to school, and never went home."
"I kept going to school, but slept in my car, on the streets, in public toilets or at friends' houses when possible." At 16, he was living off $45 a week, often having to borrow money from friends. At 19, he was living in a tin shed.
The light at the end of the tunnel was personal training. "I thought to myself that, if successful, I'd be able to make others healthy and feel good about themselves make others happy, get out of my shed and be 'free,'" he wrote on Instagram. He has always looked up to business people, he explained in an interview.
"My motivation was quite simple: I just wanted to be happy and independent. Besides, it's always motivated me to always want to do things better than I'm currently doing them."
With Itsines, Pearce became one of the most influential people in the fitness industry
During his studies, Pearce gave personal training his all. At the end of 2012 he met Kayla Itsines in the gym, who is now his fiancée.
In 2014, the couple created the 12-week "Bikini Body Guide" fitness program. Itsines, also a personal trainer, published before and after photos of her clients on her Instagram profile, which ended up gathering a huge fan-base that dubbed itself "Kayla's Army," a phenomenal success for the couple.
Pearce also founded the company SWEAT, publishing e-books and an app under the same name, on which various fitness trainers (including Itsines) host various fitness programs.
He likens the app to streaming service, Netflix, saying: "Netflix is an entertainment company. They have a platform they use to create and share content. What we're doing is similar but, instead, it's focused on the health and fitness industry. SWEAT offers content but, instead of movies and series, we provide fitness programs. It's a very similar business model, but they're just different industries."
Their target group includes women of all ages, but particularly those between 20 and 35 years of age. The app has something for everyone: post-pregnancy workouts, yoga and gym workouts, and much more.
The moment Pearce realised he'd made it
Pearce and Itsines are very keen to know what their customers are after and to fulfil their requests. This not only pays off financially.
"For me personally, my greatest achievement was something I experienced when we did our boot camps a few years back," said Pearce. "Women were getting together, helping each other and making friends. Influencing these women's lives in a positive way gave me a very fulfilling feeling. It's difficult to put that feeling into words."
"When you run a business online, you see the numbers and the marketing dashboard ... but actually meeting these people and seeing them all in one room was really exciting. It's a completely different feeling."
Pearce's advice for young entrepreneurs
Today Pearce has just about everything you could wish for: an amazing partner, a home of his own, a flashy car, and a company comprising one million employees.
On his advice for young people looking to embark on their own business venture, he said: "My advice is pretty simple. I think people often over-complicate things unnecessarily. It's important to find something you're passionate about. Being an entrepreneur is hard and it takes a lot of perseverance to turn it into a reality."
He also says to make sure you're always developing professionally and personally, and not to be afraid to make mistakes. "I think everyone who's ever run a business has made some financial mistakes. I don't believe mistakes have to be a bad thing. Some lessons can't be learned without making mistakes." If something goes wrong, it's not the end of the world — what's more important is to look further ahead.
"And of course you have to make sure the client is at the centre of all your professional decisions. Because if your customers are unhappy, you'll never succeed."
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