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Today’s talking point:

I'm joined by Busy to Boss Academy student Katie Tucker. We chat about how she built The Running Hub, the importance of community in her business, and the benefits she's found in joining a business community. She also explains why planning to take time off has been a game-changer.

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I’m sure Katie’s story is going to really resonate with so many of you. Katie Tucker started The Running Hub after training as a PT and shares how the journey and community has changed her life. Katie’s achieved so much in the six months since she joined the Busy to Boss Academy, I just know her experience is going to be so inspiring.

What we talked about:

Every Busy to Boss interview starts by talking about why we do what we do. For Katie, it’s because running changed her life - even though she says she didn’t want to be cliched by saying that!

Despite studying Sports Science at university, Katie said her career took a different path. She took up running again in 2012 and then decided to retrain as a PT. Eventually, she started coaching others.

“Running has so many benefits, and I got so much from it that I just kind of want to wanted to bottle it up, and then just pass that on to others really. And that also allows me to kind of blend my passion with what I do for work, which is really cool.”

Being part of a community

Katie transitioned from side hustle to full-time within a few months, something she credits to having already become known within her local running community.

“People already knew me, they knew I was a runner, they'd seen my progress and kind of wanted to be able to work with me. And also, there weren’t many things being offered at the time to help runners with structure and strength training, accountability.”

“I was just sharing and documenting my training and journey online … people were kind of invested in what I was doing and I didn't realise it at the time. But a few people then started saying, ‘we really value you showing the realities, the highs and lows of training and what it really takes’.”

But it wasn’t until the first lockdown that the community took off.

“At that time, I then had no face-to-face contact with my clients. I wasn't able to run with people that I would normally run with or go to park runs with clients and just see people. So I thought: how can I bring together all of our clients and still have contact with them and also for them to have their place to talk about running.”

“It actually formed some really good, like friendships and bonds with people that maybe wouldn't have spoken to each other before.”

Joining the academy

She has also found community within the Busy to Boss Academy - something she says was needed as she missed the connections of the office.

“It can be quite lonely. But working in an office I used to love going in the morning. You'd go in and you'd have your morning coffee, and you talk about what you watch on TV, whether it was Love Island, Made in Chelsea or a documentary or something.

“You just don't have that when you work for yourself and you can kind of get bogged down. I'm someone that likes to bounce ideas off of people. And just sometimes if you're having a hard day know that other people are also having that… not that you want to relish in other people having hard days, but people understand your struggles too.”

planning for time away

Katie is currently planning her wedding and preparing for time away from the business.

She says this has been one of the biggest challenges and explains she feels lots of responsibility for the community.

“I thought I was organised because I was like, ‘I decided I was taking two and a half weeks off’. And then you brought me back to reality in a really positive way to say, ‘okay, but have you mapped that out? What actions are you taking for that to happen?’

“We've been mapping out stuff. August is going to be busy to make sure that we can take that time off and, but it also makes sure that everyone is covered and looked after and reassured that they will have great races at the end of it.”

celebrating the wins

Katie says her favourite part of coaching is celebrating the wins of her clients.

She says it’s the coaching calls that bring it all together. “It's also exactly those groundbreaking moments that you get with people … like when people text us or message us or message the group to say they've got a new PB, like, that's when it really like solidifies everything.”

Reflecting on her own wins, Katie says the biggest takeaways in the past six months have been around mindset.

“One of the biggest (achievements) is learning how to launch properly because I normally come up with an idea and I put it out and then if it flops then I just I'm like ‘well, it wasn't a great idea’.

“I now know that I can do it better next time. And also know that the Academy has given me that confidence that if something doesn't go right, you learn from it, and you can then do it again and take the learnings from that the Academy has given me the confidence and the validation that I'm on the right track.”

Make sure you follow Katie and her journey on Instagram.