We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Julie Voris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Julie, appreciate you joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

The more I grew my business, the more I thought about legacy. In fact, someone asked me to describe how my business has changed my life in one word, and I said that one word : legacy.

Everything about saying yes and stepping into entrepreneur life, very different from what I went to school to do, very different from what anyone in my family has done, everything about that one word : yes has changed my life.

And because it changed my life, it has changed my daughters’ lives. I’ve been able to create experiences and opportunities for and with them that simply would not have been possible without my business. Because I am different, they are different. Because they are different now, their children, should they have any, will be different.
Because I said yes to building a business, how my daughters view parenting and working and females in general is different.
Because I said yes to building a business, my daughters got a front row seat to watching me set goals, fail a lot, learn from those mistakes {most of the time :) }, set new goals, try again. They got to see be very intentional about my personal growth and the deeper I dug into my own growth, the more my business grew. Personal growth = professional growth.
Because I said yes to building a business, my daughters got to watch their mom create impact AND income, income that has changed our lives.
Because I said yes to building a business, the legacy I leave lives within my daughters. All from one word : yes.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi!! I’m a former HS English teacher, turned fitness instructor, turned ‘kitchen-table-CEO’ and lover of all things Disney!! I grew up in a tiny little town in the middle of the midwest, went to a small midwestern college, and majored in English with a teaching certification – partly because I adored my high school English teacher and partly because the women in my town either became teachers, nurses or stay at home moms. Growing up, I knew I was “meant for more’ as cliche’ as that sounds…and I had no idea what that more was, never guessing it would be in the form of fitness and wellness and entrepreneurship.

I went to college, met my husband shortly after, we married young, and began the life of a college football coaching family.
I taught high school, he coached at University of Illinois, University of Texas, DePauw University, Edinboro University and Carroll College to name a few. It was at Carroll College where I fell into fitness. I stopped teaching high school English when we moved to Edinboro, PA, we joined a YMCA, and, pregnant with our third baby, got involved in the Y’s classes for both me and my 2 {at the time} daughters.

When we moved to Carroll College, life was a in a bit of chaos. My husband was taking his first head coaching job, he moved in January, I navigated my pregnancy alone, moved to Waukesha, WI at 8 months pregnant, shortly after learning my father had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. This was 2001, so in the span of about 6 months, I moved to a new town, lived in a 100 year old lake house for a few months until we found a home, changed doctors at 8 months pregnant, had a baby, lost my father to cancer, put my oldest in kindergarten, my middle in preschool, and experienced 9/11. And then went into football season, as a head coach’s wife for the first time.

In this turmoil, we joined the YMCA in Waukesha. I took some group fitness classes after dropping the girls off at school because I knew, if I could move my body in some way, if I could get to that 9:30 am group fitness class, I could figure out the rest of the day with a little more patience. Deep in grief, deep in parenting 3 daughters and deep in the football season, those classes became my anchor. It was more than a workout, it was a life saver.

About 3 months after taking classes regularly, on a wintry November day in the lobby of the Waukesha Family YMCA, the group fitness manager sat down next to me while I was waiting for my girls to finish whatever class they were taking that evening. She said, I’ve seen you in class. I think you should teach. I’d like you to start next month.

And just like that, the trajectory of my life changed with that one conversation.

Now…it’s surreal to even think about the thousands of fitness professionals I’ve been privileged to learn from, the incredible humans I’ve connected with the skills to teach group fitness classes, and the women I’ve mentored to dream and LIVE bigger.

As most things do, my fitness career started small. I started by teaching one class and that quickly rose to two, then three, I became a master trainer, debuting formats, and training instructors…and by the time we left Wisconsin for Indianapolis, I was teaching 10+ classes a week and training group fitness instructors 1-2 weekends a month.

I’ve had the honor to work alongside top fitness gurus and authors like Chalene Johnson, Shaun T, Jennifer Jacobs, Autumn Calabrese, Elise Joan, Tony Horton, Judi Holler and Jon Acuff.
I’m so proud to say I have built a 7 figure business from the ground up, literally. I stepped into the entrepreneur space with ZERO business experience and built from the heart, sharing my love of fitness and health and habits and passion married with a deep belief that greatness lies within all of us. I deeply believe that we are all—women especially—so much stronger, more capable, and fierce than we give ourselves credit for.

Going through a global pandemic brought a new clarity and drive to truly create my life on purpose and I tapped into a long-held dream : to live next to Walt Disney World. My husband and I have always known we’d end up in Florida at some point…and we all know how elusive that phrase “some day” is. After early 2021 I was challenged by my mindset coach to put a date on it – and given the clarity and deep sense that we cannot take one second of this life for granted I’d uncovered over the last year+, I nervously wrote “September 15 2023” in my notebook as our target date to be in Florida.

Funny thing is…when you put your heart’s desires out into Universe – wish upon a star, if you will – the Universe starts to collaborate with you. By October 2021 I was looking at houses and we signed on a home in Florida, just 10 minutes from Walt Disney World, on December 1st 2121. We moved here in March 2022, my husband officially retired in April 2022, and we are building a new life on purpose with purpose amidst sunshine and pixie dust. And it’s every bit as magical as I’d hoped it would be.

While I’m not teaching fitness classes anymore, I am building my business with a new-found urgency = I believe women will change this world, and the more women creating impact with income, the better.

I am laser focused on my mission to help women find and harness their own inner power, to unlock the dreams and goals they’ve likely locked away, to step away from drama and into habits, and to create massive impact and income.

I guess that little girl growing up in the middle of the midwest did all right for herself.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I am a personal growth junkie. I deeply believe that we cannot grow professionally unless we are COMMITTED – not just kind of doing it, not doing it when it’s convenient, not just doing it when it’s comfortable – COMMITTED to constant uncomfortable personal growth. For me, that’s come from books, live conferences, powerful mentors, missed goals, digging out generational baggage, uncovering trauma, hiring a mindset coach, and doing the work to constantly be on a journey of growth.

My most read, most recommended, and most gifted book is Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger – he is the CEO I aspire to be

I recommend and gift all of Jon Acuff’s books as well.

I recommend especially for women, Huddle by Brooke Baldwin as well as the Soul of Money.

SO many books have been so pivotal for me – remember, I was a high school English teacher, so I am naturally a reader – I think there are stories and connections everywhere if we are on the lookout for them.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think anyone in business in 2022 has a story from 2020 – 2021 in terms of a pivot.

Up til March 2020, I was still regularly teaching group exercise classes – a couple a week, some one-off live events, and my own private events I organized. When March 2020 hit, and everything shut, I knew that for so many women, the anchor that helped them navigate the world had just disappeared – their workouts. So I opened up my laptop, and started teaching group fitness classes on Zoom. We were all so desperate for normalcy and connection in those first few month…thinking that everything would be sorted out soon and we’d be back in the gym in no time. We know now of course that couldn’t have been further from the truth, and I continued to teach group fitness classes via Zoom for more than a year.

It brought me joy to know I provided an outlet for my class members – truth is, their energy, their willingness to try something new, their commitment to show up…that inspired and anchored me. It was such an honor to serve them during a surreal time in our lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.julievoris.com
• Instagram: @julievoris
• Facebook: Julie voris
• Youtube: Julie voris

Image Credits
PC : Dan Brand, Brand Photodesign + Chris Frawley, Frawley Photo