We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Romana Janoskova. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Romana below.

Romana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

So, the funny thing is that having a “regular job” was never an option for me. Even though I am in a completely different field (fitness) than I had dreamed of being in when I was young (musical theatre), and it is even different from what I had studied in college, even that avenue was not going to lead me to a “regular job.” I grew up in theater and was a musical theater major. I lived in New York City for four years, pursuing theater and bouncing around from one survival job to the next so as to have the flexibility to be able to go audition for shows pretty much at the drop of a hat. There was a part of me back in New York that considered a corporate job, but that was only because “Sex and the City” romanticized that life for me… the outfits, the networking events, the glamour. But what they don’t show on TV is how uncomfortable and impractical it is to sit in a desk chair for eight hours in those outfits…. I had done a summer internship for a talent agency, and that was the extent of my experience with a “regular job.” I was bored, unmotivated, and felt I wanted to be challenged in a much more thrilling way.

I’ve recently learned about Tony Robbins’ 6 Basic Human Needs and discovered that one of my primary needs in life is the need for Variety. It’s funny because my other top need is Certainty, which seems completely contradictory, but everything in your life satisfies your needs in either a supporting way or in a damaging way. The biggest reason that a standard 9-5 type job was never appealing to me was because of the monotony of it all. I prefer my life looking different day-to-day, which is that Variety piece. And the Consistency piece comes into play because I also LOVE discipline and routine, but self-imposed routine, instead of someone else putting me in a box and calling the shots in my life, hence why I prefer being my own boss. Up until I officially became a personal trainer full-time, I used to have 5 to 7 jobs at any given time. One day would be catering and dog walking, the next was reception work and liquor samplings, and weekends would be spent as an Extra on the set of some TV show. And even now as a Coach, I still like to have other random side hustles at the same time that allow me to meet all sorts of new people all the time and throw some excitement into the mix instead of my life just being coaching clients 6 am-2 pm every single day.

Now the obvious question that comes to mind when people debate whether to be their own business owner or not is the question of stability—whether they have the courage to leave the safety of the routine paycheck and have enough faith in their abilities to leap into the unknown with no parachute. So, in this sense, I was ready for that leap of faith without ever having to question my abilities because I’ve never had the comfort of a routine paycheck to show me what safety was like. I was always taking on odd jobs where I traded hours for dollars and the clock reset each month. Each month I had to come up with my rent, bills, expenses, etc from scratch because my hours at all the different jobs weren’t set or guaranteed. And each month I made it happen no matter what. So I developed faith in myself that I knew I’d always figure it out no matter what because there was no plan B. At the time there was no other “job” that interested me as much as acting did so this was just going to have to be my reality unless I found something that I could see myself doing every single day for who knows how many decades. That was my baseline mindset. So when I finally became a personal trainer and wanted to move away from the corporate gym space and have my own private clients and it came time to build out my training book, I knew I had to figure out how to find clients… that was just what I had to do. And sure, I had no clue how to even start that process, but I also knew plenty of people in the world were doing the same thing I was doing and figured it out, so the best place to start would be to look up whatever resources I could find that would teach me how to build a successful coaching business from scratch. Anything that you want to do in life, someone has already done. AND, someone has probably written a book, an article, or recorded a podcast on their process. Someone has literally made you a blueprint already. So when you don’t know where to start, start there. Start with their blueprint, and with time, you will add your own flare to it; you’ll find what works for you and where you have to pivot or adapt.

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

I was exclusively a Personal Trainer for about 5 years before expanding that title to Strength + Lifestyle Coach 2 years ago. I did this because I started seeing that many of my clients were coming to me regarding wanting changes in their habits, mindset, and overall wellbeing, and not wanting to keep the focus on nutrition and strength training anymore. I am very open with my clients and build relationships with them all during our training time together, and so I think that this whole evolution happened because they started following my own personal development journey. I speak a lot about self-awareness, personal ownership, and discipline, and would fill them in on the things that I was learning and implementing in my life, and it would inadvertently influence them to want to take on a similar mindset or habit into their own life. Inspiration is the greatest vehicle for instilling change in someone.

I think the appeal of my work is that I live what I preach, and I don’t claim to be an “expert” in anything, but merely take people along on my own journey of growth and self development, and also help them see how their self-awareness and ownership are the keys to unlocking their own potential. Obviously, I have certifications, credentials, and experience under my belt, but I don’t view myself as “any better” any other qualified trainer who understands the basics of muscle growth, fat loss, functional movement, and eating nutrient-dense, whole foods. Working with me is a unique experience because, as my clients say, the shifts that they make in their mindset have been my greatest influence on them and helped propel them toward long-term SUSTAINABLE changes in their body and in their habits, rather than if I had given them a standard training and nutrition regiment with the cookie-cutter “calories in, calories out” explanation.

Over time, my clients and my friends encouraged me to start a podcast so that I could share more of what I learn with the world, so I did! It’s called Grow With Ro. The show supports self-improvement by taking people through my own continuous journey as I learn and implement new tools and concepts into my life, and share my evolving perspectives on various topics, while also highlighting different guest speakers and friends of mine who share their own most transformative journeys and the lessons they learned through those experiences. We have something to learn from everyone, even if that person isn’t an “expert” in some given field.

What I am currently the most proud of is the course that I am ALMOST done making! It has been a year in the making and feels like my life’s work up until now! It is called “Rooted” and is a blueprint to Self-Mastery for Thriving Relationships. So essentially, teaches you how to up-level your relationships by improving the relationship with yourself first. This idea, like all my other work, is based on my own experience. My boyfriend, Ryan, and I were together for three years in Colorado, and it was a fairly dysfunctional dynamic. I didn’t really know who I was, what I wanted, what I valued in life, what I needed out of a relationship, and I didn’t grow up with good role models for a healthy relationship, so even though we loved each other greatly, we couldn’t make things work at the time. So I picked up and moved across the country to Florida all by myself. I knew nobody and I had no work lined up apart from my Denver clients continuing with me virtually. For four months, I deep-dived into self-awareness work. I reflected on what role I played in the dysfunctionality of the relationship, I reflected on what kind of relationship I wanted, I reflected on what I wanted my life to look like, what I wanted my habits to look like, what kind of hobbies and interests and friendships I wanted to have, etc. I learned about communication and conflict management and masculine/feminine polarity and I fell in love with the life that I had intentionally curated here. And then Ryan and I started talking again… but I decided to approach the relationship completely from Ground Zero as if we were meeting for the first time and I wanted to vet him as if he was a brand-new guy who I wanted to see if he was compatible for the things I’ve now learned I’ve wanted, needed, and expected of myself, my life, and my relationship. Luckily, it worked out, and our dynamic was COMPLETELY different after this work, and we’ve been living together in FL for 2 years now since that’s the initial breakup and move. So that process is the inspiration for the course. I think many women are in this same boat today, where they either have been with someone for a long time and the relationship is stagnant, and they themselves feel lost and unhappy and want to find themselves again and reconnect in this relationship, or maybe they’re single and trying to navigate the dating space but don’t know what kind of relationship they want because they barely know who they are. These are the women my course will help. Part 1 is about improving your relationship with yourself, and Part 2 is about redefining what it means to be in a relationship and how to stay rooted in who you’ve discovered you are WHILE merging your life with someone else. The course will be coming out around mid-June; information can be found in my IG bio.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Seth Godin said, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff, but about the stories you tell,” and this has been the blueprint for my marketing strategy with both coaching and with generating a waitlist for my course launch, which already has a decent amount of people on it considering I haven’t done any formal marketing apart from mentioning it on my podcast a couple of times and posting about the creative process and workflow on my IG story. I see a lot of creators out there teaching strategies for generating high numbers, “going viral,” and making a lot of sales instead of putting the focus on the impact and the influence on the individual. Yes, I could go the route where I send mailers and buy ads, and just play the numbers game, but I have gotten where I am by influencing one person at a time and want to keep it that way, even if it’s a longer process. I have gotten where I am by offering HOURS of free value on my podcast and IG stories and by being vulnerable and transparent about where I’m at with my own growth journey instead of claiming to know it all. This makes me relatable and trustworthy because people know I value integrity. And that’s why people want to work with me and the refer others to work with me, because I level the playing field, help GUIDE them, and make them feel seen, never judged. Word travels. All you have to do is influence once person and they will make the next sale for you. After that, collect the testimonials and THOSE STORIES will sell for you.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I know it’s extremely controversial within the fitness community, but I highly recommend the 75hard challenge for anyone looking to up-level their life. I think it’s important to point out that this is not a Fitness challenge, as it is often misunderstood and mislabeled to be, but rather a mental toughness challenge. It serves to teach you discipline, integrity, mental fortitude, and perseverance, all skills necessary to be an entrepreneur. The challenge, for those who don’t know, was created by Andy Frisella (whose podcast RealAF I also highly recommend to business owners), and involves completing 5 critical tasks every day, without fail, for 75 consecutive days. These tasks are:

Drink a gallon of water
Workout 2x a day for at least 45 mins each, and one has to be outside, rain or shine
Pick a diet and stick to it, no cheats, no alcohol
Read 10 pages of personal development
Take a progress picture every day

Now, many people will look at this list and come up with all sorts of justifications for why every single one of these tasks is bad for you, but this is not a lifestyle…It is a 2.5-month challenge. That’s it. Do it, let it teach you what it’s meant to teach you REGARDING YOUR MIND,, and then adapt your life from there once you finish it. Don’t just choose not to do it because someone once said it’s bad to drink a gallon of water everyday. It’s 2 months, not the rest of your life.

I bring up this challenge because it has been the most influential tool in creating lasting change in my life. I have completed it 5 times and am very passionate about the potential that it can bring out in you and the change it can create in your life if adhered to properly and if approached with the correct mindset and intentionality. For more information on the intentionality behind each one of the tasks, listen to episode 14 of the RealAF podcast.

A lot of people lack the skills and character traits to become successful in an “unconventional” way. Our world is built for comfort and safety and to filter you through the system without considering that there may be more to life than sitting at a desk all day, eating dinner on the couch, and binge-drinking on the weekends in search of some excitement and escape from the mundane. Because so many people are used to just being a cog in the system and never having to think for themselves, this challenge really shakes that up and introduces you to yourself—to your urges, to your innermost thoughts, to your resistance, and to your addictions even. It teaches you to become more comfortable with the uncomfortable and then to start craving it and seeking it out in your life. It changes your mindset around complacency and mediocrity and forces you to start winning the battle against comfort, excuses, and justification. And once you start winning the battle against your innate desire for comfort, you watch your entire world around you change. Your body changes, the fog lifts, your friendships evolve, and your environment transforms as a result of the new decisions that you make as a result of taking control over your mind and your life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @growwithroro
• Other: “Grow With Ro” podcast, available on all podcast platforms