Tobi Pearce, CEO and co-founder with Kayla Itsines of fitness app Sweat, knows what it takes to be successful. He and fitness influencer Itsines — who is also his fiance — have built a fitness empire that brings in tens of millions of dollars.
For Pearce, success really boils down to three key fundamentals: Passion, hard work and discipline.
"Kayla and I both have always been really passionate about health and fitness, and me also passionate about business in general," Pearce tells CNBC Make It. "I think coupling that with hard work is really, really important because the reality is that the journey is not always going to be fun, it's not going to always be enjoyable."
"So having that passion to keep you motivated to do what you want to do and understand that hard work is not necessarily really a choice, it's a must-have," he adds.
"Then, obviously the discipline to make sure that you actually remain focused all of the time," Pearce says. "I think that without those three characteristics, it's very difficult to be successful, at any level."
Hard work and hustle are deeply ingrained in Pearce. He had a tough childhood and left home at a young age. At one point, he was even homeless. But Pearce persevered and pursued personal training. After meeting Itsines, they launched the e-book "Bikini Body Guide" in 2014, which developed a cult following and inspired the hashtag #BBG, that now has over 7 million posts on Instagram. Pearce and Itsines turned that program into their company Sweat, which includes monthly membership app Sweat. As of June the app was on track to bring in $77 million for 2018, TechCrunch reported.
Pearce says he sees parallels between being physically fit and being good at running a business.
"I think that to become an expert at anything...you have to have done the hard work, you have to have been disciplined, and you have to have been passionate enough to actually keep up with it," he says.
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