As part of our series on Full Time Pole Stars, we interview various stars on the business of being a pole star. For this installment, we talk to the sensual and sultry Jeni Janover, who is the founder and creator of Liquid Motion.

Describe your daily routine? How long to you spend training in the studio or gym and how long to you spend at a computer doing the administrative stuff?

Jeni’s daily routine varies quite a bit depending on whether or not she has her children (or if they are with her ex-husband). If she doesn’t have the kids, she gets up at 9/930am; with kids 7/730am and has breakfast. Next, she’ll go through emails quickly and then starts on her real life to-do list stuff like bills and family stuff.

If it’s a M/W/F she’ll go to her regular gym and spends 2-2.5 hours training there. Sometimes she’ll go to the studio for the same amount of time and then come home and go through more emails for work. Sometimes she finishes at midnight. She does more administrative stuff like videos, answering emails, social media, etc. for 3-5 hours collectively a day. T/R/Sunday is usually training all day up to 6 hours (with breaks) and no admin stuff. She doesn’t multi-task well =)

Do you work with any other service professionals to help with the stuff you’re not good at or don’t like? Such as accounting, social media, tour scheduling?

Yes. She has amazing people helping people with all those things including: an accountant, a financial planner, Colleen Jolly (does social media, website, marketing, PR, calendar), Shay Jones who does all the certification booking and management, Accro Brandon does all personal workshop and tour scheduling. She has people doing everything because she is not good at doing any of that stuff. And they are amazing (she did say that twice!)

Broadly, can you describe your income streams and frequency? For instance, do you make a regular salary at a studio + some merchandise sales? Or does all your income come in batches like from doing a tour?

She works very hard to have several revenue streams. She teaches regularly at two studios. She also has merchandise sales and a tour/convention revenue stream. Certification programs are the majority of her revenue stream and provides for her basic living expenses.

How do you manage your daily/monthly budget?

Recently she started working with a financial planner to get a budget together for personal and business. It has been a very enlightening experience and she is now looking to purchase a home!

 Are you saving for retirement?

She has started speaking about it with her financial planner but hasn’t started it yet. Her first priority is to buy a home for her children.

 Do you have a partner, spouse, parent, roommate or other person that helps you? With meeting your budget, acting as support “staff,” or other?

She lives with Brandon and he contributes to daily expenses.

If you had another job before – what do you miss about it?

She had a number of other jobs, the only one she misses was when she was creating sculptures on a commission basis out of college. She didn’t want to compromise her creativity for a pay check so she wuit that job. She also worked in fashion and child care as well as welding – she only misses welding.

If you didn’t have a job before – what do you think you’re missing out on?

She doesn’t think she’s missing out on anything. Maybe the “stability” of a pay check but right now things are going “pretty good”!

Are you worried at all about longevity of your career? And of your body?

She used to be very worried about her longevity but is not worried about it as much anymore. She has altered her training regime to meet her needs and her age. She is very selective with her training and identifies if it will help her business and fulfill her personally and financially. Luckily, she says she has created a business that will have longevity after her years of movement are done. Still, she hopes to continue to teach movement well into her elder years. She takes very good care of her body and gives it plenty of time.

What is your self-care and recovery regime?

She does not train every day – she needs at least two days off per week. She’ll do 2 or 3 days in a row and then break and then another 2-3 days. She tries not to train more than 3-4 hours at one time and is very conscious of warm up and cool down. She’s good about fluids but forgets to eat sometimes. If her body is tired, she listens.

Have you ever been injured? How did that affect your career?

In the beginning of her training, she was injured quite a bit. Her training wasn’t solid or technique-based and didn’t follow any guidelines and she was injured quite a lot – cracked and broken ribs, torn hamstring, torn rotator cuff, bursitis on her knee. As she becomes more knowledgeable, her injuries are less and less frequent. She didn’t have any new injuries in three years. She treats her injuries well and recovers properly, ending up much stronger. Injuries can bring enlightenment.

Is there anything you wish you knew before you started on this road?

She wishes she knew about business. She wishes she knew about trusting people. She wishes she knew that just because someone is nice to you doesn’t mean they’re your friend. That the world is cut throat and how hard it is to rely on yourself for a paycheck (she started when she was married). On the flip side – the only way to learn is to throw yourself into it. She learned a lot through mistakes during the process. She was very lucky to have good mentors and always had contracts – not handshakes. People’s words are not always true, and you need to “cover your ass.” She learned that at the end of the day you need to prioritize what you want and take a big look at what you want and what is accessible – these might be two different things. Follow you dreams but know there is a sacrifice for everything that you do. It’s the hardest job and the most work she’s every done but she wouldn’t change any of it.

Anything else you’d like to share with someone who is thinking of making the leap to being a full time pole-fessional (teacher, touring teacher, other)?

This is very important question to Jeni as she sees a lot of attitudes, egos, and pettiness in the pole world right now. She says: “be careful what you wish for.” A lot of people are wishing to be a “star” or icon and then they get there and all they do is “bitch and moan” about it. The minute you are in the public eye, you are vulnerable, and privacy is no longer. All of this is a choice you make. People need to take responsibilities for their choices. If you don’t know what you’re signing up for then you need to talk to everyone and look at our history. Look at other creative sports like ours and create a better future. The biggest misnomer is that you’ll train every day as a pole-fessional. The quickest way to end your career as a professional artist is to make your passion your job. Find your balance in life with having a family and not just having pole be everything. Balance is the key to everything. Also, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Have a back-up plan and a support system but know that the only person you can truly rely on is yourself.