Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

A story about a brave woman from Austria, who made her passion her job.

Ribl, you are a successful Mountain Bike Guide in Austria, so it’s obvious that you are an adventurer, what other archetypes do you feel connected with?

Well, yes, the adventurer is probably my main character — downhill mountain biking is definitely an extreme sport. But there are two of your seven archetypes that I feel very connected with, which are the Guru and the Giver. The Guru feels close to me as I’m kind of a Guru to my clients. I teach them how to ride a bike in the safest way possible and how to technically use weight, brakes and also the brain to have a good ride.

But it’s not only about the technical aspects; I’m teaching people to listen to their own body. It’s not so important if your toes are placed 13.5 cm in front of the pedal, it’s more about how it feels.

Our body has so much to say, it will tell us what is the right position and I’m always trying to tell my clients to listen to their body and feel inside. So, I guess that’s very Guru-like. *laughs* The Giver is the third archetype I feel very close to because I’m giving a lot. Not in a materialistic way but I think I’m giving away lot’s of passion and enthusiasm and I’m always trying to spread happiness.

We haven’t talked for long but I can assure you, you are spreading happiness! What did you do for a living before you decided to become a self-employed MTB-Guide?

Thanks! Oh, I did many things. I finished my carpenter training and worked there for a while, which gave me technical thinking, physical strength and the ability to work hard. Then I was working in childcare and worked with disabled people, which showed me that I’m really interested in medical care. So I did my training to become a nursing assistant and worked in an accident ambulance. Doing this job was very hard for me. It was not the job itself, our boss gave all of us a very hard time, as he didn’t show any respect to our work and was in general a very strict and cold person. Being a nurse is very hard in general, though, because the system kind of exploits you while you’re doing this job. You have to work extra hours, are paid badly for what you do and no one really appreciates your work.

After being treated so badly by my boss I reached a point where I thought to myself: Why am I doing this? I’m working so many hours a day, so many days in a year, why am I not doing something that makes me happy?

I mean when you have a job that you don’t like it also affects your private life. I was always mad when I came home from work and I couldn’t appreciate what a good life I actually had. I’m not a person that runs away from a difficult decision, so I quit. I focused my thoughts on what I could do to have a good and fulfilling life and be able to pay my rent. I thought, well, I can bike. I had been biking for 10 years at that time and I finished my training to become a MTB-Guide. Then I got myself a website, an Instagram account and I started offering lessons. It was actually not that hard. The training took me about one week, as back then (it was three years ago) there were no longer courses one could take and cost about 900 Euros. I had the advantage that I’d worked with kids and people before and had medical knowledge so I felt confident offering my classes. That was three years ago and it was absolutely the right decision. Everything went well for me and there’s more and more I can offer and also more and more clients. I’m fully booked and that feels awesome.

What are you offering to your clients?

I’m doing lots of women’s camps. Biking is a very male dominated sport but more and more females are entering, so I have a lot to do over there. It’s not that I don’t like to teach men, I actually like it a lot, but it turned out offering courses especially for women works really well for me. The other thing that takes a really big spot in my daily work is teaching kids. Me and some bike friends of mine started a new project for local kids. Our bike park is mostly used by tourists and there were no offerings for kids to also ride there.

That was something that needed to change and we did it.

We are now offering kids camps for our locals and it’s amazing to see how they are evolving! I love that part of my job, it’s just awesome what these kids are doing. Some of them are riding much better than me! *laughs* Another project that has only started is the Bike & Yoga Retreat. I’m doing this together with a friend of mine, Anita, and that’s also amazing. You might think that Yoga and Biking are contrary, and that’s true, but that’s also what makes them come together so well. Biking is exhausting, sometimes stressful, it brings you to the edges of your comfort zone and beyond. Yoga is calming, finding your balance again, makes you listen to your body and soul. That’s an amazing combination. One retreat spans 3 days, we’re a little community of strangers living in one house during that time, practicing yoga and biking and at the end we’re all friends and have a wonderful time together.

Sounds awesome! Is there something you would tell a person that wants to become a self-employed MTB-Guide?

Yes, there’s a few things. In the first two years being self-employed I had other jobs on the side because I was a bit afraid that I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent at the end of the month. But if you decide to do something and you really want to be successful, which to me means being able to pay for your living expenses and also having fun while doing it, you need to concentrate 100% on one thing. Doing two or more jobs will never allow you to become really good at one of them.

One other piece of advice I can give is to know your value. It took me a while to realize I had earned this money.

In my second year doing MTB lessons I was almost too ashamed to ask for money. Teaching someone for three hours challenged me to ask for 150 Euros. Even though I’m not doing this to become rich and buy myself a helicopter. After accepting this it became easier for me, it also became easier to say “no”. At the beginning I basically didn’t have a single day for myself. When someone came and said they wanted a course I used my free day to make this person happy and to give him a class. I’m not doing this anymore. You need to treat yourself right to be able to do a good job. You need to rest, to do whatever you want for a short period of time before you can concentrate on other people again. That’s very important in life. There’s this story of the fisherman that describes it quite well.

One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish. About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family. “You aren’t going to catch many fish that way,” said the businessman to the fisherman. “You should be working rather than lying on the beach!” The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, “And what will my reward be?” “Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!” was the businessman’s answer. “And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman, still smiling. The businessman replied, “You will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!” “And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman again. The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions. “You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!” he said. “And then what will my reward be?” repeated the fisherman. The businessman was getting angry. “Don’t you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!” Once again the fisherman asked, “And then what will my reward be?” The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, “Don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won’t have a care in the world!” The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “And what do you think I’m doing right now?”

That’s a very nice story and I totally agree with it. So, it seems like you found your perfect job, didn’t you?

Absolutely! I love my job! I love my life and on the whole, I’m very happy with my current situation.

Teaching children is so satisfying to me, spending time with wonderful people of all different ages and kinds and helping them to do what I love to do — biking.

I can’t imagine doing anything else right now, everything is going really well and it feels like I spent my whole life preparing to do this.