Chris Paterson wakes up before 4:50 a.m. most days. His formula for success includes at least an hour of physical training and listing out his intentions for the day.
"My attitude is, win the morning, win the day," Paterson told Australian Broker.
His business partner and long-time colleague Rodney Cottam (pictured left) has a similar daily regime, which begins before dawn. Paterson (pictured right) added that the duo — long-time mates and business associates, both having recently left non-bank lender Resimac after several years — like to push each other. But in good ways.
"We both have a morning routine, which speaks to our consistency, and that helps us with our mindset and sets us up for a good day. I sent Rodney a text this morning, for example, saying, 'I want to run 5K every day in May. I'm sending you this to hold me accountable,'" he said.
It's fitting then that Paterson and Cottam are now starting their own performance consultancy firm, dubbed Run Rocket Run. The startup focuses on helping individuals and companies achieve peak personal development, which they said will then translate into better professional success.
"Everyone's busy with work," said Cottam, who serves as founder of the firm. "There's pressure on and it's all about trying to be as efficient as possible, cutting costs, trying to make more profits. But in doing so, people are under a lot of pressure, a lot of stress with late nights and all those kinds of things."
Paterson, who has taken on the role of general manager, added: "Corporate businesses focus on KPIs, company performance, net profit after tax. They say they look after people, development and those sorts of things. But unless they're meeting their KPIs and companies making the return, they don't really focus on it."
The business partners said Run Rocket Run will begin by concentrating its efforts on working with corporate companies. But individual coaching is available as well.
"And it's not just for brokers," Paterson said. "It can apply to anyone all the way through, from an admin person to CEO to the exec suite."
The firm's approach includes a series of interactive group performance enhancing workshops that offer practical tools for enhancing one's professional, physical and personal lives. Clients can then apply the tools to their daily lives. Individual coaching sessions are also available, starting with a three-month commitment.
Run Rocket Run also plans to launch a weekly podcast called "The Enhanced Effort," which will showcase success stories of ordinary people. In addition, the team is planning a series of real-life events. First up is the "Hurt 28" challenge, which involves a team-based 28-kilometer run with weighted bags. The event is scheduled for later this month.
"The people who are handling all areas of their lives well are the ones that have some sort of physical and mental training in place, whether that's training in the morning, or reading books, or whatever it might be that they're doing for themselves. All of that ultimately helps them work wise," said Cottam.
"What we're working towards is putting those habits and routines in place to be able to better perform at work," he said. "So train properly, hydrate properly, sleep properly, manage time properly. And it's also about learning things like patience, empathy, being vulnerable, which you need in order to be successful."
"A lot of people don't know where to start,” Paterson said. “We talk a lot about and teach intentions to do things. If you say you're going to do something, then follow through. We're big on accountability."
The pair added that their professional experiences in the lender space have well prepared them for this new challenge.
Paterson spent 18 years servicing the broker channel, including the last eight at Resimac, most recently serving as general manager of distribution. He's also a former NRL player, having played for the Wests Tigers. Cottam spent nearly 12 years with Resimac, most recently in the role of BDM. He also served in the Australian Army and routinely runs ultra marathons. (He has more than half a dozen scheduled for the back half of 2025 alone.)
"If you're doing really well personally, whether it's relationships or friends, then you get up and want to go to work," Cottam said. "Whereas if you're having a bad time at home, you don't want to go to work. They directly affect each other."
