What I Have Learned From Fitness, Nutrition, & Mindset Entrepreneurs About the Industry

Hours before my last semester of college was to get underway, I had a revelation: I should not finish my undergrad online. After missing 2.5 seasons of college football due to injury and COVID, I felt like I had more to give to the team, the school, and the community; however, I also saw it as an opportunity to do explore the health and fitness space and study to get certified as a personal trainer. About 6 weeks after deciding to defer the spring semester, I passed the certified personal trainer exam and was making friends in the space and creating content around the topics of health, fitness, nutrition, mindset, and athletics.

When course selection came around in April, I struggled to find one last course I would take as an elective and have enough credits to graduate at the end of the semester. So, I went to my academic advisor, Steve Riccio, Ed.D., SPHR, PCC who suggested I opt for a semester-long independent study. I did not have a clue what I wanted the topic to be, but I liked the idea of being able to conduct my research and create a project on something that was of interest to me. As I mentioned, I was (and still am) passionate about health and fitness but, Dickinson unfortunately does not offer any kinesiology, exercise science, or nutrition courses. Since I have aspirations to go into the health and fitness field upon graduation, we came up with the idea to conduct interviews on my podcast, the?Pure Ambition Podcast,?with entrepreneurs in the space to hear their stories, experiences, and how they have been able to make a comfortable living for themselves. This article will highlight the interviews I conducted, as well as what I learned from each guest to help ambitious fitness entrepreneurs like myself as we embark on this journey.

Jonah Mitchell & Hannah Montoya

These two are the epitome of "if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." Jonah and I became friends through a mutual friend and he helped me with my nutrition and designed my offseason workout plan that got me into the best shape of my life leading up to fall camp. His wife, Hannah, quit her full-time job to handle content creation, social media, marketing, finance, and other areas of Jonah's training business. I admire how they can work together in collaboration, leaning on each other's strengths. Here are the biggest lessons I learned through my conversation with them:

• Always work on your craft, become exceptional at it, and put it into practice. In this industry, people will be able to see when you have no idea what you are doing. Keep learning, seek mentors, and offer to help people out for free at first to build your skills and gain valuable experience.
• Get clear on who you are and the kind of people you want to help. Jonah mentioned how he struggled to find a nice, but once he did it allowed him to focus on who he was trying to help so he could tailor his content around it.
• Work on building trust- with clients, partners, coaches, trainers, etc. Nobody wants to work with someone untrustworthy. Be consistent, authentic, and empathetic with your approach and show others they can trust you.

Listen to the episode with Jonah and Hannah on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Joe Rinaldi

Joe is the kind of person that has the unique ability to make a positive impact on anyone he meets, and his story is inspiring. Joe was born with Best Disease, which is slowly causing him to go blind. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he chooses to help and serve others and inspire them to live their best lives. He is a former Physical Therapist who has transitioned into a Peak Performance Coach, among many other ventures. It was extremely difficult to narrow what I learned from this conversation to 3 things, but here is what I went with:

• Instead of trying to find balance in our lives, we should instead learn how to manage imbalance. What Joe meant by this was to figure out what is important and urgent now, then make that the priority. Sometimes you have to say no to things to make time for what is most important right now. While it can be difficult, it is necessary
• Make yourself available and opportunities will come. You never know who you will meet and the opportunities that will come if you do not open up and put yourself out there. Meeting new people and collaborating with others is a great way to expand your horizon, learn new things, help people, and see and feel growth in yourself as a person.
• If you don't plan, you are planning to fail. While it is important that we be where our feet are and live in the present, it is also important that we take time daily or weekly to plan. Whether that be working with clients, reaching a fitness or business goal, making time to spend with family and friends, etc. we should plan if we want to see growth in ourselves and pursue all of our ambitions.

Listen to the episode with Joe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Cory Camp

Cory is a former Division 1 swimmer who has created the brand "Forever Athlete" and after starting as a personal trainer at a local health club, has started doing 1 on 1 and group coaching to help former athletes unlock their full potential and find their flow. We talked a lot about life optimization in this interview and ways we can all live better. Here are my main takeaways:

• Stop making the excuse of "I don't have time." Instead, we should be asking ourselves "how do I make time?" Everyone, including myself, has made this excuse one time or another. If something is truly important, be it learning a new skill, reaching a health or fitness goal, getting back to a healthy lifestyle, or studying for a certification, we must take a hard look at our lives and see how we can make time.
• Do what lights you up at first and let that guide you toward your purpose. The health and wellness industry is incredibly broad and there are endless opportunities. So many in fact, that it can be overwhelming. The most important thing is to just get started, work hard, and the rest will work itself out.
• Be very intentional with how you spend your time. Life is meant to be lived, but to do so we need to set boundaries for ourselves so that we can get done what needs to be accomplished and take control of our lives. Block out times to write, work, exercise, or learn uninterrupted to get into that deep work and flow state.

Listen to the episode with Cory on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Mike Woodby

Mike is a remote coach who combines a raw passion for the iron with a modern, thoughtful perspective on life, nature, and performance. Mike is a Certified S&C Specialist and Licensed Athletic Trainer who made the shift to remote coaching in 2020 with the launch of Grizzly Performance. He shared why he left the athletic training field to pursue being a fitness entrepreneur and how he has grown a thriving business.

• To offer a better service, you have to dedicate more time to your clients. If you think you can get away with doing the minimum amount for your clients and still have a successful business, you are dead wrong. Always make each client feel like they are your most important client and go above and beyond for them. This will not only make you a more desirable coach, but it will also get your clients where they want to be sooner.
• Not having a salary gives you the kick in the butt you need. Mike shared how it can be stressful not having a consistent salary to rely on and how that motivates him to work harder to ensure that the money is coming in. Stress forces things to get done.
• When building a brand, think about the kind of vibe you want to convey. For example, Mike's brand is "Grizzly Performance" because grizzlies are big, strong, fast, love the outdoors, and explore the terrain. Mike trains hybrid athletes who have a love for the outdoors, so it makes sense that he would call it Grizzly Performance because it aligns with his vision.

Listen to the episode with Mike on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Dalton Laino

Dalton is the co-founder of The Movement Physio & Performance in Ontario, Canada. He has spent the early part of his career working as both a physiotherapist and a strength coach. During this time he discovered that the most important thing he can do for people is position himself as a guide on their rehab and fitness journey. Much of this conversation was centered around overcoming adversity and empowering ourselves. Here are my biggest takeaways:

• You are capable of much more than you think. We often sell ourselves short, and entrepreneurs tend to self-doubt. We can negate this negative feeling by showing up each day and striving to be better than we were the day before. Take time to reflect and assess your progress and see how far you have come.
• Hard is relative. What is hard for me may be different from what is hard for Dalton, which may be different from you reading this article. I believe it is important to remember this when dealing with clients; however, I also believe that we should not be so hard on ourselves and compare ourselves to others as we are all at different places in our journey.
• Networking effectively is a great way to see growth. As I mentioned earlier in this article, more collaboration, and less competition. Dalton and his partners host a podcast where they talk about physical therapy with other physical therapists and he shared how making these connections have allowed him to learn and grow as a physical therapist and business owner.

Listen to the episode with Dalton on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Embarking on the Journey

When I entered college 4.5 years ago, I thought I wanted to become a sales rep because that is what people always told me they though I would be good at. While sales is an extremely important skill that we all need to continuously work on and will be crucial in scaling my business, do not let anyone decide your career path; you are in control of your life. I never would have thought I would be going into the health and fitness industry after studying International Business and Economics, but, life has a way of throwing us off our course and steering us toward where we are meant to be; toward our purpose.

To everyone who took the time to read this article, first off, I want to say thank you, and I hope it brought you value. I also want to challenge you to take action on whatever it is that you have been thinking about doing. Whether it is creating your own podcast, youtube channel, or blog, starting your own business, switching careers, pursuing a fitness goal, or asking out that person you've had a crush on, just know that the hardest part is getting started. The path to purpose and fulfillment starts with that first step forward into the unknown.