Feeling the fear and embracing failure
What are some of your personal goals in life? Whether they are in business, in the gym, or in your day to day they will never be straightforward. There will be bends, potholes, speed bumps, and dead ends. Some of the roads will feel like they lead to nowhere (think about the roads in Co. Mayo…) sorry I had to.
They are the challenges, obstacles we are faced with, the setbacks, the hurdles and the failures. And they are the very things we have to learn to embrace in order to achieve success.
Challenges and Failure are part of success
I first started online personal training in 2017, I was charging such a low price that I would’ve been better off financially on the dole. But my service matched the price I was charging. I think I had 4-5 clients between 2017-2018. I had no guidance with how to manage an online business successfully, it was all very new to me.
It wasn’t a big thing back then, I didn’t even know any other coaches working online and wasn’t aware of any courses (that I could afford) that would help me. So I was very much winging it and hoping for the best. And to be fully honest, I didn’t invest my time or my energy in it as I was busy coaching clients on the gym floor. If you put random amounts of effort into something, you will get random results.
But I felt like I had failed because my online clients didn’t last longer than 2-3 months. And I let my interest in it go by the wayside. I focused on growing my in person client base, I didn’t even think about online business after that.
Feeling the fear
However I hit a speed bump in 2018, I wasn’t getting enough clients in the door and needed money to pay bills so I went back to working for minimum wage in a leisure centre.
At the time it felt like a massive step in the wrong direction, I felt like I was swimming up stream only to be pushed right back to where I started. Boom. Another dead end. Second time I felt like my business was failing. I really started to wonder should I have went to college after all?
I’ve been working in gyms and leisure centres since 2015, so at this point I was working for 3 years without any signs of progress. But I chose to make the most of my time there, do the best job I could do. After a couple of weeks there I knew I couldn’t work for someone else. It just wasn’t for me to be an employee. I needed to be self- employed. I promised myself “by my 21st birthday I will never work for someone else again”. I only realise how bold this promise to myself was when I think back on it. But I gave myself a definitive date, a deadline and I committed fully to it.
So, two weeks before my birthday and after 4 months of working in a leisure centre again, I handed my notice in. I was terrified, what if I fail? What if I regret this? What if things don’t go how I planned? Handing my notice meant a big drop in money and any sense of security I had. I was still doing one to one personal training in a different gym while working in this leisure centre, and I loved it. So I transitioned fully over into it once again.
They were hectic, I would be up at 7am, be in work to teach a class at 9am, finish at 5:30 to be out to job number 2 (personal training) for 6pm and work until 10/10:30pm at night. At the time I was also prepping for a bodybuilding show, and studying a PT course. Which meant exercising twice a day, running off empty in terms of food and not having a minute to fart haha. I would eat while manning reception so that I could do my cardio on my lunch break.
Where I found the time, I don’t know. But I do know I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t love it.
Personal training clients
I thought, f*ck it It’s now or never. And I focused solely on building my client base up, providing the best service and results possible. I threw myself into every seminar, podcast and book I could find. I became a sponge. Fast forward to a year later, 2019 and the scariest thing I have ever done paid off. The initial “step backwards” to work in a leisure centre again, was actually a step I needed to take. It showed me everything I didn’t want, which solidified the idea I had of doing the exact opposite.
I went from having 1 client in 2017 to having 25-30 clients every week. I met some great people and helped them feel happier, get healthier and achieve their goals. It brought me such satisfaction. I loved it, forgot all about the online coaching side of work at this point and just enjoyed my day to day which was growing steadily.
Will the pandemic ever end?
It was going well, and then the pandemic hit in early 2020. Like everyone, I was affected and my business suffered. We opened the gym, then closed, then opened again. I had trialled online for a while giving it my second attempt, because I didn’t really have any other option and needed to make ends meet.
When I returned back to the gym after the second closure, I started to take my clients on the floor again and was just building things back up…And boom, another major setback. I was told I couldn’t work in the gym I was in anymore. Over the lockdown they decided to change the way they ran things and didn’t want a p.t on the gym floor. I was absolutely gutted, and didn’t know what to do.
I felt the feeling of loss. I had lost something I was passionate about and in. I didn’t know it at the time, but I lost my sense of purpose. And it was rough. When you have nothing you want to get up for in the morning anymore, life can get pretty tough. I knew I couldn’t sit in this misery and feel sorry for myself.
With the uncertainty of gyms even staying open, I figured working in another gym wasn’t a great option and certainly wasn’t guaranteed. So I decided to go fully into online personal training, I still had a few clients from the original lockdown and once I announced it I started getting asked for online coaching from people living all over Ireland.
Again, I adopted the sponge mentality. I got on calls with some people that were already doing it (who I will forever be grateful to), I started to seek out courses, podcasts, books and I committed myself fully to one thing again, giving the best quality service I could and getting clients results. I was feeling the fear but doing it anyways.
Where Am I Now?
It’s now coming up on the two year mark when I gave online coaching another try, and I am so glad that I did.
I’ve trained a couple of hundred clients online from Galway all the way to New York and it continues to grow steadily while allowing me to live the life that I want to. There’s been tough weeks and tough months, but my business and job is truly in a place now that I dreamed of all those years ago. It’s actually better than what I dreamed of to be honest. And the point of me writing all of this, is to show you that the path to success for your goals may not always be obvious, easy or straightforward and to show you that life isn’t going to go your way.
There will be challenges, obstacles, setbacks, hurdles, failures and lots of doubt.
And that’s okay. If you can learn to embrace it, by realising that they are inevitable, then you are onto a winning streak regardless of your goal. Failure is part of success.
Life is short
I’m not certain where I will be next year, let alone 5. But I know that I’m on the right road to building something great, something I am deeply passionate about. Helping as many people as I can to feel happier, healthier and to achieve everything they dream of. I wouldn’t be here if I gave up when things didn’t go my way, I wouldn’t be here if I gave up on myself and my dreams. And now that I am “here” (wherever that is), I’m met with endless opportunities.
I’m not suggesting I’m more successful than anyone else, but I am living proof that you can achieve success in your goals with persistence and self-belief. It’s something I want each one of you to experience. Life is far too short to spend it living a life you’re unhappy in. We have means and ways to reduce the overwhelm and stress life can bring like I mention in my podcast here
And one thing that scares me, is the thought of being filled with regret as I exit this universe. So if you have dreams, goals ambitions no matter how big or small,
Go for them.
What do you have to lose?
Thank you, you lovely people for listening (well reading actually).
