But I couldn’t move forward..
But then I found myself in a place that I couldn’t move forward.
I was working around the clock as a personal trainer, staying in touch with my clients, getting updates about their health (tiredness, lack of motivation, or even problems at home) and finding time for myself, whenever I had a free moment.
On top of it all, I was also simultaneously studying software development. I spent 3 years looking forward to gaining the type of knowledge that would help me grow as a business, but after a year into my studies I reached my limit with clients, and I couldn’t keep up with doing everything - the clients, the studies. and...myself.
I noticed that I started to get sloppy: I would contact clients, forgetting to contact a client after a tough session, getting confused between various clients’ progress and it all resulted in my clients slowing down their progress, and showing slower results.
I'd already started cutting down on my self-development as a trainer and had to cut down on personal training clients too, so it wouldn't affect my studies.
I made the tough decision to refer some clients to friends and stayed with a handful of clients that were the most dedicated to their workout programs.
After I finished studying Software Development, I stopped working as a personal trainer.
This was because I could see my limits as a trainer, as well as that I would reach my limit as both a trainer and a business - after all, there were only so many clients I could take on before I got sloppy, and only so much time I could fill.
Looking objectively at my love of personal training, I started to think if there was a way I could combine my love of it and my Software Development experience.
Something to ASPIRE for…
You see, during this time, I'd been also working for 4+ yrs as a Software Developer, across over 10 startup companies.
Throughout these years and companies, you probably won't be surprised to know that I’ve seen many of them fail (nothing to do with me I promise!) even after successful funding rounds.
Some manage to become self-sustaining companies, but most end up going to bankruptcy.
I was always fortunate enough to learn something new from every direction a startup took, gaining experience in complex, sometimes urgent problem-solving.
What amazed me the most was the stark similarities to the issues I had encountered as a personal trainer.
I started to question the way “we” (the fitness professionals) were working:
- Maybe there’s a better, more efficient way to serve personal training clients?
- Maybe there’s a better way to reach and engage new potential clients?
- Maybe there’s a better way to educate and develop ourselves, as professionals, and as a community that strive for betterment?
To succeed you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to Inspire you
I created ASPIRE so we can, as professionals learn from each other, talk about the subjects no other community talks about: the mindset a trainer should possess and a client should inherit, ways to look at one’s physical issues and asses it correctly, understand the things that make a deeper connection between a client and his trainer, share our experiences so others may learn from our success, or event better, our failures.
In an industry that strives for betterment, we’re here to achieve the success we aim for & to become the kind of professionals we ASPIRE to be.