Grateful doesn't even begin to describe how I feel in this moment!
For those of you that have been following my journey closely you'll know that my fitness business was grown primarily within the parameters of the pandemic. Starting the first round of lock downs I was bartending full time and only had a few personal training clients. I had previously been a full time trainer while living in Chicago, But I took a bit of time off while moving to the East Coast.
With everything closing down, I knew that I had to step up my game and venture into a new platform with my fitness work that I had never attempted, virtual training. I was scared, I was inexperienced, and I had nothing else to fall back on. I had to make my business work for me or I would have found myself with absolutely nothing.
I started with a very simple idea of recording a class every day and sharing it with the world. I didn't know who my target audience was going to be or who would find my class to be beneficial, but I had to start with something. A 20-30 minute bodyweight fitness class so that it would be easily accessible to anyone that wanted to join!
I started posting on social media to advertise to my friends, asked several of them to share my posts, and started offering a free class on Saturday mornings so that people could see my training style. The first month took off so much better than I ever could have expected! I had such an active group in my first class sharing sweaty selfies and bragging about their progress. That alone encouraged their friends to join.
Several months later I opened my private Facebook group for all of the members to share their stories, sweaty selfies, accomplishments, recipes, and share when they are having days they're struggling. A body positive space for all that are looking for a safe space. I am so incredibly proud of this community I built and the support that they give to one another! It is so inspiring to see people on similar journeys building one another up.
At 9 months into teaching this class I had grown enough that my students started asking for merchandise to proudly support the Roy Belzer Fitness brand, and I was more than happy to deliver! I have students wearing my clothes from New York to San Diego and it fills me with such joy.
At one full year into teaching my class I am so proud to say that I have students in 17 states! I get to help people change their lives for a living and it is such a phenomenal feeling. Winning this award is an achievement that I didn't ever think was a possibility, but the fact a student thought I was worthy enough for them to nominate me lets me know that what I am doing really is making a difference in this world.
Thank you to every single person that has been along for the journey and for all of your love and support while I built this business I can truly be proud of!