Rewind back to 2005 and for 10 years I worked in finance, but being honest I couldn’t wait to get out of the office and hit the gym at 5.30pm, and I mean exactly 5.30pm! I don’t remember ever staying a minute late! See, finance was never for me, it was just a job. I always loved sport and exercise and by the time I reached 25 I was training at the gym 6 days a week, looking back it’s where it all began for me.

I spent 5 years working for a rather large media company before being made redundant in 2006.  Not sure what my next step would be my supervisor said “why don’t you enrol in a Personal Training course – after all you are always at the gym!”.  So I did, along with a Sports Massage course.

However, once I had completed the course I had the small issue of plucking up the courage to find a job at a gym. See, I wasn’t the “super confident” PT. In fact, it took me a number of years to find my groove.

But by a stroke of luck, and whilst taking some time off after my redundancy, I was at my usual gym having a mid-morning workout and got chatting to the manager there. He mentioned that the gym was looking for Personal Trainers and offered me something there and then.

I started part-time at the gym. I remember my first shift and the manager said “you are down to run an Ab Class in half an hour!” Wow! From sitting at a computer all day to running an Ab Class for a dozen or more gym members! I guess I was in at the deep (ish!) end and had to roll with it!

Gradually some confidence came. I was working part-time for the gym, part-time doing private PT sessions at the gym, and also I found some private home clients via leaflet drops (Facebook and Instagram weren’t so big back then!)

At the same gym, I met the lady who ran the massage room at the gym so I also started working 1 -2 days per week offering Sports and Therapeutic Massage treatments.

It was hard work and long hours for the first few years, but gradually it changed. I was able to manage my diary better and my client list was growing. Also, at this time I was beginning to work with some local companies running wellbeing and massage days for their employees.

I was fairly busy. However, in 2008, I realised I needed to offer my clients better nutritional advice so I enrolled on a 2-year Diploma in Nutritional Therapy.  This enabled me to work in a clinical setting with clients with health issues such as IBS, fatigue, and diabetes.

I now had three services that all tied in together; Personal Training, Massage Therapy, and Nutritional Therapy.

Today, I still do some work as a PT, Massage Therapist, and Nutritional Therapist (it’s called coaching nowadays!) as well as trying to bring my vision for this site together – this has actually been bubbling along for 10 years now!

Over the years, I have also worked as Tutor and Assessor for PT Academy and also ran my own Education Company helping people just like you start their new career:-)

I truly believe you can have a great career in the fitness industry, but you need to be patient. I did have to “grind” for several years at least (everyone does who is self-employed) but I always believed that I could have the right job, with the right income, doing the hours I wanted.

I’m fairly close to that and now I want to help you, are you ready to take your first step?

Enrol with us, study with PT Academy and receive 6 months FREE mentoring with us!