We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tiffany Jackson-dickey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tiffany below.
Hi Tiffany, thanks for joining us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?
The majority of my clients come to me with hopes of losing weight and toning their body. Some understand the importance of strength training to increase vitality in life; but ultimately, they want to lose weight. I have two success stories to share – one of my Virtual Personal Training clients and one of my Nutrition Coaching Clients.
My Virtual Personal Training client is my first client in my solo career and has lost 20 pounds in ten months. She trains twice per week on her own and as her schedule allows, attends one Train Alongside session with me per week. She’s gone from a completely sedentary lifestyle to consistently averaging over 5000 steps per day and strength training multiple days per week. While some may think that 2 pounds per month is a slow rate, I would argue that it’s the perfect rate to maintain balance in your life. My client has taken multiple vacations, traveled for work, attended multiple birthday celebrations, and celebrated several holidays that is surrounded by food – yet is still consistently losing. She’s not only dropping in number on the scale, but she’s also has lost several inches and can fit clothes that she hasn’t been able to in years. She’s become dedicated to the process and understand that fitness is a lifetime journey (no one ever wants to hear that!) and will be able to stick with her plan to reach her ultimate goal of “fit by 50.”
My Nutrition Coaching client has only been with me for two months and has lost almost ten pounds already! She was a client who followed a Keto lifestyle before and initially saw success, but like most Keto participants, quickly learned that if you can’t follow it forever, whatever you lose will come back and sometimes doubled. She kept yo-yoing in her weight and was considering taking a semaglutide injection to assist in her weight loss. Over the two months, we made very small adjustments to her current eating habits and increased her movement. We haven’t eliminated anything from her diet – she still has the occasional chicken box and alcoholic beverage. She still dines out weekly, but has consistently lost week-after-week. Her view on foods has changes and she is no longer considering the semaglutide injection!
Tiffany, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
In January 2013, I loss my father due to complications from diabetes. During this difficult time, I started reflecting on all of the comorbidities that ran rampant in my family. On my father’s side, there’s history of diabetes and hypertension. On my mother’s side, add those two plus high cholesterol. Family members left and right on medication to manage these issues and I vowed for that to never be me. However, it took me two months to realize that although I didn’t want that to be me, I was headed that way when I saw a picture of myself. To alleviate the need for medication to manage something that could’ve been avoided, I found my mitigation plan in Crossfit and ultimately my passion for all things health and fitness.
In late 2017, my workout partner, better known as my brother, Trabien Smith, and I decided to get Crossfit certified. We took the time to study and became L1 certified in 2018—which now meant not only could we coach in the gym we trained, but we understood the foundational principles of diet and exercise utilizing the Crossfit methodology and could take it anywhere. As I went on to coach at our gym, he had aspirations to open his own. Tra encouraged me to also obtain my Personal Trainer certification and so I did—big brother knows best after all. While pursuing my Personal Training certification, I also worked to achieve my Nutrition Coaching Certification and my Youth Fitness Trainer certification. Tra and I decided to open our own gym and opened the doors of Never Broken Training & Fitness in June 2019 with the intent to help as many people that looked like us get healthy.
Never Broken offered small group classes, nutrition coaching and personal training services. We were a jack of all trades for fitness! We served the West Baltimore County area for four and a half years before closing our doors in December 2023. This was a hard decision for us. We truly loved what we did and wanted to help people be the healthiest version of themselves that they could be. Unfortunately, we were burning ourselves out trying to offer as many services as possible – we made ourselves overly available to our members but we still saw a drastic decline in attendance and membership. After many prayers and fasts, we made the hard decision to close our doors, and I shifted my prayers from “what to do about Never Broken” to “how can I still help people that want to get healthier”.
Fitness became my passion over the years and while I could focus solely on my fitness journey, God put it on my heart to share my knowledge and passion with others. That’s why in addition to my Crossfit, Personal Training, two Olympic Weightlifting, Nutrition Coaching, and Youth Fitness certifications, I also earned certifications in Pre & Postnatal Coaching and became a specialist in Women’s Coaching. God answered my prayers of “what’s next” by way of Lift with Tiff. I started my, mostly, online fitness business in Feb 2024 where I offer Nutrition Coaching (online), Virtual Personal Training (online), and Train Alongside (in-person) services.
I have over 10 years of fitness experience and truly enjoy lifting weights and teaching others about proper technique on their journey to a healthier lifestyle. I’m adamant that fitness should be fun! That’s the only way you’ll stick with it. I’m also passionate about teaching others about nutrition in a way that not only helps them achieve their weight loss/gain goals, but also maintains the results without having to give up their favorites.
I think what sets me apart from other personal training services is I can relate to other’s journeys. I’ve tried all of the extreme diets (Keto, Intermittent Fasting, etc.) before and can empathize with the struggle to shift the mindset to “lifestyle change” after thinking “lose weight quick” for so long. I’m transparent and honest with my clients. There are lot of programs out there that will help you lose weight quickly, but the results don’t last. I help people lose weight and keep it off.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn in my entrepreneurial journey is not everyone supports you the same way that you support them – and that’s OK. I have friends that own various businesses. If it’s of something that I’m interested in and/or could benefit from, I’m buying it and am not looking for a discount. If it is something that I don’t want/need, or something not in my budget – I share their online posts, I refer them to other people looking for their services. I want to see them win. Need catering services or a photographer? Hit up @jflixxpixx. Looking for a lash tech? Check out @MsSakenah. Need DJ services, a rental hall, and/or furniture for an event? Check out @djb_eazy. Looking for a grown and sexy spot to go for drinks and a good vibe in Baltimore? Visit @ddl_lounge. Looking for a bomb hair stylist? Check out @experiencecmts_. I will name drop a friend in a minute! (All of those ‘@’ can be found on Instagram.)
Everyone can benefit from working out and/or making lifestyle changes. I offer a service that lasts a lifetime. However, not everyone sees the benefit in what I offer, or maybe my prices don’t work for them – whatever the case, my friends don’t always support in the form of a paid membership. I don’t take offense to that. What did bother me was them not sharing my posts promoting my services.
I had to get out of my feelings behind that and realize, just because I’d do it doesn’t mean others will as well. I had to be appreciative of those who did support me – whether by membership, by click share, or supplying my name when someone asks for a personal trainer. Being appreciative of those people, helped me to 1) not feel a certain type of way towards the ones who did not and 2) look at my blessings – I’m not at a shortage in clients.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
As I mentioned in my story of how Lift With Tiff came to be, I initially co-owned a physical gym with my brother – Never Broken Training. Year Four was the hardest for us. Retaining membership was difficult; attendance in class was low; and then the folks that did show up had a negative disposition – they complained about the weight being heavy, they didn’t like a certain movement – it was annoying as hell! Whether we had one person show up or if the class was full, we had to be there to coach class and try to remain cheerful throughout the process. It started to burn us out.
I have two children, at the time of our year four, ages three and nine. I was missing quality time with them to be amongst adults who seemed to not really want to be there. Their negativity started to seem into me – I constantly wanted to ask them: “Why are you here?” I started to not care about their results and whether they enjoyed the process. I constantly thought “I could be home with my kids.” We didn’t make much money from Never Broken and that was OK because we were in it to help people; but we were always able to pay our bills with our profit. But then we started losing members. So my thoughts became “I’m giving up time with my kids; I’m not making money; but now I’m starting to have to come out of my personal pocket to make ends meet?” Something had to give.
My brother and I prayed and fasted for a month (August 2023) on what we should do. We decided that we’d go virtual; do away with the physical location. We’d split the current equipment equally and train on our own. In October, he realized that he found his most joy in coaching in-person and didn’t want to go virtual. I already accepted (and felt relieved) about closing our doors and doing things online so we made the decision to close our doors at the end of year.
October, I fasted and prayed again for direction and God told me I could do it solo. I investigated what I’d need to do (costs, etc.) and brainstormed names. The sense of peace I felt when I made this decision confirmed that I was doing the right thing. I took November and December to establish Lift with Tiff behind the scenes. I started promoting by word of mouth in Jan and then opened my virtual doors in February 2024.
What’s crazy is that Never Broken offered virtual services – no one ever took advantage. I have several members under Lift with Tiff. Never Broken was needed for a season to help prepare me to be on my own. Praying and asking God for guidance is what made my pivot to Lift with Tiff a success!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/liftingwithtiffany
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/liftingwithtiffany
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@liftingwithtiffany
