We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alycia Israel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alycia, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The most life changing risk I took was leaving my full time job in 2019 to run my online women’s health coaching company. I was the Fitness Programs & Personal Training Coordinator at Ohio State from 2012 – 2019. It was my first job out of college after getting my Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology. While it was a great experience and opportunity, the salary was not sustainable. I accrued over $100,000 in student loan debt that continued to grow with interest that would be impossible to pay off with that income. After paying all of my bills each month I only had around $280 left over for groceries and gas. So I also went into credit card debt during this time as well. Unfortunately most institutions of education do not provide a livable wage for full time masters degree level or even higher credentials. So my back was against the wall, and I had to work 3 side hustles on top of my full time job just so I could break 55K a year and breathe a little. One of those side hustles was my online coaching business which started to take off. So in July 2019 I left Ohio State to take my income into my own hands. My business now makes over $500,000 a year and I was able to pay off my student loans in less than 2 years after leaving along with buying my dream home. So it was a big lesson for me, that “security” doesn’t come from a low paying 9-5 job with “benefits.” Security comes from leveraging your skill set and being resourceful with social media and AI tools. Starting my own business may seem risky, and it is to an extent. However what is even more risky is staying at a job that doesn’t pay a livable wage.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My overall passion for helping women stems from my upbringing. When I was 18, along with the women in my family, we escaped my sociopathic, abusive, convict father, digging ourselves out of bankruptcy. In college I aspired into the male dominated field of strength and conditioning to pursue my passion for strength. Despite years of being the underdog, I went from making $40,000 a year at one of the most sought out Universities in the country, to taking the leap and starting my own business now grossing over half a million a year.

I founded Alycia’s Barbell, LLC, a women’s health and fitness coaching company, in 2015 but have been helping women achieve their fitness goals for over 15 years. I am a nationally qualified NPC figure and bikini competitor and raw powerlifter. I have a masters degree in exercise physiology and sports nutrition. I am also an NSCA-certified strength and conditioning specialist, and an ISSN-certified sports nutritionist. For 7 years I oversaw the largest fitness & personal training program in the country at The Ohio State University.

My company’s mission is to inspire as many women as possible to unleash their inner Badass and become confident AF in their bodies. We give women the tools and strategies they need to reach their goals mentally and physically through evidence based fitness, nutrition, hormone health, and a growth mindset.

My team offers high touch expert level 1-on-1 coaching and personal development services to all of the women we work with. Women are not “little men” and our coaching focuses on the personal goals, health history, unique hormone profile, and mindset barriers that are unique to women.

The problems we help women solve:

Gaining muscle and strength without spending hours in the gym.

Overcoming stubborn fat loss without eliminating carbs or other food groups.

Managing any hormone dysfunction (how that affects your goals but also how you
feel!) and getting labs done when needed so we can be proactive versus reactive.

Helping women learn what their unique body needs so that they are confident inside the
gym, with their nutrition, and how they show up as a woman.

Identifying & conquering mental blocks so they can reach and sustain their goals
for life.

Creating healthy and sustainable habits versus quick fixes that don’t work long term.

Learning how to set proper boundaries so that they can make their health and happiness a priority.

I am also very passionate about helping women become financially independent, as you can imagine. If my Mom didn’t have her own career, bank account, and car in her name, my story would have been different. When women make their own money they have the ability to make more aligned choices and gain true freedom. So I created the Be Your Own Daddy Podcast to inspire and teach women how to recognize and rebel against patriarchal conditioning so that they can upgrade their current mindset and beliefs about power. In doing so, giving them the awareness and confidence to make more money without guilt.

Any advice for managing a team?

I have a team of 7, and most have been with me for at least 3 years. The best way to ensure you have an amazing culture comes down to 3 things.

Transparency.

Connection.

Great pay.

Everyone in my company knows my salary, how much profit the business makes, what things cost, what our business goals are, when things are going well or when we are trying to solve a constraint. They are never in the dark. This builds trust. And as a business owner if you have nothing to hide and are operating with integrity, your team will respect you and therefore perform well and love working for you.

Also everyone in my company is aligned with my companies core values. This is more crucial than their skill sets. This creates connection and consistency amongst the team and our decision making.

And, I pay my team well. My labor costs are “higher” and I am okay with that because I know what it is like to be financially scare and feel undervalued. As long as I run my company, my team will never experience that.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I spend most of my time learning everything I can about my craft and networking with as many professionals as possible. Along with my degrees I have 17 different health and fitness certifications. Many business owners focus too much on marketing and not enough time building their actual skill set. When you have a high skill set, the less you have to market and sell your product. I was able to build my coaching business to over 500K a year without spending any money on marketing. I just now have started to tap into ad spend because I am scaling to 7 figures. Social proof, getting in front of people, writing long form articles, attending conferences, etc. goes a long way over time and while its not easy or fast, it creates more sustainability in business when people seek you out more than you seek them.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: alyciaisrael
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alycia.israel
• Other: Free Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/478790239493127

Image Credits
I own all images!