We were lucky to catch up with Calvin Moon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Calvin, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The story behind my business name came about on a job I was working in North Carolina. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what I wanted my brand name to be. I started off with Optima Fitness, then changed it to Optimus Fitness, those didn’t fit nor roll of the tongue right, so I went back to the drawing board. I came up with Fitness Anywhere Fitness Anytime, that didn’t sound right, so I was having a conversation with a former coworker that became a brother/mentor of mine. I was like, man I have been wrecking my brain trying to come up with a name for my fitness brand, his response was simply, use your name. I replied, use my name? He said yes, your name. You are your brand and it’s a represents who you are. I started off with Fitness By Calvin. That name lasted well over two maybe three hours. During our lunch break him and I sat in the company’s truck talking about the brand and what it means to me. He asked me, what made you decide to get into fitness itself. What are your plans and goals with it all. He was serious about those questions, and it made me think and work harder to build what I had set forth to do. Meanwhile lunch was coming to an end and we still hadn’t had a name for the brand. Closing hours to the work day he told another coworker he should join BBC and allow me to start his fitness journey. That coworker responded with, say what? He said go join “Body By Calvin” and allow him to start your fitness journey. That light bulb came on and I said, I got it. He said, you got what? I replied, the name of the brand will be BBCFITNESS “Body By Calvin Fitness”, where “Your Body Is My Business”. From that day BBCFITNESS had become more than just a dream, it was starting to become a reality. Days went by and my coworker/mentor came to me and spokes these exact words to me and I “I see how passionate you are about fitness and helping others improve their lives, it’s time you step away from this company and pursue your dreams”. Guess what, I did just that. I stepped out not only on his words by mostly by faith. There was no doubt in my mind I couldn’t make this dream of mine come true. Fast-forward to December 14, 2019, I introduced the world to BBCFITNESS STUDIO. I am now a proud owner of my very own gym. I am forever grateful for each and every single person that helped me get to this point. There’s to many to name but do know I will never ever in life forget who you guys are. So, again I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. So world that’s how the name “BBCFITNESS” came about. Oh, fyi for anyone that may ask or want to know, yes my former coworker is still like a brother to me and most definitely a mentor.

Calvin, 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?

So, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Calvin Moon, I was born and raised in Portsmouth, Va. I’m the oldest of 3 and the oldest grandchild of 11. The reason I shared that info with you all is because I want and need the audience to know and understand “ME”. I had many responsibilities as a child which made me into the adult I am today. I grew up where everything we had we had to share with each other. As a kid you don’t understand why nor do yo know what is being taught to you at an early age. All you know is you have something that you want to keep for yourself. I wouldn’t say I had it completely rough as a child because we made due with all that we had. I lived in a semi rough neighborhood as a kid but everyone in the neighborhood was like family. We not only were taught right from wrong by our parents but the parents of our friends and other adults as well.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn and unlearn quick was putting my trust into a lot of people. I am the type of person to take your word on the things you say because they say “Your Word Is Your Bond”. I have been known to give several chance due to having a big heart, but I some times question it because they saying goes, fool me once shame on YOU. You fool me twice shame on ME. What you won’t get a chance to do is fool me that third time. The term is a witty way of saying you should have learned from someone’s trick on you and if you didn’t then you can only blame “YOURSELF”. Here’s a few stories I can share. There was this one time where I put some much trust into an individual that I could se no wrong in them. Any and everything they did I saw wrong in it but had so much hope and trust that I allowed to happen over and over again. I sat and question God about why do I have such a big heart to the point where I allowed things that I shouldn’t. I questioned myself as to why do I allow the things I allow. I sat back and prayed and prayed to have the strength within myself to stop allowing people to use my heart. I don’t know what it was that I couldn’t shake. Over the years of life I continued to allow it until I finally decided to seek professional help. I was once that guy that said I’m not going to sit with a complete stranger and tell them my life just for them to try and dissect it, but what do you know, your boy actually went to therapy not once or twice but three different times. Yes, It was that bad. I was like there’s no way I’m going to take the word from just one person, but when all three therapist are telling you the exact same thing it is time to make the necessary changes. I learned to say NO to a lot of things and a lot of people I wouldn’t normally do so. I had to learn to set boundaries and not just set them but stand firm on them. I learn and mastered the concept of “It Is What It Is”. Once I mastered that concept people started falling below the wayside and I then knew who was really there for me. There’s a saying that goes, people enter into your life for a reason or a season, it’s up to you to figure out which one they’re there for. I later said a prayer to God about the doubts I had pertaining to my heart. I was wrong for passing judgment on the man that was actually granting me clarity. He was showing me that no matter the circumstances continue being the person I placed you on tis here earth to be. Continue being the person to give others chances. Continue being the leader that you are. Continue shining your light, those that are meant to go with you on your journey will go, and those that weren’t meant will get off at their stop. He also told me that at the end I will find myself alone because he only paved one road and that road was for me. All in all there’s really no real lesson to unlearn, you just have to take every lesson as such, and that is a lesson within itself. Everything in life happens for a reason and the lesson is to LEARN!

Have you ever had to pivot?

A time I had to pivot in business was March of 2020, when covid hit. I had just did my grand opening in December of 2019. Covid came and shut everything down and I mean everything. I was like no this can not be happening right now. I had so many questions as to why this and why that. A part of me wanted to just give up and call it quits, but my mother and grandmother didn’t raise me to but that. I took covid as a time to go back to the drawing board and do what I call the 3 R’s. Regroup, Reset, and Reconnect. Regrouping allowed me to go back to the drawing board and dissect a few things from the business plans, to the training packages and fees. Resetting allowing me to have a fresh start at opening the gym with a completely new mindset. Then there’s reconnecting. It allowed me to reach my audience with the safest plans in place to ensure they were coming into a safe clean environment. Covid taught me a lot. It show me that time waits for no man and to go forward with your dreams and goals because tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone. Covid took the lives of a lot of love ones but it also made us love our love ones even more. I want to say to all the families that lost someone due to covid, my prayers are with you all still and know they are in a much better place.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Body-By-Calvin-Fitness.square.site and BodyByCalvinFitness.com
• Instagram: Body_By_Calvin_Fitness
• Facebook: Calvin Moon
• Youtube: Calvin Moon
• Other: TikTok: itsdarock

Image Credits
Photo credit goes to myself and Jerrel Thomas