We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dave Vaughan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dave below.
Hi Dave, thanks for joining us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
Around 10 years ago I was going through a bit of a rough time. I was going through a divorce right off the heels of my then wife having leukemia and was now in Remission. I met Dan Reynolds from Imagine dragons on a whim as he was searching for personal trainers and decided to give me a call. Upon meeting Dan we hit it off immediately. He’s a pretty likable guy with a positive energy and just when it comes down to it just one of the guys. He definitely was a guy that likes to have fun and joke around a little bit. He even said that he wanted to look just like me. Which i found to be very comical as here’s a person with a Grammy sitting on their desk as you walk into the house and I am a just y0ur personal trainer.
After working with Dan for a while, he started to feel better as he suffers from a number of health conditions. The thing about personal training is it’s very personal i.e. personal training so we would talk about all sorts of things and I would tell him what’s going on with my life as well. He could tell that I was having a hard time some days and I think he also was aware that I wasn’t hanging out with the best people. One training session. he turned to me and said, hey we’re gonna go on world tour in February that would be awesome if you could come with and help me stay fit as well as motivated. My jaw hit the floor and I immediately responded ” I’ll do it.”
The other side of it was, he knew that it would get me out of kind of a rut and change my perspective on a lot of things by being able to travel and see the world. I am forever grateful for that as it changed the way in which I view things and opened up a lot of doors for my career. I also realized I am a creative and I began searching for other outlets as I now DJ and am very into artwork and tattoos.
Dave, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I started in the personal training industry about 25 years ago. When I was in college, I wanted to become a physical therapist. As I got closer to that goal, I realized that most of my time would be spent sitting in an office, evaluating injuries and doing paperwork. Coming from an athletic background, where I enjoyed training for sports performance, I realized this wasn’t the career I wanted. I preferred a more preventative approach—helping people get in shape and addressing potential issues before they even arise.
I’ve always enjoyed working out and pushing myself, focusing more on performance than aesthetics. I grew up playing hockey and competed at several levels, including Juniors and college. I always wanted to be faster and stronger than everyone else. I realized that I truly enjoyed both training and working with people, so I combined the two and became a personal trainer after earning my degree in Exercise Science from Northern Illinois University.
Personal training is exactly what it sounds like: personal and training. When you come to me, you share any injuries, specific areas you want to work on, and your short- and long-term goals. From there, I break it down, being honest about what’s achievable, how soon we can reach those goals, and how much work it will take.
Being a trainer is a career centered around people. It’s not always easy, as everyone has different personalities. My job is to figure out how to connect with each individual, motivate them, and keep them coming back for more. I love hearing people’s stories, and I enjoy sharing mine as well, having had a long and rewarding career. I’ve had the privilege of working with a diverse group of people, from Imagine Dragons to Barry Manilow, as well as autistic children, Parkinson’s patients, and post-rehab clients. Believe it or not, I also do a lot of exercise gerontology programs. It’s been an incredible journey, traveling the world and engaging with amazing individuals.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I moved to Las Vegas in 2004. By that time, I had already been a personal trainer in Chicago for four years and had built a decent clientele. However, I had just gotten married and decided that I wanted something different. I figured that the Las Vegas market might reignite my passion for fitness, especially since most of my clients in Chicago were more focused on basic health concerns and, often, wouldn’t even show up for sessions. I wanted more for myself, so I thought moving to Las Vegas with no connections and only $4,000 in hand would be a great idea. Looking back, I don’t know if it was ignorance, wishful thinking, or just youthful optimism.
When we arrived in Las Vegas, we had no place to stay, as the home we were supposed to move into wasn’t finished yet. My wife and I lived in a Best Western near Cashman Field, in an interesting part of downtown Las Vegas. It was relatively cheap, and we had two dogs that we didn’t want to be separated from. My wife had been offered a job at a bank and was able to start right away, while I was left figuring out whether I would build a personal training business or accept a position as a buyer at CarMax, which was the only job offered to me at the time.
One afternoon, I went into Gold’s Gym to get a membership, just to stay occupied. Right then, they asked, “Hey, you look pretty big—want to become a personal trainer with us?” I thought, “Sure, why not?” I had no connections in Vegas and no real plan.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that working for Gold’s Gym at $7 per session was not what I wanted to do. So, I started reading books on marketing, including online marketing, trying to figure out how to grow my own business. It was a while ago, but I still remember taking out an ad in the local paper offering three personal training sessions for $99. Within a week, I got a call, and it was so Vegas. My first few clients were exactly what a Midwest person might expect from Sin City.
One woman called, crying. Her husband had told her that he would divorce her if she didn’t lose 100 pounds immediately. Not an easy task, but I’ve always loved challenges.
When I met her, it was clear that she didn’t need to lose 100 pounds. I understood the exaggeration that often happens when someone is terrified of losing their relationship, as she clearly was. As toxic as the situation seemed, I began training her 10 hours a week, which allowed me to stop working at Gold’s Gym altogether.
Within three months, she had achieved impressive results, and I started receiving a lot of referrals. My first referral was a client in the sports gaming business, and I would train him out of his home five days a week.
I was quickly immersed in the Vegas lifestyle. The first client owned an escort service, and the second was involved in sports gambling. I often asked them questions about their businesses, just to gain perspective on how different industries worked. The biggest lesson I learned during this time was how to treat people with respect, even when things don’t always go your way. You gather information, make the best decisions, and keep moving forward.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
I tell new and struggling personal trainers this all the time: What makes you mildly successful in this field is your basic knowledge of the human body, health, fitness, and motivation.
But if you want to be great, it’s really your ability to connect with people. You have to be like a chameleon, adjusting to the different personalities you encounter throughout the day. You’ll often be working with type-A or successful individuals who have a lot going on, so you need to be able to read the situation and keep them engaged.
You need to be understanding. You need to listen. But more than that, you’re trying to get a message across to them, and everyone receives that message a little differently. Your job is to figure out the best way to communicate that message and make these individuals successful in their health and wellness journey.
Make it fun for them. Make it stick.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ForgetTheGym.com
- Instagram: @mytrainerdave
- Twitter: @mytrainerdave
