We were lucky to catch up with Erin Cullin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Erin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

I run a small business, as a fitness coach, and I’m a full-time single mom to a toddler. While this has been best of the best; I can be my own boss, set my own hours, and more flexibility to raise my daughter, it can also be “lonely” at times. There’s no other boss or co-workers, or anyone coming in to evaluate my work, or give me that attaboy. My clients are the fruits of my labor, though. Their success is how I measure my own success. Their wins are my wins, and subsequently, I feel their losses, deeply. These people have helped shape me into the Coach and mentor I’ve always wanted to become in life. They are more than just my clients: they are like family to me, especially the ones who have been with me since day 1 and provided their unconditional support.
I can think of a particular time when I was experiencing doubt, as any entrepreneur can attest—we’ve all been there. This one client of mine just simply told me, “I see you. You’re doing a great job. You’re running your business and raising your daughter, so she sees a strong mom. Keep going. Don’t ever give up.”
I think about this memory, even now, and it fills my eyes with tears. I just needed to feel seen. Everyone needs to feel praised and validated and, in that moment, that client knew how to give me a gift that could never be measured monetarily. That client gave me kindness.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I began EMC Fitness Coaching in 2021. Like so many people at that time, I needed to earn an income, while working from home. Being able to be a full-time caregiver to my daughter, and run a business has not been an easy task. I started this business to be able to do both of those things: be a mom and be a bread-winning boss mom. My business started with many virtual clients and now, fast forward to 2023, I have more in person clients and only a few virtually. I love this because it gives me the ability to high five for getting that last rep or seeing them physically get a lift they’ve been working towards and then celebrating in that room with them. I offer a variety of services: kettlebells, Animal Flow, strength & conditioning, but my most popular services are TRX and Functional Range Conditioning (FRC). The majority of people come to me with the desire to gain strength and have less pain, but the FRC piece allows us to build their strength at the joint level. A very common phrase that you’ll hear in the studio about joint health is, “if your joints don’t work, you’re in real trouble.” It might have a few different choice words, but you understand: Joint health matters.
We work at the joint level and establish the client’s active range of motion, which is the range they have complete control over, in that particular joint. We also uncover their passive range, which is the range I can help them get into or with the help of a prop (wall/block/pipe). Active range is very important in showing me how their joints move in daily life. Passive range shows us (myself and the client) what they’re capable of achieving. These active and passive ranges are where we work to build a stronger joint. Having stronger joints means stronger muscles and significantly less pain.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Without a doubt, the best growth strategy for me has been to hire my own coach. My coach has been more than a coach to me, she has become a mentor and friend to me. By working with a coach, I’ve learned about how to run my business. My coach runs a wildly successful online 1:1 personal training business and she is also certified in many of the formats that I teach.

I think hiring someone more successful than me has helped me become more successful. She’s shown me what to do and more importantly, what not to do. I’ve grown exponentially under her guise, both professionally and as an athlete. I’ve learned how to create more diverse programming for my clients, based off of my own workouts. By investing in myself this way, I’ve been able to expand my knowledge far more than any school has taught me. Hands on experience is the best way to learn because you learn, even if you fail.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think being able to learn from hands on experience and seeing failure a natural part of the process has made me a better person. Also, knowing when to ask for help. As a full-time mom, I wear more than just 2 hats—especially with my daughter getting bigger and having more activities. It’s physically impossible to do more than 1 thing at a time, so sometimes asking for help is what I have to do. I think it shows strength and that makes me a better leader.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emcfitnesscoaching/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emcfitnesscoaching/

Image Credits
Hyrox 2023 Chicago Championships Male client: Larry Keister