Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Haley Poinsette. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Haley thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I have always been in the Health & Wellness industry, I was either contracted by companies to build their brand or I was working full time in the corporate environment to build their brand. In 2021 the idea & foundation of Unique Houz began – I spent time researching, planning, & creating the Mission/Vision. During this time, I also started to work on branding & creating lasting local connections with other businesses in my community! The fuel to the fire, what caused me to start leaning into my own business, was mid 2022 I began to feel underutilized & under valued in my positions. I wanted to start getting serious about creating a company that would guide & educate the community about their Health & Wellness, while simultaneously creating a working environment for myself/staff that stands strong our pillars of Integrity, Intention, & Connection. My initial first steps after setting up the foundation of the company were to focus on gaining clients who were interested in personal/group training. Then I began to branch out, hosting fitness events & pop ups in the Houston community. After that, I started to engage with my connections more & collaborate on events that would benefit both parties, get the word out about the brand, & offer local community connections for clients/attendees. We are now in 2023, where I am the founder, owner, & full time employee of Unique Houz! We now offer Fitness/Corporate Wellness, Social Media Management, & New Business Event Consulting. My day to day consists of time blocks that focus on marketing the brand, reaching out to potential collaborations, & assisting my contracted clients with social media & external events.

Haley, 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?

I grew up as a high level athlete, I was in the gym as if it was a full time job at age 12, with my sport of choice being Gymnastics. I competed level 10 for years at the club level & then founded/competed/coached The University of Houston NAIGC Gymnastics Team. My main area of study was Exercise Science, I double majored in Dance for about a year and a half, before deciding that a minor in Nutrition would most likely be a better fit for my long term goals. After graduating college in 2017, I went into the fitness industry full time until 2020. My transition into the corporate world happened mid 2020, where I began to work with recovery & wellness full time. My time in studio management gave me a deeper understanding & hands on experience with responsibilities like onboarding/offboarding staff – payroll – staff sales training – HR expectations for large companies – and so much more! I am proud of the skills that I have acquired thus far in my career & have always enjoyed applying these skills to help with any & all aspects of my business growth now. Overall, I am a passionate trainer/coach for my clients & I am also just as passionate about mentoring/teaching others the skills that I have mastered. My intention is to show folks the discipline/authenticity that they need or want in order to change their lifestyle & see the results that they are looking for long term. Our health & wellness spans a few categories which include your mental health – your emotional health – your internal wellness – and of course, YOUR PHYSICAL WELLNESS!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My first piece of advise, BE YOURSELF & CREATE FOR OTHERS – I’ve found that your audience will find you. Some of my best work has been, will continue to be, fun ideas that come to me sporadically. This might happen while I am on a walk, sweating hard in the gym, speaking to clients, or during regular daily activities. My next tip would be, slow down – write the idea in your notes or somewhere that you can refer back to. This small tool has changed my level of content creation tremendously because it allows for me to sit down at a time blocked date & easily be able to create a content calendar that makes sense for your audience to follow. At the end of the day, social media is about creating a story. Creating something that people WANT to follow, WANT to LEARN from, or that CREATES POSITIVE EMOTION for them should help you gain a following that will stick by you & stay for the long run. Let go of always wanting to “be on trend”, not every trend is going to fit you & not every trend will fit your business. A little content planning, a little business vision, & a little authentic content will go along way!

Any advice for managing a team?

I love managing teams, it’s one of the skills that I have mastered over the years, but it’s also a skill that came pretty naturally for me – so I was lucky enough to start learning team management at a higher level then most from a younger age. My main pieces of advice for another who may be struggling to get their team all rowing in the same direction, for the same goal is 1) Do you have the right team members? 2) Do you know your teammates individually, on a deeper level? 3) What is the tone that YOU set as the leader? 4) In what ways do you pour into your team & grow them? These questions are not the easiest to answer & can be overwhelming for those who might not connect with their team right off the bat. The goal as a team leader is to create relationships where your team WANTS to work hard for you! We as leaders can do that by slowing down to first consider in what ways do we approach our team & in what ways do they prefer to be approached. Each person on your team is going to respond differently to any and all situations that may arise within your company, I feel it’s important to be able to minimize some of negative reactions by simply creating a more fluid and transparent conversation with your team individuals as business changes or issues arise that will affect them directly. Outside of the above – I highly suggest monthly or quarterly team building or outings. Whether the team is reaching goals or not – I think some companies fail at morale because they use connection/community for their teams as a incentive to “meet metrics”. I have found that reversing that thought process will enhance your teams performance & in turn they will work harder….because now its FOR THEIR TEAM. For the people they care about, they know personally, & they want to see WIN (bonuses, giveaways, company leader boards, etc).

Contact Info:

• Website: N/A
• Instagram: @UniqueHouzHou and @IAmUniquelyFitt
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082005902581
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haley-poinsette-9738b4237/
• Twitter: N/A
• Youtube: N/A
• Yelp: N/A
• Other: TikTok – @BeUniqueHaley

Image Credits
@KBoats on IG @ahhuhproductions on IG