We were lucky to catch up with Hannah Kearney recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Hannah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

When I retired from my athletic career as an Olympic skier, I still found myself still going to the gym everyday because I loved training. Although I did not want to put ski boots on to coach on the mountain, I thought I could take my love of training and help coach athletes to become stronger and more confident in the gym. I got my personal trainer certification while working at a corporate gym and began working one on one with young skiing athletes. Covid was the catalyst for me to fully venture out on my own and found Fitness From Afar. After teaching a couple of workouts for the gym over Zoom, I realized that I loved the scalability and the creativity necessary for leading an effective workout online, with minimal equipment. Encouraged by a friend, I took action, got my own Zoom account, came up with a business name and started sending email blast about my virtual workout offerings. I knew that the only way to start a business was to take action! I made adjustments as I went, but I continued teaching weekly workouts over Zoom for an entire year. Acknowledging that my expertise lies in the world of snow sports, I crafted a comprehensive online Ski Prep Challenge in the fall of 2020 that has grown over the last 3 seasons.

Hannah, 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 have always been involved in sports and I was lucky enough to have a professional career. Since retiring, it has been fun to turn my love of training into a business and help others reap the benefits of a comprehensive training program and proper preparation whether they are a competitive athlete or a recreational one. I create programs that are effective, challenging, efficient and fun because I know people are busy and that they are more likely to stick with a program that they enjoy!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I always been a planner. I create to do lists every single day. I set big goals and break them down into smaller goals. For example, I wanted to win an Olympic Gold medal so I crafted a four year plan, a yearly plan, a plan for each training camp then this dictated what I did on a daily basis to help me work towards achievement of said goal. I like to read, listen to podcasts, analyze data, record results and prepare tirelessly because it makes me feel like I have done everything in my power to set myself up for success so I will have no regrets if I fail. This mentality and work ethic helped me immensely when I was an athlete. However, as an entrepreneur, I’ve had to learn to prepare less and act more. In other words, you could research and plan your business forever before you had your first customer. Don’t let preparation paralyze you!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fitnessfromafar.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessfromafar/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitnessfromafarworkouts
• Linkedin: Stacia Goodman

Image Credits
Hannah Kearney