We recently connected with Heather Sholl and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Heather, thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I’ve had three major turning points in my career and all have steered me down the path of expansion into avenues beyond my wildest expectations. Early in my career, when I still thought training was just a job, a former client reached out with the opportunity to manage and train at the gym in a small town where she retired with her husband. At twenty-four years old, I did not think I was ready or capable but I knew if she believed in me, I needed to take the opportunity. The expectations to wear multiple hats, work long hours and be relevant in the community were overwhelming and life changing. I understood the impact I could have if I gave everything to a job that I loved and opened my know-it-all heart to learning from others far wiser than myself.

The second turning point began when I read the harrowing account of Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell in the book Lone Survivor with a group of girlfriends. We decided to pull together our time, talents and resources to increase non-partisan patriotism with a “Thank You campaign” for veterans. Our little side hustle grew into a small business, which then became a nationally recognized non-profit and now has raised over $25million to fund our wellness programming for treatment of PTSD. The process of building Boot Campaign showed me a side of myself in business I never knew I was capable of achieving. I had always been a solo-preneur but that experience taught me how to work on team, how to expand, create systems and the necessity of adapting rapidly when opportunity present itself -no matter how inconvenient.

After winding down from the fever pitch of that growth I returned to work, full time, as a wellness coach and trainer. Armed with new skills and new confidence I invested in a brick and mortar gym to house training/wellness coaching and our growing smoothie business. Not long after we bought the existing gym, a member approached me regarding my interest in adding a cardiac rehab/prehab program. Fortunately, part of my community and client involvement in the small community of Hamilton gave me the opportunity to watch a dear friend research and build a cardiac rehab program at the local hospital. So, with some degree of uncertainty and fear, I said yes to the member’s suggestion at my own gym. Now, that member, Dr. Jonathan Aliota, board certified cardiologist and Department Head of Cardiology at Memorial Hermann Hospital is our medical director and we have a cardiac rehab and prehab program that brings our business to a different level of professionalism.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My husband and I came into our careers in a typical, uninteresting fashion.. we are former athletes who wanted to extend our expertise in the exercise into helping others. Every single person who becomes a trainer “wants to help people.” So, that’s not unique.

The difference in us and our gym is the focus and commitment we have to total wellness. We turn people into lifetime success stories, not “after photos”. People here are as inspired by the 90 year olds marching in the door at 5pm to see cardiac rehab friends, as they are by the working moms with rocking bodies here after carpool, because everyone is here to be their best. I don’t want to make the mistake of focusing on aesthetic goals because they are fleeting and so is the commitment of the client.

There is a uniqueness in our approach because I’ve focused on building relationships with doctors who believe that people need support outside their offices and that exercise is medicine everyone needs. We all believe that collaboration is the best approach to improving health and happiness. Our docs answer our questions in real time. They aren’t exposed to the clients directly but I have a relationship with them where we can get answers and referrals. If we aren’t the source, we find one and we find it quickly.

Outside of cIient love and satisfaction, I am most proud of the collaboration we have among our team onsite and offsite. Our clients, our partners and our staff trust one another and that is huge when we’re asking to help with personal health information. Every person in our network believes that health is happiness and that we all have a responsibility to help those who want to live healthy and happy.

Exercise changes lives and humans were made to MOVE. Period.

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

One of the toughest lessons I had to unlearn is that being busy and being productive aren’t the same thing.

I have always prided myself on my work ethic and ability to have 12 hour days with full focus. As it turns out, I am also an endlessly creative thinker with no shortage of ideas. Both seem like good things to take ownership of, but the combination of the two meant that there was no end to my ability to dream up and sell new ideas to keep me busy at work.
While these are great qualities that have helped me grow a career, buy a business, manage a family and expand our business, it was driving me into a deeper hole than I realized.
One day a mentor advised me to stop every activity that was non-revenue producing for 6 months. That changed my life. Every time I have a new idea I ask myself “how many non-revenue producing hours do I have to spend on this idea?” and “Am I productive in this role or am I busy?”

If I want to stay in my “genius zone” where I love and serve best, I have to hold myself responsible to answering that question,

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

As an individual coach and trainer, I never had a problem finding and maintaining a client base using word of mouth, but as I bought and began to expand business in an industry with a notorious high turnover rate, I had to figure out how to implement the same principles for our team as I did for myself. I had to create the same stability and networking resources in a team of trainers. Thus, the most effective strategy for me in growing a clientele is focusing on stability, consistency and making the commitment to under-promise and over-deliver for our employees. In turn they do they do the same for the clients and the word gets out through network gin with our own clients. I strive to be a resource, a leader, a sounding board, a mentor, and a student. If I can achieve that, they can too. We deliver exactly what we say we will with out confusion. It’s amazing how much that matters.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thevillagesgym.com
• Instagram: @thevillagesgym
• Facebook: The Villages Gym
• Linkedin: Heather Sholl
• Youtube: The Villages Gym
• Yelp: The Villages Gym

Image Credits
Kendall Hanna, Hallie Keller