We recently connected with Jaime Filer and have shared our conversation below.

Jaime, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

I always knew that I wanted to be a health coach. Not a personal trainer, because to me, trainers are with you for 1 hour / day, 1-3 days per week. I wanted to be a guardian angel on your shoulder, coaching you through all aspects of your life. As a result, I always knew that our program was going to be devised with the WHOLE person in mind, not just the body.

There were growing pains in terms of figuring out how much to charge for such a holistic approach to health and wellness, but also trying to show people the value of having someone coach you online versus in person. How do you charge to train someone the OTHER 23 hours of the day, besides when they’re in the gym.

I would have set boundaries sooner. I’ve burned myself out more times than I can count, and for what? The work could’ve gotten done the next day. The “hustle” is something you show off to social media, but the real work is done internally; figuring out your worth, getting over the imposter syndrome when you’re just starting out, hearing “no” 50% of the time.

You need to stand your ground when it comes to knowing the 1 person you want to serve, the 1 problem they’re struggling with, and the 1 solution YOUR program offers that no one else can replicate.

Jaime, 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 am a published journalist, motivational speaker, and mental and physical health coach with a degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Physiology. With over 20 years of online coaching experience, Jaime and her team specialize in helping women, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community, overcome overwhelm, reduce anxiety, and build lasting confidence through fitness and mindset strategies.

I always knew that I wanted a career that involved physical fitness. In 12th grade, when the guidance counsellor asked what my major should be, I asked him if there was something that combined gym + recess. His answer was Kinesiology, the study of human movement. I became obsessed with not just the physical effects that strength had on me and my clients, but the mental health benefits as well. As soon as people started talking about their newfound strength in terms of confidence, I knew this was more than just a career, it was my calling.

We provide and all-in-one, mental and physical health training program with the 3R Method (which stands for Anxiety Release, Hormone Reset, and Confidence Reclaim). We teach overwhelmed women how to calm stress, eat in a way that feels normal, and get stronger, without crazy diets or hours at the gym. Clients tell us that they don’t just look different, they feel safe, steady, and like themselves again. This is the goal of our program – to stabilize the nervous system FIRST.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing my cliente has been ‘niching down.’

Focusing on the LGBTQ+ community who struggle with their mental health but want to lose weight / gain muscle has been a game changer. Because I’m now a massive fish in a small pond. I can speak to my audience a lot in a more refined / specific fashion, and address their main pain points a lot more acutely, because I’m not going a mile wide, but rather a mile deep.

Any advice for managing a team?

Making sure that everyone on the team understands the core values, mission, and vision. If they don’t, you need to fire fast. You can teach someone who to be an amazing coach, and incredible sales person, a fantastic COO, but if they don’t understand WHY you do what you do as a company / human, then they won’t make it very far, and potentially pollute the company culture (which is the most important KPI of them all). So make sure that your core values are prominent and prevalent in as many meetings and company documents as possible, and that all of your employees and contractors (yourself included) are living and working by those values.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaimefilerfitness
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaimeFilerFitness/mentions/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-filer
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaim9111