We recently connected with Jaquan Newsome and have shared our conversation below.
Jaquan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?
One of the best investments I’ve made as a business owner is to spend 24k on a mentor. At the time I was only doing about 60k a year so I had to speak to Jesus a couple of times before making that investment. On top of that, it was right when the pandemic hit and I lost half of my clients overnight. I was leasing out a gym and when COVID hit, all businesses had to shut down. Before COVID I had a dream of running my business full time online, but I was unaware of how to do it and still be able to maintain my lifestyle. Once the world went on lockdown to slow the spread, I had two options. Either let my business fail or take a risk of investing money I didn’t even have to take my business to another level. The learning curve was tough. I got rejected on sales calls over and over again, but in the end, I ended up doing six figures while working fewer hours. This was by far my best investment yet. The lesson I learned is that in order to grow sometimes you have to be put in uncomfortable positions with your back is against the wall. There is no growth without some sort of investment!
Jaquan, 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?
My name is Jaquan Newsome. I am the Founder of BeFitnomenal and a certified wellness professional with 10+ years of wellness and health experience I am passionate about health and fitness because growing up in a low-income community- obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high preventable death rates from just being unhealthy was a norm. I wanted to see a change and help people because of their best selves through fitness and health. I created wellness programs in the workplace that are based on customized corporate and individual wellness strategies catering to the specific needs of professionals.
We have a full-service, integrated fitness management that includes design, implementation, management, and strategic planning, all focused on helping our clients get sustainable holistic results.
I’m most proud of helping over 1000+ clients improve their body image, confidence, and most importantly extend their life by being healthy.
Every week I post free content on my youtube at https://www.youtube.com/befitnomenal
My website is www.befitexecutivecoaching.com
Feel free to connect with me on Facebook and Linkedin at Jaquan Newsome
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Having the initial capital to fund a business can be really challenging. What I did and what I think a lot of others should do who wants to start their own business, is to use their day job to fund your dream. I knew in order for me to fund my business so I can work in it full time I had to put in overtime. I first looked at the numbers. Figured out how much I will need to quit my job and then got to work. This was my schedule.
Wake up at 3:30am, Workout 4-5am, Eat and Get ready 5:30am-6:30am, Personal Train from 7:30-8:30am, Work my job from 9-5pm, Personal Train again from 6pm-9pm.
It was a grind but it built a lot of character and taught me time management skills. I can remember mopping floors and working a lot of time for free for gym owners just to build relationships.
If you want your dream to happen. No one is going to want it more than you so you have to do whatever it takes.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Currently I am the owner of Befitnomenal, but before that I ran a successful clothing line called Frope Clothing. I ran that business for almost four years and we were thriving. We had celebrities wearing our clothing, had it in clothing stores, and was a major buzz in the city. Unfortunately, I had multiple partners and with growth comes a lot of ego. As the brand grew, so did the egos. Everyone started to butt heads on issues such as titles and percentages. At the peak of our fashion career everything stopped.
I found myself back working a job that I wasn’t passionate about and lost. At this point I could have just continue to work and feel sorry for myself or start fresh and do a new business myself.
I used my knowledge (BS in Kinesiology) and talents to create Befitnomenal. I felt resentment and that I wasted a lot time but I soon realized everything I learned about business from Frope Clothing. I could use that knowledge to grow Befitnomenal. It turned out to be the best decision I’ve made.
A setback is a set up for a comeback!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.befitexecutivecoaching.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/befitnomenal/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaquan.newsome
- Linkedin: https://www.instagram.com/befitnomenal/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU-77OvG_cVP7isv12etK2A
Image Credits
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