We recently connected with Jeanicia Elder and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jeanicia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
I wonder what it would be like to have a regular job everyday. The “team aspect” of a “regular job” seems attractive. My business staff consist of me and ever so often an assistant. That means when it comes to any decision everything falls on me. After the COVID shutdown I wanted to get my training started again.
At a regular job, the personal trainer would usually not be the person who calls former clients; “regular jobs” have a receptionist or customer service agent on staff who takes care of that. In addition to programming workouts, learning choreography, and other “normal” fitness trainer duties I have to take on the role of customer assistant, social media manager, and other duties.
When I get overwhelmed with the amount of tasks I have to complete I think about the creative and scheduling autonomy that I have. In a regular job a customer service agent must succumb to the schedule, I make my own schedule. When I want to change choreography or workout programs I can take creative license. The aforementioned conclusions help me focus on the positives.
Jeanicia, 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 started two companies, ByJRochelle and The Fellowship of Fitness, where I work as a media producer as well as a fitness trainer. I started those businesses after determining that I had the education, the experience, the passion, and the skills to do exactly what I wanted to do so I stopped looking for a position and created my own.
With ByJRochelle, I help my customers get their message across. Whether they want to teach life skills, advertise events, or publicize a project I use my background in media production to create videos from pre-production to post-production. Oftentimes I work with entrepreneurs like myself who usually operate in multiple capacities at their organizations. My clients appreciate my creativity, efficiency, and attention to detail. The project I’m most proud of is my work with Escape from Poverty.
With The Fellowship of Fitness I focus on cultivating positive relationships that offer fun and accountability. I teach regular virtually and in person. I also conduct monthly community events. Specifically through my virtual and community events I help my clients get rid of normal time constraints that sometimes become excuses.
Have you ever had to pivot?
At the start of my fitness career, I had to pivot. I intended on focusing on group fitness but an opportunity came up for fitness training. In taking on that role I gained more experience training individuals which made me a better group fitness instructor.
I had to realize that there was more than one way to get to the place I wanted to be. The way turned out being less straightforward but I gained invaluable experience along the way.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn the “wait your turn” principle. It might seem nice and polite but more often than not I had to start speaking up and talking myself up. Sometimes I would interact with people who needed my services and I only found out because someone else got the opportunity. This was especially hard for me because I’m also an introvert.
Frustrated with these missed opportunities, I started asking those “someones” how they got the opportunity and a majority of the time it was as simple as speaking up. I had to realize that may not get another opportunity to be in the same space with with the clients you who need my services; I had to stop wasting time and and start speaking up.
Now, I don’t wait my turn. I take every opportunity that I can to talk about what what I have to offer and my experience. I’m always sure to ask people what projects they are working on just in case I have something that can help the process along. Even if I can’t help, my genuine interest is always appreciated and I think that is a reason that I’ve been able to cultivate the professional relationships in my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thefellowshipoffitness.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/thefellowshipoffitness/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFellowshipOfFitness/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrelder/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/FitchickFriends
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnJuK3Ni0yClM2w7Egr2Icg
- Other: https://www.byjrochelle.com http://instagram.com/ByJRochelle/ http://twitter.com/byjrochelle
Image Credits
C’na Roberts