We were lucky to catch up with Joselyn Miller recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joselyn , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I was a new mother in early 2018. I had a background in dance and fitness, and assumed that once my baby was born that I could continue doing the movements and exercises I loved. My husband and I were (and still are) very involved in the Crossfit community. I followed professional athletes on social media that had started families and hopped right back into the sport they loved. No one talked about the challenges and changes that came with motherhood in terms of athleticism, but I was struggling.

I remember the first workout I did after the birth of my daughter. I picked what I thought would be an easy “metcon” and was left in a discouraged puddle on my garage floor, sucking wind and wondering what the heck I was feeling and why something that had previously been so easy to execute suddenly felt unattainable. I had symptoms postpartum like urinary incontinence with impact movements like jumping, a visible abdominal separation (diastasis recti), and a body that was bigger and strange.

Searching online I stumbled on a business that trained fitness trainers to coach pregnant and postpartum women. I couldn’t find any such trainers in my area, and so decided to get certified myself. I had already been coaching Crossfit classes for a few years and so thought that at the very least I could help myself, and perhaps I would also use the knowledge gained to help the other women in the classes I coached.

My daughter was four months old when I got certified. I brought her with me to the seminar in Texas, afraid to leave my nursing baby for longer than a few hours at a time. My husband came with me and hung around to help. On the flight home he mentioned, “why don’t you make this your thing. You could help so many other moms.” The seed was planted. I began to wonder if maybe there was a need for this expertise in my community.

I assumed that if I started this little baby business, the very first clients I would get would be Crossfitters like myself. I posted in area mom Facebook groups that I had this training, and was thinking of offering regular classes. I got a lot of immediate interest and a few people “signed up.” My business was so rudimentary at that time that sign up process was truly just messaging me or texting me. None of the moms that singed up were Crossfitters, but they were moms with problems just like what I was going through myself. As I started teaching and training my daughter was getting older, bigger, and heavier. I truly realized that moms needed functional training, with the symptoms that motherhood can present kept in mind, in order to accomplish their activities of daily living in a comfortable and strong way.

I have spent the last (almost) five years planning and scheming, programming and posting, building this business during nap times, after bed times, on weekends, and early mornings. I’m a full time stay at home mom with a business, and I’m passionate about fitness and helping the moms in my community feel strong and safe in their bodies. It has not always been easy and there have been a lot of times that I get overwhelmed or behind or in over my head. I’ve added two more daughters for a total of three in those five years. Life is hectic and busy but this work is so worthwhile. And, I have loved getting out of my comfort zone too!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started Crossfit the summer before my wedding. My then fiancé had been into Crossfit workouts for awhile, and thought I would love them. But my background is in dance; I was a classically trained ballerina trying to make it as a professional. The sweaty, rugged aspect of Crossfit was very foreign to my body and my brain. He signed me up basically without my knowledge, dropped me off and wished me luck. What could have turned out really badly for him ended up being great for me. I loved it. The challenge of the workouts was exciting to me, learning the movements was a fun brain tingler, and I as I got stronger I got surprisingly better at my original craft of dance. In fact, after a few months of Crossfit I started getting hired at auditions for dance jobs.

At the time I was teaching dance for local dance studios in the evenings but didn’t have a lot going on during my daytimes. The more I hung out at the Crossfit gym, the more I thought maybe I could also coach that. Teaching movement to adults is actually very similar to teaching movement to kids. I approached the owner of the gym I worked out at and he started mentoring me, then I got certified to be a Crossfit Level 1 trainer.

Later, I got pregnant. My husband and I were living in Houston, Texas and I wanted to move back to the Saint Louis area to be closer to family. We moved towards the end of my pregnancy and I began coaching at an area gym. It was after my daughter was born that I started exploring how to coach other moms through this crazy transition I was going through myself.

I currently offer in person classes. I know how important these are for moms. It is really difficult to leave the house when you’re pregnant or postpartum but being surrounded by other women and their children builds a really cool community. My classes are filled with conversations like “what DO I put in my birth bag” and “I’m having a hard time with teaching my child how to eat solids, what have you done before?” And while these are exactly fitness related topics I love that I can provide a place for moms to find this support and camaraderie.

During my in person classes I focus a lot on breath strategy, core, and pelvic floor health. We begin each session with a deep dive into these things. Sometimes I hear my clients say that these few minutes of breathing are the only “purposeful” breaths they take all day, or even all week. Then, we do strength work and a workout to get the heart rates up. All my programing is designed to be accommodating for whomever is standing in front of me, whether that is a third trimester mom or a postpartum mom of a twins. It’s my job to make sure everyone has movement that fits their needs, supports them outside the gym, and they have fun doing it.

I also offer online training. The workouts are written in a similar fashion as my in person workouts, but these are entirely self led. I’m as involved with. my online clients as they want me to be. Some I text back and forth with daily and others prefer if I just check in occasionally. I provide them with video demonstrations and they are welcome to send me videos to get feedback too. This type of training was born directly out of the pandemic. I never would have dreamed of offering this option but with necessity comes great things. A lot of moms have really loved this option as it gives them the flexibility to workout in a way they know won’t hurt them, but in their own homes on their own times. No babysitters or driving needed!

I am most proud of the impact my business has had on my community. I never would have dreamed I would be able to connect with so many women, or that I would be a part of another mother’s journey during such a vulnerable time. I really really love when I have a client find me during a first pregnancy and I get to watch them rock postpartum, and then maybe even a second or third pregnancy. I get really attached to them, and to their kids! I love that these women have become not just clients but friends, and that I get to watch their families’ grow and grow up.

I want potential clients to know that I am all in. I work hard to be a voice of expertise but I also know my scope. I work closely with many area pelvic floor and women’s health physical therapists and I feel passionately that if I don’t know an answer or how to help I will help you find what you need. I am my client’s biggest cheerleader because I AM them. I am in the trenches of motherhood with these women and I get that it’s not easy to prioritize themselves, working out, or even just a simple hour a week away from their kids. But I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of what I do and what I help women do and I’m ready to help as many moms as I can.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I have the smallest budget ever. I’m a one woman team, and I had zero reputation at all when I first started. In fact, though I grew up in Saint Louis I was relatively new to town as I had just moved back from Houston after being gone for five years.

I had to start somewhere though and I started by reaching out to anyone and everyone I could that works in some capacity with moms. My own OBGYN, area midwives, doulas, chiropractors, and physical therapists were all on my list. I would cold call them or email them, show up at their doors with coffee and my business card, and connect with them on social media. I would try to get my face in front of whomever would meet with me, often with my baby in tow because I had no childcare. A lot of the connections I made this way are now good friends of mine and I’m happy to refer my clients to them and vice versa!

Last spring I realized that this was something that I had to do again. The climate changes, the area culture changes, there are new faces in the birth and mama world and some area people didn’t know me. So I began again. I had flyers printed, I called and connected, and I hustled. It’s an exhausting experience for me because I AM somewhat of an introvert. Putting myself out there like that isn’t necessarily on my top list of favorite things. But it has always paid off.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

So I don’t actually have a business partner, but I have a partner in business. I host my business out of a local Crossfit gym and have a great working relationship with the owner.

I originally started Motherhood Strong and rented space from a different gym, and actually that gym is a direct competitor of the gym I’m currently at. Where I first began it often felt like I didn’t truly have control over my own clients or the space I needed to really operate my classes well. We were quite literally put in a corner, I was paying a high percentage of my income for the space, and the owner and managers of the space did not value my business or what I was doing.

One day I was truly driving by the gym I’m currently at with my toddler in the back seat and pulled a U turn to turn into their parking lot. It was not a regular time for a crossfit class, so I didn’t actually expect anyone to be there. But I walked inside and the owners (a mother/daughter team), Lynette Kotraba and Patti York, were sitting at their desks working. Lynette was pregnant with her first child, I was pregnant with my second, and Patti has four grown children and used to be involved as a leader with La Leche League. I could immediately tell “these were my people.”

I explained what I did, why I did it, and where I was hosting my classes. I explained that I was unhappy there, and why. I made it clear that I didn’t what to start drama or create a rift between the gyms but I was looking for a space that could accommodate my classes, that were supportive of moms and new moms and comfortable with breastfeeding in the gym space and would allow me to have control of my own business, and also was affordable.

Before walking in the door of this gym I had no true intention of moving locations. I showed up purely on impulse and a gut instinct. It was a perfect fit and I am so happy to be there still today. Since that day Motherhood Strong has grown a ton and I’ve grown as a coach. I coach some of the Crossfit classes for the general population for Lynette, and she is happy to point her clients to me when they need me. It is a great working relationship.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.motherhoodstrong.com
• Instagram: @motherhoodstrongstl
• Facebook: @motherhoodstrongstl

Image Credits
Gretchen Day Photography