We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kaneesha Willer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kaneesha below.
Kaneesha, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
It’s been a life of risks.
Since middle school, I knew I wanted to help others – to serve and make a difference in people’s lives.
My mom sold insurance to the local community and was a foster parent. My dad ran a tow company serving the entire county, and sometimes throughout the state. I grew up in the country – the boondocks – La Pine Oregon, a city not even incorporated until 2006.
In my sophomore year, I started classes at the local community college; I studied engineering, but I quickly realized it was not the service or passion I was looking for; I was eager to help others more directly. After having been exposed to law enforcement from within my dad’s towing company, I was inspired to explore options with the sheriff’s office. I secured a job shadow opportunity which led into an internship with the county sheriff’s office and never looked back. This was only the very beginning of the risks I would take.
In 2010 when I began my internship. I found a sense of home, a community of support, and a daily service to others. I quickly transitioned my formal education to law enforcement and continued on the journey of becoming a police officer. I graduated high school and left my hometown. I moved to Boise Idaho, a city where I knew no one, to attend Boise State University. After two years, and swapping degrees, I graduated with my Associates of Science.
I took yet another risk, and moved back to a city just outside my hometown. I continued my formal education with Oregon State University while working for a different local police agency as a Bike Officer. I later tested with that agency and became a Reserve Officer.
In 2014, I faced a new challenge and risk: establishing a new life in northern Arizona. I knew no one in Arizona either, nor had any other ties to it. A short time after settling in, I was held up at gunpoint at the local Subway. That did not stop me or scare me. In fact, never did I know more than in that instance, I wanted to be an officer.
Just a few months later, the city police agency hired me as a property and evidence technician while I waited for a police position to open. I began preparing for the physical agility test, knowing I struggled with Asthma growing up. A long time family friend and mentor coached me into the best running shape I could have only imagined. The police position finally came open, I passed the testing, and I was hired onto patrol. In the police academy, fitness and personal appearance was a major component in my everyday life and heavily graded on. I got an eye opening taste for what a healthy relationship with fitness and nutrition looked like.
I served 7 more years in a certified capacity, transitioning from Northern Arizona to Phoenix Arizona, and promoting from a Patrol Officer to a Detective. My training and experience included hostage/SWAT tactics, drug/cartel/homicide/
As part of that journey, in 2019 while on patrol, I broke my foot in a pursuit. Through recovering from the injury and rehabilitating myself back to normal functioning. I rediscovered my true love for fitness and health. Physical therapy was multiple times a week and supplemented with exercises at home. I was eating delicious food and feeling like I had the most energy I could ever imagine having. Slowly, I built a new network/community of friends who were wanting to invest in their health too. Little did I know, finding myself would be a pivotal moment for the future.
As my rehabilitation came to an end, I hired a personal trainer who helped me understand fitness and its applicability to all things in life. I found my voice and power in learning how to move my body to get stronger, and I learned that fueling my body with whole foods rather than restricting myself or emotional eating, was empowering and gave me energy.
What I began to recognize most, was how so many people around me were all struggling with the same issues I was overcoming. I saw how people wanted to care for their health, but were defeated or overwhelmed, had given up or hadn’t even started. So I started coaching, sharing my knowledge and technique with anyone I could.
What I thought was going to be a retirement option for me in 20 years kept progressing into a 10 year, 5 year, next year plan. Because, through fitness, I learned my heart’s desire to serve others was really in helping others find themselves again.
I shifted, and opened up my home, transitioning a three-car garage into a fully stocked and functional gym where I began training in-person. From near and dear friends, to strangers, I witnessed my clients’ lives dramatically change as they got stronger, their clothes fit more to their liking, and they refined their confidence. I saw the transformation in my clients’ life just by implementing a sustainable, consistent, exercise and nutrition routine.
In my experience, when clients have a better relationship with exercise (hiking, SUP, weight lifting, etc), and nutrition (being more aware and enjoying the food they consume), they generate more clarity, gain more energy, develop stronger relationships with their kids, go back to attending the events they’ve been avoiding, reduce the stresses of work or unhealthy relationships, tap into their intimacy, and so much more.
In 2022, I took another risk by tapping into the savings account, and choosing to expand on my personal development by studying transformational leadership with Heart Core Business. I graduated from the Heart Core Leadership, Class 37, after months of difficult, rigorous transformation. What I learned the most was that interpersonal leadership is what drives a mindset shift and how someone is showing up in their life. Those leadership and transformation tools I studied are a proven component to my coaching in fitness, bringing together a complete mind and body makeover to my clients. This is what separates me apart from a typical fitness coach.
Bringing all these compiling risks full circle, what was once a retirement plan, is now reality. On Christmas Day, 2022, I took my biggest risk to date. Job title: CEO of WILLpower Fitness. I help others transform using fitness, nutrition, and interpersonal leadership. I completely stepped away from law enforcement and the corporate world, and into running my own business, serving clients in a more profound, one on one, community network kind of way.
To make this risk even more juicy, I uprooted my whole ecosystem while doing so, and moved from Phoenix Arizona to Pensacola Florida. In early 2022, I met an Airman in Phoenix where we fell in love and had no question we were going to do life together. Shortly after meeting, my Airman was commissioned to expand his career opportunity, which meant the next duty station: Florida. I went all in, and said yes to moving with him.
Fast forward seven months, I officially packed my bags, loaded up the three dogs, and drove to Florida, leaving Arizona after eight amazing years. Not only was Christmas a transition for the business, but really for all of my life. New friends, sand instead of desert rock, no family within 2600 miles, a new-ish relationship, and a start-up business… I can confidently say, I have never been more scared of the risks I have taken than I am now, but I am equally confident in the happiness and success of this transition.
Kaneesha, 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 Kaneesha Willer, Owner of WILLpower Fitness.
I am a small town girl from La Pine Oregon, a town not even incorporated until 2006. I grew up in the country knowing just about everyone in town for nearly 2 decades. My dad owned his own towing company and my mom worked for her family’s business selling insurance and later transitioned into foster care.
I graduated high school in the same hometown I grew up in. I attended college at the local community college in high school, primarily focused on engineering. With a lack of passion for the engineer career, I interned at a local agency and solidified my true passion for serving others as a Police Officer.
After high school graduation, I moved to Boise Idaho and attended Boise State University – home of the Blue Turf (GO BRONCOS!). I was majoring in Psychology and minoring in Communication until I shifted, and graduated with an Associate of Science in Criminal Justice.
I moved back to Oregon and attended Oregon State University – Cascade Campus in Bend Oregon where I focused my studies in Human Development and Family Science. I immediately got into a police agency and accelerated my career as a Bike Officer and Reserve Officer.
Just a short time later, I moved from Oregon to Northern Arizona. When I landed, I worked at Subway, a dentistry, and a domestic violence safe house shelter for mothers and children. Finally, there was an opening with the local police department and off I went again, accelerating my police career. I worked in property/evidence, detectives, and then patrol.
After a few years, I moved to Phoenix Arizona and continued my law enforcement career there. I worked on patrol, dove deep into the weeds of drug enforcement, coached young aspiring Police Officers (Explorers), volunteered and worked nearly every community event, helped establish a Neighborhood Enforcement Team, and so much more.
Over the last 14 months of my career, I shifted my expertise into working all child and child s*x crimes, including online child crimes (child p*rnography). It was quite the learning curve and often traumatic, but extremely rewarding and powerful.
On Christmas Day, 2022, I made another big shift and transition. I left my 9 to 5 – the corporate life, the long days and weekend call outs – for my personal business in Fitness, Nutrition, & Wellness. I moved from Phoenix Arizona to Pensacola Florida and went ALL IN in this chapter of life!
What is it that I do? I coach transformation is the simple answer. As a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Pain-Free Performance Specialist, Nutrition Coach, and Transformational Leader, I use fitness, nutrition, and wellness to create healthier, stronger, improved lives. I offer services both in-personal and virtual. My services include various levels of fitness and nutrition coaching, as well as a mind to muscle package that serves as a whole body transformation service. Clients will receive quick and easy resources, simplified education, reliable routines, healthy tips, mindset coaching, honest feedback, rigorous communication, and more. WILLpower Fitness’ foundation is built on resisting short-term gratification or temptations for the long-term goal, overriding the thoughts, actions, or feelings that do not serve you.
Why the shift into health and wellness? I care about serving people and I care about people’s health. There is something to be said about the kinds of people who care about their health. I have seen clients shift their entire life because of their health; seeing results in business, relationships, grades, and more. When you feel good, you show up in the other areas of your life. Should I mention the level of investment into health after something goes awry? I want to help shift that response from taking care of our health and bodies once our health or body has been compromised, and set people up to win through preventative, committed action.
How did I get started in fitness? I can’t think of a time in my life when I wasn’t playing sports, being active, doing sports, or working out. I have always loved getting out to the lake, playing on a team, or being adventurous. When I reflect on the memorable moments of my life, I was really showing up as a sister, an aunt, a daughter, a significant other, and employee. I was having fun, taking care of myself – I was being unapologetically me!
What actually kicked off my business in coaching? In 2019, I broke my foot in a foot pursuit at work and it kept me down for 4 months. Okay, it didn’t actually keep me down… I still bought a house and moved, worked out, and got together with friends and family. But what I noticed, I had the drive to keep going – it’s the power of mindset. What I also learned was, no matter how “busy” I was, or how I “tried” staying active, I never really established a healthy, consistent, sustainable relationship with food or exercise. As I reflected, I could see a trend: I was living a yo-yo lifestyle. And, I want something more than that for myself and others.
What will my client receive? My client will feel like a friend, even family at times. They will gain a new perspective about their life or how they’re showing up in it. There will be big changes not only in their appearance, but their confidence, relationships, parenting, employment and more. My coaching will give them the tools, support, accountability, and feedback, to start showing up for life and take back their true happiness. For some, it will soar them into undiscovered territory of peace, success, confidence, and calmness. My clients have seen reduced stress, less worry, and more forgiveness, which all comes from vulnerability and trust, letting go of pain or trauma that holds them back and causes them to play small.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Aside from training or knowledge in the field or industry, the most important or helpful tip for success in my opinion, is being in relationship with people. My job is to serve others.
Think of a time when you sold your biggest package, your most grandiose service, you created the most significant transformation, or you locked in the ideal client. What did it take for you to get there? What did you risk to make it happen? Who did you get to be when you did it? What did you say? How did you show up for the other person?
My guess, you were in relationship with them.
You listened to the pain they experienced. You heard the depths of the struggle. You dug deeper into what the pain was costing them. You asked questions. You got the lowest bottom of the pain.
Then, you inspired them to see the dream. You gave them the outlook of what was possible. You challenged, “what would it look like if you had it all”. You asked what was next for them. You showed them they were worthy and instilled confidence in them. You showed them their capability. You encouraged them to think big and imagine their dream.
To close, you made it apparent, you and your services closed the gap between the pain and the possible. You and your service married the paths to make the dream a new reality for them. You showed them the connection with your guidance, to their successes, goals, accomplishments, and more.
You were in relationship with them.
The relationship was intimate, vulnerable, connected. Getting into relationship with someone is building a connection with them, providing support, and generating empowerment for them to feel courageous or “ready” for what they really want. The person is already capable, but you are the gap that makes it possible for them to actually do it. Being in relationship creates a bond that initiates trust and action.
If I could have recognized the power of being in relationship with others sooner, I would be in a much different place. As I learn more about it and become intimate or am vulnerable with others, the more I understand how I get to serve others and better define my purpose.
The best part of being in relationship with people is how it is applicable and necessary in all interactions. This is where the success goes beyond my field, or the client I’m working with. Rather, it shows up in all areas of life: parent/child, partner/partner, teacher/student, counselor/client, waitress/patron, nurse/patient. The success is in creating relationships with people, who in turn, replicate that intimacy and vulnerability in their other connections, and it multiplies. A new perspective of leading with the heart.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
One of the most effective strategies for growing my clientele is building a text and email list. While working with Heart Core Business, I learned effective ways to host events, conduct an interview series, and build challenges to grow a list – it’s the summit model. The summit model is used in just about every media platform and by so many of most influential business owners of our time.
Looking at all the big name businesses like Best Buy, Walmart, Target and more, consider how they advertise? Text and email. Yes, they have many paid ads too, but as a person who isn’t exposed to much other marketing like TV commercials, a text or email is a sure way to get a hold of me.
Thinking about social media, and how easy it is to get in social media jail, be banned, or completely shut down… how would you stay connected with those followers or viewers without a direct contact? Sure, you could restart an account or maybe you were lucky enough to be restored, but your growth wouldn’t happen again overnight. But if you had their contact info, it wouldn’t matter if your social media was kicked.
Building a list has allowed me to have a direct audience to communicate with. I know they are more likely my target audience and an audience who has gotten to know me, which fosters trust and transparency. The ability to market for your service exponentially increases and is a much more efficient use of marketing efforts, especially when on a money diet. Plus, I get to run more in-depth analytics on my direct marketing to see what lands or what misses the mark.
Sure, there are other tactics used to gain traffic to an event or interview series. Consider your expenses/budget, how much time it takes to acquire a client, and how organic the list is you’re building. The summit model gives you an opportunity to utilize the experts who already have lists and it’s an organic way to drive traffic, obtaining your target clientele. Then, getting into relationship with them becomes an easy next step.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willpower_fitness_llc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WILLpowerFNW/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@willpower_fitness
- Other: TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@WILLpowerFNW