We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kayla Saunders . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kayla below.

Kayla, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

Deciding to even have the courage of starting my own business was extremely hard for me. I started to overthink my flaws and even if I may fail. I was very hesitant at first and decided to actually gain a Group Fitness Instructor position. Being able to gain experience at Planet Fitness was such a great opportunity to help me get my foot in the door of gaining further knowledge in the field. Long story short, my business has been up and running since October and it has been a great journey! I’ve had such a consistent clientele in-person and online.

Some words of advice is to not be hesitant on taking that leap of faith. If you never choose to make a decision for you, you will never get to see what you’re fully capable of.

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

Fitness has always been a core involvement in the family back when I was a kid. But growing up, I honestly didn’t like it. I didn’t stay in sports, I disliked being active, and I was very insecure of myself.

Fast forward to COVID in 2020– I finally decided to take a step forward and take my health seriously. I started working out at home and finding love in active movement, such as running and bike riding.

Then as my final year in undergrad comes along in 2021-2022, I decided that it’s finally time to get into the gym! My friends wanted to join me along this journey, and that slowly became me training my loved ones for FREE.. yes, FREE. I enjoyed working out and training so much that I didn’t need to get paid for it.

After I graduated, I got into nursing school and a year later, I failed out. I always thought that nursing was truly my passion, but actually being in the program was a different story. At the point, I needed to find something else so to. So I decided that it was time for me to take what I loved to do, seriously… which is training!

I got certified in 2023, got my first actual gym job at planet fitness, and I’m now up and running my own Personal Training Business, Kaash Fitness!

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

My ability to be very patient and personable with my clients. It’s easy for someone to give someone a workout and instructions, but it can be very challenging for some to even know how to talk! Your clients will began to start to spend a lot of time with you, so there will be moments that they may feel their most vulnerable. Also, there will be times that you will have to explain an exercise a lot— that’s where having patience becomes extremely important.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Back to what I previously explained, my original path was 100% Nursing for me. At that time, I told myself that I never needed a Plan B because I was forsure about my path. But of course, things happen and sometimes what you may want for yourself, isn’t aligned for you to happen. Failing out of nursing school was one of the hardest situations that I had to overcome in my life, but it actually became a blessing in disguise.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kaashfitness.as.me
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kay.kaashfitness?igsh=MW1iZjB2MHpmNmwwdQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kaykaash0?_t=8nHfkM881uA&_r=1