We were lucky to catch up with Patrick Sherman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Patrick thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

As a business over of over 25 years you must understand all aspects of the business and day to day. Initially for the first year we ran the company with minimal staffing and my wife and i worked 7 days a week and were always in the trenches. This included painting, laying down carpet and cleaning the facility daily. We would do whatever it took to keep the company moving and growing. I pulled many overnight sessions working and prepping for the next day. When we finally considered hiring staff/team members it was typically part time and as needed. They would soon grow into full time team members as the company gained fiscal strength. When considering a business or leaving your comfort zone. No matter how large your business venture is? You must go all in and sacrifice everything to make it work! Never look back if you’re leaving a cushy corporate job. With all of the unexpected hurdles and items you cannot control such as county and city regulations you just have to handle one evolution at a time.

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

I am the owner of National Personal Training Institute Florida (NPTI). We pride ourselves as being a Military trusted school for personal trainers. We have been veteran owned and staffed for 22 years with many special programs including veteran transitioning into the civilian career force training. I am a US Navy Veteran honorably discharged and had the opportunity to become a defense contractor for many years during Desert Storm and Desert Shield (Iraq). Upon exiting that line of work i landed in Florida and sold real estate with much success until opening our current ACCSC Accredited personal training school in Orlando and Tampa, Florida. We offer great career opportunities to all of our graduates Nationwide and Internationally as needed. We have a huge International student body and offer M1 study visa’s for international students looking to study abroad in the vacation capital of the World.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

After owning NPTI Florida for several years i was diagnosed with throat cancer after having an earache and sore throat for almost 2 months. I would take something for the pain daily and press on. My wife at the time was 3 months pregnant with our second child and our first was just 3.5 years old. My wife was the Vice President of a large hotel company. She had been with the corporation for over 14 years. We decided that she needed to leave the company and run NPTI Florida in case something happened to myself during the surgeries and scheduled treatments for over a year. In summary i lost over 100 lobs during my aggressive radiation treatments, lost my voice for 7 months, had IV fluids 4 hours daily, and an emergency feeding tube on day 45 of no food intact. To make matters worse i had 45 hyper bariatric chamber treatments to strengthen my jawbone density. But in the end i survived and we my wife and i continue to run the company daily.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think Covid-19 is a great example of how you must be able to change on a dime and pivot to survive under the worst pandemic in our lifetime. It will take years to recover and get back on track. But those of us who survived will only get stronger heading into the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nptiflorida.edu
• Instagram: nptiflorida
• Facebook: @npti.orlando.fl
• Linkedin: National Personal Training Institute of Florida (Orlando/Tampa)
• Twitter: @nptiorlando
• Youtube: National Personal Training Institute Orlando

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