We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Trotta recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

Although COVID nudged my business model entirely online, the truth is that I had started to shift to remote personal training in 2016.

At the time, I was a self-employed in-home personal trainer on the Upper West Side of New York City. I loved my clients, but I was also fully booked and worked long hours, dashing from apartment to apartment and not always feeling like I was being true to my vision for my business. This was partly because I wanted to make nutrition coaching one of my core offerings, and I had a dream of creating more holistic programs for my clients that addressed more than just workouts. I wanted my clients to feel that they had a plan not just for sessions, but for real life outside of our 60-minute time slots.

I began to make the transition to my online career when I set up “assignments” for my clients when I would go on vacation. Not only did I notice that these mini-doses of hands-off coaching empowered my clients, but I also realized that they required me to systematize my business model more effectively. Within a few years, I was coaching clients remotely all over the country (alongside my busy personal training schedule), feeling more than ever that this model yielded tremendous impact.

Then COVID struck. Although I had dreamed for years of moving entirely online, I was pregnant with my daughter (now 3), and I had not anticipated making an abrupt transition at such an inopportune moment. But, as it turned out, it was just the push off the diving board that I needed. Although it was a dark time for our world, taking in-person training off the table forced me to evolve my business model, create more robust systems, and invest in better software.

But most of all it required that I believe in myself and the more holistic coaching style that I had been developing for years.

Rachel, 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?

As someone who has maintained a 50-lb. weight loss for 10 years (and has had ups and downs and challenges), I know that transformation is more than skin deep.

Reclaiming your body empowers you, builds mental and physical strength, provides clarity, and helps you enjoy life more. It’s not just about the number on the scale – it’s about having the knowledge and confidence that you are living the best version of your life, and have a fulfilling relationship with food, exercise, and self-care.

Training online is empowering – what people need most is confidence in themselves so that they can be independent and consistent in their routines, as well as true to their own internal compass.

I adore online training because this beautifully integrated model of giving people the education, habits, and tools they need to be successful – and then letting them do it, without either hand-holding or “tough love” – really, truly works.

I’m a Certified Personal Trainer (NASM) with specializations in fitness nutrition, women’s fitness, pre/postnatal, and physique and bodybuilding. While my home base is New Jersey, I help clients all over the world. My programs include strength workouts, habit coaching, nutrition education, and more. The best part of my work is seeing my clients get authentic results that last.

I’ve also been featured in Women’s Health, Insider, Well+Good, and the Huffington Post; and I’ve authored articles for MindBodyGreen and Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine.

I’m also a wife, mom, nature lover, runner, avid cook, weightlifting aficionado, history nerd, travel addict, and obsessive podcast listener.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I highly recommend Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” and Michael Hyatt’s “Free to Focus.” As entrepreneurs, your greatest challenge is the clock, and productivity is incredibly important. These books have helped me to build healthy boundaries with time and energy. In fact, I still do the “Weekly Preview” worksheet from “Free to Focus” literally every single Friday. I truly believe that time management and focus are what separate effective business owners from hobbyists.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Early in my business (when I was still doing in-person training), I made a decision to switch all of my existing clients from a per-session model to a monthly subscription model. My finger was on the pulse of changing trends in fitness, and I knew that the subscription model was the future. Unfortunately, my clients weren’t in the future with me yet, and literally every single one quit rather than make the shift. It was a near-death moment for my business, but it created an opportunity for me to start from scratch and attract clients who were more interested in a holistic model of training, which included nutrition education and habit coaching. Although this experience was incredibly stressful, it laid the foundation for the evolution of my business model – away from a 60-minute session mentality, and toward a comprehensive support and transformation mindset.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.racheltrotta.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/racheltrottacpt/