We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Samantha Welch a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Samantha , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

Some readers are going to love this story and some will have strong opinions, but others opinions are none of my business. Prior to buying the franchise, FIT4MOM Santa Clarita, I was in sales for Arbonne. Arbonne is a MLM (multi level marketing) business focused on health and wellness. The MLM business model is very low risk so it was easy for me to confidently dive in, knowing if I was unsuccessful I wouldn’t lose a lot of money. What I thought I was getting myself into was chatting with people about a 30 day detox program, but what I gained from it was so much more than protein powder sales.

I was constantly challenged with healthy competition from the home office, they had wonderful incentives to help consultants like myself stay on track and push for their monthly goals. The team of women I worked along side were obsessed with personal development and growth. Have you ever heard the saying, you are the sum of the 5 people you hang out with the most? I don’t know a statement to be more true. The community that surrounded me influenced me to wake up early and read non fiction books that aided in positive mental health and a business mind set. We encouraged each other to move our bodies in the morning, eat healthy, be mindful and step outside of our comfort zones.

I learned that I could not pour from an empty cup, that public speaking and confidence aren’t as uncomfortable as they once were, that sales was just a conversation about what you can offer to benefit someone else and hard work pays off. I learned to trust the process, I gained the confidence to go after buying a high risk business when it was presented to me as an offer.

One more key thing that I love to share, I was offered FIT4MOM because the current owner saw my successes with Arbonne and trusted me to take over. Never underestimate what opening one door can do for future doors.

Samantha , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I suppose my career in fitness career started when I was 16, unknowingly to me that it would show up again much later in my life. I grew up as a gymnast at Gymnastics Unlimited in Santa Clarita, CA. The owners, Carol and Gabby had quite literally seen be grow up. I remember walking into the gym when I was 16 and asking Carol for a coaching job, I started later that week and was there until I left for college. While coaching at the gym, there was opportunity to have private coaching sessions with students. At the time I was a high school cheerleader and lots of my students wanted to make their prospective teams, so lo and behold, I now had a side business operating private lessons for tumbling and cheerleading. That was my first business, and it was quite lucrative for a 16-18 year old kid.

Flash forward to today, I am a certified personal trainer through NASM, I and still offering private lessons but now for strength training and weight loss. The franchise I own is called FIT4MOM Santa Clarita and we offer pre-natal and Postpartum fitness classes. I found this company when my youngest daughter was 5 weeks old and I was desperate to leave the house and move my body. FIT4MOM solves some very common pain points for Moms, it gives them an instant community of other people in the same phase of life they are in, it gets them into a routine with their kiddo, outside in the fresh air and sunshine and helps them ease back into fitness. I am so proud of every woman that has ever come to one of our classes because I know showing up to the first one is the hardest part. Motherhood is the hardest chapter of life and doing it alone is just nonsense. It takes a village and that’s what we are, your local strength in motherhood village.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social Media 101, expect change!
-follow a influencer who monitors algorithm changes and makes up to date posts about changes in the platform
-post daily using key words to help people find your content (hashtags)
-Create call to actions “comment MOM and we will reach out with a free class pass”
-create stories that are engaging (polls and voting)
-comment on other peoples posts and be active in stories (social media likes the people who are engaging)
-respond to every comment on your thread to keep it at the top of everyones feed.
-If you’re looking for a localized following (eg: just the city you live in) then post your location in the edits.
*Remember that 1,000 engaged followers is better that 10,000 random people who don’t care what your post
-Chat GPT is your best friend
-Scheduling posts is your second best friend
-Consistency is key

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

Leadership Books:
“The 21 irrefutable laws of Leadership” By: John C. Maxwell
“The 5 levels of Leadership” By: John C. Maxwell

Mindset Books:
“Atomic Habits” By: James Clear
“Miracle Morning” By: Hal Elrod
“The High 5 Habits” Mel Robbins
“The 5 Second Rule” Mel Robbins
“Win in the dark” By: Joshua Metcalf | Lucas Jadin
“On Fire” By: John O’Leary

Contact Info:

• Website: https://santaclaritavalley.fit4mom.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fit4momsantaclarita/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrollerStridesSantaClaritaValley/

Image Credits

McClain Mell Photography
Seana Castaneda Photography