We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Whitney Schneider a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Whitney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My parents divorced when I was 5. At the time it wasn’t as widely accepted. Society would say I was from a broken home and therefore also broken.
They both taught me invaluable lessons about standing tall in life and pursuing a purpose.
If I was going to start something then I had to finish it. For example, at 10 I started swim team. I begged and begged to do it and at the time and for our family it was a financial commitment as well.
Two weeks in and I wanted to quit. I wasn’t as good as I thought and it was a lot harder than I thought.
My mom who worked full time during the week had to wake up at 5am on Saturdays to get me to swim meets at 6am knowing neither one of us liked it really showed me what commitment meant. After that realization I started working harder at both school and extracurriculars.
My father has a way with words and language usage. His lessons always come in form of sayings.
From a very young age he engrained in me that “you make your own luck.” Essentially, no is going to make it for you and how you show up in the world and present to others designs your future.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Initially I went to college pursuing a degree in Physical Therapy. With a small and intentional detour I graduated from The University of Kansas with a degree in Exercise Science.
I interned with one of the greatest collegiate Strength & Conditioning coaches who taught me a lot about coaching.
And then I decided it wasn’t what I wanted…and I became a personal trainer.
My husband and I became business partners shortly after getting married in 2012 and have owned and operated Schneider Fitness since then.
Our business has evolved and we now own and operate a health collective called Kondition Haus. The health collective includes our gym with 12 personal trainers, massage therapists, physical therapists, chiropractic, group fitness, yoga and ballroom dance!
Each of our health collective members own and operate their own businesses and we do as well. Schneider Fitness is our personal training business that we run out of Kondition Haus.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Pregnant with my first child I left a great gym with great trainers and friends to pursue a different personal training opportunity. I should also mention that my husband was also working at the gym I was leaving.
It turned out that the business owner I was working with was continually changing directions and the new direction wasn’t aligning with my vision for training and purpose as a trainer.
When the time came to either leave with her (to a new location) or take over the lease my husband and I took the opportunity to make our own space.
We might never have left the first gym we worked at together if I was afraid of being uncomfortable. Sometimes uncomfortable situations and conversations lead you to a path to do your best work!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I used to train 7 days a week and would start my days at 5am. I don’t do that anymore.
Hustling is a big aspect of building a business but so is learning how to work smarter and more efficient. And having uncomfortable shifts and conversations.
Schneider Fitness offers small group training where we emphasize strength training as well as cardio and unilateral movements.
Our small groups were a shift from one on one training that not every client was on board with. With their trust in us they’ve all come to love it and find great benefit and satisfaction of working out in a group setting.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.schneiderfit.com
- Instagram: @mamafitwhit