Today we’d like to introduce you to Syed Abbas.
Syed, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started with social media… I’ve worked out and studied fitness/nutrition my whole life and absolutely love it. I received my degree in kinesiology and I’m a certified personal trainer. But I decided to go the physical therapy route instead and left the fitness stuff behind. However, I never stopped training myself. So I decided to start posting some of my workouts on Instagram and I immediately started getting some recognition. I’m nowhere near “insta famous” but I gained enough followers to start offering online coaching. And I actually had people that were interested! I started getting messages and emails from prospective clients and things started to snowball from there. With all the attention I was getting I had to create a website, download a training software (to train clients more efficiently) and before I even knew it I was running a small business. I definitely don’t have it all figured out yet and I’m still learning as I go, but it has been an incredible journey so far. I even have supplement companies reaching out to me for sponsorships. I am currently sponsored by Staunch Nation supplements. I can’t wait to see how far I can take this business.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road has definitely had many bumps along the way. One of the more significant bumps was the fact that I was working full time when I started this. It’s very hard to keep up with a new business, no less grow it when you’re spending the majority of your time and energy somewhere else. I’d come home after work exhausted but had to answer emails, create workout/diet plans for clients and also go to the gym myself and create more content for Instagram. It was all pretty overwhelming at first. But eventually, I was able to cut some hours and put more focus into the business.
Another bump was more psychological… I didn’t have a lot of support going into this. A man in his 30’s posting workout videos to social media wasn’t the best look in a lot of people’s eyes. A lot of friends and family saw it as a joke and didn’t really see a future in it for me. It’s easy to get discouraged when people don’t believe in you. But lucky for me I have an amazing girlfriend that always supported me and even pushed me to start this whole thing. She definitely helped me through some tough times when I doubted myself.
Please tell us about Like Abbas Fitness.
Like Abbas Fitness is an online coaching service. Basically a virtual personal trainer. I specialize in weight loss and muscle development. But I can work with anyone to get them to their dream body. Once a client decides to sign up, they must fill out a questionnaire which lets me know their personal goals and then I create a workout and diet plan for them. They get workouts every week with detailed instruction and videos on how to perform each workout. Then I discuss their diet plan… My diet plan is what I am most proud of with this business. I teach clients what I call “Flexible Dieting”. This makes “dieting” so much more sustainable and enjoyable. You can have your cake and eat it too… literally. No more starving yourself and eating bland tasteless foods to lose weight. My diet plan is revolutionary and I teach it to all my clients. On top of all that, I like to do weekly checkins via Skype/some sort of video chat to discuss progress and how we need to adjust the program. If you follow what I say, I guarantee amazing results!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would 100% have scaled back on my full-time job and put more focus on this business early on. I would definitely be a lot further along now if I had just believed in myself and went for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.likeabbasfitness.com
- Phone: 6825646597
- Email: abbasfitness88@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/like.abbas.fit
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQn7NfZMlybf4cGEyVaAN4Q
Image Credit:
Caleb Peace
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