Meet Carolina Conejo

My story started when I graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology in December of 2020.  My plan was to go to physical therapy school so my full time job was a physical therapy tech. I came across a mobile personal training company and I started to work part time as a trainer. I started to realize that physical therapy wasn’t really my passion. I later decided to quit the physical therapy position and I kept working as a trainer. I’ve always been into fitness but I still wasn’t satisfied with my job. After just 6 months of being a mobile personal trainer I quit. I wasn’t a fan of going to people’s homes and some of the company’s policies. I had the idea that I was going to start my own personal training business. I had a home gym which I thought was a perfect place to start training clients. I started off training just my family members and I made an Instagram where I would post-training sessions. My plan was to eventually grow my clientele, but I didn’t really have a game plan. I had found out about a business seminar at a gym nearby and I attended it. I left the business seminar empowered to really start my business at that gym. The gym is self-made Training Facility in Dallas. This is a private gym where only independent contractors are allowed. I signed my lease at the gym within the next month, but I only started with 4 clients. The first couple of months were hard. I didn’t know what to expect but I knew I couldn’t give up. Fast forward to almost 6 months since I took that leap of faith and I’m up in clients. I couldn’t be more content and grateful of where my business is at now.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Along the way, I struggled with getting clients. I was getting potential clients every month but most of them would not sign up. I kept having to reflect on what went wrong and what I needed to do to be successful. I remember in the first couple of months I had a lot of anxiety and would have trouble sleeping. I started to notice that this was affecting my work-life balance. As I became more confident in my business, I learned to better manage my emotions.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a self-employed personal trainer. I specialize working with women of all ages in weight loss and muscle building. I’m proud of starting my business and not giving up. My passion and value to fitness sets me apart from the rest. I teach and educate from the heart. I am very passionate about helping people create a healthy lifestyle.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I learned that personal training will always be around no matter what kind of crisis there is. There are people that will need help or extra accountability when it comes to their fitness goals. This career is not a dead end unless you give up.