Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Shane Baskin, founder of Fitmotive, located in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Fitmotive is a wellness consulting & coaching team that is on a mission to help change as many lives for the absolute better. We help people who are either struggling to make the change themselves or who are ready to turn their fitness level up a notch. Our goal is to help you optimize your overall health & wellness, and we LOVE doing it.

Tell us about yourself

In my early teens, I began making some poor decisions, hung around people who were not bringing me up, and I was creating bad habits for myself to keep things short. The day I saw my brother graduate before I was the same day I decided to make a change for myself. I immediately went back to get my high school diploma. I was slowly introduced to training and working out around the same time. This time would be what I would call the biggest transition in my life. I began distancing myself from people who were not positive impacts on my life (which was almost every one of my "friends" at the time), and it was really only me focusing on me. While I cut out all the bad habits and negative surroundings from my life, I began to use fitness as an outlet. It was a place where I felt accomplished and like I was doing something with my life. Eating healthy & training hard became an everyday thing, a lifestyle.

Fast forward seven years, after always getting pulled aside and asked questions about health & fitness, I decided that fitness coaching would be something that could be beneficial for me to start doing. I was working a sales job at the time, and after several times of being warned to stop working on "whatever I was doing," I was fired for the first time. I was broke as it was, so I really had to hustle to pay rent. It was winter, so I put ads up to shovel driveways and walkways, and that's how I got by at the time. Luckily for me, fitness coaching started to pick up for me, the clientele was building, and I was able to scrap snow removal before spring hit. Since then, Fitmotive has been growing, and we've been continuously working on ways to build as a team to help as many lives as we can!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner has to be changing lives and helping people. I feel like providing value to the world be able to help people in a positive way is what it's all about and how you become successful. There is absolutely no better feeling than not only being a part of someone's transformation or lifestyle change but being such a huge & positive impact on their journey to better health. People do not forget that.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the most difficult things that come with being a business owner for me would probably be always feeling like I need to do more or that I'm not doing enough. In ways, this can be good, but sometimes this can take away from other aspects of life. As I move along, I'm becoming better and better at learning to balance it out, but this can definitely be one of the more challenging things for me as a business owner.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Focus on what you can do extremely well, but be different. Provide the value to your customers/clients, but make sure that you or your brand is unique so that you can stand out.
  2. Do what is necessary to succeed. This means taking action & making sacrifices. Which includes staying in and working on your business while your friends are out drinking or doing whatever they do; save your money and put it towards growing your business instead of buying fancy clothes or luxury items. Step out of your comfort zone to learn new skills and be better at what you do. Whatever it takes to be great at what you do, make sure that you are doing it and putting your 110% effort into it.
  3. Do not be afraid to fail. This is a big one. A lot of times, when people start doing something, they're not amazing at it, they get rejected or denied, or they fall flat on their faces and quit. These are the moments that, if you don't quit, create strength in what you're doing. The struggle only makes you stronger. So when times get tough, when you fall flat on your face and fail, get your a** back up, learn and keep on trucking.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

As I said before, my mission is to help as many people change for the better. For anyone who needs to hear it, no matter where you're at, you can achieve what you want to achieve as long as you put your heart into it and give your 110%. I dropped out of high school, been kicked out of both my parent's homes, slept in McDonald's and rooftops, I've felt the loneliest I think I could ever feel, but I stopped feeling sorry for myself, decided to make a change, accepted the challenges and got to work. I'm nowhere even close to where I want to be, but also in a position that I would never have believed I could be. Grateful every day.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.trainfitmotive.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrainFitmotive/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baskinthaglory/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-baskin-07881a182/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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