Case Studies

Primary Goal

Continue to grow as a movement professional, increase “side hustle” income, and create more flexibility & balance in my day-to-day life.

The Challenge:

Carter has done all of the right things as a personal trainer at the current gym that he works for. He’s gone through training, received several advanced designations, achieved all of the goals that his managers set for him, and continues to excel as one of the most successful personal trainers in the entire company (across all gyms in the United States). However, he is starting to feel the burnout of the long days that come with the job. All of his clients are members of the gym that he works at (as an employee) and he is starting to have ideas of going out on his own (and starting a gym), training clients in his garage gym, or maybe even creating his own personal training fitness app.

Ultimately, he is at a big career crossroads and wants to figure out how he should best proceed. Carter is contemplating the following thoughts:

• Should I continue the path that I am on with my current Luxury Corporate Gym? The pay, bonus, and security help me sleep better at night and it may be the smarter route.
• Is there a way to scratch my entrepreneurial itch without leaving my current gym?
• Should I follow my intuition and jump into starting my own gym?
• I really just want to travel more and make my days balanced. Could I manage my clients and schedule better and make less of a big career / work shift?

As he thinks through all of his options, Carter is in need of guidance around what he really wants out of life and his current work situation. There’s no wrong answer, but Carter needs to get clear & intentional about what gets him most excited.

The Approach:

Carter was stressed about making such a big decision without fully thinking through all of his options. He wanted to bounce his ideas off of someone that was objective but also understands where he was coming from. Another thing that Carter was looking for was someone that was good with numbers and could guide him on the financial aspects of such a major decision. For these reasons, he sought out help from a financial coach and registered life planner.

The Results:

After going through the EVOKE process with his registered life planner, Carter realized what he really wanted out of the next several years. He wasn’t ready to make a huge leap (and start his own gym…yet), but he found the qualities that he was looking for in a variation of what he was already doing. He just needed the accountability to stick to his new plan:

• Carter decided to continue doing what he loved – training his clients at his Luxury Corporate Gym that has been his home gym for the last 4-years. He was comfortable there and enjoyed the community aspect that he was able to build.
• However, a big part of his Life Plan was to create boundaries around his schedule and manage his time better. Instead of being open to training clients at all hours of the day, he blocked off evenings and one weekend day. When seeing the numbers on paper, the potential drop in training sessions was not impactful enough to change his day-to-day ability to spend money in a way that aligned with his values. Furthermore, the time that he received back more than made up for it.
• With the time that he gained back, his plan was to create a personal training fitness app to share with the world – ultimately working towards helping more people improve their fitness & health.
• Finally, by understanding his cash flow, he could better plan for travel with friends and not feel bad about lost training sessions. Because he was able to save for the trips that he planned for, there was no stress when taking time off.

While relatively young and with a long professional career as a personal trainer ahead of him, Carter was beginning to gain knowledge in the bigger picture of the balance of life & work. By working with his financial coach and registered life planner, he didn’t feel like he had to navigate all of the unknowns that come with life, money, work, career, etc. by himself. His ease and confidence about life continued to shine bright wherever he went.