Today we’d like to introduce you to Kerry Walsh.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kerry. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I became a certified personal trainer in my early 40’s, quit my corporate job, started my own business and have never looked back! The only regret I have is that I didn’t start 20 years earlier! Just like most people I have my own fitness journey with ups and downs…tried every fad diet and program out there looking for that quick fix, only to get the same result over and over…YO YO dieting! I will never forget I was in my early 30’s the first time I saw a picture of myself and did not recognize “me”. I was mortified! That is not at all the body I saw in the mirror. I was at my all time heaviest, in an abusive marriage and fighting depression.
Somehow I mustered up the energy and confidence (since I had none!) to divorce my husband, hire a trainer and get myself in a better place…mentally and physically. I worked with a personal trainer that truly changed my life. She helped guide me with my goals and provided me a plan to put into action! She held me accountable and taught me healthy, sustainable habits that would keep me moving forward to live a healthy lifestyle. Through diet and exercise, I found self-confidence that had been stripped away, muscles that really did exist and a new career! Somewhere in that time I also found the love of my life, my husband John! He’s my rock and I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.
Now here I am doing what I love and loving what I do! I turned my passion into a career and my goal is to encourage, inspire and coach women to live a healthy lifestyle and achieve their fitness goals.Kerry’s Fitness 4 U has evolved over the four years I’ve been in business. I started out doing one on one personal training in my private gym. For a year I trained clients every day before and after my full-time job.
When I decided to leave the corporate world and become a trainer full time, I joined with Texas Fit Chicks (TFC) as an independent trainer and started my all women boot camp in Cypress, TX where I live. I loved their concept of providing an opportunity to trainers to run their own camp while TFC took care of all the administrative back office work. This allowed me to focus on what I love to do and give my full attention to my personal training business and clients as well as my boot camp clients, aka chicks.
This past year I started transitioning my personal training business to online, working virtually with women. I found that trying to schedule one on one time was difficult due to conflicting schedules. I felt I was not able to work with many women that I knew I could help so I found a solution! I ran a few online challenges to see if working with women virtually had the same outcome and impact as in person. To my surprise, virtual training provided even better communication and more consistency with my clients’ progress. Not to mention I could work with women regardless of their schedule and location.
The women also benefited from working in an online group with other women going through the same struggles as they were. Online training collided my two worlds of one on one and group training.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting my own business has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done and I could not have done it without the love and support of my husband, family, friends and of course my clients.
However, it has not been without a struggle that I’ve gotten where I am today. The first challenge was leaving my steady paycheck and structured life in the corporate world at age 42, the only world I had known, and jumping in with both feet to a life of making my own schedule, being my own accountability and doing everything myself. It was very scary and it took some time and support from my husband to get it down and not feel overwhelmed every single day, but I eventually got there!
I floundered for a few years trying to figure out the business structure, technology, who I was as a coach and what type of clients I really connected with. One of the biggest and most important things I did was hire a business coach, which helped me to figure all this out, get a plan of action and make it happen! It’s a journey, a work in progress and evolves daily.
Along the way I learned a lot about myself, ways to overcome fear, self-doubt and have had to be more vulnerable than I could have ever imagined. For that I am grateful. I think these are challenges most entrepreneurs go through, honestly. I have surrounded myself with other like-minded entrepreneurs and it has helped keep me grounded during the difficult times. Having other fitness professionals to bounce ideas off of and building those relationships has a game changer.
On the personal side of things, there have been many struggles and challenges I’ve had to overcome. Just because I’m in the wonderful world of being an entrepreneur doing what I love, changing lives and never “working” a day in my life doesn’t mean my own life and troubles stop.
My biggest struggle is that I suffer from clinical depression, which can be debilitating at times. I’ve had several bouts of it while trying to grow my business, be upbeat, positive and motivating for my clients and still make sure I’m taking care of me. I have to put my oxygen mask on before I can fully be there for my clients. Just a like a mom has to do when it comes to taking care of her husband and children.
When I’m depressed, it is almost impossible to get out of bed. My energy is low and my thoughts are cloudy. It’s difficult just getting myself together to function for the day. On these days, what my clients don’t know is that working with them brings me reason and energy to get moving. There are days they help me just as much as I am helping them and they don’t even know it!
Self-confidence has also been a challenge, which typically goes hand in hand with depression. Going into a profession that my job is to help build women up to be the best they can be inside and out while feeling lack of confidence myself has definitely been eye-opening. How could I possibly be what these women want and need me to be when I don’t feel confident myself? Overcoming the fear of my lack of confidence has been rewarding personally and professionally.
I work on confidence every single day through gratitude and meditation. This is probably the number one struggle I see in most women. It holds us back from doing what we are capable of and achieving things we never dreamed we could. The struggle is real and it almost held me back from doing what I love. The irony is that doing what I love has helped me gain confidence in myself.
One thing I did not expect about being a coach was being vulnerable and sharing my life with the world. Especially being online, people have to get to know you, like you and trust you. Putting myself out there has been a struggle because it’s human nature to want to be liked and accepted. However, the more I share my challenges, triumphs, and life’s lessons, the more women I connect with and get to be a part of their life-changing journey. Hands down the most rewarding job I could ever ask for.
Kerry’s Fitness 4 U – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Kerry’s Fitness 4 U is more than just fitness. I believe we can achieve anything when our mindset is in the right place. As I tell my clients, it starts between the ears. I get to know each and every client on a personal level and meet them where they are in their journey. I believe we all have the potential to live the lifestyle we deserve.
I don’t know that I am “different” or that there is any one thing that sets me apart from other coaches other than I am ME. What I mean by that is that we are all different and unique in our own way and we connect with certain people in our life that make a difference. My focus isn’t necessarily about being different; it’s more about telling my story so that I can connect with women who resonate with my struggles in hopes of being able to help them with confidence and be everything they are capable of.
My customizable programs are habit-based and include a mixture of mindset, stress management, gratitude, fueling your body and exercise guidance with daily accountability.
I use a phone app that allows my clients and I to communicate on a daily basis. I provide daily lessons, motivation, and challenges for them 7 days a week.
By keeping their program in the forefront of their mind on a daily basis, it helps them to stay on track and achieve results. An advantage of having this interactive tool is that the client checks in each day with a click of a button and an option to send me a private message, which allows me to consistently know how they are doing.
I pride myself on knowing where my client stands at all times in their program. This allows me to make adjustments between our coaching calls and spend extra time in areas where needed before moving on.
It brings my heart joy and my mind peace to be able to help women find their self-love and their self-worth. I share my own experiences in life that have made me the person I am so that other women can see we are all perfectly imperfect searching to be our very best. BE YOUR BEST YOU! I challenge women to look within and find the strength to make the changes in their life that will allow them to live the life they were put on this earth to live and much deserve. I believe I was put on this earth to make a difference and I owe it to God and to myself to share the knowledge and experience I am so blessed to have to make a lasting, positive impact in other women’s lives.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I can’t say that I have one specific moment that I’m more proud of than another. I am consistently reminded on a daily and weekly basis from my clients how proud I am when they check in and have overcome fears, achieved goals, gotten out of their comfort zone and feel their own sense of pride for doing it, their family gets on board, they get off medications, their in clothes they haven’t fit into in years.
They miss working out because it’s become a part of their life, they no longer feel guilty when they enjoy an evening out with friends and family eating and drinking food they enjoy, they have the energy to play with their kids or grandkids or they just feel like a million bucks physically and mentally because they have learned to put themselves first to be a stronger spouse, mom, friend or grandparent. Those are all my proudest moments!
Contact Info:
- Address: 11907 Marrs Drive, Houston, TX 77065
- Website: www.itskerrywalsh.com
- Phone: 713-870-4610
- Email: kerry@fitness4-u.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itskerrywalsh/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itskerrywalsh/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/itskerrywalsh
- Other: youtube.com/c/Fitness4UKerryWalsh
Image Credit:
Doug Carter , Jessica Coyne, Melanie Gonzalez
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