Today we’d like to introduce you to Sylvia Kampshoff.
Sylvia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My husband, Philipp, and I moved from Germany to Houston Texas in 2014. We settled in Houston, Texas and immediately fell in love with the lifestyle. We quickly became the most Texan Germans you’re likely to ever meet. we now live on a ranch, have two pick up trucks, plenty of horses and an ever-growing collection of country music.
Before I started Kanthaka, I worked for 8 years as an attorney, performing Private Equity and Debt Finance work for two big US law firms. However, my real passion was and always has been fitness. No matter how many hours I worked – and I worked a lot of hours – I was always trying to get in a workout.
The problem was that I was finding it virtually impossible to find a personal trainer who could fit in with my schedule. The result was that I usually ended up skipping my scheduled workouts. The more I sat around the office, the more unhealthy I felt. My lifestyle was leading me to a place where I wasn’t happy to be, yet I felt stuck on a treadmill that I couldn’t get off.
It was the birth of my wonderful son, Tristan, which was the turning point. I decided to take the risk, follow my passion and create a better life for myself, my family and all of those people who become a part of the Kanthaka community.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I love being an entrepreneur and haven’t regretted the decision a single day. However, especially coming from a highly paid corporate job as a lawyer, the road isn’t easy. You bounce between days when you couldn’t feel better and others where you question everything you are doing. Getting great feedback from our amazing clients and great trainers keeps me going every day. Also, I love the support and genuiness you receive from the Houston startup community, what couldn’t be better.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our vision is to make the US a healthier, happier place, giving everybody the chance to become the best version of themselves.
With Kanthaka you can book a trainer anytime and anywhere you want with just a few tabs on our app – it’s super easy. But Kanthaka is not just a marketplace for trainers.
Our mission is true fitness. Wherever you are, we want you to have the same great workout experience with the best trainers, who are solely focused on your goals and helping you to achieve them. If you need additional motivation, you can compete against other members of the Kanthaka family, have the chance to win great prizes and share your success stories.
We are proud of only onboarding the best trainers. As we don’t have to pay large overhead costs as the big box gyms do, we have the chance to pay our trainers up to 4 times as much as the gyms do and thereby attract top-notch talent. Our team interviews every trainer in person does a training session with the trainer and we only onboard trainers with nationally accredited certifications and professional liability insurance.
We are also proud to be highly focused on making our clients happy. We are there 24/7 for any issues a client might have and solely focus on the client getting the best workout experience possible. We try to accommodate every request a client has and are laser-focused on continuously updating the user experience based on client feedback. Other than at the big gyms we don’t bind clients with longterm contracts they get talked into. The longest commitments we have for our clients are our monthly packages.
What were you like growing up?
I always loved horses and spend all my free time at the stable. That passion never disappeared and we now live on a ranch with 12 horses. I have always been pretty ambitious and wanted to achieve something special with my life. I always had the wish to travel and live in different countries, which dream I have fulfilled with my husband Philipp (having already lived and worked together all over the world). I have always been a sportive person as a kid having done all kinds of sports from yudo, tennis, skiing, swimming to horseback riding.
Pricing:
- A 45 minutes personal trainer, boxing or yoga session is $50.
- A 30 minutes personal trainer, boxing or yoga session is $40.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mykanthaka.com
- Phone: 7136143227
- Email: service@mykanthaka.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanthaka_app/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KanthakaApp/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kanthaka_app?lang=de
- Other: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kanthaka/id1217953157?ls=1&mt=8
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
