Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Kirkland
Hi Taylor, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It all started back in 2015 1 year before I graduate high school. l was a track star, I was living with my dad and I remember him, my step mom and sister, brother would come to all my track meets and cheer me on. That would always get me excited. Once I graduated in 2016 I didnt want to continue my track career in college I wanted to have my own money so I came up with the idea to get a personal trainer. At the the time I was attending college in SC, working 2 jobs, all while managing to make time for a healthy lifestyle. While hoping to become an RN after doing an internship at a doctors office I realized that wasn’t the career path I wanted to take anymore and im so happy I realized that early on. Fast forward to 2019 I decided to move back home to figure out what I wanted to do in life. I always knew I wanted to help people but i never thought about personal training until I moved home. I came up with a plan to train $10 a session, find a job all within a 1 year time frame. I was able to land a job at nordstrom which was a 1 hour drive there and back. There I was able to land my first two clients. I didn’t know what to expect but because I believed in myself I was goal driven to get some type of results. 6 months in I was down to 1 client and her transformation was beautiful. From there I was feeling myself, smiling ear to ear just for covid to come around and shut everything down. I still knew I wanted to move so I wrote down some places was interested in and Houston and Atlanta were the only cities what were open. The year is now 2021 I decided to take the chance to move to Houston after only visiting 5 months before moving. I had no job and $500 to my name. 1 week of living in Houston the snow storm came, i had no power or water for a few days. Thankfully my sister had a friend who had power and also other people staying with him during this time so I had no problems staying with him. Once everything was back to normal I hit the ground running I made sure to be up by 8am fresh and ready to go job hunting Monday- Friday applying online and in-store. I was even going to jobs that I filled out online so they could get familiar with my face. The end of the month approaching I landed a job! 6 months into working I was able to start my personal training back up landing me with 6 clients. From there my client intake has been great pandemonium and my training sessions is oversaturated with high end clientele. Furthermore to cross network and expand my training I started a Free 6am all girls run club. Here im able to service the community by doing something that I love.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
NO!! Im from a small town called Lancaster in South Carolina. Its really nothing there everyone knows each other, we don’t even have a target, mall, skating ring, etc. All we have Is the basics like Walmart. We have to drive 30 min plus to get somewhere nice or enjoy a fancy restaurant. I knew my goal was to be something in life. I felt like I didn’t have the motivation around me so when I decided to move me, my dad, my uncle packed up the u-haul, attached the trailer for my car and drove 18 hours all the way to Texas. This is one of the most scariest things I’ve ever done because I didn’t know anybody and like I stated before I didn’t have enough money to cover my rent for the upcoming month. A few months of living here me networking, and continuing to train myself so I can be an actual representation of my brand is what really helped me gain my clients. I was so proud of myself I was now almost a year into training while being in Houston and I decided I wanted to expand my dreams even more. I decided to enroll into esthetician school. I lost all of my clientele because my now tight schedule for school was strict and i had to complete my hours in order to become licensed. After school I lost courage for training until one-day I picked it back up and here we are today. I have many clients and I’m blessed because the economy is bad. People finances are low so finances are being prioritized over health in the average house hold. In reality health is wealth. So I’m very grateful that my clients believe in me while we tackle our fitness goals.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a Personal Trainer. I Specialize in strength and conditioning. Im mostly known for being a trainer thats going to push! I love to see the confidence clients gain overtime after seeing progress being made within their bodies. Im most proud of helping to start fitness journeys. I would love for my clients to be with me forever but my main goal is to get you started. I’m not just a trainer I’m also an educator I would say because while I’m also telling you what to do I’m telling you what machines are called, what there used for, what muscle group we are targeting, etc. Now they start to slowly workout on there on or if they missed a session they know what to do or how to come up with a workout routine without my help.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Im not really technology savvy thats something I’m working on but Its defiantly a goal for me to able to be hip with technology. I’m self taught. Completing the nasam program was a book that helped me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/truu.fitness
