"Nothing works out the way you planned it – Relax!!" with Jennifer Fidder, M.A, CTRLPrac., CPPC
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Jennifer is the owner of Jennifer Alice Training & Coaching and has been a personal fitness trainer and mindset coach for more than 13 years. Over these years she has helped hundreds of women become happier, healthier, and more confident. Her education as a licensed personal trainer and certified CONTROL practitioner, as well as her background in social psychology, allow her to provide a holistic approach to health and fitness.
Jennifer believes that in order to achieve lasting results and enhance our life and wellbeing permanently, we need to address physical fitness, nutrition, and mindset alike.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I grew up in Germany and decided to study social psychology and educational science. I pretty much knew from the beginning that I neither wanted to be a therapist nor work in the education field, so I started completing as many fitness courses as I could during this time. Personal training wasn’t something you could actually make a living with back then. I worked part-time in gyms and had only a few private clients to pay the bills and finance my studies.
What inspired you to start your business?
I moved to the US in 2010. In the beginning, I worked odd jobs to make ends meet. I was a trainer in a residential gym, a front desk manager at a hotel, and worked in retail. I realized that, for me, working as an employee in the States wasn’t going to be fulfilling. There was no job security, the pay wasn’t great, and compared to Europe sick days and vacation time was a joke. If I wanted to stay here and live life on my terms, I’d have to open my own business. So that’s what I did.
I started out with regular personal fitness training but soon realized that I wanted to offer more than just workouts and nutrition guidelines. I was always fascinated by how our mind works, so I focused more and more on mindset and habit work. Knowing I am able to help my clients make lasting changes by teaching them how their mind works, helping them increase their confidence and get rid of old habits that were holding them back, gives me a sense of happiness that no other job could give me.
Where is your business based?
I am based out of Miami Beach, FL but I also offer virtual sessions, online coaching, and workshops worldwide.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
For the first few years, I took on private clients before and after my regular job. I signed up for various third-party websites that list personal trainers. That’s how I got my first clients. Over time I managed to get to the first page of Google places with my business, which leads to more leads and more clients.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Word of mouth and partnering up with other local businesses really helped me get my business off the ground.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Imposter syndrome was probably my biggest challenge at the beginning. As fitness professionals – and I can imagine in other professions as well – we oftentimes don’t realize how much we actually know. We talk about our field of expertise so much and so often that we assume this is common knowledge. Realizing that the knowledge that I have is not “common” knowledge and that I do know a lot more about fitness, nutrition, and especially mindset than your average Jane or Joe, was a big step for me in becoming more confident and being able to put myself out there and offer my services.
How do you stay focused?
I work a lot online as well as in-person. I don’t have a set schedule, which sometimes makes it more difficult to focus and get things done.
I create a weekly to-do list and a daily checklist with the most important tasks. I also have an amazing virtual assistant who will keep me accountable and makes sure I keep my own deadlines.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Mindset is a very important part of health and wellbeing that most trainers in the fitness industry neglect. I have the big advantage that I not only hold a bachelor’s degree in social psychology, I am also currently the only CONTROL practitioner in the State of Florida. The CONTROL system is a form of mindset coaching that allows us to establish direct communication with the subconscious mind. Since this is where most of our unwanted behaviors and thought patterns originate from, we are able to bring about changes much faster than we would with the regular habit or mindset coaching. This way we can address issues like fear and phobias, self-esteem and self-worth, anxiety and depression, emotional eating and so much more.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Definitely word of mouth!
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Nothing works out the way you planned it – Relax!!
I believe it is important to have a plan and a strategy for your business. But it is even more important to be flexible in your approach and adapt to your circumstances. That usually means that nothing works out the way you planned it originally but as long as you are moving forward and are keeping your eyes on the goals, you will be okay.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
I use the Trainerize app for my online fitness coaching and I absolutely love it! It is very easy to navigate for myself and my clients and allows me to manage and coach all of my online clients directly in the app.
To be honest, I am not much of a blog reader. I am more of a book person.
My all-time favorite is “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. This is a must-read for anybody, not only fitness professionals. It explains what exactly habits are and how we can get to where we want to be by simply implementing small habits consistently.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Even though I work a lot online, I am not a very tech-savvy person per se. That means everything I use has to be foolproof.
For my landing pages, I use OptimizePress, which integrates with my WordPress site and I am able to simply drag and drop elements to create a beautiful landing page.
How do you balance work and life?
I consider myself very lucky that I love what I do and actually make money with it. So working doesn’t really feel like work if that makes sense. To make sure I don’t neglect the relationship with my partner, we decided that Saturdays are OUR days. No appointments, no phone, no internet. My clients know I won’t respond on Saturdays and my voicemail informs callers that if they call on a Saturday they will receive a call back the following day. I also usually don’t answer the phone or reply to emails after 8 pm during the week unless it is an existing client who has to reschedule an appointment. I think especially when you are enjoying your work, there is always the risk that you let it take over your whole life. Setting boundaries was one important step for me to ensure a certain work-life-balance.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I live in Miami Beach, so going to the beach is my favorite way to just relax and recharge.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
When the pandemic hit, we were just in the process of launching our new Better Mind – Better Body – Better Life seminars and workshops. We had to reorganize everything to be able to offer them virtually. Over the next six months we’ll focus on expanding our virtual seminar and workshop offers as well as preparing to launch them in Europe.
How can our readers connect with you?
They can visit my website www.JenniferAliceOnline.com or connect with me on social media:
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/jenniferaliceonline
@JenniferAliceOnline