Wrapping up Year One!

It's been nearly a year since starting Train With De full-time.

Back on April 11th 2025, I celebrated two of the only ways I knew how: 1) I flew back to Manhattan, and 2) signed up for the Toronto Half Marathon for the end of May. I wanted to immediately shift gears by: a) checking in on my NYC business (I have an amazing coach there that helps me with all of my in-person clients), and b) have an attainable goal to achieve in a short time frame to get my motivation as high as possible.

I wanted to write a post about not only how I feel in this year of change, but the accomplishments, client success stories, and future plans I have built for my fitness brand. I truly cannot believe how natural of a transition this has felt and how much time has already passed.

Let me rewind to April 2025...

"What did I focus on in my first 30 days?"

A lot of people thought I quit corporate with a list of clientele I'd be working with immediately. This could not be further from the truth - I literally had NO ONE. We had some clients in New York of course, but not enough where I would be working "full time" or even remotely replacing my corporate income I had just chosen to leave.

During week 1, I started networking with people I knew in the neighbourhood. Lots of coffee chats, emails, long walks in the park (how romantic), with anyone and everyone that would speak to me about my career transition. Whether they were interested in personal training or not, most people I spoke to lived in the neighbourhood I newly resided in much longer than I had. I had only been back from New York for about 7 months so I wasn't too sure what the fitness scene looked like in the West part of Toronto.

During one of these coffee chats, I had the pleasure of meeting up with an old broker who asked if I would be open to training his 19 year old daughter. I was ecstatic. This was on April 20th, only 10 days into my new career path, and of course I accepted the opportunity with great pleasure.

Nearly 12 months later I am still training her 2x a week. I love to see the amount of muscle, confidence and body awareness she has built in just shy of a year of showing up consistently. Many people tend to seek trainers for a long period of time and I am lucky enough to already have a client on the roster from day 1.

I knew I couldn't stop there - even though selling a 40 pack was a strong way to start. I continued networking with gyms in the area - meeting other like-minded entrepreneurs and fitness enthusiasts.

I knew the biggest challenge I would have with this career was time management. Many clients request before or after their 9-5 jobs, and I knew I wouldn't be able to offer much availability. Thats when I came up with the great idea of a Perinatal class - a workout class in High Park, Toronto for new or expecting mothers where they can rebuild their strength & bring along baby for the ride. I started this class in early May 2025 and advertised through local Facebook groups, signage and Instagram.

The classes ebbed and flowed, with a max of about 20 mothers, down to 2-3 some weeks. It was discouraging some weeks but I knew I had to stick at it. This is where many new clients came from - I offered exclusive deals to the group, free personal training assessments and really tried my best to show my skills with this niche of fitness training. As a new mom myself, I completely recognize the change the body has gone through with pregnancy and labour and know the journey "back" can be humbling, challenging and exhausting. Having a supportive coach makes all the difference.

I continued to feel the need to branch out and expand my services. Offers came in through various gyms to be a coach which I knew I didn't want to explore. I quit corporate to do this completely on my own, but it was proving to be more challenging than I thought to get going. But I knew working for someone else's dream wasn't the move - nor the financial play to be earning $50/hour.

After about 2 months of solid networking, group classes and tons of free personal training assessments, the clients slowly started coming through various funnels - my website, Instagram, word of mouth, etc. I put up posters in the condo gyms I was training from and expanded through that. I got some referrals from the gym I rent from, as well as being out and about in the neighbourhood. I hit my goal of getting 3 clients in one day - selling 90 hours of personal training packages in one day.

I was proud to hire trainers to help me at the tail end of last year as I hit my capacity during certain time slots. Every morning was completely full and I knew if I were to receive one more inquiry I wouldn't want to turn them away, but offer a strong solution instead. Hiring on Frances Young & Dakota Vine were amazing choices where they each have their clientele base and execute Train With De programming.

I think at our peak we reached about 27 clients. Anyone training from 1-5x a week (yes 5 was insane!). I got great at scheduling, programming, organization and communication. The onboarding process kept getting smoother, and we are now all settled into a great groove with clients.

If you had told me my small little fitness brand idea would be helping people around the world, in person in Toronto, Manhattan & inspiring thousands on social media, I truly would never have believed you. I went to school for Economics......I left a high paying corporate insurance career.......to do this? HOW LUCKY AM I.

I feel so completely blessed to be living out this dream job. It doesn't feel like work. I love meeting new people and helping them get stronger than they ever thought possible. I love sharing my knowledge & seeing the expressions on new clients faces when they pick up something heavier than 20lbs for the first time.

I have tons of plans with Train With De. I want to expand and build a side business just for the postpartum mamas looking for activity-based group activities. I'd love to train more runners in person and online. And I'd love to share my knowledge in more public speaking settings on how to build your business from the ground up.

If I can do it, you can too. Take your goals day by day and know there's always another option for you than the mundane. "Make it a life worth living" - my motto.

Thanks for reading <3 make sure to check out the website for more information if you're ever interested in PT - we have space for you!