Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Holly Dickinson, owner of ACCEL Strength & Conditioning Inc., located in Victoria, BC, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

We coach and empower female beginner runners, making them faster, more knowledgeable, and set for a lifetime of injury-free running! Through our online and mobile services, we break down the barriers for women who feel like they don't know where to start with strength training & running. We provide individualized progressive resistance training to match the needs of female runners bodies, running biomechanics assessments, and fun, easy-to-follow running plans. Our aim is to enable every woman to feel confident in knowing their best stride, how to resistance train, and undulate their own running plans so they can be independent and empowered to do it without a coach once were done showing her the way!

Tell us about yourself

I've always loved to run, more specifically, to sprint. I consider it to be in my DNA! For a sprinter, your "career" in racing is over once you stop competing in meets. Generally, this is after high school unless you run for a college or university. I decided to put all my focus into my sports degree & play recreational sports on the side for fun. It wasn't until I was in the coaching world that I was getting referred to all the runners that entered the gym and realized the other side of the running world…as they weren't sprinters. These runners were all distance runners because, of course, what running events are accessible to us all…fun runs, 10k, half-marathons, marathons, ultras, etc. What I found with each client that came for help was that they were generally compensating in their movements, had either been injured or were on their way to it, had never had a running assessment or running drills to perform, and were lost when it came to strengthening to improve running. Most runners love to run outside, not lift wights indoors. This was when I realized I could service those who are dropping through the cracks, provide them the know-how to be injury-free runners & have fun in the process!

Working in a gym-based setting, there are physically only so many hours in a day and training plans you can create and coach others through. You cap out! In the fitness world, we, as coaches, provide our service to clients before and after their working day, usually leaving trainers working split shifts and on a trajectory to burn out! I decided to flip the paradigm. If I can create something fantastic, online & in person, for a small niche (beginner female runners), then I can create a bigger impact with my resources and serve the world and not burn out!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Our biggest accomplishment so far has to be reaching a point in business where our ideal clients are finding our business organically online and are truly excited to work with us to get results! They've found our posts through social, been referred by other practitioners, listened to our podcast, or seen our website and identify so well with it that they can't wait to get started. It's exactly what I had hoped for!

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The solo struggles! We aren't meant to do this alone. I thrived around people and knew that working at the end of my bedroom at a little desk virtually would take a toll unless I created and sculpted my work environment to have more inspiring time spent with others!

A client I had at a workplace prior to starting ACCEL sent me this quote "The price of being a sheep is boredom, the price of being a wolf is loneliness. Choose one or the other with great care." I definitely understood this a few months into the business. I decided to change the loneliness by creating something that wasn't there. I saw through social media other solo female business owners that were also practitioners absolutely rocking their trade! I reached out to each of them, and we created a Wolfpack. Like Abby Wambach speaks to in her book. A safe space where connection, brainstorming, and problem-solving can happen at our meet-ups over coffee or out in nature. I'd suggest creating or entering spaces where you can have a Wolfpack of supportive minds thinking on the same wavelength of business as you. You'll be amazed by the outcomes!

Overall I grant myself so lucky to have so many supportive people close around me to "talk shop" with and get grounded.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. "Take messy action" as Angie Lee would say. I went to her Pays To Be Brave conference in San Diego in 2019 and was in awe at the number of women who took their business spirit by the horns and just "did the thing" they were called to do with an unapologetic drive. We're all a "beginner" at something, and we only learn through doing. If you'd consider yourself a perfectionist like I was with my work at the start of my journey, it makes taking every step so much harder. Your first draft won't be your perfect draft, so start, morph and sculpt it as you go to create what you wish it to become!
  2. Wearing all the hats in the business can be tiring and hard. As a visionary, I find myself having many exciting ideas all the time; executing them all myself is unrealistic. Outsource what you know you don't like or aren't good at to someone who can do it better and faster than you is huge! This will allow you to stay in your "zone of genius," I like to call it, where you know your energy is best spent. For me, I outsourced podcast editing through UpWork.com and got a local bookkeeper as both these tasks were taking me, a novice in both areas, a long time.
  3. Celebrate the wins, big and small! I definitely have been called out for not celebrating personal and professional wins by past employers and family members. Maybe it's something that entrepreneurs do because we're constantly focused on growth and the next thing. However, I've learned to reflect more often, journal frequently, and acknowledge how far I've come at every milestone. I could not have imagined the last two years of business being this incredible, and to sit back and enjoy the feeling that comes with each phase is so wonderful. It also gives me excitement to keep going and growing!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.accelstrengthconditioning.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/accelstrengthcondtioning/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accelstrengthconditioning/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/accel_strength
Podcast: https://wizard.podlink.to/rungirlradio

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.