Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health & fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Nikki Cloutier, Founder of Blue Line Fitness Testing, located in Edmonton, AB, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
BLUE LINE FITNESS TESTING was established in 2019. With over 15 years of front-line and tactical experience in law enforcement and corrections, I saw the opportunity to start individuals on the path to a career in law enforcement through supportive physical training and testing.
With certification obtained from LEPAT (Law Enforcement Physical Abilities Testing), we are experts in standardized physical ability/fitness tests for the law enforcement community, whether it be police, sheriffs, or corrections. All our tests are based on valid and legally defensible research that conforms to the guidelines of current labor law and best practices in the USA and Canada.
Blue Line Fitness Testing offers the Correctional Officers Physical Abilities Test (COPAT) and the Physical Abilities Requirement Evaluation (PARE), which are requirements for careers in corrections, transit peace officers, municipal peace officers, Canadian Border Services Agents, and Sheriffs, as well as police. We also offer Standard First Aid and CPR, allowing you to be fully certified and ready to begin the application process.
We also offer practice test dates to allow you to try the equipment and ensure your fitness level is optimal before certification. We have personal trainers who can also assist you in getting to the required fitness level. Another option we offer is women-only testing which allows for a supportive and encouraging environment for women looking to get into a career in law enforcement.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Nikki Cloutier, and I was a former correctional officer and manager in Alberta for almost two decades and am the founder and CEO of Blue Line Fitness Testing. I started this business because I saw the need for supportive, technical-based training and testing facilities and witnessed firsthand the overwhelming demand for physically fit individuals in first responder and law enforcement careers.
However, opportunities to bring people like this into these careers were severely lacking. As a certified fitness and yoga instructor for the past 17 years, I wanted to marry my love for fitness and motivation with my experience and tactical knowledge from law enforcement to provide these opportunities.
I love to work as hard as I can to ensure applicants and our clients have a personalized, supportive and successful journey to the first responder career they dream of. It drives me to work even more challenging when I am rewarded with success stories, messages, and photos of people selected for the position they were applying for.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment as a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated industry was to step out and run with this dream of owning my own business and then be able to make it work over the past three years with minimal support while navigating a pandemic that targeted fitness businesses.
We are continually growing, and each month a new goal of mine is achieved. We have been able to offer testing to over 2000 applicants in the past three years. We have maintained our dedicated facility to provide this testing.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Being on your own and having to make each decision (and then live with it if it fails). It is challenging to learn the nuances of being a business owner when you don't know anything and then do it independently, from marketing to administration to actual testing.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Get ready for the ride of your life! It's so freaking amazing, but it's also so much work - like way more work than you can even imagine -- but the payoff, working for yourself and actualizing all your dreams on your terms and in your way, makes up for it all!
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://bluelinefitnesstesting.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bluelinefitnesstesting
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluelinefitnesstesting/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-cloutier/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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