Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jeff Smith, Co-Founder of Fitwise Inc., located in Delray Beach, FL, USA.

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

I have helped co-found a wellness and training marketplace called Trainnr. The goal of Trainnr is simple. We want to become the go-to marketplace for health and fitness content and services so that there can be a safe, trusted, and effective way for trainers/coaches/gyms to sell content and services. In the world today, there is such a bombardment of information, fads, and gimmicks, especially in fitness. So often, the programs and services that sell the best aren't science-backed quality programs but rather a clump of clever marketing and good production. We want to level the playing field by providing trainers/coaches/gyms a place to showcase their qualifications and skills and make it easy for them to sell quality content and services. This will, in turn, allow customers to have a trusted, verified site to go buy fitness content or even find a quality personal trainer or coach.

Tell us about yourself

I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset and have always thought about business ideas and the different kinds of businesses I would want to start since I was about eight years old. In High School, I took an entrepreneurship class, and the semester-long project was to come up with a full business plan and pitch it to a panel of "investors." After several rounds of pitches, my team and idea won the competition for the semester. This was the first time in my life I felt truly validated in my passion for business and entrepreneurship and knew I wanted to start my own business for real someday. Fast forward to my senior year of college, and my roommate and I came up with an idea for a creative nightlife idea. Knowing nothing about app creation and never actually running a real business, we dove head in. Making tons of mistakes early on, we quickly learned the common dos and don'ts of starting a business and especially what it takes to make an app. However, after two years of working on this project, my partner and I wanted to do something more impactful and meaningful; this desire quickly led me to work on and help launch several sports and fitness apps. During this time, I noticed there were several inefficiencies in the market, and somehow there was not a go-to marketplace for training services - the idea for Trainnr was born. Just like people go to Amazon to sell goods or services or YouTube to be entertained, there was no open and dedicated marketplace for trainers to leverage and be empowered to grow their business. Fast forward to today, and we are building that marketplace.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I think my biggest accomplishment as a business owner is that after seven years of starting a business, I'm still able to find a way to work and make a living doing projects I'm truly passionate about. Start ups a tough world, and many people find themselves going back to stable big corporate jobs after a few years. With a lot of support from family members and friends, as well as grit and determination, I've been lucky enough to work on startups since college.

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

The hardest thing is also the most rewarding, and that's the effort required to constantly keep your business running and the level of impact that rests on your shoulders. At a large company, you may have lots of benefits, PTO, and job security, but being 1 in 1000+ people at a company, your chances and opportunities of making large impacts are going to be extremely limited and really up to you your executive staff.

As a business owner, every day I get up and go to work, I know that I'm pushing my business further along and making an impact. On days I'm sick, traveling, or not working, though, I know my business growth and progress are at a near standstill. That can be a tiresome concept some days but knowing I have the freedom to decide how far I want to take my business and where I want to take it is well worth it.

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

  1. Be prepared to work - a lot of people think of the entrepreneur as this lazy person who works when he/she wants and has an amazing work-life balance. Don't confuse real business owners with people who claim to be "working on something" running a business is a 24/7 job and can be extremely tasking at times. When my son was born, he spent ten days in the NICU; on every one of those days, I found myself working in the hospital cafeteria on my laptop.
  2. YOU STILL HAVE A BOSS - Many people think being a business owner or entrepreneur means you don't have a boss. THAT'S NOT TRUE. While you may not have the traditional boss asking you about deadlines and questioning your every decision, you do have a boss. As a business owner, your boss is either your customer, your investors (if you have any), or both. What they demand is what you need to provide if you want to keep working :)
  3. Enjoy what you do - If you are a small business owner or entrepreneur and you hate what you do, find a job working for someone else. The entire reason one takes the risk puts in the hours, and sacrifices so much to be a business owner is because they are passionate about what they do and enjoy doing what they do. That doesn't mean every day as a small business owner is a fairy tale, and you wake up with a smile all the time. I still have had days when I question everything I'm doing...but at the end of the day, I know I'm doing what I do to make an impact, and I get the freedom to decide how best to do that.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Everything you do, do it with integrity! If you want to help build a better world, start a business or work in a business that values integrity. Integrity is the foundation for building companies, products, services, and communities that want to thrive and create a place of opportunity for everyone!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.trainnr.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trainnrapp/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trainnr_app/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trainnr/

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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