Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Nikki Johnston, Founder of Nikki J Fitness & Sea to Sky Fitness, located in Squamish, BC, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I love to help women prepare for birth and restore their core postpartum without just doing kegels! I help women get back to the activities and adventures they yearn for!
Tell us about yourself
From the day I took my first fitness training, I knew I wanted to work with pregnant and postpartum women. I was just fascinated by the female body. Fast forward five years later, after having my first baby, I started teaching a workshop called Prepare to Push during the Covid pandemic. I had taken this course myself in pregnancy and felt it really prepared and empowered me to have a positive birth experience even when going into labor spontaneously six weeks early! I wanted to share the same information with other pregnant people.
From there, I started developing other online prenatal and postpartum fitness programs to be able to help mothers no matter where they live. I get so much gratification from seeing women have a positive birth experience and then successfully get back to a place where they feel good and confident in their bodies again, without pain, peeing their pants, etc.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My latest biggest accomplishment has been becoming an author. I co-authored a book called “the Mom Babes, An Anthology of Motherhood, V2”. It’s a collection of personal essays about motherhood, sisterhood, and all its complexities. In my chapter, I tell the story of my fertility journey, the lifestyle changes I made, and my personal experience so that others know they aren’t alone. Infertility comes with a lot of feelings of shame and inadequacy, and I think it’s important that we talk about it.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
It’s a rollercoaster. Some days you have great wins, and some days you have setbacks, and you just have to keep holding that long-term vision and be persistent.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Have the vision, do the training you need, and don’t quit your day job right away until you have replaced the income. A lot of it is adopting a positive mindset too - something I am still working on.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
I believe that sharing is caring - I love to collaborate with other business owners in a similar space so we can share information, not only on successful business practices but to have that support network. Being an entrepreneur can feel lonely, so it’s important to cultivate those relationships for support and guidance.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.nikkijfit.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seatoskyfitness/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxs9a9W16Z01tB0qfir07g
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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