Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Nic Nakis, Founder of Smart, Fit, and Clean, located in Sedro-Woolley, WA, USA.

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

My business is Smart, Fit, and Clean, a coaching company I founded in 2019 to help regular people (that's everyone, anyone, and anywhere) take control of their own health and fitness. I want to lead a healthy lifestyle revolution and save the world one healthy lifestyle at a time. I teach people how to make the world a better place by changing the things that are within their own immediate locus of control FIRST. "Smart" means Mental Fitness, "Fit" means Physical Fitness, and "Clean" means Spiritual Fitness. I look at the whole person to catalyze small, permanent changes that contribute to big long-term effects overall. If my customer is able to improve their own mind, body, and spirit, then they've made their own corner of the world a better place and are now able to help others do so too. It's an "each one teaches one" and "be the change you want to see" philosophy.

Tell us about yourself

I am a really weird dude. I grew up in a treehouse in the woods in a place with a make-believe-sounding name (Sedro-Woolley). I've got webbed toes, and that's only the beginning. As a young child, I was molested at daycare, and that set me apart from others in a more permanent and serious way. I became the one who is always looking at the world sideways, trying to figure out the wrongs of things and how they can be righted. As a youth, I was driven to explore religion and mythology, math, science, history, art, and literature. I grew up in the woods and lived an active outdoor lifestyle with a lot of sports. My brother and I were paramilitary kids who collected military surplus gear and practiced putting it to use. All along, I had one driving desire: to discover the solutions to the world's pressing problems, discover the levers of power in the world, and effect major changes. "Save the world" and "revolution" were my obsessive inner drives. As a teenager, this led me to protest marches, zine publishing, and play in punk rock bands. Then it was graffiti writing and skinhead gangs taking it to the streets to bring violent action against neo-nazis and their ilk. A lot of anger mixed up with idealism and some seriously misguided action got me into quite a bit of trouble. Facing issues with my health, I also got obsessive about nutrition and exercise. I was part of the early CrossFit community and one of the first to treat it like a sport and get involved with competitions, but I was still a knucklehead. When my brother died in the Iraq war at age 19, I decided to change my course. I pursued a career in film production and went to college for a business degree. I traveled around the world, married a Masai girl from Kenya, and got really into diverse religious and spiritual practices. There was always a lot going on, but this inner drive to figure everything out, develop powers of influence, and save the whole world somehow continued to propel me forward. My film career, though, just wasn't going in the same direction as my heart. In 2012, I decided to dip my toes into something I'd always loved and daydreamed about: fitness coaching. In 2013, I moved to Thailand and became the head trainer for the cross-training program at Tiger Muay Thai & MMA in Phuket. In 2014, I worked with some partners to open a gym in my hometown before moving on to a 5-year stint at Riverside Health Club, where I became the owner-of-record at CrossFit RHC and the Personal Training Supervisor. During this period, I developed my chops, and my philosophy, as a fitness coach. I earned certs in Nutrition Coaching, Assessment, Program Design, and Lifestyle Coaching. I experimented with many sports and diets. I worked one-on-one with a lot of very different people and learned a ton about relationships and what makes individuals tick. In 2019, I went out on my own and started Smart, Fit, and Clean. I want to make a positive impact on the world using all the experiences and lessons I've gained in this crazy life. I'm driven each day to grow as a person and to share the useful things I've learned with others in order to effect change for the better.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner was going solo in 2019 and surviving the global pandemic without any major reduction in revenue. Running an in-person and remote coaching service out of my garage gym in a small-town market might have sounded like a daydream, but I made it real, and I made it resilient enough to outlast the shutdowns, lockdowns and scares of 2020-2021.

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

The hardest thing about owning my own business is managing the fear that I won't be able to eat next month. Everything rides on my shoulders. There's no "boss" paying the overhead and making sure my salary gets there each week. I have to mitigate risk through better messaging, alignment with my clients, strong relationships, and sound financial practices. It's a big leap for someone like me with a working-class background, accustomed to trading my time and labor for money. Now it's a lot more about "work smarter, not harder."

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

My top 3 tips for anyone looking to start their own business:

  1. Plan. Do your due diligence to create a thorough business plan. This will give you the confidence to make the leap and the game plan to follow once you do.
  2. Communicate. Let everyone know what you're planning to do. Talk through all the elements of your business plan with people who know you better (mentors) and with people who resemble your customers (friends, family, peers, and neighbors). They will shed a lot of light on things for you and help illuminate your blind spots.
  3. Believe in yourself. If you ever stop swimming, you'll drown. So, keep your faith in things unseen, namely your own future success story. Take the leap and keep leaping. Don't look back.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://smartfitandclean.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicholasjohnnakis
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicnakis/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicnakis/

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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