Femme Fit-preneur an invitation
You’re the only one who can and should define your success.
Transcript
Welcome back to season 3 of the work IN podcast. I really can’t believe that something that started out as an experiment in marketing and visibility has grown into its own evolving body of work! I’m so grateful to each and every one of you for your support along the way. I’m so excited to kick off this season of intention and attention in all things business, mindset and fitness for coaches and clients alike.
Today’s episode is a reintroduction of sorts. I thought it would be a good time to set expectations going forward and frame or reframe my own business pivot outside of this podcast and share some of my own core beliefs both personally and professionally. If you want to follow along with these changes I’d like to invite you to join my Grace & Grit newsletter. I send weekly emails that expand on what we are discussing here on The Work IN and are sprinkled with random puppy updates since last year I lost my mind and adopted 2 puppies for Remy. Remy was not amused and I have learned humility.
Anyway, I’d love to have you join our Grace & Grit crew in the new year. You can do that on Savage grace coaching.com
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my experience in the online business space and 25 years of fitness industry experience and the push and pull of social media marketing and progressive thought leadership, feminism in and out of business and how these things clash with the intention of each and every one of us to discover and promote our authentic voice and make money, make an actual living. These topics might seem like a big shift away from mental health, stress and anxiety but I don’t think it is. Mental health, our state of mind is an outward expression, a symptom if you will, of the internal state of our core beliefs and how we interact with the world. Anytime we experience cognitive dissonance between what we believe and what the world wants us to believe or between what we know is true and what others are trying to tell us is true that can really trigger an alarm that sends us into a state of protection - what we know as stress, anxiety and overwhelm in all its various forms.
It’s important to understand how who you are and what you believe influences not just your external choices and behavior but your internal awareness, that mind body spirit relationship too. Some of our focus might seem exclusive to entrepreneurs, fit pros, online business founders, female small business owners. But there’s nothing exclusive about trauma, stress or anxiety. There’s nothing exclusive about how the nervous system tries to protect you. Every entrepreneur, every fit pro- is a human first. And every human, regardless of what you do for a living, can benefit from a deeper understanding of who they are so they can set boundaries, make grounded choices, stay healthy, calm and resilient.
Today's episode is an outline of what I stand for in this podcast, my business and personal life and the kind of professionals that I work with. It’s both a manifesto and an invitation to join a movement of empowerment in the small business and wellness and coaching space. So whether you’re a health conscious individual, a wellness enthusiast or a provider of those things, this ones for you.
So here we go.
I am a femme fit-preneur. What is that exactly? Well I just made it up.
A fit-prenuer is that freestyle, solo fit pro who is trying to make it on their own in the fitness industry. But a femme fit-preneur goes a step further than just your average aerobics instructor or coach. She goes beyond being an entertainer or performer. She’s turned a hobby into a career. She understands that most of what she brings to her clients goes beyond what the eyes can see and takes that privilege seriously.
It’s a female fitness professional that refuses to fall into the victim culture as defined by the latest social outrage. She believes in the power of divine feminine and masculine, the importance of both and the freedom to express each. At her core she is creative, independent and self reliant and doesn’t take no for an answer. She finds a way because she wants it all. She is fearless in her own moral code and in the same breath can accept and support the differences in those around her. She takes responsibility for herself and expects others to do the same. She has a backbone of diamond, a heart of gold and beautiful boundaries that have been hard won. She works simultaneously for the immediate moment and for legacy taking the road less traveled to get there.
She’s a red blooded feminist. She acknowledges the historical struggle of women to be respected and recognized in the workplace and in the political landscape especially with regards to money and access to property. And fully embraces the rights of women to choose her path, traditional and not, that uphold the family in many different ways.
The Femme fit-preneur can recognize and learn from the lessons of the past but is not defined by them. She won’t judge anyone, male or female, past present or future for the choices they made in the culture of their time.
She expects no special treatment because of her sex. She knows her value and isn’t afraid to claim it. She’s neither sheep nor lemming. She’s unexpected, undefined, real, and a force to be reckoned with, personally and professionally.
These are the women who will be on the frontline of the new gold standard in the fitness industry. The ones that know the importance of the nervous system and are able to bring their clients a new awareness and relationship with their bodies in a way that brings lasting layers of health. Because a calm nervous system can heal everything from anxiety to IBS, from insomnia to high blood pressure, from type 2 diabetes to chronic pain.
In the real world everyone you meet carries trauma with them. And everyone has dealt with it to varying degrees. But everyone wants to feel better.
Exercise along with improvements in diet have been proven to be more effective at healing anxiety and depression by 60%, the wellness industry is in a unique position to make a profound difference. But only if we equip our fit pros with what they need for their clients and for themselves.
I’m wondering if you know anyone like this? Does this resonate with you?
This season I want to bring you conversations, connections and perspectives from all corners of the fitness industry Movement, Nutrition, Sleep, connection, business to help you create and claim your own fit-preneurship. We’ll be focusing on the intention behind all of these topics and asking questions to help all of us build a stronger awareness of where we stand and what we stand for.
It’s time to elevate our profession. You don’t have to be a therapist to make an impact on a client's mental health. You don’t need to be a doctor to “cure” the diseases of lifestyle. ANd it shouldn’t take 25 years of experience, survive imposter syndrome and burnout in order to step into your own standard of excellence personally and professionally. You simply need to be open to an understanding of the nervous system and how the simple things we offer in every format of group fitness and health coaching can influence it for the better.
This is what being trauma informed means. It’s not watering down everything you say until no one knows what you’re talking about in the hopes that no one will be triggered. It’s not holding back, or stepping outside your scope. It’s not over sharing. No, it’s simply a different level of awareness, as an instructor, as a friend, as a person. It’s intention and attention on a different level. It’s time to embrace the importance of what we bring to the health equation.
If that resonates with you, if that’s something you want to bring into your career you can get started with my free guide to holding space on my website savagegracecoaching.com
So I hope you stick around for this season of The Work IN. I couldn’t do it without you
And speaking of, I always ask my guests when we have them what their work in is so I thought I’d share mine as it’s the beginning of the year.
Rather than a new habit or quitting something or learning something new. As I've done in the past, this year I’m simplifying with a new habit structure. For the last few months we have had our world turned upside down by these 2 adorable puppies and so now they're a little older and I want to try to establish a regular morning routine. Again. I’ve tried this before but I didn’t really have any good reason to do it. This year I do. And the pups are up early anyway. So the structure is a 5 am wake up but instead of just sucking on a cup or cups of coffee for 3 hours I’m going to make it productive. SOme kind of exercise first. Then some educational time. I’m in the middle of several online courses that need my attention but have been easy to procrastinate. The exercise is important because I need to start training for RAGBRAI this year. So it’ll most likely be time on the bike. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Let me know what your work in is. You can follow me on Instagram @realsavagegrace FB @savagegracecoaching or Linked In And don’t forget to join the Grace & Grit newsletter
Hey there!
I’m your host Ericka Thomas. I'm a resilience coach and fit-preneur offering an authentic, actionable realistic approach to personal and professional balance for coaches in any format.
Savage Grace Coaching is all about bringing resilience and burnout recovery. Especially for overwhelmed entrepreneurs, creators and coaches in the fitness industry.
Schedule a free consulttation call to see if my brand of actionable accountability is right for you and your business.