TribeFit Review | Interview with Ash B - Successful Online Trainer

Chris Linson: Hey everybody, Chris Linton here from TribeFit and I am blessed to have with us today Ashleigh Boehm, hopefully I pronounced that correct.

Ashleigh Boehm: Very good.

Chris Linson: Fantastic. Whereabouts are you dialling in from today Ashleigh?

Ashleigh Boehm: I am in Bondi in Sydney.

Chris Linson: Bondi, Sydney is kind of a stone throw away from where our HQ is, but I wanted to jump on today's session with Ashleigh, Ashleigh is an online trainer doing some really big things and lots more to lot more capacity to be going from where she is today. But Ashleigh has put up a hand and I very much appreciate your time Ashleigh, but it was more just have a chat about where you're at, where you've been, any learnings along the way. And I guess for people who are listening in, thinking that they want to go down a similar path, kind of learning from your mistakes, your wins, your losses, whatever it might be and hopefully short cutting their journey as well. I guess that's my long winded open to it all, but I guess it's [inaudible 00:01:10] yourself Ash, could you give us a little bit of, those that don't know about you, keeps a little bit of a journey of yourself over the past [inaudible 00:01:18] of years that have kind of taken you to where you are today?

Ashleigh Boehm: Yeah, sure. So I've been a personal trainer now for, it's my eighth year. From an advertising background and, I started off as a gym floor trainer working for other people. Then working for myself as a franchisee through Fitness First loved just running my own thing, really found a lot of freedom and having control over my own schedule, which is amazing. But of course still trading time for money.

I was probably doing some weeks, 50, 60 sessions. Before I left I was charging 150 a session for 45 minutes, so I was doing well, but after eight years of 4:00 AM wake up especially in the winter. I decided that it was enough, so I promised myself, June last year, I said, Ashley, you have one year and then you're off the gym floor, and I gave myself 12 months to transition my business to 100% online and be making more money than I was in the gym, which I was making a lot of money at the time. I'm not going to lie. That was a big challenge for me and it was a difficult thing to let go of as well. The fear of going into the unknown and not knowing if I would be successful.

I was kind of doing a hybrid model of some online, some face to face but my online was not really where my energy went and the product delivery wasn't great. It was, what it was. I wasn't charging very much for it either. So yes, then signed up with you guys, would it be in March? March yeah, something like that and since then it's kind of just taken off extremely and I can safely say I hit my goal, which was good. June, July this year. I was definitely willing, truly ahead of where it was in the gym. So, that was awesome.

Chris Linson: Fantastic. Well that's like you said it was, it's kind of when I speak to people such as yourself it's, when you're in a good position and your things are going well, you're earning well. It is kind of almost in some capacity, more difficult to jump out of, what's comfortable, what's feeling good and go for what you, take that leap of faith for what you believe could be better and what you want more. So I guess, what was the real motivators? I know you mentioned early mornings, winter, what were the real sort of motivators that made you take that leap of faith and pull back from the face to face even though you were earning good amounts?

Ashleigh Boehm: I think, lifestyle. I really wanted freedom. I'm probably more driven by freedom of time than I am for money. I would've stayed in the gym if it was money because I could've just kept charging more I was on the high demand. But I think I've just been on holidays. I think I got back from South America and I was, I just had these need to want to travel more and just have ultimate freedom of my lifestyle. Just being wherever I wanted to be and still have a business. Because obviously I got back and I'd lost so much money. I would still pay rent in the gym when I was away.

All my, couple my clients dropped off. I had missed this huge chunk of like a really optimal time and I realised how devastating it was to my business to not be able to take a holiday or having to do the things I wanted to do. I had to be there physically. And so for me, because that's my highest value is to spend time with my friends, my family, and also travel to be able to potentially do that and still have a business and an income. To me, it was the only way out of that pain point I felt like I was a slave to the gym and to, you know, being in a certain place at a certain time to service my clients. So this was like the ultimate solution I guess to that challenge.

Chris Linson: Beautiful. And since, well I guess how hard was it for, I speak to people regularly who are either doing really well face to face or doing kind of well face to face and peeling back. When they start to see they're online going well there's almost another level of a mental leap of peeling back to [inaudible 00:05:19] time and go for your actual dream from the initial spec, space. When you saw the online working, how easy was it peeling back and pulling back further and further from your face to face?

Ashleigh Boehm: It became easier too because like you said, I felt like I'd kind of wasn't growing in that environment anymore. I could only help a certain amount of people given the fact that I only had a set amount of time and I realised that they were, I could have the opportunity to touch so many more people and help so many more women. And that was a huge motivator for me as well. So when I opened up that opportunity, the thought of actually being able to touch more people's lives, it wasn't that uncomfortable. It was actually really, I was happy to leap into that. The discomfort of the unknown.

To be honest, I'm a risk taker, so I don't really, it didn't really bother me and I've always landed on my feet and I think I backed myself pretty hard to be got a certain level of confidence about me that enables me to just kind of commit. I guess it was that, taking an initial hit as far as my income to grow bigger, to be able to leverage my time better as well. It was scary initially, but I think I was also not being challenged enough. And for me challenge is, it keeps me motivated if I'm not challenged, I actually start to digress. It was once I made a decision it was pretty much I was, I'd already, there's no hesitation, it's done.

Chris Linson: Beautiful. Now it's, that's really important. Like you said, being able to back yourself and trust your skill and know that you can fall on your feet and I guess having, the performance and results you've had in the past, but then also having, community renewal, that sort of stuff definitely helps ensure that it can be done. But I guess my next question was what's your life like now that you've pulled back from your face to face in comparison?

Ashleigh Boehm: My stress levels have decreased dramatically. Significantly. Just physically having to be on your feet and having so much physical contact with that many people. And it was draining. My training really suffered. I didn't want to be in the gym. And me and my training has always been, I was always been so passionate about it. I just, towards the end I just didn't want to be there anymore. As soon as I finished, I just want to get out and then I was starting to really resent just being in that kind of space. Now I kind of, I'm, I have, I set my routine, I set the times that I want to talk to people and it's created this ultimate lifestyle.

I'm able to go away on the weekends and instead of having to be in the gym on a Saturday morning, and I don't have to worry about being too tired on Monday morning, I could just clear my schedule a bit. It's given me so much more freedom, but also my physical and mental health, sorry, has improved dramatically. Absolutely dramatically. It's been awesome. I definitely no regrets. I would never be going back. Everyone keeps saying to me. So I've just moved back to [from 00:08:28] from down the coast like, Oh, are you going to come back to the gym? I was, hell no. And they, you missing [inaudible 00:08:34]. Not even one bit.

Chris Linson: It's sad to hear it. It's such a common thing that the reason why I guess we get interested in the industry in the first place is by personal interest and loving the gym and training and being fit and all that sort of stuff. And I hear it so many times from people who are, starting to burn out a little bit with that being face to face, being on your feet all day, kind of hating and resenting and then feeling shit because you're, not taking care of your own body. You're not training, you're not putting [inaudible 00:09:12] to what you love and you kind of end up resenting what you got in it for the first place.

Ashleigh Boehm: Absolutely. And it was kind of, eventually it was showing through in the way I was coaching as well. I could catch myself, my communication or even just my energy. It wasn't there and my heart wasn't, and I think people could sense that and it was ultimately going to be to my [inaudible 00:09:36]. And I was just looking around me, the people, there was a few trainers in the gym that I worked at that had been there for, I don't know like 15 years or something. How are you going to get out of here? What's your plan and God, when am I going to get out of here? I want to be like that. I don't want to have kids and having to come up and get up into the gym really early, then rush off to pick up kids. I respect everyone who does that. That's amazing. But for me it was just not how I see, saw my future, I always knew that I could never go and work for anyone else again. But I was working for other people at that time, which felt.

Chris Linson: For sure. Cool. In terms of tips and this is always a tough one. If someone's listening to this and they're like, Ashleigh, everything you're saying is really resonating and I'm probably a couple of months, years, whatever it might be down the journey of where you were. Do you have any kind of words of wisdom for them or any kind of traps to avoid that slowed you down or anything like that?

Ashleigh Boehm: Actually, this is what was really interesting. My first initial plan to get off the gym floor was modelled off somebody else that I knew who had built this awesome platform and making all this money and I, that was my way out. I was going to built this platform it's going to be subscription based, so that was it. It was done, started kind of getting all the ducks in a row. My brother is a web developer, so he's in on it. He's building this thing. And then when I spoke to him I was like having all these resistance, I was really procrastinating on certain stuff and I'm an action taker. I do, I'm not at all procrastinator. I worked really hard, but I was having this internal struggle implementing just getting stuff done and I couldn't, push past it.

I was just, what is going on with me? And I think we were told that fear and all this stuff is just, it's your fear of success. No it's bullshit. And I was, no Ashleigh come on, you've got to do this what is your problem. And I was just kept thinking I was being lazy, but I read this article, it was about fear actually being feedback that you don't know what the hell you're doing and it's, there protecting you and it's stopping you because if you do this, you're going to get hurt. And I think that's what it was, is that I wanted to be somewhere, but I didn't have the skill. I didn't have the framework, I didn't have the knowledge and neither did my brother, he's a tech guy, I'm the trainer. But we didn't have the marketing ability. We didn't know how to build the framework to actually make it successful.

And so I acknowledged my fear is not being me being afraid of my own success. Really not afraid of that. It was, the fear was rational. It was totally rational. I didn't know what the hell I was doing and it wouldn't have been successful. And actually it was Matt when I had a call with him and I inquired you guys that pointed that out to me and it was like a big moment where you said, that's amazing, but you're about 10 steps behind that. That's where you want to be your end point. And he said to me, if you tried to do that, I'm sorry but it wouldn't be successful. And I was, thank you for saying that it's, I think that's what I knew in my subconscious brain, but to have someone actually tell me that it was like, yes, I need to do the work now.

I need to start now to build to where I want to be. So I guess my, the point of the story is, is that if you, the longer you delay starting something, the longer you delay getting to your ultimate point because it does take momentum, it does take building, it does take compounding effect. And even if starting now is just being more active with your social media, because I was so, I've been so successful with my coaching business because I put so much hard work into my social media content and I'm very much myself.

I put out lots of good information all the time and I'd been doing that a couple of years leading up to even going online. So I guess that's, don't even if you don't feel ready to do it yet, start some form of momentum building to it now because when you are ready, you already have these engaged audience that will be buying from you immediately did they know that you offer online coaching and so I'm going to be where I want to be much faster than I would had I not done that.

But yeah, also like ask for help. Like it's hard you, unless you're a professional in marketing and tech, if you're just a trainer, you don't have those skills. So you've got to acquire those skills at some point. And I think that's the biggest thing for me is I always was resistant to asking for help. But as a coach, I also see value in coaching. Who am I to say that? [crosstalk 00:14:17]

I guess I was [inaudible 00:14:21] start taking action now regardless of when you're ready to start and when you're ready, you get help. Like actually enlist, helping someone who can expedite the process. Otherwise, you're just going to take a long time.

Chris Linson: Of course, and well, anything else before I jump in?

Ashleigh Boehm: No, I think that's it.

Chris Linson: That was really good and so powerful. So true. And staying stagnant and not doing anything is the fastest way to failure. Because you're not doing anything, you're not moving forward, you're not, even if you're, as Ashleigh mentioned, just prepping and getting active. Obviously you want to be doing and spending your time and energy on the right stuff and knowing what to put it on. But then just moving forward, making moves, pulling the trigger on stuff. That's really where it's at. But I guess I just want to touch on this as well. So Ash, your ideal client, what's the type of client you work with?

Ashleigh Boehm: My niche, my brand is called Chicks Who Lift. I work with women probably between the ages of 20 to 45 who are already experienced in the gym, say intermediate to advanced level. I don't deal with beginnings. I deal with women who like I don't have to sell them in on the fact that they don't get to get stupidly bulky from lifting weights. And all those kind of stuff I'll have that conversation too many times I decided I didn't want to ever have it again. So I niched out of that to women, who are already in the gym who just want to take to the next level. I've got a really kind of high level programming experience and nutrition experience as well. So I wanted to be able to utilise this skills study [inaudible 00:15:53] to a lot of my coaching. So I'm very mindset focused. My niche is women who had serious about getting serious results. They've done the foundation but they need the high level of programming and nutrition strategy.

Chris Linson: And the last question I've got for you, I was speaking with a trainer this morning and he asked me this and I thought it'd be great to hear it from yourself as well. So I know the answer, but it'd be great to hear from your experience. So how have you found the clients you get online? Do they differ in any way? The clients used to get face to face, to those that you get online. Are they the same? Do they have different mentalities, different wants and needs? How do you find that?

Ashleigh Boehm: Yes and no. I probably would take on beginners in the gym just because I am able to safely progress them and I can watch them and I can actually teach them the movement patterns. So only from that respect, but I think there's that saying your vibe attracts your tribe. And so I think people see me on social media. They see how they talk, they listen to my messaging and they either love me or, they're put off by how direct I am sometimes. So energetically they're pretty much the same and I'm very picky. I won't take whatever client if I don't feel a good vibe from them on the phone. I'll actually not take them on for that reason. I make it very clear that I'm a coach, not a babysitter. I'm very firm on the boundaries that I've set with my clients in regards to communication. I think the only just similarity would be the level of experience other than that, that's pretty much the same.

Chris Linson: Beautiful. Now absolutely spot on and, I guess even just to pick up on the point there of being very clear about what you do, who you want to work with and not being afraid. Being in the position where you have enough interest, enough people wanting to be a client that you can go, look, you're potentially not perfect for me. You're perfect for [inaudible 00:17:57] more like you and be able to pick and choose is a really powerful thing for yourself. But it's also at the same time extraordinarily powerful for your clients because you get people you gel with who are serious and want to make a change and, they're going to get the ridiculous results and absolutely love it and [inaudible 00:18:17] longterm. Very important part. And I guess just anyone that's listening to this online, you have the capacity to work with people worldwide, and it's not about every single person that reaches out. It's about being choosy being very clear on who you are, what you do, and that's going to repel some people, but it's also going to attract the people that you want.

Ashleigh Boehm: Absolutely.

Chris Linson: It's very important. In terms of I guess final one. Being yourself. How important is it being yourself in your social media and not trying to, I guess fit in with everyone and make everyone happy with your messaging.

Ashleigh Boehm: I couldn't slack [inaudible 00:19:07] always have to appear to be so inspirational and motivational all the time, no bad-days kind of shit, always looking amazing, all these slack, photo shoot photos all the time. And it wasn't until I started being like really vulnerable with my own journey, with my own history, with my body, the struggles I've had with mental health. People really started to resonate and see me like I was them. And that's way more motivating to know that somebody has the same, can suffer from the same challenges as you, but still is able to achieve results as opposed to being this genetically blessed, perfect person who's hashtag fitspo. [crosstalk 00:19:53]

I that's one thing I swear a lot and that's how I talk normally, like in front of my grandparents I swear not intentionally, it's just subconscious, but that's how I talk on my social media. I talk and my messaging is exactly like you would be sitting in front of me having conversation and I'm always posting stories that people can see my real life as well as my fitness life. And I'm always talking shit. I'm not afraid to give a strong opinion and you know that that can attract attention, good or bad, but it's attention and that's can sometimes be always a good thing.

I couldn't stress enough how important it is to not try and curate your messaging too much to what you think people want to hear and just be yourself. Because then you will attract authentic clients that want to work with you and who know what, they know what they're getting and they know what to expect and they're so bought it and you don't, I sell on the phone. Literally, I call, I have Rachel that they take my boxes and then I go, which, which one do you want? There's not even like a convincing thing because they already know me so well and they trust me. They, they watch me every day. It's so weird actually. Some of them might bring up posts or stories that I'd done a year ago. [inaudible 00:21:05]

And all the people come up to you and shit, I don't even have a massive following, but I often have people come up and see me in Bondi and I want to talk to me and stuff. And it's pretty cool. And I think that's because of the authenticity that I display and the fact that I just finally let go of that perfection thing and was myself. And it's such a relief to not have to try and put on a certain avatar every day. You just kind of be you. And people just, love it. They love that stuff.

Chris Linson: Very much so. And you've probably heard me talk about, but if anyone else that's watching this hasn't yet, the Batman versus Superman analogy, Superman cannot die, cannot be hurt, he can fly, he's an alien. Batman was a human. He's vulnerable, he gets hurt out of the two characters. Batman forever has outsold Superman in every single way, every single, look at the Superman movies, they will flop the Batman movies they kill it. And the reason being is because Batman is human. He is vulnerable, he can die, he makes mistakes. And people can relate to that. Whereas no one can relate to Superman. He's an alien. He's a perfect being, is this and that. So don't try and be Superman. Try and be more like Batman. Be more like yourself. Be more vulnerable and people connect and people buy and want help. And that's really what it's all about.

Ashleigh Boehm: Well great.

Chris Linson: Cool. Well look, we'll finish up here, Ashleigh. I appreciate your time. I'm going to throw it to you one more time. I probably already asked the question, but any words of wisdom to wrap up today's school?

Ashleigh Boehm: Oh God, I've just given you all my wisdom. I don't know, I guess. Just there's never going to be a perfect time to start at anything, but that's why you have to start at least something and everything has a compounding effect. So it's all about a consistent investment, whether that be with the clients in the gym. Same with your business. You don't have to do everything now. Just start with something small and kind of continue to build onto it. And then when you are ready you have a solid foundation and just be yourself I suppose.

Chris Linson: Ash, I appreciate it very much. Hats off on the success you've had, the success you're going to have in the coming months, 12 months, 24 months from now. Guys, if you, if anything has resonated, checkout Ash, Ash, what or how would they find, people find you if someone to become a client of yours, how are they going to find you or whatever it might be.

Ashleigh Boehm: So my Instagram handle is Ashleigh A-S-H-L-E-I-G-H underscore Chicks Who Lift, my website is Chicks Who Lift dot com dot AU. You can check either of those out.

Chris Linson: Beautiful. Thanks so much for your time, Ash. We will no doubt be chatting soon, and that's it from us guys. Bye for now.

Ashleigh Boehm: Bye.