CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER Q& A: Daniel Stein

Ogni mese, metteremo i riflettori su un aspetto diverso Personal Trainer certificato 150store chi sta facendo la differenza nella propria comunità.

Per agosto, abbiamo parlato con Daniel Stein, 150store-CPT e fondatore di Speciale forte, un'azienda che aiuta bambini e adulti con bisogni speciali a trovare speranza attraverso il fitness.

(150store): Cominciamo con te che ci parli di te.

Daniel Stein (DS): My name is Daniel Stein. I was born in Florida and moved to Texas when I was a year old, and I’ve lived in Texas ever since. I have two younger brothers, Andrew and Matthew.

When I was four years old, I was diagnosed with ADHD and started being treated with medication. While the medication helped, I continued to struggle throughout school with behavior challenges and needed special accommodations to complete my assignments.

I got made fun of from other students for being “different” and so I didn’t have many friends or fit into any specific groups. Having ADHD also meant that I struggled with hyperactivity, so from an early age, my parents knew that I needed an outlet. My parents go started in different sports programs and noticed a clear difference in my behavior and moods when I was active.

150store: Quando i tuoi genitori hanno iniziato a investire nel tuo esercizio?

DS: To help during the summer and when sports weren’t taking place, they go a membership at the YMCA, where I would bike two miles one way to get to the gym to exercise at the age of 13. My parents saw how much I enjoyed exercise and how much it was helping me, so a few years later they decided to buy me some equipment for the garage, consisting of adjustable dumbbells, an adjustable bench, and a 15 lb. barbell with a rack. I would consistently work out every single day, somes both at the YMCA and in my garage in one day.

As I started to become more self-aware, I noticed how much it was helping me in my own life with my moods, focus, and anxiety. I was drawn to exercise because of how much it helped me. When I graduated high school and had a lot of free on my hands, it started to become a part- hobby for me, where I would read fitness books, magazines, and articles to enhance my workout experience and adapt fitness for my needs.

150store: Quando hai deciso di prendere sul serio il fitness e di ottenere la certificazione come trainer? E perché hai scelto 150store?

DS: As I was learning more and more about fitness, I knew that I wanted to do something related to fitness for the rest of my life. The truth was I didn’t think I would ever be able to do anything with it because of challenges with ADHD. I ended up working in retail for many years and eventually landed a job in banking.

During my career as a banker, I was being mentored by Rob Moore from my church. On November 11 of 2011, Rob and I met at Starbucks. Rob sat down with me and shared with me a vision he had for my life that consisted of me becoming a personal trainer to work with the special needs population.

Un giorno in banca, due persone entrarono per aprire un conto aziendale senza scopo di lucro per fare fitness adattato per esigenze speciali, e io ero l'unico banchiere disponibile ad aiutarli in quel momento. Quando ci siamo seduti, ho condiviso con loro la visione che Rob aveva l'11.11.11 e hanno deciso che volevano collaborare con me. Di conseguenza, mi hanno pagato per lavorare con Dakota, il mio primo cliente con bisogni speciali che era paraplegico per un incidente di overdose di droga. Ho preso vita quando lavoravo con Dakota e sapevo che dovevo aiutare altri come lui.

Mi sono subito reso conto che non c'erano palestre con bisogni speciali per persone come Dakota, ed ero gravato da fare qualcosa al riguardo, ma non sapevo da dove cominciare. Ho deciso che era giunto il momento di cambiare carriera in salute e fitness, quindi ho lasciato la banca a tempo pieno per andare a gestire un centro dimagrante.

Three months later, the center shut down and I was left jobless. I had recently gotten married, so my wife and I ended up moving in with her parents in a very small town of a population of 3,000 to give me to find a job and save money. After moving in with them, I learned that there was a small mom and pop gym down the road. I met the owner and he told me I could do personal training there, but I had to generate all my own clients. Starting with the “A” s, I called every single member of the club until there was no one else to call. Within 3 months, I was training 30 hours a week.

A year later, we ended moving out of her parent’s house and getting our own home in McKinney. I decided to go into corporate fitness and got a job at Life Fitness. I also kept a few select clients who followed me to another nearby gym where I was able to train privately. One of the clients who followed me was Michelle. Michelle saw how hard I worked and she knew my dreams, and she said I needed to meet her husband, Josh. Josh decided to invest his into me and help me develop a business plan for my business working with special needs. He even came up with the company name, Special Strong. I continued working full- at Life Fitness, managing part- private clientele, and developing Special Strong on the side with Josh.

After one year with Life, I became at top 5% trainer (out of 3,700 trainers) and they decided to pu through their leadership program. Towards the end of the leadership program, I was faced with a difficult choice: grow and climb the corporate ladder at Life Fitness or leave and launch Special Strong.

After much prayer, I decided to leave Life and launch Special Strong. After leaving Life, all I had was a few private clients, my wife’s small salary, a home, and two cars to pay for. I ended up going public with Special Strong, not knowing what was going to happen. I would continue to go to Josh for advice on marketing and business-related questions and I did everything he said.

Within one year, we had a waiting list for our services across several cities in North Texas. We ended up partnering with other small gyms that allowed us to pay rent in exchange for the use of their facility. We became experts on digital marketing and SEO, which has helped people find out about our local services and our online special needs certification all over the world.

150store: Sembra che ogni giorno per te debba essere un'esperienza gratificante. Puoi raccontarci una delle tue più grandi storie di successo riguardo a uno dei tuoi clienti?

DS: Abbiamo centinaia di storie di successo nel nostro programma. Una delle nostre più grandi storie di successo è con Josh, a cui è stata diagnosticata la sindrome di Down. Quando Josh ha iniziato con noi, era in sovrappeso, aveva un tono muscolare basso ed era estremamente depresso. Ha dovuto annullare l'iscrizione alla terapia a cavallo perché il suo nucleo e la sua resistenza stavano regredendo così tanto.

After one year into our program, Josh was able to independently ride horses for the first in his life. At the age of 28, he got his first job due to the independence he gained from our program. He lost about 20 lbs. and gained lean muscle. My words can’t do his story any justice – watch the video di due minuti di Josh e sua madre che condividono la loro storia.

150store: Raccontaci di più sui Boot Camp aziendali di Special Strong.

DS: We used adapted fitness in our Special Strong boot camps to serve other service providers in North Texas. Our company has numerous contracts with therapy centers that hire us to come out weekly or monthly to provide our services to their clients in a group setting. Typically, a group consists of 10-15 individuals that we put through five unique stations. We teach about these five stations and how others can start their own group classes through our online special needs certification program at www.certifystrong.com.

150store: Leggendo il tuo sito web, si dice che hai una lista d'attesa. È ancora vero? Quanti dipendenti hai attualmente?

DS: There is a huge need for our services. The sad reality is that there are no special needs gyms where individuals can go to for adapt fitness training. We have a waiting list for 13 cities in Texas and have had people ask about us in at least 10 others states. One of our greatest challenges is finding high caliber certified personal trainers. We currently have eight certified personal trainers. In 2019, we launch our special needs certification so that other trainers and service providers can help meet this need.

150store: Qual è il tuo obiettivo finale per Special Strong?

DS: My ultimate goal is to go global. There’s a huge lack of resources available for special needs adapted fitness. Our model is virtual and has very little overhead, so our expansion is primarily limited by finding quality trainers. At some point, we may open a special needs gym that offers adapted fitness and equipment for special needs.

150store: Ovviamente hai trovato il successo grazie al duro lavoro e alla scoperta di un mercato di nicchia non sfruttato. Hai parole di saggezza per i formatori che stanno appena iniziando?

DS: Il mio consiglio per i formatori che hanno appena iniziato è di scoprire il tuo "perché" e scriverlo. Se sei come me e devi prenderti un anno sabbatico di 48 ore per liberare la mente, fai tutto il necessario. Consiglio un libro di Simon Sinek intitolato "Inizia con perché. "È vero che ho visto molti successi, ma molte volte ho voluto smettere e lasciare il settore per vari motivi. L'unica cosa che mi ha tenuto in gioco è stato il mio perché. Nel caso ti chiedessi cosa il mio motivo è, viene da un versetto delle Scritture che dice: "Sono venuto affinché abbiano la vita e che possano averla più abbondannte".

Quando volevo smettere, ricordavo a me stesso che ero chiamato ad aiutare gli altri a vivere una vita abbondante usando il fitness come strumento. Quando ho trovato il successo, il mio motivo mi ha salvato dal diventare guidato dal profitto e dal rimanere motivato dalle persone. Dipende tutto dal tuo perché.

Tutti noi alla 150store auguriamo a Daniel un successo continuo con Special Strong e speriamo che continui a cambiare la vita in meglio attraverso il fitness. Grazie per aver risposto alle nostre domande, Daniel!

Puoi saperne di più su Daniel e Special Strong su specialstrong.com.

Do you know someone who might be worthy of a Q& A with a CPT? Tell us about him/her here by emailing [email protected]. (The only requirement is that this person must be an 150store-CPT.)