Rise To The Challenge

Rolling With The Punches

Tim Silvester

Not everything in life is yours to control. You can’t always control what happens to you or those around you. But you can control how you respond and how you react to any given situation.

In 2013, I was made redundant from a job that I absolutely loved. I was a Strength & Conditioning coach, working with Scottish and GB athletes, Olympians, and Paralympians. This was based in Glasgow, and at the time, I was living in Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland.

It hit me hard, and it took a while for me to find my feet. I was very fortunate to have a strong, loving, and supportive family, and between us, we decided that going self-employed would be the best option.

I had always been involved in the fitness industry in one way or another as an athlete, a lifeguard, a strength coach, and a gym manager. I retrained as a personal trainer, and by the end of 2013, I started renting space in local halls to run classes. This was not a long-term solution in my local area as there just wasn’t the opportunity to grow as I needed. I decided to enter into a contract with a local gym. I would still be self-employed but with access to the gym membership, which would enable me to grow my PT business. 

Making PT Personal

Depending on what statistics you read, the average life expectancy of a personal trainer is six to twelve months. I did well for seven years, it was hard work and long hours, but thoroughly enjoyable. I provided one-to-one coaching, group sessions, lifestyle and nutritional advice, and took a high-intensity fitness class twice a week.

I had some amazing clients who achieved great results, gained some amazing friends, and worked with a few exceptionable coaches. My learning curve on running a business was vertical; this was my challenge area, but I learned. One of my PT colleagues was also a business coach and mentor. I would not have succeeded without his help.

Covid-19 stopped all that!

With the gym shut down, my colleagues and I faced the very real fear of what we were supposed to do now to maintain our businesses and keep paying our bills. Some had boot camps that were already established, and as outdoor activities were allowed at most times during lockdown, this sufficed. However, winter weather in Scotland is challenging at best, and maintaining your training numbers during this period was tough. 

I did not, although I had been planning to transition my business online for a while. I was not a spring chicken, and my plan was to work remotely from my laptop. This would enable me to keep working with my clients and hopefully reach out to new clients, too. However, this all happened quickly, with Covid-19 hitting hard and fast. I had to react quickly to maintain my income and to keep my clients on board.

I built a website, researched and put in place a subscription-based membership program, and all of my existing clients signed up. It started well, I was posting regular blogs, curating nutritional and lifestyle advice, and workout information in several formats, such as PDF downloads and workout cards.

However, my marketing skills and social media knowledge were not up to the challenge, and despite my hours of study, trial, and error, I was unable to generate the new business I needed for this venture to really take off.

Well, it eventually failed for a number of reasons, not just my lack of marketing skills, but that’s for another story! I retrained as a heavy goods driver and got a local job driving tippers for a year until they ran out of work for me and let me go.

Life Takes a Turn

It was at this point that I decided to take the plunge and write the book that I’ve had in my head for so many years. I first came up with the idea of writing a book in Toronto, Canada, while I was with my daughter and her friend at a Figure Skating training camp. While they were on the ice, I had plenty of time to think and plan. I was already early in my career as a PT at this point and was looking at generating further income streams. 

I have always enjoyed reading, especially science fiction, and the idea of writing a book really took me. I started to plan out a story as I sat beside the ice rink. It quickly took shape, and I felt excited by the prospect of this adventure to see where it would lead. I was definitely happier telling a story than marketing my PT business on social media! Hopefully, I will be better at it too!

As I was still growing my PT business, I focused on this rather than the book and left it on the back burner on my return to Scotland. I would make notes every now and then, promising myself that I would return to my book soon. It was many years later that I eventually started writing in earnest.

Choosing Substack

It was a big risk committing to the book, and it still is, but I am more determined than ever to make this work. I researched what platforms would suit me best for my book, short and long-term. Substack won the race for short-term publishing, with the complete books eventually getting self-published on Amazon. I have looked at Patreon, Medium, and Mailchimp.

I didn’t have a big email list so I eliminated Mailchimp, and whilst Patreon and Medium looked good, Substack felt like the overall package would suit me better. Publishing the final book formats on Amazon using their in-house service was also a no-brainer for me.

I am now following a dream I have had to write a book, a series of books, in fact. Over the last ten years, I have been made redundant twice and lost both my face-to-face PT business and my online business. The fear of following my dreams and the determination not to give in has kept me going.

It has been challenging, scary, and not a little daunting, to say the least. But I am excited to see how this story unfolds. Here’s a link to my Substack page, it will grow, and I am looking to add a Health & Fitness blog and possibly a few other elements too.