I was 1 year out from college.
Got my Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology.
3 years of personal training and working at the school's strength & conditioning facility already under my belt.
I thought I was the shit.
During college, I constantly read T-Nation.com.
I loved their corrective exercise, nutrition, and training articles.
There was one author, he who shall not be named, that I WORSHIPPED.
He wrote on performance and corrective exercise, and the articles he was writing were GROUNDBREAKING.
He trained athletes in the Northeast and had a facility there.
One article he put out, he talked about an internship he offered.
I decided to apply towards the end of the last year of college.
During my first year back home living with my parents, I started working at the Equinox in Westwood (right by UCLA). I started building clients and crushing it.
3 months in, I received an email that I had been accepted to the internship! I WAS PUMPED!!!
Should I leave my current book of clients and the money I was making, or should I take a chance and learn as much as possible and do a free internship?
I decided the latter.
I drove cross country for 3 days, arrived in my location of the internship, that night to HUGE SNOW DUMP.
Cali boy, trying to figure out how not to slide across the icy roads, live in a house with 4 dirty hipsters, and have a girlfriend cross country- I WAS WAY OUT OF MY ELEMENT.
When I got to the job there, I was underwhelmed. Clearly had way more knowledge and experience than the other interns. FUCKKKKKK. I regretted it immediately.
I learned nothing.
The training atmosphere was garbage. They just played loud music while the coaches literally sat on the equipment and chatted.
Their programs were exactly the same that had been online.
After 3 months, the owner must've felt it, because he fired my ass.
That was a new low. Getting fired from an unpaid internship.
But instead of getting pissed, I went home. Started back at Equinox. Built a huge clientele and was the #1 volume trainer there. And 2 years later opened my own business.
I used the failure to fuel me.
I buckled down, worked harder than I ever had before. Hired a couple mentors and business coaches. And just got after it.
SINCE THEN, I'VE LEARNED IT'S ALL ABOUT EMBRACING FAILURE.
Seeking failure.
Finding areas to push your growth so I can fail.
Fail forward.
-DC
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