Most of us have hobbies. Whether it be collecting cars, playing golf, or even cooking in the kitchen, we all have certain activities that we enjoy doing during our down time. And for me, since the age of 15, my hobby of choice has always been bodybuilding.

The Iron Bug

I was first hit by the iron bug back in High School when I weighed in at a measly 120lbs soaking wet. I was tired of being skinny and had trouble putting on weight throughout the first half of my adolescence years. I grew up watching and idolizing action movie stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvestor Stallone. I wanted to look just like them, as for me during this period of my life, these types of men represented strength and power. However to look like Arnold, I figured I needed to train like Arnold. So I decided to find/steal his Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding Book from my local library and read all 758 pages front to back in less then a week’s time. Keep in mind that I was 15 years old at the time and had the attention span of a goldfish. Therefore reading a book of even 10 pages in length within a 7-day period would have been fairly impressive for any rebellious and dysfunctional teenage boy. But I wanted to learn and was fascinated with how a person could transform his or her physique through diet and exercise alone. And because I actually was interested in the subject of bodybuilding, I retained everything that I read. And then to ensure that I retained what I was trying to learn, I read it over and over it again until I could memorize how to perform every single exercise correctly and with proper form.

Turning Bodybuilding Into a Business

I never had aspirations to become a Personal Trainer or Online Nutritional Coach. For one, I didn’t feel that this was a career that had any long term potential future growth in it. And secondly, I didn’t think it was a career that could ever become fairly lucrative in time. All the trainers I saw working in gyms never lasted long. They would either leave the gym after a few months because they didn’t have enough clients and weren’t making enough money, or they would leave the gym after a few months because they were so burnt out from training too many clients and receiving very little compensation back from the gym owners that were employing them. So to me, I always thought that my training in the gym would be something that I would just do for myself, and not one that I would ever consider trying to profit from and make a living by doing.

The One Dimensional Meathead

Take a look at my Facebook Page or take a cruise through my Instagram photos. All you’re going to find our mostly photos of me working out, videos of my meal preps and posts that contain tips on diet, training and supplementation. Fairly one dimensional right? YOU BET! And that’s because I use my social media platforms to promote our business. I don’t use it to take bathroom selfies of my bum or make posts offering unsolicited advice as to how someone should live his or her life. I don’t divulge too much into my personal life for the simple reason that my personal life is just that – PERSONAL.

So yes, to the average person who doesn’t know me, or who only knows me from what they see on “The Gram”, their going to think that I’m just some moronic meathead who lifts weights all day and eats broiled chicken breasts. And for me, that’s fine. I don’t care what others think or don’t think about me. The fact is that I have been able to turn a little hobby of mine that started at the age of 15 into an fairly successful business that has done exceptionally well over the past few years and continues to grow. And when it comes to peoples’ opinions about my character, business sense, and intelligence, the only ones that matter to me are those of my friends, family and our clientele base anyways.

No Days Off

New clients are always shocked to find out that I do not take days off from the gym when it comes to training clients on the floor. Online clients are always amazed when I respond to their emails within a two hour time frame (even if it’s on a Sunday evening at 11:30pm). And all my long term clients think that I’m absolutely insane for not taking mini breaks or vacations to step away from the business from time to time. However truth me told, I honestly do love what I do for a living. I mean how many people can say that they were able to turn their hobby into a career?

For me, there never really is a day that I don’t enjoy going to “work”. I don’t get the “Monday Blues” and I won’t ever “Work for the Weekend”. I respect everyone that I work with and there is not a single client of mine that I do not enjoy training. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is when I get to help someone achieve their goal. Whether that goal is to lose body fat, build muscle, get in the best shape of their life for a particular event, or just become more active, healthy and improve their overall quality of life, the fact that I get to be part of this process, is what motivates me to continue to do what I love and build upon my craft.

Having a Plan

Just as I didn’t have any aspirations to become a Personal Trainer, I’ve never had any aspirations to become a professional bodybuilder. I was extremely fortunate that I was able to turn my bodybuilding hobby into a successful career, but I’ve always made sure to have a plan in place incase things didn’t end up working out. I never allowed bodybuilding to  become the only thing in my life, however I have always used the discipline that I’ve learned from bodybuilding to benefit other areas of my life. In my opinion, having the ability to consistently train hard and diet, gives you a great skill-set for success.

“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Marc Anthony

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance