My name is Nick Cosgrove and I am a loser. I’m a big loser. I have pretty much lost at anything and everything I have ever tried to succeed at in life. Whether it was school, sports, fitness competitions, finances, real estate, business ventures, or my relationships, I have a proven track record for failure.

With that being said, I have to admit something that might shock you – I love being a loser.

Normal Doesn’t Work For Me

When I was 15 years old, I was hired to work my first real job at a restaurant bussing tables. What began as a part-time job, quickly turned into full-time work. I was amazed by how much money (or at least what I thought was a lot of money back then) I could make by committing myself to work at the restaurant during the hours I was not in school. I would work after school from 4pm-12am Mondays-Fridays and then pick up double shifts (11:30am-1am) on Saturdays and Sundays. I was making and saving as much money as I could with a grade 10 education. My schoolwork suffered and as a result, I barely graduated from high school.

I remember at the time being told by many people around me (including my teachers) that I would never amount to anything in life by working some mediocre job at some “dinky, rundown restaurant”. Then at 18 years old (while still working that mediocre job at that dinky rundown restaurant) I purchased my first piece of real estate with a down payment that I was able to save through bussing tables and working all those gruelling double shifts (no hand-outs, no inheritance and no trust fund baby).

It’s Not Realistic To Love What You Do For a Living

After working in the restaurant industry for 5 years, I realized I was no longer enjoying the work. I needed a new challenge. I wanted to do something that I enjoyed while at the same time helping make a difference in people’s lives. During this time I had been training with weights consistently at my local gym for a few years now and had built a fairly decent-looking physique (or at least what I thought was a decent-looking physique back then). Other gym members started asking me questions about my training and eventually a few even asked me if I would train them myself. At first, I thought nothing of it and would train a few people before, during and after my training sessions in the gym. However, as these people started to achieve results with their physiques, their friends and family members would notice and ask them what they were doing differently in the gym. Soon after that, my phone began to ring more than it ever had before (this was long before texting existed). More and more people wanted me to train them in the gym and thanks to a business-minded client, I eventually realized, I could make a good income off this type of work. I just had to figure out how exactly I would be able to make a living off something I enjoyed doing.

You Need a Degree To Be Successful – Or Do You?

To be a Personal Trainer you need to be licensed, certified and insured. But you don’t need a degree. To be honest, the process of becoming a Personal Trainer is a bit of a joke. A few weekend courses, a couple of practical exams and one final theory exam in which you only need 68% or more to pass, and you’re in! Hence why there are so many Trainers in gyms across the world today.

After completing these exams (with relative ease) I was now legally allowed to train clients as a Private Contractor. Fortunately, as I already had a fairly decent size roster of clients before becoming licensed and was still working in the restaurant industry, I was able to supplement my income while continuing to build upon my clientele base without having to work for a gym as an employee.

As a young entrepreneur, I was told time and time again that I would never be able to make any “real money” as a Personal Trainer and that I should go back to school to at least get my degree in Kinesiology so that I could become a licensed and trained Physiotherapist. I have to admit that during those first few years as a Trainer, I contemplated whether or not this should have been the route I took. But instead, I decided to use the money that I would have spent on going to school to obtain my degree in a few business courses so that I could learn how to turn my little Personal Training job into a profitable business. Looking back now in hindsight, one if not the best decisions I ever made with my career and my business.

2007-2008 Financial Crisis – The World Is Going To Shit 

During times of crisis, there are opportunities to be made. You just have to look for them. And I found my opportunity by selling my condo during the absolute worst possible time – The 2007-2008 Financial Crisis.

Check out part 2 of my 2-part blog series “Why I Love Being a Loser” next week on our website.

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance