A lot of people who know me know that personal training was a passion of mine for the longest time. I went to school for Exercise Science knowing in some way I wanted to be involved with sports or a gym-type scenario. And post-graduation, I did just that. I got my first full time job as a personal trainer at a gym right outside of Philly. It was great, I loved it and met so many amazing people that shared the same love for fitness as I did. It felt like 1. I was using my college degree exactly how I wanted to and 2. It seemed right for me at the time!
Now, for my closer friends and family – you know that creativity was something I always had a love for. I took art classes and drew pictures (palm trees only) all. the. time. It was natural to me and things such as sketching, coloring, photography, graphic design usually felt like my escape for a little while. But, training was something I knew I could find my niche and do big things with – it felt like the best option for me.
Once Covid hit in March of 2020 my gym laid everyone off and shut down for good. I kept a few of my clientele and train them remote but it almost felt like “well, what the f do I do now?” Was it scary? Absolutely. Did it almost seem like the world was giving me a fresh slate? Surely.
Me, my boyfriend and his cousin were all personal trainers who were laid off from our jobs and figured maybe we could do a remote training business together. Gyms were closed, remote training was slowly climbing so what do we have to lose? So fast forward a few months in and we realized we needed a website to showcase the different training options we had in mind for potential clients. Well, it’s no surprise web design can be expensive and it’s not something you learn overnight. But, I wanted to take a whack at it on my own. Like I said before, this stuff came naturally to me and I’d like to consider myself a tech-savvy person. So after some research, I decided to make the website off of Wix.com. The creation of this site took almost 2 months to make and to be quite honest – was a huge pain because, well, Wix was far from the easiest site to work with (but that’s a story for another time!).
Regardless of it being a tough project complete, the website turned out awesome. It was exactly what we wanted and it was something I was so proud of making. Like, I just did that and it’s so cool. And once we showed other people they thought the same. I didn’t expect to get the amount of compliments that I did, from starting with absolutely 0 experience. So after that project, something clicked. This was something I wanted to learn more about and do. I realized you can’t put a price on happiness and joy for your business. That creating this website for us was huge because not only did it make us look legitimate, but we were so freaking proud of it. I mean, having a website for yourself is pretty cool. Someone can find exactly what they need all in one place.
So after that day – I went for it. I did tons and tons of research for about 6 months figuring out a different platform to use and how I could possibly transition my career from personal trainer to website design. But when you want something bad enough you’ll go for it anyways. Any care I had about what people would think or any fear of going for it and failing went right out the window. I had nothing to lose and all the time in the world to give it my best shot.
So, fortunately I came across a girl who never went to college, became a virtual assistant and slowly became a web designer. I stalked her page for days. She used a platform called Showit – which is the platform I use now. And this girl made me realize that it’s possible. I can do this and I want to. Will it take time? Yes. Will it be hard to start something of my own? Yes. Is it worth it? Hell yes.
So after my trial for Showit – I created my own website along with 4 templates ready to be shown to the world. And in November of 2020 – I launched Sarah Laux Web Design. Now let’s be clear – I have no marketing or web design experience and every other day I ask myself if I know what’s actually going on. But, I keep moving forward and every day I learn something new.
So the big question is – how’s it going??
I’m glad you asked because whether you were wondering or not – I’m gonna tell you anyways and this is the reality of it all. It’s been 3.5 months and I’m 1. already 10x the better web designer than I was when I launched 2. I’ve had the opportunity to gain new engaging followers on Instagram and 3. helped 5 amazing people create their dream sites.
Has it been easy? Nope.
Am I still learning the best client and marketing strategy for me and my business? Yes.
Am I gaining traction? Absolutely.
I knew from the start that it was going to be hard to get my name out there. I also knew that failing was definitely not the option. That Covid gave me the chance to start over and do what I love. That seeing the joy on my client’s faces after seeing their visions come to life. That people allow me to be apart of an amazing aspect of their business. You can’t beat a life like that.
So, when you start something – you have to go and never look back. You have to celebrate the small wins of the days. Keep your big goals in mind and work your absolute hardest to get there. Understand that great things take time. Tough days are bound to come along. Be patient with yourself. And most importantly, never give up on your dreams. Because you deserve it.
