My size helped me work the door at various clubs around Belfast.

I’ve told maybe two people this before. But at one point I was on a break doing the door, dropped my precious chicken and rice on the floor, and with no other food alternatives in sight, ate it from the floor.

I knew nothing else. It was all I had.

My size made it apparent to others that I should be a personal trainer.

Putting two and two together, I got the PT cert, and started training people out of Rockpit Lisburn.

A day would look like: Studying, training others, training myself, doing the door, bed, repeat.

I pushed myself, gave myself very few rewards, and was all round hard on myself. Again, I knew nothing else. Success had to be hard.

My personal training services were booked full due to being a competitive bodybuilder, and someone more business-inclined.

I don’t believe anyone is born to be better at business. But I felt I had some implications towards it.

I realised back then that profit kept was everything, that retention would make my career easier, and that I’d need to get over my fear of losing people to raise prices.

Some of this isn’t easy to a scarcity-minded Northern Irish kid, but at 20, I pushed through making mistakes.

I became good at sales despite a natural inclination not to ask for what I wanted.

Earlier, before the bigger internet-persona or internet-marketing age – circa 2012-14 – other trainers asked me how I managed myself, my time, and my clients.

It dawned on me that I was one of the first proper online coaches that existed in the UK. And others wanted to know how.

My Facebook™ profile showcased what I could do. I built a client culture because I gave a shit about results, knowing how much all of this mattered to me at 16. I didn’t know this was a good thing at the time, but I’d wake up a few times a week without lifting a finger to people who’d book on my PT calendar to become a client.

Must have done something right. I think.