Welcome back to Kickin’ it with Kiki! This week I was able to talk back and forth with an awesome lady, Diemend Chanel, about her health and fitness coaching! I was so thankful when she messaged me back and said she would love to be featured on my blog and I was able to learn so many things from her! Below is everything I was able to learn from her, I hope you find it as interesting and helpful as I did and of course go follow her @diemendchanel.

What helped you realize you wanted to be a health and fitness coach and when did you know for sure that coaching was your passion?

“I realized that I wanted to be a Health & Fitness coach my senior of college when senioritis hit. I felt like i needed to have my life together right after i graduated, but when i looked at my resume i noticed that i didn’t put any work towards expanding my resume for what i went to school for, which was biology. I originally wanted to be a nurse. After asking myself the right questions I came to the realization that if nursing was my true passion then i would have put in the necessary work required to be successful. I reevaluated my resume again and realized I dedicated my time to volleyball and fitness. Still feeling the pressure of “needing to have life figured out after graduation” I was unsure of how i would even make a career out of health & fitness. That’s when 2 weeks before graduation i tore my ACL which forced me to sit down and slow down, during my recovery process i gained weight, didn’t like who i saw, then changed it and that’s when i had an epiphany moment of “I can’t be the only one who goes through this” which sparked my passion to impact as many lives as possible.”

How did you grow your social media platform in the beginning and what was the hardest part of getting people to recognize you?

“When i made the switch of having a personal/private instagram to a professional/business profile, i deleted everything that did not support any meaning or purpose to my business. I began changing simple meaningless captions to captions that inspire and provide value. What really jump started my following was when I created a “Greek Fitness Challenge”, I followed a lot of people within the Greek communities and had Greek pages repost my flier. From there people shared/reposted my content.”

Who were your biggest online influencers when you started online coaching?

“MASSY ARIES !!! She still is my favorite!”

Did playing D1 volleyball in college help you when you began to coach others?

“Playing D1 Volleyball did help me when i began coaching others, I jumped into this space already knowing that people perceive and process information differently so it’s important to speak from a place of understanding, clarity, and conviction.”

What does your typical day look like as far as planning, working out, coaching, etc.?

“My new routine has been incredible!: Wake up @5:00am, take a 5-10 min cold shower meditation, head to the gym, plan out my day from my notes from the previous day (which normally consist of client calls, some form of business education, mapping/ brainstorming business strategies, implementing business strategies, and creating content).”

Do you have any suggestions for me to get my blog out there and help it get more views and followers?

“First things first: design your bio to let people know that you have a blog and showing people where to find it. ~Keep reaching out to other accounts so they collaborate with you (have them re post the blog when they are featured). ~Create social media content that provide value. ~Be transparent so your followers can relate to you. ~Dive into ad placement on your blog. ~Start mentioning brands and companies”

In the beginning of this idea I was so nervous to put myself out there and reach out to women who had a bigger influence than me. It turns out it was a fantastic idea and I was able to speak and learn from an amazing woman who I aspire to be like! I encourage each of you to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while and talk to mentors that you thought would not answer because, more often than not, they would love to help you out! If you share any interest in health and fitness I highly encourage you to check out Diemend Chanel and her accounts; they are so encouraging and her feed is filled with new ideas and how to get yourself going when you have no desire to! Her handles are @diemendchanel and she has a website link if you are interested!