How a Torn Meniscus Became My First Marketing Strategy at Equinox
This was 2014. Nobody called it personal branding yet.
The first time personal branding clicked for me was when I was a personal trainer at Equinox. This was 2014 and at the the time, it wasn’t really a coined phrase. But what I knew then was that I needed to distinguish myself somehow from the other 50 trainers on the team in order to make it, in order to pay my bills. I was new and competing for business against people with a massive history of success.
So…I took from my own life experience and ran with it. I’d recently had meniscus surgery and after weeks of physical therapy, learned quite a bit. I started setting up these event tables next to the gym floor with a sign saying that I was a knee rehab expert. It worked!
With a crowd of wealthy, 40+ people who wanted to keep moving and staying in shape (many of whom had knee and other joint pain), my positioning as the knee-rehab girl got me my first few clients. I quickly learned that depending on how I marketed specific skills that matched this crowd’s pain points, the easier it became to grow my business there. Which I did for many years. Usually top 10 numbers.
If you’re thinking about your own personal branding, especially in a competitive market, here’s what that experience taught me.
Look at your own life. Your own experiences. What you’ve learned on the job, from other people, from situations you didn’t expect to learn from. That’s where your positioning is hiding.
You don’t need the most credentials or the longest resume to stand out. Sometimes going against the grain, using what makes you different instead of trying to compete on paper, is exactly what gets you noticed first.
I’m curious if you’ve ever had to get scrappy or creative to stand out too. Feel free to share in the comments. I love reading your stories also!
xo Natasha