We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chloe Padilla a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Chloe , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I’ve always had a passion for wanting to help people, but growing up in my family gym showed me just how many people’s lives could be touched. When you help someone fulfill their goals, it is so rewarding to be a part of their journey. I watched my dad train people for years, and now, I have been personal training for almost nine years. I love all of my clients, and it’s amazing to be a part of these people’s lives and watch them grow. I’ve always had an extroverted personality, but I love teaching and coaching and watching someone’s eyes light up when they accomplish something new or try something that they didn’t think was possible and succeed. It is important to me that people know that anything is possible that they set their mind to, especially every little girl out there wanting to be the best in their field or everyone woman who is intimidated by giving that crazy new thing a try. Weightlifting and combat sports are for everyone, and I want to help guide people to find their own path and healthy lifestyle!
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My name is Chloe Padilla, I am 26 years old, and I am the owner of Lil Bull Fitness and Nutrition and FBS Combat Club as well as the General Manager of Frankie’s Body Shop. My mother and father founded Frankie’s in 2009, and I always grew up playing sports, but most of my life consisted of soccer. I always had a passion for fitness, and decided to start personal training at 17 and became a certified personal trainer. Once I started, I knew that this is where I was meant to be. I continued to train as I achieved my Bachelor’s in Health and Human Performance. I continued to train and have been taught to always be a student of the game, and have gone on to achieve my strength and conditioning certification, my sports nutrition specialization, and I am an accredited interscholastic coach. I’ve always loved to be competitive, so after my soccer career was over, I moved on to competitive bodybuilding which I competed in 6 times. Then, one day, I decided to walk into a martial arts gym, and I never looked back. I became an amateur MMA athlete, but figured out that my true passion lies in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, where I currently hold a three-stripe blue belt.
My major passions in life are helping people learn how to live healthier lifestyles and giving them a little bit of confidence along the way. I very much enjoy coaching and i think that it is especially important to empower women that they can accomplish whatever their goals are, no matter how big or small or intimidating. FBS Combat Club is an all inclusive martial arts club where we trained anyone from someone looking for a different way to exercise to women wanting to learn self-defense to those who are wanting to step in a cage or on a mat and compete! I coach our Basic MMA class and assist in teaching our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes, and we strive our best to make the environment for everyone, except no jerks are allowed! I fully believe that all women should compete in a sport where they put themselves in one on one high stress situations in a safe environment and learn how to react in them. Working through these scenarios and grappling against other people helps you be better prepared to take on unexpected situations on life and trains your adrenaline response to act accordingly. If you are someone who has always thought that jiu jitsu or wrestling or MMA looked cool but you’ve always felt intimidated or didn’t know where to start, please give it a try! At FBS Combat Club, we do a week free trial so no harm in just giving it a chance…it might be your new passion in life.
I am going on my ninth year in personal training and my sixth year of martial arts, and my goals are to continue to expand FBS Combat Club and Frankie’s to their fullest potential. I also want to continue to work towards achieving my black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and make an open environment for women who are interested in martial arts as well. Weightlifting, Strength and Conditioning, Jiu Jitsu, MMA, Wrestling can be taught proficiently by women for everyone, and you’ll never know a closer family than the one you make at the gym.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I would say the three skills that I have had to use the most throughout my journey are communication, patience, and hard work ethic. Communication is the number one in running a business, and even more so if that business is all about client relationships and satisfaction. I have goals in mind for my clients and fighters, but it’s also important that we communicate those goals to make sure we are on the same page. Communication break downs are what lead to frustration which can kill someone’s work ethic, especially if they do not think that their goals are progressing as quickly as they should. It is my job to have reliable communication and take ownership for mistakes or missteps to produce the most positive outlook towards someones goals.
Patience is another key skill not only in business, but in life in general. We live in a world of instant gratification, and the lesson of patience is another reason that I love martial arts. Most sports have a learning curve and then seasons, but it takes 8-12 years to achieve your black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. When you earn your black belt, you have put in years of sweat, blood, and tears and you know that you have earned it. I think patience is also important in business for the fact that you don’t always know what’s going on in someone else’s world.
Lastly, a hard work ethic is required in the world of entrepreneurship. There are a ton of businesses in Knoxville alone, so you have to be constantly working on improvement and thinking outside of the box. A lot of people have talent, but a hard work ethic can beat talent any day, and when you combine talent with a hard work ethic, you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to. You just have to determine that nothing is going to stand in the way of your goals, but be smart and use all the resources you have available to help you get there.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
I think one of the biggest challenges in owning a business is finding the balance in everything, which really applies to everyone. When you run a business sometimes it can become overwhelming to make sure everything is handled and find a separation for personal time, but it is important to maintain a healthy balance with it so you can avoid burnout. Two of my philosophies that I have worked on over the last year to help with that and continue to work on are: 1) If you can make someone else’s day better, why not do it? 2) Enjoy the little things.
I think it is very important to recognize that we do not know what is going on in everyone’s daily life, so if you can do something small to make that person smile, why not do it? Something small to you like complimenting someone’s outfit or taking the extra minute to send someone an encouraging message can be something big for that person. It might even make their whole day or week! Take the extra seconds to hold open the door or say hello or tell someone to have a great day, you never know how much it might impact that person. Plus, I am a big believer in positive reinforcement. We all have to tackle big things, but if I let the girl who just joined the gym that I am here for anything she needs and to feel free to approach me with any questions she may have, then I might change her outlook on the gym environment to be a positive one where previously it might have been intimidating.
I think it is also important to enjoy the little things in life. Someone very wise told me that a while ago, and I have done my best to live by it over the last year. We all have things that we wish we could have done or things we think we should have done differently, but if we are constantly looking back, we aren’t looking forward. Enjoy the little things as they come, no matter how big or how small, and continue to look forward to the future. Maybe you didn’t hit your goal weight of losing ten pounds, but you still lost eight! That is an accomplishment that should not be discounted, nor should your goal be given up on just because it isn’t exactly what you wanted. Life is all about change, finding the balance within the change, and enjoying the little things when they come.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lilbullfitness.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloepadilla_fbs
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/fbscombatclub
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-padilla-2bb831214
