Meet Alex Ho

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alex Ho. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alex, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

I have always had issues with my confidence and self-esteem since I was a child. Growing up I wasn’t one to speak out a lot or stand up for myself. I’d keep my head down and just do my own thing. This continued into my 20’s when when I was working as a project manager in construction and didn’t feel quite comfortable with arguing over little things that I really could care less about. In 2010 I was feeling lost and unsure what I wanted to do with my life so I decided to have myself a “Yes Year” where I would say yes to anything (within reason) to break me out of my comfort zone. During this year I started taking classes with an outdoor exercise bootcamp. During those classes I felt supported by the instructors and other clients, lost almost 20 lbs, got stronger, and started running for the first time in my life. With the new physical transformations, I was feeling so much better about myself mentally. This led me to believe that I could do hard things that were out of the norm so I quit my job, started a career as a personal trainer, and eventually took over the bootcamp company while becoming a well know coach & runner in San Francisco. With all of these changes I felt invigorated when someone asked me what I did or what the hardest thing I’ve done.

Fast forward to meeting my wife, leaving the community I had spent so much time building up, and moving to Denver to raise a family. Once in Denver, we had our first child and I was hit with a lot of the same feelings I had when I was younger because my life had changed so much. I wasn’t able to spend the time to build up a new community without being away from my family too much. After my 2nd child was born, my wife and I made the decision that I would spend the first 1-1.5 years of our daughters life primarily as a stay at home dad while still teaching classes and training part time. As we got closer to putting our 2nd kid in daycare, I had to make a decision about what direction I wanted to go in my life. Due to the odd hours, going back to training full time wasn’t very feasible without putting the whole burden of dealing with the kids on my wife. During this time I was reminded that I could do hard and unusual things so I decided revisit something that I loved but hadn’t done in a while, woodworking. Using the experience of being a trainer and now a father I started my current company, Ho Made Woods. I now create wood dumbbell toys for kids so that families like mine could use exercise as a way to bond with their little ones, build up their confidence, and install the types of healthy habits that had changed my life for the better. Now I get to use my story about how deciding to live a healthier and more open life increased my self-esteem and led to me starting up two different companies.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

My story is not a linear one. I grew up in Denver, went to college at the University of Washington for architecture and construction management, then moved to SF to work for a general contractor. After about 5 years I quit my 9-5 and pursued a career as a personal trainer and group fitness coach. Eventually I was able to open up my own personal training business leading outdoor bootcamp classes, providing one on one sessions, and run coaching. When I moved to Denver during the Covid years, building up my coaching business proved to be very challenging with the addition of our two children to the family. Although I still provide personal training, I have now pivoted to a career following something I’ve always been passionate about, woodworking.

I recently opened up my new company, Ho Made Woods, selling handcrafted wooden dumbbell toys for kids. When I became a father I noticed that there weren’t any options for aesthetically pleasing toy dumbbells that were also eco friendly. Now I get to focus on blending my two passions together, fitness/wellness and woodworking, by creating products that families can all enjoy and keep for a lifetime. As parents, we all want to keep our kids safe while creating a better future and my belief is that these dumbbells check both of those boxes. Each dumbbell is light enough for a 1 year old to lift it and safe enough so that if they do happen to drop them there won’t be any broken toes to deal with. By making them out of wood instead of plastic, the dumbbells are durable, sustainable, and help connect the child to natural materials.

I love being able to work with my hands to create something that brings joy to both adults and children alike. I’ve trained many parents while their kids watched but couldn’t participate because the weights were too heavy or dangerous. These dumbbells now give families an opportunity to stay fit together and engrain healthy habits at a young age. The dumbbells can be purchased on my website www.homadewoods.com with an option for adding a custom engraving of a name, quote, or logo to make the toy even more personalized and special. They also make for great baby announcements, home gym decorations, fitness studio decor, or prizes for competitions.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think that three very important qualities you need are to have an open mind and be flexible, have passion for what you are pursuing, and be open to help. One of the hardest things to do for most people is to ask for help or put yourself out there. A lot of creatives tend to keep their passions secret or wait until they feel that everything is just perfect before revealing but knowing that the feedback you get, whether positive or negative, will always help you hone your craft. Finding a mentor or group of like minded people is a great way to grow your knowledge and figure out what you may be missing. Don’t be scared to open up to those who are close to you, and even those who aren’t, to get their opinions about your ideas. Remember that you may not take their advice but having to defend your decisions will only make your product or idea stronger.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I am always looking for people to collaborate with in terms of sharing ideas, combining products, or working together in a space. Ideally I love to work with other passionate individuals or companies who share the values of living a healthy sustainable lifestyle while brining people joy. As a small business owner I enjoy connecting with other founders to share obstacles we run into and help come up with solutions for the unique problems we face.

Right now I’d love to connect via email or instagram with other fitness coaches who have young children and understand the importance of creating fun & healthy habits for your kids.

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