Meet Apryl Payton Gordon

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

Apryl, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

Being a true Southern girl raised by my grandparents, I was taught early on the importance of responsibilities and independence. Part of it has been instilled in me from a young age and the other part is having goals that I want to achieve, and knowing what needs to be done in order to reach those goals. I have 3 growing boys, so I’m constantly thinking about their futures and how the work that I put in now will benefit them in the future and give them a head start into adulthood.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Heey everyone, my name is Apryl Payton-Gordon, wife & mother to 3 boys. I have a background in fashion marketing & visual merchandising, and I’m also a personal trainer/group fitness instructor. I moved to Los Angeles almost 14 years ago, with my husband and then, 2 boys, to pursue a career in the fashion industry. After working as a wardrobe stylist assistant for almost 2 years, I switched to visual merchandising for retail stores. I later decided to pursue a career as a personal trainer, which was my most recent position. In the midst of all the other jobs, I started my personal brand and business, AP Athletics. AP Athletics is a mixture of my love for fashion and my love for fitness combined into one. I recently made the decision to focus 100% on my business and growing it, and also engaging more in the things that bring me happiness. My current favorite product that I recently launched from my brand would have to be my resistance bands!!

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 think the three most important qualities and skills that were impactful in my journey would have to be adaptability/problem solving, creativity, & self-motivation. I definitely think that there’s many more parts that helped me to get to the place that I’m in now, but these are my top picks. Being able to be a problem solver and quickly adapt to life’s many ups & downs and pivot when needed is an essential part of navigating entrepreneurship. I think creativity as an entrepreneur is so crucial and important to your business in order to grow. The market is constantly changing so you always have to be ready for a good brainstorming & research session to make your next move. And saving the best for last, self motivation….probably one of the most difficult to be consistent with. We all have days where we may not feel our best, so being driven to achieve those goals and take initiative without constant external encouragement is important.

The advice that I would give to someone who is early in their journey would be to believe in your self and what you want to achieve, stay consistent no matter how hard it feels, and be accountable for your actions. You absolutely have the power to create a successful life!

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

I feel like my biggest area of growth has been from my own self-healing journey. I started going to therapy about a year ago and it has been the best decision I’ve made. I’ve healed those parts of me that carried a lot of trauma from my childhood and those parts that were afraid to believe in myself. I was fearful of my potential and was afraid of where it would take me. Since starting therapy, I’ve learned to stand firm in my boundaries and not do things that don’t align with my purpose. I’ve learned to embrace myself for who I am, including the good and the bad. I’ve learned to be more in control of my emotions and see things from different perspectives. Therapy also helped me to have some very deep and hard conversations that helped to remove those blockages that kept me in a negative space. I’m able to be more present in my every day life with my family, and enjoy all the small things. This improvement came with more prayer & meditation, more journaling, spending more time outside, spending more time doing things for myself, and showing gratitude daily.

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