We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Louise Rector recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sarah Louise , 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 would say I’ve always been somebody with “confidence” as growing up from a very young age I was training as a dancer and often on stage competing in competitions. However, as I got older the more and more dance auditions I went on and then onto modeling around my early twenties, my confidence would get knocked with the constant “no’s” from castings! As much as you become very thick skinned I also knew I needed a way to constantly be taking care of myself mentally. Having fitness in my life has been such a great way to work on my health and overall wellbeing which has resulted now at 4o years of age becoming so confident with who I am not only physically but mentally too. It’s very easy to compare ourselves to others especially with social media and as well within the fitness trainer profession that I now have a career in, but without my daily wellness routines and workouts these are great ways that boost my endorphins, confidence and overall positive mindset!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I love that my brand The SLR Life workouts is a great way for others to feel stronger, more mobility, more confident and more… my low impact style of training is great for longevity and providing your body with tlc! My workout app (The SLR Life) gives the user “fun fitness”, motivation and encouragement to workout as well as fitness that you can do anytime anywhere (even in the small of living room spaces) I love that I can hopefully make fitness more affordable than the expectations of needing to have a fancy gym membership to get fit!!!
I would like to say there is something for everyone….on The SLR Life workout app, with low impact sculpt, pilates, cardio, dance aerobics and even stretching. It always excites me when I drop a new on demand video, which happens every Monday to the growing library of 300+ workouts! I really like to check in with subscribers and give them a more personal feeling so they don’t just feel like someone in the crowd of others subscribers just signing up and thats it! For me, I like to find out what workouts they want to see more of, what their current goals are so that I can assist further where I can. Plus having a whole section of specially curated workout plans like 10 day cardio challenge, 7 days of 10 minute stretching videos and more really help my subscribers stay even more accountable and focused!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Keeping working on your craft/area of expertise. As a fitness trainer it’s important to be certified but even more so keep boosting your certification and experience so you can be taken seriously and make sure the environment you are providing for your subscribers/others is safe reliable and well educated,
It’s going to be hard at first as a small business owner. I have learnt so much doing it all myself. As much as I am a fitness trainer in person / on camera my brand requires me to do so much more. Editing workout videos, marketing, sales, customer relations, stylist and everyday there are even more roles. But when you love something so much the learning side of things is so rewarding so my advice to keep going, keep learning and enjoy it.
My training as a dancer definitely has given me great work ethics: determination, hard working and creative. Which all provide great support when running a business, and especially one in a very competitive market. If you have a similar life experience, find and use the tools to support how you make things happen!
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
As much as my confidence and success are all extremely impressive, as a small business without any support staff or financial backing (I’m a boot strapped brand!) Competing against fitness brands/trainers with a similar style (always reminding myself that no one is “YOU”) that have even bigger platforms and names can be one of my biggest challenges to encourage a possible subscriber “choose my platform” over the well known famous ones! It becomes a common question I ask as a business and brand every day “why. should someone choose to workout and sign up to The SLR Life with my online platform and not subscribe to another platform that has more famous trainers with huge filming studios and crew…. To resolve this, I continue work on building my platform with more outreach, marketing and remind myself that there is only one SLR Life!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theslrlife.com
- Instagram: @theslr_life
- Youtube: @TheSLRlife
- Other: Tik Tok; @theslrlife Podcast show : Balancing more than just weights available on ApplE podcasts + Spotify
Image Credits
Maria Diachenko : www.diachenkophoto.com/main Instagram : @dychenko.ph
