Meet Vanesa Nicolosi

We recently connected with Vanesa Nicolosi and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Vanesa, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Honestly speaking, this is something I keep working on, daily. I’m much more confident than when I was a teenager but I feel it is a skill to keep developing and never stop working on in my case.

I was always a very active child and my presence could be felt when I was around. However, I was quiet and shy when it came to communicating. I always felt I never had something important to say or express and that everyone else around me had a better story to tell or more pressing issues to communicate.
That was a constant in my life ever since I can remember. I’ve been a great listener and shoulder to cry on my whole life. But I never was the one to tell my story, to trust myself enough and make myself the focal point. I always thought it wasn’t worth it.

So I kept myself in my own bubble, specially through my teenage years and the first years of adulthood, when I got into the world of work and other sorts of relations.

The more people I met, the more I closed myself in this bubble. Always thinking and perpetuating the idea that nothing I did was good enough for the world to know about, or didn’t have enough value.

So I continued my tradition of always being there for others and lifting other people up, while sabotaging my own success.

Only about 5 years ago, I had a breakthrough that resulted from the business burnout of my life.
I was lost, exhausted of being in jobs I hated or didn’t enjoy. All my energy gone into helping everyone else but myself.

But I had help. My wonderful husband who made me see who I am and what I can give. And my closest friends who made me realize how valuable I could be.
By having long conversations with my closest people and by putting myself in a vulnerable spot, I discovered who I really am and that I am worth it.
I started to work on what I truly wanted to do with my life and so my path to become a women’s personal trainer commenced. I kept worrying and focusing on others, but I began to think of my own needs and I made myself the priority.

Every day up to this day, I remind myself of what I am capable of, of the women I have helped on their journey to health and fitness though these last 5 years, of the change I was able to make on myself: mind and body. I remind myself of this to keep going. It’s extremely easy to fall into self-depreciation habits and undermine what we are capable of. We are surrounded by information and we constantly see what others are doing. It’s almost impossible not to compare ourselves to others.
But, like I always say to my clients, to me, the key to confidence and self-esteem is only comparing you today to you in the past. Who I am now, all I have accomplished, compared to who I was, maybe, 5 years ago. That keeps me going. That helps me trust myself more and see what I can do and how far I can get when I trust myself and also when I allow myself to get help.

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?
I’m a Women’s Personal Trainer, and have always been passionate about sports, health and fitness.

Argentinean by birth, world citizen by choice, I help women in all stages of life to find and make time for themselves and their self-care through movement, and to make movement part of who they are.

Through fitness, movement and an increased self-awareness, I help my clients ease those aches and pains and gain quality of life long term, more energy and strength,

I absolutely love working with women from all over the world and it is a truly rewarding experience for me to see the changes they make for their own health, to be with them and guide them on their journey to learn to value themselves and become more confident about who they are and what they are capable of.

I’m based in Madrid and host some in person classes here. However, I teach online one-to-one classes, as well as create personalized workout programs for my clients to do on their own time. This is available for any women all over the globe. Those interested in working with me, can find all my details on my website and book a free consultation before making a final decision. https://www.vanesanicolosi.com/workwithme.html

Currently, I’m hosting Wellness Workshops as well (in Madrid). These are live, in person events to bring the community together and give women space for self-care and creating connections with other women. 4 events are coming up: May, June, September and October and all the information can be found on my website.
https://www.vanesanicolosi.com/workshops2024.html

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
One of the skills I’ve used the most is my capacity for organization and planning. I’m a solopreneur and got myself into developing my own business with no knowledge whatsoever of anything business related. I knew my trade and the skills to be a personal trainer, but nothing else.
Without adequate planning I feel I wouldn’t have been able to get where I am today. Some people can do it, but it’s not my case. Making plans and organizing all in systems has definitely helped me grow and maintain my business.

The other great skill is resilience and consistent. When you are on your own, the capacity to push through no matter what, to stay consistent and true to what you are doing, will take you farther than anything. The world will throw a million curve balls at you and learning to overcome the obstacles and not giving up when we don’t get immediate results is a much needed skill for me. Results and success will come. It’s never overnight. I firmly believe that success is the result of consistent and continued efforts over time (and a bit of luck sometimes! Hahaha)

Finally, a skill I gained through my previous work experience was customer service, working with people and being a good listener. Those are particularly helpful when you work with people and offer a service like mine. They have helped me better connect with my clients and develop long lasting relationships.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
As a solopreneur I do most things for my business on my own. And indeed it can feel overwhelming many times. In the beginning I just wanted to do everything and serve everyone as a personal trainer. Needless to say,  that only made things harder for me and I realized it wasn’t possible.

The industry is huge and there are many options when it comes to choosing a market, a style, a client niche and more. So what I found very useful at the beginning was joining the IWBB (International women building businesses) group. Through the community, I found business mentors as well as people I could rely on to talk about my struggles, people who had been through the same and were more experience. Using their advice and putting it into practice, I was able to focus my energy and my business on a particular market: busy women who want to get stronger and healthier for life, who want to make health and fitness a lifestyle to improve their quality of life, and who want to work on longevity and healthy ageing through movement and strength training.

After that, there have been other times of overwhelm, like when choosing which ideas to implement for my services, what things to do when, what the next steps are for my business and my career, what course to invest on, and much more. My community of fabulous, supportive women, be it IWBB, my friends or my clients, have always helped me find the way.

I also have to say my husband has been a huge help in this journey. He is practical and a problem-solver. I tend to overthink things a lo! So when I feel overwhelmed with decision making, specially the hard decisions, I usually chat with him and it helps me find some clarity as well.

Many times, overwhelm can feel like the world is falling apart around me, and having the community and my family who always support me, is the most valuable resource for me.

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Image Credits
Julie Hayley

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