We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elizabeth Skwiot a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Elizabeth, 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?
Though I didn’t live on farms as a kid, I spent countless hours on them as I come from a family with a long farming tradition. All of my mother’s siblings lived on farms, so I was surrounded by people who worked hard, long hours. In fact, all of these farmers had jobs in addition to farming. Working hard is simply what was done.
As a creative person and entrepreneur, this is one of the most valuable traits you can have. It’s easy to get in one’s head about things. Having self-discipline and being action-oriented is key to moving all of my projects forward.
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?
I’m the creator of Cirque-It Fitness and Aerialates, two modalities that blend circus arts and traditional fitness. We work with gyms and trainers who are looking for continuing education and who want to offer their clients an innovative, expertly-designed workout experience. We’d love to talk with trainers and studios looking to grow their businesses to see if we can help.
I also offer content independently to various organizations as a fitness professional, and I write creatively. I have done some freelancing work for businesses, and I’m also developing some creative non-fiction and film/TV projects. One of my screenplays has placed in several competitions.
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?
*Be action-oriented. As I said earlier, we can often over-think. Being action-oriented is key! Whether it’s building a business, becoming healthier, or writing a book, being able to break a task down to action items is imperative. For example, if you say you want to be healthier, put workouts in the calendar and do them, or commit to cooking healthy meals for the week on Sundays. I cannot emphasize this enough. Action, action, action.
*Keep moving forward. If you are raising a seed round as I am, you will hear no all the time. If you are pitching a book or business idea, you’ll hear no. If something doesn’t work out, learn what you need to and go to the next thing. Think of a basketball player in a game–they don’t stop and cry every time a shot hits the rim. Move on.*Protect yourself. Protect your time, your money, your health, your relationships…all of it. This is not selfish; on the contrary, I think the most selfless thing we can do is to give the world the best version of ourselves. Always put the oxygen mask on yourself first. This might mean saying no to things you used to say yes to. Not everyone will understand it, and that’s expected. Protect yourself and keep that inner circle close.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I’m always looking for gyms and studios to offer trainings in our modalities–this can be a great win/win for everyone. We are also seeking out trainers or aspiring fitness professionals to share our work with others.
We are raising a seed round to launch a consumer app, and we’d love to work with investor partners who have experience in direct-to-consumer subscription services.
If you are reading and are interested in discussing any of the above, please reach out to us via our website at cirqueitfitness.com, email [email protected], or call/text (833)2-Cirque.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cirqueitfitness.com
- Instagram: @cirqueitfitness
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/cirqueitfitness
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cirqueitfitness
- Twitter: @cirqueitfitness
Image Credits
Training photos by Shana Thompson
