Meet Laura Flynn Endres

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

Laura, 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?
Growing up on a farmette in the Midwest!

Midwesterners are known for their work ethic, and my family may as well have been the poster family for that.

I say farmette because we were not full-time farmers, but my parents built a house down the road from the original family farm. We always had a few animals – cows, pigs, turkeys – which meant daily chores of feeding animals, mucking stalls, and so on. We had a fireplace and a woodburning stove, so hauling wood was a constant assignment. And whenever I got in trouble, part of the punishment was more work.

A memory that stands out: I got caught doing something stupid, and my dad marched me up to the barn and said, “see that [gigantic] stack of straw bales? I think those need to be on the other side of the barn.”

Even though we kids grumbled about work, we really didn’t mind. We all learned to embrace the physicality of it, and we appreciate how much it shaped who we are today.

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 a private personal trainer – I work with clients one-on-one in person or on Zoom! I’ve been doing that full-time since 2017, and part-time for several years before that.

My specialties are working with older adults, working with people who have unique health concerns, and beginners.

I also created an online team fitness game called Get Fit Done, where players team up, do things to get points (exercise, drink water, etc) and try to beat other teams! It’s scored on compliance which levels the playing field, which means it doesn’t matter if one player is training for a triathlon and another is doing 30-minute strength workouts for their points! It all counts because the goal is to make exercise a priority in your life.

I am so proud of my game!

It’s currently on hiatus as I revamp it because I’m partnering with another trainer to relaunch the game and additional services very soon!

In the past three years, I’ve also begun purchasing properties to rent out, so now I’m a landlord! That’s been both challenging and rewarding.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I’ve always worked in service because I’m a people person; I am far more comfortable serving than being served. I’m good at reading people and therefore knowing what approach will make them the most comfortable. I am a good communicator, and I think that’s been very instrumental in my success as a trainer as well.

I would tell people to lean in on their best skills – there will always be people who want and need your particular style and expertise. It’s always tempting to model ourselves based on other successful trainers, but ultimately that won’t be the right fit. Take the best of what you learn from others, the things that really inspired you and made you want to be better, and then mix it in with who you are, who you want to serve, and what your strengths are.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
I like to work. I’m a hard worker. I don’t do leisure well. I will check emails first thing upon waking up, schedule social media posts late into the night, and I’m never not thinking about the next thing I want to do with clients or add to my services. Because of that I always fail the test of “work smarter, not harder.”

I’ve been searching for software options that allow me to do everything I want in one place – train clients on Zoom, take bookings and payments, design weeks-long challenges that can be done anytime, anywhere, and build an on-demand library to host all the videos I’ve made. This is in hopes of streamlining what I do so I can continue to scale and serve more people!

Contact Info:

Image Credits
photographer Jean Mari B via https://www.snappr.com/photographers/jean-marie-b

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