We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Siraj Saeed a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Siraj, 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?
My work ethic was instilled through my parents and their self-sacrificial approach as immigrant workers pursuing their dream in the United States. Both of them pursued careers they were passionate about and encouraged me to fuel the same fire within myself. The first job I ever had was at the age of 12, grading papers at learning center. Over the years I built up resume through multiple minimum wage jobs. These all lead to my first “big” job at the age of 15 in Chicago where I became a paralegal’s assistant. In college, I was on track to becoming an engineer, until I found passion in fitness and helping others. It was at that moment when I recognized the same fire I saw in my parents was lit in me. From there, I did not look back. Helping people and building community is my passion and constantly drives my work ethic to ever improve.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Community is paramount. I want people to feel welcome when they first walk in the door. Having the connection that community provides elevates our facility from a gym to a second home. Meeting everyone as they are and creating an environment where each person feels encouraged by the next to be better than they could ever imagine is one of the primary missions of TruBorn Strong.
Fitness is an aspect people can easily forget about in their day-to-day life. Too many of us will push it to the backburner. My approach is providing ease of access for people struggling with having a fit lifestyle or routine. I myself have struggled with fitness in the past and I’ve seen how a lack-there-of has affected my family and friends as well. Having a fitness center with a strong community has been the perfect blend to encouraging healthiness and happiness for each and every life I’ve been blessed to help.
I began powerlifting in 2021 and was trained for it a few years prior. Not only did I love the physical results I gained from it, but I loved how my clients benefited as well. So much, in fact, that I left my corporate gym job to open TruBorn Strong as a powerlifting team and independent facility. After being highly involved with USAPL I became the state meet director in 2023. Since then I’ve personally run 7-8 meets a year and make appearances at even more. The biggest meet in Georgia history was held February 2024 with 300+ athletes and over 1000 spectators.
Coaching has wide umbrella, but the ways I’ve thrived in it have been personal training, business and leadership. I make it a point to combine all 3 in my approach so that I aid my team in reaching their goals, not just my own. It’s incredible to see how I started coaching athletes, now have grown and evolved to coaching other coaches. I love it.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Surrounding yourself by likeminded people. My mentors, Bryan, Wade and Rob, are all business men and leaders that started from nothing and successfully built everything they have, The people you surround yourself don’t have to be in your industry or even related to it. What matters is surrounding yourself with people who are looking to be better in their industry and their life.
Partner to support you. My wife was to the only person to support and push me to get out of my comfort zone. She was the one who encouraged me to leave my big corporate gym job and has always drive me to be better. I have her to thank for pursuing a career that make me happy and leaves me fulfilled.
No is not the final answer. I was told many time from people that I looked up to that “wasn’t allowed” or “couldn’t” do something. That motivated me, more than anything, to find another way to get to it. Find a solution or find something different, that’s the headspace I was forced into. No is never the final answer, it’s always been an opportunity to find something else.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
The feeling of being overwhelmed is constant when owning a business. One of the ways to help reduce it’s effects, at least for me, is to find a support team, a mentor that helps you with business ideas, and a partner, (my wife). Know that time is the best medicine. Being patient and looking for a solution will help this feeling, and realizing that not everything need to be done at that moment is huge, Be sure to categorize everything on your to-do list from least to most important and work your way from there. You got this.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.trubornstrong.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trubornstrong/
- Facebook: facebook.com/trubornstrong
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siraj-saeed-56a2b41a7/
Image Credits
Phillip Buss Ariel Reaves Joel Chong Quentin White Siraj Saeed
