The My First Workout way to strengthen kids!

This inspiring story is of a rising startup called My First Workout® started by Michelle Miller. My First Workout is on a mission to make kids stronger physically and mentally. Here is the story of My First Workout in Michelle’s own words.

My First Workout is a fitness brand created JUST FOR KIDS! Our mission is to have stronger kids mentally and physically. Our passion is connecting families and equipping kids with positive lifestyle habits from the earliest age possible. Our goal is for no child to be sedentary. Our purpose is to help EVERY child achieve their personal best through our parent-led, skill-based, proactive, habit-forming, in-home strength, and conditioning programs. Our vision: to lead the kid’s fitness movement!

Introduce us to the idea of My First Workout

The My First Workout® program was created to help parents teach their children how to strengthen their child’s body and mind from the earliest age possible, at home, through simple step-by-step workouts.

The first three programs in the series come inside the starter kit with all the equipment necessary to complete the workouts. It is the only fitness product on the market for children, offering a convenient one-stop-shop and an effective way to build a positive lifelong habit of exercise.

The My First Workout® program is skill-based and depicted in both poster and video format guiding parents and children through the series of progressive workouts together. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life throughout every stage of a child’s life.

The program focuses on technique, muscle balance, coordination, strength, stamina, and balance. The program was designed with every type of child in mind. It’s for those with varying athletic abilities as well as children with disabilities. Every child has something to learn and benefit from the non-discriminatory lifelong skill of weightlifting. When a child completes the entire 12-part program, they will have mastered 123 different exercises and formed a respectable home gym consisting of 8 hand-selected, kid-size pieces of exercise equipment.

One of the surest ways to strengthen the country is through a stronger and healthier generation of children and families who are physically, emotionally, psychologically, financially, relationally, behaviorally, academically, and socially more grounded. There is limitless potential when these essential areas of life are in order and My First Workout® lays the foundation for all of them and ultimately contributes to greater quality of life.

What’s your strategy story? What led you to start My First Workout?

It was an early Sunday morning back in March of 2018 when my young son and I were laying around enjoying some much-needed time together. I was overwhelmed with appreciation for our special bond and for how happy and healthy he is. I credit exercise for being one of the “glues” that has bonded our family unit more tightly and significantly improved my son’s confidence and self-esteem.

On that thought, my mind began to wander to other children and their families. I wanted so badly for all kids to have the opportunities in life my son has. To be surrounded by a loving family that understands the importance of investing time and money into ensuring their child’s full potential is met. To develop positive lifestyle habits early on so their chances of success as an adult are increased.

I knew other parents wanted good health and fitness for their kids too-but what if their job wasn’t in exercise? What if they didn’t have the first clue how to get started themselves making it impossible to teach and model it for their children? I felt an immediate passion develop deep inside me to use my decades of experience and training as a Certified Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor, working with people of all different ages and fitness levels, to break down fitness into a step-by-step easy to follow program that no matter how great or little experience someone had with fitness, they would be able to follow along with my program and teach it to their children.

What marketing, operation strategies are you adopting at My First Workout?

My vision for My First Workout® to be the leader in kids’ fitness, providing children with their own fitness brand only serving the needs of children, and offering them the highest quality fitness programming, equipment and clothing led me to hire a boutique marketing firm specializing in high-end big brands. They provided me with a top-notch logo, videos, photography, a website, and other branding materials that I was able to use at tradeshows around the country, in magazine ads, television segments, and various social media ads/campaigns.

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I participated in several Zulilly events early on, listed my products on Amazon, was a guest speaker on several podcasts, and had dozens of influencers/bloggers write and post about their child’s experience with the My First Workout® program. I hired several marketing firms to help me navigate social media properly and connect with media opportunities that fit with my mission and brand.

Early on I exhausted my personal savings accounts, retirement accounts, and even took out loans. Those were scary times. Three years later and still afloat, I am debt free and definitely more reserved about what I spend money on. At this point, it’s a lot easier to say NO because I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. Start-up costs for My First Workout® were outrageous and I honestly had no idea the journey I was embarking on.

Any strategy mistakes you have made and what did you learn?

Early on I was afraid of managing inventory and shipping logistics, so I hired a fulfillment center to do it for me. I simply had no idea how quickly my product would move once it was mass-produced. My primary focus was on customer service and marketing and something needed to give.

I realize now, I could have easily managed the number of units going out and saved myself the enormous storage fee bill I received at the beginning of every month. There are several perks to having a fulfillment company, but it was probably one of my biggest mistakes early on. When units began shipping by the hundreds, however, the fulfillment company became a lifesaver.

I learned patience from this decision. I have also wasted quite a bit of money on people who were all talk and zero action. It’s amazing how well people can sell themselves and/or their services but for the most part, very few actually deliver on their promises. I learned not to be so trusting and to ask for references.

Finally what advice do you have for your fellow entrepreneur readers?

Being an entrepreneur is hands down the hardest thing I have ever done. I have never encountered such a personal roller coaster as I did during the first two years of my adventure/nightmare I felt like some days. I had so much passion for what I was doing though and so much was on the line, I literally took every blow head-on and suffered greatly during that time. It was helpful to read quotes and facts about being an entrepreneur. I realized the things I was feeling were felt by most and I was not alone. It is critical to believe in what you are doing 110% so whether you succeed or fail, your only regret is to not have tried.

Disclaimer: The information in the above story is provided by the startup and The Strategy Story takes no responsibility for the authenticity of the product and services offered by the startup. Reader’s discretion is advised.

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