Born to be a leader: How I became an entrepreneur in my 20's

I was born to be a leader. I wanted to share my story of how I became an entrepreneur in my 20's and what is behind it all.

So back in 2015 I graduated as a sports leader and gym instructor. I was very into fitness, health, sports & outdoors life at that time, like I am today.

And my dream was to live in the big capital city and work on a gym as a personal trainer. I pursued that, became a functional coach and started working at a big gym as a personal trainer but started feeling very anxious and did not feel like I was "home", I also felt like I wanted to be my own boss and do stuff on my terms.

I quit that job after a short time and moved back to the small town where I was born and raised in, where I felt like my home was. But I felt that I had failed and did not know what to do next, I was very down. I've had the dream picture in my head of living in big city and now I was back in this "ghost town", how was I going to start a career here.

I was unemployed and miserable, insecure of my future. But I pushed through that hard time and started studying more. That was when I got the idea of starting my very own online personal training business which was back in 2016 a very new thing in Finland. I then took the courage and started planning everything ready, my own logo, business name, website and you name it- everything by myself.

After 6months of building my business and studying I started my own company in the summer of 2016. Fitnerize- We experience & rise, my online personal training business was up and running.

I got to work with the things I love and help my amazing clients reach their goals and change their life.

It was the best feeling in the world to do a such a meaningful job that helped others and improved people's life.

My slogan; We experience & Rise is about helping people get the experience, knowledge and courage to rise and improve.

'The hardest part when starting your own business is the fear of what other people are going to think. If I explained my vision and idea to someone else there would be people that doubted and wondered how everything would work out. There were people judging, even envy at times and so on. I learned that if you are passionate and excited about something then go for it. Let go of the fear of what others may think or what kind of picture they painted of your life. You make the decisions. Be fearless.

A good advice to what you should keep private is: Your next move.'

Before having the chance to start working for my company full time I had to do some side hustle like cleaning etc. to make the money I needed.

Shortly after I started my business, I moved to another small town nearby and started working at a new gym and continued growing my business there, but after a while I yet again did not feel like that was home either. So again my hometown called for me; sun, sea, beaches & family- what more could you ask for? That is where I felt like I belonged.

I expanded my business and also started working out with clients at the gym, arranged group workouts at the beach and my biggest accomplishments was starting the senior beach workouts- which is such an important work field, to take care of them and see their fitness & health improve with my help. We have been together ever since and workout at the beach every week!

My everyday life consisted of planning training- and nutrition programs in my office, training with clients at the gym and outdoors+ everything else sweet and nice that life brings.

Me time consisted of a lot of outdoor activities, gym training and fishing/boating at sea during summer- my favorite activities. It felt amazing to now be able to work full time as an entrepreneur and do things on my terms.

I also did a couple of interviews for the local newspaper, made training videos for MSN Finland (which I have never watched, they are so awkward, I was so nervous :D), got the chance to be an ambassador for one of the biggest supplement companies in Finland (one of my dreams then), got sponsored by fitness clothing brands and did a couple of radio interviews, which I have not listened to either, haha.

I remember one of the radio interviews that was live, and I was so freaking nervous went to the gym at like 7AM to wait for the team to come and prepare for the live interview. We planned the set up etc.

And when the lady said 'we are now live' I had to do leg press before she walked up to me and started the interview. I remember putting 100kgs of weight on the machine, without warming up-great job Emilia :D... I did like 10-20reps and the lady took her time on the other side of the gym and talked about today's interview, while I was pumping my legs on the leg press machine like there was no tomorrow.

When she finally came up to me, and I was half dead trying to do the last reps of my 100kg set-which I apparently also in the interview called my warming up weight, I was breathless and probably sounded like I'd never worked out in my life :D.

I have not listened to that interview either... Linked it below, it is in Swedish.

I also linked one of the articles in Swedish about my senior beach training.

Oh, and for a short note I'm a Swedish speaking Finn, my mother language is Swedish but I also speak Finnish and English fluently. I write mostly in English, through my Instagram you can translate the texts to your language in the end of every post.

Perhaps I will at some point make a blog post in Finnish and Swedish- I'm open to hear about what kind of topics you would like me to write about.

In the beginning of 2019 I was in a serious accident and had to recover for almost 5months. Because of several fractures in my face I had to go through surgeries for my jaw/face and I also lost many of my front teeth from the accident. I was in critical state and had a long road of recovery in front of me.

It was one of the hardest seasons of my life and changed my life forever.

It opened my eyes on many things, gave me new perspective to everything, it also made me value and appreciate life a lot more.

It made me think of how life can change in the blink of an eye.

Shortly after coming home from the hospital my best friend and role model grandma passed away, I hadn't even recovered from everything and now this happens. Me and grandma were so close, I visited her almost everyday and we would sit on her the porch every weekend and listen to music, talk about life.

As a kid we went with the whole family to islands nearby and slept in tents, went fishing, took it easy by the bonfire, that was grandmas favorite thing to do. She was a very straight forward woman and her sarcasm was on another level, I guess I learned from her :D.

Those beautiful memories remain close to my heart.

It was tough. She is my everyday motivator and helped me regain my strength. I bought grandma's house and renovated it, this place makes me feel closer to grandma.

I continued coaching in the summer of 2019, my clients and seniors welcomed me with open arms, the love I received from everyone was amazing. I was back doing the thing I love- helping others, oh how I had missed it. I got stronger everyday and continued training at the gym to keep myself in shape as well as my clients.

I had to take a step back from my company because of surgeries, so I started another job on the side of my own business. Which I have continued up until now.

In the beginning of this year 2021 I had my last jaw surgery and later this year the teeth project continues. After that all of this is is behind me and I would not be the person I am today without this. It has grown me as a person tremendously.

I'm continuing with my online business, enjoying the small things in life and now I also have the time to create something new.

Doing something different can be scary and the road is not easy, for me entrepreneurship and starting my own company was my thing, for other's it is something else. In a young age you discover your identity and your place in the world, don't hurry. You will find your thing sooner or later.

A good tip is that you decide how you want to live, no one else.

-Em