Power in Transparency and Being You: Fitness Talent Jill Coleman's Success Story Interview

About 2 years ago, doing some serious fitness homework, looking for effective and motivating techniques to help my fat loss clients, I came across this CRAZY video, with this hot chick, HAMMERING heavy dumbbells, with an amazing coach in the background.

Freeze here for a second. J ) Jill Coleman, creator of JillFit Physiques, fitness pro competitor and model, Metabolic Effect’s Director of Instructor Training and the Fitness Coordinator at Wake Forest University. Jill holds a B.S. in Health and Exercise Science, an MS in Human Nutrition and is an ACSM-certified personal trainer. Well, I guess enough said…  
“The voice” was Dr. Jade Teta's, creator of Metabolic Effect, and the hot-drop-dead-gorgeous-super-power-chick was his wife (and still is

So, back to the video stuff. “Holy crap! I NEED to do this!” was my first reaction. I contacted them right away and asked how I could get certified. Next thing I knew, I was in Winston-Salem, NC, attending their Indoor Certification weekend.

Jill Coleman was the one organizing it , getting the schedule going, and even at 8am on a Saturday, she still had the “hot-drop-dead-gorgeous-super-power-chick” look going. All the pretty looks aside, I quickly learned that Jill was not only that, but also totally business, yet kind and welcoming, and managing to get everything working precisely. The more I learned about her, the more it all made sense. She is a fitness machine from all perspectives, as a competitor herself, and also helping lots of people transform their bodies.

With so much going on, it's no surprise to me that Jill Coleman is one of the nominees for FMI (Fitness Model International) 2011 Talent of the Year Award that will be announced in October.

Jill kindly agreed to answer my questions and share here on my blog so much from her story and talent, her professional and personal life. Take your time and read away!

You’ve been nominated recently for the FMI Awards. How do you feel that impacts your career, besides the fantastic marketing that the nomination itself generates?

Ty, thank you for this opportunity, you are the sweetest! J

FMI is such a great organization that takes fitness models and entrepreneurs under their wing to teach them the ins and outs of this business.  The nomination was a complete surprise and I am extremely honored. 

I feel the nomination impacts my career in that it increases visibility of JillFit (the marketing aspect, as you mentioned), but also it lends credibility to what I do.  I could not be more excited about the nomination considering it is a recognition of doing something well that I love to do anyway—building the JillFit brand and working with Metabolic Effect. 

What made you launch your own business?

To be honest, JillFit started off as a modeling site where I could put all my photos and contact info as a competitor and model in 2007.  Over the years, my interests changed away from wanting to be a top competitor to wanting to help others as a trainer/coach for competition prep. There was a need for someone like that here locally and it kind of fell in my lap.  I was coaching more and more competitors, yet my website was still all about me and my pretty pictures lol!

So in October 2010, I officially launched JillFit.com 2.0 with the intention of creating valuable content, offering my services as a trainer/coach and be able to blog away.  Since then, and with the current JillFit team of now 6 coaches, we have grown our following and client base very quickly.  I am extremely grateful for the community of women who follow JillFit, for the clients who let us in on their journeys and the JillFit coaches who are all fit, intelligent and competent women. 

The last piece of the puzzle was my husband, Jade, who honestly makes me feel like anything is possible.  He pushed me to create something bigger for myself and instilled in me the confidence to make a greater impact in the fitness industry.  He is my #1 role model and teacher, who makes me feel like I can do anything J

Did the fitness modeling, nutritional practice and personal training happened at different paces or they pushed each other further and further ahead?

YES! I have been a personal trainer and group fitness instructor for over 10 years.  Training and teaching are my first loves (hello step aerobics!).  However, like I said above, I began competing (in 2006) and like many competitors, modeling sort of just happened. I signed with an agency in North Carolina and also did a lot of work on my end submitting my photos, networking, getting my face out there and eventually landing 4 national covers.  It was fun but definitely not as fulfilling as one would think.  Modeling for modeling sake was not the answer for me, I wanted to create something bigger.  And over the years, my training business grew and eventually adopted an online presence.

Before I began competing I was that girl who exercised her butt off just so I could eat whatever I wanted. I was a cardio-carboholic.  However, once I started competing I found a passion in learning about biochemistry, nutrition and how the body responds to food. It was like a whole new world opened up to me, and I went on to get my Masters in Nutrition, graduating in 2009. 

Do you find yourself with a good career/family balance right now? Has it been always like that? What changed?

I strive for balance every day—within my own head emotionally, within my marriage and within my career.  With balance, it is not something you reach and then rest on your laurels.  It takes daily practice, introspection and assessment. 

There have been times when I was less balanced, like the first few years I competed.  I put a lot of emphasis on having to be “in shape” all the time, to the point that is was debilitating. Over the years I have learned to be more gentle with myself and as a result, I feel more balanced, happy and ironically am able to stay leaner year round, with much less effort. 

In terms of career, I tend to be a “yes” person.  Meaning that if I don’t watch it, I will take on more and more until I feel completely overwhelmed and I am doing nothing well.  I have to remain aware of what I can and cannot take on, and set boundaries for myself.  About 9 months ago I was very stressed to the point of extreme ineffectiveness, I was trying to do too much and my work was suffering. I had to scale back and find ways to make myself happy regardless of losing money or opportunity, etc.  It was totally worth it!

You’ve never been afraid of working hard, but you are also a fan of working smart. How much is too much when you are covering different work fronts? How do you manage time for everything?

I set boundaries for myself and I set expectations for the people I work with.  On the whole I consider myself laid-back and open-minded, and I try to instill a sense of ownership to all with whom I work so that they will know and feel like they are an integral part of something important.  I am lucky because all of the JillFit coaches are intelligent, competent and self-starters, so they help everything run smoothly.  They are extremely generous in their contributions to JillFit and I am very grateful. 

In terms of working with Jade and Keoni with Metabolic Effect, I appreciate the atmosphere where everyone pitches and is working toward a common goal, for ME to be everywhere and creating a big impact in the world.  It is growing rapidly and that’s what keeps us motivated and passionate.  Jade and I are working all the time, but because we love it, it really does not feel like work. 

However, the biggest obstacle for me is the ability to multitask and switch gears back and forth throughout the day.  I am still working on being more effective at this.  But I have learned to prioritize and set goals to keep my productivity on track, and it is something I work at every day. 

How did you get the message across as a business woman, earning respect and a big following so quickly?

When we launched JillFit.com 2.0 last October, above all else, I wanted it to be a place people could come to read great content and a reliable resource for fat loss and competition prep. Surprisingly, there are not all that many fitness blogs that update regularly! It must be a conscious and continued effort.  I found that the more I blogged, the more people read and began to resonate with the message.  I am also not afraid to give away free content J I love it! 

As trainers, we are used to people always asking for free advice and instead of getting upset and offended when people asked, I thought I would set up a resource with lots of free advice instead. And then said, you know what, if you like this free stuff, I have other more in-depth stuff that you can pay for if you want. 

In terms of gaining respect, I don’t know how much respect I have really garnered, but I do think there is something powerful in transparency and being you.  I find the more I let my personality, struggles and triumphs (and those of the JillFit Coaches who blog) shine through, the more women resonated and reached out to me.  Contrary to what many in our industry believe, there is a lot of power in saying, “Hey, I don’t have it all figured out, but I have learned this…” Ironically, that kind of introspection doesn’t take away from your knowledge as a trainer, coach or role model; but instead it instills trust and builds community.    

Your image is your business from several perspectives. It also drives your business from all angles you look at this field as a strong motivation. How did you get where you are today physically? Do you feel under pressure to always be in top shape?

Of course, there is always pressure to be in top shape, but in the past when I have considered my physique to be the most important thing I had to offer, I was never unhappier.  My self-worth was wrapped up in my body fat percentage and I was miserable, distracted and unproductive.  Over time, I learned to be gentler with myself.  There is always going to be someone who is more ripped or leaner or has more muscle, but I have found for me, the key is to strive for my best physical self.  It is something I work hard at every day but it doesn’t define me like it used to.  Ironically, once I got out of the “on-season/off-season” mindset of competition or the stress of having to be “photo ready” at all times, I was able to stay leaner year round. 

What would you say to somebody who feels overwhelmed by the long road ahead to accomplish fat loss or change their bodies for better, specially if they fall more often than they move ahead?

The biggest piece of advice I can give someone is what we say at Metabolic Effect, and that is “Fat loss is a practice, not a protocol” meaning that we should expect that the path towards true body change will be fraught with both up and downs, and over time the ups will overcome the downs.  When you begin to see your fat loss journey as just that and not a destination that needs to come right this second, you are able to slowly achieve real, lasting body change.  Also, let go of the pressure you are putting on yourself—you are meant to fail at times and no one ever gets it perfect! But they can get it better J

What was the most challenging moment of your career until now that you can talk about, and how did you overcome the obstacles?

To be honest with you, my career path has been pretty linear, but that is also because I have been fortunate to not have to take too many risks. I have surrounded myself with a great support team and my attitude is also pretty laid back.  I think that if perhaps I felt more of a sense of urgency then I would be more successful, and at times I wish had a little more ambition! But on the whole, I love what I do and feel lucky for all that I have been able to accomplish until now. 

Quick stuff:

- food of choice: Favorite clean meal—bison steak and asparagus, Favorite cheat—Reeses Pieces J

- beverage of choice: Coffee!! Lol! I mean, water J

- exercise of choice: Doing Metabolic Effect!

- favorite time to exercise: I am a morning person! But after coffee, of course!

- your favorite personality (fitness or not): Besides Jade Teta, creator of Metabolic Effect and my mentor J I don’t really have any favorite celebrities I look up to. But I do admire many people in many different fields (some fitness, some not) who have blazed their own unique trail and who I have learned from at one point or another: Rachel Cosgrove, Tim Ferris, Jamie Eason, John Berardi, JJ Virgin, Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra.


Yours truly and Jill at the Metabolic Effect Nutrition Seminar