It’s been about 4 months since we decided to move our family of 6 from Woodbury, MN to Naples, FL. Some days I still feel like I need to pinch myself because I can’t believe we actually did it! It wasn’t an easy decision, but looking back it’s so neat to see how God intentionally led us here.
When you’re in a new town, one of the first things that comes up in conversation is, “What brought you down here?” It’s still SO crazy to me that we literally picked a spot on the map that seemed like the best fit for us because we COULD!
The next question that’s generally brought up in conversation is, “So what do you do exactly?”
We share that we’re online fitness and business coaches, and the conversation keeps going.
But it got me thinking. There really is so much more to our story, and I haven’t taken time to share it all in a blog post.
Allow me to take you back to about 4 years ago. I was drowning as a stay at home mom of 4 under 4. Our oldest was 3, our twins were 21 months, and our youngest was 4 months old. You guys, I had no idea who I was anymore. The only thing consuming my mind was how to keep 4 babies alive everyday, and hoping that I’d have enough energy to keep the house and laundry manageable to a point where Jake had at least one clean underwear for the next day. We were a total hot mess 99% of the time!
On top of day to day life being legitimately CRAZY, I was struggling with postpartum anxiety at a level I’d never experienced before. I couldn’t even go to Target at night because I thought that I was going to be murdered. It was HORRIBLE and I was scared to go anywhere alone with the kids.
To add another layer of issues, I was carrying baby weight that I could NOT get rid of. I was going to the gym regularly and everything, running more miles than ever before because it relieved my stress, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t figure it out. My body was NOT bouncing back. And I felt alone. Like no one understood. Like I was on a hamster wheel that I couldn’t get off.
And I had NO social life. I couldn’t leave my house like EVER, Jake was traveling ALLLL the time for work, and I literally reached the lowest low of my entire life.
Jake and I finally had a chance to get away on a trip to Hawaii in February of 2015. This was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. Our first big trip alone since having four kids. There we were in paradise, no kids, our only focus was supposed to be each other, and I couldn’t relax. I felt so defeated. I didn’t want to put on a swim suit because I felt so frumpy and puffy, I didn’t want to be intimate with Jake, I didn’t want to go out on adventures because I was SO anxious and honestly down about the point my body had gotten to. To the outsider looking in I appeared to look fine, but it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. All that matters is how you feel about yourself, and I can honestly say I hated myself. Literally hated the way I looked, felt, was treating Jake, was raising my kids with constant anxiety. All of it just sucked.
On the way home, we were at a layover in Dallas. I remember pulling out my phone to scroll while we waited, and all of a sudden one of “those girls” popped up in my Facebook feed. She was talking about some at home workout program, which I thought was a load of crap. I rolled my eyes, mostly because I hated seeing how happy she was when I felt so crappy. Ugh, jealousy can be so ugly.
A few minutes later, I felt this tiny little tug to go back and look at her post again. Honestly, I’d read dozens of her posts before and every time I rolled my eyes. “Oh, there she goes talking about THAT again…” That thought was followed by, “I would NEVER want to share things like that on social media…”
But that day, I don’t know what came over me. I think I was probably just so desperate and willing to try anything, that I reached out to her. I told Jake about it, and HE rolled his eyes. “Amber, you don’t need that. You have a gym membership. You’ll figure it out on your own and be just fine.”
I let it go.
About a week later, I couldn’t shake the fact that I REALLY thought I needed to try that workout program. And so I did what any stubborn wife would do…I bought it behind Jake’s back and asked for forgiveness later. ?
I started doing these 30 minute workouts in my basement, and 21 days later I had gotten better results than I had in the previous six months. Not only that, but I had a COMMUNITY. I was able to have ADULT conversations with the ladies inside my online accountability groups!
The only thing was that I still felt SO tired and couldn’t get my nutrition in check. I heard about all these people talking about some sort of superfood shake. Again, SWORE I would never be a shake person. According to my old self, those were NOT necessary when you could drive to the grocery store and eat healthy whole food.
I was humbled. In all reality, with 4 kids I wasn’t eating anything nutritious except their table scraps of Mac and cheese and hot dogs. When I wasn’t doing that, I was stuffing myself with fast food, pizza, and all the carbs because I couldn’t get my act together and cook meals for our family.
So I ordered a bag of the superfood shakes. I signed up as a discount coach so that I could save 25% and not piss off Jake too much. I drank it faithfully every single day and although I didn’t want to admit it, I was hooked. My cravings for junk food went WAY down, and I had a meal every single day for ME that I didn’t have to even think about, which made me feel so good!
As I started to feel like myself again, Jake could tell. It didn’t take him long after that to be 100% on board with this new fitness community I had found.
A couple months later, I felt another tug to look more into becoming a coach. I fought it HARD, you guys. No way, no way I was going to be one of those girls on social media. No way I was going to put myself out there. There was just NO WAY!
Then I remembered that it wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about what other people would think of me. It was about the mom out there who WAS me before I discovered this amazing community. What if I could help HER? What if I could help just ONE person feel like themselves again? What if I could help one mom actually be the wife and mom she wanted to be instead of feeling trapped in a constant state of defeat?
And so, I prayed. Was this REALLY the path God wanted me to go on?
I took a step of faith and started sharing my story vulnerably. I learned more and more every day that I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the only mom who struggled with an identity crisis after having babies. I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know how to get the results I was looking for. I wasn’t the only one who felt alone and isolated. There was a TRIBE of women in the same boat I was in, who heard my story and decided to take a chance on themselves too.
In April of 2015 I ran my first virtual boot camp. Women from around the country and world hopped in, and that’s when I started to discover my purpose as a coach. Every single month since then I have welcomed people into our fitness community, led them through fitness programs, and encouraged them along the way. And the NEATEST thing about all of it, is that it didn’t stop with me. So many of the women and men who get results decide that THEY want to pay it forward and help others too!
And so what started as me in a plane being SUPER critical of that girl who was posting on social media, has turned into me LEADING thousands of women and men to learn how to do that in an authentic way.
So what do we do exactly? It’s SO simple. We show up on social media the RIGHT WAY. We train our team to share their stories, not products. We train them to LOVE on people regardless of it they EVER purchase from us.
We listen to the goals of our customers, and recommend a fitness, nutrition, and community that not only helps them reach their physical goals, but ultimately helps them to transform their minds to be the people they were created to be! People who don’t give a CRAP about what other people think of them, but rather people who are on FIRE to serve the world in a radical way!
We LOVE what we do, and I honestly didn’t get into this for a paycheck. I simply wanted to help others. But as I focused on making an impact, I started to make an incredible income.
Our online fitness business has surprised us time and time again. It has turned into so much more than I could have ever dreamed of. This past spring, as Jake and I were reflecting on life, and talking about our goals. We felt extremely worn out. He was working full time as a corporate med device sales rep for a company called Medtronic. He was also running a luxury real estate business. I was working tirelessly growing our online business but there weren’t enough hours in the day to do it alone anymore.
We couldn’t deny the fact that our fitness business was earning more than Jake’s job at Medtronic. And so we began dreaming of a simpler life. A life where we could build a business together so that we’d have more time with our kids. Jake LOVED his corporate job, but the truth is he was missing out on so much of the kids growing up. Between traveling and late night dinners and meetings, he was running himself into the ground.
As we started to dream, we also talked about moving to the beach. We both grew up in the midwest, and stayed because of jobs and family, but in all honesty we hate the winter months. And we were about 4 hours from family, so it’s not like we were next door to them anyway. Besides seeing the snow enough to snowboard a few times a year, Jake was totally over having to shovel two feet of snow on a regular basis! When we had a huge snowstorm on April 30th this past spring, that was it. We started to look at Florida!
We visited various areas in the state, and when we visited Naples in July it just felt right. Since so many midwesterners retire down here, it definitely has that friendly vibe. The best way to describe it is that it’s basically like living in a suburb by the beach! We found a Christian school that we fell in love with for the kids, and a month and a half later, we were Florida residents!
These days, all four of our kids are in school 5 days a week, and during that time Jake and I work from home together. We are able to bring them to school, pick them up, and be the present parents that we always dreamed of, but weren’t quite sure how to be. Jake gets to play and interact with the kids 1000 times more now than he has in their entire lives. If I was to describe how I feel in one word, it would be GRATEFUL. I’m grateful I hit the lowest low so that God could help me climb my way out of the valley to where we are now.
I’m grateful that I got over my pride and looked into becoming a coach. I’m grateful I didn’t just think about it, but that I actually took the leap. I’m grateful that I get to show up every day and genuinely LOVE the work that I do. I’m grateful for the PEOPLE who I’ve met through coaching who have become my dearest friends.
I’m GRATEFUL for the chance to pay this forward to other families. Jake and I have spent the FALL creating a stream lined process to help new coaches get started growing successful businesses. We mentor our coaches one on one and teach them EVERYTHING we did to have success so that they can duplicate and make their dreams come true as well. Jake’s business expertise has be instrumental these past few months. We are developing more leaders than ever before because of his intentional mentorship calls with our coaches who are serious about growing!
This is the VERY best time of year to get started in the fitness business. Going in to the new year, so many people need support and encouragement, and WE get to be there for them!
Jake and I are looking for a handful of aspiring influencers who want to build a lucrative online fitness business in 2019. You don’t need to be in the best shape of your life, you simply need to commit to starting your healthy living journey, dive into our community and training, and share your story along the way! We are looking for go getters who are coachable, and willing to work 7 – 10 hours a week as you get started. Many people build their business while they work their day job! It’s totally possible to fit this into the cracks of your life!
If you are interested in learning more about coaching, please apply by filling out THIS FORM! We’d love to have you on our team and help you grow a thriving business!
If you aren’t interested in coaching, but you’d like to be one of our fitness clients, we’d LOVE to have you in our boot camps! Our next group starts this Monday, December 17th! Simply fill out THIS FORM to request info and I’ll email you the details!
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out! More than anything, we are so grateful that this opportunity found us, and there is nothing that brings us more joy that sharing it with other families!
xo,
Amber
P.S. For more reflections on parenthood and life, follow us on Facebook (Hun Let’s Run) and on Instagram: @ambermariekuiper and @jakekuiper! We’d also love for you to subscribe to our Hun, Let’s Run Podcast! For more info about joining our fitness community as a customer or coach, please email us at amber@mommysmetime.com!
