Women In Wellness: Noelle McKenzie of Leading Edge NY On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Manage your stress levels. Emotional stress is a major contributing factor to the six leading causes of death in the US: cancer, coronary heart disease, accidental injuries, respirator disorders, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide. You can manage your stress by having a healthy work/life balance, seeking therapy in some cases, practicing more self-care habits, surrounding yourself with non-toxic people, getting adequate sleep, and practicing both gratitude and stillness.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Noelle McKenzie.
Noelle McKenzie comes from an athletic background. She played sports growing up and has always been into health and wellness.After witnessing many gyms operating more like a conveyor belt concerned more about quantity of clients rather than quality of service they felt the need to start a training business where the client comes first. Her desire was to help people realize their full fitness potential when they have the right program to follow and a strong support system behind them.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
Back in 2010, my husband and I met while I was working at a big box chain gym. I was miserable, overworked, under-appreciated, and felt like the company’s values did not align with my own. My husband, who was also into exercise science, and I made the decision to go into business together on our own. We started by training just a few independent clients on our own and over the course of the next few years that would follow we managed to grow our clientele to a place where we could make a comfortable living. We then decided to really take our business to the next level; we needed to incorporate ourselves and hire a team. We started by bringing on two trainers who helped us broaden our reach and later went on to expand to seven trainers in total. Today, we are a multi-six figure business taking a total wellness approach to fitness which includes exercise and dietary support. We have both a marketing team and a social media manager, who have allowed us to reach clients not just in NY, but all across the country and even in other parts of the world like London. We are never done brainstorming new ways to expand. We launched our virtual training platform two and a half years ago which brought us massive success. We also now offer a customized online training program for people who prefer the convenience of an app, and this year we launched a new nutrition app with hundreds of customized recipes to offer more support to clients with their dietary needs. We are excited to see what’s next for us!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
The most interesting story that happened to us since we started our career is when we were forced to quickly pivot our business model during the start of the pandemic. At the time gyms were closing and our clients were unable to see us in person. I remember my husband and I launched our virtual program model and at the same time we took out a non-interest bearing credit card because we were afraid our business would fail. Needless to say, it ended up being the best move for our company, and to this day, we’ve never touched that credit card. The launch of our virtual personal training platform allowed us to grow our business twofold. We were able to then add more trainers to our team and increase our clientele reach in NY and beyond. This model allowed us to also reach clients outside of NY in places like California, Florida, Texas, and even London! It also provided our clients with the added convenience of being able to train from anywhere, so they never had to worry about missing another workout. Most importantly, this launch gave my husband and I freedom to work from home training purely virtually so we could spend more valuable time with our six month old son at the time and never miss a milestone. It has been the biggest blessing for our business.
Main lessons/takeaways:
Don’t be afraid of risk or failure, as scary as it may be. Change can lead to some of our biggest wins.
– Always be adaptable to the current trends and needs.
– Have a growth mindset and you’ll never fail. You’ll always find a way to make your idea work.
You share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The biggest mistake we made when we first started was waiting so long to expand our team. We were managing all of our clients on our own and not delegating any of the responsibilities of our business. We felt like we were in a hamster wheel. We were always “on” and could never catch a break. We were burning the candle at both ends. Between waking up extra early, running around the city all day to our clients, and then managing the day to day managerial tasks at night we were constantly burned out. Everyday was exhausting and it really took the joy out of what got us into training in the first place.
Lessons learned from this:
– You can’t run a business alone and have it be truly successful.
– Delegation is the best way to focus your time on the things that really matter most to you in the business.
– Don’t fall into the trap that “nobody else can do it better than me.” You can find the right people who represent the characteristics of your brand who you can trust to do their jobs well. Find people who share your passion and have a knack for doing what you do and who are adaptable and willing to learn.
– Don’t get in your own way. Trying to do everything yourself only hurts you and your business in the long run. It holds you back from being able to reach more people, and it takes the joy out of doing what you love.
-Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
– The work we are doing is helping make a bigger impact in the world because we are teaching clients that there is no one way to train. We make our program adaptable to our clients’ needs and goals. You can have just as effective an exercise and nutrition program training either in-person or virtually. Even following a customized online training program through our app can be an effective method for helping you reach your goals. When you follow a program that fits within your lifestyle and needs, you are much more likely to stick with it and see the long-term results you desire.
We are educating people about the importance of form over aesthetics. Fitness is far more than just about how we look. It is critical to also be aware of how we move and how this affects the mechanics of the body and contributes to chronic pain and compensation in the body. By bringing this awareness to our training, we are helping people not only look better but feel better, so they can enjoy a better quality of life.
You do not often see a black-owned family business in the fitness industry, so we are changing the landscape of the fitness industry. We represent diversity, growth, and family-held values that are inspiring for others to be a part of.
We are also teaching people that fitness is not just about what you are doing in the gym; it is a lifestyle. It is about the choices you make day to day. It is about how you move outside of the gym and how you choose to nourish your body. As we know, diet is just as crucial as exercise because we can never outperform a bad diet. Our program is unique in that we incorporate both diet and nutrition support.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
Our top 5 lifestyle tweaks to help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing are:
1. Prioritize sleep by creating a wind-down routine to encourage you to get to sleep at the same time every night ensuring you are getting at least six to seven hours of quality rest. Studies have shown that after one night of bad sleep significant hormone imbalances are detected which can affect mood, energy, productivity, clarity of mind, and lifestyle choices.
2. Move everyday and increase your steps. NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) accounts for 65 to 70 percent of your daily metabolic burn, which is important in today’s age of most people having a sedentary lifestyle and the over accessibility to hypercaloric foods, both of which negatively impact one’s health.
3. Build your plate around whole foods high in protein and vegetables. This will help decrease spikes in your blood sugar (risk factor for diabetes), keep you satiated longer, and ensure you’re eating a well-balanced diet. We find that people that do not get enough protein and fiber in their diet have a tendency to overeat, over consume carbs leading to a drop in energy, and they lack the macronutrients necessary for weight management and an optimally performing metabolism.
4. Eat a diet high in micronutrients and fiber to aid in a healthy digestive system. You can also incorporate pre and probiotics to improve your microbiome. Gut health is important for improving your immune system, mood, and all other bodily functions. Gut health is also important for weight management. People with poor gut health are more susceptible to disease and obesity.
5. Manage your stress levels. Emotional stress is a major contributing factor to the six leading causes of death in the US: cancer, coronary heart disease, accidental injuries, respirator disorders, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide. You can manage your stress by having a healthy work/life balance, seeking therapy in some cases, practicing more self-care habits, surrounding yourself with non-toxic people, getting adequate sleep, and practicing both gratitude and stillness.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
This movement would be a continuation of what we are already doing as our goal is to make exercise and nutrition easily accessible for everyone. The online fitness industry has allowed us to reach people across the country, and by continuing down this path, our goal is eventually use this platform to reach people on a global scale. We also aim to help other fitness professionals build a more sound program with the most value by introducing a certification program where we can share the value we have created with other trainers. This allows us, together, to leave the greatest impact.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
1. Running a business takes time, discipline and patience. There is no substitute for time. You can not work harder and get there faster. They say it takes five years for a starter business to become sustainable, so always be thinking of the big picture.
2. Know your audience instead of trying to reach everyone. The more specific you can get about knowing who your customers are and how to solve their problems, the more you will attract this type.
3. Do not worry about things being perfect. The timing will never be perfect. Your website will never be perfect. Just go for it. Procrastination is your worst enemy. The biggest mistake you can make is delaying your start.
4. Delegate aspects of your business that you are not good at to people who specialize in these specific areas instead of trying to learn everything yourself.
5. Do not undervalue your services. Know your worth and do not be afraid to charge accordingly. If you deliver an excellent product or service people will pay for it. And you will attract the right people who respect and also value your worth.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health is most important to us because there is a direct correlation between treating mental health issues like depression and anxiety with exercise. Regular exercise is associated with lower neuroticism, anxiety, and depression. The reason for this is that we have noticed that exercise helps instill healthy habits, better confidence, self-care, self-worth, and work/life balance all of which carry over into other life decisions. People who are well cared for are more likely to find happiness in their work and family life and make decisions that are for their greatest good.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
You can find us online at www.leadingedgeny.com. You can also follow us on instagram at @leadingedgeny and check out our founder’s accounts @bodybynoelle and @kda_fitness.
Thank you for these fantastic insights!
Women In Wellness: Noelle McKenzie of Leading Edge NY On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.