ChloeP.

Chloe spent her early twenties convinced that a career in fitness was not a realistic option. She trained six days a week, read everything she could about programming and nutrition, and helped friends with their training informally — but turning that into a profession felt like something other people did, not her.

'I think I underestimated myself for a long time,' she says. 'I assumed you needed some kind of special background or natural authority to be a good coach. It took someone pointing out that I was already doing it for free to make me think seriously about doing it properly.'

She enrolled in the Level 3 Personal Training qualification at IFE after a recommendation from someone in her training group. The format matched how she learns: focused, one-to-one, with real feedback rather than generic instructions. 'Paris pushed me in the assessments in a way that was uncomfortable at the time but made me better. I came out of it knowing I could handle a real client in a real session.'

Chloe qualified in 2023 and built her client base quickly, largely through word of mouth from people who had seen her train. 'My existing network was my first marketing strategy. People who had watched me train for years were curious about training with me — and that initial trust was worth more than any advertising.'

She now trains a full schedule and has a waiting list for new clients. Looking back, her only regret is not starting sooner. 'The version of me that thought this was not realistic had just not seen enough of the evidence yet. The evidence was always there — I just was not paying attention to it.'