We had the good fortune of connecting with James Earl and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi James, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
I value consistency in actions and emotions. One of my favorite writers, James Clear, talks about an 1% improvement every single day. In the short term, a 1% percent improvement is not discernible, but over months, over years, and even decades, this improvement compounds provided we minimize zero progress days. Being in the fitness industry, I know that people’s action are influenced by emotional extremes. If we achieve a goal there’s a natural inclination for complacency. If we hit a rough patch, we can fall into a cycle of self loathing. Let me be clear, both are very normal ,human responses to success and failure. However, consistency is marked by our ability to effectively navigate emotional extremes so we can continue to make progress toward our goals.  When things are going well will we rest on our laurels and dial it back, or will we continue to seek growth? When things are bad, can you show up and be present. Consistency is a skilled to be cultivated in the worst AND best of times. 

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My story covers 6 impactful years. 2014-2015: Aaron, my former business partner, and I were former high school classmates, and we reconnected 10 years later to coach little league football. In 2015, Ready Heroes Fitness Camp was the brain child of two guys that just wanted to make fitness accessible to people in our community in at a low cost. We hosted camps at parks, a local church, and an event center. In our 1st year, we started out very strong, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we felt we weren’t garnering the support we felt we deserved. Ultimately, we decided we were going to go our separate ways. Aaron wanted to focus on mentoring children, and I was selected to be a trainer for Camp Gladiator. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with giving up on Ready Heroes so quickly, so I prayed to the Lord for discernment on what I should do, and I was reminded of something he had given me in March of 2014: I would be a gym owner one day.

I decided to go all in with RHFC, and without Aaron I was on my own, or at least I thought. I had no location to run the business, no money, and the new year was right around the corner. I even reached out to another trainer locally to see if I could use his space. Aaron and I hadn’t been in touch since we stopped running bootcamps, so I was surprised when he called me. He told me he admired how I tried to keep things together even though I had been presented with a “better opportunity”. And since I was all in, he was too. We planned, set goals, and made a commitment to do the work we set out to do no matter how much support we received because I believed it was bigger than us. Shortly after, we found a location on the eastside of Fort Worth, shoutout to Quincy Williams, and got to work.

2016-17: With a renewed purpose, things were going very well. By mid 2016, we made the decision to begin looking for a larger location, and we were drawn to a commercial property (Boaz Restoration) owned by Gerry Haight. We talked with Mr. Haight about leasing out space and was floored when he offered to lease us 2100 sq/ft of space for just 800 dollars!!! We didn’t have the money at the time, but we asked if he could hold it for us, He didn’t make any guarantees, but if we could come up with the money by November, the space would be ours. We would later come to find out that Mr. Haight went and talked with his wife (RIH) about leasing the space out to us, and they prayed on it. Her wish was to give two young black entrepreneurs a chance at success. Unfortunately, someone came along with a better offer and we lost out on the space, but Mr. Haight had a slightly smaller space that he leased out to us. We moved into our new location in 2017.

2017-2019: January 2017, was the grand opening of the Ready Heroes Fitness Camp- Growth Mindset Center. Ready Heroes was a portmanteau of Ready Fitness and Hero for Hire Fitness, Aaron and I’s fitness ventures before we joined forces. The Growth Mindset was a mentality that we adopted from a book that I read that viewed failure and setbacks as an opportunities for growth and improvement. Aaron and I, were 9-5 entrepreneurs: We worked our regular jobs, but we also split the duties at the gym. We knew we needed help to help so we reached out to a friend  and aspiring trainer, Angela, to help run a few classes for us. We had a great time and had a reasonable amount of success, but Angela left to pursue her own dreams as a business owner in 2018. For the better part of a year, Aaron and I handled the class load at RHFC. It began to wear on us and we felt we that we reached our growth potential at RHFC. In early 2019, we partnered with another trainer, Resha Green (Krave Fitness) to help with the class load. Expansion was always in the back of our, but we were unsure of who we could really trust.

ENTER DREAM PERFORMANCE.

In 2019, Dream Performance had their grand opening on the eastside of town. Aaron and I really admired what they were doing. Also, we both had a personal relationship with one of the owners, Kendrick Releford. One day Aaron made a not so random Facebook post about the importance of fitness professionals collaborating and how great it would be if we could do so more often. Kendrick happened to comment, and Aaron and I followed up with him immediately. We set up a meeting in June of 2019 to discuss the potential for partnership. Before we made the decision official, I went on a week long fast to gain clarity about the move. At the time, I thought I was “giving up again”, and I felt indebted to Mr. Haight and his wife for giving us a shot at entrepreneurship. We couldn’t just pack up and leave.

As it would turn out, I was leaving one version of dream for a new and improved version. During my fast, I listened to a sermon from Steven Furtick called the “Danger of Dreams” which put me at peace with our impending decision: “…..That a lot of times the dream we start out with, the dream that we think we see in one stage of our life will show up later in our life in a different dimension and it will be such a different dimension that we will not even recognize the dream as the original dream……God said you’ve got the right dream. You just need to see it differently. The fact of the matter is that some of us are standing in the middle of our dream, but we can’t see it because it feels different than we thought it would when we first saw it. And I believe in dreams……Don’t follow your dreams cause what if your dream was just the first draft? Are you open to a revision? …. And what if the greatest thing God is going to do through your life is what He is going to allow you to contribute to somebody else’s? Are you open to that dream?

Dream Performance was just a different iteration of the vision God had given me 5 years earlier. In July of 2019, we agreed in principle to move forward with the merger, and Aaron and I became co-owners of Dream Performance, along with Kendrick Releford and Cory Broadnax. Throughout our time at Ready Heroes, I knew that fitness was passion for Aaron but not like the passion he had for children. So I prepared myself for the day, he would have to leave again, and I’ve said as much to him. Shortly after the merger, Aaron left DP so he could pursue his dream of becoming a mentor to children. God connected me with Aaron so he could connect me with Kendrick and Cory. Through our connection, Kendrick, Cory, and I have continued on in our shared vision for Dream Performance that is continuing to grow to this day. As a fitness entrepreneur, I believe faith, purpose, persistence, and the power of relationships. Without them, I would not be where I am today. 

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my wife, Sabrina, and two kids Lauryn and Christelle. They give me purpose every single day. My grandmother, Barbara, for instilling in me an incredible work ethic. Mr. Gerry Haight for taking a chance on a young entrepreneur. My friend and former business associate Aaron Miller, iron sharpens iron. I wouldn’t be where I am today without connecting with him. Angela Chambers and Resha Green, without you two I may have given up on my dream prematurely. My partners at Dream performance Kendrick and Corey for welcoming me into the business with open arms.

Website: fwdreamperformance.com
Instagram: @jamese.dp
Youtube: Dream Performance

Image Credits
Courtney Cook (All Dream performance pictures)

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