Meet Vanessa Bogenholm | President and Personal Trainer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vanessa Bogenholm and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Vanessa, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
Time structure is very important. I know I am an early morning person. I get up at 4am, work for an hour or so to organize my day, go for a run, then am off to the gym by 7:30am. I work long hours and know my best work is done before 2pm so structure my day for the important things to be done before then. I think any entrepreneur is used to being pulled in many directions and needs to find the focus to get things done.
What should our readers know about your business?
In June 2022, I took a huge Financial and Personal leap and bought a 32k sq foot gym in Fort Worth Texas. 11 years ago I was working a job, just a job to pay the bills, and I hated this job. I was selling food for a large company, I was literally an expert in 47 kinds of French Fries!!! My life was going no where and I was personally and professionally miserable. I woke up one Monday morning and just quit, called Human Resources and just quit. I didn’t have a plan. No plan to pay the bills and no savings. I just knew I could no longer be miserable. I was a high level tennis player so got certified to teach tennis and was teaching a little tennis while I looked for my next sales job. I was completely lost.
Then a friend asked me to help his sister lose weight, I hated personal trainers and wasn’t one and never knew one I thought was good or successful.
She lost 100lbs with me and I was off. I became a certified personal trainer and was going to people’s houses to train them. Within 2 years I had opened my own Fitness Studio in San Jose Ca. Most of my clients in San Jose had been with me for over 6 years. People who started with me never left unless they moved away. I found though that after seeing clients one on one for a number of years, my career was becoming stagnant. Before covid I had started doing speaking and offering group runs for corporations but that dried up. During Covid I wrote my book, It’s Your Body: Move it, Love it, Live which became an Amazon Best Seller, and started my own App and started doing more videos and online training.
I then needed to figure out my next move.
I wasn’t happy living in California anymore for a number of reasons, homelessness, trash, crime, etc. and started looking for gyms for sale in the Dallas, Fort Worth Area.
I fell in love with this one because it has an indoor running track and I am a runner. Everyone thought I was crazy to leave a good business in California to make this leap to Texas, but I haven’t looked back.
I have thrown all my savings and am working 16 hour days to turn this neglected gym into a wonderful place for all kinds of people to experience the joy of fitness.
i think what sets me apart with my gym, Fitness 23 Texas, is this is a large gym where the owner is actually onsite and doing training and talking to clients everyday. I truly want to help the clients from 80 year olds that just want to walk and keep their independence to high school kids trying to get college scholarships. I love what I do.
The main lesson I have learned is that for most people, change is difficult. I can only try so hard, but with clients and employees if they aren’t willing to change and grow, I can’t work or help them. I can try to make the changes small and not seem as scary, but all change is necessary in life.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In Fort Worth, the first place you have to go is the Stockyards. Nothing is more Texan than a bull riding event or going to BillyBobs!! If my running friends are in town, we run along the Trinity River. Miles of paved trails make this a running paradise.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My Shoutouts are multiple. They are to all the clients and gym members who have believed in me and my vision over the past 10 years. To grow from doing one on one personal training in peoples homes to owning a 32k sq foot gym in Fort Worth Texas has been quite a ride. I wouldn’t be here professionally without people believing I could help them on their fitness journeys.
Website: https://www.fitness23texas.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitness23texas/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessabogenholm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VBogenholm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanessa.bogenholm/
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fitness-23-texas-fort-worth
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrsWdWONp7J2EgVQZjtae4g