Conversations with the Inspiring Heather Cox

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Cox.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Heather. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
It all started by committing to one goal – and sticking to it.

Like many women, my New Years Resolution goals always consisted of some type of weight loss. Whether it was wanting to lose 10 pounds by the end of the month or losing 30 pounds by vacation, it’s hard to recall a year where weight loss wasn’t one of my goals.

It was one diet or fitness plan to the next where I’d lose a few pounds, realize I couldn’t sustain it & gain it right back.

But in January of 2015, I remember being so uncomfortable in my body, that I told myself this year, I wouldn’t give up. I was determined to find a healthy lifestyle I could sustain. And one year later, I was down 40 pounds, feeling the best I ever had.

I started to love exercise. I started to view food as fuel instead of as the enemy. I started to shape my body in ways I didn’t know possible. I started to finally feel confident in who I was.

People started asking questions, asking for my advice on nutrition, asking what type of workouts were best, if I offered training.

I began to realize I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the only woman who was setting the same New Years Resolution weight loss goals year after year. I wasn’t the only woman who had tried numerous diets only to find they weren’t sustainable.

And that’s when HCFit was born.

It started as a side passion project, taking on a few clients here and there, but I knew this was what I wanted to do for a living. I wanted to help women find the balance that I found. I wanted to show them that weight loss can be easy, with the right tools and guidelines.

So, in April of 2018, I decided to leave my full-time marketing job to pursue this passion. It was one of the hardest & most frightening decisions I’ve ever made, but I knew that if I didn’t try, I’d always look back and think “what if?”

I was given every reason in the book not to leave that marketing job; the benefits, the perks, the consistent salary, working for a professional sports team, that list could go on.

Really, I only had one reason that I should leave, I wanted to pursue my passion. And when it came down to it, my passion for building this business that teaches women how to lose weight without restriction & create sustainability in their health & fitness was stronger than the money I received from that paycheck. I was willing to risk failing, at least knowing I tried.⁣

⁣Now, I’d be lying to you if I said being an entrepreneur doesn’t scare me every day. But the journey over the past year has taught me more than I could have ever imagined.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We face obstacles in our everyday lives and work to overcome those obstacles without thinking twice. I mean, if you lock your keys in your car, you don’t just give up, right? It’s second nature for you to figure out how to overcome that obstacle.

I think starting a business is no different.

While the obstacles may be harder to overcome, when you have a passion behind starting that business, that’s what has to keep you moving forward. Remembering why you started the business in the first place.

There’s plenty of days where I experience doubt. You look at statistics and see that only fifty percent of businesses make it past the five-year mark. I often find myself asking, what makes mine any different?

It’s the passion I have for building this business, that’s the difference.

Whenever I experience days of doubt, I get back to my core reason for pursuing this journey. Knowing how many thousands of women out there need my support in regaining their confidence, finding a balance in their health & fitness and repairing their relationship with food.

That’s what keeps me going. Knowing that I was put on this Earth to thrive, not just to survive.

“If you never fail, you never learn. If you never learn, you will never grow.”

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
As an Online Nutrition & Fitness Specialist, I’ve created a program, The Lean Queens Academy, which is a process designed to help millennial women master their weight loss & find a balance in their health and fitness, without the restriction.

You think of the word diet and what comes to mind? Countless hours of exercise, eating food from containers, cutting out all your favorite foods & ordering a salad at dinner while all your friends order burgers. Basically being miserable for a few weeks, just to lose some weight, right?

In the Academy, I teach women the three key pillars of creating a transformation and how to make that transformation last. It’s not about following the latest diet plan to lose 10 pounds in the next two weeks, but instead, we focus on how to lose the weight & keep it off. We focus on rebuilding that confidence you once had, teaching you to feel more comfortable in your own skin. Repairing your relationship with food, viewing all foods on the same playing food. No more of this “good food vs bad food” kinda thing.

I’ve been on the other side, feeling uncomfortable in my clothes, trying the latest diet or Pinterest workout, feeling like a failure when I can’t stick to a diet longer than a few weeks.

What sets The Lean Queens Academy apart from every other diet & fitness program, is it’s customized to fit YOU and your lifestyle. I work intimately & hands-on with each and every client to design a fitness & nutrition plan that caters to their lifestyle at that point in time.

What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
The notion of scarcity.

In the world of online health & fitness, most of the business comes from social media sites. And many of us, myself included, have built these limiting beliefs that there’s not enough business to go around. You look at how many online health & fitness coaches there are in the world, some with hundreds & thousands of followers, how do you compete with that?

But coming from this scarcity mindset only holds you back from ever starting a business and pursuing your passion. However, if you can show up and be yourself, people will connect with you & continue to buy from you.

People buy based on trust. They buy from people who they can relate to & who they can learn from. When you share your struggles and your challenges & how you overcome them, they feel a sense of connection with you.

Contact Info:

• Email: hcoxfitness@gmail.com
• Instagram: hcfit_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heather.cox.98622
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-cox-1b20143a/

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