The fitness and nutrition industry has changed considerably in the past two decades. As people learn more about the human body and better understand the importance of nutrition and customized workout plans, a shift has occurred within the industry.
As a result, fitness training classes have shrunk, with trainers offering personalized sessions instead. This shift occurred because people realized that everyone’s fitness needs vary since human bodies are unique. Therefore, you cannot apply a universal approach to help people achieve their fitness-related goals.
Canada’s fitness industry employs over 70,000 people, many as personal trainers. These personal trainers usually work in gyms, offering gym-goers personalized and guided workout sessions to help them reach their goals faster. While it can be a lucrative gig, especially if you get the right clientele, the issue is that most personal trainers remain reliant on gyms. After all, that’s where they meet and train clients. Moreover, if a gym deems a personal trainer disposable, it could easily replace them with another trainer. As a result, the cards are heavily stacked in the gym’s favor.
Cole Luis DaSilva is a 28-year-old entrepreneur with extensive experience in this industry. He co-owns Iron Energy gym in West Kelowna, British Columbia, with his business partner, Brian Mark. In addition, he’s also a certified sports nutritionist, personal trainer, and bodybuilding specialist by the International Sports Sciences Association. These credentials are extremely impressive. But they mean much more than that to Cole. Ask him about his fitness journey, and he’ll tell you that fitness transformed his life and saved him. He wouldn’t be the person he is today if he hadn’t forayed into the fitness world.
While he has experienced considerable success as an entrepreneur and fitness expert, things weren’t always easy for him. Cole DaSilva comes from a rough upbringing. His family struggled to make ends meet, and he suffered emotional and physical abuse during childhood. This suffering prompted him to run away when he was only fourteen or fifteen, and he couch-surfed to stay as far away from his family as possible.
However, forgetting the abuse and despair wasn’t easy, so he turned to drugs and drinking to numb the pain. Eventually, he became an ironworker at 20 after moving to Calgary, Alberta, for a fresh start. But that’s where his problems compounded.
Spending time in the company of other ironworkers wasn’t ideal, as it led him to consume more drugs and drink frequently. Things worsened as he developed a Percocet addiction, relying on four to seven pills daily. He seemed to be headed down a dark and dangerous path until he became interested in fitness and nutrition. That was the turning point he needed to get his act together.
Today, in addition to co-owning the Iron Energy gym, he is the co-founder of PT Domination (alongside his partner Brian Mark). Cole started the business to help other personal trainers and fitness experts starting in the field quit the 9-5 rat race and become financially free. He states, “Not only did fitness help save my life, but it also allowed me to make enough money to become financially free. I want to impart my knowledge to others to show them they don’t have to be at the mercy of large-scale gyms to make money. Instead, they can do everything online. After all, we’re blessed to live in a digitized world.”
PT Domination teaches personal trainers how to start and scale their online businesses. Cole DaSilva and Brian teach the community how to leverage online organic marketing and social media growth to acquire customers and build a robust online presence. In addition, they have also created a Facebook community where they stream at least ten times a week and share expert tips to help personal trainers succeed. PT Domination has been immensely successful, having helped hundreds of personal trainers quit their day jobs and work for themselves. The fitness expert hopes to keep this going because he wants to shake things up permanently.
