Blending Fitness and Business with Coach Donovan

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Meet
Donovan Will

NO GATEKEEPING! INTERVIEW

We caught up with fitness coach, Donovan and shared our conversation below.

Donovan, thank you for joining us today. Running a business is very demanding, just like in fitness, managing stress and maintaining focus are crucial. How do you manage stress and maintain focus during challenging periods in your entrepreneurial journey?

I lean on my fitness goals when my entrepreneurial journey gets hard. I can see progress daily with fitness because I'm getting closer to my goal date or to a specific exercise I want to achieve. This reminds me of the process and how it takes time and work to get there. It's a perfect reflection of entrepreneurship.

Well now you got that hustler spirit. Before we dive into the specifics, could you share a bit about your background and the experiences that have shaped your path in entrepreneurship?

My name is Donovan Will, I'm a fitness and mindship coach that got started due to my eye injury when I was 12 years old. I wasn't allowed to do sports growing up and the only sport my doctor allowed me to do was running which is how I lost my eye sight originally. Due to the injury, I joined a track and field team and found passion teaching younger athletes to get better at drills and I loved supporting my teammates stay happy and motivated. I turned that love into my career, I've worked with top luxury gyms in New York City and became a founding trainer of gyms on the west coast.

As I was coaching, I felt limited by working with clients individually which led me to creating run groups in New York. Over the span of 10 years, I always felt frustrated with the corporate needs of hitting numbers versus actually helping people. I had a sit down with a CEO of a company and he wanted to shift the marketing of the brand and that conversation didn't make sense to me. I couldn't understand why we transitioning off a method that was clearly working and that led to me giving up on the coaching side of fitness. I worked with in the tech world and saw the same concepts being implemented, I had my frustrations but I could work through them. Eventually, they saw me and the role they created as disposable and they terminated my role entirely. After reflecting and seeing how many people in the corporate world look to optimizing the dollar over wellness and growth, I figured if no one will do it, Donovan will.

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Can you share an instance where embracing a different perspective led to innovative solutions or strategies in your business?

I speak to my friends and my brother on a weekly basis on what is working for me and what isn't. Speaking with my younger brother, he pointed out how he views my business outside of how I view it. I preach on a regular basis how having a marathon mindset is the key to anything in life but my brother changed how I say it to people and said it to me. Same message, different tone, inflection and his own style allowed me to shift how I view the virtual space and it is supporting me grow faster and larger.

In your opinion, what role does networking play in the continuous evolution and adaptability of an entrepreneur?

Networking play is the bigger than what a lot of us think. Entrepreneurship is a long game to me, it's a marathon. I believe the best way to complete a marathon is to do it with others in whatever capacity that can look like. If you want to get there fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Networking will give us perspectives, ideas, and possibilities that we cannot create on our own. We can go no where fast and that won't last long..

As you look back, what advice would you give to your younger self when starting your entrepreneurial venture?

Be the main character of the story, take the risk, learn the lesson and build plot armor! Spiderman takes his Ls and gets up to support, do the same but do it now and learn along the way.

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Contact Info:

• Website: www.zeescookiebox.com

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donovan_will_

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/donovan_will_

• Youtube: DonovanWill

• Facebook: Donovan Will

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Designed To Conquer, LLC loves working with inspiring and dedicated professionals. Join us in amplifying diverse voices, challenging norms, and building a more inclusive future for entrepreneurship.

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