Bringing Home Turkey Bacon

I feel like I should give a quick update on the work front.

I have been working quite a bit as a trainer at the Y. I worked about 15 hours last week and will do the same this week.

There are parts of it that are everything I thought it would be.

For example, I love the Wellness Training. When you sign up for a membership you get 3 free sessions with a personal trainer, like yours truly. The first appointment is an interview and assessment. We chat about what your hobbies are, work, kids, previous success in weight/fitness management and the like. I ask what your goals are and how I can help you achieve them. I like to talk and meet people so this fits my personality. After the interview we do a postural analysis to see what muscles are weak and which are strong.

This gives us the foundation to write a very specific workout for the individual. I appreciate the creativity to design different work outs. I work to make them challenging and fun.

The 2nd and 3rd sessions are actually putting into practice the workout I design. I also enjoy doing the workouts with the clients.

I enjoy Ebony. She's the other trainer that works evenings. Before I started working as a PT I hadn't really even met her other than in passing. She has an awesome base of knowledge and experience and is super willing to help me out as I gain experience. My co-workers as a whole are kind and fun to be around. That makes being away from my family so much easier. If it were a negative work environment it would be torture.

Now for the reason not everyone is not flocking to the local Y to be a personal trainer...

People don't show. They don't call.

I can't even begin to count the number of appointments I've had already that stood me up. I make dozens of phone calls to schedule free personal training sessions that would cost around $36/hour. At times, I drag all 5 kiddos along and place 3 in child watch while the other 2 swim. I take time away from my family, from my spouse, from things I'd rather do (like play volleyball) to sit in an empty office. I wait for someone to show up that has no intention of coming.

That's frustrating.

But alas, overall I'm enjoying it. We're filling a gap in our finances that will hopefully get us closer to legal tags on the cars and eventually to debt free living.

My babies cheer, "Mommy's home!" When I walk in the door. Can't beat that!