Hey Strong Girls,

I’ve never shared this story before and I still get super emotional thinking about it, but as tough as it is, I think it’s really important to be forthright about not only our victories but also the challenges that got us there. So I’m going to open up to you today about where and how Team Strong Girls all started.

When I met my husband Vince, we were working for a supplement company at the time and we were engulfed in the fitness industry. I mean, we really loved it. But shortly after we started dating we were both let go due to downsizing (it was us and about 40 other employees).

We started our relationship jobless with no money to our names, and we lived in my husband’s parent’s basement but we were happy together. We always thought it was going to be for only a short period of time but it ended up being years.

Vince was married before so he was just getting back on his feet from the divorce and we both had major credit card debt – we even contemplated filing bankruptcy a few times. We would get some jobs here and there, pretty much living paycheque to paycheque.

I had finally found a stable job selling laser toners. It wasn’t my dream, that’s for sure, but it allowed us to get by (barely). Vince also decided to get into finance finishing his LLQP (Life Insurance License) and CSC (Canadian Securities Investment course) so he could eventually find a stable job, but of course that didn’t pay while he was studying.

Our lowest point was when we literally only had $20 left between the two of us and we spent it on a meal at McDonalds. The next day, I remember having to call my younger brother to ask him for $500 to get by for the next two weeks.

This was my LOWEST!

Looking back this should have broken us but we stood by each other because we believed in each other.

We were chatting one day and Vince asked me, “What is your passion?” For me at that time it was fitness and nutrition, especially since I was also battling an eating disorder and wanted so badly to feel healthy again. It was something I researched a lot and wanted to learn more about.

For him it was always the fitness industry too, which, for some reason, we completely moved away from. It kept calling us back.

So I decided to go back to school for nutrition and, trust me, this wasn’t easy either; we had to scrape by with the little money we had for a few more years. I was working full time and went to night school.

Things actually started to change for us when we said NO to a lot of old habits, like partying and going to nightclubs. Our priorities were completely backwards because zero money and going to nightclubs. We recognized that.

Slowly, we started to make some changes and really focused on what we wanted. We had to say good-bye to an old life and let me tell you… That was HARD! We decided to spend all of our time working and building an online women’s body transformation business with some contracts we got through old working relationships.

Then we transitioned to running the business solely on our own, helping women transform and find their strong, with no contracts needed.

This first year we were still working out of my in-law’s basement (god bless them).

Our business really started to pick up because we were just sharing what we loved and our amazing Team Strong Girls transformation stories. The passion was flowing and, man, that was SUCH a great feeling – like nothing we’ve ever experienced.

So this was it; we’d found our life’s mission. Money, our biggest obstacle, was no longer an issue because we were just doing what we loved and helping people. As you now know, this was no easy feat, it was years of struggling and feeling so beneath everyone else before we could realize our potential and our mission – ultimately, to help others.

But we found our groove. We found our STRONG!

To be able to help women from all over the world find their strong too brings me so much joy and gratitude, it’s hard to even put into words.

And now to be the president of Strong Fitness Magazine – I mean, I’m still pinching myself.

I’m all about making sure women have the best of the best resources to help stay healthy and fit, and really maximize their goals. So, when the opportunity came to team up Team Strong Girls with Strong Fitness Magazine, there’s no way I could pass that up.

I never thought I would be here. NEVER. But I know now that strength comes from struggle. And having struggles is one of life’s greatest blessings.

If you’re reading this, you’ve played a part in this story. So, thank you.

Yours,

Coach JVB