My "Gym-Fueled" Life Changes

Our clients are our “why.” We love their stories and hearing of their successes. Every week we share a few client stories.

Rebekkah Holleman has been a virtual client of the gym for almost a year (You are the best Joy!). She lives with her husband, animals, and plants in Flagstaff, Arizona. Rebekkah works with a non-profit organization managing the supports and services for people with Developmental Disabilities in Northern Arizona. If you want to connect, you can find her at @_madder_red_ on Instagram and she hosts the Phoenix Money Tribe Facebook Group.

Financial Gym client Rebekkah and her cats Haru and Sylvanas.

My Financial Journey

My introduction to finances came when my mother passed away. I was 18yrs old. My amazing mother had managed the finances until then and didn’t have the opportunity to teach us her many adulting skills before she was gone. It has been 10 years since she passed away. Through that time I navigated student loans, social security for my brother who has a diagnosis of autism, and plenty of personal financial hurdles. I read books, downloaded apps, googled blogs, watched YouTube videos, listened to podcasts, and learned from anything else I could get my hands on to help me with this journey.

I have learned through my own adventure that finances aren’t just about putting numbers in the right place or reading a blog that magically makes you great with money. There is more to it, emotions are tied to money. Every strategy I tried wasn’t yielding results. Each plan I tried stated their method worked for everyone but how could that be when it wasn’t based around me? My past with finances, my current situation, the emotions I felt around money, what I wanted for my future, and what was important to me.

While I was wallowing in all the ‘I’m just going to suck at this forever’ feels, I came across Shannon’s podcast Martinis and Your Money and instantly felt empowered to take on this incredible task of getting financially fit! Finally, someone talked about finances in a way I related to and could appreciate an alcoholic beverage as much as I did! She discussed the topics of addressing our finances and having a personal component to a historically very un-personal topic. There was just one problem, how was I going to get the money together to join this amazing program?

I trusted the universe, set my intention, and signed up for my warm up call. Katherine walked me through the program and I signed up for my first session. The next day an extra reimbursement check came through for $1 more than I needed to join the gym! Manifesting worked, heck yes universe!

My Financially Naked session came and while I was nervous… ok more like terrified… my trainer Joy made the process awesome. She made me feel empowered, like I was going to take on this task and accomplish it. I felt no shame and the session was actually fun!

Well… it was fun up until I got my financial plan and saw that my weekly budget was $100 per week. $100 per week. Joy saw my shocked face and reassured me that I could do it and she would be there every step of the way. That weekly budget of $100 per week would include groceries, eating out, personal care items, household items, and feeding my four pets (one adorable puppy that loves bones, two cats that won’t stop meowing if they don’t have their treats/wet food, and a snake who never complains).

There were a few weeks that I struggled to make it work and I found myself finding all sorts of creative ways to make the extra cash needed for a new lipstick. This included selling items on Depop, using my saved credit card reward points for gift cards, and becoming the queen of finding coupons and deals.

Through my time with the gym I have:

1. Paid off 14k of credit card debt (and kept it off!)

2. Funded my emergency savings

3. Increased my credit score by 50 points

4. Funded a two-week vacation across Europe

5. Advocated for a raise

6. Gained a feeling of control over my finances (the goal that meant the most to me and I never thought I would achieve!)

I had amazing results! Even better, I started to feel comfortable talking with others about finances! We think everyone around us has it figured out and that we are the only ones struggling, when I started talking with others I found they were going through the same silent struggle.

I had one other thing I needed, a side hustle. A side hustle that would work with my crazy regular gig and be something that I happened to be really passionate about. Once again, the universe came through! The next day my trainer Joy mentioned that they were looking for clients that would be interested in doing warm up calls and giving other potential clients an overview of the gym and the process. I, of course, said yes! I haven’t stopped talking about how the gym changed my life to everyone around me so why not get paid to do it!

Now I get to share my Sephora-induced beginnings and my gym fueled triumphs with others that are looking to make changes. As a Warm Up Associate I have been able to talk with amazing people from all walks of life, incomes, passions and they all have incredible dreams. Like my long-term goal of buying a home (my husband made this a requirement to my life’s calling of fostering an army of animals). I have goals for investing, traveling the world, owning a home, and helping tons of animals. Instead of these being vague dreams that I struggle to achieve. I now have a support system, plan, and knowledge to achieve all these goals and more.

If you’re interested in learning more about The Financial Gym process and how our team of Financial Trainers can help you reach your goals, schedule your FREE 20-minute consult call here.