The Forward Women

Personal Trainer & Owner of Sharnie Louise Fitness

Q1) Tell me a little about yourself.

Hi! I am Sharnie Louise, aged 30 and a Personal trainer living in Brisbane.

I grew up in Blackwater, a small, country mining town for most of my childhood followed by Rockhampton for highschool and then onto Brisbane for university.

Q2) What was your childhood like? What is one of your fondest memories?

My childhood memories are predominately during the time we lived in Blackwater as we had so much fun there. Looking back I am very grafeful for this opportunity, to grow up in a country town, as I feel it has grounded me and it’s where I developed the love for the outdoors, being part of a community and the value of family time.

Interestingly though, I have limited memories of Rockhampton as I associate this location with highschool which I feel “I lost myself”. I stopped swimming, playing sports and was super nervous about making friends & pulled back a lot. Thinking of this time now, still makes me extremely nervous.

Q3) Who is the most influential person in your life and why?

Of course my mum for raising us to be good people, but my morals and values have been heavily embedded by my Dad. Dad is the hardest worker I know. He never complains, is an early riser, loyal and gets things done. His career has been built from hard work and experience and has outweighed any degree he could have possibly obtained.

He will always find a way, whether its fixing a light bulb or computer, he will go all day & night until it is fixed. He is extremely determined and I know if I ever have a problem,dad will fix it.

Q4) How would you describe yourself in 3 words

Driven, Determined, Passionate and integrity (whatever I say I am going to do, i do it)

Q5) What is the overview of your career & the proudest moment?

I moved to Brisbane to study a degree in Events, Marketing and Business. I had a dream to work in events and live the corporate life: in a big city and wear heels to work everyday.

My first job after university was an events coordinator in Brisbane and not long after, I was promoted to Events Manager at the Regatta Hotel. I was thrown in the deep end and it was particularly scary managing a team all older than me. I even removed the number plates off my car so no one knew my date of birth, and just took the mindset of “fake it until you make it”. Looking back, I learnt a lot in this role from: managing people, the importance of social skills, a lot of trial and error and how important mentoring is.

I then got the need to move on as I felt all I was doing in this role was the feeling that “making people drunk”. So I took a role at a “non-profit” organisation specialising in research at the PA Hospital. This role taught me the appreciation for life and health from working in a hospital, but soon after I realised I wasn’t being challenged and lost was strong social and inter-personal skills.

Whilst working fulltime at the Research Foundation, I competed in my first Fitness Modelling Competition. Competing as a fitness model developed my passion for exercise and food, so I obtained a Qualification as a Personal Trainer. After expanding my education, my perspective on eating and exercise changed forever and I felt a since of freedom ever since.

Prior to this I had suffered from binge eating from the age of 17 though to my mid 20s. But from expending my knowledge of food and exercise I was able to change my philosophy of “exercise more and eat less” to seeing exercise as my “out” and eating to fuel my body.

I then started Sharnie Louise Fitness business 4 years ago and haven’t looked back.

Q7) Why did you start Sharnie Louise Fitness (SLF)?

Sharnie Louise fitness started in 2019 and I never pictured it to be where it is in now. The original vision was to make it financially viable to be my full time job. But It has now evolved into so much more, where the money doesn’t matter.

I believe that if I do something that I am really passionate about, and don’t have a Plan B – I will make it work financially.

I started SLF to share with others that there is another way to achieving your fitness goals & I wanted to create a community that was more than just ‘losing weight’. You don’t have to over train and under eat, binge eat and obsess about how you looked to be confident in your own skin. I just didn’t realise how many others were feeling the same until I started SLF.

My goal is to be relatable with my clients by being honest about my struggles with body image, binge eating and gym anxiety.

Q7) What do you love the most about your job?

Easily , the people and relationships.

I get to share very special moments with my clients and I find they share things with me that they wouldn’t even share with theirs partners. I feel privileged that they trust me and I can help them.

I cannot even describe the feeling I get when I know I have helped them. 

Example of this is the SLF photo shoots and having the girls say “how they have never felt so beautiful before” and realising their potential.

Q8) What is the most challenging part of your job?

Balance

Work always comes first because I care about it so much. But more often it comes ahead of my own life & training. I admit, I am not perfect and sometimes the scale tips more often than I would like. My job requires me to give a lot of my energy, so when things get too much I withdraw.

I have learnt to regain my energy by being on my own and do the things I love: go for a sauna, a walk and write in my journal as time for myself.

Q9) What is your advice to people reading this who are inspiring to change careers and start their own business?

Do it!

My advice would be to go in with the mindset that:

– There is no plan B;

– Dot all of your ‘I’ and cross all of the ‘t’ 

– There is no one coming, and no one is going to help me do this. Its up to me.

– and If you want it bad enough you will have to work for it.

Before I started SLF as a fulltime PT, I had to work my fulltime coporate job and train clients before and after work / 6 days a week. I did this for 3 months straight to make this dream come true.

Q10) What would your advice to be to other women who might be struggling with body image / self confidence?

That they aren’t alone in their thoughts. I use to look at the confident girls and I honestly thought confidence was something you were born with.

I have over time learnt that Self-confidence is like a muscle, you have to grow it and it is not about how you look. I could be doing a fitness comp and be the leanest I have ever been but it was the most insecure I have ever been.

Self-confidence is not about how you look, it’s about the inside and how you are feel. You have to practice it but doing things that make you feel uncomfortable. So when you do them you go “omg I did that” and build a relationship with yourself.

Q10) The biggest thing for myself (Tammy) is time finding time to exercise. I would look at you and go “yeah but doing exercise is her job, I don’t have time”. What is your response to comments/mindsets like this?

It is so common to get comments like this.

I personally train to feel good. I know if I train, I will be a better person, I will feel better and I can be a better trainer.

It is actually funny that yes I am a PT, but sometimes I only train once a week and I actually had more time to train when I was in a corporate job. So, time is not the problem.

My response to comments like this is: “time is not the problem, but unfortunately the story you are telling yourself around training is. So get curious with what is happening there;

  It is gym anxiety? 

Is it you have gained too much weigh and you think there is no point? or

It will be too hard?

People know training will make them feel better and be able to show up as a better person. But 90% of the time – the problem it is gym anxiety.

Q11) Having a big presence on social media, Do you feel people have sometimes judged you before meeting you?

Yes, I think so.

They are generally surprised after they have meet me about how down to earth and humble and funny I am.

I haven’t let it affect me and feel people judge others even if they are just walking down the street. It has actually taught me to be less judgmental of others and I try to remove all judgment when I observe other peoples actions and always come from a place of love and kindness.

Q12) We all understand social media can be a highlight reel. looking back at your feed is there a time you have posted ‘happy, confident’ but deep down you were struggling ? And if so, would you re-do it?

There was a period on my social media I was “done up” with a lot of make up, hair and eye-lashes. Compared to a photo of today with no make-up, no lashes.

Would I redo it – no I don’t think so, as I was going through a lot at the time and I was coping the best way I could. I was just trying to show up for my clients, myself and keep my image going. I an very proud of myself for getting through this time.Whilst I acknowledge it was probably “fake” I didn’t understand what was going on at that time nor felt talking about it would have helped others.

I have learnt so much through this time, which I feel I am more equipped to now help other women going through something similar.

Advice for others going through something similar is to get help from someone external to your family/friends so you can be honest and open in a judgment free zone.

Q13) What is the next forward step for yourself and/or SLF?

I am so excited to announce that I am moving to Bali end of June.

I am going to be combining my events degree with my personal training business & will be running fitness events every 2 months here in Brissy at FitasFK gym. Whilst I am in brissy every 2 months I will also be holding the end of SLF challenge events & photo shots, 1-1 PT sessions and spending time with my family and friends.

Whilst I am in Bali, it will be business as usual and will be giving all of my energy to my online clients and the SLF 8 week challenges. I am super excited to be finding my “new” balance of work, travelling and living with Dave. 

I am nervous and uncomfortable about this change, but I am so excited about what is next as I push through this change.