July 25, 2016

Meet Burbank Fitness Trainer: Jacob Miles Sexton

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Miles Sexton. Below you’ll find edited excerpts of our interview with Jacob.

Jacob, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?

I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, raised in a small town in Tennessee, grew up playing many sports (Football, basketball, baseball, soccer, etc.) and I come from a big family! ( Father & Mother… 2 older brothers… 2 younger sisters) I was a three sport athlete in high school, received a scholarship to play football, played 4 years as quarterback for a school called Austin Peay State University and graduated with degrees in Human and Health Performance along with education (physical education). I got married right out of college and moved to California. Seeing the opportunity to train people and wanting to do my own thing, I started Jacob Miles Fitness.

What are your plans for the future?

The overall goal is to grow the business in many areas and as a whole. In particular, I would love to expand the variety of the people that I train. I enjoy training a range of people with different backgrounds and of all ages. However, coming from a sports specific background, I want to gain more athletes as clients as well as in the entertainment industry. Something else I enjoy and would love to do more of his group fitness classes/ boot camps.

I am looking forward to seeing a positive change in my clients overall health. There is nothing more satisfying to me than to see that I am making a difference in somebody else’s life. From a more personal side of things, I am excited for the growth, experiences, and opportunities that come with being a personal trainer in Los Angeles. I recently traveled to Europe for 10 days for my business. It was something that I know I would have never had the chance to experience if I would have chosen a different career path.

I am currently working on growing my business within the online realm. I want to engage with people from all over the country for a reasonable price compared to one-on-one in person training. I have already started online fitness support groups with people from many states who want to make their way to better health! I also plan to amp up my YouTube channel, and be more active on my social media.

Let’s dig a little deeper into your story. What was the hardest time you’ve had?

The hardest point so far for me was in October when I got married, left my comfort zone in TN, and moved to Los Angeles, CA to be with my wife. I didn’t know anybody, I had never been to California.And I was moving there without a job. Yes, I had a college degree in education…But I knew I wanted to do personal training. I had to go through a lot of hoops to do it, and it was something I wanted to plan out and take very seriously. First off, I had to study hard on how to start my business and to start it successfully. So, my first 6 months in L.A… I made money by doing odd jobs for people from moving boxes for them, picking confetti out of their yard (yes this was a real job I did.), etc. It wasn’t the most glamorous of jobs, but it allowed me time to plan and do research on being an in home personal trainer in Los Angeles. I got through it by humbling myself enough to know that sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to…To get to doing what you dream of.

ANOTHER TOUGH TIME

My collegiate football experience was not anything I dreamed of as a child… I made it to a small division 1 football team and got the chance to play big time schools such as Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, etc. those experiences are something you will never forget but something you will never forget also is the way an organization is ran… I was young and and just wanted to play quarterback on a full scholarship in the state of Tennessee so I jumped at the first offer I got and thought everything would be OK. I quickly realized that there’s a lot more to being successful than having athletic ability… In short, the sports program was ran poorly and I learned from the 4 years I was there many different things… First, I learned what not to do when managing and running a football team… This carried over and helped me in my own business… I learned how to fight through adversity and become a man… (This is a long story and is best explained through conversation) Just know that these 4 years of being a student athlete forced me to stand up for myself and others and become a man. Most important, it truly taught me how to keep pushing when negative events consistently kept occurring.

As soon as it was time to launch my personal training business… I was amazed at how quickly I began training and getting clients. I was so thankful, that I took the time to really plan it out.

Do you ever just stop and think WOW – I’ve made it?

I had a consistent client base and was in a good flow. I was feeling accomplished and out of nowhere I was invited to Europe for my business (this was my wow moment! I was given an opportunity to travel to Europe for my job! To add, it worked out in a way where I could bring my wife with me… This was an incredible experience.

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