Today we’d like to introduce you to Mykell Vital.
Hi Mykell, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I got to where I am today by way of the military, US Army. I am also a military brat and I come from a military family. Toward the end of my military career, I was told that I had a skill of motivating people to lose weight, get in better shape and live healthier lives. Someone suggested that I become a personal trainer. At the time, I did not even know what a personal trainer was, lol! I decided that I would do some research and see if becoming a trainer was something that I was interested in and wanted to do when I got out of the military. Well, I liked what I saw and decided a trainer is what I wanted to be! So after doing my research, I picked out a few trainers in San Antonio and surrounding cities that I felt were successful. I called and emailed a few and got a few responses. There was a particular trainer in Austin, Texas by the name of Nina Ross.
Nina owned a successful fitness studio. I called her, explained to her that I was interested in becoming a trainer and asked if I could visit her studio and talk with her about the ins and outs of the industry and getting started. She welcomed me and set a date aside so I could visit her studio, take notes and ask questions that I had about getting started. Well, the meeting lasted about 6 hours, she shared and I gained a ton of insight and wisdom on that day. That was 1999. I’m proud to say that she is my mentor and friend to this day and we still keep in touch! I went on to open my very own personal fitness studio trained many clients from stay at home moms, business owners and even the legendry Henry, “Hank” Aaron for 15 years! During my time personal training, I became the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Atlanta Xplosion Women’s professional football team. During my coaching career of 11 years with the team, we were conference champions three times, went to 3 Sup-her Bowls, and won once. I continued personal training but slowly started re-entering the workforce. I realized that I was getting fatigued and losing my passion for helping people get in shape.
About 2017, I was completely out of personal training with the exception of training a client here and there to maintain my skills. Slowly my “itch” for training was getting bigger and the desire to have more control over my time was getting bigger as well. One day about 2020 to be exact as I was cleaning my house, a buddy of mine was visiting but noticed how I was cleaning. (here we go again, lol) He said, “man have you ever thought about starting a cleaning business? You’re pretty good with cleaning!” About a year went by and I would clean for a friend here and there just for practice, but nothing serious. I had a good corporate job and was comfortable, then Covid hit. My team survived three rounds of cuts, but eventually with the negative impact Covid was wreaking on the economy, we eventually were let go. It is often in uncomfortable circumstances that we become something new! I began delivering groceries for Shipt and Instacart to make ends meet. Sometimes it was fun, most times it wasn’t. While I liked being in control of my time, I wasn’t “free”. An opportunity presented itself to clean a house. The client was in a bit of a pinch and needed help. The job turned out to be a nightmare! Lol, I earned about $1,200 for the job and haven’t looked back since! I’ve been running a successful cleaning company now for about a year and we are still growing! I’ve set a few goals to include getting back into the fitness industry and opening another personal fitness studio! Let’s GO!!!!! GRRRRR!!!!!!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
My journey has not been a smooth road. While in the fitness industry, I got involved in a bad business deal or two with people that I thought I could trust only to discover that they were using me for my extensive knowledge and wisdom in the fitness industry. And just like a leach, when they felt that they had all the information they needed from me, the relationship was abruptly severed. It just happened that these two bad deals happened back to back…….with people I knew for a few years and had no apparent reason to think that I could not trust that their motives were in the right place. The lessons were tough lessons that just about wiped me out. I re-entered the workforce to survive. What I learned from this experience is the reason I question everything that I am not sure about or do not feel comfortable with. After asking the questions that I feel are important about whatever it might be; if I don’t feel comfortable, I don’t move forward or I go in a different direction on my own.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As a young man, I played the flute from age nine all the way up into my mid 30’s. I haven’t played in years but I was having a few drinks with friends at a party one night and was feeling “nice” lol. There was an empty wine bottle and some artificial flowers sitting on the coffee table. As a joke, I put the flowers in the bottle put some river stones and water in it. Everyone at the party saw what I did and loved it! I didn’t think much of it and sat on the idea for a few years. I had moved to Texas and was sitting in my living room with my then infant daughter while she was playing with her dolls and watching tv. I had an empty tequila bottle and a few flowers and river stones. You guessed it, I made my second bottle just to see how it would turn out while I was sober. This was 1997. I made the first bottle in 1994. Well, I still have those original bottles to this day and have since started a business from them…..flowers by kellz. My first big project was designing the flower garden at the Atlanta Womens Expo. I was given a booth at the Expo and was able to sell some of my work. I’ve perfected my craft and have made arrangements as memorials for deceased loved ones, made them for anniversary gifts and shipped bottles to different parts of the country. You can see my work on my Instagram @flowersbykellz.
How do you think about luck?
Good luck has played the role of allowing me to be blessed! Good luck is what led me to be the personal trainer for Hank Aaron for 15 years. Bad luck has played its role as well and has allowed me to use wisdom in many situations because I’ve had the bad luck moments to teach me the many lessons I’ve learned over the years.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @vitalturnkeysolutions; @bodyshoppefitness; @flowersbykellz
Image Credits:
Credit Zion Vital – headshot in blazer
