Entrepreneur Overcomes Obstacles and Finds Passion in Lifestyle Coaching After Serving in the Army!

On this week's edition of our Small Business Spotlight, we caught up with Antoine Lloyd, founder of the Philadelphia-based fitness brand "Baddie's Bootcamp". This edition was particularly interesting and motivating to hear Antoine's story describing his multiple life paths, what it takes to overcome setbacks, and how training helped him battle depression. Antoine has successfully transitioned from a professional basketball player, to serving in the US Army, to now exploding onto the fitness scene fueled by his female-empowerment themed brand of lifestyle coaching. With so many gems to give about such important topics, you can probably imagine how excited we were to catch up with him and hear all about his journey and what he has in store next!

"All my life I was into strength training and didn’t even know it. My upbringing was quite rough. My mother abandoned me at age 2 and I had no father. At that point, I was put into the system and stayed with various family members whom mentally abused me until I was out on my own at 15 years old. Still, I was always involved in sports; basketball and football were the ones I was best at and they served as an outlet to create my own happiness. I fell in love with basketball my sophomore year of high school. Training became my obsession as I was determined to take my game to the next level and get to college. I played four years of college ball, two of which were at the division one level. Then went off to play pro ball overseas for four years where my strength training was even more intense. After playing basketball professionally, my focus shifted and I decided to go serve in the US Army. It changed my life and showed me discipline, structure and humility I would need to elevate my life. The Army taught me a great deal about how far you can push yourself, both physically and mentally. Still, this wasn’t exactly where I fell in love with training.

After getting injured in the military, I returned home and it seemed like more obstacles just came my way. After getting married at a young age, me and my ex-wife got a divorce. This was my lowest point in life. The only thing that truly made me happy was going to the gym at night and lifting with the older guys. We talked about life and how the gym helps them to figure out life’s hurdles and releases their stress. Believe it or not this helped me through one of the roughest times in my life and got me in great shape. At that gym there were two women worked out with me for about two weeks straight. They truly saw the focus and mentality that training had given me. One day, they finally asked could I train them full time. I told them I’m not a trainer, but that I could show them some things and three months later these we’re my first two clients in Baddie's Bootcamp. We shared life stories and we got to know one another. Their mental strength and physical appearance had been completely transformed. Ultimately, they convinced me that training others was something I should continue doing. They shared that they felt that I truly listened and uplifted their mental spirits by expressing my own life experiences. This helps others feel comfortable and paves a way for training to become therapy for the mind and body. When I continued on this training journey I encountered so many other people who shared they too, felt empowered and who were excited to develop better lifestyles with my help. It’s much more than training! I have realized that everyone wants to be heard. We all have our own sorrows and pain and having a listening ear helps to release unwanted stress that is preventing us from growth in training and in life. This is what made me fall in love with this job. The fact that we can touch lives in so many ways by just being a motivator and a good listener. Two things that I needed so much in my own life that I am happy to be able to give back to my clients. I know that everything I experienced in life and every obstacle I overcame was ultimately preparing me to be where I am now and has made me a better lifestyle coach. I thank those women for pulling me aside that day, they changed my life, probably more than they thought I changed theirs, and that's the craziest part!"

The Legal Trap Way!

We decided to do the Small Business Spotlight to show love and support to some of our favorite fellow business owners & entrepreneurs! We'll take a moment to educate our community on these different businesses, their brand model, and a little bit about the inspiration behind their businesses. As small business owners, we are our own biggest asset, so let's all support one another & we will ALL MAKE IT!

#smallbusiness #TheLegalTrap #phillysupportphilly #phillyllc #businessowner