Episode 45

Finding Your Superpower and Thriving with Gina Fontaine

Welcome Gina Fontaine, Author and Personal Trainer, to Saturday Soundbites! 

Many of us are balancing full workloads, side hustles and parenthood, and we can all use some tips on how to find make it all work. Gina is the author of "You Are a Supermom: 5 Ways to Reclaim Your Power and Thrive as a Mom." 

Gina Fontaine tried to do everything right. She sacrificed her time, her health, and her happiness for her family. But in the blink of an eye, she found herself divorced, with rebellious kids that pushed back at every turn; to the point where she had to call the cops on her own son.

Like so many other moms, she was pushed to the point of breaking and knew there had to be a better way.

Gina has been able to grow her personal training/fitness business, create resources for entrepreneurs and empower others to reclaim their power. Gina leverages a strong online presence, podcast appearances, and traditional and non-traditional media to grow her brand and share her expertise. 

Be sure to tune in!
Check out Gina's site at www.ginafontaine.com

Transcript

[00:00:00] Veronica: Hello. Hello and welcome to Saturday soundbites. I'm your host, Veronica Sofer. And I am thrilled to be here again, sharing some phenomenal tips, strategies, and resources to help you put your business together, make it successful. We talk all things. Visibility, strategy, strategy, advertising, public relations, marketing, and all the little things that keep it together, including well.

[00:00:24] And all the tips that help us balance it all out. So if you're an entrepreneur, if you are a business owner, a traditional brick and mortar business owner professional, this is definitely the podcast for you. Because in this episode, we're going to talk about how you can keep it all together. Our guests.

[00:00:40] Phenomenal guy. So if you are listening on the podcast, make sure you hit subscribe. We want to make sure you don't miss any episode. And if you're watching on Facebook, let us know you're watching so we can engage with you. And if you watch the replay hashtag replay, so we can go back, follow up and answer any questions you might have and keep you in the conversation.

[00:00:58] So with that, I'm going to go ahead and open up today. Our guest is Gina Fontane. Welcome so much Gina, so glad to have. Thank

[00:01:06] Gina: you. It's good to be here, Veronica. Thanks for having me on the show.

[00:01:09] Veronica: Absolutely. So we talk on the show, we talk all about a lot of technical resources. We talk about a lot of strategy.

[00:01:17] We even dive into the academics sometimes about balancing everything out visibility strategy, and we talk wellness because that's what keeps it all together. If you don't have wellness, you're not gonna be able to do those other things. And that's why you're here.

[00:01:31] Gina: I tell people health is your greatest wealth.

[00:01:34] And it's honestly, it's one of your greatest productivity tools in business. Because as you know, when you don't feel well, if you're not as productive,

[00:01:43] Veronica: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So you're, you're a personal trainer. You've been in the fitness space for years. You've been very successful and you know, some things kind of happened in your life.

[00:01:55] And all of a sudden, when I connected with you, you're a book author, you've got a phenomenal business going and you're helping moms figure it all out. So how did, how did you go from personal trainer to helping moms figure out how their superhero.

[00:02:09] Gina: Yeah, I, you know, my, my book details, my story I have three children and they're now all teens and tweens.

[00:02:18] And if any of you are out there that are parents and have teenagers in particular, there's a whole new set of challenges that, that we encounter. When our kids become teenagers. And then add to that, that I divorced when my oldest was 13 and it kind of became the perfect storm and it also became the greatest learning opportunity for me, where I was able to grow.

[00:02:45] As I met a challenge overcoming. The challenge and really at the root of it all was the realization that I had to practice radical self care in the sense that. Even though, as a, especially as a single mom, if my time was squeezed to an even smaller space, I had to be strategic about how, how was I going to find that time to truly fill myself up?

[00:03:11] Because something I discovered was even though I teach fitness, and even though I'm always talking about it all day long, I wasn't really doing much to, to fill myself up. And with that realization, I, you know, I just kinda said, you know what? I have to not include teaching a yoga class as my self-care because that's putting my energy out and.

[00:03:37] In the book. I talk about a lot of the struggles that I went through, especially with my, my oldest, but, and, and throughout, I mean, I kind of do some backtracking and go back to when they were infants. So it's, it's really a book that's relatable through all stages of parenting, but, you know, family is, is such an important part.

[00:04:00] You know our business when, when things are in disarray. I mean, I, I pretty much for the last few years that my divorce happened four years ago, but I, I had to accept the fact that everything was going to be net. For awhile and then the pandemic hit and that just threw everybody into a state of turmoil.

[00:04:19] And in the fitness world, I couldn't go to gyms to train anymore. So it's like, okay, how do we do this online training format? And how do we teach a class when three quarters of the class turns their camera off? And I can't see what they're doing. So that was a big. Big change for me. And I started writing the book and I, it's not like something that I said, I'm going to write a book.

[00:04:45] It was more like I just started capturing my thoughts and feelings on a voice recorder to my phone. Basically. I just, wow, well, I would walk and I was, you know, very challenging having kids and teenagers in quarantine that desperately need to be with their peers. I'm dealing with a lot with the mental health issues with my son.

[00:05:08] And I would just, you know, take that frustration that I was feeling and I would record it. And then I came home. I would listen to it and I just started transcribing my notes. And as I would listen to and read what I had written, I realized, you know what? I bet I'm not the only parent during these challenging times who is really struggling to.

[00:05:31] Keep my head above water. So I just, I kept going and I kept going and I even shelved the projects for awhile. And then I picked it back up last fall and winter. And I I did a project where it was write 2000 words a day and wow kids, my kids helped keep me accountable because I told them, you know, I.

[00:05:53] Really want to keep writing and they would check in with me to direct do your writing mom, did you get your 2000? And, and that was very motivating for me. And then spring of last year I had a publisher just kind of do a, basically a book audit to see, you know, is this something that's worth publishing?

[00:06:10] And she said, 100%, let's get this out there. And and then what happened was I I actually tore my ligament in my knee and not just that kind of grounded my physical aspect of my businesses. I had to have surgery and the timing turned out perfect because I got the first edit of my book after I had surgery.

[00:06:34] And I had to be, you know, pretty inactive for a period of time anyways. So it all. Really worked out. What's been challenging for me is the last six months I've really kind of dropped out of a lot of the training and the, the exercise teaching. And for the first time in my life, I have truly just put the self care and the energy into myself.

[00:06:58] And that's been just a huge awakening as to how that feels to actually experience the things that. Teach my clients and do with them.

[00:07:09] Veronica: Yeah, absolutely. And during the pandemic, especially as people were trying to work from home and maintain a fitness regimen, it plays, and we've had people on the show talk about it.

[00:07:19] It plays a part into your mental wellbeing. So if all of that is not. Complimentary to each other, then you're going to find you're going to find gaps. And I think your book especially is really helpful as moms have this persona of I've gotta be, everyone's gotta be online at the right time.

[00:07:36] Everyone's got to be in their zooms. Everyone's got to have snacks at the right time. We got to break for lunch and then some people are going back to work. Some of our kids are going back to school. Some have decided that they like virtual. And so as a mom, you're trying to keep it all together. And many of us are running businesses on top of it.

[00:07:52] And it's just really, really overwhelming. And I love that you, there, here's an expert who man, it helps people maintain their physical fitness and now help maintain their self care regimen. And that's just a great win. And I think what you're doing is fantastic.

[00:08:10] Gina: Oh, thank you. And I, and I realized that as moms, we do have very full lives and.

[00:08:16] It's not realistic for us to change our clothes, go to the gym, workout for an hour, take a shout. Like that's a huge investment of time. And so that's why I promote the idea of one minute wellness solutions where you can just, you know, be sitting at your desk and remember, oh yeah, Gina said, sit up tall, take deep breaths, drink water.

[00:08:37] And that takes one minute to adjust. Your posture, maybe stand up, move around a little bit. But if you think about it, if we're doing that all day long and we have that awareness. Oh, just a one minute thing over the course of a day, we might accumulate 60 minutes throughout the day. And the truth is your body doesn't know the difference between 60 continuous minutes and one, one minute interspersed throughout.

[00:09:03] Veronica: Yeah, that's absolutely true. And if we're ma balancing full-time jobs and side hustles and kids, it's, every minute you can get in to help your body is just going to make a world of difference. So I think that that's a great philosophy to have tell us a little bit about some of the. That you've discovered as you've worked through this book, worked through this process and have had to essentially pivot your business, not just because of the pandemic, but because of what happened to you with your, with your

[00:09:30] Gina: injury.

[00:09:31] Yeah. So I'm just going to jump right to number five, myth, number five, it's kind of the, all-encompassing one that moms do it all. And I hear. Women say this all the time, like, oh, you know, try as I might to get people to help me. It's you, you have to realize that's where you have to surrender control and say, you know what?

[00:09:53] Maybe my, my eight year old kid is old enough to do some laundry and maybe he'll fold it and it won't be perfect, but that's okay. I talk about. You know, letting go of that perfectionistic thread of my house has to look sparkling clean all the time. I mean, when I became a single mom, I went from mopping, the kitchen floors, you know, weekly to, we can get by for a few weeks and being okay with that.

[00:10:20] And knowing that it wasn't going to be harmful for anybody and. You know, that, that realization as I let go of whether it's, I'm going to let my house just be a little bit more messy or I'm going to let my son figure this problem out on his own and my mother. So I actually have I'm the youngest of 10.

[00:10:43] And I consider my mother to be one of the wisest moms. And she told me very early on, you know, you just have to let your kiddos fall and don't come, go run to them immediately. And I just, you know, in my mind I was thinking they fall off the playground and they scratched their knees. And I thought, well, that's not very nice.

[00:11:03] And what she was saying was so much bigger that when they're trying something. And it looks like they're going to fail. Just let them, let them fail. And then also let them start picking up the pieces. And if they're really getting off course, You know, nuts them. And th and my teenager was, I mean, he broke every rule in the book and did everything that you would never want your kid to do.

[00:11:31] And I had to get to a place where it was like, look, I have two other kids and they need my love and attention too. And letting him have those falls it's, you know, it is, it's heartbreaking. But we have to remember as parents we're raising adults and the more we coddle them and hold their hand where we're disrupting their progression towards adults.

[00:11:58] So, you know, at this point, I mean, I have an 18 year old who's living on his own and he's doing it. So in that sense, I feel like, okay, mom, you've you succeeded? Even though it's, it wasn't in the most traditional perfect fairy tale way that, you know, it's like high school, then college, then degree, then job.

[00:12:17] If he didn't follow that progression, he did school dropped out, got a GED, got a job. Got out on his own and ma that's the perfect path for him. And I think that's another challenging thing. And when we say, you know, moms do it all, even dads feel that way that we have to guide them into the box or a situation that we think is best for that.

[00:12:42] And. They're just going to push back and rebel at some point. If, if we don't let them kind of explore and, and for me surrendering control, that's something I have to get up and remind myself every single day. It's not about me fixing healing, changing my kids. Like if, if my teenagers. Is having a sad day or a day of just like, I just want to be in my room.

[00:13:09] I want to be alone. The old me would have said, oh, let's fix that. Let's make you feel happy. Let's do something fun. And they're just. , this is what I need to do mom. And, and because in my profession it's like, oh, I, I fix people. I help their bodies get better. And I'm changing my whole approach now where I'm more like, let's look at what's going right in your health regime.

[00:13:34] Let's look, what's going right in your body. Because when we focus on what's well, The stuff that's, you know, off balance, it just dissolves. It's, it's amazing. And as I practice that in my own life, I'm, I'm blown away that to focus on the problems that can focus on the wellness. And I get a feeling of.

[00:13:59] Everything's okay in the world. I'm okay. And I matter, and I'm in that idea of putting my needs first so that I can show up being that radiant beacon of light for my kids, for my clients, for everyone else. Yeah,

[00:14:15] Veronica: absolutely. And do you find that this time of year, especially you've been in the fitness and wellness space for many, many years, is this time of year, the time of year where you really end up seeing some of the patterns of the year and people trying to either get back on course, or maybe not on course at all.

[00:14:33] How does, how does this time of year really impact people? And the reason why I ask is because we are all analyzing. What's happened in our businesses over the last year. We're analyzing how our kids have done this first half of this new school year. We're in the middle of a time of reflection. And, and I feel like people start the new year with new resolutions, new goals.

[00:14:56] And I'm curious as to what you feel people need to think about to really be successful moving that forward. Cause you've seen a lot of things, both with physical health, mental health, and just in, in your space that, that you've become an expert.

[00:15:09] Gina: Yeah. And try as I might to get people to start focusing on fitness and wellness before January 1st, I haven't found that magic key, even though I have a club for moms called the supermom club.

[00:15:23] And our theme for December is self-care. And again, it's just little tiny practices every day to start your day saying, I matter. I cause what I find, and I love that you said that the reflection and looking back on the year and again, and I, you know, as I look back. I didn't necessarily meet the goals that I set out, but I, I look back and say, oh my gosh, you sold your house.

[00:15:55] You had surgery, you went through six months of rehab. And the doctor said, she's never seen anybody recover so fast. You published a book, you you're launching a new website. You're you created an online fitness community from a. Oh, my

[00:16:09] Veronica: gosh. Yeah, that's huge.

[00:16:13] Gina: Those are some major accomplishments. So, you know, those, those smaller goals of like, oh, well, you've wanted to sell this many books and you didn't and you wanted to, you know, do X, Y, and Z.

[00:16:25] And you, you missed the mark. That's where the word compassion comes up of self-compassion. Of saying, okay, well, did I give it my best? And, and yeah, I can look back and say, I gave it my best and my best is good enough. And to meet that place where maybe I feel like I felt. And I'm really just learning this and embracing myself, just like if your kid came home, you know, upset because maybe somebody bullied them at school, would you just say, oh, go away, but just don't bother me right now.

[00:17:01] You know, you would say, come here, you know, let's, let's talk about it. Or do you want to talk and starting to do that for myself and saying, you know what, pat yourself on the back on the heart and just say, you know what? It's it's okay. You didn't do this, this and this we'll look at the bigger picture of what you have,

[00:17:24] Veronica: have accomplished.

[00:17:25] Yeah, absolutely. And to you, especially having gone through all of those challenges on top of the pandemic and being stuck at home, you were able to find some great Avenues to support people. You know, you mentioned your group your book, obviously, and then your, your online fitness business. Tell us a little bit about how you've been able to share all of that.

[00:17:49] And the reason why I ask is because I have. Vision that people in the fitness world are just always at a gym. They're always going from studio to studio or maybe private client to private client. And there are people that work out of their cars and just carrying gym bags around. But you have a very successful online business.

[00:18:05] How, how did that transition? And I'm sure the pandemic taught you lots of lessons, but there are people out there that may want to know how to transition onto an online business.

[00:18:14] Gina: Right. And you know, for moms, especially. Being able to pull out your equipment. I use very minimal equipment. Like I could build a gym for under a hundred dollars for somebody and yeah.

[00:18:28] I mean, you know, there's tools and you can even use household items to create a home gym. And I find that people are just hesitant to go into the big box gyms and where. Germ Germany environments and for moms and especially business owner moms, the easier you can make it to where you're practically stumbling over your fitness equipment each day and saying, oh yeah, I need to do that.

[00:18:57] Is it it's easy. I mean, for me, it was easy to just run down in the basement and say, okay, kids, mom's getting online for an hour and I have class. I need it quiet up here. And then I'd finish and I'd go upstairs and maybe start dinner. And I was like, gosh, this is, I mean, I love don't get me wrong. I love being able to touch my clients and, and be with them in person, but the convenience of being able to meet online and what I love is that I can just push record and I can record a private training session with somebody and say, Hey, you got.

[00:19:33] You can redo this two more times this week and it's easy and they love it, that, that they have that easy accessibility to me. And with my morning, I do a 10 minute morning wake up movement session with my supermom club and I'm recording them. And I just they're, you know, stacked up a month's worth of 10 minute movements and they can tap.

[00:19:56] They can go in and. Pull up the app and just, I have some women that just do them on their break time at work. And again, I don't use a lot of equipment, so they can literally do it in their office and, and feel better and not like, oh, I ha cause if you have a 30 minute break or a 15 minute break at work, You don't have time to go out and go to the gym and do it right.

[00:20:20] And if you're a mom, you got to go and pick up the kids and do your, your evening things. So I I've just found that that huge long investment of time I came to the discovery. I was training my clients for an hour. I'm never doing that for myself. Wow. Okay. That's I'm giving, you know, they're getting like the luxury version of my service.

[00:20:42] And then I started to take snapshots, literally like take pictures of myself through the day. And I realized I'm doing like little five minute snippets all day long and this stuff is teachable and it's. Yeah. So absolutely. I think the keyword is easy for too long. We've we've gone by this notion of no pain, no gain.

[00:21:04] You gotta kill it. You got to crush it. And I, I have been practicing ease in my fitness routine. For several years. Now, this, this idea of go slow to go fast. I have my days where I feel like a surge of energy and I maybe do something more vigorous, but in general, I'm, I'm not busting my butt. You know, I I'm finding what feels good because the reality is that when you are.

[00:21:36] You have a lot of stress and you're in fight or flight a lot and there's cortisol in your system. You don't need. High-intensity interval workout while it might feel good. It's actually going to rev you up. So something, I always start with my clients. I teach them how to breathe. And Tina, this is so simple, like, yes, but I know you'll that you will do it and it will make you instantly feel better.

[00:22:04] And it's, it's always really. Shocking for, for people, especially who've been, I have a woman who has a triathlete and she's like, well, this is way too easy, Gina, but just trust me. And then she started to realize, oh my gosh, I, when I run, I've never been breathing properly changes. Her output and running when she's breathing prompts.

[00:22:26] Yeah, no,

[00:22:27] Veronica: I was going to say, and it's the basics that we forget. And that's oftentimes where entrepreneurs and business owners and successful professionals, we lose sight of the basics, sleeping properly, breathing properly, getting enough water. I mean, literally the basics. And so I love that. Experts come on to the show and just remind us of how important that is, because you can't be successful in the other parts of your business if you're not taking care of yourself.

[00:22:50] And so I love, I literally loved everything you just said because it's so true, especially about taking the breaks. Gina. You mentioned your your group. Tell us a little bit about your group. And then I want to ask you about your quiz because that was like the, Hey, oh my gosh. I love this quiz. This is amazing.

[00:23:06] And everyone should take it. So before we get there, tell us a little about your group first.

[00:23:11] Gina: Yeah. So the. It is an offshoot of my book, which is you are a supermom. And to me, this, you know, the supermom is that woman that actually has learned doing less is more, you know, I think a lot of people think, oh, supermom.

[00:23:27] She's like always there to save the day and much the opposite. We are learning to slow down. We are learning to carve out time. For ourselves each and every day and shift our mindset to a place of, I matter, and I'm putting myself first. And so part of that is that 10 minute morning break that we wake up from not in time, six 30 to six 40 in the morning.

[00:23:52] And I have people that are just there every single day or they catch the replays. And then once a week I do a one hour where we meet and we can see each other on zoom. And then I have a guest expert. Come in. And like this month where we're talking about new moon and, or the moon and your self care and how your moon sign.

[00:24:14] Kind of determines what the best self care protocol is for you. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, the idea behind the quiz and, or knowing your moon sign, like I'm a Pisces and water. Like when I discovered. The reason I love going into hot tubs and hot Springs and swimming and paddle boarding is because that's what nurtures me water and nurtures me.

[00:24:39] And that was it. But for another person, they might be like, oh, I, I don't like getting wet. I don't like the water. And so let's find what works for you. And that was sort of the motivation behind creating the quiz. And Amy Lee was on your sheet. She helped me construct this, this whole quiz and having architects.

[00:24:58] Where we discover what are our strengths, what are our areas of challenge? And as moms where I like to call them areas of growth. And so I have five archetypes, there's the goddess, the visionary, the activist there's. So there's five of them. And then you take the quiz and. And then you immediately see, okay, I'm the queen.

[00:25:22] And that means I like to be the leader. I like to, to be in charge and I've even created a movement resource guide for each archetype. So the queen is going, I, you know, in that movement resource guide for the queen archetype, we're working on posture. We're working on standing tall because if you're a leader and you're standing in front of crowds, You need to have a strong presence.

[00:25:46] And so my hope is that that movement resource guide will, will resonate with, with the mom and, and her her type. So but I think, I feel like the more self-aware you are that will help you say, you know what, that's, that's out of my wheelhouse I'm I don't have to focus on that because again, it goes back to that moms do mom does it all.

[00:26:10] It's saying these are my strengths and this is where I jam. And maybe some other archetypes can come in and fill, fill the spaces where I'm not as, as strong or qualify. Yeah, no,

[00:26:24] Veronica: I love that. And just so you know, you may not be surprised, but when I took the quiz I got queen as well. So when you said that, I thought I should sit up just a little bit taller, so I will definitely start implementing that as well.

[00:26:38] So I know we're, we're getting close to time and. Of your time, but I want people to know how they can work with you. I know you work with entrepreneurs, especially, but I know you work with other folks. Tell us a little bit about how people can tap into your expertise, obviously. You've got a successful.

[00:26:54] Fitness business, online business, and now book. But what I love most is that you find a way to help everyone manage that self care. That's going to really be an investment in themselves, their families, and ultimately their business. Cause that's what we want to help them from. Yeah.

[00:27:11] Gina: Yeah. Well then, I mean, for, if you're a mother at the easiest way to jump in, in a free resources, my mom's thrive tribe group on Facebook.

[00:27:20] And then the supermom club is, is very affordable right now. It's $27 a month to, to join. And then you know, I have my new website. I'm actually being launched this week and that in, under the resources tab, there's you know, you can look how to work with me. You can look at some different resources that I have and I have something called the movement magic design intensive, and that's basically where I, I do some movement evaluations and kind of a survey of what do you like?

[00:27:53] What don't you like and design. A program that you know, a wellness program that is easy for you to implement, and that can literally be done in about 90 minutes in a 90 minutes. I love it.

[00:28:08] Veronica: No, I love it. And this is the time of year. Everyone's ready to get get in shape, get mentally prepared. They've got their goals set out for the next quarter.

[00:28:18] So this is the perfect time to tap into gene Fontaine's resources. It has been such an honor to have you on. I love everything you said, because I know that people are going to find value in this. So thank you so much for spending your time with us. Thank you. All right guys, go check out her website. It is definitely in the show notes.

[00:28:37] I ordered this book on Amazon. Got it in the next day or two, and literally sat down and read it within a day and a half. And it was fantastic so much so that I put little tabs in it. And then I ran out of post-its that were of the same color. And if you know me, you know, that. Not okay because I don't like different colors in my books, but that just goes to show you, I was able to use so many post-it notes in this book because the tips I learned were fantastic and I didn't want to miss a thing.

[00:29:00] So I highly encourage you to get this book for yourself or for someone you like. And tap into Gina's resources because your worth at your business is worth it. And if you're putting together a strong visibility strategy, you're going to want to be at your best because you're going to be doing interviews on television, can be granting interviews to newspaper reporters.

[00:29:17] You're going to appear on podcasts and video shows. And so you want to be at your best. So thank you so much, Gina. I hope everyone had enjoyed enjoyed the content we provided today. Make sure that. No, your thoughts. If you're watching the replay on Facebook hashtag replay, and if you are listening on the podcast, make sure you hit subscribe because we don't want you to miss any episodes.

[00:29:38] And with that, I am sending you lots of positive energy and light.