How She Built Her Confidence, and Then an Empire with Krissy Cela
Chrissy Chela, a multi-million-pound entrepreneur and UK's top fitness creator, shares her raw, honest journey from immigrant beginnings and bullying to building an empire. She discusses the personal sacrifices, mental health battles, and relationship complexities that come with an all-consuming entrepreneurial life.
Deep Dive Analysis
20 Topic Outline
Chrissy Cela's Journey: From Immigrant to Entrepreneur
Societal Judgment of Successful Women in Business
The Importance of Authenticity and Self-Belief
Childhood Bullying and the Path to Self-Confidence
The Gym as Therapy and a Catalyst for Discipline
The Role of Trauma and Inadequacy in Driving Success
Relationship Dynamics: Finding Happiness Within Yourself
Challenges of Co-founding a Business with a Romantic Partner
Navigating a Breakup While Remaining Business Partners
Dealing with Insecure Partners and Intimidation
Discomfort with Discussing Personal Success
The Weight of Responsibility from a Large Online Community
Personal Challenges of Dating as an Ambitious Entrepreneur
Parental Influence and Cultural Differences in Relationships
The Entrepreneur's Struggle for Work-Life Balance and Personal Happiness
Overcoming Business Setbacks: The App Shutdown Experience
Battles with Depression and the Drive to Keep Going
The 'Do This For You' Book and Sustainable Fitness Philosophy
Building a Sustainable Activewear Brand: 'On A Active'
Promoting Diversity and Representation in the Fitness Industry
5 Key Concepts
Authenticity in Public Life
Being 100% honest and transparent about who you are, without trying to fit in or please everyone, is crucial for long-term success and genuine connection. Attempting to uphold a fake image will eventually lead to failure.
Gym as Therapy
For Chrissy, the gym became a form of therapy, offering an escape from life's realities, depression, and anger. It provided a space where she could focus on herself and build inner strength, which then transferred to other areas of her life.
Attracting Your Energy
The belief that your personal vibe and energy attract the people and experiences you have around you. If you are constantly negative about yourself, you will attract negativity, whereas self-focus and confidence can attract positive relationships.
Sustainable Why for Fitness
A fundamental, long-lasting motivation for health and fitness that goes beyond short-term, extrinsic goals like losing weight for an event. It focuses on internal reasons like overall well-being, discipline, and consistency, rather than temporary outcomes.
Entrepreneurial Sacrifice
The reality of being an entrepreneur involves living and breathing your business, often leading to limited personal time, strained relationships, few close friends, constant self-criticism, and an inability to truly switch off, even during personal moments.
9 Questions Answered
Chrissy believes the credit she gets is seeing other women thrive and succeed through her community, which she built to help them. She doesn't need external awards or recognition for her business acumen.
She views such judgments as reflecting more on the person making them than on her. She believes her ability to run a team of 30 and build multiple successful companies demonstrates that her success goes beyond just being a 'pretty face' or having a 'nice body'.
After being cheated on and feeling heartbroken, Chrissy realized that constantly trying to please others and fit in was draining and made her unhappy. This led her to focus on doing things for herself, starting with joining the gym.
Chrissy believes it is extremely difficult to sustain a romantic relationship when you also work together, especially as co-founders. The constant focus on work can lead to resentment and a lack of separation between professional and personal life, ultimately causing partners to grow apart.
She is naturally awkward about it and doesn't care about financial milestones or awards. Her primary focus is on the positive impact her work has on her community, rather than personal accolades or wealth.
She acknowledges that she isn't qualified to fix mental health problems but strives to be a friend and listener. Her company has a large customer support team dedicated to ensuring every community member feels heard and part of something.
She admits to being difficult to date, describing herself as super loving but also quick to fall out of love if she doesn't perceive the same level of effort or ambition back. She also struggles with overthinking relationships and projecting her own drive onto partners.
She would regret not living and just working. Despite loving her work, she acknowledges that she often prioritizes it over personal time, travel, and pursuing hobbies like visiting museums.
The book aims to teach women how to create sustainable habits, discipline, consistency, and longevity in their fitness journeys, moving away from quick-fix diets and challenges. It emphasizes finding a deep, personal 'why' for health that is not tied to temporary occasions.
22 Actionable Insights
1. Cultivate Inner Happiness First
Prioritize building a strong, positive relationship with yourself and finding happiness internally. Relying on others for happiness leads to dependency and attracts negative relationships.
2. Practice Deathbed Thinking
Regularly reflect on what your biggest regrets would be if you were to die soon. Use this perspective to align your current life decisions with what truly matters to you.
3. Transform Adversity into Drive
Recognize how past experiences of bullying, insecurity, or inadequacy can become powerful catalysts for achieving great things. Channel that pressure into ambition and success.
4. Embrace Your True Self
Be 100% honest and transparent about who you are, as trying to be someone else to fit in is unsustainable. This prevents genuine connection and long-term success.
5. Build Discipline Through Wins
Engage in activities that are good for you, like exercise, to build discipline, habits, and consistency. These positive traits will naturally transfer and improve other areas of your life.
6. Reframe Exercise as Therapy
View exercise not as a chore, but as a therapeutic escape from life’s pressures and a way to process emotions. It can provide mental relief and a sense of control.
7. Define Sustainable Fitness Why
Establish an intrinsic and long-term reason for your fitness journey that goes beyond temporary goals. This provides a foundational motivation for consistency.
8. Prioritize Impact Over Metrics
Shift your focus from vanity metrics like followers and likes to the genuine impact you have on individuals. This provides more fulfilling motivation and keeps you aligned with your true purpose.
9. Understand Entrepreneurial Sacrifices
Be aware that an entrepreneurial life often demands significant personal sacrifices. This includes limited time for relationships, friendships, and constant mental engagement with work.
10. Fuel Drive with Others’ Success
Find profound motivation and satisfaction in witnessing the positive transformations and success of the people you help. This can be a powerful and sustainable fuel for your work.
11. Listen, Acknowledge, Don’t Fix
When people share deep personal problems, focus on listening, acknowledging their feelings, and making them feel heard. Avoid attempting to solve problems you’re not qualified for.
12. Use Judgment as Fuel
When people judge or doubt your capabilities, use their negativity as a powerful motivator. This pushes you to achieve more and prove them wrong.
13. Prioritize Health Like Hygiene
Treat your health with the same non-negotiable importance as brushing your teeth. Recognize it as the most fundamental aspect of your life that deserves consistent attention.
14. Find Active Meditation
If traditional meditation is difficult, engage in physical activities like skipping that demand full presence and focus. This allows you to temporarily switch off from mental distractions and feel alive.
15. Question Societal Expectations
Challenge conventional wisdom and societal norms, especially when they don’t align with your unique circumstances or desires. This helps you forge a path that truly fits you.
16. Safeguard Business Partnerships
Protect your business and its core partnerships from external influences. Be wary of romantic partners who might try to interfere or sway decisions based on personal agendas.
17. Build Trust, Not Trends
Focus on creating products or services that are reliable, timeless, and foster long-term trust and loyalty with your audience. Avoid chasing fleeting trends.
18. Prioritize Inclusive Representation
Actively seek out and promote individuals who challenge traditional industry norms and represent diverse backgrounds. Emphasize that value comes from feeling, not just appearance.
19. Seize Opportunistic Platforms
When presented with opportunities that arise from societal shifts, accept them to gain a platform. Use it to inspire others and drive broader change, even if the initial motivation is opportunistic.
20. Prioritize Quality Friendships
Focus on cultivating a few deep, trustworthy friendships with people you would genuinely sacrifice for. This is more valuable than accumulating many superficial acquaintances.
21. Practice Self-Compassion
Be more patient and kinder to yourself, reducing self-criticism and defensiveness. This is crucial when navigating personal challenges and striving for happiness.
22. Embrace Relinquishing Control
Recognize that true happiness, especially for driven individuals, often requires letting go of the need to control every aspect of life. Embrace uncertainty to find peace.
7 Key Quotes
If people make that conclusion, it says more about them than it does to me.
Chrissy Cela
You can only be the best version of yourself. And I think if you start trying to be something else, soon enough, it will come out or you'll start to fall through the cracks or it will slip, something will slip and you can only uphold that image and that presence for so long before it really just fucks up.
Chrissy Cela
The most, most important relationship you're ever going to have is going to be with yourself. Because when you go to bed at night and you're in your own little thoughts up here, right? That's you and you, that's you and you. So you've got to fix that up here first before you go trying to find a person to share your life with.
Chrissy Cela
Working and being romantically involved with someone is difficult because let me tell you something. When you come home from work, you're coming home from work with the same person. What do you think you're going to speak about when you get home? Work. What do you think you're going to speak about, um, after you have sex? Work.
Chrissy Cela
I've learned more about myself in the year and a half of parting ways with Jack than I did in five years of being with him. Facts. I don't regret ending it.
Chrissy Cela
I'm not here to start trends. Sorry. I'm not here to start trends. I'm here to ensure that you pick up your leggings and you trust this product.
Chrissy Cela
Fitness for such a long time is not about the way it looks. It's about the way it makes you feel.
Chrissy Cela