Starting from zero can be an uphill battle. It’s natural to feel lost when faced with a blank slate, unsure of what steps to take or how to progress. However, it’s important to remember that starting from nothing can also be a chance to grow and transform. For those who take on the challenge, the journey to success can be incredibly rewarding.
Today, fitness mogul Christian Guzman is one of the most popular fitness personalities who turned his huge online presence into a successful business. With over a million followers on his Instagram account and nearly the same number of subscribers on YouTube, he has become an internet sensation like no other.
Guzman didn’t reach fame overnight. His beginnings were humble, and though he experienced many obstacles, he was never afraid to dream big. From the beginning, he set highly ambitious goals, firmly believing that pure intentions and hard work can achieve anything.
Back in high school, Guzman weighed 115 pounds, and like many teenagers, he was dissatisfied with his physique. Instead of accepting this, he discovered his love for fitness and quickly turned to it. While his peers went off partying and drinking, he exercised hard, watched his diet, and made sure to listen to his body and get enough rest. He observed other fitness experts and learned not only to follow in their footsteps and take exercise to the next level.
“I decided that if anyone was going to work hard, then I would work harder than them,” he says, explaining his mindset. “I would wake up earlier than them. I’d be more productive and do more.”
As a college student, he was impressed by other fitness models and gurus. He soon picked up the camera and started making videos to share the knowledge he gained at the gym. “I wanted to document my progress and the things I was doing,” Guzman said. “It took me one year to get to 5000 subscribers and two years to get 20,000. For the first few years, things were very slow, but I stuck to it.”
As his aspirations grew, he took a huge leap of faith: at 20, he dropped out of college and started his own coaching business. The business was successful, but before long, Guzman realized that his online presence had grown exponentially, making him far more money than coaching could.
Guzman did not allow the success that both his offline and online businesses achieved to go to his head. Instead, it inspired him to work harder and push beyond the limits.
“I’m always trying to raise the bar both in life and in the things I do for YouTube. Staying complacent is the quickest way to die off,” he says.
Tireless work paid off tenfold. Three years after launching his YouTube channel, Guzman started the Alphalete clothing brand. He aimed to design a collection of clothing that could be used both as functional workout gear and as fashionable everyday wear. By documenting every step of growth through vlogs, investing large amounts of money in campaigns and photoshoots during launch weeks, collaborating with influencers, and eventually providing in-person experiences for the target consumers, Guzman and his team were able to build a multi-dollar brand within just a few years.
Maintaining an online presence on multiple platforms, and managing a thriving business while simultaneously taking the time for exercise and self-care, can be taxing on an individual. Although Christian does not like taking days off, he knows this could catch up on him fast.
“I take a week off a few times a year,” he explains. “I took two weeks off this past year, but I let people know. I hit it hard with a new routine, so whenever I take time off from everything, it’s very much planned out.”
Guzman returns with a refreshed body and mind from each break, ready to push even farther. He remains goal-oriented and does not hesitate to plan years ahead. He says, “The key to success is to never stop learning, growing, and evolving. Keep pushing yourself to be better than you were yesterday.” He hopes that a decade from now, he will not have stopped dreaming and that his vision of the future will remain just as clear.
Members of the editorial and news staff of the Daily Caller were not involved in the creation of this content.