Becoming A Fitness Model (#fitnessmodelpaul)

After reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crushing It, I decided to help my nephew become a fitness model by an unconventional way. As Gary’s book discusses, we no longer need the gatekeepers. In this case, the gatekeepers would be the agents. The internet has become the equalizer and we are all on an even playing field. So how would I go about getting attention in this highly competitive field? First, let me start by introducing my nephew to you.

Paul is the oldest son of the third born in our family (I’m the fourth of seven). As I have mentioned in other posts, we are a close-knit family, so helping each other is second nature to us. Paul was very active in school, sports and church when he was growing up. One of the gestures that impresses me about my nephew is the fact that he will write thank you notes whenever you do something for him. He does not fall in the category of “ungrateful Millennials.” I remember when he was young, I did something for his mom (I choose not to divulge what I did). However, a couple of weeks later, a thank you card arrived in the mail from the pre-teen Paul thanking me for what I had done for his mother. That gesture has stayed with me all these years.

After years of taking karate himself, Paul returned to the school where he studied and volunteered to help with the students who had enrolled. He also works with the youth at church when needed. Needless to say, I am very impressed with my nephew. I have noticed over the years that Paul has been increasingly working hard on his physique and has changed his body from that slender high school football player to this stud that enjoys Tough Mudder competitions.

It was on one of our Auntie-Nephew bonding times, when I had visited, that I realized through conversation that my nephew wasn’t where he wanted to be in life. How do we get him from his current “must-do” job to pay the bills to his “dream” job where he is naturally passionate? I was starting a series on my YouTube channel (50something Original) called #fitfam. In this series, I was featuring my older sister Kukuwa who already is established with her own brand of African Dance Workout and my niece Coach Cass who is established with her mom and her Afrobeat brand on Instagram. I needed a third family member to feature in this series. The light bulb came on and was so bright it was blinding. This was my AHA moment! Why not feature Paul as the third member of my family in this #Fitfam series and implement Gary Vaynerchuk’s suggestions. I realized from Gary’s book that because of the internet, we have access to anyone and can pretty much write our own future with hard work. With that in mind, I not only featured Paul as the third member in the series but I involved (heck involving…this is ongoing) the viewers to be his agents. In addition to that, I started the hashtag #fitnessmodelpaul which is already allowing the video and this post to show up first and second on google.

The next step is to reach out to decision makers in this field who will be willing to ride this journey with Paul. What is sad will be those who I will reach out to, who will not see the magnitude of this until it’s too late and they could have been in on the ground floor. Social media is powerful and having his own hashtag is priceless. I have also asked Paul to vlog any interviews etc. he gets and I will be adding it to my YouTube series #fitnessmodelpaul. If you are reading this article and are responsible for making decisions on a launch of a product or looking for models in a campaign, reach out to Paul on Instagram and DM him.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel (50something Original) so you can stay up to date on Paul’s progress and all the other great videos I release. God bless.

In the video below, I explain how you can be a part of helping my nephew land that dream fitness model job.