The internet and social media are wild+weird but truly incredible things…

I started out online in 2012 writing my blog IronBodyByArtemis. Yes, there was a time when TikTok didn’t exist, Instagram was merely a platform to post photos, and people actually read blogs online.

At the time I owned my brick and mortar gym and also decided to give this thing called “blogging” a shot.

I wrote about fitness, nutrition, strength training, kettlebells, mindset, and my 3 year journey training for (and completing) the Iron Maiden Challenge.

What’s crazy about the internet and sharing on social media, is that if you show up authentically, share your story, and not only your successes but also your struggles, failures, and lessons learned, people connect with you on a deeper, human level.

While maybe you haven’t met the person, in-person, there is a connection that makes people feel safe and comfortable enough that they want to share THEIR story with you, and you are able to positively impact, and even transform a person’s life with the power of the internet.

About one year after I started my blog, a woman who read my blog emailed me and asked me if I did “distance coaching” and became one of my very first online training clients.

This client led to many more very quickly and I used excel spreadsheets and FaceTime+Skype to work with my clients.

Then in 2014 an online training platform approached me about piloting their software. I transitioned all my online training clients to this software platform and have used it ever since.

Every once in a while I would get the opportunity to meet one of my virtual clients in person, whether it was because they were visiting Boston and came to see me at my gym or because they attended an in-person workshop I was teaching.

Last week I had the opportunity to meet up with my client Karyn who was visiting Vegas.

Ironically Karyn used to live in Vegas, but we didn’t start working together until I lived in Nola and after she had moved away from Vegas. She even once inquired about my garage small group training when we both lived in Vegas, but at the time, it was too far for her to commute with her kids.

While we have never met in person, if you were an outsider watching us have lunch together, you would have thought we would have been BFFs for years LOL!

Here’s to the power of the internet!