- November 29, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Teen business owner Slate Gray celebrates one year of hard work and determination.
High school graduation? Check. Sign up for college classes? Check. Successfully own a business for one year? Check.
During his final semesters at Seabreeze High School, 18-year-old Slate Gray was balancing class, friends and the heavy workload of starting your own business.
“It was lot of late nights and early mornings,” Gray said. “I spent a lot of time in class doing work stuff, and a lot of time at work doing class stuff. Thankfully, I only needed a few more credits to graduate, so my days would usually start at the store at 7 a.m., then I’d go to class at 10 a.m. and be back by noon to work the store until closing. It was a lot.”
But Gray said the intense schedule was worth it because he found what it is that he really wanted to do in life. His business, Alive Nutrition and Fitness, is a community wellness center that offers herbal teas and shakes as well as free weight-loss and training programs. As a hockey player who competed around the world, Gray has always be interested in health and fitness. When he was 16 years old, his coach told him he had to put on 10 pounds of muscle. He found Herbalife to be the solution.
“I didn’t have a job, but I was helping at my mom’s business Skate and Shake,” he said. “She kept telling me to get a job, but it wasn’t my passion to tie skates all day. So I asked her if I could do Herbalife instead if I made at least $200 a month. My first week I made $250 bucks, and put on eight pounds of muscle.”
From there, Gray got all of his family members, friends and hockey teammates involved with the weight-loss program, and his clientele grew. On Aug. 15, 2014, he opened his own nutrition club right next to his family’s Skate and Shake.
“Not a lot of people know what they want to do,” he said. “But this is what I want to do forever.”
Currently, Gray’s business has helped him land over 100 clients with Herbalife, and has increased his own business to include free fitness groups for the local community.
“Instead of spending money at a gym, people can come work out with us for free,” he said. “We’re not drill sergeants, we’re a team.”
As for the future, Gray’s signing up for a few classes at Daytona State College, will continue working towards becoming a certified personal trainer and hopes to open a second club in Ormond Beach in the next year. Still, with his young age, he said sometimes it’s hard for people to take him seriously.
“I’m always dealing with people who think that because I’m not an adult that they can’t trust me,” he said. “Every single day I do an hour of personal development. I know my stuff because I study a lot. When you find career doing what you love, you put your heart into it and work nonstop. Work until you have what you want.”
Alive Nutrition and Fitness' client progress photos
Consumers who use Herbalife Formula 1 twice per day while maintaining a healthy lifestyle can expect to lose around .5 to 1 pound per week, according to Slate Gray.
Interested in working out with Slate Gray?
Alive Nutrition and Fitness hosts free workouts five days a week. The schedule is as follows:
Call 506-7877 for more information.
