How I got started: From Olympian to small business owner

With the East Coast once again inundated with snow, we found ourselves reminiscing to past ski trips and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. If you’re like us, we thought it’d be fun to hear from an Olympian, world champion skier and Pike13 customer(!), Eva Twardokens, who shares her life since the Olympics.

My start in the world of sports was when I was only three. Since then I've competed in and won a number of alpine ski events from freestyle, the nationals, and two Olympic Games (1992 in Albertville, France and 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway). After retiring from World Cup Skiing in 1995, like many former professional athletes, I knew I wanted to pursue something that I could be passionate about. For me that was doing something in the healthcare field. I went back to school and became a dental hygienist. After many years of being in peak health and fitness, I was concerned about staying in shape and began doing a workout called CrossFit. I loved it so much that I eventually became a CrossFit trainer.

In addition to CrossFit, I participated in several other sports. I discovered through blood testing for a life insurance policy that I was severely overdoing my exercising. The journey of finding out about my less-than-perfect health status, along with the desire to learn how to find health on my own without a doctor, inspired me to expand my education in the fitness realm and in general health concepts. I chose Functional Medicine as my study, as it seemed logical to heal the root of our sickness rather than the symptoms.

Through this study I realized that our stresses were one in the same. These included poor food choices, too little quality sleep, excessive exercise, and emotional stresses that all accumulated into one value that have the potential to damage health. I learned I could monitor stress in two ways:

1) through adrenal testing (evaluates the hormones secreted by the adrenal glands, which help to regulate many of the body’s processes).

2) by using a Heart Rate Variability Monitor (helps to determine day-to-day training readiness).

By monitoring stress, I am able to advise my clients regarding their workouts, nutrition, lifestyle, and sleep to optimize their health and reduce the chances of future disease. I decided to build a business for folks who need help optimizing their health.

My experience as an athlete gave me many skills, but I struggled with the business management side of owning my own business. I was overwhelmed the first time I took my business, Eva T Strength and Conditioning, online. My schedule was packed, and I felt very unorganized trying to coordinate phone calls, schedule clients, keep records of their profiles, and write notes on their most current state-of-being. I also needed my clients to sign several forms that we call “necessary paperwork” -- you know, the legal stuff. It was overwhelming, and realizing the great workload and the potential for disorganization, I gave Pike13 a call.

Pike13 has my back, and the few snags I have run into have been solved quickly with the best customer service imaginable. I also recently spent a good half-hour on the phone expressing some features I would like Pike13 to add, and they have been very responsive! From businesses involving many employees to the one-man-show (that's me!), Pike13 is a valuable tool that I have recommended to big gyms, as well as private practice practitioners.