We had the good fortune of connecting with Charles M Sanchez and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Charles M, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When thinking about a business, we must come first to a problem, and we must find a solution to that problem. Coming from the Dominican Republic, from a lovely and entrepreneurial family where my father is a well-established businessman, and my younger brother is establishing himself in the business landscape.
My father founded SERTELSA, the largest telecommunications company in the Dominican Republic, and later founded Zero Emisión RD, the country’s primary EV car dealership and service center. My brother founded Evolution Parts, an all-EV spare parts business growing at an amazing rate.
The business and entrepreneurial mindset has always been in me, and it is something I credit to my dad because he has always shown me with his actions what is possible if you work hard and have a vision. I got involved in the family business first, doing a little bit of everything: doing sales, flying to meetings, working on the marketing area, posting content, and doing business presentations.
My thought process has always been to find a solution to a problem and to pursue the things that I’m passionate about. As a quote I love says, “If you have the knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”
What should our readers know about your business?
CHMFit is my own business it now transcends to a ‘health’ brand; We’re more than a fitness brand, we are all about change. This has made us unique from others identifying us with fitness programs that extend beyond the gym. Where we differ is that we focus on the three Key Pillars of Training, Nutrition, and Mental Coaching. It makes no difference whether a client is a novice or a professional athlete; everyone is meant to serve the purpose of achieving their personal best.
Something that sets us apart and especially the company is the utmost dedication towards the community. We don’t simply train clients – we cultivate partnerships. In every case, we always ensure that the people we are working with feel we are working with them to get them through a process. Further, this has provided a platform for coming up with more innovation in fitness technology; for instance, virtual coaching, Fitness Apps, and online assessment broke the norms that limited us to personal training only.
I believe the thing that stands out to me most is that we have helped a lot of people transform their lives to improve their sports performance. Once clients achieve their aims and goals and even go a step further to achieve much more such as running a marathon, changing their body, and regaining confidence gives me great joy. But here you have our bodies changing not only physically in fact, mentally and emotionally too. I also can’t wait for future development in CHMFit including the introduction of new online programs to ensure that as many people as possible across the globe can access the programs offered by us.
It hasn’t been an easy road. When I started it was quite a struggle trying to secure clients, as well as juggling the needs of business and personal life. I have had to learn one very big lesson; that there is so much that you cannot do by yourself. For a long time, I competed for knowledge and experience, and I was involved in training, finding clients, and pursuing my own career. I realized that I needed to manage my time accordingly to foster the community, but also guarantee client results.
The other difficulty was how to distinguish myself from the crowd in the fitness industry. With so much competition in the market, it was not easy to identify our specialty and let prospective clients know what sets us apart. The major cultural themes that we adopted included: We maintained policy consistency in communication, where we constantly delivered the message and ensured that what we promised was real and not a mere selling gimmick. We also focused on helping footballers all across the globe to improve their performance on and off the pitch.
We have established our brand based on fitness which means making something better for people. Since the beginning of our company, we have been committed to helping clients achieve their full human potential in all aspects of their lives. We hope that everyone in the world can understand that with supportive trainers and the right tools, anyone can progress and succeed on their fitness journey. It’s more than just a business; it’s our passion, and it’s our mission.
I want people to know that if you put in the work consistently, you will eventually succeed.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend were visiting, I’d ensure that s/he enjoyed the best of fitness, culture, food, and all-rounded entertainment, with an insight into my world, of course. First, then, we’d get up and get our butts to that gym and either lift some serious weights, sweat through a HIIT routine, or exercise in a way that would just make the day awesome. Afterward, we would go across the road to the park or the neighboring field to kick the footy around some friends. It’s always a good time especially when the competitive aura sets in and know how to have a good laugh as well.
To make it more social I would take them around to meet some of my Dominican friends who are some of the most friendly and upbeat people I have come across. We would spend the afternoon chatting and doing what the men of the house did: sitting in cafes drinking coffee, playing dominoes, and of course enjoying a few Presidente beers with each other. It’s just socializing and having company, and I am sure they would appreciate the good-spirited morale of the group.
As for the food, I would take my friend to explain how we maintain our fitness and still eat some of the best healthy meals in the Dominican Republic. We would go to a few of my health-conscious haunts – places that offer fresh, island-style cuisine ranging from grilled fish, meat, and quinoa salads, and fruit-based, tropical smoothies made from papaya, mango, and guava. We would then take what I would like to refer to as ‘power meals,’ not very heavy meals but meals that contain a little bit of everything, meals that would energize us after all the physical exercise that was involved in trekking up and down the hill.
However, it would be unfair not to visit the traditional food of the Dominican Republic while exploring the beautiful region. I would insist they tasted some authentic Dominican mangú, a tasty mashed plantain in its sauce accompanied by fried cheese, salami, and eggs. For the second meal, I would prefer to take them to some native places where they offer foods such as sancocho or meats accompanied with vegetables, fruits, and others else, or the most famous dish in the Dominican Republic, La Bandera, which is rice, beans accompanied with meat like chicken or beef and served with salad and tostones which is plantains have been fried. It is such a great way to end the day, making sure that my friend got to taste something from both the very healthy and quite filling aspects of the Dominican Republic and its culture.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to my parents. They have supported me in everything I do wholeheartedly, no matter what. They are always there to teach me and guide me in the right direction when I need to, and they always show me what I need to learn from or move on from. They are my inspiration and my example in everything I do in my life, and everything I do, in a sense, is to make them proud.
I would also like to give a little credit to my siblings because they inspire me and encourage me to pursue my goals and do it right, and they always tell me the hard truth I may need to hear even though it hurts. I want to keep serving as an example to them and their lives in everything they do.
Website: https://chmfit.com
Instagram: @charlesmsanchez – @chm.fit
Facebook: Charles M Sanchez
Other: TikTok: @chm.fit