It’s a pleasure to meet you!

I’m Ted Vickey - a specialist in business strategy who disrupts (in a good way) fitness technology, social networking,

and the business of fitness. My core philosophy on business is this:

You can’t do it alone.

When we get this part of a business right, results follow. I’ve used this same approach to serve my corporate clients and my students.

Before becoming a fitness entrepreneur and business professor, I worked for 11 years as the Executive Director of the White House Athletic Center, the fitness center serving the health and fitness needs of the President and his staff.

It was a pretty cool gig!

Nowadays, you’ll find me traveling (a lot!), speaking at conferences, and looking for the next great golf course to explore - all while coaching students, serving clients, posting on Twitter, and playing with all things tech.

While I enjoy blogging and social media, most of my writing is done privately to my email list.

The vast majority of my readers feel it is my best content. You can sign up for my email list at www.tedvickey.com/list.

My Story

It started at the White House (yes, THAT White House).

My career is fitness.

I built my company (FitWell) as a management company servicing onsite fitness centers for government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.

I was 24 years old, and my first client was the White House.

There’s a bigger story to tell on how that happened, but that’s for another time to tell.

I knew I wanted to grow FitWell, but I also knew I had the client my competitors wanted - the White House.

So for the first three years, I focused only on the White House, building the tools and systems that I would need to grow eventually.

I grew and started working with government and corporate clients like The Securities and Exchange Commission, The Department of Commerce, The Transportation Security Administration, Fruit of the Loom, and Sylvania helping their employees achieve better health through fitness.

I grew the company as far as I could (debt free) but was ready to grow.

In 2001 I had a chance meeting with the Chairman of a Corporate Medical company in Virginia.

While on the golf course, we discussed what I needed to grow.

One option was to sell FitWell.

After a weekend of thought and reflection, I decided to sell FitWell, becoming a subsidiary focusing on corporate fitness and wellness. 

I traveled the world, had a powerful-sounding title, wore a suit to the office (hated it), and worked as a high-level executive partner with some of the most famous clients in the world. 

I was paid well, lived in a nice neighborhood, and drove a fancy car.

But the story behind the story was that while everything looked good on the outside, on the inside, I was hurting.

The more successful I got at it, the less I wanted to do it.

I got into the fitness business (against my Dad’s advice) to help others at a personal level, but here I was, working with big corporations, and not at that one-to-one level. 

I wanted to help people discover their passions and to help them dream big. I didn’t want the “spotlight.”

Life Happens

It’s funny — how something of sorrow happens that changes your life. 

That something for me was in 2006. 

My mother was in a Pittsburgh hospital in her final stage of cancer. 

My whole family was with her. 

She said she wanted to see each of her kids one last time.  I went first.  I sat on the side of her bed; she looked at me and said, “I am so proud of what you’ve done in your life, but you work too hard”!  

I left the room in tears. 

She died two days later, and on my drive back to Washington DC, I decided that Mom was right. 

I did work too hard and missed too many life events. 

So, I went to the company’s Chairman and said – “I’m done.” 

He said, “What?  You need to think about this – you have the fancy car, the big house, more money than you ever dreamed, and a country club membership.  Why would you want to give that all away?” 

My answer was simple – “I want to do more.” 

So, a little more than a year after Mom died, I left my high-paying job, sold pretty much everything I owned, including my house, and decided to take Mom’s advice and “live.”  

I had promised her that at some point in my life, I would earn a master’s degree.  She also loved Ireland, so I combined the two and, in her honor, earned my Master of International Business and Entrepreneurship in Ireland (and played a little golf as well). 

That same year (2010), the Irish government asked if I would be interested in a Ph.D. (they would pay for it). 

I thought for a bit (3 more years of fun, golf, and travel in Europe with an exciting opportunity to learn even more) and said yes, but only if I could study how we can use mobile phones to improve physical activity through social networks. 

So they put me in the School of Engineering, and I studied exactly that – disruptive health technology, Twitter, and emerging tech tools in the fitness industry.

I’ve been blessed to be now able to put all the pieces together – my exercise science education, my entrepreneurial skills, traditional learning of business and technology, and my passion for helping others to create a very unique and special brand that I hope to be able to share with you. 

I now teach future fitness entrepreneurs how to “work smarter, not harder” and to achieve their dream of breaking free from the traditional gym and “dream big.”

I continue to travel, consult, and serve as a catalyst for quality people and organizations to leverage their brands and build their businesses while using technology.

You can find me on nearly every major social media channel to connect with me.

My favorite? Twitter.

You’ve got a business to build.

I’m going to help you build it. I

t’s time to go off-roading.

This time, I’ll be sitting shotgun with you.

You are not alone.

P.S. – I balance my time between corporate clients and fitness professionals who want to grow their company. I limit the number of fitness professionals that I work with. When you hire me, you get my 100% undivided attention, an advantage you get from no other source.

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