A Message From Gavin
“Everyone makes mistakes, everyone. not just me. Everyone in the whole world makes mistakes. I got caught for my mistakes and I paid for them.”
Gavin is rebuilding his life, one rep at at ime.
Gavin's Case Study
I’m 37 and I’m a Valleys boy from the Rhondda in South Wales. Sport has always been a big part of my life from playing football to rugby when I was younger, to using the gym, doing MMA, snowboarding and now I do Crossfit.
I did a nine-year sentence for class A drugs and a firearm. This was my third time in prison, but my second time for drugs. First time was back when I was fifteen; that was a violence charge, but it was a while ago.
While I was in prison I was a gym orderly which I really enjoyed and I did my Level 3 Personal Training qualification. I went to Prescoed and played football for the prison team which led to an opportunity for a ROTL placement with Cardiff City Community Foundation for about 8 months. While I was there, they helped me with my CV and interview skills so that I was able to apply for work for when I got released. Fortunately, they could see my potential and after an interview with a local gym, I was offered a post as a Personal Trainer with Pure Gym but on a self-employed basis.
Gavin's Case Study
I’d worked for myself before but only in construction so being a self-employed Personal Trainer was something different. The Foundation put me in contact with Inside Out Support Wales to help me set myself up the right way. They helped me to develop a proper business plan including an accurate cash forecast to help me get a loan to set myself up right, so I could hit the ground running when I started in the gym. I was already registered with HMRC but there were a few issues to sort out, so that I wasn’t facing any historical tax problems once I started working.
The support from Inside Out Support Wales has made a big difference to me. It’s helped to manage my business effectively from the start, so that I could concentrate on getting personal training clients. After the first 6 months the loans company were satisfied with my repayments and my business plan so they were able to release the rest of the loan.
For the future, my business is looking bright. I also work for the Foundation once a week, as a Health & Wellbeing Coach and the rest of the time I work hard in the gym with my personal training clients. I’m now starting to run my own classes, doing CrossFit, and my business is going well.
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