Tommy Trout journey

https://weflex.com.au/

Entrepreneurial journey told by two students

Story written by Queena Kuang

More than ever, Australians (and people around the world) are building healthy lifestyles, going to the gym to improve their fitness and wellbeing, and taking advantage of the many classes and experts available. For people with disabilities, however, it’s a different story. Many of them struggle finding and connecting with fitness experts such as personal trainers who are equipped or feel comfortable helping out a client with special needs. At the core, there is an existing barrier: people with disabilities who want to improve their health and fitness as well as wellbeing (and arguably, would benefit greater from improved health and fitness) cannot access the same kind of expertise and advice many other Australians can because there has also been inadequate education for fitness and health providers to be knowledgeable about disabilities. My younger brother, Jackson, was one of those who could not find someone who could help him. Knowing my dad who had passed from preventable health conditions, I wanted to start early and ensure Jackson could become fit and healthy to help with his autism. We couldn’t find anyone who was willing to help. No personal trainer wanted to train Jackson. As a result, I ended up becoming certified as a personal trainer in order to workout with Jackson, something which I have now been doing for years. His life, now, is objectively better than it was prior to his fitness journey. Yet, along the way, I realised how non-inclusive the personal training qualifications were. In the process of obtaining certification, the most one would learn about in “special population” groups were pregnant women and the elderly. Where were people with disabilities? A group that makes up almost 20 per cent of Australia’s population? Through this, I saw an opportunity, a gap in the market which would bridge the disability sector with that of fitness. I was never entrepreneurial and had no interest in becoming one as a child but it was something that stayed at the back of my mind. Having worked in community services for ages, the idea spoke to my mission and purpose to drive social change, something that remains of first importance in our business. Midway through 2020, I launched WeFlex, a start-up venture that seeks to fulfil the gap I recognised many years ago.

Story written by Nerissa Rolanda

“If you think 6 months of quarantine is bad for your health, that was a common routine of many disabled people. Life keeps giving me clues about the kind of value I would like to create. But I have not realized it until I decide to fully contribute myself to WeFlex, a more inclusive platform that I created to promote health and fitness for everyone. I have a personal experience of having a father and a brother diagnosed with autism, and 15 years of working experience in disability sectors. I have always been grateful to my life as it ultimately helps me to discovered what motivates me; assisting people. I witnessed many lives of people with disabilities. I felt their pain and loneliness due to the labels attached to them. There was a time when I offered a young man, who was suffering from side effects of his medication of psychotics to the gym. Two months later, I saw him going to the gym regularly with 4 other people with unique needs, working out, smiling, and getting healthier. But you know what? I did not give him anything to do. I gave him somewhere to be. A more inclusive place to help him improve his health and fitness. So I acquired a personal trainer certificate to help my brother out after my father passed away. Seeing my brother getting fitter and happier through exercising enticed me to assist more people and families with special needs. Then I launched WeFlex, a platform to connect people with disabilities to mainstream health and fitness providers. A place where people could provide and receive help. To be honest, without much business background and capital, I did have a fear to fail. But I realized that this is the opportunity for me to turn my passion into purpose, ideas into visions. We all know the positive impacts of regular exercise, however, it somehow becomes a luxury for people with a disability. Following a lean startup, I continuously reach many potential customers and investors to test my hypothesis for WeFlex. I value feedback as it enabled me to learn from the unheard, unseen, and often forgotten group of people, to evaluate and further improve the value I created. I also enjoy multidisciplinary cooperation. It helped me establishing my team and partnerships, turning obstacles into opportunities, and creating a more inclusive fitness industry.”