In this interview, Aravind Padmaraju, Ph.D., recounts his tumultuous path from early setbacks to building a successful digital fitness coaching business. He describes being expelled from a bodybuilding community after placing fourth among 40,000 competitors, which sparked his drive to outdo that organization. He invested heavily in a nascent coaching venture, losing 20‑22 lakh rupees, while simultaneously suffering a 90‑lakh loss in a trading business and receiving a pink‑slip from his full‑time job. The compounded financial strain led to severe depression and suicidal thoughts. A turning point arrived when he connected with his first mentor, Alok, who introduced him to additional mentors such as Siddharth Rajsekar and Kartika Nair, guiding him through mental‑fitness training, trauma healing, and a shift toward digital coaching. By December 2021 he launched his first digital coaching program, initially delivering low‑attendance webinars and struggling with a one‑to‑one model. After persisting through repeated failures, a personal crisis—his father’s death—preceded a breakthrough webinar on June 8, 2022, reinforcing his purpose. He invested in further education, became a Holobody coach on Mindvalley, and created the “Effortless Fit” program, a 15‑minute, no‑gym, low‑diet regimen. Switching to a bootcamp model in August 2022 triggered exponential growth: revenue multiplied 10× from December‑July and 40× in the following 60‑70 days. He highlights the ripple effect of his coaching, noting transformed families and children, and credits his relentless vision and perseverance as the core drivers of success. He concludes with a commitment to foster lifelong health in the next generation.
You know, as you started on this coaching and training journey of people and transforming lives, there might be many people who might have doubted you, or even those self-doubts, fears would have come. So what were your own challenges and how did you deal with it when you started on this coaching and training?
Yes. So I wanted to share with you, my coaching has started because I was part of one of the community. I don't want to name that community right now. So some or other way they came to know I was a top performer on that community because I competed in one of the bodybuilding competitions with that community. I came top 4 out of 40,000 people in the bodybuilding competition and they banned me from their community because I decided to do it my own. And that actually put me into anger mode. My whole business is invented. If that company was not banned me, I think today I did not have this vision and all of them. Came after that, right? And I started with recruiting multiple coaches. I started my initial 6 to 7 months. My only goal is I want to beat that company. So because I did not have zero knowledge, I did not have any mentors and all of them, I recruited 10 to 15 people, invested heavily on my business, and I lost around 20-22 lakhs on 4-6 months of my business setting up and everything. But during this process, what happened is I went to depression. Because during the same time, I also had another trading business which I lost around 90 lakh rupees approximately. And then the same month on December 2021, because I started in August 2021, this all was happening. I got a pink slip from my job that next 4 months is only there, you have a job. And I was literally on so much of— that was my lowest point ever I faced in my life. I was literally in a depression, suicidal thoughts. I don't know what was happening. There was so much of overthinking happening. I was literally waiting for the universe or a God that someone will come and help me. So that's when I think my first mentor came into my life in somewhere in March. First time ever I took a mentorship on my mental fitness that I was literally degrading myself and I was not able to take any action. I used to do self-sabotaging. And I literally keep thinking, thinking, thinking about the same thing and not able to sleep properly and all of them. Then I said that even though I know the meditation, I know the mindfulness practices previously, when you are into a deep low moment, you need someone to pull you back. So that's when I met my first mentor, Alok. Through him, I met so many other mentors, and he initially pulled me back from that initial trauma which I was having, the depression. And he told me that, why can't you do— because you're also doing a full-time job, why can't you try digital coaching? So that's how I met our mentor, Siddharth Rajsekar. Through him, I met Kartika Nair, which is my healing, and she helped me to heal from all my past traumas. And then from there, so many mentors came in my life. Everyone added value to me. And my digital coaching journey started somewhere in December. Even though I joined Siddharth in somewhere around June, July, and August, I could not able to start again. The procrastination, all of them happening. But I've been consistently working on myself. So I healed all my past traumas, my money challenges. There was some or other way I was creating my own reality, and I went on deep healing work done. And then December, I launched my first ever digital coaching journey. By the time, even though I impacted so many people, but I did not had a strong model where I can scale up, right? So it was more like one-to-one. I was randomly used to get the people. There is no proper team or structure. All of them started happening from December. I launched my digital coaching on, I think, the first week of January, and I started the whole freedom business model. And I did almost like 7 to 8— first 7 to 8 webinars, it was like all the time Some of the webinars I can still remember that I was done alone because no one was joined, but I still do it because I committed to myself. And there were some few people joined my community and around 70 to 75 people, but no one was serious. Then I gone through what is wrong with my system. I was consistently learning on my own self and how I can improvise their results. So So there were so many challenges was there, but only one thing was I had a clear vision, right? I'm working for a bigger purpose, right? It is I can maybe fail 1,000 times, but what if the 1,001 time I get success, right? I was always in that mode that I'll never quit because till now in my, from the childhood, there's only one mantra which I follow is once you start, once you believe it, do it whatever it takes and do it until you get succeeded. So that's a whole point. I was just kept on doing it. And I can still feel some of the webinars where people join, I'll have zero sale and I'll go so much with a pain and all of them. But all these things were actually made me as a strong person. So finally, when I got a real breakthrough was in June 5th, I lost my dad in a— I lost my dad and June 8th was my webinar. I took the webinar on June 8th on next day of his funeral. And the whole week I was there, I have taken my masterminds and all of them. But that time I found literally that I think there is something— whatever the struggles I had, there is a strong purpose I need to serve. And I could literally feel even whatever may be the situation, I was enjoying what I was doing. So that made me say that I want to go and pull on. Then I started investing on multiple courses. I'm, I'm also a Holobody coach under Mindvalley platform. And, um, I also invested in some of the other, uh, mentor programs. Then finally I got a breakthrough in August. So based on all my investments, whatever I did, and I created a program called Effortless Fit. So without going to gym, without following a restrictive diet, by doing less than 15 minutes of a workout, how you can get fit. So I found that system and then I started a new model called a bootcamp model. And that actually gave me a breakthrough. So from that time to now, I can say that maybe I made 10x in December to July. From August to last 60 to 70 days, I made 40x. So that was a growth reach I got. And only one thing what I understood with this journey is when you have a strong vision and keep working on it, and you be in the game. So this is what I learned— be in the game, never quit. You either today or tomorrow, one day, you're going to, um, succeed and you're going to create that impact. And what is the biggest achievement for me is, uh, some of my clients who I coached, and looking at the parents, the kids got transformed. This was my dream true, you know. When, when your vision is strong, so you don't even know, because I never connected with those kids. They just looked at their parents, and because of their parents, the knowledge what they have, they got transformed. There are, I think, 3 to 4 of my community members where when they were sharing, you know, I was, I was literally on— I never thought this thing happened very, very so fast in less than a year of time where, you know, that impact, the ripple effect is already happening. So that gives me, um, so much of, um, what you can say, the confidence or satisfaction which nothing has given me my 21 years of my education or 21 years of my experience did not give me. So that's the only thing that was driving me, even though I had so many challenges during this process and all of them. But somehow I'm really, really grateful for all the failures, all the people who hurted me, hated me, because of all of them who I am today. So, and I'm really, really committed to take this mission and make next generation of kids to be healthy and fit for rest of their lives. So that is what is my overall coaching journey.
Yeah, I think I need to, you know, upgrade my commitment level by listening to you. Like, I can go on listening to your story because it is so inspiring. Like, you know, even after— even on the day after your father's death, you were still there committed to your tribe. So that was something which was really you know, giving me goosebumps that you have such a great vision that you were still committed. So I think I need to learn this from you.
