Building Healthy Habits for a Living

Journaling far before it was a trend, this Cleveland native has taken her love for all things journaling and turned it into a business venture.

Maria Fitzgerald, owner of One Ray habit tracker, created and designed a guided wellness journal dedicated to helping others achieve their healthy goals utilizing her background as a licensed physical therapist. 

Let’s learn more about this boss!

1. Name: 

Maria Fitzgerald

2. Business: 

Maria Fitnezz

3. Describe your business: 

I teach people how to build healthy habits that fit their lifestyle through my YouTube Channel, public speaking, One Ray habit tracker (journals), and an online membership program.

4. Everyone in business has that moment when they know this is what they’re supposed to do. When and what was yours?

I had this moment of realization in December 2016 (best described as inspirational energy that arrived at me that is described by Liz Gilbert in the book Big Magic) that I should start a blog as I’ve been prioritizing healthy habits since about 2012 and had learned so much to help myself feel happier, more confident, and more energized from the inside out. Family and friends used to ask for tips and encouraged me to share my info and motivation with a larger audience, so that’s exactly what I did! It was super messy for a few years while I figured out exactly what the best path would be for me to take. I also had a license and background as a physical therapist assistant so I could better educate from a medical and wellness standpoint.

5. What were the first five action steps you took to turn your dream into a reality?

1. Start a free blog (I used Weebly then switched to WordPress as I got more advanced).

2. Make free videos for social media to get my name/voice out there to establish myself as an expert. I wanted to make sure people were interested in what I have to say and there was a place in the market for me.

3. Legally register my business / learn about how to properly file taxes and get back end work in a place so I didn’t have to worry about it later.

4. Create the One Ray Habit Tracker (with a graphic designer and printing press company) and talk about it every day on my social media. I then started the Youtube Channel and membership site in response to what people wanted more of (motivation and tools to better use the journal and pursue a healthy lifestyle).

5. Network! Going to events to meet people and make friends with either other women entrepreneurs or those who prioritized wellness as I do. This was by far the hardest to get out of my comfort zone going to events alone, but it’s been the most influential part of starting out as I grow by developing relationships and connections.

6. When did you know you had something special that people loved?

I was asked to give the keynote speech as an alumnus of the college I attended the year after I graduated. My professor wanted someone who could motivate the students with the power to send off into the real world- that was pretty affirming to me that I should continue speaking whether it’s through video or in person. 

7. What current company or entrepreneur do you aspire to?

A content creator that I have so much respect for is Gary Vaynerchuk. His method is to create as much free content as possible with no expectation in return to truly reach people in an authentic way that they’ll remember (in hopes that they’ll return as a customer for life). He stresses the pursuit of empathy by truly caring for the people you serve vs going into business to make it all about yourself/making money/getting attention. Gary also talks about how it can and should take years and years to build a solid foundation for your brand to make it last. All of that goes against so much of what I see on Instagram and brings me clarity when I feel like I’m not far enough yet.

8. What are your plans for future growth?

My future growth plans are the grow my subscriber list on Youtube by creating entertaining and helpful videos, launch our second collection of One Ray journals (and more in the future), and do more public speaking gigs either online or in-person once events start happening again.

9. What are the top five things you keep on your desk?

32 oz. water bottle (I drink at least a gallon a day), an iced coffee no matter what time of day it is (with oat milk) 2 journals (One Ray habit tracker and a blank one for my to-do list), and my black wireless Beats (to jam, of course). I’m a pretty minimalist person so my desk is usually clear and my phone stays in another room to avoid social media distraction. 

10. Behind every entrepreneur are people who support them and helped them get where they are: who are your people?

My parents: They tell all of their friends, support my brand by buying my products (even though I offer to give it to them for free), watch my videos, and are my 2 biggest fans. That means a lot to me as I know many parents aren’t as supportive of their child’s endeavors (like starting a business from scratch), so it’s something I’ll never take for granted. 

My Boyfriend: My boyfriend, Tony, helps me make a lot of decisions (I’m very creative, he’s very strategic) for product development and logistics. He also comes with me to events and helps to set up canopy, table, and handle the journal sales if I’m talking to people. He’s incredibly supportive of the long hours spent on my laptop and video filming because he sees the result and success even when I doubt myself. 

My Assistant / Editor: McKenna films and edits my videos along with tackling other small, tedious tasks involved in operating smoothly. While I love big picture thinking (Enneagram 3), she’s sharp in the tedious attention to detail (Enneagram 2). She does a lot more than she signed up for and keeps me on track in a way I didn’t know I needed before she started back in late April. My brand has grown so much since she started and without the work, she does on the backend, I wouldn’t be able to sustain this and still work at my day job.

11. What challenges did you face or continue to face while making your dream your reality?

Focus- the ability to take time outside of my day job and use it wisely (I used to think creating a singular social media post was my work for the week… lol). The best creative flow energy happens when I’m honed in and focused on the task at hand. I create a lot of to-do lists and plan my calendar in a very strategic way to give the best energy to the most important tasks. I created a full Youtube video!