Devin Harvey’s Journey
Since the age of 4 all I wanted to do in life was to be a professional wrestler. The larger than life persona always appealed to me. Being an athletic superstar always stood out. Fast forward to high school. The goal never changed. I still wanted to be a professional wrestler. However, the teachers that I had told me I’d never make it and that I needed a “real” job. This did open my eyes for the future. Although the teachers didn’t change my mind. They did make me realize I needed a back up plan. My back up plan was to open a gym… when I retired from professional wrestling.
Once I graduated high school I got a job working graveyard shifts on weekends. I saved up money and finally I was going to wrestling school. The big problem was that classes were Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Those were the
same days I worked. Class let out at 11:30PM and I started work at 12AM. Sometimes I was more than an hour away from work. It was a tough schedule with a lot of sleepless nights with the help of some awesome co-workers, I was able to manage for a few months. However, my boss eventually caught word that I was showing up late to work everyday for these months. He gave me an ultimatum. Continue wrestling, and lose your job or quit wrestling and get a possible promotion. The promotion never came. I had people relying on me to make money and I didn’t know how to make money and continue wrestling. So, it was with a broken heart that I had to go to my wrestling teacher and quit. My wrestling teacher was and is a great guy. I talk about him with the highest praise when I can. Bobby Hart was my wrestling teacher at Pro wrestling Bushido. He taught me some great life lessons. A few months into wrestling, Bobby told me that I needed some muscle definition or promoters wouldn’t be as interested.
Especially since I was so new to this sport. After he told me that, I started to hit the gym. He may not know it, but he taught me important things that I hold onto till this day. On day one he helped push me to and beyond my limits. Up until this point I had quit everything if I wasn’t great at it from the start. He sat with me and my dad. Both of them gave me a talk about how you have to push through crap to get to where you want to be. In other words, don’t quit until you get what you worked so hard for. Bobby told me one day.
“Do you see all of those people walking? Do you know why none of them are smiling or seem happy? It’s because most of them never followed their dreams. We are
wrestlers. We followed our dreams. Don’t let anyone take that away.”
I didn’t speak to Bobby for a while after this because I felt ashamed and felt that he would be disappointed in me. We met up after a show and it’s like we never skipped a beat. He welcomed me with open arms and the years of shame I felt was lifted. Bobby helped kickstart this dream of being a gym owner. If he never told me to get in the gym, I wouldn’t’ve fallen in love with the gym. Thank you for everything Bobby! Once I quit wrestling I vowed to never quit on a dream again.
So a few months after leaving wrestling, I decided to still work out. Also at this moment I decided to become a gym owner. But how? I had to start somewhere. I fell in love with the gym scene and the knowledge of working out and dieting stuck in my head more than any school subject. So I became a Personal Trainer.
I went to school for about a year to get certified in Personal Training. I then moved from Sonora to Modesto where I started working at a hole in the wall gym. This place was hard to find and attached to a church. I left my prior job to work for this gym. My girlfriend (now wife) Felicia and I had just moved in together and this was a big change. I was working 6 hours, 4 days a week, for $9 per hour. I called so many people trying to get clients, but they came few and far between. So I asked my boss (the director of the gym) for front desk hours to try and get clients. He agreed and I was now working 24 hours per week with clients still few and far between. I did such a great job at the front desk and with customer service that I was moved to the front desk/sales team. A few months later, the Sales Manager left and the spot was open. Since I was doing well in sales, The director of the gym offered me the Sales Manager position. This came with a $2 raise, my own team, and I get to create my own hours. Sadly none of those things came my way. I did get the title of Sales Manager. I had high hopes. I grinded and worked hard hoping that eventually I’d get those promotions, but I never did. I had the title and was eventually reduced back to a front desk associate with a Sales Manager title. Then one day, the director of the gym left and I thought this was my shot. I didn’t get the raise or the team because I was meant to run this gym. It all made sense. I applied for the position and the suspense was killing me. The day finally came and I was turned down for the position because some things in my personal life didn’t meet their ridiculous standards. So I fell into a depression and didn’t know what to do.
I got a crazy idea to get other gyms to look at me. I switched to a Physique competition. I transformed my body to look like David Hasselhoff from “Baywatch”. I never won a competition, but came close. It was fun while it lasted. But I was losing money fast. Felicia and I were struggling badly. We had no idea how bad until my Mom’s wedding when I spoke with my Uncle Chris.
At my Mom’s wedding, I sat with my Chris and we were talking about finances and I told him my situation. He stopped and asked,
“How are you surviving right now? Based on what you are making and your bills, you should be homeless right now”.
That opened my eyes real quick. I was shot into reality at this moment. This is the moment Chris turned my life around and saved Felicia and I from being homeless. He gave me a job at Clark Pest Control in Belmont, CA. He was the Top Guy there. He had Felicia and I pack our bags and move to Manteca. This catapulted Felicia and I. I owe so much to Chris, but he’s too humble to accept anything. I love you Bub! Thank You!
As soon as I got hired, I got this crazy idea to go to the jewelry store and buy a ring on Felicia’s birthday and after 5 years of being together, I proposed. This was in 2018. We were engaged for a full year and got married in January of 2020. Due to Covid we never had a honeymoon. After about a year and a half working with Clark Pest Control we bought a house in Manteca. Shortly after buying a house we decided that we wanted to give the parenting role a shot. In 2021 my son Brody was born. This was the best day of my life. Brody is my best friend with the greatest personality. This little guy is amazing!
Then we come to now. In January of 2022, I had been with Clark Pest Control for almost 4 years and the drive was killing me. I was driving 3 hours to work and 3 hours back from work. I had a rough time being a new dad and not being able to see my son until Sunday. So I decided it was time to humor this dream of owning a gym. I did my homework and studied how to buy, operate, and be the owner of a gym. I went to bizbuysell.com and ran into an ad put up by Stacia at Waldie Real Estate. Stacia was amazing to work with and helped me finalize this dream of mine. There were some ups and downs of this process and Stacia helped a lot. Thank you Stacia! I met with Kelley (the owner of 2nd Street Gym) and eventually a deal was met. I got home and cried. A boyhood dream has come true! Devine Fitness is proof that dreams come true.
We are open (M-F 5am-9pm)(Saturday 8am-6pm)(Sunday 10am-6pm). We are looking for Personal Trainers and Fitness Instructors.
Please visit www.thedevinefitness.com
Call at (707) 378-2637
Email thedevinefitness@yahoo.com
Don’t give up. Everyday is a choice. DARE TO BE DEVINE!