Cotter Grad Seeks and Shares Inspiration
With graduation approaching, many students, especially seniors, are contemplating what their plans for next year will be. Jeremy Scott can relate.
Scott, a 2001 Cotter graduate, wasn’t sure what he would be doing after high school, and, after some searching, has found his passion in owning and running a successful fitness business in Phoenix.
After graduating from Cotter, Scott attended Waldorf College in Iowa, on an athletic basketball scholarship. “I had the chance to learn, grow, to start to mature and create some truly amazing life long relationships I still have to this day.”
After college, Scott seemed to be a bit lost. “I bounced around after graduation, failing at just about everything (like most young grads), getting turned down interview after interview. This ultimately lead me Arizona, I literally packed up my car one day with about $2,500, my life savings at the time, and drove from Minnesota to Arizona to live with some friends of mine.”
Once in Arizona, Scott slowly climbed the ladder, and has made it to being 100% on his own as an entrepreneur since 2009. Now, Scott owns and operates Jeremy Scott Fitness, a fitness company with multiple businesses off of the JSF brand. “Jeremy Scott Fitness as a brand – both in-person coaching, online coaching, and product development – is going great. I always say this but it’s bigger and better than I ever dreamed. I feel lucky to be able to do the things I do daily. I always have a plan for the future, but like most things in life, its always changing, evolving, and moving in different directions.”
Running Jeremy Scott Fitness is a high point for Scott, there are challenges that come with the job. “The biggest challenge for me would be that at the end of the day, the good, the bad, and the ugly, all fall on you. Being ‘the man’ you have to deal with the BIG issues even when you don’t want to, because you are the CEO.”’
There are also corresponding rewards to be the one in charge. “The biggest upside – YOU control your life, you don’t call anyone a boss, if you want to go out and make a new program, new product, or choice, you have the final say – you can’t put a price on that.”
The fitness business isn’t all that Scott has been working on, not only does he run and operate JSF brands, but recently became a published author as well. “I have always loved writing, spoken word, lyrics and writing was just something I could always do as an art form or form self expression. I set a goal to write one real “non fitness” book by the time I was 30, and I wanted to make it about mindset because at the end of the end if you are strong in mind you can do anything. I really just wanted to create something that would really help people in all areas of their life.”
Both the business and the book get positive feedback daily, and responses to the book have also been great for Scott. The book has reached different countries, lifestyles, and all age groups.
Though he does love what he’s doing in Arizona, every once in a while, his mind falls back to Cotter. “The people are what I remember most, the relationships with people like Coz, Chris Beyers, Jeremy Wing, and Maureen Strauss, among others, played a huge role in getting me through – even if they don’t realize it.”
Scott, who transferred to Cotter as a senior was known through the halls of Cotter as “the basketball player.” At a crossroads in his life, Scott states that he owes a lot to Cotter. “Being 17 years old, my life was headed in the wrong direction, making the choice to attend Cotter as a senior literally changed the course of my entire future. I owe Mike Costello for always believing in me as a person.”
After hearing that many of our readers are students, Scott had this to pass on to the next generation of graduates, “Don’t be afraid to fail and set your goals big. You guys are bound by nothing, you can write your own success story -YOU JUST HAVE TO BELIEVE IT. If you are willing to be the hardest working person you know, take risks, and get outside of your comfort zone, you can have more than you ever dreamed possible. Take it from an average kid like me, I didn’t grow up with any money, I wasn’t head of my class, I had no amazing God given talent, just a relentless work ethic that won’t stop.”
“I never imagined when I was 17 at Cotter, I would grow up to run businesses, author a best selling book, be on the covers of magazines, be sponsored by major companies, travel the world, and get to do what I love 24-7-365.”
“My last tip would be don’t settle, don’t accept a life you don’t want, don’t live the same year 80 times and call it a life. Every night at midnight you are given a gift of 86,400 seconds and how you use those seconds are crucial, they’re yours to use or waste… Take it from me, at 31 years old, the time goes so fast. You can’t afford to waste one second of it.”
Below, you can find two of the sites run by Jeremy Scott.
