Meet Mark Oliver: USF senior, former USF football player and elite level CrossFit athlete. He is also the top personal trainer in the Tampa Bay area, a young entrepreneur, and gym owner of “One More Rep”.
Her Campus: What do you plan on doing after you graduate in May?
Mark: I am going to doing something that I have dreamed of for a long time. I will be running my own fitness facility “One More Rep”. Fitness has been something that is a huge passion of mine and I want to share this with the world and I want to improve everybody’s life beyond just fitness.
Her Campus: What is different about your gym “One More Rep” compared to other gyms?
Mark: Our training facility uses a lot of free weights and we focus on making every single person more functionally fit and in the best shape of their life. If your goals are to lose weight and to gain muscle, or become a better athlete, our training program is for you. “One More Rep” training is bigger than fitness. We are focused on making every single person a better person in the real world. After our training, we make each person a mentally and physically stronger individual.
Her Campus: What are some obstacles you had to overcome to open a business?
Mark: I had to overcome many obstacles especially considering the fact that I am only 22 years old and not many people would believe in me or invest in me. I was declined from over 10 bank institutions and over 6 investors because I had no experience with running a business before and they all said I was to young, even if I was a great trainer. However, that did not stop me. I kept trying because this was my dream. Then one day I found someone who believed in me just as much as I believed in myself.
Her Campus: What else do you like to do besides fitness?
Mark: Fitness is basically my life, but something besides that I really enjoy motivational speaking. I love listening to motivational speakers and telling my testimony about my life to others. One of my purposes on this earth is to change lives. I always do motivational videos and I am constantly going into different high schools and talking to the youth about chasing their dreams, and not being afraid of failure.
Her Campus: What is your favorite quote?
Mark: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Her Campus: Do you have any personal stories that relate to this quote?
Mark: Yes, here goes one, a lot of people would always say, he was “too small to play college football” because he was 5’7”. Yet again he also proved them wrong and earned a football scholarship to Quincy University, a small NAIA school. However, he had a long standing dream of playing Division 1 football at his college. Mark was told he had no chance. Mark took a tremendous risk by leaving a sports scholarship and trying out for the University of South Florida football team as a walk on. Many people told him that he was crazy and that his decision was bad. Mark experienced devastation when not making the team on his first tryout attempt.
However, with his mentality that failure is just a stepping stone to success, he trained harder and tougher every single day. Although there were two hundred students trying out for the football team and knowing only ten students would be selected, Mark tried out for team again. Even with all the odds stacked against him, Mark successfully made the University of South Florida football team. However, the road to football camp continued on with another tryout for walk ons. He was not the fastest, biggest, or most athletic student that made the football team, however, he was the only single walk on to make it into camp and play on the field.