Meet Gabriel Shimoonov | Founder & CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gabriel Shimoonov and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gabriel, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
First off I would just like to say thank you for this opportunity and granting me the chance to talk about Respected Results. Respected Results is a fitness & lifestyle apparel brand that was created for those who face and overcome adversity and focuses on growth and success in all aspects of one’s life. Now, before I can discuss my thought process behind starting this brand, I have to discuss the four life-altering moments that lead to the creation of Respected Results. That first moment takes me back to when I was 16 years old. My father was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer in 2014 and in a single moment everything changed. It all happened so quickly and being the oldest son, I was suddenly thrown into the role of man of the house and family bread-winner. During this time, I found myself spending my days going to high school and running back home to help my mom tend to my dad. I did this every day for a couple of months before I realized that I was in desperate need of an outlet that would allow me to release the stress I was dealing with. It was January when I discovered my local gym, which would lead to my second life-altering moment. I woke up one Monday morning, went to school as usual, came back home, and tended to my dad, then I went to the gym. When I entered the gym, I never thought it would change me as much as it did. I was a small, skinny, and shy kid who had no idea where he could turn to. But that all changed the moment I laid back on a bench press and performed my very first set of 10 reps with 115lbs. I remember racking the barbell, sitting up, and hearing my spotter say, “Nice work!” followed by a compliment from one of the trainers at the time who would later become a trusted mentor and close friend of mine. These events made me think to myself “This is where I belong” and sparked my love for fitness. From that moment I never looked back.

The third life-altering moment came in April 2016. After a year and a half of battling cancer, two seizures, multiple surgeries, and a four-month coma; my dad passed away. This left me and my family in a very tough situation. We didn’t have much money and no savings. In the search of making more money to support my family, I looked to fitness for the answer. I went to the gym and spoke to my mentor who was now the supervisor and director. I told him I wanted to be a trainer. I mentioned how I made a lot of progress in the gym and thought I could make a great personal trainer for the gym. After speaking for a while, we came to the agreement that I could start working as a personal trainer under the condition that I got my personal training certification within one year’s time. I’m happy to say that later that year I got it! This third life-altering moment was when I first started Respected Results. I decided to start an Instagram page called Respected Results that focused on my personal training style and educated my followers about fitness. I decided on the name because there are two things that everyone wants in life, respect from their peers and to see the results of their labor, when you combine both you get – Respected Results!

For the next few years, I would continue to train various clients in the gym and privately in their homes and local parks. This was great for my family and I, because I was able to make a decent amount of money on the side while attending college to obtain my bachelor’s degree in exercise science. I was going through my daily motions and was on a pretty good track to graduate with a bachelor’s and move on to graduate school until my fourth life-altering moment occurred to me during a worldwide pandemic. When COVID-19 hit, I was stuck at home without a job and unable to train my clients. I was forced to finish my bachelor’s degree online and was nearing graduation. During this time, I continued to post on my Instagram daily, sharing at-home workout videos, motivational quotes, and positive messages which were getting good feedback from my followers. I continued doing this for some time until one day I got a message from one of my followers who explained that they were really enjoying my positive messages as they were helping them get through a rough patch with navigating through the pandemic, school, and some troubles at home. We had a very interesting and uplifting conversation over text about our current situations, families, life goals, and dreams. We ended the conversation, and I didn’t think much of it. The next day I posted again and another young follower messaged me saying that they were enjoying the positive messages I was sharing and that it was helping them get through some difficulties as well. The next day it happened again with another follower.

Cue my fourth life-altering moment – I couldn’t believe it, three days in a row, three different followers, all going through a difficult time in their lives, found strength and motivation in the positive messages I was sharing on my Instagram. Throughout the remainder of the week, I couldn’t get those conversations out of my head. I kept thinking about how a simple positive message that I shared made someone feel empowered and ready to take on their problems. It made me reflect on my past and my story of how I went through so much with my dad and family at such a young age and how getting through such a difficult time made me stronger. I kept thinking of how I didn’t really have anyone to turn to when I needed a motivational pep talk while my dad was sick. This was where I realized that I wanted to bring together everyone who was struggling with life under a common umbrella. I wanted to create a way where anyone who may be struggling in life can know that they’re not alone, that there are others out there who have gone through similar struggles as them and were able to make it through them and succeed in life. I wanted to show people that no matter how difficult your circumstances may be, if you keep your head down, work hard, work smart, and refuse to give up, you can make it through the obstacles in your life, become stronger and achieve your goals and dreams. For these reasons, I decided to rebrand Respected Results, my personal training Instagram account, into Respected Results, an apparel brand that focused on spreading a positive and strong message through amazing quality products featuring motivational taglines and graphics. Our brand’s goal is to build a community of growth-focused individuals who continue to spread our message and become role models for those facing adversity and who need someone to look up to. We are Respected Results, we are for those who overcome adversity.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Of course, I’d be happy to! Respected Results is a brand that believes true strength is not measured by how much weight one can lift but by how many people one can lift up to higher levels. We aim to spread a positive message about strength, self-improvement, hard work, kindness, respect, and never giving up. We dedicate our current success to the values mentioned above because they have allowed us to build close relationships with many of our followers, supporters, and customers. Our mission is to serve as guides/role models to young teens and adults who are currently struggling in life and show them that no matter their circumstances success is achievable. Respected Results aims to do this by spreading our message through our premium apparel. We design all of our products to first feature an incredible design with a powerful and positive message, we then pay close attention to the details – fabrics, stitching, and quality. We do all this to ensure that our products work as hard as you do and continuously hold up wash after wash. We want to ensure that whenever someone wears one of our hoodies, tees, hats or other products that they feel empowered and capable of achieving their largest goals and dreams. We want them to feel like they can shake the earth with every step they take when they wear our apparel.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for these amazing people: First off, I would like to thank my amazing parents Ezra and Inessa for all of their love, guidance, and support, you both sacrificed so much for me and our family and I will never be able to repay you, but I will never stop trying.

Secondly, I would like to thank my mentor and close friend David Jolovitz for always sharing his knowledge and experience with me and showing me what it means to be a real role model to others. Thank you for taking a chance on me.

Lastly, I would like to thank my younger sister and brother Daniella and Natan who constantly surprise me with how much they’ve grown over the years and how much they have accomplished. You both continue to make me proud and I’m sure Dad is proud too.

This is just the beginning of our story and I’m excited to see what the future holds for us.

Website: https://respectedresults.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/respectedresults/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Respectedresults/

Image Credits
Image Credits: Jessie Grace (photographer), Daniella Shimoonov (photographer), Natan Shimoonov (photographer)