Tim Dougherty found satisfaction in creating a nutritional lifestyle

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It was only when he started a new career to serve others that his life started to serve him.

Tim Dougherty, 36, is owner of Project Lean Nation Inc., a business he started that helps its clients maintain a nutritious lifestyle through premade weekly meal plans. The company averages about 500 meals in distribution per week between Rochester and Buffalo.

Now four years into operation, the company has helped its owner help others.

“For a long time I didn’t make any money doing this, but there was a lot of personal pay (more) than the financial payoff of my previous career,” Dougherty says. “I went into this with a serving mentality and I knew that it wouldn’t net me the same lifestyle, but I’m experiencing more fulfillment.”

While taking classes at Monroe Community College at age 18, Dougherty learned he needed another way to achieve his goals. He found the structure of school restricting.

“I was more like a student of life than a student of school,” Dougherty says. “The structured school was a challenge for me; it was not my learning style.”

He began working as a car salesman before changing industries in 2003 and working for a finance firm called Deal Flow. The position honed his communication skills.

“At 19 years old it gave me the ability to have the courage to speak to adults, which was something that was kind of foreign to me,” Dougherty says. “Once I figured out that everybody was the same I started to become comfortable speaking to people.”

While working in the financial industry, he let the quest to increase his own finances get the best of him, Dougherty says. He was focused on instant gratification.

“When I was only pursuing money, I was not fulfilled in any other area of my life,” Dougherty says.

Fitness has always played a role in Dougherty’s life. That focus kept him motivated even while he felt his career path was not ideal.

“The gym for me was kind of like therapy,” Dougherty says. “It was for me something that I could pursue on my own; I was only doing it for myself.

“I found the structure of that and discipline had a ripple effect in other areas of my life,” he adds.

Despite working out and trying to make healthy meal choices, Dougherty found the nutritional aspect of wellness difficult. He soon took matters into his own hands.

“I spent years in the gym trying to get a result and not getting what I wanted,” Dougherty says. “I would then say, ‘All right, I’ll eat great this week.’ So Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I’d eat great, and the weekend starts on Thursday at lunch and then who knows where it would go.”

He began making his own meals for the week every Sunday. What started as a hobby turned into a routine; Dougherty made 500 to 1,000 meals a week for friends and clients.

“There’s never been more information in terms of dieting and nutritional paths and proven ways to get a result,” Dougherty says. “But what people struggle with the most is execution.”

In 2010, Dougherty enrolled at St. John Fisher College to take a few marketing classes. He started Project Lean Nation in 2011 and began living his passion.

“We want to create a huge emphasis on consumption schedule and balance and moderation so you can adopt this lifestyle,” Dougherty says, “(so that) you’re living a nutritional lifestyle that is serving you as opposed to just this short-term (diet).”

The company has headquarters at 1900 S. Clinton Ave. Dougherty has sold licensing agreements in Providence, R.I., and plans to open another store in Williamsville near Buffalo in the next six weeks.

Dougherty continues to provide personal training at his boutique gym, Motiv8 Functional/Personal Training, on Monroe Avenue.

Dougherty has found that the challenges of building a business are often followed by bursts of success.

“Every time that things were looking dark or things were looking like they weren’t going to work out, you never know when success is right around the corner,” Dougherty says. “Persistence breaks resistance—that’s kind of been a thread throughout my entire life. Just keep pushing forward even when you’re tired, even when you don’t want to.

“If you are willing to do a few things that others aren’t willing to do, then you are going to experience a lot of things that most aspire to,” he adds.

Project Lean Nation is scaling up with the help of mentors such as Robert Moore, owner of Red Osier Restaurants, and Kip Palmer, owner of Palmer’s Wholesale. For now, Dougherty is right where he wants to be.

“Every day I’m doing what I enjoy; I’m steering my own ship,” Dougherty says. “I’m excited about the prospect of creating a national brand.”

9/25/15 (c) 2015 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email [email protected].