Here is the 5th interview in my series of interviews with CrossFit Affiliate owners.  If you missed the first four you can find them here:  Interview 1, Interview 2, Interview3, Interview 4.  I have also been contacted privately by some additional affiliates wanting to share their experiences as well.  I will by synthesizing those together for a future post.

Enjoy Interview 5!

How long have you been “open for business?”

Just shy of 3 years now.

How many hours do you typically work per week in/on your business?

Define “work.”  This is a really tough question to answer because I am not sure where I would draw the lines between “work” and “play.”  I have nothing that would resemble a “balanced” life.  I would say that I am probably tinkering with something related to the gym, training (myself), coaching, communicating with employees, designing programs, etc…between 12 and 14 hours a day.  Even an ideal Sunday (when the gym is closed) typically starts with a workout with my girlfriend and several of my close friends – who also happen to coach at the gym. Then it’s off to a coffee shop where we’re kicking around ideas or playing with new programming concepts.  But this is fun for me.  I kind of discarded the theory of balance when I decided to open a gym.  I am a typical Type-A personality, so balance was never my style.  This allows me to be “unbalanced” and still doing what I love.

Did you leave another job to open your gym?  Are you making more or less money now?

I did.  I now make a fraction (well below 50%) of my previous income.

Is owning and running a gym different than you imagined? How so?

Yes.  When I conceptualized owning a gym, and even when I was just getting started, I emphasized and put my time into all of the amazing reasons I started a gym – interacting with members, developing a culture, coaching folks to become the best versions of themselves, etc….  As time has gone on, I have also had to realize that in addition to owning an AMAZING place for folks to become happier and healthier, I also have to run a business.  When I set out on this journey, I cannot say I dreamed about submitting payroll, how I was going to figure out how to pay health benefits for employees, tax liabilities, etc….  The actual running of the business was lost in the dreamy ether of the fun of working with individuals that I genuinely enjoy being around.

Knowing what you know now, would you choose to do it again? Why or why not?

Absolutely!  This is my calling.  The trials that come from learning in any career or endeavor worth doing are just part of the territory.  I love what I do and the coaches, staff and members that have made this dream a reality.  I walk into my little slice of the happiest place on earth every day.

What about your business frustrates you the most?

My lack of preparation in creating business systems to make life easier on my coaches and staff.  I am not a systems-driven personality.  I operate from principles and intuition.  Unfortunately, as you expand a business you have to have ways to effectively communicate and empower others to exercise the decisions that you would want made.  That means codifying these ideas and creating consistent systems and protocols.  This is really hard for me.  Luckily I have a couple of amazing friends/family/coaches that help to compensate for this weakness.

What about your business brings you the most joy?

The people.  Easiest question on here by far.  The coaches, staff and members that I get to interact with on a daily basis are inspiring.  Their improvements and happiness drive me to become even better. That feeds into the second best thing about the business, which is the constant opportunity to learn and grow.  The fitness industry is an amazing, constantly changing organism.  There are so many phenomenally smart coaches and ideas out there as to how to best help athletes and individuals that want to improve their health and fitness.  I can easily get lost in books and seminars discussing ideas, commonalities and differences in training approaches.  This intellectual stimulus keeps me from stagnating and getting bored.

Reflecting back to when you opened would you consider yourself well-prepared for owning a business? What were your strengths and weaknesses?

No.  I knew enough about coaching, and I knew a lot about hard work, but I didn’t have a clue as to how to run a business.  My willingness to work hard, to develop relationships with great people (members and coaches) and to help people achieve results were the strengths that pulled us through, but my weaknesses were myriad and extreme.  I had really never delegated anything in my life, I avoided financial analysis like the plague, and I was (and still am not) not tech savvy at all when it came to maintaining an online presence.

Did you have experience coaching prior to opening?

Yes.  I had two years of CrossFit-specific coaching, and a lot of years coaching other sports and martial arts.  I have always enjoyed teaching others and sharing knowledge, and martial arts gave me an opportunity to start doing so at a young age.

Do you feel you are sufficiently financially rewarded for the amount of time you’ve invested in your business?

Yes.  If you look at it from a dollars per hour perspective, I am probably violating even third-world country standards of labor laws.  But I didn’t make this career change with an eye toward maximizing my monetary health.  The intangible rewards far outweigh the financial rewards.  And luckily, the business is now at a place where I can be a bit more generous to myself financially.

Do you see yourself doing this (owning/operating a microgym) 10 years from now?

Yes.

As a current CrossFit affiliate, what are the benefits of affiliation as you see them? In your estimation and in your particular circumstance are they worth the price?

The primary benefit of affiliation is the community of individuals and their shared enthusiasm for fitness.  It’s rare to have so many folks rally around good nutrition and pushing themselves to their physical limits.  It means that folks from across the country or overseas can come to my town and know they have a place that will understand and accept their passion for fitness.  Affiliation creates a common word and concept that indicates we understand that passion and pursuit of an individual’s own personal fitness excellence.  The methods we use to get there may differ from other gyms around the world, but we still “get it” and stand prepared to help folks achieve their best results.

It’s too soon to know the exact impact yet, but the airing of the CrossFit Games on ESPN2 and some great commercials by Reebok and CrossFit encouraging folks to find their local affiliate – coupled with a map tool that now shows how far each affiliate is from your location – could be a huge benefit.  This could provide not only exposure for the sport and CrossFit.com, but also a push to link prospective members with qualified coaches in their area.  I am excited about the prospects of what this could do for affiliate gyms.

How close is the nearest affiliate to your place of business.  How has this affected your business?  

There are three within 2 miles of us.  I don’t believe it has impacted our business greatly.  We all have slightly different cultures and methodologies.  I think our clients select the gym that works best for their needs and personality, and I think that translates into a happy community here and at the other gyms.  That said, I would be remiss if I did not say that it disappoints me when other gyms/coaches undervalue their services.  I think this is a real problem.  Nobody wins when the costs of membership drop, it just means you have to work so much harder servicing more clients in order to be profitable.  If you look around at what personal trainers and boot camps charge, it is often much more than CrossFit affiliates and they provide a fraction of the coaching.  So, my two-part plea to all affiliate owners is: (1) raise your rates to properly value your services; and (2) commit yourself to becoming the best coach you can be (seminars, certifications, reading, etc…) and be the best deal in town even with the most expensive membership dues.

What if any trends do you see among new affiliates?

Two things come to mind.  First, it seems like folks are coming in with a lot more money to invest in their gym at the outset.  In general, this means they are able to provide a much more professional-looking environment.  That is a great thing . . . as long as it is also backed up with professional coaching and business management.  If not, it just tends to result in a larger loss of personally invested capital.  Second, I see way too many people opening gyms without adequate coaching experience.  I would strongly encourage any prospective gym owner to spend at least a year (and preferably more) coaching and learning from others.  You should never take on the risks associated with owning a business if you haven’t put in the time to know exactly what coaching 6-8 hours per day is like.  In my mind, this is the most common mistake I see affiliate owners make – learning on the fly.  There are good coaches and gyms out there.  Reach out to them, be clear about your intentions (to open your own space), and see if you can reach an agreement to work for and learn from them for a period of time before exploring the option of opening your own.  Oh yeah, and you might also be prepared to do that for free . . . because that’s probably what you will be doing in the initial stages of owning your own gym anyway.

Would you consider yourself an introvert (you gain energy from having time alone) or extrovert (you gain energy from being around others)?

Ok, maybe this is the easiest question on here.  I am an extrovert.

What advice or words of wisdom would you give to someone considering opening a microgym or similar fitness studio?

We all have passions and dreams.  You should chase yours . . . BUT ONLY (1) after you have put in the time to hone your skills and gain and intimate understanding of the profession; (2) if you are willing to sacrifice your time and financial security; and (3) if you are committed to moving heaven and earth to succeed.  If you get squeamish about the thought of losing it all, don’t do it.  I made the jump from making a lot of money to owning a gym only after two years of dedicating myself to learning how to coach and manage other coaches; I was fully prepared to lose everything I had in pursuit of my dream, and equally committed to ensuring my success.  I can only hope that others will go in with a similar approach.  It’s not a decision that should be taken lightly.

What is the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn?

That I cannot do everything.  Learning to delegate and clearly and effectively communicate projects and tasks to others has been tough.  We grew faster than we expected, and I am definitely behind the curve on learning some lessons that will be essential to ensuring continued smooth growth.  My focus is on learning to better leverage the amazing talent I have around me, and I have been blessed that these are good friends who have been more patient than I might have deserved at times.

Without giving too many details that might reveal your identity, let’s just say you are somewhat of a CF affiliate connoisseur.  When did you start traveling and visiting affiliates?  Approximately how many affiliates have you stepped foot in to date? Anything else about yourself that you can share?

I have been in the fitness industry as a trainer and coach in some capacity since 2005. I began to focus primarily on CrossFit as an athlete in 2007.  In 2010, I began traveling and have visited a little over 30 affiliates. Through attending seminars, the CrossFit Games, and other community events, I have had the opportunity to talk “shop” with another 20-30 affiliate owners.  So in total, it is somewhere in the range of 50 to 70.

You don’t own a microgym or an affiliate.  Do you have experience running or owning any other business?

I have been my “own” business as a sole proprietor since early 2009 and also own a performance-based LLC that you could say is a “micro” microgym primarily focused on one-on-one training. Prior to becoming involved in CrossFit, I worked as a trainer in big box commercial health and fitness centers, which included some business development and planning as well.

When I began to seriously travel, I was surprised to learn that affiliate owners and coaches were just as interested in discussing business development as they were in improving their skills as trainers. So in some capacity I’ve been providing business consulting for microgyms and affiliates since I first started traveling.

Based on the broad cross-section of boxes you’ve seen, where do you see folks collectively succeeding?  And alternatively where do you see them failing?

With the explosive growth of CrossFit in just the past two years alone, many markets have become flooded with affiliates, particularly in metropolitan areas. In my experience, the most successful affiliates are creating their own “brand” of CrossFit. In addition to CrossFit classes, many offer sport-specific training for weightlifters (sport), endurance athletes, and high school athletes. They are offering more in general to attract a broader mainstream client base that may not necessarily be drinking the CrossFit “kool aid.” Many are still using CrossFit-based training as the foundation for these programs, but have found more success in marketing to a specific clientele than using a one-size-fits-all-approach.

Now don’t get me wrong; many affiliates are very successful and offer only CrossFit classes or group training. However, as many markets become more saturated I think the need for owners to distinguish themselves and create separation from other affiliates will become more important (especially if two affiliates are located across the street from one another). I also think with the growth of the CrossFit Games and CrossFit as a sport, appealing to the mainstream will also become increasingly important.

Joe the Banker or Jane the Soccer Mom want to be able to join a microgym that offers CrossFit without necessarily being competitive CrossFit athletes. There will be a market for firebreathers and Games competitors, but in my experience these athletes are a very small percentage of a microgym’s clientele. As a business, keep your primary clientele in mind, which ties back in to the importance of knowing your niche and developing your own brand. I have seen several affiliates struggle with this exact issue, and their clients have suffered as a result – due to programming that was suited for competitors but not for the mainstream client.

Most successful affiliates I have visited also have thoughtful and organized class structures. They rely heavily on the point of entry model by utilizing introductory sessions, an elements curriculum, a foundations curriculum, or an On Ramp, etc. In doing so, they are not only providing a less intense or intimidating barrier to entry, but are also distinguishing themselves from other nearby microgyms or affiliates. Interestingly, these gyms tend to also have the strongest communities. I would argue their reliance on open points of entry creates more inclusive microgym communities. New clients are not as intimidated and are welcomed into the fold by their microgym peers. These microgyms are also not plagued by the “ego” or “elitism” I have seen at some affiliates. In addition, organized class structures allow you to maximize your time, which is an invaluable commodity when you are being pulled in a million directions as a microgym owner.

And strong microgyms usually have a model for improving the quality of their training staff, which I argue is a huge opportunity to create brand distinction and separation. Regardless of whether they treat coaches and trainers as independent contractors or employees, the most successful boxes are providing continuing education opportunities and business opportunities that benefit the individual coach/trainer, enhance trainer-owner relationships, and generate more revenue for the box.

What advice would you give to the boxes you’ve seen who in your estimation need the most help?

If you are an affiliate owner or microgym owner, you need to ensure you have a complete business plan. We love training clients and helping people reach their goals and reach their athletic potential. But, we cannot focus on that if we do not have the business backend in order.

Here are some questions that come to mind based on what I have seen at struggling affiliates: What is your plan for improving client retention? Do you have any metric for client attendance and class size? How are you controlling the quality of your coaching staff? Are you creating your own niche or subject matter expertise that sets you apart from your competitors? Did you require your trainers/coaches to sign Independent Contractor agreements? What are you going to do if your trainers leave and open up a competing affiliate down the street from you and take many of your clients with them?*

*I have seen this happen several times. This is one reason (out of many) why enlisting the services of attorney for all business matters is so important.

Another question I like to ask affiliate owners just to assist in creating a business plan is: What are you going to do if CrossFit no longer existed tomorrow? How would you market your business and your services in that situation? I have seen a lot of affiliate owners fail to consider how they may operate if they were not a part of the CrossFit community or wanted to separate and be a non-affiliated microgym. This usually helps get the wheels turning and allows the owner to better conceptualize his or her ultimate vision for the gym (which can be a daunting task when first starting or when struggling).

If you are currently struggling, evaluate why you are struggling. Ask yourself difficult questions. Talk to other affiliate owners and microgym owners and ask for advice.  If possible, have someone neutral take a look at your business model or your books. Study the business models of successful microgyms and businesses. I think improving a struggling affiliate can be similar to the progression one follows in improving their abilities and skills as a coach/trainer. It starts small and continues to develop overtime as the coach/trainer improves through continuing education, seminars, experience, etc. Start by looking at the basics – your class schedule, your clientele, your rates, etc. – and then expand from there.

What can affiliate owners do to continually elevate the quality of service they are offering their clients?

Improving quality of service starts with continuing education. However, do not simply “chase paper.” Attending seminars to simply say you “attended” is not an effective use of your time or your microgym’s resources. Look at continuing education as an investment; you want to get the highest return on investment for the microgym’s long-term success and growth. For example, do you have a strong endurance community in your area? Then spend time investing in endurance education that will make you more marketable to that particular niche.

If you have a basic foundation upon which all of your training/programming is built, then you can more easily market to sport-specific groups with a little tweaking/focus. World-class coaches like Louie Simmons are subject matter experts, but are able to leverage their expertise to serve a wide variety of clients. Microgym owners can do the same thing.

From a staff standpoint, implement or develop a strong metric for evaluating your training staff and for training and recruiting new coaches. For example, some of the successful affiliates that are continuously improving have very methodical, progressive internship programs that allow interns and coaches-in-training to grow from the day they start to the day they actually become full-fledged members of the gym’s staff (as contractors or as employees). This does three things: (1) it ensures you are actively involved in the coach’s improvement/development, (2) you are developing a strong, competent and professional staff from the ground up, and (3) you are creating loyalty and setting up your staff for success. Regardless of your approach, have an approach! I have seen numerous trainers leave affiliates due to the owner’s lack of concern for instructor quality.

Emphasize overall quality, always. Successful microgyms, in my experience, are built on being more intimate with an emphasis on quality of instruction and service (even if they have hundreds of members or only a few dozen). Other affiliates can undercut you, offer bells and whistles – and yes, you may lose some clients – but ultimately, I have seen those affiliates falter due to a lack of overall quality, service and a plan.

As CrossFit continues to grow, I think this emphasis on quality is what will continue to separate successful microgyms from “big box” commercial gyms that may elect to capitalize on the growth through their large amounts of capital and resources. And quality need not be focused only on quality of instruction. The points of entry, the community, your microgym’s attitude/atmosphere, and the inclusiveness, in addition to great instruction, all paint a positive picture for new clients.

Finally, document everything. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Hire an attorney. This is especially important when dealing with friends and family that may be your clients and/or trainers/coaches. I have seen relationships and businesses damaged due to disagreements that could have been solved by being proactive with legal protection and paperwork. And even in a community that is as open and welcoming as CrossFit, there are unfortunately situations where you will wish you had developed some strong CYA.

And although we are discussing ways to improve the quality of service for microgym owners and affiliate owners, I should mention that many of these principles and ideas apply to trainers as well. As a trainer working as an independent contractor, you may have a great deal of flexibility, but you also may not have a great deal of protection, especially if your affiliate owner elects to not have you sign any sort of contractual agreement that spells out pay, duties, etc. For your own protection as a fitness professional, always make sure you are covering yourself.

Any thoughts on the relationship between CrossFit and Reebok?  What does the future hold for the affiliate owner?

To be perfectly honest, I was skeptical when the relationship between CrossFit and Reebok was first announced. After attending the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games, I am more optimistic. While I know there are numerous people out there that may argue CrossFit HQ is “selling out” or is “in it for the money,” I think the community, microgym owners and affiliate owners can benefit. It is simply a matter of channeling the exposure and growth that the relationship provides to benefit your microgym or affiliate. The exposure and subsequent growth gives microgym owners more marketability. More people are going to be interested in CrossFit, which is good for business.

However, all relationships have potential drawbacks. I am interested to see how CrossFit HQ manages to balance growth and quality. Exponential growth is going to be a strain on CrossFit, but all business relationships have growing pains. My concern is the amount of effort and time that will go into preparing for each year’s Games may detract from an emphasis on the community – on the individual box owners.

Will there be higher barriers to entry to become affiliate owners as more individuals (and possibly more big box commercial entities) try to capitalize on the CrossFit success bandwagon? Given the number of boxes in some markets already, it is not an outrageous question. And while it is true successful affiliates may continue to be successful, the volatility and rapid growth could lead to a big drop in brand quality and/or reputation. This is why I think building your own brand or own microgym niche is so important.

Ultimately, I see the relationship between CrossFit and Reebok as a good business opportunity. Just think of the relationship, for now, as opportunistic marketing that complements a sound microgym business plan.

When you look at the world of products and marketing the notion that investment in quality will produce good return is often tough to support. “Make it cheaper, make it faster” seems to win out under most circumstances, and I guess when we are talking about products this is true but we often forget about the full accounting of a product. Let’s consider a plastic towel rack that replaces the old-school wooden version.

Plastic looks cheap until we consider:

1-Plastics are made from petrochemicals

2-Petrochemicals (at least the variety we typically use in the US) come from geo-political hot beds.

3-Massive re-distribution of wealth occurs to people who have lots of oil, but who hate western, democratic ways of living.

4-Like Diamonds, Plastics are “forever.”

With full accounting, the “cheap” towel rack actually carries a high price tag.

All that aside however, it’s been my experience that investment in quality is worth the effort when we are dealing with people/service based endeavors. “We” are willing to pay for a lesser product but “We” really notice when receiving sub-par service.  Which brings me a bit closer to the point of this post: Why a focus on quality has always produced good results for our business. If you own a gym, run a yoga/pilates studio or an MMA program you will likely get something out of this, but honestly anyone who makes a living serving people might get a lesson or two out of this.

Way Back

In the beginning there was a void…then matter and energy burst into existence, expanding out at nearly the speed of light!

Ok, maybe that’s a little too far back.

How about January, 2004. We just opened our multiple personality disorder facility (Crossfit NorCal, then NorCal Strength & Conditioning…then CrossFit NorCal…back to NorCal Strength & Conditioning) in a town that we literally knew about 5 people. I did my undergrad in Chico and wrapped that up in 1998, living the next 5-6 years in Seattle. I wanted to live in a sunny climate & the female to male ratio in Chico is 5-2 so I moved, opened the then 4^th CrossFit facility and did not know quite how to tackle things. I was a scientist, not a business guy and at that point there was no GOOD example of how to run a microgym, from either a business or training standpoint. We emulated the come one, come all class system (No screening), an “honor system” of payments and a wacky method for paying trainers (No business systems) that was offered to us from our “higher ups.” This was the best we could find to emulate at the time and we really had to learn the hard way. Despite our efforts to help people avoid these same pitfalls, many still run their businesses this way.

Now, people loved the workouts but we had a lot of problems.

1-Not everyone (hardly anyone?) was appropriate for the “Dot Com” WOD’s we used daily. Type 1 diabetic? Insulin pump? Heart problems? Bilateral hip-replacement? Shucks, we’ll just throw y’all in the same class. We can have our new trainers work with the new people…all these orthopedically challenged, broken folks will be trained by people who have almost no strength & conditioning background…I have no idea what to call a system like this but I’m pretty sure the acronym is “RRG.”

2-Due to the lack of focus and progression none of our clients made progress to the degree I thought they should. I came to CrossFit with a powerlifting background. After a few months of dry-heaving I could turn some top tier times on diagnostic WOD’s. Not so our endurance crowd clients.

We were new to business, excited but lacking in any mentorship that could provide a legitimate business system to deal with these and other issues. So, we had to learn things the hard way. Trial, error and at many points being either too dumb or stubborn to quit.

Training Day

Two friends provided important inputs on how to improve our programming and ultimately our business. The first was the Max Effort Black box concept from Coach Michael Rutherford,  The second was the CrossFit skill standards proposed by Co-founder of the 1^st CrossFit affiliate, Dave Werner.

Coach Rut shot me an email with a theoretical template based around the Prilepin chart, max effort work and the idea that if one inserted planned strength days over a standard CrossFit template one might achieve superior results. Exercise science is clear on the point that strength precedes strength endurance. Not only did this strength focus “make sense” but Rut ran a nice clinical experiment on a basketball team using this template and achieved impressive results. Rut’s own son made it to 3^rd in state in wrestling with a wicked double leg takedown and a 340 lb clean & jerk built from the MEBB template.

I looked at the template, thought about it and shot it down because “I did not need to do that to get really good numbers in CrossFit.”

Can you say sample bias?

It took me a few months to realize the error of my ways and we adopted a MEBB template into our gym with phenomenal results.

It was right around this time that my good friend, Dave Werner shot me an idea about some skill/performance standards to help trainees and coaches focus their efforts. Dave’s idea was that this system would be somewhat similar to a belt system in the martial arts…not perfect, many fuzzy boundaries, but something to provide motivation and structure. Again, I thought about this and being the lazy bastard that I am, shot it down. Dave persisted and although I am a dummy most of the time, I do have some brief moments of clarity and I saw the potential of Dave’s skill standards (or something along this line) fixing significant systemic issues in our business, from client acquisition & retention to training systems.

That’s all for that today, we’ll look at how these insights from our friends have improved our business and I’ll provide some templates for you to follow to help improve yours.

First, the concept for the On Ramp came about after a rocky initial start with our business.  In 2004 when we opened, the group training model was held up in CF land as THE way to run a business and we adopted it without hesitation.

The challenge in 2004 was that no one had ever heard the word CrossFit.  In fact the brand equity that CrossFit now has is due in large part to the growth of the affiliates.  Small affiliate gyms with passionate owners, opening up all over the country and ultimately the world, spreading the brand.

However, in rural Chico circa 2004 there was no brand.  And there certainly was no box in people’s heads for the type of training we were providing.  Folks were comparing our rates with globo gym rates despite the fact that we clearly were not a globo gym, we were providing quality coaching and instruction.  But still the distinction was not obvious and we were too new in town and didn’t have a network to pull from yet.  And when folks heard our prices and learned we did not have a swimming pool or showers…well, needless to say it was challenging.

First you stumble, then you find your way

We stumbled quite a bit early on.  We undervalued our services, we didn’t provide entry points or a client path, we lacked of a solid pricing structure and we lacked a way to run our back end (like MBO). By the end of 2005 we had grown our client base to around 70 clients but had only an average client billing of $65 per person.  We were easily covering overhead, but as coaches weren’t paying ourselves anything. And it wasn’t obvious how we were going to make this model work and pay our three owners anything that resembled a fair wage based on the number of hours that were being put in (Greg Everett of Catalyst Athletics was an early partner).

With some quick math it became obvious that by moving to a private training only model we could quickly be grossing what we were then grossing, and there was an easy path to actually paying ourselves! So beginning in January 2006 we moved to a private training only model. Quickly we were making more money than we had in the previous two years!

I am a big advocate for microgyms with group class based models to also offer private training.  I’ve talked about this before.  It can make a huge difference in a new gym’s profitability and it is a great way to develop trainers (you’ve got to be able to successfully coach 1 person at a time before you can coach 15 people at a time). That said a PT only model has its drawbacks, namely huge fluctuation and variability in revenue.  During the summer of 2007 we had several of our PT clients go on vacation, and one injured himself when he crashed his golf cart.  When your PT clients don’t show, you don’t get paid.  This is where the stability of the group class revenue is such a beautiful compliment in a microgym setting.

We decided to bring back group classes in October of 2007, but we did it very differently this time.  The first thing we did was sign up with MindBodyOnline.  I wanted an easy way to track member payments as well as track frequency of training/client visits. I think we were one of the first CF style gyms to use MBO.  I contacted them in September 2007 and we were up and running by the time we re-opened group classes in October.

Instead of opening up 5 classes per day I converted a group of 3 guys that I was training 1-on-3 into our first “class”.  It ran MWF at 6am.    These guys were stoked to be paying a group rate of $150 instead of their 1-on-3 rate of $360/each.  We slowly grew small groups like this and only added classes as made sense.

We also created an entry point to help ensure a base level of movement proficiency.  At that point our singular entry point was a requirement of 12 sessions of PT prior to entering a group.  This worked quite well, but with a requirement of 12 pt sessions we had a very slow entry into our groups and because of the higher pricing for 12 sessions of PT we had a high barrier to entry.  It was a consultation with Beverly Murphy at MBU in March of 2008 that made all the difference.  She said our PT requirement posed too high a barrier to entry…and had we thought about a beginner class as an alternate option? Can you say light bulb moment!

We took that feedback to heart and went back to NorCal and created the On Ramp program!  We now have 2 entry points: On Ramp or Private training.  Both are critical to our client path.  Many clients are seeking PT, and many are not appropriate for On Ramp without some PT first…both are revenue streams and both ensure our clients are well prepared prior to entering the group class environment.

Ok.  Enough of the history.  As many of you have asked “how do you set it up?”

Determine the days and times you will be holding the workshop (I like 3 days per week for 4 weeks) and start spreading the word in your gym.  Tell your existing members that you are starting a beginner workshop that will help prepare new members and encourage them to tell any friends, coworkers, family, etc who are interested in training.  You may even get some inexpensive postcards printed and hand those out to clients and ask them to pass out as well.

Decide on the max number of new clients you feel comfortable with, as well as the number of coaches that will be coaching.  At NorCal we cap our On Ramp classes at 10 clients and have 2 trainers coaching.  If your typical client is relatively young and healthy you might get a way with a single coach on 10 clients.  We tend to get a wide mix of both ages and aptitudes (mobility issues, etc) and find having two coaches makes for a more seamless running of the class.

Also, the On Ramp is a new client’s first exposure to our gym.  We look at the 12 sessions of the On Ramp as “our time to shine”. Whether or not a client chooses to sign up for ongoing classes beyond this first month rests largely on their experience in the On Ramp.  We feel that having two trainers coaching allows us to really put our best foot forward.  Here are a few key points:

1)   One coach can describe and explain what we are looking for with the movement while the other demos the movement.

2)   Getting equipment setup is easier with 2 coaches.  For example, one coach can be warming people up while the other is setting up racks and bars for the press or other skill introduction/review.

3)   2 coaches mean clients get more attention.  This is especially important when you have a few folks in the class with movement limitations.

4)   At the end of the workout one coach can run stopwatch and call out times while the other records times on the board

5)   Great dynamicism between coaches.  New clients get exposed to more than one of your coaches and are then more comfortable trying different class times.

6)   A second coach helps streamline the closing process at the end of the 12 sessions helping to get these 10 new folks signed up for ongoing classes.

4 sessions, 8 sessions or 12 sessions?

Many folks have modified the On Ramp and have either a 4 or 8 session intro class.  If you feel folks are adequately prepared to join your regular classes after 4 sessions then by all means.  For us 12 sessions allows us to accomplish several things:

1)   Introductory exposure to movements with multiple opportunities to review, especially the three key lifts: deadlift, press, and squat.  In my opinion one exposure to each of these lifts is not enough to have a new individual safely migrate into a larger group class.

2)   12 sessions spans a full month and with nutrition compliance folks will see body composition changes in addition to improving their baseline workout times.  These results are what sells your program and increases your conversion rate.

3)   12 sessions in a beginners group allows folks to bond with one another.  By the end they are asking each other what times they are planning on training in the Elements classes…they want to continue the relationship.

Success rate

Success rate is measured two ways.

First: How prepared are individuals exiting the On Ramp upon entering ongoing classes?  Do they feel well prepared and confident?

We constantly get feedback from new clients about how professional our coaches are and how pleased they were to not be thrown in the deep end.   Clients feel well taken care of and well prepared.  Their initial feelings of intimidation about starting a strength and conditioning program completely dissipate when they are in a safe environment of beginners with quality coaches.  If you can make a great impression and demonstrate the success of your program in 1 month you are far more likely to have folks who want to sign up for more!

Second: conversion rate.  How many folks sign up for ongoing classes at the conclusion of the On Ramp?

Occasionally you will get a 100% conversion rate, but if you average across 12 months of On Ramps most folks end up with somewhere around a 75% average conversion rate.  You should be tracking this.  After every On Ramp you run you should calculate your conversion rate.  Track this over time and always work to improve it.  This conversion rate, along with your attrition rate are the two largest factors (mathematically speaking) that control the growth of your gym and ultimately your profitability.

I know many of you are using the initial version of the NorCal On Ramp as a template in your business.  Please feel free to share your experiences and findings!

Here is the third installment in a 5 part series of interviews with current CrossFit Affiliate owners.  If you missed the first two be sure to check out my introduction and Part 1 as well as Part 2.  Enjoy!

How long have you been “open for business?”

3 years.

How many hours do you typically work per week in/on your business?

I work about 80 hours a week.  About 30 of this is training time, and about 50 is “business time”.  To get everything done I need to get done would take about 100 hours a week.

Did you leave another job to open your gym?  Are you making more or less money now?

I had a pretty cushy but frustrating day job.  I was making a little over $100k per year, but wasn’t challenged (except with bureaucracy) and wasn’t very happy.

I kept my day job for the first year we were in business, working five days a week at my day job and 6 days a week at the gym.

I’m not making nearly as much now.

Is owning and running a gym different than you imagined? How so?

Training is the easy part.  Getting to interact with folks that want to work hard is great.

It’s dealing with what Mr. Al Swearengen collectively would call: The Cocksuckers from Yankton that causes one to wonder why they started a business (Crossfit or no).  These include but are not limited to those that would collect sales and income tax, mandate recycling plans, institute health codes, create idiotic accounting standards, idiotic bankers, worthless city officials, 99% of commercial realtors, people that want to sell you stuff, and people that generally want to take advantage of you.

Knowing what you know now, would you choose to do it again? Why or why not?

Probably not.  I think back to the simplicity that was my early days training at a Crossfit affiliate, having a comfy day job, being able to spend time with friends and family.

For the past three years I’ve barely seen or talked to my family, I see my pre-Crossfit friends maybe once every two months, and it’s been all I can do to keep my relationships together.

I work day in and day out constantly and while many of my clients know this, I still get the occasional “What do you do all day?” that frustrates the fuck out of me. Have you looked at the schedule asshole?  When’s the last time you didn’t see me at the gym?  Is that water bottle you left on the ground going to magically float itself into the garbage can?  No, I’m going to pick up after you.

No matter how much you love training, you will burn out if you don’t rest and find some work/life balance (which doesn’t mean work/drink balance).  The only issue is that most folks can’t survive or thrive without tossing most of their life out for the business.

I don’t really think this is Crossfit-business specific.  Talking to restaurant owners, architects, lawyers, software techs, etc, if you go out on your own you are going to work your ass off and stress out WAY more than you did when you got a paycheck.

If so what would you do differently?

I have no clue what I would do differently as I am dug deep into this lifestyle and profession.

What about your business frustrates you the most?

Assholes.  This would include anyone that thinks they are entitled to your time, money or property, which is mainly people in government and sometimes schmucks who just feel entitled.

Not to be confused with Asshole Clients – those self select out quickly.  Those that stay we push out quickly.

What about your business brings you the most joy?

Being a part of the excitement that comes with getting stronger and fitter.  Make no mistake, that feeling loses it’s potency over the years.  The first time you help a woman deadlift her bodyweight you’re on cloud nine.  However, the 1000th time you do it, she’s really super excited, and you’re just like “Meh….”.

Crossfit still attracts (mostly) people that want to work hard though.  That’s a great filter to have for your business.  While douchebags will creep into the mix every now and then, most are really salt of the earth type folks.  This goes for coaches and athletes alike.

Reflecting back to when you opened would you consider yourself well-prepared for owning a business? What were your strengths and weaknesses?

No, and I’ve never met a gym owner that was.  Every single Crossfit gym owner I’ve talked to is fatter, stressed out, and more tired then they were before they opened.  Most still love it, but they are beat to shit.

Now there’s something to be said for being beat to shit and still doing it.  I certainly look at my life before opening a gym and say “If I could have been this productive at my old job, the shit that I could have accomplished would have been amazing!”

And that’s the rub: you put out this much when you have to put out this much.  In my comfy day job which included poking on facebook and sending funny YouTube videos, I didn’t have a big downside.  Once you take away the lifeline that is the paycheck, shit gets real.  So you will do whatever you have to to survive.

But that’s more or less an aside.  The biggest things that you can do as a gym owner, and what I did passably well, was:

Keep the main thing the main thing: Training athletes.  Go ahead and fuck up the other stuff, because nothing is more important.

Never let them see you sweat.  This goes for athletes, coaches, realtors, bankers, etc.  For athletes, they pay you to train them and to have a good time doing it.  Nobody wants to train with a Jewish Mother, “Ohhhh, my job is so hard.”  You wear board shorts all day, stop complaining.

The plan never survives first enemy contact.  Everything you plan on doing will not work as planned.  Figure out when to push through and figure out when to change the plan.

Keep your place extremely clean and extremely organized.  This will make everything run smoother, attract clientele who will appreciate and pay for that, and dissuade slobs who can’t follow directions from training with you.

Delegate.  Everything that you don’t want to do, pay somebody else to do it.  Ideally this is a professional who does it for a living (Accounting, Bookkeeping, Real Estate, Legal, etc).  You will probably get fucked half the time you barter with clients.

Get a lawyer, do everything in writing, avoid partners if at all possible.  If you don’t, you will get fucked.

Don’t think that just because you’re successful you’re good or you have a clue what you’re talking about.  You might just be lucky.

Don’t use Mindbody Online (sorry Nicki….).

Did you have experience coaching prior to opening?

Very little.  I had a background in teaching, which helped a little, and I’m a giant extrovert, which helps a lot.  Introverts will get eaten alive in this job.

Do you feel you are sufficiently financially rewarded for the amount of time you’ve invested in your business?

No chance.  If you calculated my hourly wage (which I’ve done) I make less than minimum wage.

Do you see yourself doing this (owning/operating a microgym) 10 years from now?

Maybe, but if so it’ll be as someone that manages coaches and a facility, not athletes. Coaching athletes is great, but at some point you’ve got to shift focus if you want to continue to grow.

On the other hand, I have a “Grass is Always Greener” fantasy where I sell my big gym and open a garage gym.  I just train a few athletes a couple times a week and work out when I feel like it.

I call this my “Crossfit Avalon” business plan, because the same shit will happen as my big gym, but in my the fantasy land I created, everybody gets fitter, they pay on time, nobody gets tendonitis in their elbow, and nobody that wants to sell tshirts or protein powder knows my email address.

As a current CrossFit affiliate, what are the benefits of affiliation as you see them? In your estimation and in your particular circumstance are they worth the price?

Yes, absolutely.  Regardless of your opinion of which direction Crossfit is going, the info out there that was available when I started Crossfitting was unparallelled for the synergy (If you haven’t broken out your “Business Buzzword Bingo” sheet, now’s the time) of sophistication and digestibilty to a layman.

I could wrap my head around simple concepts like “Word-Class Fitness in 100 Words.” The early Crossfit Journal articles and early input on business practices from guys like Skip Chase blew my mind.

While I don’t program anything like Crossfit mainsite WODs, there’s still value in being affiliated.  I do a combination of Olympic lifting and gymnastics (very similar to what Robb talks about all the time) and have found my injury level and overall health have increased dramatically.  We do the same thing for our clients, but still give them the conditioning piece because that’s what attracts them at the outset.

I don’t know many people at the three, four, or five year mark in Crossfit that are still hitting it hard 3 on – 1 off and doing Hero WODs every few days.  I don’t know anybody that can do that.

Now maybe I’ll turn out to be wrong, maybe that’s what we need to do to get fitter.  But I look and feel pretty fit and still have some respectable benchmark WOD times, but I don’t need or want a 30 round Cindy.  The level of pain, suffering, and agony to get that isn’t worth it to me.

Maybe that means I’m a pussy, but I can live with that.

How close is the nearest affiliate to your place of business.  How has this affected your business?  

Pass.

What if any trends do you see among new affiliates?

Around here, it’s pretty much the same hit or miss type stuff. Folks make the same mistakes that we made (and I don’t know how to not make many of them).  There’s a mixture of technicians, yellers, doctrine thumpers, anti-doctrine thumpers, Slipknot fans, Ke$ha fans, etc.

The biggest trend I see is that inputs and outputs are very linear. The big things that will help/hinder you are:

Have your shit together.  Are you organized, punctual, and a hard worker?

Know your shit.  Do you have a steeping in both Crossfit and Strength & Conditioning?

Your shit does stink.  Do you think you know it all or do you think there’s probably another better way to do things?

Don’t be a shithead.  Be nice, be professional, charge what you’re worth.

Would you consider yourself an introvert (you gain energy from having time alone) or extrovert (you gain energy from being around others)?

See above.  Extrovert.  I will coach all day every day.  The only reason I don’t is because my wife would kill me.

What advice or words of wisdom would you give to someone considering opening a microgym or similar fitness studio?

Look at the area you are thinking about opening in.  In the military, this is called terrain analysis and this will affect everything.  You don’t fight a tank battle in the Hindu Kush – you also don’t open a large/expensive retail Crossfit in Bumfuck.

Figure out if there’s some small shred of demand and income – otherwise you’re going to spend a lot of time working out by yourself in a really nice facility.  You can’t change the terrain, so you have to change the plan.

What is the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn?

Get everything in writing via a lawyer.  90% of rules are made for 10% of the people. Most folks know what’s right and what’s wrong and have a basic level of etiquette.  Those 10% suck.

Most folks that know me will not be surprised if I say “Hi, My name is Robb, I’m a geek.” My name is in fact Robb, and yes, I am a geek. Most folks (other than my wife) might be surprised if I say “Hi, I’m Robb, I’m super lazy.” Now, people might be surprised by this because I do a fair amount of blogging, podcasting, traveling, tweeting and facebooking. So, I am in fact doing a lot of stuff, but I’m lazy in that I’m always looking for the easier way. In economic or business terms I’m looking for ROI (return on investment). If you put $100K into investments, do you want 10% return or 15% return? 15% return seems pretty obvious, right? What if the ROI options are 10% and 15% but to get the 10% you can live a happy, healthy fulfilled life, but in order to get that 15% ROI you have to work so hard you are miserable, depressed, immune compromised and will likely shorten your life? How much shorter might that life be? Average lifespan in North America is about 75 years, so let’s say for you to get that 15% ROI your average lifespan will likely drop to 55-60 years. Does that give you pause? For most people it should, but the (possibly) interesting thing about this is that what I’m describing here is the difference between recreational athletics/ “fitness” (10% “easy” ROI) and ELITE performance (15% costly ROI).

There are a number of concepts that describe this process, perhaps the most popular is the “law of diminishing returns.” In athletic or fitness terms what this means is we can typically get reasonably “fit” or competent at a given activity with relatively low time and effort investment, but if we want to climb to the top and be “elite” it’s going to cost us. I’ve been thinking about these concepts for quite some time and wrote about it in the Performance Menu back in 2005   and did some blogging on the topic in 2007 . The basic idea is this: We can make decisions in life that will accentuate one of these 3 variables: Performance, Health & Longevity.

Performance is the ability to “do stuff”. This is NOT exclusively work capacity, as the Performance of many tasks requires a high degree of technicality, and virtually no work capacity. Olympic archery is a good example.

Health is the moment to moment likelihood that you will continue to live. Do you have cancer, low immunity or are so weak and compromised that if you trip and fall you will break a hip and die from the complications?

Longevity is simply Health, extrapolated over time.

Now it’s important to recognize that we can tweak how we live to alter probabilities of how Performance, Health and Longevity will manifest in our lives. If we practice severe calorie restriction with adequate nutrition (CRAN) we will increase our likelihood of living a long time (we have great data on this in animal studies ranging from fruit flies to primates) but our Performance will be terrible and interestingly, our Health may be impacted. Organisms undergoing CRAN cannot be exposed to significant temperature variations, injury or infection or they are actually MORE likely to die. Individuals practicing CRAN must severely limit potential stressors or they may actually die early, all while having terrible overall Performance due to low muscle mass and compromised fitness due to low calorie intake. Perhaps at the other end of the spectrum is the hard training, elite athlete that shortens lifespan and compromises health due to a blistering training volume, wear and tear and a large food intake. The net effect is a large oxidative load which damages DNA, and negatively alters both hormonal and immunological function. If we consider the Performance, Health and Longevity of our hunter-gatherer ancestors  we observe good levels of fitness (strength, muscle mass, endocrine & immune function) but certainly not ELITE performance levels as compared to modern top-tier athletes. Modern athletics literally pushes the envelope of human performance with the difference between 1^st and 10^th place often being fractions of seconds, kilograms or centimeters.

Ok, What the Hell does this have to do with me?

Running a gym for over 8 years I’ve observed many folks are not aware of the Law of Diminishing Returns nor the costs involved with going from “good” to “elite.” Let me qualify this a bit before I go on: If I’m approached by an athlete who WANTS to compete at a high level (I’m coaching folks at the Olympic Training Center, elite levels of MMA and world caliber level in their respective sports)  I keep in mind these ideas of Performance, Health and Longevity and I make recommendations to minimize the negative impacts of training load, stress and all that goes into elite performance, but at the end of the day the name of the game for these folks is WINNING. We run with training volumes and intensities, food amounts and types (maltodextrin shakes?) that I know are not great for the health and longevity of my athlete but are integral to optimizing Performance. 99% of my clients (and I’d guess most coaches and trainers clients) do not fall into this competitive athletics bracket.

Folks want to look good, have community and be challenged. What I see happening however is a tendency for coaches to prescribe “more” instead of Quality. Coaches lose site that folks can be just as excited by the acquisition of new skills (front levers, hand-stands etc.) as improvements in mixed modal metabolic work IF we create a culture that VALUES skill based work, periodization and planning.  Even if people want to compete in something like the CrossFit Games (which is certainly pushing the limits of human performance…with all the potential downsides we see in other sports) we can tackle programming in such as way that minimizes burnout and actually optimizes performance. Strength and technical work should make up the lions share of training for most of the year with capacity being maintained/expanded by alterations in Accumulation phases and Intensification phases followed by Competition and Recovery phases.

See work by Siff, Zastiorski and  Verkoshanski for concepts of block periodization and athletic peaking. I’d also recommend reading what OPT has written on the differences between Training and Testing.

The role of the coach or trainer is always to support the client in his or her chosen endeavor, but it’s helpful (Ethical? Moral?) to also remind clients of the inherent costs of climbing the ladder of Elite performance. This may seem like a stifling, kill-joy type attitude and if you are an Uber-elite coach who only deals with folks endeavoring to be world champions then ignore this whole post, but when you see clients who have made remarkable progress in your program begin to burn out because the only metric of progress is another 5 seconds taken off their “Rosanne” WOD, you as a coach are likely going to lose that client and all the hard work, transformation and history they bring to the table. Not all businesses can be run as a Ponzi Scheme and at some point, if you want to be successful AND do right by your clients, you need to create a culture that allows for progress to be measured (and celebrated) in different ways.

This idea of balancing Performance, Health and Longevity is actually much of the driver behind the curriculum we offer at NorCal Strength & Conditioning. We offer:

1-The OnRamp! This is initial iteration of the beginner’s class developed by my wife, which was published originally in the Performance Menu and given away for FREE to help the community of gyms that we used to be a part of.  May a thousand desert fleas inhabit the nether regions of the folks who have published a plagiarized version of this curiculum. Fracking Wankers.

2-Elements- The class most folks graduate into after completion of the OnRamp! or personal training. Strength work is combined with metabolic conditioning, but only a limited skill set is introduced to ensure safety and proper athletic progression. “Scaling” is a limp-weenied approach to coaching vs PROGRESSION.

3-Level 1- Similar to the Elements class but requires completion of various skills and achievement of performance benchmarks.

4-Level 2- This is a highly technical class with an emphasis on strength work and gymnastics. Some Metabolic work occurs, but it is of a short and highly technical nature (this is a fun recent WO: 3 muscle ups with full turn out at top & bottom, NO KIP, 5 OHS with body weight, handstand walk 30 feet, rounds in 12 min.)

5-Strength Class- This is a block-periodized class that runs in 8 week increments. Volume and intensity are varied over the course of the training, appropriate de-laoding is prescribed to optimize peaking. After the testing week the class does not meet for 1-2 weeks to allow for recovery, then a new block of programming is introduced. PR’s abound.

6-LIFT (a terrible name, Low Intensity Functional Training) This class offers a mix of strength work and metabolic work but no names go on the board, no specific time is prescribed for the WO. A coach takes folks through a typical warm-up, then describes the elements to be trained that day. Perhaps it is DL’s, rope climbs and 50M sprints. After a form review folks begin working their way through the WO, perhaps they perform 3 reps of DL at 75-80% of 1RM. They then work a rope climb (with or without feet based on strength & skill level) then they will walk to the end of a 50M course, and sprint to the other end. That’s one round…but no one cares because we are not keeping track. The class is about fun, community and getting some work done. When you remove the competitive element form errors magically resolve because people are not worried about being “beat”, they are concerned about doing it right. This is our fastest growing class and everyone from beginners to seasoned veterans love it. Men will indeed “Die for points” and not surprisingly they will also ignore coaching and safety at the same time. LIFT addresses this issue while allowing folks to get an outstanding workout.

7-Personal training. Many gyms do not offer this service…you are leaving money on the table if you do not, but what do I know?

This is the current incarnation of our gym, it will likely grow and modify over time but it is again an outgrowth of wanting to be both financially successful AND to do good by our clients. The Performance, Health & Longevity orientation combined with Dave Werner’s Athletic Skill Standards has driven our development and I’d say it’s been pretty damn successful thus far. A wisely constructed program really does offer amazing ROI and I believe optimizes not only Performance, Health and Longevity but also profitability. Perhaps this will be the 5^th component of fitness “being profitable so you can remain in business and continue to help people…”

Interview with an Affiliate part 2

How long have you been “open for business?” 

We began Coaching in 2002 after departing the Military and Affiliated early on in late 2005 early 2006 as one of the first few CrossFit Affiliates.

How many hours do you typically work per week in/on your business?  

I just added these up the other day at dinner and found that I still am averaging 60-hour weeks.  That’s a toss between ALL aspects of the Affiliate from actually coaching the classes, working with one-on-ones, or running day-to-day operations.

Did you leave another job to open your gym?  Are you making more or less money now? 

I left a job as a personal trainer at another local fitness chain, but I am definitely making more money now than the hour-to-hour client-to-client.  The “house” took a big chunk of the hourly rate and 1099ed us.  In the end, the “house” won.

Is owning and running a gym different than you imagined? How so?

Owning/running the Affiliate is exactly what I had imagined.  I knew in advance that there would be more required on the back end; moreover, the recruitment of new clients, training of staff, maintenance/cleaning the facility, repairing/ordering new equipment, city meetings, neighbor relations, PR Campaigns, website/blog/facebook/newsletter design, media kits, apparel design and sales, extracurricular events and of course retention of clients is a business all to itself.

Knowing what you know now, would you choose to do it again? Why or why not? 

Absolutely…I would just go about it a completely different way.

We spent the first two years piecing together equipment as we grew.  Finding gear here, finding gear there.  Now you have companies like Rogue where $100,000 worth of gear can be spent in 15 minutes.  Upon the arrival of all the gear you are set in one purchase.  It seems just much easier today to stand-up an Affiliate than it was even 4 years ago.

If so what would you do differently? 

I would NOT hire from within.  Whether or not that model has worked for your readers it has not proven sufficient for me.  I don’t care what Glassman has said about it…it simply does not translate into immediate professionals.  Clients take easily a year if not more to respect properly another client turned Intern turned Assistant turned Coach.  It just makes much more sense to properly hire a dedicated staff that includes Coaches and Office Assistants.

What about your business frustrates you the most?

The part that frustrates me the most is simply the small percentage of our clients that are just on auto-pilot.  They take zero responsibility for their existence and decisions, and no matter what the Staff does to help motivate them they seem to just “get by.”  Luckily we’ve just gotten to the point where we’d rather see negative clients just leave before they drag the others down.

What about your business brings you the most joy? 

It would indeed be the complete opposite of the previous question.  Our clients that excel almost of their own accord.  They “get it” almost right away and are seen as leaders even among normal group classes.  It’s wonderfully refreshing to see that type of charismatic energy to help balance out the others.

Reflecting back to when you opened would you consider yourself well-prepared for owning a business? What were your strengths and weaknesses?

Reflecting back to Day 1, I can say that I was well prepared to asses my clients, help them develop a set of goals, help to develop a training program to drive them towards success, and of course monitor and adjust the training as we progressed.  BUT…I was not well-prepared for all the “other” stuff that came along with it.  I was very happy to have a business partner that I could rely on.

Did you have experience coaching prior to opening? 

Yes, I had completed multiple schools in the Military that stressed both small unit leadership in stressful environments as well as technical and tactical proficiency that led to numerous leadership positions.  As well, I completed multiple academic courses in both medical and physical fitness curriculum that led to my ability to coach and train clients and small group classes as a civilian for a few years prior.  As well, I had coached at the interscholastic level in four different sports.

Do you feel you are sufficiently financially rewarded for the amount of time you’ve invested in your business? 

Depending on how one defines “sufficiently rewarded” I would say that yes I am…but I may not be in comparison to other Affiliate owners.  I don’t own my building.  I rent a nice home, but don’t own.  The bills are paid, and I’m helping put my fiance through school.  We eat well, train hard, but don’t take extravagant vacations.  My career still “owns me” as I know I can’t take more than a week off at a time…but that is changing.  I am in no hurry to retire, but know that it won’t be any time soon.

Do you see yourself doing this (owning/operating a microgym) 10 years from now? 

Yes, although the capacity with which I operate it may not be the same.

As a current CrossFit affiliate, what are the benefits of affiliation as you see them? In your estimation and in your particular circumstance are they worth the price?

For the last few years the benefits have simply been the name.  We pay $500 a year and have easily made the ROI worth it.  As CF has become more and more popular the overall quality of the brand has indeed been diluted.  I was the first of 3 in our entire County, of which now we’re closing in on 50.  That’s correct…50!  And as you all well know, no one Affiliate is the same.  That means that there are at least 50 different flavors of a similar thing.  Good you think?  I think not.  The consumer today is a heck of a lot more confused as to “what” CrossFit is from box-to-box.  I have had numerous clients come from other boxes expecting “HERO” WODS and other 45 min. plus WODS every day…when they get here they do not understand why our training is both not mainsite and/or why it has a different approach.

How close is the nearest affiliate to your place of business.  How has this affected your business?  

Straight-line distance there is an Affiliate 160m away.  If you “run” around the blocks we exist on each other’s warm-up loops.  These were Level 1 Instructors that either quit our box or I fired from our box.  Little did I know that prior to the quitting and firing that they had plans to Affiliate together with another couple from my box.  Its not only affected my business, but I really made the clients feel as though they needed to “pick sides” as if this was a childish game of dodgeball.  In the end, their extra-low entry level prices, deep discounts to our existing members, and low-ball business strategies have made them look even more unprofessional than the original back-alley deals to jump ship.

What if any trends do you see among new affiliates?  

I see an alarmingly scary trend to “Crossfit” their clients into the ground.  In a recent observance of the two newest Affiliates, I’ve seen both program multiple week long sessions of 45 min+. “chipper” sessions back-to-back…how in the world can anyone even recover from this nonsense training.  I added up the volume per week and its seriously in the 1000+rep range…every week for no less than 3 weeks.  Really?

Would you consider yourself an introvert (you gain energy from having time alone) or extrovert (you gain energy from being around others)? 

Serious extrovert…I lead from the front.  I do what I say, and say what I do.  I can’t imagine being a lead Coach/owner of an Affiliate that is anything but.

What advice or words of wisdom would you give to someone considering opening a microgym or similar fitness studio? 

Simply put…Find a successful mentor and ask questions.  Then shut-up and listen.  If they are successful it’s because they have made all the mistakes that you will make, and they have learned from them already.

What is the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn? 

The hardest lesson has been the ability to pick and build my team that I surround myself with daily.  I was WAY too naive in the first round of my business and got burned by those I thought were friends and colleagues.  Who I am today though has been a consistent development and those lessons learned have created a better Coach in me.

If you have trainers that train at multiple locations (other gyms besides yours) and who come to you as accomplished professionals (you are not providing ANY training nor are you telling them in any way HOW to do their job, and they bring their own equipment/tools to do their job, then maybe you legitimately have independent contractors.  However, this is not the case in most microgyms.

Here’s the deal: the government is on a tear trying to find places to pick up lost revenue.  One of the places they are targeting is the small business that has contractors who in fact should be classified as employees.  If they find your contractors are indeed employees you are liable for back payroll taxes on all the earnings this person has made under your roof.  We’re talking big dollars here.  Big enough dollars that could put you out of business.  It doesn’t matter if they pay “rent” or even if they’ve signed an “independent contractor agreement”.  None of that matters if you are audited and are found to have misclassified your folks as contractors.  Apparently top targets of this type of audit are fitness studios and hair salons.

In the end you really need to make some basic decisions about what you want out of your business.  Do you want a microgym that just makes ends meet (covers all operating expenses) and allows you a place to train? Cool.  Do you have a few friends that are trainers and you all want to run your own independent operations out of the facility, co-op style? Ok, fine.  It’s totally up to you.  In this case I would recommend each person have an equal stake in the overhead and liability (everyone’s name is on the line so that one person is not stuck holding the bag at some point)…although having partners of any kind is usually a horrible idea, so you’d be better off doing the whole operation solo….but that’s the topic of an altogether different post.

If however, you want to build a business that has VALUE and is considered an ASSET (ie not only provides you a place to do what you love, but also generates income, provides a return on your investment (monetary and sweat equity), and is saleable) then you will need to have systems and you will need to have employees to carry out those systems. You will want some uniformity within the client experience.  Obviously all trainers and coaches have different personalities and coaching styles, which is great!  But you will want some integration of basic principles, some continuity in curriculum for the brand new client (prerequisite mobility and movement mastery prior to entering group classes), etc. You will want your folks classified as employees.

Here are some of the most common objections to hiring employees:

I don’t want to bring all my folks on as employees, I don’t trust all of them.

Red flag. Why do you even have them as IC’s if you don’t trust them?  If you don’t trust someone they should not be operating in a professional capacity (representing your business) in the first place. Period.  Bring on the folks that are your top performers and who you view to be valuable to your business.

Hire promising folks on a probationary status and set performance parameters that must be met within a certain time frame.  If they don’t meet them they don’t progress past probationary status. End of line. (Bonus points for you if you know the sci fi reference I just made J)

How much does it cost?

Yes it costs money to have employees.  You must pay payroll taxes and workers compensation.  This is why you must be careful when structuring your pay schedule.  If you have your best paid folks bringing in 70% of their private training you are covering costs (typically around 2.5-3% in workers comp, 17% in payroll taxes) and not really making much money from these sessions.  Especially when you also consider the 2-3% in merchant processing fees if clients are paying via CC. Depending on your group class margins you can afford to have your best folks making top dollar.  Especially if they are pro-active and hustle to bring folks in the door.

How can I pay them such that they make good money and they are employees? I can’t afford to pay benefits.

Most microgyms and small fitness studios do not have the margins to pay employee benefits.  But it also depends on what you are paying your folks. The facility I know of that does offer benefits only pays out 40% of private training earnings (thus there is ample margin to pay benefits)…if you pay your folks a larger % of their training then there may not be any margin for benefits. There are big tradeoffs however as your staff likely gets to create their own schedule and has a relatively fun/relaxed/flexible work environment.

I don’t know how to do all the payroll paperwork!

Outsource it!  It is highly likely you are not an expert at running payroll and calculating and paying all the necessary payroll taxes.  Hire a professional to do this.  You do not need another responsibility or another task on your plate.  There are great payroll companies that make it easy for you to do what you’re best at without the headache.  Your payroll rep will call you every two weeks, you report the gross earnings of each of your staff members and they are paid via direct deposit.  You don’t have to physically be there to sign checks. You can be on vacation and your team will still get paid! Paychex and ADP are two examples of payroll companies that do this. If you are using a business management software like MindBody Online you can run a staff payroll report in a snap and have the numbers ready for your payroll representative.  Easy.

Something else to consider:

A facility I’ve been working with is currently making the move from contractors to employees.  One of the contracted trainers was a fairly flakey individual who disappeared off the scene amidst this transition. Well, one of this individual’s clients showed up wanting his money back for the $800 training package he purchased.  The client gave the money to the trainer.  The trainer split the scene.  The business is still liable to refund the client’s money.  The clients of a business have no idea how you are structured.  And they will always come to the storefront with any complaints, etc.  If you own the storefront any contractor liabilities are your liabilities. Ultimately you are responsible and it’s your job to make the customer happy (if you care to build a good reputation that is).

As you can see, how you structure your business is vitally important, including who you bring on in a professional capacity and the manner in which you build your team.

One major pitfall is the come one, come all approach to having new folks off the street jump in on your group classes.  There are numerous issues with the come one come all approach, including liability, lack of rapport and inability to deliver your best coaching to your existing clients (you will always be catering to that brand new person on their first day to the resulting disservice of your veteran athletes).  And it’s not the best scenario for the newbie either…they are usually intimidated and nervous and are fearful of looking silly or not being able to keep up.

A beginner class removes the intimidation factor that is inherent with most newbies as well as provides a solid foundation that is necessary as your business grows.  It allows for you to build rapport with new clients as well as demonstrate your abilities as a coach thus highlighting the services you offer.  At the end of the On Ramp you should have a fresh batch of excited, well-prepared group clients!

When I wrote the On Ramp I had one question in mind: “What movements do I want new group clients to know and have some baseline exposure to, upon entry into our existing classes?” CrossFit preaches the “mechanics, consistency, intensity” mantra, but too often we see newer coaches and trainers bypass the mechanics and consistency and jump right to intensity with new clients.  Not only does this do a disservice to the new client, it will ultimately be harmful to your bottom line.

The On Ramp was intended as a template that could be modified and adjusted for your particular gyms and particular coaching styles.  Even in our own gym the curriculum has grown and changed since it’s original incarnation.  I’ve received emails from other folks who have made some modifications to the curriculum to reflect particular movement emphasis of their gyms and I think it’s great.

I know Laurie and Kurtis Bowler of Rainier CrossFit have incorporated some strong man elements into their On Ramp curriculum as they do many strong man movements in their classes and want new folks to have that exposure upon completion of the On Ramp.  Makes sense right?

Some folks have shortened the On Ramp to an 8 session program and if these gyms are generally seeing a fairly well conditioned, younger, orthopedically sound demographic I can see the logic in that.  For our demographic 12 sessions seems to be right on the money.  There is beauty in getting folks to commit to something for 1 month.  If they can stick it out for a month they will likely hang with you long term. Not to mention the improvements seen after just 12 sessions!  Clients are so excited about such a significant improvement in their fitness after just one month they are ready to see what they can do in a year! It effectively removes the need to sell your program.  The client’s own success sells it!

I’m done with the preamble. Now for the bastardization…

It’s come to my attention that some affiliates are not just changing and modifying a few things here and there to support their unique situation…they are completely bastardizing it!  Let me explain…and forgive me if you sense my irritation.  Again, what is the purpose of the On Ramp?  To introduce BEGINNERS to the movements they will subsequently see in your program.  So why on God’s green earth would it ever make sense to introduce a MAX EFFORT on DAY 3 of a BEGINNER program?????  On their first exposure to a movement???? Sorry if I’m being a bit harsh here, but when I heard this I wanted scream out loud.  Clearly the point of a beginner program has been lost on this affiliate.

I have also seen some affiliates advertising a “3 day On Ramp”!  In my opinion no one off the street is going to be prepared for group classes after 3 days of exposure to movements including the slow barbell lifts, rope climbs, dumbbell variants of the quick lifts, rowing mechanics and pull up modifications and variants.  Three days does not allow for mechanics, let alone consistency and intensity.  The intensity that is inherent in CrossFit programming is more powerful than new coaches and trainers understand in the beginning.  It needs to be respected.

One last thing…not only is a 3 day program not enough exposure it does not demonstrate the power of the program…there is not going to be a significant improvement in fitness nor the resultant feeling of success on the part of the client.  In my opinion it’s not an “On Ramp”…

Ok.  Forgive my rant.  I just had to get it out.

On a lighter note….check out one of my favorite NorCal leprechauns celebrating his favorite holiday of the year