It was a busy weekend full of socializing and family time!

Saturday, I helped out with the Grand Opening of Highbar CrossFit in Ashburn, VA. The guys have been open almost six months and it was time to officially welcome everyone. It was a great event – and seeing all the people there, socializing, working out, and supporting these guys was great to see. I know a lot of people out there think I am my own kind of crazy – getting up early all the time to workout, sharing information about how it changes lives, sharing milestones and breakthroughs. It’s no secret I love it but the other part i love is seeing it change other people’s lives and bringing people together. I know I have mentioned before how many amazing people I have met through my own fitness expedition – but to get to see firsthand it changing others, creating relationships, and bringing a new found sense of self to others is the bigger bonus for me. Doesn’t happen all the time, but you would be surprised at how often it does.

The guys from Highbar are also young, smart and ambitious. Here they are – making a go at owning their own business- The American Dream. They are putting in the work. They share a passion to help coach and transform people. It’s more than just giving instruction on someone’s power clean – it’s believing that they can do it and they are worth the attention and effort to get them there.

From my experience, if you lose passion and focus in the core of the business you are in, it shows. It starts to show itself in small issues and then over time, those issues become the big ones that in most cases are insurmountable. A lot of people, after finding CrossFit, decide they want to open a gym. The thing that they forget is that running a gym isn’t at the core of what they love. Highbar is all about the passion. These guys went to school for this – it is what they are going after. It is not a second career they found later in life that they are doing so they can quit their jobs and make money. They are making the sacrifices now to invest in what they are passionate about. Following their passion — and it shows. It shows in the effort they put in with their programming, their coaching and right down to their gym.

They aren’t a fancy gym – having just started out. They are building it slowly so they set up a good foundation. Too many gyms out there decide to go big before they are ready – and forget about the core principles of running a small business.

I’m reading this book entitled How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins and although it’s about the lessons one can learn from looking at some of the giant corporations that have fallen and no longer exist (think Circuit City, Zenith), the principles discussed can be applied to small businesses as well. Once you lose sight of your driving principles and become so wrapped up in the riches – you start to fall from grace. You have to keep focusing, redefining and most importantly, listening to your customers.

As with anything, it comes down to people. You can have all the fancy technology in the world at your disposal, but if you ignore the people around you and what they are trying to tell you, verbally or by their actions, then you are your own worst enemy.

I constantly hear about people talking about opening their own CrossFit gyms. They catch the bug and think it will be super fun. I am sure there are a ton of fun aspects of it — but at the core, you are running a small business and the same crap others go through – you will go through and many times, your customers have way more passion for CF than you even thought possible. Have you ever dealt with someone that has OD’d on passion? Everything you say and do has extra meaning and it can be exhausting.

I watched a recent story on CrossFit and Greg Glassman by Bloomberg:  CrossFit: C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and what struck me was when it came to asking about money, all of the people they talked to shied away from actually answering the question. We all know CrossFit is making a lot of money Then Mr Glassman said -“The ones that have the passion are making all the damn money.” It got me asking:

Who are all these CrossFit Affiliates that are making all the money? I know a lot of box owners and none of them are dripping in cash. I came across this blog post that I thought was interesting and more realistic than many of the others that seem to sugar coat it: So You Want To Start A CrossFit Affiliate?

Just some food for thought if you are in the mindset of yeah, it would be fun running a CrossFit gym.

strength
squat cleans
wod
kb swings
burpees