I wrote an article for the CrossFit Journal back in 2009.  I believe it applies even more today than ever before.  Click the pic to be directed to the CrossFit Journal to read the FREE article.

Here are some of the questions I was just asked.

1)     How do I deal with not having enough equipment/money?

2)     What about having noobs (see “new people”) show up along with experienced members?

3)     How do I deal with random numbers of people showing up or not having enough space to train a large class?

4)     How do I explain the cost that most people think is way too high?

5)     What are the equipment must haves for a Garage Gym?

6)     Do you increase your fees after expanding into a larger space?

7)     What about boot camp specials in parks?

These are in no specific order so I’m going to answer them in my own order.

Me after a WOD in the Ole' Garage Gym

Let’s start with money and what you charge people.

First understand your competitors.  Pricing your service is not difficult.  What is around you offering a similar service?  In most cases you have Globogyms and personal trainers.  From there you can get the Boot Camps stuff sprinkled in as well.  Globo’s charge anywhere from $25 a month to $200 (yes, $200 would be an Equinox type place.  Or a Day Spa as I like to call em).  Personal training can start at $45 an hour and then up top $200/hour.  Boot camps are like $25-$50 an hour I believe.  I don’t know them too well.

So lets break that down.  Globo’s charge you in hopes you don’t come and workout.  They offer no coaching/training and lame machines you don’t know how to use.  But they will have a sweet sauna you can sit in, maybe.  Personal training, assuming you go 3-4x’s a week add up to anywhere from $500-$700 on the cheap side a month.  I know guys who spend near $1,000 a month on personal training.

Lets say you charge $200 a month as your cost.  Assuming a member comes 3-4x’s a week and their cost is $16.66 to $12.50 a session for group personal training.  Charge less and the cost can get as low as $6-$7 bucks an hour.  This is less than most people’s latte’s.

Don’t undervalue your service.

So price is not really the issue, communicating your value is the issue.  When you quote price to people, ask them how often they plan on coming and tell them your hourly rate is $6.  Quote your price backwards sometimes and see what happens; just a thought for you.  The main reason your friends and loved ones may think your price is high is because in their mind you are NOT an expert.  They might not question a “certified personal trainer” charging $75/hour but you are you, so…  Funny how assumed expertise affects people’s perception of value, right?  Understand your value and what you are providing.

Let’s move on to expanding.

As you expand in either equipment purchases or space remember that your “tribe” your members are along for the ride, so let them be a part of it.  If you need to buy new equipment ask the members what they would like and offer suggestions that could happen if you had X or Y.  If they think that would be awesome and want you to go for it, raise their dues slightly to cover the cost or recoup the expense.  They will understand.  These people are not simple consumers of your product; they are part of something bigger than themselves and will have no issue contributing to the tribe’s growth.  This goes the same with expanding into a bigger space.  If you feel insecure about bumping the pricing on them, tell them they are grandfathered in for 6 months or a year before they will be bumped.  It’s really a no-brainer but it’s semi-awkward so start talking to them early.  Ask them how they feel about moving, getting new space, equipment, etc… Create the buzz and watch what happens.  Don’t just spring it on them.

Now let’s talk logistics.

This is my favorite topic simply because it’s the creative space I love to play in.

Tons of things can happen while running your gym.  1 person shows up, 20 shows up the next day, 5 new people show up unannounced who have never CrossFitted before, you don’t have enough equipment, it rains, something breaks pre or mid-WOD, etc… The list goes on and on.

You have to be creative and flexible.  If you can’t think on the spot, have a list of workouts you can audible into.  Limited equipment uses?  Create WOD’s like Fight Gone Bad, where you can cycle through the equipment you have in stations or start workouts in heats with the fast people first.  The ideas are only limited by the though work you want to put into it to be prepared.  Make sure you know how to scale absolutely every WOD you program so if new people just show up you can handle it.

Of course the other way to handle all this is to force people to sign up for classes and come at specific times.  I’ve tried this and guess what, even when I posted on my website and told ALL my members to NOT bring new people unannounced and to NOT just show up, people still did.  It was unbelievable.  So just be ready.

We graduated to an On Boarding program now and run things differently, but still people show unannounced.

Finally, here is a little advice for marketing your gym.

1) Walk/Jog a 5-10 mile radius of your box and introduce yourself to each and every business

a. Every business is a potential client: think employee discount program, lunch/learns, etc…

b. I know one CrossFit that has a deal going with a real estate company’s members

2) Make sure every athletic store near you has your cards at the cash register

a. Think Dick’s, Sport Chalet, Nick Women, Lululemon, Champs, etc….

b. Make rounds one a week or so to restock

3) Wear your CrossFit shirt every day. Be a walking billboard.

a. No Joke

4) Map out every school / police station / fire station / military

a. Talk to every Athletic Director / Coach / Chief / Captain

b. Offer free seminars / lunch learns

c. Offer free months for new recruits / freshman / etc…

d. Make friend with these people the best you can

Meet people and let your passion and conviction for what you do shine into their lives.

If you have members, befriend them on facebook, give them shoutouts on your webpage, make them stars and legends of your program.

They are your product. If they are not experiencing gains and transformation you are dead in the water.

That’s a start anyway. You have to be vigorous and uncompromising in your preaching and spreading the light about CrossFit. There really is no other way.

Buying Internet space, fancy fliers, great stickers and tshirts. That crap doesn’t work. Passion and a connection and deep love for human beings creates success.

Also, I went ahead and reposted by original post below.  It covers some basics like “Is a garage gym legal” and incorporating versus a sole prop, etc… ENJOY

__________________________________________________________________

Posted 7/23/2009

http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=49155

I have gotten several messages asking me about how my partner and I did what we have done. I decided if this helps anyone, it would be worth it for me. I’ve taken a ton from CrossFit, which gives so freely, so I am compelled to give back.

My Partner Steve and I started a garage gym at my home over 1 year ago. We started following CrossFit at that time and got deep into this world. I blew out a wall in my garage and opened up all 700 square feet of it. We ripped out the carpet and flooring and put down rubber and we started bringing in new equipment one item at a time.

We got certified in San Diego in July 2007, and affiliated soon after. We published a janky website through iWeb and we were off and running.

1 year from getting certified we now operate a 5,000 square foot facility, with 2 bathrooms, 2 showers, 2 small offices, and kick *** stuff. It’s been a long road, but well worth it. We are hiring trainers and expanding rapidly. We updated our web presence and got lucky with one of our key members being a web designer, photographer, and videographer as well who helps us with our web presence. All in all, we are just getting ready to bust out in a HUGE way.

Below are some basics to help you on your way if this is something you plan to do.

1) Save money. Start now. Things get broken; you need more equipment, etc…But don’t buy it until you need it. Out grow your stuff, don’t over spend and try to grow into it. It will turn into a cash suck. If two or more clients ask or inquire about something, go buy that. For example, after countless people complained about us having no water. I bought a $100 water cooler from Costco. Refilled it with tap water when it got empty and people loved it. And open a business account where you bank and DO NOT mix personal and business stuff. Understand what you are making and what you are spending.

2) More than likely, the city you live in will NOT let you legally run a garage gym. You must confirm this is true or not before starting. Know what you are getting into. If it is illegal you have a choice, don’t start a garage gym or break the law. I’m not going to advise you either way.

3) Don’t annoy your neighbors (especially if operating under the legal radar). Scout out a suitable parking place away from your street, preferably at a public park. Have your members jog to your gym from there or ride bikes.

4) Start your schedule at normal, non-annoying times in the afternoon if you can. Don’t start a 6am class and begin dropping heavy deadlifts. This will **** off your neighbors who will complain to the city, who will then try to shut you down.

5) Be open and honest with your neighbors. Let them know you have a gym where some of your friends come workout. Invite them over. It’s up to you whether or not you charge them, but if it’s illegal to run a business I would avoid it. Let them know how important health and fitness is to you and if it does get annoying to them, encourage them to come tell you to shut up. Give them your cell phone and have it near you during the workouts. Do whatever you can to appease and work with your community, not against it.

6) It is not illegal to have a group of people over to your home to workout in your gym. The only thing that is illegal there is if you are breaking noise ordinances with loud music or loud weight dropping noises.

Here is a personal example again.

We outgrew our 6:30pm class (which was the first class we opened) and started a 6pm and 7pm class. We made our members part very far away. Most rode their bikes. After 2-3 months we ****ed off one neighbor so much, I could not longer appease and apologize to him. It might have been when I had one of our guys flip a 300# tire I found in a gully, up and down the alley behind all our houses.  Anyway, he called the city. They called me and told me it was not allowed for me to run a gym. I said I did not know about that and pleaded ignorance. I told him I would stop immediately. And we did. I took the costs off the website and made it 100% free for the next 3 months as Steve and I searched vehemently for a new box.

How did we make it work with no revenue?

We made a gym fund and asked for monthly donations. Every single one of our members supported us. And we grew like wildfire

Now to be honest, I thought I was doing what I could to get around the legal issues. It turns out if this had been escalated to a judge to get me to stop and I tried to hide behind the idea that I was not charging dues, but rather accepting donations, I would probably have lost.

It never came to that, we found the right box, negotiated a killer lease, and the rest is history. We started an S-Corp, got legal counsel, established a relationship with Mindbody and Constant Contact, we are continually revising and improving our business and marketing plan. We are relentless. If you can pursue CrossFit as a business with the intensity that you pursue CrossFit as a workout, nothing can stop you.

Now I know I glanced over a lot here. My partner and I both had others jobs when we started so we could pay the bills. We worked 12-14 hour days. I still work my other job and have no plan to stop. Steve runs our location full time. We have a killer compensation structure and partnership and compliment each others strengths and weaknesses.

I figured this info would be a good way for people to start thinking strategically of how to start. If you want any info, send me a message or reply here. I’m happy to answer anything you would like to know.

If you are local to me and want to get together, I enjoy beer.

See you in the gym.

-Alec

Are you adding to the world and doing everything you can to be who you should be?  Wow, I am currently struggling with that question.  It’s a giant question.  I hope that this question  causes you to think and react as much as it is impacting me.

I hope I can come up with an answer that I can sleep with.  I hope I can react and answer this question when I am 99 years old, about to leave this world, and answer honestly, yes Lord, I did everything I could.

Are you adding to the world and doing everything you can to be who you should be?  Wow, I am currently struggling with that question.  It’s a giant question.  I hope that this question  causes you to think and react as much as it is impacting me.

I hope I can come up with an answer that I can sleep with.  I hope I can react and answer this question when I am 99 years old, about to leave this world, and answer honestly, yes Lord, I did everything I could.

First things first, I’m not Old School CrossFit.  I’m talking the real old school CrossFitters like Brian MacKenzie, Josh Evertt, Chris Spealler, Freddy Camacho, Mike Minium, Skip Chase, Lisbeth Darsh, etc…  Yeah I left off a bunch of cool people, these guys just jumped off the top of my mind.  I consider myself a second year kinda guy.  I always check out these guy’s websites and blogs, seeking to dig out some kernels of gold or pearls of wisdom.

I didn’t start CrossFit when it was truly underground, but I did help build CrossFit Costa Mesa from my lowly garage to the 9,000 square foot gym we are expanding into, when it was the only CrossFit gym in my city and there was only one other CrossFit gym nearby.  And I did get dirt in my lungs for cheering on the valiant heroes of CrossFit at the ranch in Aromas back in the day as well when the Games were there.

Like I said, I consider myself a Second Year CrossFitter and now as I sit back and watch one of the greatest passions in my life, CrossFit, launch into the stratosphere with the explosion that will be this year’s Reebok CrossFit Games, I both smile and cringe with thoughts of the future.  I smile as more and more people are transformed by the community that is CrossFit and at the thought of more people taking ownership of their health and bodies.  That’s why I started my affiliate and that’s why I do everything I can to make it the best place around.

But I also cringe.  I cringe at the articles that come spewing out from the naysayers or the “haters” as we may as well call them.  But I also cringe at the “CrossFitters” who are perpetrating the actions that justify the hate.  That’s why I am writing this today, you see, as  Second Year CrossFitters I’ve learned a few things.A while ago I wrote about “Diluting the Brand” a CrossFit dilemma we will always face with this growing and expanding entity.  I mentioned how Greg Glassman’s view was dead on, how excellence and virtuosity based in a free market will cause the strong to survive and the weak to get better or leave the business.  I’m seeing that happen on a daily basis.Well now I feel called to talk a little bit about CrossFit and common sense.  I find it laughable this even needs to be addressed in regards to CrossFit, but hey, sometimes even I get surprised by other human’s actions.Let me share with you some examples I’ve recently come across in my normal day to day life.

July 19th’s Main site WOD “Manion”
Seven rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
135 pound Back squat, 29 reps

This is a brutal WOD.  I’ve done 30 bodyweight Back Squats at 180# for time after a WOD one day and couldn’t walk right for a week.  Not that I’m some elite CrossFitter by any means, but I knew exactly what 203 back squats at 135# would have done to me.

So many people got pissed about this workout.  The forums exploded with haters.  Mainly because the day before had 30 overhead squats at 135#, two days before that we had Barbara (250 air squats), and the day before that was Front Squat 1-10-1-20-1-30 reps.  So many squats everyone complained.  People blamed the programming, blamed CrossFit staff, and cried to anyone who would listen.

Here’s the common sense part.  If your legs are blasted so much that you realize this will push you over the edge, or Heaven forbid, could cause you to get injured, listen carefully now…scale the workout or simply don’t do it.  How many times does Glassman have to say that main site workouts are just one aspect of CrossFit?  If you don’t like it, don’t do it.  That’s the common sense.

The Kipping Pull Up
Here’s another story.  I listened to a new potential client at my gym talk about how CrossFit is dangerous and he is worried he is going to get hurt.  He has friends, he says, who have shoulder and elbow injuries from doing too many kipping pull ups at another CrossFit gym.  I smiled and nodded and talked about what we do that may be different, but inside I am thinking, “Is this guy’s friends total morons?”

I cringe all the time when I see hand tears, shoulder injuries, or elbow tendon issues.  Where does CrossFit ask you to get hurt to achieve Elite Fitness for yourself?  How does having ripped calluses help you get more fit when you can’t grab a barbell for days at a time?

Do injuries happen?  Sometimes.  Do calluses rip?  Sometimes.

Should these things happen?  Absolutely not.  If you have to recover from an injury, be it from doing too many kipping pull ups or pulling too heavy on a dead lift and tweaking your back, then you are hurting your fitness.  You now have to take time off from getting fit to heal and recover.  For the sake of your own health, use some common sense.  Listen to your body.  Talk to your coaches.  If they are competent and actually care about you achieving elite fitness they will do everything they can to keep you healthly and uninjured.

Speaking of ripped hands, are they not a rite of passage into CrossFit?  Do I celebrate the first small tear on the hand of a female client who has finally got her first pull ups and completed her first WOD as prescribed?  You’re damn right I do!  Of course, right after that I start reminding her about the hand care we preached about in our On Boarding Program and how she needs to care for her calluses and hands at all times.  I remind her how getting injured will not help her fitness, but I’m damn proud of her at the same time.

Look, this is my final comment about CrossFit and Common Sense.

You have a brain.  Use it and make good decisions.  If your CrossFit affiliate only programs MetCon WOD’s that last 45 minutes, run the hell away.  If you notice fatigue or wear and tear on some part of your body, let it recover and take care of it.  If your trainer is trying to push you in a way where you are going to get injured, talk with them about it or get the hell out of there.  If you can’t do the main site WOD that day as prescribed, life will be OK.

In your pursuit of your own Elite Fitness remember it’s just that.  It’s your own.  Take accountability for it and for how you are achieving it and your world will be a much brighter, healthier, and fitter place.

See you in the gym.

Seek and serve God as you know him to be
Give grace and love to people unconditionally
Strive to be a better man every day,
For life is too short and easily wasted away

Our time is spent on such trivial frivolity,
like money and lust; such wasted energy
Never lose sight of what matters, your true worth
We are a step from death’s door, in these human shells here on earth

So…

Shut up and move. Stop thinking. Stop making excuses. Stop getting distracted. Stop being stagnant in your life. Just move. Take the steps in your life you have been meaning to and stop holding back from being who you are destined to be.

Stop eating crap. Seriously. You know you are doing it so just stop.

Look, you want the key? You want the super secret solution to success? It’s perspective. You lose it. Constantly. You forget that every single decision. The choice to eat garbage, the choice to workout and NOT push yourself, the choice to NOT workout at all, the choice to compromise and cheat, EVERYTHING you do contributes to the person you are becoming.

There are NO choices that don’t affect who you are and who you are becoming. Period. Everything has consequences and everything matters. You think your choice to have a crappy day at work with little to ZERO effectiveness does not have the power to effect the course of your life? Are you serious?

Everything matters. Every choice matters. Every time you perform or DO NOT perform an action you are defining yourself and you FUTURE self.

But let’s go further shall we?

You affect others. Your choices influence your peers. They inspire others around you to act differently or they affirm them to stay stagnant OR stay destructive. But let’s forget your friends and peers for a second and go even deeper.

Your choices affect your loved ones. The people closest to you. Your spouse, your children, your family. And the reason you make selfish and self-destructive choices is because you forget that. You lose perspective on what matters. Because, if you did not, you would probably act and chose differently. The small, pathetic temptation to act destructively in your life (because let’s be honest, that’s the right word) would be virtually meaningless and you would act and therefore TEACH your loved ones a powerful and purposeful way to chose and to live.

So after saying all this, the biggest question I have is not whether his blog affects you.

It is…does this article affect me and provide a path for me to become better than I am?

You bet!  I’m having more fun than ever and I figured I would let everyone know where the Drive Time’s YouTube home actually is.  Well, the link is below and guess what, you can actually watch the very first Drive Time AND my 50th Subscriber Video below.

BOOM BABY!

Drive Time with Alec

Here is the direct link to Drive Time’s YouTube Channel. Just click and enjoy.

Drive Time with Alec

I have gotten several messages asking me about how my partner and I did what we have done. I decided if this helps anyone, it will be worth it for me. I’ve taken a ton from CrossFit which gives so freely, I am compelled to give back.

My Partner Steve and I started a garage gym at my home over 1 year ago. We started following CrossFit at that time and got deep into this world. I blew out a wall in my garage and opened up all 700 square feet of it. We ripped out the carpet and flooring and put down rubber and we started bringing in new equipment one item at a time.
We got certified in San Diego in July 2007, and affiliated soon after. We published a janky website through iWeb and we were off and running.

1 year from getting certified we now operate a 5,000 square foot facility, with 2 bathrooms, 2 showers, 2 small offices, and kick *** stuff. It’s been a long road, but well worth it. We are hiring trainers and expanding rapidly. We updated our web presence and got lucky with one of our key members being a web designer, photographer, and vid

eographer as well who helps us with our web presence. All in all, we are just getting ready to bust out in a HUGE way.

Below are some basics to help you on your way if this is something you plan to do.

1) Save money. Start now. Things get broken; you need more equipment, etc…But don’t buy it until you need it. Out grow your stuff, don’t over spend and try to grow into it. It will turn into a cash suck. If two or more clients ask or inquire about something, go buy that. For example, after countless people complained about us having no water. I bought a $100 water cooler from Costco. Refilled it with tap water when it got empty and people loved it. And open a business account where you bank and DO NOT mix personal and business stuff. Understand what you are making and what you are spending.

2) More than likely, the city you live in will NOT let you legally run a garage gym. You must confirm this is true or not before starting. Know what you are getting into. If it is illegal you have a choice, don’t start a garage gym or break the law. I’m not going to advise you either way. 

3) Don’t annoy your neighbors (especially if operating under the legal radar). Scout out a suitable parking place away from your street, preferably at a public park. Have your members jog to your gym from there or ride bikes.

4) Start your schedule at normal, non-annoying times in the afternoon if you can. Don’t start a 6am class and begin dropping heavy deadlifts. This will **** off your neighbors who will complain to the city, who will then try to shut you down.

5) Be open and honest with your neighbors. Let them know you have a gym where some of your friends come workout. Invite them over. It’s up to you whether or not you charge them, but if it’s illegal to run a business I would avoid it. Let them know how important health and fitness is to you and if it does get annoying to them, encourage them to come tell you to shut up. Give them your cell phone and have it near you during the workouts. Do whatever you can to appease and work with your community, not against it.

6) It is not illegal to have a group of people over to your home to workout in your gym. The only thing that is illegal there is if you are breaking noise ordinances with loud music or loud weight dropping noises.

Here is a personal example again.
We outgrew our 6:30pm class (which was the first class we opened) and started a 6pm and 7pm class. We made our members part very far away. Most rode their bikes. After 2-3 months we ****ed off one neighbor so much, I could not longer appease and apologize to him. It might have been when I had one of our guys flip a 300# tire I found in a gully, up and down the alley behind all our houses.  Anyway, he called the city. They called me and told me it was not allowed for me to run a gym. I said I did not know about that and pleaded ignorance. I told him I would stop immediately. And we did. I took the costs off the website and made it 100% free for the next 3 months as Steve and I searched vehemently for a new box.

How did we make it work with no revenue?

We made a gym fund and asked for monthly donations. Every single one of our members supported us. And we grew like wildfire!

Now to be honest, I thought I was doing what I could to get around the legal issues. It turns out if this had been escalated to a judge to get me to stop and I tried to hide behind the idea that I was not charging dues, but rather accepting donations, I would probably have lost.

It never came to that, we found the right box, negotiated a killer lease, and the rest is history. We started an S-Corp, got legal counsel, established a relationship with Mindbody and Constant Contact, we are continually revising and improving our business and marketing plan. We are relentless. If you can pursue CrossFit as a business with the intensity that you pursue CrossFit as a workout, nothing can stop you.

Now I know I glanced over a lot here. My partner and I both had others jobs when we started so we could pay the bills. We worked 12-14 hour days. I still work my other job and have no plan to stop. Steve runs our location full time. We have a killer compensation structure and partnership and compliment each others strengths and weaknesses.

I figured this info would be a good way for people to start thinking strategically of how to start. If you want any info, send me a message or reply here. I’m happy to answer anything you would like to know.

If you are local to me and want to get together, I enjoy beer.

See you in the gym.

-Alec

Little did I know, he wasn’t lying.

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swaps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it’s yours.”
— Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)

My favorite part about the books and thoughts of Ayn Rand came from the will power of characters she had created.  I have always been enraptured by the determination, pragmatism, and dominant ability her characters portrayed.  But it wasn’t until I learned that what Ayn Rand talked about could actually exist, did I truly appreciate her works.

People can control their destinies.  You can bend the universe.  If something bothers you, change it.  If you don’t like your job, get a new one.  Learn new skills, improve yourself and your ability.  You want a body that is functional?  A body that will live a long time and be useful to humanity and yourself, then create it.  Eat right, work hard, learn more.

I get furious with people who refuse to acknowledge that the world is like this.  They want to remain in an imaginary world where their results are not their fault, where they can’t change their circumstances, where they are victims to events that shape their lives, events they are powerless to effect.  The sad truth, is that reality for them will remain true.  They will not get out.

I’m astonished that people refuse to believe this ability can be theirs.  The proof is overwhelming.  Just google “overcoming adversity” and look at the names.

Helen Keller, JKF, MLK Jr., Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Nelson Mandela, etc… but there are tens of thousands of others.  People you have never heard about.  Men and Women who have achieved amazing things yet remain virtually anonymous.  The proof is overwhelming.  You have no excuses left.

Everything you have in this life is a choice.  Every result you have, every material object, every friend, everyone who influences you is surrounding you because of your volitional choices.

Make them good ones.

Bend the universe.