By Andrea Savard, Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor
The COVID Crisis is one of the greatest gifts we’ve been given as gym owners—if we choose to see the forest through the trees.
Despite the hardships of the past year, I’m incredibly grateful. Here’s why.
Lockdowns in March shut many of us down without warning—some for two to four months and others for six to eight months or longer. Once we were allowed to reopen, we had a chance to start over—this time with a wealth of experience supporting every move.
At FirePower, my gym, we took full advantage of the phrase “due to COVID.” We changed almost everything: membership structure, pricing strategy, access and sign-in procedures, class sizes, schedule, coaching strategy and programming. We even revised our branding. We cut useless programs and launched two new revenue streams more aligned with our vision (that changed, too).
We were forced to slash expenses and return to lean spending. We eliminated useless software subscriptions, sold old equipment, removed items from retail, consolidated our staff roles and eliminated redundant work—all while increasing our customer service to levels not seen since we first opened a decade ago.
As a gym community, we relied on each other for support, validation and courage. We leaned on our mentors, found specialty mentors and learned to ask for help. We rediscovered the importance of work-life boundaries and the value of being away from work. Some found clarity and realized they didn’t want to be in this line of work anymore. This realization was good for all parties.
In hindsight, none of this would have happened without a major business disruption like COVID. My gym is down a quarter of a million in revenue over 2020. But despite that, I’m excited to start fresh and eager to rise again.
