by Craig Hysell of FlowState and Conviction Training
What if you had to do something different in the gym to make it better for your clients? Would you do it?
You certainly would.
What if that meant you had to be at the gym less?
Maybe.
What if it meant you had to do different workouts than the rest of the gym does (and what your business is based on) to MAKE THE EXPERIENCE BETTER AT YOUR GYM?
Most of you might not. In fact, some of you might wonder what I’m talking about.
And you might have a laundry list of good reasons why.
But here’s what happened when I did just that. (And how I did it.)
Now, a heretical article like this is not definitive in its necessity, absolute in its process, or practical in every situation.
I believe if you are a new or newer gym owner (working through the Founder and Farmer phases) of your business, this isn’t for you; you’re not ready, your staff isn’t ready and your community isn’t ready.
Successfully doing what I’m about to share here is predicated on the maturation of your business, not your feelings or emotions.
If you are in the Tinker or Thief phases of business ownership, stepping OUTSIDE your gym can make your gym culture STRONGER and your client experience DEEPER because you understand how to apply what you learn to the bigger picture of your current vision.
Tinkers and Thieves have strong systems, strong cultures and have already taken Leadership roles that put strong staff between them and a majority of the client’s day to day touchpoints.
All that said, let’s continue:
One of the first things any leader does in combat when it gets messy, is step back off the line a little bit to get a larger perspective. For us, in this article, let’s say that means getting out of your gym and working on YOURSELF again so you can IMPROVE your Team and your community.
What will your Team think of you if you stop doing CrossFit? What will the clients think? What will your competitors say?
Well, your Team and your clients will respect it at first if you do it correctly (like I share below)… then they will grow to love it as they begin to see how it benefits them.
As for what your competitors say, if you care about such things, you’re probably not ready to do this.
Here’s when you know it is time to step outside of your gym:
- Your physical fitness regimen has become a job rather than a recharge.
- You find yourself going through the motions… or avoiding the motions altogether.
- You struggle to stay focused during your regular gym classes
- You’re not fired up to train anymore.
It’s time to change.
How do you do it? You talk to your staff FIRST and say something like this:
“Gang, I appreciate every single thing you do here. Your effort in here and the way you take care of our clients is freeing me up to think more progressively. In order for the gym to keep growing, I’m going to play with a few different training disciplines and see how we can add value to our program. I’m going to need your support for a little bit because it will entail me stepping away from group classes for a bit and test some things. Do you mind helping me make this gym even better than what it already is?”
Depending on how far removed you are from the day to day operations with your clients, this is all you might need to do.
IF you have to make announcement to the gym’s client base (most of you do not have to, even if you think you do: most of them simply do not care about what you are doing as long as their experience in your gym is awesome) you can simply share the reason you are exploring other training modalities at the moment: to bring value back to THEM and IMPROVE on an ALREADY GREAT culture and product.
What kind of physical training should you do? Any single thing that interests you! Ride a bike, train for a triathlon, swim to Cuba, do jiu-jitsu, see what makes Orange Theory so interesting to people, get into bodybuilding, train for a figure contest, etc. There is no wrong answer! Follow your passion!
Why are you doing this? Because stagnation is an infectious disease. And you KNOW it if you’re suffering from it. This is NOT acceptable for your vision, your staff, your clients or your soul.
There are so many great ideas you have never even thought about still out there to make your businesses better; not in terms of adding more options to the menu but for making your group classes, personal training and nutritional programs BETTER.
To find these nuggets you must do bold things and dig in new places.
Sometimes, to get in the Flow, you must review the current definitions (and “rules”) of your processes because these could now become the very things holding you back.
Be brave enough to be one of the Infidels; for those of you who remember “back in the day”, that’s what got us all here in the first place.
You might not be understood in the beginning, but you will be inspired and thanked in the end.
Just like I was.
