As we start our tenth year in existence, it’s time to take a step back. No, we’re not going back to the old days of no heat and crumbling floors, but we are going to take a closer look at our foundation. For the first few years of our gym, I found myself hustling and grinding to level the place up. I thought that working harder and more, were the only answers, I even wore tee shirts about how hard I could work, and I how wouldn’t be out hustled. As the gym grew, and we grew up, we also outgrew the ability to hustle this place to new levels. We needed to professionalize things.
The biggest splash in the plan was two pronged. It was unveiling the new space and having our first professional head coach, Coach Travis, in the summer of 2020. Since then, the business of the gym has had a lot of success. When we look at success from a business standpoint, it’s not revenue that’s the most important aspect. Its retention. Retention tells us that people like being here, and they’re seeing results. We can attribute the changes that we’ve seen over the past few years to our new an amazing space, and our coaching staff. It also goes without saying, that our community adds a TON, to the experience of our members, and in many ways, are the third prong to our success.
So where do we go from here?
I had to have some hard conversations with myself to come to this conclusion, but the reality is that we need to level up our leadership. With almost 200 members here at CFC, we need to improve our infrastructure. In 2023, we want to offer our members more consistent and professional services. From the workout design, and the events we offer, to our communication, facility upkeep and day to day systems and processes, its time to get to the next level. Through mentorship, trial and error and collaboration, we’ve discovered how we can get there, and be the gym and community we strive to be.
We’re going back to square one, well, sort of.
No gym is perfect. With every problem we’ve seen over the last few years, every hiccup in coaching, inconsistency in culture or failure of a system, it was easy to become frustrated. For the most part, our staff shields our members from these things, and you might not even know these issues exist. Through all of this, I realized that we needed something to look toward as a bedrock of how we do things, and what we do. The first thing that comes to mind is a giant list of rules, rules for members, rules for coaches, rules for people that drop in, or come for free trials. That path is never-ending and not what we’re going for.
Over the summer a mentor of mine asked me, “Well, have you ever shared your vision for the gym with your members and coaches?”, the answer was, of course “No”. At the time it seemed very corporate or commercial, I don’t write vision plans and things like that. I resisted it for months, saying, people should “just do the right thing”, and everything would be fine. The truth is I finally got on board with the idea that if I didn’t vocalize it, it would never happen.
Over the next few months, I dug in, and came up with new core values, and a vision plan. I’m finally ready to share this stuff with you guys, and I hope it gets you excited to be part of CFC this year. For most of you, you’re here for results and an amazing atmosphere. If we can upgrade some foundational items and leadership, your fitness, and the way you feel about coming to the gym will reach new heights. We feel that the best first step possible is to share the vision, and new core values of the gym. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
Please take a moment to read about 2023, our blueprint, our vision, and what we stand for in:
CrossFit Conshohocken’s 2023 Vision Plan