starting a box

[Will Jefferies]

I know one of the greatest things about CrossFit is you guys...the community. I am trying to get a box opened quick fast. I have been training @ Globos for a decade and doing CrossFit for about 5 months. The Globo death rattle is absolutely here, the model doesn't work. But you guys all know that.

This is a General call for advice, ANY and ALL suggestions are welcome. I just want to do you guys all proud and turn some people onto an amazing way to live.

[Alec Hanson]

If you want any ideas, I'd be happy to sit down with you. I ran a CF gym in my garage for 8 months before eventually opening our box. If you want to come down and connect sometime let me know!

[Leonid Soubbotine]

Whatever you decide to do, remember this golden rule:

"When programming your workouts have at least 1 strength training a week & no more than 1 chipper a week!"

[Kris Murphy]

Advice #1, be prepared to be able to cover at least 6 months of the bills without any income from clients.

Advice #2, kinda leads into #1...don't get screwed on your lease payment for your facility. That's the biggest monthly expense you'll have so keep that in mind as you're searching for a location.

Advice #3, if you're 100% sure you're going to do this, start talking to people about it NOW. Get their interest up so they'll be dying to sign up as soon as the doors open.

I'll try to think of some more biggies and get back to you.

[Will Jefferies]

Alec -- thanks, I will most likely take you up on that very soon, my girlfriend and partner in this process said this weekend, but being games weekend I am sure you are out. I will let you know because that would be a big help.

Kris -- wow really? 6 months? thats a lot of money to be sitting on when I don't have a garage and have to get a space in SoCal that is about 15grand in rent. I do currently train at a Globo so I have some people ready to go. Also It will likely be in a fairly high traffic part of town because light industrial in the Redondo Beach area is non-existent.

if you think of more suggestions please keep me posted, I really want to make this happen.

thanks guys.

[Kris Murphy]

Will, I'm not saying 6 months of back up money is necessary, but it's definitely a good idea. That being said, I didn't plan for that when starting our biz. lol It's kind of exhilarating scrambling for rent money at the first of every month.

Seriously though, anyone who has done this will tell you to at least have some back up cash to carry you through the bills if things don't go as planned. How much is up to you.

[James lee]

if you want to come visit my box, i would be glad to talk to you and answer any questions you might have about opening a box. Or you can call me at the gym.
good luck!

[Jeremy S Barnett]

I have to agree with these guys to have plenty of capitol set aside to float your business for atleast 6-12 months just to be safe. It's better to have more than you need then to not have enough to cover your overhead each month.

Here's my experience if it helps:

I already had $20,000.00 of equipment that I picked up over the past 5 years. Even with this equipment I still used $125,000.00 for my start up for my 3000 sqft. gym Evolved Athletics. This is where I coach Crossfit, powerlifting, olympic lifting and strongman training.

I put together what I thought was a very thorough and well thought out business plan. Even with this plan there were many things I overlooked. Cost of bathroom products, water for water cooler, cups for water, ink for printers, not enough money set aside for advertising and not enough capital set aside to cover us for our first 12 months in business.

We are 7 months into our lease and have close to 80 members now. We make enough to cover our overhead expenses but not enough to cover my salary and my one trainer that works for me. Luckily I have a great business partner who believes in my vision and covers our pay out of his own pocket for now until we get more clients.

One piece of advice I can give is to have more money for the start up than you actually need. Be safe rather than suffering through your first year.

Another thing that has helped me out tremendously is our local Vocational Schools and colleges. The Heritage Institute has partnered with me and now sends their students to my gym to complete their 8 week internship. FGCU a local college also does the same thing with their students.

The students each give me 20 hours per week and help with cleaning, back end book work, advertising, sales, phone calls, emails, learning to design CrossFit workouts, powerlifting workouts, strongman workouts, olympic lifting workouts, sports training workouts, spotting members, assisting in the warm ups for each class and any other number of things related to training clients.

I currently have three interns and it doesn't cost me a dime. They have been a life saver for my business. There's no way I could afford to have three more trainers on staff right now. They truly are a blessing.

[Michael Pilhofer]

Originally Posted by Kris Murphy

Advice #1, be prepared to be able to cover at least 6 months of the bills without any income from clients.

I completely agree in the capital back up plan. You want to plan for the worst and be elated when it doesn't happen...which it most likely won't.

A business plan was a huge help to us.

Planning for 200 clients, putting systems, programs, etc in place right from the front.

Have a 1, 3, and 5 year plan laid out.

All the best, and if I can help in any other way let me know!

[Chad Hobbs]

Jeremy, how did you approach the college about getting interns. We are in a college town and I definetly want to use this tactic when starting up our facility.