It is a bitter sweet feeling knowing today is my last day as the assistant operations manager. I am going to continue being a member of GSP so my relationship with Val and Darren will continue to grow. They also made sure I was aware of new ideas and events that will be coming up at the box. Val will continue to include me on certain topics since she, "values my opinion" as she stated. Today was the last day for me to respond to emails and follow up with potential members. In between phone calls, Facebook postings, interacting with members and selling supplements/apparel the three of us did engage in conversation. The main topic of conversation we discussed focused on my future in the CrossFit world. I expressed to both Val and Darren that I am still interested in getting my L1 certification and will be more then happy to attend the same seminar as Val if our schedules allow it. They both gave me open arms to discuss my future plans in opening my box as well. They stated, "we will be more then happy to help get me started and to help me develop my own business plan/model if it is something I really wanted to do." I am overly grateful for knowing they would be happy to help me and guide me along the way. Over all this has been a great experience and although at times it was slow and uneventful I am happy I decided to do my mentorship here. I gained insight on utilizing social media to promote a business, new webpages that offer me multi use functions for a businesses statistics, members/clients, merchendise, and marketing strategies. I will continue to use some of the websites such as Mail Chimp, Picmonkey and Fitness HQ whenever possible. They seem to be good tools to organize a business and to even promote it in an informal manner. These websites can be used in with my current employer and any employer I find myself working for in the near future.
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To make sure all of our equipment was accounted for and accurate myself and Val took one more look each at what we had at the facility to make sure we were giving HQ the most accurate information. We would hate for them to pick us as host and then not be able to host it due to the lack of communication and available equipment. Now that the checklist was complete it came time for answering their questions. These questions also included the main contact persons name, phone number and email, outdoor space available for parking and exercising, among a few other related questions. These questions are also found on the "projects" page. It is some what confidential information so it will be posted their as a separate link rather then explained here. This was a good way to end my mentorship because if I ever have the chance to become an owner or manage my own CrossFit business I now know what steps need to be taken in order to become an owner, manager, get affiliated with Reebok and how to host these certification seminars. Not many members or athletes have had the ability to learn the ropes on what steps need to be taken to make all this happen.
GOOD NEWS! Our new website is 95% ready to go! The only thing that needed to be added was our new class schedule. This schedule has been recently updated on the Fitness HQ website so all that needed to be done was link it to our website. The new interactive webpage is complete and we are ready to announce it to the members. I drafted an email that will be sent via mail chimp to all current members to encourage them to check out our new cite and to spread the word. One key aspect of this new website is that all member who have inquiries can email us straight from the website. This will give us the ability to receive and answer questions in a easier fashion and in a more timely way. To continue the efforts from Monday, Val and I tag teamed the checklist together so we could move through it fast. As Val and I were going through the check list we realized that some of the minimum requirements seemed very high, but luckily for us we had almost everything they were looking for. One aspect of this system is that for a box who is selected to host the L1/2 Kids Cert. is that they are offered x amount of dollars to help the facility get all the extra materials they need before the seminar begins. If the facility has everything needed then the money allotted to the box ail be for a free spot or two in the seminars class (ideally 1/2 people interested in getting certified). Val and I continued to clean a majority of the equipment because it seems as though the cleaning people have not been doing a great job at it. Some dusting and wiping down of the counters, medicine balls and barbells was all that needed to be done.
Touching on a subject that we discussed a few weeks ago regarding an interactive website was brought up again. One of our members is a web designing pro was willing and able to sit down with us and re-create our website. This was not going to take to long as our original cite had a lot of information already on it. We outlined what additional information we wanted to have on the cite in addition to certain links and button capabilities. Once we created a blue print and a mental vision of this new interactive website it was in our members hand. He will keep in contact with Darren about what information is removed and added before it hits the internet. Over the next few days we will be looking at the design to make last minute changes if there needs to be. This is an exciting time for GSP as we have been waiting to make some new strides via our social media pages so our motto matches our image. Today starts the beginning of my last week at my mentorship. Before I finish I am determined to get the checklist and questionnaire form finished and turned into HQ before my last day. I responded to a few emails regarding membership options and fundamentals and screened a few phone calls from people trying to sell us things. When I had some free time I started walking around the facility identifying the number of kettle bells, medicine balls, PVC pipes, pens etc. The full list will be posted in the "projects" section for further detail as to what was needed and what was counted. In the process of me counting our equipment, I was getting side tracked talking to members who were in between sets or stretching before they started their workout. We made casual conversation about their day, week or upcoming weekend plans and the possibility of hosting the Level 1 certification class at our facility. When members herd this they were pretty excited that we were investigating getting our box on the list of contenders. They were told that nothing is set in stone because anything can happen and there is no guarantee that they use all locations available to them.
There are many members who are all interested in getting their level 1's because they are interested in the education side of it in addition to having the ability to possibly coach one day. For any athlete that has a determined mind set to coach or own their own facility one day, this is the first process anyone has to go through. Most owners all have their Level 1 or at least part if the ownership does. In CrossFit GSP's case Darren is the only owner who has his Level 1 and Val and myself are looking into getting ours as well. The course is roughly $1,000 dollars before travel so it has to be at the right location and at the right time before we can consider attending. Talking with members helps time fly for both of us and before you know it 30 minutes to an hour could go by depending on the depth of conversation and the number of parties involved. Being involved in the fitness world is something I have always dreamed of doing. There is always someone to talk to, a new story to be herd and a new mindset to be found. I received a phone call early this morning that Val and Darren wouldn't be able to open the box. So they asked me if I could open the place up and get everyone started. Since I leave near by this was not a problem. We had a full house for our morning classes in addition to a good number of people for the free Intro to CrossFit class. After the intro class was over two out of the four participants wanted to sign up right away. I offered them our newest promotion that included a monthly price of $165 a with no registration fee or $155 a month with a registration of $75 (normally $175). The two new members went with the higher monthly fee, but were happy to get started. Since they were new to CrossFit they had to go through our fundamental program to prevent injury and to become accustomed to the movements. They were signed up to complete the workouts in the coming week and would be able to jump into the regular classes next Saturday if their weekly schedule doesn't change! Signing new members up is a great feeling even though it is not my business, i know I had a part of getting our clients numbers where it is today.
HQ fitness finally emailed us back regarding the steps we need to take in order to have the CrossFit Level 1 seminar at our location. They apologized for the last response, but have been getting a large number of emails from CrissFit Locations interested in hosting the Level 1/2 and Kids Certification classes as well. One of the first things that we have to do is glance over their equipment requirements for all three certifications. The level 1 and 2 requirements are the same, but some equipment differs if we wanted to host the kids CrossFit seminar. We were basically going to have to go around the room and check out our inventory for every item they had on the check list. Then we would have fill out a questioner that included questions like the size of our space, near by airports, hotels, etc. These needed to be answered because people from all over the country and even the world travel to these seminars in search of their certification. With CrossFit becoming a huge aspect of the fitness world, HQ/Reebok only allows a certain number of seminars to be located in close proximity to each other within a small time period. These seminars are spread throughout the country in hopes they sell out ASAP and draws people from all over. I will be actively partaking in this project in hopes we can capitalize on this opportunity as quickly as we can. There were a few sales done today along side three tours that I gave. This aspect of the business seems to be an ongoing trend and is a great way to meet new people and hope they share their experience with us with their family and friends.
Another payday is upon us and this time around all coaches handed in their time sheet so it made the process a little easier. One thing to keep in mind is that one of the coaches, is a salary paid employee as he puts in the most hours. So regardless of how many classes he teaches, his pay is the same across the board. I am not sure as to why only one coach is on a salary basis, but it seems as though he is one of the only ones who does not have another job or a main job. Many of the coaches here at GSP do this part time because they love the sport and teaching others. No one coach is better then the next, but that all bring different vibes to the class. As payroll was completed, Val had asked me to run to the bank and deposit some checks she had in the cash register from a few of our supplement affiliates. Val told the bank I would be making deposits when I first started working with her so the Bank never gives me a hard time as long as I have ID with me and the account number. For some reason I find this a little strange, but if they say its okay then I will continue to do so.
Similar to last week, all of the GSP members who are submitting scores where welcomed to test out there first attempt at the open workout. Unfortunately, the DJ will not be attending as he had another gig and we couldn't find a replacement fast enough who charged us the same price. So we had the members input what songs they wanted to hear while working out on a list that was put on the front desk. These songs were downloaded and added to a playlist labeled "Friday Night Lights" so the coaches knew it was specifically made for these Friday workout sessions. Last weekend we ran out of the forms the judges/coaches rite on so I had to copy and print a bunch of copies. Many of the athletes try these workouts two and three times so we need about 100 copies made and placed on clip boards for easy usage when scoring. To help organize this event, the first six people who walked in to participate were in the first group and the same for the second. If more groups needed to be made then they would be arranged accordingly. For this event we made sure that all coaching staff was around so we had about 6 - 7 people who could score and judge each athlete. Friday is always a fun time to see everyone workout together and cheer each other on. I think this is what makes us unique and creates a fun and energetic atmosphere.
Now that I am familiar with how Front Desk HQ works I can start utilizing it to see the trends in sales over the last few months and which members are signing in when they walk in. Signing is a way for us to track when the members are coming and how often. However, not everyone signs in and even when they are asked to, they forget to do it on their way out the door. Although this is not a huge concern of ours, but it will negatively affect our statistics on member usage within the system. New items came in that we are selling as a trial, so I added these new items (shirts and recovery drinks) to our merchandise system within Front Desk HQ. Another open WOD viewing post was added to the Facebook and Instagram page to remind everyone that we are still streaming the announced WODs at the box. It is understandable that not every can make it to this viewing, but highly encourage everyone to come as it is good bonding time with everyone present. As mentioned in my post from yesterday, I mentioned creating an interactive website for our CrossFit GSP website and both Darren and Val loved the idea. Now, none of us are techies so we would have to find a member or someone one of us knows who is good with website designing. We will keep our eyes and hears open regarding a web design guru to help us improve our webpage.
While the open was being streamed I sent out some new emails to a few people who recently dropped-in to see how their experience was. In these emails I also ask if they have any suggestions on how to improve their first time experience. Asking them this type of question gives our team an idea on how to improve our class, coaches, and facility. Sometimes we get a negative response and more often then not we get only positive comments. We will continue to email in this fashion to show all clients that we care about their fitness experience within the GSP community. Today was a slow and quiet day at the box. Most follow up emails and phone calls have been done over the last week or so, so there wasn't many left to do today. However, daily postings on Instagram and Facebook were don't to remind members and potential visitors about yoga Wednesdays and Fundamentals. For some reason the box seemed a little messier then normal so I took my time to tidy up. I started in the women's locker room where toilet paper needed re-stocking in addition to the hand soap. Some members left weights and garbage lying around the main floor so I made it a priority of mine to clean up after them. The location of certain weights and workout accessories were changed around for a different look. New copies of liability waiver forms, class schedules and membership packets were printed as their piles were running low. Looking at different CrossFIt gym websites I noticed that there are so many options on how owners choose to advertise their facilities. One type of website that stood out to me is an interactive website. These types of websites are one continuous webpage where the information is layer out one after another. I will be bringing this idea and attention of detail to Val and Darren the next time we are all the box in hopes that we can incorporate this into our website so it makes us stand out.
After our mini DJ and competition session on Friday I knew there were still a good number of members who had not submitted their open score yet for this past weeks WOD. A reminder email went out to all members and it was written on our dry erase board that is found at the front of the workout area. Coaches were encouraged to get people involved in this event and to make sure that everyone posted their scores. Even though many of our members were not going to be at the top of the leader board, it is a good way for them to see where they stand compared to others in our box and outside boxes as well. Its all about competition and beating the person next you the next go around. Today I had about 5 people come in and sign up as new members and for fundamentals. One of the new members had tried CrossFit while she was out at see (Navy), but never officially took a class. Recommending her to take fundamentals was the smart thing to do so she could learn the techniques and become familiar with the movements. A new drop-in rate was used today as well. A drop-in normally cost $25 dollars, but the person had the opportunity to do that or pay $35 and get a t-shirt of their choice. Our apparel options are limited to t-shirts, tank tops and a few long sleeve hoodies. Other sweatshirts and zip ups are for members only because they are privately ordered. Almost every drop-in we have had over the last few weeks seems to do the $35 deal, I mean it is always hard to resist getting a new t-shirt right?! As inventory gets limited Val will reach out to an old contact she has in NYC who does our apparel. We try and switch up the colors and designs here and there so our members and visitors have a variety to chose from. As we noticed the decrease in options, Val and I started to brainstorm on some new designs and colors. Some examples of our Newest Apparel and what the shelves look like when our items become high in demand!
In an effort to maintain our community like feel at CrossFit GSP the coaching staff, interns and owners brain stormed an idea earlier in the week that seemed to be highly favorable. Friday/Tonight, there will be a DJ playing great beats as our members take on the third Open WOD. Our members will be broken down into a few groups so each participant has a judge and each member has enough room. This will create a competition like atmosphere, and lets face it who does't like listening to music when working out?! In an effort to pay the DJ when he was done, I ran to the bank to deposit money from the cash register and made sure we had enough left over to pay him and had some change for when members purchased items. The members were super happy to hear/see that a DJ was at the box because it does increase your adrenaline and some how helped them focus when it was their turn to try the Open WOD. We had extended the hours for Friday as many members hung around after they were finished eating and drinking. The times when the whole box is together truly does show how successful Val and Darren's business has become. Although it is hard to have every single member there, and the first two years of any business is the hardest, there are clear signs that the success for this facility is just getting started. There were a few drop-ins who wanted to give our 6:30 WOD a try, but unfortunately they had to try the Open WOD or come back at a later date. The reason for this was because all Friday Classes are doing the Open Workout even if they are not submitting their score.
As more members were signing up and we have been having more drop-ins, I suggested that we continue adding emails to the Mail Chimp server to increase the awareness of our new promotions and upcoming events. Most of the day was spent inputting emails received from new liability waiver forms and previous Groupon users. These were targeted because they are considered new potential members unless they individual is from out town. There were about 50 plus emails to enter, but I was able to get them all in. The email that was going to be sent out by Darren included information regarding a free 3-Day trial for all those interested in giving CrossFit a chance, this is a good way to see if its for them. Many boxes in the area do "1-Day Free Trial" or sometimes offer a drop in rate of $0. So by offering a 3-Day trial this gives us a slight advantage over other boxes in the area.
In the past CrossFit GSP has offered a body weight (Body GSP) class that consisted of stations and only body weight exercises. We have provided mobility classes on the weekend in addition to Olympic (OLY) Lifting classes run by our very own Olympic Weightlifting Coach. As we continue to grow and the demand for new classes is always a topic of conversation. Some classes that were suggested by myself were TRX classes, incorporating mobility sessions again and a barbell class. TRX has become the new leader in suspension and functional training for all levels. This type of training relies heavily on the human body and the power of the mind. These can help improve members squat, function while lifting and core. These products can be pretty costly for the amount we would order, but will be something the Owners look into and will consider later on down the road. OLY classes will begin to be incorporated once CrossFit GSP becomes an affiliate for USAW (USA Weight lifting). Our OLY coach and an OLY competitor (one of our members) will be the ones to lead this class on Sunday mornings in the next few months. The time line for this to being is waiting on the paperwork to come through from USAW. In regards to getting mobility classes back up and rolling a coach needs to be willing to teach it. unfortunately the one who has done it in the sat is not available on Saturdays so we will have to keep looking for outside talent to help us get this started again. Payroll is one day away, but the box happens to be closed tomorrow. So in an effort to pay everyone in a timely manner, I stopped by the box and made sure that all coaches submitted their time sheets for the last 2 weeks. For those who didn't I reminded them to get them turned in as quickly as possible and for those who did submit their forms, I double checked their hours with the actual coaching schedule to make sure everything was correct. I wrote out each coaches paycheck, took note in Val's binder as to which checks were used and the checks amount (like balancing your check book) and then placed each check in its own envelope. Saturday's only a few coaches are present so only two of the coaches were abel to get their checks today. However, an email was sent out to all the coaches informing them that their hours are due and that their paychecks can be picked up at the front desk if they had already done so. This keeps the coaches happy and shows an open line of communication at all times. While I was filling out the checks, I answered a few phone calls and was able to sign a few people up for our free Intro to CrossFit class that is held every Saturday morning for those who have never tried CrossFit before and want to see what it is all about. This is a great opportunity to show potential members that we are a family, a team and a community because Saturday's are usually one of the busiest days (since mostly everyone is off work).
Having a men and women's bathroom in our facility means that we run through toilet paper and deposable hand towels pretty easily. Some additional items that seem to always run out is our cleaning supply. Although we have a cleaning service that comes in every night, there are days that we clean up a little extra. Mostly because some members bring in food, pre/post workout supplements and they get spilled on the floor. We treat the box as if we are in our home, clean and always neat. When it comes time for ordering new supplies Val usually shops around to see where she can get the more bang for her buck. In her office, there is a folder that has old receipts and coupons that could be used when ordering if they are not expired. The reason why we keep these is to keep track when we have to order new items (perhaps there is a busier time of year) and to monitor how much we are spending each time. There has never been one company that has been used, but over the course of the last year a few different companies were brought into the mix because some had a better deal over others.
Two of the new coaches that will be brought on board have to go through an internship experience as well. They are new Level 1 coaches and have limited experience coaching a full class and maintaining the desk. So over remainder of my mentorship they will also be joining me behind the desk. Their internship is mostly based on the coaching aspect, but will be trained on how to use the Front Desk HQ web forum for new and old members. Although it may seem as though there is to much going on at the box, but there is always something someone can do regarding emails, making phone calls, checking to make sure all the equipment is working properly and is not broken, just to name a few. Tonight is another open announcement and this time Val and Darren decided to order pizza for those who will be huddled around our television. Pizza in a CrossFit Box is not really ideal because everyone its Paleo style (aka caveman eating), but when you have a craving it must be satisfied! Allowing members to workout after the WOD is announced has increased the time the box is open, but has increased our number of sales in post-workout/recovery drinks and creates a large group of competitors. |
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