On Opening a Gym: Part 2
In Part 1 of this, I talked about how you have to adjust and adapt with the goals you have set for yourself. Not everything works out on a perfect timeline or exactly how you were envisioning. I gave the example of when I was looking for gym space last year and how difficult that became. If you missed it, you can read it HERE.
What’s interesting is that I had become so enveloped in finding space that I had almost stopped thinking about what would go down AFTER I got in one. I was so exhausted from the process that I just wanted to get my peeps in there and then I would figure out the rest over time.
I never once thought about doing much with the space besides putting down flooring and ordering equipment.
And naturally…that was just the tip of the iceberg with the space I ended up getting.
To preface the rest of this, I’m extremely happy with the space I have. It’s in a great area in Culver City, has awesome parking, and sets up perfectly for our semi-private model.
Anyway, the day I signed the lease and got the keys, I went in and had my first chance to really evaluate things. When we went on the tour initially, I wasn’t paying incredibly close attention because I was more focused on envisioning the training environment and how things would work space-wise.
So day one I go in and try washing my hands.
No hot water.
Turned out the space didn’t have a water heater.
It had to go outside because there was no room inside…cameo appearance from my Ford Five Hundi…I smoked the mirror with a trash can by accident haha
Looked around at the walls more closely and notice a ton of black tar smeared over the brick. Turns out the prior tenant was attempting to grow weed in the space and got kicked out. The tar was what was holding up their mirrors on the brick to reflect sunlight.
Lovely.
Later that night as it’s getting dark, I realize the space is getting very dim.
No overhead lights. Just some side track lighting.
Cool.
After having the handyman tear up the initial laminate flooring that was in there, it was only incredibly dusty concrete underneath (see above).
Flooring wouldn’t be arriving for 3 weeks, meaning athletes would have to train on the dusty concrete.
I can’t even put into words how awful that aspect was…it was just a matter of survival.
Here’s a photo of my boy Rob deadlifting on the “flooring” I provided in the interim.
And here’s a video of my boy Chris doing farmer carries in there.
Looking back, it was pretty badass, but at that time, I wanted nothing more than to finish renovating ASAP.
Oh and I also wanted to install a shower. And I definitely had no idea what that was going to end up involving. Turned out to be one of the most frustrating experiences of my life.
If you plan on opening your own gym, hire licensed contractors. It may cost more in the short-term, but it will save you in the long-term. Culver City is pretty strict when it comes to building regulations and the guys that I had (who were kind of handed to me) didn’t quite have what it took to pass without 3-4 inspections per job.
Man, I miss those times. Wondering if the business was going to move forward on account of someone more interested in buying lottery tickets than putting in high-quality work.
Lesson learned, I guess.
Ultimately, the shower passed (we had to make it ADA). Here are some before and afters.
My heart grows back a bit every time someone takes a shower and so far, it has had rave reviews. One person even said it was better than their parents’ shower. That’s legit.
As far as the flooring, that ended up being a team effort.
After doing my taxes the other day, the sheer amount that was dropped at Home Depot was pretty eye-opening. ELA coach Ryan Williams and I must have made 30-40 trips there over the course of 3 months. It’s kind of become a running joke now whenever we say, “Alright, this will be the last trip to Home Depot.”
And alas, it never is.
Looking back, we pulled the facility together in a good amount of time. I leased it June 1st, saw my first athlete on June 10th, and had it ready to present by the grand opening on October 17th.
Here are the final before and after photos of the whole thing;
At the grand opening, I played a collage that showed the facility from start to finish. There are so many more photos and I’m sure they will all come out over time.
While the BUILD OUT is not necessarily a period I’m looking to rush back to, I really do have some awesome memories and stories, including, but definitely not limited to, the time Ryan and I spent a full day getting the materials for our Olympic lifting platforms and rolling them onto the rubber flooring using rack safety pipes (they were too heavy to carry after they were built).
Or when I got slightly concussed when Ryan and I attempted to come up with an easier method to get all of the gravel that was dug up in the shower and into the dumpster.
As Ryan says, “This facility was built with love.”
That couldn’t be more true.
I did learn that sometimes you just have to freaking do it. If someone had told me all the costs and ridiculousness of what was to come when I was debating whether to put my name on the dotted line of the lease, I probably would have chickened out.
“I don’t have enough money.”
“I don’t know how to do that.”
There will always be an excuse. But when you have a dream, you kind of have to be blind to all of the potential obstacles. Sure, you don’t want to go completely over your head (e.g. renting a 10K/month space when you make 2K), but you need to set the numbers aside and ask yourself if you’re willing to put it all on the line.
If your dream is big enough, you’ll never be able to “afford” it or know how to do everything. And that’s ok.
You get one life. And at the end of it, you should be able to say that you went all out for something, even if it failed miserably.
You can continue to follow our journey on social media below;