TIED TO THE WHIPPING POST
Growing up with a father who is an avid classic rock fan, I was exposed to A LOT of music as a kid. The second band I ever saw in concert was The Allman Brothers. I knew their music quite well, listened to it as loud as I could to absorb the lyrics, the rhythm and the riffs. One song I really loved growing up was “Whipping Post.” Not because of the lyrics but instead because of the catchiness of the song and the long drives of my dad playing air guitar and air drums while driving his 1989 Maroon Dodge Caravan with his knees. Little did I know, I would be using this song to relate to training and owning a business.
Often times running a business means you are being tied to the whipping post. Numerous different roles need to be filled, numerous people need to be pleased and every single job needs to accomplished within the set system. Waking up at 5AM, writing programs, emailing athletes and clients, setting up the daily schedule, trying to hold elite athletes accountable to do their recovery and nutritional requirements, all while trying to make sure all parts of the business puzzle are in place to ensure a proper training environment for World class athletes to succeed.
Why am I writing this? I am still not sure. 2017 has been a very difficult year for Garage Strength financially. We have grown substantially, we have bought a new gym, brought on two extra employees and created multiple different systems of accountability within our company. While growing on site, we have been suffering with sales and finances online. This may be due to the incredible attention needed at the new facility. This could also be due to our poor ability to analyze the online market OR it could be the fact that we are horrible marketers.
With all of that being said, this is where I personally feel tied to the whipping post. Putting in tons of hours (14-16 hours 6 days a week), getting results that are absolutely unheard of (no other gym in the world outside of Olympic training centers can boast World Class athletes in three different sports including two World Bronze medalists), improving our training system and YET still bringing home zero dollars is quite frustrating. It is depressing, hard to handle mentally and a massive burden on my family.
Recently, I have been emailed and contacted about the issues in running a gym and having a gym based business. I constantly bring up these negative factors that always need to be taken into account. But what does that mean for myself, my family and Garage Strength in the future? All of these issues are simply going to make us better with business and provide better services for our clients and athletes. Owning a business is much like strength training. Getting into a business “homeostasis” is the worst possible thing to happen! Just like strength training, businesses need to be stimulated, beaten down and forced to adapt to new situations! New stimulus means new defense mechanisms and improved systems of operations! Garage Strength may be tied to the whipping post, but we will adapt, we will improve, we will be better and we will continue to be champions on all fronts of operation!