This Saturday marks exactly 4-years for CrossFit Be Someone. It is absolutely mind blowing to me everytime we reach an anniversary. It is very hard not to reflect on the year prior to each anniversary and think about all the obstacles we had to overcome.
What we overcame to reach this anniversary is absolutely incredible. Just 2 weeks after celebrating our 3-year anniversary last year, we had to shut down the gym for two months due to COVID. Nobody knew what was going to happen. I have to be honest, I was absolutely terrified. And my fear only grew more and more as the situation kept growing because more uncertainty kept coming out. Nobody knew what was going to happen and I did not know what was going to happen with CrossFit Be Someone. Yes, we were hit pretty hard. Between the 2 months that we were shut down, we had almost 40 cancellations. As I received the text messages or emails, my heart and gut just sunk even more. So yes, the thought of just closing the gym for good or selling it kept coming into my head. I even had a conversation with my business mentor on the best way of doing that. But I also knew I can't just give up. I have great people willing to help, coaches, and we still had members supporting us so I had to try.
With the help of my business mentor and my coaches, we were able to still deliver to our members during those two months. We then were able to open our doors and continued to deliver our services. Everything I had learned prior to us shutting down came into complete fruition especially our finances. I was taught a method called "Profit First" that allowed me to have enough reserves to continue to pay all of our bills and staff. We have been growing since re-opening and it feels so great knowing we made it out while unfortunately, many other small business had to close down. This only happened because of the help of my team and the support of our members. And let's not forget, the former owner of CrossFit Greg Glassman did not make things easier for us with the comments he made last summer.
In January of 2018, I told myself that the 4-year mark (2021) would be my deciding factor. I was giving myself 3 years to prove to myself that I can run a business but most importantly, run a profitable business. I wanted to create a business that is supporting my life, my daughters life, my coaches and truly helping our members. I can say with a great deal of confidence that we are. We are helping our members. We are supporting our coaches. And I am able to support my life and those that I care about. If those things weren't happening, then I would be looking for a different career path this year. But I don't have to, CrossFit Be Someone is changing life's for the better while supporting.
It's been a tough year but that is one of the things CrossFit teaches us. As the workouts get tougher, just put one foot infront of the other and keep moving forward. This year was all about putting one foot infront of the other and keep moving forward with intention.
Thank you all for your support and help. We all share this success together.
Respectfully,
Josh Melendez
