Sleepless Nights...
When I took over the Christchurch Fitness Centre I sent an email to another business owner. His response the next morning was “email at 2.45am Shane – welcome to running your own business, lots more sleepless nights ahead.”
He was right.
I love running CFC and all the challenges that come with it, but any business will create some sleepless nights and loads of lessons. Even for the most relaxed among us. Now that we are getting our new space in Smithfield ready for a post lockdown opening, here are some of the many lessons learned from our old premises.
- You can’t succeed without others: It would be impossible to list all of the people who helped myself or CFC over the years. From coaches to cleaners to the members of our community, there have been so many great characters in the place and so much assistance provided.
One thing I am glad I’ve done is use mentors regularly because they have accelerated my learning in different aspects of fitness and running a business, especially when I’ve struggled. If you’re stuck in an exercise space, whether physical or motivational, get some help – very often a third party will see/say something that makes all the difference.
Which leads to.
- If it sounds too good to be true it’s usually too good to be true: Some mentors I’ve worked with over the years made crazy claims as to what they could do (whether business or fitness wise). The best and most effective have given info on strategies but are very clear on the work needed to achieve anything worthwhile. If you’re looking to hit targets with your fitness, there’s no short – cuts, you’ve got to build a healthy base and work from there.
Which connects us to.
- Creating links: I used to despise social media and hated tracking numbers. Yet, in the last few years I’ve gone on courses to learn about things like Social Media hashtags and now enjoy keeping an eye on numbers. The reason I first began to first accept then enjoy both is I linked their importance to running a business. #wannabeinfluencer
If you don’t like certain aspects of effective exercise/nutrition regimes, link them to things you want (such as a fit, energetic body) and you’ll be far more likely to do – then even enjoy them at some point.
Because really:
- It’s all about progress and the process: I reckon running a business and our fitness and health regimes are like life in general. There’s loads of curveballs but the excitement and realising that ultimately it’s upto you to make the best of what you’ve got is what it’s about for me. No matter how stressful business can be, I’d hate to ever win the lotto and take away the need for personal levelling up to really achieve what you want. The knowledge that something like 96% of businesses fail after a relatively short period is a big driving force to fight to try and improve every day as is the knowledge of the positive impact a good fitness business can have. I wish that more people would realise the number of chronic diseases out there that are caused by a lack of fight to improve our general health and how some work to improve it every day will lead to a massive positive lifestyle return on the time invested.
Which brings us to an important point:
- Careful what you wish for: I used to dream of having my own gym and used to read all about gym owners that I wanted to emulate, but if I didn’t love it and have a big enough “Why” for running one, I would have 100% packed it in by now. When working to get into shape I very strongly recommend considering your “Why” and making things like having great energy, a strong mind-set, healthy longevity and being an inspiration to others top of your list. With the likes of 6 packs and cool muscles being a “nice to have” alongside the mental and real physical benefits.
And finally:
- The time to enjoy and do your health and exercise regime is now: One thing that a mentor (Rod) kept telling us during his courses was “This too shall pass” – whether you perceive “this” to be good or bad. I’m glad that I think I had an awareness of how special the atmosphere was in CFC at times and how people move on in life so did my best to enjoy the craic in there as often as possible. When you’re working out and improving your health, remember that now is the best time to start/do it, this time shall pass, so even if you’re super motivated build the health habits that will stand to you asap and seriously, enjoy the process.
I could keep going but it’s best to finish on the fact that your health and fitness is connected to everything. I’ve seen so many people with great careers and the material trappings etc that come with them but not being in a good place physically and what’s important quickly becomes apparent when something negative happens with our health…
Huge thanks to everyone who has been involved with CFC in any shape or form and now we are making the transformation to “The Fitness Society”, there are undoubtedly more sleepless nights, craic, growth periods, curve balls and challenges ahead as we work to build a fitness business in Smithfield that can hopefully continue to make a positive impact.