Latest / The 403 Podcast / I Thought I Was Opening a Gym… It Became Something Much Bigger | Amanda Towstego

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I Thought I Was Opening a Gym… It Became Something Much Bigger | Amanda Towstego · The 403 Podcast

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Every city has places that quietly shape the people who live there.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Places where strangers become friends, where confidence is rebuilt, where businesses are born, where people discover they're capable of far more than they ever imagined.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Today's guest has spent years building one of those places.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: What started as Bedrock CrossFit has evolved into Elevate YYC and now Elevate Functional Health, a space that's redefining what health can look like by bringing fitness, recovery, and wellness together under one roof.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've had the privilege of watching that evolve from the inside.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: After leaving corporate and recovering from a concussion, Elevate became part of rebuilding me.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time, I've watched Amanda continue to reinvent not only her business, but the way she serves Calgary.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're talking about what it really takes to build something that grows alongside the people inside it.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Forest Eve podcast.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is a show about the people behind Alberta, the entrepreneurs, the creators, the innovators, the builders, the people whose idea quietly shape the communities we call home.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because behind every business, every experience, and every place we love is someone who decided to build it.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're sitting down with one of those people.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Amanda, welcome to the 403 podcast.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hello.
• 1:28
  unknown: Hi.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us and taking time out of your business.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: It really means a lot.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really excited to share your story.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of my favorites.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So before Elevate, before the members, before the coaches, before the incredible facility, there was a simple idea.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to go back to the beginning.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Take me back before bedrock.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: What was happening in your life that eventually led you to opening a gym?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I started off coaching adults.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I worked for a dog training company, and it wasn't about the dog training, it was really about working with people.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so once I had my kids, I was a stay-at-home mom for a lot of years, but it I just wanted something a little bit more.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I had started working out at Bedrock and the owner at the time, if she was looking for coaches, I really missed interacting with adults.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Kids are great, and motherhood is one of the best jobs, but sometimes I just need I just needed a little bit more.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I asked if she was looking for coaches, and she was, and so I got involved in the coaching world.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: At the time, Ed Rock CrossFit was a CrossFit affiliate, and CrossFit had changed my life.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: It brought me back to something that was felt natural to me being an athlete.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: It made me feel like an athlete again.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: It made me feel like myself again, that I wasn't I I always say this that I wasn't just somebody's mom because it is the thing that I my kids are my greatest accomplishment in my life.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: And to be perfectly honest, everything that they do, people hear me talk incessantly about my kids.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um they're pretty awesome.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: But pretty good, they're pretty awesome.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: But I just needed something for me, like just something that was just all mine.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: And being a mom isn't just all yours.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know a collaboration with you and your kids.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so being an athlete and getting back in the gym made me feel like me again.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it was kind of what propelled me forward into this journey of I kept saying that I wanted to own the gym, and then the opportunity came up to own the gym, and then it was kind of thrown in my lap literally like overnight.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, so I jumped to feed into it with the support of my now husband partner at the time, and uh here we are.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have any CrossFit experience when you first started CrossFit?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: No, none whatsoever.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I jumped into it because uh the owner was neighbors with some friends of ours, and they told me you should go to this gym and go try it.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what did those early years actually look like behind the scenes?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what do people never see about starting a business like this?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think the thing that even shocked me.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: I said I went into it with the three O's.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: I was optimistically, obnoxiously oblivious.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if you go in thinking about how hard it's constantly going to be, no one would ever do it.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: The entrepreneurs jump into it because they have an idea and they have this optimistic view of what it's gonna be like.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of the day, I thought, oh, it's just running a gym.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: How hard can it be?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: But running a business, regardless of watching, well, I know a lot of my friends are entrepreneurs, for which is bizarre.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's just kind of, we just kind of all found each other or became entrepreneurs over the years.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: But running a business is running a business, regardless of what type of business it is, whether it's a gym, real estate, my husband has an HVAC company and watching him get started up.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And him and I talk about this all the time that running a business is running a business, regardless of what it is.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody always told me that I make it look so easy or make it look seamless.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: And if they only knew the constant, anxious train wreck that I have inside behind the scenes.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you always are stressing about are the people gonna come, right?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like you start this and if you build it, they will come.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they don't always come, right?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like they don't always come back.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: We had lots of people, I think we had maybe 20% to 30% retention post-COVID, because I opened up in September of 2020 when we thought everything was over.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so you build it and you think everyone's gonna come and then they don't come, and then you're kind of like, well, what do I do?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I had really no business experience.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I have a business degree and I worked in oil and gas, but running your own business is a whole other game that no one really fully prepares you for.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: So the early days were long days, probably showing up and being like, Oh, this is so great, and everyone thinks it's so great.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And in the background, I'm on my laptop and I'm constantly working and I'm constantly on my phone.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Even to this day, I'm starting to create better boundaries, but people don't see the up till midnight running events or doing all those types of things because you know you're trying to provide this great experience for everyone.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, it's yeah, they don't see the grind and the the stress or what keeps you up at night.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you keep that passion going?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like when things are just going so rogue, how do you keep going?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you tap into?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh there's been many moments over the years where I've just been like, well, let's just close it all down.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, you're in the thick of entrepreneurship.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: You're not always taking a paycheck.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so many small businesses fail by the five-year mark.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's a staggering number.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it all that it takes is one moment with one client or one night where the gym is buzzing and you can see all the friendships happening.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And sorry, I'm gonna get emotional.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: I did not expect this.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um and seeing all the interactions and all the people and all the friends and relationships that are created in the gym, and just like looking around.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes if you notice me on a busy night in the gym and I'm there, I'm just like staring around, being like, wow, I created this.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like all these people are here because I chose to build this and chose to continue on with this.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's that, it's honestly that that just makes it worth it and keeps me going.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: That was why I did it in the first place is if the gym closed down, where was this whole group of people gonna go?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, there's other gyms and other stuff, but it's not even just the gym itself, it's the community.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's the community of people and the friendships and the relationships.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: And those would all kind of just sprinkle apart.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I just didn't want to see that happen.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 100%.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously I can test to that.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but when you saw all the businesses closing down during COVID, and what inspired you?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know we talked about relationships, but did you know how to find a lease or to find another spot?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like what what was that journey like?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um that was really tricky.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: I had a lead on the space, and so I went and I explored it.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was close by, it's three blocks or four blocks from where the existing, the previous space used to be where the community originally started.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I went and checked out the space.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Luckily, the property manager really liked me at the time.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: We jived really well.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I honestly like looking back, I look back and I'm like, God, he was crazy.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why the hell did he take a chance by me?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was newly divorced, uh, had no money.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I was just like, uh, what is this person doing taking this crazy chance on me?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: And luckily he did.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And from the time that I actually, the previous owner had made the decision with me to sell the business to me, which was July 31st of 2020, I had keys to the space August 17th.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: So three weeks later, which is a bit unprecedented.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it it really rolled quite fast.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: So those first couple weeks were like looking at space, transferring insurance, transferring ownership, transferring like tons and tons of paperwork, city of Calgary business license, and then getting the keys was and signing the lease.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I went through the negotiated the lease myself.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think I did a relatively good job.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: I have really great the it's not the same owners, but the ownership company that I'm out of right now has been really amazing to work with.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been lucky in that sense of having really great landlords.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, negotiated the lease, got in there, and the property manager at the time of the space that we're in was very helpful because he could tell, like, I had no idea.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I had no idea about HVAC, and I had no idea about drawings and plans and applying for stuff with the city.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And he was my guidepost.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: He's the one who's like, I'm gonna take you through this.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: I got this person, we're gonna bring them in, they're gonna help you.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna do this, we have to do this, we have to do this.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Okay.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: This is what we're doing now.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and like the whole family was involved.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: I have videos of being up on the scissor lift and we're running electrical and doing stuff, and my kids are down, like cleaning the floor and like doing all sorts.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a crazy wild time.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know how we did it.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: The community actually, like honestly, everybody who came out, there was a whole list of volunteers, and you guys all know who you are if you're listening to this.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: And look back and remember, and it was just like I'd send out an email, it was like, I need volunteers for these tasks if anyone is available, and people just showed up and it was amazing.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: And somehow we got it all done just working with the community and my husband and family.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that was it.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: My dad came from Saskatchewan, and yeah, that's the cool part about relationships.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: You realize that people show up for you.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as a female, um, sometimes we think we have to have everything, all the check marks done, you know, before we can have this beautiful business.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: You seem to, you know, swim upstream and counteract that and just jump all in real quick without the check marks, you know, there.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Do you agree with that statement?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if so, what would you um recommend to our listeners who feel like they need to have everything done?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a fine balance.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, the best advice I ever got was uh a client of mine, and he said, you know, Amanda, after all the years of doing stuff and doing things, sometimes just getting it out there and it's a B plus for now, you can change that B plus into an A later and just get it out there.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I think it's the fine balance of jumping two feet in, which I did at the start, which I could talk about all the mistakes about that and what I would do differently.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um so jumping in two feet first versus just kind of getting some of your ducks in a row and then refining it later.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think I would recommend the two feet in, to be perfectly honest.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like I got here, I got here because I did two feet in, literally like three weeks, and like holy crap, here it is.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I didn't have the proper processes in place, like I had no idea about running a business.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: No idea.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much to it in the background between accounting and licensing and just employment, like staff and making sure that you have processes set up so that things can run smoothly.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: And six years later, this is gonna sound so crazy.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: In the past year, I started working with a business coach last year.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, Kelly at Intrepid.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna shameless plug.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, drop her.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna name her, drop her in here.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And she's the one who set me on a course to start creating processes for my business because I was kind of just flailing along, going month to month and figure trying to just figuring stuff out as I went of like how this was gonna look.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And she's the one who set in motion of really like, hey, you got to get this in place.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you fell off a bridge tomorrow and you're in the hospital or something happened to you and you want this place to survive, what would you do?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: How would you do it?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, like I need a an operations manual for if someone could just like open a binder or document and run this business for me.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't do any of that to start with.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it would have made my life so much easier having proper processes in place instead of being reactive and and creating stuff as things happened.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: So that's one of the things that the B plus efforts that I wish I would have done instead of the two feet in, I wish I would have done somewhere in between have done that B plus effort instead.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: So have like the systems and processes in place beforehand.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of figuring it out as you go.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's a painful learning curve when you're trying to figure it out as you go.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there was there was some stuff I obviously knew from along the way, and your a business degree is great on paper, but from a practical standpoint, doesn't teach you actually how to run a business, right?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: I have a major in general business with a minor in accounting, is what I did in university as my second degree.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it doesn't teach you the real practical day-to-day.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: I know how to do a SWOT analysis, but that doesn't teach you how to create an employee manual or do that kind of stuff, you know.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: So there's lots of stuff that I'm learning now.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I'm a slow learner.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, here we are figuring it all out and just trying to get better.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So if uh in if you're okay sharing a story about how you maybe made a mistake or failed in the moment, and it was a big teaching moment for who you are as a leader today.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what would that story be?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I had a full-time employee that left and learning like all the things that I could have done better to support them, the processes I could have had in place to maybe feel like they were more supported.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: That was a big learning curve, like having someone leave who it's a small business, right?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like so all your people become friends, what you kind of feel like is family, and also kind of mistaking it for them being family, right?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because you can't really take it personally when someone moves on.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: I've always said to all my people that if they didn't stay with me, I want them to have the skills that they can fly on their own.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if one of my employees wanted to go up and up their own gym, I try and teach them some of these processes and the whys of why I do stuff because I want them to see some value that they're getting out of working with me, not just working for me.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so I taught some of those lessons along the way, but maybe I like I could have done a lot better and had stuff better in place.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um trying to implement better coaching on my behalf, to be there to support my staff.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, all these better processes, that was really what triggered this of like, okay, this happened.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: I was super reliant, maybe too reliant on the day-to-day that they were handling, not just them and but all the other staff.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, how do I do this so I'm not in a position where I feel like, okay, the ball has dropped, I'm gonna rush on in and sacrifice myself, essentially is what happens, right?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: As a small business owner, you're the backup, you're the one who's at the mercy of picking up all the drop shifts, or if someone leaves or someone's on vacation, it's you.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, how would I prevent this from happening in the future?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: What can I do to help make sure that people are here?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And what can I do to make sure that I'm not the backup and that there's better process in place when something like this goes wrong?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it was an amazing learning opportunity.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, no regrets.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like things happen for a reason and process for a reason, and and you keep going.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I did.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: I just kept going.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, this happens.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: This is business, business is business, and we go on, and how do we move forward?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And here's what we do.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we prevent it from happening in the future.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Managing people and having employees is a whole other set of business and skills that I think are underrated, but uh definitely a learning experience.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: As the business has grown and it's become more successful, obviously going into your sixth year, how did you grow as a leader from the previous Amanda six years ago?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: All the mistakes, all the mistakes that I've made and all the really, I mean, if you don't learn from the mistakes, what are we doing here?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: I've said that about everything.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you're not gonna learn from the what are you doing here?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you trying to move?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: What are you gonna do to move forward?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: So actually taking those experiences, um, hiring business coach, right?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's something I wish I would have done a long time ago, was ask for help as women.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: We don't always ask for help, right?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: So being vulnerable and actually having to ask for help, regardless if you're hiring them or it's a friend or whatever it is, being like, this sucks.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to do.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: I made a mistake.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: What do I do?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: How do I fix this?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: How do I move forward?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I think old Amanda from six years ago was like, I can power through this, I can do this on my own.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, probably old Amanda from eight years ago.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: My divorce actually forced me to my parents for help, friends for help, and reach out in a different way that I never ever had to before.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: So having to go through that experience taught me how to ask for help.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um so along the way, I had to ask for help.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: I had to find leadership, I had to find advice.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do I make this better?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Pure stubbornness also just like, I'm gonna do this, I'm determined to do this, I can do this, uh, is probably also what kept that running.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, just you have to learn from your mistakes.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: You have to acknowledge that they're mistakes too.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we're not perfect, we're all gonna make mistakes, but you have to learn from it.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I think that level of vulnerability is hard to, you know, hard to unveil, especially with your team, especially with gym members, right?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and family.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a money question for you.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about investing in a business coach with small profit margins and paying for employees, paying for the overhead for the gym.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Is it hard to sacrifice some profit to um pay for like a business coach?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or how do you make those decisions on how to allocate the funds?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's a tricky one.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that was one, I think that's probably the reason why I put off doing the business coaching for so long.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Luckily, I was put in touch with Kelly and connected through a friend.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: And um honestly, her and I did a trade of services.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: And um she had what I was looking for, and I had what she was looking for, and we kind of did a trade of services.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: So um it cost me my time, right?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: My own time and uh helping and personal training and whatever else.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And because yeah, margins are tight, right?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that was what stopped me from moving forward with a business coach in the first place.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now looking at things, we look at running a profit first model on the clinic to elevate functional health.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: So there's always your own, even if it's the smallest and tiniest of margins, like scooping that away and putting it into what's important, so you always have that there.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: has been a really great model for making sure that your costs are covered, but you're still just trying to kind of like make a little bit for yourself to do these types of things, business coaching and all the little extras, right?
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's equipment that breaks down and you have to factor in all of these things.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: When budgeting, you always have to factor in it's like, this is what my costs are, this is what this is, plus 10%.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because there's always contingency and things that go wrong.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's hard.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's been a juggling act for six years of making sure like the business is taken care of, people can get paid.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Rent can get paid.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Things costs have gone up, like things are crazy expensive.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: And running an actual physical location is a whole other game than kind of just running your own business for self, which I realized that that's a whole other like physical space, rent, maintenance, leaky doors.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: On a curiosity standpoint, how did you um decide okay, you know, we'll we'll put money aside for maintenance and profit, but how do we grow?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: And what are some of your marketing um strategies that you use to get more members?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: So again, super tricky when you're running on really tight margins is how do you set aside it's hard because you need money to make money.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Regardless if it's meta ads um or just getting into doing some meta-ad marketing now.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Before it was mostly word of mouth and we kind of just grew a base of putting out social stuff and word of mouth was really how the business grew up until this point.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Competitions.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: We ran a bunch of competitions for a lot of years.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Where I'm like I'm not sure I really want to host that many more competitions.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: I want to host the competitions that are really important to me.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: So those of us those people that know us know we used to host festivist games twice a year.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: But however running those competitions for three years really put our name out there and people got to know us more.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a big help so that was mostly time right uh a lot of time personal time put into getting those competitions set up social media is a big one we did lose our main account of social media so that was a really big hit in March so we were shut down by our main Instagram page was shut down by CrossFit headquarters.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: That was a really big hit from hashtags are copyrighted.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah so that was another that was another hard lesson with a company that wasn't willing to budge on anything and negotiate and have us try and fix our any of the mistakes that we made so we lost that the trying to rebuild a whole new Instagram has been hard.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Social media marketing is hard but that's kind of your main way of doing things these days that's how you reach people is social media marketing.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah so as you know you're great at it you do really great stuff.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the validation that it is your videos are so great.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love it so funny called cringeworthy media cringe worthy media.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Cringeworthy media so trying to get stuff out there and trying to know your market.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the one thing I did with Kelly last year was looking at what is our target market, what are people looking for what are the triggers that would bring people specifically to our community because every gym is different.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Every gym kind of has their thing and ours is community.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a very strong community a very close community a very healthy and safe community to be perfectly honest.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: And really what is it about the people that are our gym that we'd want to replicate out into the public so you really have to start knowing who what who are your clientele and how do you bring more of those clientele in so you got to go into the target marketing.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it becomes a fine balancing act of I need to skim this away for marketing.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I don't need as much for maintenance this month and this is where that goes into meta ads and that's a real juggling act to be honest.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I'm a master of like what goes here, what goes there.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's good and I I think too like it's um a lot of people don't look at the numbers because it does get overwhelming and it it goes like okay like you know I want to take this risk to take out meta ads but you have no idea it's like you take spaghetti and you hope it sticks right like it sticks on the wall kind of the analogy but it's like you want to take the risk because you know your ROI can skyrocket.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Totally and so yeah I also want to ask like so dropping the CrossFit affiliate I know that was um you know a big decision did you have any pushback from the community and the culture that you've created from dropping that affiliation and going to elevate 100% not.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: I thought there was going to be a little more apprehension.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: If there was nobody said anything to me but most of the comments I had were supportive it really came down to dollars and cents.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: The cross food affiliate fees had skyrocketed especially for a small business in Canada and we have higher rent and stuff than a lot of the affiliates in the US and it was I can either pay a large corporation my money or I can pay my staff is really what it came down to.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it was almost to the point where CrossFit the CrossFit community really is kind of dying the CrossFit name especially in Calgary there's I think four affiliates left in the entire city for a population and surrounding of 1.8 million.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's really small um so it became easy when it came down to looking at what's best for me and what's best for my business and where I want to invest my money into became investing my money into me.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that became the easy decision to drop the affiliate it also allowed us to open the doors to people not being intimidated by the idea of CrossFit and allowed us to open up to a whole plethora of different modes of fitness and yeah it that it became a very easy decision and surprisingly nobody really had any pushback.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well that's awesome I mean that's a really great example of making a big decision that you don't know if it's going to pay dividends or not right and you kind of just do what's best for you and your business and and hope it works out.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I think your culture and your community is so loyal and so tight knit um that you could call it show up we would all up you know like I always joke of like sometimes I'm like it's almost too social and like we know we're here to still work out everyone right like let's go let's get moving.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Can you talk a little bit more about the safety component when it comes to fitness as people kind of that bit of culture I think is really important to showcase I think we've created an environment where it's safe no matter what body size you are male, female that and you don't have to wear a cute outfit no one's going to judge you if you're not wearing a super cute outfit you can be it doesn't matter what you wear right like that's the safety part of it is people are there to actually genuinely care about their health and wellness.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: They're there because they're looking for something right it's the third talk about that behind work and school where's the third place or sorry workslash school and home where's the third place that you would spend your time I want to be the third place that people feel comfortable spending their time.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: We have really great coaches who are accepting right I don't think anyone would ever walk in and think that any of my coaches would judge them for being there.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that makes people feel safe and we don't have mirrors people always ask why we don't have mirrors and it's really so that you're not constantly worried about what you look like or what your face is doing while you're doing something in the gym.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: We all know there's workout faces and no one cares right like no one cares what you are doing compared to what someone else is doing.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: You could be lifting a two pound dumbbell and someone else could be lifting a hundred pound dumbbell and they would still treat you on as if like you were lifting 200 pounds.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter are I'm gonna give a little shout out to the men in our gym because they are awesome.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's no intimidation of the strong women there's no judgment they're also welcoming and I think that alone the men in the gym help the women feel safe too right like we're a safe open welcoming community that there's just no judgment.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what specifically led to that I don't think I can pinpoint one specific moment where I'm like yes this really changed it and made us feel safe I think that's fostered from you and Nolan and at uh the original people at the gym, right?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think it just naturally transitioned to elevate and um but yeah it you definitely feel safe.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: You walk in it doesn't matter if you're just starting fitness for the first time or you've been doing it for 20 years, you know, bringing your family and having that safety net like how am I supposed to leave my kids at home while I just go take an hour for me.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: I call it my hour with my clients I call it my hour of solace.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know I'm like I need my hour of solace that's my safety place where I can just go and be myself and just fall apart if I need to fall apart, get a sweat on if I need a sweat on and it becomes that one hour where you can really just focus on you.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm also a bit of a goofball.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: So and making my own mistakes in front of everyone and doing silly things or doing whatever maybe uh because there's no judgment if people are new.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I always talk about all the things and the crazy mistakes I made but just generally being a bit of a goofball and realizing that's not that serious right we're meant to have fun.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah so exactly yeah no and we're very approachable too right it's all the coaches super approachable and and willing to take that extra step if you need that that extra little bit of help.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to you coaches you guys are amazing.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you are each one of them okay I'm gonna transition to a little bit of a different topic because I really want to showcase what you're doing now.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously one thing I've always admired about you is that you don't stop once the gym was successful you kept going and you were like what is next um you know just keeps pushing the needle.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: So when did you realize that fitness alone wasn't enough and that there was a bigger vision for Elevate I'm obviously alluding to Elevate health that you guys just opened it was my husband injury he did physio he did a cortisone shot he did all the things and I had a gym client at the time who's a naturopath doctor who is now my business partner for elevate functional health and I asked her like can you fix this bursitis that he has going on her in his shoulder and she said I fix this all the time Nolan was super skeptical on whether this is going to work or not he does something called prolo therapy so we went if we went and we saw Mandy to his very great skepticism about whether this is going to work or not he went the first time generally notice a difference if you know anything about prolo and if you don't it takes several injections sometimes depending on the joint for him she thought it would be about five to six injections in his shoulder so second time started to feel a little bit better.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: This was after a year almost a year of not being able to do pull ups he works in HVAC he's working hands over his head doing stuff overhead all the time and he just was like I can't do my job I can't work overhead it hurts my shoulder all these things are happening his dad has shoulder issues he's like maybe this is just genetics this is just my lot in life is I'm gonna end up with shoulder problems.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna need surgery all this kind of stuff went and saw Mandy Dr.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Mandy Swindon at elevate functional health and uh she was at a different clinic at the time and after his sixth treatment it was magic and it was gone and he was just couldn't couldn't believe it.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's like I tried everything I saw everybody and all of a sudden now this and first like I said he was super skeptical and after that he's like prolotherapy like everyone needs prolotherapy needs to do prolotherapy and so I was like okay so I started talking to her more about what she all does and what it can do and what it can help.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it really is very simple very simple signs of a dextrose solution injected in to create an inflammatory response can't explain the whole science that's a Dr.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: Mandy interview for another time we'll have to interview her and she can explain the whole thing of it.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just like if this is out there why aren't we talking about it more first of all and so I had the opportunity to take over some more space upstairs and originally I declined it to my landlords I was like oh I don't really think so I don't know what I do with it.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Even though I had a whole bunch of ideas swirling in my head I was just like cost right like can I afford the rent can I do this and the next day it originally was like we need a clinic for women also pelvic floor health we really want pelvic floor health.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we're looking for a public floor physio the universe can deliver on that and uh I so I went to them the next day and was like I want the space like let me get the space so I kind of poked and prodded Mandy for like a while like hey I'm getting this space hey I'm getting this space like do you want to work in my clinic she's like no I actually want to own the clinic and that's how we ended up where we are now so I actually purposefully sought out Mandy based on what she was doing and I really believe she's fixed a lot of things on me ACL, shoulder injury from 16 from a car accident like all the things and I'm like why aren't we talking about this more?
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like I really just believe so strongly in what she does and realizing that for comes with injuries.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know uh functional fitness and CrossFit get a really bad name or bad reputation for injuries really what it comes down to is at a certain point in our life if we don't use our bodies the way that we used to as kids and we start using our bodies the way that we used to as kids and trying to do fun things all the deficiencies that we have in our body sometimes rear their ugly heads.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't really like to call them injuries.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: They just become a use injury and at any point in our life if we actually start using our body and it can't move properly things are going to show up and I always tell people you want these things to show up you want to be able to fix them before you feel like you're too old.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're never too old by the way but people be like oh I'm too old to fix this.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not worth it.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's always worth it to be able to move your body no matter what age you are and so the clinic was born out of just a passion of hey there's more to this we can fix this like your body should be this like fully like well oiled machine that still needs maintenance just like our car.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like nothing in this world runs without maintenance.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: Furnaces need to be changed refrigerators need to be changed oil needs to be changed in vehicles tires need to be changed.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's literally nothing in this world that just lasts forever including us right it's our one it's our one certain thing and using our bodies we still need to do maintenance you're not just gonna get away scot free in life without having to fix some of these things and I wanted to make it easy I wanted to make it easy for people to be able to access the things that they need to do to be able to move their body and it just it of course it seems like an obvious fit.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like so curious um you had a successful gym everything's going well you finally got out of COVID and you're like I understand Nolan and the benefits with Nolan but like what part of you was like hey you know what I'm gonna take this risk or did any part of you go that's too much like I don't want to test my luck no I maybe running two businesses running one business let alone trying to run two businesses is no joke friends um I say it now like sometimes I'm like what was I thinking why did I think that I could do all this so it feels a bit crazy most of the time my husband has a very entrepreneurial spirit so he wasn't any help in trying to really put me off yeah trying to like wheel me in yeah he's like this is great this sounds amazing like you should really do this uh it really just came from the passion of wanting to be able to offer more and you know gyms at the end of the day from a business standpoint gyms are a volatile business people can come and leave at any given time my whole clientele could walk out the door tomorrow and you know it's I want to try and foolproof the business between both of them right so making sure that first of all an all-encompassing third place that everyone can get all the services they need don't even ask me about all the things that I would love to add to the business because that makes me even more crazy.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah what's your next idea Amanda um because I just keep dreaming and want bigger and more and to do all the things yeah my husband didn't help at some point did I think yeah this is a bad idea at the time no I was like this is amazing and it was exciting and uh now what that we're in it yeah it's definitely hard it is definitely a struggle on top of you know there's other things going on in life I have teenagers that are growing um you know parents like family stuff going on and health and you know like there's just a lot of things that go on that can happen at any given time and you don't really factor those things in that you're gonna get stonewalled at certain areas of your life because not because your business is but you know yeah life catches up with you sometimes in different areas and uh it's been a wild ride this year.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah no kidding well such an inspiration that you're able to juggle it all and whether you feel like you are or not I don't feel like I feel like if I'm doing well in one area of my life I'm completely and utterly failing in another so if I spend too much time with my kids everything goes to shit.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what would you say to those moms that also feel the same way?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like is there any advice you would have for them?
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because I feel the same way I'm like you know it's you can go all in on business and business you're winning and everything's great and then on the home front your relationship suffers or relationships with family friends and social right?
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: What would be your advice well there's some things that you just have to let go.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: At the end of the day you know my kids are great actually just really having an open and honest conversation it's hard like you obviously have a baby and I have teenagers but my kids were small when I started they were five and seven when I started the business but had been in the gym at luckily since they were small.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't like it at first.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: They really hated being there.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: They hated that I was there all the time I bought toys and bought things to try and like make a comfortable space for them and then just honestly being open and honest with them.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like you know this is my time I really want to do this for our family and for us and it's my chance to build something for myself you know I haven't worked in a while and I'm trying to create something and I want you guys to be a part of it.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe one day you can work here and make which it's happening maybe one day you can work here and you can start doing these things and I kind of had to rope them into my passion for it because they really didn't like it.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was busy we didn't have the same life that we used to have you know with me being mostly a stay-at-home mom and uh so that was a really big adjustment those first couple years.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that feels really hard.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think you ever really get rid of the mom guilt.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's the thing.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's other things I had to let go.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: My house was always meticulously clean.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: I won't even scan and show you my camera the like piles of laundry and dog hair in the corner and you know I just some of those things had to just become not important.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like you either get a cleaner and if you can't afford a cleaner you just have to let some of that go.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: And rope in your family and this is family chore day and we're gonna pick this all up and uh Maybe start to see the joy.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: And like sometimes just doing the simple things like doing dishes where you're not responsible for employees in that moment, and you're not responsible for this, that, and the other thing actually almost feels relaxing sometimes.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, ah, dishes.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I try and just find the joy in the small things now and remind myself like this is the easy stuff.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: This is mindless, like put in a podcast, do the dishwasher, get the kids involved, do the dishes together in the evenings.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's our chance to talk to the kids, cleaning up the kitchen together, cooking together.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: The kids, we we had to, like I had to pass stuff off to the kids.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: My kids have been doing their own laundry for years after me being doing everything for them, because that was my job, quote unquote.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I felt like I had to do everything for them.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's really given them a whole lot of independence that we don't think that they're capable of.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: And they are quite clearly capable of doing a lot more than we give our cred kids credit for.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: So they have to do their own laundry, they've had to make their own lunches.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: And we've just had to teach them things along the way.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: And kudos to Nolan.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: He's always the one who had to kind of pull me back from doing too much from them.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: He was always like, no, no, like they can do this.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: Give them a chance, give them a chance, let them learn.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just teach them instead of you know just stepping in and doing it for them.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: So you things take longer, cooking takes longer, but now they're amazing, right?
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like they'll cook us dinner.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you have to, you'll live with guilt for the rest of you live with mom guilt for the rest of your life.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: And never goes away.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: There's no switch for it.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just you have to pick and choose what's really important.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, at the end of the day, kids just need love and support.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think too, um, they're gonna grow up looking at what you've built and go, holy, like, my mom's a badass.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like look at what she's built, look at what how our childhood was and the skills they get naturally, just being a byproduct of entrepreneurial kids, right?
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: I want to pull back a little bit.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you step inside your gym and your space, what can people expect when they walk into Elevate?
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: When they walk into Elevate, they can expect a welcoming community.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we do every I want it to be mindless that you can come in and we will, you can show up for your hour of the day, you can turn off your brain.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: In the fitness side, we take you through the warm-up, the workout, the coaches help you through everything, and you just have to show up.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's sometimes it's the hardest thing, is just showing up and you just have to show up.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: On the elevate functional health side, um, our practitioners are really awesome.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: We do have Anna, our admin at the front desk.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: She welcomes you, she guides you upstairs.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: The health clinic is in the back of the gym.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: So after you get through reception, you actually get to see elevate Y C the fitness side, and then we have the stairs going up into elevate functional health.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_01: Our practitioners all work out in the gym.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, our acupuncturist slits her time between us and another gym with her husband that's closer to her house.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_01: So our people are in the gym because they understand how important movement is, right?
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's the point of our practitioners and having the gym as all in one is it's kind of meant to feel like it's all together and all one, but they are actually individually separate businesses.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's just meant to feel easy.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: You can just get everything all in one place.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's under one umbrella, and you have the simplicity of just showing up, getting your workout in, going to physio, and it's just all there.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um people that show up for class and then go upstairs and head up for a chiropractor point.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's fantastic.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you see and hope Elevate is in five to ten years?
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: They want it to be a bustling hub under one roof.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I want there to be we already have a little community cafe where you can get coffee, but I don't want it to be like where people gather.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's meet down there, bring the kids.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: The kids can go in the kids' zone and play.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: We can sit down and have a coffee, catch a workout, get in a massage.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I want it to be this like hub that people talk about.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I want to go to elevate, I want to go to elevate, and it's like the place where people gather.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I see.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't see it as a gym or as a health clinic.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's a place that people can gather, and that's what I really want to build it towards is just it's a community, it's a place.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: People just go.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it is already that.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: How many times on Instagram have people reached out to me and be like, I'll see you at the gym, you know?
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll see you there.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: Or you see who's like gonna be showing up at the 5 30 class, and you decide you want to go to 5 30 instead of 6 30 because those people are there, right?
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, absolutely.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: That ha that already happens, and um, I see that definitely continue to grow there.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to talk about someone's first visit.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: What can they expect if they walk through your doors tomorrow as a first time they've never had any fitness experience?
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: Walk them through their first experience.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: You walk in, coach is gonna greet you, they're gonna tell you where the bathrooms are, where to find water, where to put your bag, kind of all in one spot and all easily visible in the back.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna welcome you into class.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_01: We take you right into a warm-up.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's group led.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_01: Every individual movement is taught and talked about, and everybody does it together.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: So even if you don't know what you're doing, it's demoed.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_01: If there's something that they feel that you could change or that might benefit you better, they'll give you some feedback on how you can move your body in a different way to get the right intention, see how it's feeling.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: From there, they'll generally talk about what the workout is going to be.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we stop, we talk about the workout.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: If anybody has any injuries or modifications, they'll usually talk to the coach about it, or sometimes we just know because we know what's going on with people after a while.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're new there, like, is there anything you feel like you can't do?
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: What's your fitness experience?
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: And we find the right movement for you.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: So if there's something that you can't do, it doesn't matter.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you can't do pull-up, it doesn't matter.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_01: We have an option for you.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_01: So regardless if you're 70 years old or you're 50 years old or you're 20 years old, it doesn't matter.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: We find something that works for you.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_01: We go through, we talk about the workout, we talk about all the movements, we warm up for the workout.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: And from there, we make sure that everyone has an option, knows when they should be finishing, what kind of the intention of the workout is.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we'll go through and give uh, say, one person will do 20 reps and the other person's doing 10, just based on different movements and what they're doing for them.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_01: We go through the workout, everyone finishes around the same time, everyone high-fives each other, regardless of when they finished, regardless of how much weight they used, regardless if they could do a pull-up or not.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody cleans up their equipment, and an hour later you're out the door wondering what just happened and who are all these new people you met.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that are like, are you coming back tomorrow?
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, someone who had a concussion when I first started CrossFit, I wasn't getting any better.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I had actually plateaued in my recovery.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: And we scaled things back so much that um, like I couldn't skip rope.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, there was no running.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was like little step ups, it was a little bit of walking, but every little thing created this foundation that allowed me to get better physically, mentally, and uh obviously when you hit those big gains, that's what keeps you coming back, right?
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_00: So um tell us about the$89 unlimited introductory one month membership.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we have an$89 special.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's exactly what it is one month unlimited.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a like calendar month, it's from whenever it starts.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if you start on the 13th of the month, it goes to the 12th of the following month.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, you get access to all of our classes.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we have our functional fitness classes, Irocks, we have our gymnastics class, skills class on Monday nights, we have weightlifting club on Saturday mornings, we have our community partner workouts, we have all those classes, and you can go to any of them as many times you want, twice a day, three times a day.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: You can come unlimited for a month and there's no strings attached.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_01: So if you decide that you don't want to stay, it's not like you get the$89 one-month special and you have to sign up for a membership.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to come try us because sometimes a week or a day or a single class isn't enough.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_01: Come see if we're for you.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if we're not, hope you find what you're looking for.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_01: We want to be for everyone, but sometimes we're not.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: And uh come on down and just try it.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: Just try it.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: There's no fear, like you have nothing to worry about, and yeah, there's just no commitments, no strings attached.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I think that if you want to try something new and a little outside your comfort zone, um, try that first class.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like you'll be addicted right after that first class.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um and who would you say to that person who's been putting off taking care of themselves?
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say directly to them right now?
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: I would say think about where you will be six months from now.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you were looking back and being like, oh, if it only started six months ago, where could I be now?
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_01: That could be you six months from now.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_01: But if you keep putting it off, it keeps getting harder and harder to do it.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to just step through the door, third point.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like there's no like it's not a huge investment that some people might be, but it's not, it's a huge, it's not a huge investment to just do something for yourself.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_01: To me, it seems like a really small investment in a large step towards bettering your health.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: The investment in yourself is always worth it, like always, because it's the one sure thing that we have is this body moving through this life and making it the best to its ability that we can.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, regardless of age, regardless of physical ability, we have adaptive athletes in wheelchairs or on crutches or whatever, it doesn't matter, regardless of injury.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, but I have a sore shoulder right now, I can't do it.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: I can take your shoulder completely out of it.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_01: We can do it, and then I'll send you upstairs to go see Mandy.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_01: But we can take if you have if you have no use of your one hand or you have a broken finger or broken rib, it doesn't matter.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's just one single step that you can do moving forward for yourself.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: And the longer you keep putting off, the harder it is.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: But there's no, it's not scary.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like we don't we make it easy.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's really easy.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: It is really easy.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: You just essentially show up.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just show up.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_00: What you said is actually so applicable to business as well.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_00: You take six months and look at where you want to go, and you take six months, you put your head down, you're really boundaried with your time, and just crazy what you can do with your business.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: You could catapult it.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: So very, very applicable to both.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: But you need your body to execute well in business because what I find, especially through my entrepreneurial journey, is like you can be so hyper focused on your business that you forget about your fitness.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's about, yeah, I mean, I feel like we can all relate to that one.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: We can all relate to that.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: Even someone who owns a gym.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: People think that because I own a gym, I'm gonna be like super fit and I'm working out all day, and it's the exact opposite.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's I'm running a business and I find it hard to stop myself and schedule myself in.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because either if I do a class, I my coach brain off and I want to help and I want to coach.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then so I try to work out not in the classes because I get too distracted.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also disruptive.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_01: I am the worst client in the gym.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_01: I talk to everyone, I disrupt the coaches, I'm joking around.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: I am the worst in a class.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I try and work out on my own so I don't get distracted and I don't disrupt the coaches from doing what they need to do.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's hard doing it on your own, too.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it's hard scheduling yourself in, even when you're the gym owner.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's really hard.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know I can imagine.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: Especially too, because you know everybody.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, and it's like you want to know everybody that connection because it's but it's really hard to peel away.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: So hard.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_00: What is next for Elevate?
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_00: What has you excited?
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have lots of programs coming up.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a really popular kids and teens class uh program, youth fit that goes on.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's coming up in September.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_01: Our massage therapist up in Elevate Functional Health actually is certified.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_01: She does hypopressive breathing.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so hypopressive breathing is a breathing class for core and pelvic floor.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we have that starting for moms and babies in mid-July on Wednesdays during the day.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you can come and work on your pelvic floor and meet other moms in the area.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we have that starting.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_01: We have Mountain Strong, which is a started off as a bow hunter boot camp, but really it can apply if you're hiking, if you're it really is like we do lots of stuff that would be applicable to if you were hunting and had to carry a hunt out, if you're hiking up a mountain with a backpack.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we have Mountain Strong on Monday nights.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_01: We're in our third session after starting it in January.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we have our summer session starting.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: We have high rocks still going on.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_01: We have our women's only competition happening at the end of September.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_01: We have some six-week boot camps.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you're like functional fitness or CrossFit or Hyrux or any of that sounds like not for me, one of our trainers, Hannah, is running a six-week boot camp.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you can start there and start getting your fitness in line.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's small groups.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's, I think, a max of six to 10 people in a group.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_01: We also have run club.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: We have run club starting, and we're gonna and we're gonna be doing a goal race, the service half marathon.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: But that race actually has a one kilometer, five kilometer, ten kilometer, and half marathon, twenty one kilometer.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna do run club for all levels to train for any one of those race goals at any one of those distances.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that starts in July with our coaches.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's a lot going on.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of great things.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, pick your poison.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many different things that you know.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have kettlebell classes in the fall with Coach Steve.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's a kettlebell wizard.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we have lots going on.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those sound so exciting.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um I wish I got paid just to work out.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that'd be awesome.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_00: I have rapid fire and then I'll let you go.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_00: Coffee before or after a workout?
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: Before.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: Before.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: Favorite local, yeah.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_00: Favorite local Calgary restaurant.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh god.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's still on the spot.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh Oh, Major Tom.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, that's a good one.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's local.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: Time with your kids.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, made by Marcus is our we spend a lot of time at Made by Marcus.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_01: So local hidden gem.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's not really hidden, but we spend a lot of time eating ice cream with our kids, and it's down the hill from our house.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_01: Made by Marcus and Little Empire burgers.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds like a good night.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a Calgary business everyone should experience at least once.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_00: Elevate.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: Elevate functional health and elevate YYC.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, favorite way to spend a day off.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_01: Walking the dogs.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_01: Camping.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_01: If um if I could take a Starlink and go out and work for my computer, that would be that's not really day off, but walking the dogs in scenery.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like yeah, it's a change in scenery.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_00: Camping.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_00: And walking the dogs.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one word your team would use to describe you.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_00: Goofy.
• 1:01:08
  unknown: Goofy.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask every single one.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_01: Inspirational.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think goofy would be more.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: What's one thing Calgary does exceptionally well?
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: Facilitates stuff for families.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a good one.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: We have lots of like parks and families, stuff for families.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that is really true.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_00: Amanda, something that's really stood out to me throughout this conversation is that Elevate has never really been about barbells or echo bikes.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's about people.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's about creating a place where someone can walk through the doors exactly as they are and leave believing they're capable of more than they thought.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: Watching both you and Elevate evolve over the years has been incredible.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I'm just one of the many people whose life has been impacted because you decided to build something bigger than a gym.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for sharing your story with us, and thank you for everything you've built for Calgary.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_00: If today's conversation inspired you to take that first step or maybe your next one, Amanda and her team are currently offering an unlimited introductory one-month gym membership for just$89, giving you the opportunity to experience everything we talked about today for yourself.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about Elevate, visit their website or follow them on social media.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe to the 403 podcast as we continue introducing you to the people, businesses, and ideas shaping Calgary and Alberta.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because every city has stories, ours just happens to be told by people building it.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you're buying, selling, investing, or just want to talk about Calgary, I'd love to hear from you.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_00: All my contact information is in the show notes.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_00: Talk soon!