CrossFit NorCal opened its doors (officially) on Jan 24th 2004. We are wrapping up our fifth year in business and I’m a little stunned by that fact. Other than a stint selling books at a Barnes & Noble in high school and college, I’ve never stayed in one line of work this long. If I won the lottery today the only thing that would change is that I’d sleep more. Really. I’d still coach classes, I’d still help at CrossFit certs, I’d still be a nutrition and training geek. I guess that’s a good thing and a sign I’m onto a good fit with regards to my chosen vocation and how I’m living my life. That’s all pretty cool and I’d say (as objectively as I can) that this whole process has been quite a success. Lots of ups and downs. Certain things have been much harder to contend with than I have ever imagined, but all-in-all I’m pretty happy with how things have developed.



Looking back, I’d have to say the fact I’m doing work I love has played the greatest part in the success and growth of our business. This success however, forced us to face a rather unintended consequence this past spring. We realized that once the weather got hot in the summer (Chico can be a balmy 120*F in the hot months) or when the winter hit (it can rain more than an inch an hour in Chico at times) we would have completely inadequate space to put our people. In the spring we have a scenario like they enjoyed at CF HQ year round: moderate temperatures and the ability to spill out into the street. 20-30 person classes? 1,500-2,000 sq ft? No problem! Just go outside, right? Well… in Chico, and most places not on the Pacific coast of California, this approach will not work. We were faced with a choice that proved both scary and challenging. Do we move, buy gear, start trainer development programs and all that is entailed with moving from a small to medium sized operation, or do we remain a mom & pop corporation with 1-2 relief trainers and pretty much keep things business as usual. Let’s look at our two options.



Mom & Pop’ing It

In this scenario Nicki and I could take time off by relying on our relief trainers for group classes and simply kick our private clients to the curb for a week when we went on vacation. We knew our expenses, were making good money from the scene, and after many years of figuring out our business systems, we felt like we had a handle on what we were doing. The “problem” was that we were adding people at an ever-accelerating rate and we had a boat load of interest in new folks coming in as trainers. This raised two potential concerns: would we continue to grow? How difficult would it be to train and “bring up” the trainers we needed handle our increasing class schedule and personal training requests. We kicked the idea around of simply raising prices to squeeze as much as possible out of our current location. This would remove the need to find a new location, buy gear, and bring a large number of people up to speed with training. This was an appealing scenario from the perspective of “man, I really like my sleep” but it felt a bit Milk Toast. We had demand; we had interest… why not grow?

Grow It

Our other option was to find a new, larger location. The nice thing about this was that Chico had a glut of light industrial spaces. We did a little poking around and found a location just around the corner from our current spot that was three times larger (6,000 sq ft), on a major road, brand new and… get this… 1/3 cheaper per square foot. I won’t tell you how little we pay for rent—you will want to kill yourself—so I’ll just say that it’s cheap.



Nicki and I projected what types of classes we could run given the greater space. We looked both qualitatively at how much fun we could have there and quantitatively at what type of numbers we could turn. It was a no-brainer. Growth always seems to be more appealing than stagnation, recession and death. Funny that.

The Plan

Our basic plan involved projecting the costs for flooring, bumpers, dumbbells and a few other odds and ends including new structures for pull-ups. These new structures constituted a pretty significant cash allocation, but were critical to our ability to run multiple 10-15-person classes simultaneously, host certs and generally have a facility that kicks-ass. At present we have enough pull-up space to have 50 people IN THE AIR doing pull-ups at one time. It’s a crap load of linear footage but we need it and I had the structures made such that they allow for hip-overs and glide kip to supports. Pull-ups are great but there are a lot of other fun things to do on a bar!



I’ll save y’all the tale of our move… it was just a miserable experience other than our clients really pitching in and helping enormously. I hate cutting horse mats! We ordered gear in waves and have received the new bumps (awaiting the Greg Everett O-lifting gig) bars and plyo-boxes. Awaiting dumbbells, Swain or Zebra mats, some new rings and a few other items. I’m not ordering more kettlebells. I use them as doorstops. I’m an ignorant prick who has failed to see the inherent superiority of this magical (and spendy) item vs. gymnastics, O-lifting and dumbbells. I’m an asshole and really concerned that the gear I buy is safe, easy to store, broadly effective and relatively inexpensive. KBs do not make the cut in my book. Save the hate mail if you are nuts about them, I’ve heard it… like I said, I’m an ignorant prick on the topic. Let’s leave it at that.



We have a nicely finished out reception area that is about 200 sq ft. We are working towards a scan-in system to track attendance and make it possible to bring on more trainers as we grow. Natalie Taylor and Vanessa Lambert decked out our bathrooms and it is a pleasure to drop trow in them. Considering we spent over a year with nothing but a port-a-potty when we first got going, this is quite a treat. We also have a trainer lounge to check email, eat, drink coffee (we procured a commercial espresso maker… I take that shit VERY seriously) and generally hide from our clients till it’s “show time”. It’s super nice and I’m damn proud of the whole operation.

It’s worth mentioning, we had about five walk-ins in about four years at our old location that was at the end of a cul-de-sac. We are now on a major road, we have signage (for the first time in nearly five years) and we had five walk-ins and six phone calls the FIRST DAY the signage went up. Some of the early CrossFitters brag about no signage and shitty locations. Not a bad idea when you are getting off the ground, but it’s a dumb idea to not jump at better locations if the money and exposure makes sense.



I hope this is less a show and tell and more something you other CrossFit Affiliate owners can think about if you are facing a potential expansion. We ran this whole thing through two filters:

Quality. Will this make for a better experience for our clients and for us as trainers?

Quantity. Does this move make sense financially with regards to rent increases, moving expenses, new gear and the unknown versus the potential for better financial returns? I know it’s gauche to talk about “making money” but if you can’t keep the lights on and the bills paid and then have some left over to pay yourself, there is certainly not going to be enough left to fund the expansion of your gym.

I love our new gym and I’m glad we moved. Next time someone else is cutting the horse mats. We also need a pool…