"We're looking forward to the next two years with a goal of not being the largest, but being recognized as one of the best in terms of quality."
Affiliate Name: CrossFit CLE
Affiliate Owner: Aaron Shaffer
Affiliate Since: October 2007
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Square Feet: 8,200
Number of Members: 130
Describe your affiliate in six or fewer words:
Challenging, family, growing
How did you get your box started?
I started solo at a local park with just one barbell, one kettlebell and one box. When we opened in the fall of 2007, we were the first CrossFit affiliate in Cleveland.
Tell us who you were/what you did before you owned a CrossFit affiliate.
I was (and still am) an IT consultant 20 hours per week.
Do your members compete in the CrossFit Open/Games or in local competitions?
Yes. Last year, Julie Foucher took second overall, two of our male competitors qualified for Regionals and we had a Regionals team last year. However, due to a late car accident, the team wasn't actually able to compete. We're better prepared for this year and won't make the mistake of not listing alternates this time around.
What do you and your members do together besides train?
Eat, drink, work, date. We have several brother/sister combos, a father/mother/daughter combo and several co-worker combos.
Best lesson you’ve learned so far:
Olympic lifting is very important if you're concerned with performance increases across the board.
Advice you wish you had been given:
Don't undercut yourself on price. You need to charge enough to enable real growth. We started at some of the lowest rates in the country, but are now the highest priced CrossFit gym in the Cleveland area.
Charging more enables more hours, better bathrooms, happier trainers, etc., all of which the members are thankful for. There will always be people who will never stop in based on price, but those aren't the customers you want or need anyway.
As CrossFit gyms, we aren't competing with the local YMCA, we are slowly acquiring all those who used to pay too much for personal training and are finally ready to have more fun and be part of a community of health-focused peers.
What question would you love to ask other affiliate owners?
The affiliates are all so different — different locations, different demographics, different focuses. I like to hear each story individually and take from it what I can.
Why do you do this?
I need it. I need the stable social support system. I started CrossFit CLE in my last year of school at Case, and nearly everyone that I went to college with moved out of town upon graduating. I wanted to create my own peer group with similar values and less turnover because I believe long-term relationships are key to stability and success in life.
I need the WODs to stay healthy, both physically and mentally, and I need an outlet where I feel that what I do has a meaningful impact on the betterment of the world. IT work in manufacturing is fun and challenging, but very impersonal and often lacks a deeper meaning other than paying the bills
Tell us something cool, unusual, or just slightly different about your affiliate.
The first four trainers to work here have all gone on to start their own independent affiliates in nearby suburbs. I feel good knowing they are out there keeping the quality of the CrossFit brand high and respectable.
Is there a story in your affiliate that needs to be told?
CrossFit CLE opened in 2007 in one of the more abandoned neighborhoods of Cleveland (at the time, second most poverty stricken city in the country) and in the middle of the financial recession. Many people thought it couldn't be done, and I was often told that a CrossFit only gym was never going to work, that I needed to expand to other offerings.
Five years later we continue to see steady monthly growth. We didn't pop up overnight as quickly as some of the new boxes have, but that is a strength. Our community formed a solid core and built on that over time at a more natural pace for relationship development. Even though our growth was slow, it has always been consistent and we are now one of the largest in Ohio and still growing. October, November and December have been the best three months in our five-plus year history and we have been voted "Best Gym" in Cleveland for the last two years (Number 1 out of 70 in 2011, Number 1 out of 66 in 2010) by a local news station.
We're looking forward to the next two years with a goal of not being the largest, but being recognized as one of the best in terms of quality. We are going to cap membership and use a wait-list when our space reaches capacity, and focus on a strong community and continuous improvement with the individuals that we have.
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