We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Caitie Canacakos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Caitie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
Opening up a gym in 2020.
One of the best and worst times of my life as a business owner. Being shut down 1 month after getting the keys to our new location, fresh paint on the walls and equipment starting to pile in, not just life, but the business took a sudden stop. Cops were called on us even as we tried to follow the rules. Summer time in AZ when temperatures were sky rocketing. Business up in the air, I’ve never cried so many tears in all my years of being in business. But, as I said, one of the best and worst years of my life. The clients not only came together to fight the fight, but they never gave up. They continued to pay the membership, they continued to show up in 115 degree heat in our make shift garage gym, they showed up from 5a-7pm for their 1-1 training sessions, our clients not only saved me from the lowest of the lows, but they saved the gym. Our gym was shut down for 6 months due to Covid but we are up and running and have been for the past 1.5 years because of them. Our clients built this gym and continue to make it amazing every single day.
Caitie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Caitie and my first job at the age of 16 was in childcare in our local neighborhood gym, no job no car so job is what we got! I worked my way from childcare, to front desk, to sales, to assistant manager and to General manager of 5 valley gyms. I got my bachelors in Psychology but it seemed like the gym is where my life really started. I had a full ride scholarship to a JC in Phoenix and in the summer of my sophomore year of college, my mom hired a trainer and I jumped in with her. I ended up dropping a significant amount of weight and training became a large part of my life. I finished getting my bachelors and instead of continuing on with softball, I went to ASU online full time while working full time at the gym. I eventually went on to try competing in Bodybuilding in 2013 and my love continued to grow. In 2016, I decided to go all in. I quit my General Manager job and got my Personal Training Certification. I built up my clientele to rent space out of a warehouse and eventually jumped all in in 2020 (I know) to open my own gym. We are thriving, growing and changing lives and that is my true passion. We offer 1-1 private training, Small Group Weight Training Classes, HIIT and Total Body Bootcamps. I also hold my Sports Nutrition Certification to help clients with the all around package!
Have you ever had to pivot?
2020: the year of small business hell. From in person training, small groups, and face to face interaction, to ZOOM classes and ZOOM training sessions. When selling online programs became a must, your face on social media wasn’t an option, when client-trainer interaction became screen time. Not only was it the trainer struggling, it was the client. The clients who pay top dollar to have a private trainer next to them in the gym now needed to learn to work from home with a phone screen. As much as we tried to keep it as normal as possible, our ALL in person training struggled to fight the pivot to all online!
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
BE A MANAGER NOT THEIR FRIEND.
Friendship ends the moment you walk in the door. At that point, you are employee and manager. The respect, how you speak to each other, it all changes and you need to be able to get passed that. You need to be able to discipline and do write ups when needed. You needed to be able leave personal issues at the door and treat each other with respect during hours. Being able to ask them to take out the trash or clean machines without them turning and saying “You do it!” Stay consistent with team meetings and LISTEN to your employees, good or bad. Don’t discourage, don’t gossip, do the dirty work with them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://empoweredlifestyletraining.com/
- Instagram: @caitiecanacakosfit
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmpoweredLifestyleTraining
Image Credits
Amaes Photography