We were lucky to catch up with Christina Gambino recently and have shared our conversation below.
Christina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I always knew I would own a gym one day, but I didn’t know it would be a ninja warrior training facility. I didn’t have access to obstacle training in Palm Beach County and travelled the country by RV exploring gyms. I learned the ins and outs of programs, pricing and processes. I interviewed owners, employees and customers and created my own business plan. I knew this would work because there are a lot of families looking for fun things to do indoors in Florida. My gym is very different than a lot of other gyms. My main focus is on safety, cleanliness and flexibility on memberships. I solved problems my mom had raising 4 kids in different sports. I offer ninja, parkour, tumbling, fitness and more and I’ve designed a pricing structure that allows families to share sessions and change their schedules without losing their sessions. The obstacles and curriculum change every single week so my gym is always new and fun.
Christina, 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?
For starters, I grew up in Long Island New York and was raised in a big Italian family. I started gymnastics when I was two years old and continued on to NCAA Division I Gymnastics at Rutgers University. After graduating I coached gymnastics for 10years as well as became one of the highest ranked gymnastics judges. I picked up Ninja Warrior and competed on the show seasons 9, 10, and 11. I naturally got into the sports industry because it is just an extension of who I am and what I do. I make parents lives easier by offering flexible programs and pricing as well as a fitness center for them to use while watching their kids. I provide jobs to young adults who learn experience on how to be professional, kind, and hard working. In a place they genuinely enjoying working at. And very soon, I will be giving the experience of owning a gym and creating this positive and exciting environment to my franchisees (2022). I am the most proud of creating systems that work and that my team follows. I continuously educate myself through books, webinars, research and mentorship on new softwares, programs and systems. It is amazing to see my systems in action and to see the quality of what I expect to be consistent. That is how I know my franchise will work. I’m also most proud of not only surviving the pandemic but thriving out of it. Calmly making difficult decisions, fighting for loans, persevering through $0days and in the end, forging ahead with investing in my franchise. It was scary, uncertain and difficult but I overcame it. No one, other than my husband and closest family/friends, know the darkness I lived in for a year in order to keep the business alive and I’m grateful for Governor DeSantis for supporting freedom and allowing me to reopen when we did.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
One month before my 1 year anniversary of being open, the world shut down and all the money we saved was given back to customers for refunds, given to my landlord for rent and given to my employees for continued work just like that. I promised my employees I wouldn’t lay them off and found work for them to do. My landlord didn’t offer any assistance and even made threats if I didn’t pay rent. All of the birthday parties we had booked as well as membership payments that went through were being refunded. Not to mention, in order to re open the gym, I had to basically reinvent the business which costs money. Social distance stickers, fog machines, disinfectants, equipment, etc. by the time we re-opened I had nothing left and no one was coming. There was one pay period where rent was due the same week and I wasn’t sure which one of the payments would bounce. Would it be my employees or my landlord. I went home and prayed. My Point of Sale is integrated to my website so people can buy things through the night. By the grace of God, all payments cleared and no one knew how bad it was. I was able to secure the PPP loan before my next rent payment was due and that was huge. My advice for any small business owner is to fight for what you need relentlessly, stay calm and always pray and believe that God will provide.
Any advice for managing a team?
Managing people is the hardest task if you ask me. Human personalities are infinite and you never know what situations you will encounter and how to handle them. The process of hiring, onboarding, training and maintaining is a lot of work and the best advice I can give is this: 1. Be quick to listen and slow to talk 2. Use an employee handbook to inform them of your rules. 3. Organize monthly meetings and celebrate the wins. 4. ALWAYS praise a good job 5. Never text them things they are doing wrong. Having boundaries and a place for communication is key. 6. Be respectful yet confident 7. Allow the team to have a voice and feel comfortable expressing concerns and ideas 8. Anniversary gifts 3months, 6months, 1year, 2yrs +(they love it!) 9. Make sure they know they can talk to you about anything. If they don’t, they will leave without addressing concerns. 10. HIRE THE RIGHT PEOPLE!
Contact Info:
- Website: ChristinaGambino.com
- Instagram: Christinagambino72
- Twitter: Bethechange72
- Other: Jumptwistninja.com Jumptwist.com