We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Megan Hanson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Megan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?
When we started this business back in 2017, I never thought one of the challenges thrown our way would be a car running through our building…
We opened our second location in Northglenn, CO three months before the world shut down. It goes without saying that this studio had a rough start. We were just starting to build momentum and a membership base up at Northglenn when we had to shut our doors due to the pandemic. After what felt like an eternity, we reopened a little over 3 months later with limited capacity and a whole different set of business challenges. The stress and anxiety that comes with running a business that relies on customers stepping foot inside your doors in the middle of a pandemic was very challenging and nothing I could have ever imagined.
When we were finally starting to gain some momentum, we had a rider drive her car into the front of our building injuring one rider and almost crushing two employees. Luckily, the brand new rider that was standing at the front desk, had entered and moved slightly to the right which saved her life. In addition, we have a heavy front desk that stopped the car from ramming into the two employees that were standing behind the front desk. We are so grateful that no one got seriously injured, but the damage totaled over $60,000 and came with a huge headache. We had to work with insurance agents, city inspectors, contractors, and our landlord to get back up and running to avoid the disruption of our business. It took over 2 months to repair the damage, but we finally with the help of our team and contractors got it done.
We still to this day do not know how this happened. The rider who was responsible for driving her car into our building never returned to the studio and never apologized to us or the injured customer who had to be taken to the hospital. The funny thing (if you can find humor in this) about this story is there was a bumper sticker that our building inspector pointed out on the back of her 4Runner that said “Your car can go fast, but mine can go anywhere”. That seems like foreshadowing if you ask me.
Overall, this accident could have been so much worse so we count our lucky stars that no one got seriously injured and we were able to replace most things. You really never know what challenges are going to be thrown at you as a small business owner that is for sure!
Megan, 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 husband and I started High Ride about 5 years ago with our first location in Denver, CO. I always had the dream of working in the health and fitness industry so I decided to give it a try as a passion project while I was working in Marketing and Sales for CPG companies. I loved cycling so I got my MadDogg Spin Certification in 2016 with my sister hoping to teach at a gym once completed. That same day my sister said to me, “you should open a cycling studio”. The second she put that in my head, I was all in. At the time, there were no cycling studios in Denver that were doing what I wanted to do – create a rhythm-based ride in a club-like experience with loud music and fun lighting that incorporated side to sides, tap backs, push-ups, and other movements on the bike.
I went to Business school and studied Marketing and Sociology. I’ve always had the dream of owning my own gym but never really thought it was a possibility for me. When I started to do some research on what it would take to open my own studio, I knew I could make it a possibility. I told my husband I wanted to open a cycling studio and he was all in. We both went to Business school at Northeastern University where we met and he too wanted to own his own business. He was 100% supportive from the moment I brought this idea up. We started to look at studio locations, put together a business plan, and researched funding options and the rest is history. There was no stopping us. We signed a lease in Nov of 2016 and opened our first studio on July 7th of 2017.
High Ride Cycle is an indoor cycling studio in the Sloan’s Lake and Northglenn neighborhoods of Denver. At High Ride, we ride to the beat of the music and do some movements on the bike like side to sides, tap backs, push-ups, and walk-backs in a club like environment with dark lighting and loud music. We believe that “this is your ride” and you can choose to make of it what you would like. As instructors, we’re here to guide you and challenge you during the ride but you get to decide how much or how little you push yourself. We really try to create a community at High Ride that is welcoming, supportive, and comfortable. No matter what size, shape, color, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, we invite everyone in.
The thing I am most proud of as an owner is our amazing instructors and team. I believe you can teach someone technique but you can’t teach someone passion or personality. Our instructors and team members make you feel something special each and every time you walk into the studio and build energy and environment that keeps riders coming back for more. They make everyone feel welcomed and comfortable which helps build a strong community that is really something special. We have really created such a special community and it all starts with our amazing team of amazing humans.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Owning a business is one of the hardest things and one of the scariest things I’ve done in my whole life. You put your heart and soul into what you do and you don’t know what the future holds. Although it’s been challenging, I can’t imagine my life without High Ride. It has been the most rewarding experience. When you see all your hard work pay off, you have such a huge feeling of pride. Scott and I had to teach ourselves along the way. We both went to business school but it does not prepare you for exactly what goes into owning a business. You are the CEO, the janitor, the Accountant, the Marketing Manager, the HR department, and much more all rolled into one. There is a lot of trial by fire and learning as you go.
One of the biggest struggles along the way was issues with our past landlords. We had a pretty tumultuous relationship with our landlords due to issues with the way the building was constructed. Our lease stated that the building would be “sufficient and suitable for a cycling studio” and that the landlords would be responsible for all sound proofing. As you can imagine, a cycling studio generates a lot of vibration and a whole lot of sound, which is something we were concerned about from the start. We shared these concerns with our landlords and they assured us this would not be an issue and that they would be responsible for all the sound proof, which was added to the lease. Before we even opened for business, we started receiving sound complaints from neighbors. We tried to add additional sound proofing materials to help mitigate the sound on our own dime and it still didn’t work. The floors were shaking and the sound issue was still not corrected. We tried working with our landlords to come to other solutions, but they decided to try to evict us. We decided to counter sue for breach of contract and went through a long and hard legal battle.
In the end, we settled the dispute with our landlords and decided to move to a new location right up the road near Sloan’s Lake. Funding two build-outs in less than two years and paying legal fees is not ideal but in the long-run, this was a blessing in disguise. We were able to bring our experience from the first studio and make our new location even better. We have a bigger space, better landlords, better amenities, and it really helped to grow our business. There were plenty of breakdowns in the first year of business, but quitting and losing everything we have ever worked for was not an option. We had to make it work.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
We had absolutely no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we started our business. When we put together our business plan, we grossly underestimated the cost. It was a let’s sign the lease and then figure out the expenses sort of situation, which I would absolutely not recommend to anyone trying to start their own business. We decided we would just figure it out and that we did!
When we started talking to banks, we quickly figured out that they were not going to give us a Small Business Loan. We had no credibility in the business world so why would they take chance on us? We decided to take a lien out on our house to fund a small portion of the build-out costs. We maxed out all of our credit cards and emptied our savings accounts to purchase necessary materials and equipment. And, my father-in-law decided to invest in our business. We tried to cut corners and do as much as we could on our own instead of hiring out every job. We painted the walls, laid the floors, built our shoe racks, and decorated the studio ourselves. Looking back, I think we were pretty crazy to do what we did, but luckily it all worked out. We now have two studios and are looking to continue to grow in the Denver area!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.highridecycle.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/megan_hansonn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1819684
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs93JAL3xEE
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/high-ride-cycle-edgewater
Image Credits
Tim Gillies Photography