If you have never seen the movie, “We Bought a Zoo” or read the book it was based upon, you should. It is a touching story and while sad, in the end it will really brighten your day.
It wasn’t such a bright day when my wife brought it up to me in an argument recently. “WE BOUGHT A ZOO!” she said (loudly). What she meant was, we bought a gym. A fitness center located in Beaufort SC in a 36,000 square foot space inside the Beaufort Town Center. We have been partners in our Martial Arts School (Beaufort MMA) for a long time. Owning a membership based business isn’t new to us. But we are new to owning a fitness center. And the initial issues that we faced in opening our own fitness center “The Foundry” were daunting.
This was why we were arguing. Hours upon hours in the gym fixing the building, cleaning the floors and 10 years of dust, and working maintainance and rehab on older fitness equipment had us exhausted and stretched thin. Our commitment to the gym was (and is) intense. It has come at a high price. Time to rest being one of the items that we have been sorely missing. And that night, everything came to a head as we started going back and forth. At the time, she may have felt that we were over our heads. We weren’t prepared and we were feeling the effects just like the family that “bought a zoo” in the aforementioned movie.
But the truth is that we have never been more ready to do this. We love our martial arts members. We look forward to seeing them come to the gym for class and we can’t wait to show them new techniques. We hope to be a team that they love being a part of too. And that was our motivation for opening The Foundry. It is a gym for the members, not for the owners. We are trying to create something that can be loved and cherished by our membership as much as we love them.
The Foundry is a work in progress, but we will make it a great place that people will love to come to. A place where they will feel at home and feel encouraged, and feel like they belong.
Just like a Zoo has many different animals from Lions and Tigers and Bears, to Zebras and Penguins, and Snakes, The Foundry has something for every type of gym member. We have martial arts, gymnastics, weight lifting. We have Bodybuilding, Fitness Classes, and Personal Training. We have power lifting and agility training. We have sports team fitness and even a walking track for people that just want to walk around for some exercise. And we want you to join us too.
So what do you say? Will you come visit our Zoo? I mean Gym… and see what it has for you? We can’t wait to see you and give you a warm welcome and make you part of our team.
