Seth Godin doesn’t like businesses to make average stuff for average people. He wants people to make something remarkable for some one.
I get it now. In 2014, I didn’t get it.
Here’s the back story:
I opened a CrossFit gym in my hometown of Upland, California. To no surprise, it was named CrossFit Upland—my first mistake.
It wasn’t the first CrossFit in Upland. It was the fifth. I got in the CrossFit game late. I was about 4 to 6 years too late. Strike two.
CrossFit is a niche style of working out, and it doesn’t take many “boxes” to fill demand. But in 2014, I was full of piss and vinegar and the barrier to entry to open a CrossFit was low, so I opened one.
I did okay in my first years, but by my third year, the newness of my gym wore off, and I began to lose clients. By year five, I was done.
In my mind, my CrossFit was different. Because it had me. I was special, so by extension, my CrossFit was special. In my mind.
No one could tell which one was “better.”
I, of course, thought mine was better. But I was delusional. I was drowning in a sea of my own hubris bull-shit.
What I should have done was make it crystal clear how my gym was different.
To differentiate was the path to survival.
I thought I was different but didn’t know how to show the world I was different. I tried different tactics to make people notice me, but none of it worked. Because they were safe and mediocre attempts to make my gym “better.”
“Better” is in the eye of the beholder. And the beholden saw this gym as just another Crossfit Gym that charges the same as all the others, has all the same classes as all the others, has the same culture as all the others, same equipment, same coaches, Same same same.
Going back, I would done it differently. Starting with the name. How about: “My Favorite CrossFit Gym in Town.”
Second, I would charge triple the price, $420 for unlimited. This would have attracted an older clientele, creating more retention. And this would totally up the game of the instructors and make this CrossFit gym stand out, and people would clearly understand that:
This is for me
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