After a little over 2.5 years of waiting, we are about a month away from occupying the new home for Vitality. I wish I could say that the past 2.5 years were an enjoyable part of my life….but that would be an enormous fabrication of the truth. I chose to go down that path so I won’t sit here and whine to everyone about the million pieces of the puzzle I was wrong about and screwed up. All I will say is that I learned a lot. Once we are completely done with the process, I will post about some of the lessons I learned throughout the process. In the end, it will all be worth it and the dream we have had for more than 10 years will finally be real.
What I want to convey to you all is what will change as we move over to the new facility. One of the goals that we had from the beginning of this was that we wanted to be able to able to provide the same feel of community that we have had over the past 6 years. We also wanted to be able to provide some diversity in the programs that we have been able to offer.
So let’s address some of the questions that we have been asked a lot throughout this process. The first piece we will address will be our growth.
GROWTH
The purpose of this move was not so that I can grow Vitality from 275 members to 1,000 members. The primary motivation of this move is simple. I want to control our destiny. I don’t want to depend on someone else for my space and the rates that I am paying year to year.
With that said, does that mean we are not going to grow, absolutely not. We will grow. But it will be a managed growth in a way that allows us to sustain the high level of coaching and the experience we can provide our athletes. My plan is to limit the growth of our group class memberships the first 8-12 months. This means that we will have a limited number of new members joining each month.
Our class sizes will change very little. With the increased space in each training area, you may see 2-3 more athletes in each class, but it will go unnoticed with the efficiency of how the space will be organized and laid out to accommodate the increase.
PROGRAMS
Probably the most exciting aspect of the move for me is the ability to add programs that I have wanted to offer for years but was unable due to space and time constraints. The first of these programs is a legitimate Bootcamp. Our Bootcamp has been in the making for the past year. Our coaches have been planning and preparing our January launch to be an amazing training program for those that are looking to change things up a bit. We will be announcing membership options for those programs shortly. We are anticipating that there will be many members that will want to do some crossover between CrossFit and Bootcamp and we will provide options for all those scenarios.
We will also be offering a more robust Open Gym program. We will have more flexible times as well as a dedicated space for this.
Lastly, we are going to be offering a Barbell Club. This is going to be a hybrid in that it’s purpose will be to provide an opportunity for those that are interested in adding some technical work with the barbell but also provide specific skill sessions that will cover the basics of Olympic Lifting. This will allow new members that need to gain the proficiency in certain areas to get some additional time with the bar in their hands.
Our group class schedule will have very few changes as we transition to the new space. We will be modifying the early morning class to alleviate the crowding. Most likely, this change will look like staggered classes starting at 5:15a and 5:45a. Other than that, initially, you will notice very little difference in the class schedule.
PRICING
For our current members, our group class pricing will not change when we make the move over to the new facility. Our pricing will be slightly higher for new members but our current members will be grandfathered into their current rates for 2016 as long as there is no gap in membership throughout the year. Meaning, if you leave for 2 months and then come back, you will fall under the new pricing, not your grandfathered rate prior to the break.
In 2017, there will be no grandfathered rates and everyone will be under the new pricing structure. Just like in any other business, the cost of goods and services traditionally will increase annually. This is no different with our business. However, it is important to me that you have 12 months to see the increased value that will come with this new space and my hope is that it will easily justify the $10-20 dollar increase in monthly membership prices.
One thing that will change will be the cost of Kids Club. Pricing will be adjusted for all renewing memberships. If you are paid in full, your Kids Club membership won’t change until the end of that membership period. If you are month to month, your Kids Club membership will be adjusted, beginning on your December 1st invoice. The first reason for this is because we have brought on Claudia as the Kids Club Coordinator and I think it is safe to assume that you all realize how fortunate we are to have her taking care of the kiddos and managing the space. The second is simply a math equation. We are going to be providing a bigger, more outfitted space for the kids to enjoy. I hope when you see the space and can appreciate the effort that Claudia puts into it, it is still a no-brainer to have your children be a part of the Kids Club. Our new pricing will be (I have also put in parenthesis what the cost per visit is based on using it 12x/month):
$35/1st Child ($2.91/hour)
$50/2nd Child ($2.08/child/hour)
$60/3rd Child ($1.66/child/hour)
$8/Drop-in
Those are the biggest questions we have received over the past few months. If you have other concerns or questions just let me know. We are all excited to make this transition and it has been one that I have been working towards for nearly 2.5 years. We are very fortunate to have the community that we do here at Vitality, I will never take that for granted. My goal everyday is to find ways to add value and increase the quality of service that we provide. This transition will be able to do both of those things and we will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of excellence.