O2 Natural Recovery (June 2018)

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THE

JUNE 2018

HERE’S TO THE FIT DADS CrossFit changed my feelings about Father’s Day for the better. That may sound like I’m overhyping the gym or the community for the sake of the holiday, but I mean this sincerely. Brace yourselves for some feels, because this article’s going to get a little heavy.

never thought I’d see him do — all because of his kids. He wanted to ensure that he would be there for them, and his dedication shows. In just three months, Joe went from 290 pounds to 230. He hasn’t been that fit since he met his wife several years ago!

My dad passed away when I was 15 years old. Some of my fondest and earliest memories are of playing catch with him in the front yard with my first mitt and baseball. He often came out to cheer for my Little League games. Without those moments, I may have never gotten into the sport I loved so much growing up. Losing my dad to cancer as a teenager was incredibly difficult. Because of that, I didn’t much care for Father’s Day. Some years, it was just another Sunday; for others, it was a bitter reminder of my loss. It wasn’t until adulthood that I began to see Father’s Day in a different light. And I have my friend Joe to thank for it.

“It wasn’t until adulthood that I began to see Father’s Day in a different light.”

And he didn’t do it alone. I’d like to give a huge shoutout to Upper Arlington CrossFit in Columbus for being so profoundly supportive of Joe. So many people avoid going to the gym because they’re worried they’ll be shamed for their bodies or are too out of shape. But UACF welcomed Joe in with open arms, showed him the ropes, and helped him get in shape for his family. UACF, you are part of what makes CrossFit a community, in every sense of the word. I’ve seen and heard stories just like Joe’s countless times. New fathers start CrossFit every day. Sometimes they become fathers after being CrossFitters. They dip out for a week to be with their newborn, and then they’re right back at it. My buddy Avonte crushed the fourth workout of the Open on four hours of sleep after just returning from the emergency room with his wife and newborn! Talk about dedication. (That was the only workout I beat him on.) So this Fathers’ Day, I’m raising a toast to Joe, Avonte, and all the dads of CrossFit. The pain, sweat, and effort you put into ensuring that you’re there for your kids later in life is inspiring beyond words. You embody what this community is all about.

Joe was a wild buddy of mine in college, and I mean wild . He was the kind of guy you’d send out to buy beer, and he’d come back with a pit bull —

that’s a true story. Good times. After graduating, Joe became a big- name alcohol brand rep, which, as

you can imagine, requires a lot of wining and dining. He began putting on weight in his post-grad years.

Then Joe became a father, and everything changed. He got his diet in check and started exercising regularly. Joe joined CrossFit — something I

Cheers, –Dave Colina Founder, O2

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HOW WHOLE

Avid readers of this newsletter will know that we frequently draw inspiration from the grocery industry when we give retail advice. That’s because so many of the best practices that these big-name stores use to maximize their profits can easily be implemented at your box. But don’t take our word for it. Ahmed is the grocery team leader for his Whole Foods store in Columbus, Ohio. Under his leadership, his store has set summertime sales records of O2 in past years. Ahmed generously agreed to sit down with us to share how he keeps customers coming back for more.

SAMPLES We wanted to know what Ahmed’s advice was for

introducing a new product to his customers. “The most important thing anyone can do is to sample product actively and frequently, ” he says. The grocer explains that these free trials have a wider reach than just the customers who participate. “Sampling helps expedite that word-of-mouth that really gets products selling on an ongoing basis.”

INSPIRATION DRIVES ALISON SCUDDS

WHAT ARE YOUR LONG-TERM GOALS? Someday I want to win the CrossFit Games. I know it’s a big goal, but I’m committed. Being out of school and in great shape, it’s the best time in my life to do this. I’ll keep ramping up my training and get better and better every year. WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO STRIVE TOWARD SUCH A BIG GOAL? I think my motivations are shared by most athletes. I want to push my limits and inspire people to do the same! I love seeing people get empowered through CrossFit, but sometimes my workouts get a little too serious. You have to remind yourself that most folks aren’t trying to compete. As long as you stay focused on helping members better themselves, you’re doing it right. WHEN DO YOU DRINK O2? I like it in the morning, if I haven’t had my coffee. It’s also great to get me ready to coach between training sessions — that extra boost of energy is just what I need. WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE AS A COACH?

Alison Scudds is a rising star in competitive CrossFit and hails from our hometown of Columbus, Ohio. However, you might know her as a member of one of the most popular boxes in Florida, Peak 360 CrossFit, home of Games- regular Noah Ohlsen. HOW DID YOU GET INTO CROSSFIT? I grew up doing professional cheerleading and eventually got into the prestigious Top Gun Cheer and Dance Training Center. After starting school at the University of Miami, I missed having a competitive outlet. I remember thinking, “What now?” That’s when I met Dylan Malitsky and Noah Ohlsen, two students starting UM’s very own CrossFit club. They introduced me to Peak 360 in 2013, and I thought it was amazing. I knew right away that I wanted to compete. Over the next few years, I got better, little by little, striking a balance between working out and studying. In 2015, two months after earning my degree in biomedical engineering, I competed in my first regionals as part of Peak 360’s team.

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FOODS HOOKS CUSTOMERS

AFFILIATE SPOTLIGHT NOAH LAPORTE AND THE VIRTUE OF GIVING So there you have it — three simple but proven strategies for boosting retail at your box, straight from the mouth of a master retailer. Thanks Ahmed! SALES Ahmed points out that introducing new customers to a product is just half the battle; you need to keep them coming back for more. To ensure this, he likes to use sales to sweeten the deal. “This will almost always result in residual sales,” he says. “Customers often try products for the first time on sale, then buy again at full cost afterwards.” We asked Ahmed how often he likes to run sales at Whole Foods. “About once a quarter,” he says. “You don’t want to do it too much more than that because then you’ll have customers begin to expect the item to always be on sale and not buy when it isn’t.” SEASONS So when do you know if the time is right for a sale or a promotional offer? Well, Ahmed didn’t set summer sales records by accident. He knows how to use the weather to his advantage, especially during the summertime heat. “Pairing drinks with snacks for outdoors (trail mixes, protein bars, etc.) is a sure bet,” he says. “I would look at setting up some aggressive sales bundles of a drink and a protein bar — 2 for $5 together, if each item usually costs $3, for example.”

3 KEYS TO MAKING CORE VALUES COUNT ESTABLISH THE GUIDING HEART OF YOUR BUSINESS A cohesive vision for the future is central to any thriving business; it’s the road map by which you and your team steer the ship to success. But a set of lofty goals isn’t quite enough to motivate and unify an organization. It’s important to have an overarching aim for the coming years, but you also need to provide some guidance on how your business should conduct itself today. You need core values that encourage a certain spirit for your team and hold them to a high standard of excellence. To build a set of core values that’s unique and valuable to your business, you must first decide whose input you want during the process. This should be a panel of the key players in your business and employees skilled at providing new and powerful ideas. Ensure that each of the members of your think tank embodies the qualities you want to see throughout your organization. Next, get everyone in a room to start brainstorming. Set a date for a meeting and encourage everyone to come prepared with a list of values they feel are the most important for your business. Ask your think tank which values are central to them as individuals and expand that to include values that are vital to your entire company. After you’ve got a healthy list of good ideas, combine and define them. Look for commonalities. It’s likely that many of them will orbit just a few key principles. After a bit of pruning and rewording, these principles become your core values. Once you’ve got your set of 5–10 main ideas, outline exactly what each of them means in a few sentences or a paragraph. You may want a skilled writer on board during this step to nail down a set of clear and compelling definitions. The process may be difficult, but once you’re done, you and your team will have a set of powerful, unifying core values. These will state your business’s purpose and drive your team to excellence. Core values may seem like a small consideration in the midst of day- to-day operations, but they can make an enormous difference.

As the owner of Goose Island CrossFit and moderator of the Affiliate Owners forum on Facebook, Noah LaPorte has unique perspectives on running a box in the modern age. We sat down with him to get his insights for success. WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO OPEN A GYM? I lost 100 pounds in 2011 at Lincoln Park CrossFit. I feel like I received a priceless gift and just wanted to give that to other people.

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHAT TO FOCUS YOUR EFFORTS ON EACH DAY? When I first wake up, I try to establish three things I need to do for the day. If I do that, I always have a more productive day. WHAT’S SOMETHING FUN YOU’VE DONE RECENTLY FOR YOUR MEMBERS OR STAFF? I buy them dinner, coffee, or movies. I try to do events for members, and I pay for them if they bring a friend. I want to give back to them. WHAT’S THE MOST EFFECTIVE THING YOU’VE DONE RECENTLY TO BOOST SALES OF RETAIL ITEMS? Samples before class! WHAT’S THE MOST EFFECTIVE THING YOU’VE DONE IN THE PAST YEAR TO RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS? Facebook ads and six-week challenges changed my business forever.

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The Fathers of CrossFit Page 1 Whole Foods Boosts Retail Organically Featured Athlete: Alison Scudds Page 2 Affiliate Spotlight: Noah LaPorte Core Values Are Vital — But How Do You Create Them? Page 3 Business Must-Read: ‘Small Giants’ Page 4

‘‘CHOOSING TO BE GREAT INSTEAD OF BIG”

CHANGING OUR IDEAS OF SUCCESS

“You can’t will a baseball glove to be broken in; you have to use it. Well, you have to use a new business too. You have to break it in. If you move on to the next thing too quickly, it will never develop its soul.” –Bo Burlingham At some point, a business has to decide how much growth they want to pursue and how quickly they want to pursue it. O2 was no different. Early on, I remember wondering whether I wanted our products to be in every Wal-Mart in America and if that would require compromising the focus on quality that’s been a value of ours since day one. To be honest, I needed guidance. And I found it, along with plenty of inspiration, in Bo Burlingham’s “Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big.” “Small Giants” is a reminder that there’s no prescribed path a business has to follow. In the book, he profiles 14 companies that set their own goals and march to the beat of their own drum.

While each of the businesses profiled — including Anchor Brewing, Clif Bar, and Righteous Babe Records — is unique, Burlingham discovers some surprising similarities about their philosophies. One of the chief commonalities, Burlingham writes, is “clarity about and confidence in their decision to put other goals ahead of revenue or geographical growth.” In a rush to get as big as possible, many people don’t take the time to reflect on the cost at which that growth comes. All of a sudden, a CEO wakes up in charge of something that looks nothing like their original vision. Danny Meyer of the Union Square Hospitality Group, one of the “small giants,” calls the quality he wants to preserve “soul.” “A business without soul is not something I’m interested in working at,” he says. There’s no wisdom more refreshing than that, especially for business owners. I like to think O2 has a lot of soul, and I hope you do too.

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