I want you to think back to your first season for a second. A few of you may be early on in your gyms, so that isn’t too hard. For those who have been in business awhile, you may have to really close your eyes and remember.

What did your routines look like? Were they as clean as they are today? Was your stunting as advanced and your grips as smooth? Were your stunts as difficult? Was your tumbling as clean?

For me – the answer is “heck no!” Ten years ago, my routines were sloppy. We made them work with the group of athletes we had, with the knowledge I had and the training my staff had.

Over the years though, I grew. I taught my staff everything I could find to make our routines better. We began hiring others to come in and teach us, subscribing to webinars and attending conferences.

What I’ve seen: Many of us are willing to do that for cheer. We are willing to ask for help and improve every year with cheer. With the business side of our gyms though – we’re good enough. The reality is: Many of us are operating the same way in year 7 that we operated in year 1. It doesn’t matter that we’ve been around for 7 years, because our business is in the infancy stage and we’re not making the changes we need to make.

If I did that, we’d still have staff “clocking in” by writing their time in a spiral notebook. I’d still be up late deciphering it, doing the math and writing checks to my staff (or paying cash…) I’d still be quickly sending out an email to parents without anticipating and answering their questions in advance. I’d still be hustling day in and day out – 80+ hours per week – for an hourly rate less than working at McDonalds.

So today, think back. What were you doing the first year that you’re still doing today? Are you operating your business like you did in year 1 or have you changed dramatically?

Let me know – where are you with that?