In my first few years as a gym owner (and still when I do something for the first time), I had imposter syndrome. I felt like I was playing make believe in some ways. I didn’t know the answers all the time to the questions the parents and staff were asking, but I was supposed to be the owner! I was supposed to know what was going to happen and be able to answer their questions! 

Here are a few reasons I felt that way as a new gym owner: 

  1. I had run a super successful rec cheer program as a contractor. I wasn’t contracted for tumbling, so I wasn’t allowed to teach it. When I opened my gym, I had to learn a lot along the way. I felt like I was an imposter for being a gym owner and not feeling confident in my coaching skills. It turns out there are some super generous people in this industry who allowed me to shadow them and taught me a lot of stuff about how to teach and spot certain skills. 
  2. Because I was super successful at rec cheer, I could choreograph a half-time performance like a champ…but I knew nothing about all star. I had no idea what to expect in routines and had to study everything very carefully. Even then, I’m not sure I always knew what to study or when I needed to look something up. Thankfully, some amazing people popped into my life who were generous in answering alllll the questions.
  3. I didn’t know the answers to human resource or tax-based questions my staff would ask. I was lucky to realize I needed a CPA early on. She did our payroll and I was able to refer a lot of these questions to her, but I still felt clueless. (She is still my CPA today!) 
  4. I had no idea how to establish prices and we were making a lot of decisions on a whim. “Do you have a family cap?” one mom asked me when enrolling just a month after we had opened. “A what now?” I said. “A family cap? Like a max on what I will pay for my 5 kids?” she replied. “Ohhh. Give me just a second,” I said. I ran to Angie, my business partner, and we quickly agreed that it was a smart idea and set the price at $200. (Yeah…I know.) That “on a whim” mistake cost me about 15 athletes years later when we decided we needed to eliminate the family cap. One family was so mad that she still won’t return to our gym 8 years later with her final child.
  5. I didn’t really know what my lease, contracts or waivers were saying. For non-competes (which I no longer do), cheer contracts (which I really don’t do either anymore) and waivers, I took them from other websites and hoped for the best. In 2015 when I got smarter, and my attorney finally reviewed these documents, he found some major flaws that would have not held up in court. We were lucky to have never had to deal with that in those early years!

So, if you’re a new owner, or you’re a long-time owner dealing with new things, you may be feeling imposter syndrome. The best way to fix that is with a business coach. It’s important to work with someone who has been there and can guide you through your questions!

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