Speaker 1: Welcome to the Transformation Station Podcast. I'm Christina, owner, operator,
Speaker 1: and founder of the Transformation Station, and this is where
Speaker 1: we talk about getting stronger while navigating real life. If
Speaker 1: you're trying to stay consistent through the ups and the
Speaker 1: downs and everywhere else in between, this is for you. Hey, everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome back to the Transformation Station podcast Today. I want
Speaker 1: to invite you into my world just for a little bit.
Speaker 1: I'm not looking for sympathy, and I definitely i'm not
Speaker 1: complaining because I actually love what I do and I
Speaker 1: genuinely wake up excited to come here every single day.
Speaker 1: But I think sometimes people only see the end result
Speaker 1: or the finished product. You walk into the gym, you
Speaker 1: see classes are happening, coaches are coaching, music is banging,
Speaker 1: equipment's laid out, and everything looks organized, and it probably
Speaker 1: seems like it's just that it's a gym. But there's
Speaker 1: things that you may not see or you might not
Speaker 1: know exist, and that looks like hundreds of decisions that
Speaker 1: happen every single week before any of that can actually
Speaker 1: be true. So I thought this would be fun just
Speaker 1: to pull back the curtain just a little bit, because
Speaker 1: I don't think many people actually know what it takes
Speaker 1: to go into running and creating a business like the
Speaker 1: Transformation Station. One thing I always want to say first
Speaker 1: is thank you. Thank you for caring enough to share ideas,
Speaker 1: for wanting the gym to be even better. Thank you
Speaker 1: for trusting me enough to tell me what you'd love
Speaker 1: to see. I genuinely do appreciate that creating space where
Speaker 1: people feel comfortable to come and talk to me, to
Speaker 1: speak up is something that I'm actually really proud of,
Speaker 1: and I never wanted my place of business to be
Speaker 1: a place where people felt intimidated to ask questions or
Speaker 1: to share ideas. So that to me says that we
Speaker 1: are doing something right. Check mark, big green, check mark.
Speaker 1: I love saying that. It means that we're hitting the stimulus.
Speaker 1: But there is a part that many people will not
Speaker 1: see listening to some of these things. It doesn't always
Speaker 1: mean that it gets implemented at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: And also, say no to those ideas doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: I don't care. One of the biggest lessons that I've
Speaker 1: learned as a business owner in my twenty plus years
Speaker 1: now of business ownership is that my job is not
Speaker 1: to make one person happy. I love everybody to be happy.
Speaker 1: The decisions that I make have to serve the entire community.
Speaker 1: Every person is exactly them. I never look at people
Speaker 1: as a number. But there's some decisions that won't work
Speaker 1: because it's one person's idea that doesn't serve all of
Speaker 1: the people that I actually know personally inside of the
Speaker 1: transformation station. Those decisions will not make everybody happy. Sometimes
Speaker 1: they do make everybody happy. I will say that the stickers,
Speaker 1: ninety nine percent of members love the stickers, and some
Speaker 1: people they're like, well, I don't really care about the stickers.
Speaker 1: And then there's like at least sixty percent of people
Speaker 1: that their entire gym wellbeing and all of their classes
Speaker 1: that they come to is because they want a sticker.
Speaker 1: So it's pretty neat to see in that context. It's okay, though,
Speaker 1: if I can't make everybody happy. I'm not pizza, and
Speaker 1: even some people don't like pizza. We're not cheese, and
Speaker 1: some people are lactose intolerance. People can't eat cheese or
Speaker 1: they don't like cheese. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it's not personal. It never has been, and I don't
Speaker 1: decide things based also out of emotion. I don't decide
Speaker 1: things if I like somebody or if I don't like somebody.
Speaker 1: I decide things based on safety, accessibility, finances, staffing data,
Speaker 1: long term planning. I've learned to long term plan and
Speaker 1: not just weekly plan. Member experiences and whether it helps
Speaker 1: the majority of people that are under our roof, and
Speaker 1: all of those things are very different things. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: something as simple as a bench. I've been looking at
Speaker 1: different benches. We're redoing our entrance way at the transformation station.
Speaker 1: Most people will walk past the bench and they don't
Speaker 1: even give it a second thought. But I don't do
Speaker 1: that because I immediately wonder can someone in a larger body
Speaker 1: comfortably sit on this? Can two or three people that
Speaker 1: exist in a larger body comfortably sit on this together?
Speaker 1: Can someone with bad knees get up and down onto
Speaker 1: this bench easily? Does it have arms? Does it have handles?
Speaker 1: What's the weight rating? Is it commercial grade? Will it
Speaker 1: scratch the flooring? Can it survive hundreds of people using
Speaker 1: it every single week? Is it easy to keep clean?
Speaker 1: Is it easy to sanitize? Especially after a workout, We're
Speaker 1: sitting on that bench with a whole lot of swash.
Speaker 1: It has to be able to be sanitary, and also
Speaker 1: how long will said bench last? Does it improve the
Speaker 1: flow of the entrance with the sizing? And it's funny
Speaker 1: because I'll spend so many hours re searching something that
Speaker 1: people might only notice for two seconds, and that also
Speaker 1: happens the same thing with gym equipment. One thing that
Speaker 1: shocked me when I first opened the gym is how
Speaker 1: much fitness equipment isn't actually designed for everybody. And I
Speaker 1: mean everybody, but I mean like everybody. A lot of rowers,
Speaker 1: spin bikes, cardio equipment, they mostly even commercial grade, have
Speaker 1: weight limits around two hundred and fifty pounds. Having once
Speaker 1: myself been over about four hundred pounds, I'll say that's
Speaker 1: something I think about all the time. I never want
Speaker 1: someone to walk into my gym wondering if they belong here,
Speaker 1: especially based on a weight limit. I don't want anyone
Speaker 1: to ever wonder like, hey, what am I capable of?
Speaker 1: Or oh maybe one day I can use the bike.
Speaker 1: That's not how fitness is designed. Fitness is for everybody.
Speaker 1: So I spend hours reading different specifications, talking to manufacturers,
Speaker 1: comparing equipment, getting quotes, figuring out sometimes even importing and exporting,
Speaker 1: asking questions making sure the things that we buy actually
Speaker 1: align with what the values are of the gym. That's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons we used to have i'll just
Speaker 1: call it the Bouncy boot workout. They changed manufacturers. I
Speaker 1: had people that were like two hundred pounds breaking boots
Speaker 1: at four or five hundred dollars a boot that I
Speaker 1: was supplying. Also every month it was an extra eighty
Speaker 1: dollars to replace the bands. The worst part is that
Speaker 1: when someone broke the band, the boot would collapse and
Speaker 1: they're like six inches one boots up, one boots down.
Speaker 1: And I remember someone leaving the gym and they were like,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't evate those French fries for dinner before I
Speaker 1: got here. Not cool. So that's why the Bouncy boot
Speaker 1: workout no longer exists in the Transformation station because I
Speaker 1: would never want someone to feel embarrassed in one of
Speaker 1: my classes. So everything that we have under our roof,
Speaker 1: every body can exist and use. There's no oh, you
Speaker 1: can't use that because you're over the weight limit. Excuse you.
Speaker 1: Fitness is for everybody. So that's why I spend so
Speaker 1: much time looking at these things. To me, accessibility isn't
Speaker 1: something that you add in after the equation. It has
Speaker 1: to be built in every single decision before you do anything.
Speaker 1: These things have to be built right from the beginning,
Speaker 1: and the same thing goes for our coaching as well.
Speaker 1: That's the one thing I'm an incredibly proud of and
Speaker 1: I'm also incredibly particular is about our coaches. People probably
Speaker 1: think coaching is just learning exercises, but it's absolutely not.
Speaker 1: Teaching people is actually one of the hardest skills to learn.
Speaker 1: Every single class has different personalities, different confidence levels, learning styles.
Speaker 1: There's also different injuries that people are coming in with.
Speaker 1: They have different fears, different goals, different body shapes, different
Speaker 1: body sizes, different mobility levels, different life experiences. Our coaches
Speaker 1: are not just learning the workouts and reading it off
Speaker 1: the screen or reading it off of Instagram. They're learning
Speaker 1: how to teach humans, specifically, how to modify for unique bodies,
Speaker 1: how to read the room, how to know when someone
Speaker 1: needs encouragement or when sometimes they need space. Sometimes people
Speaker 1: come in and they don't need encouragement. But it's also
Speaker 1: how to challenge someone without making them feel like they're
Speaker 1: an inch big. We don't want people to feel defeated,
Speaker 1: so it's learning those things. It's learning how to make
Speaker 1: someone who's never stepped foot into a gym before feel
Speaker 1: like they belong because they do. Because of that, I
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time developing our own branded classes
Speaker 1: and a lot of time training our coaches so every
Speaker 1: member gets a consistent experience while still allowing the coach's
Speaker 1: personality to shine in those classes as well. So watching
Speaker 1: our coaches grow has Honestly, that is such. That's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite parts of owning this business is seeing
Speaker 1: the team develop and grow. I love that. I live
Speaker 1: for that. I love seeing members hit their goals and
Speaker 1: grow and learn as well. But I also love sitting
Speaker 1: back and watching the coaches excel and learn how to
Speaker 1: help the same people excel in their lives too. And
Speaker 1: I also something else that I don't talk about too often.
Speaker 1: I spend a lot of time helping other business owners
Speaker 1: as well. Sometimes there are other gym owners. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: own completely different businesses. But people ask me about marketing,
Speaker 1: staffing systems, equipment. They asked me about if I've ever
Speaker 1: made mistakes, Like let me get out that huge rolodex.
Speaker 1: Twenty two years of business, that is a lot of character, formation, formation,
Speaker 1: in twenty two years, and so yeah, I've made quite
Speaker 1: a bit of mistakes before I can get to where
Speaker 1: I am now. Or sometimes business owners they just want
Speaker 1: someone else to bounce ideas off of, and I always
Speaker 1: try to help if I can. I've always believed competition
Speaker 1: over community. Actually are shoe cubbies. I reached out to
Speaker 1: a few gym owners that I know, and I said, hey,
Speaker 1: I have these on marketplace. However, if you want them
Speaker 1: their commercial grade, their custom come and take them there yours.
Speaker 1: And they asked me like, hey, what did you use
Speaker 1: them for? And we don't want to use them for
Speaker 1: the same thing. We're not doing that. Yes, I know,
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. That's why I'm renovating the space to
Speaker 1: make it more accessible for everybody. But helping other people
Speaker 1: to succeed doesn't take anything away from me. I want
Speaker 1: us all to win. If anything, it makes our entire
Speaker 1: community stronger. And I remember what it felt like when
Speaker 1: I had to figure out everything on my own. If
Speaker 1: I can help shorten someone else's learning curve, I'm happy
Speaker 1: to do that. Most of my work. Actually it happens
Speaker 1: low grade, not low grade. They call it like under
Speaker 1: the earth. There's a word for that too that I
Speaker 1: can never I will not even tell you underground, there
Speaker 1: we go, not mostly what happens underground. That kind of
Speaker 1: sounds sketchy, But people don't see the amount of work.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at attendance data and schedules, planning future schedules,
Speaker 1: seeing what the check ins are because people can say
Speaker 1: they want something. And other business owner said to me
Speaker 1: that owns a similar structured gym to what I've created,
Speaker 1: and they say, like, people's vote isn't their word. People's
Speaker 1: vote is if they get there to a class. So
Speaker 1: it has to do with all the data, the building,
Speaker 1: the workshops, researching equipment, just like the benches, dumbbells. What
Speaker 1: do we need, what's being used? What are we falling
Speaker 1: short of? Talking to suppliers in different time zones. Sometimes
Speaker 1: as well, it's comparing quotes, importing products, meeting with local businesses,
Speaker 1: researching technology. I do a lot of zoom meetings. Right now,
Speaker 1: I'm switching over one of our systems that no one
Speaker 1: will ever see. It's just a company that I switched
Speaker 1: over to two months ago. I'm switching to another company.
Speaker 1: So I have had a lot of online training because
Speaker 1: they're still on Ontario, but they're they're far away from me.
Speaker 1: So I'm also training in that context how to make
Speaker 1: our systems better and to switch that over, which is
Speaker 1: usually a two month process. So I am learning, also
Speaker 1: getting different certifications as well for what people need, and
Speaker 1: training different coaches for more of what we need. This
Speaker 1: also installing the new iPads and replacing the TVs that
Speaker 1: in the last two weeks, I've also replaced testing music,
Speaker 1: changing systems, policies, emails, managing a whole lot of finances,
Speaker 1: and a whole lot of marketing, payroll, hiring, training, planning
Speaker 1: months ahead, planning September start for when people go back
Speaker 1: to routine, planning, how to keep people engaged over August
Speaker 1: so they don't fall off, looking at different cash flow,
Speaker 1: solving problems, trying to think six months into the future
Speaker 1: instead of just six hours into the future. People often
Speaker 1: ask me how come I'm not coaching as much anymore.
Speaker 1: I'm still coaching five six days a week most times,
Speaker 1: but like I said, like okay, So the answer to
Speaker 1: me is it's pretty simple. It's the business has grown,
Speaker 1: and one of the best decisions I've ever made was
Speaker 1: trusting my team. Like years ago, I coached every class,
Speaker 1: and then I'd go home. I'd work another ten twelve
Speaker 1: hours on the business. I wouldn't sleep. I remember one
Speaker 1: of our gym members can attest to this too. I
Speaker 1: would be up all day, all night, dealing with different
Speaker 1: systems and putting things into play, and then I would
Speaker 1: go and coach six o'clock in the morning. That wasn't sustainable.
Speaker 1: I made myself so sick. But I was the only
Speaker 1: person doing every single thing today. Because I trust our coaches,
Speaker 1: I have time to improve the business itself. I have
Speaker 1: had time to build in systems, to design our check
Speaker 1: and champions passport that didn't happen in one hour. I've
Speaker 1: had time to create new programs, different certifications, to train staff,
Speaker 1: to improve our technology, to make your experiences better, as
Speaker 1: simply enough as installing proper paper towel holders that now
Speaker 1: hold four thousand sheets instead of just four hundred, so
Speaker 1: simple things like that, installing and buying and researching where
Speaker 1: am I going to put new sanitation stations? We need more?
Speaker 1: How can I implement these? Like even something as small
Speaker 1: as that, I have time now to do because ironically,
Speaker 1: the business has grown because I've spent less time trying
Speaker 1: to do every single thing myself and trusting my team,
Speaker 1: who is incredible, has allowed me to become a better owner.
Speaker 1: I'm more present, even though it looks like I'm less present,
Speaker 1: I'm actually more all in. So let's talk about those shoecubies,
Speaker 1: because I know that's something people have noticed. We are
Speaker 1: excitating the shoe cubies, and I've heard people assume that
Speaker 1: we're removing them because one person complained, that's not even close.
Speaker 1: The reality is I was spending close to five hours
Speaker 1: most weeks dealing with shoes, people missing their shoes, shoes
Speaker 1: getting moved. I was looking through security cameras, talking to coaches,
Speaker 1: contacting members this member that member, trying to solve those little,
Speaker 1: tiny detective mysteries that had nothing to do with helping
Speaker 1: people become healthier. And I even installed two additional cameras
Speaker 1: specifically to watch the shoe area, and we already have
Speaker 1: well over a dozen cameras throughout our facility inside outside,
Speaker 1: every single blind spot. We have cameras for your safety,
Speaker 1: for my safety, to watch over the business. And one
Speaker 1: of our employees very kindly because she's like, oh, everyone's
Speaker 1: not everyone, but a lot of people can understand why
Speaker 1: we're losing the cuppies, and they were a little bit
Speaker 1: offended to be honest with you. And that's all right
Speaker 1: because it has to change to make our experiences better.
Speaker 1: One of our employees kindly offered to help manage the
Speaker 1: shoe situation, like literally, I will take on the task
Speaker 1: of managing the shoes with clients. I appreciated that, but
Speaker 1: I also realized that we're a fitness facility. We are
Speaker 1: not a storage business. I should not have to have
Speaker 1: one specific employee to manage people's shoes. And every hour
Speaker 1: that I spent shoe shoe problem solving was an hour
Speaker 1: that I wasn't improving the gym. So the decision wasn't
Speaker 1: based on one complaint or one pair of missing shoes.
Speaker 1: It was about making better use of time and space
Speaker 1: for everybody, lessening my stress taking that five six hours
Speaker 1: a week and when I have to contact code, did
Speaker 1: you see this? Did this happen? Do you know where
Speaker 1: this person's shoes are? They're not paid for that time,
Speaker 1: they're having dinner with their family. When I have to
Speaker 1: contact other members, Hey did you see this person's shoes? Hey?
Speaker 1: Are these? Do you have ten ounce kickboxing gloves or
Speaker 1: do you have eight ounce kickboxing gloves because they're the same,
Speaker 1: but someone can't find them. That's a lot of time
Speaker 1: and effort and energy throughout an entire week. And literally
Speaker 1: I was spending at least five hours a week doing this.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a lot. It's not about one situation.
Speaker 1: I don't make business decisions again, in twenty two years
Speaker 1: of business experience, I don't make those calls out of
Speaker 1: I want to be selfish and I don't want to
Speaker 1: see your shoes. I love seeing your shoes. Actually, today
Speaker 1: I had to go change my shoes and you know
Speaker 1: what I did. I walked to the cubbies where my
Speaker 1: shoes no longer exist. Actually, what happened was someone took
Speaker 1: my shoes out and put their shoes in. This is
Speaker 1: like a few months ago, and it still wasn't even
Speaker 1: about that, so I do understand. However, that was a
Speaker 1: choice that has to be done. It's making better use
Speaker 1: of time. Also, it gives us We're having quite a
Speaker 1: few people in and out of the gym in rotation.
Speaker 1: It's going to allow us more space. We have an
Speaker 1: additional iPad for members to check into. We have benches
Speaker 1: that are going to be more comfortable. We are redoing
Speaker 1: the bench situation, and I am so incredibly excited about
Speaker 1: the new entrance way because it's going to be more
Speaker 1: functional and cleaner and have more space for everybody. So
Speaker 1: it's going to be fantastic. One thing that I love
Speaker 1: seeing are people developing friendships and relationships and talking before classes.
Speaker 1: Way better use of that space. Something else I've learned
Speaker 1: over the years is that advice depends on the lens
Speaker 1: that we're looking through, like the same way as different
Speaker 1: life experiences, and everybody can have their experiences that they
Speaker 1: bring to the table, and that is fantastic. But a
Speaker 1: contractor sees things differently than I do. An interior designer
Speaker 1: sees things differently than I do. A coach sees things
Speaker 1: differently than I do. Someone furnishing their home sees things
Speaker 1: differently than someone furnishing a commercial gym that has hundreds
Speaker 1: of people walking through every single week. Your home homes,
Speaker 1: period aren't designed for over one hundred people a day,
Speaker 1: with different body sizes, different mobility levels, different needs, and
Speaker 1: of course different constant wears and tears on the equipment
Speaker 1: on the benches, the toilets, anything and everything that's in
Speaker 1: a commercial space. Commercial spaces are completely different. I remember
Speaker 1: when we did have an HVAC issue with the air
Speaker 1: conditioning last year, a lot of people offered me who
Speaker 1: they use for their air conditioning in their home, and
Speaker 1: I would contact them because I was desperate at the time,
Speaker 1: and I hired like three different commercial AHEVAC people. It
Speaker 1: was a crap shoot. It was probably one of the
Speaker 1: harder times of business ownership was last summer because of
Speaker 1: this reason, and people were offering me their HVAC people,
Speaker 1: but they would come back and say, we only do residential.
Speaker 1: And then people weren't understanding. They're like, well they did
Speaker 1: mind and they have time, and well they just simply
Speaker 1: don't do commercial. It's totally different. And also the same
Speaker 1: goes for business ownership. Employees give employee advice and that
Speaker 1: to me, it is valuable. They see things that I
Speaker 1: don't see. But entrepreneurs also need entrepreneurial advice because running
Speaker 1: a business means thinking about things that people don't usually
Speaker 1: have to think about, finding customers, managing cash flow, payroll, hiring,
Speaker 1: having difficult conversations. That's the worst part because business is
Speaker 1: business and it's not personal and I don't like to
Speaker 1: have difficult conversations. I want everything to be fun all
Speaker 1: the time. However, we can't manage just based off of fun,
Speaker 1: So also marketing and negotiating and creating those systems, paying
Speaker 1: the bills before you even pay yourself. Sometimes that's definitely
Speaker 1: a thing in business ownership, making decisions that not just
Speaker 1: affect you, but also that affect your staff, your members,
Speaker 1: and also their families as well. It's totally a different responsibility.
Speaker 1: And in saying that neither is better, not one is
Speaker 1: better than the other, it's just different. The same way
Speaker 1: I show like mountain climbers from the ground or mounting
Speaker 1: climber's standing that look like a melon pressure. It's not
Speaker 1: made to be easier, it's made to be different. And
Speaker 1: that's where this stands as well. It's different and one
Speaker 1: thing that I always hope that we protect here as well,
Speaker 1: speaking of commercial versus home and all those things, but
Speaker 1: our culture, it's okay to disagree with the decision. It's
Speaker 1: okay to not love it. It's okay to wish we
Speaker 1: did something differently. That doesn't bother me, That doesn't bother
Speaker 1: me actually at all, Because sometimes I wish things were
Speaker 1: different and here we are. But I also believe that
Speaker 1: there is a respectful way to have those conversations. At
Speaker 1: the end of the day, I'm still a person. I
Speaker 1: have some feelings. Mostly I want to be fun and exciting,
Speaker 1: but I still have feelings. Yeah, But if someone expects
Speaker 1: kindness and respect from me, and I truly give that
Speaker 1: every single day, and I do believe that I give that,
Speaker 1: and I try my best to give that, it's not
Speaker 1: I think, well, I think it's fair to expect kindness
Speaker 1: and respect in return. So if you have a concern,
Speaker 1: this goes for everything and everybody, I would genuinely rather
Speaker 1: that you bring the concern to me. I will ninety
Speaker 1: nine point nine percent of the time get back to
Speaker 1: you speak with you. I prefer having conversations in person.
Speaker 1: I also prefer email because then there's context there, especially
Speaker 1: if it's needs to be marked down and to keep
Speaker 1: a history of that as well. If by chance, I
Speaker 1: get over literally one hundred emails a day, If you
Speaker 1: email me and you don't hear back from me within
Speaker 1: twenty four to forty eight hours, I can tell you
Speaker 1: I didn't get the email. If you don't hear back
Speaker 1: from me, from a text message. If you send me
Speaker 1: a whole whole lot of paragraphs, the way my system
Speaker 1: is set up, it flags it and I don't even
Speaker 1: get it. Please don't write me a six chapter text
Speaker 1: message in full detail. Please call me. I'm always at
Speaker 1: the end of the phone when you call, when you
Speaker 1: email anyway, So I would rather you bring that to me.
Speaker 1: Maybe I can explain something that you didn't know. Maybe
Speaker 1: you'll point out something that I missed because I'm not perfect.
Speaker 1: Maybe together we can come up with an even better solution.
Speaker 1: That's how great communities grow. Conversations create solutions. Side conversations
Speaker 1: usually create assumptions. And one thing that I've also learned
Speaker 1: over the years is if someone talks to everyone except
Speaker 1: the person who can actually solve the problem, the problem
Speaker 1: usually doesn't get solved. And I promise you I don't bite.
Speaker 1: I'm not mean. And if I don't agree with an idea,
Speaker 1: it's not because I don't like you. It's because I
Speaker 1: have to look at the complete bigger picture every single day.
Speaker 1: I am the filter. I'm the filter of the transformation station.
Speaker 1: I'm the top of it. Whatever you see. The community
Speaker 1: is fantastic. The work, it's a fantastic. Everything is included, inclusive.
Speaker 1: I have that filter, and there's a lot of things
Speaker 1: that happen that I protect my team from and I
Speaker 1: protect my community from, because I have to look at
Speaker 1: that bigger picture, like I'm the one that takes all
Speaker 1: the ideas, all the requests. And when I say we
Speaker 1: have a couple hundred plus people within our four walls,
Speaker 1: that's a lot of personalities, that's a lot of requests,
Speaker 1: that's a lot of opinions and personal preferences. But I
Speaker 1: have to see those ideas. I have to see the requests.
Speaker 1: I have to look at the budget, all the data. Recently,
Speaker 1: we upgraded our fans. We got five fans now instead
Speaker 1: of four or three, wasn't I think? No, it was
Speaker 1: four and then one broke, so we had three fans
Speaker 1: on the floor. I also watched someone trip over one.
Speaker 1: And also we rent our space sometimes to Mighty Moms
Speaker 1: and Barry who's fantastic, and they have newborn babies and
Speaker 1: sometimes crawling babies, so they have to unplug the fans
Speaker 1: and go hid them in the back so the babies
Speaker 1: don't stick their fingers in the fan, which I learn
Speaker 1: not from experience. Thankfully, I was like, why are all
Speaker 1: the fans away, Like, well, the babies put their fingers
Speaker 1: in the fans, Like why would they do that? They
Speaker 1: don't know, they don't know, not just stick their fingers
Speaker 1: in the fans. No, Christina, their babies, all right, I
Speaker 1: don't have kids. And yeah, maybe that sounds like common
Speaker 1: sense to most people, but that is way not on
Speaker 1: my radar. So also with those floor fans, people like
Speaker 1: to move the fan. There could be twenty people in
Speaker 1: a room and there's four fans and only four people
Speaker 1: have the fan because they move them and stick them
Speaker 1: directly in front of them, and people don't notice because
Speaker 1: they're on the floor. But trust me, people notice. I notice.
Speaker 1: I notice when someone goes out of their way to say, hey,
Speaker 1: do you mind if I turn the fan or can
Speaker 1: I not move the fan? I'm like, yes, thank you
Speaker 1: for not being selfish. On the contrast, these fans, the
Speaker 1: new fans are upgraded, they're stronger, there's three different levels.
Speaker 1: They're on the wall. You just pull the string and
Speaker 1: they osculate so everybody gets a little bit of the fan.
Speaker 1: I know, first world problems five fans and air conditioning,
Speaker 1: and it's still not good enough. So recently. We recently
Speaker 1: yesterday I pulled out two additional black floor fans just
Speaker 1: for the occasion, and I just had it delivered. I
Speaker 1: bought a dehumidifier for over five thousand square feet of
Speaker 1: space to also help take some of the extra humidity
Speaker 1: out of the transformation station even though the air conditioner
Speaker 1: is working and it is fantastic, and now we have
Speaker 1: seven fans. We also now have a dehumidifier so people
Speaker 1: won't feel so sticky, ichy icky during their workout. So
Speaker 1: I again, I am the filter that was in the budget.
Speaker 1: That's what we did. So all of those things, the opportunities,
Speaker 1: I somehow turned them into one clear direction because of data.
Speaker 1: And it is a lot of responsibility and it's also
Speaker 1: incredibly a lot of privilege. So I'll leave you with
Speaker 1: one of my favorite stories. Okay, Also, I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you what one of my favorite ways. I don't know
Speaker 1: exactly what it was, quote unquote, and someone shared this
Speaker 1: with me and I've heard it before, but it's like,
Speaker 1: first of all, in the context of fitness, it's like,
Speaker 1: how how glorious is it to be sore from a
Speaker 1: workout that we did, or how great is it to
Speaker 1: be able to move our bodies first thing in the morning,
Speaker 1: or in the evening, or in the afternoon, or at
Speaker 1: any time for that matter, to be able to exercise
Speaker 1: our bodies. That is also a privilege. But how glorious
Speaker 1: is it for me to be stressed out over something
Speaker 1: that I wanted so badly and how I wanted to
Speaker 1: make work and I wanted it to grow, and I
Speaker 1: prayed for this, I wished for this, or whatever context
Speaker 1: you want to use. I'm not religious, so I'm going
Speaker 1: to say that in a very open take what you
Speaker 1: need again, from that context, I wanted this, So I'm
Speaker 1: I'm not going to complain that I got to eat
Speaker 1: when my goal was to have food on my plate.
Speaker 1: Don't complain what's on your plate when your goal was
Speaker 1: to eat. There we go. Okay, So this is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite stories. And I'm not saying this as
Speaker 1: a pride full thing, but I'm just sharing this with
Speaker 1: you because I actually I'm pretty proud of myself for this. Okay.
Speaker 1: So we had Unit one and two at fifteen Sesar
Speaker 1: Point Drive. We moved into Unit eleven. I just call
Speaker 1: it Unit eleven. It's more units than what it was before.
Speaker 1: And I had to resign the lease. So I was
Speaker 1: coming to the end of the lease in unit one
Speaker 1: and two. I either had to keep resign that lease
Speaker 1: and keep where I didn't find it functioning for our
Speaker 1: members because we were starting to grow. So I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't really want to resign another lease for this location,
Speaker 1: and I definitely don't want to move because location is
Speaker 1: key and to me, it's close by. I love it,
Speaker 1: it's easy for me to get to in the wintertime,
Speaker 1: and I recently had sold my property in or on
Speaker 1: the fifteenth Line, which was very hard for me to
Speaker 1: drive to and from Barry, especially in the wintertime. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, I don't want to move my location.
Speaker 1: And also a lot of members live in the same area,
Speaker 1: so that was not an option for me. So I
Speaker 1: didn't want to necessarily resign that lease and I didn't
Speaker 1: want to move. And the other option was, well, I
Speaker 1: can be a stay at home housewife and I can
Speaker 1: just hang out with my friends and exercise and take
Speaker 1: care of just myself and not worry about anybody and
Speaker 1: close the business. So I was like, okay, so those
Speaker 1: are three options. I was like, you know what, screw it.
Speaker 1: I'm going to expand I'm going to grow. I came
Speaker 1: to the decision that I wasn't going to have a family.
Speaker 1: So I've been very open about fertility previously prior and
Speaker 1: my spouse and I decided, you know what, we've made
Speaker 1: the decision we are not going to have children. So
Speaker 1: I decided, Leroy Jenkins, let's go into it full speed.
Speaker 1: I resigned a lease on the unit that we're in now.
Speaker 1: And it was no break. It wasn't yeah, you signed
Speaker 1: a lease, you got two months for free, like when
Speaker 1: you first open use me a commercial space that you
Speaker 1: might have to negotiate. I don't even know if they
Speaker 1: maybe do that anymore, depends on where you're moving. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I decided that I was going to move, and I
Speaker 1: looked at this location. I made a video and I
Speaker 1: told the members, Hey, we're moving. So we were like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, to wear and I'm like, actually gonna
Speaker 1: be closer to the highway because you know the drive
Speaker 1: through the parking lot. Now it's ced your point, it's
Speaker 1: literally right here. People were so excited. I was so excited.
Speaker 1: And it was literally more than double our space and
Speaker 1: more than double our overhead and I'm going to tell
Speaker 1: you this right now. I looked at my bank account
Speaker 1: after I told everybody and I agreed that I was
Speaker 1: going to take over resign a new lease. I had
Speaker 1: around six hundred dollars in my bank account. So when
Speaker 1: I got my key, which I already signed the papers
Speaker 1: when I resigned, the other papers I had to generate,
Speaker 1: I had to come up with over twenty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: cash in only a few weeks. And I had I had, sorry,
Speaker 1: I had six hundred dollars in my bank account. So
Speaker 1: do the math there six hundred dollar, twenty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in order for me to get my key, and I remember,
Speaker 1: I was like, well, we're just going to figure this out.
Speaker 1: Like I was stressed out. For those three weeks. I
Speaker 1: did nothing but not panic but implement and do all
Speaker 1: kinds of legal things. I didn't get a bank loan,
Speaker 1: I didn't get a line of credit. I wanted to
Speaker 1: generate this without going into debt. So I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: what am I going to do. I had gone through divorce,
Speaker 1: I had took care of all my loose ends, I
Speaker 1: sold my property, I paid what needed to be paid out,
Speaker 1: and I'm like you know what, I'm gonna start fresh,
Speaker 1: So six hundred dollars in my bank account, and you
Speaker 1: know what I did do that? I did that, and
Speaker 1: I did that by myself, without anyone's hand out, without nothing,
Speaker 1: And not only did I hit that goal, but I
Speaker 1: was able to bring in more than twenty five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: So there's sometimes people look at me and they say,
Speaker 1: you're lucky. But lucky didn't build the transformation station. Lucky
Speaker 1: didn't give me my years of experience. Consistency is what
Speaker 1: built the transformation station. Showing up when I didn't feel
Speaker 1: like it built the transformation station. There's sometimes I gotta
Speaker 1: teach step class, I gotta teach zoomba, I talk through
Speaker 1: my torn achilles tendon. There's sometimes that I'm tired and
Speaker 1: I don't sleep properly. And I actually am one of
Speaker 1: the four percent apparently of people that suffer with adult
Speaker 1: night terrors and not nightmares night tares. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot of personal things that I go through as well.
Speaker 1: But I still show up even when I don't feel
Speaker 1: like it. When I was going through my fertility, I
Speaker 1: still showed up feeling like a bag of shit. There's
Speaker 1: sometimes I'd cry in my car or scream in the back,
Speaker 1: wipe my tears, and I'm the same Christina that everyone sees,
Speaker 1: very consistent, very consistent, very demurror not doing there, but like,
Speaker 1: loving people also built this. Building relationships also built this.
Speaker 1: And you can't fake those things. You can't fake Caring
Speaker 1: about people. Also making hard decisions built this. Learning from
Speaker 1: my mistakes, having an incredible team and being picky about
Speaker 1: who I hire and learning those lessons along the way,
Speaker 1: that's what built this. Those hard conversations I've had to
Speaker 1: cancel people's memberships before that also helped me build our
Speaker 1: community that we have now and to protect the space.
Speaker 1: It's like peeling the layers of an onion. Like having
Speaker 1: amazing members also built this. And lately I keep telling myself, like,
Speaker 1: especially when I am stressed out, sometimes I lose sleep,
Speaker 1: and like I said, I cry over decisions sometimes, but
Speaker 1: usually I scream. Lately, I've been very stressed out about
Speaker 1: opinions that I actually started for some reason throwing things.
Speaker 1: And I will tell you that because sometimes I feel
Speaker 1: like I don't love crying. I'm actually not overly of
Speaker 1: a crier. I know that doesn't sound like it tracks
Speaker 1: because when people tell me their wins, I get emotional
Speaker 1: and I usually start to cry because I like connecting
Speaker 1: with people and I know what it feels like to
Speaker 1: hit a milestone in your life, and that, to me
Speaker 1: is insane. So I will resonate with someone and generally
Speaker 1: I will cry proud tears. That's pretty normal for me.
Speaker 1: But I don't cry when I'm stressed out. I sometimes
Speaker 1: apparently now get angry, So that's something that I'm working
Speaker 1: on personally. When things get really heavy, when I'm getting bombarded,
Speaker 1: when coaches are telling me like, oh, people are mad
Speaker 1: about the Cubbies, can you reconsider can, I'm like, no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 1: The Cubbies are never going to happen. Fetch is not
Speaker 1: going to happen. We did bring out extra two floor fans,
Speaker 1: so you're welcome on that one. But here am I
Speaker 1: stressing over the very thing that I once dreamed about
Speaker 1: that I work my ass off to build. And it's
Speaker 1: kind of funny when you think about It's like I
Speaker 1: work so hard for this and all you can do
Speaker 1: is laugh, right, Like I would hope that me going
Speaker 1: through these things would some like someday be what my
Speaker 1: reality is because this gym at one point was just
Speaker 1: a dream. Like having what I have now is now
Speaker 1: my everyday life. And yeah, sometimes it's hard, but it's
Speaker 1: also incredibly beautiful. Like every single challenge that I face
Speaker 1: tells me that people care, and every challenge that we
Speaker 1: have it means that we've grown. And every challenge also
Speaker 1: means we're building something that to me, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: and I will protect this. I will die on this hill.
Speaker 1: The Transformation Station for me, is worth protecting. So if
Speaker 1: you ever wondered why I make the decisions that I do,
Speaker 1: I hope that this gives you a little bit of
Speaker 1: a glimpse into what happens behind the scenes. It's not oh,
Speaker 1: you only work for three hours a day, work for
Speaker 1: a lot of days. I work for a lot of
Speaker 1: hours in a day. Every decision that I make starts
Speaker 1: with one question, how can I make this community even better?
Speaker 1: Not for one person, not for the loudest voice. We
Speaker 1: have a few very quiet people in the Transformation Station,
Speaker 1: but it's for as many people as possible. So thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you genuinely for trusting me
Speaker 1: with that responsibility. Thank you for growing with us. We
Speaker 1: have some members that have seen us even last month,
Speaker 1: and they're still growing with us. They've seen us even
Speaker 1: they've been members for four years, five years, six years,
Speaker 1: seven years, and they're still around. And thank you so
Speaker 1: much for growing with us, and thank you for believing
Speaker 1: in this crazy dream that has become real. And thank
Speaker 1: you also for being part of the transformation station. I
Speaker 1: couldn't do it without you. And thank you for also
Speaker 1: not just showing up, but also being the way that
Speaker 1: you are and being your personality and everything that you have.
Speaker 1: And sometimes we show up messy, and sometimes we show
Speaker 1: up like we're on fire, and we're fantastic, and again
Speaker 1: everything else in between. Sometimes we're tired, sometimes we're energetic,
Speaker 1: But thank you for showing up because you are what
Speaker 1: also contributes to the community, all those positive conversations, all
Speaker 1: like the encouraging words, that is what helps us propel
Speaker 1: to do better. No one likes to operate out of shame,
Speaker 1: and no one likes a space that feels like they
Speaker 1: have to be perfect or performative. They can never say
Speaker 1: that word performative, But like, thank you for allowing everyone
Speaker 1: just to show up and be the exact same way
Speaker 1: that I can be with you and that is accepting,
Speaker 1: neutral and wanting a good space for everybody, the community
Speaker 1: that we know and love. That is non judgmental, that
Speaker 1: is easygoing, that is kind. When you walk into the gym,
Speaker 1: you always have someone telling you how you always have
Speaker 1: a conversation, and that to me is everything. And that
Speaker 1: is why I don't mind being the filter. I'll go
Speaker 1: through the stress if it means that you walk into
Speaker 1: the Transformation Station and the things that I've shared with
Speaker 1: you right now that you have no idea even exist,
Speaker 1: that to me means I've also hit my stimulus. All right,
Speaker 1: until next time, everybody, I hope you have a fantastic day.
Speaker 1: Listen to some of our other episodes. If there's something
Speaker 1: that you want to check about. If you want to
Speaker 1: be on the podcast, shoot me over an email, text message.
Speaker 1: You know how to find me. I'm on social media.
Speaker 1: You can go to the Transformation Station dot CA. You
Speaker 1: can send me an email. If you have my email,
Speaker 1: you can email me Christina at the Transformation Station dot CA.
Speaker 1: You can also find me on Instagram at Christina Romita
Speaker 1: or I do all of our social media at me
Speaker 1: DM me at any of our social media pages at
Speaker 1: the Transformation Station Barry. I put Barry at the end.
Speaker 1: There is only one built, the transformation Station. You can
Speaker 1: find me there. You can find me on Instagram, under
Speaker 1: or sorry Facebook. I don't do personal Facebook. Our business
Speaker 1: Facebook is the transformation Station. I control all of those
Speaker 1: social media platforms. Find me. You can text me, you
Speaker 1: can call me seven O five three zero zero zero
Speaker 1: zero eight eight. I am just a phone call, a
Speaker 1: nudge or a high five away. Talk to you soon.