Fifteen years ago, when most people had never heard of CrossFit, Joe Cebulski finished his athletic career as a decathlete and decided to take a risk and open a CrossFit affiliate.
Cebulski rented a small room in a community gym in Grand Rapids, MI, and opened 8th Day Gym in 2010. He had just two members.
A year later, the gym Cebulski operated out of closed its doors. He drove around Grand Rapids looking for a new space. Eventually, he found an abandoned tire shop on the edge of downtown. He couldn’t afford the space he wanted on the bottom floor, so he rented the upper room — 5,000 square feet with an additional 2,000-square-foot office space.
- “We moved into that space with just 30 members,” Cebulski said, laughing and calling himself “delusional” for taking such a risk at the time.
The risk paid off.
Today, 48-year-old Cebulski has taken over four additional spaces in the building and owns the entire 30,000-square-foot facility. His thriving business offers CrossFit, boot camps, personal training, open gym memberships, and, soon, endurance classes.
Fifteen years in, 8th Day CrossFit, which now goes by 8th Day Gym, has four full-time and 20 part-time coaches, some of whom have been coaching for Cebulski for seven to 10 years. Further, Cebulski lives a lifestyle that works for him.
- “Generally speaking, I do not have that hectic morning-to-night life of a [typical] gym owner. I have a great staff, and we have been doing this for quite some time. I could leave for two weeks or two months, and everything would be fine,” he said.
The Key to His Success: Going Against the Grain
As committed as Cebulski is to providing CrossFit to his members, he also called the classic way of running a CrossFit gym is generally not a solid business model.
- “If you find someone with an MBA and describe the typical CrossFit business model, they will tell you, ‘It’s not going to work,’” he explained.
This is why so many affiliates have become “passion businesses,” where the owner might also have another job, “or they live off $30,000 to $60,000 a year,” Cebulski explained.
Cebulski identified the problem for the average gym owner with only one space in their facility: Most people want to workout in the morning and the evening, possibly briefly at lunch. This means the gym owner with just one space is often limited to servicing 10 to 20 people an hour during just a few hours in the day. For many gym owners, this means they can service a maximum of 150 to 200 members, paying $150 to $200 monthly.
- And while in some markets, this might be sufficient, if you’re in a market where you’re paying $10,000 to $20,000 in rent a month, for example, you have no hope of building a business that turns much of a profit, let alone build a business that allows the gym owner to retire off one day.
Ultimately, Cebulski recognized the limitations of running a business where 90 percent of the revenue comes from one style of CrossFit group classes. While that’s part of his revenue today, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Today, 8th Day Gym has five completely separate spaces, each producing its own revenue stream.
- Cebulski’s bootcamp business, for example, accounts for 18 percent of his revenue, while his open gym memberships bring in $6,000 to $8,000 in revenue a month.
Next up for Cebulski is to add a HYROX training space to his service offerings.
- “Every time we add a new space, we add a branch of revenue,” and in a way that doesn’t necessarily increase the overhead the same way as opening a whole new gym, he explained.
Three More Keys to Cebulski ‘s Success
Coaches
One common complaint gym owners often voice is how challenging it can be to find coaches who stick around long-term.
Cebulski identified two big factors that have helped him keep his coaches for years and years:
- Limit Group Class Hours: Managing the number of group classes his coaches coach per week has been key, said Cebulski. He has discovered the sweet spot is to coach no more than two group classes per day on top of their other responsibilities. More than that leads to burnout, he explained.
- Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Cebulski said he has found that providing entrepreneurial opportunities to his coaches attracts the right people for this business and keeps them around.
He allows his coaches to keep 100 percent of their personal training revenue, meaning they can run a personal training business — and have more control over their income — inside his business, should they choose to do so.
- “I have had coaches do exceptionally well with that,” he said, adding that this has significantly improved his coach retention.
Equipment
In 2010, people showed up to a CrossFit gym without expectations, and the fact that the equipment was often grungy and homemade didn’t deter the uneducated new client.
Cebulski said this isn’t the case anymore. People expect and appreciate high-quality, well-maintained equipment, so he has made it his mission to ensure this is the case.
- Not only does his gym have 60 Concept2 rowing machines, 44 Ski Ergs, 24 Concept2 bikes, 40 Echo Bikes, 60 barbells, and on and on, but Cebulski ensures he always maintains and replaces equipment to keep the gym looking new.
Location
One mistake Cebulski sees gym owners make is not paying attention to their location. As a result, they often end up in less than optimal spots due to finances or philosophy.
This is why Cebulski found a location in the downtown area within a 15-mile driving radius of all of Grand Rapids. He said this has helped his gym grow to anywhere between 500 and 600 members, depending on the time of year.
Further, he explained, it’s important to consider the area’s future potential for those thinking long-term or about buying their location.
- In Cebulski’s case, when he bought the building in 2014, it was still “on the edge of the ghetto,” he said. Still, he was paying attention to what had been happening in his city, and today, his gym is right in the middle of the new entertainment district in the downtown area.
Needless to say, Cebulski’s property value has skyrocketed.
The Big Picture
Business decisions aside, it goes without saying that if a gym is going to flourish for a decade-and-a-half and counting like Cebulski’s gym, its owner needs to be passionate about the business.
And Cebulski certainly is that.
- “I woke up this morning and had the same excitement heading into the gym that I had in year one. If I didn’t like running a gym, I could operate it remotely [at this point], but I just like being there,” he said.
Cebulski added: “I would like to do this into my 60s.”
More CrossFit Stories
- Red Bull Hosts Fitness Club Pop-Up in Miami Beach, Continues to Expand Reach into Fitness Market
- 2025 CrossFit Open Registration Continues to Lag, Competitive Regions Hold Steady Year-Over-Year
- NOCCO Launches at The Vitamin Shoppe
Featured Image: 8th Day Gym
