Cold Days of Business

I took this photo randomly one day in one of Asheville's great coffeehouses, Dripolator, just playing around with the settings. However, I ended up liking it and it serves as a reminder of some rough times early on in business. While we are certainly still a very young business the following are some of our early experiences.

Our landlord for our gym mentioned that the heat hadn't been on in the space for over a month but he failed to bring to light the little fact that it had been completely disconnected. We opened the first day we took over the lease. Meaning our landloard was still there the morning of our "Grand Opening" sweeping the floor (there was a woodshop there before us and trust me, I am STILL sweeping) while we moved in our eqipment, hung the white boards and prepared for our first session at 1:00pm. Yes, it was rather ambitious of us. The opening went well considering and a handful of our clients have stuck with us since, but it was FAR from grand.

That 1st week in Feb was the coldest it has been since arriving in Asheville. There were a few mornings in the single digits with highs in the teens! On Monday the 2nd we found out that it would take a few days after submitting paperwork and a deposit before the heat would be on. Argh. It was a miserable time. Here we are trying to welcome people to our new gym and either need to dress in so many layers that I can barely move to demonstrate anything to clients (not to mention I must have looked about 20lbs heavier in all those clothes) or risk standing there body shaking and teetch chattering while taking potential clients through work-outs. It wasn't bad for those showing up to work-out as we just got them moving right away to stay warm, but to be there from 5:30am until 8pm was miserable. We are closed during the day from 10am til 4pm and would go to local coffeehouses to warm up and use their internet, as we were also waiting on internet access in the gym and at our apartment.

The coffee mugs featured in the photo are from a gas station called the "Hot Spot" which we pass everyday on our way to work. They have this offer where you buy one of their $2.99 travel mugs and can get refills for 27 cents. The Hot Spot's little coffee counter even has steamed milk, cinnamon and whipped cream which I doctored my coffee with regularly. I'm pretty sure most places charge 50 cents just to add whip cream to most coffee drinks. Sure, we could have made our own at home but we opted to leave our coffeemaker with our old roommates in NY with the idea that we were going to stop drinking coffee once here in Asheville. Well, when the alarm goes off at 4:40am and being that I grew a strong appreciation for coffee while in chiropractic college it just wasn't happening. Instead, I looked forward to handing over my pocket of change for a deliciously warm beverage during those dark, cold mornings.