….and why am I just writing about this now?
It’s interesting, I’ve been reading some awesome business books lately (the most recent being “Pour Your Heart Into It” by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz), and it dawned on me that it is really important to define who you are as a company (my MBA is currently smacking my IRL self upside the head over this). It allows your “stakeholders” (or in my case, clients) get an idea of what you stand for, where you want to go, and what drives you. So with that in mind, I sat down and started to define exactly WHAT Alaris Fitness is.
What we are:
The short story is that we’re the only fitness studio in Santa Barbara that specializes in running AND kettlebell training. The long story is:
We are a place of strength: We are not a boot camp, we are a form and strength focused training studio. “Strength” here is not just defined by the amount you lift, but also what you bring to the gym…the resolve to get the job done, the strength and courage to be yourself, the strength to not be lost in a sea of sameness. We encourage you to swear at your kettlebell when things get hard, scream when you accomplished something you couldn’t do before, and dance if a good song comes on.
We are a place of diversity: It may seem weird for a gym to talk about diversity, but that’s one of the things I most value about Alaris – I don’t want a single “type” of client. This is a place for people from all walks of life – if you’re all about the things I said in the previous paragraph, we want you here. This is not your high school clique crowd, and it’s not your hyper Type-As of the world. This is for people who know who they are, love themselves, and love others.
What we are NOT:
We are NOT a weight loss facility: This is important to me. We do not do before/after photos in here for many reasons (which will likely get covered in another blog post), but you will see that we never talk about losing weight. While this is a terrible marketing strategy, the reason we believe in this approach is simple – YOU are more than a number on a scale and your worth is not defined by that number. We DO care that you can do a proper kettlebell swing, we DO care that you’re improving your pushup, we DO care that you are better than you were a month ago.
We are NOT another 6 week program: Santa Barbara is full of these things. “Join for 6 weeks, change your body, for ladies only, blah blah blah”….change doesn’t happen in 6 weeks. We want people who are invested in themselves and their fitness for the long term…it’s that simple. This isn’t some fad, this is your life, and I want to be your coach.
Basically, if you’re an awesome human being who likes dancing and laughing, and hates fake stuff, then this is your gym. Come on in 🙂