The holiday season is always good for a few things: friends, gratitude and merriment. It’s hard to have one without the other, but if it’s been a good year, you will undoubtedly find a generous amount of all three.
In Charlottesville we’ve definitely had a great year – so great in fact that it’s hard to believe we’ve only been ‘in business’ for four months. We’ve loved every minute of the past four months and are so grateful for our staff and clients, and the incredible energy that everyone has brought through the doors to quickly transform it from a new fitness facility into an amazing new community.
Some of the original MAD crew at the Holiday Happy Hour.
Two weeks ago we had our Holiday Staff dinner, and client Happy Hour, both of which were awesome and reminded us once again just how lucky we are to be surrounded by such an inspiring and motivated community. As strong as our community is now, we wanted to take a minute to acknowledge a few groups that have been with us from the beginning, and who supported this vision and business long before they really knew what it was.
Two months before we opened the doors in Charlottesville, Dar started to focus on finding coaches – far more concerned with finding the right coaches than filling a roster. We knew our staff had to reflect the core values, expertise, and feel of our brand. They had to have the experience and athleticism to effectively coach the movements, the ability to motivate clients of all levels, and diverse yet complimentary personalities to build genuine relationships. And if that weren’t enough of a challenge, they had to believe in us and want to invest in what we were building, based only on photographs, a website, and our (at that time amateur) descriptions of who and what we are. It was at this time that Ryan, April, and Kirsten joined the coaching staff.
It’s difficult to really express how grateful we are for their trust, and inherent belief in what we were explaining to them (despite having never experienced it). Luckily, when they did finally meet the MADness, it only seemed to strengthen their commitment and enthusiasm, and we were fortunate to open the doors with the solid foundation and client experience that helped us find our final two rockstar coaches: Joe and Elly.
MADabolic Cville Staff Holiday Dinner at Bella’s Restaurant w/owner & MAD Client Douglas Muir.
As challenging as it was to explain to potential coaches just how innovative and effective this new programming was going to be, it was even more challenging to sell it to our friends and potential clients prior to being able to fully deliver on it. Six months before announcing any plans, Dar started coaching bootcamp in Charlottesville, three days a week, offering a watered down version of the most basic combination of intervals and intensity. It would have been impossible to represent MADabolic’s programming, for many reasons, but the bootcamps allowed clients to slowly prepare for, and adapt to, Dar’s style of coaching. And it did just that.
Since MADabolic has opened in Charlottesville the client base and community has grown exponentially from what it was, but it’s always so gratifying to see all of the core bootcampers still with us, continuously improving, and endlessly supporting what we’re doing. [And to give additional credit where credit is due, a huge part of our success has been Dar’s involved and detail oriented style of managing the business, and how her personality and charisma feeds energy to everyone that comes through the doors.]
As we head into 2014, and month 5 of being open, we want to thank our coaches and clients for believing in the vision, and us. You were all so integral in building the MADness in Charlottesville and it would not be what it is without you.
We wish you all the happiest of holidays, and a very MAD New Year.
Val + Dar
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