My first five years in the fitness industry were very educational ones for me. I not only learned about a business that I was very interested in, but I also learned a lot about myself. From ages 19 to 24, I worked for six different companies that went bankrupt. During that time I lived in a closed-down building, my car and a health club in St. Petersburg. People have always asked me how I could stay in a business that seemed doomed to failure. There was only one answer: There was nothing else I wanted to do.
You see, I knew it was a good business, not from a financial perspective, but for what it could do to help so many people. However, this was never the focus of the other companies I worked for. When I was 21, I read a quote in the book “Laws of Success,” and it stated it very clearly to me: “If you help enough people get what they want out of life, you’ll get everything you want out of life.” So I knew the focus had to be on helping people get and stay healthy. I could not think of a more worthwhile purpose. If I could do that right, I wouldn’t ever have to worry about the financial part of my life; and I have never lost the essence of that quote I read a long time ago.
When I started Gainesville Health and Fitness, I was very fortunate to find other people who shared my passion. And as time went by, we continued to grow at every opportunity that presented itself. The health club grew from the original 1,500 square feet to the current 120,000 square feet of facilities. We have never stopped reinvesting in our facilities, equipment and programming, and we will continue to do so.
I’ve always known the direction I wanted to take my business, but one day years ago, I read a Harvard Review article by Jim Collins. It was titled, “Creating Your Company’s Vision.” It talked about vision, mission, core values, core purpose, culture and this thing called the “envisioned future.” The truth was I knew all of these things — it was what GHF was all about from the beginning. But it made me realize a blatantly obvious question: Does everyone in my organization know what’s in my head?
So I decided to take a day off with eight leaders in my organization and talk about these things. I figured we could address each area, and by the end of the day, reach an agreement. I was off by a little. It ended up being a six-month project, but by the time we were done, we created a document that really told our story. It was not a PR story but one of who we are and what we will become.
I asked each leader to imagine it was 10 years in the future and a national business magazine was writing a story about GHF. As each person read their story, we recorded the key ideas and created our envisioned future. I don’t have enough space to write down everything that was on our list, but one person’s idea was we would be on the cover of a national business magazine. They said it only seemed right since that’s why we were doing this exercise in the first place.
That day, and in the ensuing six months, we created a living document that told the story of us, which became the most important document we have ever put together. It underlies every decision we make, including the people we hire.
As has been said countless times, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. Knowing the course, I believe, is the most important competitive advantage we can ever have.
Joe Cirulli is the owner and founder of Gainesville Health & Fitness Center. Since 1978, Cirulli has been focused on helping people become healthy and building a company culture that inspires people to become their best. He is a past board chair of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce and was featured on the cover of Inc. Magazine. To find out more about Joe, visit www.GHFC.com.