Today we’d like to introduce you to Lydia and Travis Shook.
Lydia, Travis, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My husband and I were going through life like your average 20 somethings. We realized that what we were doing, and what we were currently aspiring to, was not going to be fulfilling long term. We took the leap and decided to open a CrossFit Affiliate in our hometown. Travis left the US Coast Guard and we moved from Michigan back to North Carolina to open CrossFit Kavod at the age of 22 and 23. We can give all credit to this journey being successful to our faith, family and hard work. The beginning was rocky but we found that pursuing our dream was going to be more fulfilling than a steady paycheck and the commitment is now paying off! We have more than doubled our memberships in 2 years and we have tripled our square feet. The most exciting part is seeing our members create unbreakable bonds and see a huge family created within our community! The Kavod culture is everything we had imagined and our members are what make that possible! We have to say culture is the most important part of owning your own small business. Create a culture that is based on what is important to you and pursue it with all you have. We are passionate about people pursuing their dreams and hope our story can inspire people to leave the rat race and make their dreams happen!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There has been a ton of struggles. Time management and finances were are biggest struggles. We luckily get to do what we love all day long, but when it came to learning how to run a business there was a huge learning curve. We have some really great mentors that have taught us the in’s and out’s of systemizing your business and creating an organized backend that almost runs itself. But to get there was a huge learning curve. Thankfully, at the beginning we had amazing members that were along for the journey even through our initial struggles and we will forever be grateful to those people that stuck it through!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with CrossFit Kavod – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are a CrossFit affiliate in the rural Appalachian Mountains. We specialize in functional fitness, our main goal is long term overall health. We usually get clients that are interested in “getting in shape” or “losing weight.” Then we just teach them the in’s and out’s of leading a healthy lifestyle. There is so much to working towards health than moving and eating well. There is certain ways to move well and movements that can be related to everyday life. As well as creating a positive mindset and outlook in our members. If you don’t have a positive mindset you won’t be able to make positive changes in your life! That is what we are proud of as a company. We have everyday people doing extraordinary things every single day. Things they never imagined they would be able to do, not only because of not having the strength, but because they are living in pain. So many of our clients came to us with back, neck and knee pain, which would be considered injuries from a sedentary lifestyle. Once they moved, and moved well, they are pain free. That is an incredibly exciting thing to watch people enter into a pain free life and be able to do things they weren’t able to do before! I believe our community sets us apart. There is a lot of great physical things happening here, but the family is the most important part. We have a huge variety of people and they all get along incredibly well. You may have nothing in common before you walk in Kavod, but once you’re there you are family.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our future plans are to just keep doing what we are doing and grow from there. Of course as things progress we will make changes and add amenities to our facility. But as far as the business model it will be staying the same, just growing our Kavod family and changing lives.
Pricing:
- $120/month Unlimited CrossFit Classes
Contact Info:
- Address: 93 Sloan Industrial Park
- Website: crossfitkavod.com
- Phone: 8284213386
- Email: crossfitkavod@gmail.com
- Instagram: @crossfitkavod
- Facebook: facebook.com/crossfitkavod
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
