How the Crossfit Community Got My Small Business Off the Ground

I was in the last few months of my old job doing corporate finance for a concrete company when I wandered into my first Crossfit gym: Mountain Strong. I’d been working out in my apartment gym, but I knew I needed something more structured. Mountain Strong offered that structure, plus a fun collection of outdoors enthusiasts using CrossFit to level up their game outside the gym.

I’d grown up using cable machines, so I barely even knew what to do with a barbell — much less how to use one in a Crossfit workout.  Lucky for me, they offered an onboarding class called Foundations, which I had the unique distinction of being the only member to complete… twice. 

A few months after joining Mountain Strong, I decided to open an Archery Games in Denver with the help of a friend of a friend who’d started the concept in Ottawa, Canada. The Ottawa community loved the unique sport (?) of Archery Dodgeball, and I thought Denver would too. The first hurdle was finding a suitable space for our new venture.

Having never rented industrial real estate before, I’d assumed it would be like renting an apartment: find a place that seems adequate, put down a deposit, and move in. After a few rejections for various reasons, I found out that’s not how it works. 

Will, the owner of Mountain Strong, had some simple advice: “Just keep trying”. They’d opened Mountain Strong right after marijuana had been legalized and small warehouse spaces were incredibly hard to find. So I followed his advice and kept trying. I found a landlord a few months later who was enthusiastic about renting to an Archery Dodgeball concept and we finally had a lease for an empty warehouse!

The next step was actually getting the place built out and getting open. Once again, I’d assumed this was just a matter of calling a small handful of contractors and we’d be open in a month or two. And once again, I’d be proven wrong. Instead, every day felt like a battle. Whether it was finding contractors, getting sign-offs from architects and engineers, navigating the city permitting process, or getting work completed on time, everything was a struggle.

With a small business, there’s no team to work with. Sure, I had a business partner, but he was 2000 miles away. It was mostly just me and the 5000 square foot concrete room I’d leased. 

I was mentally exhausted and demoralized, but at the end of every day, I’d show up to the Crossfit gym I’d recently joined. There I’d find something different; a community of people that greeted me with smiling faces. Despite barely knowing me, they were invested in seeing me succeed. They were rooting for me in the gym, outside of the gym, and most importantly, in turning my concrete room into an Archery Dodgeball emporium.

Seven months later, we had our city approval and were allowed to (legally) open. The Mountain Strong team immediately came out to support. They were our first group at the newly opened Archery Games Denver (https://archerygamesdenver.com/).​

Unfortunately, Mountain Strong didn’t survive Covid, but I knew I needed to find ​a similar community. I needed to find people who showed up for each other every day to push their potential inside and outside of the gym. It took a few years for me to find that, but in January 2025, I finally found Crossfit Train and knew I’d found my new people. 

Admittedly, being a business owner of a successful Archery Games concept is less stressful than being a lessee of a concrete room. But the days can still be long, and I still face unexpected challenges. I’m grateful for the community at Train – especially on the hard days. I can show up, push myself, and just keep trying because I know I’m surrounded by people who are always rooting for me.

Jesse Warlick (Ghostwriter: Rachel McKelvey)