12 Nov 6

When you start a new business, you genuinely just hope that it survives.

You may have grand aspirations of where you’d like it to end up, but in the first year all you want is to be the exception to the rule, namely a new business that makes it past 12 months. I remember those feelings and that time so clearly that I battle to comprehend it was six years ago.

As we prepare to open our sixth gym, our second in San Francisco, I can scarcely believe where the time has gone nor the journey I’ve been privileged enough to experience. While this journey has afforded me many gifts, the greatest one is without doubt the people it has allowed me to meet and work with.

We’ve had so many interesting, genuine, funny, serious, hard working, easy going, kind, generous and caring people walk through our doors over the past six years, and we continue to be blessed that many more still sign up to join us. One of the things I’m most proud of is the calibre of person we have who trains at Roark and I’m eternally grateful to those who have support us over the years as well as those who continue to do so.

The coaches we’ve had in the past as well as those we have with us now are, without exception, some of the best people I’ve met in my life. Those who have left continue to forge a unique path in the fitness industry and I’m incredibly proud to have had the privilege of knowing them and working with them. Roark wouldn’t be where it is, or what it is, without these people. My sincerest thanks to all of you.

Finally, I’d like to thank those who have supported me, unwaveringly, throughout this journey. My family, my friends and my wife. I can never hope to repay you for the faith you’ve had in me and Roark.

As we move into our seventh year I continue to ask myself the same question I’ve asked for the last six, “Where to from here?”

The answer though, is always the same: “Onward.”