Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Scully.
Hi Jessica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thanks for having me, I’m so glad to be here!
I was athletic and involved in sports from a young age. I swam competitively growing up, ran half marathons with my dad, and rowed crew in college. After college, I was looking for something that provided that “team” dynamic, and I found CrossFit.
It provided both a physical and mental transformation for me. After a couple of years, I decided to pursue my L1, which is the first coaching credential required to train others in CrossFit.
In 2017, I took a leave of absence from the gym I was coaching at to have my son. Upon returning to the gym, the owner approached me with a discussion about buying the gym.
It wasn’t something I had ever considered, but I’m a big fan of jumping into things that challenge you and figuring it out as you go. So, I jumped, and I haven’t looked back since.
We purchased the gym and opened our doors on August 1, 2018, as Holy City CrossFit. We’ve had a number of challenges over the past 3 years, but we’ve grown smarter and stronger with each one.
I still coach classes and work with personal training clients on occasion, but my main focus for the future is continuing to grow the business and helping it to thrive.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
This is my third business, but my first brick and mortar. The challenges with each are different, but there are no “smooth roads” in entrepreneurship. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, something else crops up for you to figure out how to navigate around.
I hold a high standard for my coaching staff, and one of the biggest challenges has been finding coaches that don’t shy away from hard work. Coaches that hold a growth mindset and know that they can continue to grow and gain knowledge. And, most importantly, coaches that integrate themselves into the heart of our community. Our gym is like a family, and the coaches are the glue that hold it together.
We struggled during COVID shutdowns, as did many businesses. We were closed for over two months, and would not have stayed in business much longer had we not been allowed to re-open. Once we did finally re-open, it took almost a full year to get back to where we had been just two months prior.
It was incredibly discouraging to see what I had built come crashing down in a matter of weeks, but I had done it before and I knew I could do it again. I took it slow and steady, was careful with cash flow, and never gave up. Today we have our highest membership to date as well as an incredibly strong community of people that support each other every day, inside and outside of the gym.
These challenges and obstacles are what entrepreneurs thrive on. Figuring out the next piece of the puzzle. Finding how the pieces fit and making sure you know for next time. What to keep, what to toss, what to do differently, and being allowed to make those decisions for yourself.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have a pretty wild and varied background when it comes to work. I graduated with a Master’s Degree in Forensic Psychology and spent 10 years working in various police departments as a Crime Analyst and Intel Analyst. In addition to working in law enforcement, I’ve worked in software support for a local startup, affiliate marketing for an online business, owned a wedding planning company, taught swim lessons to adults, built and run a recipe blog from the ground up, and most recently, purchased a CrossFit gym.
I don’t believe anyone has to have a singular career if they don’t want to. That’s what’s right for some, and that’s great. For me, I get restless. I like new challenges, trying new things, and learning something different.
I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve built a place at Holy City CrossFit that people feel seen. As adults, we spend most of our day doing things for others, but rarely doing things for ourselves. The people we do things for rarely acknowledge our efforts, and it’s not often that people say “thank you” or “I appreciate you.” When you walk in the door at HCCF, you’re greeted by name. We ask how your weekend travel was, or ask about your kids or dog by name. We make sure people know that we see them, we care about them, and they always have a place in our community, for as long as they want it. We celebrate them showing up for themselves, each and every day.
My goal for the gym in a single sentence is: to keep people moving as late in life as possible. To that end, we make sure people don’t just move, they move WELL. We focus on form, and how functional fitness translates to your everyday life. And it shows: our athletes at Holy City hold themselves to the same standards we hold them to.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Nothing comes easy.
Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart, or for those who want to punch a clock and sit on the couch and put their feet up in the evening.
There’s hard work. There’s sweat, and tears, and exhaustion. There’s days where you want to throw in the towel and call it quits. Days when you want to call your boss and call in sick – but you can’t, because you are the boss, and you have to do the work because there’s no one else to do it.
But the lesson I’ve learned is that when you push through, what’s waiting on the other side is nothing short of amazing. Every time I’ve wanted to quit, I haven’t, and I’ve been amazed at what’s waiting for me, again and again.
Contact Info:
- Email: jointhefun@holycitycrossfit.com
- Website: www.holycitycrossfit.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/holy_city_crossfit
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/holycitycrossfit
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOoR4RZ__BAYxppAvK2mKmQ
Image Credits
Erin Ferguson
Ashoff Fitness Photography
