C.J. Cross, founder of The FitBase, has worked in a diverse range of industries before he made the leap into entrepreneurship. We sat down with him for this member spotlight series in Washington D.C. – a series that showcases the individuals behind startups and small businesses. Here’s what he shared:
Sports have always been a part of my life. I ran track, played lacrosse, and even competed on national level as an ocean rescue lifeguard in the United States Livesaving Association through college. Five years ago, when I was in the business world, I got kind of sedentary.
When I had free time, I started running again, and I realized how much I missed not having an active lifestyle as a part of my life. When I got back into running, I realized how much happier I was. So now I run marathons, triathlons and ride in century bike rides.
While I attended James Madison University and Northern Virginia Community College, I worked in business for a while but I grew restless. After I joined run groups and started helping friends run, I decided to become a personal trainer. After six years in the fitness industry, I realized all the tools I had in the business industry didn’t exist in fitness. That’s when I came up with an idea to connect people with trainers and gyms.
FitBase helps gyms, trainers and everybody in the fitness industry to either revamp or build their own website. We teach them how to grow their online presence and to engage their clientele through social media, e-commerce, and content.
I realized there are a lot of people who are passionate about their industries, but they could care less about the technology and business side of things. They need people who can help them out with that. It’s the same concept with FitBase. We’re helping fitness professional become business professionals.
One thing I wish I knew before I founded my company was that it would take a lot longer than what I initially planned. Sometimes you’ll have to pivot several times until you settle on that one great concept. Over the past year and a half, this company has gone through five different pivots. It went from a review site to a concierge service to a marketplace until we finally settled on our current concept.
Your first idea is never going to be perfect, so you need to keep going at it. Talking to people about my idea, getting it ripped apart, and going back to the drawing board multiple times has helped me. You also need a good support group.
Here’s one piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: Talk to people. As much as you want to keep your great idea to yourself, it’s not a great idea until other people know about it. I didn’t start to feel confident about mine until I presented it a few times. Events like DC Entrepreneur Week and meet ups are great to attend, so go and pitch. It’s worth it.
I’ve had my hands in almost every industry – everything from event promotions, personal training, restaurant service, rescue lifeguarding, property management to loan origination. So I’ve taken all the knowledge I’ve picked up from these jobs into my current business and it’s been a lot of fun.
