Last weekend, I had the chance to attend the CrossFit Affiliate Gathering in Basel. It was my first participation at a gathering - I myself am a L1 Coach for CF - and I have to say it was a weekend full of incredible insights.

I would like to give a brief summary from my POV with a focus on the topics which were relevant for affiliate owners (business owners) - which were just as relevant for us (as a service provider). There were so many valuable insights into the challenges beyond what people may think a CF Box is dealing with.

Mindset, Success, and Growth

One of the key takeaways was the importance of defining success, not just in terms of gym performance, but as a business overall as well as a business owner. This idea came up in several talks, like when Daniel from CrossFit Louvre shared his perspective on success. By having a clear vision for yourself you can adjust, make decisions & take necessary actions to achieve that vision.

I think the idea behind defining goals and visions is to make it concrete what you want to achieve. By doing that we can go further and take actions and start assessing if we are going the right direction. The whole event really hammered home the idea of making success measurable. Whether it’s through profitability, staff satisfaction, or community contributions. A lot of owners, like Ollie Mansbridge from CF Bath & CF Trowbridge, also emphasized aligning your team around a shared vision.

Sales & Marketing – Know Your Numbers

Sales and marketing were major topics, and it was refreshing to hear how essential it is to track everything—from leads to conversions. Adam from Memberboost highlighted critical KPIs that all affiliate owners should keep a close eye on: Lifetime Value (LTV), Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), and churn, among others. The importance of knowing your metrics can’t be overstated, especially when you’re trying to grow or maintain a healthy gym.

One important thing that stood out for me about keeping track of your numbers was how to work with them and answer some questions like: What are the numbers telling us? What implications do they have? Which actions do I have to take to make them better? Being able to continously interpret the numbers is a big game change from my POV, just because you have objective data about your business and how it's doing. Based on that information actions can be priorisised and decisions can be made more effectively.

This topic also inspired us at Boxbase to have a brainstorming session to see how we can integrate these and other valuable numbers directly into our service, so you have some answers ready for your gym. We are pretty excited in how this is developing and can't wait to make it available to our users.

Professionalism & Accountability

Another big topic was professionalism, which is often overlooked in smaller gyms. The idea of implementing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and accountability charts was something I myself just know of bigger companies from my past and don't see necessarily in smaller to midsize CF Boxes. Ollie made a great point about having “the right people in the right seats.” It’s not just about finding staff but ensuring they’re aligned with your gym’s vision, expectations, and values.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, the weekend was packed with so much valuable info that I’m still processing it. But if there’s one takeaway, it’s that owning a CrossFit affiliate is about a lot more than just running workouts. It’s about building a solid, professional business with clear goals, measurable success, and a deep love for the community.

Understanding those challenges we, at Boxbase, are making sure we can support you and your gym as much as possible with the right solutions. We are talking each week to various affiliate and gym owners, getting their feedback & understanding their challenges so we can design and develop the right solution in Boxbase.

We are eliminating sheets & other unnecessary tools, giving you your time back, evaluating data so you can make better decisions, providing a loveable experience for you, your staff & members so you can focus on your business and your love for the community. That's our vision. That's part of our definition of success.

Blog title image credit: Photo by Akin Cakiner on Unsplash