At Rush Cycle, we’re usually too busy ramping up for our next adventure (and supporting and championing our franchisees) to ever look back. So we don’t often talk about our grassroots beginnings. But when Inc.com took a special interest in how we grew so quickly, we were open to share — and honored that they want to know our story.
The interview with Editor Jeff Haden’s brought back some great memories — things we’re happy our own franchisees will never have to do. Like the time we hosted a class inside Neiman Marcus for the launch of an athleisure brand in Nordstrom. How we rented a U-Haul and had to shuffle 25 bikes through the streets, into the mall and up a service elevator just to host this class. (Sure, we laugh about it now!)
The article is a good reminder of we developed our internal culture and philosophy here at Rush Cycle along with growing into [33] studios in [6+] states in just a few years.
We hope you’ll read the full article on Inc.com, but here are a few of the highlights on how we grew from a bootstrapped studio to a nationally-recognized brand:
- The pure passion and energy that attracted all of our early talent and employees
- The efficiency required with our capital, despite competing against huge, established brands
- The creativity used to create partnerships and events that didn’t cost much but gave us maximum exposure
- The reason boutique fitness worked so well for us (and will for many others too)
This story also reveals how we’ve been able to build a bulletproof business model that we can share with other spirited, entrepreneurial communities who share our vision for building health and wellness across the country.