As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Pondering Expansion... Monday, October 20

Back when we first opened Hulk's Boxing we were asked if we'd ever expand upon our club and make another location.  We pondered it, we even found a second location too actually.  An interested party approached us about turning Hulk's into a chain but if we were to make another Hulk's it'd be a spin-off of the original, like an extension of it.  Hulk's Boxing would continue to do boxing and crossfit but we'd make Hulk Smash, a place just for crossfit and weight training.  The location we've searched out for Hulk Smash is amazing.  It's this massive old, used and abandoned building that has an equally large front yard and surrounding brick wall enclosing it all in.  Of course Hulk Smash is merely just an idea we've pondered up and nothing we're looking to open in the very near future but we're surely not interested in making a chain boxing club.  

Just recently a new idea has emerged after an eager financial investor made his interest in our company known.  The current idea we are debating is whether or not to take over the above floor here, floor three, and add an extra component to our club.  I won't go into the details of what exactly this "component" would be but I'll say it would mean employing a full time coach for it and a much needed front desk assistant.  Renovating the upstairs would be like hitting two birds with one stone for the route Snickers wants to take his fighting career.  We've gone as far to negotiate a key deposit and monthly fee for the third floor and, let me tell you, you'd pee your pants if you knew just how much of a steal we could get it at.  We'd hire in-country for front desk help but would consider hiring outside of Korea for a coach specifically for the third floor and then we'd make part of the floor into a living corridors for them.  

Money isn't the problem, all the expenses would be covered by our new investor.  The problem now is do we or do we not want to do this.  

Snickers wants to do it, he's 100% all in.

Me on the other hand, I am only 30% in.  

To tell you the truth, I'm really not interested in expanding upon Hulk's but rather we put that energy into making Hulk's the best boxing club it can be.  I still have a rather large goal I'm working on for my own boxing career, Snickers wants to return to fighting, and I know what it was like when we first started Hulk's, everything else took a back, back, BACK seat.  And when I say everything, I'm taking about things like our boxing careers, friends and family, plans to visit Canada, and the existence of any kind of social life.  Even our laundry took a back seat -- there were weeks when I wore the same nasty clothing during renovations because it was easier to stay dirty than wash them.

I view the idea of expanding as just adding more complications and more stress to keep me up at night, more taxes and legal work to choke on, and more paperwork for me to go cross-eyed over.  It was hard enough for me to leave Hulk's this past week for my fight in Thailand without calling Snickers everyday to ask about the club and leave him with more instructions or things to check up on.  If our business were to expand and involve another floor, grow twice in size, I don't think I'll ever be able to leave Korea or relax.  Hulk's is a lot to handle and it's just Snickers and I doing it all but that's the beauty of it all, because it IS just he and I.  Hulk's was our dream; we're living the dream but now it's like Snickers wants more when I am more than happy with what we have.  Of course we want to improve upon Hulk's but improve for me doesn't mean adding a whole new floor or venturing into this "component".  I love Hulk's and I love that it is just Snickers and I running the show.  We've had friends offer to help/work for us but you'll never ever be able to find someone that's as passionate and in love with your business as you are and so we're still just the two of us.  One of my biggest problems with the expansion proposal is that I don't really care to work with or be so close with this particular investor and I'll just leave it at that.  I know full well that he's very business oriented and is quite successful but I also know how he took some back routes to get to his success and I don't care to venture down those routes nor do I care to be associated with such.  I mentioned this to Snickers and told him that it was either him or I, he couldn't have both.  And that was all fine and dandy, I thought it'd stall the idea but then we were approached by additional investor.  

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