When Vilma Blumberg bought out her business partner in the fall of 2019 and became the sole owner of CrossFit Antics in Ocala, Florida she quickly became overwhelmed.
“I was coaching all the classes at the time and it was really hard for me to manage everything all at once. I knew I needed some help,” Vilma said.
At her previous business partner’s suggestion she started using a digital marketing firm. Even though she was paying $1,000 a month, the agency — which used a generic white label product not customized for gyms — didn’t save her much time.
“It wasn’t really tailored to the business I’m in,” Vilma said, “and I had to adjust all of the content to reflect my business. They made Facebook ads and funnels but that’s all simple things I can do on my own now, which is what I’ve been doing,” she said.
Then in January of 2020 Vilma heard about UpLaunch.
When she discovered UpLaunch costs $299 a month and includes content customized for gyms she decided to ditch the other agency and give UpLaunch a try.
Switching to UpLaunch
Vilma started off with the former client campaign, an automated email campaign focused on former members. Then she put the leads she gathered from the former agency into UpLaunch's active lead campaign, which automatically communicates with leads to keep them interested and engaged.
Soon Vilma started to feel more in control of her day. She wasn't spending hours every day emailing leads and members and she was able to focus on the day-to-day operations of her gym, which had about 85 members.
Then came COVID-19. CrossFit Antics closed in late March, along with every other gym in Florida.
While she was shut down and running Zoom classes, Vilma used UpLaunch to stay in touch with her members and keep the community connected. When she reopened on May 28 she hit the ground running and began marketing to her leads. She was amazed by the results.
“We signed up 16 new members in one month,” Vilma said.
The majority of her new members were leads that converted from the active lead campaign within UpLaunch.
“I created a separate ClickFunnel and then I also did my own Facebook advertisement, and I just used the campaigns that UpLaunch had already created, the journeys that were already in there,” Vilma said.
Saving Hours Every Day
Running a gym during the coronavirus pandemic brings even more work to coaches and gym owners. Vilma's staff checks temperatures at the door, they spray the gym down with a hydrostatic sprayer, and she and the coaches clean constantly between classes. Vilma is at the gym when it opens in the morning, then coaches five classes a day.
Vilma said she wouldn't be able to take on all this extra work if she had to sit at her computer for two to three hours every day writing emails and staying in touch with leads, current members, and former clients.
With UpLaunch she can set up her campaigns and the process is fully automated.
“Then I just touch in with the people who are on my task list, that takes 30 to 45 minutes instead of a couple of hours every day,” she said. “Having that constant contact taken out of the equation where it’s already done for me, it was really, really helpful. It took out so much extra work in my day."
“It’s taken so much off my plate as a business owner,” Vilma said.
“UpLaunch has really allowed me to stay in that personal contact and not forget about my leads or my clients who might have fallen through the cracks or who I haven’t seen for a while. It keeps that personal connection that makes CrossFit so special that really attracts people,” she said.
Vilma admitted it took her a little while to commit to the monthly cost.
“I was on the fence for a long time. When my business partner backed out, $300 a month was not an easy call for me, but I’m glad that I did do it, because it made a huge difference for my business,” she said.
The new members and time savings allowed Vilma to take advantage of UpLaunch’s new website service, so she can update the look of her website and integrate it with the UpLaunch platform.
If everything goes as planned, Vilma said she plans to double her space in November.
“This past month we saw a 15 percent increase, Vilma said, "we’ve never had that.”
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