S2Ep1: "Phoenix Rising" with Andrew Ponce

Andrew is the head coach and director of Chalk Up, a Crossfit gym located in the heart of Sydney in Alexandria. Andrew describes his journey from humbling beginnings to what it was like to have his gym; where he had put his blood sweat and tears, burn to the ground. On reopening the next chapter of his gym he must then navigate his way through the Covid outbreak.

Join us as Andrew delivers his high of highs to low of lows during his experience as a business owner, husband and father.

@chalkupcoach

Transcript

Jac Simmonds  0:02  
All right. Welcome back to the balanced experience podcast. How are you?

Nick Papastamatis  1:49  
Very, very well. We just did a workout.

Jac Simmonds  1:52  
We just did. Yes. After after our Christmas party on the weekend. That was debaucherous. Yeah. It's always tough after in the month of December workouts just seem to get a little bit tougher. Yes. I wonder why it might have something to do with the weekends. But yeah, it was it was a good good little workout. 

Nick Papastamatis  2:08  
Apparently sweating it out, training with a hangover is actually not recommended. 

Jac Simmonds  2:13  
Is that right? Yeah. You just feel better for it, though. Don't ya.

Nick Papastamatis  2:16  
You do. Because the endorphins which apparently is no different than drinking a cup of coffee.

Jac Simmonds  2:19  
Is that right? Interesting.

Nick Papastamatis  2:21  
Yeah. And I found that quite interesting. I saw a post about that good friend of mine, Luke Nelson. Oh, and he actually it was a question that he posited of do you run after on a hangover answer is your you could postulate that your injury risk goes up. Yeah. Because of your under recovery. Because your sleep is the is affected badly. Don't get into REM sleep. Yeah, you didn't get into REM sleep. And therefore you under recovered and that is 1.7 times more likely to injure in the next day.

Jac Simmonds  2:55  
So it drops your testosterone for like a good week as well. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, like if you if you binge a little bit, but you feel better for it anyway. I was saying to Nicko, not on the night. Yeah. Nothing makes you realise....sky high... Nothing makes you realize alcohol is poison. More than like a 15 minute EMOM on a Monday. So yes. It was actually yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  3:14  
Andrew should have been there but really recovering from his own Christmas party wasn't he.

Jac Simmonds  3:18  
Exactly. Yes. He was. So welcome, Andrew. Yeah. Welcome, Andrew. Thanks, guys.

Andrew Ponce  3:25  
Thanks for having me.

Nick Papastamatis  3:25  
No problem as a bit of a ripp in to start the day. 

Jac Simmonds  3:31  
Nah it's good to have you on Andrew. So today, we've got Mr. Andrew Ponce on the podcast, owner of chalk up. And yeah, as Andrew has a really interesting story to tell which we're gonna get into. So really good to have you here.

Andrew Ponce  3:45  
It's a pleasure. Thanks for having me. Guys.

Nick Papastamatis  3:46  
We've worked we've worked with you for several years now. Probably a long time, maybe four or five years. All right. And I remember the first conversation with you was originally about? I think it was about squat therapy. But what ended up happening was we started talking about injuries and stuff. And I literally think I got you to do Turkish get ups. Yeah. And is that what happened? Is that how you recall it? 

Andrew Ponce  4:13  
Ah, I think the first introduction to you was through Luke Barra. Right. Yeah. So back then, like I was I was in the car with him on the way to pick up some equipment somewhere. I just gave him a hand. And yeah, he was started I started telling him about my injuries and stuff that causes really good chiro that you should go and see. And yeah, and then I was like, Alright, I'll go check him out. And turned out to be this guy. I mean, that's how it started, like for me was that shoulder injury and then that's how we got into I guess, talking injuries and stuff and, and all of that. Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  4:56  
There you go.

Jac Simmonds  4:57  
There you go. I'm doing Turkish get upstairs. Yeah, yeah,

Nick Papastamatis  4:59  
I think that was the first prescription over the phone.

Andrew Ponce  5:02  
There you go. And it was kind of like, this is just on the phone. I was like, This is what my issue is. Yeah, it's just like, worked his magic through the phone somehow.

Jac Simmonds  5:13  
Telepathy? 

Andrew Ponce  5:13  
Yeah. telepathy, it's just a mind thing. 

Jac Simmonds  5:15  
He would have been bang on I reckon.

Andrew Ponce  5:17  
Yeah. Like just do this. Yeah, see how you go? And then I started doing that and then go better started feeling changes straightaway.

Jac Simmonds  5:24  
There you go. 

Andrew Ponce  5:24  
Oh, my God, this guy. He kind of knows what he's talking about.

Nick Papastamatis  5:27  
It was a good guess.

Andrew Ponce  5:30  
what a fluke.

Yeah, that's how it started. Yeah. Yeah.

Jac Simmonds  5:35  
Everything we do is educated guesswork at the end of the day as well. 

Nick Papastamatis  5:38  
It is nice. Just to have depends on how many mistakes you've made.

Jac Simmonds  5:41  
That's right. 

Nick Papastamatis  5:41  
I've made a lot.

Jac Simmonds  5:42  
Yeah. That's it.

Nick Papastamatis  5:44  
Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Well, I think a little bit you mentioned, Jaco, introduced that you are the chalk up. Yeah. But chalk up might need to be explained. So what is chalk up?

Andrew Ponce  6:02  
chalk up, I guess from the outside chalk up is is a CrossFit gym. It's a box. It's a place to come and train. And just to do some cool stuff. Yeah. Nice. I guess from the inside. And for myself, and a lot of members that are there, it's like a little family. It's like that community stuff. So yeah, it's a cool place.

Jac Simmonds  6:23  
That's good. So I guess, um, obviously, as we go on, we're gonna get into your story. And there's obviously a big part of your story, which we're gonna get to, but um, you know, with your gym and owning your gym, what does what does training mean to you? Do you would you say, What does CrossFit training mean to you?

Andrew Ponce  6:40  
I think initially, it kind of started as a way to kind of improve myself. Yep. A lot of it did start, like, aesthetics as most people do getting into training. When I first got into training, I was a bit. I was chubby. Like different stages. Yeah. Growing up, where, you know, it's just really skinny. I was just

Nick Papastamatis  7:06  
dude, it sounds like it sounds like it gave you so cut yourself some slack there as well as bit chubby. Ma, did you have Did you have a lot of work to? 

Andrew Ponce  7:14  
I mean, not not too much. I had like, a big round face kind of thing. But I was like skinny fat,

Jac Simmonds  7:20  
just like never trying sort of thing. Yeah.

Andrew Ponce  7:22  
Yeah. I never really did much because I started to playing in the playground was the exercise. I would get up at lunchtime. And that was it. I just eat a lot. And yeah, I guess growing up with, you know, in a South American family, it's like you eat and then it's like,

Jac Simmonds  7:38  
Food is culture. Yeah. 

Andrew Ponce  7:39  
And then there's more. Yeah. How about some more?

Jac Simmonds  7:41  
So talking to little Greek boy here.

Nick Papastamatis  7:45  
Honestly, I reckon the South Americans have have the Greeks covered hand over fist. reckon? I reckon? I don't think this. Yeah, I reckon the South Americans eat way more than the Greeks.

Andrew Ponce  7:54  
So carb heavy as well. Sometimes. It's some of the dishes. Just rice on rice.

Jac Simmonds  7:58  
Mate I was lucky to get Vegemite sandwiches for lunch. Some shapes...different cultures.

Andrew Ponce  8:06  
Snack between snacks and just the soft drinks were ridiculous. So my grandparents would buy like 20 bottles of soft drink and have to hide them in the garage somewhere and find them and just demolish all this devour and holy moly easily have like three and a half liters of soft drink a day.

Jac Simmonds  8:23  
Yeah, right. Wow. So when did you start training then?

Andrew Ponce  8:25  
Probably .....a day? Yeah. Day. It was Whoa, pretty bad. It was in high school, like maybe year 8 something. Okay. Because I had heard that the year before, like going into year 8 they do like a fitness test. And I was like, I don't want to suck at that. So I've got to get into....No, they had like some push up test, a situp test... run. Like a 1.6 k run or something like a mile run kind of thing. 

Nick Papastamatis  8:53  
Make you do Murph?

Jac Simmonds  8:56  
Murph in year 8. Here's a 10 kilo vest.

Andrew Ponce  9:00  
We did Murph on Saturday. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And, like, for me, that was the first motivation like, I guess through primary school. I was kind of like that chubby kid. I did get kind of teased and bullied a fair bit as a kid. And then, yeah, I guess going into high school. I was like, I don't want to have that same kind of thing. So I wanted to kind of make a change. And yeah, so I just started doing push ups and sit ups and just Yeah, the stuff that you see like rocky doing the movies and yeah, yeah. And that was it. I started doing that. Fitness Test came along. Did alright. I got the quickest 1.6 k run. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I was like, that's pretty good. Geez, that's awesome. And yeah, and then from a I got into basketball, playing basketball for a little while, but then weight training probably started more in like the year 11-12 somewhere around there. I had. So this is like 2004 Hmm, yeah, around that. So 2004 I started. And it was just like dumbbells in my backyard kind of thing and had a bench and then I'd had just trained together. And it was it was that kind of thing. That kind of a set up. But yeah, so for me, it was, there was a lot kind of behind why I wanted to start training. And a lot of that did come from, I guess, the emotional things that I was carrying, when in primary school, like going through that kind of stuff. And I was like, I don't want to be like that anymore. And that's what kind of made me change.

Jac Simmonds  10:43  
Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I think that's a pretty, pretty common story of like, why like why people start training, like you start training to change your body shape, or your body composition. And then, like, once you start to learn, like, I was actually having this chat with Nicko this morning, like, once you learn what training does for you, your perspective on why you do it changes quite a bit. Yes, like we were saying, like I actually did, like, on our training now is just to feel good, and get through our workday a little bit better, you know, so and have that energy high. So that's, that's really interesting. 

Nick Papastamatis  11:09  
So can I ask you a question?

Andrew Ponce  11:10  
 Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  11:11  
Do you feel that...because a lot of people with let's say they're overweight, and they look at themselves in the mirror... And there's a, there's an element of self loathing?

Andrew Ponce  11:23  
Yeah. Right.

Nick Papastamatis  11:24  
I'm sure that you hear that regularly. 

Andrew Ponce  11:26  
Yeah,

Nick Papastamatis  11:27  
I know, I know that that's something that a lot of coaches hear, or if they don't hear it, then it's just the secret truth that the member is not sharing. If they're overweight, yeah. And a lot of this comes down to, you know, building self love and that you, you're good enough as you are. However, you can't hide, you can tell yourself a story, but you can't hide how you feel. Now, do you think that it's more powerful? It's a more powerful driver to be self loathing? Or do you think it's a more powerful driver for other people to make you feel excluded? Because you've been through....

Andrew Ponce  11:27  
I think, for me, yes, it was definitely, from other people. That started it. Wow. And then from there, it was, I guess, the the self loathing, and then in that kind of stayed for a lot longer. Because then even though as you start to change, change your body and even start to look a lot better or feel better and everything, there's still that element there where you're like, is this good enough? Still, like I don't think I'm better yet. Right? And he's always like that, I guess trying to strive for for the perfect body, whatever that looks like.

Jac Simmonds  12:48  
Yeah. 

Andrew Ponce  12:48  
It doesn't matter how close you get to that. And like, you just look in the mirror. And it's like, it's just it's not there yet. It's still, like, a lot of times, I still feel like I'm that. That skinny fat kid.

Jac Simmonds  12:59  
Yeah, you know,

Andrew Ponce  13:01  
Skinny arms now fat got, yeah, not until now. Some days, like, wow, if I go, like my training is very inconsistent. At the moment, because of a few things that we've been through. Yes. So, yeah, there's days where I'm just like, I'm in the gym, I'm coaching and stuff. And I'm like, I really need to start training again. I just feel like I'm getting back to that

Nick Papastamatis  13:24  
And I think that would be critical for members of any gym to hear that coach, the coach goes through the same process as the member. Just at different levels.

Jac Simmonds  13:35  
Definitely. Yeah. That's, yeah, cuz I'm 100% That's why I'm sure your members see you. And that perception is very different. You know, like thinking it's very easy, easy journey for you, like you, you have a gym. It's there for you. It's available. But that's, that's really interesting to hear how it can sometimes be a little bit of a struggle as well these days to get your training in. So yeah,

Nick Papastamatis  13:54  
yeah, it's an irrational process, isn't it?

Jac Simmonds  13:57  
Yeah. I mean, it's, it's like us, like we're in pain, often, you know, like, yeah, it's, we deal with the same problems that our patients deal with our clients deal with, which gives some perspective as well, which is, which is a really powerful tool. Especially when you're dealing with people on a fitness journey, for sure. Yeah, definitely. So then, when did your CrossFit training journey begin?

Andrew Ponce  14:18  
So that was, because I got into, you know, just training. Yep. Then because I was training my mates in my backyard. I got into PT, they were like, you know, you love this stuff. I was researching this stuff all the time to try to like learn how to how to train properly. Yeah. And they said, you should do this for a living so I became PT. And then I guess, you know, fast forward, kind of, what like six years in is when I got introduced to CrossFit. So I just been training, I guess your usual bodybuilding type training, that kind of stuff. functional movements were in there, to an extent but it's all Kind of because I guess most people's goals they came to me was an aesthetic thing. And that's the main kind of training that you learn. You do your like cert 3 cert 4 that kind of stuff, it's all kind of isolation works and compound work or just bodybuilding type stuff. So yeah, so one of the trainers there he was, he got his level one. And he started, you know, talking about CrossFit, how it's, you know, it's the way of the future. This is how we train. 

Nick Papastamatis  15:27  
Is this circa 2010?

Andrew Ponce  15:29  
This is nah this would be like 2012.

yeah, so I started painting in 2008. and

Nick Papastamatis  15:41  
crossfit was very much underground still at 2012.

Andrew Ponce  15:44  
Huh. So yeah, 2012 like, I've got introduced to CrossFit by one of the trainers.

Jac Simmonds  15:53  
Yeah. 

Andrew Ponce  15:54  
And he took me through a workout that I'm sure a lot of people have heard of, Fran.

Jac Simmonds  15:59  
Yeah. And at the time, that was your introduction to Crossfit. What was your time? Do you remember?

Andrew Ponce  16:04  
I remember everything

Jac Simmonds  16:05  
that would have hurt bad for someone who's only done bodybuilding training. 

Andrew Ponce  16:08  
Yeah, I mean, my my overhead position, which is not amazing now, was a million times was then I couldn't squat to depth. Okay, so we had to have like these little cushions for me to squat down to to make sure I'm hitting hitting reps. And that made me do it. RX. There was no no scaling. Yes. At the time. Well, and yeah, so a seven minute workout. Which it is supposed to be took me 19 minutes and 49 seconds.

Jac Simmonds  16:36  
19 minutes? Well, okay. Yeah, yeah. Wow. I'm sure I'm sure you're doing better than I am these days. 

Andrew Ponce  16:40  
Yeah, a little bit. Taking like over 15 minutes off that.

Jac Simmonds  16:44  
For someone who'd only done the bodybuilding training like yeah, your work rest work rest type stuff. I mean, it's just so painful getting into you don't understand training pain into this shit like that. 

Andrew Ponce  16:53  
Not know anything.

Jac Simmonds  16:56  
Yeah. And you realize how athletic you are once you start doing it. Don't you

Nick Papastamatis  17:00  
look good? Was it all show no go?

Jac Simmonds  17:02  
Yeah, yeah. 100% bodybuilding goes. Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  17:07  
Jeez bodybuilders would hate to hear that.

Andrew Ponce  17:09  
They would, even in the show wasn't that great?

Jac Simmonds  17:15  
A little bit of show. No, go.

Andrew Ponce  17:20  
Yeah, and then finish the workout. And I was on the floor fetal position them for about five seconds before I had to jump up and race to the bathroom and just throw up everything. Well, yeah. Came back sat down for about five minutes back to throw up again. Well, and then that's when I was like I cannot suck this bad at this thing like this.

Jac Simmonds  17:40  
Yeah. Are you a pretty competitive person?

Andrew Ponce  17:43  
Yeah, yeah.

Jac Simmonds  17:44  
I reckon that's a pretty common response from competitive people who start crossfit. Like, I can't be shit at this like, I thought I was fit. Yeah. I remember when I started, I started doing CrossFit. And then I did the open and I thought I was so fit. And then I realized I was kind of like, 150th at CrossFit athletic. And just in the gym, just in the gym. Yeah, like, well, I got some work to do.

Andrew Ponce  18:06  
So that kind of, I guess lit the fire in me to go like, I need to change what I'm doing. Yeah. Cuz it's, yeah, I can't feel like this, like this can't be right, huh. And then seeing other trainers kind of get involved with it. So we had a group of us. So Pete Mamo was the guy that introduced me to CrossFit. He's a great trainer. Really nice guy. And then we had Steve Premoss, which was like, he's Greek as well. But man, that guy is like he can put up with so much pain and discomfort. It's ridiculous.

Nick Papastamatis  18:37  
Yeah, it's unusual. for a Greek... soft, soft, like, baclava.

Andrew Ponce  18:48  
And he was kind of like the guy to try to get like, if I could get half his time. I'm doing good. Yeah, like that's, that's the guy to beat. Yeah, kind of thing. And yeah, and I kind of really got into it because I was like, I want to do all the cool stuff that I see. You know, like the handstands, the muscle ups and everything. And it was just like fighting every day to try to do these things and kind of very self taught. It wasn't like it was just very different back then. There wasn't a lot of resources or people in the gym like at a Globo gym. Fitness first, like no one was doing any of this stuff.

Jac Simmonds  19:26  
So you're doing this sort of fitness first and not in a box. Okay. Yeah. 

Andrew Ponce  19:29  
And yeah, there was no we barely had a pull up bar in the gym. It was just an A frame to hang. Trx's is off. Yeah, the bars were like, thick like that. So he couldn't even do proper solo. Yeah, right. Just working with what you have greatest place to do this type of training. Sure. So yeah, it was it was a tough process to start with is trying to teach myself all these things. Obviously had a little bit help along the way from a lot of these trainers that doing it themselves. But myself, I was very like the way I started PT or getting into training was I get online and just research everything. Yeah. So I learned from, like Carl Pouly. So a lot of his stuff. I'm pretty sure I watched every video he's ever put up on YouTube. It's got a lot of stuff in Spanish as well. So I'll watch that as well. Yeah, right. And that's good.

Nick Papastamatis  20:22  
Yeah, different stuff. as well.

Andrew Ponce  20:25  
I just I guess he's progressions are a little bit different on that really all sounds like oh, this is cool. Like, I learned the stuff because he didn't have some of it in English. So I had to learn it in Spanish. It's uh, yeah,

Nick Papastamatis  20:36  
that's helpful.

Andrew Ponce  20:36  
Yeah, it was good. Wow. Like some of the the handstand drills. There were a few like rope climbing drills and stuff like that.

Jac Simmonds  20:42  
So it's not exactly...how long were you doing CrossFit At fitness First for before you went to a box?

Andrew Ponce  20:48  
it was probably about one of that. So this is 2012. And then I guess I never actually went to a box. Right? I opened the box. That's when I first started training at a box.

Nick Papastamatis  21:00  
Okay. But you know what, that's probably, I would say that's one of the one of the best ways to like you can do your market research. And like, you can go and learn from other, like, I've learned from heaps of other clinics before, you know, before balance was, you know, sort of started but this way, you build your own unaltered version of what you want. And like, I think that's doesn't really matter what other CrossFit boxes are doing? This is true, probably not.

Jac Simmonds  21:32  
Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Ponce  21:32  
So I was kind of like looking online, or researching from all these different people, and just trying to take the best parts of it. Because what I struggled with the most was, and what I wanted was the progression of skills. Because like I mentioned, I wanted handstands muscle ups. And then my clients, they wanted handstands muscle ups. And I'm like, okay, so just learning and understanding progressions and how to move through these things and how to teach them. For me, like I really enjoyed the problem solving aspect of that kind of stuff, like people come in, and it's like, this is what I have to work with. So how do I even take them to the next level? What does that look like? Yeah. So yeah, so that's, that's how I base my programming. 

Nick Papastamatis  22:17  
So literally, it's what it sounding like, is, you it's less about going, you know, ham, you know, kamakazing into the wall. metcon. Yep. It's more, like, how do we learn the skills better? Yeah. and incorporate them into the workout? Exactly. Is that? Is that what I'm hearing?

Andrew Ponce  22:39  
Yeah, exactly. So then a lot of the Metcons that is pretty cool. That program or the way our program it is as practice. So, I mean, it's just, it's just reps. Yeah, the better you get it, like, the more you do something, the better you get at it, as long as the skill develops, you've got some guidance along the way.

Jac Simmonds  22:55  
Yeah. Which is the best way to do it. Because that's where we say people get unstuck, obviously, is when they haven't learned a skill, they're doing it under fatigue, something, something breaks, you know, so I think it's really cool as well with CrossFit. Like, when do adults get to learn a new physical skill? It's, it's something that not not that often, unless you're learning a new sport or something like that. It doesn't happen that often in adult life. So I think that's a really cool part of CrossFit. And sounds like what you might have focused on was, you know, getting people to build these new like physical skills like muscle ups, dubs, whatever it is. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Awesome. 

Nick Papastamatis  23:29  
What's your favourite skill to teach?

Andrew Ponce  23:33  
It's got to be pull ups and handstands, right? Yeah. Probably the most pull ups. Yeah. Okay. Like keeping and all that kind of stuff like those. Yeah, those skills. Just because it's like people come in, and they're like, oh, but I have no idea how to do this. Yeah, yeah. And then they come in, they do one session, and then they've already got some progression, and they start to get it. And then as the week's Go on, you just see that progression. And it's just, it's just awesome to see. Yeah, unlock that skill.

Jac Simmonds  24:01  
You know, it's real cool. And that's something you don't get in a fitness first or Anytime Fitness like that moment of a first pull up or Yeah, you know, the first time they string together 20 dubs or whatever.

Nick Papastamatis  24:10  
You can't achieve that in a spin class.

Jac Simmonds  24:13  
Yeah, exactly. That's right. What skills involved there mate? 100% Yeah. Yeah, that's how that's how communities and relationships are built a little bit in CrossFit gyms as well like through moments like that. Yeah. 100% Yeah, yeah, for sure. Cool. Yeah. 

Nick Papastamatis  24:27  
that's really awesome. So I think in terms of like, the meaning like I suppose we've learned a little bit about how like, what training means to you and like the I suppose the irrational drivers. And now I suppose it's sort of formed into like, watching people break through obstacles. Yeah, as like an umbrella. I suppose. What is it that is training Do you get a different drive to train? Because obviously, like you're saying, If I don't train for two days, but like, what's the emotion behind coaching? Like what is it that making You? Do you love coaching?

Andrew Ponce  25:02  
I love coaching.

Nick Papastamatis  25:03  
What is it about coaching that you love so much is to see the progression? 

Andrew Ponce  25:09  
I've always kind of felt like, there's something and it's, it's not just one thing, it's so many things. Like I do enjoy helping people, and then just seeing them grow and just do something they've never done before. And it's almost like it's almost like when you play those video games, when you level up those characters 100% then they just become...

Jac Simmonds  25:32  
You're speaking Nicks language.

Nick Papastamatis  25:33  
Yeah, yeah, what game are we talking? Fifa?

Andrew Ponce  25:40  
Yeah, and then they just become these like, these overpowered, just beasts, you know what I mean? Like, and they come in, and they just become so confident. And they just, they just make a big change in their lives like this. That's what I love to do. I'd love to see happen. So it's almost like you're replicating what you did to yourself. Yeah. And that's, that's, I guess what it feels like? Yeah. And I guess what it is, is for me that feeling that I got when I started being able to do all these things and build my confidence, wanting to kind of share that with other people or give them the ability to do that themselves.

Jac Simmonds  26:14  
Yeah, you know, that's really cool

Andrew Ponce  26:16  
and at the end of the day. Like, I don't feel like I'm the one doing all these things for them. Yeah, it's them doing all the work. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just there to help guide them along their journey. Hmm.

Nick Papastamatis  26:28  
Was that a mindset that you've had throughout? Where? Or was there a point where you felt super responsible? And then therefore guilty if they didn't achieve?

Andrew Ponce  26:39  
Yeah, I think a lot of the times when, if they don't achieve it, then I feel like it's my fault. Well, that falls on me. But then, yeah, a lot of their successes and stuff. I try to make sure they feel like it's them that did it. And because it is them. Yes. Yeah. And then I've just kind of given them, like, some guidance. So the catalyst Yeah.

Jac Simmonds  27:04  
Wow. That's really cool. 

Nick Papastamatis  27:06  
Look, I felt the same way with mine that resonates with me, because as a chiro if someone wasn't improving, like, yeah, especially probably the first. Yeah, first five years of my career. Yeah, I felt incredibly responsible. I'm actually married to their progress. And I think that made me sick, to be honest.

Jac Simmonds  27:29  
Did it? Yeah, yeah. It's not a bad quality to have in any profession, like PT, or chiropractic or physio, whatever it might be, but you can't I guess you can't get too hung up on it. Can you like it'll, because there's, like training, training, probably, you know, it's like an hour, you know, for most people four or five times a week when they come and see us. I mean, it's a lot of time, it's like once a week for an hour. I mean, there's so much that happens outside of that, that determines someone's success, and especially in fitness, like sleep, nutrition, recovery, plays a massive role. And I guess the gym is just the vehicle for it, isn't it? Like, that's where they, that's where they see their progress, or you know, things like that. 

Nick Papastamatis  28:04  
so when did you open chalk up?

Andrew Ponce  28:06  
So we opened the 2017. February. So it was the 25th that we opened doors,

Nick Papastamatis  28:12  
the exact date good on you.

Andrew Ponce  28:15  
Yeah, I have a tendency to remember a lot of these little things like numbers and stuff. They're even from members. Like I remember what the back squats are, what their deadlifts are, what their benches are. That's good. Little things like...

Jac Simmonds  28:27  
Rain man.

Nick Papastamatis  28:28  
It obviously means a lot to you.

Andrew Ponce  28:30  
Yeah, yes. I've had to do it with with PT. Yeah. So much that. Yeah, I never really wrote a lot of stuff down. I kept some notes, but most of it was just all in my head. Hmm. Yeah, so we opened February 2017.

Nick Papastamatis  28:46  
I think that's a good sign of someone that genuinely cares.

Jac Simmonds  28:48  
I think pts get really good at multiplying 20 and 25, as well, like adding, adding adding up plates, you know, yeah, I remember when I was doing PT, it used to always always have that picture of like the number of plates someone had on the bar. And then that was sort of what you remembered going into the next session. So now it's interesting. You say that? Yeah. That's cool. Yeah.

Andrew Ponce  29:07  
Yeah. So we opened up then, and it was, it was such I don't know, like, looking back. I didn't even know how we pulled it off. 

Nick Papastamatis  29:16  
What do you mean? 

Andrew Ponce  29:17  
Like, it was just going in, And I guess being a little bit naive on like, Oh, yeah, you open a gym, right? He's just get a space. You get some equipment? Yeah, you put it in there. And you open the doors, and then the members come? Yeah, yeah, they'll train. And then, and that's it. And then we have a gym and we've got an amazing business and then happy happy times after that. Yeah. But um, yeah, it's not like that.

Nick Papastamatis  29:45  
So how long? How long did it take you to realize that it's not like that, like, is that something that happened quickly? Or?

Andrew Ponce  29:50  
I think it happened fairly quickly. Yeah. Once we kind of started, started the process. So we started looking for a space understanding like everything that comes along with that, so like what it actually takes to lease out of space and how much money you need? Because then you kind of budget and go, Oh, yeah, you only need this is how much you'd probably be paying a month. Yeah, this is how much for equipment, which turned out to be like three times more than we had initially thought.

Jac Simmonds  30:18  
And yeah, so and then you still got to feed yourself and pay the mortgage. 

Andrew Ponce  30:22  
Right from the start. And then the whole da council acoustics reports, all this stuff was like, okay, it is that there's a lot more to this. Hmm. And it was hard, because I guess I had to transition from being it was from that, that book you gave me that one time.

Nick Papastamatis  30:44  
The Kama Sutra.

Jac Simmonds  30:51  
Different lessons. Yeah. That was a different bending over backwards.

Nick Papastamatis  31:09  
Sorry, about that. Which book was this? 

Andrew Ponce  31:18  
I think was the Was it the E-MYTH? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The entrepreneur, then you had the, he had the manager and the, the technicians, right. So I guess at the time, I was a technician, and that's what I was like, Okay, these are, how the classes are gonna run. These are the timetable. This is all these things. And then I had to kind of wear a different hat. And then go, Well, now I have to be also the entrepreneur, and then the manager and then do all of the things. Yeah. And then you start to realize, like, how many roles there actually are in running a business on your own or with limited resources. 

Jac Simmonds  31:55  
And I'm sure some come a lot more easier to you than others, initially, as well. 

Andrew Ponce  31:59  
Yeah, I mean, initially, like being the technician was, was pretty easy, huh. It was, it was still a big challenge. Because for me, I always did one on one. And when I got into PT, I was like, I'm never gonna do groups. Like, that's not a thing for me, because group training at the time was like, you know, doing pump class Les Mills. Like, I'm not gonna be dancing around in front of people. Like, I barely, like, speaking in front of people. I was always extremely shy and like public speaking was, was not a comfortable thing for you. 

Nick Papastamatis  32:31  
is that something you've conquered?

Andrew Ponce  32:32  
Um, I feel like I have, but on the outside. Yeah, definitely. 

Nick Papastamatis  32:36  
You hide it well.

Andrew Ponce  32:37  
On the inside, it's still very much like, I'm quite nervous. 

Nick Papastamatis  32:42  
well done. Well, you hide that extremely well. Yeah.

Andrew Ponce  32:46  
So yeah, so then realizing that pretty early on that this, there's a lot more to it than just being that technician. Yeah. And yeah, that was that was the challenge is trying to, to work it out. Because I did speak to I guess other business owners at the time, or the gym owners and staff about, you know, how they went what what I should look out for the main thing that kept coming up was like, whatever you budget for double it and a half. Yeah, is what it's going to end up costing. Yeah. And it was pretty spot on. And then timing wise and, and things like that. Like it was just, it was hard. Like I was on average at the start. Probably about four to five hours of sleep a night. And just coaching all the classes.

Jac Simmonds  33:31  
It's a big reschedule Yeah, yeah. Well, and this was for the first like, couple months was it when you open up the doors for good six months, six months? 

Andrew Ponce  33:40  
Yes. Six months of that. Until I was doing a workout And I came down off a handstand push up right at the end of the session, buzzer went off, and I just came off the wall and smashed my big toe on the ground and broke it. Yes. In like, three different places. Mm hmm. And that that stopped me coaching. Yeah, we're just lucky at the time, I had one of our one of our members who was my brother's best friend. That's how he found us. He was training to become a coach. So he had done his level one. And I had been kind of mentoring him a little bit. And he was there and he's like, you know, if you need my help, I can jump in and coach because I was obviously unable to I couldn't walk or anything. 

Nick Papastamatis  34:30  
No other coaches at this point? 

Andrew Ponce  34:32  
Nothing. It was just me. 

Nick Papastamatis  34:33  
So hang on. Let me hold up. So we're six months in now. Yeah. You're basically coaching every class, how many classes a day are we talking?

Andrew Ponce  34:43  
At the time, I think we had six classes a day. 

Nick Papastamatis  34:48  
So six hours a day. You're just basically not yelling, but you have pretty high energy as you're presenting and you're bringing your energy to that class for someone who doesn't love public speaking as well. That's and that's Gotta be a big drain 100% essentially massively draining, swapping roles between coaching and train and teaching. Hmm. You probably needed to train at some point, huh? That's if you were training at all. Yeah, you, you married man. And you also swapping hats between I suppose home life work life. But then also entrepreneur and manager. Yeah. Yeah. Well let's just go open a gym hey...

Andrew Ponce  35:35  
So my wife Esire was pregnant at the time,

Nick Papastamatis  35:38  
right? Good timing.

Andrew Ponce  35:40  
I know. We were kind of like, tossing up whether this was a good idea or not to open up the gym and do this kind of stuff. Because I was I was doing quite well as a PT. Like financially and everything. It was quite good. So you know, taking that transition to owning a gym was going to be riskier was going to be a massive risk. So we're kind of worried to start with, but we thought that let's let's do it, and we'll see how we go. And so all this time, Esire was going to be due in like, late August was the date that they had given us. And I had broken my toe one week before this date. Right. So it was kind of like, Great now broken my toe, I need to work out how I'm going to run this business. And my baby is, like next week. Geez.

Jac Simmonds  36:34  
I don't know if I can Oh, my God. I don't know if I'm putting words in your mouth here. But I think I feel like and I obviously I'm in the same boat. I got a baby on the way at the moment. Like, I think nothing creates like a necessity to work hard. And like get your shit together, then having a baby. Now someone else another life to provide for so it can be a big driver of you know, getting things under control. Have you found that with? You know, being a father? Oh, definitely. Yeah. Like, creates a necessity, at least, you know?

Andrew Ponce  37:02  
Yeah, like now having her in my life like makes a, it's a huge driver. Yeah. And I just look at her. And doesn't matter how hard things get, like, I'm doing this for you. Yeah, you know, amazing. And that that helps kind of everyday to kind of get up and do all of the things.

Jac Simmonds  37:21  
For sure. Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  37:23  
And that's great. And I suppose the next question that I had for you was like, what, what is CrossFit done for you and your life and your family? And I suppose it sounds like it's..., 

Andrew Ponce  37:32  
It's, I guess it's it's given us, like, we do feel a lot better doing this kind of training. But I guess CrossFit as a sport, part of our business, really helped us get a bit of balance in our life between our health and performance, okay. Yeah.

Jac Simmonds  37:55  
Oh, there you go. See what you did a nice little plug that was

Nick Papastamatis  37:59  
went under the radar. Very good. I

Jac Simmonds  38:01  
saw your face. Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  38:03  
Did he just say?

Andrew Ponce  38:08  
Yeah, I mean, I did kind of talk about, you know, the sleep like I wasn't in a lot of sleep, and overworking and all this kind of stuff. But I'm still training. But it did help with, I guess family time was a little bit more accessible in a way that you know, three hours a day like you're not locked into a nine to five where you're that's true at a workplace. Yes, I'm muscle much now. COVID. But back then, obviously, you go to work, you're there work, you have to send your kids to childcare, and you don't see him all day, every day until the evening. And I guess for me working late hours, if I had to, you know, finish the last class at 9pm and then go home. Then I don't get to see my family. Yeah, everyone has to really sleep and I have to sleep and wake up early the next day.

Nick Papastamatis  38:54  
That's that'll turn into Groundhog Day. pretty quick.

Andrew Ponce  38:56  
Yeah. Definitely having I guess, some of the time, throughout the day to to be with Omari to be with X ray made a huge difference in I guess how I was able to manage to continue going forward. Yeah, just being able to still build that relationship with with my family.

Jac Simmonds  39:20  
Yeah. That's amazing. Well,

Nick Papastamatis  39:22  
there's nothing that I'm very fortunate that when I stopped when we started balance, I was voluntarily willing to really single Hmm. And I had zero responsibilities, which is why I was able to work like a frickin animal. Yeah. Because like I had no nothing or anything that was tying me down or committing or making me commit elsewhere. I had full focus. So hats off to you. Well done.

Jac Simmonds  39:50  
Yeah, so definitely,

Nick Papastamatis  39:51  
I suppose I suppose now the gym is kind of like an a CrossFit aside. And I suppose CrossFit being the vehicle of how you run your business. Yeah. What does that mean? Like? Obviously, that's imperative to your life. Because, you know, with X ray, and Omari, your daughter, I mean, Israel works in the business.

Andrew Ponce  40:12  
Yeah. So she works in the business alongside me. So she does a lot of, I guess, the behind the scenes work. So she works very closely with our like, now that we have a marketing team, and, you know, building the brand outside, and all that kind of stuff, all the admin work, you know, like, when you start to build, you know, certain number of members, then there's always something coming through front of source. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, just managing Oh, well, a lot of the behind the scenes under a lot of work with her and you've got me at the moment. We just got a new coach on. Yeah. So this will be her fourth week. Okay. And that's, that's helped massively. Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  40:54  
Yeah, it sounds like there's def and there's a few twists and turns in between this. Yeah. So I think when it comes to like, so it sounds like you're able you've sort of had to, you've got Israel who's helped you with the I suppose the management stuff, where then it takes that takes a hat off you? Yeah. So then you can only deal with two hats, the technical stuff and the entrepreneurial stuff? Yeah. And it sounds like you've just hired a coach, which takes off part of the hat. Yeah. of the technical stuff, which then allows you to actually think about to actually think clearly about the business. Yeah, exactly.

Andrew Ponce  41:28  
Um, yeah,

Nick Papastamatis  41:29  
there's nothing more distracting than sounds

Jac Simmonds  41:31  
familiar, doesn't it? Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  41:33  
It's my life.

Jac Simmonds  41:33  
Yeah. So.

Nick Papastamatis  41:34  
So there's not there's nothing more distracting than helping someone. Learn how to do a pull up. That will distract you away from the shit that you need, so that you can work on the future? Hmm. There's nothing more distracting. Hmm. So hats off, mate. Well done. But I think there's some stuff there in between 2017, February to the 25th of February 2017, your opening date? And our current date? Yeah. Because obviously, like we've, you know, it's very clear that training means a lot to coaching means a lot to you. The gym means a lot to you. So what happened?

Andrew Ponce  42:21  
Well, things are going well, we, we managed to kind of build the team. So we started getting, we had three coaches, they came through internally, they were members first, which worked pretty well, because then people were like, they already understood the systems they managed to, to get on board pretty quickly. So everything was was building up. I had injured my shoulder earlier that year. Back in, in February 2019. And Nick was helping me through it, trying to get my shoulder back. So I had a slap a label tail on my left shoulder. And yeah, trying to build the capacity back and that was quite hot surgery mentally draining, which was good.

Nick Papastamatis  43:08  
Moody, mainly getting managed.

Andrew Ponce  43:19  
And that was that was really hot as well.

Jac Simmonds  43:20  
Did he treat you through the phone? Did? He did?

Andrew Ponce  43:31  
So mentally and emotionally. For me that was hot. Because training was was a big part of my life. And I was very competitive at the time, and is at the top of the CrossFit open. It was leading up to the open. I felt like this was going to be my best performance nowhere near being a regionals athlete or anything like that. But just personally for me, I was going to be the fittest that I'd ever been apart from this shoulder that wasn't feeling amazing, huh? What most days like pain when training was probably like an eight to nine.

Jac Simmonds  44:00  
Right? And I kept training through it.

Andrew Ponce  44:03  
Yeah. And I knew that I shouldn't. And Nick was always telling me that I shouldn't... I should avoid certain things. And I'm like, but it's in the workout today. The open is coming. So it was literally like two weeks before the open that it happened.

Nick Papastamatis  44:18  
It's just yeah, it just proves, it just proves again that it's an irrational driver. Hmm. Like you can rationalize it all you want. But if it's a it's an irrational driver, so that's that's why people don't follow the rules. Yeah, that's definitely not a that's definitely not a unique Andrew Ponce situation like anyone that's got an irrational drive to the train. Yeah. Will. Strong rational rules. Yeah, exactly.

Andrew Ponce  44:41  
And then yeah, because they just made me feel like I'm never gonna snatch again. You start googling all this stuff, right? Well, rational thought and everything and you think a worst case scenario, you know, like, they're gonna have to rip my shoulder off. You know, so then I'm like, I'm never gonna snatch again. I'm never gonna do a pull up a muscle up none of these things again. And I just might as well just retire and not do anything ever. Hmm. You know. But then, you know, as the months went on, and the treatments and everything, like, everything started coming together, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm like, Alright, cool, you know, I'm coming back. So training was good. Then the gym was kind of getting to a good place like we had coaches, memberships were growing. They weren't yet where we wanted it to be. But it was at least on the way. Yeah. And I remember specifically, so the October 28, was pretty much my last training session or anyone's last training session at Chalk up on Beaconsfield Street in Alexandria, we Yeah, it was chest day... everyone's favorite day, we always have like waitlists on that day, for some reason. It's usually like a lot of guys in there, I ownder why

Jac Simmonds  45:59  
Benchpress. Yeah the boys.

Andrew Ponce  46:01  
Bench that day, again, something that used to cause me a lot of pain and he didn't anymore so that they felt great. And like I remember being a very sunny day, I had a married day with me. So we actually trained together. So I had a bench there. She wanted a bench had to bring a little bench out for her so she can hold onto.

Nick Papastamatis  46:19  
How old is Amari at this point?

Jac Simmonds  46:20  
She was doing chest already.

Andrew Ponce  46:22  
Had put on an extra class just for her. That's a yes. The time Yeah, she was training with me. And it was just a great day. Pretty happy that evening classes were being covered by my coaches. So I left just before the first class started, kind of saw the members said hello to everyone say goodbye and stuff. And they just walked out and not knowing that that was gonna be the last time I would ever walk away from that gym.

Jac Simmonds  46:55  
Sounded like a pretty perfect day.

Andrew Ponce  46:57  
Yeah, it was great. Yeah, and went to bed. Next morning, I wake up at, it's probably about eight o'clock. So I had a morning coach at the time. And I wake up to this message saying that the roads were blocked off, and they couldn't get in for the 6am class. And it looks like the warehouse has a fire. And immediately, I just jumped out a bed. The coach had sent through with an image of the streets, you can see the smoke. You could see like the fire trucks, the police, like the roads blocked off the tape everywhere. And I'm just freaking out like, what is happening? Like, how could this happen? Like, where could it come from? I'm trying to like problem solve something that I have no idea about yet, of course. So straightaway, like I saw as well. I got a message from one of the members. Rob Martell, like he's been he was a PT client back at Fitness first and he came across and he's just an amazing human. And he offered to drive me down there to check it out and speak to people and find out what's happening with chalk up so we head down there and everything is just blocked off. And I'm like trying to get in there they're like you can't get in I'm like my gym is there. I need to find out what's happening. So we hung around for probably an hour or so...

Nick Papastamatis  48:17  
They weren't letting you in?

Andrew Ponce  48:18  
No couldn't get in no one was allowed in to the site because the fire was still blazing.

Jac Simmonds  48:22  
and you didn't know anything at this stage. All you knew it was that warehouse was on fire. 

Andrew Ponce  48:26  
There was a fire. We had no idea the extent or how...

Nick Papastamatis  48:29  
So basically this vehicle that's giving you your entire livelihood. Yeah, you can't even access it?

Jac Simmonds  48:34  
And you've probably got members members, I guess, who don't know what's going on as well. They're sort of Yeah, crazy. Yeah,

Andrew Ponce  48:40  
Yeah. So then, finally we get in touch with some of the fires there. They walked out that had been assessing the space and putting out the fire and had been working on containing it. So they're manage to contain it to one warehouse, which was about two warehouses away from us. And they all like sharing walls, the way they kind of sit. So they're like, back to back to back. So there's no space in between them. So it's like one big unit. So yeah, so they said they managed to stop the fire from getting like inside and lighting up our space. The warehouse directly behind us was where the fire was most intense towards the back wall. So they said we just got a lot of smoke damage, but everything is fine. I was like, okay, they went inside. They're like, yeah, everything's fine. You'll be fine to go back in there. We managed to save the space for you. And I was like, Okay, I felt like a relief well, sure. Like, okay, everything's gonna be fine. I updated the Facebook group. We've got a Facebook group for the members. So I just did a video in there just letting them know what happened. I went to talk to people and this is the update that I got. Right. So hopefully, we'll be back in there tomorrow, or the day after? Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  49:55  
Oh, my God, roller coaster.

Andrew Ponce  49:56  
Yeah, but then later that evening, went back in and still didn't let us in. Like, we have to wait till tomorrow and like tomorrow cannot come any sooner, like I need to know if I was out by the stage are still going fires still going. So next day we come back, we've got all the owners of like businesses, tenants, or just warehouse owners there on the street, just the whole week, we're all just there waiting. And we've been, yeah, and we've been told, like all these different things like, you know, a fire still going, so we can't go in there, we've got to wait. So it took them over a week to put out this fire. So it was just going for over a week, we couldn't access. There was only a moment during that first week where we're just like, we need to get something out of there. We need to get our computers we need to get something. They managed to let us in like a small group of us just ran in got some stuff, pulled it out. And when we went in to the site and saw the damage I did, I took a video. And it just looked like a bomb went off. Yeah. Wow. Like at the front of this thing. Like, it was just insane.

Jac Simmonds  51:07  
And by and was at the stage where you knew that the gym was gone?

Andrew Ponce  51:11  
Yeah, so I walked in, and it's just like, just like a haze of dust everywhere inside the box. And there's like I could see light coming in from the ceiling, this massive crack on the back wall. And I'm like, this is just insane. And I wasn't allowed to go any further in because they're like, we have to assess. We don't know, the wall could collapse could collapse, for sure. And on. So I had to quickly run upstairs to the mezzanine, just grab some like laptops and stuff like that, that we had, just with the information and then just take that out. That's all I could get. I wasn't allowed any further in. But it looked pretty bad. But I was kind of still hopeful. Maybe I don't know...

Nick Papastamatis  51:52  
where you like at this point. Thinking, am I imagining this?

Andrew Ponce  51:58  
through the whole thing felt like a dream. Like, yeah, or nightmare.

Nick Papastamatis  52:02  
You would have been in a different state mentally It was like you there's no way you were thinking clearly at this point. 

Andrew Ponce  52:07  
No, but I felt like there was so many things going on in my head at the same time. Like, obviously, the hope that the place was going to be okay. And we're going to open, you know, in a week or so walking in, you were still hopeful that there was still going to be some sort of a gym, or when I walked in at the time I was like just trying to assess like, is this gonna be a thing? Or are we gone from here, right? Yeah, for stepping in. So day two of the fire. I immediately got on to real commercial.com.au .... it's not a plug, by the way. That's just where I went. And just started looking at worst case scenario. I was just straightaway just trying to plan worst case scenario. Yeah. What would it look like if we had to move if we had to find a new space? You know, even though at this stage, we didn't see the damage? We don't know the extent of the damage. Everyone was telling us we'll be in there next week. I was like, Well, what if we're not? What's going to happen? I need to have a plan. I need to have a backup. So yeah, by day three, we're already looking at inspecting warehouses. Okay.

Nick Papastamatis  53:08  
Because you've still got you've still got paying members.

Andrew Ponce  53:10  
Yeah. So yeah, I need to have a place for these guys to train like, and that was I guess the biggest drive for me was like, these people are relying on what for a lot of us felt like a second home. Hmm. And I need to get this home back for them. For all of us, and it was, yeah, it's either gonna be here, or it's gonna be somewhere else. But we need to. We need to have this home. Ready. Yeah. For the members. Hmm. And yeah, so by day three, we started looking and just started the process and asking the questions like, what is it going to take to reopen somewhere else if we have to? Yeah. And then by the following week, we found out Yeah, we're not going back in there anytime soon.

Nick Papastamatis  53:52  
Yeah.

Andrew Ponce  53:54  
It was it was quite challenging. Our landlords at the time for that space were not very helpful at all. They pretty much just well even once we found the extent of the damage, knowing that guys were not going to get back in there in a very long time. They still didn't want to release us from the contracts already. On the lease. Right. So we were like the stress of we can't get out of here.

Nick Papastamatis  54:20  
Thant angers me so much.

Andrew Ponce  54:22  
Crazy. So like knowing what we're going through. It's our livelihood still trying to put it on any place that we can, you know, that we get a living from? Hmm. And they just like, we're in the same boat. It's like, Well, no, we're not. Yeah, maybe the same storm.

Jac Simmonds  54:41  
Yeah. But

Andrew Ponce  54:43  
unfortunately, it's much nicer than mine. Yeah, as a whole and it's sinking. 

Jac Simmonds  54:47  
Unfortunately, in hardship people, people show their true colours.

Nick Papastamatis  54:50  
That's right. But not only that, it I do strongly believe that that's the risk that a landlord and a property owner takes if you want to get a commercial space You know, when you want to bring in a business, the business isn't tied to that location. So, but you are. Yeah. So why it's not like that, to me is just not the right thing to do. You took this risk. And now you're making it the business's problem to solve to solve the risky talk. Yes. Like No, no, you just as much as an entrepreneur as the business owner. Yeah, just that they're not tied to your location. Yeah, cop it, dude. Fucking cop it. That's your risk.

Jac Simmonds  55:29  
Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  55:30  
So in the end? No, well, I'll let you get there I'm getting worked up.

Andrew Ponce  55:36  
So we were kind of stuck in, what do we do? Like, we can't get out of this lease? Can we really start another lease? What if the place is gonna be, you know, inhabitable for us that we can go back? Then we're tied to that lease, and we've just signed another one. We can't afford to have to.

Jac Simmonds  55:52  
Yeah.

Andrew Ponce  55:54  
So the risk was like, What do we do?  And then I just had to make the decision and say, Look, I, I'm, I have to just say, we're not going to get back there. Like, it's going to be gone. One way or another, we're going to get out of it. And the biggest risk was going to be Look, if it takes them, you know, we still had, I think two years or something left on the lease. So I thought, look, if it takes them a year to rebuild it, we'll have a year to rebuild ourselves. And, hopefully, yeah, we can afford to pay two leases becomes to it, you know, right, that was going to be the risk Jesus. Ideally, after a year of that, and arguing, maybe we could just get out of it somehow. Hmm. You know. So yeah, so that was the risk. And then I'm just like, Alright, that's it. We're just gonna go with this warehouse. And he happened to be the first warehouse that we looked at. It was just the nicest one. It felt good from walking in straight away. So we saw a bunch of other ones just to make sure. And yeah, that was the one. And then it took us, you know, a bit of an investment in a solicitor to get us out of the lease. But we got there in the end.

Nick Papastamatis  57:09  
The right thing always prevails. Yeah, definitely.

Andrew Ponce  57:11  
But we were already like, we'd already signed in the new one. We did all the things.

Nick Papastamatis  57:15  
Oh, wow. You took the punt before you got. Oh, wow. Yeah. Good. Balls of steele.

Jac Simmonds  57:20  
Yeah. Was there a period in between where you will making do like training people outdoors? Or?

Andrew Ponce  57:24  
Yes, pretty much that first week. So as all of this is happening, like try, you're still trying I'm still trying to serve the memebers.

Jac Simmonds  57:32  
Yeah, crazy. 

Andrew Ponce  57:33  
so Turramore Park, which is like a few blocks away. We're training them they're like, day one, session one, like, it was so emotional. 

Jac Simmonds  57:45  
Do you remember that date?

Andrew Ponce  57:47  
So it would have been?

Jac Simmonds  57:50  
Yeah. But it was shortly after? 

Andrew Ponce  57:54  
Maybe the third or the fourth and fire was 29th. And if I was 29, it did not matter. I must have been a stressful week. 

Jac Simmonds  58:01  
Yeah. And yeah, your members now would like the ones who were there at that time must appreciate that so much like the the weeks you put in when you got all this shit that you're juggling? separate to that? I'm sure they appreciate that massively. Yeah, absolutely.

Andrew Ponce  58:15  
Yeah, the members were so supportive. Like that first session that was so emotional to be there at the park. This is something that no one signed up to do. Like a boot camp in a park. Yeah, this isn't. This isn't skill progression with like, you know, all the shiny equipment, all of the stuff, you know, then they signed up for that they came to see, it was like, they're in a park now.

Jac Simmonds  58:36  
Yeah, you know, they're gonna support you as well. Yeah, exactly. A bit less about their fitness a bit more about giving you some support, which is great. 

Andrew Ponce  58:43  
Why it was like such a feeling of like, I can't believe these people are here. Yep. To help support us. Yeah. You know, they see us as like a family like something that, like I said, this family that they belong to. Yeah, that'd be their world. So it was like a second home to them that they they wanted it to keep going. Yeah. So they were there to support us. So they came to the park sessions with the...

Nick Papastamatis  59:06  
It's testament to you.

Andrew Ponce  59:06  
... for months. Thank you for creating that. So yeah, we did that for months, like every single day just at the park sharing with all the other people in the park. Playing music off this little speaker that we had a

Jac Simmonds  59:21  
little UE Boom. Yeah, that was cool.

Andrew Ponce  59:25  
But it was just awesome to see these guys like just coming in at like six o'clock in the morning to a park that is freezing rain, hail or shine. And it just didn't matter. Like they were just there.

Nick Papastamatis  59:34  
Mate that's brilliant. Love it. Yeah. Shit.

Andrew Ponce  59:39  
So then why then behind the scenes, obviously trying to work out the new space. Yeah. And it was just like, we need to move as fast as possible. Yeah, so we..

Nick Papastamatis  59:49  
Did you lose members here?

Andrew Ponce  59:51  
We lost some or some just, there was some people that were like, Look, we're not going to train. But keep our memberships going. Oh wow. Good. They just wanted to make sure that your cup was going to be there in the end. We did have others that were like, you know, the park is not for me. And, you know, I think I financially like not everyone can do that. Yeah. And we understand that and they, you know, had to put the memberships on hold and things. But once we reopen, they came back. Because then, you know, it would work for them. Okay, that's Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. But one of the biggest things, I guess, before weighing between all of this was the members just wanting to help so much that the, you know, they're paying their memberships still, but then they put a GoFundMe...

Nick Papastamatis  1:00:37  
How good your members do this? 

Andrew Ponce  1:00:38  
Yeah. So they put up a GoFundMe to help us get through it. So they raised over $13,000 to keep us, you know, this, you know, Esire, myself and, you know, our little family, like, able to get through it.

Jac Simmonds  1:00:54  
That's credit to a great community you built man.

Andrew Ponce  1:00:57  
Yeah, so it was that was, that was quite emotional. Like when we found out like, it was just crying. from you. Yeah. So they, themselves, they made like a little chat group. And they were chatting and trying to work out like, how do we do it and all these things, and it was Rob Martel and Bona. They, yeah, they they organize it and got it going. And it was, yeah, it was such a I couldn't believe it. Like I was just overwhelmed. 

Jac Simmonds  1:01:24  
This is pre finding a new facility?

Andrew Ponce  1:01:26  
Yeah, yeah. Well, okay. So that was all within like that first week. And then, yeah, we tried to move so fast to open up this place. Like I wanted it before Christmas. I wanted people training. I wanted everyone back in there. And just just get everyone back together.

Jac Simmonds  1:01:46  
Yeah. You know, and when did you open the doors to the to the new facility?

Andrew Ponce  1:01:49  
So that would have been February,

Nick Papastamatis  1:01:50  
February. Again, you love your February?

Andrew Ponce  1:01:52  
It just, it was almost to the same date as the original opening. Oh, as the 24th of...

Jac Simmonds  1:01:59  
24th February 2020. And

Andrew Ponce  1:02:01  
the other one was the 25th.

Jac Simmonds  1:02:03  
There you go. And obviously, that's a pretty important, like time period in, like human history, right. Like, yeah, so, like, as we all know, you know, a few obviously, a few weeks later, we were hit with, um, it was, you know, a global pandemic....in Coronavirus.

Nick Papastamatis  1:02:18  
So you literally moved in?

Andrew Ponce  1:02:20  
Hmm, yeah. So even but even before that we were like, so we got the keys to the warehouse, not officially yet was to go in and measure. And we immediately just started painting and owning, like building a wall and doing all of these things straightaway. So you just roll the dice, we need to just go ahead, we hadn't sign off sign the lease yet. We hadn't done anything yet. We're just like, here's the keys to go and do measurements that you guys need. Wow. Just like we need to go. Yeah, I need this opened before Christmas. The members need a place. And we had everybody come together and they were helping us some members came into the old space. Yeah, once were allowed in and they helped pull the rig down, clean it up, like pull all the equipment like..

Jac Simmonds  1:03:06  
So some of the gear was still good?

Andrew Ponce  1:03:08  
Only the rig was salvageable. And the dumbbells everything else had to go. So we had to throw out everything like rowers, bikes, like everything. Yeah. Yeah. But the members came through and like so many of them came in and just helped they just like what can I do? Yeah, so they came in they were cleaning stuff though throwing stuff out there would you know, to just driving us around.

Jac Simmonds  1:03:31  
Yeah. Do you think you would have got through all this without your members?

Andrew Ponce  1:03:34  
Oh there's no way chalk up would have died with the fire. Hmm. If we didn't have the members that we had.

Jac Simmonds  1:03:40  
You say that but just I mean, this is the first time I've met you but it sounds like you've got enough resilience that you probably would have made it happen anyway.

Andrew Ponce  1:03:48  
I think at the time and this is this was kind of like for me the the darkest part everything that has happened it did get to a stage where I was questioning is this really what I'm meant to be doing? Was the universe just telling me just stop? Yep, just close the gym. You gave it a try. Well done, but just go back to fitness first. And it was hard like it got it got pretty bad for me mentally. Emotionally, like just trying to deal with with everything. 

Nick Papastamatis  1:04:27  
Because it wouldn't have been your first challenge. It would have been hard to even get the gym to a good place yeah, before the fire Yeah, let alone trying to salvage something you hadn't really like it was only just getting to a good place.

Andrew Ponce  1:04:38  
Yeah. Like it wasn't it wasn't there yet. So Snakes and Ladders... so then he kind of felt like well, it wasn't there yet. Do you really have what it takes to get where it needs to be? Or is this someone else's calling.

Nick Papastamatis  1:04:51  
So basically that sounding like once again, the same way that your first workout Fran kicked you in, kicked you in the head and you're like, Fuck this. Huh, potentially you're faced with the same thing of like business and life. Yeah, kicking you down, and then you just like, Nah, fuck this, I'm better than this. So what what what was the internal dialogue that got you making the decisions that you did? Like, why you why you still doing it?

Andrew Ponce  1:05:21  
There wasn't a lot of internal dialogue of me, okay at all like, if I didn't have if I didn't have Esire, and I didn't have a close friend of mine a member, and we used to be a client Paul. Paul Parker helped me. Like, I might not even be here today is how bad it got. Well. And that was, that was probably my lowest point. Hmm.

Nick Papastamatis  1:05:52  
Wow, thank you for sharing that.

Andrew Ponce  1:05:53  
Yeah, I had pretty much just had a breakdown. I had a day where I just felt like I'd had enough like, it was just too much for me to handle. Like, obviously, I did have people around me, I had the support. But it was just for me to take on so many things at the same time. I just couldn't handle it anymore. And I just felt like I was constantly fighting. And it just felt like that's what my life has always been is me just constantly fighting, right? To be here is what it always kind of felt like. So when I got to that stage, he was kind of like, well, maybe this is just these are the science and this is it like this as far as get. But once I started feeling like that, I'm like I need I need to talk to someone. And I reached out to my good friend Paul. And he came over and he helped me through it. So yeah, we spent some time together. And so yeah, just turned it around.

Jac Simmonds  1:07:02  
So massive lesson in there. 

Nick Papastamatis  1:07:03  
So you said, I'm not okay?

Andrew Ponce  1:07:05  
Yeah. So I think for me, that was the, the biggest thing was actually being able to, I guess, identify it and do something rather than just let it kind of consume me. So I reached out to Paul. And yeah, that was the turning point. And then having Esire support me, you know, through the sleepless nights and all the T's and all the you've been gone a bit everything with your heart pumping. 100%. And, yeah, like, I was lucky to get like, a couple hours sleep a night, during that time. But then, you know, and feeling like this the whole time through, but then showing up at the park and having to put a smile on my face. Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  1:07:54  
And be the technician and help people.

Andrew Ponce  1:07:56  
people run the classes, and then go to think of the side of the business and try to open up new space and do all the things and make the decisions and, and the whole time just feeling like.... should I even be here? Yeah.

Jac Simmonds  1:08:12  
Wow. It sounds like what helps you get get through that was Paul and Esire. Yeah. Yeah. Having and you having the strength to be able to speak up and and say, you know, I'm not okay, like Nick said, and I need some help. So, yeah, really, really big lesson in that.

Nick Papastamatis  1:08:27  
Yeah. 

Jac Simmonds  1:08:28  
Thanks for sharing that with us.

Andrew Ponce  1:08:30  
And, yeah, that was that was kind of a turning point where I was like, No, we need to go full steam ahead. Well, but

Nick Papastamatis  1:08:36  
so in, so fuck it, you just thought of painting the place before you signed a contract. Suppose YOLO Right.

Andrew Ponce  1:08:45  
Yeah. Yeah. So we share a wall with the next way house is like, yeah, so it's like, this is gonna break as soon as someone does a handstand, building it. So yeah. And then we had the building managers come through one day. And they're like, I got a phone call from the real estate agent. Like Andrew, you cannot do this. Like you are painting, you doing all these things. You haven't signed the lease. So excited. I'm like, we're gonna sign it. We're going to do all the things. We just need to move fast. And then all the members again, came through, they helped lay the tiles down. They helped do everything put the rig up. Like late nights like some of the guys were finishing work at, like, you know, eight o'clock at night, and they come to the box. Well, you know,

Nick Papastamatis  1:09:27  
I also don't think that I don't think people realize how hard laying tiles is,

Jac Simmonds  1:09:31  
You did it last week. mammoth

Nick Papastamatis  1:09:34  
That is a mammoth job.

Andrew Ponce  1:09:35  
We do this so quickly with like, 30 people that rocked up to do it. Wow. Yeah, it was just awesome. Like the whole time just having these guys support us and get us through it. That's what that's why chalk up is still.

Jac Simmonds  1:09:49  
Yeah, yeah, unreal, man. You know, and then obviously, truly, truly a member's gym. Yeah. And obviously the second challenge was COVID hits and we've got gym closures for 12 weeks.

Andrew Ponce  1:09:58  
We were so excited when we opened and then COVID was just kind of starting. Yeah. And then we're like, oh man like what? What do we do? How does this work? And yeh four weeks later,

Jac Simmonds  1:10:11  
You got a trial run with dealing with this though already haven't you with the with the fire, I guess.

Andrew Ponce  1:10:15  
Yeah. For us it was kind of like, I felt like it was easier than the fire. Wow. Because I can see how Yeah, because like, we've already gone through something so catastrophic, that tear our world apart completely. Yeah, right. just flipped it all everywhere. And for us, it was kind of like, well, we can deal with this. This is gonna be a lot easier. Well, it was hard, but we're like, okay, straightaway went into problem solving mode. Yep. And this is what we're going to do. So we we only found out like everyone else, like on Sunday, the day before they're going to close the gyms. Yeah. Jesus, okay, we're going to move the lunchtime class earlier. So we can at least do have that to close by midday. Yeah. We closed and then we had one day to prepare. And then the Wednesday we already had people picking up equipment on a sorry, we had people on Tuesday picking up equipment. And Wednesday, we started online classes. So yeah, we just immediately started doing it. So we had to set up in the gym. 

Nick Papastamatis  1:11:22  
So it was like, the fire was like level 10 difficulty. And then COVID was like level eight or level nine.

Jac Simmonds  1:11:27  
Yeah, yeah, it was like, and then there was still uncertainty about like, you had no idea when gyms were gonna open back up as well. 

Andrew Ponce  1:11:34  
Yeah, no clue when that happens. So for us, like, we just need to prepare. Yeah. And then I had to work out how this how many members? This is the number of equipment and what kind of exercises and then you kind of become like all three hats to work together, right? Because then you're gonna think okay, entrepreneur, like, how am I gonna run this business in an online platform, which I've never had to do before in my life? Yeah. And then as a technician is like understanding the programming and how you're going to get people to exercise to keep them excited and training at home. And then just managing all the things together. And obviously having Esire helped me to manage a lot of that stuff with, like, you know, like, there's no way I could have done this without her. Again, and we managed to do it, we had probably about 25 people initially. Online. Yeah. But we only had I think about 45 members or 40. Members total he reopened. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, it's that was it like, we just had to go. 

Nick Papastamatis  1:12:36  
You held onto most You held onto most. 

Andrew Ponce  1:12:37  
Yeah, we held on to a few, which was amazing. So the kind of our core people that supported us through the fire, through the COVID, for all the things, you know,

Jac Simmonds  1:12:46  
I guess, like, yeah, the reopening after COVID was largely out of your control, whereas after the fire was you were in control of, you know, getting a new place opening it, whereas COVID, you just on pause, I guess, you know, yeah, you're at the mercy of, obviously, the pandemic and what the government wants to do and everything. So, how did it feel? Like once once everything settled down, or has settled down with COVID? And you were able to open up the gym? How did that feel, you know, opening up the doors again, and being able to get people training with, with ah, I guess, nothing restricting you anymore?

Andrew Ponce  1:13:16  
Yeah. No, it was awesome.

Nick Papastamatis  1:13:19  
We, this still restricted though,

Jac Simmonds  1:13:21  
it was still restricted. Yeah. 

Andrew Ponce  1:13:22  
When we first open Yeah. The it was, it was so hard, like we we obviously had kind of prepared previously, like, Okay, what are the things that we need to have in preparation for this? You know, the contactless thermometer. Yeah. And then I was trying to work out, okay, the gym floor, how can we have the spacing? And what I understood from the guidelines was, you know, the four square meter thing. Yeah. But then I assume that you'd have to have 1.5 meters between those spaces. Oh, right. Because if you're standing at one side and the other side, you know, you're...

Jac Simmonds  1:13:53  
fine, right?

Andrew Ponce  1:13:54  
Yeah. That made logical sense to me.

Nick Papastamatis  1:13:57  
So I'm like, so they can't be they can't be like flush next to each other. That's what I thought.

Andrew Ponce  1:14:01  
So the way that's it? Well, that would sound like

Jac Simmonds  1:14:03  
the right thing. So but it was just the total people in the gym.

Andrew Ponce  1:14:06  
So they were expecting they needed to have the four square meters, right? Yeah. So then I'm like, Okay, if I tape it off, but then I have to take off the 1.5. And then all these things, we could only fit like, six people on the floor right now. And I'm like, Okay, this is going to be challenged. So we opened up everything. Like the timetable a week early, just everyone can book in so we can see. How is everything going to work? How many people on a waitlist don't have to add more classes? What's it going to look like? And then immediately, it was like, there's not enough this is not gonna work, right. And then we started seeing what other boxes started doing. And I'm like, that's this no gaps between the boxes like, well, how does this work? Yeah, definitely closer than 1.5. Yeah, I have the four square meters and no way in the guidelines to say you needed that gap. Right. Okay. That's it. We've got eight people. Yeah. Fit.

Nick Papastamatis  1:15:00  
So as long as I stayed in the middle of that box,

Andrew Ponce  1:15:03  
yeah, then fine. I think so. Like synchronized box. They maintain this.

Nick Papastamatis  1:15:11  
Like lemmings. Yeah.

Andrew Ponce  1:15:14  
Yeah. So that was, that's how we started. So we open like that. And all the equipment was inside their box their lane. So they had a rower they had like, everything, well placed the bars, they didn't have to leave the lane. So they arrive, they get, you know, check temperature, go to their lane. This is what we're doing. talk them through, and they just live in this little lane the whole time. Yeah. And that's how we had to start.

Nick Papastamatis  1:15:42  
It sounds like you nailed it. Because, you know, I mean, that's so how long has all this torture been going on for?

Andrew Ponce  1:15:52  
So then that went on. So that was 12 weeks. Sorry, no we were shut for 12 weeks. And then it took us a gradual return a gradual return into back to our 12 Now, as restriction started easing towards people passed, we can go back to our to our 12 people. So that's what we had initially, we cap them. Yeah, so we always cap... Why do you cap them? Because we well for me, I find you can't effectively Coach 20 or 30 people at a time and expect good results and skill progressions. Like

Nick Papastamatis  1:16:27  
that was what I was going to say, because you can you can cheerlead 30 people 100%. But you can't skill progress,

Jac Simmonds  1:16:34  
you break that time down. It's just in a session its impossible.

Andrew Ponce  1:16:37  
So when I have like a gymnastics class, and I've got three people over here, learning butterflies, four people learning kipping two people doing muscle ups, and then a couple others doing strength work. It depends on where they're at. So yeah, obviously a skill unit basis strength. Yeah. So then they're all on different things. If you had 20 or 30 of those, you know, there's no way you could juggle that. So I have 12 people, I have them in their groups, more experienced ones can kind of get through and I can cue them coach them a little bit easier. But I always compare it to like you seen those guys like the have that stick and spinning the plate? And then yeah,

that's what it's like, the whole time. Yeah, coaching that class,

Nick Papastamatis  1:17:21  
you'd make that look easy I reckon.

Andrew Ponce  1:17:22  
You need to have everyone progressing every session. Yeah. For me, that was that's the maximum and the way that the floor is set up by six people per side of the rig in the middle. Coach can walk through the middle. It's very easy to get to all the people either side.

Jac Simmonds  1:17:40  
enough coaching in Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Cool.

Nick Papastamatis  1:17:42  
Yeah. So as your so things are relatively back to back to normal?

Andrew Ponce  1:17:46  
Yeah, so everything is pretty close to normal. Now, we've now been able to open up our members lounge area and like from ability area and all that kind of stuff. Whereas before it was like, gym floor, you get to your lane, do your stuff. You leave You're out. Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  1:18:00  
Wow.

Andrew Ponce  1:18:01  
So now we can kind of start to feel more like like that. That community that family that we had going before, you know, people would hang around, they chat they just Yeah, they just hang out on the box for like.

Nick Papastamatis  1:18:14  
Does that fill your cup up or what?

Andrew Ponce  1:18:15  
100% Yeah, you know, but it was it was just so hard to like have to kick people out after this session, you know, when like, 

Jac Simmonds  1:18:23  
when it's their social life...

Andrew Ponce  1:18:25  
like, I felt so bad every time like we'd always have one guy just always stay a little bit longer. And it's like I need you to get out because I want them to stay there like if they love being at chalk up then

Jac Simmonds  1:18:40  
yes, I've been stuck in their houses for 3/4 months

Nick Papastamatis  1:18:43  
you know that sounds like that sounds very cultural. That's exactly how I'd expect the South American hospitality to be like yeah, you know like to you will you you know yeah I'm not used to kicking people out into like cassa...

Yeah, yes. Yes. And you can and just stay for as long as you want you want some food you want to sleep here like it's all good.

Jac Simmonds  1:19:04  
I just thought like if you're a member of chalk up right and if you'd gone I know you like if you'd gone three months working from home only been able to talk to Kat you would want to hang around at the CrossFit gym for another half hour afterwards. 

Nick Papastamatis  1:19:17  
the reason you're saying that is because I'm a full on extravert. Yes. Yeah, exactly. And not because Kat's company. Yeah, well, that's exactly fine. It really does. I love you. Thanks, Jac. But in terms of

Jac Simmonds  1:19:35  
Not trying to get Nick in trouble Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  1:19:38  
Yeah, so if like for me, that would be huge because being an extrovert and you know you get energy from socializing with people right, like if you gave me a perfect a perfect day would be hanging out at home for a bit. Go to a cafe sit in the cafe all day. Yep. have like an exchange of conversations with various people and get to know the waiter. training at a gym. See the people there for a bit. Yeah. And that's that, to me is perfect, 

Jac Simmonds  1:20:07  
Which I think is people who are attracted to CrossFit as well because they can get that every day their social life is is within a gym, which is a daily daily sort of routines like people go to the cafe that chat to their barista people go to CrossFit and they talk to the members and yeah, it's a social outlet that that's that's there constantly. So

Nick Papastamatis  1:20:22  
I think I think the gym, that's when I actually started training a lot. Yeah, through my quarantine, where I was in quarantine for two weeks. Yeah, it was just I was like, Well, what the frickin hell am I meant to do? Um, you know, I can't work my ass off. I can't run around in the clinics. So might as well train so I can just imagine the difference you made Andrew, to your members lives throughout that time, and then when they can't start coming back in. So like, is this a breath of oxygen that you feel is like your lungs working again?

Andrew Ponce  1:20:52  
Definitely. I think it's almost been if we didn't if we didn't have the fire, huh. And we didn't have COVID chalk up wouldn't be as good as it is now.

Nick Papastamatis  1:21:04  
Wow. Holy shit. Why?

Andrew Ponce  1:21:07  
Yeah. So I feel like the fire was eight. And it was, it was crazy. So probably about two weeks before the fire. Yeah. I remember talking to my business partner about If only we could move to another location. But we stuck here for like another two years. Oh, wow. And there's no, there's no way to change that. So we're like, Alright, we just got to work with what we've got. Because the the like the warehouse is big. But it's just very industrial, very kind of hidden. And it just didn't have the feel that I envisioned when setting out to create chalk up. And the fire happened and it was like, so devastating. But the whole time I was just like, trying to look for the opportunity in anything to think okay, how can we just now make something better? Yeah. So now that we've tried this, what mistakes do we make? Or what things can we try to improve on? Now we've got a second chance. Yeah. COVID felt like it just messed everything up when it hit. But then once we reopened, we realized what it allowed chalk up to do was survive the fire. Because without chalk up, going through the fire, I sorry, through COVID, then reopening, I don't think Chalk up would have survived.

Nick Papastamatis  1:22:35  
Okay, why though,

Andrew Ponce  1:22:36  
we didn't have enough members. We didn't have enough money coming in for chalk up to be able to then relief, pay rent, or pay all of these things, right. So we were like, how is this gonna work? COVID hit, and the landlord that we now have is, like, beyond extraordinary.

Jac Simmonds  1:23:01  
So that takes pressure off you massively by the sounds of it. So COVID saved you. 

Andrew Ponce  1:23:05  
Yeah. So COVID allowed us to still be here. And looking back now on what he did. So it's amazing,

Jac Simmonds  1:23:11  
restored your faith and landlords.

Andrew Ponce  1:23:14  
It's like night and day between the other guys. And then and this guy here. So we got three months initially on the lease contract. So we were already about two and a half months in on that or maybe at the three. He extended it by another three

Nick Papastamatis  1:23:31  
for rent free rent free 

Andrew Ponce  1:23:32  
free for three months. Because and he gave us this or Yeah, someone else had already gone in and put a deposit on that space. And we're ready to sign the contract for the lease. But we needed a home. And he picked us over them.

Nick Papastamatis  1:23:49  
Wow. So again, it was he bought into the community.

Andrew Ponce  1:23:53  
Yeah. So he saw everything that we went through

Nick Papastamatis  1:23:56  
Is he training there?, and that's the next step, I reckon.

Andrew Ponce  1:24:04  
But yeah, he was amazing. So he'll helped us there. And then at the same time, like, you know, the government and the Sydney city council given us, you know, we had grants, we had job keeper, all these things that allowed chalk up to then breathe. Yeah, because it didn't have to pay us because we had job keeper. So it allowed chalk up to start building itself back up, without money coming out. Okay. And then once we reopened, everyone was so sick of being at home and wanted to train somewhere and so many people were training somewhere for so long they wanted to change. Saw chalk up and thought, Okay, let's try something different. Or let's start doing something. And yeah, they came across a chalk up, joined and then our membership started to grow quickly... that so it didn't just happen kind of magically It was like, like, I credit a lot of that. Almost all of that Esire. Like the work that she was doing behind the scenes to try to build chalk up's branding and move everything forward and get it out there quickly is what led to everyone being able to find us well, and kind of our positioning with, you know, changing the website and having, E helped us with that. So she did all of that work. And everything and just word of mouth as well is our story how members sharing our story and people coming across. Yeah, we built up pretty quickly. And then that that saved us. And then our landlord again was like, Okay, you guys are reopening. But let's do half rent.

Jac Simmonds  1:25:41  
Like they were like these guys what a legend is. Yeah, he's amazing. Sounds like you've had some pretty pivotal people in this whole story.

Andrew Ponce  1:25:48  
Yeah. 

Nick Papastamatis  1:25:49  
This is like this story. Thank you so much for sharing all this Andrew. Like I mean, this story just reminds me of the fact that you've got organizations, which is the technical term for a company. Well, I mean, the different terms, but the point I'm trying to make is, you have the I suppose the verb, the verb, I don't know, of a company is a gathering of multiple people. You're in each other's company. Hmm. You can't have a company with one person. Yeah, you just you can on the on the accounting and like, you know, pty Ltd. But that that essence of the word company... You've really got it with some with you. Not only Esire, Paul. Sounds like they saved your life. Yeah. 100% and then your landlord. And then the silver lining of COVID bought you time that you didn't have.

Jac Simmonds  1:26:50  
Yeah, well. Yeah. I think my what I've gotten from them on your own. And what I've gotten from your story night is like when there's a necessity, you just make it work, or certain people make it work. But yeah, that's right. They just find a way. So. Yeah.

Andrew Ponce  1:27:06  
I think for me like that. That mindset comes from my grandparents. Yeah. So I grew up with my grandparents. My parents were very young when I was born. So it was tough for them. Yeah. So my grandparents kind of took on that role. And yeah, they came here. They landed in 85. In Australia, so they from from Chile. And 87. I was born. Wow. So they had to use to try to already have something or less than 2 years. Because, yeah, nine months. So yeah, so they had to try to just make it work. And they always did. And that's what they told me. Like, my whole life is like, it doesn't matter what happens or how bad stuff gets like, you can always make it work. Yeah, there's always a way forward. Yeah.

Nick Papastamatis  1:27:51  
And that's a story of resiliency, if I've ever heard one. credit to them. Yeah. Well, I have a question for you. To wrap up. Yeah. What have you learnt? Oh, give me give me like, two things, narrow it down.

Andrew Ponce  1:28:13  
Yeah, like if, if you really care. If you really care about about people, then in what you're doing, like in your job in your life, then there's always there's always a way forward. I find life. And yeah, that's what's kind of been the the basis of, of everything is kind of taught me that. Yeah, just again, the example for my grandparents is my grandmother was sacrificed so many things for everybody around her. And then I feel like I kind of followed that. And yeah, it kind of comes back. Like it definitely does come back. Awesome.

Jac Simmonds  1:29:03  
Huge. That's great. Yeah. Well, thanks for coming. Andrew. It's been, it's been a pleasure mate. And I've loved hearing his story. I think it's a I think it's incredible what you've been through and how you've come out of it. And it sounds like you're in you're in a good place at the moment. So yeah, it's been a pleasure, man. Thanks for sharing with us.

Andrew Ponce  1:29:21  
Thank you. And thanks for having me.

Nick Papastamatis  1:29:22  
I really appreciate some some of that stuff that you shared as well. That's, that's some deep stuff. Cos Yeah. So well, to finish off and, you know, if you're listening to this amazing story, thank you. But I suppose this is an opportunity to figure out where Andrew is. So Andrew, where can people find you? How can they contact you? How can they thank you for this story.

Andrew Ponce  1:29:45  
So yes, on on Instagram, so chalk up au, so you can see a lot of our stuff on there. So a lot of our community, our story, our website, so chalkup.com.au. There's a lot of info there on A lot of this as well kind of do my background and, and choke ups beginnings. And yeah, so we're we're in Alexandria, so we're still in the same same area. We're on Bowden Street. And yeah. myself like I'm on Instagram, chalk up coach and find it a nice,

Jac Simmonds  1:30:21  
yes, good. Perfect. Thanks for coming. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Andrew Ponce  1:30:25  
Thanks, guys.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai