Hey BlazeFit Family, I hope your week is off to a great start! As you all know, everyone works hard in the gym everyday and along with that our equipment gets used and abused. With that being said we have brainstormed over the last few years on how to properly and fairly maintain our equipment to make it last and so you have the best possible BlazeFit experience at Blaze Fitness. I have reached out to multiple Gym owners to see what type of programs they have in place to effectively maintain equipment costs without raising monthly membership dues. We have come up with a solution and are going to give this a shot for 2018. In a nutshell, we are going to implement a one time yearly equipment maintenance fee for all active members, coaches, owners (myself and Joshua included). The cost will be $50 (cash / check or add to your monthly membership) per person / family which will be due by June 1st, 2018. Families with multiple members will need to pay $75. We will keep a spreadsheet at the gym to mark off everyone who has paid and contributed at front desk. This money will go solely back into the gym to repair and replace damaged bumper plates, barbells, and other immediate equipment needs. Our main goal is to purchase one of those BIG ASS FANS to cool the gym in the summer, NEW ropes, Upgrade the motorized treadmill, some kettlebells and additional dumbbells. The leftover balance will go towards purchasing a new piece or pieces of equipment that you all vote for. This could be anything from additional assault bikes, rowers, new jump ropes, bands, medicine balls, ropes, ski ergs, etc. Checkout www.roguefitness.com or www.pure-strength.com for ideas on equipment we could purchase. Anything you all can think of and that we can budget for with this new yearly expense is open for discussion. We will have a folder & drop box in my office on my desk labeled “Equipment Fees” for you to place your $ in or check a box to add to monthly payment. When you place your money in the dropbox, we will have a sheet attached to it for you to write down your vote / wish list item on. Please write your name on the list along with what you would like to see added. We will tally the votes / requests and then vote on the top 5 choices and prioritize the list. All remaining money will go towards the equipment of the majority vote! This can and may be multiple items… This is why we will tally the votes and then ask for your feedback on the top 5 choices. I know many of you may be hesitant to this idea at first but I ask that you have an open mind about it as this will only benefit you and our gym. When we moved to this space and better facility for you all, we incurred a lot of unexpected costs which cut into our yearly budget. This plan will allow us to continue to please you and our gym family without adding extra debt. We would much rather do this than increase monthly membership costs as we value your investment with us, and this will allow us to purchase everything for the year up front. If you wish to pay in 2 payments of $25 between now and June 1st to make it easier, you are welcome to, however we ask that all equipment maintenance fees are paid in FULL by June 1st so that we can improve our facility and your overall experience. If you have issues with this new system that we are going to put in place for 2018 please speak to me about it and I will be happy to discuss further. The link below is an article from a crossfit Journal explaining this program and why it is necessary. Please take a look! http://journal.crossfit.com/2016/09/busted-10s-and-benjamins.tpl As you all know, we love each and every one of you very much and appreciate you support! We strongly believe that this will better our gym and enable us to provide you with the best facility and equipment in Cobb County! Thank you for your time! Never Make Peace With Mediocrity, Jonathan Walker | 
