Sevan Matossian (00:01):
Bam. We’re live. We did it. Holy cow.
Trish Evangelista (00:06):
<laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (00:06):
I was a wreck this morning. I don’t know why you
Trish Evangelista (00:09):
Were
Sevan Matossian (00:09):
<laugh>. I don’t know why. How are you this morning?
Trish Evangelista (00:11):
Great. I had a police officer at my house at 4:00 AM
Sevan Matossian (00:15):
Oh, oh, your story tops. Mine. Mine’s just, mine’s just, I think I took too many vitamins. What, what happened? What happened?
Trish Evangelista (00:21):
We have a, I live in the water and, uh, you live where? On the water? Like in the, um, like so I’m on Long Island and my house is physically on a canal. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (00:32):
You heard that too, Caleb. It’s good shit, huh?
Trish Evangelista (00:35):
Accent. Oh, you guys,
Sevan Matossian (00:36):
We live in a, we live in different countries. We live in different countries. Don’t get this twisted people. Okay, go on. So you’re by H two. Oh, we’ll call it H two. Oh,
Trish Evangelista (00:46):
H two. Oh, yeah. Um, and our neighbor had a dog who has been a nuisance for quite a few mornings. And I have a toddler at home and sleep is limited as it is. And yeah, this dog chew, this person chooses to leave their dog out from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM just continuous barking.
Sevan Matossian (01:04):
Oh no.
Trish Evangelista (01:05):
Today was the last straw cuz my husband’s away. And yeah. This podcast that I was excited slash nervous for.
Sevan Matossian (01:12):
Yeah. Yeah. Me too.
Trish Evangelista (01:13):
Sleep was like, okay. Already minimal. And the last thing I wanted was a dog waking me up. So I had my last straw tonight.
Sevan Matossian (01:19):
<laugh>. And, and, and did they, and did they knock on the door and be like, Hey, can you ask your dog to be quiet?
Trish Evangelista (01:24):
Yeah. Well the, the police officer was like, I’m not sure what you want me to do. And I was like, truthfully, I’ve written them a letter. I wrote them a letter, like anonymously and I was like, as a neighbor to neighbor, like, please help me out. Um, please just stop your dog barking. And then I just called the local precinct and the woman came out and she’s like, I don’t think it’s on your block. And I was like, no ma’am. I was like, come in my backyard. I was like, I know exactly what house it is and the whole thing. So she just knocked on the door. They didn’t answer. So she left me like a note in my mailbox telling me that she left him a note saying like, you know, just outta respect if you can be more cautious of it and whatnot. So I’ll do it again myself. Like I said to my husband, I was like, I’ll go over there this weekend, knock on the door and be like, please just help.
Sevan Matossian (02:02):
Hey, I think they’re gone to work and they left their dog outside.
Trish Evangelista (02:05):
I think he’s a chef. This is the story I’ve built in my head. I think he’s a chef in Manhattan.
Sevan Matossian (02:10):
Yes. Yes.
Trish Evangelista (02:10):
And then he comes home and it’s around like three o’clock, four o’clock after the kitchen’s closed and cleaned up. He goes in the shower and leaves the dog outside when he’s in the shower getting ready for bed
Sevan Matossian (02:21):
Because it’s this scene. I’m, I’m not a big fan of medicinal marijuana use. Like, I think it’s just an excuse to do drugs. But that dog <laugh>
Caleb Beaver (02:31):
Could use some edibles,
Sevan Matossian (02:34):
<laugh>, just give it to ’em. Just fucking give, um, you know, someone, uh, I I I, I went on a trip one time to actually to New York City driving across the country and I left my three great Danes with, uh, a friend of mine and they were barking so crazy that a neighbor, uh, told him, Hey, if you, if if I hear those dogs bark again, I’ll kill them.
Trish Evangelista (02:56):
Yeah. Well it’s kinda the point. I’m at
Sevan Matossian (02:59):
<laugh>, don’t do it. Cool. Uh, yeah. That sucks. Um,
Trish Evangelista (03:04):
Tough morning.
Sevan Matossian (03:06):
Yeah, that sucks. I’m sorry,
Trish Evangelista (03:07):
What did you do? Throw up from vitamins?
Sevan Matossian (03:09):
I, I just didn’t, I just, my stomach was tossing and turning a little bit this morning, so I What? I just had another cup of coffee.
Trish Evangelista (03:15):
<laugh>. That helps. Just,
Sevan Matossian (03:16):
Just to, so stupid. Um, what, uh, how, how can someone put their dog outside in New York right now isn’t like, I just saw a piece. I just did a piece on uh, a guy in Buffalo who was saving people who were trapped in their cars. Cuz it’s so cold. Isn’t it so cold there? The dog would die or
Trish Evangelista (03:32):
Now it’s warm. So that, that was what the police officer suggested to me. The police officer said that the next time it’s cold to call like Animal Protective Services cuz you know, I have all this extra time in my hand to do all these things.
Sevan Matossian (03:42):
Right.
Trish Evangelista (03:43):
Um,
Sevan Matossian (03:43):
How many kids? How many kids?
Trish Evangelista (03:45):
Just one. Just one. Thank God. Right now, one
Sevan Matossian (03:48):
How many husbands? One.
Trish Evangelista (03:50):
One husband
Sevan Matossian (03:51):
And, and, and, and one gym.
Trish Evangelista (03:53):
And one gym, thankfully.
Sevan Matossian (03:55):
Yeah. Babylon. CrossFit.
Trish Evangelista (03:57):
That’s the fam.
Sevan Matossian (03:58):
There he is. Um, where, where’s your husband?
Trish Evangelista (04:01):
Uh, so my husband works in sales, uh, for a company called Celsius Uhhuh. And he is currently, I think he’s in Connecticut today.
Caleb Beaver (04:10):
Shoot out here Celsius.
Sevan Matossian (04:12):
What do they sell?
Caleb Beaver (04:14):
Crazy energy drinks.
Sevan Matossian (04:15):
<laugh>. Oh. Oh.
Caleb Beaver (04:17):
It’s, it’s like bang I guess. But it’s like the only thing we can get out here. So we
Sevan Matossian (04:22):
Just does it say creatine along the top of the uh, the, oh, that’s, that’s the only reason why I ever drink a bang. I’m a sucker for that word. Creatine. If I just see it, I think I’m gonna get buff and fit.
Trish Evangelista (04:31):
Where are you located? That that’s the only thing that you say.
Caleb Beaver (04:34):
<laugh>. I’m in, I’m deployed. So that’s, we just have a bunch of like, that’s what we get. We get rips and Celsius.
Sevan Matossian (04:42):
Hey, is that drink carbonated? Uh, Trish,
Trish Evangelista (04:44):
They have carbonated and noncarbonated.
Sevan Matossian (04:47):
Uh, and is it the same company that owns oh two?
Trish Evangelista (04:50):
It’s not, no.
Sevan Matossian (04:51):
Oh, okay. Because I can’t,
Trish Evangelista (04:52):
In my, in my affiliate, the only two beverages I carry are Celsius and oh two.
Sevan Matossian (04:56):
Yeah. I can’t do oh two at all. I, I, um, because there’s no carbonation, I’m avoiding carbonation, you know, in the last six months, like something like someone got into my head that it like, gives you osteoporosis or some shit, but, but, um, I can’t do a, I I just couldn’t do it cuz it wasn’t, it it, uh, I, I’ve been, I I will drink Fit aid that I don’t even like the taste of it tastes like cough syrup, just cuz I love their carbonation.
Trish Evangelista (05:22):
Yeah. I, I love Fit A too, but O
Sevan Matossian (05:24):
But Celsius is carbonated
Trish Evangelista (05:26):
Celsius. Carbonated and carbonated. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (05:28):
Yeah. This morning I should have had one of those behind a glass break in case of emergency.
Trish Evangelista (05:32):
And that’s like two cups of coffee in It is, yeah. So it’s like extra caffeine for you?
Sevan Matossian (05:38):
I’m a, uh, I I’ve really tried to reduce. Do you drink calf? When’s the last time you drink caffeine in the day?
Trish Evangelista (05:44):
Me
Sevan Matossian (05:44):
Like, yeah, like do you have a time like four o’clock? Shit, I better drink one at 3 58 cause I don’t think last
Trish Evangelista (05:49):
Four I can’t have anything. Like after one o’clock I see my coaches drinking like a Celsius at 4:00 PM <laugh> and I’m like, what are you doing? Like, how are you gonna go to bed at night? Because for me, if I do it after 12 or one, I’m like super sensitive to it. I had one cup of coffee today and I won’t, when I’m after this call, I won’t have anything else cause I won’t be to go to bed at night.
Sevan Matossian (06:08):
Uh, how was it always like that for you? Or as you get older that happens or as you had a kid? I
Trish Evangelista (06:12):
Think as I got older and as I had a kid, cuz I never was, uh, pre-baby, the only caffeine I ever had was a pre-workout. Like, I would have my pre-workout before a workout and I really, uh, that’s actually sort of a lie cause I worked for a coffee company. I really didn’t have caffeine until I worked for a coffee company before my pregnancy <laugh>. So, but after BA I never felt the need for it or anything that until I became a parent and it
Sevan Matossian (06:34):
Just, yeah. What a great ex. Yeah. Um, I I think I, I’ve never read anything about this, any literature on it or anything. I don’t know. I’d be curious to get your opinion on it, but I think when a woman gets pregnant, her body kind of goes into a auto detox mode.
Trish Evangelista (06:47):
Yeah. I mean,
Sevan Matossian (06:48):
And then when they come to the other side, they’re more sensitive about everything. Like
Trish Evangelista (06:52):
Yeah. I think it, it’s a case by case situation, but the one, I mean I deal with a lot of pregnant moms and, and one of the things that’s hardest for them is like, the first conversation we have is the cup of coffee. Yeah. You have coffee when you were pregnant. And I was like, well I didn’t crave it cause I wasn’t really drinking it before. I was like, so I understand it. I think it’s definitely different for everybody. I think the more you can withdraw it, going back after post baby and your postpartum journey, like try to push it off. But it’s so hard to say when, if you’re doing all the things, if you’re breastfeeding and you’re doing all the wake up and things like that, you, you, you just take whatever someone will give you with caffeine in it.
Sevan Matossian (07:26):
<laugh>. Yeah. I, I think that if you have to my, my my my opinion if if I were a baby, I wouldn’t want my mama to drink alcohol or caffeine. Cause I think that stuff goes right to the boobies and, and then the kids
Trish Evangelista (07:39):
Oh, when you’re breastfeeding.
Sevan Matossian (07:40):
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve actually seen a, a drunk woman breastfeeding and then her tell me, oh, this is fucked. And I go, why? And she goes, look, I I can see something, something my baby’s different.
Trish Evangelista (07:50):
Yeah. Well there’s a reason when like babies are born from, you know, addicts, they have to stay in the NICU for a certain amount of time and things like that too. Right. It’s like, it’s a known thing that it’s in our blood and in our, and our breast milk. Uh, and they encourage us to breastfeed because of how much they get from our breast milk. So I agree with you. I think there’s a certain rationale to drinking anything when, or eating, not even just drinking and eating. There’s certain things that you can eat in your breast milk that will set off your baby as well. Like, my sister couldn’t have garlic cause Oh the baby, you know, indigestion or whatever it was. So she had to eliminate garlic from her diet. So it’s not just what we drink but our food too.
Sevan Matossian (08:29):
Um, my wife, uh, onions all of a sudden bugged her and she was a full-blown vegetarian. She was disgusted by meat and soon as she got pregnant, I swear we went to a hamburger place. She didn’t even say anything to me. She ordered a hamburger and just devoured the whole thing. And it just became, and she never has gone back. I mean, she’s reduced her meat since she, after, you know, having three kids and babies. But she became like a mad carnivore when she was pregnant. It was so weird because years I saw her as a vegetarian. Yeah. Craving it. Yeah.
Trish Evangelista (08:57):
It’s so crazy.
Sevan Matossian (08:58):
Craving it still can’t stand bacon. Which is weird.
Trish Evangelista (09:01):
I love bacon.
Sevan Matossian (09:02):
I know. I’m trying to stop. I’m trying to stop bacon too. I’m, I’m trying to avoid processed meats.
Trish Evangelista (09:06):
It’s so hard though. Bacon br bacon’s like the hardest to like even just trying to, even with Turkey bacon trying to replace with that. It’s just never the same.
Sevan Matossian (09:14):
Ugh.
Trish Evangelista (09:15):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (09:16):
<laugh>. Ugh.
Caleb Beaver (09:17):
I will, I if I never had Turkey bacon again, I’d be okay.
Sevan Matossian (09:21):
Please don’t tell me they did that to you overseas.
Caleb Beaver (09:23):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (09:25):
Oh, course they did. God,
Caleb Beaver (09:26):
Turkey bacon, Turkey sausage.
Sevan Matossian (09:28):
Oh God.
Caleb Beaver (09:30):
I just, I literally wanna vomit every morning. It’s disgusting.
Sevan Matossian (09:33):
I try, I try to make bacon the treat for just when I go out.
Trish Evangelista (09:38):
Oh, I love bacon.
Sevan Matossian (09:39):
Yeah, it is good. It is good. You’re still, you’re still, how old are you?
Trish Evangelista (09:43):
34.
Sevan Matossian (09:44):
Oh, you’re still young. I found CrossFit at 34.
Trish Evangelista (09:46):
You turned 34. What? I just turned 34.
Sevan Matossian (09:49):
Happy birthday. Thank
Trish Evangelista (09:50):
You.
Sevan Matossian (09:51):
And CrossFit babble on, just moved to its new location on May 2nd, 2022. Congratulations.
Trish Evangelista (09:57):
Thank you. Big I
Sevan Matossian (10:00):
Say that again.
Trish Evangelista (10:01):
Big things.
Sevan Matossian (10:03):
I I watched your interview. Um, uh, not with Jason Ackerman, but with his sidekick and then the other guy, the guy looks European.
Trish Evangelista (10:11):
Yeah. Mar Mark s and Fern <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (10:14):
And I, I al I was So they said something to you or you said something about it being a pain to move and I was so glad to hear that because every time someone says they move their gym or they have to move their gym, like my, the executive producer of the show, Matt Suza is like contemplating maybe moving his gym a few blocks and that shit gives me anxiety. And when you said that was hard, I was like, oh, I’m so glad to hear someone say that. The thought of moving, moving a gym or a house makes me wanna vomit.
Trish Evangelista (10:38):
Disgusting. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. <laugh>. I I say it, you know, and it, I was, I only moved 800,000 meters down the road. Imagine like, I I imagine that if it was further, like how much more of a process it could have been, we were like lucky that it was so close cuz we were able to use like multiple trucks and go back and forth. But it was, I I I I, I’m terrified for seven years. Like what happens in seven years if I can’t buy my building or you know, what, where do we go next? Or can I not renew my lease? You know, you hear all the nightmare stories of people with the affiliate owners trying to renew and their landlord just tell ’em the night before, like it’s no longer possible kind of thing. So I have that thought process in my head already about in seven years. Like what’s gonna happen.
Sevan Matossian (11:22):
What um, what city in New York are you?
Trish Evangelista (11:25):
Babylon.
Sevan Matossian (11:26):
Oh, that’s the name of the city. Okay. That name of our city. Oh hey. Was it hard getting that name? I I know CrossFit sometimes doesn’t want to give, uh, city names if the cities are too big.
Trish Evangelista (11:35):
I I didn’t actually acquire the affiliate names, so there were two previous affiliate owners before me. So when I purchased the affiliate from the second owner, he had already had it named. So I didn’t have any issues with it. Um, I truthfully, I don’t know like the, I don’t know like the population of Babylon and, and those numbers, but I mean we’re big but we’re not huge that I would foresee it being an issue cause it’s just like it’s a city within a county. Right. Uh, if we would’ve named it like Suffolk CrossFit, they might’ve given me a hard time, but because it’s smaller maybe that’s why they didn’t have an issue with it.
Sevan Matossian (12:08):
W c um, where, where is it in New York? Like I know New York City.
Trish Evangelista (12:13):
So there’s New York, well there’s New York City, right? We’re probably like an hour, just an hour train right outside of Manhattan on an express train. So we’re one of the main portals for the Long Island Railroad. Um, we’re actually hosting an L two this weekend with CrossFit.
Sevan Matossian (12:25):
Wow. Congrats. That’s awesome. And the
Trish Evangelista (12:26):
Reason they like gave us the approval is because people can come straight out from the city and come right on the train from the Olga Railroad car ride. Depending on the day, depending on the hour. Could be anywhere from an hour to three hours
Sevan Matossian (12:38):
<laugh>. Right, right, right. You could be, uh, three miles outside the city and you’re two hours away.
Trish Evangelista (12:43):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (12:44):
Um, is that the, can you pull out a little bit more, Caleb, is that the Atlantic Ocean or is that a bay?
Trish Evangelista (12:49):
That’s the bay. So like, actually like where Caleb just was like, if you zoom in even more like on that borderline is you could literally zoom into my house <laugh> and see what canal I’m on. But like,
Sevan Matossian (13:00):
So that’s is that, can you go to a beach there Is that, is that coastline right there? Can you go to a beach and get in your bathing suit and throw a Frisbee?
Trish Evangelista (13:05):
Yeah. If you go on the, the babble and CrossFit, we did a beach wa and we had probably like 80 to hundred 20 people come this summer. And it was wild.
Sevan Matossian (13:13):
I s I saw that. Yeah. Yeah.
Trish Evangelista (13:15):
We showed up at like seven and that was like, that was the cool part. Like for me, with the reflection of my growth from the previous year on the beach rod to this year’s, cuz it was like that picture tripled in size and it was like a last minute effort. Like, Hey guys, we’re gonna do the beach rod this weekend if you’re free, bring your kids and family down. And everyone showed up and they came at like 7:00 AM We worked out for literally maybe 10 minutes, had food beers hung out and then everyone went off and did their own thing for the day. They stayed at the beach. Some people went and did parties, whatever it was
Sevan Matossian (13:43):
When you buy. So you’re the third, what are they called? L o a license of affiliate or something. L o r license of register or something.
Trish Evangelista (13:55):
Yeah. That picture makes me so proud.
Sevan Matossian (13:57):
<laugh>. Yeah, it’s cool. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a great beach.
Trish Evangelista (14:00):
Yeah, we’re lucky. We’re very, and then the, the whole community all summer, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night, they’re all on that beach playing volleyball together.
Sevan Matossian (14:09):
Oh, that’s cool.
Trish Evangelista (14:10):
Yeah. So sport of fitness.
Sevan Matossian (14:12):
Yeah. Uh, hard a hard sport. Underrated sport. Uh, beach volleyball. That’ll, that’ll work you.
Trish Evangelista (14:18):
Yeah. And it’s a lot, you know, and some of it, there’s very competitive players and, and they all, even the five amers, they’ll go 5:00 AM class beach volleyball from five to 9:00 PM and they’re at that 5:00 AM class the next day. They live hard.
Sevan Matossian (14:30):
How, how old’s your kid?
Trish Evangelista (14:31):
He’s two.
Sevan Matossian (14:32):
So you could bring him to that event kind of if you have someone with eyeballs on him.
Trish Evangelista (14:36):
Yeah, I did bring ’em actually. And I don’t think my husband came. I kind of, and I didn’t have eyeballs on him. The community did
Sevan Matossian (14:42):
<laugh>. So your husband just travels like crazy for your job? For his job,
Trish Evangelista (14:45):
Yeah. Recently they, they acqui got acquired by Pepsi in August. Uhhuh <affirmative>.
Sevan Matossian (14:49):
Um, so they, is that a good thing, thing is that it sounds like it’s
Trish Evangelista (14:52):
A great thing. Yeah, it’s a great thing. The travel’s been wild. Um, but we’re managing it. You know, I, I built the affiliate that I can bring Jaden with me. Uh, so Uhhuh like last night I did an onboarding session in the gym and I had him in the kids’ room. I have a baby monitor. I just keep the baby monitor on. I have a few members check on him every once in a while and I’m good to go.
Sevan Matossian (15:11):
<laugh>, I built the gym so I could bring my kid with me. I freaking love that. What does that mean? What does that look
Trish Evangelista (15:16):
Like? So when we moved, well my old affiliate, when I first took over there was an office and right away before I, I was even pregnant. Um, I just seeing parents like struggle coming in and out, that was my main priority was to convert that to a kid’s room. So I have a painter who’s a member. Um, he helped me redo the room. We ripped it apart, then we asked members to just donate whatever toys they were getting rid of. I bought like one of the alphabet maps and a cheap couch from Amazon. And then my father-in-law, or my father-in-law built a mirror in the window of the office so we could see the kids in and out. That was at the old location. So I probably invested like a minimal, like, I don’t know, 3000, $5,000 with the help of family and friends. But that was the main priority for me.
(16:01):
And then we put just a baby gate. So there’s a door, the gate stays open, we can see ’em through the mirror, the kids can see us in and out of the gate. If mom and dad wanna stay in that back room, they were able to stay in that back room and work. Or I can just go check on them every once in a while to make sure the kids didn’t need anything. So then when we moved locations, there was, I’m subleasing my building now and a part of like, the negotiations was like the guy didn’t wanna give me the office cuz he was renting it to a chiropractor. And I was like, you don’t understand, like, that’s a main part of my business. I need something for the children. Like in my whole head, that whole office was gonna be the kids’ room. Um, we also have like a loft area on top of the facility, but it just didn’t seem safe and I wouldn’t want my kid up there.
(16:41):
So Right. Situation. So then we negotiated, he wouldn’t rent me the space without the office. So I told him, I was like, that’s kind of like a break, you know, deal or no deal for me. Um, and it was a fight, but we got it. He, he decided to move the chiropractor into his business. And now we have that specific office that we built a wall in between, that’s split for me and my coaches like just a little private space for us for meetings and things like that. And then on the other side of it is the kids’ room. There’s a TV in there with Disney Plus. Uh, so the kids can put on whatever they want. Cool. Keep like minimal toys in there. Just try to keep ’em a comfortable space. And like I said, I have the, the baby monitor was the great idea because now we can just watch ’em and bring the baby monitor on the floor and you can either give it to the coach or you can watch them yourself, whatever works.
Sevan Matossian (17:25):
Uh, the gym that, uh, my wife used to go to here in town at great gym, uh, CrossFit Aptos, it had a baby area and people used it like crazy. People loved it. I mean, it was the difference between people going and not going.
Trish Evangelista (17:39):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (17:40):
Yeah. Well
Trish Evangelista (17:41):
That’s like, you know, it’s the same conversation I have with all the moms. Like, like how do you look as good as you do? Like, I didn’t give myself any excuse not to get here. That’s the thing. Like, it’s not easy to do it for anybody, it’s just you gotta figure out the right way to do it or the right supportive people to do it. And that was the, my thing, my main thing with the gym was like, I, I have to give myself a space that I can return back to where I wanna be personally. Right. I can’t do it the gym owner, then how can I expect a member be able to do it? Or
Sevan Matossian (18:10):
Brandon Waddell. I can remember going for a run at my CrossFit gym coming back when my gym was at my home. A member was standing there rocking my daughter back to sleep with a bottle because she woke up. That’s the CrossFit community.
Trish Evangelista (18:21):
Hell yeah, Brandon.
Sevan Matossian (18:22):
Yeah. That’s a great story. Um, and, and, and if you don’t, there’s really only two ways you don’t want people to start hating the kids. And that can happen if you don’t have the kids, they’ll start hating the parents to let their kids run around or interfere with the workout or shit like that. So if you have a place for them, then it’s, then it’s uh, it’s it’s a positive.
Trish Evangelista (18:42):
Yeah, it’s hard and it’s, you know, you wanna be sensitive to how you handle it, even, you know, with the kids room. And we still have our struggles with the kid that gets out or a kid that’s screaming whatever it is. Like there’s certain things you can’t navigate, but Right. Just giving them that option, like it makes it so much easier. I think. You know, I I I I just remember coaching and always having kids on the floor and instead of watching the room, I was worried about the kid in the corner and I was taking away from the member experience and things like that. So like, everything that I struggled as a coach, I try to remember as an affiliate owner and I always try to incorporate that into my business.
Sevan Matossian (19:13):
When, when you, um, when you purchased this gym, uh, Babylon CrossFit, what, what happened to the name of your other gym?
Trish Evangelista (19:24):
Do you It’s like, kind of like a, so it was CrossFit 2 31. Okay. Originally, my affiliate was originally CrossFit 2 31. Um, it was owned by a woman, Chris Hardigan, who’s still a part of my affiliate. Um, she had gone through I think about five years of ownership, um, and then host to take a different path in life and do something else. So she sold the affiliate to another affiliate owner who still has an existing affiliate. Okay. Um, it was the owner of Bayport CrossFit. So Mike who owns Bayport CrossFit, took over 2 31 CrossFit. Um, he did a ton of construction and things like that. Bayport and Balmont are probably about 30 to 40 minutes away. Uh, when he took over. At that point I wasn’t really, I was in and out of the affiliate. I was still helping Chris coach a little bit, but at that point I was trying to make money for my wedding.
(20:17):
So I was coaching at another affiliate that was paying coaches. Um, and that’s kind of like where I really like built my path a little bit. I think more as a coach, uh, at Islip CrossFit. Uh, and then when I was at Islip, I just kept checking in with Mike. Mike wanted me to kind of work for him full-time, but at that point, no one believed that there was money. At least I didn’t believe there was money in CrossFit. And I didn’t want to work for someone, I didn’t wanna do someone else’s business. Cuz that’s essentially what I was doing at Islip already. I wasn’t there, I wasn’t an owner, but I was doing all the onboarding, I was dealing with all the new members. I was doing all of their selling. I was closing all of the deals and I didn’t wanna do that again for someone else.
(20:57):
Hmm. So I just mentioned it to Mike. I was like, listen, I wasn’t in the place to buy the affiliate from Chris cuz my husband and I were getting married. I said, our wedding’s over, uh, if there’s any chance you would ever sell, like I’m very interested in in having a conversation about it and I’d love the opportunity to buy the affiliate. At that point he was like, I’m not doing that. I just put in a lot of money, blah, blah, blah, whatever it was. And then conversations back and forth and I, I’ll still, I’ll never forget the text message. I was on an Amtrak headed to Washington DC for my old company and he texted me and he’s like, fine. He’s like, I’ll do the deal. Oh. And I remember calling, I remember calling my husband and being like, holy shit. Like, can I really do this
Sevan Matossian (21:33):
<laugh>? And the name of that gym and the name of that gym at that time was Ice Isolate, CrossFit. Did it switch from 2 31 to Ice Isolate?
Trish Evangelista (21:38):
No. So it’s CrossFit 2 31 switched from Babylon CrossFit. I was actively coaching at Islip CrossFit as their, I
Sevan Matossian (21:44):
Guess. Okay. Okay. Okay. That’s
Trish Evangelista (21:46):
Why it’s like kind of a confusing story. Um,
Sevan Matossian (21:48):
And so, and so when you, let me see if I understood it correctly. So when you were there, it was CrossFit 2 31 and you had no issue, uh, you changed CrossFit 2 31 into Babylon CrossFit.
Trish Evangelista (22:00):
Mike did that. The in between owner.
Sevan Matossian (22:03):
Oh, okay. Okay, okay, okay. Okay. Wow. And wow, that’s smart. I wonder And and how long did it take before you made the first offer to where he sold it to you?
Trish Evangelista (22:14):
It was probably like three weeks.
Sevan Matossian (22:17):
And he had to, that was his second gym. So he still has a gym.
Trish Evangelista (22:20):
He still has a gym. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (22:23):
And, um, do you know the, the, the original owner that opened Babylon CrossFit? What year was that?
Trish Evangelista (22:28):
Uh, 2014.
Sevan Matossian (22:30):
Wow. Okay. So that gym’s been around for a while.
Trish Evangelista (22:33):
Yeah, so the, I think this year’s our ninth year. Ninth year as an affiliate or eighth year I can’t do math.
Sevan Matossian (22:38):
And uh, yeah, eighth or ninth year and ninth year. Ninth and when, um, so, so you buy this gym and, uh, the, but but then that guy sells it. Sorry. So that guy sells it in 2014. What year does he sell it and why does he sell
Trish Evangelista (22:55):
It? Yeah, so Chris sold, Chris is a woman, she’s again, she’s one of my members sell. So she sold it to Mike, who’s the owner of Bayport Cross
Sevan Matossian (23:02):
Street. Ah, now I’m getting it because
Trish Evangelista (23:04):
Chris wanted to go through a different angle in life. She was sorry. No, no, no, it’s okay. Again, it’s confusing. Like there’s a lot of overlap. It was a part of like 10 affiliates. It’s only gonna get more confused as our conversation gets deeper. But like she was, she decided to do a different path. She sold it to Mike and then I purchased it from Mike, who’s the current owner of Bayport CrossFit.
Sevan Matossian (23:23):
And that was in October of 2019.
Trish Evangelista (23:25):
That was, well, it was actually September, 2019. Legally I was in Berlin the day we closed on the business. Legally <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (23:33):
So that’s just prior. And were you pregnant at that time?
Trish Evangelista (23:36):
No, I got pregnant in November.
Sevan Matossian (23:39):
Okay, so you are that, that’s the part of the story that’s so intense. Yeah. You you bought a gym, you got pregnant and then, uh, it was people started asking gyms to close down.
Trish Evangelista (23:52):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (23:53):
What a ride.
Trish Evangelista (23:54):
What a ride.
Sevan Matossian (23:56):
Did you, when when, when the, all the covid restrictions started coming up, did you think, oh shit, I’m gonna lose my gym?
Trish Evangelista (24:04):
I didn’t think it was gonna be as long as it was. I don’t think any of us did. Um, I
Sevan Matossian (24:09):
Could Right. Two weeks. Two weeks. Flatten the curve. Two weeks.
Trish Evangelista (24:11):
Two weeks. Yeah. Two. Yeah. That sort of, it it was, it was like, and the drama that like came with it from all angles. Like Jim starts moving earlier. You were still trying to operate. Look, I’m like cry, um, <laugh> if Ackerman’s on here watching this, he’s gonna make fun of me immediately for just for crying in the first 20
Sevan Matossian (24:27):
Minutes. No, it’s intense man. It’s your baby.
Trish Evangelista (24:30):
Yeah. So when we first closed down in that first two weeks, like the, the buildup to that alone because people, you remember like people started closing the affiliates a little bit earlier before the government told them because one person got covid and whatever, or the spike was. So it was a very intense buildup. And then like, we didn’t know how long it was gonna be. It was like two weeks then it was a month and it was like, it was very hard to plan for what was happening. And I think when we got to like the, it was probably the month that, that April month marking that like one month in, I had lost my job too. So I
Sevan Matossian (25:04):
Had How, why, why did you lose your job? So
Trish Evangelista (25:06):
I had a full-time sales job for a coffee company. And this is the funny part, that this guy founded his company based on his pregnant wife, Uhhuh <affirmative>. And I worked for him and they laid their whole sales force off. So anybody Wow. Who was like street sales or a district manager or a territory manager was laid off at one time. We all got on a call with HR and like a Monday morning and they let us all go at the same time. Um, so that was our health insurance too. So
Sevan Matossian (25:32):
During, oh my goodness,
Trish Evangelista (25:33):
My gym shutting down. My husband and I lost our health insurance at this point. My husband didn’t work for Celsius. He owned his own business that we had to claim essentially bankruptcy on because of Covid. Um, and so that way I could do the gym and he could get a full-time job with health insurance.
Sevan Matossian (25:50):
Wow. That’s a lot of moving pieces.
Trish Evangelista (25:52):
Yeah, it’s a lot. Um,
Sevan Matossian (25:55):
God, that’s impressive that you came out so well. That is, that is crazy impressive.
Trish Evangelista (26:00):
It’s really wild.
Sevan Matossian (26:02):
I get stressed if two bills come in the mail on the same day.
Trish Evangelista (26:05):
I had a lot of support, a lot of conversations. And again, like I, when I look back on what we did, so I’ll tell you like kind of what we did during the Covid shutdown. I think when we realized at that monthly part that like we didn’t know how long this was gonna fit. We were just getting jerked around. No one knew the real timeline. We were like, we have to come up with a plan to survive at this point. Like, cuz if not, you know, we had no money in the bank. We just started, um, there were minimal agreements. Like, you know, it’s that typical when you buy an affiliate, you’re really just buying the equipment unless you have an actual business plan. So there were no membership. Agree. It barely gave me time to like get membership agreements into place, change rates, do anything, build any type of community.
(26:47):
Um, so when it happened, I literally took at my, I took at my rent, I took out my bills and I was like, these are the bills I have to pay. Um, this is the money I need to make. This is the amount of people that I have available in Babel on right now. Knowing that people were gonna struggle. And I didn’t think of this plan on my own. I had two friends that really kind of saved my day here. Um, and he was an affiliate owner previously. So like he knew the numbers to look at. So he was like, take those numbers, figure out what that number looks like. Assume that 25% of the people that you’re accounting for aren’t gonna be able to pay it. That they lost their jobs. They’re, they’re not whatever they’re going through covid, they gotta save money, whatever it is. Cuz knowing that everyone at that point is struggling, right? Like yes, they all wanna support you because they want their, your doors to reopen, but I’m not the only one struggling. Everyone had their own
Sevan Matossian (27:33):
Right. Everyone else was losing their jobs and having their businesses closed and Yeah,
Trish Evangelista (27:36):
Exactly. So it’s like, you know, it was a very sensitive time for everybody. So we came up with this number, which was $60 or $65 a month and with that they were able to rent a piece of equipment that could be a barbell, a cat bell, a dumbbell. Um, they could rent plates. Uh, if they wanted to rent a bike or a skier or a rower, I was happy to do that. I just asked that they paid their full membership rate, which at that time was only 1 35. Um, so that way they’re what the reason, just because it’s a more piece of exp uh, more expensive piece of equipment. Right. Uh, so if they wanted do the, and if they had the money, like Right. I had members that were still making their salary and wanted to support me cuz they knew the struggle. Right. So there were certain
Sevan Matossian (28:20):
People and they don’t want their gym to close. It’s their gym. They gym to close. Yeah.
Trish Evangelista (28:23):
Yeah. Like everyone felt it, it wasn’t just me. It, it wasn’t just my gym at that point, it was everyone’s gym. So we gave that number out and that’s literally what we did. I went to the gym one day. We met everybody, my husband and I, and we rented out all of our equipment. I provided programming. I didn’t do the Zoom classes. I couldn’t buy into it. It’s so not me. And I think that’s where I live and breathe the CrossFit life that right. It’s just not real group classes. Yeah. I just, I can’t get into it. I struggle with it. So I never did the Zoom. We tried like one and we were like, no. And then we just waited and waited and waited and, and my old location, thankfully had a backyard space. So as soon as they started making like rufflings that they were gonna allow outdoor fitness, my husband and Steve and I, we went to the gym and I was seven, eight months pregnant and I have the pictures and everything.
(29:12):
We literally cleaned out the whole backyard. We like ripped all the trees down. We got, there was just a bunch of shit in the back. We cleaned it all out. Then I told the landlord, I was like, we have two options. I’m either closing down or you’re gonna pay for the backyard to be repaved. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And if you can’t pay for it to be repaved instead of paying rent, I’ll pay for it to be repaved and that will be my rent. And that also, you know, brings the value up in your building. I got him to agree to that. So we got the whole backyard repaved and we were able to run outdoor outside exercise classes. So because of that, and that was going into summer. That was going into summer. So we’re talking, so that’s nice. Yeah. June, July, August, um, and I was 7, 8, 9, you know, seven to nine months pregnant during this whole process. When we first reopened, because we were outside, I did limited classes. So I did like an eight, nine.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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