As my second installment to the December Challenge hosted by Patricia Feager and Lew Corcoran, nothing like waiting until the last day of the challenge to get a few more posts done for the year! But we have been on an 11-day driving vacation to the tune of about 3,000 miles. We are on the final leg, so I have some time in the car today to get these posts done.
Not many on this platform probably know much about this little chapter in my life. I was a college cheerleader back in the day. Upon graduation, the world of cheerleading was rapidly evolving into a big business. I was selected to judge the national competition and saw a new category called "All-Stars". I was intrigued and discovered this new category was made up of private gyms that had created their own competitive cheerleading teams.
I was 28 years old at the time and had just had my first child. I had been teaching private cheerleading lessons out of my garage for several years. I would strap my baby on in a carrier and coached hundreds of young, aspiring cheerleaders. As I was judging this new category, I thought, "I could do this in my area!"
I crafted a letter to the moms of the girls I coached explaining this new concept called All-Star cheerleading. At this time, there were NO OTHER COMPETITIVE CHEER SQUADS IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF TEXAS. Therefore, this was new territory. And, I had never run my own business before.
To my surprise, every parent responded with a resounding, 'yes,' that they wanted to be a part of this new adventure! I had to quickly find a facility that would allow me to come in and create this new program. I found a local gymnastics facility that loved the idea. Before long, the details were worked out, and we began creating six competitive teams.
It wasn't too long before we needed our own place. I began looking for a place that had the square footage and high ceilings that were needed. This was my first stint with a commercial real estate lease. (I had NO idea what I was doing). I was not in real estate at the time, so I was flying solo.
Luckily, one of my students' father was in commercial real estate leasing and helped me along the way. We found a former Handy Dan store that had 9,000 s.f. It was daunting looking at that space and the lease, and I constantly questioned what in the world I was doing! Would I have enough students? Could I keep the doors open? Would I be able to find staff? And, how would I outfit the gym with equipment?
I found a gymnastics equipment dealer and was able to lease-to-purchase the needed equipment. I named the gym All-American Cheerleading & Gymnastics. The gym was born! Within a year, I had over 1,000 students and 25 employees. Because I was in the north Houston area, I invited the famous Bela Karolyi - the former Romanian Olympic Gymnastics coach, to be there on my opening day. He agreed, and this brought in hundreds of people to see him.
As I look back on this whole adventure, I am still surprised that it all happened. I created the first All-Star Cheerleading program in Texas. Now, there are thousands of these programs all over the country. I was a pioneer in this cheerleading concept.
I enjoyed my years of running this business. Years later, I sold the business to my head coach. To this day, I am in touch with many of my former students. These young ladies are now mothers themselves. I was honored to have been a part of their lives.
Now you know another piece of my story and how real estate impacted my life years ago. Also, I discovered my 'aha' and love for entrepreneurship. That gamble all of those years ago as a young mom forged my future in many ways.
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