You know when you're walking through the airport wearing a CrossFit shirt and you see someone else in a CrossFit shirt?
Or when you're going about your business at the grocery store wearing a Morbid Angel shirt, and someone down the aisle has an Incantation shirt on?
Well, maybe you don't know that feeling of t-shirt related camaraderie and acknowledgement, but rest assured that I do.
As we discuss in this interview, Danny and I are often the two guys at CrossFit related events wearing punk or metal apparel.
When Danny told me that he liked my podcast, I was thrilled because if one of the only other people who owns a CrossFit gym in a major urban environment who grew up playing in bands in a DIY punk and hardcore scene didn't like my podcast...well then I don't know what the hell I'm even doing.
In this conversation with Danny, we discuss:
- Growing up in a real melting pot of a DIY punk scene in South Florida - and how that has both helped and hindered Danny in entrepreneurship
- How staying true to his own taste (and trying to make Team Soul like a 90s skateboarding company) has resulted in raving fans...and some harsh detractors
- How CrossFit Soul has seen the CrossFit bubble in South Florida pop - and why they're still standing while many others are not
- Becoming involved in the programming for Wodapalooza - only to learn a few weeks later that Wodapalooza would be a sanctioned event sending qualifiers to the CrossFit Games
Check out more from Danny here:
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Show Notes
- [01:28] Growing up in the South Florida punk scene - and the melting pot of genres including punk, hardcore, death metal, and pop punk
- [14:27] Being in bands growing up - including a rap metal band (Danny did not rap)
- [18:11] What influence has growing up in the DIY culture of punk and hardcore had on small business ownership? And growing up hating jocks.
- [26:29] Starting a CrossFit gym and making a ton of mistakes - including bad relationships with business partners and purposefully not having a plan. Plus, surviving the consolidation of the market as more and more gyms are closing.
- [34:50] What did Danny do to learn how to run a business and how to coach - without a formal background in either? How did he reach out to people and apply their insight to his own business?
- [44:42] The genesis of the Wodapalooza Programming Collective - and Danny’s role with Wodapalooza (including the changes to the CrossFit competition season)
- [1:03:24] The art of the rip-off shirt
Links and Resources Mentioned
