The bit the franchise manual doesn't give you

Last week we opened The Yard Gym, Adelaide Hills.

We're not personal trainers or group fitness instructors. We just love training, and we know franchising inside out. We also saw a gap: a whole bunch of people in our local area craving the same thing we were. A space to focus on ourselves, where everyone and everyBODY is welcome. (Yes, I know. I'm building my own coaching practice, we have three small humans and a menagerie, and my husband already runs a business. I guess we like to be busy.)

A franchise gives you a lot. The program, the layout, the policies and procedures. Gosh, they even tell you where to buy the dirty towel baskets from. What they can't give you is a team who love where they work.

None of us had run a gym before, so the most important thing we did was find the right people to run it. People already part of our local community, respected in their field, and genuinely warm and supportive with every human who walks through the door. Then came the bit that isn't in any manual: building a team who feel they belong, who feel heard, and who know why their work matters.

Here's what I know from nearly 20 years of working with teams: your people are humans first. They work to live, not the other way around.

You can't expect them to care about your business as much as you do. But if you take the time to understand who they are, what matters to them and what they value, they'll give back more than you could ever ask for. Everyone wants to feel valued and understood, and it's the leader's job to be clear on the purpose.

Opening week wasn't without its hiccups. But more than 200 people joined us, and what I wasn't expecting was how many of them said thank you. Thank you for creating a community. Thank you for creating a space for us. It was surreal. My first instinct was to say don't thank me, you're the ones making this place what it is.

And that's when it clicked. Your members can tell how your team feels about coming to work. If they feel supported, respected and proud of where they work, members sense it the second they walk in. If they don't, no amount of shiny equipment will cover it.

The people bit is the hardest part of business. It's also the best bit. How bloody cool to be the boss someone loves working for? I'm not sure we're that yet. But I know where I want us to end up.

If you lead people, that's the real job. Everything else is just equipment.