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This CrossFit gym owner makes $887,000/year
How a former teacher built one of Canada’s top CrossFit gyms 🇨🇦
John Franklin
April 18, 2025
What’s up Gym World?
Jay Rhodes was a teacher who tried CrossFit in 2009, loved it, and started coaching on the side. He swore he’d never open a gym—but in 2012, his passion turned into CrossFit Outlaw North.
CrossFit Outlaw North is located in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada
At first, the gym was just a hobby and barely broke even. Last year, it brought in nearly $900,000 in revenue with a healthy profit margin.
CrossFit gyms with numbers like that are rare, so I had Jay on the pod to share how he made it happen.
Here’s what he said: 👇
How the gym started
Jay tried CrossFit in 2009 and instantly got hooked. He loved the methodology, the culture, and the challenge—so much that a year later he:
got his Level 1 certification
became a regional competitor with a goal of making it to the CrossFit Games
started coaching at a local affiliate
Jay was a full-time supply teacher with no plans to open a gym. At his Level 1 exit interview, he even said he’d never open an affiliate.
Right away, people started to notice how good Jay was—both as an athlete and a coach. Members at the gym looked up to him, wanted to train like him, and asked to be coached by him.
So he made a YouTube video sharing how he got into CrossFit. It was meant to inspire the members at the gym he coached at, but it ended up getting 100,000 views in the first week.
When Jay qualified for the CrossFit Games in 2012, the attention exploded. More people asked if he’d open his own gym, and it created tension at the affiliate.
At that point, opening his own space felt like the logical next step. Though he was still teaching, he saw the gym as a way to turn his passion for CrossFit into something more.
This was also around the time CrossFit was at its peak, so the timing worked in his favor. Jay was able to ride the trend while it was popular.
Jay went away to compete, and while he was gone, his wife (also a CrossFit athlete) mentioned to her dad that Jay was thinking about starting a gym. It turned out he owned a few commercial buildings, and one of them was vacant—so he gave it to them.
And just like that, Jay came home, moved into the 2,500 sq ft space, and opened CrossFit Outlaw North.
Figuring it out
A lot of gym owners expect growth to come quickly or think they need to get one big thing right to succeed. But the truth is, it’s a long process.
Jay’s been a gym owner for 13 years, and his growth was slow and steady:
Took 2 years to reach 60 members
Made $8K/month charging $135 per member
Knew nothing about marketing
Had no sign on the building for months
Had no systems or processes — some members paid in cash, others traded services
Kept supply teaching to stay afloat — taught during the day, coached in the evenings, and got home after 9pm
Grew the gym to $20K/month in revenue by 2017
Stories like his are more common than you think. Andy McCloy, for example, spent 15 years learning the game before he even opened his gym. It was profitable from day one—but the real work happened long before that.
Jay admits he didn’t know much about business, but he credits simple things like:
…as the reason the gym kept growing.
But what really took the business to the next level were the changes he made in the years that followed:
Got a mentor through Two-Brain Business — started running paid ads using their marketing materials (this was the golden era of Facebook ads) and grew from 100 to 150 members in five months
Added new revenue streams — introduced personal training because it brought in higher-margin income
Hired coaches to help support the growth
Because Jay opened himself up to learning—and actually applied it—the gym grew to 5x its revenue within three years of working with Two-Brain, and later expanded into a larger space.
By 2020, Jay and his wife had left their jobs to focus fully on the gym. And even as CrossFit’s popularity declined, their business kept growing—and still shows no signs of slowing down.
Jay’s big on tracking numbers. He looks at how much the gym makes each quarter—and in all the years he’s been in business, there have only been 11 quarters where they didn’t beat the last one.
Five of those were during COVID. The rest just show they’re always finding ways to move forward.
Inside CrossFit Outlaw North
Today, CrossFit Outlaw North is a 5,000 sq ft facility located in a city about an hour outside of Toronto.
It’s not the fanciest space, but focusing on community and great coaching has kept the gym growing.
Over the years, Jay has added more programs to serve a wider range of members. The gym now offers:
CrossFit
Nutrition coaching
Kids program
Personal training
Legends (55+)
Postnatal program
They have around 270 members and made $887,000 in revenue last year.
Jay says there isn’t much competition in the area. In the last five years, he’s seen two bootcamps, an Orangetheory, an F45, and the closest CrossFit gym all shut down.
There are 3 full-time coaches, and Jay’s wife manages the team. Meanwhile, Jay works about 10-15 hours a week:
Providing direction and opportunities for his coaches
Using Kilo to handle lead nurture, sales, and marketing
Coaching 1–2 hours a week to stay connected with members
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Let’s summarize 🔎
CrossFit Outlaw North started as a passion project in 2012. Today, it’s a near 7-figure business and one of the top CrossFit gyms in Canada.
The growth was slow and steady—but like many top gym owners, Jay built it by doing the basics really well. He credits his success to:
Caring deeply about his work
Creating a great training environment
Remembering the little things about his members
Always being helpful
Responding quickly to leads
He also made smart business decisions to keep the gym growing:
Got mentorship through Two-Brain
Added new revenue streams
Used Kilo to streamline his website, marketing, and gym management
Jay’s advice to gym owners:
Learn from others
Take action when you learn something valuable
Be patient
ttyl,
j
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