Daron PachecoCEO, Howdy Media · Brand Builder

Opened a dream business, then COVID hit. What would you have done?

12 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:09

In this video, Daron Pacheco (a former CrossFit coach) narrates how he leveraged his five‑year coaching experience and a loyal following to launch a 3,000‑sq‑ft brick‑and‑mortar gym after a serendipitous lease opportunity. He describes the rapid, low‑budget renovation of an older building, the excitement of opening, and the abrupt shutdown caused by the COVID‑19 pandemic just two weeks later. The crisis exposed his “toxic confidence” and lack of formal business knowledge, prompting him to hire a business coach, seek mentors, and deliberately learn real business skills. The story serves as a candid reflection on the challenges of transitioning from fitness coaching to entrepreneurship and how an unexpected external shock can force critical personal and professional growth.

Chapters

I was like, you know what, let's just go for it. I've been in the game for a while. I have a good following. I was coaching CrossFit for probably 5 years at that point, so I had a big network there. And you know, us gym people were always a little banged up, so, um, I had a little bit of a following. I felt confident about that. I just said, how can we do this? We can start mobile, we can go brick and mortar. And it was a blessing that I had a brick and mortar just fall into my lap. I still to this day, I'm like, I don't know how that worked out the way it did, but rent was really cheap, 3,000 square feet, already had a tiny gym in the back. It was an older building, but I could make anything work at that point. Is it the one y'all are in right now? Okay. Yeah, um, still does this, you know, just— you would have— I would have never guessed. That thing looks so nice. We put a lot of Band-Aids on it. There's probably 10 layers of paint, who knows, like about this thick. But we made it work, and then COVID hit 2 weeks later. And this is the part of the story where everyone's like, oh no, like COVID, I bet it was so hard. And honestly, that was the Lord saying like, you don't know what you're doing, hang on, like pull the reins back, go learn some business. Hire a business coach, get some mentors. And I was just toxically confident and like, I'll figure it out as I go.