10 Questions With Erin Carson

1. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome in life?

I think the biggest obstacle that I have had to overcome in life would be securing my U.S. citizenship. I was raised in British Columbia, Canada and came to the U.S. to play college basketball. When I graduated from The University of Colorado and completed my master’s degree two years later, it was clear to me that I wanted to remain in the country.

2. How did you overcome that?

My first course of action to overcome this daunting circumstance was to create a crystal-clear vision of my life in Boulder, Colorado. Once I could visualize my life I assembled a team of experts who I felt confident could guide me through the process in an efficient way. I am a firm believer in utilizing experts to ensure positive outcomes.

3. What’s been a major key to your success?

A major key to my success in life has been my ability to approach challenges, in both life and business, with a clear vision of what success looks like.

4. What accomplishment in life are you most proud of?

The accomplishment I am most proud of is quite recent actually. In 2014 I was able to create an investor group who was excited to purchase RallySport in Boulder, Colorado. RallySport is a 40,000-square-foot, multipurpose fitness club. I have been an active participant in the leadership of RallySport for over 20 years and when the opportunity to purchase the club and the real estate came about, it was one of the most exciting things that has ever happened. I secured in excess of 5 million dollars of funding in just about one month.

5. What do you love most about coming to work everyday?

In addition to being passionate about health and fitness, I love the opportunity to assist in the professional journey of my employees. It has always been clear to me that if they are both personally and professionally happy in their lives, then RallySport will have a low employee turnover rate. Of course the upside for the business is that we are able to establish deep member relationships, which equates to an impressive member retention rate.

6. What is one key to Rally Sport’s success?

It has been very clear that our commitment to our employees has been the cornerstone of RallySport’s success. Another key to our success is that as a leader of the company I have maintained a working knowledge of both fitness, as well as business.

7. What do you hope to see from Rally Sport in the next five years?

In the next five years I hope to maintain and extend our level of business growth and wellness influence within the community of Boulder by providing a world-class exercise experience.

8. On a typical day, what do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Outside of work I enjoy competing in triathlons. I recently qualified for the 2016, 70.3 World Championships in Mooloolaba, Australia. I think it is an important part of my brand, as a fitness educator and leader, to set an example and be the very best I can be. I think being a World Champion in my age group would be really cool.

9. What book are your currently reading?

I am currently reading Anatomy for Runners by Jay Dicharry and The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner. I typically have one fitness book and one personal development book going.

10. When did you start to see yourself as successful?

I don’t think I will ever really see myself as successful. This business is ever changing. I have so much respect for the overall mission to help people live the best lives they can live. I see the exercise experience as so important and I feel so lucky to have a clubhouse like RallySport to work within. As long as there are people to help I will feel the fire of the challenge to make their days better through strength, healthy movement and laughter.