The Wall Walkers Journal
Entry 002 — Building Something We’d Never Built Before
Turning the idea of Wall Walkers into a real climbing gym meant confronting unexpected costs, learning an entire industry from scratch, and discovering how constraints can inspire better decisions.
When people walk into a climbing gym, they usually see colourful climbing holds, padded floors, and walls that look like they've always been there.
What they don’t see are the thousands of decisions that came before a single hold was ever bolted to a wall.
For us, the reality of building Wall Walkers began the moment we started putting numbers on paper.
Like most first-time business owners, we had an idea of what it would cost.
We were wrong.
As every quote came in and every spreadsheet grew, the reality hit us:
“Holy shit… this is a lot more expensive than we thought.”
It’s a feeling I imagine almost every entrepreneur experiences at some point. You start with an exciting idea, then reality begins attaching a price tag to every part of it:
- Rent
- Insurance
- Engineering
- Construction
- Equipment
- Council approvals
- Electrical work
- Safety requirements
It doesn’t take long before what started as an exciting business idea turns into a number so large that you begin wondering whether it’s even possible.
For us, that was the first real test:
Could we actually afford to build this?
Changing the Question
Fortunately, we hadn’t fallen in love with the idea of building a particular climbing gym.
We’d fallen in love with the idea of building a climbing gym.
That distinction ended up changing everything.
Instead of asking:
“How do we build the gym we imagined?”
We started asking:
“How do we build the best gym we can with the resources we have?”
That single shift in thinking probably saved the project.
Learning an Industry
Once we’d accepted our financial constraints, a whole new set of challenges appeared.
If we had the money…
- How do you actually build a climbing wall?
- Where do you buy safety mats?
- Who manufactures climbing holds?
- How do you know if they’re any good?
- What standards apply?
- How do you know you’re building something that’s safe?
Every answer uncovered another question.
We quickly discovered that sourcing equipment in Australia wasn’t always practical for a young business with a limited budget. Something as simple as climbing holds could become an enormous expense if purchased locally in the quantities we needed.
So we started researching: Europe, America, China—anywhere we could source quality products that met the standard we were trying to achieve without blowing the entire budget.
Looking back, I don’t think we were just buying equipment.
We were learning an industry.
Every supplier taught us something. Every conversation expanded our understanding. Every quote forced us to make another decision.
The People Who Helped Shape Wall Walkers
One of the most significant moments during that period was discovering Awesome Woodys.
They weren’t simply another supplier. They became one of the businesses that genuinely helped us shape the early vision of Wall Walkers.
As first-time gym builders, having experienced people willing to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and help refine our thinking made an enormous difference. Some of the concepts we discussed back then are still visible throughout the gym today.
It’s easy to assume that successful businesses are built by individuals. The truth is they’re built with the help of countless people along the way:
- Suppliers
- Tradespeople
- Mentors
- Customers
- Friends
Every one of them leaves their fingerprints on the finished product.
Starting to Feel Real
Looking back now, I don’t remember the stress as much as I remember the excitement of solving one problem after another.
Every challenge overcome made the vision feel a little more real.
We still didn’t know whether Wall Walkers would succeed. But for the first time, it felt like it might actually exist.
That feeling alone made every late night, every spreadsheet, and every difficult decision worthwhile.
In the next journal entry, I’ll talk about one of the biggest design philosophies that shaped Wall Walkers from the very beginning—why we deliberately chose to build smaller, and why I still believe that decision gave us one of our greatest strengths.
Your first budget will almost certainly be wrong.
That’s normal.
Don’t let unexpected costs convince you that your idea has failed. Instead, let them force you to become more creative.
Some of the best decisions we made weren’t because we had unlimited money. They were because we had to think differently.
Constraints don’t always limit innovation. Sometimes they’re exactly what creates it.