For eleven entries, we've been looking backwards.
At the decision to build Wall Walkers.
At the mistakes we made.
The things we learned.
The walls we built.
The systems we developed.
The move to 24/7.
The community that grew around us.
And eventually, the decision to take everything we'd learned and turn it into a franchise system.
Now we've reached the present.
And the interesting thing about the present is that we don't know what happens next.
We have an idea.
We have a plan.
We certainly have ambitions.
But we don't know.
And I think it's important to be honest about that.
Today, Wall Walkers is a proven climbing gym.
We've been operating for years.
We've survived difficult periods.
We've continually improved the business.
We've built systems around the problems we've encountered.
We've developed our 24/7 model.
We've built a community we're incredibly proud of.
And we've reached the point where we believe what we've created can work somewhere else.
But there's an important distinction.
We're a proven gym.
We're not yet a proven franchise network.
Not yet.
That's the next chapter.
Our immediate goal isn't to open twenty locations.
It isn't to put pins all over a map.
It isn't to make grand announcements about becoming Australia's next enormous fitness franchise.
Our goal is much simpler.
Find the first franchise partner.
And then get it right.
That first location matters enormously to us.
Because it represents something we've never done before.
For the first time, somebody else will take the systems we've built, the lessons we've learned, the technology we've developed and the Wall Walkers name...
...and build something of their own with it.
That's exciting.
It's also a responsibility we take seriously.
If we do our job properly, that first franchisee won't simply become another Wall Walkers location.
They'll become our first proof that the model can exist beyond us.
They'll also become one of the first people to tell us where we're wrong.
Because we will be wrong about things.
That's inevitable.
Just as our members helped shape the original Wall Walkers, our first franchise partners will help shape the franchise system.
There will be things that make perfect sense in Capalaba that don't make sense somewhere else.
There will be processes that need changing.
Systems that need improving.
Ideas that come from franchisees that we've never considered.
That's not something I'm afraid of.
That's exactly what I want.
Because if you've read this journal from the beginning, you'll probably have noticed a recurring theme.
Wall Walkers has never been finished.
We've always built something.
Tested it.
Learned from it.
Improved it.
Then started again.
I don't expect franchising to be any different.
Twenty years from now, I'd love to look around and see Wall Walkers locations in communities that don't currently have access to great climbing.
I'd love to see more walls.
More interesting routes.
More classes.
More people discovering the sport.
More people lying awake at night thinking about the climb they almost finished.
And yes...
Hopefully by then I can occasionally get back on the floor and enjoy the gym instead of spending quite so much time building the systems behind it.
But there's a shit ton of work between here and there.
And that's okay.
We've never been particularly afraid of work.
Right now, the milestone in front of us is number one.
One franchise partner.
One new location.
One opportunity to prove that everything we've spent years building can help somebody else create something they're proud of.
Then we'll learn.
We'll improve.
And we'll work out what comes next.
That's why this isn't really the final entry in the Wall Walkers Journal.
It's simply the point where the journal catches up with us.
From here, we can't tell you what happened.
Because it hasn't happened yet.
The next entries will be written as we live them.
Our first franchise partner.
Our first new location.
Our first mistakes.
Our first successes.
And hopefully, eventually, a network of people building genuinely cool places for their own communities.
The first twelve entries were our story.
What comes next, we get to build together.
A Lesson We Haven't Learned Yet
Normally, this is where I'd write about something the journey has already taught us.
This time, I can't.
We haven't learned this lesson yet.
We don't know what opening our first franchise location will teach us.
We don't know which assumptions will survive contact with reality.
And we don't know what Wall Walkers will look like once other people begin contributing their own ideas and experiences to it.
Ask me again after the first one opens.
I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about.
What I'd Tell Someone Starting Today
You don't need to know exactly where the journey ends.
We certainly didn't.
Start with what you believe in.
Build something.
Test it in the real world.
Listen when reality tells you you're wrong.
Keep the things that work.
Change the things that don't.
And when you finally reach the thing you've been working towards...
Don't mistake it for the finish line.
It might just be the beginning of whatever comes next.