Gym Business - Business for Unicorns Podcast

About Wendy: After working for 12 years in corporate marketing, Wendy opened Vero Strength + Conditioning in 2009, starting with coaching and running the business and now working mainly behind the scenes, handling customer service, social media, events, sales, gym staff and administration.  In the Fall of 2020, she launched Cerus Performance, a supplement company that bridges the gap between health and performance and we are starting to gain traction.  In this episode, Michael spoke with Wendy about: The superpower of getting things done Using covid as a resetting opportunity for your business Designing a new client experience and how to organize your business Mentioned in the Episode: Cerus Flow Supplement Vero Strength + Conditioning   Instagram

About Rachel: Rachel co-owns and operates Results Fitness, a fitness center in Southern California for the past 21 years with her husband and business partner, Alwyn Cosgrove. Results Fitness was voted one of the top 10 gyms in the United States three years in a row by Men’s Health Magazine along with being named one of the “Best Gyms” in Women’s Health in 2013 and was featured on BBC America for their fitness programming and philosophies. Rachel, again partnered with her husband, started their second company called Results Fitness University where they consult, speak, write and work with hundreds of personal trainers around the world, including trainers in England, Canada, Switzerland, Lebanon, Brazil and Australia, coaching them on fitness programming for their clients, their career, business, branding, sales & marketing. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Physiology at the University of California at Santa Barbara and holds her CSCS with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. She has also been certified by a number of organizations throughout her career including the International Society of Sports Nutrition, ACE, NASM, USA Weightlifting, USA Triathlon, CHEK Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching, Functional Movement Systems, as an RKC Level 1 and with Precision Nutrition. Rachel has been featured in numerous magazines including Muscle and Fitness Hers, Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Women’s Running, Oxygen, More Magazine, Runner’s World, Women’s World, Real Simple, More Magazine and Shape magazine. Recently she was featured in Experience Life Magazine as both the expert and as the fitness model. On the advisory board for Women’s Health, she also currently has her own column in Women’s Health Magazine and on Huffington Post. She is the best selling author of the book The Female Body Breakthrough, published by Rodale in November 2009. Her second book, Drop Two Sizes: A Proven Plan to Ditch the Scale, Get the Body You Want & Wear the Clothes You Love, also published by Rodale, was released in April 2013 along with the Drop Two Sizes DVD set with Women’s Health, featuring Rachel herself coaching the viewers through the workouts. She has conducted television interviews on Fox, ABC, and WGN repeatedly. She has been featured on numerous radio shows promoting her current book, Drop Two Sizes, and has made an appearance on the Dr. Oz Show. She has been a spokesperson for Secret Deodorant and Nike, and has also been a consultant for Gatorade, Nike, Livestrong, Women’s Health and Men’s Health Magazines. As one of the featured speakers for the company, Perform Better, she lectures nationally and internationally on topics such as strength training, fat loss, business in the fitness industry and nutrition specifically for women, helping them to reach their potential in all aspects of their life. In 2012 Rachel was awarded IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year. An athlete herself, she is an Ironman Triathlete and has been to the World Championships on Team USA for triathlon. She has also competed and won Gold Medals in Powerlifting and fitness competitions. Extremely goal oriented she is always looking for a new physical challenge and draws from that experience making her a better coach. She and her team of 12 employees at Results Fitness strive to become the best part of their member’s day, achieving results and changing lives while having fun doing it! They are on a mission to “Change The Way Fitness is Done.”   In this episode, Michael spoke with Rachel about:   How Results Fitness is navigating during Covid How to convince people in the community to come back to the gym after Covid Building your team and especially how to build your team back up after Covid Driving the numbers for the business and the systems and processes Rachel uses at Results Fitness Partnerships and how to balance both the personal and professional relationship  

About Mark: Mark has spent the last 15 years working with athletes from a variety of sports at every level. He began his career with the Toronto Maple Leaf's organization and most recently was the head of performance for the Anaheim Ducks. Mark is the founder of Elite Training Systems (ETS) in Ontario, which has grown to 4 locations servicing athletes from all major and minor sports. He also serves as a consultant for a number of health and performance organizations. Currently Mark serves as a member of the Under Armour Training Team building out high performance training initiatives for the brand. Mark also serves as Head of the Matrix Performance Team, building initiatives in high performance training. In this episode, Michael spoke with Mark about: Covid in and around the different cities in Canada and how it is effecting the businesses How to create a plan that everyone on the team is comfortable implementing and communicating to clients Resilience and as an entrepreneur, leader, and a dad, how Mark demonstrates and teaches how to bounce back, stick to it, come back after getting knocked down as a business owner How to standout in the crowd and let people notice the uniqueness of your business What the general population fitness gyms can learn from athletes and training gyms Scaling to multiple locations and cultivating the entrepreneur spirit in your people

About Stuart: Stuart Brauer is a 20-year student of the fitness industry - having been involved in large chain, big box gyms and independently owned studios/gyms. He owns his own microgyma (Urban MVMNT) in Charlotte, NC, but his full time job is creating no-BS content and consulting with gym owners to un-f*ck their business. You can hear all about his unique business model and especially his guerrilla marketing strategies on the WTF Gym Talk - an all-round resource for everyone looking for information on how to grow a real fitness business. In this episode, Michael spoke with Stuart about: Stu talks about how to navigate Covid in the gym and with other fitness clients Importance for gym owners to be passionate about fitness and coaching Become critically thinking business owners and entrepreneurs The importance and value of getting perspective as a gym owner Ability to make unbiased evidence based decisions Marketing strategies from Stu

Mark and Michael are back with another bonus episode of the season. In this episode, Mark and Michael discuss: Our experience in peer groups Why we started the Unicorn Society Situations in which Unicorn Society is NOT going to be the best fit

About Brittany: Brittany Welk is the COO and Co-Founder of LadyStrong Fitness-- a boutique fitness studio designed to empower women to look good, feel good & perform good, both in fitness and in life! She has a passion for changing lives in our studio as well with other entrepreneurs like herself! Besides running the LadyStrong Fitness with her fiance and business partner Marciea, Brittany also is a Performance Consultant for studio owners at Loud Rumor. Her specialization is helping studio owners build systems that run the business and to build winning teams behind those businesses. Brittany has been involved in the fitness and health industry since 2012, and is famous for being a Fitness Entrepreneur, Business Coach and Speaker. In this episode, Michael spoke with Brittany about: Importance of finding a business partner that is the opposite of you Brittany talks about key metrics she uses to manage her business and why she's chosen them Big two objections Brittany gets in sales conversations and how to overcome them Finally how to systematize your business - specifically Brittany discusses the training processes in her business

About Alwyn: Alwyn Cosgrove is the co-owner of Results Fitness - a gym twice named as America's Top Gyms by Men's Health magazine. His special brand is all about "changing the way fitness is done". The Scottish born, is considered a "rockstar" in the fitness industry. His passion led him from competing in martial arts, to reading everything related to fitness and training. His degree in Sports Performance further enhanced his learning along with training with fitness professionals and trainers from around the world.   He has authored several articles in leading publications including a regular column in the Men's Health magazine. In addition, Alwyn has also co-authored two of the "New Rules of Lifting" series and is currently busy juggling the training of clients and his staff at Results Fitness. Alwyn is also quite active on the lecture circuit as well as coaching fitness trainers worldwide.

Mark and Michael are back with another bonus episode of the season. In this episode, Mark and Michael discuss: Managing, navigating, coping, and designing change The tools we turn to when navigating change

About Laura: Laura is the Founder of TriggerMapping™ - a certification and mentorship program designed to help nutrition professionals radically change the lives of the people they’re called to serve by infusing traditional nutrition practice with deep connection and neuroscience. She is collectively waking coaches up to a new, more healing-centric form of mastery...where freeing clients from toxic relationships with food and chronic dieting patterns becomes our default. She instills in her students new coaching modalities based in empathy, change psychology, subconscious patterns, identity and ultimately new more grounded forms of communication that cultivate true connection and establish them as a guide and a healer for their clients, rather than simply a vessel to an external outcome.  She believes that nutrition coaches are among the most powerful change-makers of today. She wants to awaken you - to an embodied, feminine coaching system where being who you are is your biggest asset. In this episode, Michael spoke with Laura about: Perfectionism and how that’s shown up this past year How to create connection with nutrition clients Tips and tricks for how to be a better nutrition coach  

About Pete: Pete is one of the few fitness professionals who identify specifically as a "business guy." He has served as the Vice President and Business Director of Cressey Sports Performance since co-founding the company in 2007. With an MBA from Babson College, more than a decade of fitness industry experience, and a profound appreciation for the nitty-gritty realities of managing a fitness facility, Pete brings a unique perspective to discussions surrounding the business of fitness. Most importantly, Pete is a proud husband to Katie, and father to Collin and Owen Dupuis.   In this episode, Michael spoke with Pete about: Why Pete thinks there’s no one recipe for partnership The challenges he’s had with his partnership How to manage underperforming employees