

Run a Profitable Gym
Chris Cooper
Run a Profitable Gym is packed with business tools for gym owners and CrossFit affiliates. This is actionable, data-backed business advice for all gym owners, including those who own personal training studios, fitness franchises, and strength and conditioning gyms. Broke gym owner Chris Cooper turned a struggling gym into an asset, then built a multi-million-dollar mentoring company to help other fitness entrepreneurs do the same thing. Every week, Chris presents the top tactics for building a profitable gym, as well as real success stories from gym owners who have found incredible success through Two-Brain Business mentorship. Chris’s goal is to create millionaire gym owners. Subscribe to Run a Profitable Gym and you could be one of them.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 10, 2023 • 56min
The Four Personalities You’ll Find in Your Gym (and How to Serve Them)
In this episode, you'll learn all about the four main personality types you'll see in your gym: 1. Fact-based extroverts2. Fact-based introverts3. Relationship-based extroverts4. Relationship-based introvertsTwo-Brain founder Chris Cooper and mentor/gym owner Brian Bott discuss the defining characteristics of each personality type so you understand what members of each group need and want.First, Chris and Brian will give you everything you need to know to make more sales.For example, fact-based introverts need and want information, but they can also struggle to make decisions when they get overloaded. To close with this group, you're going to need to zero in on prime concerns and then provide clear solutions to problems. You'll have to take a different approach when a fiery relationship-based extrovert wants to jump into a workout within 30 seconds of entering the building.Next, Chris and Brian will tell you how to coach different kids of people—and manage them if they're on staff.If you learn about these four personality types, you'll be a much more effective gym owner.LinksBook a CallGym Owners United2:03 - Fact-based extrovert3:25 - Fact-based introvert5:29 - Relationship-based extrovert7:53 - Relationship-based introvert10:29 - Selling to each personality type24:34 - Coaching each personality type37:19 - Managing each personality type

Jul 6, 2023 • 47min
Buy Vs. Build: Two Ways to Expand Your Gym Empire
Should you buy another business or replicate your existing business when expanding your gym empire?The answer is "it depends." Both paths can be successful. But they have unique pros and cons that will influence different kinds of entrepreneurs.To give you a roadmap to expansion, Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper sits down with Swedish gym owners Per Mattsson and partners Karl Solberg and Oskar Johed to discuss the bright spots and challenges found on each route to a multi-gym empire.Karl and Oskar choose to replicate a very successful model over and over in startup gyms, while Per prefers to buy other gyms. All are having great success expanding their influence and serving more clients, and they'll provide inside tips that will help you make smart decisions yourself. If your first gym is stable and profitable and you're thinking about taking the next step, this episode has essential info that will help you avoid mistakes and grow your business faster.LinksBook a CallGym Owners United1:30 - The Swedes3:14 - Building with Karl and Oskar8:49 - The "150 Model": Overlap and systems19:15 - Buying with Per26:12 - Fixes and overlaps27:32 - Staff training33:24 - Two paths: pros and cons

Jul 3, 2023 • 21min
Gym Owners: How to Expand Your Empire and Scale Up
How can you become a millionaire gym owner and build a lasting legacy? The key is using a four-stage approach to create an airtight business: systemize, optimize, grow and scale.If your business is a chaotic mess, your first step is systemizing everything so each client gets excellent service every single time. With basic systems in place, you can then audit and refine them so they're perfect.At that point, you add fuel to the well-oiled machine and move faster. The growth phase is less about experimentation and more about doubling down on the things that are producing measurable results. The final stage: scale. Will you add a second location or expand your current one? What's the next step to building your empire?In this episode, Two-Brain Business founder and CEO Chris Cooper walks you through all the stages and shows you what to do to ascend. Even better, he'll point out the traps that can kill momentum or even send you back to a previous stage. Listen, take action and build a world-class gym.LinksBook a CallGym Owners United1:34 - Stage 1: Systemize4:34 - Stage 2: Optimize7:24 - Stage 3: Growth11:39 - Stage 4: Scale12:54 - The Traps18:31 - Recap

Jun 29, 2023 • 27min
Simple Gym Sales Tips: Boost Your Close Rate Today!
How did Nate Muller's gym earn spots on three of our Top 10 leaderboards for sales in May 2023?Today, Nate shares his secrets for getting more leads, booking more free consultations, getting people to show for those meetings and closing sales. The best part: Green Lake Strength and Conditioning isn't using complex sales systems and gimmicks. Nate's got simple, clear systems in place, and they work like a charm. They're so simple that you can easily replicate them at your fitness business.Generating referrals and online reviews, offering convenient appointment slots, solving problems for prospective clients and tracking metrics—it's all simple. But most gym owners don't do this stuff, and their sales suffer. To boost your numbers today, check out this episode and then take action in your gym, studio or affiliate.Links"The Prescriptive Model"Book a CallGym Owners United1:44 - Organic SEO and referrals4:26 - Reviews10:38 - Nate's gym and ideal client13:58 - Key systems for increasing show rate16:17 - The sales process and measurable improvements21:24 - Training salespeople23:46 - Do this today

Jun 26, 2023 • 23min
Gym Marketing Metrics: How to Measure and Improve Them
Want real sales stats from the world's top microgyms?Chris Cooper has them, and he'll give you three leaderboards in this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym." You'll hear the exact set, show and close rates for our Top 10 gyms in May 2023.Even better, Coop will tell you what these owners did to get these numbers, and he'll give you tips to help you improve your own stats.For example, if people are booking consultations but not showing up, you can send video confirmation messages to boost your show rate. Struggling to close? Maybe you need to practice clarifying the prospective member's problem and offering a precise solution.Most gym owners didn't get into the business to sell, but if you don't learn how to acquire clients, you can't help anyone become fitter. Check out Coop's tips, then unplug your marketing funnel so you can change more lives.LinksBook a CallGym Owners United0:26 - Four key sales metrics3:08 - Free consultations booked5:15 - Shows for free consultations8:18 - Top closers10:59 - How to get more leads11:40 - Get more appointments booked14:28 - Get more people to show17:46 - Closing more sales

Jun 22, 2023 • 54min
Making Millions From Your Gym: Coop Answers Your Questions
Can you use a gym business to become a millionaire?Yes! In fact, you can do it in three different ways. In this episode, Chris Cooper lays them out for you and answers all the common questions that pop up. Here are the paths:1. Build and scale the gym business you have.2. Reinvest your profit.3. Leverage your audience and start another business.Coop will provide the pros and cons of each strategy and explain which ones are best for different kinds of entrepreneurs. He'll also give you tips to help you succeed with the strategy you select. Listen to this episode and take clear, calculated action. If you do, you'll be on the path to wealth.LinksBook a CallGym Owners United0:48 - Strategy 1: Build and scale23:51 - Strategy 2: Reinvest your profits37:08 - Strategy 3: Start another business

Jun 19, 2023 • 21min
Millionaire Gym Owner: Why Should Fitness Entrepreneurs Be Wealthy?
Gym owners make the best millionaires. Here's why:They dedicate their lives to helping others get fit and healthy. And when they achieve financial success, they use it to dramatically improve their communities.Yet so many hardworking gym owners can't see a feature that includes wealth—or they question why they should aspire to be wealthy at all. Isn't it more noble to serve and sacrifice?The reality: If gym owners don't generate profit and create businesses that support their families, they'll leave the industry and clients will be left without leaders. It's happened too many times to count. But stable businesses that reward their owners serve clients for decades, and successful, happy fitness entrepreneurs can use their extra income to help others to a greater degree.Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper has a mantra: Make lots of money and give it away. In this episode, he explains why you should become a millionaire and how you can use that success to improve your town.LinksBook a CallGym Owners United0:40 - Is it realistic?2:51 - Why should you care?5:28 - What does “wealth” mean?8:32 - Life changes12:44 - Why only some succeed15:13 - Millionaire problems17:31 - Greed?

Jun 15, 2023 • 14min
How to Use Other People’s Fitness Events to Make Money
Events create "sticky stories" for your clients, and they can generate revenue and improve retention. But you'll burn a lot of hours planning and running an event, and many gym owners have discovered they're actually losing money if they factor in all the time. Worse, events can also lead to burnout for you and your staff.The solution: Partner with other event organizers. A partner handles the actual event and all the work associated with it. You simply provide prizes and create training programs that help people prepare for the event.Instead of overextending yourself and your staff, you're generating real profit for the gym, and coaches are making money by helping eager people perform better in great events such as fun runs, Spartan or other obstacle-course races, or fitness competitions.Even better, your clients will show up motivated and ready to train because they have an event on the calendar. You'll get to celebrate their progress and their success on game day, but you won't have to set up obstacle walls at 3 a.m. and then tear everything down in the dark after the last competitor finishes.If competitions stress you out, Chris Cooper has the exact plan you need to partner with other event organizers so everyone wins.LinksBook a CallGym Owners United2:07 - Creating experiences and stories4:19 - Profit by partnering and creating training programs7:25 - Commission structures10:20 - Feeder events12:06 - Recap

Jun 12, 2023 • 17min
Are Your Group Classes Costing You Money? Calculations and Solutions.
If you're stressing over your group classes, stress no more. Chris Cooper is going to tell you how to ensure your sessions are generating revenue and retaining clients.He'll tell you exactly how many people should be in your classes to maximize length of engagement, and he'll give you the steps to calculating the value of each class. With that data in hand, you'll be able to see which classes add to your bottom line and which ones actually cost you money.From there, Chris will tell you what you might do instead of running poorly attended classes, and he'll explain how to make schedule changes that don't anger your members.Remember: Profitable gyms run on metrics and data. If you don't know how valuable each group class is, you're flying blind. Listen to this episode, run your numbers and make sound decisions to grow your gym business.Links"Setting Your Schedule""Your Schedule, Your Life"Book a CallGym Owners United0:38 - Key retention metrics2:12 - Ideal class sizes4:52 - Are group classes costing you money?7:52 - Practical examples11:09 - Retention drop-off13:18 - Kill it or fill it

Jun 8, 2023 • 23min
The Client Cap: Why We've Got One and Why It Might Improve Your Gym
Two-Brain Business is capping mentorship clients at 1,000. Why? Founder & CEO Chris Cooper explains.Coop also has a member cap at his gym, Catalyst Fitness in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, so he's seen how it works for clients and businesses.In this episode, Chris explains how a client cap will help current and future Two-Brain clients, and he'll give you some tips on how a client cap can help a fitness business.If you're already a mentorship client, expect even more speed as you work to improve your business. And if you're looking to join Two-Brain, now's the time to book a call!LinksBook a CallGym Owners United0:54 - Coop caps his gym3:23 - Speed for Two-Brain clients5:44 - Culture, focus and fit9:35 - Caps and future clients13:46 - How caps help businesses