When Ameet Shah first introduced Wodify to the CrossFit community, he had his work cut out for him. Convincing a bunch of gritty, low-tech fitness die-hards to ditch the whiteboard and put up a TV screen was a tall order. But he did it — and today Wodify serves more than 5,000 gyms around the world. Ameet joined Chris Cooper to talk about his journey from crab-sales website designer (yes, you read that right) to tech start-up founder to business leader. Links: WodifyGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:01 – From MBA to ilovecrabs.com.6:23 – Starting his first company.7:42 – The birth of Wodify. 12:05 – Convincing people to trade the whiteboard for a digital tracker.16:55 – Learning from a $750,000 mistake.19:34 – Funding Wodify’s creation. 22:03 – Providing high quality with low overhead. 24:21 – Developing Wodify’s culture. 27:17 – Admitting mistakes.33:21 – Communicating with customers, overselling, and the product roadmap.40:58 – Why Wodify walked away from a partnership with CrossFit, LLC.45:22 – From entrepreneur to boss to leader.

When the entrepreneurship bug hits, it hits hard — and some gym owners find that owning a gym isn't enough. There's so much else to explore: retail, supplements, gear — even coffee. But is it possible to run multiple profitable businesses? And if so, how do you pull it off? For the answers to those questions and more, Chris Cooper turned to Danny Lehr, owner and founder of CrossFit Excel and the wildly successful Caffeine and Kilos.Links:CrossFit ExcelCaffeine and KilosGym Owners UnitedTimeline:2:13 – How Danny become a gym owner. 5:12 – The birth of Caffeine and Kilos. 11:05 – Caffeine and Kilos today. 14:04 – Where Caffeine and Kilos’ sales come from. 17:01 – Building the Caffeine and Kilos brand while also growing a gym. 23:31 – Running both businesses at once. 25:56 – Building systems and hiring the right people. 30:07 – What’s next for Caffeine and Kilos. 33:51 – What to consider if you’re considering a second business.40:07 – Knowing the value of your time. 42:55 – How to get involved with Caffeine and Kilos. 

Brendon Collins has always had the itch to help people change their lives.At one time, he did it as a pastor. Then, he did it as a fitness coach and gym owner. Now, he's helping people find their way as a life coach touching on all of the above. How'd he get there, and what, exactly, does being a life coach look like? Here, he chats with Coop about all that and more.Links: Chat with BrendonTransformation AcademyCertified Life Coach InstituteInternational Coaching FederationTimeline:00:41 – Becoming a gym owner in one fateful night. 4:55 – Post-pandemic weariness and getting the passion back.10:12 – What life coaching isn’t. 13:45 – Life coaches: not here to solve your problems.16:42 – Health and fitness meet life coaching.19:05 – Finding a specialty. 22:39 – Revisiting spirituality. 25:56 – On being a connector. 29:43 – Marketing oneself as a life coach. 33:14 – The credentialing process. 35:15 – Certs vs. results. 

In order for your marketing to be effective, you've got to market to the right people—you have to define your avatar. And a great way to do that is to start with data: Who's actually coming into gyms these days? Nathan Holiday, founder of Level Method, has the numbers. Here, he and Two-Brain Business founder Chris Cooper discuss who's interested in trying fitness programs like CrossFit (and who's not) and how to use that information to build the most effective marketing, onboarding, and delivery systems targeted to that audience.Links:Level MethodGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:00 – What the data tell us about who’s coming to the gym.4:25 – What two-thirds of people coming into your gym look like.9:49 – Business implications: onboarding.12:57 – Business implications: avatars.16:23 – Business implications: marketing.19:44 – Direct marketing with Level Method.

Chris Cooper's most popular book is "Two-Brain Business," but the book that most say is his best is "Help First." That's because it solved the problem of being afraid of being a slimy salesman: It teaches gym owners how to sell by doing the thing coaches do best—helping.Here's a peek at what's inside.Links:"Help First"Gym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:01 – Chris Cooper: The world’s worst salesman.4:29 – Why you need to get your message out there.5:43 – Selling is coaching.6:26 – Don’t worry about price.6:55 – Remove the choice about price.8:26 – Retention—and caring enough to tell the truth.9:07 – The right way to approach staffing and staff pay.10:30 – Why you should give away knowledge—but not coaching—for free.

It's that time of year—your Facebook feed is full of athletes hoping to make the leap to elite, and once again you find yourself thinking: "The CrossFit Games are cool—but do they matter for my business?" The answer is yes—and no.Here, Coop addresses that question and provides three strategies that will help if you want to use the competitive CrossFit season to help grow your gym.Links: Intramural Open GuideGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:50 – Who the Open is for, and how it can benefit your business.4:27 – How Regionals (or Semifinals) can get your staff fired up. 6:46 – What can the Games actually do for your clients? 9:21 – Gym business models that benefit from the CrossFit Games. 11:39 – It’s the stories that matter.13:53 – Using the Intramural Open to boost retention. 15:21 – Going to Regionals/Semifinals to maximize inspiration. 16:12 – The CrossFit Games as a networking and learning opportunity. 

Open a gym. Be a phenomenal coach. Make lots of money. If only it were that simple.You do need to be an excellent coach and provide excellent service, but that isn't enough to run a successful gym business—and we've got the data to prove it. We've also got the data that shows what DOES work. Here's Chris Cooper on the three business models of the most successful CrossFit gyms, the pros and cons of each, and what kind of gym owner they work best for. Links:How to Make $150,000 Per Year With 150 ClientsGym Owners UnitedGreg Glassman on Two-Brain RadioTimeline:1:52 – The method is not the model.7:20 – Model No. 1: Owner-operator. 9:56 – Model No. 2: How many gym owners shift from barely breaking even to $100k per year.13:31 – Model No. 3: Building diverse revenue streams and moving out of the business.17:48 – Mix and match if you want—but don’t start from a blank slate. 

We all know sleep is important, and if you're a fitness trainer, you've probably told your clients to get more of it. But beyond that, most trainers draw a blank. They might toss a sleep hygiene article at clients and tell them to get a sleep tracker. But how helpful are those things really? And how important is it to coach sleep when you've got big fish like exercise and nutrition to fry? Nick Lambe founded The Online Sleep Coach to address those questions and teach trainers what they need to know about sleep, how to teach it to their clients, and how to build systems around sleep coaching. Links:The Sleep Coach Course@theonlinesleepcoachGym Owners UnitedTimeline:3:36 – Coaching sleep: The void in the fitness industry.4:59 – Where does sleep rank in the hierarchy? 9:46 – Why coaches don’t talk about sleep enough.13:07 – The oversimplification problem.16:41 – How to implement sleep into a coaching practice. 21:46 – Getting clients to buy in.25:25 – Sleep trackers: Yea or nay? 35:29 – Helping trainers systematize sleep coaching.

You wouldn't go to the doctor and expect to have to choose your own medication and dosage, right? So why are you leaving the same decision in the hands of your fitness clients? Goal reviews are a key element of the prescriptive model of sales, but they're about more than selling. It's your responsibility as a professional coach to check in with your clients, find out what their goals are, and tell them exactly what they need to do to reach them—regardless of whether that means an upsell or not. Two-Brain gyms do goal reviews with their clients three times per year. Here's what they look like and why they're critical for success—for both your clients and your business.Links:Gym Owners UnitedTimeline:00:14 – The prescriptive model. 4:18 – A client’s first 90 days. 5:05 – The first goal review. 6:57 – It’s not about upselling; it’s about providing the solution. 8:01 – The Two-Brain goal-review process.9:23 – The power of celebrating your clients. 

If you're stuck on how to grow your gym, you may be tempted to look at the more successful gym down the street and do what they're doing. Charge what they're charging. Advertise like they're advertising. But the perspective you actually need is that of an outsider—even one as far outside the box as to be outside the fitness industry altogether. There are six key strategies you can use to grow your business, says Chris Cooper, and for each of those strategies, Coop has a recommendation for a great book packed with objective advice from an outside perspective.Links:Profit First for MicrogymsThe E-Myth RevisitedGood to GreatRich Dad, Poor DadNever Lose a Customer AgainHow to Win Friends and Influence PeopleState of the IndustryGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:05 – CrossFit: founded with an outsider’s perspective. 4:47 – Your method isn’t your business model. 5:51 – “Profit First for Microgyms”6:29 – “The E-Myth Revisited” 7:07 – “Good to Great”7:34 – “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”8:49 – “Never Lose a Customer Again”10:05 – “How to Win Friends and Influence People”10:51 – “State of the Industry”