Run a Profitable Gym

You're in the service business—but that doesn't mean you always have to listen to your clients.As a gym owner, you need to carefully consider when to give the squeaky wheels the grease and when to keep your own counsel.In this episode of Run a Profitable Gym, Chris Cooper gives you an exercise that will help you identify your best clients, and he'll help you use them to improve your gym or fitness business.A word to the wise: Avoid member surveys at your gym or affiliate. Your clients deserve your respect and care, but their feedback won't help you grow your business. Your best clients won’t give you anything actionable in a survey. Your worst clients will complain and expect action. Worst of all, surveys make it easy to confuse the squeaky wheels with the people who are really driving the train.Instead of surveys, identify your best clients. Take them for coffee. Listen carefully. They won’t give you good advice on how to run your business (that’s a mentor’s job), but they’ll tell you how to serve them more—and how to find others like them, too.LinksGym Owners UnitedBook a Call1:40 - Identifying your best clients3:50 - Questions to ask your best clients5:35 - When to ignore clients and members of the "loud minority"10:30 - Why surveys are a bad idea

Gym owner Ashley Kates made significant gains in just six months after hiring a Two-Brain Business mentor:- Her take-home pay increased.- Her gross revenue at her training studio increased.- Her husband was able to quit his job to be a stay-at-home dad.- She worked fewer hours and had less stress at her gym.With the help of a business coach, Ashley solidified her fitness business with procedures and policies, and she mapped out her client journey to include data-backed best practices. From there, she implemented a lead-nurturing process that fed perfect clients into a business that was carefully created to help people accomplish their goals through high-value coaching. By adding touch points throughout the client journey, Ashley increased length of engagement (retention) and drove her average revenue per member way above $300. The result: She's now running a sound, profitable business, and she's living the life she wants.LinksGym Owners UnitedBook a Call0:57 - Pre- and post-mentorship statistics2:41 - The exact changes Ashley made with a mentor7:58 - Is mentorship worth the investment?9:34 - The business model at Mom+me Strong14:41  - Ashley's future plans for her gym18:16 - Ashley's advice to other gym owners

The key to exponential growth in your gym: have your clients bring you more clients.Your existing members are one of the most valuable assets to a gym owner— but your clients aren't salespeople, even if they see the immense value of your service. You just can't wait around for them to bring more members into your gym, studio or affiliate. So how do you create a "referral culture" in your business and your community? In this show, Chris Cooper shares advice he earned by creating a referral system that continuously supplies clients to his gym—even during COVID shutdowns and tough economic times. Anyone can use this marketing technique, and the time you spend on it will prove to be a great investment that compounds over time. With a strong network in place, you'll reduce your marketing costs for years and enjoy a steady stream of very warm leads who are eager to train with you. LinksGym Owners UnitedBook a Call1:49 - Five steps to building a referral network in your gym16:43 - What can a referral network do for you in the Tinker Phase?17:20 - Setting up a referral web for your entire town

Jake Fields runs a profitable gym with a lot of clients. That's an important distinction because piles of clients don't guarantee profitability.Fields has close to 300 members at his CrossFit affiliate and earned a spot on Two-Brain's leaderboard for most clients in October 2022. In this episode, he shares the secrets of how he retains and acquires members. For Jake, it's all about systems: He has specific processes to generate leads, prequalify them, sell to them with free consultations, onboard them and retain them for years. The staff at CrossFit Devotion have their roles clearly laid out, and they know how success is measured.It wasn't always this way. At one point, Fields was losing clients as fast as he was acquiring them. Then he solved his retention problems with systems and now has his business running like a well-oiled machine.LinksHow to Sell With BonusesBook a CallGym Owners United1:08 - Retention at CrossFit Devotion: systems and client success managers10:48 - Client-acquisition strategies20:42 - Systems, procedures and getting the client count unstuck 

Making $100,000 as a personal trainer might seem impossible at first. But it can be done if you create the right business plan.It's not enough to just be a great coach. You need coaching skills for sure, but they must be balanced by entrepreneurial skills if you're going to create a career in the fitness industry. On today's episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper—a former personal trainer and current gym owner—tells you exactly how to build a coaching practice that will allow you to earn $100,000 a year in a PT studio, commercial gym or CrossFit affiliate. He'll give you three ways to make 100 grand, as well as six reasons you aren't hitting that number now. Use this info to build a business that helps clients and provides a great income for you and your family. LinksBook a CallGym Owners United0:53 - Three ways to make $100,000 per year28:31 - Six reasons you're not making $100,000 per year44:33 - How to resolve those six issues and find succcess

The Phoenix uses the power of movement and activity to help sober people rise from the ashes of addiction all over the United States. Through activities such as CrossFit, yoga and indoor climbing, recovering addicts or substance users develop positive coping mechanisms, make new connections and see the possibilities in a sober life.Chris Cooper talks with Scott Strode, founder of The Phoenix, about his story and the purpose of his project.If you're sober or struggling with substance abuse, there is real, transformative help for you. If you're a gym owner looking to incorporate The Phoenix into your business, click the link below to affiliate or send an email to get a program running in your gym. If you see people struggling in your area, affiliating with The Phoenix could change countless lives in your community. LinksContact to bring The Phoenix into your gym: mbakhtiari@thephoenix.orgThe Phoenix Affiliation LinkBook a Call Gym Owners United0:24 - What is The Phoenix?2:54 - How the process works11:42 - Relationship between intensity and efficacy17:23 - The "third time" rule20:46 - Bringing Phoenix programming into gyms36:58 - How to become a Phoenix affiliate

As Black Friday approaches every year, gym owners are always tempted to offer massive discounts and promote wild sales. Don't do it at your gym or strength and conditioning facility.If you slash your rates and give away free months at your PT studio or affiliate, you'll blow a hole in your profit and destroy your cash flow. So what should you do instead of discounting your services? Chris Cooper is behind the mic to give you five proven, tested strategies for generating a ton of year-end revenue at a gym.Instead of hurting your bottom line on Black Friday, take action to use one or more of these money-making tactics at your gym.LinksTop 5 Tactics to Generate Year-End RevenueBook a CallGym Owners United1:10 - Why you don't need Black Friday sales3:25 - Bonus tactic: "gratitude day"4:00 - Paid-in-full problems9:50 - How to say no to discounts20:45 - The five tactics

Two-Brain's data shows that only about 65 percent of gyms offer nutrition coaching despite the fact that it's relatively low drag, it doesn't require space and overhead, and it's a perfect complement to fitness programming. Get this: Some gyms and affiliates use nutrition services to generate 20-30 percent of their total revenue. If you haven't added nutrition coaching to your gym, you're missing out on a huge opportunity, and your clients might not be getting optimal results.So why isn't everyone offering the service? Because most gym owners don't know where to start.To help you take action today, Clark Hibbs of Yellow Rose Fitness talks about starting an in-house nutrition program at his gym. He shares every detail of the program so you can create your own version. With his simple do's and don'ts, you could be on your way to increasing your gross revenue with nutrition coaching in no time.LinksBook a CallGym Owners United1:35 - Importance of a nutrition program in a gym business4:18 - Early stages of introducing nutrition7:17 - Retention and length of engagement13:20 - What do gym owners need to create a nutrition program?23:54 - Clark's advice for starting a nutrition program in a gym

Because gym owners are always afraid they'll lose clients, they often view any other care providers as competition.But as a fitness coach, CrossFit affiliate or gym owner, you aren't in competition with athletic therapists, physiotherapists, doctors and chiropractors. In fact, you can actually connect with these local professionals to create referral webs that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.In this episode, Chris Cooper presents eights steps for creating more local connections than the electric company, as well as a host of real-world examples that show what can happen when you make it a habit to connect with people and offer help whenever you can. LinksBook A CallGym Owners United1:00 - You're not a therapist!6:02 - Scope of practice and the sickness-wellness-fitness continuum11:47 - Connecting with others in the local community15:20 - 8 steps to more local connections18:59 - Real-world examples

Gym owner Chris Plentus walks you through the ins and outs of the Tinker program, Two-Brain's mentorship system for top-tier gym owners and other advanced entrepreneurs. You'll learn what to expect from mentorship at this stage, what you'll get in the program, and how others have used Tinker to grow their businesses and leadership skills exponentially.If your gym is stable and doesn't eat up all your time, and if you're paying yourself about $100,000 per year, you're probably wondering what to do next as an entrepreneur. That's where Tinker comes in. The goal of the program: help entrepreneurs reach $1 million in net worth so they can create legacies for their families and pursue more opportunities to help in local communities.LinksFounder, Farmer or Tinker? Take the quiz! Two-Brain's Tinker programBook A CallGym Owners United0:47 - What is a tinker?3:51 - Finding your path as a tinker7:59 - The resources of the Tinker network10:10 - The Tinker program structure and benefits18:28 - The great things tinkers are doing23:41 - How do you know you're ready for Tinker?28:02 - New projects and taking action through accountability31:12 - Advice for people who are thinking about joining Tinker