Run a Profitable Gym

What's better than a free trial?  Providing value. Free knowledge won't get you long-term clients. Providing something of value will — and value isn't free.Here's Chris Cooper on the difference between value and price, and why you're doing yourself a disservice by offering free trials.Links:AGuardBeyond the WhiteboardGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:08 – Value vs. price.6:14 – Value is better than free.9:54 – Knowledge doesn’t create value. Action does.

You want your coaches to make a good living at your gym. But how can you pay them more without hurting your bottom line? It's not about giving staff a bigger piece of the pie, Chris Cooper says. It's about baking a bigger pie.Here's how to do it. Links:Two-Brain CoachingTwo-Brain ProgrammingGym Management: The Case for Part-Time CoachesIntrapreneurialism 101Go With ThemTimeline:2:31 – You earn more money by creating more value for more people.3:28 – Pay coaches more by helping them build their careers.6:57 – The wrong way to pay coaches more. 7:33 – Figure out what you can afford to pay per class.9:34 – What to do if that figure is too low.11:42 – The ratios stay the same—so bake a bigger pie.12:15 – Should coaches get paid the same amount?

If there's a business book out there, chances are Chris Cooper's read it. That's good news for you, because it means you don't have to guess which ones are worth your while. Here are Chris Cooper's top reads — books that actually made a measurable difference in his business — from 2021, as well as which ones you can stand to skip.Links:Incite TaxDriven NutritionGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:49 – “$100M Offers: How to Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No” by Alex Hormozi.3:06 – “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown. 4:50 – “Steal the Show: From Speeches to Job Interviews to Deal-Closing Pitches, How to Guarantee a Standing Ovation for all the Performances in Your Life” by Michael Port.6:24 – “Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day” by Jay Shetty.7:40 – “The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.10:01 – “Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life” by Jordan Peterson.11:44 – “Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy.14:29 – “Get Different” by Mike Michalowicz.16:13 – The books you can skip from 2021.

The holiday season: Chris Cooper calls it the "black hole of hedonism." Schedules fill up, good eating habits go out the window for weeks on end and frustrated clients pause their memberships—or even quit altogether. How do you keep your clients from getting sucked in?Here's Coop on the best way to retain clients during the holidays.Links:Drink O2Gym Lead MachineGym Owners UnitedTimeline:0:46 – A coach’s greatest weapon during the holiday season.1:48 – Give your clients a plan.2:48 – The habits tracker.4:04 – Go back to the CALM model.

Want to sell a higher-value service?  Or increase the value of the service you already provide? You've got to increase your "with-ness.""With-ness" is the degree to which your service is a "done-with-you" service. That means you're not selling a commodity (done for you) and you're not selling an instruction manual (do it yourself). You're walking the path right alongside your client, giving them personalized attention and feedback and adjusting the course as needed. You're doing it with them.Done-for-you and do-it-yourself services are not bad. But they're not what you're selling—at least not if you're selling high-value coaching. Links:Drink O2Gym Lead MachineGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:21 – Lessons from Coop’s editor. 4:37 – Why you’re worth big-ticket prices.5:12 – Done-for-you services: Pros and cons.6:35 – DIY: Pros and cons.8:51 – Bridging the gap with done-with-you services.9:42 – Benefits of the done-for-you approach.11:06 – DIY and done for you: Neither is your competition.14:26 – “With-ness”: Where the value is.18:29 – What high-value coaching looks like.

Sales and marketing may be trendy and sexy, but retention is where you make your money. It's easier—and more cost-effective—to keep a client than to gain a new one. Nick Seabock owns CrossFit Off the Grid in New Jersey, and with an average length of engagement of 41 months per client, he was Two-Brain's retention leader for July.Here, he joins Mike Warkentin to talk retention tactics: How to keep clients new and old engaged and committed for the long haul.Links:CrossFit Off the GridBeyond the WhiteboardChalk It ProGym Owners UnitedFree ToolsTimeline:2:24 – Nick Seabock: Third in line to the gym-owner throne.7:13 – Going from head coach to owner.9:51 – Back to basics.13:13 – Social media: Your most powerful retention tool.18:32 –The power of touch points.21:26 – Systematizing retention efforts.24:34 – Automation vs. personalization. 27:28 – Don’t forget about your long-timers.32:59 – Tell your members’ stories.34:51 – What to do today to start improving length of engagement.

Remember when you first started coaching and your whiteboard briefings were more like physiology lectures? You don't do that anymore now. Now, as a mature coach, you know your clients just need to focus on one cue at a time. Entrepreneurship has a path to maturity, too. Some lessons you can learn from books and experts. Others simply require time — and experience making a mistake or two. Chris Cooper's been an entrepreneur for a long time, and he's made a lot of mistakes. But he's better for it, and here, he shares some wisdom from the road to entrepreneurial maturity. Links:ArboxAGuardGym Owners UnitedTimeline:0:55 – How Coop realized he was maturing as an entrepreneur.3:42 – Taking a long-term perspective.6:46 – You never know what worse luck your bad luck will save you from.8:40 – Finding balance between business concepts.10:14 – Understanding that retention trumps sales. 11:59 – Flexible with service, committed to audience.13:04 – You can learn from your competition. 14:29 – Finish one thing before starting another. 16:05 – Signs you have a ways to go: You think too much about what others are doing.16:24 – You try to impress the wrong people. 17:32 – You chase novelty. 18:12 – You get political. 19:17 – You’re suspicious of others’ success.

CrossFit LLC recently released its new CrossFit Affiliate Playbook. What's inside? Who might benefit most from it? And is the advice any good? Coop shares his thoughts.Links:Drink O2Beyond the WhiteboardHow to Make $100,000 with 150 clientsGym Owners UnitedTimeline:3:07 – Why you need a playbook.6:35 – The reason most gyms fail.8:21 – Cracking open the CrossFit Affiliate Playbook.9:55 – Defining success.11:50 – Core values, mission, and vision.13:31 – On culture and exclusivity.15:39 – How to serve people better.17:36 – Creating a business plan.21:09 – SWOT analysis.21:40 – Revenue models and the right questions to ask.23:40 – Remember who’s talking.24:29 – Where the CrossFit Affiliate Playbook deviates from the data.26:38 – What the playbook gets wrong about setting prices.32:02 – What the CrossFit Affiliate Playbook could do for you.

The gym down the street is closing. Yours, however, is doing great. Should you buy the failing gym? Is it an opportunity to grow your business or will you be buying a whole new set of problems? Chris Cooper is notorious for advising against buying other gyms. But there are a few situations in which buying is a win-win for everyone — and even Coop would make an offer. Here's what they look like.Links:Incite TaxLevel MethodFree ToolsGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:05 – Gyms are getting sold — and why that’s a good thing.3:38 – The one reason Coop would buy another gym.5:06 – Barriers to buying a built-in audience.5:41 – What mistakes are you buying? 6:15 – A successful gym buyout. 8:47 – Purchasing retention.9:53 – Selling a gym as a Two-Brain client.11:47 – Know what you’re buying.

When was the last time you taught your clients something new? We've all got our preferences: CrossFit, boot camp, yoga. But when you bring something new into your practice, your clients — and your business — will be better for it. It's what we do all the time at Two-Brain Business. Learn why in this episode of Two-Brain Radio, then take Coop up on his challenge to learn five new exercises in the next 30 days that will help broaden your practice and benefit your clients.Links:Gym Lead MachineTwo-Brain CoachingGym Owners UnitedTimeline:2:37 – Buying knowledge from the experts.7:12 – How CrossFit made something new out of existing parts. 9:02 – Why gym owners should try new things. 11:40 – Coop’s challenge to you.