Run a Profitable Gym

In business, it can be tough to formulate a win-win-win scenario: The business wins, the client wins, and the client's client wins, too.But that's exactly what Dave Colina and his company, Drink O2, did when the COVID-19 pandemic began to hit gyms hard — and they've only continued to do bigger and better good since then, including bringing together a coalition of fitness brands to help gym owners make more retail sales and incentivize and retain new clients. Learn about how O2 took a help-first approach to a community in crisis — and how everyone can benefit from it. Links:Drink O2Community CoalitionChalk It ProGym Owners UnitedContact:gyms@drinko2.comTimeline:1:43 – The story behind Drink O2.4:29 – Helping gyms during the COVID crisis.8:01 – Forming a coalition of brands to support gyms.12:59 – “Stay for May”: an even bigger impact.18:32 – Dealing with the chaos surrounding the CrossFit brand.24:02 – How O2 and CrossFit are joining forces to help affiliates become more profitable. Dave's thoughts on the new Affiliate Partner Network.

CrossFit, LLC recently announced its newest offering: CrossFit Precision Health Care, billed as "personalized healthcare from CrossFit-trained doctors and health professionals based on your unique goals and needs."But what exactly is it? Does it work? Will it help affiliate owners and their clients, or is it just another form of competition? Chris Cooper weighs in with his initial thoughts.Links:Two-Brain ProgrammingForever FierceGym Owners UnitedCrossFit Precision CareJulie Foucher and Eric Roza discuss the state of primary careTimeline:1:17 – Four questions to ask when considering CrossFit’s new Precision Health Care program.2:50 – How an ecosystem of support in health care could be beneficial to your clients.6:56 – Will CrossFit’s Precision Health Care present competition for affiliates?8:19 – Will it help your clients? 9:03 – Will it help your coaches? 9:58 – Will it help CrossFit, LLC?10:51 – The Two-Brain verdict.

When it comes to bank accounts, bigger is better, right? Chris Cooper says "no!" Don't misunderstand: He's not saying you should spend every dime you make. But if your go-to financial strategy is to squirrel away every dollar into your business' bank account, you're actually limiting your earning potential. Coop explains it all in this sprint episode of Two-Brain Radio.Links:AGuardBeyond the WhiteboardGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:11 – Hoarding too much money is wasteful.2:21 – Your safety net doesn’t need to be that big.4:06 – How much cushion you really need. 6:03 – Don’t let insecurity drive your financial plan.7:13 – Examine where that insecurity comes from.

What do you do when the gym down the street undercuts you on prices? Or opens a location a hop and skip from your front door? Or steals your best ideas? Celebrate, says Chris Cooper.  Competition is just an opportunity.An opportunity to be the A-plus service and get the clients who graduate up to your gym after stagnating with the B-minus service. An opportunity to get the best clients while the lesser competition gets the ones who're out for a discount. An opportunity to differentiate yourself and be better. Links:Driven NutritionArboxGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:05 – The kind of competition you want.4:53 – The goldfish scenario.7:41 – Why you shouldn’t worry about copycats.9:26 – An opportunity to be different.10:24 – An opportunity to be the best.14:16 – Why you need competition.

Eleven years ago, Billy Hofacker answered a knock at his door, only to find his brand-new, cherished Honda Accord being towed away by the repo man. When he faced the mountain of unpaid bills and did the math, the total came to a staggering $130,000 of consumer debt.Today, Hofacker — a personal trainer of 20 years — is the owner and CEO of Total Body Boot Camp and Performance Center, with two successful locations in the hyper-competitive market of Long Island, New York. And he uses the tools and expertise he gained digging out of his own debt and building a platform of wealth to help other fitness pros do the same.Here, he and Chris Cooper talk about how gym owners can win with money.Links:Your Fitness Money Coach"Fitness Profits"Your Fitness Coach Money PodcastDrink O2Beyond the WhiteboardGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:47 – Becoming a fitpro. 4:09 – Hitting financial rock bottom.6:33 – Becoming the Fit Money Coach.8:29 – The most common money problems fitpros face. 10:01 – How to stop feeling guilty about charging what you’re worth.13:34 – How Billy paid off $130,000 of personal debt in five years.18:13 – How paying off that debt made Billy a better business owner. 20:34 – What Billy does for fitpros.21:37 – Staying motivated after you’ve made the money.25:13 – What to do with the money you’ve made. 

John Heringer owns Method3 Fitness in San Jose, California — a gym that does $86k in monthly revenue. What's the secret? The secret is that there's no singular secret. Retention tactics, sales strategies, systems to execute those things and a true service mindset — Heringer and his team weave it all together. The result? High-value clients who get results, stay longer and generate more revenue.John and Two-Brain Radio host Mike Warkentin dive into the details here.Links:Method3 FitnessLevel MethodTwo-Brain ProgrammingGym Owners UnitedTimeline:1:28 – Getting to know Method3 Fitness.10:08 – Going from $100k per year to $86k per month.13:55 – Personal training vs. group fitness: Method3’s breakdown.16:12 – Tactics for stellar length of engagement and retention.25:38 – Saving — and even upgrading — would-be cancelers. 29:37 – The other arm of revenue: Sales.33:53 – A prescriptive approach to the free trial.37:56 – The results roadmap meeting.40:27 – It’s a lot of work. How does Method3 manage? 44:46 – Systemize it, staff it, streamline it.45:40 – One powerful thing you can do today to improve retention.

So you've got a successful gym business. You're paying the bills and making a nice profit, too. Time to start another business and double your money! — Hold on a sec.Chris Cooper is no stranger to starting businesses, and in his original book, "Two-Brain Business," he describes your first business as the cornerstone to a larger platform that you can build.But what he didn't mean was to go open a coffee shop, pizza joint or even a yoga studio. Here, Coop offers guidance on when to start a second business — and what that second business should be.Links:Gym Lead MachineForever FierceGym Owners United"Two-Brain Business""Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief""Gym Owners Handbook"Two-Brain CoachingTwo-Brain ProgrammingTimeline:0:36 – Why Coop is rewriting “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief.”2:11 – Why most gym owners should not start a brand-new business.4:54 – The key middle ground.6:03 – Why Chris started Two-Brain Coaching. 8:37 – Why Chris started Two-Brain Programming.13:29 – The question you need to ask yourself before you start another business.15:48 – What Chris is working on now.

A good coach starts and ends the class on time and teaches the air squat well. A great coach does those things and much more: They close sales through no-sweat intros. They follow your coaching principles but bring their own expertise and personalities to the floor. They create content and build authority as experts in their field. At least, the ones who complete the Two-Brain Coaching course do. Here, course creator and mentor Mike Watson joins Two-Brain mentor and Two-Brain Coaching co-founder Josh Martin to talk about how the course benefits coaches and gym owners alike.Links:Two-Brain CoachingIncite TaxGym Owners UnitedContact: mike@twobraincoaching.comTimeline:3:05 – Rockstars of the Two-Brain Coaching course.7:55 – What is a Module 1 coach?10:45 – Preparing coaches to handle No-Sweat Intros.18:57 – Helping coaches find and hone their niches.22:44 – Coaches’ homework: content creation. 25:07 – How to get coaches to create content.30:11 – Getting third-party insight. 32:14 – Bringing the benefits back to the gym — and making other coaches better, too.36:28 – Developing a cohesive approach among your staff.41:00 – Building confidence.

The unlimited membership is often pegged as the key to building revenue and retention.But if you're rolling all your services into one package — your core offerings plus extras like nutrition coaching or speciality classes — you're actually undercutting the value of those offerings and priming clients to get bored and look elsewhere. Chris Cooper explains it all here. Links:Chalk It ProDriven NutritionGym Owners UnitedTimeline:0:59 – If clients should only pay for what they want, why does Two-Brain offer more resources than any one gym owner could use?2:11 – Value vs. perceived value. 4:23 – Recency bias.6:41 – Two-Brain Business vs. recency bias and the biz-coaching biz.10:17 – Balancing core offerings with novelty.

How come F45, Orangetheory and the fancy club downtown can charge sky-high prices for "total transformations" and you can't? Especially when you're just as good — if not better — at coaching? It's all about value — and the client gets to decide what yours is. Here, Chris Cooper shares five key ways to establish a higher value for your service — and charge more for it. Links:AGuardArboxTwo-Brain CoachingGym Owners United"The Go-Giver"Timeline:1:59 – You don’t determine your value. Your clients do. 3:44 – The five laws of value.4:22 – Excellence.5:11 – You have to get people results. 7:15 – You also need to be a communicator. 9:02 – Consistency.11:22 – Attention.14:09 – Empathy.16:02 – Appreciation.