Chris Cooper, CEO of the largest gym mentorship companies in the world, discusses how data can help coaching gyms make better business decisions. Topics include industry best practices, the importance of youth programs, the State of the Industry Survey, pricing group training, debunking CrossFit member myths, and the data on being a gym owner.

John Franklin (⁠https://twitter.com/JohnIsBuilding)⁠, Mateo Lopez, and Mark Fisher (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpI_I0QUkOsTOVi-HYS-y1g) sat down with James Pratt from Pratt Personal Training (https://www.instagram.com/prattpersonaltraining/) to talk about how his small group training facility is on track to make $1.9M from a shared space. P.S. If you like our show, then you'll love the Gym World newsletter. Every Friday, John Franklin breaks down the possibilities of making money in the fitness industry. Subscribe here (https://blog.johnisbuilding.com/subsc...) so you don't miss out! Show notes: (2:20) What is Pratt Personal Training? (5:16) How James got started with personal training (9:01) How sharing a space with another facility works (12:32) How much does the gym rent cost? (15:18) Growing the business organically and lessons learned (21:57) Why believing in yourself and having confidence as a coach matters (28:21) Discussing CrossFit affiliates and approaches to business (33:54) What was James's hiring process? (39:29) What James would have done differently in his business (48:44) A common mistake gym owners make (54:12) James's advice to gym owners

John Franklin (https://twitter.com/JohnIsBuilding) & Mateo Lopez chat with fitness recruiter, Jessie Stackhouse (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessie-stackhouse/) from Just Fitness Staffing (http://www.justfitnessstaffing.com/), about what gym owners can do to improve their hiring process and attract ideal candidates. P.S. If you like our show, then you'll love the Gym World newsletter. Every Friday, John Franklin breaks down the possibilities of making money in the fitness industry. Subscribe here (https://blog.johnisbuilding.com/subsc...) so you don't miss out! Show notes: (1:19) Tips to improve your job description & posting (6:20) Why gym owners should consider working with recruiters (9:06) How and where to find quality candidates (11:18) Crafting an outreach message to potential candidates (12:58) Outbound vs. inbound candidates (13:59) How many candidates should you interview? (16:06) Red and green flags to look out for when screening candidates (21:03) The best platforms for sourcing talent (23:26) Advice for recruiting at in-person events (27:57) The most difficult position to fill in fitness (31:49) The importance of keeping a talent pipeline open (36:44) How to position your gym to be a place where people want to work  (40:36) How to improve your gym's website to attract talent (44:59) Finding high-caliber candidates and filling roles efficiently (51:15) Where to contact Jessie

John Franklin (https://twitter.com/JohnIsBuilding) & Mateo Lopez chat with fitness entrepreneur, Matt Wilber (https://mattwilberofficial.com/), about how he scaled to 10 locations, including four that bring in over $1M each. Show notes: (1:42) Introducing Matt Wilber & his start in the gym business (10:21) Opening his first location and hiring his first coach (12:42) Scaling to four locations using challenges (15:22) The cost of opening multi-location (16:43) Packaging & pricing bootcamp classes (18:23) What Matt did to stand out from other gyms (25:54) Hiring key players to your business (34:24) Who is coaching the coaches? (39:30) Scaling to 10 locations at the worst time possible (46:00) Transitioning from a large to small group training model (50:36) Packaging, pricing, and marketing a new model (55:15) Matt's internal upselling process (56:43) The challenges of switching business models

John Franklin (https://twitter.com/JohnIsBuilding) & Mateo Lopez talk to strength historian, Dr. Conor Heffernan (https://twitter.com/PhysCstudy?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor), about the history of fitness and why fitness marketing hasn't changed in the last 100 years. P.S. If you like our show, then you'll love the Gym World newsletter. Every Friday, John Franklin breaks down the possibilities of making money in the fitness industry. Subscribe here (https://www.johnisbuilding.com/subscribe) so you don't miss out! Show notes: (0:51) Introducing Dr. Conor Heffernan (2:51) The grossest protein powder or bodybuilding supplement (6:16) Who was the first personal trainer? (10:57) The history of physical culture and gyms in the 1800s (15:32) The evolution of gyms in the 1800s–who went to the gym? (21:16) Fitness marketing over the last 100 years (26:06) The first runaway success in strength advertising (29:53) Everyone wants rare workout sets (33:39) How co-operative gyms have evolved over time (39:24) Creating community with "the badge" (44:00) The first real fitness entrepreneurs (49:53) Are there any truly new fitness concepts or modalities? (54:24) Is lifting weird objects the future of strength training?

John Franklin (https://twitter.com/JohnIsBuilding) & Mateo Lopez chat with Lindsey VanSchoyck (https://www.instagram.com/lindseyvanschoyck_whnp/), the Founder of Rejuvenating Health (https://www.rejuvenatinghealth.net/), about her journey overcoming imposter syndrome while building an online nutrition coaching biz that's generating $100k/mo. Show notes: (1:10) Introducing Lindsey VanSchoyk & Rejuvenating Health (5:07) Generating $1M in online nutrition revenue (6:29) What sparked Rejuvenating Health? (7:43) How Lindsey cultivated her audience on social media (11:08) How Lindsey structured her offer (13:00) How do you build a strong team? (14:16) How Lindsey structured her sales process (18:18) How Lindsey refined her sales process (20:29) Leveraging Facebook Groups (23:45) The importance of following up with leads (25:13) Publishing strategy for e-books (27:34) Secret strategies to get more clients & semaglutides (32:49) Lindsey's advice for building a nutrition empire (36:30) How much of Lindsey's business comes from her personal vs. brand page (40:28) What happens at the end of Lindsey's program? (44:07) Lindsey's biggest tip–find creative ways for your clients to finance (47:13) Lindsey's goals for Rejuvenating Health (51:12) Organic vs. paid advertising (54:57) Lindsey's final advice

John Franklin (https://twitter.com/JohnIsBuilding) & Mateo Lopez chat with Mike Doehla (https://www.instagram.com/mikedoehla/?hl=en), the former CEO and Co-founder of Stronger U Nutrition, about how he bootstrapped a nutrition business and sold it for 8-figures. Show notes: (1:26) What is Stronger U Nutrition? (2:49) How Mike got into the nutrition business (6:28) Pricing nutrition programs & client numbers (11:29) How the business grew without paid marketing (15:20) Mike's system to managing thousands of clients (17:43) How do you have a work-life balance when scaling a biz? (19:31) What made Stronger U more successful than anyone else? (24:08) Mike discusses his social media strategy (29:02) How Mike hired the best coaches for Stronger U? (35:33) Advice for gym owners trying to add nutrition to their biz (38:40) Selling Stronger U Nutrition for 8-figures (43:16) The importance of doubling down on your strengths (45:54) How do you sell healthy habits? (54:55) Why Facebook is the best platform & how to use it (1:02:27) Navigating life after retiring & selling a business (1:04:16) Predicting opportunities in the fitness/nutrition industry (1:09:20) AI in the fitness industry (1:12:26) What's next for Mike?

John Franklin (https://twitter.com/JohnIsBuilding) & Mateo Lopez talk to Angelo Medici, a senior VP at Live Oak Bank (https://www.liveoakbank.com/), where he reveals exactly how gym owners can use the bank to build their wealth really fast. Show notes: (1:39) What is Life Oak Bank and SBA lending? (6:12) What makes a gym bankable? (aka, good target to get a loan) (9:09) What is the debt service coverage ratio? (11:48) How can gym owners value their business? (13:33) Example of a deal structure as a buyer with SBA (15:51) Benefits of SBA lending (17:47) How can gym owners qualify for an SBA loan? (18:47) What do payments & rates look like for a $1M loan? (23:17) How do interest rates affect a business's value? (25:53) Can you borrow from other lenders to put equity into an SBA? (28:17) What does the SBA timeline & process look like? (33:41) Can you have multiple SBA loans? (37:35) If you're not profitable, can you still qualify for a loan? (39:06) How do banks calculate a gym's EBITDA number? (42:31) The BEST use of an SBA loan (46:27) If I profit more, am I obligated to pay off the loan faster? (48:15) What is a line of credit and how does it work? (52:49) Where should gym owners look for a broker? (55:10) I have no experience in business, can I still qualify for a loan?

John Franklin (https://twitter.com/JohnIsBuilding) & Mateo Lopez chat with Jeff Schumacher, the Co-Founder of Engage Personal Training (https://engagepersonaltraining.com/), about how he opened 3 gyms in 10-months. Jeff provides insight for gym owners on how to run and scale multiple profitable gyms.   Show Notes: (0:36) Introducing Jeff Schumacher (3:47) The most difficult part of running multiple gyms (5:19) Explaining Engage Personal Training–why it works so well (9:38) The economics of Engage locations (15:00) The secret to obtaining high profit margins (17:00) How do you run a gym successfully with 2 staff members? (23:26) Jeff's strategies & offers to get bodies in the door (27:49) Why great customer-service is important (30:44) How Jeff finds the right operator & staff for his gyms (33:44) What's the onboarding process like? (36:23) Where does the cash come from to open a new facility? (37:58) How are staff members compensated at Engage? (42:26) Breaking down the costs of opening multiple locations (44:18) Would Jeff ever consider franchising? (47:05) Buying real estate vs. renting for multi-location (49:16) Launching a new location Out-of-State

John Franklin (⁠https://twitter.com/JohnIsBuilding)⁠, Mateo Lopez, and Mark Fisher (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpI_I0QUkOsTOVi-HYS-y1g) sat down with David Thomas Tao (https://twitter.com/d_tao?lang=en) to talk about how he built and sold BarBend.com (https://barbend.com/) – the next great fitness content brand in the industry.   Show notes: (00:58) Introducing David & being on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list (05:26) What it's like being a Spirits writer 🥃 (09:33) What is BarBend.com and how did it start? (13:10) How did David know starting a media company would work? (16:08) Explaining Pillar4 Media and what they do (23:09) Flying under the radar while building a massive brand (27:39) What to do to drive more traffic to your page (33:36) How can gym owners become the go-to source for training content? (36:58) Quality vs. quantity of content (40:03) Choosing the right social platform to post (43:25) How to balance posting content across different socials (46:06) What parts of the fitness industry are on an uptrend?