This week we discuss the healthy friction between business systems and team flexibility.As an entrepreneur, systemizing your business is vital to the growth of your business. However, where do you draw the line between systems and giving your employees enough autonomy to make decisions when certain scenarios present themselves?In the fitness industry, we are in the people business, and even if you have the best systems, there will always be some scenarios that call for your team to be flexible enough to make a decision to meet the needs of the customer.Rick recommends that you have healthy friction between systems and team flexibility but have some guardrails in place that limit how far that your team can go.Listen in to learn how to run tight systems in your fitness business while still providing enough autonomy to your team to make customers happy.Key Takeaways- Why you need some flexibility within your team (01:24)- How to introduce flexibility in a personal training business (02:39)- Employees are happier if they have some autonomy (03:20)- Giving your team leeway to make decisions (04:29)- Are your customers happy (05:56)Additional Resources:https://alloypersonaltraining.com/Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity: alloyfranchise.com---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

This week, Matt and Rick discuss the brand promise of Alloy Personal Training. It's very important that you put your flag in the ground in regards to your brand and then build the right machine to meet that promise.As a fitness entrepreneur, what do you really believe in? What is your fitness philosophy? This is the starting point to building a brand promise.Once you've figured out your brand promise and your customer archetype, then you can build a machine around it and take it to the market as your business.If you deliver consistently on your brand promise, your business becomes more credible in the customer's eyes.Here at Alloy Personal Training, our brand promise is Look Good, Feel Great, Live Life to the Fullest. To deliver on this promise, we incorporate three pillars.Listen in as Rick and Matt explain how we deliver on our brand promise here at Alloy Personal Training and why it has proved right for the last 30 years!Key Takeaways- What do you really believe in? (02:17)- Strength training for our customer archetype (03:54)- Why do your clients come to the gym (08:46)- Pushing mindset change around exercise (12:17)- How eating less is a huge predictor of lifespan (13:14)- Lifestyle movement (19:19)- Sleep is a big deal (21:44)Additional Resources:https://alloypersonaltraining.com/Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity: https://alloyfranchise.com/---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, Matt and Rick discuss the "ugly baby" syndrome and how it can affect your business. Spoiler alert- your one and only lens should be your customers' needs and not your personal passions.Every parent thinks their baby is the cutest little bundle of joy in the world. This is okay, but as entrepreneurs, we are the mothers of our businesses, and it would be a fatal mistake if we fell in love with our product or service and treat it as a cute little baby.In the fitness industry, we have seen many gyms and trainers try to force their passions on the customer. Your customers don't care about your passion for your product. Passion may help you wake up early and work hard, but it won't make people buy your product.As a fitness entrepreneur, you should be solely focused on meeting your clients where they are at. Helping them achieve their goals and improve their lives. If you're looking at an Alloy Personal Training Franchise, just know that all the programming, marketing, and everything we do is done through the lens of the consumer. That's why our model is strong, markets well, and has a higher client lifetime value!Join in the conversation and learn more about the Ugly Baby Syndrome and how it applies to your fitness business.Key Takeaways- Nobody cares about your passion for your product (03:20)- Why McDonald's is so successful (04:45)- The only reason customers buy your product (05:37)- Customers are not buying your passion (07:44)- Focus on what the customer wants (09:31)- What makes a good fitness coach? (11:48)- Who cares (14:06)- Why the Alloy Franchise model markets well (15:47)Additional Resources:https://alloypersonaltraining.com/Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity: https://alloyfranchise.com/---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!  

The Alloy Personal Training Fitness Brand has grown in leaps and bounds over the last 25 years to where we are right now; licensing and franchising thousands of clubs worldwide.Part of the reason for this growth is the opportunity that lies in going for the lucrative over-50 market.This demographic holds over 70% of America’s disposable income and continues to grow in numbers. In fact, it can be said to the wealthiest generation of all time.Intriguingly, only 5-10% of marketing dollars are targeted towards this demographic.In the fitness industry, the data shows that this demographic can afford higher-priced memberships, have higher retention rates, and hence has a higher client lifetime value.In addition, most of the players in the industry are still focused on the younger demographic hence lower competition for the over-50s.Tune in to this great conversation as Rick and Jay discuss the power of this lucrative market and the opportunity it offers to fitness entrepreneurs, and how to market to them.Key Takeaways- Why the Alloy Franchise targets the 50+ market (01:26)- Why training older individuals is similar to training pro athletes (03:40)- The empirical evidence that supports targeting an older demographic (07:27)- The ideal Alloy Franchisee (14:22)- How to market to over-50s effectively (18:41)- The power of success stories in attracting people to the gym (21:57)Additional Resources:https://alloypersonaltraining.com/Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity: https://alloyfranchise.com/---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

Last week, we talked about Dunbar's number and why it's critical to the success of your fitness business, especially when determining the ideal number of members in a gym.Today, we build on this by discussing the approach we use to determine the ideal client capacity in a personal training fitness model.We also speak of the percentage of capacity that is actually attainable in a gym. Most gym owners will often paint a rosy picture of being always full, but this is not the reality. In our model here, we usually hit 80% scheduling efficiency, which is a good metric. Tune in to hear of the simple formula we use to determine client capacity in the Alloy personal training model and how the revenues work out. Key Takeaways- How we work on capacity (02:53)- How to store your gym equipment to facilitate different workouts (03:37)- Small group personal training model capacity formula (05:06)- Why selling unlimited sessions is not a good idea (08:45)- How to track the efficiency of your scheduling (09:52)- Modeling revenue for your ideal capacity (11:05)Additional Resources:https://alloypersonaltraining.com/Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity: https://alloyfranchise.com/---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

What is the ideal number of members for a personal training gym? That's the question we attempt to answer in today's episode.And to help us better understand the answer, we discuss Dunbar's Number and its significance to the fitness business.Robin Dunbar was a British evolutionary anthropologist who suggested the ideal number of people who can maintain stable social relationships in a social circle.You may already be wondering how this applies to your fitness business. But as you'll be hearing from Rick and Matt in this episode, this number is critical for your success.Here at Alloy Franchise, we have industry-leading retention rates, and the reason for that is because we run the smaller training gym model as Dunbar's Number suggests. Clients tend to stick longer, which leads to a higher lifetime value. This then allows us to focus on fitness rather than sales.Tune in to learn more about this interesting concept and how to apply it to your fitness businessKey Takeaways- How the Dunbar's No applies in the personal training business (02:15)- Why the smaller training gym model fared better during Covid (03:58)- Examples of Dunbar's number working in businesses (08:04)- Building a small tribe of people that trust and like each other (09:53)- The larger the model, the more time you spend on acquisition (10:58)- Why clients stick around longer in the Alloy Model (11:36)Additional Resources:https://alloypersonaltraining.com/Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity: https://alloyfranchise.com/---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

Why should anyone trust your business?One of the biggest indicators of the success of a business is the levels of trust customers have in it. Trust is the cornerstone upon which all other customer experiences are built on.So the question is, then how do you as a brand build trust? How do you get customers to trust that you are doing the right thing and want to do business with you and even refer their friends?Historically, gyms have not been very trustworthy. Clients are skeptical of our marketing and promises due to what they may have experienced in the past. It is our work as gym owners to correct this by building trust in our businesses.One of the things you can do to build trust is embracing full transparency in all that you do. All your marketing, messaging, and processes should be geared towards nurturing trust.Tune in to learn how, we as entrepreneurs in the fitness industry, can build and maintain trust in our business and attain success.Key Takeaways- Edelman Trust Barometer (02:42)- How to build trust as a business (06:56)- Avoid trickery and bait and switch in your marketing (07:52)- How the fitness industry lost trust (09:00)- Full transparency in your messaging (11:29)- Doing good is good for your business (12:30)- The idea is not to be popular but trustworthy (15:53)Additional Resources:https://www.edelman.com/trust/2020-trust-barometer-------https://alloypersonaltraining.com/Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity: https://alloyfranchise.com/---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

Eleven years ago, a Georgia State University student walked into the Alloy facilities for an internship and loved what he saw from the first day. The gym was packed, everybody was smiling and having fun, and the experience looked great.Right there, Cody Parks knew that this is what he wanted to do; this is what personal training should look like. Everything that he had envisioned was right before his eyes.It didn’t take long for Rick to notice his passion for fitness, particularly his knack for numbers and business systems. After the successful internship, Rick recommended Cody for a Director of Training role at a gym that wasn’t doing so well. Not only did Cody work with the owner to revive it, but he later made a play to buy it.Now Cody is a successful gym owner with big plans to help even more people by teaching freedom through fitness in schools, churches, and worldwide.His story is worth a listen, Tune in.Key Takeaways- Meet Cody Parks (00:27)- The internship experience at Alloy (03:02)- Being comfortable being uncomfortable (12:18)- How the Director of Training role prepares one to be a gym owner (13:34)-Transitioning from one on one to Small Group Personal Training (19:11)- Classes vs. personal training (24:28)- Cody’s big dream for fitness (26:58)Additional Resources:https://alloypersonaltraining.com/Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity: https://alloyfranchise.com/---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In the United States, there are more than 100 million over the age of 50. They also account for 70% of disposable income spending.In addition to having higher amounts of disposable income, this demographic has the time to spend on fitness, which is very important for them. These reasons explain why they make great long-term fitness clients.However, as Jay puts it in this episode, fitness facilities don't know how to or don't even want to market to this demographic. This is very intriguing and something every fitness entrepreneur should think about.Here at Alloy, we have known this for a long time, and this was further confirmed by our market research for our franchise. We realized that this is an underserved market.People over 50 are the largest growth opportunity for a fitness business and will remain so for the foreseeable future. But how and why to market to the 50 plus crowd is the million-dollar question.Listen in as Rick and Jay give you some tactics to use and also what not to say!Key Takeaways- Why does the fitness industry ignore the 50 plus demographic? (02:56)- How personal training helps serve the older demographic well (05:34)- How to market to the 50 plus crowd (09:55)- The different niches among the wider older demographic (10:58)- Words you should ever use when speaking to an older demographic (13:08)- How to build your brand around premium servicing to attract- How to package your brand as a premium service to attract the 50 plus crowd (20:45)- How to align all your content to be consistent with your target market (28:15)Additional Resources:Jay's Website: https://www.primefitcontent.com/Jay's Email: Jay@primefitcontent.comJay's Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/the-optimal-aging-podcast/id1532395738------www.AlloyPersonalTraining.comLearn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

Whether you are the manager of your business or you hire someone else for that role, you need a clear compensation structure for that position. Matt and Rick discuss 3 different scenarios and the best practices for manager compensation for each.The first scenario we talk about is the owner-operator, where you are most likely in the management seat as the owner. This might be as the Director of Training or as the General Manager. In this scenario, you’ll have to pay yourself a salary just like you’d do if you were employing someone.If you pay yourself a salary as an owner-operator, it will become much easier down the line if you wish to scale to multiple locations, quit the day-to-day operations, or even exit the business. The business model will be strong enough to pay for someone else to execute your role.In most cases, this isn’t the case with many owner-operators. They are not accounting for the expense of a manager and just take profit distributions. This can give a wrong impression about the profitability of your business. If you can’t pay yourself as a manager and realize a profit, it’s not a good thing for your business.Listen in for the other two management compensation scenarios Rick and Matt discuss and how to structure them to maintain the health of your business.Key TakeawaysHow the compensation structure works in an owner-operator model (02:57)What paying yourself a salary says about your business (03:55)Best manager compensation practices for a semi-absentee owner (07:01)Should you pay the manager a performance-based bonus (08:37)How does a full-on absentee investor structure manager’s compensation (10:23)How to create a feeling of ownership with your managers (12:07)50/50 partnerships management structure (14:17)Additional Resources:www.AlloyPersonalTraining.comLearn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity---------You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!