Run a Profitable Gym

Keith Yungel of CrossFit Pawling used to work endless hours doing every task at his gym. He missed time with his family, and his hourly rate was low. Now, as the CEO of his fitness business, he's working about 10 hours a month and taking home $867 per hour. He made the transition in about 2.5 years, and he'll tell you exactly how he did it. The key: creating standard operating procedures...

How do you figure out what to do as a fitness entrepreneur to move your business forward? The possibilities are endless, so Chris Cooper gives you five filters you can use to evaluate your options. Then he lays out a clear point of focus for each of the first three stages of entrepreneurship. Using these tools, you'll be able to find the clarity you need to take specific actions to grow your...

Staffing mistakes—they're all too common in gyms and other small businesses. Chris Cooper has made a ton of errors with staff in many businesses over the years, and today he'll share his four golden rules for staffing with you. These rules come from Cooper's trial and error, but if you listen and take action, you can avoid mistakes, heartache and stress at your fitness business. Lin...

It used to take new gym owners a long time to get to profitability. But now fitness entrepreneurs can blow past the once-mandatory period of losses and struggling to start earning money fast. The key: the book "Start a Gym" by Chris Cooper—along with the related course and free resources . Cooper, a gym owner, created the package to help fitness entrepreneurs build strong, stable busines...

You know that problem client needs to go—so how do you solve the problem without misery? In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper explains how you can set up referral partners who will be able to help the clients you can't. With this network in place, you'll be more likely to offload clients you don't want so you can focus on your best clients. If you don't have a plan,...

You might feel like you need every single client at your gym. But the truth is that subpar, unpleasant clients will prevent you and your staff from doing great work with A+ clients. Today, Chris Cooper will explain why you don't need "bottom feeders" and how to prevent them from taking up space in your business. You can still serve them—by helping them find a different place to trai...

That contract you found on the internet and altered for your gym—it might not hold any weight. Worse, it could get you in big trouble with the law. Most gym owners don't know it, but membership contracts must be carefully crafted to ensure they fall in line with local standards designed to protect consumers. If your contracts fall outside those standards, you could be at great risk. On today&...

When gyms start making more money, their owners often don't think about paying themselves more. But your business exists to serve you, and you deserve to earn a good living from your gym. On today's episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper offers four reasons to charge more at your gym, and then he provides five ways to give yourself a raise.  Two-Brain exists to help you make more money...

You might think setting up an LLC for your gym is enough—but it might not be. In fact, you might be doing five things—accidentally or on purpose—that severely limit your corporation's ability to protect you. For example, if you use your corporation's bank account as your personal piggy bank, you'll find yourself personally vulnerable in the event of a lawsuit. No operating agreement...

Clients stay with your business for two main reasons: They're solving the problem that brought them to you and they're enjoying the process. So how can a business owner ensure both of those things are happening for every client in the gym? In today's episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper shares some tips from gym owner and Certified Two-Brain Mentor Jeff Jucha. Listen and learn h...

Partnerships: They can be great. But they can also cause you to lose money and time. In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper lays out the three levels of partnership that will tempt gym owners. For each level, Chris will tell you exactly what to do, and he'll provide examples of common mistakes entrepreneurs make. Listen, then use this info to ensure any partnership you make provides...

Are you struggling to hire at your gym? Chris Cooper has the answer. First, maybe you're trying to fill the wrong roles. Chris will tell you which hires to prioritize so you offload the right tasks while ensuring clients still get the service they want.  Then, Chris has four simple steps to finding coaches: 1. Hire from within. 2. Hire the best in town. 3. Find the "future best." 4....

Can a virtual assistant help a gym owner? Yes—but only if you follow the right process. Two-Brain founder Chris cooper lays out seven steps to hiring a great VA and five steps for A+ onboarding in this episode of Two-Brain Radio. A VA can take a lot of work off your plate, but only if you find the right person and train them to do things exactly the way you want. If you hire the cheapest person an...

Ronan Mahon, owner of Movement Fitness in Dublin, Ireland, placed his gym on all three Two-Brain Business sales leaderboards in July. He booked a ton of appointments, had a 100 percent show rate and closed a huge number of sales. After closing three sales on the day of this interview, Ronan took a few minutes off to share his secrets with host Mike Warkentin. An experienced salesperson from his da...

9Round, F45, Orangetheory, Anytime Fitness and other franchises; CrossFit affiliates; jiu-jitsu, karate and MMA facilities; bodybuilding and personal training gyms; yoga and Pilates studios—Two-Brain can help all of them. In this episode, Chris Cooper lays out exactly how Two-Brain uses one-on-one mentorship to help each gym owner grow their unique business. While the exact mentor-recommended grow...

A kids program is a great way to add revenue to your gym–but many gym owners don't know how to fill fitness classes for children. Chris Cooper has nine ways to do it. Just a few examples:  Invite a kids team for a workout. Host a birthday party. Ask current clients to bring their kids' friends. Chris has six more doses of rocket fuel for your kids program. Listen, then take action to add...

Selling supplements in your gym has changed a lot in the last few years. So how do you navigate the current market and begin selling supplements with low risk? On today's episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper is joined by Mike Shelly from Thorne. They discuss the landscape of nutritional supplementation, the best supplements for gyms to sell, and how to get started with retailing using Tho...

“Hey, Coop, can you tell me how your lead-nurture process works at Two-Brain?” This question prompted Chris Cooper to pull back the curtain and explain exactly how he built his business through conversations. You can use the same process to build your gym, too. Listen as Chris lays out four simple steps to using conversations to get more gym clients. Bonus: You can use a similar approach to increa...

"We are in the business, you and I, of changing lives. If somebody comes into your gym and leaves a month later, they have not changed their life." Two-Brain founder and gym owner Chris Cooper said that, and  if you're a coach, trainer or fitness entrepreneur, you know it's true. So how do you measure "lives changed?" And how do you make greater changes in the lives o...

It's nice to think you could run a business without making any mistakes. But that's just not the case. Luckily, Two-Brain Business has a team of experienced mentors who share the mistakes they've made so other gym owners can avoid them. In today's episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper shares stories and advice from a handful of mentors on the Two-Brain team. He takes you thr...

Gym owner Chris Thacker reached over $1 million in gross revenue, but he had a problem:  An expansion came with increased expenses, and Thacker was struggling to keep on top of the mounting bills. He wasn't paying himself what he was worth, either. So he called Two-Brain Business.  With Two-Brain's guidance, Thacker got rid of discounts on training, shored up his service, increased his r...

You're making good money at your gym. You have great client retention and a solid headcount. Things are going well. So what now? In today's episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper helps you scale beyond your current gym. He discusses how to prepare your team to run your gym without you so you can tackle your next endeavor.  Chris also takes you through your options as an entrepreneur. E...

Can Two-Brain Business help gyms outside the U.S. and Canada? Yes! Two-Brain is the largest gym mentorship company in the world and has helped over 2,000 gyms all over the globe. We have  clients in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, France, Ireland, the U.K., Chile, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Japan and many other countries. Two-Brain also has multilingual mentors in a hos...

You want your business to run like a well-oiled machine—whether you’re there or not. But you can’t do that if the systems that keep the machine running are all in your head. In today’s episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper shares a valuable lesson from 2020 Summit speaker and retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink: Discipline equals freedom.  The secret to generating more revenue in your gym isn’t rai...

The CrossFit Games: You're there to watch the athletes and events. But what else would the clever affiliate owner do in Madison to grow a gym business? In today's episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper gives you some last-minute advice on tackling the Games correctly as an affiliate owner. He discusses the booths you should visit, the people you should meet, and the ways you can enhanc...