Run a Profitable Gym

When the COVID pandemic hit, many gym owners had to let staff members go or stop paying them. Jared Byczko of NapTown Fitness promoted staff members instead, creating new C-suite level positions in the middle of lockdown. It's just one of many reasons why he earned Two-Brain's Coach Education Award, given to gym owners who've created such a strong business that it supports not only...

Think having 500 members will make your gym profitable? It depends on how much each of those members is paying you—and if you have 500 members, chances are they're not paying much. Microgyms don't become profitable by selling discounted services—group training—in bulk. They become profitable by selling high-value services to the right clients and increasing their ARM (average revenue per...

Phil Kniep has dealt with many of the same problems most gym owners have: Bad partners, weed clients and COVID.  But what sets him apart is how he handled them. Shortly after taking sole ownership of CrossFit Lincoln, he made the tough call to dismiss some clients who were causing problems. Twenty other members left with them. With the help of his mentor, he and his wife rebuilt the membership acc...

Gym owners: What does your marketing process look like? Do you just toss out some ads and hope for the best? Maybe you're more sophisticated and you've got automations set up to chase after leads. Guess what? That's still not enough. Here, marketing expert Mateo Lopez breaks down the points of performance for the kind of marketing chain that ends in more sales closed. Links: Incite...

Gym ownership can feel like a thankless job at times. No one sees all the late nights, early mornings, blood, sweat and tears you put into your business. That's why Two-Brain Business' Clients' Choice Award is so meaningful. It's more than a trophy. It's a signal from your clients that you're doing things right and that they appreciate you. The 2020 Clients' Choi...

The average length of engagement—the average amount of time a member sticks around—for most gyms is 7.8 months. At CrossFit Moncton, it's 4.5 years. CrossFit Moncton owner Kevin Wood joined Mike Warkentin to share how he gets his members to stay for so long.  It's about actually caring about your members, he said, and following that care up with action. Tune in for some actionable advice...

Mike Collette had just split from his business partner, gotten married, bought a house and gotten a dog—then COVID hit. Six months later, his gym is not only still standing but is also turning a 30% profit—likely because of how well Mike was running his business before the crisis. Learn how he did it—and why he earned Two-Brain's Left Brain Gym of the Year Award—here. Links: Prototype Trainin...

Australians have faced some of the most severe COVID lockdown restrictions in the world: Evening curfews. Travel restricted to a 5-kilometer radius from home. Multiple total shutdowns. The severity of the restrictions has many Australian gyms hanging by a thread. But not Tribe MVMNT. Despite these extreme challenges, gym owner James Mawson says his gym has actually grown. Revenue and membership ar...

Before Brandon Evans started mentorship with Two-Brain Business, his gym, Heart and Hustle Fitness, was operating at a $7k deficit each month. Within four months of joining Two-Brain, the gym was back in the black. Here, Brandon shares some of the key lessons that have helped him shed the debt and stress and move into a true CEO role—and toward his Perfect Day. Links: Heart and Hustle Fitness Driv...

Could your gym survive without you? Not just for a weekend getaway, but for the long haul? If you don't have systems in place, the answer is "probably not." Without systems in place, everything falls to you, from cleaning the bathrooms to closing sales. And although your ego might like that, it doesn't work in real life. Here's Chris Cooper on the least sexy—but most criti...

At Two-Brain Business, our goal is to make a million entrepreneurs wealthy. We define wealth as freedom of time and finances, and that's exactly what Andrew and Mary Boimila have achieved. Andrew and Mary are the winners of the sought-after Two-Brain Owner Lifestyle Award. They've demonstrated they can take time away from their business—and still get paid—while the business runs itself....

"Never miss a crisis." Why? Because every crisis is an opportunity, whether it's to learn, improve or even start all over. Here, Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper shares the lessons he's learned from the COVID crisis—lessons that can help you become antifragile and emerge from this pandemic stronger than ever. Links: Forever Fierce Wodify Contact: chris@twobrainbusiness.com Timeli...

Good nutrition is key to getting results for your clients, and prepping meals ahead of time is a great way to keep them on track. But how do you get them to do it? Fitness expert and author Michelle Vodrazka joined Tiffy Thompson to talk about how to make meal prep easy and accessible for your clients. You'll learn how to get your clients started meal prepping for the week as well as great ti...

COVID has hit kids' fitness bad. No more gym class. No more sports. No more recess. Meanwhile, parents are dealing with increasingly antsy children forced to spend hours each day trying to pay attention to Zoom classes. But there's another option—your gym. If your gym is open, you have the perfect opportunity to help kids get the physical activity they need while also expanding your busi...

Staffing a gym is tough. Some employees underperform. Others are highly qualified but underpaid. Both situations lead to churn and leave you, the owner, drowning in work and unable to move your business forward. But what if you could do things differently? By taking a mentorship approach to staffing and helping your team members become intrapreneurs in your business, you can give them sustainable,...

Do you avoid feedback like you avoid checking your bank account? Well, you shouldn't avoid either, but today, we're talking about client feedback—and the good kind requires more than an anonymous survey. Here, Chris Cooper explains exactly what you have to gain by picking up the phone and talking to your members. Links: Incite Tax: Profit First for Microgyms Arbox Gym Owners United Timel...

Your staff can make or break your business—and that means your hiring process can, too. What's more important in a potential staff member: experience or personality? How can you tell if someone will gel with your team? What are the red flags to watch out for? Certified Two-Brain Mentor Laurie Drummond has been staffing Ultra CrossFit for seven years, and she's honed the hiring process to...

It's a pattern you know well: A client starts at your gym, makes progress and is committed and enthusiastic. But after a while, the progress slows. The enthusiasm fizzles. So how do you keep clients engaged for the long haul? That's just one of the things Nathan Holiday designed the Level Method to accomplish. This systematic approach to assessment and goal setting incentivizes clients t...

There are a million things you can do to make your gym business better, but all too often, paralysis by analysis means you do nothing at all—or do everything poorly. That's why we created the #unbreakable55 challenge: Do one thing per day, five days per week, for 55 weeks. The tasks are simple—but not easy—and at the end of the 55 days, your business will be stronger. Listen to Chris Cooper e...

You don't sell programming, community or access to equipment at your gym. Here's what you do sell: personalized exercise and nutrition plans. You're a coach. You also sell accountability and results to clients.  In this episode, Chris Cooper explains why this realization is key to success in the fitness business. Links: Free Retention Guide AGuard Arbox Register for the Two-Brain Su...

Every client has unique goals and unique ways of achieving them. Group classes and the occasional nutrition challenge might work for Bob, but maybe Sarah would thrive better with a hybrid group-/personal-training membership and regular nutrition check-ins. That's what the Prescriptive Model is all about: finding the right path for each client. Your client will have more success and you'l...

You've seen the pictures on Instagram: Seven perfectly proportioned containers of identical servings of chicken, rice and broccoli, all weighed out to the gram. #mealprep! But what if you're not a competitive athlete? What if you're a busy parent barely managing to get your kids fed and a coffee in your hand each morning? You don't have the time or resources to meal prep each w...

Sales goals. Bills. Staffing issues. Government restrictions. Angry members. Competition that doesn't play by the rules. There's no shortage of stressors for gym owners, and that will be true even after the COVID-19 pandemic. The key isn't to try to make it all go away—there is no one "next thing" that will make your life easy—but to learn to recognize and manage stressors...

Worried we're headed for another Great Recession? Mike Michalowicz says it's actually the Great Reinvention. At least, it can be—for small businesses. Mike is the entrepreneur behind three multimillion-dollar companies and the author of "Profit First," "Clockwork," "The Pumpkin Plan" and his newest book, "Fix This Next." He's seen businesses b...

The floors need mopping. There's a new class that needs coaching. Sales calls to be made; marking campaigns to run. Oh, and there's that great new partnership opportunity you said you'd look into. All these things are important, but you can't do them all—and it's not just an issue of delegation. Some ideas, no matter how good, won't fit your vision. You've got to...