Run a Profitable Gym

Why Two Croatian Gym Owners Invested a Year's Salary in the Incubator Igor Jelcic and Dino Molnar both own CrossFit gyms in Croatia, where the cost of the Incubator translates to roughly an entire year's salary for the average Croatian. Both Igor and Dino experienced some tough times in the early days of their businesses. Igor's gym, 20350 Athletics, was on the brink of total failur...

Two-Brain Radio: Bridging Functional and Aesthetic Fitness With Dave Lipson In this episode, Sean Woodland speaks with the co-founder of Thundrbro, Dave Lipson. Dave is a former CrossFit Seminar Staff member and CrossFit Games competitor. He's also husband to 2014 Fittest Woman on Earth, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, and the co-founder of Thundrbro: A training and lifestyle brand whose mission is...

Two-Brain Radio: Expanding Beyond CrossFit With John Bartholomeo John Bartholomeo is the owner of Mohawk Valley Wellness in Marcy, New York. Mohawk Valley Wellness originally began as CrossFit Mohawk Valley eight years ago. For most of that time, the gym enjoyed steady growth due to word-of-mouth referrals. But when John decided to expand and offer programs in addition to CrossFit, he struggled to...

Food for Thought Friday - Where Do You Draw The Line? Which is a better business decision: to lump all your specialty classes into your unlimited group rate or to charge for them separately?  Though the former might seem like a great package when it comes to marketing, what it actually does is diminish the value of those services. At the same time, if you ever decide to stop offering a specialty c...

Two-Brain Radio: Playing the Infinite Game In this special episode of Two-Brain Radio, you're going to get some serious gold from Two-Brain Business Founder Chris Cooper. Today's topic is all about what's between your ears as an entrepreneur. Is your definition of success finite or infinite? Are you worried there aren't enough clients for you and for the gym down the street? Ar...

Two-Brain Radio: Mastering Endurance Training With Chris Hinshaw In today’s episode of Two-Brain Radio, Sean speaks with the man known in the CrossFit world as the endurance authority—Chris Hinshaw. Chris is a 10-time Ironman competitor and second-place finisher at the Hawaiian Ironman World Championships. He is the founder of aerobiccapacity.com and is widely considered to be one of the top endur...

Staying on Top of Your Game With Kevin Wood Kevin Wood opened CrossFit Moncton 11 years ago in New Brunswick, Canada, making him one of Canada's most long-standing affiliate owners. When he affiliated in 2008, the aesthetic of CrossFit was a lot different: wall balls made of sand-filled basketballs and grungy gyms instead of shiny equipment and bright, colorful spaces. Though Kevin's goa...

Food for Thought Friday - Should You Charge Your Coaches for a Membership? Do your coaches pay for a membership? Trade for one? Do they get paid to coach and get a free membership?  However you structure it, make sure you're trading dollar for dollar to ensure the value of your product—and their work—is appropriately measured.

Two-Brain Radio: Buying a Dying Gym With Bo Buser Bo Buser figured it would take a few years of coaching and networking after graduating from business school before he'd be able to open his own CrossFit gym—so when he got the opportunity to buy one just three months after graduation, he eagerly took the plunge. He had the capital to buy the gym in cash, the green light from his advisor and le...

Two-Brain Radio: Life During and After Competition With Lindsey Valenzuela In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Sean talks with four-time CrossFit Games athlete Lindsey Valenzuela. She finished second overall at the CrossFit Games in 2013 and is a member of the group of athletes who trained in Southern California 10 years ago known as the Valley Girls.  Lindsey also owns CrossFit Automo in Moorpark...

Two-Brain Radio: Success in a Saturated Market With Amy Milyard Amy Milyard is the owner of Stoic CrossFit in Fruita, Colorado. Though five CrossFit gyms share the small market there, a combination of trust and communication has allowed all to co-exist in harmony. Stoic CrossFit isn't the first CrossFit gym Amy has owned. From 2010 to 2013, she and her husband owned what she called a hobby Cr...

Food for Thought Friday - Do You Have to Work for Your Business? Just because you own a gym doesn't mean you have to spend the rest of your days running it. If that's what you want to do, great! But if your entrepreneurial spirit is urging you to try something new; if you want to travel the world and not have to worry about your business back home; if you just want to spend more time wit...

Two-Brain Radio: Meet the Dalai Lama, Open a CrossFit Gym—With Brandon Evans Brandon Evans is the owner of Heart and Hustle Fitness in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, but that's not what he and Greg Strauch talk about on this episode of Two-Brain Radio. Rather, Brandon shares the strange and powerful journey that eventually led him to gym ownership. You'll learn about the three months he spen...

Two-Brain Radio: Training WWE Superstars With Josh Gallegos Josh Gallegos has been involved in CrossFit for 10 years. You are probably most familiar with him as one of the floor announcers you hear at competitions like the CrossFit Games.  But Josh is also the coach for some of the biggest names in the WWE. He does programming for the likes of Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Cesaro and Bayley just to n...

Two-Brain Radio: Taking Control of Your Business With Natalie Marcom When Natalie Marcom opened Nakoma CrossFit in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, she knew fitness. She had lost a significant amount of weight with CrossFit herself and felt right at home coaching people. Running a business? Not so much. For a long time, she just "white-knuckled it." She knew she needed some guidance to grow he...

Food For Thought Friday: Are Your Members Telling You What They Want? You wouldn't tell your doctor what to prescribe you or what kind of treatment you need. So why would you expect your clients to do the same? Listen to a prospective client's goals first, before assuming what they need. Then, simply prescribe them the next step. 

Two-Brain Radio: Launching a Podcast With Jared Byczko Jared Byczko is the co-owner of NapTown Fitness in Indianapolis, Indiana. He's also the co-founder and host of the Drink Culture Podcast. At first just a side project and creative outlet for Jared, the podcast originally focused on the whiskey and craft beer industries. Today, the podcast tells the stories of local "entrepreneurs, th...

Two-Brain Radio: Covering the Sport of Fitness With the Buttery Bros On this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Sean Woodland talks with Heber Cannon and Marston Sawyers, better known collectively as the Buttery Bros. Heber and Martson have been involved in CrossFit and the Sport of Fitness for ten years, bringing you the action and taking you behind the scenes of the CrossFit Games, Regionals, Invitatio...

Two-Brain Radio: From "Coasting Along" to Serious Growth With Teegan Webb When Teegan Webb opened SkyBox boxing studio with her husband just over two years ago, her only goal was to have a cool job. They were making ends meet, but not growing or doing any real marketing. After they joined the Two-Brain family, they launched their first ad campaign, turning $380 in ad spend into $8,500 in...

In this week's morsel, Greg Strauch encourages you to answer this question:  What are you more passionate about—being a gym owner or being a business owner?  Both answers are OK. The point is to think critically about the answer and decide if what you're doing is moving you closer to wealth—the freedom to choose how you spend your time. 

Two-Brain Radio: Paying Attention to Mental Health With Colm O'Reilly Colm O'Reilly owns CrossFit Ireland in Dublin and recently celebrated the gym's 12th anniversary. But he's not here to talk business; he's here to talk mental health and entrepreneurship. When Colm was 17, he attempted to end his own life. Since then, he's dedicated years to understanding his own ps...

Two-Brain Radio: Getting Through Tough Times Using CrossFit With Carleen Mathews On this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Sean Woodland talks with four-time CrossFit Games athlete Carleen Mathews. She took second overall in the 35-39-year-old division at the 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games following a three-year career as an individual Games athlete. Carleen shares her experience being addicted to drugs and...

Two-Brain Radio: Partnerships With Ashkan Amirsoleymani In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, we hear from your host Mateo's business partner Ashkan Amirsoleymani. The pair co-own CrossFit Rittenhouse in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They'll take you down memory lane as they share how they got their start in a free park workout, eventually using that same concept to bring new members into th...

Food for Thought Friday - Part 2 of Who Are You Listening To? In this week's morsel, Greg Strauch explains the meaning behind the three questions you should be asking your top clients: 1. What do you like best about my business? 2. What do you dislike about the fitness industry in general? 3. What is the biggest challenge you face outside of the gym?

Two-Brain Radio: The Golden Goose With Jeff Burlingame In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, we're treating you to another prime talk from the 2019 Two-Brain Summit. Jeff Burlingame is a senior Two-Brain Business mentor and the owner of Friction CrossFit in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A couple years ago, Jeff took a 30-day break from running his gym—and he never came back. How was that possible? He...