Run a Profitable Gym

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The 2018 TwoBrain Summit is June 2-3 in Niles, IL! Book your spot here! I've always believed that CrossFit gyms have a higher proportion of female ownership than almost any other small business. HQ doesn't have the data to support or refute that claim, but my empirical experience, when compared to industry data held elsewhere, says that more women own CrossFit gyms than any other type, a...

Episode 109 – Greg Strauch Today on the show we are joined by Greg Strauch of CrossFit Unkown Elements in Clovis, New Mexico. Greg joins us to talk about how he got his start with CrossFit after the Air Force, What it takes to build a successful gym, and his transition into becoming a mentor with Two-Brain. 

One of the most common questions I get from gym owner on our free call is, "How do I get more leads?" The "magical" nature of online ads distracts many away from easier, more natural opportunities The Affinity Marketing plan is made of concentric rings. Each ring or “loop” represents a new audience for your service. The center ring ("Axial Clients") has very high affi...

The CrossFit Open starts this week! It's one of the largest opportunities for marketing and sales in 2018 for CrossFit gyms. But it's also one of the periods of greatest overwork: you're possibly adding class times to the schedule, amping up the hype, dealing with competitive stress, ordering equipment (fingers crossed), hosting parties and getting your coaches realigned around the...

Strong community. Strong clients. Strong staff. Weak business? An anti fragile business is one that grows while others are failing. Antifragility doesn't simply mean avoidance of problems; it means using problems to diversify and grow. One of the first questions I ask gym owners when they book their free call is, "What are your revenue streams?" The vast majority still make most of...

What if the BEST action...is no action at all?

Dr. Brian Strump is the owner of Live Active Charlotte, CrossFit Steele Creek, and a few other companies.  An early adopter of the prescriptive model, Brian was one of the first to offer hybrid memberships in a CrossFit gym. His current top membership rate is $919 per month. Part of my mission on this podcast is to change the perspective of scope for other CrossFit affiliates: to show where the hi...

Two years ago on this podcast, I introduced Nicole Aucoin to CrossFit affiliates. Nicole, an RD, was piloting a nutrition program at CrossFit Port Orange in Florida. From that podcast, hundreds of nutrition programs were launched in CrossFit gyms, resulting in millions of dollars in new revenues. More importantly, many of us are back in line with Greg's vision of CrossFit gyms. As he said in...

You need to balance UPGRADES with unnecessary tinkering. How can you tell the difference?

Episode 103: Q+A With Coop I like to start every year with a recap of the BEST questions I received the year before. I get over 200 emails and texts every day. Some of these questions come from those within the TwoBrain family; others from those who aren't yet part of our tribe. In the latter case, I choose the questions that recur most often (like 'what's the best marketing advice...

One of the key metrics we track in Two-Brain is LEG: Length of Engagement. The average LEG of gyms when they start the Incubator is 13.1 months (that's going down, by the way, thanks to 6-week challenges and "free trial" entry points.) If we can increase LEG to 15 months--every client in your gym stays an extra two months--that could easily mean an extra $45,000 per year for your gy...

Episode 101 – Level Up with Nathan Holiday & Josh Price   This is a VERY visual episode, so I'm going to include the video recording of the discussion. It's not edited or produced (as the podcast always is) but it's worth an hour in front of a screen to see it.   If you visited CrossFit.com in 2006 (as I did,) you would have found the original CrossFit message boards. And one of...

This year has truly been amazing for the Two Brain Family. As a thank you for your continued support, I have two gifts for listeners to this podcast.  The first is Two-Brain 2017,  which is a collection of all the blog posts from the last year. We have compiled these into a book format that is over 300 pages! Click the link here to get this book: Twobrainbusiness.com/twobrain2017 The second thing...

Episode 99 – Josh Martin This year has truly been amazing for the Two-Brain Family. As a thank you for your continued support, I have two gifts for listeners to this podcast. The first is Two-Brain 2017, which is a collection of all the blog posts from the last year. We have compiled these into a book format that is over 300 pages! Click the link here to get this book: twobrainbusiness.com/twobrai...

Julie Johnston of Camp Rhino created the first bootcamp in Vegas (maybe the world!), had a Ninja Warrior course before anyone else, and now combines OCR, CrossFit and her giant bootcamp under two enormous roofs in the desert. Just listening to Julie on this episode will make you smile. It's a great kickstart to your week--and the way she kickstarts all of her bootcamps--a two-hour lesson call...

Episode 97 – Getting Retail-Ready with Matt Albrizio of Forever Fierce On today's episode, Matt Albrizio of Forever Fierce shares his best practices for selling retail items at Christmas; how to buy gifts for your coaches; and how to create a Retail Plan for 2018.

Episode 96 – Mentoring Your Staff with Ken AndrukowKen Andrukow, a senior Two-Brain Mentor and owner of Reebok CrossFit Ramsay, joins us on the show today.  Ken's gym one of the top gyms in the world, and he attributes his success to his staff. As we identify the "gold standards" in the gym industry, Ken is at the top of the leaderboard in many categories (including profit). One of...

If we're all going to be excellent--as athletes, as coaches or as business owners--don't we need a common definition as a target?

Episode 95 – Rachel Balkovec Rachel Balkovec is the first female strength and conditioning coach for any major sport within the United States. Rachel is currently with the Houston Astros, and I spoke to her on the eve of Game 6 of the World Series. Rachel took the prescribed route for education in strength and conditioning. She got her first degree, then the CSCS, and then pursued her first intern...

The marketing crisis for gyms has "almost" been solved - at least for now. What's the NEXT hurdle we'll face?

Episode 94 – Out of the Cave, with Dave Picardy and Chandler WalkerDave Picardy and Chandler Walker own Out of the Cave Media. Between the two of them, they have spent years working with gym owners and now they are pursuing a different passion which they call relationship marketing. In this episode we talk about relationships with your clients and how you can leverage these relationships to give t...

Greg Glassman isn't your average genius. Greg shares the mannerisms of the virtuoso: He moves while he talks, fidgeting with coasters on the table. He leans in, then back, tipping his chair from one side to the next. His answers are so quick, most of the time, that you'd think they were rehearsed. But they're not. And Greg isn't just a big thinker. He's also a big doer: He...

Brian Willis of the Excellence in Training Academy caught Chris for a one-hour interview. This is restricted content for Brian's private member site, but he allowed us to share it here. If you're involved with law enforcement trainers and would like to join the Excellence in Training Academy community they can use the code eitmonthfree at www.excellenceintrainingacademy.com and get the f...

If you visit the CrossFit Facebook page, you'll see this:...not "Education Company". Not even "Fitness". "MEDIA/NEWS".Since the first days of the PDF-emailed Journal, I've learned from--and copied--CrossFit HQ's media team. More than any other organization on the planet, CrossFit educates its fans and consumers to create frenzied evangelists. They publi...