Chris Cooper's Blog, page 101

Starting a Gym: The Way to Avoid Going Under in Year 1

Many small fitness businesses die quickly—but maybe that’s going to change.

Small-business failure rates are well documented. Fitness business failure rates are less well documented, but industry groups such as the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) have stated that 81 percent of studios go under in Year 1.

With the pandemic behind us in many parts of the world, I have to think those rates will improve in the next years.

Here’s why.

Back when I opened a gym in 2010, I had very limited business experience. I created a business plan of sorts before opening, but I realize now that it had many, many holes. My plan, in one line:

Achieve profitability by coaching every single class and grow by being a great trainer in a large city with only one similar facility.

That bad plan actually worked, but only for a short while. As you can imagine, I was soon overworked and competing facilities appeared. Suddenly, we needed to build a team and figure out how to run a real business. That took a long time.

Despite a host of errors, we were surviving. Thriving would take help, and we eventually started working with Two-Brain Business. Things improved quickly because I got advice from people who had already solved my problems and had data-backed tactics to share. As you can imagine, I wish that stuff was around in 2010—but it wasn’t.

In 2022, the info prospective gym owners need can be found very easily—I was reminded of that as I read through “Start a Gym” several times earlier this year. It’s Chris Cooper’s sixth book, and you can get it on Amazon.

After every chapter, I said one of two things:

1. “I sure messed that up in 2010.”
2. “I wish I had known that 12 years ago.”

The Resources You Need to Start a Gym

“Start a Gym” is 107 pages long, and you can read it in a few hours. It’s not meant to cover every aspect of gym ownership—just the 10 things that are most important at start-up. For example, it tells you how to choose a location, what equipment to buy, how to set prices and how to find clients. (“Gym Owners Handbook” covers the finer points of gym ownership after startup.)

Had “Start a Gym” been available in 2010, I would be wealthy right now, as would many, many of my peers in the industry. More gyms would have survived the last 12 years, more owners would have gotten home to dinner with their kids, and more trainers would have great careers in stable, profitable businesses.

You don’t even have to evaluate Cooper’s exact advice to agree with me. All you have to do is recall that in 2010 you couldn’t find much advice at all. Many people opened gyms on a wing and a prayer alone. Twelve years later, any information is better than nothing.

That fact aside, the advice in “Start a Gym” isn’t opinion. It comes from data collected from a huge number of gyms around the world.

For example, we now know the No. 1 issue with leases. It isn’t about money. It’s about noise levels.

We also know it’s a huge mistake to set your prices by checking out what competitors are charging. (I made this six-figure error.) Gym owners can use Two-Brain’s tested, data-backed model for setting prices now.

All this means fitness entrepreneurs have a chance to improve small-business failure rates. Some gyms will still fail—through poor management, bad luck or some combination of both. But others that might have failed will survive because they dodged the kill shots that took down so many entrepreneurs before them.

If you’re going to become a fitness entrepreneur, you’d be unwise to ignore the wealth of info produced by business owners who came before you.

Business-Saving Resources

If you do nothing else, get the huge collection of resources on Two-Brain’s Free Tools page.

To go further, buy “Start a Gym”—it’s $10 on Kindle. (Secret: You can get all the resources referenced in the book here.)

Another step: Buy the self-guided “Start a Gym” course.

And if you want to give your business the best chance to succeed, work with a Two-Brain mentor right from Day 1.

Whatever you do, do something. In 2022, you’ll only be among the studio owners who fail if you don’t take action and learn.

The post Starting a Gym: The Way to Avoid Going Under in Year 1 appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Creating Time for Growth at Each Stage of Business

Mike (00:02):

You need time to work on your business, but you just don’t have it. Today, on Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper will help you create time no matter what stage of business you’re in.

Chris (00:10):

Hey guys, this is Chris. And today I’m gonna talk to you about something very simple, and that is how to make time to grow your business. We’re all dealing with overwhelm. I wrote the book “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief” to help you decide what you need to do at each stage of your business or what you need to do, depending on how you’re spending your time or how profitable your business is right now. We’ve got a brand new rewrite of that book coming out this month that should narrow things down a little bit and give you some more clarity instead of just more ideas that cause even more overwhelm. So today I want to tell you how to set aside the time you need to actually build your business. And this came up because I was working with some gym owners in our growth program, and we were doing this thing called the hundred lead challenge.

Chris (00:53):

And my goal was to get everybody in that growth program a hundred leads in 30 days. And some people did it in three and a half days or something, and they won a little prize and it was awesome. But some people said, Coop, I don’t have 30 minutes a day to work on this. And I thought, uh, oh, if they’re so busy, they don’t have time or 30 minutes a day to spend on just getting leads to grow their business, their business is just gonna naturally go backward. You do lose some clients, no matter what. And you have to be attracting new clients. That doesn’t happen by accident, but it can happen predictably if you spend time working on it. And if you don’t have time to spend working on that, then your business will probably shrink. So today, depending on which stage you are in your business, I’m gonna tell you exactly what you need to do.

Chris (01:42):

So founder phase is when you first open up your business, you’re kind of doing everything yourself. You’re wearing all the hats. You’re scrambling, you’re hustling and grinding. And you’re probably working from 6:00 AM until eight at night and thinking about your business when you’re not at your business. When you’re at this stage, the best advice that I ever got was if you’re not spending 45 hours coaching, then you spend all of the other time in that 45 hours working on things that will grow your business. So look at your week, add up all the hours that you’re spending coaching. What is that number? It’s probably not 45. Let’s say that you’re spending 30 hours a week coaching one on one, nutrition or group training. That means you’ve got 15 hours a week where you have to work on your business. Now you’re probably working more hours than that at your gym, right?

Chris (02:33):

So what are you doing for all that other time? That’s not for me to say, you can do a time audit if you want, but you’re probably scrolling social media. You’re probably working out. You’re probably mopping, stuff that doesn’t actually grow your business. So if you’re in the founder phase, you have to create the discipline to actually work 15 hours on recruiting new clients. What would you do with 15 hours? There’s so much. You could grab coffee and take a coffee to all of the businesses around you, create like a referral black hole in your neighborhood. You could start an email campaign, right? You could set up an email list and you could start a daily blog every day. You could film some content for video that goes on Instagram, you could set up a Facebook ads funnel. In 15 hours a week,

Chris (03:17):

There is so much you could do. You could set up goal reviews with your clients. You could set up a better referral program. You could read books on referrals, but the key here is that you’re actually spending the time to grow your business, instead of just showing up and waiting for stuff to happen. If you’re in the farmer phase, which means you’ve reached a point where you’ve hired some staff, at least one person that’s helping you out and you’re trying to grow your business. And you’re trying to create more income so that you can pay them. Maybe they’re earning more than you, whatever. Maybe you’re struggling because they don’t do it as well as you do it. Or your clients complain when you’re not there. What you need to do is buy yourself time in this phase. So the purpose of hiring staff for any role in your business is to buy you the time to work on higher value things in the business.

Chris (04:06):

This is true. Whether you’re hiring a coach, a personal trainer, a nutritionist, a specialist, a cleaner, an admin, or a VA. The purpose of buying this person’s time is to create more time that you can spend creating more revenue than it costs you to hire that person. If it costs you 30 bucks a class to pay a coach, your job is to use that class time to generate more than $30 in revenue. This is how you grow the pie by hiring staff. And so what you have to do though, is not get sucked into this trap of like managing staff that takes up the same amount of time that they’re spending working. So if it takes you an hour to manage your staff, like you’re just watching them run a class. You’re looking over their shoulder as they do a PT session, you are, you know, watching every move that they make, then you’re not creating value with that person.

Chris (04:57):

So in the farmer phase, the way that you make time to grow your business, is you schedule it. If you are coaching the morning classes, then you need to work on your business for one hour, right after you coach the morning classes, ideally you would work on your business before you work in your business. So you show up to work an hour early, or you block off the first hour. You hire somebody else to run that morning class, take that morning client and use that first hour to work on your business. What worked for me is not sleeping in an hour. It’s not spending the first hour of my day working from home. When I was in the farmer phase of gym ownership, what worked for me best was getting to the gym at the exact same time, going into my office, closing the door, drawing the blinds.

Chris (05:44):

My office had windows, and working for one hour. Back then I would spend time working on the blog and sending out emails to my clients. Around 2012, I started sharing that stuff on Facebook, but I stayed disciplined to that one hour, the hour when I was sharpest and most creative and most alert and least distracted to work on my business. OK. I’ll tell you, working from home would not have worked for me. Maybe it’ll work for you, maybe your best to roll up, you know, get the espresso machine, going, sit down on the couch and write for an hour. But for me, I don’t get into that work headspace, unless I’m actually at work. In the tinker phase, you need to block off one day a week to work on tinker level projects. So one of the myths of entering tinker phase, where your gym is running by itself, you’re pulling out money and you’re reinvesting in the next thing.

Chris (06:37):

You’re leading a team that basically like runs the gym. You have some freedom of time and you have some freedom of finance. A big mistake that people make is they think like, well, that’s it, I’m outta my gym. Now I’ve got, my week is wide open. I can do anything with my time. Really entering tinker phase just means that you could saw one day off your week to work on other projects. Work the next thing. OK. And it doesn’t even have to be a specific day. I pick Friday, other people use Friday, but you could do two mornings. My recommendation is that you take Friday to work on other projects. And you’ve probably heard of this strategy at like Google, where a lot of the engineers are free to take their Fridays and work on other projects that will benefit Google. You can do the same thing for your own business and your own wealth and your own family.

Chris (07:22):

And your own legacy, is work Monday to Thursday on your gym business. But Friday you take off to learn about investing, to learn about real estate, right? To learn about leadership, to explore options like starting a T-shirt company or whatever that is. You take Friday to work on tinker level stuf. Being in the tinker phase. Again, it doesn’t mean that you’re completely free of the gym. You have unlimited time and money and you don’t know what to do with yourself. It just means that you can afford to take one day to work on the next level thing, to build your platform, to build your wealth, to create a legacy. Sometimes on a Friday, I don’t know what to do with myself. So you know what I do, I get on my little tractor and I go cut somebody else’s lawn. Or I go clear the snow out somebody else’s driveway.

Chris (08:11):

Or I go for a hike with my chainsaw and I cut down trees and I chop firewood. If I don’t know what to do with my myself on the Friday, I don’t go to work. I maintain that discipline by finding things to do outside of work. So right now, what am I doing on Fridays? I’m learning how to run a self-storage business, which I’ll be hiring somebody for and handing off. I talk to bankers about private equity lending and stuff like that. I talk to tinkerers, I explore other business ideas. Sometimes I’ll get on the phone with somebody that owns a completely different business and just brainstorm with them about stuff. And I get on a call with my mentor to help guide me to what’s next. In the thief phase, the fourth phase, where you’ve got a big wealth platform that creates revenue, like you’re living off your investments, basically.

Chris (09:00):

How do you create time for that stuff? You set up meetings.You set up meetings for yourself to work on projects, to research on projects. You block time in your calendar to meet with other people at your phase. I do this over lunch. I love having lunch with people. And you block off certain periods in your year and your month and your week and your day when you’re going to be working on certain legacy projects. So here’s an example for me, and I’m not in this phase yet, but I am in like the late phases of tinker. And, so what I’ll do is I’ll say, OK, what are my legacy projects? One is teaching entrepreneurship and financial literacy to school kids. So I found an organization that does that. And what my job is going to be is Wednesday nights from six until eight I’ll work with kids in 11th and 12th grade on their make-believe project.

Chris (09:52):

And then I’ll set up like a shark tank type thing with some local entrepreneurs where they can come in and pitch their idea and maybe get funding, right? So that’s one thing. Another legacy project that I work on is coaching hockey. So usually Monday, sometimes Friday, usually Thursday, and sometimes Sunday I’ll work on coaching that team and making myself a better coach. So the point is though that I schedule these things off because if not, what retirement looks like is a downward spiral of like boredom, playing Canasta, learning pickleball, declining health, obesity, you know, and like numbing, your brain goes downhill. This is how to set up the time to work on your business. It’s one of the first things that we teach in our ramp up program, because while ramp up can really get you far really, really fast in like 12 weeks, you have to have the mental, emotional, and labor intensive bandwidth to do that. Hope this helps.

Mike (10:55):

Two-Brain Radio hits the air twice a week and features all the info you need to run a successful fitness business. Subscribe so you don’t miss a show. Now here’s Coop one more time.

Chris (11:05):

Thanks for listening to Two-Brain Radio. If you aren’t in the Gym Owners United group on Facebook, this is my personal invitation to join. It’s the only public Facebook group that I participate in. And I’m there all the time with tips, tactics, and free resources. I’d love to network with you and help you grow your business. Join Gym Owners United on Facebook.

 

The post Creating Time for Growth at Each Stage of Business appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

How to Get Your Old Clients Back Without Giveaways

Mike (00:02):

A client left your gym and you are broken up about it. That’s normal, but you need to remember that client probably isn’t gone for good. Today on Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper will tell you how to increase the chances that departed members will return.

Chris (00:14):

Hey everybody, it’s Coop here. And today I’m gonna tell you how to get your old clients back. Now, we all look at a client cancellation like a breakup, like, oh my goodness, this is the end of our relationship. I am never going to see this person again. And we tend to scramble sometimes to preserve that relationship, to keep it going. But you and I both know that that’s usually too little too late. Once somebody says they wanna cancel, they’ve probably been thinking about it for a few months. And if you haven’t been thinking about it, then they’re gone. There’s nothing that you can do that will keep them. However, I’m here to tell you that as a gym owner now of 17 years, most times they’ll be back. And so today I’m gonna tell you how to do it. Step one is when a client cancels, you have to make sure that they know that they are welcome back.

Chris (01:02):

You can’t just assume that they know that. And so you have to clearly state, we would love to have you back when you are ready. OK? In those exact words, best done face to face. Second-best done over the phone. Third best done through a text and fourth best through an email. That’s the first thing is people need to know that they’re welcome back. A lot of us think that, you know, oh, geez, I canceled there before. Or I ended that on a bad relationship. I’m never going back. But if the door is clearly held open and there’s an open invitation waiting, we’ll feel more comfortable returning, OK? You don’t want somebody to feel too embarrassed to return. The second thing is you have to maintain a line of communitcation. That means the person who cancels at your gym should still be on your email list.

Chris (01:47):

If you have a free public Facebook group for non-members, they should still be in that group. They should still be getting content from you. Our motto at catalyst has always been teach our clients to know more than any other trainer in town. And if they know more then they won’t have to go anywhere else, but sometimes people switch models just because they’re bored. And we sold them on novelty and it’s not novel anymore. And so they’re gonna go try Zumba or Pilates or yoga. And as long as you don’t make them feel dumb about their choice, they’ll probably come back. That means you can’t slander Zumba in your or media. Right? Ask me how I know. I’ve lost clients. Not because Zumba is better, but because I have said Zumba sucks. You won’t get results. And then when they went and tried Zumba, they felt sneaky about it.

Chris (02:35):

And when they liked Zumba and wanted to continue, they didn’t feel like they could look me in the eye or whatever. So they didn’t wanna come back. More than likely they just didn’t want to hear my stuff about Zumba. So that’s the second thing is you have to stay in constant contact. Now, if you haven’t been in constant contact with the client, here’s how to restart that contact. And we call this, you might see this called the 10 word email, the eight word email, the subject line of your email is just like, Hey Chris. And then in the body of the email, you’re just gonna ask a question. Are you still thinking about your fitness goals for 2022 or are you still wanting to improve your fitness in 2022? Something like that, a question. People struggle to resist answering a question, and this is pretty effective.

Chris (03:23):

If you have an email list of a hundred clients who have canceled, you’re probably going to hear a reply. Our data shows from between three and five of them, not everybody, but you don’t need everybody. It’s just the three to five who are waiting for an invitation to come back. OK? So maintaining that line of communication, that friendship usually is what will bring people back. The third thing that you’ve gotta do is be the best. Let’s face it. Sometimes people quit and they go to another gym because that gym is, you know, perceived as different or better or novel. But if they’re really not better and they’re not novel, then the client will come back as long as you’ve kept communication open, but let’s face it. If a client leaves your gym and they go to another gym and they stay at that gym for five more years, that gym might be better than you least in one facet, you know?

Chris (04:19):

And it might, it’s probably not the like bigger thing. It’s probably not that they have a better competitive team. It’s probably not that they have more equipment. They’re just better at something. Maybe it’s forming the relationship. Maybe it’s clarity, whatever. OK. And the next thing is you don’t need to be the best at everything. In fact, you don’t want to be the best at everything. You don’t want to be the lowest price. You don’t want to be the biggest. You don’t really wanna be the gym that has the best competitive team. It really depends on who you’re trying to attract. And some of these things are mutually exclusive. You cannot provide the most intensive coaching care and be the cheapest. You cannot provide the most welcoming, inclusive and environment and be the best at competition. OK? You have to decide who you want and then invite the people who fit that mold the best.

Chris (05:09):

The next strategy to bring back former clients is to introduce something new. So when a client gets bored with your service, it doesn’t mean they hate you forever, or they’re giving up on you. It just means they don’t like the way that you’re doing something right now. So when you have a new program, barbell bettys, your gymnastics program, even a new on-ramp program, it’s very effective to go back to your former client list and say, we have this new thing. If they left because they were bored, that will often be enough to bring them back in. And again, this is not a new free thing. You do not offer a free service or a free trial to a former client. And I’ll come back to that in a moment. So introducing novelty, even renaming your programs can often help you recruit that client back again.

Chris (05:57):

It’s really important to stay in communication with them. Like keep them on your email list. Keep them in Facebook. I’ve got clients at my gym right now at catalyst who are doing CrossFit groups and they have quit my gym five times over the last 16, 17 years. They came in, they stayed for two years. They left. They’re gone for six months. Then they back then they went and did something else. And that’s OK because they are pursuing fitness and they have been pursuing fitness. They started their fitness journey with me. 15 years later, they’re still pursuing fitness. And they come back whenever we are doing something new. So when we adopted the level method, a lot of these people came back because they’re like, what is this new thing Chris is doing? Right? They weren’t quitting me. They were quitting the method. They were quitting the process, they were quitting the classes or whatever, the way that we were doing things.

Chris (06:48):

So a lot of Two-Brain gyms, I’ll be frank with you here. They get a lot of former clients back because they say, oh, actually we’ve cleaned up our systems a lot. Actually we’ve improved our coaching. Actually we have fair pricing across the board without these crazy discounts. Actually, our service is a lot better than it was. Actually. Now we have this kickstart program. Actually now we have a cool OnRamp. They get their clients back and we actually rely on that a lot. So the keys here are that there are a lot of ways to bring clients back that a breakup is rarely forever, if you’re the best and if you stay in constant communication, OK? So, sometimes we lose a client and they come back three months later, sometimes we lose a client and they come back 10 years later. But if they’re in constant communication with you and you are the best, they will probably be back.

Chris (07:38):

Now, what should you never do? You should never prioritize former clients over your current clients. OK. This is just like, you know, offering to take an ex-girlfriend out to dinner so that you can maintain that friendship instead of taking your wife out to dinner. There was a software provider about a month ago, who advertised two months free for new clients and all of their current clients said, what the hell’s that? What about me? I’ve been this loyal customer through lockdowns, through them, like holding my funds for two weeks, through their downsizing their service department through all these problems. And you’re gonna reward new clients instead of me, forget it. And for a lot of people, that was the straw that broke the camels back. But what you have to understand is even if people don’t quit because you’re offering a special deal to other people and not them, even if they’re not willing to cancel their membership, just because they see you giving the service that they’re paying for away for free to other people, you’re still harming that relationship.

Chris (08:44):

You’re still eroding trust with them. You’re still showing them exactly what your values are, that I prioritize other people instead of you. You have to be extremely careful with that. And you have to be really, especially cognizant about like never, ever give a deal to somebody that you can’t give to your current clients first. OK. So be very careful with that. The other thing too is like when you offer a free month to former member, you tend to get people who are attracted to free months, right? They’re more transient. They might join up for a couple of months after the free month is over. But the free month trial doesn’t work for new clients very well. Like the conversion rate is just so tiny because they don’t understand the context of your program. They’ve tried it. OK. Now, what? Is this helping? I don’t know.

Chris (09:38):

And then they generally leave. So the conversion rate on free trials is very, very low. The conversion rate on free trials for former members will be even lower because they already know what to expect. They already know what you do. They know how a class goes. They probably know 80% of the people in those classes. What about a free trial is going to convince them to rejoin? Your communication is what causes them to rejoin. Maintaining your relationship is what causes them to rejoin. Offering a free month will not convince former clients to sign up for more than like a couple of months. And then they’re gonna wash right out again, right? They’re really just kind of vacationing in your gym and it will probably erode trust with your current members. So there are many ways to bring former clients back. I’ve given you a couple here. I’ve given you one that maybe you wanna stay away from. But the overall point here is that if you understand that your relationship with a client goes on even and after they’ve left, that a cancellation is not a goodbye forever. It’s not a breakup. That will probably help you maintain your composure a little bit when people do cancel, save you a lot of frustration and give you the perspective needed to maintain the relationship. I hope it helps.

Mike (10:54):

Two-Brain Radio comes out twice a week and features all the info you need to run a successful fitness business. Subscribe. So you don’t miss a show. Now here’s Coop one more time.

Chris (11:03):

Thanks for listening to Two-Brain Radio. If you aren’t in the Gym Owners United group on Facebook, this is my personal invitation to join. It’s the only public Facebook group that I participate in. And I’m there all the time with tips, tactics, and free resources. I’d love to network with you and help you grow your business. Join Gym Owners United on Facebook.

 

The post How to Get Your Old Clients Back Without Giveaways appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Fitness Industry Analysis Post-Coronavirus: 3 Surprising Takeaways

Any fitness industry analysis has to recognize the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

From early 2020 to the spring of 2021, the pandemic rocked most industries to their core, but it had extreme effects on the fitness industry. Mandatory lockdowns forced gyms and fitness clubs to join restaurants, bars and other service businesses in shutting down indefinitely, causing crippling losses in revenue and resources such as staff.

Now that the fitness industry is in the recovery stages, gym owners worldwide are trying to adjust to the fundamental changes brought on by COVID-19, including the weakening of their influence over the exercising consumer. In this fitness industry analysis, we will discuss the pandemic’s influence and the three most significant takeaways affecting the current state of the fitness industry.

COVID-19’s Impact on the Fitness Industry

In 2020, most gyms and fitness clubs were forced to close sooner than bars and restaurants, which were in most cases able to preserve some revenue with takeout or delivery service. Some gyms were shuttered due to government mandates, and others closed voluntarily before orders due to public pressure or a desire to help “flatten the curve” of virus spread.

Until that time, the global fitness industry had benefited from significant growth over the previous 10 years, and the U.S. segment had grown for 10 years straight. But the worldwide closures resulted in an estimated 44 percent decline in revenue, from $96.7 billion in 2019 to $54.2 billion in 2021. In the U.S., the sector saw a 52 percent decline in revenue in 2020.

COVID-19’s Impact on Gyms

Around 40,000 U.S. gyms and fitness clubs were operating in 2019 (with approximately 201,000 clubs in the world). The shutdown cost the U.S. fitness industry $29.2 billion in revenue from March 2020 to June 2021. Unfortunately, Congress did not include the fitness industry in economic relief packages. This fact is part of the reason 22 percent of American gyms closed permanently.

Worldwide, restrictions varied from capacity limits on gyms to complete lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. Some governments didn’t allow gyms to provide outside exercise facilities or classes, and in other areas it was far too cold to do so. So, aside from gyms that offered online services, the shutdown left most gyms—especially larger corporate facilities—without a revenue source while fixed expenses remained.

Covid-19’s Impact on Fitness Industry Professionals

In the U.S., mandated closures caused 1.5 million fitness professionals to lose their jobs. These individuals accounted for 47 percent of the fitness labor force. According to PTDC.com, 58 percent of trainers lost some income or all of it. Unless they trained clients online, many coaches had no source of income except unemployment. In some countries, government benefits were extended to affected workers, but employment status—contractor vs. employee—prevented some from accessing certain benefits.

A catastrophic pandemic put many adults in a position where they could not provide for themselves for the first time in their lives. This type of emotional blow can have lasting effects, and it forced many people to jump out of struggling industries in order to survive. No one knows if they’ll come back. 

Impact on Fitness Industry Consumers

Few people avoided the dire consequences caused by the sudden appearance of the coronavirus pandemic. In short order, hundreds of thousands of people found themselves filing for unemployment benefits and standing in food lines. In addition, school and daycare center closures forced many workers to choose between working and staying home to take care of their kids. Some tried to balance both, and stress levels rose.

Except for an occasional trip to the supermarket, most people primarily operated within the confines of their homes. Gyms, yoga studios, ballparks, beaches and places where two or more could gather were often off limits. As a result, most people spent the bulk of 2020 holed up in their homes without much opportunity to be active. Instead, most social engagements occurred on meeting apps like Zoom. 

In a 2021 study, the American Psychological Association reported that 42 percent of U.S. adults gained weight during the pandemic, with an average gain of a whopping 29 lb. Sciencedaily.com reported that excessive alcohol consumption was up by 21 percent in the pandemic.

Some people combated the boredom, blues and extra pounds of body weight with a brisk walk or virtual exercise classes. However, because about 80 percent of people are mostly sedentary under normal circumstances, people likely grew more inactive without standard activities including going to work, running errands, and playing golf or other recreational sports. Along with the inactivity, the CDC warns that a person’s mental health can decline from stress, anxiety, loneliness, lack of social interaction and poor diet. 

Overall, health and fitness were under assault over the last two years, and many people are in worse shape that they were in 2019. That’s a shame, but it also represents an opportunity for gym owners to offer help to people who want to improve their conditions.

The Recovery

Now that the COVID-19 mandates are gone in most areas and businesses are returning to a degree of normalcy, the fitness industry has experienced some surprising events. But three popular trends are disrupting the status quo for most gyms and fitness facilities, and they have demonstrated the staying power necessary to influence fitness industry strategies. As a result, these interesting dynamics provide the framework for the three key takeaways from this fitness industry analysis.

But first, let’s look at the causes and effects.

Why Gyms and Fitness Clubs are Recovering Nicely

Gyms and wellness facilities have long had a monopoly over fitness consumers. Before the lockdown, most people joined a gym, Pilates studio, CrossFit affiliate or yoga studio when they wanted to get in shape. But the pandemic changed this dynamic by causing consumers to seek gym alternatives during the lockdown.

As a result, the global exercise industry faced a direct challenge to its dominance. However, gyms all over the world have overcome the hardships and threats to stage a strong recovery. Here’s how and why gyms are returning to top form.

During the Lockdown

Because only a small percentage of gyms offered digital fitness options, many exercise enthusiasts sought alternatives, such as in-home fitness equipment, mobile fitness apps and virtual workouts. The outlook for gyms at that time was dire, Most surveys indicated that gym industry recovery would be a rough journey. For example, one 2020 fitness industry analysis survey showed that 50.1 percent of American respondents expressed doubt about returning to their gyms. Worldwide, 46.7 percent of respondents said they would not go back to a gym.

The Resurgence of Gyms

When the COVID-19 restrictions disappeared and gyms resumed complete services, a remarkable resurgence of returning gym members was seen in early 2021. By May, CNBC research revealed that overall gym traffic was up to 83 percent of pre-pandemic levels, and interest in at-home exercise had reached an all-time pandemic low. Consequently, Peloton stock posted a greater-than-expected loss in the first quarter of 2021. 

In the realm of large chain gyms, Planet Fitness is one of the shining stars when it comes to rebounding gyms. As of early November 2021, the gym had reclaimed 97 percent of its pre-COVID membership maximum. This result means that 15 million of its 15.5 million pre-pandemic members had abandoned their home gyms and workouts to return to their exercise venue of choice. Or the company acquired new clients to replace almost all of those who stayed in the garage or basement.

Even sweeter is the fact that total revenue of $154.3 million represents a 46.4 percent leap from the same period in 2020. In addition, Planet Fitness logged its highest third-quarter net member growth in club history. 

As for microgyms, a 2021 Two-Brain survey revealed that 53 percent of respondents had returned to pre-COVID profitability levels, and 55 percent had returned to pre-COVID revenue levels (for mentorship clients the numbers were 71 and 74 percent, respectively).

Around May 2021, online searches for “gyms near me” increased in astonishing numbers as well. It was apparent in late spring 2021 that bricks-and-mortar gyms were bouncing back nicely. Throughout the fitness industry’s history, nothing had ever challenged fitness consumers’ loyalty to their gym like the COVID-19 shutdowns. But more factors contributed the impressive recovery of most gyms. 

The Reasons Behind Gyms’ Fast RecoveryThe Maturing of Gen Z

According to Two Brain’s data, the second largest group of microgym clients is between 21 and 30. An increasing number of Generation Z members are poised to enter this bracket. Gen Z is composed of individuals born between 1997 and 2012, so the youngest of Gen Z is 9 or 10 years old, and the oldest is 24 or 25. 

This generational shift is promising for gyms because Gen Z’s are among the most likely to join a fitness club. 

Working Out at Home Is a Seasonal Fad

Other than during the COVID shutdowns, working out at home has always been a niche activity generally tied to New Year’s Resolutions. Garage sales and resale sites have always been full of unused fitness equipment. As such, most exercise equipment companies pass on this seasonal-fad market. Few have had the sensational success that Peloton has enjoyed.

Now, with restrictions falling away and people returning to gyms, the in-home exercise market is less of a threat to gym membership. This is even more true for gyms that offer group or personal coaching instead of just facility access.

People Need People

Social isolation had significant psychological consequences over the last two years. For many, the deep feelings of isolation and loneliness resulted in adverse emotional and physical effects. Research has shown that gyms are excellent social motivators because they:

Provide a sense of accountability.Offer social interaction among members and staff.Provide a sense of belonging.Furnish a controlled, positive environment that promotes civil behavior.

With people emerging from their homes after months of isolation, a gym is a prime place for them to rebuild and create the social connections that have been missing from their lives.

Three Strong Trends Affecting the Fitness Industry

While it is apparent that bricks-and-mortar gyms have bright futures, the pandemic sparked several trends that fitness merchants must be aware of and accommodate if they want to prosper. In addition, gyms and fitness facilities must be more agile than ever to compete in a rapidly evolving industry.

Here are the most significant takeaways from our fitness industry analysis. 

1. Fitness App Technology Is Here to Stay

Fitness app technology has been gaining popularity over the past decade. Still, the pandemic created a breakout period for downloadable fitness apps on cell phones and other electronic devices. During the first two quarters of 2020, downloads of fitness apps increased by 46 percent globally. 

Many people use fitness-app products to give their lives structure and balance and increase motivation. The two main health-oriented app categories are wellness and fitness. The apps in these categories might offer things like a 10-minute meditation or a sleep tracker. Among the top app brands in this category are:

Calm (meditation)Headspace (meditation)Sleep Cycle (includes sleep analysis and a wake-up feature)MyFitnessPal (nutrition and food tracking)

Dominating the wearable device markets, smart watches such as WHOOP and FitBit track the users’ sleep, recovery, training and more. According to the Pew Research Center, one in five Americans owns a fitness tracker or smart watch. They have effectively replaced paper exercise notepads for good.

The pandemic gave the fitness app industry a significant boost, but the growth rate is not showing any signs of slowing down. For example, industry researchers expect the global market size to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 17.6 percent between 2022 and 2030. As a result, many gym owners are adjusting their business models to integrate the fitness-app experience with their service packages.

For example, some Two-Brain clients who offer nutrition services use the MyFitnessPal app so they can quickly review a client’s food intake—and the clients can see what the coach is eating, too.

2. AI Technology in the Fitness Industry

While gyms and fitness facilities are regaining dominance over the at-home fitness industry, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) instructional aids is a trend that deserves attention. For example, high-tech clothing companies use machine learning and AI to guide and coach users through their workouts with the data gathered from tiny sensors in their clothing. 

These AI products combine input from a large pool of fitness experts to benefit millions of users with the most effective and up-to-date techniques and information for exercise improvement. For example, several apparel manufacturers install Asensei sensors in their workout clothing so apps and “Connected Fitness products” can provide coaching—they’ll actually monitor your movement and posture. Programs transform the feedback from sensors to provide detailed real-time instruction on the correct ways to position and move your body during an exercise routine. 

Sensoria provides another version of wearable AI technology that monitors your running motions to improve running speed, form and endurance. The program uses sensors embedded in a “smart sock” to retrieve data from the apparel to report cadence, steps and heart rate. 

Mirror products and similar systems use integrated “smart weights” to provide form corrections and track movements for at-home users.

Many inexpensive apps feature AI algorithms. For example, Freeletics and FitnessAI use your information to create personalized workouts from databases with millions of workout options. Other apps use AI algorithms to coach runners or weight-loss customers.

Rather than directly competing with fitness apps and AI technology, many gym owners find ways to integrate these products into their service packages. For example, trainers and instructors can use AI-driven wearables and apps for tracking their clients’ progress in workouts outside their supervision. Similarly, coaches might prescribe a combination of in-person training and at-home or on-the-road sessions provided by apps or devices.

Can a computer replace a skilled human coach or replicate deep coach-client relationships? No. But wise trainers find ways to use popular technology to serve their clients to an even greater degree.

3. Remote Live-Stream Workouts

Though microgym owners had more success with online coaching than Zoom workouts or live streams, larger gyms that swiftly adapted to remote workouts during the lockdown enjoyed success. Live-stream workout users went from 7 percent of consumers in 2019 to over 80 percent in 2020. Also, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 33 percent from 2021 to 2028, the demand for digital fitness is only getting stronger. 

For some gym owners, the internet has become an excellent option for providing remote access to exercise classes or offering personal training sessions. It’s also been beneficial for personal trainers. In a 2020 Personal Training Development Center survey, 62 percent of trainers said they would work online and in person once the pandemic is over.  

Fortë and similar companies deliver live-streaming workout classes on a global scale. As a result, consumers who can’t physically attend classes at the gym can participate in live or on-demand fitness classes in gyms connected to the host system. Even in the home environment, exercise customers prefer the authenticity of live classes over recorded ones, but a recorded class will still get some people moving.

As an increasing number of gyms integrate remote workout options into their class schedules, consumers—and trainers—will have more options. But wise microgym owners will remember that digital options won’t replace a personal coach.

How These Fitness Trends Affect the Fitness Industry

Apps and devices, AI, and online gym options have uprooted the business-as-usual standard of gyms and fitness facilities. Considering that tech-oriented Millennials and Gen Z’s are becoming the majority of gym customers, forward-thinking fitness business owners can provide hybrid establishments with omnichannel ways to integrate apps and virtual services to improve their members’ experiences. Or they can use select technology to enhance the high-touch coaching services they provide.

While some will fear the “rise of the machines,” smart coaches will apply tech to help members manage their workout, diet and wellness regimens seamlessly so they get fit fast. 

Final Thoughts About This Fitness Industry Analysis

The pandemic lockdown of 2020 put significant and sometimes unbearable strain on most people and businesses. However, the high-tech trends that blossomed during this period continue to serve as a catalyst for growth in the fitness industry by influencing gym owners to strive for a higher level of customer service.

By offering more alternatives—such as virtual exercise classes, online coaching and wellness coaching—gyms can attract people who usually wouldn’t join. Also, accommodating members with AI and fitness apps will give them a more active role in achieving their fitness goals.

Finally, integrating technology into a deeply personalized coaching practice can improve the client experience, provide coaches with more detailed metrics and help clients see progress.

The pandemic might have been a huge challenge for the fitness industry, but it’s put new tools in the box, and fitness pros would be wise to learn how to use them to improve their services.

About the Author: John Burson successfully ran a personal training business for over 20 years, and he has written volumes of published articles on business entrepreneurship, finance and the fitness industry.

The post Fitness Industry Analysis Post-Coronavirus: 3 Surprising Takeaways appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Fake Fitness News: Training at Your Gym Is Pointless

Misinformation is a big problem right now.

Take, for example, this headline from Time.com:

“Why You Shouldn’t Exercise to Lose Weight.”

Potential clients are seeing that headline—so you’re going to need to present the real facts.

The Time article by Robert J. Davis eventually circles back to close with this: Exercise is “perhaps the most important thing you can do for your health. But to improve the odds of success, focus on how movement helps you feel better physically and emotionally—and forget about how it moves the needle on the scale.”

That’s all fine and good, but the rather limp call to action is based on two mistaken assertions earlier in the article:

1. Diet and exercise produce “unimpressive” weight-loss results.

2. People can easily forget about a goal of losing weight.

The second one first: You can’t tell people what their goals are. They get to choose them for themselves. And weight loss happens to be one of the main goals for people who are thinking about working out. You know this. You’ve spoken to hundreds of clients, and so have I.

We can certainly help people see and appreciate emotional or physical changes as milestones in their journey, but they’ll still want to arrive at their preferred destination.

For example, you might celebrate when a client who wants to lose 5 lb. notices his clothes fit differently even if the number on the scale is the same. But, as his coach, you’re still focused on achieving his stated goal.

Back in the day, I made the mistake of trying to change clients’ goals. I wanted them to do more work faster or squat with better mechanics instead of focus on losing weight or gaining muscle. It didn’t work. Many looked at better Fran times only as a means to achieve their real goals—and I eventually learned that.

Say What?

Now the first issue—and the one you should address on your blog: diet and exercise don’t help people lose weight.

I don’t have to tell another gym owner that this is complete BS. So how does Davis make his case? Simple:

1. His definitions are different from yours—for example, he lists walking for 30 minutes a day five days a week as “exercise.” For most people, that’s not exercise. It’s “activity,” and it should be presented as a better-than-nothing first step for a very deconditioned person, not as cornerstone of training for weight loss.

2. His “data” comes from a scholarly article that has its full text hidden behind a paywall, and he fails to realize the significance of this line from the abstract: “these levels (of exercise) are generally inadequate for clinically significant weight loss or weight maintenance without caloric restriction.” Remember, we’re talking about 150 minutes of walking or just 75 minutes of “vigorous physical activity” every week—and yet the abstract suggests even those regimens will work to a degree when nutrition is addressed. So it’s very likely that diet and more appropriate exercise will work wonders in combination.

3. He also pulls more nonsense out of another study: “When moderate exercise is added to diet, the results are equally unimpressive. Pooling data from six trials, researchers found that a combination of diet and exercise generated no greater weight loss than diet alone after six months.” Get this: The researchers classified “brisk walking” as a high-intensity activity, and at least one study used “vibration plates as the physical activity component.” No wonder the addition of “exercise” didn’t produce greater results.

There’s more hands-in-the-air nonsense about how the sessions needed for weight loss “go well beyond what most of us are willing or able to do,” but we’ll move on.

Real Experts Vs. Fake News

Prospective clients will read this in a major magazine and think “I can’t lose weight with diet and exercise.” Remember the old—and very stupid—articles about how drinking wine is linked to weight loss?

You need to show people what a healthy diet and appropriate exercise can really do. Here’s how:

Write a blog called “Why You Should Exercise to Lose Weight.”Link to the Time article with something like this: “You might have read this piece. Here’s the truth … .”Explain how an appropriate training program and healthy nutrition combine to produce weight loss. (Mention that you offer combo programs.)Present bullet points describing how much weight at least three clients lost in six months with a personalized exercise and diet plan. Include quotes or pictures if you have them.Conclude by telling people who are confused about weight loss to book a free consultation, in which you’ll answer all their questions and put together a plan that will help them accomplish their goals.

Fake news is a thing. But only experts can spot it in seconds. When it comes to fitness, you are that expert. Don’t let prospective clients read garbage and miss out on activities that will change their lives.

Present the real facts, back them up with examples, and then tell people exactly how to accomplish their health and fitness goals.

The post Fake Fitness News: Training at Your Gym Is Pointless appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

How Discipline Makes You and Your Staff More Money

By Shannon Brasovan, Two-Brain Yoga Business Mentor

The secret to making more money in your studio isn’t raising your rates or getting more clients.

It’s discipline, otherwise known in yoga as “tapas.”

While tapas is often defined as discipline, it means something deeper: “austerity” or “to burn something down to its purest form.” Discipline seems to be a dirty word in the yoga world—unless we are guiding clients to do one more boat pose. But it’s actually a prescription for how to live our lives and run our businesses. 

When I hired my first teacher at Practice Indie in 2013, I was super worried about having the “money talk” with her. I was currently teaching 20 hours a week and barely paying myself. She was already teaching all around town, making bank—I projected—at every other studio. I was worried that she wouldn’t make enough with us and would tell all the other studios how pathetic our pay structure was. 

But I told her, “I’ll start you off at $20 an hour no matter how many clients you get in the room. I’ll pay a separate hourly rate for checking students in and studio clean-up, and for every teacher training you lead or private client you teach, you’ll get 44 percent of the profit.”

“Deal,” she said without hesitation.

Only later did I realize that my rules had solved some huge problems for her:

She hated asking people for money, so she often wound up “volunteering” her time.Her privates tended to be for trade and were very rarely paid for.She had to aggressively “recruit” her own students for teacher trainings but did not benefit when larger numbers of students joined. She did a lot of free labor at other studios. Her time before and after class—checking students in, cleaning up, etc.—was never paid. And it was always expected, even if it added an hour or more to her time there.At other studios she had to fight for time slots. She knew if she taught at 5 p.m. she was much more likely to make more because more students showed up. In less popular time slots, she sometimes wasn’t paid at all if no one showed up. She no longer had to guess at what she was making each month. With a base hourly rate for classes, she could commit consistently to classes (and was eager to take on more) because she could confidently project her monthly pay.

Under my rules—my imposed discipline—she’d make way more money with much less stress and frustration.

6 Reasons You Aren’t Making Bank

Studio owners don’t make more money for six reasons. When you fix these issues with discipline, your studio will be more successful.

Reason 1

They don’t pay themselves first. Have the discipline to write yourself a check. You can hack this process by using a system like Profit First. Just think of this like putting your oxygen mask on first!

Reason 2

They don’t make enough money per client. Have the discipline to set your rates appropriately and stick to them. Everyone knows that discounts don’t attract clients. But most of us have offered discounts (new-member special, anyone?) because we don’t have the discipline to stick to our rates. Usually, this is a mental problem, not a demographic one.

Reason 3

They don’t keep clients long enough. Have the discipline to maintain an excellent experience. You build excellence on a foundation of consistency. The rules must apply to everyone equally.

For example, we used to call every class “yoga,” but students wanted to know what to expect in a class. My ego responded: “When you’re here, you get yoga.” I was too naive and young to realize that different people need different styles, and they have expectations about what’s offered. Luckily, my clients provided enough feedback and I changed my ways. I instantly saw more consistency in practice and fewer frustrated students. 

I also see often that many studios allow their teachers to instruct classes according to their personal interpretation of a certain style of yoga. They ignore what the business has promised and what the clients expect.

Repeat after me “met expectations equal happiness.” Set clear expectations for what clients can expect every time, whether it’s style, punctuality, etc. Consistency is key in both our yoga practice and in our business. Have the discipline to be consistent. 

Reason 4

Their expenses are too high. Have the discipline to rent only the space you need and buy only the props you need. Have the discipline to do the math and make a plan instead of buying the biggest toy box and trying to fill it.

Reason 5

They don’t have enough clients. Have the discipline to make a marketing plan, track your marketing metrics and determine what’s actually working instead of just firing random shots at your market. Videos of you doing handstands are not a marketing plan. 

Reason 6

They wear the wrong hats. Have the discipline to learn how to grow your business instead of just punching the clock and hoping for the best.

The Fix: Discipline

It isn’t easy to fix any of these problems—but everything gets easier with practice. We’re in the habit-formation game, right? We teach tapas and habits and consistent practice for a living. Maybe it’s time to take our own advice.

Enforcing discipline in yourself is hard. Having a coach or mentor makes it easier.

Enforcing discipline in your staff is really hard. But you usually only have to do it once. When others see that you’re going to stick by your published rules instead of running your business on your fluctuating emotions, they’ll come in line—and you’ll have the freedom to help them instead of just cleaning up their messes.

Remember: Tapas really means to burn something down to its purest form. If you want to offer the best yoga you possibly can, get rid of all the things that hold you back from your best. Discipline is not a dirty word, it’s a mindful way to structure your practice, your life and your business so you can make a difference in the world.

The post How Discipline Makes You and Your Staff More Money appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Sell by Chat for Gym Owners: Does It Work?

Mike (00:02):

Need to generate revenue fast? Chris Cooper has five quick wins on this edition of Two-Brain Radio.

Chris (00:07):

Chris Cooper here with a word about O2. Your gym members will love O2’s hydrating, non-carbonated beverages after a tough workout. Even better, O2 is a community-based brand that wants to give back to gyms. If you sell O2 at your gym, you get a free sponsored event every year. Gym owners who wholesale O2 also get their first order for a dollar. Visit wholesale.drinko2.com to apply for an account today.

Chris (00:34):

Hey everybody, it’s Chris Cooper. And today I’m gonna give you five revenue-generating ideas to close out to 2021. Now this was originally published as a free guide in our free Facebook group, Gym Owners United, I’ll post a link to that in our show notes. But if you go in that group, we are regularly publishing content, just like this, giving out free guides because our mission is to help gym owners succeed.

Chris (00:58):

And so every week or two weeks, you’re gonna get free guides just like this. They’re immediately actionable and they’ll help you make more money. So here we go. Our top five revenue-generating ideas to close out the year. One of my most trusted staff members, Mike Warkentin, our editor, sent me this text last week and he said, what would be your top five list of ways to generate an end of year cash infusion for a gym? And I said, well, let me think about it for a little bit. So an hour later, I came back to him and I gave him these five ideas. And today I’m gonna walk through the details of each one. So the five ideas, if I needed to generate some income from my business between now and the new year, these are the five things that I would do: first, a retail presale.

Chris (01:43):

Second, I would make a blog post about the top gifts for CrossFiters with links to purchase on my site, third, I would offer like a save your spot for a January something, you know, maybe there’s a group OnRamp or whatever. Fourth, I would have a bring a friend holiday party and fifth, I would do some kind of January kickstart specialty program. Now Two-Brain clients have access to plug and play resources that reduce workload dramatically. So for example, we have tried and tested done for you kickstart programs that they can bolt into their plan at warp speed. And we can tell them exactly how to run a social event that will result in new clients. So if you’re already in Two-Brain, just ask your mentor for these details. And if you’re not a client, I still want to help. So just listen to the rest of this podcast.

Chris (02:30):

And if you need additional assistance, you can book a free call with my team any time to talk about mentorship. So here we go, the five ways that I would generate revenue between now and the end of the year. First up, the retail presale. Many of your members will buy your T-shirts whenever you sell them, you already know this, but you might not have a retail calendar in place to ensure you’re regularly putting out new gear. So now’s the time to create some apparel and market it for the gift giving season, but let’s be real. Retail sales aren’t going to generate as much cash as personal training or nutrition coaching, but most members won’t think twice about dropping 20 to $40 on a shirt or a hoodie. And every single dollar counts. If you can make money while getting happy people to wear your logo, that’s a huge win. Apparel sales don’t take much time either.

Chris (03:18):

Unless you start overthinking things and trying to be a fashion designer, don’t do that. The best part with a pre-order plan, you only need to purchase what you’ve already sold. It will be tempting to order extra apparel, but remember, we’re looking for a cash infusion. We don’t wanna tie up your money in inventory. So do this, contact your apparel provider and get the ball rolling right now with a design, then announce a pre-order and promote it on your social media, in classes, in your newsletter, et cetera. Here’s the easy button: Forever Fierce will get you going within like a day. They’ll design exactly what you need. And they’ll make sure that you’ve got the styles that will sell, and they’ll even teach you how to set up and run your presale. We do this at catalyst twice a year. It’s amazing. I don’t tie up money in inventory.

Chris (04:05):

Forever Fierce handles everything. Second way to generate revenue before the end of the year is to write a blog post called top gifts for CrossFiters or top gifts for yoga or whatever model, whatever method you teach at your gym, have a blog post saying top gifts for those people. A lot of people are looking for gift ideas right now. And especially as supply chain issues threaten to create shortages in some stores, people are having trouble figuring out what to buy their loved ones. You know, it’s hard in a normal year to figure out what to buy your spouse. But if you know that they love yoga, CrossFit, bootcamp, whatever you sell, then you can really help out people by showing them exactly like what to buy your clients. So do this: create a list of top gifts and feature your products and services. Get that list on your blog and send it to your mailing list.

Chris (04:57):

Tell members that they can purchase gifts for others, or send a list to their fan family and friends who are looking to buy for them. Then post on your social media, tell people to share it around. Hint. Hint. I’ve personally had a lot of success with this plan. I once had five people pay for PT packages in full as gifts. And that’s in addition to the other products and services we sold that year. You could sell gift cards. You could sell packages of like five personal training sessions. You could sell specialty group sessions, nutrition, kickoffs, whatever. Here’s an additional win. You know that old inventory that’s sitting in a box in your office? Put it up on display near your entrance. You have cash tied up in that inventory. So get rid of the stuff at the best time of year to make retail sales.

Chris (05:43):

One of our clients did this and recouped hundreds of dollars as clients bought from the rack of odds and ends. Now, we don’t recommend that you ever offer discounts, but when it comes to moving old goods and freeing up cash, you might consider dropping the price on a t-shirt from three years ago, selling an old shirt at cost is better for your bank account than using it to wipe down the rowing machines.

Chris (06:04):

Back to Two-Brain Radio in just a minute. Beyond the Whiteboard is the world’s premier workout tracking platform. Beyond the Whiteboard empowers gym owners with tools designed to retain and motivate members. We all know clients need to accomplish their goals if they’re going to stick around long term, and Beyond the Whiteboard will help your members chart their progress. They can earn badges view, leaderboards, track their macros, assess their fitness levels, and a lot more. Your job is to get great results for your members. Beyond the Whiteboard’s job is to make sure your members see those results and celebrate them. For a free 30-day trial, visit BTwb.com today.

Chris (06:41):

Third strategy: Run a save your spot for January promotion. Selling in advance is a great way to generate revenue, especially at the end of the year when revenue typically dips. You can recommend people save a spot for anything you offer like personal training sessions, nutrition coaching, specialty clinics, nutrition kickoffs, whatever. The key is to motivate people to commit. Now it’s all about generating a sense of urgency. So often all you have to do is put a cap on a program, you know, maximum 12 people and then tell people to grab a spot before they’re gone. When spots start going, let people know how many are left. FOMO is really powerful. Do this: pick a popular service and promote it on social media, on your website and in your newsletter. Make sure your call to action has a reason for people to act now, instead of waiting until January. Here are three examples.

Chris (07:33):

My schedule is filling up, book your January 22 personal training sessions now to make sure sure you get the time slots you want. Number two, wanna add nutrition coaching in 2022? Book this week, and I’ll have your program ready for you to hit the ground running on January 1st. Number three, we only have 10 spots available in our January weightlifting clinic, lock yours down before they’re gone. The fourth way I generate revenue before the end of the year is a bring a friend holiday party. You aren’t going to charge people to attend this party. You’re going to use it to get very warm leads into your pipeline. Your clients know you like you and trust you. So give them a gift, a chance to spend some time in your gym with a close acquaintance who might need some help getting fit. For the party, you can definitely include a simple workout or maybe give a nutrition presentation.

Chris (08:22):

You can also spend a little on snacks or beverages, but you don’t have to break the bank. Make sure you build in time for socialization so you can meet people and start conversations. So do this. If you’re inTwo-Brain, check out step nine in our affinity marketing guide, and you can even download the public version of this guide, the scaled down version of this guide. If you click on the link and I’ll put it in the show notes, then you just put together a simple evening so that you can meet the friends and family of your members, ask your clients to bring the people that they care about. Make sure you’ve got everybody’s email address and add it to your contact list. Just have people sign a waiver when they enter the gym, that’s all. And then you should also book free consultations with everybody who attends.

Chris (09:06):

You might get some signups right at the events, but more than likely if you book free consultations with other people, you’ll give yourself a great opportunity to make a sale to a high affinity client. The fifth way that I would make revenue before the end of the year is to run a January kickstart group. January is usually a great time in the fitness world. After the holiday season, people are very likely to do something new in an attempt to become fitter and healthier, so offer some way for them to do it, help them. And a great option is a nutrition kickstart. Two-Brain clients have a complete done for you program available, you know, just ask your mentor or it’s on the roadmap, but you should read “nutrition challenges are dead. Kickstarts are the answer” on our blog and I’ll post the link below.

Chris (09:52):

Then create a program that will run for about four weeks, start promoting it now and use the ideas that I outlined, to promote it earlier in the podcast, right? Push people to save a spot for January. Book now, pay for your sessions so that you know that you’re committed. You know that you’re in, you know, you’ve got a spot. And if you need a full marketing plan, there’s a blog post that I’ll link to called how to sell out any specialty program. The big bonus by presenting this as a kickstart, instead of a challenge with a see you later end date, ongoing coaching will be seen as the next step. So be sure to talk about what happens after the kickstart ends while you’re delivering the program. Now, of course, some people who start a kickstart won’t continue, but nobody will be surprised when you bring up ongoing coaching.

Chris (10:37):

In fact, you aren’t delivering full value on the kickstart if you don’t tell people how to keep moving toward their goals after the kickstart ends. After experiencing your high level of service for a month and seeing progress, some participants will be very eager to find out how to keep going. When the kickstart begins, make sure you schedule a goal review with each kickstart participant. So you can sit down at the end and discuss options for ongoing coaching. A kickstart can provide great front end revenue, but also ongoing revenue if you run it properly and I’ve got another resource for you that will help you think of creative ways to provide ongoing services. It’s called how to run specialty courses every day of the year. And the link is in the show notes. Once again, if you’re interested in working with a Two-Brain mentor to add these things to an annual plan so you’re not just scrambling at the last minute, you can click a link to book with our team and talk about joining the Two-Brain family. Hope it helps. Happy holidays.

Mike (11:34):

Two-Brain Radio airs twice a week and features all the info you need to run a successful fitness business. Subscribe so you don’t miss a show. Now here’s Coop one more time.

Chris (11:45):

Thanks for listening to Two-Brain Radio. If you aren’t in the Gym Owners United group on Facebook, this is my personal invitation to join. It’s the only public Facebook group that I participate in. And I’m there all the time with tips, tactics, and free resources. I’d love to network with you and help you grow your business. Join Gym Owners United on Facebook.

 

The post Sell by Chat for Gym Owners: Does It Work? appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

How Does Your Business Survive Change?

Mike (00:02):

What can a mythical Athenian king teach you about running a profitable gym business? Chris Cooper is on Two-Brain Radio to tell you.

Chris (00:08):

Hey guys, it’s Chris and my bestselling book, “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief,” was a really popular one, but it wasn’t perfect. And this year when I was going through some parts of it, I decided to rewrite it, to edit it down, to provide more clarity, to update a few of the stories and also to give you very specific goals in each phase. One of the stories that really stuck out to me as I was going through it was the story of Theseus’ boat. One of the biggest hurdles that we face when we’re in the farmer phase is we have to hand off some of our roles and tasks to other people. And we wanna make sure that they do it the same way that we do it, or else we’ll be constantly frustrated or micromanaging them or worse, jumping back in to do the job ourself.

Chris (00:55):

There are steps to this process and I go through them all in “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief,” including getting the business out of your head and onto paper, systemizing your processes, making rules and publishing them for your clients. But what ties all of this together is more than just your playbook. It’s also your story. This is the story of Theseus’ boat. After conquering Crete, Theseus and the young warriors of Athens journeyed home on a boat with 30 oars. Upon arrival, the boat was lifted up as a display of their triumph and shown in Athens for hundreds of years. But a wooden boat will naturally rot over time. And over the years, each board of Theseus’ ship was taken out and replaced as necessary until eventually none of the original boards remained, but the boat was still on display. The philosopher Plutarch asked is that still Theseus’ boat?

Chris (01:50):

And this is a question that applies to your business as much as it does to old artifacts. How does your business survive change and how much change can it withstand before you no longer recognize it as your own? As you move to higher value roles in your gym, you’ll have to replace yourself in each area of your business. So first maybe you’ll stop doing the mopping, and then you might cut back on coaching or posting to social media and your clients will eventually take notice. I remember one of my favorite members Cath asking me, why do you run and hide in your office all day instead of standing on the floor and chatting with people like you used to? Well, the answer of course, was that my business wasn’t growing while I was standing around for 12 hours talking to people, but I couldn’t share that with Cath or any of my clients because they wouldn’t understand it. From their perspective,

Chris (02:40):

Everything was great. But from my perspective, I was dead broke. I was exhausted and I was barely containing my constant frustration and secretly ready to fold the gym. People notice when you replace the planks in your business. Does that mean that you should let the boat rot to preserve its authenticity? Of course not. So here’s another more recent example of the Theseus’ boat question. A young boy inherits his grandfather’s axe. He’s inspired to become a lumberjack like his grandfather. So he starts chopping down a tree. Halfway through the tree, the handle of the axe breaks. So the boy replaces the handle and starts chopping again. But the axe head soon becomes dull. So the boy sharpens the head and he notices there’s not a lot of edge left. So he buys a new axe head, pops it on the handle and finishes cutting down the tree.

Chris (03:36):

His father congratulates him for cutting down the tree with his grandfather’s axe, but did he? To the boy and his father, he did cut down the tree with his grandfather’s axe, even though both parts of the axe, the handle and the head, were brand new. In a literal sense. It wasn’t his grandfather’s axe at all. Grandfather had never touched that handle or sharpened that blade. But in a subjective sense, it was his grandfather’s axe the boy used because the story made it so. Your business isn’t your logo. Your business is the feeling people get in your gym and the story that they tell about it. When clients are welcomed to class, are they greeted warmly by every coach as you would do? If a client’s bill isn’t paid on time, are they treated kindly, as you would treat them? The story ties the boat together, and the boat is simply the symbol for the story. Your policies, your pictures, and your posts are all part of your story.

Chris (04:38):

And it’s up to you to make sure that it’s being told the right way. And that means educating the other storytellers in your gym. If your staff doesn’t know how to tell your story, then they’ll tell their story. Maybe they’ll use the F bomb in class. Maybe they’ll play gangster rap during a family friendly class time. Maybe they’ll post pictures of torn hands because that’s what they used to love about 10 years ago. So you need to give them a system. Here’s how you greet people. Here’s how you start the class. Here’s how you lead the warm-up, or your story will become their story. John C. Maxwell wrote that you can’t reach the next level until you’ve completely replaced yourself at this level. And he was talking about replacing planks in boats. For your legend to endure beyond its necessary parts, though, like the Theseus’ ship and the grandfather’s axe, you have to make sure that the story that ties everything together is consistent, and doing that will let you level up from farmer to the next phase of entrepreneurship.

Mike (05:40):

Two-Brain Radio has all the info you need to run a successful fitness business. Subscribe so you get all the goodies. Now here’s Coop one more time.

Chris (05:48):

Thanks for listening to Two-Brain Radio. If you aren’t in the Gym Owners United group on Facebook, this is my personal invitation to join. It’s the only public Facebook group that I participate in. And I’m there all the time with tips, tactics, and free resources. I’d love to network with you and help you grow your business. Join Gym Owners United on Facebook.

 

The post How Does Your Business Survive Change? appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Media Assignment: What to Expect in a Coaching Gym

I opened this article with a sneer:

“What to Expect the First Time You Go to the Gym.”

I had been reading about government-mandated gym closures and struggling fitness entrepreneurs, so I was looking to lash out at something. I figured the article would be a fluffy piece of clickbait I could ridicule.

But it was actually good—and it gave me an idea for microgyms.

The Lifehacker.com article lays out all the stuff a neophyte needs to know: what to bring, where to put your stuff, how to access the facility, how to find things, and so on. It’s designed for someone who has no idea at all, and I thought this tip was a great way to help nervous people get the lay of the land:

“Sit on an exercise bike (or the machine of your choice). Ideally, pick one that faces the main gym area so you can gather more information about what equipment is out there and what people do with it.”

Later, the writer, Beth Skwarecki, offers a decent “Day 1” routine a reader could try. It’s 2 sets of 10 reps of about six exercises for a nice introductory full-body workout.

The interesting thing is obvious to anyone who owns a microgym:

A writer actually had to figure out a clever strategy to help newbies reconnoiter the facility in hopes of figuring out what the hell to do in the gym. And then she had to provide a general workout routine that applies to everyone and no one all at the same time.

What’s clear is that members of the public have several problems: They don’t know what to do in the gym or how to do it, and they don’t understand anything about how a gym works.

The opportunity for microgym owners: rewriting the article to explain how a coaching facility solves almost all the problems the article covers:

We talk to you about your goals.We create a perfect plan.We coach you rather than abandon you.We adjust the plan as needed.We show you around.We tell you what to bring and where to put your stuff.We show you how to sign in.We call you when you don’t show up.We have a person dedicated to answering your questions and making you feel at home.

All the issues the article addresses are solved instantly in a coaching gym—but if people don’t even know what shoes to bring to the gym, they won’t have a clue what a “coaching gym” is. And they won’t understand why it’s more expensive. Your job is to explain everything to them and build value.

Here’s how to do it:

Write a blog called “What to Expect the First Time You Go to a Gym in [YOUR CITY].”Briefly list all the problems in the Lifehacker article—all the things that make people avoid or fear gyms. You can even link back to that article. You want readers to know that you understand their concerns.  Tell the reader that you’ve set up a business that solves literally all the problems.Detail your intro process and explain how it helps people succeed.Mention that your gym is more expensive but will provide a vastly improved experience and better results.Ask the reader to book a free consultation to talk about goals.

This article doesn’t have to be long or complex. Start a clock and crank it out in under an hour. Even if you aren’t a writer, it shouldn’t take that long. After all, you’re basically just describing your intro process, which I’m sure you know very well.

If you create this article, anyone who reads it will know three things:

1. You’ve solved the most common problems for new gym members.
2. That solution costs more but is well worth it.
3. He or she can meet with you for free with a few clicks.

Those are three big wins for a coaching gym.

The post Media Assignment: What to Expect in a Coaching Gym appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

You Had a Yoga Teacher, Right? Got a Business Mentor?

Shannon Brasovan, Two-Brain Yoga Business Mentor

As the owner of a yoga studio, wondering how you’re going to pay your staff, your bills or yourself is one of the worst feelings in the world. I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit, and it’s awful.

Wondering how you’re going to pick up your daughter from ballet because your umpteenth teacher just quit is another one of the worst feelings in the world. I’ve been there, too—again, more times than I’d like to say.

And feeling as if the thing you love so much is absolutely burning you out and robbing you blind? That might be the absolute worst feeling in the world. And yeah, I’ve unfortunately been there, too. 

If you read those three scenarios and said yep, yep and yep—perhaps as tears welled up in your eyes—then you’re at the right place at the right time.

When I opened my studio, I envisioned a version of myself that was full of life and joy, a person who welcomed folks into my space and got home at a decent hour to celebrate the day with my family over dinner. I envisioned being able to pay myself enough to live a joyful life and give back to my community. But in the beginning, my reality was far from that. And then I started with Two-Brain Business.

If you have the same issues with staffing, struggle to pay the bills and feel overwhelmed by having to do it all, you are not alone—and there’s a way out. With a Two-Brain mentor, you’ll get the tools and guidance to right the ship. 

Get this: 93 percent of fitness business owners recoup the cost of Two-Brain mentorship and start turning a profit within three months. When you have professional guidance and data-backed strategies, you can direct your business onto the right path and find joy again. 

With Two-Brain you are assigned a mentor—just as you likely started your yoga practice with a teacher. Your mentor will guide you toward higher versions of yourself and your business by acknowledging your resources, affirming your goals and helping you align those goals with your vision. 

If you work with an experienced mentor, you are setting yourself up to get back to the vision of who you wanted to be and what you wanted to offer through your business.

If you’re ready to make your studio a strong, sustainable business that brings joy to you and your clients for decades, click here.

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