Chris Cooper's Blog, page 112

Falling Back on the Familiar: A Tinker Trap

You ever think about your ex?

Sometimes people in happy marriages are still tempted to hook up with an ex-lover.

Most of the time, they don’t—the tradeoff just isn’t worth it.

But sometimes they do—and it always ends in ruin.

In the Tinker Phase, entrepreneurs have tasted success. They’ve got a working model that pays them well and creates free time. Their families are fed, rested and stress-free. Their gyms are changing lives and their coaches are making good careers.

But … those other gym owners are getting lots of clients!

But … those huge group classes in that other CrossFit gym look like fun!

But … other yoga studios don’t do this much PT!

Logically, we know we’re on the right track. Our metrics prove it. Our lifestyle proves it! Everyone around us is happier.

So why can’t we stop thinking about “the old way”—even when we know it was bad?

Back in the Day …

We get caught up in the past for a few reasons.

First, we tend to remember only the good parts of our history, and we reminisce with rose-colored glasses.

“Yeah, I was broke and exhausted. Yeah, the floors were dirty and people paid too little. Yeah, my best clients were chased away by all the muscle-ups in my programming. But our ‘Mess You Up’ T-shirts were so cool!”

We also tend to try and impress everyone instead of just the people who matter most.

“If I make more money, my friends will think I’ve sold out.”

“If I say that I have a mentor, the gym owners in the AOG will make fun of me!”

We’re wired to fit in, to please people—but some people want to hold us back. We can only please them by hurting our own progress.

Finally, we give our brains too much space to ruminate.

When we don’t have an emergency to solve, we feel like something’s wrong. Because solving problems is our job, right? So we start giving orders to our kids, telling our spouses exactly what to do all day, and thinking about our old flames.

Get Over the Past

Here’s how to stop yourself from pining for yesterday every time you hear “Don’t Stop Believin'” on satellite radio:

1. Get a really clear vision of the future. When my CFO told me “you can give away a million dollars every year if you build a net worth of $20 million,” I got super focused on that goal. That meant I stopped thinking about what other people were doing, stopped thinking about my grudges, stopped the envy and the anger and just got down to work.

2. Get an objective perspective. You’re not an impartial judge. Ask your mentor, “How am I doing?”

3. If you have time to think about the past, it means you have free time—and that means you’re at least a bit successful. Review your metrics and your personal journal for the last year. If you want to play the highlight reels in your brain, make yourself watch the whole tape.

4. Realize that you’re probably more successful than the people you’re comparing yourself to. They don’t know what you know.

5. Keep your mind busy by solving other people’s problems. Do puzzles and crosswords (seriously). Contribute knowledge to others in your niche but also to entrepreneurs in your city.

In the Tinker phase, you have to retrain your brain. Some of that retraining is in staying “future focused.” You must think about where you’re going instead of where you’ve been—or what your ex is doing right now.

The post Falling Back on the Familiar: A Tinker Trap appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Where Do You Send Clients Who Don’t Fit Your Gym?

“It’s not you. It’s me.”

It’s hard to say goodbye to a bad client. It’s even hard to say “we’re not a good fit” to a prospective client.

As a people-pleaser, I’ve struggled with saying “no thanks” to people my whole life. But I’ve finally found a way to do it: I refer imperfect fits elsewhere.

Here’s how to do it.

Referrals: Still Serving the Client

I was once forced to fire a client who was in love with one of our coaches.

She was absolutely obsessed with him. He was uncomfortable—and so was his wife. The client had to go.

But I actually liked the client and wanted the best for her. Even though I knew I had to remove her from my gym fast, I dreaded the conversation.

So I decided to find her a new home. I called around to other local gyms, introduced myself and asked about their programs. Finally, I found one that I thought could really help her.

I said, “I have this client. She’s amazing, but she’s not a good fit here. She has a $270 credit at my gym. I’d like to transfer that to you and get her started right away.”

Of course, they were suspicious: What kind of monster was I dumping at their door?

I told them, “If you don’t like her, you can just refund her the balance. OK?”

They agreed—warily. And the client wasn’t exactly thrilled that I was referring her out, but it was better than being dumped by my gym completely. She tried the other gym, liked it and lost 70 more pounds in the next two years there.

The last service I could perform for that client was to give her a way to continue her path to fitness.

But the experience opened my eyes to the value of a referral partner. I was no longer afraid to say “you’re not a great fit for our program” because I didn’t have to hurt anyone’s feelings anymore. That meant I could work only with clients who were a perfect match for my coaches and my gym.

Partner Up

Here’s how to find a referral partner in your town:

1. Make a list of all the coaching practices.

2. Pick the five gyms that can care for your “poor fits” the best. You’re not looking for technical expertise: You’re looking for someone who can demonstrate care. In other words, you’re viewing the person through the eyes of a potential client.

3. Visit the websites of the five gyms on your list.

4. Call two or three of them. Ask if you can drop by with coffee.

5. Drop by with coffee.

6. Tell them that you want to refer the clients who aren’t a good fit.

7. Ask if they would welcome those clients.

That’s it. Do not try to set up cross-referral fees or some other kind of exclusive deal. This should be a “win” for the client and the other gym. Your win isn’t monetary here.

It’s really hard to remove clients who aren’t a good fit because none of us likes hurting a client’s feelings. So we keep them around, read their private texts with dread and keep a suspicious eye on them when they’re around. In theory, firing a client is easy; in practice, firing a client is really hard.

I used to try and keep every client or take every person who wanted to join my gym. Even when I didn’t need the money anymore, I just didn’t want to hurt their feelings. But then I learned the value of a referral partner and my life got 300 percent easier.

And then, one day, my partner referred someone to my gym.

That was a bonus. The real win is working with my Seed Clients only and surrounding myself with people I can serve.

To learn how to identify and focus on your Seed Clients, watch this video:

The post Where Do You Send Clients Who Don’t Fit Your Gym? appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Bigger Isn’t Better (and It Might Be Way Worse)

By Kenny Markwardt, Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor

As a gym owner, you might daydream about an enormous, shiny facility—a place with room for multiple classes of 20 or more at a time, turf, lockers and a ball pit.

I’m here to tell you that might be more of a nightmare than a dream. The dream is actually quite the opposite.  

Running a giant place like that is a herculean task. It comes with a monumental amount of overhead and risk. And the reality is that you’re going to have a big, empty space much of the time. Worse, the payoff is probably not going to be as big as you think it will be. Huge spaces are very expensive to rent or buy, fill and maintain.

On the flip side, by maximizing a smaller facility, you’ll have less overhead and more risk tolerance. And you’ll always have an exciting, energy-filled place people are attracted to.  

Most importantly, you can fit more members than you think in a smaller space. And you can generate more revenue than you think, too.

For example, our gym is housed in less than 4,000 square feet. That space supports roughly 250 members, three full-time coaches, group classes, kids programs, personal training and nutrition.

Though it’s tempting to want to go bigger, here are the reasons why I so strongly believe in staying in a smaller facility:

Versatility—In a smaller space, you can easily manage the inevitable ebb and flow of business ownership as you go from startup to thriving enterprise. You’ll grow in the good times and easily manage the bad times along the way. Our space is large enough to allow us to generate a great income and support a staff of professional coaches, yet it’s small enough that we would survive a mass exodus or another pandemic. When COVID hit, I realized I could still be remarkably profitable by retaining a third of our clients and making a few adjustments. Luckily, we didn’t have to, but it was a huge relief to run the numbers and know we were going to be OK.

Energy—Have you ever been to an empty restaurant or nightclub? It’s terrible. You feel as if something is wrong and wonder where everyone else is. With a big space, there will be many times when only a few people are training. Just like an empty restaurant, your gym will feel hollow. Worse, you’re paying rent for space you aren’t using much. People are attracted to the energy of other people. Full classes create a fun, buzzing environment that people want to be in. And a gym that’s always full will generate great revenue per square foot.

Profit/Overhead—This one might seem obvious but I’m not so sure it is. Most people recognize that their rent or mortgage payments will be larger in a bigger space, but other costs aren’t always so obvious. A bigger space will be more expensive to heat and cool, clean, build out, and fill with gear. All that stuff adds up fast. 

Reality—Let’s be honest: Most of us want the big, shiny facility to stoke our own egos. We want to own one of those juggernaut places everyone knows about. We seem to think that if we build such a place, people from far and wide will come check out how awesome we are. Fortunately for microgym owners, that’s just not the case. People come to you for coaching, community and accountability. If they’re coming to you for a shiny, expansive space, you’re going to lose to the globo gym down the street—a place that’s easy to keep clean because two-thirds of the members never actually work out.

Small Spaces and Huge Profits

I know you can make a six-figure income in a 4,000-square-foot facility—or a smaller space—so it seems shortsighted to go any bigger. And it’s definitely a bad idea to get a big space without a precise plan to maximize every square inch and generate a profit that will justify that space (a mentor can help you determine exactly how much space you need).

So if you’re looking for your first or next place, don’t think big. Think about maximizing a small space and being versatile.

Read more: “What Do Gyms Really Need? Space and Equipment”

The post Bigger Isn’t Better (and It Might Be Way Worse) appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Why You Aren’t Getting Paid What You’re Worth (and How to Fix It)

Andrew (00:02):

Welcome to Two-Brain Radio. Your coaching service is incredibly valuable, but you might not be getting paid what you’re worth. Today, Chris Cooper will help you solve that problem and make more money.

Chris (00:14):

Chris Cooper here with a word about Arbox. This business management platform is designed to take you from a fitness expert to a successful gym owner. Arbox offers a full suite of tools, including a dashboard and report with the top metrics that we prioritize at Two-Brain Business. With a glance, you can see length of engagement, average monthly revenue, new versus lost members and more. Arbox will also help you drive engagement with a members app that allows clients to interact with their friends. So here’s the special deal for Two-Brain Radio listeners. Save up to 50% for the first year using Arbox. Visit arboxapp.com/tbb to register to a free 10 day trial and schedule a demo with one of Arbox’s experts.

Chris (01:06):

Since I’ve been working one-on-one with gym owners, and our team has been working one-on-one with thousands of gym owners around the world now, there’s always been this constant conversation about why can’t I charge more and why don’t I get paid what I’m worth? And how come I can’t charge what F45 or Orangetheory or whoever else is charging and how are some people charging now like $2,500 for this high-ticket transformation when I’m only charging a 10th of that? And I’m just as good a coach as they are. Well, the reason is value. And today we’re going to talk about the misperceptions about value that are actually holding you back. I’m working a lot with Bob Burg, and Bob is the author of “The Go-Giver.” One of my favorite books of all time. And it’s a real delight for me to spend this one-on-one time with him and work together and learn more deeply about the Go-Giver value system.

Chris (01:59):

And one of the things that Bob says is that when you sell on price, you’re a commodity. When you sell on value, you’re a resource. The first thing that you have to understand, the lens that you have to see this through is that you do not determine your value, your clients determine your value. They will pay based on the value that you provide to them. Now, Bob has five laws of value, and I’m going to get into that in a moment, but it’s really important to understand that your client determines your value. That means that your value is not determined by what you know, but by how much you can serve them or how much you can help them. And it’s not determined by the volume of that service as it is the quality of that service. So it’s not so much important that you see them six days a week, and that they pay to see you every single hour, as you’re getting them the result that they want.

Chris (02:53):

You’re delivering them a happier life. You’re getting them results that they didn’t even anticipate and might not have even known they wanted when they started. And that’s how they determine value. Now, that seems kind of, you know, pie in the sky hokey stuff. It’s really hard to get a tangible grasp on that. So I’m going to give you Bob’s five laws of value to help you establish a higher value for your service. And by the way, I have nothing against these high-ticket transformations. While I’m still not convinced that it’s something that you can sell forever, and that it’s going to have a good retention rate forever with the same people. And eventually you’re going to run out of audience. Those are the cons maybe, but the pros are that they prove you should be charging more for your service, that the clients value your service and will reward you more for your service

Chris (03:44):

than you probably believe. So the five laws of value, according to Bob Burg, author of “The Go-Giver,” are excellence, consistency, attention, empathy, and appreciation. What establishes value in the mind of the client are these five things. I’ll say them again, excellence, consistency, attention, empathy, and appreciation. Now let’s talk tactics. I really, I love ideas. I love reading books, but it really comes down to like, what do I do? So let’s start with excellence. Excellence means knowing your craft and knowing what actually makes a difference to people. So for example, I became a really early CrossFit follower because I had been deep into the science of training for well over a decade before I found Greg Glassman around 2007. And you know, we were talking in these academic circles and debating about ATP and CP and like how you should be training people for different things.

Chris (04:49):

But Greg was like, forget all that. Here’s what works. Air squats. Here’s what works. Intensity. Here’s what works. Big compound movements. Here’s what works, doing hard stuff, you know, for a short interval or period. And he said like, here’s the results that I’m getting and he stripped away all that extraneous stuff. And that was such an important lesson because in business and in training, we find ourselves doing all the things, right, doing all the right things, completing all the checklists, but rarely asking ourselves, how is this getting me closer to my goal? Now, the interesting thing is that your clients are probably asking themselves that all the time. And so if you’ve got somebody in your gym and you’re like, OK, yeah, you’re not very good at pull-ups. So we’re going to start with this, you know, variation where you just lay on your back and you bend your knees, and you’re going to pull yourself up to these rings.

Chris (05:44):

And don’t worry if your bum doesn’t even leave the floor. You are working to get them closer to pull-ups. But the client is saying, pull-ups aren’t my goal. I need to lose weight. How is this thing getting me closer to my goal? I look ridiculous, I can’t get my assoff the floor. And there’s people over there flying around doing these pull-ups. I’m embarrassed. I’m not sure that I’m achieving my goals. Like is this pain that I actually need to go through? I’m going to go try that weight-loss shake instead. We’re going to get back to that in a moment. But the thing about excellence is it’s twofold. Number one, you have to be able to get people results. And number two, you have to communicate how your service is helping them while they’re along the journey. Think of your client as being in this like dark tunnel.

Chris (06:29):

They can’t see around them. They don’t know what way to go. They’re just kind of guessing. And you need to be the bright light at the end saying, come closer, come closer, keep going, keep going straight. I know exactly where we need to go. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. There are a lot of ways to be excellent as a coach. Step one is to know your craft, right? To understand your method fully, to know CrossFit, to get certified in CrossFit, have CrossFit as your method, to know Pilates or to know yoga or to know kettlebells. If those are your methods, to know boot camp, if that’s your method, to know TaeKwonDo, if that’s your method, to know jujitsu, if that’s your method, whatever your method is, you need to be good at it. You do not need to be the best in the world and you don’t need to only be good at the method.

Chris (07:15):

You need to also be a great communicator. You need to be great at explaining to people why they’re doing the thing and why they should care to do the thing and why they should come back tomorrow to do the thing. And as a sidebar, this is where most methods actually fail. When you get a weekend certification in weightlifting, you know, anything, Krav Maga, whatever, they will teach you the method. They will not teach you how to be a good coach with that method. And that’s actually why we founded Two-Brain Coaching. So TwoBraincoaching.com, lets you apply any method better and get your clients better results. So the first law of value is excellence. Like you have to be excellent. Keep in mind here that no one method is better than the other because its method is more philosophically true or sound scientifically. A method is better than another

Chris (08:09):

if it gets people results. Jazzercise got hundreds of thousands of people results. Jazzercise gets laughed at a lot right now. But the bottom line is that when the client determines value, it determines that Jazzercise is excellent because it got them results. All right, so excellence is in the eye of the beholder and they’re also the people who determine value.

Chris (08:30):

More on that topic in just a second. Two-Brain Radio is brought to you by AGuard, providing elite insurance for fitness and sport. AGuard offers coverage for functional fitness facilities, mixed martial arts gyms and even events and competitions. You can also get access to healthcare insurance, discounted AEDs and discounted background checks. AGuard’s coverage options are designed to keep you safe. To find out more, visit affiliateguard.info.

Chris (09:02):

I spent the first 10 years of my career, more than that, from 1996 to 2015, really trying to become a better coach. And, so I was learning stuff. I was reading books. I bought these like out of print, Soviet-era books from Russia that had been like translated, you know, and I was reading them and I was finding like steroids cycles even. I was finding advanced training techniques. They were using EMS stimulation. I was using that on my athletes, but not all of my coaches were, and I was taking public speaking courses and I was reading stuff like ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People,” and I was getting better at relating to my clients, but not all of my coaches were. And so what would happen, especially at first, is I would get this one-on-one client, we would form a really strong bond and I would be getting better and better at telling them why they should come back and motivating them.

Chris (09:57):

And they would just be absolutely in love with me. And I’d be keeping them for a decade. But then if I had to miss a session and say, oh yeah, you know, this person will come in and take my place. They’ll run your session. The client would cancel. Nah, if you’re not going to be here, I’m not going to be here. OK. And then, you know, we tried to scale by moving into classes, but I couldn’t cover every class in the 14-hour day that my gym was open. And so a lot of clients would say, well, when are you coaching next? When are you coming back to coach? And this is a problem that actually plagued me right up until about 2017 when I started putting more effort into training other coaches. So consistency is a big thing. And a lot of gym owners will even say this like, Hey, you know, the classes are best attended when I’m there or when Sarah is there and they’re poorly attended when James is there.

Chris (10:45):

Even when they’re run at the same time, just on different days. And for a client to see value in your service, they have to know that they’re getting consistency. They need to know that they’re going to get like a 10 out of 10 experience no matter when they show up. You cannot allow yourself to have one bad coach. OK? Even if that coach means that you can sleep in an extra hour once a week, and you really, really need that sleep, you cannot have one weak link in your chain. Your business is only as valuable as your weakest employee. So the second law value is consistency. The third law is attention. Now, when we started doing personal training, we quickly realized like there was a ceiling on how much we could earn every day. So, you know, if we worked 14 hours and we packed every single hour with clients, forget that we didn’t get enough sleep, forget that we didn’t eat properly.

Chris (11:42):

Forget that we didn’t get to train ourselves. That was just it. Right. So how do you add more clients? Well, we said, well, we’ll hire more trainers and get more clients that way. And we had amazing retention and we were like full, right. We were fairly popular. We had waiting lists because we were giving our clients attention, but we couldn’t scale anymore. We couldn’t make more money without sleeping less or like eating less or training less. And so we said, OK, let’s, let’s jump to group classes. And so we started coaching a group, but the problem was that our retention took this big nose dive. And it was because our people were not getting one-on-one attention within the group. We were coaching the group instead of coaching 12 individuals at once. What we found during COVID is that the gyms who could provide one-on-one attention to people had the best retention.

Chris (12:33):

Now think about what happens when you just stream your zoom class online. It is very, very, very hard to give one-on-one attention to anyone. I’m sure you tried this, right? Like how do you correct somebody’s form over zoom? You stop the workout for everybody. You press pause on your zoom feed. And you’re like, Hey James, squat lower. That’s awkward as hell. But in a class setting, that’s not as hard. Doing one-on-one on zoom is a lot easier because you can say, Hey, I need you to get a little bit lower on those squats. Right? You’ve got that camera angle. But what we found is that gyms could bridge the gap by providing context every day. So instead of just saying like, Hey, here’s the workout today. We’ll see you at 11 o’clock for our zoom call. The gyms who sent a two-minute message to each client each morning saying, here’s the workout.

Chris (13:22):

Here’s why it’s important for your specific goals. And here’s what I’d like you to do. Here’s how I’d like you to approach it. Here’s how you should feel, something like that, had way better retention. My gym was locked down for 12 months out of 14. And our retention rate was well over 70. We kept 70% of our clients engaged, paying full price or more because of this short little bit of one-on-one attention every day. So your clients determine the value of your service by the one-on-one attention that they get. And as you scale, you have to make sure that you maintain some kind of one-on-one attention. It doesn’t have to be a one-on-one session for the full hour, but you have to give them one-on-one attention every time you see them. So the three laws so far are excellence, consistency, and attention. The fourth is empathy.

Chris (14:11):

Now this isn’t sympathy. Empathy means I can relate to what you’re going through. Empathy for me means storytelling. I tell a lot of stories on this podcast and in our daily blog posts about being a gym owner because I am you, right. We’re all in this together. And the reason that I maintain a gym, I keep a gym, is number one, it’s profitable. Number two, it takes one hour a month of my time. Number three, I love it. It’s part of my impact goal, my legacy, my mission, but another reason that I keep it is because empathy, I want to be able to talk to you as an equal when we’re doing these podcasts, I want to be able to say, here’s how I handled this, or here’s what came up in my gym last month. What you have to do as a coach is maintain empathy with your clients, whether you’re a business coach or whether you’re a fitness coach, you have to be able to say, I remember when I had this problem or, wow, I’m really struggling with that too.

Chris (15:09):

Here is what I’m doing about it. If you can maintain empathy, people will assume a higher value. And that’s why people who have coaches who have lost a hundred pounds are more likely to stick with that coach than people who have a coach who’s a Games athlete, becasue the coach has empathy with their situation. Now, if I want to be a CrossFit Games athlete, or I want to go to the Olympics, then yeah, I want a coach who’s been there. But if I’m trying to lose a hundred pounds, then I want a coach who’s lost a hundred pounds because they have empathy with my situation. Now empathy does not mean I’m going to give you a 20% discount. It does not mean you can train for free. It does not mean, you know, you can’t afford it. So I’m going to drop my rates.

Chris (15:53):

Empathy means I am like you. We are like us. We are together. And people like us do things like this. The fourth law of value is appreciation. And this means feedback. It means thank you. But it also means acknowledgement of progress. So appreciation can mean, Hey, thanks for referring your friend. Here’s a $20 gift card, or here’s a meal on me at this restaurant down the street. It can mean, Hey, you’ve been to a hundred classes now, congratulations. Your name is going up on our wall. It can mean a bright spots Friday. It can mean a PR board in your gym. It can mean acknowledgement. Hey, you’ve leveled up. If you’re using the Level Method, now you’re an orange in back squat. What it really means is putting your client on a pedestal. Have you ever been thanked by somebody in front of your spouse?

Chris (16:48):

Have you ever been called out at a seminar and said, take a bow. Let’s give this person a round of applause. If you haven’t, I promise it feels incredible. You will be forever endeared to the person who is thanking you publicly. And so I love to do this. I love to put people around me on a pedestal. I love to brag people up. I love to over introduce people because it makes me feel great, but it also tightens our bond together. And when you’ve got a tight bond, people don’t argue about price, right? Your friends don’t complain about price. If they do, they’re not your friends. So the five laws of value that determine how much you can charge are filtered through the eyes of the client. The client determines what you can charge, but the five laws are excellence. You have to coach with excellence and you have to understand your method and deliver it in the best possible way to get your client, the results that they want.

Chris (17:47):

Consistency, you have to do it well every single time. You will be judged by the lowest, you know, the poorest coach, the worst day, the poorest cleanliness of your most hidden bathroom. Attention. How much one-on-one attention do people get inside or outside of class. Empathy. How well do they relate to you? Because you relate to them. And appreciation. How often are you building them up, putting them on the podium and shining a spotlight on them. When you’re doing those five things really, really well, you have tremendous value and money will follow. Value is not only measured by money, but money is a great indicator of value. The market rewards excellence. Yes. The market also rewards consistency and attention and empathy and appreciation. In sum, the market rewards value. Be more valuable.

Andrew (18:40):

That was Chris Cooper on Two-Brain Radio. Don’t forget to subscribe for more episodes.

Chris (18:47):

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 in 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 Why You Aren’t Getting Paid What You’re Worth (and How to Fix It) appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

The Worst Phrase in Entrepreneurship: “It’s Just Business”

By Andrea Savard, Certified Two-Brain Business Mentor

I will never accept this sentence: “It’s just business.”

When I worked in the corporate world, I was invited to national sales meetings complete with lavish hotels, high-priced motivational speakers, open bars and endless parties. Not two months before the meetings, the company had laid off 75 staff members due to cutbacks. “It’s just business,” I was told. At that moment, I knew I was in the wrong place.  

Growing up, I also remember watching my parents in tears when they were given the line “it’s not personal; it’s just business” as someone was stealing their lives’ work and selling it for profit. 

I call bullshit. 

Business is not just business. It’s people and their families, your staff, your customers, your community and your reputation.  

“It’s just business” is the biggest cop-out. You aren’t explaining your position or intentions. And you aren’t being a decent human or trying to see the effects you are having on others. In my opinion, it’s a cold and heartless way to run your business. 

There is always a better way.  

Even if the outcome of a decision can’t be changed, you can choose to run your business with integrity, morals and care for relationships.

If you regularly say “hey, it’s just business,” please lose my number. 

The post The Worst Phrase in Entrepreneurship: “It’s Just Business” appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

“Discount or Else”: Dealing With Public Pressure to Reduce Rates

Discounts can kill gyms—Two-Brain has data on that.

In gyms with modest profit margins, a discount means you’re giving away any surplus. In gyms with very poor margins, you might be underwater. Easy math: If your profit margin is 10 percent and you give a number of clients 15 percent off, you’re in a bad spot.

The reality is that some gyms don’t price services properly in the first place, so a $100 all-in membership with a 15 percent discount is like chopping more holes in a boat that’s already sinking.

Even in gyms with solid margins, discounts reduce profit. This generally affects the owner’s salary or reward for owning a business—or both. Or it affects the business’s net income, which reduces its stability and ability to upgrade and invest in growth projects.

Despite all the financial factors in play, discounts sometimes become a morally charged issue laced with guilt and pressure.

Let’s be very clear: The gym business isn’t about Lord Phineas K. Moneybags buying his 10th Rolls Royce on the backs of his slaving, underpaid coaching staff.

It’s also not about failing to recognize the significant contributions of service people, first responders, teachers, nurses and other groups.

Finally, it’s not about being insensitive and ignoring the needs of underprivileged members of society in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

Gym owners simply have to consider financial reality. Dollars and sense.

Yet I know gym owners and other entrepreneurs sometimes face pressure from very vocal people who tend to view profit and high-value services as elements of an elitist, morally corrupt society. Others who are less aggressive come at the issue with softer footsteps but still suggest business owners have an obligation to make their services more affordable. And members of some professions can be insistent when it comes to asking for discounts.

While we can all agree that it’s honorable to care for fellow humans and recognize their contributions to society, no one wins if the owner can’t feed the family and closes the gym.

Beyond that, discounts do nothing for equality. Easy example: discounts for doctors but not nurses, or vice versa. Another: discounts for police but not firefighters, or vice versa. One more: discounts for students but not unemployed people, and vice versa. I got lucky: When I first opened my gym, I avoided discounts because couldn’t decide which people were more deserving than others. That might have saved the business.

The toughest issue: People who can’t afford a service but might benefit from it. Gym owners are generally kind people who are concerned with the wellbeing of those around them, so it’s natural to want to help others become healthy even if they can’t pay the posted rates.

I put some people on “scholarships” years ago, and some others weren’t chased down for payments owing. It was “the right thing to do,” I thought. But doing that literally reduced my income, and as expenses rose to meet and eventually exceed profit, I started to worry. Worry grew to fear, and it’s very hard to help others and improve your business when you don’t feel secure yourself.

Reality and Responsibility

It’s concerning whenever business owners are advised or pushed to reduce rates by people who don’t have to review the profit-and-loss statements each month. You know the ones: They multiply members by membership price and forget to subtract the huge pile of expenses.

Or they’re of the view that owning a business is a license to print money, and they’re working for socioeconomic change by loudly criticizing entrepreneurs. “You should” statements are free because moral real estate is cheap and those outside the business aren’t responsible for its long-term survival.

You’re responsible for that.

Here’s a better plan that doesn’t involve discounts or artificially low rates: Build a strong business with rates based on the value provided and the 33 percent profit margin Two-Brain recommends. Charge those rates to everyone and build a strong, stable business that pays you enough that you feel secure.

Then help others from a position of stability and surplus.

That plan is fair and sustainable. It’s also financially and morally sound. In fact, you’ll be able to do more for others with a strong business that exists for decades.

I’ve seen this happen: A business owner with a huge heart gives memberships away and has to close the gym. Everyone loses: Owner, staff, clients, people in the community.

I’ve also seen this: A business owner with a huge heart builds a very strong business that creates surpluses that can be used for charitable work year after year. Everyone wins—many times over.

The current climate finds a lot of people applying morality to business. That’s their prerogative. Just remember that they don’t see the books or sign the checks.

It isn’t immoral to build a strong fitness business and profit from it. In fact, it’s your duty to do so. If you do your duty, thousands of people will become healthier—and you’ll have a steady surplus that will allow you to help your community for a long time.

Play the long game and everybody will win.

Additional Reading:

“How to Say ‘No’ to Discounts”

The post “Discount or Else”: Dealing With Public Pressure to Reduce Rates appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

A+ Coaching: Class Prep, Confidence and Client Connection

Josh (00:02):

Hello, and welcome back to Two-Brain Radio. My name is Josh Martin, and today I’m going to be your host. On this episode, we’ve got Shawn McQueen, owner of Railroad CrossFit in New York, as well as a mentor for the group coaching course over at Two-Brain Coaching.

Chris (00:22):

Back to Two-Brain Radio in just a minute. 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.

Josh (00:47):

Today is a special episode. We’re going to be talking about the biggest struggles that Shawn has had as a coach, and that he’s also identified that other coaches are having through his work in the mentor calls over this past year. And those three areas that we’re going to cover today are class preparation, confidence, and then connection. So if you are an owner of a gym who sees this as a potential a pebble in the shoe of your gym, then you definitely want to stick around and see how Shawn has taken these coaches from where they are to where they want to be. And if you’re a coach, you can certainly stick around as well and take a ton of value away from this episode. So without further ado, Shawn, welcome to the show.

Shawn (01:34):

Thank you for having me Joshua.

Josh (01:38):

I don’t have very many people call me Joshua. It’s either super, super close friends or my wife and my mom. So you are in rare company, my friend,.

Shawn (01:48):

The truest of loved ones.

Josh (01:49):

All right, man. So, you know, you you’ve been mentoring on the group coaching course for quite a while now, but you’ve also been a coach and gym owner yourself for 10 years. And I’m just so excited to dive into these three areas with you because inevitably, anytime that you and I talk, it is just a bubbling up of excitement that comes out of you when we discuss class preparation, confidence, and connection. So I want to jump right into it because I, something that I know that you’re super passionate about is being well-prepared for a session, particularly your wheelhouse of group coaching. So tell me a little bit about, you know, when you were a newer coach, what are some of the struggles that you’ve had? And I’m guessing that it’s some of the same struggles that you’re seeing with coaches that come through the course, and then how do you go about fixing that?

Shawn (02:49):

That’s a great deep question. My friend, I’m going to work backwards. The way I look at group coaching now is I coach an experience, and obviously that’s taken all this time and the hits and the misses along the way, but none of that would be successful or even possible if the level of preparation was not there. And that’s something that I’m seeing a lot be absent from mentees that I work with, or just my interactions out there with other coaches and gym owners in general. And I get it. It sounds unsexy to draw out your lesson plan, create your map for the class. That in my opinion is a prerequisite to leading a well-structured, organized, fully functional class that you can be prepared for, for any contingencies, map out your coaching points, know your flow without ever needing that lesson plan. And when I’ve been absent of that in my origin and my beginning days of coaching, you’re on the floor, you’re thinking too much, you’re winging it. You’re not your best self .I’ve even seen it in real time with my, the newest addition to my team, Peter, as he was in his intern stage learning the relevance of writing a lesson plan.

Shawn (04:16):

And it was so powerful to see the dedication and commitment he would put into this, then the next level is revising it, rehearsing it. And that takes a very short amount of time. So you can map out how you’re going to correlate this amazing atmosphere and experience for your people. So it can be one that they not only have this top-notch experience, but one that they want to come back to and you can tap into your best self, whether that’s your tools, your communication, your flow, when that’s absent, I’ve only experienced and seen hiccups and problems get amplified. And it disrupts the flow, the service, creates chaos and members don’t want a zoo. They want structure, humans crave structure. So class class preparation to me is taking the time first and foremost, to know and understand the programming. And if you’re new or you don’t fully understand movements, or even 10 years in, I still, I know how to coach a deadlift.

Shawn (05:19):

I know how to coach these movements. I’ll still find innovative ways to find a different cue to challenge myself. I don’t need to do those things. We talked offline about raising your standards, and I really believe if you truly want a meaningful and profitable career that can expand over time class prep, whether that’s group coaching, one-on-one coaching preparation is key. If you think of people who out there who love sports NFL, for instance, they practice. Their practice is most of film on the field to eventually gain day perform one Sunday. Well, our game day is maybe sometimes it’s one class, two or three a day for coaches who are really busy. You need to put in offline the prep work, and that’s your lesson plan. And also revising and rehearsing that. So you can be a well-spoken individual who gets across to all these people, and you’re a professional. So I’ve gone through my own hiccups across time and dropped the ball. And it’s something now that I won’t operate a class without. And that’s one of the first things that I teach new mentees and coaches who come through the program and you can see the difference in those who take it seriously and begin to own the process of creating their own lesson plans and rehearsing and revising because I had them send me videos of their whiteboard brief or send me photos of their lesson plan.

Shawn (06:55):

Initially going through that process, and everyone has a little bit of a different process, but it begins to get the ideas out of your head on a paper. And then the coach over time gets better at executing on those in real time in front of people.

Josh (07:08):

So let me jump in and ask you kind of to go back a couple of, you know, steps. So if I’m somebody that is listening to this, whether it is I’m a coach or an owner, for those that don’t know, Shawn is not a surface level guy, he likes to, you know, peel back all the layers. So if I’m a coach or an owner that’s listening to this and I’m like, ah, class prep, you know, like, ah, OK. Yeah. I probably should think about things ahead of time, you know, and maybe a way to identify that somebody is not preparing ahead of time, some surface level things that come to my mind are maybe your class runs over a couple of minutes. I think every owner or coach has been frustrated right. By seeing that, that it’s like, oh man, OK. I just got to cut something out next time. Or, you know, maybe they ended 10 minutes early. Right. And they didn’t take it for the full hour that the client is paying for. So, but to me, and I think I know you well enough to know that that seems like a real surface level issue. So I’m wondering, can you identify some other problems that present when people are not preparing for their classes ahead of time?

Shawn (08:25):

Absolutely. Those first two are the easiest. Your organization of time management is off. In real time, you can see a person on the floor thinking and winging it, piecing things together. And for someone who, or people I should say, who are paying a premium amount for a premium service, they are not getting it. If I’m on the floor, piecing things together, or I have to think, and I come across as maybe not as professional as our members think want or deserve for what they’re paying, that is a ruffle in the feathers of the service. And they might begin to question, why do I even come here? This so-and-so is not prepared, is winging it. They don’t feel safe, if they don’t feel safe, they’re not going to want to come. It’s all interruptions of service, which can affect retention, length of engagement, a member wanting to come over time.

Shawn (09:17):

That’s obviously affecting the business flow. Deeper than that, deeper than in terms of what we talked about, the time management, or even beyond the members, seeing that and staying across time, how are you professionalizing what you’re doing? How are you actively, and it’s, to me, in my opinion, it’s not enough to say I looked at it at a computer the night before, and I know where I want to go. You’re not prepared for the unforeseen. And what you want to do is you want to close the gap. Not only on all the coaching points, the things that you’re going to do, break that stuff down, but prepare for the contingencies because you’re going to have them. And if you’re unprepared, again, it leads to levels of disappointment in your members. And again, we go back to levels of standards. If someone’s willing to say, it’s good enough that good enough is not going to last a fulfilling career for either you or for your membership base to want to stay, because someone’s going to do it better. And they’re going to go get it where it’s better.

Josh (10:31):

Every time you say good enough. Cause I’ve heard you use that phrase a number of times. And I could see the it’s almost like this visceral disgust with that term, it’s good enough. And what I always think about is like, if I said, Hey Shawn, you said that you were dealing with this problem. You need to go to a doctor. Here’s the name of, and number of my guy, you should go see him. He’s good enough. Like nobody’s making that call to that doctor. But if I say he’s the best, they’re going to call you to make sure that you know exactly where to park, where to go when you walk in, they’re going to have the forms emailed to you. You can fill them out on like all that stuff. That’s representative of the best experience that you have. I guarantee you’re calling him.

Shawn (11:19):

Spot on. I’ll go back to our intern. When he came in for the first month I had him, he didn’t, he, of course he was observing things and things of that nature, but a lot of his month one were breakout talks. You know, he would obviously immerse into the community. Once he went through our OnRamp phase, when I broke down with him, how and why it is so critical and important that we come to every session prepared with a lesson plan and hammer home why and the importance and the relevance that’s leadership from the top down. Peter does not question that because he understands the importance of it. It’s for the greater of the gym. It’s for the benefit of you, you are a professional. If you come in here with your lesson plan, whether it’s one-on-one on-ramp or group, and it’s on a clipboard and you’ve prepared, you’re going to exponentially get better at a much faster rate. It’s professional. It’s valuable. They see the value in that. They’re going to want to stay. They’re going to want to come here. And that’s a dialogue. And the first person that needs to adopt that mentality is whoever is the team leader. And if that’s the head coach, if that’s the owner, whatever that needs to happen, because it makes the business run better, it makes the service run better. And it makes it consistent across the board, which inconsistency leads the people.

Josh (12:42):

Oh man. Yeah. Run that back again. We’ve all been there, right? Where you’ve coached 2, 3, 4 classes and you sometimes recognize when you get to that last class, it’s off and it’s not, you know, the same level that the first or second class was. Let me play devil’s advocate because I feel like if I’m a coach or even if I’m an owner and I’m hearing this, I’m like, Shawn, this sounds great. But that sounds like a lot of work. Like I got to do a lesson plan. I already know how to coach the deadlift. And I know how to tell them where to run. And I don’t have time to add more to my schedule to do this whole preparation thing that you’re talking about.

Shawn (13:30):

In my opinion, and I’m OK if people disagree with this, then you’re in the wrong industry. The reason I say that is flip it to a different analogy. My wife knows I love her. I don’t need to tell her. My kids know I love them. I don’t need to tell them. You need to like, like our phones every three weeks or month, ask us to upgrade or whatever that is. We need to continually be upgrading ourselves. This is what our service delivery is built upon. If you don’t think it matters to take, maybe it takes me 10 minutes to write my lesson plan.

Josh (14:09):

I was just about to ask what’s that look like.

Shawn (14:10):

10, 15 minutes to write my lesson plan out because I have a system to write that out, to rehearse it, to revise it, to understand it. It’s the first place I go to get my thoughts out of my head. So I know my organization, my flow, my transitions are there. Which again, if you go back to the first thing I said, it allows me to lead an experience. I can tap into this performer of myself and they crave that performer, not on the floor, stumbling over my words, lacking confidence, unsure of where I’m going to go next, unsure of how I’m going to handle this person over here can’t get in the front rack position. It’s all fluid and smooth and covered. And if the mentality is well, that’s extra work and I’m not getting paid for that work. Maybe you’re in the wrong line of work.

Shawn (15:01):

Maybe it makes you a better coach. Maybe it makes you a more valuable coach and more opportunities come from that because people see how valuable you are. So again, a big part of kind of what you’re mentioning is limiting beliefs and if you’re not willing to change your approach and try something new even for a month. Try it for a month and see what happens. I do this in the Two-Brain group coaching course. After they write their lesson plan and coach their class, I have them email me. What did you notice that was different? And almost clockwork, almost all the responses are I spoke better. I led the room better. I knew where I was going. It’s all these things that we need to be better at to professionalize coaching. And again, all the great things come from that. So that’s my opinion. That’s kind of where I stand with class prep and those who truly take it and run with it will absolutely reap the benefits.

Josh (16:00):

So I’ll say it in a way that I think all owners to a certain degree think, and maybe just don’t want to say it. It’s pull up your pants or get out. Like this is is really what separates the good enough from, I only want to come to this class at this time. Like that those are the superstars, right?

Shawn (16:21):

So take it one further too. And I lead from the front this way for my team. If one of my coaches leads the 10:00 AM and they wrote a lesson plan, I’ve made the mistake of just trying to use their lesson plan.

Josh (16:37):

Oh, oh. That’s not even a thought that crossed my mind, but I’m so glad you brought this up.

Shawn (16:42):

Because I didn’t write it and go through it myself and get my kinks out and all the things that I know where I’m going, et cetera. My focus points. Because a lot of coaches, unfortunately just got on autopilot. Group of people cheer them on clap for them. You got it. If you are into leveling up and becoming the best possible that you can. And what I mean by that is continually evolve and raise your own standards. You have to step up your game. So I realized, Ooh, I don’t operate best when trying to do that because I didn’t get it out of my head. So some thoughts there are, I can use it and rewrite my own. We all do this at my facility, in terms of you can use it as a template, but you need to take the act of getting it out of your head.

Shawn (17:35):

OK? Yes, this works really well. I can even eliminate what didn’t work well, and some of my worst performances in this case came from, if I didn’t see it in the morning and I came in in the evening and tried to use it without having taken the class or being there, you haven’t had the opportunity to get the kinks out, to feel it you’re organicness. So those are mistakes that I’ve made that I want to share. So people can avoid those. Yes. Take the time to write your own. Even if you took a class and someone led it really well. Yes. Take that as a template and edit it to your own variation and promise you will deliver better.

Chris (18:18):

Chris Cooper here to talk about Beyond the Whiteboard, 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.

Josh (18:55):

I hate to use this cliche and I don’t know who to attribute it to. Maybe you do, but it sounds like failing to plan is planning to fail. And I think we all deep down, we want to deliver the best possible work that we can. And the way to do that, part of the process is planning ahead. OK. So between the two of us, we’ve got like 30 years of fitness coaching experience. It’s safe to say, and I don’t, I hope I’m not speaking out of place, but there there’s a certain level of confidence in what we’re doing, just because we’ve been in the trenches for a long time. We’ve got a lot of experience. I think that this is certainly an area that we’ve identified. I know for me, when I first started coaching, it was terrifying. I was whiter than I normally am.

Josh (19:52):

Like I’m normally pretty white as a sheet, but I probably had whatever blood was left in my face left me, stumbled over words, got dry mouth, palms are sweaty, shaking. So there’s a tremendous lack of confidence, even though my competency level, in terms of the knowledge that I had at that point before I even started coaching was plenty high enough. I knew enough. I just wasn’t confident, but I find that this is an area that you are so good at. Number one, pulling out of people, getting them to admit that, yeah, this is somewhere that I struggle. And then helping them through that. Do you see that about yourself?

Shawn (20:35):

I appreciate the recognition. Absolutely. And I think it’s something maybe that comes a little bit more natural wanting to extract that out of others. I don’t want to see people be limited by self-limiting stories, insecurities, whatever we tell ourselves, I’m not good enough to coach. I don’t have this movement. So I’m not worthy to coach whatever stories we tell ourselves, it’s innate, it’s inside of me to want to help that individual reclaim their core beliefs and confidence. So they can lead from an optimal position. Confidence is one of, if not the biggest thing that everyone I meet through the course mentions that they want to see improve. I think about this, you know, I think about if we pull back maybe to high school, when the majority of us had to take public speaking, terrifying, all of our peers, we were just on the same seat.

Shawn (21:42):

Now we’re in front of them. And we’re talking about a topic that either we wrote about, or we don’t care about at all. And you’re sweating bullets. You’re thinking all these things, you’re learning how to scan the room. All these things are happening. It doesn’t feel natural maybe right away. And you’re in your head. And when you’re in your head, there’s a phrase that when you’re in your head, you’re dead.

Josh (21:59):

I like that. I’ve never heard that before, but that’s really, really good. I’m gonna write that down.

Shawn (22:04):

So now bring it to bring it to group coaching. Usually this is what I hear. And I mean, you can relate across your, your time with coaching is an owner sees something in a person, whether that’s quality of movement, personality, they think they’d be a good fit for the team. They think they could be impactful on the team and they presented them about becoming a coach.

Shawn (22:30):

And it sounds great. And you see it all the time and great coaches make it look easy. They look, and they have the confidence that bravado, they speak well. They use their body, their physiology in a way that you’re like, man, yes, I would love that. Never forget that. And then the moment it’s your turn, after some trainings and certifications, some internal work at your gym, you get up there and you stumble over your words. You start talking like you’re at the horse race a million miles per hour. You start sweating. You know, I think of my team and I have a female coach named Abby, when she flipped the coaching switch on from member to coach, she became very serious. And it was like, it’s a way to protect ourselves. The biggest hangup here is our own internal beliefs about ourselves.

Shawn (23:36):

And I truly believe that 80% of being effective is your why. 20% is your how. So think about that. When you really like coaches, when I speak to coaches and sometimes I have to go off course in terms of the call and have these real deep heart to hearts to say you’ve chosen one of the most amazing career paths. You’re like an angel from above sent down for a mass amount of people you’re choosing to help people add years and vitality and wellness to their life. Just because you’re at the very beginning origins of that. And maybe you’re not as great as coach X in your gym yet, you don’t need to compare yourself to them. You are at stage one of your journey, but remember that you are choosing this. And there’s an element of owning that. And so what’s helpful

Shawn (24:32):

There is obviously the internal work that we need to do as people, working on our own, what I call your own, self-development your own self-worth. And that happens outside of the gym. And some people can tell me they don’t have time. If you don’t have time to invest in yourself, 10, 20, 30 minutes a day, whatever that may look like. Some people it’s journaling. Some people it’s watching YouTube videos, whatever it is, we need to get real with ourselves. As if you’re in front of the mirror. What are my self-limiting stories that are holding me back from performing confidently, from speaking confidently, this isn’t anything to do with what, you know, you may be the smartest person in the room. You may know all of that. You can know about deadlifts and power cleans. But if you’re dry, if you’re nervous, if you don’t speak well, it doesn’t resonate.

Shawn (25:27):

And it doesn’t stick. And people will not want to keep coming back to you. And your classes will either digress. They will leave, anything of the sort. We need to, as people in this industry work on, I mean, people in general, Josh, not, it’s not limited to our industry. We need to work on ourselves and that’s vulnerable. It’s allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. And I’ll tell you this, the more vulnerable that you allow yourself to be in terms of with them and to be seen, your confidence is going to go up dramatically. I live by three principles and it helps me with every single thing that I do. And I think people need, a core focus, a core intention, principles. My three are the three I’s. I lead my life by my intentions. Why am I doing this?

Shawn (26:17):

My impact, what am I trying? What’s the outcome I’m trying to achieve, and integrity, doing the right thing, regardless of if it’s a hard thing or a difficult thing, whatever that may be. So that may not be your core three, but finding the makeups of how you essentially your true north, you make your decisions. Within our industry. You need to be pliable, need to allow yourself to be humorous, to make light of situations, to be adaptable with what you receive. To know that it’s OK to make mistakes. You’re going to make mistakes. Perfection is not the goal. That is actually a low standard because nobody can be perfect. It’s hold yourself to the highest standard you can hold yourself to your body. Be aware of your body. How are you using your body? To me, the body is the first place that tells me the truth.

Shawn (27:13):

If your arms are crossed, you’re uncomfortable or you’re guarded. If your hands are in your pockets, maybe you’re, it’s lackadaisical. If your shoulders are slumped, you’re not confident. These are all things we need to be aware of when we are engaging. And we’re speaking, we’re leading. The last thing I’ll speak of here is you mentioned that I’m not a surface level guy. And I feel like we live in a world where we’re just skimming the surface with people. Hey, how are you? Hey, how’s your day going today? Did you find everything you’re looking for? These things, they’re just very at the top and to truly break through and create a deep, meaningful rapport with people, we have to go deeper. We have to get to know the roots with people. And for that to be, for that to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen so we can see them ask yourself, what do I really care about these people?

Shawn (28:12):

What do I really care about this person in front of me? What’s really unique about them that I can share. Even if just appreciation. I think those are, that’s a good place to start is rapport. Truly, you have to care. You have to care. And that level of care needs to be so obvious through your words, your body, your tone. I saw the other day, uh, an owner mentioning coaches, just skimming at the surface with questions and not really going beyond that. As team leader, whether that’s the owner or the team leader, we need to come back together and say, guys, here’s why it’s so critical to develop deep and meaningful relationships and create rapport with everybody. And here’s some helpful tips. Like let’s talk today as a team of some helpful ways that we think could be effective and let’s go around the room.

Shawn (29:04):

And here’s the deal. When you allow yourself to do that, you need to say, guys, you told me, you taught me this. Number one, I’m not here to judge you. I love you. Number two, take nothing. Failre is not feedback as Jen would say, it’s growth. So if you share something and we’re like, Hey, let’s take that, but maybe let’s make it a little bit better. Dial it up a little bit better. Don’t take it personal. You are contributing to the team. So I think rapport physiology, be pliable and identify your core beliefs, who you are. I think that’s a great place to start for people to increase their confidence. And again, it’s a game of repetition.

Josh (29:47):

So I found myself doing a couple of things. As you were talking one, I made sure that I wasn’t crossing my arms. I’m sitting. So I don’t have my hands in my pockets. That would be awkward. And you know, as you were saying it, cause I knew what you were going to say next. Like I started to make sure that my shoulders are back and I’m sitting tall. Right? Like it, cause that it does make you feel better. I don’t know if you’ve read Jordan Peterson’s book 12 rules for life, but the first one is, stand up tall with your shoulders back. Anyways, so the other thing that I’m kind of identifying is, you know, at the outset of when we started this episode, we talked about, Hey, there’s three things that we’ve both struggled with, that we see other coaches struggle with.

Josh (30:36):

It’s the class preparation, it’s the confidence and the connection. And it really seemed to me that as you were talking through the confidence piece, it really bled into the connection. So you start talking about going deeper, getting below these little surface level questions. I think of all the coaches that I’ve come across in my career, that your ability to connect on a personal level is just unmatched. It really is. There’s never been, we’ve never had a conversation where you’re just like, Hey man, what’s up? You know, family good? Yep. OK. Like, let’s get on. It’s you’re always asking 2, 3, 4, 5 questions. So what I guess what I’m getting at is that all three of these seem to be really, really intertwined, the preparation, which gives you the confidence and then connecting with people feeds back into that confidence and helps you prepare the next time even more. Am I trying to make connections where there’s not? Or am I on the right track here?

Shawn (31:47):

You nailed it. And I hope that, I’m so glad that’s so obvious to you, an owner, a coach. You can see the intertwining of these things. Nothing is separate. Nothing is separate. The more prepared we are, the more confident we can be on the floor. The more competent we are on the floor, the better the classes are. The better the classes are, the more we are engaged to want to connect because people are responding better to us. Ask yourself, who do you want to be at the end of this life? Do you want to be someone who, where wherever you went, you made it better. And how do you make it better? You make it meaningful. You make it impactful. You get beyond the, Hey, how are you? And when someone says, all right, and you say, all right, all right, is everything OK?

Shawn (32:37):

I mean, all right, to me is one step above crappy. And someone’s like, oh, you know, no, it’s just work. What about work? What’s going on with work? And I, you know, I know that sounds silly or it can sound whatever to somebody. Keep going, keep going with people, show them you care, connect with them. Because I feel like we live in a world now through social media, which is a gift in some realms. And it’s another way that blunts human connection in another, everywhere we go, we have the opportunity to create meaningful relationships with strangers. Say the person’s name at the grocery store. When you’re checking out and ask them how their day is going, Josh, how is your day going today? I almost would guarantee no one has said their name yet today that doesn’t work there.

Shawn (33:32):

And you recognize them. I even, there’s a guy at my local grocery store. He, his name is Tom. And you know, you see their name tags. I make it a point to just when I see him to just, Hey, how are you, Tom? His sister just had a baby. And he lives with her. So I’m like, how is that going? You know, the little baby, all that. So Josh, it comes back to you. The other day I was at the grocery store and Tom was on a break. He was hanging back and in, in my lane I had a lot of groceries and I was getting myself set up and I was preparing myself to bag because there was no bagger. And Tom comes out of break to bag for me because of this relationship we have.

Shawn (34:17):

And again, we’ve made some talk we got below, we got, sorry, we got past the surface check back in. He didn’t need to do that. But we have an established relationship. And every time I see him and this isn’t even this isn’t in the gym stuff and the gym stuff, it’s a constant evolution, but it must come from the core. It must be truly authentic with looking to gain nothing. Because all the gains you make, whatever that may be, somebody wants to work with you in a skill session or a one-on-one or my goodness. The member stays for six, seven years. All of that in the end really is that adds value to what we’re doing in the business. But you like who you are, your legacy is invaluable. So ask yourself, who do you want to be in this process?

Shawn (35:05):

So like you said, which I love pull your pants up, raise your standards. It’s tough to hear. It’s you can do this, winging it, subpar, work it out with your own class, whatever, like people can do that. It waters down what this industry is, the professional, what it can be truly make a living doing what we love, make a career in coaching people in nutrition, group fitness one-on-one, changine lives. The impact that we can have that gets magnified by what we’re talking about today, doing these things, class prep, increasing your competence, working on yourself, doing the things you need to do and increasing human connection. We could go on and on. I know I’m sure we’re we’re at the tail end here. All of this meets with the next one, which maybe this is for the next podcast, communication skills. Yeah. Maybe that’s where we leave off. But those three Cs, class prep, confidence and connection absolutely need to be there to deliver a high quality service that people want to keep coming back for.

Josh (36:16):

Well, Shawn, it’s always just such a pleasure to talk with you on these episodes. And I know that coaches and owners alike, if they listened and were distraction-free, they will take a tremendous amount of value and hopefully level up their service, you know, 10x at their gyms. So thanks for your time.

Shawn (36:39):

I don’t mean to interrupt you. What the watch, this, what the best do or will do is they either listen to this and were taking notes or they’ll listen to it again and take notes. That’s what’s going to separate people.

Josh (36:53):

I think we leave it right there. My friend, it’s been a pleasure.

Shawn (36:55):

Thank you everybody. Take care.

Chris (37:00):

Chris Cooper here. 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 in 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.

Speaker 4 (37:25):

[inaudible].

 

The post A+ Coaching: Class Prep, Confidence and Client Connection appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

The Tinker Toolkit: Everything You Need to Succeed

If you’ve been around Two-Brain for a while, you’re familiar with the Two-Brain Roadmap. It’s a step-by-step breakdown of every strategy and tactic you can use to grow your gym. If you’re an entrepreneur in the Founder or Farmer phase, the Roadmap is priceless.

In the Tinker Phase, growth becomes exponential instead of linear. You have to grow as a person as much as you grow your business and your wealth platform and your future for your family. And you have to do it all at once!

Enter: the new Tinker Toolkit.

The Tools You Need Now

This is a collection of the best tools, most powerful lessons and greatest connections that I’ve made in my five-plus years in the Tinker stage. Think of them as the greatest workshops, taught by the greatest teachers, that matter to you.

There are great libraries out there now: virtual universities full of pearls sown by experts. But this one is curated to maximize value; every course, workbook and template was built just for you.

As we run new workshops every month in the Tinker group, they’re added to the Toolkit. So if you missed the Sales Mastery or Storytelling workshops in 2021, you’ll find them here—included in the Tinker program only.

You’ll also get the stuff that only Tinkers get—such as the “Fix This Next” workshop with Mike Michalowicz and the incredible “Wealthy Entrepreneur” seminar from Bob Gauvreau. You’ll even get stuff we’ve licensed for you, such as Bob Burg’s Endless Referral System.

The toolkit is full of resources to help you make improvements in each of the “6 F’s” of Tinker Phase: your freedom, future, finance, family, faith and fitness.

If you were to go out and buy each course individually or participate in workshops from each of these amazing hosts, it would cost you well over a million dollars (I know, because that’s what it cost me). But I don’t want you to take five years to reach the level I have!

Where should you start?

Talk to your Tinker Coach. They’ll point you to the lessons and tools you need most right now. But also feel free to seek answers to the questions you haven’t asked yet.

This is, for most, the most exciting phase of entrepreneurship. I’ve just brought a few of my friends to your party!

The post The Tinker Toolkit: Everything You Need to Succeed appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Should You Hire an Ad Agency for Your Gym?

Advertising is tough to figure out.

Though Facebook and Google provide tools to show us what’s working, advertising is complex. It’s always been this way. John Wanamaker, the “father of marketing,” famously said this over 100 years ago:

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Because gym owners have very little money to waste, they don’t want to gamble on advertising. So they have three choices:

Figure it out.Hire someone else.Ignore it and hope for the best.

The third approach isn’t really an option anymore. Though strategies such as affinity marketing multiply your return on advertising, you still have to pay to talk to strangers. And Facebook, Instagram and TikTok aren’t good “free” strategies anymore.

So you’re left with figuring it out or hiring someone.

Ad Agencies: The Good and the Bad

There are pros and cons to using an ad agency.

Pros

You don’t have to spend time figuring out ads, setting up campaigns or building audiences.

You can probably start right away because there’s no time requirement for learning.

Cons

There’s still a learning curve. An ad agency will have to spend money to figure out what doesn’t work in your case.

You have an incentive problem: The ad agency is incentivized to maximize lead flow, which means it will spend all the money it can.

An agency will also charge a lot, driving up your cost of lead acquisition. Can you really afford to spend $100-$200 for each new client or will you lose money on the front end?

Agencies will define “a lead” differently than you do and almost always produce cold leads who don’t know much about your service—or, worse, who might be unqualified.

Should You Farm Out Your Advertising to an Agency?

The bottom line: Ad agencies optimize for quantity over quality.

But you have to advertise. So should you pay an agency to do it for you?

It depends what stage of business you’re in.

Founder Phase

Stick with referrals and organic posting.

Farmer Phase

Learn about search-engine optimization (SEO), Google ads, Facebook and Instagram. Free up time to do it. You probably have some money to spend but not much to waste.

We train gym owners to do this stuff for themselves in our RampUp program. Even if you decide to hire someone else later, you’ll know how to measure their efficacy. Knowing how to run ads yourself has a huge return on investment: When you know if you’re getting good results, you won’t ever waste money on advertising.

Most people who hire ad agencies employ a “Jesus, take the wheel!” approach. They abdicate knowledge and responsibility to the agency—and therefore live at the mercy of the agency. The agency staff can do whatever they want and raise rates anytime, knowing that the gym owner is totally dependent on them for lead flow. This is a dangerous position.

Tinker Phase

After you’ve learned to do it yourself, delegate the repetitive tasks. Either hire someone who’s an expert (which is going to be expensive) or keep the creative work for yourself and delegate the posting, audience building, funnel setup, reporting and other repetitive tasks.

If you hire someone, you’re going to need a lot of leads to cover the cost. Make sure your systems can support a large inflow of new leads. Many entrepreneurs who hire ad agencies get caught in this trap: The agency is expensive, but it’s generating leads. Yet the business can’t handle them so it loses money.

We’ll Teach You How to Run Ads

When I found someone to handle my advertising, I hired him—and I paid him to teach gym owners how to handle their own advertising. Now we have a full Facebook and Instagram advertising course in Two-Brain; it’s included in RampUp at no extra charge even though it will create tens of thousands of dollars in revenue (and savings) for an owner over the life of a gym. We provide the course because you need this stuff, and if you need it, it’s in RampUp.

It’s rare that an ad agency is worth the investment for gym owners. If you have a large gym and your time is worth more than the cost of the ad agency, then hiring can be a great investment. But for more than 80 percent of gym owners worldwide, it’s better to learn how to advertise properly.

Even if you eventually hire someone else to run your ads, you’ll know how to maximize your ROI on that investment.

The post Should You Hire an Ad Agency for Your Gym? appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

How to Get More From Your Facebook Ads, Part 2

By Travis Mattern from Fitness Education Online

Lead ads for your fitness business have two main advantages.

1. They allow you to build a list of interested clients, who will ideally be warmed through your Facebook group and email marketing campaigns for future offers.

2. They allow you to make sales.

These are two important results of one ad spend.

Check out some simple numbers: You spend $300 on ads, and our experience with clients suggests you might get anywhere from 30 to 60 leads. From this number you might conservatively estimate three to six sales. If you are selling an appropriately priced product or service, that means you have covered your ad spend and put an extra 30-60 leads into your long-term funnels. 

Photo Tips

In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned that trainers often choose photos of fit people working hard or photos that have a “professional look.” Some people will also use stock images rather than their own photos. In our experience running thousands of different ads, these options get outperformed by simpler choices.

We recommend you test at least two options:

A group photo of your crew smiling and happy.A selfie-style image with your group smiling and looking at the camera.

Nothing professional is needed, and no one must be working hard in the shots. They’re just nice, simple photos of smiling people.

We’ve also found that outdoor images work better, so if you ever train outdoors, take some photos of your crew, and then snap a few selfies with your group.

The Key Word?

In our opinion, the strongest word you can use in the ad is “challenge.” I know this can be a somewhat triggering term for many trainers, but hear me out. When I say “challenge,” I’m not adding in the words “weight loss,” “transformation” or anything like that. I’m keeping it simple: “X- Week Challenge.”

This term can literally mean anything. Maybe it means turning up to one session a week for one client. To another, it might mean shedding some pounds. We’re basically leaving it open to the viewer’s interpretation.

Running an “X-week challenge” has the benefit of requiring a minimum commitment from the client and generating a set income for you—say $50 per week over six weeks, for a $300 program.

Check out this article on another key “ad word.”

Grow Your Business!

If you adjust your ads based on what I’ve talked about in this series, I’m positive you’ll get a better return on investment. And feel free to reach out to Fitness Education Online. We’ve been running successful ads for bootcamp instructors all around the world. 

Travis Mattern is the co-founder and director at Fitness Education Online, one of the world’s leading providers of CEC courses for personal trainers. Check out their range of Fitness Australia registered courses, as well as courses specifically focused on social media marketing.

The post How to Get More From Your Facebook Ads, Part 2 appeared first on Two-Brain Business.