Chris Cooper's Blog, page 121

Do the Smartest Always Win? (No)

I wiped the pink chalk off my knees as my client set up on the barbell.

This was her third attempt at a new deadlift PR. I’d just used her long rest period to explain how ATP worked: a colorful graph in green and pink sidewalk chalk now adorned the rubber matting beside the lifting platform.

She pushed her abs out, filled her lungs with air, descended to the barbell, pulled hard … and dropped it after an inch.

She’d barely stood up before another coach came charging across the room.

“Hey! Why are you giving up so early? Chalk up. We’re going again. Right away! No rest!” he yelled.

She quickly chalked her hands and set up.

“Deep breath. Now pull! Pull! Pull!” he yelled.

Slowly, the bar cleared the floor.

“Don’t stop! Come on! Go! Go! Over the knees!”

Others in the gym started to notice and began to cheer as the barbell inched its way upward.

“Look up! Look up! Finish it!” the coach screamed, jumping up and down beside the lifter.

Her shoulders locked back, the bar finished its climb, and she let out a long howl that echoed through the whole building. She’d done it—she just needed the right message. And a graph about energy metabolism—no matter how colorful—wasn’t the right message. Not with 200 lb. on the line.

The graph and lecture let me feel smart. But the client didn’t need information; she needed a call to action. She needed a reason to succeed. She need a clear step: “Grip hard! Go!” And it took another coach to give her those things at that moment.

“If more information was the answer, then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.” —Derek Sivers

The Innovator’s Curse

Inventors don’t make money. Connectors do.

Inventors do the hard part: They come up with new ideas. They create something from scratch. They educate people on why it’s important. They work through refinements until the product is perfect. They advocate, argue and stress over the technical details. And they do it on an empty stomach because no one is looking for them.

Connectors take that product to an audience. Connectors sell it. Connectors make lots of money.

The best connectors are simplifiers.

The innovator focuses on technical features. The connector says, “I can solve your problems.”

Innovators want to show people how smart they are. Connectors want people to win.

Innovators are often trapped in a never-ending cycle of product development, audit and refinement. They say things like “I’m a product person” (guilty!) and wonder why people don’t see the obvious benefits of their ideas.

Simpler, not Dumber

I just had a call with one of the founders of an original scoring platform for CrossFit. These guys launched in 2008—years before anyone else. They have a crazy data set. Their software never breaks. It’s half as expensive as their biggest competitor. But their competitor has 10 times as many clients. Why? Because the founder is an innovator, not a connector. He’s super smart. His business has a great “culture.” But his clients keep leaving for simpler platforms.

The smartest usually get the ball rolling. But they don’t usually win.

In fact, innovators might be too smart. Because the voices in their heads speak the same language, they believe everyone does, too. But we don’t. We want simple. We buy simple. We reward people who make things simpler.

“Simpler” doesn’t mean dumb. It takes a particular kind of genius to simplify. Great editors make great books. Even Einstein said, “You don’t understand physics until you can explain it to a 10-year-old.”

“Constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity” is a genius concept that gets great fitness results. It simplifies the puzzle of fitness. But you know what simplifies it more?

“Watch your heart rate on this big scoreboard!”

The average Orangetheory franchise owner knows less about fitness than the average CrossFit owner. Most are less fit. Few ever think about “the programming.” They also net around seven times as much per year.

Not because of their advertising or their brand. Because of their simplicity.

Simplicity Wins

Good ideas win the hearts and minds of the few people already paying attention. Simple ideas spread.

How do you know when your idea is simple enough to spread?

When your mom can describe your service to a stranger.When the stranger can describe it back to you.When your tagline fully describes your product.When you don’t need 140 characters to share your mission.When you can explain it to a 10-year-old.

The key to simplifying your service is practice. Keep cutting your description down through iteration. Interview yourself. Explain it in 20 words, and then do it in 15. Ask your best clients to describe your service and copy what they say. Cut complication, then cut more.

It’s not enough to have a good idea. Innovators go hungry. You have to bring your service, your product, your Big Idea, your art to an audience that wants to receive it. That’s what business is. Invention isn’t business. Connection is business. A transaction is just a connection involving money. And relationships are just multiple connections over time.

Stop trying to prove how smart you are and start making money on your idea.

The post Do the Smartest Always Win? (No) appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Training Your Trainers on Mental Health

By Andrea Savard, Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor

If you aren’t training your staff on mental-health issues, you are doing your clients a major disservice.

Most gym owners train their team members to become better fitness coaches. After all, a typical training session is 90 percent movement and coaching cues and 10 percent gym operations or sales.  

While improving fitness is our goal, the pursuit of fitness has changed as people ride the roller coaster of gym closures, social isolation, virtual lives and daily overwhelm.

In 2021, the job of the trainer has changed. Welcome to the new era.

Train the Trainer

In fall 2020, with the COVID Crisis upon us, I hired a psychotherapist to help with our 2021 strategic planning. My goal was to equip my coaching team with the tools they needed to better communicate with clients and prospects.

Our question was simple: How do we get in front of the next wave of the pandemic and the associated challenges to mental health?

We then set up multiple meetings with the psychotherapist to train our team members. The sessions included education about what’s happening with society and how people are being affected mentally by the pandemic. This helped us understand what drives or inhibits their decision-making and how we can adapt our approach with fitness and nutrition to compassionately and supportively guide clients to success.

This process also helped me adapt and revise our vision and mission to create a clearer, more vivid picture of our purpose in the lives of the people we serve.

With this new, enhanced mental-health training, our coaches certainly do not diagnose issues—that has to be left to a professional. But our coaches are now trained to observe, ask the right questions, and show compassion and understanding. As they do this, they might need to adapt their clients’ training strategies to refocus on positive habits instead of fitness goals. Or they might need to simplify the decision-making process in free consultations with new prospects.  

Our goals are to encourage resilience, strengthen relationships and improve retention. Smart gym owners will also recognize the benefits mental-health training will have on staff members who might be struggling with their own work-life balance or pandemic-related stressors.

To provide your team with new tools, find a mental-health professional in your area or online. Doing so will be one of the most valuable investments you make in your team’s training. 

The post Training Your Trainers on Mental Health appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Protect Your Gym With a Code of Conduct

By Andrea Savard, Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me this question: “Can you fire a coach for sleeping with a member?”

My first response is always, “Do you have a code of conduct?” 

Most gym owners don’t even know they need one until it’s too late.  

A code of conduct simply outlines the behavior that is required to be in your community—as a staff member, client or volunteer. Your code should adhere to and reflect your country or region’s human-rights code and laws. It should also state that failure to follow gym’s code will result in action—usually removal from the community and a denial of service.

Here is what our gym code states:

FirePower Code of Conduct—Our organization respects and follows the letter and spirit of the Ontario Human Rights Code. We support and protect the dignity and worth of everyone. We provide equal rights and opportunities for all employees, clients and volunteers. We do not tolerate harassment or unwelcome comments and actions. We will take prompt action if such problems occur, including failure to follow any rules or regulations, for reasons of nuisance, disturbance of others, moral turpitude or fraud, or if we determine that your actions may endanger yourself or others.  

Your code of conduct must be included in your membership terms and conditions, staff agreements and playbook, and it must be on your website. Sing about it from the rooftops! People feel strongly about aligning with ethical and moral businesses. 

Rely on the Code

The first time you rely on the code instead of your own personal opinion, you’ll feel like you’ve hit the jackpot! 

Last year we had to fire a client who violated people’s right to a safe and moral workout environment. This person was also negatively impacting the mental health of people in our community. When inquiring members came to ask why the client was let go, the conversation was very professional and short: “She didn’t meet the code of conduct for membership.” No further questions were asked.  

If you need to release or give a warning to someone, the conversation becomes simple: “Your actions do not meet the code of conduct that you agreed to. We do not feel we can effectively provide you a professional level of service going forward.”  

Dealing with bad behavior can be very emotional. But when you’ve calmly created a code of conduct, clear expectations and standard operating procedures before an incident, you won’t react emotionally or scramble when trouble arises. You’ll just follow a plan based on your values. That approach will be better for you and your community.

If you don’t have a code of conduct at your gym, create one today.

The post Protect Your Gym With a Code of Conduct appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Do You Really Need That? (Slashing Expenses for the Win)

Mike (00:02):

It’s fun to buy cool stuff, but you know what’s better for gym owners? Not spending your hard-earned money on stuff you don’t need. Stay tuned to Two-Brain Radio for money-saving ideas.

Chris (00:11):

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.

Mike (00:56):

This is Two-Brain Radio, and I’m Mike Warkentin, your host. One of the easiest ways to make more money as a gym owner is to reduce your expenses. Not every expense is bad. Let’s be clear about that. The expenses that generate income justify the old saying you have to spend money to make money. However, some expenses that don’t generate return on investment need to go. Custom-branded sandbags, I’m looking directly at you. Josh Thorn of Vashon Strong in Washington state is here to offer more tips to lower expenses. Josh Thorn of Vashon Strong in Washington state is here to offer more tips to lower expenses. So Josh, when we dug into our April data, we discovered that you do some pretty creative things to keep expenses down. Here’s the trick question right off the bat. Tell me about what gym management software you use, how much does it cost and why do you use that software?

Josh (01:43):

Yeah, so, we just use Acuity, it’s the scheduling software that, Two-Brain kind of recommended when I first got started and I think it’s 50 bucks a month or something like that. And yeah, just the way we got started with it, it was like I just kinda got started, I rolled into like gym ownership and opening a gym. I’d never really done anything business related before and that’s all good. So I was just kind of like, learning curve as we go. And yeah, just the gym management software, it’s always kinda seemed like a big step. And I guess it kind of seemed like, what are the things that you’re really looking for out of a gym management software, scheduling billing and keeping track of your members. And I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I just feel like I can do all those things with Acuity just fine. Acuity has, we have all our recurring billing set up through them. So they integrate with square. I can do all our group memberships, all our hybrid memberships, all our personal training memberships, everything like that.

Mike (03:00):

Just saying, I’m amazed like Acuity does all the stuff that you would often look at, like Zen Planner, Wodify, MindBody, all that stuff. Acuity can handle that for you?

Josh (03:08):

I think so. Like I haven’t been on the backend of Zen or MindBody or anything like that. And actually, it maybe it’d be good for me to do so, but yeah, I mean, Acuity handles all of our billing, don’t have any problems there. Handles all of our scheduling. So the calendars all integrate with, I mean, I’m sure everybody knows if you do your no sweat intro calendars through Acuity, like we just do the same thing with our group classes and then with our personal training clients, we have, personal training relationships are generally close enough that you can schedule those one-on-one. So, scheduling is taken care of there. And then the other interesting thing I think about Acuity is a lot of times, you’re thinking about your client journey, right?

Josh (03:56):

And Acuity can actually handle like a lot of that stuff. If someone schedules a no sweat intro, with me or one of my coaches they get a follow-up email and then like, I have like a six-email series that goes out over the next two weeks, that follows up with them. And a lot of it’s like, it would sound very familiar to you or Coop or any of the mentors, it’s like, like, Hey, thanks for coming in. Like, we’re really excited to talk with you about your goals, what brought you into the gym, you can integrate forms into Acuity. So you can do a lot of stuff like that, you know?

Josh (04:41):

So if the first day after they schedule a no sweat intro, they get a follow up email, the third day after they schedule a no sweat intro, they get a follow-up email, with just like some different directions. So you can kind of set up email campaigns through Acuity too, and tailor them to your client journeys. Like, yeah, no sweat intros, goal reviews, nutrition consults, even you can set up separate email follow-up systems for personal training clients, the day after their personal training session, they get a how to recover email. And then the third day after their training or their personal training session, they get a, I dunno, whatever it is.

Mike (05:26):

Your campaign’s just loaded in there. If you say sell a six month membership or something like that, is that trackable in there as well?

Josh (05:36):

Six months like of the paid in full kind of stuff?

Mike (05:38):

And I’m asking that without knowing how your packages go.

Josh (05:41):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Normally they’re monthly billing cycles, so for group and personal training, but yeah, but you’re right for like paid in full membership. So if you say a year of training this is like, so I don’t set those up to be recurring, so yeah. They would take a calendar note or something like that.

Mike (06:01):

But a recurring membership would go automatically?

Josh (06:01):

Oh yeah.

Mike (06:08):

Let me ask you this, just for perspective here, you can give me a range if you’re not comfortable with exact numbers, how many members are you managing in that system?

Josh (06:16):

We have let’s see, actively paying 83, if you include our part-time coaches and stuff, about 89.

Mike (06:27):

The reason I ask is because when I started our gym, like in 2009, I was using like a spreadsheet, just like a straight up Excel spreadsheet. Right. And I realized that I think the number was like 12 members, or it was 19, it was 12 or 19. I realized I was screwed. And I was just like, and then of course I had to get a gym management software and I won’t tell you who I use, but I’ve been stuck with that system since 2009, because it’s so painful to change, I don’t want to change it. Yet I can’t stand the system. I don’t think anyone else can stand it either. So that’s why I was so curious to hear about what you’re doing, because again, $50 price is cheaper than a lot of these systems and you’re able to manage close to a hundred members now through something that I don’t think a lot of people have thought of.

Josh (07:13):

Yeah. I think the like, I haven’t really sat down and talk and nuts and bolts, but I know what you mean. Like I hear a lot of those not complaints, but I hear a lot of the things that people say about, the main gym management softwares and they all kind of strike some similar themes. Like I don’t know what they are right now, and so yeah, when I read those, I just kinda think like, is this worth it right now? Am I accomplishing what I want to accomplish with Acuity at least the things that are important to me, which to me is, yeah, client journey, reliable billing, recurring stuff.

Josh (08:02):

You can definitely make arguments for gym management softwares that maybe provide more in-depth reports. Right? Like I did a trial with Arbox, and their LEG or their ARM reports, like they just kind of have more financial reports that Two-Brain kind of uses and those are definitely nice. So I hear those arguments. I mean, as far as taking a small software and making it go a long way, there are definitely some things that work.

Mike (08:40):

That’s kind of the theme of the show here is like, we looked at revenue and we found some gyms with huge revenue. We also looked at expenses because Chris Cooper wanted to figure out like, are there gyms that are running really lean and generating lots of revenue, meaning like you’re getting the best of both worlds. And so that’s what we really wanted to speak to you about that. And, just as an aside, I believe it was CrossFit Malibu, I believe just recently they went from like, literally, I think it was like an envelope taped to a door or something like that. And forgive me if I’ve got this one wrong, but I know the story was out there, I believe it was CrossFit Malibu, which is an old school affiliate where they just like, you put your membership fees in the envelope and it was cash or check or whatever.

Mike (09:20):

And it was kind of just, what ‘evs. I think that’s hilarious. You’ve got a better system, but it’s a system that works for you. And I love that you referenced your client journey in there. So like, you’re not just doing this because it’s cheap, you’re doing it because it’s your clientele and your business. Side benefit. It’s not as expensive as the other systems. So we’re going to dig into more stuff. So I’ll ask you this question. I’ll self-confess, I tend to be a bit of a miser. Are you like a cheap guy by nature? Like me?

Josh (09:51):

I’m definitely a little bit of a miser. Like, it’s hard to let go of money on costs, but I mean, I guess I was just kind of ruminating on like, the psychology of spending money. Right. It’s like, we think we’re so smart and logical about money, but the way we spend our money, I think if you dug deep into it, it’d be very emotional. And I bet if you looked at the purchases that I made and but the story I tell myself about them, I bet it’d be like, you just never know what you’re going to find. Like I won’t buy any equipment and I’ll just be fanatical that like, what we have is totally good enough, you know? And then like a member will say to me like, oh, like, this would be so cool, and it’ll put a little bug in my brain. So like, I said, I mean, I try to be logical about it and everything, but I, that’s curious about how much you know about that spending stuff is, deeper, emotional, kind of buys than you really realize

Mike (11:04):

I can tell you exactly like my story. You hit it on the head. I was cheap at our gym in a lot of ways, like not foolishly where all our plates were broken. I personally invested too many hours. One of the examples is I literally spent five or six hours buying tools and trying to fish a broken key out of a lock when I should’ve just hired a locksmith for like, it would have taken the locksmith with the right tools, like five minutes, whatever it costs me to do, it wouldn’t have equaled the waste of time that I over those six hours. But my emotional attachment was that I wanted the gym to be profitable. So I was going to give every bit of my own time to do it. And the stupid part about it was I didn’t realize that I was like burning these super valuable hours that I could have spent growing the business. And it wasn’t until I started working with Chris and the Two-Brain mentors that I started to realize that. That’s why I was curious about asking you that question, tell me this because of the emotional stuff, that’s all involved in expenses and spending. Do you have a system for evaluating expenses when you take them on at the gym? Like, do you actually like go through line by line and say, OK, I got to look at this expense. Is it carrying its weight? No, it goes, yes, it stays.

Josh (12:08):

Not as regularly as I should. But I mean, that’s something that Two-Brain has, just so helped with. Right. I mean, it’s part of the conversation, on like, if not like a weekly, it’s like part of the conversation definitely monthly which yeah. I mean, yeah, I get Coop’s emails about, OK. Like we’re doing audit expenses this week. I’m like, fantastic. Like, like let’s look at them. So yeah, I’m very on guard about all the subscriptions, the recurring payments that the gym has and I can pretty much, I mean, shouldn’t be able to say that I can hold them all in my head, cause that’s the business owner’s small death is like trying to hold everything in your head. About like a year or two ago. So I had a coach come on, who is really good with data. And she put together like a really detailed spreadsheet that cataloged all our recurring payments and everything like that. And so that really helped me kind of visualize that. So I’ll revisit that spreadsheet once every two months or so, but like I said, it’s not as scheduled as it could be for sure.

Mike (13:31):

I think you’re way ahead of a lot of people in that you are aware of your expenses, you do look at them, at least regularly, and you are making some adjustments there, like you said, you’re aware of your subscriptions. Like, I mean, I guarantee you, there are gym owners right now, out there. That’ll listen to this episode. And if they look at their credit card statements in depth, they’ll find some subscriptions that they are not using, that they should just get rid of. And it’s probably some music service that they never use or something like that or whatever else it could be. Maybe it’s a mobility thing the members thought was cool for 20 minutes and no one used or whatever. You’re ahead of the game there for sure. How long has your gym been around?

Josh (14:06):

We have been open for four years now.

Mike (14:09):

That’s good. So you’re way ahead of the game. Cause it took me like eight or nine, I think, to get really a handle of my expenses. Talk to me about some of the other expenses. Like I know that you’ve done some creative stuff with your gym build-out and things like that. Tell me a bit, few other.

Josh (14:24):

So I think it just kinda relates to like our particular start and in our particular location. So what am I trying to say? So we’re a small town, off the coast of Seattle, so it’s a small town vibe. And the way I started the gym, was in initially in my parents’ garage, which then moved to a spot in town, in 2017, which was like, and I definitely put a lot of work into it to start. So I think looking at the spot that we moved into, you wouldn’t have necessarily envisioned a gym there. So it was like this the good things about it were

Josh (15:26):

It was in town, basically on main street, not street front, but just behind and then it was half the size it is now. So it was yeah, so we got, it’s garage space basically. So the rent is going to be low. It was small. So the rent’s going to be lower there. And then yeah, we just put a lot of good work into it, walls, some installation, but a lot of the work we’re doing ourselves. And then as we moved in, there were all these other little studios that were connected to it that we gradually moved into. And as we moved into them, we took down the walls and replaced the flooring with mats and everything like that. So I kinda just feel like we got in in like in a really good location with low rent, and then we just kinda like slowly invaded the other spaces while the rent stayed really low.

Mike (16:26):

Yeah. It’s kind of like the story of Nirvana, right. Like, I mean, you start in the garage and stuff, right? Yeah.

Josh (16:33):

And you just got to realize it’s a small gym, like it is like 1500 square feet, you know? And so for being in a great location in town, but, kind of started out as sort of a dingy drafty garage, and it’s like a really small space. So that keeps all a lot of like rent and utilities down. I feel like we’re we’re running really lean. Like we don’t have, they’re just, yeah, it’s still kind of a dingy garage. There’s not a lot of amenities, but if we really serve our clients well, and we have great relationships and we build out, group and PT revenue streams, and we’re working on doing more nutrition, it’s like, like, OK, well, you can really skyrocket your revenue, without being the athletic club down the road that needs a pool and locker rooms, and, I don’t know how many square feet, 6,000 more square feet.

Mike (17:44):

Nutrion scales and a laptop on a desk.

Josh (17:45):

Right. Yeah, exactly. So I think I think there’s growth ahead in our future that will grow our expenses and, make the space look a little bit better, or maybe like an InBody, sort of things like more expensive things that do have, a return, but right now I feel like we’re just like, we’re just lean, lean and mean, and with good revenue, it’s a good balance right now.

Chris (18:19):

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Mike (18:40):

That’s good. And that’s, it’s interesting cause Chris has really talked about this and he’s talked about if he could go back, he would get the smallest space that he possibly could. And train his people in there, serving them to the best, just giving them the greatest service ever, but in a small space and a ton of equipment and bursting at the seams, go up a little bit further and like do that kind of thing because there was a real temptation for a lot of gym owners back in the day to be the first gigantic mega gym with 10,000 square feet or with, two or three giant locations or whatever. And there was a lot of temptation for that. And it didn’t work out for everyone because a lot of those spaces are just like, as you said, the expenses go up so dramatically.

Mike (19:19):

And like one of the things that really saved my business was the fact that we rented a warehouse that had been vacant for a long time in a city that’s not a destination. And so we got a good deal on rent. I was able to make a lot of mistakes because my expenses weren’t super high. And the other mistake I made was coaching too many classes, but that still kept our expenses low. And I was able to make a bunch of other mistakes that didn’t sink me because I was absorbing a lot of costs. Now that had its own problems in the end. But you get what I’m saying, where it’s very interesting, like that 1500 square foot model. And again, the very first CrossFit gym, I think was about 754 square feet in the very beginning, you’re doing a lot in a small space.

Mike (19:57):

And then you’re finding ways to scale some revenue. Like I say, with nutrition programs and PT, because like get this, like in my gym, we had 6,000 square feet, and we didn’t use them very well. We were always dead between nine and four, except for lunch. Pardon me, a good lunch class, but one-on-one personal training in a 6,000 square foot, we could have done so much there. So in a 1500 hundred square feet space, personal training makes a lot of sense. You get people in there at different hours, nutrition training, the whole deal. And it all does increase your footprint. Eventually you will. But rather you have an idea of how to do that in a calculated way. Like, do you have a number in mind where you’re like, OK, we’ll pull the pin here and we’re going to another space?

Josh (20:39):

No, but mostly because I don’t know, not to bash on our small town, which is an island like, and development is, there’s not really many other places to go, you know? In terms of like looking for bigger space, like we might be here for a little while.

Mike (21:13):

I just, I find it fascinating. Like I’ve seen all sorts of different, paths of things. And definitely right about like gyms’ million dollar leases in Manhattan and things like that. So it’s fascinating to see how, regionally, you can find ways around things and starting in the garages. There’s nothing wrong with that. And we started in our basement in my back parking lot and things like that. That’s a great way. Did you, when you did get this space, you said did a lot of the work yourself, like, did you do tons of build out stuff like you’re a handy guy, that kind of thing? Or how did it go?

Josh (21:42):

My dad is a handy guy and we worked together a lot on it. Like we like working on projects together and yes, it would be totally honest he’s way, way handier than I am. Not trying to misrepresent that we’re like doing, super clean remodels or anything, but yeah, I mean, we can take down walls, we can put up rigs, we can drill stuff into, we can install racks and flooring and storage, little storage space modifications we can put up, we can install rings, we can install ropes and make cubbies and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, we did a little bit of even did a little bit of work on the floor. We poured some cement, we did some of that stuff. It’s definitely been an ongoing project.

Mike (22:42):

It’s interesting again, because we always want to look at the value of your time, right? So if you could make some $70 an hour personal training, it would be a mistake to do like labor jobs for $12 an hour. But in the startup stages, there definitely are some opportunities where you can sometimes dig in and get your hands a little bit dirty and get way ahead, especially when you’re starting up or growing up, like you’ve got a parent or a friend or you’ve got some members that you can help would help us stuff. Like we definitely leaned on a construction guy who ran a construction company to our gym. He helped out with a ton of stuff and poured concrete, and did all this stuff essentially that you’re talking about. We found some ways around that to cut some costs that would have added up very quickly and especially with lumber prices right now, there’s some interesting math to be done on some of this. You certainly shouldn’t pour concrete instead of taking a no sweat intro, but you can certainly look at like, Hey, if I can spend hours doing that and save $400, maybe you do it. Trading or bartering within memberships or anything like that?

Josh (23:40):

No, actually, I mean, I think we started with Two-Brain early enough in the gym’s career that, we were kind of able to avoid a ton of trading or bartering. So where we mostly all of our members are paying. I think I have one member that, does photography for the gym once a month in exchange for his membership, but yeah, I mean, yeah, photography is great. And then I do have a coach who’s kind of a godsend, she’s like a graphic designer and website person.

Josh (24:25):

And I mean, and she, gosh, she really is a godsend like graphic designer, website person, part-time coach, and wants to pay for a membership. Like, I mean, she’s just incredible. I’m just grateful to have good people that want to help and that kind of thing, but I can’t really attribute that to any business skill. She put it all together. She’ll make edits. I mean, I know how to do a good number of edits, but if it’s, yeah, it’s nice having somebody that you know personally that can make changes very, very quickly, you don’t have to submit any forms or lead time. And so it lends a certain amount of flexibility there.

Mike (25:23):

It’s interesting, again, with the bartering, I always ask that. That’s such an interesting one because you can make big mistakes there, right? Like Chris has written about this, where all of a sudden that friendly side deal that you cut with someone and, it’s just not, they’re not delivering. And it happens always with cleaners is one that I see regularly where it’s like, oh, clean in exchange for my membership. And then all of a sudden there’s dust bunnies everywhere during a rowing workout, they’re just blowing around the gym and the cleaners like, oh, I took vacation, didn’t tell you for three weeks. Like, that’s just so common. Chris has written about this, if you’re gonna do barters and trades, put them in writing, put a vlaue attached, sign the contract and make sure everyone exactly the same page. So this stuff doesn’t get away from you because it can, and it did to me and it’s done many.

Mike (26:07):

So it’s an interesting one to kinda, to kind of look at. The thing that I like most about this whole conversation is just that you’re a four-year gym owner, you’re evaluating your situation, it’s unique, right? You’ve got this interesting thing that you’ve done. You’re slowly building and looking ways to scale revenue and scale revenue before you expand. Right. The cool part about that is that so many people talking about expanding to scale revenue, like it’s like, oh, if I get a bigger gym, if you build it, they will come, which is great movie, but nonsense in the business world, you’re doing it the opposite way, right. Where you’re like scaling that. And then you can do a calculated expansion if you desire, rather than like, OK, I’m going to blow the bank, get out of this great spot that I’ve got, and then hope to God that someone shows up. So let me ask you this, if you bought a gym tomorrow, or if you were going right back to the very beginning of your career as a gym owner, and you had something, where are the first places that you would look to reduce expenses? What I want you to do is give some gym owners out there, some ideas about where they can cut costs after the show, so they can look in their budgets and say, man, do I really need that? What would you target there?

Josh (27:15):

Yeah, I thought about that question that kinda, it’s kind of a tough one without seeing, individual, I mean, everything plays into it, location and the clients that you’re serving, your main offerings, like, and even within like, like, OK, say we’re all CrossFit gyms, are you serving teens, mostly kids, or is it mostly your demographic is parents? Like, is your demographic competitive athletes, you know? So it’s kind of hard to say without knowing the context of that specific gym, and it’s kind of, easier instead to say like, OK, well, let’s look at the revenue side of things, just right away, because, yeah. You can assess how many memberships are being traded or bartered or discounted or or just kind of not being tracked. Fallen by the wayside. They’re not recurring, they’re these people, you know what I mean? Like, it’s just kind of easier to assess that side of things, as opposed to the more context- driven stuff.

Mike (28:32):

Let me ask you this one, I’ll give you a couple of ideas and you tell me what you think of these? And you mentioned I’m stealing your ideas. I’m just rephrasing it. The first one you mentioned was looking at all the different subscriptions out there. If I was a gym owner, again, starting out, I would look at not necessarily starting out, let’s say if I bought a gym and I was trying to reduce expenses, I would look at all the subscriptions and say like, do I use all this stuff? Right? Like, have you found any that you cut and just looked and said, man, this expense is worthless and got rid of.

Josh (29:03):

Yeah. I mean, I think the last like time Coop sent out an email that was like, I was like, OK, you’re going to an audit expense. I mean, yeah. I mean, it’s so easy to cut, like a bunch of $10 stuff, like, different storage subscriptions, like Dropbox or something like that. There’s so much there. I mean, what are we really looking at? Like all the different subscriptions that somebody might have. So like yeah. Programming yeah, I mean, I’m not saying to cut programming. I’m so thankful to have programming as a subscription.

Mike (29:48):

And if it pulls its weight, it’s worth its weight in gold. But if it’s not serving your clients and you’ve always referenced your client journey during this interview, it’s your program, isn’t satisfying your clients and it’s expensive. Is there a better option? Right? I’ll throw one more at you. And I want your perspective on this because I love the way you think about it. Gear. And gear might not be an expense that like you can reduce, but you could certainly choose not to spend the money that you would otherwise. Right. Talk to me about that because I’ve seen a lot of gym owners and I know some crazy stats from people that I’ve heard through the grapevine about people like doing some extreme bank business to like buy piles of equipment. And when I saw some of the equipment, I was like, whoa, that is not very useful. So talk to me about your plan for purchasing gear. Cause you think you can reduce expenses in there.

Josh (30:37):

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Josh (30:48):

We do have like this random pegboard on the wall with which like nobody ever uses. So I’ve definitely like made that, made that mistake before. I mean, we’ve got all the standard stuff. We, yeah, I’m definitely a fan of running lower on equipment and doing all the partner work that you need. I am a fan of not buying the equipment that can only be used by one person, for sure. Like it kind of has to be like, OK, can everybody use this? You know? And if not, is it something that can be leveraged into a personal training clientele. Like, I will say that, like I only have one trap bar, and I’m like, Ooh, this is the best bar I’ve ever bought. Because like, I do so much personal training with people that have like lower back pain and are really scared of barbell deadlifts. It really pulls its weight. So, yeah. The big fancy pieces that only one person could use, those should get a lot of scrutiny for sure.

Mike (32:00):

There’s space concerns there too. Right. So if you decide to buy 17 prowlers and stuff, where are you gonna stack them?

Josh (32:05):

Oh man. Exactly. And that’s one thing that I realized, a couple, year or two into a gym, I was like, oh, like my barbells and plates and the rig are not the most valuable piece of equipment. Like most valuable thing I have in this gym is just the floor space, like if like, if I can just have an open floor space, like possibilities are endless, it looks cleaner. People feel like they’ve got their arm space to like swing around, you know? And so like, yeah, if I were to go back and do it again, I might like even have a little bit less like rig than I do now. And look at everything in terms of like, like how cleanly does this store, and how can I maximize the floor space that I’m using here. Definitely have some pieces I want to get rid of like some racks and stuff that had to buy during COVID times. The most valuable thing is just that floor space. So yeah, the extra equipment is just not worth it.

Mike (33:17):

When you get your expansion whenever that is, months, years, whatever. Let’s talk again. Let’s see if you hold your plan and you do your expenses and I’d like to see what your next step looks like now that we have this conversation, let’s touch base again and we’ll give some people more ideas. Will you come back and do that?

Josh (33:36):

Yeah. For sure.

Mike (33:39):

Excellent. Thank you so much for being here today. Listeners, if you’re out there, do some thinking, generating more revenue is great, but it’s also challenging. Cutting expenses is sometimes a lot easier and if you look closely at that balance sheet you might find some stuff that shouldn’t be there or some spends that you do not need to make if they don’t generate ROI. I’m Mike Warkentin on Two-Brain Radio with Josh Thorn and we’ll be back next time. Please remember to subscribe for more episodes. Before you go. Be sure to head to the Gym Owners United group on Facebook, the smart kids in the gym biz hang out there and you need your voice in there too. That’s Gym Owners United on Facebook, join today.

 

The post Do You Really Need That? (Slashing Expenses for the Win) appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

Your Business: It’s Time To Turn Pro

By Andrea Savard, Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor

Follow any professional athlete closely and you’ll see something special.  People like Mat Fraser, Tom Brady and Serena Williams think, prepare, practice and execute their craft on a different level. 

So is your business still running like an “amateur” or are you on the level of the all-time greats? Here are four ways to answer that question.

Hobby Business or Professional Operation?  

Simple love of a sport won’t pay your bills. It’s the same in business. Sporadic efforts, fuzzy focus and a “mom-and-pop-shop mentality” are signs of an amateur operation. 

Turning pro takes discipline. When you flip the switch, things will feel different the moment you walk in the door. Every piece of the business is fine tuned and intentional: Staff are well trained and dressed for success, the business is exceptionally clean, and it’s clear that someone has a detailed plan for everything.

Long-Game Commitment

When the going gets tough, many amateurs throw in the towel. We regularly hear the phrase “I don’t need this anymore” as people leave the industry.

Pros do what they do to put food on their family’s table. So when challenges arise, they dig deep and renew their commitment to win. They find a way to persevere, and they move forward with fierce determination. 2020 made it very clear what side many people were on, and the true pros are still here in 2021, while many “casual entrepreneurs” are gone.

Work Ethic

Amateurs work hard; pros work hard and smart. I spent the better part of the last 25 years in the sport of boxing. In the early days, I used to think being a “pro” meant showing up every day and trying really hard. But I know that isn’t true. It’s not enough just to show up and work. You have to work on the right things—the small but important things, the fundamentals, the things that really move your business forward. How much time do you spend on these things?

One Coach or a Coaching Team?

As an amateur boxer, I had a world-renowned boxing coach who took me to the Canadian Nationals. He knew elite boxing but was only average in areas like nutrition, injury management, sport psychology, and strength and conditioning. Pro athletes have performance-enhancing teams of coaches, specialists, supporters and mentors who guide them to success. 

Is your business running solely on your efforts as owner or does your operation have a full performance-enhancing team to help you succeed? Two-Brain Business is that team for thousands of gym owners worldwide. 

Want to Turn Pro?

Looking over the success of the top gyms in the Two-Brain family, I see many things their owners have in common: a willingness to revisit the basics no matter how strong the business is, the wisdom to seek a coach, and the humility to consider that the current way might not be optimal. The top gym owners in the world are committed to constant improvement as entrepreneurs, and their businesses reward them because of it.

Is it time you and your business turned pro? If so, we can help.

The post Your Business: It’s Time To Turn Pro appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

5 Blogs in 5 Weeks to Build Your Audience

Struggling to produce content?

It’s a common problem—but I can help.

Below, you’ll find a guided five-week content plan to help gym owners generate some momentum on their blogs.

If you have trouble producing content, keep it very simple and just “get it done.” If you love creating, feel free to go big: Add some pictures, dig a little deeper, create social-media assets to promote the blogs and so on.

Do Exactly This

1. Block off “publishing time” on your calendar every week for five weeks. You will use this time to produce and publish the five blogs below. If you don’t schedule this activity, it probably won’t happen.

 2. Make some notes on each topic right off the top of your head in “week 0,” and add to your notes anytime an idea pops into your head. That way, you’ll already have some thoughts together when you sit down to create.

3. Write 300-600 words. Don’t feel pressure to go long. The point is to publish consistently, so be brief and to the point.

4. Write and publish the blog to your website each week. Then send it to your mailing list as a newsletter. Then use your social-media platforms to tell people to come to your site to read the blog.

That’s it. Hit your calendar and block off time to publish right now, then read on for the blog ideas.

Week 1

Subject: How a fitness coach can help you reach goals faster.

Audience: Prospective clients—especially people who have been working out on their own without seeing results. In places such as Canada, where lockdowns are slowly being lifted, this blog should be tailored to people who have been struggling to work out at home and might be tired of it.

Goal: Help people understand the benefits of a trainer.

Key point: Trainers help people accomplish goals faster through expertise, insight, motivation and accountability.

Link and call to action to include: The URL for your consultation page and “Book a free consultation!”

Protip: Be sure to mention fitness, nutrition, sleep and stress—everything a modern coach addresses.

Week 2

Subject: Do you need to train like CrossFit Games athletes to get fit?

Audience: Current members.

Goal: Explain how your programming will help clients accomplish their goals.

Key points: Your programming is optimized for your members and tailored to each individual in class so all clients get fitter fast. PT subscriptions offer personalization, create faster progress and allow people to dig into areas of interest—like weightlifting or gymnastics.

Link and call to action to include: The URL for your PT page and “Click for more info!”

Protip: Don’t slam “special programming for elite athletes.” Just show how your programming gets results—data and quotes from clients are huge bonuses here.

Week 3

Subject: 5 simple summer workout ideas.

Audience: Current members and general community.

Goal: Keep people training when they’re away from the gym by getting them to book a goal-setting session in which you can highlight online programming/PT services. For the general community, the simple workouts you create here will give them something to try—be sure to make things accessible so everyone can succeed and have fun.

Key points: There is no need to break the workout habit on the road or on vacation.

Link and call to action to include: The URL for your consultation/goal-setting page and “Create a summer workout plan with me!”

Protip: Keep workouts short and very simple so people who’d rather be tanning might be inclined to sweat for a few minutes first.

Week 4

Subject: 5 simple summer nutrition hacks.

Audience: General community.

Goal: Generate some website traffic by writing on a top-of-mind topic that allows you to showcase your nutrition expertise and mention the services you offer.

Key points: A few simple things will dramatically affect nutrition at a time when people tend to munch on bad snacks and drink too much pop or beer.

Link and call to action to include: The URL for your nutrition-services page and “Eat for success!”

Protip: Don’t get into the weeds with macros and hormones and so on. You want simple healthy habits here.

Week 5

Topic: Our favorite local businesses.

Audience: Other business owners and general community.

Goals: Link to a host of complementary businesses to start creating relationships that can lead to referrals and backlinks for SEO. Direct your clients to trusted locals who can help them outside the gym.

Key point: We’re the local experts who can help you solve any problem you have by referring you to businesses that will treat you well.

Link and call to action to include: Your email address and “tell me about your local business!”

Protip: After you publish, call the local businesses you featured and ask the owners if they saw the article and would share it with their audiences or link to it. Then ask how you can help that owner more.

Do It or Delegate It!

That’s your five-week content plan.

Use it on its own to get into the habit of publishing or add these ideas to your content plan to increase output.

Final protip: Send this article to a staff member and ask him or her to follow the plan to increase authority and grow your audience.

Two-Brain clients: Want more assistance? Head to the Roadmap: Get More Clients—Audience Building. You’ll find a host of resources, including a huge pile of blog topics from Chris Cooper, more tips from me, a complete podcasting course and a host of done-for-you blogs you can use on your site.

The post 5 Blogs in 5 Weeks to Build Your Audience appeared first on Two-Brain Business.

When Your Rate Increase Hits the News (and It’s the Best Ad Ever)

Mike (00:02):

Increasing your rates is stressful, and it’s even worse when a local newspaper does a story about it. Magnus Bjorsvik reports on the results of that story next.

Chris (00:11):

Hey guys, it’s Chris Cooper. Your members are buying supplements somewhere, so they should buy them from the person who cares about them the most: You. And you should work with my friends at Driven Nutrition. Jason Rule and the Driven team put customers first, every time they’ve got a ton of products with high margins and they’ll even train you so your retail program adds revenue to your business. Kirk Hendrickson from Iron Jungle CrossFit says Driven Nutrition has some of the best support I have seen from any company we’ve partnered with. To make more money with supplements and retail sales, visit drivennutrition.net. Now back to the show.

Mike (00:43):

We’re back on Two-Brain Radio. It’s Mike Warkentin. I did a rate increase a few years back and I felt ill as we pulled the trigger and sent the email. In Norway, Magnus Bjorsvik owns CrossFit Uvær in Tromsø, Norway. When he increased his rates, it actually made the news. The article even said, several members were reacting to the increase and some wanted to quit the gym. That’s stress city in Norway. So I’ve got Magnus here on the show and Magnus, I’m going to ask you this, lots of gyms do rate increases, but most of them don’t result in news stories. So why did yours end up in the newspaper?

Magnus (01:18):

Hi, Mike, thanks for having me on the show. That’s a good question. You know, I think it was probably because of the reaction some of the members had to the rate increase, because there was not really another way that the newspaper could have had the information about our rate increase, but I don’t know this for sure, but I’m pretty certain that some members contacted the newspaper about the increase in the rates. But, we were lucky though, because it turned out to, I mean the angle of the article ended up very positive for us.

Mike (01:52):

We’re going to dig into that article in just a minute, but I want to get a few details from you about your rate increase. So talk to me about how long you’ve been in business, what your rates were and what you raised them to.

Magnus (02:05):

Yeah, we opened CrossFit Uvær about, yeah, it’s almost four years ago now. And we did probably the same mistake in the beginning as a lot of the new gym owners do, instead of looking at the service that we were going to provide and what it was going to cost us to deliver that service, we looked at what other gyms in the area took for their service. So we started out charging, I think actually the first year we charged, 699 for regular membership and 599 for student membership.

Mike (02:47):

Sorry, just to give people perspective. These are Norwegian kroner.

Magnus (02:51):

Yeah, for people in the US or in Canada, I don’t think there’s probably no CrossFit gym over there that charges that insane low price, because it’s not sustainable at all.

Mike (03:07):

To give you perspective, listeners, right now a hundred kroner are about 12 US dollars. So your rates of like 799, 699, 599 were well under $90 US. All right, please continue. And tell me a little bit more about the details.

Magnus (03:23):

Yeah. So back two and a half years ago, after approximately a year and a half, we raised the prices, about a hundred, to 799 and 699.

Mike (03:39):

That 799 sis $96 for perspective.

Magnus (03:41):

So still this was a, you know, it was based on what other people were doing and not necessarily based on the service that we were providing. So because, you know, raising prices is difficult because you’re always afraid that, everyone’s going to go for the cheaper option. Fortunately that’s not how people work. So, luckily for us, we started, Two-Brain Business with our mentor Per about, yeah, it’s now over a year, year and a half ago. So, and when we did that, I think we were able to show, much better how, I mean, the difference between what we were doing and what other gyms were doing. And we also had different process for onboarding members. We had a different way of keeping the members as well, you know, keeping them engaged with our goal review sessions and keep people active. So after that, it was much easier for us to also be confident that we could raise the prices to a price that was sustainable for us.

Mike (05:04):

So you increased the value of your service and you took all the steps that we recommend at Two-Brain to make sure that you were delivering excellent service. And then with your mentor, did you guys sit down and say like, OK, the value is here, our rates don’t reflect that, they weren’t set correctly in the beginning. Is that the process that you guys went through to make the calculation that you decided to use for the rate increase?

Magnus (05:24):

Yes, that’s right, Mike. So this is the great thing about having a mentor. You have someone to talk with about the difficult stuff, because I was aware of this before we started Two-Brain that we weren’t charging what we were worth, because the numbers were weren’t adding up, you know, there was me and my partner. We were working 10, 12 hour days. And we had 250 members at some point even more, but we weren’t, you know, making a proper paycheck. So it was obvious to us that we had to do some sort of increasement in the price that we were charging. And when you have someone to talk to, it’s so much easier to reflect over that and execute on it.

Mike (06:17):

So what did you decide on for the new rates and how did you bring them in?

Magnus (06:21):

Yeah, so the new rates were actually calculated from the amount of members that we were able to deliver the service that we had to. I mean, the maximum amount that we could could have in our gym and still provide great service. And then we divided the costs and the revenue that we needed in order to continue doing that and divided that by the amount of members.

Mike (06:50):

Oh, that is music to my ears. That is like, that is brilliant math, but it’s so funny because it’s so obvious now, but I didn’t do that back when we started our gym in 2010, I made the exact same mistake as you, I made up my prices and it cost me probably a hundred thousand dollars over eight or 10 years. Cause I just didn’t do it properly. And then when we actually did do it properly, eactly like you, did life changed. So tell me what you decided on for the new rates.

Magnus (07:18):

I just wanted to add to that, you know, in addition to the, you know, you talk about the amount of money that you lost, but I’m also thinking the amount of extra work that we had to put in. I mean, we had to work so many long days and extra hours to keep doing what we did when we weren’t charging enough for it. So it’s sort of a lose-lose situation if you don’t charge enough for your service because you have to work more, but it doesn’t make any difference. You know, you’re working more, but you’re not making more money, because you’re not charging enough.

Mike (07:55):

I wanted to leave the fitness industry because I wasn’t making enough and I was working too much. I didn’t see the point. And it wasn’t until we made that step to change it and make it rewarding for me. And I’m not saying like we’re millionaires because of it, but to actually make the wage that you need to live on, when that started to happen, then the stress goes away and you enjoy the fitness business, whereas before I was looking for a way out.

Magnus (08:15):

Yeah, exactly.

Mike (08:16):

So details.

Magnus (08:18):

So of course, you’ve probably heard of something called the coronavirus over the last year and a few months. So, the rate increase was actually planned already in end of 2019. And the plan was to implement a stepwise increase from the 1st of April in 2020. So we were going to increase by 15% over three periods to get to the price where we at now.

Mike (08:55):

15% each period or total?

Magnus (08:57):

Well, no, the total was almost 40%.

Mike (09:02):

That’s an interesting point because we always recommend not doing more than 15% at a time. So I love that you’ve got a stepwise plan to get to your actual number in a series of steps. OK, great.

Magnus (09:12):

But, so that was the plan. That was the plan, Mike, but you know, nothing has gone according to plan over the last year and a half because of the coronavirus. I’m not saying that things haven’t worked out because they have worked out pretty well for us, but maybe not like we planned a year and a half ago or almost two years ago. The plan was, you know, first increas 1st of April last year, and then 12th of March last year we got the order to temporarily shut down our business. And the first order was to shut down for two weeks. So we thought, OK, no worries. We’re going to do a bit of a, you know, home training and online Zoom classes and stuff like that. And we’ll be back in business before Easter.

Magnus (10:08):

Of course, that didn’t happen. After two weeks came another two weeks and then another two weeks. And then I think in the end, maybe a month, and then we were actually lucky. We were able to open again, 15th of June last year before the summer holidays in Norway. But anyways, I mean, obviously because of the being shut down and not delivering the same service that we had used to do, we chickened out of the 15% increase last year and we thought, OK, we’re gonna do it when we open again. And then of course, when we opened again, so came the summer holiday. We thought, OK, people haven’t been to the gym for three months. They’re going to be, you know, working twice as much on their fitness this summer as previous years. But that didn’t happen. People took holidays, like they used to.

Magnus (11:08):

So we waited until fall. And then we, I mean, things were so uncertain that in the south of Norway, they had to shut down again in October. So we wanted to wait and see what happened. We didn’t want to increase in case, you know, after two weeks, we’re going to get a notice to shut down our operation again. So we waited, and we passed, you know, the second step of the increase and we passed the third date where we were supposed to be on the price that we have today. And we hadn’t done anything with the increase.

Mike (11:48):

And with good reason. I mean, that was an incredibly stressful period where gym owners around the world had to adapt their businesses in a heartbeat and change things. So like you can be forgiven for missing that schedule.

Magnus (11:59):

Yeah. But then what happens of course is at this point, we’ve already increased the price for new members. So, over a year and a half ago, we increased the price for people coming in to train with us for the first time. So it wasn’t a big deal yet, but we were already getting questions from newer members about, you know, I’ve heard that this person is paying this much and then is this the right price or is that the right price? You know, consistency needs to happen. So, April, no, I think it was February this year or March. We just decided with, well, actually, you know, another thing happened because we again had a plan to increase the price in March, we had the email ready and everything. We were going to send it out.

Magnus (12:50):

And then we had to do a second lockdown, like a local one in Tromsø. So we had the email ready for that. We were going to send it. And then actually the day before we were going to send out the email, we got the order to shut down for a week. And then that ended up being two weeks though, but we were able to open up after two weeks. So, and then we thought, OK, now we’re just gonna do it now. Finish off and increase all the way until where we’re supposed to be, because now we can’t increase with only 15% because then the new members are going to ask us, OK, well, why are they still not paying the same amount as me? I’ve been here for over a year. And the people that were here before me are still not paying the same price.

Mike (13:39):

Yeah. You got backed into unique situation there.

Magnus (13:42):

Yeah. At that point we just had to pull the plug and, or I don’t know, put in the plug I guess. And just, yeah, get everyone up to the same price basically. And then for some people that meant an increase, you know, in one step of something like 37%, which is a lot.

Mike (14:06):

So what did you decide on for the new rates?

Magnus (14:09):

So we ended up at 1,099 for the new rate.

Mike (14:14):

1,099 equals about 133 US dollars just for perspective. And that’s up from a rate of like, you know, under 90, before something like that, 80, in some cases, US dollars, just so listeners have some ideas. So a 37% increase, which again, we don’t normally recommend as a one-step thing, but you got backed into a spot where you had planned to do all this other stuff, you had already increased rates for new members, which is a key step that we always recommend people do to justify it in their own minds that yes, I can sell at this rate. And then you had this discrepancy between current members and new members and you needed to make a correction. So you, how scary was that when you had decided to do it?

Magnus (14:52):

Actually I was scared, I was really stressed about this last year and then this fall and then new year’s came. And in February the first time, and then at the point where I actually sent out the email, I was sort of finished being stressed about sending the actual email. I was just like, OK, we just have to do it. But of course, when we did get some replies to that, it ended up being more stressful than I thought when I actually sent it out, obviously.

Mike (15:22):

So let’s dig into that.

Chris (15:24):

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.

Mike (15:50):

That’s the meat of this. And I want to hear this now. So you start getting some pushback from some members, and then you start hearing that an article is coming in the news. Tell me that story.

Magnus (15:59):

Yeah, well, it’s funny. Obviously we had some initial reactions, you know, people just responded immediately after reading the email, which is understandable. I mean, it’s a substantial increase from the price that they had before. A lot of people knew that newer members were already paying this price, so they weren’t surprised, but then some people thought that the increase was going to come, you know, not now, but at a later point or something like that. So, actually I didn’t know about the article until the reporter called me. So, yeah, I got a call, not the morning after, but two days after, so a full day had passed for people to read the email and get the initial reactions. And then morning of the second day, I had a call from a reporter asking about the rates and how we calculated it. I mean, what the reasoning behind increasing the prices were and et cetera, you know, and then they also said that they had insight into the fact that maybe some people weren’t so happy about the increase.

Mike (17:16):

Here’s a question. Before you did the rate increase, I bet you did the calculations to figure out how many members you could lose. And I bet you kind of targeted certain people. Did the people that you expected to be upset, were they the ones who were upset in the end?

Magnus (17:27):

Well some yes, but then some not at all. The surprising thing was that some of the people that, you know, spent a lot of time in the gym, like almost coming into work out like five, six times a week, had the strongest reaction. So the people that were getting the most out of their membership, paying, you know, the lowest price per if you could say, like per visit or whatever, had the strongest reactions, which was kind of surprising, but I guess, you know, people aren’t doing the same calculations for their private economy that we were doing for the business. So, yeah.

Mike (18:10):

So after you hung up and we’re going to talk about the exact contents of the article in just a sec, but after you hung up with a reporter and answered the questions, what did you feel like? Like, did you feel like this was going to be a good article or bad article? Or how did you think that interview went with the reporter?

Magnus (18:26):

Actually I thought it went pretty well because, you know, we had a reason behind the rate increase. It wasn’t something we just, you know, figured out in a few hours and said, OK, let’s just increase the rate by 37%. This was a thought-through process that had, you know, it had happened over a year and a half. So it wasn’t something that we—there was a reasoning behind it. So when I could explain that to the reporter, I felt confident that the article should also represent that.

Mike (18:59):

So what was the name of the publication? I’m not going to say it properly. Would you say it for me?

Magnus (19:03):

It’s Nordlys, so that’s the Norwegian word for Northern lights.

Mike (19:09):

Oh, I love it. So I ran this article, you sent it to me. I ran it through Google translate. So you’ll forgive me if there’s any kind of misquotes here, but this is generally, you know, what Google translate told me about the article. I’ll give you a couple of lines. The first line that I see is “they’re the city’s most expensive, but have waiting lists and bursting capacity,” which I thought was really cool. They’ve immediately said that you are the most expensive gym, which I thought was super cool. They give some stats on what—they explain a little bit about what CrossFit, is and just talk about the history of the gym and some of the increases and so forth. And then the really cool part here is that they give you, Magnus, a chance to respond and talk about exactly what and why you did this. And you’re talking about the work that you put in, you know, you talked about, I think you said you were unloading fish to make the money that you needed. Like is that correct?

Magnus (20:00):

Yeah. I mean, that’s probably not a known profession where you live in the middle of Canada, but so Tromsø is on an island on the coast in Norway, sorry. So, there’s a lot of fishing industry around in the county. And so there’s freezer boats coming into the docks in Tromsø, and then people have to unload the fish. So there’s blocks of frozen fish, weighs between, like each block weighs between 40 and 80 kilos. And we have to actually, you know, people have to go in and lift it from the storage room and load it onto pallets and bring i into the docks and into freezers. It’s very physical, physical work.

Mike (20:46):

A bit of deadlifting there. So that’s, you know, that’s in the article, and then it talks about that, you know, you’re doing a great job providing all these different things. So you’ve adjusted the prices to reflect that. And then it talks a little bit about, you know, just CrossFit as a general form of exercise. There’s some more details. And it does explain that CrossFit is a niche, right? So it’s not like your standard gym. So it definitely sets you apart and says, it helps you actually anchor your value. Right? This article is very cool about that. It talks about the follow-up you offer to your members, your group training, the personal attention that they receive, phone calls, and it gives you a chance to kind of respond to some of the people that are are upset. And this is cool and forgive me, correct me if I get this quote wrong from Google translate, but I believe you said “we only want room for 200 people anyway, and we’re not dependent on everyone in Tromsø wanting to train with us.” Is that accurate from Google translate?

Magnus (21:43):

Yeah.

Mike (21:44):

I love that. So what you said right there was basically that we’re not looking for everyone. We have this valuable service. We want this many people and we’re going to make their lives so much better. And then it’s got, the article goes on to give some other perspective from other cities like in Oslo and other gyms and so forth. And the end of this, it talks about waiting lists at other gyms and so forth. And, you know, it says at the end that you have two vacancies at your gym and you’ll probably be fully booked. So this article actually comes out as like, just, it’s basically your announcement of being the best steakhouse in town. And tell me what happened, you know, like it’s so great. Like it’s just such a cool thing where it must have been, you know, people were like, oh they’re raising their prices. You got a chance to tell the entire country that you are the best, most expensive gym in town. And tell me what happened when that article was published.

Magnus (22:35):

Yeah, it’s funny. You know, I was surprised of the positive angling on the article. I mean, I thought that we had explained everything pretty well, but it angled it from the quality point of view and not necessarily from the price point, even though that had a fairly big part of it. And actually they, so what I did is as well, they wanted to use some pictures that they had from before, but I told them to just, you know, come on over to the gym and take some new pictures. So, they had some new pictures of me, you know, smiling, being happy with the situation, everything. So we had a lot of messages from clients that were very happy that we were increasing prices, you know, to actually be able to continue to provide the service that we have, you know, to continue to be there for them also in the future.

Magnus (23:29):

And I had messages from, you know, other parts of Norway and friends that not necessarily work out at the gym and everyone was really excited. So it was pretty cool. And then of course, because of the article as well, we got all the positive feedback from the members who had no problem at all with the rate increase, which was pretty cool because normally the people that are the least satisfied or the least happy with something are always going to be the people that speak the loudest, you know, or scream the loudest. But it turns out most of the people that also had their rates increased by 30%, 37%. Most of those people were actually happy and, you know, so satisfied with the service that we provide that they thought it was just cool to see it in the newspaper.

Mike (24:20):

Yeah. They don’t want you unloading fish. They want you in the gym making their lives better, you know, like literally that’s what they said to you is like, dude, we want you here and we want this gym here and we’re willing to pay for it because you’ve created the value. So congrats on that. Tell me what the general public did when they saw the article.

Magnus (24:35):

Yeah. So, of course a lot of other gyms that have gone through the, implemented the Two-Brain system. We have, everyone that wants to start working out with us, they have to go through a no sweat intro that we call it, a talk just about their background and their goals and in fitness and in life and so forth. And, we have a set amount of spots that can be booked through the week. And the two weeks after the article was published, we had 55 people book no sweat intros. I mean, it was basically filled up. So that was pretty cool for us as well. Cause then we took the opportunity to, I mean, previously, mostly me and my partner were doing the no sweat intros, but now, because of all the interest, we also included two other coaches in the intro process. I mean, doing the intro, no sweat intros and talking to people, and onboarding them. So, that was pretty cool. Yeah.

Mike (25:51):

So you basically announced to the entire country or your city that you’re the best, most expensive gym in town, and we just added 40% for our rates and 55 people contacted you and said, I want to know more about your gym. That’s so awesome.

Magnus (26:05):

And what we did is as well, you know, we booked so many of them into our OnRamp process and our membership and on as members that it was completely filled up. We didn’t have any more capacity. So what we did is the two spots that were available. We booked those, and then the rest of the people that wanted to begin. We did like a staggered start if that makes any sense. So we still, summer holiday is coming up in Norway. So most of the July is going to be a bit less activity and people go on vacation traveling and stuff, but already now in the beginning of June, we have people booked to begin in August, like mid August with us.

Mike (26:54):

Wow. So do you know how many people signed up on from that 55?

Magnus (26:58):

A good question. I just did the stats now for May. So in May we had 17 new members and then obviously there were quite a few new the first week in June. So I think, something like, between 30 and 35 people out of those 55.

Mike (27:21):

Wow. So considering what you had to go through here in terms of all the chaos and the scheduling issues with the COVID nightmare. And then the article and the pushback. This is kind of one of the great all-time wins for rate increases.

Magnus (27:38):

I think so. I mean, in the end, even though, obviously it’s probably a wiser to increase over several steps instead of doing 37% at once, I mean just the amount of PR and attention that we got from doing such a large increase, it was worth it, yeah.

Mike (28:02):

And again, like you were forced into that move, that wasn’t a move that you planned to do, you had to do it because you had already instituted the rate increase for new members. So it was just like, this was a coronavirus thing that you had to deal with. I’m going to ask you one last question about this. What would you say, there are gym owners that are listening to this right now, and they’re scared to increase their rates. I would have been one of them a few years back. The process that Per led you through, the Two-Brain process for rate increases, is that going to ease their minds or how can they get through this without, you know, stressing and tearing their hair out?

Magnus (28:31):

Yeah, I think, just being confident that the service that you’re providing is a really good, high quality service. That’s the one thing. And then of course, the process with Two-Brain and being led through it, this is a good one as well, but just having, you know, someone to talk to like the mentor that I have in Per, having him to talk with about, you know, the rate increase and the service that we provide and all of these things surrounding it as well and the running of the business, that’s probably what made it the most easiest, you know, it’s one thing to sit and, you know, tell yourself that, OK, the quality of my service is so and so good. But when you have like someone on the outside, that’s not necessarily in your gym but can see it from the outside and see what you do and compare that to what they do other places and tell you that you are doing the right thing. That is probably like the best thing ever for difficult decisions like this one.

Mike (29:46):

Per of courses, he is a pardon me, a successful gym owner in Sweden, very close to where you are. He runs a great gym. He knows tons of people. He works with tons of clients. He has lots of perspective. And then beyond that, he’s got access to the gigantic Two-Brain data set, where we have data on thousands of gyms where we know the best practices, we’ve tested everything. And when we tell you to do something, it’s not a, you know, a guess, it actually is backed by data and it works. So, you know, Magnus, thank you so much for sharing this story. Again, I love sharing positive stories right now because the COVID nightmare is still affecting a lot of gym owners, but I’m so happy to hear this, that you’ve got your rates in a great spot. And, you know, do you remember your last shift unloading fish? Do you remember it? And did you walk out and throw the gloves in the garbage?

Magnus (30:32):

It’s actually a long time.

Mike (30:35):

OK, well that’s good!

Magnus (30:39):

Yeah, it was, probably like a few months after we started with Two-Brain.

Mike (30:44):

So you’re living a better life now.

Magnus (30:46):

Yeah. Like it’s over a year ago now that I did any loading of fish.

Mike (30:52):

I love it.

Magnus (30:53):

It’s better now to, you know, focusing just on the gym, running the gym and my family and having more time with my family outside of work than I did before. That’s probably like the number one thing now is I have, yeah, I have a life outside of work, which I probably didn’t have for at least two years after starting the gym. And I think a lot of people are in the same boat, you know, and probably for even longer than two years, they stay, you know, pushing on and working 10, 12 hour days and you know, barely making ends meet and they think that that’s how it’s supposed to be because they see people elsewhere doing the same thing. But it’s not how you should run your business.

Mike (31:38):

Thank you so much Magnus. I’m going to let you get back to your life outside the gym and enjoy the fruits of your labor. I appreciate your story.

Magnus (31:45):

Thanks so much for having me.

Mike (31:47):

I’m Mike Warkentin and this is Two-Brain Radio. If you know that you need to increase your rates and you’re worried sick, Two-Brain can help. We have an exact playbook with relentlessly tested tactics that work. Don’t stress. Book a call with the mentor today using the link in the show notes. And we’ll guide you through this process and help you to remove your stress. And now join the Gym Owners United group on Facebook. You can literally ask your gym business questions in there and get answers from other certified Two-Brain mentors and Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper himself. It’s the only public forum where Coop offers his insight. That’s Gym Owners United, it’s on Facebook. Join it today, and I’ll see you in there.

 

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Seasons of Change (Why You Should Take Action Today)

By Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor Ashley Haun

Things change. Nature has seasons. Our bodies mature. Science evolves. Yet we often expect our gyms to remain the same day after day.

It’s natural for our gyms to evolve as we grow as entrepreneurs. But so many owners resist change when it comes to staff, programming, our mission and vision—and everything else. 

Jordan Peterson talks about why humans do not embrace change here:

Staying the same keeps us comfortable. We understand our environment, know our neighbors and staff, and know what to expect day to day. We feel safe.  

Our ancestral roots have taught us that predictability is safety. Change means embracing the unknown—and a tiger might be waiting out there.

So in our gyms, we often resist change. We keep a bad staff member longer than we should. We avoid the hard conversations with our team members. We do not review our programming to see if it’s still effective. We do not stop to ask ourselves, “Am I achieving my mission here?”

Asking hard questions might require us to make changes. So we don’t ask the questions.

This can prevent us from making dramatic improvements.

Change—and Growth

I’ve been resisting change myself. I didn’t want to change my gym even when I knew it was necessary. I was sad about it, I was mad about it, and I brought it home with me.

I’ve done this more than once. But I’m learning. Each time it happens, I recognize I’m going through a “season of change” sooner, and that helps me lean into the hard act.

For example, staffing changes have often sent me into panic mode. I would project negative outcomes and become scared of the future. 

Recently, my gym has experienced two staff changes. One teammate is stepping away from one of her roles. The other has decided she does not find joy in coaching anymore. Instead of entering panic mode, I thought about entering a new “season” in my gym. So I met with other coaches, did Career Roadmap sessions with my whole team, and adjusted the team to fit our new needs. 

When I accepted the change and the new “season” in my gym, I felt a sense of relief. And my mentor helped me list the exact steps to take with confidence. 

Instead of avoiding the issue, I started taking action right away. 

And I’m already seeing growth: new ideas, new energy, more revenue and more goals met. We’re moving closer to making our vision a reality and we’re helping more people.

So cheers to change and new seasons in the future.

What change are you avoiding right now?

A mentor can help you move forward and make positive changes. To talk to one, click here to book a free call.

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How to Get Punched in the Face (and Keep Moving Forward)

By Kenny Markwardt, Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor

“You’re a slave to the almighty dollar and I can’t wait until someone else opens up a gym and puts you out of business.”

“Every single person in this gym is mad at you and upset at what this gym has become. They just don’t tell you.”

“You’ve watered this place down so much that you’re betraying everything I thought you stood for.”

This is just a random sampling of some of the things that have been said to me over the years. Of course, these comments are offset by thousands of others about how we save lives and provide one of the best communities and experiences in our town.

But as Joe Rogan so eloquently puts it, “If I make you an incredible sandwich that is 1 percent dog poop, it’s going to be really hard to enjoy the other 99 percent of that sandwich.”

If you own a gym, similar things have no doubt been said to you—or you’re going to hear them at some point. It’s almost unavoidable.  

While it’s hard to brush this stuff off, you’re going to need to get over it and keep moving forward. 

Four Ways to Deal With Criticism

Here are four strategies you can use when you’re criticized:

Just take it. It’s incredibly tempting to fight back. You’ll probably want to escalate the situation and defend yourself. Don’t yell back, don’t write that email, don’t take to Facebook. Just turn the other cheek and let them vent. 

Think about who it’s coming from. Is this a client you genuinely care about? If so, then you might need to pay attention. If not, chalk it up to the fact that some people just say mean things they don’t understand—then move on. It’s the same thing we tell our 7-year-old: Sometimes people are just mean and crazy. Be warned: If you decide to engage, you’re playing a game that has no rules and isn’t fair. It’s generally better to move on and try to laugh about it. 

Take some time. If the comments are coming from someone you care about and you want to address the issues, let emotions settle first. Once you’ve given it a few days, dig into the argument. If the person is saying you’re greedy because you’ve raised prices, identify the claim that your price increase is unnecessary. Explore the comments line by line and make a list. Then go deeper. Are there any truths to the claims? If the answer is no, move on and chalk it up to crazy. If the answer is yes, then you need to clarify where you stand on the issues. Sometimes people are upset by the realities of business. Look at the future and where you want your business to go. Check in with your mission and vision. If your actions align with your vision, then you just need to tough it out and realize that you cannot please everyone.

Talk to your mentor. We’ve all been there and we can help you navigate the situation. We can let you vent to us and say the things you can never say out loud. We can help you figure out if the person is worth listening to. We can help you pull the facts out of the dispute. We can help you see how those facts align with your business’s future, and we can help you feel better by sharing some war stories of our own. By the end of the conversation, you’ll feel better, sleep more soundly and have a clear path of action to move forward.

At the end of the day, if you’re going to run a business serving the public, you need to come to terms with the fact that you can’t possibly make everyone happy. If you become resilient to criticism and confident in well-considered but unpopular decisions, you’ll take major step on the path to entrepreneurial success. 

If you make it a practice to follow the steps listed above, you’ll be clearer in your decisions, you’ll be more confident as a leader, and you’ll rest easy because you know how to bring logic to situations that are often incredibly illogical.  

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Five Tools for “Fearless” Leadership

By Kenny Markwardt, Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor

“I’m going to be real honest with all of you. I haven’t slept in about a week. I’m terrified that we’re not going to make it through this, and I’m not so sure it’s worth the fight anymore.”

Imagine walking into your next staff meeting and announcing that to the group. You’re going to have some major problems on your hands even if you follow up with “but hey, I’ve felt this way a few times before, and here we are!”

The unfortunate reality of leadership is that if you haven’t felt nagging fear or periodically experienced self-doubt, you just haven’t been doing it long enough.

We are taking risks, solving problems and making big decisions that affect a lot of lives every single day. It’s normal to be scared and stressed out sometimes. But we have very few safe places where we can share those fears. 

We are required as leaders to consistently show up to the arena with our game faces on and encourage our teams to do the same. When your people come to you with their fears and insecurities, you need to show them stability and calm. However, burying your own stuff, hoping that you’ll sleep the next night and assuming it’s “just part of the job” is a recipe for disaster.  

Here are five ways to become a fearless leader.

1. Create Your Dream Team

Build a team of people you can talk to openly and honestly. It cannot include your staff. You’re their fearless leader, and they need you in that role. This support team needs to be an assembly of professionals who can relate, are objective and know what to say. I suggest including both a therapist and a mentor. A therapist is unbiased and professionally qualified. He or she will be able to give you specific tools to improve mental health. A mentor can relate. Mentors have been there, they can talk you through things, and they can tell you it’s going to be OK as they offer tactics to deal with any business situation.

2. Lean on Peers

Find a group of people you can relate to. It’s not fun to struggle or watch others struggle, but it is incredibly empowering to watch them overcome obstacles or have them cheer you on as you do the same. On the other side, you’ll have a safe place to celebrate with friends. 

3. Learn

Read biographies and autobiographies of people you admire. Hearing their stories will help you see the bigger picture. Reading about how many times your heroes have failed and then gotten back up will inspire you and help you remember that no one has ever succeeded at anything meaningful without struggling and failing many times beforehand.

Podcast: “Why You Feel Like an Impostor—and What You Can Do About It”

4. Start a Journal

Begin some form of journaling and learn how to coach yourself through your stress and fears. Solving it in your head just won’t work; we aren’t equipped for that type of thinking. You need to do it on paper so you can work through the process in a linear fashion. Here’s a great exercise I once got from a counsellor:

Write down the problem.Write down all the possible outcomes.Look at each possible outcome and ask yourself, “Am I going to be OK if this happens?” Write your responses down. I haven’t ever been able to write a convincing “no.”  
5. Meditate

It’s half the battle just to learn how to notice when your mind is playing in the traffic of your fears and insecurities. Setting aside time to meditate—to sit, watch that traffic and practice disengaging from it—will do wonders for your mental health. I’ve tried various apps, classes and programs with varying success. Most have intros and learning sequences to help you get started. My biggest piece of advice is to recognize that you’re never going to “win” at meditation. It’s a practice, and it can be frustrating for people wired for achievement. Try to embrace the time, put intention into your practice, and recognize that some days you’re going to feel great and some days you’re going to suck. That’s OK. Just keep showing up. 

Lead With Confidence

We’ve signed up to be leaders. We like to be under pressure. We wouldn’t want anyone else to get the ball at the buzzer. But that doesn’t mean we have to shoulder the burden alone, pretend we’re impervious to stress or don’t have self-doubt. By using the tactics above, you’ll be able to weather occasional storms with resilience and strength so you can be an effective, fearless leader for your people.  

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