Chris Cooper's Blog, page 19
February 19, 2025
Put Weak Leads on Steroids With This Content Plan
“The leads aren’t weak, you’re weak.”
Do you remember the famous always-be-closing scene in “Glengarry Glen Ross”?
Jack Lemmon’s character suggests the company’s leads are ice cold, but Alec Baldwin’s aggressive, coffee-is-for-closers character won’t accept that explanation.
If only the sales team from the movie had access to social media.
Today, I’ll teach you how to use content to take leads from “ultra weak” to “world’s strongest.” These tips come directly from gym owner and marketing expert Kieran O’Dwyer, who will be speaking at the Two-Brain Summit in June.
Weak Leads?
In the fitness world, leads are always valuable because each name gives you a chance to change a life. With that said, you can waste a lot of time chasing four types of leads who will almost never join your gym:
If you deal with a lot of leads in these four categories, you’ll waste time that could be spent on people who actually want your help. In the worst-case scenario, you lose confidence in your sales process, get cynical and desperate, and start using discounts and other gimmicks that don’t fit with your business model.
“Weak leads” should more accurately be called “people who don’t know enough about you and your business.” They’ll treat you like a random bot if they respond at all—and you can’t blame them. Everyone is selling something these days, and people get overwhelmed.
To move from “random, annoying marketer” to “helpful prospective coach,” you must use your organic platforms and content to build trust before you reach out. When people have seen your face and know what you’re all about, they’ll be much more receptive when you offer help.
Key Elements of Organic Marketing
Amazing organic marketing greatly increases the critical know-like-trust factor. If you score this win, local people will know who you are when you reach out, and they’ll already have a sense of how you can help them.
You must do three things to make it happen:
1. Set up all Web and Social Platforms ProperlyYou need a high-quality logo.A mission statement should immediately tell people exactly what you do.Viewers must see a clear call to action that tells them exactly what to do next.Viewers must see social proof right away (testimonials, before-after content, etc.).Everything on your platforms must be created to appeal to the exact people you want in your business. Not all people. The specific people your business was created to help.
2. Post the Right Content
The three biggest trust builders in fitness are authority, social proof and relatability. Kieran has a repeat-forever four-post content cycle that will help you win in all three areas.
You should post:
A. Technique videos that show off your and your staff members’ expertise.
B. Client wins—put happy, smiling clients on podiums so visitors see “people like me crushing it.” Example: Kim is smiling and holding a whiteboard that says “lost 10 pounds!”
C. Upbeat, high-energy hype reels that show your atmosphere and energy (these reels also please social algorithms).
D. Group photos, special moments and coach-client interaction. This content says “great people come here to get A+ service from expert coaches who really care.”
3. Create Connection Opportunities
Posting is only half the battle. The other half is engaging—and almost no one does this. To stand out in the market, you should:
A. Message every new follower. Thank them for following and ask a question like “what are your current fitness goals?” It doesn’t matter if they respond. You just need to let them know you are a real human so they recognize you down the line.
B. Interact with other people’s content. Follow people, like their posts and comment on their content. Don’t just post a fire emoji and leave. Be real: “Wow—huge congrats for taking 5 minutes off your best time in the mud run!”
C. Use special lead magnets to get people onto your email list, where you can nurture them further with content that showcases your business. Example: “I’ve got 5 incredible high-protein snack recipes. Reply with ‘recipe’ and I’ll send them over.” (Two-Brain clients, you have access to lots of great lead magnets in the Content Vault.)
D. Post four to eight short videos (YouTube shorts, Instagram stories) per day to show members training and winning. Be sure to list your town as the location and tag the people in the videos. You want their friends to see them. Ask clients to share the clips and get the footage in front of their audience.
Content Creation Quick Tips
You don’t have to spend days creating content. Here are Kieran’s top tips for getting what you need fast:
1. Create content in batches. For example, film six technique videos back to back or take 20 pictures in two classes.
2. Add content creation into your daily workflow. Your Golden Hour is a great time for these “marketing reps.”
3. Delegate content creation to staff members.
4. Use AI to generate ideas, create content calendars, edit work or write copy—just be sure to review and edit everything so your content doesn’t sound robotic. It needs to sound like you or it won’t have the desired effect!
5. Two-Brain clients: Use the Content Vault. We have mountains of customizable blogs, lead magnets, images and social campaigns you can use.
Better Leads, More Sales
If you commit to this plan and do the work, you will see results.
Think about it—a local person follows you and gets:
A personalized “thank you for following” message.Daily success stories featuring similar people—and maybe even an acquaintance.Technique videos that establish expertise and remove fear.A constant stream of friendly, happy people having fun while getting fit.Likes and comments when you interact with their content.Free guides and follow-up helpful emails with tips and advice.Repeated visuals of your face and brand.Proof that you are a real, friendly fitness expert who is helping dozens of happy people achieve goals.
If they get all that, they’ll turn to you for help when they need it or they’ll be far more receptive when you offer it.
You’ll have better leads and you’ll make more sales. You’ll help more people, and you’ll generate more revenue.
The choice is yours: Use this organic-content plan to generate red-hot leads or sit idle in the sales office and complain that your leads are weak.
The post Put Weak Leads on Steroids With This Content Plan appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
February 18, 2025
30 Warm Leads in 30 Days—If You Take Action
“Flood your gym with leads”—it’s the siren song of marketing companies that promise the world to gym owners.
Many of these companies are full of it and won’t deliver much. Others will deliver leads—but do you even want a “flood” of ice-cold leads that are going to eat up your time as you chase them for minimal reward?
A sales rep’s time is valuable—and in many cases, the gym owner is the sales rep. So it’s better to spend sales time chasing warm leads.
At some point, you will have to work cold traffic, but unless you’ve created a monstrous marketing machine that’s been running hard for a while, it’s unlikely you need to drill a hole through the ice to start fishing. Warm leads can be found!
What if you could acquire about 30 very hot leads who already know about your business and are highly likely to purchase your services?
And what if you could acquire those leads in 30 days or less without running a single ad?
Getting 30 great leads in 30 days is very possible, and I’ve laid the entire plan out in a new guide. To get it, send me a DM or head to gymownersunited.com.
Here’s exact data on just one tactic when it was used once by a Two-Brain gym:
20 leads produced5 free consultations booked3 closed sales (with two ongoing conversations)$800 in front-end revenueThe Secret to Warm Leads
Paid ads produce leads—but often they’re cold. That’s why we tell gym owners to run up to four marketing funnels at once.
Here’s the “secret marketing strategy” that produces lots of hot and very warm leads:
In the referrals, content and social-media funnels, “costs” are mostly time or a cup of coffee. And these funnels generally produce top-shelf leads—especially the referrals funnel, which is a literal gold mine.
Seriously, I would take five referred leads over 30 leads from paid ads any day because I know referred leads are similar to my current members and almost certain to buy in free consultations.
My new guide focuses only on the referrals, content and social-media funnels, and I’ve got 10 tested tactics you can employ. You can use all of them or just hammer away on the one you like best.
We named the guide “How to Generate 30 Leads in 30 Days” because “30 in 30” is catchy. But you can generate way more than 30 leads if you really apply these tactics.
One 10-Lead Tactic
I’ll give you just one tactic here so you know this guide is legit: host a seminar in a client’s workplace.
The simple plan: Ask a client how you can help their coworkers. Offer to come by the workplace sometime for a short seminar on surviving stressful periods, developing healthy nutrition habits, and so on. Have people sign in with an email address so you can send a one-page free resource after the seminar.
Boom—that’s probably 10 leads right there. Could you run two more one-hour lunch seminars for other great clients? Yes.
And remember: Co-workers already ask your client Terry to carry their heavy boxes into the office, and they already ask Sam why she eats chicken breasts and veggies at lunch every day.
These people have already heard of you, and they know you produce results because they see Terry and Sam every single day. They also make about the same amount of money as Terry and Sam and travel in similar circles.
Get the Guide!
You can throw money at social-media platforms if you want leads—we teach gym owners how to do that when they need to and ensure they get ROI.
But if you’ve never presented a seminar at a client’s workplace, I’ll suggest that you’re targeting 20-degree leads in parkas when you have access to 80-degree leads in tank tops and flip-flops.
I know which group I’d spend my time on.
To get “How to Generate 30 Leads in 30 Days Without Paid Ads,” you have two options:
1. Send me a DM here (this is fastest way to get the guide).
2. Join Gym Owners United and check out this post.
Then you have two more options:
1. Use all 10 tactics, track your metrics and double down on the one that worked best.
2. Pick one tactic and go deep—but be sure to track metrics so you know when it’s time to change tactics.
The thing that isn’t optional: You must take action!
The tactics in my guide work. But if you read the guide without acting, your lead flow won’t improve. Get the guide and do something to generate leads today.
The post 30 Warm Leads in 30 Days—If You Take Action appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
February 17, 2025
Proven No-Ad Tactics for Generating 30 New Gym Leads Fast
To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.
The post Proven No-Ad Tactics for Generating 30 New Gym Leads Fast appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
February 14, 2025
Nearby Gym Closing? It’s Your Duty to Reach Out
That nearby gym is closing—so what do you do?
Let’s get the awkward part out of the way first:
You wouldn’t mind picking up some of the closing gym’s members, right?
It’s OK to admit it. No gym owner would decline the addition of 10 or 15 high-value fitness aficionados who want nothing more than to train hard with a coach for the next two years.
It’s a huge mistake to covet another gym’s members—and it’s wrong to poach them or hope another business fails. Your best market opportunity is the army of people who aren’t working out right now, not the relatively tiny number of people who are already training at gyms.
But I’ll give you permission to work on acquiring the members of a closing gym.
In fact, I’ll suggest it’s your duty to do so.
A qualifier: You do not want every single member of every single gym that closes.
It would be a mistake to think that your coaching gym for families will be a hit with powerlifters. Access clients who only want to wear out treadmill belts won’t be interested in your personal training sessions. And so on. You only want “the right members,” not every member.
But when a gym closes and leaves members who are just like yours hanging, it isn’t wrong to try and help them.
“Help” is the key word here. Don’t put your business first. If you do, you’re inching toward the dark side of gym ownership, which is ruled by greed, jealousy and the scarcity mindset.
Helping is different. Here’s the reality: A whack of people who are using fitness to stay healthy and accomplish their goals no longer have a place to do that. They’ve lost their fitness home, which was a special place for many of them. They’re likely sad, disheartened and confused.
Many of them are in danger of heading back to the couch.
That’s where you come in.
You need to stop them from quitting exercise. You must keep them moving and help them accomplish their goals. You must keep them healthy. It is your duty to offer help at a difficult time.
Will your gym benefit if you get some new members? Sure. But that’s not your focus. Your goal is making sure people can get the fitness help they need.
I’ll give you a path to do so.
How to Help
First, if you feel squidgy about everything I’ve said here, read “Help First” by Chris Cooper. That will get your mind right. You aren’t selling, poaching, stealing or acting badly. You are helping.
Think of it like this: The good ship Gym Down the Street just sank, and its clients are holding onto chunks of wood in deep water. You have room on your seaworthy vessel. The next move is obvious, right?
Your rescue plan comes courtesy of Matt Michaud, who runs EverProven in New Hampshire. Three gyms near his have gone under, and he’s got experience helping people in this situation.
Matt recommends reaching out to the owner of the closing business first. This isn’t about buttering someone up so you can acquire members. It’s about asking if you can help a struggling entrepreneur out in a tough time. They now need a place to work out, too, right? Focus on the person and proceed in service and with empathy.
This person is just like you. Imagine it from the other side: Your business is failing, but you still feel invested in your members. You don’t want to abandon them. How would you feel if you knew they would be cared for in another business? Still bad—but much better, right? At least you can tell Tim, your client of three years, where he can go to ensure he keeps moving toward his goal of 100-lb. weight loss.
When Matt contacted an owner and the coaches of a closing gym, he ended up hiring one trainer whose job was about to vanish. That’s job preservation—and I’m sure the coach was grateful Matt made a phone call. The hire probably eased the guilt of the other owner, too.
From there, and hopefully with permission, reach out to the people who don’t have a place to train. You can do this through friends or simply with public posts. In the best case, the departing owner connects you to their clients as a final act of service to them.
You’ll end up talking to many of the closing gym’s clients, and after you hear what they want and need, be a fitness pro: Tell them how to accomplish their goals. If you need to say “our gym isn’t the best place for you,” say that and tell them where to go.
But if your gym is the place where they can reach their goals, say that. Then do everything in your power to integrate the new people into your community. Remember that they lost something precious—a familiar, safe third place. Go out of your way to help them thrive in your business.
Act Now
You know what’s even easier than making first contact with the owner of a failing business?
Having coffee with a gym owner tomorrow.
Why not reach out and ask how you can help before a business is in trouble? At the very least you’ll make a new contact and remove the us-vs.-them attitude. At best, you’ll add to your referral network and acquire a contact who can help you get more people moving in your city: “Want to partner for an event to try and reach inactive people nearby?”
A while back, another gym owner, Ian Smith of Mountain Speed, Strength and Fitness in Colorado, took coffee to the owner of a new gym down the street. He did this in a small town, where it’s tempting to think the area doesn’t have enough clients to fill all the gyms.
Ian offered some tips and made a friend, and he did it while his gym was growing from $800 a month in revenue to $25,000. So clearly the town had enough clients for everyone.
This is the Help First principle in action, with a strong dose of the abundance mindset.
If a gym nearby fails, reach out and offer to help. But before that happens, reach out and offer to help, too.
Remember, a rising tide lifts all boats, and your community needs more strong gyms, not fewer.
And if a gym does go under, don’t sit idle. Some of its clients will need you to keep them from flopping back on the couch.
The post Nearby Gym Closing? It’s Your Duty to Reach Out appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
February 13, 2025
30X Revenue Increase: How Key Skills Fueled Gym Growth
To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.
The post 30X Revenue Increase: How Key Skills Fueled Gym Growth appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
February 12, 2025
How They’re Building Gyms in 1 Hour a Day
When I published “The Golden Hour,” last year, I called it a prescription for daily action.
That’s because books you read don’t grow your business.
Your business will only grow if you read a book and take action.
Will you acquire knowledge and sit on it or use it to do something?
The top 12.5 percent of gym owners in our mentorship practice can focus: They do the right work at the right time, they do it fast, and they don’t stop doing the right work.
They move—daily, and with great purpose. Maybe even urgency in some cases. And their businesses grow much faster than the industry average. They reach $100,000 in earnings and achieve millionaire status far faster than other entrepreneurs.
I wrote “The Golden Hour” to prompt clear, regular action: Use one hour a day to grow your gym forever.
I laid out an exact plan for that hour and then listed exactly what to do on each day of the week.
I’ve run several Golden Hour challenges for gym owners—both Two-Brain clients and members of our Gym Owners United group—and I’ve been inspired by the results.
I’ll share these quotes from real gym owners with you today so you can see what will happen when you focus and take action.
When Gym Owners Take Action
The Golden Hour “has allowed me to work on growth tasks, which has led to the following metrics improvements over the last five months: revenue from $14,800 to $19,300, no change in reoccurring operating expenses, owner hours down from 170 per month to 130, last four months are profitable, gained extra 20 clients.”
“17 percent revenue PR, 39 percent net owner benefit PR.”
“There’s no bad hour because it’s about the reps. … I know my mentor will help adjust when needed, and I know I’ll get better. More than anything, I know I just need to keep doing it. It’s the long game, and because of that I don’t really care if any metrics go up immediately … because I know they will.”
“I know I’ll be a better person, husband, dad, coach, owner from the journaling. I’ll get a clearer idea of what I want out of life and therefore my business. I’ll get to work on things I want to, and I’ll work on things I don’t want to because it gets me where I want to be.”
“As business owners … we rarely have the time to sit in clarity (until we learn to). The Golden Hour gives that clarity … the more you do it. It builds momentum.”
“It helped me with my morning routine so much, and I’m now regularly posting blogs each week and one to two daily posts for the gym and volleyball academy. I’m starting to lead to more conversations.”
“Consistently reaching out to past members as far back as we can track with personal emails or texts led to some good conversations—no members returned just yet. However, I know I’ll make contact with 500+ more members than in any previous year. Doing the boring work, confident it will pay off.”
“Super consistency with content! Since starting the Golden Hour in October, there was not a single day of missed content, and since both (my partner) and I are doing it, we are publishing two blog posts per week, which I now use in my email marketing. … We are communicating regularly with our email list of 2,600 people.”
“Because of the Golden Hour I now have new blogs, everyday social media plan and email marketing all working smoothly and effortlessly because they are planned in advance. I almost always smile and surprise myself when I see a post on our Facebook because I scheduled it seven days ago and forgot about it.”
“More consistent contacting of leads and member check-ins, which was sporadic before the Golden Hour. It also helps me build out this task as a role for someone else in the future (I know how much time it takes and exactly how to do it and where to track it).”
“I Know It Works”
“I know it works. We hovered around 90 members for a bit to now 114 since Coop’s book has been published.”
“It’s changed my mindset and allows me to get more work done that’s actually productive toward growing our business.”
“I kept track of all my metrics and sales from October. As long as I was consistent, my Golden Hour EHR was $138 per hour.”
“More conversations equal more sales. Having designated times throughout the week where I’m talking to either current members or leads has been a game changer. For current members, it’s celebrating wins, getting testimonials or getting them re-engaged in their fitness. For prospects, it’s utilizing our lead list more effectively, nurturing new leads to book more (free consultations) and therefore more sales.”
“We are starting to have a ‘who is gonna lead all of those PTs?” problem now because of the Golden Hour. I am not complaining!”
“I have the most gorgeous Google Sheet to track leads, populated by automations from Facebook and website leads, but I was not following up with them well enough—until now!”
“A week’s worth of social media posts done, Google Business Profile updates done, blog post, email scheduled.”
“Got a member back and a new lead from another.”
“I mined (leads) over the phone today. Getting better at calls slowly. Have the rest of it dialed in but always procrastinated on calls. Got one (free consultation) scheduled!”
“I emailed five former members (who I’d love to see again). Having coffee with a current member at 9.”
“It’s now automatic for me to come home and take the time for my Golden Hour, no matter the hour. … Let’s keep these good habits going!”
“At first, I thought, ‘OK, today’s not the day. I’ll just do it tomorrow.’ But then I caught myself—no, I needed to do it today. This would be a game-changer for my mindset because problems and unexpected challenges will always come.”
“I had to wait until almost 9 p.m. after battling through sickness to make it happen, but I did it!”
“Today was crazy with an event but still managed to clock in those marketing reps!”
“Been knocking it out every day and loving it!”
“The first lead I contacted signed up for online training. LOL. That was worth it!”
“Started so Many Conversations”
“Momentum is amazing!”
“Started so many conversations today that I have been glued to my CRM, but that’s OK because those conversations are going to eventually turn into conversions!”
“Texts and emails have yielded one (free consultation) this far.”
“Five calls, four (free consultations) booked.”
“This was a great one for me. I have been procrastinating the living daylights out of setting up goal reviews, so this was just the little spark I needed to get started.”
“Thanks to the Golden Hour action yesterday and a couple of messages back and forth, we’ve got one more (free consultation).”
“This challenge is proving to be exactly what I needed. I used to write all the time. I enjoyed it and I was good at it. Then, I dunno, life? I published my first blog for the challenge yesterday/today, and the feedback has been wonderfully positive so far.”
“One former member … signed up this morning from sending her a message on Instagram.”
“Did some work in advance today since I’m taking almost two weeks off for vacation in January. All blog articles, newsletters and posts for January are done.”
“I have six blogs a week for the entire month scheduled.”
“I have posted my podcast and created a blog for it today and have three more blogs lined up for this week—all blogs I plan on repurposing next week for social media!”
“Put our podcast transcript into ChatGPT to produce four more pieces of content, then finished our annual plan in Canva and started working on setting goal reviews up in Kilo!”
“Spent time editing and preparing to publish six videos for a series we are doing with a local partner.”
Your Golden Hour Starts Now
The theme that connects all these quotes: using one hour every day to do the right work to build a business.
I want these same results for you.
You’ve got three paths:
1. Join Gym Owners United and do the Golden Hour Challenge I ran in November—the first post is here, and you can find the rest easily.
2. Get “The Golden Hour” and use it to start taking action.
3. Work one on one with a mentor who will help you use your Golden Hour to grow your gym. This is the fastest way to reach $100,000 annual earnings and attain millionaire status. To talk about this plan, book a call here.
Here’s my advice: Start a timer for 60 minutes. You have one Golden Hour to make a decision that will change your life.
Make a choice and take action today!
The post How They’re Building Gyms in 1 Hour a Day appeared first on Two-Brain Business.
February 11, 2025
T Swift Knows Why Your Gym Isn’t Growing
“I’m the problem. It’s me.”
T Swift isn’t a business coach, but she can help you identify the thing that’s limiting the growth of your gym.
A business will only rise to the level of its CEO. To lift the ceiling, the CEO must acquire and hone new entrepreneurial skills.
An example: Every three weeks, we produce a free step-by-step, tactical guide that’s better than the paid resources created by other mentorship companies—you can get the most recent one here.
These guides are enormously helpful. They will make you money.
But hundreds of people collect them thinking the knowledge in them will change their businesses.
That’s a falsehood. Possessing the information won’t do anything. You must take action. If you don’t, cue Taylor Swift: You are the problem.
Don’t worry: I’ve been the problem in my businesses, too. I solve it with self-improvement: I acquire new entrepreneurial skills—skills that will serve me for the rest of my life in any business.
Here are the five skills I believe you need to acquire and develop in 2025.
Focus
Focus is your ability to dedicate undistracted time to one task that will grow your business.
When we ask the most successful gym owners in Two-Brain how they made swift progress, they often say, “I just do what my mentor tells me.”
Gym owners who are struggling often say stuff like this when they receive instructions:
“I don’t have time for that.”“I’m too busy.”“I’ve got to do something else first.”
The focused owners progress 4.5 times faster than anybody else because they can get the work done. They don’t dawdle, chase shiny objects or hit “pause.”
And I know you have focus: You work out regularly, right? So you have the ability to do the work when it suits you. Now you need to learn how to do this when the barbell is in the rack and your mentor told you to practice closing sales.
Focus is a critical skill. It’s so critical that I’ll give you permission to click out of this blog right now to get the “focus manual” I created this year: “The Golden Hour.” Read that short book and use it to focus for just one hour every single day.
If you do, your business will grow—fast.
Objective Reflection
This is the ability to honestly evaluate your performance without bias or defensiveness.
Example: A gym owner notices her ads aren’t working. Instead of saying “Facebook sucks. I only get cold leads,” she analyzes the funnel, reviews the data and takes clear steps to improve the numbers.
Data is key to objective reflection. Numbers don’t have emotions, so rely on them instead of your feelings.
To develop the skill of objective reflection, review key metrics weekly and ask, “What worked this week and what didn’t?” Put the answers in a journal and review them later—a little time will increase your objectivity. Then take action to improve the numbers—use the skill of focus here!
Pro tip: A mentor will find it very easy to review your metrics and provide objective insight. Inside your business, it can be hard to see the big picture. Your mentor is “outside the walls” and can give you the objective perspective you need to improve the business.
Tact and De-Escalation
This is the ability to use diplomacy and calmness to navigate tough conversations—with staff, clients, partners and even online keyboard warriors.
Example: You print staff shirts for your coaches, but one of them says wearing the apparel makes it “feel like a franchise.” Instead of escalating, you listen and say something like this: “I hear you and I understand. A few months ago, I would’ve felt the same way. Here’s why we’re doing this to improve the business.”
Tact doesn’t mean “being nice to everybody.” It means providing clarity with kindness. You can’t avoid the tough conversations, but you can better navigate them so they don’t result in increasingly poor relations or open hostility. Be clear but be compassionate and empathetic.
To improve this skill, work on de-escalating yourself so you don’t enter conversations one nudge from an explosion. Take it one step further by developing the ability to pause before you react to an emotional trigger. Escalation happens fast when the first emotional domino falls. Break the chain with a thoughtful pause.
Similarly, practice active listening: Repeat back what you hear in a tough conversation to make sure you understand what the person’s saying. Your first interpretation is probably the wrong interpretation, and the person probably didn’t speak perfectly clearly, either. Ask for clarification, which buys you time to think and gives them an opportunity to explain what they mean.
Your third drill: Role-play tough conversations with a mentor. If you get some reps, you’ll feel much more prepared for the real deal.
Forward Thinking and Problem Solving
This is the ability to anticipate challenges and create proactive solutions.
Example: An owner reviews metrics and realizes summer revenue generally declines. So in February he creates a kids program that’s perfect for teens who are out of school. He markets the program in April, when parents are making summer plans. Instead of a summer dip in revenue, he hits a PR.
Forward thinking allows you to play offense instead of defense. You can acquire this skill naturally over time, but you can earn it much faster by working with a mentor who has a ton of experience. That mentor will see things you can’t and provide tested solutions so you don’t have to play the trial-and-error game.
Again, we’ll come back to metrics: Regularly evaluate trends in your gym’s key performance indicators (our app for clients makes this easy). Look for lessons in the past and then think about what you can do to avoid mistakes and create success in the future.
Cultivating an Abundance Mindset
This is the belief that success is not a zero-sum game and that opportunities for growth are always available.
In 2005, I would get to my gym at 5:30 a.m. just because I wanted to press my face to the window and see that other gyms weren’t open yet. And of course they weren’t. My plan was to take their clients and put them out of business.
That’s a scarcity mindset.
Here’s abundance: Instead of fearing competition, a gym owner should collaborate with others to host fitness events, expand their audience, build goodwill and get inactive people who need help into gyms.
Your competition is not the other gym down the street. It’s the couches that are sticking to your future clients’ butts. It’s the misinformation on food labels. It’s screen time.
Cultivating an abundance mindset is harder than it sounds. To start, celebrate your wins every day in a journal. Write down three to five things that went right. Stop counting losses. Log your wins—even if you have to look for them on some days.
Every time a client says “you changed my life” or sends you a text, print it out and stick it on your wall. Create external reminders of your wins.
Then practice “gain thinking.” Instead of thinking about the distance to your goals, focus on the progress you’ve made toward them. Dan Sullivan has a great book on this called “The Gap and the Gain.”
Finally, work with a mentor to reframe negative thoughts to showcase growth opportunities. Instead of saying “I lost three clients,” you can say, “If I use this opportunity to fix my retention, I’ll keep more clients for the next 30 years.” It can be hard to make this shift yourself, so lean on an objective mentor.
Improve the Owner, Improve the Business
Here are the five things that will help your business grow in 2025:
Think through this list and identify your weakest area. That’s where you can make the most progress this year.
And if you’re having trouble diagnosing yourself or creating a plan for improvement, we can help. A mentor can tell you exactly what to do today to improve yourself and move your business forward.
To hear more about that, book a call here.
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February 10, 2025
5 Key Entrepreneurial Skills Every Gym Owner Needs in 2025
To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.
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February 7, 2025
“Community” Doesn’t Cut It in Marketing and Retention
Gym owners, this is your annual reminder that your “community” is neither a marketing tool nor a retention plan.
I had to learn this lesson the hard way years ago, and I’m not alone.
Yet in 2025 I still see the word pop up far too often in fitness business articles, and I’d like to help other gym owners avoid the pitfalls associated with an overly tight focus on community.
Your community—your atmosphere, your vibe, and the connection members feel to each other and the business—is important.
But it’s not most important.
And it’s certainly not the cornerstone of a good gym’s marketing and retention plan.
Don’t Sell Hairy Chicken
Think about it like this: How would you feel if a restaurant had truly amazing atmosphere but the food was always late and awful?
Imagine it: The place is packed with attractive people just like you. Everyone is laughing, the music is great, the place smells of rich food, and the lighting is perfect.
But you don’t go to a restaurant for any of that—it’s just a nice bonus. You’re there to eat.
So when the server brings out the wrong cold, stale food 90 minutes after you place your order, the atmosphere is suddenly irrelevant.
You came for a great meal, and you didn’t get it. The atmosphere and attractive patrons aren’t important when you order steak and get overcooked chicken with hair as garnish.
It’s the same in a gym. Your clients are there to get results—to accomplish specific personal fitness goals. They want to get stronger or lose weight or win the local 5-km race.
Smiling people and high-fives are great. But no one comes in just for a high five, and no one will stay solely because of the smiles.
So you shouldn’t sell “community” or assume it will retain more members than personal texts that read “didn’t see you last week. Are you training today?” This remains true even if a business coach talks about “community”—and many do.
Focus on Results
Here’s what really matters in marketing: Your gym must quickly and clearly show prospective clients how you can solve their problems.
“I can help you lose 10 lb. by June. Here are the exact steps.”
And here’s the No. 1 element of retention: Your clients must obtain the results they desire—and you will need to show them their progress because many won’t see it for themselves.
“Congrats! You are now halfway to your goal of 10-lb. weight loss. Here’s exactly what we’re going to do to move from five to 10.”
With all that in mind, your entire business hinges on helping people move toward their goals. Progress is what you sell initially and re-sell in every session. Success is your steak dinner.
“Community” is an artifact from the turn of the century, when many gym owners did it all for the love of fitness and the gurus told them not to worry about business plans.
Almost all those owners ran out of passion and left the fitness industry with a failed business burning behind them.
In 2025, strong businesses produce results for clients first and foremost.
The promise of results draws in new members, and actual results hold current clients.
Everything else—clean bathrooms, cool gear, smiling coaches, loud music, friendly members, etc.—is necessary but insufficient for business success.
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February 6, 2025
The Gym Owner’s Guide to Finding the Right Mentor
To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.
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