Chris Cooper's Blog, page 4

Process Paradox: How Systems Set Gym Owners Free

Here’s a core truth I learned from Jocko Willink, who spoke at the 2021 Two-Brain Summit:

Discipline equals freedom.

I know it doesn’t make sense at first.

Isn’t freedom the ability to do whatever you want with your business?

In answer, I’ll show you how an undisciplined business—a business without systems—actually limits your freedom.

I once walked into my gym at noon to a disaster:

Chalky handprints on the floor.A pair of open-gym clients finishing workouts while a class waited.A prospect leaning against the wall.My coach’s half-finished lunch on the front desk.Both bathrooms jammed, with people waiting outside to change into workout clothes.Loud, uncensored rap blaring.

I started my day as the bad guy—cutting off workouts, cleaning up messes, smoothing over a terrible first impression and pushing a coach to start on time.

I spent the rest of the day angry, hating my business and knowing tomorrow would look the same.

The problem wasn’t lazy staff or entitled clients.

The problem was that the business lived only in my head.

People were breaking rules they didn’t know existed. They were following checklists that didn’t exist outside my mind. Standards varied because I hadn’t written mine down.

Without systems, there was no discipline.

And without discipline, I had no freedom.

I was locked to the business because it would completely fall apart in my absence.

Order From Chaos

When you systemize a business, everything changes.

When your staff knows to start classes precisely on time, they will.When clients know class starts exactly on time, they’ll be ready.When future clients know the first step to getting fitter is booking a No Sweat Intro, they’ll book it.

And so on, from the top of your business to the bottom.

So where do you start? Write it down. Build SOPs for everything that matters. Remember: Gaps get bridged by guesses, and guesses create mistakes.

Here’s a shortcut using AI: “How to Use AI to Create a Gym Staff Playbook at Warp Speed.”

After you systemize your business, stress-test your systems. Take four days off—your first taste of freedom.

When you return, you will find problems. That’s OK. Patch the holes and upgrade your systems.

Next, take seven days with no contact. This would have been unimaginable to me in my early days as a gym owner.

After a week, evaluate, patch and upgrade again.

Later, take two weeks—maybe your first real vacation in years.

That’s freedom.

Don’t worry if you still find problems on return. That’s normal. Just keep following the plan with discipline: systemize, optimize, automate.  

Things will tighten up with each iteration, and you’ll earn more freedom because of your discipline.

If your business can’t run without you, you’ll never have any liberty. Your business will always fall to the level of your systems.

But if you use discipline to get the business out of your head, you’ll have freedom.

And that’s why you wanted to be an entrepreneur, right?

We help gym owners systemize businesses fast. To hear about our high-speed plan, book a call here.

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Freedom Within a Framework (How to Stop Breaking Your Gym)

You became an entrepreneur because you wanted the freedom to determine your own path, to do things your way, right?

That means you wanted the freedom to be creative.

But here’s the problem: Almost every entrepreneur tries to be too creative.

You’re constantly changing things, tweaking, inventing. You create exceptions for every client, design your own T-shirts, write your own programming and so on.

That means every part of the business is in its first iteration—forever. It’s like starting over again every single day!

This creates a ton of stress because your business exists only in your head.

To you, it feels like thinking fast and being smart. To your clients and staff, it looks like absolute chaos. What they’re told today might change tomorrow. This has a grinding effect on people because everything feels unpredictable and unsafe.

After years of inconsistent delivery, staff performance and policies, your gym feels like it’s still in Year 1—Founder Phase.

Then you start to get decision fatigue. You get frustrated. You wonder why your staff can’t “just do their jobs”—but only you know what that job is, and it keeps changing.

Eventually, you get burned out. Along the way, the “burn it to the ground” fantasy starts showing up more often.

The answer isn’t to open a franchise and follow another company’s system. That’s sometimes tempting, but you didn’t sign up to be a cog in someone else’s machine.

The Solution

The “two brains” of your business are:

Consistency (the left side)Creativity (the right side)

When they work together, you have a beautiful business that makes you money, creates careers for staff and makes a difference for clients.

To unite the two, you must create “freedom within a framework.”

It’s a matter of learning:

Where you should set things in stone.Where you can be creative without hurting your business.

Here’s how to do that, system by system.

MarketingSystemize your ads and be creative in your conversations.Systemize your branding and be creative in your content.Example: Do not try to “dream up” the perfect ad and then be surprised when it doesn’t work. Test three ads at once and continually reinvest in the best-performing ads.
SalesSystemize your pricing and be creative in your prescriptions.Example: Make a sales binder with clear pricing and no discounts so you don’t have to make decisions about price with every client.Example 2: Follow an exact No Sweat Intro process but make creative recommendations depending on each client’s needs. Then write different programs that are perfect for each client.
RetentionSystemize your Goal Review Sessions and be creative in your gifting and gratitude.Example: Follow the exact script every time when doing a goal review but get Tim a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey with his name and number because that’s his favorite team.
OperationsUse simple, clear instructions to make the experience the same for everyone. Audit your systems and plan the client journey in advance.Be creative with your cues, programming, messaging and celebrations.Example: Class always starts on time but trainers can use different styles to get results.
LeadershipEvery day, do one thing to grow your business—but alter that “one thing” over time.Eliminate decision fatigue with a staff playbook and teach your staff the unbreakable rules. Learn to delegate effectively with task lists, checklists and SOPs.Example: Follow the Career Roadmap strategy with every staff person but be creative in how they reach their goals in your business.
A Framework for Every Entrepreneur

Getting too creative and doing everything is going to lead to bankruptcy or burnout.

But if you don’t get to feel creative control, what’s the point in owning a business?

At Two-Brain, we don’t force a franchise model on you. We teach you frameworks.

Want to just run group classes? Here’s how to make it work on your P&L. Want to never run group classes? Here’s how to make that work on your P&L.

Our mentors can give you specific tasks to do—not just advice or opinion—because they, too, have freedom to work within a mentorship framework. They’ve all been through our program, and we know they’re world-class business experts.

You don’t need a franchise to fix your chaotic gym. You just need a framework.

If you’re solid where you need to be and creative where you can be, you’ll have a gym that is stable, profitable and fun to run—and you’ll free yourself from having to make every decision again every day.

Want to talk about a framework that will help you run a better business? Book a call here.

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Build a Systemized, Profitable Gym (Without Losing Your Freedom)

To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.

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If Your Gym Grosses This, Pay Yourself THIS

How much should you earn from your gym?

Back in 2011, when I opened a bricks-and-mortar facility, my answer was “$0.”

I considered the business a hobby, and my casual approach ensured the business barely broke even. And it only did that because I didn’t earn anything personally even though I devoted a huge amount of time to the gym every month.

A few years later, when the gym was losing money, I still wasn’t earning anything.

We were bleeding out $5,000 a month, so I couldn’t even consider paying myself.

As an entrepreneur, I was literally lost for years when it came to owner income.

I had a lot of questions:

What’s reasonable?What are others doing?What can a solid business provide?Do I deserve to earn anything?Who comes first: me or my staff?Should I raise rates so I can earn something?Am I being greedy?

All those questions rolled through my head, and I bet you have similar thoughts.

Here, I’m going to give you a table that would have helped me a lot 10 years ago.

First, you deserve to get paid.

It doesn’t matter if you consider your business a noble endeavor that helps people improve their health.

It also doesn’t matter if you want to create careers for staff people.

You must be paid first or you will eventually burn out and quit for a “real job” that pays the bills. Your noble venture will die and your staff will be out of work if you have to sell condos to pay for groceries.

As an entrepreneur, you are:

Taking a risk.Creating jobs.Helping people solve problems.Building something.Working very hard.

Pay yourself.

This is not negotiable.

How much?

Here’s are some starting targets:

Gross Monthly RevenueNOB$0-5,000$500 $5,000-$10,000$750 $10,000-$15,000$1,500 $15,000-$20,000$3,000$20,000-$25,000$4,000$25,000-$30,000$5,500$30,000-$35,000$7,500$35,000-$40,000$9,000$40,000-$45,000$11,000$45,000-$50,000$15,000

These numbers are general, and you have wiggle room. But consider this scale a tool to keep yourself honest.

If your gym is grossing $25,000 and you’re only paying yourself $2,000—or $0, as I was—something is broken.

If your business makes more, you should make more personally.

You’ll also note that your NOB should increase as a percentage of gross revenue as revenue totals increase:

$500 NOB is 10 percent of $5,000 gross monthly revenue.$5,500 NOB is 18.3 percent of $30,000.$15,000 NOB is 30 percent of $50,000.

That isn’t to say you can’t pay yourself 30 percent of $20,000 gross. Some gym owners do this.

Two-Brain gyms target a profit margin of 30-33 percent of gross revenue, with about 22 percent allocated to fixed costs and no more than 44 percent allocated to staff costs. But at certain stages, you will have to invest some of your profit to grow the business, so it might not all flow into your bank account right away.

As the business becomes stronger, more antifragile and increasingly predictable, you can and should pay yourself a larger percentage of its profit.

Here’s what the Top 10 Two-Brain gym owners pay themselves every month:

Use the table above as a guideline, commit to increasing your NOB over time, and work with a mentor to ensure your business grows to support your income goals.

If you do that, you could be among our NOB leaders one day.

And you’ll have a strong business that supports you, your staff and your clients.

To get a personalized plan to grow your revenue and your income, book a call here.

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$600 Per Member in 1,400 Square Feet—It Can Be Done!

To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.

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Gym Owner Income: Are You Leaving Cash on the Table?

Net owner benefit is a critical gym metric: It’s your personal income, dividends, profit distributions and extras.

For example, if your gym covers your vehicle payment or cell phone, that should be included in your NOB number.

NOB is the sum of every benefit you get from owning your business, and you should work with your finance pros to maximize this number.

I recently cranked out a new resource for gym owners: “How to Find the Hidden Money in Your Business.” (Get it by sending me a DM here.)

I’m going to dig deeper into one NOB-related tip because too many gym owners are leaving cash on the table.

A Strong Financial Move

If you haven’t done this already, do it today:

Meet with your accountant to ensure you’re paying yourself in a way that minimizes taxation.

In this conversation, your finance pro should tell you exactly how to legally reduce your taxes as much as possible.

Example 1:

One Canadian Two-Brain gym owner started paying himself $110,000 in dividends instead of salary.

This resulted in increased personal cash flow of $5,200.

Instead of paying into a federal pension plan and letting the government tell him when he can access his money in retirement, the gym owner invested $5,200 in an S&P 500 ETF through a tax-sheltered account. He reinvested all dividends.

The fund posted a total return of about 35 percent in 2024—it was a very good year for that particular fund—and he paid no tax on the gains.

So he had $7,000 after a year. It’s accumulating today, and he can withdraw it at any time tax-free.

Example 2:

One American Two-Brain gym owner restructured his compensation to take $100,000 NOB split between a reasonable salary (according to the IRS and his accountant) and S Corp distributions.

The owner reduced self-employment tax and increased personal cash flow by $5,300.

He invested the $5,300 into the VOO ETF inside a Roth IRA and reinvested all dividends.

That S&P 500 ETF returned almost 25 percent in 2024.

On Jan. 1, 2025, that $5,300 was worth about $6,600—with no tax paid on the gains.

Every Dollar Counts

Every dollar counts—especially when you’re talking about the dollars in your bank account.

All countries and jurisdictions have different tax codes, and it’s always worth your time to check with a finance expert who can help you pay the government what you owe—but not a penny more.

What if a simple, one-hour phone call with an accountant eventually put an extra $6,600 in your account?

You’d get huge ROI on that hour and you would be $6,600 closer to millionaire status.

You might not earn 24-35 percent or more every year, but you get the point.

Here’s what I want for you:

Hit your personal income goals ($100,000 is a good first target).

Reach millionaire status (or your personal net-worth goal).

I’ve given you something to do today, but that’s just one tactic gym owners use to increase NOB and net worth.

If you want to hear about the complete roadmap to wealth. Let’s talk about your goals and how we’ll accomplish them.

To do that, book a call here.

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The Gym Owners Who Earn the Most—and Their Tips for You

At Two-Brain, we track everything, and I share critical numbers every month to help you improve your business.

This month, we’re talking about net owner benefit (NOB): how much the gym owner actually takes home.

These numbers are important because most gym owners don’t go out of business because they lack clients or don’t generate enough revenue.

They fail because they don’t make enough personally to sustain the entrepreneurial habit.

Sure, getting more clients and raising rates can generate more revenue, but that’s not the same as increasing actual take-home pay. Take-home pay is what pays your mortgage or funds that trip to Disneyland with your kids.

If you’re not making a good income from your gym, you don’t have a business—you have a fragile liability. If something happens to you, everything collapses. Your team and your clients suffer, and your impact on the world is reduced.

So let’s see what success really looks like:

Remember, these numbers aren’t flukes: We use rolling three-month averages to calculate them.

These owners aren’t just having a “big month.” They’re consistently winning. One owner even reduced income on purpose to invest more in staff education.

What These Owners Do Differently

Net owner benefit has two big drivers:

1. Consistency in delivery.

2. Total business excellence.

That means you’re not just a great coach—you’re also great at:

BillingMarketingSalesRetentionBookkeepingAnd more.

Your business will grow to the level of your marketing and immediately fall to the level of your systems. The worst-delivered session, the dirtiest bathroom and the weakest staff link will define your gym’s true floor.

If you want a high-revenue, high-income gym, you must pursue virtuosity in all areas of the business—not just coaching.

Tips From Our Top Earners

When we asked these owners how they earned so much. Here’s exactly what they said:

Business Model

“We are strictly one-on-one training—ARM is $600. We focus on high-ticket training.”

“We have built programs that serve the most underserved in the fitness space: We have programs for kids all the way to legends.”

“About 2 years ago, I started to shift from just PT and group to include semi-private.”

“We focus mainly on coaching, which drove up the revenue and profit, of course.”

“This month we officially roll out and transition to semi-private training, so that will definitely change the landscape of our numbers drastically.”

Pay Yourself First

“Focusing on paying myself more and more is the main reason NOB went up. Making it a goal to reach $17,000 NOB on average was the inspiration. It shows again how important goal setting is!”

Staff Development and Systems

“We have Two-Brain structures and systems in place for our coaches to win.”

“We have SOPs dialed in and great staff to make sure everything runs smoothly, even when I’m not there.”

“We’ve been able to create career opportunities, and payroll has never been higher—I couldn’t be happier about that!”

“I allow the coaches to have more ownership of all our programs following the 4/9ths Model. This has allowed me to build a solid, focused, full-time team.”

“Coach education helped them become more of an authority and justify higher rates.”

“I have a great handle on developing personal trainers.”

Retention

“We are using the retention strategies, and this is emphasized. Membership is slowly ticking up. When we started Two-Brain, we were at 70 members. Now we are at 90 members.”

“Things like pre- and post-partum certifications or getting our CrossFit-certified coaches personal-training certs helps them retain 1:1 clients longer with better results.”

“We do 90-day goal reviews and use a 90-day client journey (including on-ramps) to onboard new members. This has been an integral way for us to build member retention and increase sales.”

Marketing

“Going really hard on marketing drove the amount of new startups.”

“Referrals—most of our leads come from referrals.”

ROI

“Spending is rigorously evaluated. We don’t like to be in debt, so we pay in full whenever we can.”

“We have a very small box—we’re doing all of this in 1,400 square feet.”

“I am maniacal about my spending. Every dollar that comes in is scrutinized. I know what it’s doing and how it’s benefiting us. Any loose funds are not wasted. They go back into growing the gym or into my pocket.”

“Total Package” Summary From an NOB Leaderboard Regular

“I think it’s our belief that we should center on the beginner athlete that makes us so successful. But it’s also a great location, great staff and appropriate pricing.”

Mentorship and Steady Progress Toward Goals

“We do all the Two-Brain things.”

“Kenny Markwardt as our Tinker coach is really great at challenging us to work less ‘in the business.’”

“I’m over the moon about making the leaderboard! I started following Two-Brain content in 2022 and thought the leaderboards were so cool. I never imagined making one!”

Your Turn

Here’s the top lesson from all this: I can tell you how to take home more income.

The gym owners on our leaderboard all have one thing in common: mentorship.

You don’t have to guess. You don’t have to go it alone.

You can just copy what the most profitable gym owners in the world are doing and have the same success.

But if you’re not ready for that yet, start here:

Join our free community at GymOwnersUnited.com.

We give you tools, templates and advice daily. And if you ask a question, someone from our team—sometimes me—will give you an actionable response.

Because your gym should be profitable.

Not someday. Now.

And not just for you—for your staff, your clients and your community.

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How to Pay Yourself More in 2025: Gym Owner Income Strategies

To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.

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Survey Says: Bad Advice is Deadly for Gyms

Bad advice can kill a gym.

I recently saw an example of that, and I’ll lay it out for you here so you understand that listening to the wrong people can cost you your business.

Don’t let experts gamble with your livelihood.

Analyze everything and make the best decisions for your business.

To get the data you need to do that, just fill out our 2025 State of the Industry Survey. It takes five minutes, and you’ll get our annual report in November, delivered straight to your inbox.

That report will help you avoid gym-killing mistakes like the one I’m about to lay out.

“On the high end, we want to see a 5 percent churn.”

That’s a direct quote from a gym business consultant.

Here’s what happens when you analyze it with our “State of the Industry” report (you can get the 2024 edition here).

Our massive 2024 study revealed this:

The average big group gym has 123 members.Half of all big group gyms get fewer than five new clients a month.

But with 123 members and 5 percent churn, the average gym will lose about six members a month.

Let this sink in for a minute:

5 percent churn can kill half of all big group gyms.

If you start with 123 members and you’re down at least one per month net, you’ll be under 100 in two years. If you have a few bad months, your total will be much lower much sooner.

I’ll go further:

We know average revenue per member in big group gyms is about $167. With 99 members, that’s $16,533 in gross revenue.

We know big group gyms, on average, send 22 percent of gross to their owners—$3,637 if revenue is $16,533. Annually, that’s $43,647 for the owner.

And remember that 5 percent churn means you will take home less every month because you are losing members faster than you can replace them, so that $3,637 is shrinking.

Data shows this: 5 percent churn is a disaster.

Here’s what Chris Cooper concluded in 2024 after reviewing data from thousands of gyms around the world: “If your monthly retention rate is less than 98 percent, you should fix it—fast.”

The real target based on real data: 2 percent churn or less.  

So what happens if you don’t have data and follow bad advice?

The Numbers You Need

To get the data that will allow you to make smart decisions for your business, fill out our short survey for gym owners.

Do that here.

Cooper and an independent analyst will grind the numbers and produce the “State of the Industry” report in November. You can use it to brush aside BS and make smart decisions in your business.

As a bonus, you’ll also get access to Coop’s 19 best free resources for gym owners on the survey’s submission confirmation page. Use those to grow your gym, too.

Whatever you do, don’t make decisions based on bad advice.

Your livelihood—and the health of your clients—depends on it.

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Using Data to Make Smart Gym Decisions

To watch this episode on YouTube, click here.

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