This episode is sponsored by Liquid State Design and Healthy Steps Nutrition . The TwoBrain Summit ended yesterday. It was JAMMED with great conversation, some excellent presentations and amazing food. We might have lifted a few weights, too. Our goal at TwoBrain Business is to ask bigger, better questions, and create an entirely new paradigm for gym owners and coaches. Why DON’T average gyms gross in the millions and net in the hundreds of thousands? Why is a coach who makes $100,000 per year s...
Jul 18, 2016•46 min
For full show notes, including a sweet banded power clean demo video, visit: http://twobrainbusiness.com/episode-36-programming-with-jason-brown/
Jul 11, 2016•59 min
From Wikipedia: Dunbar's number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person.[
Jul 09, 2016•3 min
We think all the time, "How do I attract more people to me?" But the first question should be, "What's STOPPING people?"
Jul 01, 2016•3 min
Ken Andrukow is a Two-Brain Mentor and owner of Reebok CrossFit Ramsay. Ken charges one of his clients over $2,000 per month. He's working on a deal with a major hotel chain. His secret? Ken asks his clients how he can help them. As I wrote in "Help First," it sounds almost too simple. But identifying opportunities doesn't come naturally to most first-time entrepreneurs. We teach and reinforce the practice in our mentoring program, but Ken's been doing it for a LONG time. In this two-part episod...
Jun 26, 2016•59 min
Every Friday, I give you a BIG-PICTURE question to chew on over the weekend. This week: turning Garbage into GOLD.
Jun 24, 2016•4 min
Michael Scott and Mike Collette are co-owners of CrossFit Prototype in MA. They’ve been open for three years, and now they’re expanding. Instead of opening a second location or adding space to their original box, Michael and Mike are starting to acquire other local boxes. I’m in a privileged position of trust: box owners are more willing to talk openly when I’m in the room as a “broker”. So at the beginning of May, I flew to Boston to hang out with them for a few days, visit other boxes, eat din...
Jun 20, 2016•59 min
Another HUGE question for you to ponder this weekend...are you projecting your OWN fears and biases onto your clients? What's that costing you?
Jun 17, 2016•2 min
Vaughn Vernon is the guy behind Affiliate Guard . Vaughn insures over 2200 affiliate gyms, and we get together whenever possible to share “War Stories.” Some of these are funny, it’s true. But the point is to identify the potential tripping stones for gyms. This is NOT a boring episode about insurance. It’s a glimpse into the future. It’s a chance to analyze your defense. Vaughn is definitely not a boring guy, and we can leverage the hard lessons learned in the trenches to avoid gym-killing mist...
Jun 13, 2016•59 min
The purpose of this episode is to give you a "BIG PICTURE QUESTION" to ponder over your weekend. It's a doozy!Special bonus: a special signup rate for our TwoBrain Summit, July 15-17, 2016.
Jun 10, 2016•5 min
AJ and Megan Dwyer own MAD Strength and Conditioning and CrossFit SwampFox. Since December 2015, they’ve affiliated and opened a second location. Their rapid growth is fueled by AJ’s focus on youth athletes, and sports teams. AJ brings a unique approach to intake, testing, prescription and training, and he’ll share his methods in this podcast. 00:5:00 – AJ’s story: MMA, bodybuilding, military deployment to Afghanistan and finding CrossFit 10:30 – AJ trains his first “sport-enhancement” client 12...
Jun 06, 2016•1 hr 10 min
Zach Even-Esh is the founder of UnderGround Strength. I first encountered Even-Esh's work in T-Nation in 2005. The "Old School Training" article was less an epiphany about training methods to me than a potential business model: suddenly, I could foresee a way to own a gym without investing hundreds of thousands of dollars. This guy - Even-Esh - was doing it. He didn't have a pec dec, or treadmills; he had a corner of his dad's garage, some big tires and sandbags. And his athletes were killing it...
May 30, 2016•1 hr
Since I started this podcast six months ago, I've received an increasing amount of questions via email. Originally, I thought I'd answer one or two every few weeks. But as the volume - and quality - of questions increased, I realized the necessity of dedicating one full episode to answering them. These were asked via email, Twitter (@TwoBrainCoach) or on our Facebook page. 3:00 - "How Do I Get More Members?" 14:45 - "Why Podcasting?" 15:55 - "How Do I Break Into The Corporate Market?" 20:40 - "W...
May 23, 2016•52 min
This episode is sponsored by InBody. Commander Mark Divine is the founder of SEALFit. He’s the author of Unbeatable Mind, The Way of the SEAL, 8 Weeks To SEALFIT and his new book, Kokoro Yoga. In this episode, Mark talks about using Yoga to develop a warrior’s mindset and improve athleticism. This isn’t the foo-foo stretchy-pants-and-fancy-mats yoga from a Lululemon poster: this is the battle-born practice of preparation. 0:00 – Commander Divine talks about his background and development: being ...
May 16, 2016•1 hr 15 min
Jim Wendler is one of the best-known names in modern powerlifting. Thanks to his association with Westside Barbell, EliteFTS and his book, you probably think you know a lot about him already. In this episode, we go deeper than the Wikipedia page to talk about Jim's mentors, his values, and his concept of "freedom."
May 09, 2016•1 hr 19 min
On August 12, 2011, Jason Brown and Danielle Bjorkman went for coffee. By September 19, they owned an affiliate together.The CrossFit gym was their first bond, but not their last. Within that first month, they started a relationship and moved in together."I don't like to gamble, but if there's one thing I'll bet on, it's myself."6:35: "No one outworks my husband. And I'm sure he'd say the same thing about me."8:39: Living on credit cards14:00: How the Browns spend a typical day doing the things ...
May 02, 2016•59 min
People who do Obstacle Races want three things:1. Something new2. Something they can do with their friends3. Something that scares them a little.They can find all of those things in CrossFit, of course, but many don't know it yet. Rich Borgatti sits at the nexus between Obstacle Course Racing and CrossFit. In this episode, he talks about the overlap; how to train racers; and how to get them into your gym.
Apr 25, 2016•51 min
Dr. Ryan DeBell is founder of The Movement Fix.He's been doing CrossFit for 9 years. When he opened his clinic, Dr. DeBell began traveling around to CrossFit gyms with a little two-hour presentation to help lifters. After he published a watershed post, "The Best-Kept Secret: Why People Have to Squat Differently," he was invited to bring his paid seminar to over 20 boxes. That was two years ago; he's already booked for 30 weekends in 2016.This podcast presents a fresh perspective on some prevalen...
Apr 18, 2016•1 hr 2 min
F your Funnel.Why start your marketing plan with the people LEAST likely to want your service, and then try to filter out 90% of your audience? It's like cutting down a whole tree to find the right twig.Instead, start from a seed. Build a tree on which EVERY branch bears fruit. That's Affinity Marketing.Affinity marketing starts with your SEED clients: those perfect members who are most tightly connected to your brand. Then we move outward from the center: helping those people who are most tight...
Apr 11, 2016•43 min
You should be able to make a great living from 150 clients.The "low-rate, high-volume" approach doesn't work. Every week, I get on a phone call with a gym owner who sums up their failing business this way:"I just need more clients." Usually, they don't.As strong gyms begin to absorb weak ones, owners on the cusp of success are finding their way to our mentorship at an increasing rate. In many cases, one of the first orders of business is to increase rates and eliminate discounts.Usually, the gym...
Mar 28, 2016•38 min
Pieter-Jan Buysmans is the owner of CrossFit Hasselt in Belgium.He's also an innovator. When a back injury sidelined his career as a professional snowboarder, Pieter found CrossFit. Now he owns two gyms, and his systems are so dialed he ran both remotely for six weeks after a recent surgery.This time away from the day-to-day operation gave him weeks to pursue new ideas and growth--the things we call "CEO Time" in Two-Brain Business. But he's been pursuing the idea of Heart Rate Monitoring for ov...
Mar 21, 2016•57 min
Ray Gowlett is a professional MMA fighter, motocross racer and research skeptic.His lab contains almost 600 subjects (it's a high school) and Ray is constantly seeking new ways to teach and coach. Many of these kids are high-level athletes; just as many don't want to be in the class at all. He's always trying new things, but this cross-pollination of students means every innovation has to satisfy two standards:1. It has to make people fitter;2. It has to make people happier.Sound familiar?Ray co...
Mar 14, 2016•1 hr 15 min
Larris Hutton is a Major in the US Army, a JAG lawyer, and a box owner. He has a unique model: fewer clients with higher value in a smaller space.CrossFit Prelude provides full-time careers for his coaches. Larris' box isn't one of the most expensive in the area, but his ARM is very high. And he does it all in 1100 square feet.How? He believes a box owner should behave like a LEADER instead of a COACH. In this interview, he'll tell us the difference.In "Critical Questions," I talk about the diff...
Mar 07, 2016•1 hr 18 min
In this episode, I talk with Jason Ackerman about selling two of his gyms and setting up his third. More and more, entrepreneurs are purchasing gyms from others, or buying out their partners, or selling their gyms. To help, I provide a Gym Valuation Tool (thanks to RigQuipment) and then answer the question, "Should I De-Affiliate?" (answer: no.)
Feb 29, 2016•42 min
Sam Brumenschenkel is a behavior therapist and co-owner of CrossFit Port Orange with her husband, Kyle. Nicole Marchand is a Registered Dietitian in Florida, where box owners can't legally prescribe a diet without the oversight of an RD.Before the conversation started, I mentioned two great ideas from other affiliate owners:Butch Santucci uses the Meijer grocery "curb" service in Michigan. Butch owns Wreck Room CrossFit.Jennifer Broxterman is the owner of NutritionRx, and her husband Dave owns C...
Feb 22, 2016•47 min
I do up to a dozen free calls every week. On 90% of them, I hear this comment:"I just need 10 more clients."It's usually not true.But if it IS true, this episode will present a new option for getting a ton of clients. Tommy Hackenbruck has acquired well over 100 after running the program three times; Ken Andrukow signed up 120 after running it ONCE.Full show notes at http://twobrainbusiness.com/episode-17-the-new-you-challenge-with-tommy-hackenbruck
Feb 15, 2016•1 hr 6 min
Every gym owner is aware of the "Baby Boomer" market--that massive way of the newly-retired--but most aren't sure how to attract seniors into their program. The key, says Alexander, is to understand what THEY want--or what their kids want FOR them.Many of these 50-60-year-olds are watching their parents decline into decrepitude, physically and mentally, and think, "That's never going to happen to me." At the same time they might perceive a regular CrossFit class to be beyond their capacity. Some...
Feb 01, 2016•1 hr 5 min
Imagine it's 2003. Your high school volleyball coach decides weightlifting will help the team's jumping, so he Googles "clean and jerk Santa Cruz."The coach was Tony Budding, and Pat Barber was on the volleyball team. Over the last 13 years, Barber has "grown up" with CrossFit, first training in the original HQ gym and then becoming part of the early CrossFit Media staff. His first competition was filmed in "Every Second Counts" (Barber is the cover model) and he's made the Games as an individua...
Jan 25, 2016•1 hr 10 min
Sean Manseau is the author of “By The Numbers.”A former animator, Sean found CrossFit in 2005 and believed he was “the only person in New York who had ever heard of CrossFit.” As often happens, he was drawn to coaching after a few years as an athlete.In the animation world, a “master animator” draws the major positions of movement, and then an assistant draws all the joint angles between those positions. Sean teaches the major positions and assigns them a number–hence, “By the Numbers.”Sean refe...
Jan 18, 2016•1 hr 19 min
Doug Chapman was the 13th CrossFit affiliate. At his peak, he had 400 members at HyperFit in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Though that number has declined in recent years, he's best known for his online programming for athletes such as Julie Foucher. Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, Lindsey Valenzuela, Jennifer Smith, Nick Urankar, Neil Maddox, Chyna Cho, Jacob Heppner—they're all coached remotely by Doug. But his gym doesn't focus on competition. "If you focus on competitive CrossFit, you're going to ruin your ...
Jan 11, 2016•1 hr 43 min
