What's holding you back from reaching the next level with your gym business? Check your bias. In this episode, Chris Cooper goes over the common biases that interfere with our growth. In identifying these blind spots, you can make a plan to keep them in check and take positive action with the things that count. 3:14 - Confirmation bias and novelty bias 4:45 - Busy-ness bias 6:27 - Multi-tasking bias 7:00 - Blame 9:35 - Ego...
Jun 13, 2022•12 min•Season 3Ep. 362
Acquiring more knowledge is not going to solve your problems; it's actually a trap that stops you from taking action. Knowledge is not the solution; getting a mentor is. As a gym owner, you might be furiously studying as much as you can when it comes to business. But how much of the information are you actually acting on? A great mentor works because they give you a clear focus: Do this one thing right now. Mentorship brings 10x the value of your initial investment. Top performers in every field...
Jun 09, 2022•12 min•Season 3Ep. 361
In this episode, Two-Brain Business founder Chris Cooper breaks down the tweaks you can make to your gym business today to improve your ROI tomorrow. From staffing audits to maximizing your use of space to analyzing your software, you need to take a clear-eyed approach to assess your expenses and implement the measures that will bring the most bang for your buck in your gym business. You can't cut your way to wealth, but you can definitely improve your return on the money you invest; in this pod...
Jun 06, 2022•27 min•Season 3Ep. 360
How much content should I be creating? Is Facebook advertising dead? Should I hire a GM? What about supplements? In this podcast, Two-Brain Business founder and CEO Chris Cooper answers your burning questions on a slew of topics. Got a question for Chris? Email him at chris@twobrainbusiness.com or post it in the Gym Owners United Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gymownersonly 0:58 - How much content is too much? 4:59 - Is Facebook advertising dead? 7:33 - Should I hire a marketing...
Jun 02, 2022•27 min•Season 3Ep. 359
"Help First" is the title of one of Chris Cooper's most quoted books—but what does "help first" really mean? Does this mean "help (for free) always"? In this episode, Chris shares what a meaningful approach to Help First looks like. You want to get the client to a point where they're ready to purchase your service, not just to benefit from your free advice and never sign up. Chris maps out exactly how to apply Help First in your gym business in order to benefit both your prospective client and y...
May 30, 2022•17 min•Season 3Ep. 358
You might be the best gym around but no one will know about you unless you tell them. In his mentorship practice, Chris Cooper stresses the need for his clients to produce meaningful, consistent content in order to get and maintain clients. But where to start? In this podcast, Chris lays out a content model that will get you in the practice of regularly producing content. In this clear, step-by-step guide, you'll learn what you must do each day to produce great content that resonates with your e...
May 26, 2022•12 min•Season 3Ep. 357
New gym owner Jason Tebedo was able to open his doors at CrossFit Angier on launch day with a whopping 83 members. In this episode, he dishes the secrets to his opening-day success. Working with his Two-Brain Mentor as part of the StartUp program, Jason laid out his foundation in advance and got the right plan in place to acquire and keep members from the get-go. Jason breaks down what exactly he did to set up his Founders Club, social events, 1:1 nutrition counseling, social media marketing, No...
May 23, 2022•30 min•Season 3Ep. 356
What do we want from life? Misha Saidov has pared it down to an acronym - FERMI: Flow (the experience of optimal feeling of engagement in the moment), Engagement, Relaxation, Meaning and Ideal. Ultimately, people want to feel better. As a life coach, he offers experience which serves to help alter their perspective, and therefore how they feel in their lives. In this episode, Misha and Chris Cooper discuss the idea of emergence, the difference between dreams and goals, limiting beliefs, moving f...
May 19, 2022•49 min•Season 3Ep. 355
Entrepreneurial confidence is key to sustaining success - but it's something many gym owners overlook. In this episode, psychotherapist and executive coach Bonnie Skinner breaks down exactly what entrepreneurial confidence is, how a lack of it shows up in your life, and what reps you should be doing to build that muscle. Making a concerted effort to boost your entrepreneurial confidence can result in a better mindset overall; this spills over into both your personal and professional life and wil...
May 16, 2022•39 min•Season 3Ep. 355
For decades, CrossFit gyms have programmed workouts according to a prescription: the Rx. With this style of programming, each workout has a singular goal. How athletes execute the workout might vary, but the goal is the same. But what if not all your athletes have the same goal? That's why Brooks DiFiore created Beyond RXD, a programming system that provides workouts and briefs customized according to client avatar. Here, he joins Chris Cooper to explain why and how it gets clients results while...
May 12, 2022•30 min•Season 3Ep. 353
When Ameet Shah first introduced Wodify to the CrossFit community, he had his work cut out for him. Convincing a bunch of gritty, low-tech fitness die-hards to ditch the whiteboard and put up a TV screen was a tall order. But he did it — and today Wodify serves more than 5,000 gyms around the world. Ameet joined Chris Cooper to talk about his journey from crab-sales website designer (yes, you read that right) to tech start-up founder to business leader. Links: Wodify Gym Owners United Timeline: ...
May 09, 2022•48 min•Season 3Ep. 352
When the entrepreneurship bug hits, it hits hard — and some gym owners find that owning a gym isn't enough. There's so much else to explore: retail, supplements, gear — even coffee. But is it possible to run multiple profitable businesses? And if so, how do you pull it off? For the answers to those questions and more, Chris Cooper turned to Danny Lehr, owner and founder of CrossFit Excel and the wildly successful Caffeine and Kilos. Links: CrossFit Excel Caffeine and Kilos Gym Owners United Time...
May 05, 2022•46 min•Season 3Ep. 351
Brendon Collins has always had the itch to help people change their lives. At one time, he did it as a pastor. Then, he did it as a fitness coach and gym owner. Now, he's helping people find their way as a life coach touching on all of the above. How'd he get there, and what, exactly, does being a life coach look like? Here, he chats with Coop about all that and more. Links: Chat with Brendon Transformation Academy Certified Life Coach Institute International Coaching Federation Timeline: 00:41 ...
May 02, 2022•39 min•Season 3Ep. 351
In order for your marketing to be effective, you've got to market to the right people—you have to define your avatar. And a great way to do that is to start with data: Who's actually coming into gyms these days? Nathan Holiday, founder of Level Method, has the numbers. Here, he and Two-Brain Business founder Chris Cooper discuss who's interested in trying fitness programs like CrossFit (and who's not) and how to use that information to build the most effective marketing, onboarding, and delivery...
Apr 28, 2022•26 min•Season 3Ep. 349
Chris Cooper's most popular book is "Two-Brain Business," but the book that most say is his best is "Help First." That's because it solved the problem of being afraid of being a slimy salesman: It teaches gym owners how to sell by doing the thing coaches do best—helping. Here's a peek at what's inside. Links: "Help First" Gym Owners United Timeline: 1:01 – Chris Cooper: The world’s worst salesman. 4:29 – Why you need to get your message out there. 5:43 – Selling is coaching. 6:26 – Don’t worry a...
Apr 25, 2022•13 min•Season 3Ep. 348
It's that time of year—your Facebook feed is full of athletes hoping to make the leap to elite, and once again you find yourself thinking: "The CrossFit Games are cool—but do they matter for my business?" The answer is yes—and no. Here, Coop addresses that question and provides three strategies that will help if you want to use the competitive CrossFit season to help grow your gym. Links: Intramural Open Guide Gym Owners United Timeline: 1:50 – Who the Open is for, and how it can benefit your bu...
Apr 21, 2022•18 min•Season 3Ep. 347
Open a gym. Be a phenomenal coach. Make lots of money. If only it were that simple. You do need to be an excellent coach and provide excellent service, but that isn't enough to run a successful gym business—and we've got the data to prove it. We've also got the data that shows what DOES work. Here's Chris Cooper on the three business models of the most successful CrossFit gyms, the pros and cons of each, and what kind of gym owner they work best for. Links: How to Make $150,000 Per Year With 150...
Apr 18, 2022•24 min•Season 3Ep. 346
We all know sleep is important, and if you're a fitness trainer, you've probably told your clients to get more of it. But beyond that, most trainers draw a blank. They might toss a sleep hygiene article at clients and tell them to get a sleep tracker. But how helpful are those things really? And how important is it to coach sleep when you've got big fish like exercise and nutrition to fry? Nick Lambe founded The Online Sleep Coach to address those questions and teach trainers what they need to k...
Apr 14, 2022•39 min•Season 3Ep. 345
You wouldn't go to the doctor and expect to have to choose your own medication and dosage, right? So why are you leaving the same decision in the hands of your fitness clients? Goal reviews are a key element of the prescriptive model of sales, but they're about more than selling. It's your responsibility as a professional coach to check in with your clients, find out what their goals are, and tell them exactly what they need to do to reach them—regardless of whether that means an upsell or not. ...
Apr 11, 2022•12 min•Season 3Ep. 344
If you're stuck on how to grow your gym, you may be tempted to look at the more successful gym down the street and do what they're doing. Charge what they're charging. Advertise like they're advertising. But the perspective you actually need is that of an outsider—even one as far outside the box as to be outside the fitness industry altogether. There are six key strategies you can use to grow your business, says Chris Cooper, and for each of those strategies, Coop has a recommendation for a grea...
Apr 07, 2022•14 min•Season 3Ep. 343
It's the end of the month, and you've got a little nugget left over. Awesome! You can get that air bike you've been salivating over for so long! But is that really the best use for the extra cash? In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper explains the difference between expenses and investments and how to spend money in ways that will actually give you a measurable return. Links: Gym Owners United Timeline: 1:52 – Expenses vs. investments. 4:47 – Drawing a clear path from money spent to R...
Apr 04, 2022•9 min•Season 3Ep. 342
Dane McCarthy owns West Village Athletic in New York City. He signed up for mentorship with Two-Brain Business only looking for some casual tidbits and content suggestions. What he got was a mentor dedicated to helping him overhaul his business—and 80 new clients in the first 30 days. Here's how. Links: West Village Athletics Gym Owners United Timeline: 1:18 – Starting RampUp out of sheer anger. 3:34 – Revamping the intake process. 4:56 – The power of the sales binder. 6:17 – What’s the deal wit...
Mar 31, 2022•31 min•Season 3Ep. 341
"Your business will not rise to the level of your marketing. It will fall to the level of your systems." — Chris Cooper No matter how cutting-edge your marketing funnels may be, your business will fall to the level of your systems. There are six systems that you need for your business to thrive — and here's exactly what they look like. Links: Gym Owners United Timeline: 2:07 – You need a self-payment system. 3:46 – You need a marketing and sales system. 6:36 – Earning more per client. 8:38 – Ret...
Mar 28, 2022•19 min•Season 3Ep. 340
Mike Turnquist has done it all. He's sold million-dollar homes. He's lost more than 100 lb. He's opened a CrossFit gym—and has another one ready to go with an appetite for a third. Before Mike opened his second location, he tripled his monthly revenue at the first. Now, he's ready to launch Gym No. 2 with systems, staff, and even some members ready to go from Day 1. Here's how. Links: Start a Gym Profit First for Microgyms Gym Owners United Timeline: 3:12 – Helping build a gym—and then buying it...
Mar 24, 2022•31 min•Season 3Ep. 339
If you follow Two-Brain Business on social media, YouTube, TwoBrainBusiness.com or even this very podcast, you may have noticed a pattern: We want to make gym owners millionaires. But why? Have we lost sight of what really matters—saving and changing lives through fitness? Absolutely not. It's because of that very mission—your mission—that we want you to make more money. We want your gym to survive for the long haul and support you and your family well into your golden years when you might not w...
Mar 21, 2022•11 min•Season 3Ep. 338
Retention is the core of your business: Keeping clients longer means you're not constantly at the mercy of the marketing flywheel. So what keeps clients around? It's not great programming or coaching. It's not great community. It's not even great results. All those things are necessary, but they're not sufficient to keep clients for the long haul. Here's what is. Links: Gym Owners United Timeline: 1:05 – The biggest retention myths. 3:23 – Getting to the 50-yard line with the prescriptive model....
Mar 17, 2022•15 min•Season 3Ep. 337
You opened your own gym to get away from red tape and bureaucracy, not to make more rules. So why would you set up a bunch of freedom-limiting systems for your staff? Because systems actually give you more freedom: freedom from decision fatigue, freedom to scale your business, and freedom to focus on the things that really matter. Here's Coop on how building systems for things as minor as the music you play in your gym has the power to make or break your business. Links: Gym Owners United Timeli...
Mar 14, 2022•9 min•Season 3Ep. 336
Have you fallen prey to the technician's curse? That is, do you think the more credentials you have, the better coach you are and the better your business will do? It's not that simple. "Being good at your job is necessary but insufficient to have the impact that you're trying to have," Chris Cooper says. Here's what clients really care about. Links: Gym Owners United Timeline: 1:20 – What clients actually care about. 3:14 – Being a great trainer isn’t enough....
Mar 10, 2022•5 min•Season 3Ep. 335
Functional-fitness facilities, especially CrossFit gyms, are not known for their machines. "We are the machines!" is a catchphrase touted by many. But at CrossFit Justice in Milford, Michigan, athletes are bringing back the tech—not via elliptical, but with heart-rate monitors. It's not all that different from the "classic" CrossFit workouts you might be used to. But at CrossFit Justice, you're more likely to find athletes dutifully responding to heart-rate-driven coach cues to get the right sti...
Mar 07, 2022•27 min•Season 3Ep. 334
On the surface, selling open gym and 24/7 keycard access sounds like a great way to make some extra money. But in reality, it's more likely to cost you—now and in the future. It presents issues with liability, security and safety, all the while limiting your earning potential (no one's going to upgrade from access to personal training, but many won't hesitate to downgrade). Not convinced? Here's Coop on what happened when he tried selling access, what the top-performing gym owners have to say ab...
Mar 03, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 333
