Joe De Sena is the founder and CEO of Spartan and Death Race, as well as the author of books including "Spartan Up!" and "10 Rules for Resilience." An entrepreneur with a rich history, Joe created brands and events that give runners and fitness athletes a chance to experience exciting challenges. In this interview, Joe and host Chris Cooper discuss Spartan's link to the gym world, certifications for coaches and the new DEKA indoor challenge. Also on the call: Benjamin Killary, Spartan's national...
Apr 24, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 452
Gyms just don't generate enough revenue from nutrition coaching. Despite the fact that nutrition services naturally link up with fitness coaching, most gyms aren't seeing much movement at the bottom line. The stats: About 74 percent of gyms offer some sort of nutrition coaching, but these services only contribute about 4 percent to gross revenue, on average. That number is far too low, and gym owners are leaving money on the table. Worse, they're missing a golden opportunity to help clients get ...
Apr 19, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 451
In the gym business, a client's first 90 days are critical. Do a great job onboarding a new client and you'll likely have an opportunity to change a person's life over a period of years. Do a poor job and your new member might be gone in weeks or months, likely never to return to a gym. To help more people and build a great business, you must have a precise plan to set new clients up for long-term success. In this episode, Two-Brain Business founder and CEO Chris Cooper maps out the exact onboar...
Apr 17, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 450
Is your negative attitude pushing away potential gym clients? Are you turning off your members with social-media rants? Are you trying to impress clients with random fitness knowledge instead of actually listening to people? Do you let the stress of entrepreneurship show in public? Do people think you're more interested in your cell phone than what they're saying? Being likable is incredibly important. You can be the best trainer in the world, but you won't have any clients if people don't want ...
Apr 13, 2023•28 min•Season 3Ep. 449
Every year, the Two-Brain Summit brings together hundreds of gym owners and coaches for an epic weekend of learning and action, connection and motivation. It's not a sit-and-listen conference. This is an immersive experience for fitness professionals who are ready to do the work and take their careers and businesses to the next level. In this episode, Chris Cooper gives you the lowdown on featured speakers—including Jason Khalipa and Dan Martell—and some special bonuses, including NCFIT workouts...
Apr 10, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 448
You know the scenario: An athletic gym owner spends a lot of time training for fitness competitions. So what happens to the business? Does it lumber along and eventually crumble because the owner's attention is elsewhere? Or can some owners divide their focus and achieve competition goals while building thriving businesses? Chris Cooper digs into the question today with the help of two gym-owning athletes. Two-Brain mentor Taryn Dubreuil runs CrossFit Function and says "competition" is her middl...
Apr 06, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 447
If you wanted to kill your gym, what would you do? This can be a helpful question to ask yourself. Here's why: Your answers will highlight paths you should avoid at all costs, and you might even discover you're actually doing some things that are hurting your business. From there, you can make corrections, take new actions and double-down on tactics that are actually driving growth. In this episode, Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper does the exercise himself and reveals the four things he would do ...
Apr 03, 2023•9 min•Season 3Ep. 446
Darren Thornton owns Defy Functional Fitness, where he's worked hard to generate average revenue per member of more than USD$370 per month. That earned him a place on Two-Brain's Top 10 leaderboard for February 2023. In this episode, Darren spills his secrets. He'll talk about what he offers at his business in Toronto, Canada, and why his clients find it so valuable. Get this: Darren doesn't spend a ton of money on marketing. But his gym is full of high-value clients because he uses a tried-and-...
Mar 30, 2023•32 min•Season 3Ep. 445
A gym that averages $812 per client per month? You read that right. Two-Brain's top performers posted incredible average revenue per member (ARM) scores in February 2023 . Everyone in the Top 10 was above $370, and the No. 1 gym was over $800. In this episode, Chris Cooper goes over the leaderboard and then shares the secrets of the top gym owners. Some started using onboarding programs, while others increased rates, ran challenges or added small-group training. Regardless of the exact plan, all...
Mar 27, 2023•16 min•Season 3Ep. 444
Chad and Esther Pinther were able to turn their gym around and supercharge their earnings with the help of a Two-Brain Business mentor. Chad at one time supported his fitness business with money from his modeling career—he's appeared in campaigns for Calvin Klein, Stetson, Patrick James and more. When the Pinthers wanted to shore up the gym business so they could spend more time together as a family, they started working with a mentor. The results were dramatic. The two increased gross revenue s...
Mar 23, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 443
What's your gym worth? How do you calculate the true value? Chris Cooper has the answer, and he'll tell you how to come up with a hard number in this edition of "Run a Profitable Gym." In some cases, owners won't like the final number. If you're burned out, run down and out of cash, it can be tempting to just sell the gym. But you could be missing out on cash if you put it on the block right away. Good news: Chris has seven steps to make your gym more valuable. You can use them whether you want ...
Mar 20, 2023•19 min•Season 3Ep. 442
Is your website bringing you clients or pushing them away? Bad news: A recent audit revealed 80 percent of gyms have subpar websites that don't encourage clients to buy. This is a huge problem. A poor website multiplies your losses. If you're spending money on ads, you're wasting it. And if you're lucky enough to generate organic traffic with sound SEO tactics, those people are clicking out without engaging. In this episode, Two-Brain Business CMO and Kilo co-founder John Franklin walks you thro...
Mar 16, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 441
You need cash for your gym right now—so what to do? Offer a paid-in-full deal? Discount your offering? Sell some of your equipment? Not so fast. All those options can put your gym in a death spiral. For example, a paid-in-full deal that generates a quick cash infusion often puts gym owners against the wall at the end of the year. And discounts have sunk too many gyms to count. The good news: Gym owners have some great options when they need cash but don't want to hurt the long-term success of th...
Mar 13, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 440
During the pandemic, virtual fitness training exploded in popularity, and many entrepreneurs are still offering online coaching. But a new service brings new considerations when it comes to insurance, liability waivers and membership management. On today's episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," gym-owning lawyer Matthew Becker is here to help you cover all your bases with virtual training—from the wording of your insurance policy to laws that apply to out-of-state clients. He'll give you the info yo...
Mar 09, 2023•21 min•Season 3Ep. 439
Are you attracting or repelling clients as a gym owner? No, really. Answer honestly. And if your answer is "no," review these questions: - Do you get into public arguments online? - Do you vent to your clients? - Are you tired, stress and underpaid? - Do you forget names? - Do you take people for granted and forget to thank them regularly? - Do you let your cell phone distract you from high-level interaction? - Do you avoid self-improvement? If you answered "yes" to even one of those questions, ...
Mar 06, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 438
In January 2023, Two-Brain's top-earning gym owners took home between US$16,000 and $21,000. That's not gross revenue or even profit. It's what the owners earned personally. And the big totals aren't one-hit wonders. Our leaders sustained these income levels over an entire quarter. Gym owner Jodi Butler was on that leaderboard, and she's here to tell you how she did it. Jodi, who runs Pittsburgh FIT, breaks down the key components of her successful gym, which provides a great income for her and ...
Mar 02, 2023•32 min•Season 3Ep. 437
What do top-earning gym owners have in common? A lot. In this podcast, Chris Cooper reviews the gym owners at the top of Two-Brain's January leaderboard for net owner benefit (NOB)—that's what these owners actually took home to their families, not what their gyms grossed. Each owner in the Top 3 earned more than $20,000 in January, but these aren't one-hit wonders. The stats are based on rolling three-month averages—meaning the owners earned an average of $20,000 a month over a three-month perio...
Feb 27, 2023•28 min•Season 3Ep. 436
How did Kyle Counts turbocharge his gym's retention and revenue generation? With the Prescriptive Model. In fact, he used it to double revenue in short order, and then he used it to drive that number up even further. Now, the simple system is the bedrock of his sales process. In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Kyle explains how making the change to a consultative approach transformed his business—Condition One CrossFit—for the better. By ditching free trials and actually siting down with...
Feb 23, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 435
The Prescriptive Model has been used by hundreds of Two-Brain gyms across the world, and it's one of the most effective ways to increase revenue and retention. The short version: Gym owners meet with prospective clients, find out about their goals and prescribe the ideal plan to accomplish them. Then they meet with clients quarterly to review progress and make program adjustments that keep the clients on track. Entrepreneurs who use the Prescriptive Model at their gyms have a much easier time cl...
Feb 20, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 434
Lawyers are experts when it comes to limiting risk for their clients, and Matthew Becker is here today to help you reduce exposure with employees, contractors and third-party contractors. Becker owners Gym Lawyers PLLC as well as Industrial Athletics in Pittsburgh, so he's run into all the situations common in the fitness world. Employees, contractors and third-party contractors all come with risk, but if you take the right steps, you can keep your business as safe as possible. Matthew will walk...
Feb 16, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 433
How should you set the rates at your gym, affiliate or training studio? There is a formula, and it doesn't involve guesswork. Instead, you'll just have to enter some numbers on a spreadsheet you can request at Gymownersunited.com . In this podcast, Chris Cooper offers a look at that spreadsheet and explains how it works. He'll also tell you what's at stake: your profit margin and the long-term success of your business. If you guess on your prices, you might lose hundreds of thousands of dollars—...
Feb 13, 2023•22 min•Season 3Ep. 432
Gym apparel sales don't always go well. Low or nonexistent margins are common, as are weak marketing and unsold inventory that clogs up cash flow. By contrast, some gym owners gross $34,000 a year in apparel sales or use retail to tack thousands of dollars onto net profit. In this episode, Mike Warkentin talks to Matt Albrizio of Forever Fierce, who offers specific tips and tactics any gym owner can use to start making money with retail. Matt covers how often you should place orders, how much yo...
Feb 09, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 431
Can you be a successful entrepreneur and a good parent? Absolutely. In this episode, Two-Brain Business mentor, gym owner and mother of three Joleen Bingham offers her top tips for balancing parenting with gym ownership. Parents have a lot on their plates, and Joleen will show you how to handle it all without losing your mind. She wasn't always so organized. In fact, Joleen once answered business emails and took a phone call from a prospective gym client in the hospital just after giving birth. ...
Feb 06, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 430
Derek Batman knocked out 34 free consultations in December, which put him near the top of our marketing and sales leaderboard for gym owners. In this video, Derek spills the secrets of his success when it comes to set, show and close rates. His keys? Targeting the right clients, creating an airtight system for follow-up, and tracking data. Derek's worked really hard to ensure the right people see his Facebook ads, and he uses retargeting strategies to warm his leads with repeated exposure. When ...
Feb 02, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 429
Chris Cooper checks in with exact client-acquisition stats from the top gyms in the world. He'll tell you how many consultations the best gyms book each month, how many people show up for the appointments, and how many sales are made. Set, show and close rate leaderboards are just a few of the many Two-Brain creates each month to determine which gyms are posting the best stats. We use these leaderboards to track progress and celebrate wins but also to identify new best practices used by the lead...
Jan 30, 2023•15 min•Season 3Ep. 428
Gym owner Corey Lapell has more than doubled his revenue, almost doubled his membership, reduced his work hours dramatically and quadrupled his salary since August 2020. When COVID hit, the longtime CrossFit affiliate owner knew he needed help. Corey turned to Two-Brain, and his mentor got him to take action: writing SOPs, creating contracts, installing a hiring process, rebranding and more. The result of the hard work? Corey and his partner transformed their Vancouver gym from a labor of love i...
Jan 26, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 427
You might be tempted to offer a free trial to get some new clients at your gym, studio or affiliate—that's a mistake. Years ago, prospective clients might have wanted to "taste the intensity" before signing up. But we're not in 2015 anymore. Now, fitness consumers know what functional fitness is. They aren't looking to sample a one-size-fits-all workout. They have specific fitness and nutrition problems, and they want to know how your gym can solve them. The only professional way to present your...
Jan 23, 2023•7 min•Season 3Ep. 426
With the help of a Two-Brain mentor, Evan Armstrong increased his gym's revenue by 500 percent in just one year. Here's how he did it. First, he quit his day job and shifted his attention to growing his gym/physical therapy business. He clearly mapped out his client journey, then he systemized and optimized as many tasks as he could before automating the systems. He also overhauled his website to make it easier for potential clients to engage with him, and he dramatically improved his sales proc...
Jan 19, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 425
An onboarding program is a guaranteed way to ensure real change in the lives of clients at your fitness business—and yet it's often overlooked by gym owners. On today's episode of Run a Profitable Gym, Two-Brain Business founder Chris Cooper explains how an on-ramp or other onboarding program will decrease client churn, reduce the risk of injury or discomfort in your gym, and set up your clients for success over a period of years. And let's not forget that clients who stay for years produce recu...
Jan 16, 2023•13 min•Season 3Ep. 424
Colby Knepp's gym revenue more than doubled in fewer than 12 months. In this video, he explains exactly how he did it. So how did he generate incredible growth at his PT studio in Colorado? According to Colby, Step 1 was hiring a mentor, and Step 2 was doing everything she told him to do. Of particular note, Colby researched mentorship as part of his business plan to open a gym. Instead of flying solo and making mistakes, he used Two-Brain's data, resources and tactics to open with members and p...
Jan 12, 2023•31 min•Season 4Ep. 423
