The ownership group of The Tribe tripled owner earnings—and the quartet did it without frantically dumping new members into the business. In this episode, host Mike Warkentin sits down with Andi and Ed Conway—who co-own The Tribe along with Nick and Chelsea Vera—to learn how they increased revenue and profit while consistently serving about 160 members. The Conways share how their Two-Brain mentor, Storm Strout, guided them to increase their average revenue per member (ARM) by eliminating discou...
Jan 02, 2025•25 min•Season 3Ep. 632
Every gym owner can learn valuable lessons from 2024. The key is using them to grow in 2025. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper guides gym owners through a year-end exercise to analyze their wins and losses and lay the foundation for success in the future. He explains how to review metrics, identify bright spots and turn lessons into actions that will measurably improve businesses. Want to make 2025 your best year yet? Listen to learn how reflection, clarity and planning can...
Dec 30, 2024•21 min•Season 3Ep. 631
Torben Keller, owner of CrossFit North 579 in Denmark, runs a gym with more than 740 members—he took the No. 1 spot on Two-Brain's recent leaderboard for client count. In today’s episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Torben shares exactly how he built a thriving gym with multiple revenue streams and an unbeatable client experience. He explains how he started with 250 members in the first month, scaled to over 700 without relying on ads, and keeps churn at just 3.5 percent by focusing on culture and...
Dec 26, 2024•43 min•Season 3Ep. 630
Some gyms have over 300 members and are still growing—but how do they do it? In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper reveals the secrets behind the gyms with the highest client headcounts on Two-Brain’s leaderboard. These gyms don’t rely on gimmicks or flashy marketing campaigns. Instead, they focus on retention, onboarding and delivering incredible value to their members. Chris explains why many gyms struggle with client headcount and how systems can help you attract and retain ...
Dec 23, 2024•20 min•Season 3Ep. 629
Tax season doesn’t have to be a headache; smart planning can reduce stress and save gym owners money. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” former multi-gym owner John Franklin joins host Mike Warkentin to share seven tax strategies every fitness entrepreneur should know: - Keep your books clean and updated. - Get a tax estimate. - Don’t waste money to "save on taxes." - Hire your kids. - Use bonus depreciation. - Max out retirement contributions. - Open a health savings account (HSA). John...
Dec 19, 2024•31 min•Season 3Ep. 628
Gym owners can take control of their businesses with a simple tool: the profit and loss statement (P&L). In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper explains how to master a P&L to improve retention, increase revenue and grow your gym. Sharing examples from his own gym, Catalyst, Chris walks you through metrics tracking and expense auditing in a spreadsheet tailored to a coaching gym. He shows you how to uncover hidden opportunities to improve profitability—...
Dec 16, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 627
Annual planning puts gym owners in control of their businesses. Elite gym owners take it further, crafting plans that give them the freedom to choose where they spend their time—whether inside or outside the gym. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Joleen Bingham, leader of Two-Brain’s Tinker program, reveals how top gym owners use annual and three-year plans to achieve massive growth, financial freedom and personal fulfillment. Joleen shares stories of gym owners who grew by 30 percent i...
Dec 12, 2024•33 min•Season 3Ep. 626
Chris Cooper has a gift for gym owners who want to crush it in 2025: a complete, step-by-step annual plan. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris breaks down the exact strategies you can use to grow your gym next year. From kickstarting the year with a habits challenge to boosting retention with client goal reviews, he explains how a clear plan can help you stay consistent and avoid overwhelm. You’ll also learn about building effective marketing funnels, performing coach evaluations an...
Dec 09, 2024•34 min•Season 3Ep. 625
Amanda Buckner’s gym, Untamed Fitness in Washington, recently earned a spot on Two-Brain’s leaderboard for average revenue per member (ARM)—with top performers hitting between $500 and $821 per client per month. Since opening her gym just a year and a half ago, Amanda has scaled her monthly revenue from $6,000 to $15,000. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin digs into how Amanda achieved such impressive numbers without relying on traditional group classes. Amanda explai...
Dec 05, 2024•43 min•Season 3Ep. 624
Cynthia Fotti, Two-Brain mentor and owner of CrossFit Rush, helps gym owners turn healthy habits into thousands of dollars in revenue. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Cynthia explains how she helped her gym generate front-end revenue of $3,500 in just four weeks with a healthy habits challenge—and an additional $1,800 in ongoing revenue. Cynthia lays out everything you need to run your own challenge this January, including how to price, structure and market it. She also explains why f...
Dec 02, 2024•31 min•Season 3Ep. 623
Mike Monaco took his gym from parking lot workouts to a thriving 5,000-square-foot facility that generates over $420 per member per month. How? He switched to a PT-focused model with an emphasis on relationship building and holistic wellness. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin talks to Mike Monaco, owner of RX FIT in New York State, who shares how he skyrocketed his ARM with the help of a mentor. Mike’s approach centers on quality, not quantity: He’s focused on high-v...
Nov 27, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 622
Imagine if every client paid you between $500 and $800 every month. That’s a reality for the gyms on this month’s leaderboard. In today’s episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain CEO Chris Cooper shares the Top 10 leaderboard for average revenue per member (ARM). With a mean ARM of $608 and an average client headcount of 58, our leaders are focusing on high-value options beyond group training, such as one-on-one and semi-private coaching. These options help high-value clients get to their go...
Nov 25, 2024•16 min•Season 3Ep. 621
Want more gym members without slashing your prices? Discounts can undermine your gym’s value, hurt your profit margins and attract the wrong clients. There’s a better way. In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," host Mike Warkentin is joined by John Franklin, chief marketing officer at Two-Brain and Kilo. John shares four proven strategies to help you attract and retain new clients without offering discounts: events, holiday challenges, New Year’s Day check-ins and black card referral campaig...
Nov 21, 2024•20 min•Season 3Ep. 620
Slashing prices for Black Friday is a mistake if you sell coaching. Discounts attract the wrong clients and teach the right clients to wait for sales instead of renew memberships at full price. Worse, the discount comes out of your profit. The government still gets paid if you cut your rates, and so does the landlord. But you take home less money. In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Chris Cooper explains exactly what to say when people ask for discounts—use his lines word for word. He als...
Nov 18, 2024•29 min•Season 3Ep. 619
Two-Brain's annual industry-defining report is out! The 2024 "State of the Industry" guide is packed with the essential data gym owners need to grow their businesses. This year, it even contains 13 ratings scales fitness entrepreneurs can use to evaluate their businesses and target areas for improvement. How many clients does the average gym have? How much revenue? What do gym owners pay staff? How many classes do they run? How large are gyms, and how much of their revenue is used to cover fixed...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 53 min•Season 3Ep. 618
Two-Brain’s fifth annual “State of the Industry” report is out, and it’s more useful than ever. It’s not just a collection of statistics but a practical tool designed to help gym owners assess their strengths and weaknesses and make strategic decisions. Kilo and Wodify kicked in stats from thousands of gyms around the world, and our greatest survey response ever filled the guide with data on average revenue per member, expenses, client retention, profitability and more. The numbers are broken do...
Nov 12, 2024•49 min•Season 3Ep. 617
Dana Fouche is busy. In addition to running Reach Athletics, she’s a mother and the owner of a farm. To ensure she never lets her business falter—even when the cows escape again—Dana uses Chris Cooper’s Golden Hour concept: Every day, do one thing to grow your business before you do anything else. To start her days, Dana goes to a quiet place, clears her head, works on simple but effective marketing tasks and then addresses larger projects. She ends after an hour and makes a plan for the next da...
Nov 07, 2024•22 min•Season 3Ep. 616
Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder and CEO Chris Cooper lays out three gym business models that actually work, using case studies from gym owners earning $100,000 per year. Chris walks through profit-and-loss statements, revealing all the nitty-gritty details, so you can see exactly what levers these gym owners pulled to reach $100,000. The first gym owner ran big group classes with a decent headcount but had high overhead and struggled to scale. They focused on increasing total ...
Nov 04, 2024•34 min•Season 3Ep. 615
Three years ago, gym owner Magnus Bjorsvik increased rates dramatically, and some of his clients were angry about it. Today, Magnus is on Two-Brain’s Top 10 leaderboard for net owner benefit (NOB)—salary, dividends and anything else the gym pays its owner. He also won the coveted Clients’ Choice Award at this year’s Two-Brain Summit in Chicago. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin sits down with Magnus, owner of CrossFit Uvaer in Norway, to learn how his gym has changed...
Oct 31, 2024•29 min•Season 3Ep. 614
The average fitness entrepreneur earns between $2,500 and $6,000 per month. The top earning gym owner on our leaderboard brings home six times the high end of that average. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain CEO Chris Cooper presents the Top 10 leaders for net owner benefit (NOB)—profit, salary and anything else a gym owner earns from their business. Then, he shares how they got on our leaderboard. Some focused heavily on retention and raising client value. Others reinvested th...
Oct 28, 2024•20 min•Season 3Ep. 613
In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Eric Conner shares how he measurably improved his gym in just 60 minutes a day using Chris Cooper’s Golden Hour framework: Go to a place where you can focus Open your mind Lead with marketing reps Do your big projects End after one hour Next steps Eric sets aside a Golden Hour every morning in which he focuses on high-value, CEO-level work. He puts in marketing reps, such as reaching out to former clients and unconverted leads. Then he works on larger p...
Oct 24, 2024•23 min•Season 3Ep. 612
Gym owners with the fastest-growing businesses share one specific skill: focus. They have access to the same tools, resources and mentors as everyone else. What sets them apart is their ability to consistently do the key things that are required to improve their gyms without second-guessing themselves or getting distracted. You can learn how to build this entrepreneurial focus by reading “The Golden Hour,” the upcoming book from Two-Brain founder and CEO Chris Cooper. In today’s episode of “Run ...
Oct 21, 2024•37 min•Season 3Ep. 611
Gym owners in Two-Brain’s Tinker group have hit about $100,000 in net owner benefit and are working toward reaching $1 million net worth. In fact, the program has certified 54 millionaire gym owners—with seven earning that status in the last quarter alone. Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Mike Warkentin sits down with Joleen Bingham, one of the program’s leaders, to explain exactly how top gym owners use Tinker to level up. Tinkers focus on four pillars that strengthen their businesses and perso...
Oct 17, 2024•23 min•Season 3Ep. 610
You have access to tons of information about growing your gym, so what’s keeping you from getting results on your own? Just like the clients in your gym, you need a coach—someone to help you set a goal, build a plan to accomplish it and stick to that plan. Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder and CEO Chris Cooper outlines the phases of Two-Brain mentorship and explains exactly how they’re designed to help fitness entrepreneurs grow their businesses fast. Two-Brain clients are set u...
Oct 14, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 609
Gyms are fragile businesses. Seasonal fluctuations, local competition, staff departures, economic changes and even pandemics can all reduce or eliminate profit. At a recent meetup for top gym owners, Two-Brain mentor Kenny Markwardt laid out a plan to help entrepreneurs prepare for a financial downturn. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Kenny walks through his four-stage plan with host Mike Warkentin. Performing a stress test will help you see just how prepared your business is for a wo...
Oct 10, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 608
Gym owners give their members reps to help them get results, and business experts do the same thing with their clients. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder and CEO Chris Cooper presents several common scenarios gym owners face regularly. If you practice operating in these situations, you’ll be ultra-prepared when they come up in the real world. And your gym business will grow. Chris gives you practice reps for selling, performing goal review sessions, using the Prescript...
Oct 07, 2024•16 min•Season 3Ep. 607
“We've documented absolutely everything in our sales process,” says closing king Brian Foley, owner of Activate gym in Killarney, Ireland. Brian and his team at Activate were on the July leaderboard for close rate, which ran from 22 to 34 new clients. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin grills Brian on his impressive sales funnel to find out how his gym closes so many new members. For starters, Brian has processes for absolutely everything, from the moment a lead enter...
Oct 03, 2024•32 min•Season 3Ep. 606
Last year, Facebook generated US$131 billion in ad revenue, proving that paid ads work—but they don’t work for everyone. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin sits down with Two-Brain chief marketing officer John Franklin to break down why some gym owners struggle with paid ads while others have great success. The most common ad mistakes gym owners make are not understanding key metrics, underspending and giving up too early. John also details the common flaws of unsucce...
Sep 30, 2024•32 min•Season 3Ep. 605
Ivan Racic’s gym, CrossFit XV in Croatia, has tripled its revenue since joining the Two-Brain Business mentorship program three years ago, and month after month Ivan is consistently earning more. This July, Ivan landed on Two-Brain’s marketing leaderboards for set rate and show rate—the number of leads who book appointments and the number of bookers who actually show up. Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin learns exactly how Ivan managed to book so many appointments and get so m...
Sep 26, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 604
Are you using your leads to grow your gym? In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder and CEO Chris Cooper presents the monthly leaderboards for set, show and close rates. The owners of the gyms on our leaderboards have mastered key areas of the marketing funnel: they get leads to set appointments, they work hard to ensure people show up, and they change lives by closing sales. Chris shares proven practices from these top gym owners, including tracking metrics weekly, hiring a ...
Sep 23, 2024•15 min•Season 3Ep. 603
