Going for Groups: How Rob Sowden-Taylor Filled His Gyms

And these are single locations. Running a big gym is very different than running a gym with a hundred or 150 clients, and I'm really excited to talk to Robin Soton Taylor today because one of his gyms in the top 10, but he has a second gym that's a little bit smaller, so he's the link between big and small gyms. Rob, welcome from Wales. How are you today,

So I need to know what are the main difference in running a very big gym and a smaller gym?

And, and things are moving in, in, in the right direction. And, you know, the , the big thing that we are , we focus on is just being process driven in what we do. And , uh, yeah, I'm really happy how , um, our second facility is growing. You know, we've got a big focus, like majority of listeners on the podcast around our community.

And, you know, even though we run a , a , a larger model in terms of membership base, you know, it is at the heart of what we're trying to do, building around, you know, those human connections, which is such an impactful part of, of this industry.

The big saying without , again, too cheesy too, too , too soon. It's the , the man that loves walking that'll walk further than the man that loves destination. And you know, when, when you're enjoying the journey, the goals just happen. And, you know, I use that because I think it's such a, a perfect , uh, way of talking about how we've built things.

You know, the people are involved with me at Ion , we're very passionate about what we do, and like I said at the start, it's about being process driven and just getting things right day to day . And the growth, you know, has happened , uh, organically. Um, so it's, you know, we've got, we've got the desire and hunger to, to , to achieve what we're, we're , we're building in our second facility as our first.

And the little one's probably a little bit going better, but you have obviously solved some problems that Ike wasn't able to solve. So I wanna dig in and figure out how you've done this because you've got two gyms, which is, you know, it's more than twice the work. This is an exponential thing at this point, and you have a really big one and one that's coming up.

So I'm gonna guess that you've got some systems and staff and procedures. So let's dig in and figure it out. Give me the first summary, if you don't mind. What's the quick summary of your larger gym? Like, we're talking like what square footage have you got? How many, how much size have you got? Or sorry , um, how many staff people have you got? What kind of programs you're running? Gimme the 4 1 1 on this thing.

And , you know, our program really reflects, you know, our target markets , you know, for me, our target market, those individuals that value their health and wellness, but , uh, potentially time precious, you know, busy, busy work lives, busy family lives. And I think that's what I've molded our business around over the years.

You know, certainly how we look from day one to how it looks now is completely different in the early days. Probably, you know, a lot more of a hardcore CrossFit , um, facility where I feel we've evolved and brought our own brand and style. And I have to say, you know, one of the biggest points I always like to make in terms of business is the importance of learning from others.

You know, as I said at the start, you know, the influence two brains had on me, but also probably Jason Kliper with his modeler, NC Fit is what we've started to mold ourselves , uh, you know, a few years back. And, you know, our core program now very much revolves around the, the duration.

So we have our ION 60 class, which is our structured strength and conditioning class that we tend to run six to eight week blocks in. That's probably our most popular , uh, program. Our ION 45 class, which is the, the highly attended in terms of numbers within the class. And that's , um, very much like our bootcamp circuit , um, training style class. Uh, we don't include barbells.

Um , I see us less intimidated, a lot more all inclusive. So it really helps break down those barriers to entry. And then we have our ION 30, which is our 30 minutes total body conditioning , um, class. So that, that structure works really well for us to, in terms of , um, fulfill our ambitions in terms of servicing the needs of our, our members.

And then, you know, a big part of what we've also had a lot of growth in is the specialties that we , uh, programs that we offer. Um, and you know, for me, my whole objective with what we are doing and where my passion really lies within this industry is simply, you know , having a positive impact on our local community from a health and wellness perspective.

And that ultimately is at the heart of, you know, what we do on a day in , day out basis. My team is very much bought into to, to that side of things as well and understands that. And especially as programs that we've had as , as , uh, or have , um, we've had a huge amount of growth in, which is fantastic to see.

So we run a popular youth athletic development program , um, which is going from strength to strength this week. We started off summer holiday , uh, the summer holidays, the , uh, the , the kids summer holidays.

And you know, we've, over the past three years, we've been able to , uh, partner with local based businesses and we've got a full program, 50, 54 hours of classes over the summer now, which we're able to offer to children free of charge, which for me is just amazing for us to be able to do, be in a position that we can able , we're able to, to facilitate this because I know the benefit , certainly, you know, the

potential for kids to be quite inactive at times during the summer is, is is potentially there. So, you know, that youth youth program is a , a real passion of mine. And , uh, being able to see the growth there has been excellent. The other area, the, the complete opposite is our , our Legends our Legends program.

So our overseas program that initially started out with just my mum and dad post covid, my mum and dad , um, my, my parents, my parents-in-Law , you know, and it's, it's just gradually grown and grown. You know, we've got a , uh, uh, a lady Sarah, who runs , uh, heads up . She specializes in this , uh, in, in older , uh, in older generation and strength and conditioning training.

And we've now got the, the class to a point where we're running it five days a week. We'll have on average anywhere between 15 to 20 over sixties participating in each of those classes . And there's a real community built there as well. We've got a fantastic little coffee, coffee bar within the gym.

Um, and, you know, being able to see that community grow there again is extremely rewarding to us, knowing the impact it's having on, on these individuals and how important it is for, for their health. My wife, she's my, my partner in the business as well, she runs , um, she, we, we've also got a , a a 1-year-old little boy.

You know, we , we loved a bits, but it's also, you know, her passion for strength and conditioning has , has naturally gravitated towards that area.

And she's started our, our postnatal , um, uh, strength and conditioning class for mums, which again, be blown away by the popularity in terms of, and it just shows the importance for, you know, mums, new mums having a safe space, you know, we're able to close the gym during quiet times of the day, but seeing, you know, she runs that class three times a week and we'll have on average 20 mums coming with their babies.

Um, they all hang around for coffee. And it's, again, it comes back to the , the , the whole ethos of what underpins ion and it's, it's about those human connections. So the specialty programs are , are , are what I believe post covid has really helped , um, take things eye on to another level. Um, and yeah, it's , it's been fantastic , um, to see the growth , um, the growth in, in, in those areas.

And there are other people who are just like me and you found a bunch of them. I gotta ask this, how many staff people does it take to manage all these groups and all these clients? What have you got and do you share them between locations?

Our first class is at 5 25 in the morning, and our last class is at seven 30 at night. And we have glittery classes throughout the day, back to back classes, all while attended this, this , this brilliant, this , this , this fantastic to see. So obviously staffing it manning manpower is, is a big part of it.

Um , my background is in professional sports , so I had a 10 year , uh, career as a professional rugby player and alongside building my business , um, I've had 12 years working as a, a professional strength and conditioning coach in rugby. Um , the reason I say that is I'm coming from a team sport background.

I , you know, from day one, I, I really realized and understood the importance of building a team and building a strong team. And for me, you know, in, in the fitness space, in , in what we talk about in terms of business, you know, the , the point that a lot of people talk about is client retention and how important that is in , in the business.

And I couldn't agree more, but I think my focus has certainly become a lot more around staff retention and having a focus on my team.

Because what I ultimately want to try and achieve with what we are doing as business is, is focused on them in terms of providing an environment that they, they enjoy being in on a daily basis, making sure that their , their wellbeing's in space and people aren't being burnt out in terms of certainly the busy classes that we run, that they're also earning a , a , a , a wage, a salary that allows them to see

longevity within the business at ion . And that's, that's been a big focus for me. And, you know, the, what I believe from a team perspective, environment, environment is everything. And, you know, I know we'll go on to talk about potentially the, you know, what things we do from a retention perspective, but ultimately I'm trying to create the best environment I can.

If, if our environment is strong enough that it , it's in , you know, when people leave at the end of their workout and they're buzzing and they're motivated going into the day and then looking forward to getting back into the gym the next day or whenever it may be. That's, that's the ultimate goal because it's consistency.

You can have whatever program you want, you know, the strength condition in bootcamp, you know, results. I'm not gonna say any monkey can write a program. There is more art to it, but ultimately what drives results for general pop is consistency. Young people to turn up, you know, on a regular basis over a long period of time.

And that's what I feel we do well in terms of the team that I have in place, again, probably a big influence , um, over, over the years has been the book, the E-Myth in terms of the, the , the practitioner, the manager, the entrepreneur. And that's probably how I, I, I've , I've really started to mold things.

I see myself as the, the, my role within the business is now working on the business and, you know , having a focus on business development. You know, we're doing quite a lot now in the corporate wellness space as well. Um, and that's an area that really excites me. We're running outreach projects within the community again, so they're , they're they're key key key areas that I'm working on.

And my wife, she takes the managerial role where, you know, a lot of the admin , um, the onboarding new members and that side of things takes place. And then Johnny , um, is our head coach.

So Johnny's been with me literally from day one side off as a member, got into coaching , um, and over the years, seen the progression he's had professionally, personally, you know, he's certainly one of the best coaches that I've had the experience of working with and seeing his growth has been amazing. And for me, it's been about trying to upskill Johnny , um, taking on more responsibility.

And now we've really, Johnny's really got to a place where, you know, he leads the, the , the coach development side of the program, the time tabling, you know , the daily operating procedures that need to be in place and does a fantastic job with that. So they're the three key roles that I see, well , when I say key roles, where they're all, everyone in the team is a key role.

And then we have , uh, the rest of the team. So we've got, we've got probably a third, not probably a third of 10 coaches. Um, eight would be close to full-time hours , um, two more , um, part-time, but there's real diversity within the team as well, which I love. Trying to get balance of female and male coaches, different age ranges.

Uh, one of our coaches, a good friend of mine is BJ, an an American pastor , um, uh, ex-football player. So he brings a real energy to the environment. Um , we've got younger coaches that have finished university that are building their careers , um, like I said mentioned earlier, Sarah , who's our , our legends coach. So it's, it's a real good environment for coaches to be.

And I think the program that we offer, you know, it ticks a lot of boxes for our, our coaches in terms of exposing them to, you know, a range of different , um, populations, whether that's the general part , the over sixties youth development. We do a lot with sport teams as well, sporting teams.

My background being in, in rugby, we get a lot of teams coming into us and using the facilities and, you know, both amateur, semi-professional and professional teams, which is, again, it's, it creates a great environment for, for, for to work in.

And, you know, ultimately, again, I just keep coming back to that point, you know, that's what the focus for us is , is , is trying to really nurture and nourish the , the , the team environment that we've created.

Our, our, IM 45, our bootcamp style class , um, on Saturday and a Sunday morning, we regularly get 60 people attend these classes. When it comes to more out , you know, more seasonal style, like holiday period, you know, we'll easily get 80 , 90 people in a class.

It's, yeah, it's the , the , in terms of the day , the running of the , the classes, the big part for me, the two, two key points group management skills, and that's a big , um, requirement from what I need from our team. It's not something that you're gonna necessarily learn on a course or, you know , from an education perspective, that is experience. That's what comes with experience.

And in order to have group management skills, it all comes down to, again, the systems and standards that, that we have. So in order to run these busy classes, you know, it's a requirement. We have not, not in our , just our busy classes, our standard eye on , and our coaching team is, every class has the same experience. So whenever people are coming into our classes, everything is set up for that class.

Prior to starting, you know, with us , all the racks would be set out with the bars, all the kettlebells, put out all the, the, the cardio machine, whatever we are using in that class. We shape the gym floor, manage the gym floor. So it shows, it shows our members a standard.

It shows that we care about what we are doing, and ultimately we want a member that's coming into our 5 25 pass , uh, or the seven 30 in the evening class, all to have the same experience. So managing those classes is challenging. And again, I keep referring back to things that I've, I've learned from others.

And, you know, I listen to the Bergeron , uh, podcast at the start of the year and what really jumped out to me. 'cause I think at times we als we also feel a little bit ashamed if we have busy classes because we may feel that we're not , um, we're not giving the individuals what they, you know, the, the , the level of coaching that they need.

But again, what's my aim with Ion , it's about having a positive impact on our, our local community from a health and wellness perspective. The more people I can get into our facility training, yes, it's good for business, obviously, but ultimately I know it's having a positive impact on all these people's lives, and that's what it's about.

And Ben Bergon quite well outspoken was like, you know, I don't try to cap my classes, you know, he's, he's running classes, 30 people in a class, and, you know, that's, that's something that he's, he's proud of. I know he talks about the sa the systems the standard that needed to operate. And that's, that's what it comes down to. Organization.

If you've got all good organization, good structures in place, then that's, that's, that's what's gonna allow you to , uh, to, to operate at a good, good level. And, you know, I have to say, you know, these classes that have the, the high numbers, you know, the energy that's there, the, the, the , the environment that's created is, is fantastic to see in our eye on 60 classes.

We don't push for those sort of numbers, but still, they can be still highly attended.

We get up to 30 people at times in those classes, you know, well , where we've shaped our program is, it's simple, you know, so it's that whole point, like what we try , you know, within our strength program, we very much focus on the fundamentals, the key movements, squat, hinge, single leg , push pull , you know, it's about the virtuosity, you know, the , the performing the common uncommonly.

Well, and that's, that's where we have a very , a lot of consistency. You know, for some people over the years, they, they haven't, you know, they haven't really taken to the, the , the style of program that we run. You know, we've lost members to other, you know, more traditional CrossFit facilities. But I'm very comfortable with that now because I understand the why in terms of what we do.

We're building around, you know, functional fundamental movements, and we want people to move, you know, move as best as they possibly can. And that's at the heart of all of our programs.

But, you know, when we're running these classes, we run them quite circuit based style, where it's moving from station to station, it's formalized, it has, you know, five lanes, you know, each lane is set up with the right ba , with right , um, level of equipment. You know, if you are using capital bes, it'll have your 24, your 16, you know, so it's, it's all mapped out.

And again, that's what allows for a good class is the organization and , and the coach, the exercise of the movements that we're using, you know, they're lower skilled exercises, so it makes it a little bit easier to move around the gym floor and make small little tweaks if needed. But it's, you know, ultimately it is about crowd management. It is group management larger , those larger classes .

As you get bigger, those systems become even more important because mine, when I hit 230 members, they imploded, everything fell apart, and I was screwed. If you're going to go big, your systems must be airtight. The best way to do that is to get them airtight with the help of a mentor at 150 clients, and then grow organically with a purpose slowly and focus on retention so that your systems don't get overloaded.

So Rob, I'm gonna ask you this, and this is the question that I've been most interested since we started chatting that I wanted to ask you on this show. Eight gyms generally have worse retention. We, we know this from the state of the industry report, we see the , as gyms get larger and classes get larger, we traditionally retention gets, gets lower, and people, length of engagement, people bleed out.

So my question for you, I know that you have relatively low churn. Do you have any retention stats and what do you do to retain members? How do you do what other people aren't able to do? Yeah,

I've relied on my , and, you know, I can't stress enough, just to back up exactly what you're saying , that , you know, we haven't had things perfect, you know, and it , it's, we've, we've, we, we've made plenty of mistakes over the years, but it's learning from those setbacks, those, those failures that, you know, move you on to the success that you can have.

But ultimately it's the systems that we have, you know, implemented allows things to, to, to move in the right direction to, I , you know, no one was coming on the , the podcast. I, I , we use what as our backend system. So, you know , I , uh, I had a good look at through it , the, the number side of things. So, you know, our, our monthly churn is approximately 3%.

Um, I also have to point out, so our membership base is , um, yeah, it's 400 and , um, 400 and roughly around 430 members currently that there , that's their memberships looking on what yesterday. So we've got 799 live accounts. So a lot of our specialty program is isn't membership based . We do a lot around drop-ins with that.

So, you know, in terms of the, the numbers that we have, it's, it's high, it's high in terms of people using the facility . So, you know, we're 4, 430 members, but we have 799 live accounts currently. 3% should the 90% day retention, so what five points out?

So we're 74%, so 74% in terms of that 90% , um, um, 90 day , um, retention of new members coming on board , you know, ju you know , according to what that's, that's, that's in a, in a good place. However, I look at that and that's a number that I think there's areas we can improve on that and we can try and , uh, improve that the , um, the, the leg in terms of the average length of engagement.

That's always been something I've been really proud of because even though we've grown, we still at over 40 months in terms of the length of engagement. Sorry, one

And that's been certainly so beneficial for me having that accountability, you know, to, to working with the team, you know, when I'm away from , um, when I'm away from the, the , the gym, what things I can be working on to try and improve. So, you know, I can't, you know, speak highly enough of Lisa in terms of, you know, working with her from a mentorship per point of view.

But in terms of the , the platform, there is a difference between what or fire . And , um, in terms of the two brain and, you know, we've had, we've had this right from the get go , so I've always been aware we've had a very good leg.

Only have to, you know, one of the big things, even though we have high member , uh, membership base, the big part of our want, our team is to know a majority of our members by name. I want them to know we , you know, people personally. Yes, it becomes more and more challenging, but it's something I still think that we're very good at.

And, you know, it's being able to have the personal touches with the larger facilities, which are the really, really important things.

You know, I , I like to reference, I , you know, big part of, you know, where I, I , I love the , the professional development and, you know, I'm currently reading , just coming to the end of reading Unreasonable Hospitality , uh, the world grader , you know, in terms of what he talks about in terms of just that the unreasonable hospitality and trying to pro , you know, create the best environment for people to be

in on a day-to-Day basis. And, you know, that ultimately is, is what drives our retention rates . You know, it's, you know, what do we do to try and drive retention? What systems do we have in place? It's not being complacent with it, but ultimately our big focus is on environment.

You know, when people are coming in day-to-day base , you know, that's, that's what, you know, keeps them coming back, is to what, what, what we expose them to. And I said it's the , the smaller touches in and around the facility.

We've got a great coffee area, our yellow chair coffee bar, which is just creates a real good post-work workout or Preco post , um, you know, if people are in a rush, grabbing a coffee shoot, you know, be able to have a conversation with others for a couple of moments.

But then there are other areas we do, you know, we offer, it's not something we do compulsory for everyone, but we offer , um, regular member check-ins where we all do a goal setting session using the InBody machine. But that's, that's more , uh, uh, optional as opposed to, to, to, to compulsory we're , we run High Rocks events, so we're High Rocks affiliated.

We did that , uh, start of the year, you know, the trend in that space is certainly really high at the moment. So, you know, it's, it's something that we want to piggyback on and it's been a great filter funnel into the gym. But, you know, we run quarterly events. We have over 120 members taking part each time we attach it to a charity that we're, we're working with.

Um, and we always make it team based to make it all inclusive and a great environment to be. So there , there some of the key ways that are trying and drive the , the retention aspect for, for Ion , but it's , um, yeah, it's, it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's the retention side of things is the challenge, but I feel we we're , we're, we're in a pretty solid place. We can always do things better. Mm-Hmm .

You know , we try to stay on top of that as best as we can, whether that's birthdays, newborns, you know, weddings, whatever, you know, and recognizing them within the , um, within what we do. But I think having that client , um, success manager would be something that I think could be really valuable to us.

It can be with simple things like calling absent members, Hey, I noticed you haven't been in the gym in three days. When are you coming back? Stuff like that. There's also birthday cards, gifts, surprise and delight type things.

There's a ton of different things that a client success manager can do, but every gym wonder that I've spoken to on the show who has one says the, the role pays for itself, the ROI on this position is incredible because if the person saves one or two memberships a month, it usually pays for the wages. So think about that as you guys are thinking about retention and length of engagement.

Uh, I'm gonna ask you this one, Rob, you said you have , uh, you know, the stable numbers and low churn. How do you acquire new clients? Do you have any stats you can share on that? Where do they come from?

So like a lot of the, the leads that we tend to, to , to , to have is very organic, comes through the website. We're proactive on social media. We put a lot of content out. So, you know, they come through that.

But I would say the, the big funnel for us also has been through our specialty programs in terms we get a lot of, you know, parents that are bringing their kids to our youth program that like what they see, understand, you know, when they see in, in, in, in the flesh in terms of what we do on a day-to-day basis. That's, that's a great way of bringing people in the, the unfit program that my wife runs.

That's been a fantastic funnel also, you know, going from that postnatal training to once they progress, you know, coming on board as members. So, you know, those programs in particular being a fantastic funnel for, for our , our , our membership base.

Or how do you get those people?

I think there's always, you know, a perception around the style of facilities we re we run, you know, that, that warehouse style, you know, whereas , you know, when people are used to the health club , certainly in the UK probably that's, you know, we're , we're always a few years behind the states, Australia, in terms of where the industry is. And I think there's still that point.

But , you know, the functional fitness space is certainly growing, and now it's about trying to break those down, those barriers down, making people feel comfortable in terms of walking through the doors and understanding, you know, what we're trying to achieve here is about trying to address sedentary lifestyles, nutrient deficient diets, you know, chronic stress, those, those primary causes of, you know, chronic , you know ,

uh, chronic disease these days . That's ultimately what I'm trying to build eye on around is a , is a, is a health facility and you know, the more people that can come through the doors, it's, it's, it's, that's, that's the important part to it.

And then from there there'll tend to be two options. So it'll either there be option one to, to come and have a no sweat intro where people, if people are still a little bit unsure, have a little look around, meet someone in person , um, you know, see the facility , see the class meets some of the team, which is always a real good way of breaking down that barrier.

Or we offer a free taster class for our I 45, our bootcamp class. We always try and encourage them to go to a quieter one when we say quieter , still one with probably 15, 20 people in it. But it makes it , you know, it makes it , uh, uh, a class and we'll always try and find ways of buddying them up, A new member buddying up with an experience made , but it's just so people feel comfortable.

'cause I understand there's nothing worse than coming through the door when you don't know anyone. You're jumping into a environment. It's trying to make it as, as friendly and warm feeling as possible from the get go . So they're the two starting points from there. Then

So if someone wants to sign up for full membership, we will have , uh, a two one-to-one sessions where they'll be introduced to the, the , the fundamental movements, the, the , the barbell exercises that we use in classes. And it's about trying to just introduce them to the movement. It's not about trying to make them experts in them. That's what classes consistency is what's gonna help them , uh, get there.

But it's just a real good way of spending two hours with a coach, familiarizing themselves with our program, our environment, you know, the coaches themselves, you know, the cueings that we use. Um, and then they'll progress into the , the class environment with our I 45 class. It is about, you know, like I said, lower the barrier to entry. You know, it is about, you know, it's a lower scale workout that's required.

So we feel comfortable that people can move straight into that class environment. So they're two options. Then from that process, it's either two one-to-ones or dependent on the , the , the , the membership they have, they go straight to our pass environment.

Listeners, if you're out there, free trials, just throwing people into class , not recommended better retention, better length of engagement, better average, every per member. If you sit down or talk to someone on the phone, ask them what are your goals and tell them, here's how I get you to your goals with our services. Do you wanna sign up? Yes. And away you go.

And then you have a 90 day goal review session that is the best practice to get people to those goals. Uh, do you do goal review sessions? You've got a huge crew. Is it possible to do that with your group? Yeah,

If people want to book in for , um, the , the goal reviews, use the InBody machine, talk about the , the direction they're moving with their training , their nutrition, then um , that's , uh, that's what I would say to , again, on the retention side of things with group training. But we've also just brought on a , a , a nutritionist, Jen, she's absolutely fantastic.

And for me, that's a direction that we're really keen on, on, on , um, going down. 'cause I really see that's gonna help with the retention. It's gonna help members achieve the goals that they want quicker as well. You know, she's very, she's someone that's very aligned with our , uh, our methods, our beliefs in terms of what we're trying to do as a facility. Um, so again, that comes into that retention model as well.

That you , you build , you grow and no retirement. For me, it's, it's, it's a big part of my why. And, you know, for me, what does growth look like? I , I've used the term a couple of times, but the , the phrase in terms of what we're trying to do is have a positive impact on our local community from a health and wellness perspective.

For me, growth is now very much on how do we expand that to our wider community rather than just being our local, the wider community. So for me, growth isn't necessarily in the brick and mortar in terms of, you know, trying to, you know, open more facilities or trying to get more and more members in.

I'm never, you know, I don't wanna be in a point that we turn people away, and I think we'll continue to grow organically at both , uh, in both facilities. But ultimately for me it's areas like the, the corporate wellness side of things, the , um, the outreach programs that we're doing within the community.

They're areas that I really want to try and grow, because that comes back to what my whole why in terms of what we're doing as business is about. So again, that's where I see growth being not necessarily within just members and numbers from that side of things.

You have to have systems, find your clients, bring them in and intake them and keep them for a long time. But retention is going to be SI would put that in place before you look at client acquisition and marketing, because if you just get a bunch of clients and your retention sucks, they're just bleeding out the back door while you're filling them in the front door, and it's not a good plan .

So retention first and then systems. Start with your systems. Get good systems in place, test them, test them again, then scale up slowly. And when things start to rattle a little bit , you gotta tighten 'em up. And a mentor can help you do this with a specific plan, because I did not do this. I started to scale up, but all of a sudden everything fell apart.

I had no one to help me tighten them, and everything slid back down and we lost money. That's when I got a mentor who helped me bring up my systems to the level they need to be at, find the right number of clients in that system, and then make the money that we wanted to. So, Rob, I'm gonna ask you this final question.

Your mentor, Lisa, what is the most important thing that she brings to you and how has she helped you most with your business?

And, you know, I was, I've been m and r in about the two brain for quite a number of years , um, and quite frankly, it's, it's really, you know, it , it's a no brainer, you know, it, it really is because it's, you know, if we want to grow as, as, as gym owners, you know, having people that have been there, that have done it, having those conversations, having that accountability in terms of getting stuff done,

because there is so much to do when you run into your own business. There's so many things to get on with. And the one thing I just come back to in terms of, for me being on this journey, I've been in the industry for 12 years, you know, 10 years running an a gym , own gym.

And it's, I think it can get a little bit daunting at times in terms of your systems , but it is just been trying to focus on doing the best we can do day in, day out, and, you know, things, if we get that right, the growth of business will come, you know, the system side of things. It's just trying to pinpoint, you know, what systems you wanna work on at time.

Whether that's what's the flow of the class, what do you usually do, you know, how do you wanna lock up at the end of the day? What's your standard? Because ultimately, as gym owners, you know, what we are prepared to tolerate in our presence becomes our standard. And we need to set standard for the others, the rest of the team to follow. And that's, that's what I feel we've done.

If you hit those numbers, we have data that shows you can make a hundred thousand dollars a year from your business at that point, with the help of a mentor, you can scale up however you want or you can do something different. But those are your first targets. If you hit those, you can make a great living. And then the world is your oyster, and you can decide exactly what you wanna do next.

This has been Run a Profitable Gym. I'm your host, Mike Warrington . Thanks for watching and listening. Please hit subscribe on your way out. And now here's Cooper Brainin , founder Chris Cooper with a final message.

I'd love to have you in that group. It's Gym Owners United on Facebook, or go to gym owners united.com to join. Do it today.