Run a Profitable Gym

What are the benefits of capping membership?

Jeff Smith of Cannon CrossFit in Texas joins us on the show today. Before becoming involved with CrossFit, he was buying up buildings and holding them to develop cash flow assets. This is a super important episode as we discuss the keys to developing and growing your investments to include an array of options. Take notes and be sure to reach out to Jeff with any questions you may have!Jeff and I both highly recommend Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.In this Interview:  What is a cash flow asset? The three ways that real estate investing makes you money The benefiting of getting started with an SBA loan Plus:  Understanding how cheap it is to own your own building - this is the calculator tool I use (make sure you choose "blended" under "payment types" to determine the real monthly payment). Why you should buy and hold instead of buy and sell Are mutual funds the best investment choice for my portfolio?    About Jeff:  Jeff grew up in Illinois playing just about every sport possible. Following his collegiate football career he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served as part of the 75th Ranger Regiment. Jeff was introduced to CrossFit by some of his buddies who were still in the military. It was an immediate fit for Jeff’s competitive drive and the community aspect allowed him to make numerous new friends following his move to Houston.  When Jeff is not involved at his gym, he enjoys teaching and mentoring others for how to develop cash flow assets.  Timeline: 1:31 – Jeff Smith Introduction4:41 – What is a cash flow asset?7:34 – The three ways that real estate investing makes you money9:08 – What is the first step to buy your first building?11:48 – The benefit of starting with an SBA (Small Business Association) Loan13:30 – Understanding how cheap it is to own your building rather than rent.   15:52 – The ability to sublease your building and create extra cash flow17:22 – Splitting your business into two separate assets19:39 – Why are we recommending to buy and hold instead of buy and sell22:05 – What percentage of a portfolio should be in cash flow assets23:40 – Why mutual funds may not be the best investment choice28:19 – Jeff’s experience investing in residential and commercial real estate31:40 – Deciding between investing in residential versus commercial real estate33:21 – Where to find a real estate investment group35:00 – Investing in a franchise. Is it worth it?38:05 – Investing in others with peer to peer investing40:00 – Investing in the stock market via index funds42:05 – Is it possible to turn your business into a passive income business43:27 – At what stage does your time become too valuable to coach a class    Contact Jeff:Jeff@cannoncrossfit.comhttp://www.cannoncrossfit.com/ 

Is the old model of "hiring a full-time admin person"--or even hiring a GM for your gym--obsolete?If you've hired a GM before, you've probably broken out their task list in advance; then calculated the time necessary to do the work; then evaluated their ability to execute. Right?(If you haven't done this for all of your staff, including coaches, you need the Incubator.)And you've probably read The Four-Hour Workweek, where author Tim Ferriss uses Virtual Assistants (VAs) to help him reduce his workload and automate replicable tasks. When I read it, the idea of using VAs to help in the service industry seemed like a pipe dream. After all, we're not fulfilling orders: we're greeting people at the door, calling them on Fridays, and writing them love notes.The VA business has changed a LOT since Ferriss' book.  Virtual Assistants are everywhere, but the spectrum of help is broad--from highly-qualified freelancers to low-paid ESL speakers.Ari Meisel's company, GetLeverage.com, sits between highly-qualified VAs and your business. GetLeverage.com believes in two steps BEFORE hiring a VA:Optimizing your processesAutomating your processesTHEN hiring a VA, where possible. In this Interview: How Ari battled Crohn’s disease and came out on the other side Optimizing the 80/20 rule to get the best results possible An example of how Get Leverage can take on a process and outsource it Plus:  Prioritizing which ideas you want to take on in your business and personal life What is most important when consider which tasks to outsource The top ways that a virtual assistant can help a CrossFit Gym   About Ari:  Ari started his career back in 2006 in the real estate industry. After being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease: A highly debilitating digestive ailment, Ari was unable to lead a normal life. He lost weight, energy and the ability to work with any regularity. Through large amounts of trial and error, Ari was able to regain control of his life and beat this seemingly unbeatable disease and is now symptom free.  Ari now runs a virtual assistant company called Get Leverage. Less doing and more living are the results of Ari’s amazing journey back to health happiness and wellbeing. Ari currently lives in New York City, where he spends every ounce of free time with his wife and four kids. Ari has written several books, including Idea to Execution and Less Doing, More Living.Timeline: 0:58 – Ari Meisel Introduction4:55 – What is an example of the type of work Get Leverage will do?6:05 – Optimizing the 80/20 rule to get the best results7:59 – Optimizing your time by creating processes9:45 – An example of a weekly process and how it is handled at Ari’s company11:19 -  Optimizing processes outside of work within your personal life14:01 – The manual of being you. Creating and documenting your steps16:31 – Prioritizing which ideas you want to work on in your business and personal life18:05 – What is most important to outsource to a virtual assistant?21:44 – At what stage should you outsource your primary service?25:25 – What are the concerns most people have with using virtual assistants?26:58 – What are the top areas that virtual assistants can help CrossFit Gyms29:07 – How much autonomy over money and time should we give to a virtual assistant?31:21 – Why Get Leverage uses Slack instead of traditional email33:00 – Thoughts on the freelance lifestyle and Ari’s service  Contact Ari:https://getleverage.com/https://twitter.com/arimeisel?lang=enhttps://www.fa

This is an important replay of an episode from August, 2016. I think everyone should listen to this episode every YEAR, and read Bob's book ("The Go-Giver") every year too. "The Go-Giver" is a career-changing book for many professionals. In this episode, co-author Bob Burg talks about value, influence and changing the way you look at business. Bob starts with an overview of the 5 Laws of Stratospheric Success: Value, Compensation, Influence, Authenticity and Receptivity. Then Bob talks about INTRINSIC VALUE: the value that's built into your experience. These can also be broken into five parts: excellence, consistency, attention, empathy and appreciation. This is what you're giving people. Notice that Burg lists "consistency" as part of excellence. He also emphasizes individual attention (even in a group setting) and appreciation - which doesn't mean "discounts". Bob says "The key to receptivity is staying open to "Probably the biggest upside-down misperception about selling is that it's about taking. And it's not! Selling is all about giving." He continues: "Selling is simply discovering what the other person needs, wants or desires and helping them to get it." Bob has never heard our "No-Sweat Intro" or "Bright Spots" interview questions, but he virtually walks through the entire conversation verbatim. Start with a conversation. Ask questions. Make a recommendation as a coach--not as a salesman. This is why offering a "free CrossFit trial" Bob mentions "How To Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, which I give to every prospective coach at Catalyst. "Ultimately, people do things for their reasons, not our reasons" - Dale Carnegie Here are 3 things Bob learned from Carnegie: Everyone seeks happiness Happiness is relative Resources are limited. How does a "Go-Giver" say NO to clients who are bad fits or opportunities that will squander their limited time and attention? Bob gives us tactful ways to do so. "I'm not a big believer in being a martyr." A quick overview of The Go-Giver: You can go to Bob’s website www.TheGoGiver.com and immediately download Chapter One from his international bestseller The Go-Giver and access lots of value-added resources such as the special report, The Go-Giver Way: Five Principles for Creating a Culture of Excellence. Buy The Go-Giver series here: tgg-bundle-low-res Music in this episode by The Blessed Cassettes. Recorded on August 11, 2016. Two-Brain Business is now available on Audible.com!

What are they willing to give up?

You probably have a great idea. I've never met an entrepreneur who didn't have at least one.You might even know the steps to get there.So why aren't you doing it?If you're a fan of this podcast, you probably own a business.You probably have an idea to make your business better.You might not know the first steps. Or (more likely) you're probably chasing TEN ideas and finishing none.This episode is dedicated to ACTION: doing the things that will make a difference. Knocking over the first domino. Shipping. Publishing.When I started writing DontBuyAds in 2008, there was a severe lack of knowledge in the microgym community. We didn't know what to charge, or how to sell our services. I was guilty. So as I learned from my first mentors, I published everything on that blog (and then in Two-Brain Business, yada yada.) But in the new age of abundant information, there's a new problem: lack of filtering.Believe it or not, you probably already know more than you need. The scope of opinion on how to run your business online is vast. Even when it's backed by comparison and data, the sheer volume can be paralyzing. I wrote, "Do You Know TOO Much?" last week, if you want to read more.There are two parts to the "success" equation: knowledge, and action.In my first four years spent mentoring other gym owners, I focused on knowledge: my seminars were crazy-long lectures; I sold courses online of my talking head. I no longer do either, because both stopped working for people.Gym owners would attend these 16-hour knowledge dumps, go home and--take zero action. Or they'd buy an online course, watch a few videos, get overwhelmed, and stop.When I founded TwoBrainBusiness.com, I took the opportunity to build our programs around what WORKS: mentorship, accountability, AND knowledge. Anyone who compares the 2017 program with the model I used in 2012 (or even 2015) will immediately see a huge difference in the updated delivery...and the results.Why are TwoBrain gyms so successful? They're coached to take action.How can I produce this much content, and still have time to take 5-6 phone calls lasting an hour every day? How did I write two books (Help First and Two-Brain Business 2.0) in 70 days? How do I focus on shipping when I have over 80 emails, 40 text messages, and hundreds of Facebook notifications every single day?This is my strategy for Action.I share this with TwoBrain gym owners on our regular calls, and I'm sharing it with you now. I know this will probably further the divide between gyms doing very, very well and gyms who aren't going to make it. Gym owners who take action will pull even further ahead of gym owners who don't, and this episode will make that divide even broader. I'm okay with that. To save The Movement, I believe some of us need to push even farther, and then model success for everyone else. Are there millionaire gym owners out there? You'd better believe it. Do they own multiple locations and have thousands of clients? Not most of them. What IS the difference between you and them?Action.Enjoy the podcast, and when you're ready to take your OWN action, click here to kick off the Incubator.

You suck at selling your service. So does Chris Cooper.In fact, he hates selling. So he doesn't. In this episode, he'll talk about how you can to increase client numbers, revenue and profit without feeling like a salesperson. Some people enjoy sales. Chris really doesn't. Here's how he's been incredibly successful at making sales without "selling" anything.

What are you avoiding?