Run a Profitable Gym

When was the last time you brainstormed with the gym owner across town? Or referred a client to a local chiropractor? Or took the local physiotherapist out to lunch?"Networking" is a corporate buzzword, but building a network—an ecosystem—is you how you can grow your business faster and help your clients more—without paid advertising.Here, Chris Cooper shares real examples of how supporting his local ecosystem helped him grow his business and put him in a strong position to give back and help more.Links:Gym Lead MachineForever Fierce"The Go-Giver"What Is Wealth?Join the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsTwo-Brain SummitTimeline:1:13 – Building your local ecosystem.7:11 – How investing in your ecosystem can yield returns later on.14:26 – Your ecosystem can also be a safety net.16:09 – Learning from others in your ecosystem.22:54 – Before you can give back to your community, you need a solid foundation.

Adding new programs to your gym is a great way to increase revenue. But there's only so much an owner can do.So how do you add programs without getting burned out? If you hire staff to run them for you, how do you pay them and still make a profit? And how do you find the right person to make a program successful?Peter Brasovan is a co-owner of NapTown Fitness, an Indiana gym with multiple revenue streams that together gross over $1 million a year. The key, he says, is intrapreneurialism: when one rock-star staff member starts a program under the mother business' umbrella.Here, Peter—a Certified Two-Brain Mentor—unpacks the system. You'll learn how intrapreneurialism differs from entrepreneurialism, how to choose your champion intrapreneur, what you should—and shouldn't—do to ensure success and how intrapreneurialism can help you make more money.Links:NapTown FitnessThe $1 Million Gym Built by Two Guys Who Once Rationed Paper TowelsWodifyAGuardJoin the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsBook a Free CallTimeline:2:22 – What is an intrapreneur? 6:21 – How intrapreneurialism benefits employees and employers.14:17 – From yoga class to $190,000 yoga empire: NapTown Fitness’ first experiment with intrapreneurialism.21:25 – What not to do: going too big too fast.25:19 – Why your intrapreneur’s values need to be aligned with your gym’s.27:07 – How intrapreneurialism turned NapTown’s long-unsuccessful kids program into a $60,000 success.30:44 – The importance of defining—and redefining—success.34:17 – Characteristics of rock-star intrapreneurs.42:17 – It’s not autopilot: The importance of mentorship, leadership and communication.49:23 – Taking off the training wheels—and letting go.51:54 – Work backward to set the right financial goals.54:14 – Three simple steps to starting an intrapreneurial program at your gym.

Think you need a gym to make a living as a coach? Think again. In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper delivers a crash course on how to make a living as a gymless trainer. Maybe you offer digital coaching. Maybe you train clients in their homes or workplaces. Maybe you train them from someone else's gym. Whichever path you choose, you'll need to make smart decisions about pricing, audience-building and operations. Learn from Chris' past mistakes now to make sure you don't make the same ones later.Links:WodifyForever FierceJoin the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsBook a Free CallContact:chris@twobrainbusiness.comTimeline:1:40 – How to move your coaching business online.8:03 – What to figure out before coaching off-site.11:14 – The policies you need to establish for off-site coaching.13:04 – Coaching team athletics. 16:40 – How to run a corporate fitness program.19:17 – Training clients out of someone else’s gym.

How long do clients stay at your gym? A year? Two?Gym owner, chiropractor and Certified Two-Brain Mentor Brian Strump has retained clients for up to 10 years, and even the short end of his average length of engagement is double that of most—or more.Here, Brian shares how cultivating a great gym culture, developing skilled staff and communicating with members regularly can help you create 10-year clients.Links:Live Active CharlotteGym Lead MachineFree hiring plan and job descriptions"The Power of Moments"Join the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsBook a Free CallTimeline:1:59 – The 10-year client: fact or fiction?8:14 – Length of engagement (LEG) is a long game.12:07 – For great client LEG, you need great staff LEG.18:33 – Creating the right environment for your market.22:09 – Cultivating long-term clients from Day 1 and the importance of the client success manager.28:47 – What to do when a client wants to leave.38:30 – How diversifying your offerings helps keep clients engaged for the long haul.

We get it: You got into the fitness business because you want to help people, not sell snake oil. But here's the thing: You can't help people if you can't keep the lights on, and you don't have to sell snake oil to be a salesperson. In fact, good selling is all about helping.Here's Chris Cooper on selling without selling, hiring and training salespeople and the difference between sales and marketing.Links:The Goal Review Session"Help First"The Prescriptive ModelOur free done-for-you hiring planChris Cooper's series on wealthAGuardForever FierceJoin the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsBook a Free CallContact:chris@twobrainbusiness.comTimeline:0:46 – Selling without selling.7:09 – Who should handle sales at your business?10:44 – How to hire, train and compensate sales staff.17:05 – Why affinity marketing should come before paid advertising.

How to you get a client to stay with you forever? Wow them at the very beginning.Brian Zimmerman is a Certified Two-Brain mentor and the owner of CrossFit Jungle Gym. He says average revenue per member and length of engagement are both tied back to a client's onboarding process.In this episode, he joined Mike Warkentin to talk about the critical steps you need to take when onboarding a new client for the best possible long-term outcomes.Links:CrossFit Jungle GymThe Icon ProblemJoin the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsBook a Free CallWodifyTimeline: 1:45 – What is onboarding?4:12 – What a great onboarding session means to the client.8:53 – How great onboarding leads to new business opportunities.14:08 – The worst ways to onboard a new client.20:47 – The gold standards of onboarding.30:22 – Onboarding and the emotional connection.40:02 – How to measure onboarding success.

"People like us do things like this." — Seth GodinMost potential clients don't want to know about constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity. They want to know how to lose weight. Or build muscle. Or both.So instead of telling them how great your program is, talk about the great things your clients have accomplished with it.In this episode, lifelong wordsmith Chris Cooper will teach you to tell great stories and how they'll help you get more clients and keep them longer.Links:Storytelling WorkbookTwo-Brain SummitAGuardWodifyJoin the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsBook a Free CallContact:chris@twobrainbusiness.comTimeline:00:00 – Chris’ first strip search.3:48 – You can buy attention, but you can’t buy trust.5:08 – Chris hits rock bottom—then climbs out by telling stories.10:18 – What story are you telling?12:51 – “People like us do things like this.”17:38 – The time Chris (almost) bounced a check.20:16 – The boat vs. the bait and what kind of media platforms you need.25:01 – The technician’s curse and the answer to “What should I write about?”30:01 – Good storytelling is sticky.

Jason Carroll's got his retirement plan all figured out: be a stunt double for Tom Hanks. But for now, he's focusing on fitness.The Hollywood lookalike made his CrossFit Games debut in 2017 and finished in 28th place as a rookie. He returned two years later and took 39th.He joined Sean Woodland to talk about how basketball led him to the weight room, which in turn led him to CrossFit, how he turned disappointment in 2016 to triumph the following year and just how many times he’s actually been mistaken for a movie star.Links:Join the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsBook a Free CallContact:Instagram: @jasoncarroll89Timeline:2:19 – Playing basketball at “5 foot nothing.”5:16 – Pursuing strength and conditioning, biomechanics and bioenergetics in college.7:24 – How a layoff led to a passion for CrossFit.12:14 – Becoming a CrossFit competitor.14:04 – Jason’s first Regional.16:58 – Missing the Games by a hair, then making it the next year.20:07 – Making friends—or not—at the CrossFit Games.22:41 – Lessons learned as a rookie Games athlete.28:02 – Reacting to the Games season changes in 2018.31:13 – Killing the 2019 Open. 34:17 – Getting inducted into the Trash-Talk Thursday tribe.38:11 – Mai Tais and kalua pork.40:32 – Coronavirus and the competition season.44:01 – Rediscovering a love for the bike.48:29 – On being a Hollywood doppelgänger.

Good gym owners know that exercise alone will only get clients so far. For real results, they've gotta practice good nutrition, too.But what if you don't know how to teach it? Jen Broxterman is a registered dietician of 10 years, a sports nutritionist, the founder of Nutrition Rx and the creator of the brand-new Two-Brain Nutrition Coaching Course. The self-paced course combines an arsenal of science and experience with one-on-one mentorship to get trainers client-ready in as little as a month. She joined Certified Two-Brain Mentor Josh Martin to talk about the details of the course, why it works and how it can help gym owners add six figures or more in annual revenue.Links:The Two-Brain Coaching Nutrition CourseNutrition RxJoin the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsBook a Free CallContact:nutrition@twobraincoaching.comInstagram: @nutrition_rxTimeline:2:44 – Why Jen became a registered dietician.8:13 – The method that gets the best results.13:34 – What the course entails.17:01 – Managing scope of practice.22:36 – Who should take the course.25:40 – The mentorship component.27:58 – Course cost vs. return on investment.

Gym owners have faced unprecedented levels of stress over the last several weeks and months. But let's be real—as an entrepreneur, you're always stressed. Always checking your email, overthinking things and running yourself ragged.But what you're actually doing is strengthening your amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for the fight-or-flight response. And to keep it from getting out of control, you need to de-train it. Here, Chris Cooper shares proven strategies for reducing stress, rewiring the brain and finding focus.Links:Two-Brain Radio Episode 48: What to Do When It All Goes WrongJoin the Gym Owners United group on FacebookFree ToolsBook a Free CallContact:chris@twobrainbusiness.comTimeline:1:50 – Getting to know the amygdala.7:54 – Schedule screen-free time AND email time.11:33 – Do LSD (long, slow-duration exercise).14:40 – Immerse yourself.16:42 – Keep a mental scoreboard.18:49 – Subtract things from your life instead of adding more.21:29 – Set up a personal board of directors.27:39 – Break problems down into solvable parts.28:58 – Remember: The mistakes you make now will help others in the future.30:37 – Meditate.33:08 – You are not your business.34:41 – There is no ground.