The average gym owner takes home less than $50,000 a year. At Matt Michaud’s gym in New Hampshire, at least two coaches earn more than $100,000 a year, and the rest of his full-time staff are close behind.
Matt runs one location. He has six full-time staff members, and he no longer coaches classes. When he joined Two-Brain almost 10 years ago, he was doing about $12,000 a month, relying on part-timers and worrying about payroll. Today, the gym does more than $80,000 a month.
Matt is now a Two-Brain mentor, and on our podcast he walked me through exactly how his coaches get to six figures. You can use the same model in your gym.
Step 1: Build a Real Full-Time Role
Matt’s first full-time hire was a part-time coach he moved into a bigger role. The job was mostly coaching, with some client success manager duties, some sales and No Sweat Intros mixed in.
It was scary. Matt told the coach he couldn’t promise anything, but he would do everything he could to help the coach succeed. “If they failed, I fail,” he said.
To make the role work, Matt wrote everything down. Every responsibility went into an SOP (standard operating procedure) so the coach had a playbook to follow when Matt wasn’t in the building. When something went wrong, they wrote the fix together. Because coaches help build the systems, they take ownership of them.
Today, each full-time coach at Matt’s gym earns a base of about $3,000 a month. That covers group classes plus one administrative area of responsibility. One coach owns scheduling. Another manages the cleaners and equipment maintenance. Each reports on their area.
That base gives coaches stability. The path to six figures comes from what they build on top of it.
Step 2: Find Out What Your Coach Wants
Matt holds regular development meetings with his staff. He treats their goals the same way his coaches treat client goals: find out what the person wants, then build a plan to get there.
Matt uses a tap-dancing example. If a coach loves tap dancing and gets the 10 most important tasks done, Matt is happy to let that coach run tap-dance lessons in the gym. The coach enjoys the work and earns more, and the gym earns more too.
One of Matt’s coaches came from Orangetheory, where he was a part-time star with no room to grow. He couldn’t take on personal training clients or build a real income there. In a development meeting at Matt’s gym, he said his big goal was to buy a house.
Matt asked two questions: “What do you need?” and “Where are you right now?”
Together, they reviewed the coach’s social media and communication and found new tools for him. One result was a Spartan SGX course the coach built and now runs. It became a major part of his income, and he bought a house with money he earned at Matt’s gym.
Step 3: Let Coaches Build Businesses Under Your Roof
Matt calls this entrepreneurialism. His coaches build their own programs under the gym’s umbrella, including:
- Personal training
- Semi-private training
- Boot camps
- Off-site programs in schools
- One-on-one nutrition coaching
- Group nutrition coaching
The gym provides the space, equipment, systems, software, billing, insurance, social media support and an existing membership base. The coach focuses on finding clients and delivering a great experience.
Matt pitches it this way: If you want to open your own gym someday, you’ll have to handle all of these things yourself. Under our roof, you’ll never have to worry about them. Coaches can even brand their programs however they want, as long as the brand fits the gym.
“It takes all the risk away from starting a business and puts it on us, and you just go create and do,” Matt said.
Step 4: Use the 4/9ths Model
Matt pays his coaches according to Two-Brain’s 4/9ths Model: They earn four-ninths (about 44%) of the revenue they generate from their programs. When a program runs outside the gym or uses fewer of the gym’s resources, the split can rise to five-ninths.
On average, Matt’s full-time coaches generate $3,000 to $3,500 a week through these programs. At the low end, the math looks like this:
- $3,000 a week x 4 = $12,000 a month in program revenue.
- 44% of $12,000 = about $5,400 a month.
- Add $3,000 in base pay = about $8,400 a month.
- That’s roughly $100,000 a year.
The gym keeps the other five-ninths of that program revenue, which covers its costs and adds profit. Every coach who grows their income grows the business too.
Step 5: Give Them Freedom
“You can do as much as this or as little as this as you want,” Matt said. “If you do more, you’re gonna earn more.”
Two of Matt’s coaches now have fully booked schedules and work the hours they choose. Neither has to coach at 5 a.m. or 6 p.m. unless they want to. When an opening appears in their schedule, they fill it, because clients want to work with them.
As long as coaches meet the gym’s minimum standards, they have room to try new ideas and run them their own way.
Who to Hire for This Path
Most of Matt’s coaches started part time and grew into full-time roles. He has made two exceptions.
His most recent hire was an outside CrossFit coach with 10 years of experience. At his previous gym, he coached 30 to 40 classes a week and never had a chance to build anything for himself. Matt cut his group class load so he could focus on building his brand and client base. The coach also has a college-level baseball background, which gives Matt’s gym a program it couldn’t offer before.
Matt also hired the owners of a neighboring gym that closed after COVID. They joined as employees and brought a full caseload of clients with them.
Hiring straight into full time works when you have a big gap in the schedule or find a proven coach who’s ready to build.
Start With Your First Full-Time Coach
Matt’s advice for owners who want to get there: Lay a solid foundation, become a good leader, hire the right people for the right roles, communicate clearly and keep improving your processes.
If you want to hire a full-time coach but aren’t sure you can afford it, try our free full-time coach calculator. Enter a coach’s target salary, your services and your prices, and the tool will build a sample week. If the math doesn’t work, it will show you what to change.
And if you want help building a career path that gets your coaches to six figures, book a call with our team.
