Kenny Markwardt became a gym owner because he loved fitness and helping people. So he opened Sandpoint Strength & Conditioning and focused on becoming the best coach he could.
But he soon discovered that being a great coach wasn’t enough to run a great business. For five years, he struggled to keep his head above water as he tried to teach himself how to hire and manage staff and lead a company.
In 2017, Kenny realized he needed some guidance. He’d heard about Two-Brain Business through a Facebook group. He knew it was the right fit as soon as he finished his free call with a mentor.
After Kenny had worked with Two-Brain Business for two years, CrossFit Sandpoint more than doubled its revenue. It now boasts a team of four full-time staff members in addition to several part-timers, and Kenny and wife Jenn have also established themselves as leaders in their small community by operating a thriving gym in Sandpoint, Idaho—a town of just 7,000 people.
The gym’s mission is to use fitness and nutrition to change lives and give people the tools and confidence they need to fulfill their dreams. And that goes for Kenny’s business mentees, too. As a Two-Brain mentor, Kenny’s passion is to bring health and longevity to the world by helping others become successful gym owners.
“I firmly believe that the more successful gyms we have out there, the better we’ll all be,” he said. “Helping to make that happen is an incredible opportunity.”
Kenny is one of Two-Brain’s Tinker coaches, and he loves to help people recognize and embrace their enormous potential. The mindset shift to become a Tinker can be very challenging, and he loves working with clients through this phase. Kenny can help you recognize that even though you’ve only set out to start a small gym and help a few hundred people, you’ve evolved into much, much more. You have endless opportunities and the ability to achieve real wealth and wide-ranging influence.
Kenny loves helping people focus on two things in the Tinker Phase. One is looking forward in order to establish a path to real wealth: what to do with money, how to strategize on functional retirement and a legacy, and how to use the resources available to Tinkers to further establish real, lasting impact in their spheres of influence.
The second is looking backward and helping to create rewarding, long-term careers for the staff who support the Tinker. The more fulfilled career coaches we have in fitness, the more we can help people live longer and happier lives. It’s up to a business owner in the Tinker Phase to help staff thrive and succeed, just as the Tinker has.
In addition to his roles as CEO of CrossFit Sandpoint and Two-Brain mentor, Kenny is father to a son and an avid outdoorsman who loves to use his fitness—and the freedom his successful business affords him—to hike, swim, ski and hunt.
And he still loves to coach.
“Seeing others figure things out is way more powerful to me than me figuring them out,” he said. “Being able to do this on the business side of things has been awesome.”