As the COVID crisis deepens, more and more franchisee gyms are asking Two-Brain for help. I can’t name them specifically because privacy is a core value of our mentorship practice. But if you’ve heard of a fitness franchise, we’ve probably spoken to one of their franchisees in the last week. They’re hurting. Fragile Franchises? All the benefits of a franchise—a preset model, done-for-you pricing, group purchasing power, brand marketing—those can look pretty attractive to a solo-preneur trying to figure everything out on the fly. In fact, established entrepreneurs often buy franchises because they don’t want to spend years and thousands of dollars trying to figure it all out while burning money. But in times of crisis, a franchise becomes extremely fragile. As a franchisee, you don’t have the ability to pivot your core offering. You can’t simply take your business online overnight; you have to wait for the franchisor to act. You might not have the ability to cut expenses. As a franchisee, you might be contractually tied to a lease or franchise fees or a certain number of staff. You could easily lose all your clients—and all your revenue—with no way to get any back and no end in sight. Almost overnight, the value of gym memberships went to zero. No one can sell “access” anymore. Within a week, the value of exercise programming fell to zero. No one can sell workouts anymore. Soon, the value of coach-led classes will fall to zero. Clients know how to enter “free workout class” into a search engine. The only thing that’s retaining its value is coaching. Two-Brain gyms made a quick pivot to customized online coaching. Spending four to six minutes per client per day to tailor group programming has resulted in a greater than 90 percent retention rate. Some have actually grown in client numbers and revenue already. And many have been able to cut their largest expenses. ...
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