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In 2002, Jack Whittaker won $315 million in a Powerball jackpot. Within a decade, his daughter and granddaughter had died of drug overdoses, his wife had divorced him, and he had been sued several times. Once he was robbed of $545,000 in cash that had been sitting in his car while he visited a strip club. When interviewed after the robbery, he sobbed to reporters, “I wish I’d torn that ticket up.” Every picture of every lottery winner is the same: big teeth, blown-up check, clean slate. The winner is thinking, “All of my past mistakes are erased. I’m out of debt. I have a clean slate. I can do anything I want. I won. I’ll be a winner forever.” But pictures of lottery winners taken three years later show the opposite story: more than half are broke. Nearly 50% get divorced. And almost none of them are smiling. Money didn’t solve their problems. More than anything else, money just poured jet fuel on their problems. Here are ten more examples out of thousands. As my friend Jarret Perelmutter once told me, “Nobody cares about money until they don’t have any. Then it’s ALL they care about.” Many lottery tickets are sold to people who don’t have money. What does this have to do with CrossFit gyms? Well, there are a host of new “marketing consultants” out there. And many of their programs generate revenue. The gyms who are most likely to sign up for their services are those in triage: they need money NOW or face bankruptcy. And, thankfully, sometimes they GET the money to keep going. Does that solve their long-term problems? No. Clients upset about “bait-and-switch” tactics leave horrible reviews on Google. High turnover rates mean gyms owners must always recruit at a high rate, even when ad prices rise (and what happens when Facebook is replaced by the next platform?) Coaches struggle under the sales pressure. ...

We’ve been running our Gym Checkup for two years. Thousands of gym owners have completed it. Most finish the checkup and book a free call with me to discuss their answers. Sometimes we invite those callers to mentorship. Some of these guys are generating over a million in gross revenue per year. Some are looking for a lifeline to make it through the month. Most are in the middle. But almost ALL gyms, rich or poor, give us this answer on at least one of the questions in the Checkup: “I don’t know.” “I don’t know my goal for this business. I haven’t really thought about it.” “I don’t know how long a client stays with me.” “I don’t know what my coaches want.” “I don’t know my profit margin.” “I don’t know how I’m going to retire.” ….in fact, many gym owners bail out of the Checkup partway through, use the “phone a friend” button, and book the call anyway, because it’s obvious their business is out of control. You manage what you measure. You control what you know. As a coach, you’d never let an athlete post an estimated score. “I think I did Fran in under 3:00.” You’d never guess at their body fat percentage. “I think you’re around 30%, and I think you used to be around 33%. Great work.” You’d never accept a guess. “I bet I could lift 500lbs.” You would test, and retest. You would KNOW. When you open a business, coaching isn’t your job anymore; it’s your service. Your business provides a platform for that service. Your job is to build that platform. That means it’s your job to know your ARM, your LEG, your profit margin. It’s your job to know what your coaches want: is to more work, or less? Has that answer changed in the last two months? We can blame poor software options for our lack of knowledge, ...