Blog

Transform your gym
in 5 minutes a day.

Get the no-BS morning newsletter read by 30,000 gym owners.

Should You Buy An Email List?

When you’re in the “funnel mindset”, you count leads instead of people.   A funnel mindset means blasting your message to everyone you can–even if they didn’t ask to hear it–and then filtering, filtering, filtering.   Sometimes, the odd little fish swims all the way through. In a funnel mindset, these are “qualified leads”, and it’s worth going through 300 real people to find one of them.   But what happens to the other 299?   It all depends on permission.   If 300 people sign up for your email list, they’ve given you permission to continue the conversation. They might not like–or even read–every message you send them; they might eventually even opt out of your list. But they won’t hit ‘spam’. And they won’t get angry.   If, though, you DON’T have their permission, they’ll recognize spam for what it is. They’ll opt out. And worse, the tactic will backfire. They’ll actually be LESS likely to use your service in the future. Think about that weird guy at the bar: he approaches 300 women. One of them goes home with him. The other 299 are repulsed. Did he win?   (Here’s a hint: ask him in the morning.)   Dan Pink wrote about “the backfire effect” in “To Sell is Human“, and it’s been the subject of study for years now. It’s been studied by behaviorists like Kaplan and Gimbel, and email marketers have been avoiding it since–well, since their second email backfired.   Here’s what Seth Godin wrote about it in 2008:   “Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”   You should read the rest of his post here.   I teach permission marketing to the TwoBrain family of entrepreneurs. And if you’re reading this, it’s because you’ve given me permission to continue our conversation. Thank you.   A conversation ...
Read More →

Set Your Goals

Do you have a goal? Is it for the short, medium or long term? Do you take action toward that goal every day? If not, what are you working toward? Gym owners, like any other entrepreneur, can be short sighted or long sighted. They either live minute-to-minute in chaos or year-to-year with minimal risk and slow progress. If you’re an entrepreneur running your business in either of these ways, you’re probably feeling frustrated, like you’re spinning your wheels. Here are a few ways to break out of this tough spot. 1. Set up an easy win early every week. Got a good lead? Run a No-Sweat Intro on Monday. Working on a co-branding deal? Start the week with a cool change to the facility that members will love. Accomplishing a small goal early in the week will give you momentum to keep running strong for the next seven days. 2. Set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, Time-bound At a recent mentor meet-up, we sat down for a “hot seat” podcast recording. The first question asked was, “As a gym owner, if you had to make $5,000 in 10 days, what would you do?” Naturally, all of the mentors had different, yet effective ideas. However, the lesson we took away was the power of deadlines. Think about it this way: If I say, “You need to make five grand,” you can get started whenever you feel like it. You might meet the goal in a month, six months or even never, because there was no time frame or sense of urgency established. But if I say, “You have 10 days to make five grand or your business is bankrupt,” I guarantee you will hustle until you meet that goal. It’s the same sense of efficiency you get the day before you leave for vacation. If you were to leave on a vacation for one week starting tomorrow, you would become ...
Read More →

How Improv Comedy Helps Your Business

You’ve seen Improvisational Comedy, I know it.   In Improv, a couple of comedians stand on stage and make up a funny story on the fly. One person starts with a simple sentence, like: “Oh! Look at my watch!” and then another follows with something else: “Why is there water running out of it?”   The goal is to make the story funny, and it often works. But despite what the audience thinks, Improv doesn’t start from a blank canvas. There are RULES. And we can learn from them.   Just as in business, scripts can often sound fake. If you read a phone script to a client who’s inquiring about your rates, they’ll trust you less. That’s why we don’t use call centers.   But you also don’t want to have a 90-minute conversation with every client, either. You don’t want to vomit every single detail of your philosophy, practice and science; you want them to take action, because knowledge alone doesn’t make anyone fit.   Here’s how the lessons of Improv comedy can help you:   First rule of Improv: Don’t disagree.   When two performers are building a funny story, they agree to agree. Neither will ever say, “No.” or “You’re wrong,” because that ends a conversation before it goes anywhere. Instead, performers will say “Yes, and…” because they know it’s more important to keep the conversation alive than it is to “win”.   When I started as a Personal Trainer, I’d often argue with people who wanted to pay me money. I’d say, “You don’t need to run 10 miles every day to run a marathon! You need to do HIIT. And you don’t need all those carbs either!” I won lots of conversations and lost a lot of money.   Instead, I should have approached the conversation the way a train approaches a turn: slowly and incrementally. I should have said, “Yes, you can run ...
Read More →

What Mentors Talk About

I spent the last 72 hours with most of the senior mentors at TwoBrain. It was the first time any had visited the TwoBrain Workshop. And the first time several had met in person. Despite growing from zero to 350 mentoring clients in just over 18 months, we’d never had our own private Summit. I didn’t sleep for two nights before they got there. These are some of the most successful gym owners in the world–and, far and away, the best mentors in the fitness business. They’re friends, and we often lean on each other. The struggles of our clients weigh heavily on each of us (I’ve cried with Ken many times, and celebrated with Dani almost every week) and that has forged a very strong bond. All of that brainpower in the Workshop at once, and I could have pointed the conversation in any direction. So what did we talk about? We talked about OUR process, and YOUR opportunities. First, our process: over 15 hours spent in front of a whiteboard, making sure we’re giving gym owners the best advice in the most actionable way. Now, we’re busy. We don’t have to fly all over North America to sit on my couch for a weekend. None of us is asking, “How do we get more clients?” or “how do we make more money?” because that’s not our goal. Instead, we spent thousands of dollars and time away from our families to figure out how to help gym owners MORE. These discussions will result in upgrades that are mostly invisible. They’ll be expensive. And our clients probably won’t know about them. But it will make our mentoring practice better for THEM, and that’s why we do it. Codifying my gym’s processes saved it. Not a marketing strategy; not a sales pitch; not a Facebook ad. Whenever a business wants to reach the next level–whether that level is earning the first ...
Read More →

The Heart and the Brain

A solid business runs on two things: systems and relationships. Think of these two pieces as the brain and the heart of your business. In order for a business to succeed it needs a brain (systems) to direct decision-making and avoid chaos. But it also needs a heart (relationships) to keep the blood (revenue) pumping. If a business has neither, it usually leads to an overworked owner, constantly looking for new customers while retaining none. Without a system in place, he or she is prone to making poor decision-making. If a business just has a heart, it will struggle to grow, eventually imploding due to angry customers and a dried-up bank account. If a business has only a brain, it will result in poor retention and an owner who can never leave the gym, lest it fall apart. But with BOTH, we have a powerful business that can weather all obstacles. We have systems in place to keep things running smoothly no matter who is in charge, and we have relationships to promote retention and organic growth. A brain and a heart combined develop a healthy, un-killable business and create better lifestyles for owner, staff and clients. So what’s the trick? Build your systems ASAP and continue to work on them indefinitely. Ensure that your staff can easily access and search your staff handbook to avoid any issues. Create a community by genuinely caring for your members AND staff. Try to meet with one staff member per day to talk about their growth and ambitions. What does their perfect day look like? Where do they see themselves in one, three or five years? How can you help get them there? Apply the 90-second rule to your coaches. Make sure they are spending time with each member, during every class. Use campfiring to build relationships after class.  During cool down, talk to your members, learn about them and help them. Offer ...
Read More →

Episode 91: The Mentor Hot Seat, Volume 1

Read More →