Blog

Transform your gym
in 5 minutes a day.

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

A sweeping red arrow arcs upward along an American dollar bill that has been chopped up to look like a bar graph.

The REAL Value of a Microgym

It’s not hard to calculate the price of a gym. If you’re looking to sell, you can listen to this podcast and even use our Gym Valuation tool. Many gym owners seeking to sell are shocked to find out that their business isn’t worth much to a buyer. But the value of a gym goes far beyond its sale price.   Determining True Value   When I was selling treadmills around 2000, I happened to stumble on Robert Cialdini’s incredible book “Influence.” I learned that people don’t value things appropriately. I looked at our treadmills—selling for $3,000 and up compared to department-store models priced at under $1,000—and had an idea. I printed off big signs: “Heart Attack: $54,000” “Diabetes: $23,000 per year” And so on. I wanted to show people the cost of not exercising. That cost is far greater than the retail price of an indoor walker. A gym business might be valued a few different way. But the true cost of a gym closing is far more than its retail value.   Microgyms: An Asset to the Taxpayer   If a gym maintains 150 clients with an annual churn rate of 30 percent and stays open for 10 years, it will serve 1,950 people. If that gym stays the same size but stays open for 30 years, it will serve 5,850 people. It will influence a multiple of that number because families change their behavior when one member changes his or her own. Americans spent $10,739 per person on health-care in 2017, according to this report. And according to this report, being overweight or obese accounted for 47 percent of that cost—$5,047.33 per person per year, or $1.1 trillion. Most of my clients aren’t obese. But more than 50 percent list “weight loss” as a primary goal when we meet for the first time. My gym is also in Canada, where our obesity rates are much lower than ...
Read More →
A wooden sign in a dense boreal forest reads "Turn Left," with a path heading off into the distance.

Mapping the Path to Wealth

This week, I’ve been writing about wealth. My mission is to make one million entrepreneurs wealthy. I’m going to start with fitness entrepreneurs. Because they deserve it.   The Two-Brain Map to Wealth   Wealth doesn’t mean waste. Or greed. Wealth is simply the freedom of money and time. And wealth is the entrepreneur’s goal. On Tuesday. I published, “What Is Wealth?” here. And yesterday, I dove deeper with “Defining Real Wealth.” One of the great benefits of mentoring gym owners and fitness entrepreneurs first is that they understand how to achieve things. To achieve almost anything, you must start with the end in mind. You must have a clear picture of what you want. We call this a “goal,” and the best goal-achievers in the world have coaches—in sport, in fitness, in business and in wealth. The next step to achievement is to get a clear picture of where you are. We call this an “assessment,” and the best achievers in the world aren’t scared to self-assess. Athletes review tape, exercisers start the clock, entrepreneurs compare their metrics. Next, we work backward from the goal to the starting line and plot the journey in broad categories. Athletes might periodize their training around GPP, then strength, then speed and then taper into the sport-specific training as their competitive season approaches. Entrepreneurs move from Founder Phase to Farmer Phase to Tinker Phase to Thief Phase. Take the test here to see where you are, or buy the book to get your plan. I wrote “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief” to give entrepreneurs these broad categories—but also to break their journey down into tiny steps. When you draw a map, you start with the endpoint. Then you find the starting point. You identify the phases of the journey (car ride to the airport, flight to Heathrow, flight to Nairobi, bus to the remote village). Then you fill in all the little steps: call ...
Read More →

Two-Brain Radio: Paying Attention to Mental Health With Colm O'Reilly

Greg: 00:00 – It’s Greg Strauch of Two-Brain Media, and on this week’s episode we talked to Colm O’Reilly. He is the owner of CrossFit Ireland, but we don’t dive into owning a gym. What we dive into his mental health of an entrepreneur. We talk about his early days of some of the struggles that he had. We talk about the importance of focusing on you and putting it all together and the action items you guys can take today. Subscribe to Two-Brain Radio to hear the very best ideas, tips, and topics to move you and your business closer to wealth. Two-Brain Radio is brought to you by Two-Brain Business. We make gyms profitable. We’re going to bring you the very best tips, tactics interviews in the business world each week. To find out how we can help you create your Perfect Day, book a free call with a mentor at twobrainbusiness.com. Greg: 00:53 – We’d like to thank another one of our amazing partners, Level Method. As a CrossFit gym owner, I know retention is key to keeping my business going for years to come. Retention is not easy, though. People want to see success, and if you don’t show them early, they’ll find a place that does. This is where Level Method comes in. With Level Method, you are now able to guide your members through an amazing structure that’ll give them a path to success. Once you have success, you instantly have motivation for them to continue, which will now be delivered to your members. Start systemizing the creation of powerful moments for your members today. Go to levelmethod.com to book a free call. Greg: 01:30 – All right, I’m on another amazing Two-Brain Radio podcast episode with Colm O’Reilly. Colm, how are you? Colm: 01:37 – I’m great. I’m very grateful to be here, so thanks for having me. Greg: 01:41 – Happy to. ...
Read More →
A fishing rod with a gleaming gold reel sits in a holder on a boat with a brilliant blue sky and sun above an ocean with small whitecaps.

Defining Real Wealth

A simple tale of a businessman and a fisherman reminds that wealth takes different shapes. Material ownership is a part of it, of course, but real wealth is freedom.
Read More →
The Two-Brain Radio logo next to a headshot of smiling athlete Carleen Mathews.

Two-Brain Radio: Getting Through Tough Times Using CrossFit With Carleen Mathews

Sean: 00:04 – Hi everybody and welcome to another edition of Two-Brain Radio with Sean Woodland. Today I talk with four-time CrossFit Games athlete, Carleen Mathews. First: “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief” by Chris Cooper is the blueprint you need to start or grow your business. But don’t take our word for it. Reader Mary Boimila says, “If you’re thinking about being an entrepreneur, are an entrepreneur or know an entrepreneur, wait no longer and dive right in.” Get your copy of “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief” on Amazon today. Carleen Mathews has competed at the CrossFit Games three times as an individual and once as a master, and she just finished second overall in the 35-to-39-year-old division at the 2019 Reebok CrossFit Games. We talk about her experience in Madison this year, how CrossFit helped her get through a pretty difficult time in her life and what she is currently doing to help people who are dealing with addiction. Thanks for listening everyone. Carleen, thank you so much for taking the time to do this. How are ya? Carleen: 01:07 – I’m great, thank you. Thanks for having me. Sean: 01:10 – So first things first, you just finished second at the CrossFit Games in the 35-to-39-year-old age group. What was that experience like for you? Carleen: 01:19 – It was a really, really cool experience. I didn’t really have any expectations going into it. So to place second was—I mean my coach and I kinda talked about it. It was like probably one of the greatest athletic accomplishments of my life. So it was really cool. Sean: 01:43 – How does training for the Games as a master differ from training for the Games as an individual? Carleen: 01:52 – Well this year I changed a lot of my training. It didn’t require me to do as much volume as you know, training as an individual there’s a lot of ...
Read More →
To illustrate the article "What Is Wealth," a hand drops coins into another hand below.

What Is Wealth?

Our culture's preoccupation with money creates confusion about wealth—perhaps because the people talking and thinking about money the most are the ones who don't have it. Material ownership is part of wealth. But wealth is really freedom.
Read More →