Blog

By Oskar Johed, TwoBrain Mentor, with afterword by Chris Cooper Brian Strump, another Two-Brain mentor and gym owner wrote the following on Facebook a few days ago: A guy drops in but wants to do his own thing. We tell him he can’t. He then returns 3 weeks later. – Him: I’m still not over what happened last time. – Me: Ok, then why’d you come back? – Him: Most gyms I’ve been to are friendly and welcoming. – Me: So are we when people follow directions. Can you imagine the chaos of 200 people doing whatever they want? – Him: I want to drop in and try a class. – Me: I don’t think this is the best fit here. There are a few other gyms nearby you should try. The drop in then writes on Facebook that “…the gym is a bad gym. Do not go. They do not want to train you they just want your money. There are better gyms in the area.”  The owner responded “…we never asked for any money from you. We decided it wasn’t a good fit for you to join. If we only wanted your money, we wouldn’t have done that.” As small business owners and entrepreneurs we are hyperaware of what people say about us on the “Instawebs”. Anything except a 5-star review is often considered bad. I am quite generous with my 5-star reviews and I am sure you are as well because of what I just mentioned. Even when I feel like giving a 4-star review I most often refrain from doing so. It warrants a written review to fill the void of the missing star and I can’t muster up the energy to do so. “A 5-star it is.” Everybody knows that most 1-star reviews aren’t relevant or accurate. Seldom do they reflect the quality of the service or product. They are given to make a statement. ...

A second location doesn’t double your work; it quadruples it.   Is it worth opening a second gym? What about buying another local gym in town? The answer is “sometimes, yes!”   Sometimes a second location IS a great opportunity. Sometimes it’s a polished-up turd. And sometimes we’re just not ready for the opportunity when it does arise. In these cases, we don’t rise to the occasion; we fall to the level of our preparation.   Before you buy someone else’s mistakes–or duplicate your own–here’s the checklist we use with TwoBrain clients to determine whether they’re ready to open a second location:   Is your first location generating at least 33% gross profit margin, including your pay? Could your business run without you–without ANY contact from you–for at least two weeks? Are you already maximizing your revenue in your current space (3 core revenue streams, including group, PT and nutrition)? How will the second location impact your Perfect Day? Do you need this second location to get those clients? If another gym is closing, will you probably get them ANYWAY? And if you’re opening a second location from scratch, will your current clients split? Will this opportunity be available a year from now? In other words, do you have to do it right NOW?   If the answer to the first question is “no”, then you’re still in Farmer Phase. You can be ready for another location within a few months, but jumping in NOW will hurt your core business and probably your personal relationships. The Incubator will get you ready.   If the answer to the second question is “no”, see above. The Incubator solves that problem, too.   If the answer to the third question is “no”, ditto. Incubator.   The fourth question is trickier. Sometimes we want to seize every opportunity. Sometimes we want to stop others from having opportunities. And sometimes we confuse two gyms with ...

I don’t often tell someone NOT to open a gym, but I did last month.   James coaches at a box now. He doesn’t have many classes. But the owner lets him keep 100% of the personal training revenue he generates, and he does a dozen PT sessions every week, netting him around $3600 per month.   He wants to open his own gym. But he didn’t realize that he’s probably making more than the owner; that he has zero expenses, zero stress, and all the time he wants. When I asked him for an income goal, he said “sixty thousand dollars a year.” He could do that one of two ways:   Open a gym, take the largest loan of his life, stress over client recruitment, stress over injury, work from 5am-9pm for a year or so, fight with his wife, drive himself crazy with programming, and find an unsympathetic ear in an online Facebook group. To profit $3600 per month, he’ll have to generate over $11,000 in gross revenue, minimum. Then he’ll have to find other coaches to help him; keep them inspired; try to track the Kill Cliff purchases out of the fridge, and then fight distraction through his workouts. OR… Get three more clients and stay where he is.   The owner of his gym is crazy for giving him 100% of personal training revenue. After all, the owner is in the fitness business, not just the group training business. Turning over an important revenue stream is like letting a hot dog vendor push his cart around inside your restaurant.   But the owner wasn’t on the phone; the trainer was. So my advice was “Don’t quit your day job.”   What if the owner had been on the phone? Because if you’re reading this, you’re probably the owner of a gym, or the founder of a service business. Here’s what we teach you in the ...