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Episode 61: Physique First, With Bill Shiffler

January 30, 2017 Personal Development Podcast
 
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The 5 Mantras That Saved My Soul (And My Business)

January 26, 2017 Vision
The road from a broke owner to successful entrepreneur has been a long, tough climb. I learned things the hard way. I thought, “I’ll just figure it out” and that cost me YEARS of my life, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and more sleep than I’ll ever make up in my lifetime. Worst of all, I was starting to lose my passion for it when I finally got a business mentor. That’s one of the reasons we mentor gyms now: to vault them over ALL of that. But hard lessons are valuable, too. Here are some I’ve learned: 1. “Heartily know, when demigods go, the gods arrive.” – Emerson. People leave your gym (or life) for a reason. Usually it’s to make way for better people. 2. “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”– Eleanor Roosevelt. Seriously, you’re the only one worrying about your programming and most of the “box drama”. Your clients have lives outside the box. 3. “They’re not your friends.” – Big Nick Your clients are your clients. They pay you money in exchange for service. Your friends do not. It’s black and white, not gray. You don’t do discounts for friends, or “cut them a deal.” If they ask, they’re not your friends. 4. “How will this affect your best clients?” – Mike Michalowicz It’s very tempting, sometimes, to make an exception to get the sale. When a big company asks for a corporate discount, ask yourself if it’s fair for your new clients to pay less than your amazing existing clients. 5. “You can always afford to be generous.” – OK, that was me. You don’t need money to help people. And you don’t need to give them money – or discounts – to help them, either. This week, I showed my financial planner how to set up a free seminar. I showed my ...
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Why We Don’t Take Every Client (And Neither Should You)

January 18, 2017 Selling Gym Memberships
If your primary goal is “make money”, you look for ways to sell more stuff. You productize your service: instead of coaching people, you sell DVDs. You knock your prices down. You write sales copy. You send 22 spam emails in a row. You measure success by input, not output. More clients = better. But if your primary goal is “help people win”, you quickly realize you can’t help everyone. When I speak to gyms, I ask, “How many members can you serve?” Most give me a big number, like 300, because they haven’t heard the question before. The REAL number of lives you can affect long-term is closer to 150 (Dunbar’s number). It’s an anthropological norm, but I’ve written about the 150-member point in several places. But even if you plan to someday reach 500 members, it’s helpful to ask yourself: What if I could only get 150 clients? What would I have to charge them to make a great living? How long would I have to keep them? How can I help them BEST? The best gyms don’t become the best by having the most members. The best gyms are the best because they help their members MOST. Think about the followup questions to the above: How much space do I really need to service 150? Who can afford to pay the rates I need? If I’m starting a 30-year relationship, does it really matter if their first three months are spent focusing on their diet and NOT exercising? What can I do to help these people more now that I’m not worried about chasing down 100 others? And, of course, the biggest question of all: What kind of client DOESN’T fit in these 150? As I said in Millions or Myths?, I want to save The Movement. CrossFit has given us all the entrepreneurial opportunity that we wouldn’t get otherwise. But we need models of business success, ...
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Episode 59: Ideas (2017 Edition)

January 16, 2017 Gym Marketing Podcast
 
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To Whom Are You Speaking?

January 13, 2017 Gym Marketing
Yesterday’s post, “Are You Really Your Best Client?” was meant to spur questions like “Who IS my best client?”, “Am I really like them?”,  and “What do THEY want – and am I just doing stuff that would appeal to people like me?” My SEED clients are educated. They have high-paying jobs. They are experts in their field. They probably supervise others. If they’re looking for a coach, they have to trust the coach’s authority. What erodes that authority? Signals – overt or otherwise – that I’m less educated than they. Or less smart. Or lazy. It’s difficult to judge brainpower or intent online. We’ve all been misinterpreted, misread or misjudged. Facebook doesn’t allow for much inflection; it’s black-and-white. But spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and bad language stand out like red flags. This is SO important that I’ve asked a close friend to prepare a module on grammar for Two-Brain gym owners. We spend our days asking people to reconsider their basic squat and gait – movements they’ve practiced since birth. It requires humility to reconsider your use of language. I suggest you do it anyway. Here’s a starting point: You’re = You Are Your = It belongs to you They’re = They Are There = A Place We’re = We Are Were = Past tense of ‘Are’ Where = A Place Then = A point in time Than = A method of comparison Two = The number 2 Too = Also To = Indicates motion Of note: this blog post probably isn’t perfect. There are “grammar police” out there who delight in finding mistakes. I’m not one. Don’t allow the pursuit of perfection be the tripping-block of “good”. But someone has to say this stuff! A potential high-end client might not care about your grammar. She might overlook your misuse of “you’re” and “they’re.” Or she might not. Is it worth the gamble?
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Are You Really Your Best Client?

January 12, 2017 Selling Gym Memberships
When I opened my CrossFit gym, I built it around what I liked. I chose bars that were great for powerlifting. I put in two GHRs and a reverse hyperextension machine. I hung chains on all my cages and put a chalk bowl in the middle of the floor. I slid a Metallica disc in the machine and hit “repeat”. The first woman to walk in the door walked right back out again. I love my clients. But they’re not like me. At least, they’re not much like the 28-year-old me. Are your “ideal” clients just like YOU? Are your SEED clients your age? Do they have 3 hours every day to work out? Are they passionate about improving their snatch? Do they earn what you earn? One of the biggest turning points in my business came when I realized that my best clients weren’t much like me at all: They earned more They cared more about clean bathrooms They wanted 1:1 attention often They didn’t like Megadeth They don’t want to think about programming They care more about smiling than PRing their overhead squat three-rep max.   What did this mean? I stopped projecting my budget onto their wallet I took the skulls off my website I stopped using the F word on social media I replaced that blinking light bulb I posted more pictures of people smiling I cleaned the blood off the bars (true story) I stopped yelling at them for chalk spills I stopped believing people just had to “want it bad enough”. I cleaned up my grammar (top earners don’t confuse “you’re” with “your”)   When I realized that I wasn’t my ideal client, I started getting cooler clients with smaller egos and fewer problems. Go figure.   One of the best reasons to do the SEED Clients worksheets in our Incubator is to discover who your best clients REALLY are, and what THEY want. That ...
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