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Full 2018 Summit Schedule

May 26, 2018 Personal Development
250 are registered for the 2018 TwoBrain Summit!   Two years ago, 50 of us gathered in Sault Ste. Marie. Last year, 150 met at Illumine. This year, over 250 have registered, with MORE signing up every day!   EVERY talk includes an action component: role-playing, exercises to work through, scenarios to solve, and hot seats to grill.   EVERY topic is brand new for 2018.   EVERY speaker is a pro.   Pack an extra brain if you can find one…because yours is gonna be FULL.   Here’s the final agenda for the 2018 Summit, including both the Owners’ and Coaches’ Tracks: I LOVE seeing you all, and the top value from the weekend is the in-person connection with other gym owners! You can absolutely still register (we just can’t guarantee you a t-shirt, but we can send you one later.)   Click here for last-minute registration!
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Good Mentors Make Things Simpler

May 25, 2018 Personal Development
“It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.” – Ernest Rutherford   This quote is often misattributed to Einstein, or misquoted as “You don’t understand physics until you can explain it to a six/eight/ten-year-old.”   Who cares who said it? I do, because clarity is important.   What the quote actually means is “”If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”   In every business field, there are consultants who succeed by making simple things seem complex. I’m sure you’ve been to business seminars, or even read books, that could be boiled down to one or two sentences: “Oh, I should ask my clients what they want, and then give it to them!” “Oh, my staff actually cares more about continuing education than another raise!” “Culture is important because my clients will get better care if my staff is happy!”   It’s not hard to turn these central ideas into a 300-page book. But why would you?   A good mentor will give clear, simple directions. A great mentor will dole them out step-by-step. Because you already have enough good ideas. Most of the time, a mentor’s job is to simplify your problem and present a clear path forward.   We don’t give TwoBrain founders a list of 50 possible metrics they might want to track in their business. We say, “Track these four. And if you can only track ONE metric, this is it.” Spoiler: it’s profit. Our “Metrics That Matter” lesson is private for TwoBrain family members, but anyone can read the Kingmaker Equation here.   One of the signs of a charlatan is their propensity to measure and improve meaningless statistics. This is part of CrossFit’s appeal: the recipe for health is described in 100 words, not a bunch of garbage about LDL levels and total knee replacements. The reason squats are more important than the selectorized leg ...
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The Constant Gardener

May 24, 2018 Vision
When Ray Kroc joined the McDonald brothers, the business went from a single location in San Bernardino to the largest franchise in history. At its peak, McDonald’s was a symbol for America and freedom: on January 31, 1990, Russians lined up in Pushkinskaya Square for hours to taste the first fast food sold in the Soviet Union. Some spent four days’ wages for a Big Mac, cheeseburger, apple pie and a milkshake. 30,000 customers passed through the doors on its first day. And one of my clients, Wayne, was there.   Less than two years later, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved. But Wayne saw the end of communism from behind the French Fry broiler: he told me stories of women lining up in blue jeans, then handing the jeans off to other women in line so they could look American.   “There is a lesson to be drawn from this for the country,” teacher Tatyana Podlesnaya told Francis X. Clines of the New York Times, who was also there. “What is killing us is that the average worker does not know how to work and so does not want to. Our enthusiasm has disappeared. But here my meal turned out to be just a supplement to the sincere smiles of the workers.”   That’s the power of great business: to be an example to the world. And Kroc made that happen.   Kroc is usually touted as the Great Systemizer: the guy who created all the systems and processes that made McDonald’s scalable. But his real gift, in my opinion, was closer to the communist ideal: “From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.” Kroc didn’t force McDonald’s employees to split tips; the real currency behind McDonald’s, which earned 28.11B in its best year, was ideas.   And Kroc was the collector and implementor of ideas. When one McDonald’s employee had a great one, Kroc would ...
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Episode 120: Farmer

May 21, 2018 Personal Development Podcast
 
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Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back Stop doing the tango and start making money

Why You Have Ebbs and Flows (And How To Stop)

May 16, 2018 Gym Operations
We don’t rise to our opportunities; we fall to the level of our preparation. Many entrepreneurs start the week with bold strides: they launch a new Facebook ad campaign or send a new product logo to their graphic designer. They do things that move the needle. By 2pm, they’ve completed their checklist and launched a brand new service… …and then their toilet gets clogged. The entrepreneur looks around and asks, “Who’s going to fix this toilet?” (a tumbleweed rolls through) And quickly realizes, “It’s me. I’m the only person willing and able to use a plunger.” So the entrepreneur spends the next three hours plunging a toilet. At five, he goes home and thinks, “What a crappy day.” The next day, the entrepreneur comes into work a bit earlier, and carries an extra coffee. Before the other staff arrives, the boss makes more solid moves: approving yesterday’s art, responding to a partnership offer, and scheduling two new clients. Then the staff arrives and says, “The copier is out of ink.” The entrepreneur disengages from the valuable work–work that generates $500 per hour–and drives to the ink store, texts back and forth with the office staff to figure out which ink cartridge to buy, and drives back. An hour later, the printer is working but the owner is not. On a grander scale, a Founder might launch an ad campaign that attracts 50 new clients. The clients sign up for a six-week makeover. The books show a huge uptick in revenue, and all signs point to growth. But six weeks later, all of those clients are gone. Retention was next to zero. And it’s all because the Founder has tried to build Step Three before solving Step One. Here’s an example: An entrepreneur who self-identifies as a “Farmer” tries to cut back her hours. But she hasn’t replaced herself in the Sales role, so when she takes time off, revenue plummets. ...
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Passing The "Grok" Test

May 15, 2018 Gym Marketing
Forget everything you’ve heard about websites. Here’s the ONLY thing that matters:   If I opened your website today–knowing NOTHING about your business–and stared at it for three seconds, then slammed my computer shut, could I explain what you’re selling?   In other words, could a caveman understand what you do? That’s the “grok” test.   Can I tell that you’re a gym?   Can I see how you’ll help me lose weight?   Do I see how you’ll help me, or do I have to burn a ton of mental calories trying to figure it out? Because I won’t. I’ll just click to the next option.   If I’m searching for a way to get back in shape, and I find your website talking about “COMMUNITY!” and “MOVE BETTER!” and pictures of legless rope climbs, I’m out. Because I’ve already got plenty of friends, and I move just fine.   I’m not looking for more problems in my life. I’m looking for fewer.   I don’t want to try and figure out what you’re selling. The next guy will just tell me the answer.   You might be tired of the word “fitness”. But I’m not. You might think I’m scared of the word “CrossFit”. But you’re wrong. You might think I’ll see rope climbs and think “abs”. But I don’t.   Tell me.   Clarify.   As the Storybrand podcast states, “If you confuse, you’ll lose.” And CrossFit websites are almost always too confusing. Your website isn’t art; it’s a gateway. make sure people can see through it.   (We like ForTimeDesign.com for CrossFit gym websites!)
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