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How To Punish Your Clients

September 26, 2017 Member Retention
Ashley’s first visit to a CrossFit gym was long overdue.   I’ve known Ashley for a LONG time. She’s the ideal client for a CrossFit gym: interested in trying new things; a high-earning professional; and she has a long history in fitness.   It took me months to get Ashley to try CrossFit. I even drug her to a Regional event to show her how supportive the community can be. So she signed up for a free trial class.   My feelings on “free trial classes” notwithstanding, I thought, “She’ll be hooked right away.”   She wasn’t.   The class started on time, but one client was a few minutes late. The coach stopped the class, and everyone turned to watch the latecomer tie their shoes.   Then the coach said, “Bill is six minutes late. So we’re all going to do sixty burpees while Bill watches us.”   I’m sure that taught Bill a lesson. And it taught Ashley one too: “CrossFit treats you like a preschooler.” She never returned.   Ashley’s case is an extreme example. But every day, I see gym owners asking, “How do you punish clients who are late?”   The answer: you don’t.   We’re all adults here. We have good jobs. We have responsibilities outside the pursuit of fitness, and options outside our gyms.   We don’t need to visit a place where we feel embarrassed to arrive late. Or punished when we forget our shoes once or twice.   Imagine this: you’re a busy professional, and you attend the noon class to reduce stress and clear your head before a crazy afternoon. When class is over, you’re already thinking about your 2pm client meeting. You leave your lifting shoes behind.   The next day, your coach says, “It will cost you 25 burpees to get your shoes back. You can start now.”   I’d leave. But let’s say I didn’t: who, in ...
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Episode 89: It's Simple, with Dave Tate

September 25, 2017 Gym Operations Podcast
 
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Recessions and CrossFit: Why You Don't Have To Worry

September 23, 2017 Member Retention
When I was a personal trainer, I worked with a lot of financial planners and wealth managers.   Our first “gym” was in the financial district in town–three banks and a couple of financial offices. I didn’t get much free advice, but I heard a LOT of gloom and doom.   In 2007, as the stock market was on the brink of disaster, we were all still blissfully unaware. But I remember one of my clients telling me:   “You’re selling a luxury, buddy. If the steel mill goes down in this town, you’re done.”   Another said:   “You should be paying close attention to the market, because when people start losing money, you’ll be the first thing they cut.”   Obviously, they were wrong: my stock portfolio–basically, my shares in OTHER people’s companies–took a vicious beating in 2008. But Catalyst started to grow. I’ll share the reason WHY in one moment.   First, though, a quick definition: antifragility. Nassim Taleb’s book, Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder is a fantastic lesson on building a resilient business. The key takeaway for the service industry: hold tightly to your values but loosely to their delivery. In other words, be plastic: change the service, not the price; and recruit clients who are also immune to market forces.   In a stock market crisis, who is least affected?   Government workers, like teachers (in Canada, at least, they can’t be downsized) Entrepreneurs with the same anti fragile policies Financial planners (ironically, with fixed fees, they’re among the safest; they make their 3% even if you lose money) Doctors, lawyers and professionals. Kids Cab drivers In other words, generalists.   Who is MOST affected?   Middle managers Salaried workers in collapsable positions (including steelworkers, unfortunately) In other words, skilled specialists.   The market DID collapse in 2008, of course. And our city’s major industries–pulp, paper and steel–took a massive beating. One of the ...
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Salaries Breed Laziness and Complacency

September 22, 2017 Hiring Staff
People who have an intrapreneurial mindset will always be drawn to the opportunity to earn a higher income. They’ll be eager for more responsibility and promotions, and they’ll also be very interested in systems that provide incentives, commissions, bonuses and other rewards. They’re less interested in flat salaries that don’t offer any room to grow. This mentality can be used by the owner to grow the business and by the staff person achieve his or her own goals. Intrapreneurial staff members aren’t a cost to the business. They are an asset—and they are rewarded accordingly. Consider a staff member who is paid $20 to coach a class vs. a staff member who is paid 4/9ths of any revenue he or she brings in. The former is a cost to the business, especially if only one or two people show up to class. The latter is a true asset who can generate gross revenue for the business that results in an hourly rate well above $20. In Two-Brain gyms, it’s not uncommon for intrapreneurial coaches to make much more than industry-standard hourly rates. In the Two-Brain Business system of Intrapreneurship, employees or contractors are incentivized to use entrepreneurial skills within a larger business. Intrapreneurs essentially build their own businesses within the stable, established larger brand, and both parties win. Salaries often create a culture of complacency. A guaranteed wage doesn’t motivate most people to do more than the minimum, and there’s no consequence for doing less than the minimum—at least until the owner eventually fires the staff member after a series of reviews that document the poor performance. In a salaried business, it’s very easy to see how staff members are an expense. They collect money no matter what happens as long as the business stays afloat. But if the right people are paid based on contributions, they’ll be motivated to work hard to generate more income—for themselves, of course, but ...
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Playing The Long Game: Embrace Your Inner Tortoise

September 21, 2017 Personal Development
Slow and steady wins the race. The lesson of the timeless fable—the Tortoise and the Hare—are well-known. We might even agree that it’s best approach to many things in life, but how often do we heed that advice? Consider a classic CrossFit workout template: the 20-minute AMRAP. When the clock counts down—three, two, one, go!—at what percentage of your maximal effort do you go out of the gates? One hundred percent? Do you think you could keep that up for 20 minutes? We know through experience that we can’t. Therefore, to give ourselves the greatest chance at success, we should pace ourselves. If we maintain 80 percent for 20 minutes, we will beat anyone who goes 100 percent out of the gate and quickly hits the wall, dropping to 50 percent effort and worse as the clock ticks away. More importantly, we’ll recover more quickly and be ready to put in a good workout the next day. I apply the same philosophy to reading or listening to audiobooks, which is part of my self-development practice. If I read or listen to a book for one hour per day, after ten years I will have listened to 3,650 hours and taken in a tremendous amount of information and perspective. However, if I try to consume three hours of books every day but only do that consistently for two years—because it got overwhelming and I gave up—I will have taken in only 730 hours of content. How many times have you hyped yourself up for a new routine or goal only to have it slip away to the chaos of life and business? You might be tempted to berate yourself for your lack of motivation. But in reality, you don’t need more motivation; you need consistency. Whether your goal is to work out more, cook healthier meals or start a business, visualize the end result and create a plan of attack you ...
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The Two Pictures I Hang, And What They Represent

September 20, 2017 Gym Marketing
I have two pictures hanging in my office.   The first is a painting of trilliums. It was done by a famous local artist, Doug Hook. I grew up with Doug’s son. Doug’s pretty old now, but he’s still alive, and his art is expensive. Hanging a Hook print in your office means that you can afford the best.   The other picture is a photograph: a hockey team of 11-year-old girls with my daughter Avery in the center. Their jerseys say “Catalyst” on them. They’re all sweaty and smiling, fingers set in the “we’re number one” sign, celebrating some win. You can see in their eyes that they think, “This is it, we’ve made it to the peak of life.” And they might be right.   A Doug Hook painting on your wall means you’ve made a lot of money.   A pic of your kid’s team–that you can afford to sponsor–means you’ve made it.   One of my first conversations with Sherman Merricks (owner of Dynasty CrossFit and Two-Brain mentor-in-training) is one of my all-time favorites.   I asked about Sherman’s financial goals. He said,   “I want my wife to walk into a store and buy any dress she wants without looking at the price tag.”   The reason Sherman and I want to be successful is because our income goals were set to support our lifestyle goals.   Every December, entrepreneurs in the TwoBrain family set five goals in five categories:   Lifestyle Education Travel Service …and Income.   Income is last, because it depends on the others:   Where do you want to travel next year? What will that cost? What will you learn? What will the education cost? Who will you serve? What will that cost?   My service goal includes helping youth through sport. Volunteering to coach a local hockey team creates a perfect backdrop for life mentoring. It gives me an excuse to ...
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