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How To Kill Your King

December 21, 2017 Member Retention
(The wrong way to open a gym) When I’m in Manhattan, I go to Union Square for a chess lesson.   This is roughneck chess: you sit on a folding chair or overturned bucket. You take the first seat available, no matter who the opponent (don’t worry, they’re all better than you are.) And you don’t put money on the game–but you’ll pay. Oh, yes.   My last lesson, in June, was against a street player named Mike. His wool cap was pulled down almost to his flat nose, and his heavy leather jacket would have made me sweat. I was wearing a t-shirt, but sweating plenty as we started anyway.   Mike leaned over to the guy beside him and said, “Gimme a coupla your pawns.” Our board was missing a few pieces. His neighbor handed over some mismatched pieces, and we began. Mike let me go first.   I was finished in under three minutes.   “Ever played before?” he asked.   I had. In fact, I’m not a bad chess player. I’m scrappy. I like changing my game plan on the fly. But Mike hammered me from the beginning. And so the lesson began.   “You have no opening,” he said. “You gotta have an opening.”   In chess, your first five moves largely determine your ultimate success. You can set up a defensive position and do battle, or just make random attacks that expose your King. I hustled hard in the first few minutes. But you don’t out-hustle a hustler.   When you open a gym, you can set yourself up for long-term success by doing a few things right: Running a Founders’ Club focusing on value Choosing the best location for your clients’ convenience Setting your rates using a formula to determine what you need Identifying your ideal clientele and focusing on what they want Planning your revenue streams to be diverse Inviting your neighborhood ...
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Staff Gone Bad

December 20, 2017 Hiring Staff
One of my favorite stories from Dale Carnegie is about Dale Hoover, a famous test pilot and frequent performer at air shows.   After an air show in San Diego, Hoover was flying home to Los Angeles when both engines quit in the plane he was flying. His extreme skill allowed him to perform an emergency landing and survive with his two passengers, but the plane was badly damaged.   Hoover’s first act on the ground was to check the fuel tanks. His suspicion was confirmed: the WWII propellor plane had been filled with jet fuel, not gasoline, by the mechanic. Hoover went straight back to the airport and demanded to see the mechanic who had fueled the plane.   The mechanic came out of the bay, sick with the thought of losing an expensive plane, and almost causing three deaths by his careless mistake. Getting fired, he figured, would be the least of his worries. Hoover stared at the man for long moments, and then asked him to oversee the fueling of his plane the next day.   Everyone was shocked–Hoover wasn’t really known for temperance. One of his passengers asked, “Why would you want THIS guy, who almost killed us, to have another chance tomorrow?”   And Hoover responded: “Because there’s no one else in the world who will be more careful with my plane tomorrow.”   People screw up. I do it. So do you.   We know that our own mistakes are valuable. But we’re quick to condemn the mistakes of others, instead of realizing that THEIR mistakes are also valuable.   The first time a staff member breaks a rule, forgets to lock the door, or wears their hat backward when coaching, assume it’s YOUR fault. Ask: Have I told them NOT to do that? Was I clear enough? Have I written the rule down in our Staff Playbook? Have I evaluated this staff person ...
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Episode 100: State of the Industry, and the Future

December 18, 2017 Gym Marketing Podcast
 
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The Idea Machine

December 13, 2017 Vision
I’ve never met a gym owner who didn’t have a great idea. Before January 1, I’ll have done over 1500 free calls with gym owners. And almost every time, I hear this: “I really want to get my X started, but I’m too busy.” or “I listen to your podcast and I’m intrigued by your Z, but I don’t have the staff to help me run it.” or “I can’t afford to pay my coaches to start a Y program. I can barely get them to clean the floor at night after their classes!”   Next Monday on the 100th episode of our podcast, I’m afraid I’m going to make it worse. I’ll share my vision for what the next three years holds for the microgym owner: the threats, opportunities and tactics for reaching the next level of success.   If you’re still coaching most of the classes at your gym, that episode will make you angry. Good. More ideas isn’t the problem. Lack of action is the problem. And it’s a solvable one.   Here’s how to get yourself the time to build your “big idea”, add new programs to your gym–or just go home to see your kids in the Christmas pageant.   First, break down the roles and tasks in your business. We cover this in the second week of the Incubator, and it’s also spelled out in Two-Brain Business 2.0 if you’re running at DIY speed.   Second, assign a value to each role. This is the cost to replace you in that role (for example, I can hire a cleaner for around $13 per hour in my city.)   Third, do a time valuation: wear a watch for a week, and record every role in which you spend more than five minutes. This is tedious, and there are apps that can help. But if you spend more than five minutes on email, write that down. ...
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Polishers

December 12, 2017 Vision
My father-in-law is 75. He spent his life in a steel mill, raising 5 kids on a tiny salary and running a small farm in the Valley. When he retired, he started working on old cars. Restoration is his vocation. If you’ve ever heard Johnny Cash’s “One Piece at a Time”–that’s Russ. Russ doesn’t build “kit cars”. His Model A has been chopped down, souped up, and customized from head to toe. Most of the pieces don’t match the original design. He dropped a larger engine inside. He changed the original seat configuration. When he was younger (age 70) he used to spin the tires at the end of my driveway on his way to car shows. He liked the shows because he liked to see the work of others. But he stayed away from the “polishers”–the guys who bought their cars premade, and just run them out of the garage for show. These are the guys who (like me) can barely change their own oil. He doesn’t dislike their cars. He doesn’t think “the polishers” are bad people. He just knows there’s a difference between what he’s done–built a car–and what they did–bought a hobby. Russ’ cars are awesome because he builds them with imperfect but continuous action. He works a little bit every day. Usually less than hour. Russ’ cars aren’t perfect. They don’t completely match the original specifications. But they run. They go fast. They look cool. His grandkids play in them. Neighbors complain about the noise–in short, all the reasons you really want to own a classic car. Consistent, imperfect action is the recipe for success: in relationships, in business and in fast old cars. Last week, I published and shared TwoBrain 2017 – a 308-page book I wrote almost by accident. I write these “love letters” to you almost every day, and well–they stack up. So we put them together in a book, because it ...
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Episode 99: Building, Teaching and Protecting Your Culture

December 11, 2017 Gym Operations Podcast
Announcer: 00:01 – You’re listening to Two-Brain Radio. We make gyms profitable. Getting you on track to making every day your Perfect Day. Every week we’ll deliver top-shelf business tactics to help improve your gym, advance your fitness career and move you closer to wealth. Get ready to start building your bigger and better business with your coach, best-selling fitness author of “Two-Brain Business: Grow Your Gym” and “Help First,” Chris Cooper. Chris: 00:30 – This episode is brought to you by Zen Planner. If you’ve read my books, you know that I’ve been a Mindbody guy since about 2007, but this year something happened that made a massive difference. I met Zen Planner. And talking to these guys, I realized how responsive they are and how much they actually care about CrossFit affiliates and the gym industry in general. These guys are willing to listen. They’ll make changes based on what gyms actually need instead of the window-dressing stuff that gym owners just kinda like, they think it makes them look cool. Things that will actually change the client experience. Metrics that your coaches can use to gauge how well your clients are reacting to your programming. Check-in tools, attendance tools, WOD tracking and scoreboards, the ability to plan and have people book appointments online and pay online. True automation of your business. Chris: 01:26 – I love working with these guys. We’re gonna have a great relationship. They’re building a customized Two-Brain dashboard and they’ve got so many amazing upgrades in the pipeline that will cancel out the need for other software. You should check them out. Zenplanner.com; they’ve been around forever but they keep getting better. Chris: 01:43 – Hey guys, it’s Chris. The end of the year is coming up and it has been amazing for me and my family and the Two-Brain family, too. I want to thank all of you out there listening for ...
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