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What's L5?

October 28, 2017 Personal Development
CrossFit has provided a unique entrepreneurial opportunity to change lives.     The path to joy requires security, consistency and the opportunity to serve others. Gym ownership ticks all of those boxes. The challenges of running a successful gym are large and diverse: certainly challenging enough for virtually anyone. No one EVER got bored owning a gym.   But…   Some of us, infected with the entrepreneurial virus, decide to pursue another project. Usually this involves broadening our audience, our influences and our minds. It also means our gyms have to run themselves while we focus on this new project.   Two-Brain Business is MY Level 5 project. My interest became an experiment, and then it became a passion; now it’s a compulsion. I can’t NOT help other gym owners. And at TwoBrain, we’re exceptionally rich with owners from all across the spectrum: not-quite-open to ten-years-in. Broke to millionaire, starving to hungry for more. And now that the TwoBrain Workshop is open, it’s clear that other entrepreneurs need help. We stand ready to help with the philosophy of Help First, incubation and mentorship.   The Level 5 Group is where we mentor those who want MORE.   They have a big idea, or a massive opportunity. Many already own a gym, but have moved on from the day-to-day operations and are ready to help a larger audience. Some own many gyms; some are founders of software companies that SERVE gym owners.   I’m not sure if TwoBrain attracts the entrepreneurial, or if business success makes them hungry for more. I’m not sure if Level 5 thinkers are made, or born. But I know that we can help them.   The Level 5 Group is for entrepreneurs whose first business is virtually automated and requires little of their time or attention. It’s for owners who have another big idea that keeps them up at night. It’s for people who, despite being ...
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Discipline and Patience

October 25, 2017 Member Retention
Owning a business requires discipline. Discipline to remain focused through the good times and the bad.  If revenues are up and things are looking great, stay focused—don’t pull back and relax just yet. Better yet, have someone shadow you as you continue to take action. Develop them and then present them with a career-changing opportunity to take over. Then you can be free to pursue other goals or grow the business. If revenues are down, don’t wallow in self-pity. Take a nice big bite of humble pie, accept that things suck right now and then get to work. As long as you are taking action daily, you will see results. You will get out of this rut. Discipline to see one program through before starting another. It can be tempting to launch multiple programs at once. You may believe this will multiply your revenue. Unfortunately, it may do just the opposite. With so many options available, your community may choose the easiest one: none of them. Start with one program and see it through. Document the process and learn from it. Then try again and aim to improve every time. This is slower, but much more effective. Discipline to evaluate staff before giving them more to do. Testing and evaluating is key to developing great staff members. First offer a good staff member a new opportunity. Then test them for one month and evaluate them at the end. How did they do? How do they feel? Can they take on more? If so, repeat the process and add another task or role. Again—slow, but effective. Discipline to review and improve systems often. Your systems are not perfect. There is no such thing. The top businesses understand that how it is done now is not how it will always be done. It may be tedious—even annoying—but you must review and recode your processes often. Aim for a review every quarter. You ...
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Mentoring Your Coaches and Athletes

October 24, 2017 Gym Operations
The Two-Brain model is built on the balance of knowledge and caring service.   My gym is built on the same model. And yours can be, too.   Like our brain, our mentorship practice prioritizes education or empathy, depending on what’s needed MOST at the moment. Virtuosity in mentorship–and virtuosity in coaching–means coordinating both sides, emotional and logical, to work together.   Solving a problem has two parts: First, you have to know what to do. Second, you have to know how to DO it. You have to take action.   Years ago, I started mentoring gym owners with a phone call and a blank sheet of paper. The owners found value in the service, but it took many conversations to explain the concepts and reinforce WHY changes had to be made. Some of these early clients are still with me, and they’re all great friends. The early service was very heavy on care, but weaker on knowledge.   Two years in, I decided that I could put together a course to reinforce the educational side. I’d already published Two-Brain Business, and was writing 2.0 and Help First. I’d been offering online courses through IgniteGym for years already, so I knew the mechanics.   When the course was built, we sold it without an in-person mentoring component. It was very popular, but when I measured its effect at the end, I discovered that many gym owners rarely made the changes necessary to fix their business. They had a TON of education–more than enough–but not enough accountability or personal guidance.   When I launched TwoBrainBusiness.com, I did so with years of mentorship under my belt. I prioritized what WORKED, instead of what sold well, and the results skyrocketed.  Think about it: what else can you purchase for around $5000 that will pay you back in less than 8 weeks, and KEEP paying you forever?   Here’s how we do it now. ...
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Episode 92: Made By HQ

October 23, 2017 Gym Marketing Podcast
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Should Competitors Pay Less…or MORE?

October 22, 2017 Gym Marketing
Winning the Games doesn’t help your business.   What, then, is the benefit of having Games athletes under your roof?   I’ve been around Games and Regional-level athletes often. In my former role as Media Director for several different Regionals, I’ve been lucky enough to meet many of the CrossFit-famous. Most are nice; some went out of their way to greet fans even while preparing for an event. Many understand that their “fame” is specific only to our niche.   The best athletes can provide inspiration and leadership in the gym. Of course. The best athletes participate with other members, and give them a sense of “Look what she can do! Maybe I can do more.” The best athletes lift the ceiling for everyone else. But let’s be clear about what top CrossFit competitors DON’T do:   They don’t pull in new members They don’t always make the best coaches They don’t make your gym “famous” They don’t increase your bottom line–unless, of course, they’re paying more for training than anyone else. I’ll get to that in a moment.   In a very few cases, hosting a Games or Regional-level competitor can even be a detriment. If the athlete is following outside programming (which is understandable), then they’re not interacting with your clients much anyway. And if they’re doing “their own thing”, they’re a distraction to everyone else. In a few extreme examples, the “big dog effect” can separate the pack, causing cliques and making a mess of your policies, space and equipment.   I wish I didn’t hear this often, but I do:   She comes in and stays most of the day. She stays in the corner and doesn’t really talk to anyone else. She’s doing other programming. She usually leaves a mess. She’s not really part of our community. She only talks to certain people. And now those people just follow what she’s doing! And she doesn’t ...
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Should You Buy Out Another Gym?

October 20, 2017 Member Retention
Maybe this should be titled, “Do You WANT A Second Location?” This is a common topic in the TwoBrain Family. Successful gyms are now often invited to “buy out” failing gyms in their area. As the polarization of “successful” and “unsuccessful” gyms continues, more owners are becoming either a buyer or seller. I’ve been approached to purchase gyms many times. And many MORE times, I’ve been asked to consult on a sale agreement. But I don’t start with the valuation. I start with a question: “Why do you want to own a second gym?” If I hear: “I just want to help more people. My first gym doesn’t take any of my time” — then we proceed with the purchase. But usually, I hear: “It’s a great opportunity. There are no other gyms in the area. My members could choose where to visit. It’s almost profitable. I KNOW I COULD FIX IT.” That last one is in all caps because I hear it a LOT. Here are the questions I ask next: Is there a chance you could get the gym’s members even if you didn’t buy the gym? Is there an easier way to increase your income in your current gym in less time than you’d require to fix the other gym? Are clients in the other gym accustomed to lower rates? Do they match your target demographic? Why is the other gym failing? Are you buying the problems that killed them? Does a higher membership count move you closer to your “perfect day”? What liabilities are you also buying? (For example, a lease)  After thinking it through, many owners decide NOT to buy out another owner. Here are some reasons I’ve heard recently: “It would take me months to fix that gym. If I calculate the value of my time, it would be a lot easier to just increase my sales by $2000 per month at my current location.” “I’m pretty close to my perfect day ...
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