Blog

“It’s pretty hard to tell a volunteer what to do.” I was still a junior in college when I first heard this sentence. I was volunteering at a Seniors’ Drop-In Center every Friday, mastering the game of Shuffleboard and optimizing production in the quilting bee. I was frustrated because classes weren’t starting on time; the seniors were there to socialize, not exercise, and I hadn’t yet figured that out. Now that most of my time is sent helping gym owners run their businesses, I repeat these words often. I used to accept “trades” often (especially before I had money) but my generous nature meant I always wound up giving away far more than I received. For example, if a client built me three plyo boxes, I might give him 3 months of free unlimited CrossFit (or around $400 back then.) That’s WAY too much for three boxes, even with his labor built in. Let’s go straight to the most common example I see: “If you coach X number of classes per week, I’ll give you a free membership.” What’s a membership worth? How many classes does a volunteer have to coach to make the trade equitable? Let’s figure it out: If a class is worth $90 in revenue (Two-Brain mentoring clients are shown how to calculate this number) then the coach is paid $40 for the hour (the 4/9ths Model.) But most gyms don’t pay their coaches this much because the owners aren’t careful about their margin. That’s another topic. Let’s say your average coach is paid $20 per class. If their membership is worth $150 per month, a volunteer must coach 7 classes and pay $10 per month, or coach 8 classes and be paid $10. If they miss a few classes in July, they pay the difference. If they make up a few extra classes in August, you pay them the difference. What about the cost of certification? ...

Why are we testing the Skulpt Chisel? Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast episode “Hallelujah” introduced a new term: “Experimental genius”. Gladwell compares two different processes of innovation. Some innovators follow a script: they have a strategy for the music they write, or the paintings they make. But other innovators continually refine their product until it’s perfect. I’m nowhere near the league of artist profiled by Gladwell (Cezanne, Cohen, Costello). But I understand them. Two-Brain Business took three years to write, and Two-Brain Business 2.0 is really the book I wish people would buy. It’s such an improvement that it’s a completely different book. But the original is the bestselling fitness business book of all time, and is still picked up four times as often as 2.0, so I leave it on the shelves. Maybe people like the stories better, or relate better to the owner I was in 2012. Last week, I issued a 30-day content creation challenge to a few gym owners in the TwoBrain family. Their first videos and blog posts were actually pretty good, but nowhere near as good as they’ll be in a month. The point of the challenge was simply to publish every day, and avoid the “paralysis by analysis” trap. The videos don’t need to be perfect because we’re building the practice of content creation. Most will revisit these same topics later and update their message, as I did with Two-Brain Business. But “experimental innovation” isn’t limited to art. It’s also a solid business practice. In “Good To Great“, Jim Collins talks about firing bullets before firing cannonballs. To paraphrase Collins, try a new idea on a small scale first. Don’t wait until you can do THE BIG THING perfectly, or deliver the finished painting; just fire a little bullet first. Try it out. Find your range. With the Skulpt, we’re firing a little bullet. We’re adding objectively-measurable data to our intake process. We chose the Skulpt because: ...