The Pre-Mortem: A Critical Annual Exercise for Gym Owners

The Pre-mortem

It’s really hard to look at your gym objectively.

I know: Your gym is your passion project, and your clients are like your kids.

I use a mentor to help me look at each of my businesses objectively and see the stuff that has to improve without the veil of passion in the way.

One of the really valuable exercises I do every year with each of my businesses is the “pre-mortem.”

Imagine your gym died yesterday and you’re at the funeral. Then answer these questions:

1. What was your business? Describe it. Pretend you’re giving a eulogy to 100 people who have never heard of your business before.

2. What killed it? In the end, what was the final cause of death? I’ll help you with this one tomorrow if you have trouble getting clarity here.

3. What survived? What will you keep? Every business does a lot of things right. If you were starting from scratch with a new business, what parts of your current business would you keep?

Work through the exercise when you have a clear headspace and a half hour to think without distractions.

Resource: Two-Brain Radio: The Business Pre-Mortem

In the next post in this series, I’ll tell you the six causes of death in gyms, and after that I’ll tell you how we prevent them at Two-Brain.

Other Media in This Series

“This Six Reasons Gyms Die”
“How Two-Brain Prevents Gym Deaths”

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One more thing!

Did you know gym owners can earn $100,000 a year with no more than 150 clients? We wrote a guide showing you exactly how.