My gym will be 20 years old in September.
We’ve helped thousands of citizens of my city, we’ve employed a couple of dozen people, and I’ve had a fantastic career.
But many times I thought about quitting entrepreneurship and getting a “real” job, selling and getting out, or even just giving up entirely.
Running a business is hard, and twice I’ve had to tear apart and rebuild the business to ensure its success.
Here, I want to give you a clear, numbered list with the exact steps I took to fix my gym the first time, back in 2008.
The 12 Steps I Took to Fix My Gym
1. I first had to accept that being the best trainer didn’t make me a good business owner. This is called “the entrepreneurial myth,” and one of the first books my new mentor had me read was called “The E-Myth.” This was a critical step because I had to fix myself as I fixed the business. You just can’t fix your business without fixing the owner—or it won’t stay fixed for long.
2. I broke down every job in the business. I wrote a checklist for everything. This brought some consistency to how it ran. It didn’t make money, but it got me some brain space and freedom from chaos.
3. I put those checklists into a master playbook. This became a living document that ran the business, and I no longer ran it out of my head.
4. I called my staff together and said, “Here’s how Catalyst will run.” There was a bit of debate on fine points, but after a two-hour meeting, we were all aligned on how groups would run and how the bathrooms would be cleaned.
5. I added contracts and evaluations. This was uncomfortable, but it gave everyone an objective picture of how they were actually doing—and then they started doing better.
6. I bought myself some time back. I started with the least expensive role: the cleaner. While the first cleaner did his job, I sat at the desk and sent a marketing email to my clients. I made $400 in the first night.
7. I reinvested that money into hiring another coach for the morning classes. While she coached, I reinvested that time into setting up automated billing, refinancing my debt, writing a blog and other high-value work. This is when I came to understand “working on the business instead of in the business.”
8. I started planning out the year ahead to make sure I had revenue coming during the low periods. I remember saying “I am never going to live through an August like ’09 again” and building out hockey camps.
9. I learned how to read a basic financial document: a profit-and-loss statement. That made me feel like my hands were finally on the steering wheel of my business; it was no longer just “happening to me.”
10. I fixed my rates. That was painful. I’m grateful that no gym owner has to go through that alone, like I did. (Our mentors create airtight plans for clients and offer constant support; I would have killed for this back in the day.)
11. I dropped my lowest-value services (open gym) and fired my worst clients. I got rid of discounts. I focused on my best clients and started earning their referrals.
12. In 2012, I got on social media and began using it as an amplifier. With Facebook to get attention, an email list to keep attention, and a No Sweat Intro to convert people into members, I had a highly functioning funnel. And when I started asking for referrals, I had two good funnels.
Coming Up Next
My business was “fixed.”
My new mistake was thinking it would stay that way forever—that the puzzle had been solved.
Nope.
It’s not enough to put your gym on an upward trajectory. You must work to keep it there.
Tomorrow, I’ll tell you why I had to fix it a second time a decade later and lay out exactly how I did it.
