In the first post in this series, I shared the story of how I nearly lost my gym in 2008—and the 12 steps I took to fix it.
You can read that blog here.
But fixing a business once doesn’t mean it stays fixed.
After a decade of growth, I made the mistake of thinking the puzzle had been solved. And then, in 2023, I found myself in the same spot again—except this time, I didn’t want to fix it.
I’m glad I did. Here’s how I repaired the business.
The 10 Steps I Took to Fix My Gym (Again)
1. I cleaned up. I stripped the office and repainted. I tore out old lockers. I hauled truckloads of stuff to the dump. I needed to get rid of that distraction so I could focus on cleaning up the business. I went hard for a full weekend.
2. I addressed my decaying staff playbook. I opened up the document I’d written in 2009 and last updated in 2015.
3. I broke down every job in the business anew. I updated our checklists for everything. I deleted outdated processes and added more videos and pictures.
4. I put those checklists into a master playbook. I shared a copy with everyone on my staff and told them to tell me when they’d read it.
5. I called my staff together for breakfast and we walked through the playbook together. The staff members were actually relieved to have structure instead of trying to “figure it out” for themselves.
6. I updated contracts and evaluations—some team members were new and had never had either. They were all relieved to have a clear picture of how to do their job well; they no longer had to guess.
7. I started buying my way out of the managerial job again. We already had a cleaner this time, but I hired a coach to take over lead nurture. I signed up for GLM and got us a new website. I put her through the training to message leads and get them booked.
8. I reinvested the money from those new clients into training my staff to do the No Sweat Intros. When two of them were closing above 70 percent of their appointments, I gave one of them some other managerial duties.
9. I built an annual plan to make sure I had revenue coming and then hired a general manager to execute the plan and the playbooks. They didn’t have to invent anything; they just had to keep turning the crank on the machine I’d built.
10. I met with the GM every month to go over the financials and mentor them on growing the gym. They used the same Simple Six process we use to mentor thousands of gym owners worldwide. Catalyst became a successful client of Two-Brain.
Business Virtuosity and Mentorship
If you compare this process to the steps I followed the first time, you’ll notice that they’re almost identical. But the second time, I was better and faster.
And this led to a big lesson for me: The key to fixing a gym is doing the most important stuff better, not in chasing the new stuff. In other words, the key is pursuing business virtuosity.
The strategy to running a successful gym doesn’t change much. The tactics shift a little—Hyrox and TikTok and all that new stuff—but they sit atop solid systems that can last for decades with a little maintenance.
The other common thread through all of this was mentorship.
First, I needed a mentor to tell me what to do first (and, let’s be honest, to hold my hand through the hard parts and hold me accountable through the boring parts).
Then I needed a mentor to help me see what was possible.
Then I needed a mentor to keep me focused (“Keep building the gym instead of starting five other companies.”).
Then I needed a mentor to help me pivot out of the gym.
Then I had to start mentoring my staff—or get them a mentor through Two-Brain. (I love that last one—that’s what I do now.)
The first mentor I had was a teacher.
The second mentor I had was a guide.
Now the mentors I use at my gym are like business coaches: They keep me focused on improving the systems I have, and that’s what grows my gym.
Here’s the truth, though: No business is ever “set it and forget it.” You start turning the wheel with a lot of effort. You have to steer it in the right direction. And you have to keep the wheel in motion. You have to adjust course sometimes—and if you don’t, you have to pull it out of the ditch.
But it is possible. Though I’ve had plenty of “$13-days”—when I’d have sold the whole thing for 13 bucks—I’m glad I didn’t.
I’m glad I own a gym—even if it’s a different gym than I started with and even different gym than it was a year ago.
If you need a mentor to help you save your gym, book a call here.
