I want to give you another strategy to help you become a millionaire gym owner—and this is a big one:
You must invest in yourself.
The key to success isn’t just knowing what to do. Anyone can read a book or take a course to learn what steps they need to take.
What really determines how successful you are is how well you do what needs to be done. And the key to that is having the right mindset and skills.
The more you can do to improve your skills and mindset, the greater your chances of achieving the business outcomes you want.
My new book is now out:
Get “Millionaire Gym Owner” here!
The Biggest Threat
When I am mentoring gym owners, I always ask them what they think the biggest threat to their business is. They’ll typically answer with something like “competition” or “the economy.” But it’s not the correct answer.
So here’s today’s exercise:
Imagine that your competitor down the street knows everything about you. That competitor knows what you plan to do, when you are going to do it and why you are going to do it. The competitor also knows about every insecurity you have and gets a text message every single time you don’t feel you’re good enough.
Now imagine what that person would do to your business.
“That would really suck” is the response I get when I lay out that scenario for a gym owner.
Well, here’s the truth: The person who knows all your weaknesses is you.
A part of you is trying to keep you comfortable. It doesn’t want to live at the edge of this chaotic, pressurized zone. It wants to go back to being comfortable and not feeling threatened.
That’s the part of you that’s going to show up when you start to do well. It’s also going to show up when you start to struggle. If you don’t understand that part of yourself, it’s like having a competitor who knows everything about you and will actively work against you.
If you don’t recognize your own shortcomings and invest in yourself to correct them, you can end up becoming your own biggest competitor.
That happens when you let yourself be distracted by novelty or unimportant details. Or when you bully yourself with negative thoughts all day and keep yourself awake all night, ruminating on your failures instead of your successes.
Too often, the biggest roadblocks to wealth for gym owners are between their ears.
Yet, as owner of your business, you are likely its biggest asset. Because it’s your ideas, your leadership and your skills that got the business to where it is, and they’re vital to driving it forward.
Investing in yourself means upgrading your business’s strongest asset and removing its biggest barriers to growth.
Invest in Your Skills
The most successful gym owners have skills that the least successful do not.
I’m not just talking about the practical skills that help you do your job better. Mindset skills will make an even bigger difference.
Over several years working with thousands of gym owners in Two-Brain Business, we’ve identified some of the skills that make the biggest difference, and we know how to improve them.
Some of the key attributes shared by millionaire gym owners are:
- Focus—locking in on the right tasks and getting them done.
- Visualization and manifestation—seeing your ultimate goal clearly and setting up a plan to accomplish it.
- Investor mindset—determining how to get the greatest return on your money and your time.
- Abundance mindset—working to “grow the pie” instead of fighting for the largest slice.
- Virtuosity—mastering the fundamentals instead of trying every new idea.
All these skills have compounding value, meaning they become more valuable over time, because:
- A little competence in each area is helpful; higher skill levels pay off even more.
- No one can copy them; they can’t be stolen.
- The government can’t tax you on them.
- You don’t lose them. If one business fails, these skills will help you build the next faster.
- They can be improved regardless of outcome—if you win, you learn; if you lose, you learn.
- They multiply your other investments.
- The time and effort invested in learning them has lifelong returns.
Although investing in your skills has a long-term payoff, the challenge is that skills are hard to quantify. Sometimes, a gym owner might not realize they’re gaining important skills while doing other work.
One key mindset shift is to think about the skills you’re gaining whenever you work on tasks you dislike.
For example: “I really hate collecting these metrics every month. But every time I do it, I get better at understanding how my business is running, and I learn how to keep it growing forever.”
Or: “I really dread doing these coach evaluations. But they get easier with practice, and they improve my service to my clients.”
Start Investing Today
As a fitness entrepreneur, you almost certainly don’t need to get another coaching credential. But you do need to invest in your skills as a CEO.
The pressure on entrepreneurs doesn’t go away as you gain experience. In fact, it increases. So you must learn to manage that pressure and thrive anyway.
Decisions have more zeroes attached to them and deeply affect a growing number of people. You do less “work” and spend more time managing the people who do the work. The stakes are higher. Competitors will actively attack you because of your success.
Red tape is everywhere, and progress comes painfully slowly at times. Impostor syndrome, insecurity and self-doubt are always waiting to pounce on you in weak moments. You’ll never have enough time.
The only way to ensure continued success is to constantly improve yourself. Get your mindset locked down and acquire the skills you need to address any challenges. Then upgrade those skills regularly. Pursue virtuosity as an entrepreneur.
If you’d like a precise plan and a mentor to guide you through it, book a call here.
