Mateo: On this edition of the Two-Brain marketing podcast, I’m talking with Jared of Triumph Strength and Conditioning and you’re going to hear about how he and his partner Mark went from operating a gym out of a car wash to their amazing multi-room massive fitness facility that they’re in today. Mark actually had to leave the interview right as we started because they had a surprise consultation: a surprise No Sweat Intro walk inI I think he was able to sell two new memberships. Well, Jared and I were on the video chat here, so we’ll also learn how they consistently turn $300 of ad spend into $2000 to $3000 in front end revenue every single month. So make sure you subscribe to Two-Brain radio for more marketing tips and secrets each week.
Timeline:
3:31 – Introduction to Jarrett Baston
7:47 – The importance of mentorship on Triumph Strength and Conditionings growth
14:15 – Doing the right thing and creating relationships at your gym.
16:23 – Developing vision and values for your gym
17:54 – Selling the best hour of someone’s day
20:17 – The importance of meeting a new client where they are at
23:06 – The process Jarrett uses to meet with a new client
29:22 – How paid advertising has launched Jarrett’s business to new levels
32:47 – Treating marketing as an investment
34:01 – How to contact Jarrett
34:30 – Connecting with gym owners in your area to learn and network
Chris: 00:40 Two-Brain radio is brought to you by Two-Brain business. We’re committed to helping a million entrepreneurs find freedom and wealth. We’ll bring you the very best of the business world each week. To find out how we can help you create your perfect day, book a free call with a mentor twobrainbusiness.com.
Chris: 00:58 Debt is a tricky subject in our world. We’ve been taught by HQ to avoid debt, to accumulate cash and then we’ve got enough money to spend it. But in the business world, the reality is that there’s good debt and there’s bad debt. Good debt creates an asset. there’s also something called opportunity cost. Meaning if you wait until you can afford something, you probably never will be able to afford it and you’ll be missing a ton of opportunity. In the meantime, let’s say for example that you are bursting at the seams and your clients couldn’t attend a 6:00 PM class anymore because there was a waiting list, so they started canceling their memberships.
Chris: 01:36 You’re missing an opportunity cost here: the opportunity to keep your current clients. Because if they’re paying for a membership and they can’t attend, they’re not going to keep that membership for long. So you’re looking to expand and so you’re going to have to take on some debt or you’re going to wait until you have the $10,000 or whatever that amount is to buy the new equipment. You can keep turning new clients away while you wait and try and accumulate this money or you can leverage the capital through guys like rigquipment. Rigquipment is a partner that we chose at Two-Brain business because their commitment to crossfit and their commitment to helping first has been proven over several years. I got to admit, I shy away a lot from money people. It’s intimidating to work with people who understand money and finance better than I do.
Chris: 02:24 I’m sure you feel the same way, but these guys have shown up time and time again. They’ve offered free help. They’ve turned down business a lot of times because they aren’t sure if the person has a good working business model, and to be honest, they’ve sent people to us and let us turn them down for them because they wanted to know if this person’s plan was going to work. Before you expand, before you start out, it’s super important that you know what you’re getting into, that you have a plan to pay back the debt. They have a plan to increase cash flow that you’re going to do based on new purchase. Rigquipment has a great tool. If you go to their site at rigquipment.com you can figure out if you can’t afford that expansion, should you be buying that new rig or should you be investing in something else like mentorship. These guys will even finance Two-Brain business incubator phase if you purchase it with your equipment because they understand that the incubator makes your business more viable, it’s less of a risk for them. I love working with clay and Joe from rigquipment because these guys understand what our service in life is and that matches their service too.
Mateo: 03:32 Hello and welcome to the Two-Brain marketing podcast. I’m your host, Mateo Lopez. I’m one of the digital marketing mentors at Two-Brain business. Thanks again for joining us. This is your weekly dose of Digital Marketing Magic. Every week we’re going to go over marketing campaign strategies, useful tips and updates to keep you in the loop on the ever changing landscape of advertising on the Internet for Your Business. And today we’re going to talk with, the guys over at triumph strength and conditioning. We’re here right now with Jared and, Mark to learn about their experience and how they’ve been able to sustain their growth month over month for the past three months here, learn more about their business and how, how they’re able to attract new clients. So, uh, how’s it going?
Jarrett: 04:17 Doing really well, man. Thanks for having us on. Mark is –he’s with a no sweat. They’re just wrapping it all up, so hopefully he comes back with a closed sale. But it’s always good to see somebody coming in. So things are going really well, man. We really been driving ourself in the right direction. Now, finally after five years for like the last, this last three months have really pushed us I think into a point of no return as far as positivity. You know, I think a lot of people, if you
guys are starting or if your current tTwo-Brain part of the Two-Brain family, I think it’s, it’s one of those things you have this kind of tipping point where you’re like, oh this is, this is how it’s supposed to be. And I think we’re finally getting to that point. It feels really good.
Mateo: 05:04 Awesome man. Well tell, tell us a little about you and the business and how you have been marketing to this point, and I know you, I know this used to be a different business, so tell us a little bit about that. A little bit of history about the gym.
Jarrett: 05:17 Sure. Way Back in, uh, well I think mark and I met around 2008 or 2009. So kind of the early days of, of crossfit and I distinctly remember doing Helen in an Urban active on a treadmill, a TRX machine and a dumbbell for Kettlebell swing. So, we were those guys and then had the opportunity to work at a facility, a gym that had been starting out in this right around the 2011 March, 2012 mark where you could have opened a gym in a shed and people would flock to it. And the opportunity arose to purchase a business. The guy was moving down south and we purchased a gym and it was in an old kind of dingy carwash. I was about 2,500 square feet of available space in a car wash. It was, if you ever seen one of the drive through car washes, they poured concrete on the floor and made it into a gym. Really, it was about 120 feet long.
Jarrett: 06:25 Only about 20 feet wide.
Mateo: 06:26 Wow. That’s so wild.
Jarrett: 06:28 It was an interesting to say the least space. And then we said that was 2013 we purchased the business. And again, much like anyone else who kind of just dives into it because they like to train, uh, figures out that hey, we just bought herself a job. Um, and it’s kind of running our lives and we sustained that last five years. So we celebrated five years in October of last year, we moved to a 7,000 square foot facility where we’ve been since 20, I guess that’ll be 2015 or 2016 so we’re ending our three year lease here. When we left the car wash because there was nowhere to go, man. Uh, there was just nowhere to, to expand to, um, it was just such a unique space. It would actually be a perfect barbell club.
Jarrett: 07:21 I’m now on the Kentucky, the Kentucky Board for weightlifting and I got to keep going back there thinking that man, that’d be a really good spot for a barbell club. But anyways, it was a, it just wasn’t conducive for growth and we moved into a place that was,it was gymnastics then cheerleading. So it was just a giant open space, much like many gyms and it was perfect for us. So we’ve been here for the last three years and then, you know, we’ve been through mentorships, we’ve had a couple of business owners, at our facility kind of reach out and help us along the way and then taking a dive into an official business mentorship with another, another group. Working with them for a while, saw some improvement and then Two-Brain has always been on the back burner for us.
Jarrett: 08:09 I think you as, as business owners, you kind of piecemeal a little bit, right? So you do what you can afford. So, uh, the, the price tag, originally it was like, wow, there’s no way. And they finally got to the point where like, man, we provide a premium service, we charge a premium price. We know we’re better, there’s a reason these guys are what they are. And we really took the dive back in December of 2018 and, uh, talking to Jeff, you know, we’re like, should we wait until after the new year? He’s like, if this is your downtime, this is the perfect time to do it. So we, we jumped in headfirst and haven’t looked back.
Mateo: 08:49 Nice. Amazing man. So tell, tell me a little bit more about that. Cause think that it uh, that where you just said, oh we, we bought ourselves a job. Cause I think that’s an experience that a lot of us have probably gone through. So what was it like, you know, trying to grind it out those, those first, you know, three, four or five years.
Jarrett: 09:12 Yeah. First off, shout out to the guys up at a Naptown. Um, we actually heard them on the podcast. Mark did actually. So Kudos to mark for pointing them out and he actually reached out to them and we drove up there and spent the day with them. And that was actually the selling point. That was the, that was the final selling point for Two-Brain. It was seeing, seeing the proof was like, and then describing where they started from and going, Oh wow, that’s us. You know? So it was one of those things where it was like, this is definitely the direction we want ahead. So as far as like the US owning a job or the job owning us, so to speak, I was sleeping at the gym, you know? Oh Wow, it’s closing up at eight o’clock at night and I gotta be back here for the 5:30 AM class. You know, at the time I’m single. And it’s like, well, me and the dog are sleeping here tonight because it’s just easier than going home.
Mateo: 10:05 I’ve spent a few nights at the gym before!
Jarrett: 10:09 I think, I think you wear it as a badge of honor a little bit. You know, you’re like, oh, you know, this is, this is my, this is my life. This is what I do, it’s what I love. But at a certain point, I think you have this identity shift of like, I don’t want to have to grind it out every day to make ends meet. I want to grind it out to help people and that’s what we got in the business to do. And I don’t feel like we are able to help people to our fullest extent when we are, you know, having to sleep the gym. So, uh, that, that was, that was kind of a big, you know, it’s like as you’re starting to see these changes and go like, wow, what do I do now that I don’t have to be here every night, 14 hours, you know, and then you can actually start to take a step back and realize that wow, I can actually reach and help more people. And that’s exactly what we’ve been able to do. So it’s been, it’s been really, really freeing in that sense.
Mateo: 11:02 Yeah. I think that was one of the first things I read from Chris that was kind of an eyeopener was like, yeah, you got to pay yourself something. You know, you got to treat yourself right cause otherwise it’s almost like putting your air mask on before the people next to you cause you have to be able to, you can only give your best if you’re at your best.
Jarrett: 11:25 And it’s funny because the things that we used to give away for free, and I think if you guys keep up with the Facebook group, I just recently saw somebody posted an email about how everyone’s kind of mad that they’re being charged for these things now. And it’s like, I think one of the best comments that is the when was the last time you had a roof over your head for free. You know, like quality costs money. And it’s, I think it’s time that if you are legitimately giving the best you can possibly give, it’s worth. Um, you know, we used to give away seven fundamental classes for free and it’s, it’s funny to laugh at now, but it’s like those are personal training sessions and we’re giving you an hour of our time. That alone was probably one of the best things you’ve ever done is just being able to charge for our fundamental classes. You know, because it’s, it’s not, not only providing revenue, but now I don’t have to do them because I can pay one of my trainers to do it. And just so happens my, my brother in law is my head trainer and they just had their first child. So it’s like he needs to be able to make a living and now we have this responsibility to provide this, this value for him as well. So it allows, it has allowed us to do that.
Mateo: 12:30 Yeah, it’s amazing. I think that’s such a, such an important point. I feel like we talked, I talked about this a lot on here, but I just think it’s, I’m still talking to gym owners who are still giving away all of these services for free, all this time for free. And, and you know, they’re worried about people down the street are cheaper or whatever it is. And it’s like, you know, you gotta just, if you have something of value in the market will reward you in kind. And so like, you know, if it’s that good, people will pay for it. Exactly how they usually just,
Jarrett: 12:59 and as long as you’re the one that’s continuing education and you are keeping the top of your game like you, you will absolutely be rewarded for that. Now, if you’re just in a slump, you know, just kind of doing the bare minimum, then maybe you need to take a look at yourself personally. But I think if, you know, a lot of us pride ourselves on continuing to learn and grow as trainers and um, I think one of the things it’s allowed me to do the most is just give even more, you know, when you can actually, when you’re not just trying to get as many people in as possible and you’re getting quality people in that are willing to pay you a premium. Now I can take the time to learn about you, learn about your family, learn about your, your issues, learn about the, uh, the underlying problems.
Jarrett: 13:41 Blake recommended a book, Building a Story Brand. And if you guys haven’t listened to that, it’s incredible because it’s, it’s one of those things where like we always put how much, like how great our coaches are. Like, no one cares. You know, we, they want to see the story behind the person that’s losing those that weight. And we’ve been very successful as of recently. We had a wonderful woman, her name’s Kathleen, comes through our door and the conversation went as such, she called the gym, first sentence I remember, she said I’m morbidly obese. We sat down and made out a, a longterm plan for her to lose as much weight as she needs. And it’s one of those things where we’re telling her story, putting her in the forefront and we’re not doing it for the Facebook likes and Instagram likes. But it just so happens that crossfit HQ is picked up on this little story and reposted it and you know, so these are all the side benefits from doing the right thing, I guess is my point. It’s not, we’re not sitting here saying, oh, she’s giving us, you know, the, the top level of our 90 day challenge. So we’re going to give her the most attention. No, we’re just telling her story. And Her story is just happens to be pretty incredible.
Mateo: 14:52 Yeah, and I mean I think, I think what you just said is so important when it comes to sales too. When it comes to marketing, it’s like yeah, no one, no one cares about the specialty barbells you have or your legal stuff or like you said, the coaches. I mean those things are important but it’s wrong to lead with that. You know, that’s not what’s important to someone else. It’s, it’s the stories of, of people interacting with your service and, and the benefits they’ve they’ve seen from using it. Right. So that’s exactly what you’re leading. Leading with the community aspect, leading with the, the people that make up your, your family so to speak.
Jarrett: 15:3
1 I mean cause these really are our family members and I think that’s one of the things that we’ve been the whole time, even when we’re, we’re working these long hours and working these days where it’s like, you know, what the hell am I doing? It’s the underlying tone is always been put. Put our people first. And I think the biggest difference maker with at least with Two-Brain has been, we’ve always thought putting our people first by giving them free stuff, whether it’s, hey, we’re doing a free clinic because you guys pay a premium, or hey, we’re hosting this, this event and it’s free to you guys because we love you. And I think again, putting, we’re putting our budget, we’re imposing our budget on them and not realizing that a lot of these people do have a good income and we’re not out to take from them, but we are out to provide a service. And those services do cost money.
Mateo: 16:20 That part you just said put the people first. Was that something that had always been kind of in the background or was that something you kind of developed more as you went through the vision and values section of the incubator?
Jarrett: 16:33 That was something from day one. And you know,the place that we, that both mark and I came from, it never seemed like that was at the forefront. And that was one of the things that we always wanted to be at the forefront of our community. We, we, we sat down with our coaches years ago and literally just said, hey guys, what are, what are things that you think triumph embodies and I, we just, I set a timer, I said five minutes, we are just going to say words that come to your mind. And I wrote every single one down and then we went through one by one and voted yea or nay. And then we broke it down, essentially from about 72 down to four core values. And those being client first, humility, consistency and integrity. So I’m in client first being number one at all times.
Jarrett: 17:25 So that was something that we had done from the get go. And I think that was one of the things that we had always, anyone that we talked to in the area that wasn’t from, Oh, I’ve heard your guys’, you know, community is amazing and that’s great and all, you know, it’s fantastic but giving away too much in the long run. But, um, but yeah, it was, it was always in the forefront for us. It was always something that had to be, it had to, the most important thing to us because they’re the ones that keep us in business are the ones that allow us to do what we love.
Mateo: 17:54 So then in your words, what is it that you guys sell and how do you sell it?
Jarrett: 17:59 We’re really just selling the best hour of someone’s Day. I think that is, that is really what it comes down to. You know, people, people are either told no, they’re being put down at their jobs, that they hate their job, where they do their job because they love their family or they’re having family problems or there, you know, someone died or someone has a bad diagnosis. So we try day in and day out to provide just one hour where you can come in, throw your physical and emotional baggage at the door and just kind of get a workout in and joy being with your friends and then go home hopefully a little bit happier. Um, you know, I think it, the more that we’ve have been able to dive in with people, the more we’ve realized that, like, you figure out what’s actually important in life. And again, just back stepping a little bit, you know, starting in 2008, it was like back in the day where like if you had hand stand push ups, you go to regionals.
Jarrett: 19:02 And I was like, so it was like, we came from a competitive background and then for the longest time, that was my, my personal identity and then having a community show me what’s actually important in life. You know, it’s family, it’s a friends if people search upward. So I feel like I have, I’m in debt to them for, improving my life. So we always try and, and, you know, improve. There’s as much as we possibly can. So, you know, one of the things we like to do is at least once a month we host a community event. We’ve done Superbowl parties, like, like most gyms, right? Like, I think it’s, it’s pretty common at this point. Uh, I think it’s not even, it’s unspoken. It’s like a thing you just do. Right. But we do Superbowl parties.
Jarrett: 19:45 We have a bowling alley next door, so we go bowling, there’s a minor league baseball team across the street. We go to them, we, you know, host internal throwdowns. So it’s like a way to get people to compete without competing. We do, obviously things like Murph and all that good stuff, but it’s just things outside those times we get outside of the gym. Atmosphere is really where you get to see people kind of hang out and like, oh, I didn’t know you went to this, Oh, you work with my brother and you start to make these connections and your community gets a little bit better.
Mateo: 20:16 That’s awesome. And so you’re selling the best part of someone’s Day. Mark’s in a no sweat intro right now. So what’s he doing? How’s he selling it?
Jarrett: 20:28 He is selling it by meeting this person right where they’re at. I think as fitness professionals, as crossfitters, as people who have done this for, even if you’ve got six months under your belt, you get an idea of what crossfit is. You know where you struggle, you know, wal
king into any new place is scary enough as it is walking into a fitness facility where you may feel maybe overweight or you know, incompetent or a stupid, for lack of a better term. We just try and meet people where they’re at. We come by their side, we sit next to them, we don’t sit across from them and we really just make sure that they’re comfortable and tell them how we can improve their life, you know? So I don’t think it’s as much selling as it is just explaining to people that like, hey, this is a safe space. You know, you can be yourself. You can, you know, let loose a little bit. You can let your guard down so to speak, because uh, again, I think w just as human nature, especially now, it’s like your guard’s always up. So coming beside them, explaining that we’re on their side and really just meeting them where they’re at. Explaining to them that no matter what your ability, no matter what your age, no matter what your history, like it doesn’t matter to us like we’re going to be weak, we can help you. And I think that’s the wonderful thing about crossfit. We have this program that’s designed to help the fittest on earth or the non fittest on earth and we can help both of those people at the same time just in different ways.
Mateo: 22:04 Yeah, I mean that’s, I think that’s what’s amazing about the methodology and I think crossfit HQ is getting it too, and you can see all the content they’re putting out. It’s like everyone doing squats on couches and dressers with water bottles.
Jarrett: 22:19 Exactly. They’re there. I think they’re making this turn for the better. I mean, I know they got some grief with the games and all that, but I, you know, when you really do look at the people in need and we’re in, we’re in Florence, Kentucky. Um, and it’s not a healthy area. You know, I get off my exit every morning and I look to my right and I look to my left and it’s like windows crack, smoking a cigarette or you know, while drinking a mountain dew. And it’s like there are way more of those people that we can help than elite athletes and for the most part body weight athletes are going to be self-driven anyways. You know, they don’t, they don’t quote need us even though we know, you know, they need coaching. But it’s one of those things where we can help a lot more people that are in dire straits than the people that, already. Have a sub two minute Fran.
Mateo: 23:05 Totally man. Let’s get into the nitty gritty a little bit. So this person walks in. What happens? What’s Mark going to do? I know you said he’s going to sit down next to him, you know, do you take them on a tour? What do you do? How does it work?
Jarrett: 23:18 We have a pretty unique space. Right? Um, you walk in, in our lobby and it’s, I’m not exactly sure what this loft space space was, but we have a loft space that overlooks our entire gym. So it’s, I’ve got three giant windows behind me, so we generally will take them up here and especially if there’s a class going on, it separates them enough to where they can see what’s going on, but they’re not like hearing barbells being thrown around and stuff like that. Right. Cause then we’re, we’re trying to take this, any barrier to entry out of the equation, the fact that you showed up is a good sign. Number one. I think if you, if you’ve been dealing with no sweat intros, you probably have a lot more leads than you do people who show, you know, people lead and then they, they’ll either not confirm, they won’t show, so they show up.
Jarrett: 24:05 That’s a great sign. And then when we take them upstairs and we really just start with like, hey, how’s it going? How’s your week going? And it’s not just to make small talk, it’s again to break this barrier to entry down. It’s to show that like, Hey, I’m here to actually listen about you and not just, it’s not like, here’s our prices, you know, it’s, hey, how’s your week going? Oh man, your daughter was sick. That’s, that sucks. You know, I don’t have a daughter, but I’ve got two dogs and whenever they’re sick, that really messes my week up. And it’s really, again, coming by their side and just asking some basic questions. What do you know about what we do? And if it’s nothing, we give a little bit of explanation that, you know, the best. Uh, one of my favorite things to tell people is we’re not obviously never say the definition of crossfit.
Jarrett: 24:48 That’s kind of a kind of a given, right? It doesn’t matter to anybody. I always like to tell people that we take the guesswork out of their day. What’s the, what’s the worst part about walking into a gym? Figuring out what you’re going to do for the day. I’m going to go run on the treadmill a little bit. I’m going to lift some of these weights. Uh, I might go do this. It’s like, no, we’re going to walk in. I’m going to show you exactly what we’re doing for the day. We’re going to explain it down to a tee. If you can’t do something, we’re going to show you exactly how you can do it safely and still get a great workout. We’re going to do a cool down together and then you’re going to be on with your day. And then from there it’s, you know, kind of from our previous conversation, just asking them about what their needs are.
Jarrett: 25:25 You can kind of start to derive the best plan for them, a prescription, if you will. I think that’s one of the things you talk about in the incubator is, is coming up with a prescription for their success. Some people just will fit right into a group class. It’s obvious from the go, that’s what they’re in for and that’s what they’re going to thrive in. And not a lot of people. It’s like, Hey, we need to talk about personal training because with the two knee surgeries you’ve had and the fact that you just had a kid, I think that this is going to be the best bet for your success. And then the, I think the last combination, last missing piece is if you don’t have anything in the, in the world of nutrition, just get something together to where you can make recommendations for nutrition.
Jarrett: 26:05 Because that’s been probably one of the biggest shifts that we’ve seen as far as allowing people to make visible changes. Even even past, you know, members that had been with us from day one. It’s like, Hey, let’s talk about nutrition tracking just a little bit and then seeing them take some accountability for themselves and it’s like, wow, there’s the difference we’ve been, we’ve been needing, we’ve been missing that all along because I think as crossfit coaches, we’re just focusing on, even if you’re focusing on the, the fitness part and maybe sleep and recovery, you’re still missing this huge chunk that can really, really, really help people. And I think that’s the next maybe evolution for a lot of a lot of gyms like ours.
Mateo: 26:45 Yeah, I think so. If you think about it, most people are coming in for some kind of nutrition. Yeah. I would say a good chunk of people join a gym because they have some kind of body composition goal they’re trying to, they’re trying to achieve.
Jarrett: 26:57 Right. Hundred percent. And going back to that building a StoryBrand book, it’s you’re, you’re solving a external issue by solving internal problem because all these things are internal issues. You know, my wife has been through eating disorder treatment centers and she has internal issues that make her feel like she’s externally has an issue, you know? So it’s like the more that you can dive in with your people and help them solve these internal problems, the more success I think you’re going to have. And it just takes, it takes empathy. I think it’s just leading with empathy. It’s leading with seeking to understand, not to be understood, you know? And that’s that, that I think has been one of the biggest keys to our success outside of, you know, making the switch over Two-Brain.
Mateo: 27:42 Awesome. Yeah, I think that the empathy part, I think that’s, that’s huge for sales and huge for coaching. It’s huge.
Jarrett: 27:49 It’s not common in crossfit. I think crossfit is raw. Crossfit is like down and dirty, right? And it’s like, you know, you’re, you’re yelling in these people’s faces, but a lot of people just, you need to come beside them and tell them that you, like, you understand where they’re coming from. And I think you could have, but the dichotomy between the two, but it’s really important that you can make, you can differentiate the days that you can yell at people and the days that you need to come beside them and tell them that everything’s gonna be all right.
Mateo: 28:12 Hundred percent amazing. Yeah, I think that’s totally true. And I think, yeah, and I think that’s where you’re going to see a lot of the, as affiliates keep opening and closing. I think that’s where you’re gonna see the difference, the differentiating factors, right. Between those who can make that evolution, like you were talking about who can.
Jarrett: 28:33 I think it’s just growing as people. Yeah. You know, even just in the time that we’ve been open, at least in our area, and I’m sure it’s different everywhere, but like, like your big box gyms have gone from Gold’s gym was bought out by urban active bought out by La Fitness and none of them are offering anything different. They’re all offering the same thing, you know, whether it’s branded differently, but like they’re all offering the same thing. And I think where, again, you can see the shift is getting people to understand that like take into account the, the lives of the people you’re actually training rather than just treating them as a transaction. And once you can do that, I think it makes a huge difference.
Mateo: 29:16 Yeah, that’s an amazing point. And so you mentioned a little bit about, so you’ve gone through this transformation, you guys have been in business, you guys have learned a lot over the past five years. We were talking a little bit about this before, now that you’ve kind of, you know, really made some changes to your service and kind of the way you guys operate, you’ve been, you’ve been able to capitalize that and grow even more with some of the paid advertising stuff you’ve been using with great. With Blake, you say you spend around an average of 300-$350 a month. You’re generating $2500-3,000 in front end sales. You’ve been able to generate grand total of close to 10 grand in front end sales. What advice you guys have for anyone who is getting ready to start more actively marketing their business and their service,
Jarrett: 30:04 Talk to people, know what they’re doing. That’s always good because again, we were throwing money at stuff, you know, and running campaigns, but not knowing how to manage it. You know, again, just like anything else. I mean why do people seek us out? Because they don’t know how to fitness for lack of a better term. You know, we didn’t know how to business for lack of a better term. So seeking people out who have the ability to do so and kind of take a step back and realize that we don’t have even any of the answers when it comes to running a successful business. You know, we, we are trainers by nature, not necessarily business people. And when you see the people who are successful, it’s when they can make the jump from one to the other. And I, I would say if you’re seriously considering it, it’s, it’s worth it.
Jarrett: 30:51 It’s absolutely worth, the investment of the time and and money. Even if you didn’t do the marketing side of thing, let’s just say you went through the incubator and you were done. It was a massive, a massive leap for us just to kind of get these systems in place and allow us to hire additional coaches to take some of the weight off of us and grow our business and things like that. So as far as the, the money in the marketing side of things, you know, if you’re already eating shit, why not eat shit for a little bit longer and throat? We were used to eating crow. You know, if you’re sleeping at your gym already, if you’re, if you’re barely making ends meet, what’s, what’s a little bit more struggle when you, you do have, I want to say certainty, but you’ve got a pretty good chance of coming on the other end as a better, as a better business owner, uh, and having some more financial freedom.
Mateo: 31:40 Yes. I think, uh, the, the two things you hit on, which I think are important. One like seek out a coach, seek out an expert, seek out some help. If you don’t know how to do something, find someone who’s done it before and, and ask them, Hey, will you help me?
Jarrett: 31:54 I think it’s to that, to that point man is like how many certifications do you have? And then how many like business coaches have you talked to? If your certification list is two pages long, it’s like it should maybe be a half a page in your business. If you run a business, then your business coaching page should be a page and a half. You know, those are the people you need to be talking to. And I again, just for us, we’ve, it’ll hit, this has also allowed us to open our eyes to what other people are doing as far as looking at their business model. Not necessarily just like, oh well they’re successful. I don’t understand why. So I think absolutely man, like you said, just seek out someone who knows what they’re doing.
Mateo: 32:38 I think the other thing you were kind of touching upon was paid advertising or even not just investing in, in coaching or mentorship or a course or like treat it as an investment. It is an investment, right? And so, you know, you’ve got to treat it as you would like any other thing, like a bitcoin or something like that. You know, you gotta do your, do your research and be smart about the timing in which you’re going to do it. And then treat it as, uh, an investment where like, if you lose, it’s no fun, but you’re gonna learn something along the way.
Jarrett: 33:13 I agree. I even long in the longer term. And the nice thing is, is when you do get to the marketing side of things, you can set your own budget. You know, you can throw as much or as little as you want at it. And just realizing that probably if things are put in place the way they should be, the more money you throw at it, the more money you’re probably going to make. As long as everything else, all your other ducks are in a row.
Mateo: 33:35 All the other ducks gotta be in a row, right. It’s all circular. Like cheap lead costs are great, but if your service is, uh, is not as great, you’re just saying that’s a recipe for churn, not a recipe for growth. Exactly. 100%. I couldn’t agree more. Awesome man. Well thanks for hopping on. If people want to find you and mark, where can they find you if they want to talk to you,
Jarrett: 34:06 That net is our website. Phone number (859) 414-5904. We’re Facebook at Triumph strength, the Instagram at @triumphstrength. You know, we’re, we are more, we are, one of the things we always tell people is we’re an open book. I’ll tell you all the quotes, we’ll give you the key to the castle, uh, because most people aren’t willing to put in the work. So 100% of your, if you’re a around and you want to chat, be more than happy to, to meet up or chat with you guys so that that’s uh, we’re always available.
Mateo: 34:36 Well I think it’s something we talked about before was the fact that you went over and visited Naptown. I mean that’s, I think that’s, if you’re a gym owner, you know, you’re unsatisfied with your growth, you want to, you know, take your business. The next level you’re, you’re thinking about mentorship or you’re thinking about it. Cause like, I mean the first step really should just be like, visit the gyms around you or visit the people that you see they’re succeeding. Like I, when we, that was something we used to do every quarter was we would just go take a class at another crossfit gym. Even if it was like a quote unquote competitor, like we would go, we would, we would email the owners and say, Hey, like, you know, we’re in town. All of our coaches want to come take classes. Like, is that cool with you? Like yeah, it’s cool.
Jarrett: 35:15 Yeah, gone are the days of uh, hopefully gone are the days of like, you know, you got to hold your, your cards to your vest and act like you have all the answers. Because I think none of us know what the hell we’re doing. You know, like there’s a certain point where it’s like, none of us know what we’re doing and you know, we’re, we’re all, we’re not fighting for the same people. You know, I’ve done, we’ve done the numbers, we’ve done the math and we need 0.02% of our population in our area to be successful. Like 0.02 not 20% not 2%, 0.02% for us to be successful and to make a valid living.
Mateo: 35:48 Oh yeah. I mean, my, my gym in Philadelphia, it literally is like 30, 30 feet away from another crossfit gym. Right. Like, it’s fine. We need, you know, 180 members out of the whole city of Philadelphia. I think we’ll be able to find enough. And so, but yeah, so those listening like, you know, go, if you’re struggling with sales, right? Go inquire at a planet fitness or a gold’s gym like you’re looking at buy a membership, like go through their consultation process, see what they do, right. They’re obviously doing something right. The orange theory fitness, like they haven’t closed a studio once, they haven’t closed a franchise yet. Yep. Go, go take a class, go inquire, go opt into their, free class form and, and see what they’re doing. And then like, uh, like these guys, right? Go visit, not, not go visit naptown. Go visit.
Jarrett: 36:48 I mean they’re killing it. I know it was nice too because we’re far enough away. Again, if there is a competitor sense like you know, pick somebody a half hour away, you know, pick somebody an hour away. If you’re worried about something like that, it’s not, but again, it’s, it’s one of those things you should be at least you should be knowledgeable of what’s going on around you. You know, if if they’ve got a kids program, like you should know everything about their kids program.
Mateo: 37:12 Hundred percent. All right man. Well thanks for hopping on and I’m, I’m excited to see what the rest of 2019 holds for you. All right, appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 4: 37:19 Hey everyone. Chris Cooper here on really thrilled to see you this year in June in Chicago at the 2019 Two-Brain summit. Every year we have two separate speaking tracks. One for you, the business owner and there’s one for coaches that will help them make better, longer, more meaningful careers under the umbrella of your business. This year we’ve got some pretty amazing topics like the client success manager, how to change your life organizational culture or the business owner’s life cycle, how to have breaks, how to have vacations, how to help your marriage survival, owning a business motivation and leadership. How to convert more clients, how to create a GM position that runs your gym for you and leaves you free to grow your business. How to start a business owner’s group in your community in more point here is to do the right thing that will help gym owners create better businesses that will last them for the long term.
Speaker 4: 38:10 Get them to tinker phase, help them be more successful, create meaningful careers that their coaches and give their clients a meaningful path to longterm health. We only do one big seminar every year and that’s the two brain summit and the reason that we do that is because a big part of the benefit is getting the Two-Brain community together and welcoming strangers into our midst and showing them how amazing gym ownership really can be. We’ll have a link to the summit, including a full list of all speakers and topics on both the owners and the coaches side in the show notes. I really hope to see you there. As always, thank you so much for listening to this podcast. We greatly appreciate you and everyone that has subscribed to us. If you haven’t done that, please make sure you do drop a light to that episode. Share with a friend, and if you haven’t already, please write us a review and rate us on how what you think. If you hated it, let us know if you loved it, even better. See you guys later.
Don’t Forget about the 2019 Two Brain Summit, June 8-9 in Chicago! This year we have some amazing topics and guests for both yourself and your coaches. Click here to register and sign up now!
Contact Jarret:
https://www.triumphstrength.net/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrett-baston-143589a/
