In three years, the owners of a Texas CrossFit gym tripled their earnings without adding clients.
And we aren’t talking about moving from $1,000 to $3,000 in income.
The Tribe/3F CrossFit is owned by two couples, and the numbers are much larger.
A triple-up like this sounds too good to be true, but monster metrics improvements are increasingly common as gym owners take direct action to improve their businesses.
Here’s what Andi and Ed Conway and Chelsea and Nick Vera did.
I interview top gym owners weekly on “Run a Profitable Gym,” and I see gigantic improvements in metrics all the time.
Whenever numbers move dramatically, “the usual suspects” appear.
For example, if a gym owner says “I doubled my length of engagement,” it’s almost guaranteed that they hired a client success manager (CSM) and started doing Goal Review Sessions. Two-Brain data shows that both tactics have a huge positive effect on length of engagement (LEG).
When a gym dramatically increases revenue and profit without adding a ton of clients, it’s very clear that average revenue per member (ARM) has improved.
With The Tribe, here are the three things that boosted their ARM big time so both families could take home more money:
1. They eliminated discounts.
2. They raised rates.
3. They added a high-value introductory program (on-ramp).
These are the three pillars of a 3X improvement in owner earnings in a Texas gym that focuses on group classes. Below, I’ll give you quick notes on each pillar.
1. “We Don’t Have Discounts”
If you are discounting your rates, you are literally giving away your profit. If you charge $200 a month and want to gross $300,000 a year, you need 125 clients.
If you give everyone 10 percent off for various reasons—spousal discounts, military/first-responder discounts, discounts associated with sales—you need 139 clients to earn the same amount, which means you need a marketing and sales plan to acquire those extra members. And you need a plan to retain them.
If you just stop offering discounts, your revenue and ARM will increase.
Start by eliminating discounts for new clients. When you’re ready to go further, a mentor can help you put together a plan to be rid of legacy discounts for existing members.
Resource: “Denying Discounts: A Short Guide for Gym Owners”
2. Raising Rates
Most gyms don’t charge enough because their rates were never set with value and owner income requirements in mind. They were set on a whim or by copycatting “the gym down the street.”
Again, start by raising rates for incoming clients. After you make some sales at the new rate, you’ll have the confidence to look at raising rates for current members.
The best plan there: Use a Two-Brain mentor to create a detailed plan to raise rates. We have spreadsheets, checklists, rollout plans, messaging scripts, tips, etc.
Will you lose a member or two? Probably. But if you follow Two-Brain’s battle-tested plan, you’ll more than compensate for a few departures, and your business will be stronger forever.
Resource: “Gym Rate Increases: 3 Essential Tips”
3. On-Ramps
Clients who are onboarded with a one-on-one on-ramp get better results and stay longer. This is not debatable. Two-Brain data confirms it.
So if you bring in a new client with one-on-one sessions, that client will accomplish goals faster. And they will work out longer, which means they develop a fitness habit and improve their health. All this is life changing. With that in mind, it’s your duty as a gym owner to improve your onboarding process.
Your reward for doing so is charging a rate that reflects the value you provide. Personal attention is a premium service, so charge accordingly.
Suddenly, instead of bringing in a confused, soon-to-be frustrated client who pays $150 a month, you are adding a fully supported client who might pay $500 for a first month in which they learn everything they need to know to succeed at your gym. That new client will receive a huge amount of personal attention and is far more likely to stay with your gym for years instead of months.
The client becomes healthier and you become wealthier.
Everyone wins.
Resource: “Your Gym Needs an On-Ramp Program. Here’s Why.”
The Next Step
The Veras and Conways aren’t done: They would like to improve their net owner benefit further. To do that, they want to add a few clients. But not 60 group clients.
Their plan is to add about 10 high-value PT clients with a step-by-step plan created with a mentor.
Will it work? I’d bet money that it will.
And you can imagine what happens when a gym that focuses on group training adds a strong PT revenue stream. When implemented properly, this secondary stream might add 25 or 30 percent to gross revenue—and it doesn’t require 100 new clients.
If a gym is grossing $25,000 per month and adds 10 PT clients who pay about $500 a month each, that’s $5,000 in new revenue and a 20 percent boost.
Now you know exactly how The Tribe’s owners tripled their owner earnings in about three years—and how they plan to push that multiple to 5x in 2025.
So why doesn’t every gym owner follow this plan? Because they don’t know exactly what steps to take when, and no one is pushing them to take action.
If you want to multiply your owner earnings in 2025, here’s how to solve those problems: Book a call to talk about mentorship.
