Million-Dollar Mistakes: The True Cost of Inaction

A struggling gym owner sits on a preacher-curl bench and stares off into space.

No gym goes bankrupt from one colossal mistake.

Fitness businesses bleed out slowly—one small error at a time—until the owner is working harder for less, feeling completely exhausted and wondering where all the money went.

Keith Cunningham, author of “The Road Less Stupid,” calls this “paying the dumb tax”: It’s the cost of making decisions without knowing your numbers—or ignoring them altogether.

These small errors compound into million-dollar mistakes that drain your bank account and your energy and destroy your future.

Let me show you how it happens.


The Math Behind Million-Dollar Mistakes


Imagine offering a 15 percent discount on a $200 membership to just 10 clients.

That might seem harmless. But over two years, that one discount adds up to $7,200 left on the table.

Multiply that across more clients and more months and suddenly you’re staring at five figures—or more—in lost revenue.

Discounts delete dollars.

A line graph showing how a 15% discount for 10 clients can cost $7,200 over two years.


Three Kinds of Costly Mistakes


Let’s break down the kinds of mistakes that quietly snowball into million-dollar problems.


1. Compounding Problems

Some mistakes grow larger the longer you ignore them.

Like hiring the wrong person and then failing to train them. They keep making mistakes and underperforming. The costs of the errors mount, and you, the CEO, work increasingly inefficiently because you’re constantly cleaning up messes or walking off anger.

Another one: Signing a lease on a space that’s too big and refusing to sublet or downsize because your ego’s attached to the square footage. That’s money down the drain month after month.

Offering discounts on paid-in-full annual memberships is truly brutal. I’ve actually seen business coaches recommend doing this to pay for their coaching fees. But that strategy robs your business of cash flow and bleeds out profits you’ll never get back. (I wrote about this “discount death spiral” in detail here.)

Compounding problems come with massive price tags. In this example, combined losses from 15 percent discounts and rates that are too low by $10 can hit $86,400 over four years—even in a small gym:

A line graph showing how small discounts and low rates can cost $86,400 or more over four years.


2. Delaying Problems

Sometimes the real cost is in waiting too long to fix an obvious issue, like ignoring a sliver that eventually causes an infection.

In the gym world, delaying can look like this:

  • Keeping a bad staff member because you’re afraid of confrontation.
  • Putting off a price increase because you’re worried clients will leave.
  • Waiting until your business is in flames before hiring a mentor.


In each case, the consequences of inaction become greater as the clock ticks. The longer you wait, the more expensive the problem becomes. Delaying action is one of the most expensive mistakes a business owner can make.

When you identify a problem, fix it immediately.


3. Mounting Problems

Some mistakes multiply because your “solution” is essentially throwing gas on a small fire.

Here are four examples:

  • Hiring more staff instead of fixing your systems.
  • Adding new members with a broken pricing model riddled with discounts.
  • Spending money on ads even though your retention is getting worse.
  • Paying higher salaries without a plan to generate additional revenue.


One chart we created shows that avoiding a simple $10 rate increase for 150 members costs $36,000 in just two years. Imagine how that number grows exponentially if you ignore multiple problems at once.

A line graph showing how avoiding a $10 rate increase can cost $36,000 over two years.


The Cost of Inaction


Here’s the hard truth: If you don’t change, you’ll keep paying the dumb tax forever.

Discounts won’t magically disappear. Bad staff members rarely transform into stars on their own. Legacy rates will erode your margins year after year.

And if you don’t fix these issues, your business will eventually fail. The numbers don’t lie. The cost of mistakes adds up to hundreds of thousands—or even millions—over a career.

No one is coming to save you. Only you can save your business.

But change costs money, time and effort.

Yes, hiring a mentor has a cost—but it’s far cheaper than losing $86,400 over four years because you didn’t know how to implement a $10 rate increase and stop offering discounts.

The faster you take action, the faster you stop the financial bleeding.

Stop paying the dumb tax. Raise your rates. Eliminate unnecessary discounts. Know your numbers.

And if you’re stuck, get a mentor.

Your business—and your future—are worth it.

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