Tiffy Thompson (00:01):
Welcome to Two-Brain Radio. I’m Tiffy Thompson. And today I’ll be chatting with the recipients of this year’s TBB Awards, stars of the fitness industry, Ashley Haun, Nyree Segui and Scott Romijn have demonstrated excellence in the fields of coach education and opportunity, long-term planning and owner lifestyle. They’ll share what they’ve learned, how they’ve grown and explain how you can get there too. Hello, Ashley, welcome to the show. Ashley was this year’s recipient of Two brain’s Coach Education and Opportunity award. And this was given to the client who is investing the most into growing their team. And her mentor wrote, Ashley has completely overhauled her roles and the people in those roles while focusing on leadership and connections. So how did overhauling your staff roles open up more opportunities for your team?
Ashley Haun (01:01):
Yeah, overhauling everything allowed the team to get better at what they were good at. Instead of putting people in what I always say, seats on the bus that they’re not great at and making them stay there, it allowed them to move into positions that they really only loved doing. And what we saw was that the gym just got better and better because they were happier. And then the happiness flows downhill to our clients from there.
Tiffy Thompson (01:32):
Awesome. Did you learn anything new about entrepreneurialism and how it can function in your gym?
Ashley Haun (01:38):
So entrepreneurialism in the gym is we look at it in two ways. So we have two different numbers when we do career roadmaps with our full-time staff and we have our ramen noodle numbers. So that’s folks that are, they’re like paying rent, eating ramen and peanut butter and jelly. But a lot of times that’s their jumping off point to being full time. And as an owner, we’re sometimes surprised at what those numbers are. We think that they have to start off at what we call at the gym, “the filet numbers”. That’s what I say to my staff is them living abundantly, right? They’re eating filet mignon, they’re going on vacation. That’s what I want for them. And so the entrepreneurial opportunity we really look at, like what is your jumping off point? What are your ramen numbers? And then how do we get you to the filet numbers after that? And that helps them take ownership of the different opportunities that they can have inside the gym.
Tiffy Thompson (02:44):
I think having that sense of ownership is really key, too, probably. Right?
Ashley Haun (02:47):
Yeah, absolutely. I track their numbers all the time, ’cause it’ll keep me up at night. I’m like, oh shoot, is Zach making enough money? <Laugh> and so I can go in and see, okay, this is where he’s at. You know, he’s passed his ramen noodle numbers and he is super close. So let’s have a conversation with him on what is the next thing we need to do? Or maybe there’s something we need to get better at, like social media posts, or content, or maybe we need to offer a particular program to push him over to the filet numbers.
Tiffy Thompson (03:23):
Awesome. So is there one piece of advice you could give to other gym owners who want to increase opportunities for their staff?
Ashley Haun (03:32):
I would say doing the two different numbers of ramen and filet because the staff can then very clearly see, okay, I could survive, but nobody wants to just survive. The owner can see, well actually, I could probably make this happen today. And then moving all the way up to their filet numbers. I think everyone should do two career roadmaps to see what those numbers are for each person. Cause if we ask staff, you know, it’s like saying to a gym owner, I wanna make a hundred thousand dollars a year, but why? If you ask staff, they’ll say I wanna make $52,000 a year, but why? And so I think it helps everybody get on the same page with that.
Tiffy Thompson (04:16):
Awesome. Thanks Ashley.
Ashley Haun (04:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
Tiffy Thompson (04:23):
Welcome to Two-Brain Radio, Nyree!
Nyree Segui (04:28):
Hi.
Tiffy Thompson (04:29):
So today I’m speaking with Nyree Segui. She is the recipient of the Future Star award for long-term planning. And this was given to the client who has a solid place in plan- or solid plan in place to grow. This client should be in Farmer phase and demonstrate they know the steps to take to be successful. And her mentor wrote, these guys were under $1500 a month when I started working with them mid-2021. I don’t believe they were ever over 4-5K in revenue in the last 10 years. We’ve made so many great strides, implementing new systems, doing incremental rate increases and moving to biweekly payments. All in all, rates have gone up 50% and they have nearly three times the clients they did when we started, they hit 8,300 in March 2022, which is completely uncharted territory for them. We’re making plans of what a 15K a month-gym looks like for them and working back from it. And I understand that you want to travel to Norway and by God, I’m getting them there.
Nyree Segui (05:42):
We’ve got Costa Rica booked. So,
Tiffy Thompson (05:44):
Oh, awesome.
Nyree Segui (05:45):
We’re getting closer! Like, you know, we’ll get there.
Tiffy Thompson (05:47):
Yeah. <laugh> so since working with Two-Brain, what adjustment do you feel has moved the needle the most when it comes to boosting your revenue?
Nyree Segui (05:59):
Well, you know what, honestly, there’s just so many. We had zero systems in place for anything really. So I mean, laying the foundation and having systems in place to generate new revenue, to get leads and that kind of thing, like even our whole membership process was a mess. So, then we switched it biweekly, which made such a huge difference. And then, yeah. We increased our membership rates a good 50% and didn’t lose anybody along the way. So having the systems in place made such a difference. And then trusting the process, I think for us, that’s been the biggest thing. Like, you know, Jay’s been there. All these people in Two-Brain have been where we’ve been. And to know that they can come out on the other side, you know, it really just gives you the confidence to say, all right, you know what? If this is what worked for them, this is gonna work for us. And so we just trust the process and we took some hard looks at our business. It was kind of gut wrenching in so many ways because we had to be brutally honest with ourselves and Jay didn’t let us slide on that. So that made a huge difference.
Tiffy Thompson (07:10):
Right. What would you say, looking back over the last couple of years, what has emerged as your sort of entrepreneurial superpower?
Nyree Segui (07:21):
To be a little bit more fearless, you know? To try things. And I mean, we would always try things, but I don’t think we would always give them the full effort. And so, you know, to just like- with the rate change and changing to biweekly and that kind of thing, say, what was the worst that’s gonna happen? I feel like COVID really taught us the worst of the worst. We navigated that and, you know, if we lost a few members, then so what? In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t gonna hurt us the way we used to feel like things like that would. So to be a lot more fearless. And to plan, like to have a plan in place and to have the processes in place, but to know that those processes are in place and that you can be a lot more fearless about making decisions and sticking to them.
Tiffy Thompson (08:08):
It sounds like you’ve gotten a confidence boost.
Nyree Segui (08:10):
We’re together all the time and he had to get another job. And so, when that changed it was like a one-woman show and I just couldn’t do all this myself. And so it really made such a difference to be able to not only know that we’re going to have a plan in place, but to have that resource to say, Hey, this is happening. Where do I go now? And to really just to have the confidence. Oh, huge. Yeah. Because you kind of see things through your lens, and maybe something that’s not as big of a mountain to me, or if it is a big mountain to me, you know, Jay or your mentors can say, Hey, you know what? We just need to tweak this one little thing and then everything will start to fall into place.
Tiffy Thompson (08:54):
Right. When it comes to long term planning, what is one major takeaway that you think might help other gym owners who are trying to get traction?
Nyree Segui (09:05):
You just gotta build. Don’t be afraid if it’s slow at the start. Right. Cause I mean, in the beginning, things were kind of slow and, you know, it wasn’t these massive increment, huge jumps that you see maybe other businesses take. But just trust the process and then just put those little systems in place and then work those systems. And then just know that once you have those systems in place and then you can kind of teach other people in your business to run those systems, it really does start to come into place. You really kind of need to keep your head down, do the work. But you know, also kind of have that goal of like, okay, we’re gonna reach this milestone. We’re gonna reach this milestone. It may take three months. It may take six months. But just to trust the process, I mean, I think that’s kind of, that’s been the huge message for me is to just, they’ve been there, trust the process.
Tiffy Thompson (09:53):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And it sounds like it’s working because you’re able to book a trip to Costa Rica and step away from your gym.
Nyree Segui (09:59):
Yeah. This would’ve never happened five years ago. It would’ve never happened 10 years ago. And not only are we going on vacation, but I’ve got coverage for my gym. ‘Cause people said, oh, are you guys gonna be closed? And I said no. And I’m almost more excited about that part than actually going on vacation.
Tiffy Thompson (10:19):
Nyree, I appreciate you chatting with me today.
Nyree Segui (10:21):
Thank you so much. This was such a cool honor.
Tiffy Thompson (10:27):
Hello Scott. Welcome to the show.
Scott Romijn (10:30):
Hey Tiffy. Thanks for having me.
Tiffy Thompson (10:32):
So Scott Romijn is the recipient of this year’s Owner Lifestyle award. And this was given to the client who has hit functional retirement. So the client can prioritize their lifestyle and the business exists to serve them. So Scott’s mentor wrote, Scott has created a business that allows him to travel extensively with his wife and freedom of time to leave when he wants for as long as he wants. Scott also has focused significantly on a great relationship with his wife and has a great family life outside the gym. He’s genuinely happy with the life he has built. So Scott, was functional retirement at a young age always in your plan?
Scott Romijn (11:19):
No, never. I never thought of that before or even when I opened the gym, that was never a thought because I worked all day every day, like most people do when they start this. But as the years went on, it finally became a reality in this last year of taking more time off and doing new things I enjoy, and spending it with my wife.
Tiffy Thompson (11:44):
So what did you do to create the situation? Like does it boil down to staffing and systems, or how did you get to this point?
Scott Romijn (11:55):
It boils down to having a great team. I owe everything to my team. They can function and do everything and grow the gym and run it without me. And that’s taken years to develop and we’re just doing interviews today to add more to the team because it needs to keep growing and you need to focus on that.
Tiffy Thompson (12:19):
So it’s a matter of passing the “hit by the bus” test, basically.
Scott Romijn (12:26):
Yes, absolutely.
Tiffy Thompson (12:27):
What did that feel like the first time you were able to kind of step away from your gym and you knew that it was running without you looming and worrying about it?
Scott Romijn (12:37):
It’s a scary feeling. You’re like, you put so much and everyone says they pour their heart and soul into it, but you do. But to leave it alone and think it’s gonna be okay is hard the first time. I mean, it is hard the first time you let someone else coach a class and it’s not you, nevermind be gone for, I think in the last year we took two trips over two weeks long. To not have any contact other than like, Hey, are you okay? Like, yep. We’re good. Don’t need you. So yeah, it’s frightening at first, but then you kind of get used to it. Even now, I usually don’t work Friday, Saturday, Sundays, those three days are off completely and I’m used to not worrying about it. Like everything’s gonna be fine.
Tiffy Thompson (13:23):
Wow. So for gym owners who are listening to you with envy and longing for this freedom of time for themselves, what would you recommend if you had one or two tips that they do to get there sooner?
Scott Romijn (13:38):
Two-Brain teaches us really well. It’s like build your systems first, do what you do really well and then teach the next person and then take a couple days off, find out what your problems are. You might need your next hire to fill that next role, but just keep replacing yourself over and over until you don’t need to be there anymore.
Tiffy Thompson (14:02):
So you’ve canceled yourself out.
Scott Romijn (14:04):
<laugh> yeah, absolutely. Then you get to work on the projects you want to work on. If it’s still working some hours then great. But I work on some different projects now that support, help with the gym, but aren’t directly involved with the gym. So you get to do more freedom to do what you want, not just vacation, but you know, passion projects.
Tiffy Thompson (14:25):
For sure. So do you have your next trip planned or?
Scott Romijn (14:29):
Yes, I’m leaving in two days. We’re going off the grid, a little tiny house for like four days. No cell phones, no wifi, no internet. Yeah.
Tiffy Thompson (14:40):
That’s wicked. Well, thanks a lot. Thanks a lot for your time today, Scott. I appreciate it.
Scott Romijn (14:45):
Awesome. Thank you.
Tiffy Thompson (14:47):
Thanks for listening to Two-Brain Radio. If you wanna get in on this great community of gym owners, head over to GymOwnersUnited.com right now to join. That’s GymOwnersUnited.com.
