Andrew (00:02):
Are your group fitness classes as good as they can be? Are you giving members a world-class experience? In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Josh Martin and Shawn McQueen will tell you exactly how to run classes that will delight your members.
Chris (00:12):
More on that topic in just a second. Two-Brain Radio is brought to you by AGuard, providing elite insurance for fitness and sport. AGuard offers coverage for functional fitness facilities, mixed martial arts gyms and even events and competitions. You can also get access to healthcare insurance, discounted AEDs and discounted background checks. AGuard’s coverage options are designed to keep you safe. To find out more, visit affiliateguard.info.
Josh (00:39):
Hello, and welcome to Two-Brain Radio. I am your host, Josh Martin. And today I have a very special guest, Shawn McQueen. Shawn is the owner of Railroad CrossFit in Hudson, New York. They’ve been around for nine years. And Shawn is also one of the mentors on our team at our sister company, Two-Brain Coaching, where he is the mentor for the group coaching course that we have on that. Shawn, it’s great to have you with us today, man. How are you doing?
Shawn (01:06):
I’m doing great, Josh. Josh, I want to thank you for having me on and for the listeners, for listening to this podcast we’ve got going.
Josh (01:14):
Absolutely, man. So today I’m super pumped to have you on, we’re going to talk about really how to coach a great group class. You know, a couple of years ago when I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this story, but when Chris and I were deciding who we wanted to be a part of the team to kind of build Two-Brain Coaching, he asked, OK, well, who do you think is the person that we need to lead the group coaching course?
Josh (01:43):
And before he could even finish a sentence, I knew that that person had to be you. And so I’m so thrilled that you are part of that team and that you’re here with us today because I think if people stick around for the whole conversation that we’re going to have, they’re going to come away with a whole lot of knowledge to really just be the best, absolute what we say at Two-Brain Coaching, world-class coach that they could possibly be.
Shawn (02:08):
Well, thank you. I’m honored to hear that story and for you to share that. I appreciate that. And I agree. I hope that whoever is listening can grab at least one thing and walk away with knowledge, value, something to implement, share, and it makes their day, their coaching that much better.
Josh (02:30):
Awesome, man. Well, so let’s just get right into it. When we talk about delivering a great group class, how would you define what that means? Like if somebody is listening and they’re like, great, well, what does that actually mean? What do you think about?
Shawn (02:49):
That’s a great question. And I would imagine that a lot of us would say, yeah, I lead a great group class. You know, to me a great group class starts well before the class even begins. And that is in your preparation. And that preparation has to be implemented with a lesson plan. And that lesson plan is like your true North. It’s how you’re going to lead and organize that whole session for the day, how you’re going to communicate, your adjustments, your modifications. So you can be one step ahead, you know your flow, you know your organization for that class and your members want that. So it starts there being prepared before you even step foot on the floor. And then it’s this total package experience from the time people get there to the moment they leave and that, you know, in the middle, you know, it’s all the things of, you know, saying their name and being genuinely excited when you actually see them walk into the door. It’s everyone gets a safe hour.
Shawn (03:50):
So everyone’s safe. That should be a coach’s number one goal. People had a fun experience that they would share and tell someone about. What made that a memorable experience for that day? They got a great workout on their terms. Everyone’s terms are going to be a little different, whether they’re 60, 50, 40, or wherever they’re at within their fitness journey. And you know, probably most important to me is that everyone was seen, felt heard and appreciated. And this is a big one. And I feel like this gets often overlooked. This could be the subtle, you know, the subtle difference of somebody walks in and they got their hair highlighted, they’re wearing different earrings, they’ve got new shoes, or it could be honoring the fact that they pushed themselves in a really tough workout for the day, or they got their first double-under. Those things are so critical because everybody wants to feel seen, heard, and appreciated. And that stuff is the makeup of a great group class.
Josh (04:49):
Man. There’s so much for people to unpack there. And I would really encourage if that sounded like a lot, to like pause it and rewind and listen to that again. And even for me, like now I’m doubting my ability as a coach, because when I asked you that question and you started getting into it, I was thinking, Oh, well, he’s going to say it starts on time. So if the class is at nine, it starts at nine and you completely blew that out of the water of like, no, it actually starts all the way back to when your preparation started. And I’m sure that these are things that long-time veteran coaches already do unconsciously, but for the new coach, I think that that’s so super important to keep that in the forefront of your mind is that preparation. And so I think that’s the first big takeaway that I had.
Josh (05:46):
The second is like, you’ve heard this and you’ve probably even said this that you want to deliver the best hour of somebody’s day. And I’ve heard so many people in the fitness space use that terminology and that phrase, but something that you highlighted that would indicate to me that you accomplished that is that you gave them this experience, that they are going to go and talk and talk about and share with somebody else. And so this isn’t a podcast or this episode isn’t a podcast about marketing, but if you think about it from that perspective, delivering this amazing group class to somebody becomes a kind of a vehicle for marketing. I really like how you broke that down.
Shawn (06:32):
I love how you got some nuggets already, Josh.
Josh (06:35):
Yeah, man. I’ve been coaching for a long time, but I know enough to know that I still have so much to learn.
Shawn (06:43):
You know, real quick, I was going to say too, something that I still do and I preach this to the mentees that I work with is this element of rehearsing. And, you know, so I’ll write my lesson plan out and I’ll look at it and I’ll go through how I want to communicate certain sections. So my communication can always improve and get better and better. And that’s how it has over time. And you know, when I’m at that whiteboard, I want to be fluid. I want to be smooth. I want to be well-spoken. I want to make sure that the people understand and I speak to their language and their level, and that takes practice. And, you know, we can’t just assume we know it or we know it all. And that’s being a student, like you just mentioned. So rehearsal’s a big part of it too.
Josh (07:25):
Yeah, that’s huge. I know, just in personally knowing you, you’ve been around to a ton of different gyms, you’ve experienced a lot of different group classes. We’ve talked about it, you know, in the background, can you contrast like how you describe this great group class with one that is, let’s just call it like pretty average?
Shawn (07:45):
Sure, sure. Yow, it always starts with the coach. The coach, and I always tell my coaches and coaches I work with ,your state is everything. You have the ability to create energy and presence and something dynamic. So it starts with you. So the ability obviously to compartmentalize and leave whatever at the door that you need to leave at the door. And when you walk in there, you bring great energy presence, genuine enthusiasm, genuine excitement, to see these people, to genuinely be happy to lead that class. I want to see on a coach that they love what they do. They love these people that they are working with. That is exciting. You know, where an average or less ideal is a coach who’s distracted on their phone. They’re taking care of other things. There’s people standing around. They’re not engaging with them.
Shawn (08:38):
That is absolutely less ideal for your members’ experience, for the business’ experience. And for the coach in general. You always want to create a vibe, and aura and energy before the class even begins. You know, another place could be as the whiteboard. The whiteboard, like I said before, about rehearsing, you want be well-spoken you want your class to understand. You want to obviously limit questions. You want to know it like a scientist, Josh, but be able to teach it like a kindergarten teacher to these people. And, you know, some average experiences that I’ve had is just briefing literally what’s on the board without giving any sort of intent what to expect, how to adjust or going deeper. You know, people really admire and they really enjoy when they can understand a little bit more of what is being presented and they can feel safe.
Shawn (09:30):
They can feel OK, I know where we’re going today. You know, so the class itself should be well organized and structured and the coach should always know where they’re going next. Nobody wants to be standing around and nobody also wants a circus. So your members obviously want to feel safe. I wouldn’t call this average, Josh. I would call this less ideal where gyms are just winging a warm-up. They’re not prepared. There’s hey, just do it on the board or do it on the board and then we’ll meet up. All that stuff is less ideal. And to me, lacks value in the member’s total experience. And that’s not necessarily what people are coming for in terms of world-class coaching. So world-class is always finding a way to add value, value that is important, important to them. And I’ll give you like a really quick example if you don’t mind.
Josh (10:22):
Please, this is great.
Shawn (10:24):
So last week I was leading a class of about 10 to 12 people and it had some machine work mixed in with some other elements. And I wrote out on a physical board, they could see three different stroke per minute paces. And example was like 22 strokes per minute. Another was like 26 to 28 strokes per minute. And then another was like 35 to 40 plus. And I taught the class that day. There’s gears you have. And there’s a mistake that we all make in workouts, we jump on a machine, we go too hard and it affects and fizzles our workout. And thus, we don’t get out of it what we could. So I taught them that you have three gears and I’m sure there’s more, but we just kept it at three for the day, you have a forever pace, which was the first one.
Shawn (11:11):
You have a sustained pace, which was the second. And you have a sprint pace, which was the last one. That workout of the day was a longer workout. And I said, guys, I want you to live in this sustained pace because we’re mixing in these other modalities. And then they knew that number, that number they could always go back to when they got back to the machine. So my class of 10 to 12, they learned that day, you know, I don’t have to just jump on this machine, go hard and sprint and get really, really tired two to three minutes in. And then, you know, I’m dragging for the next 20 minutes, but I have this gear now and OK, so now they understand themselves more. And that’s what I mean with finding ways to add value, whether you’re nine years in or nine minutes in, the members can always receive value. So it’s our job to seek ways to add value.
Josh (11:54):
I love how you broke that down because as soon as you started explaining that it tied back into what you said a minute or two ago about, you need to know these things kind of like Einstein, but be able to explain it like a kindergarten teacher. So you’ve been a gym owner now for nine years, and I know that your expectation for your staff is, is very, very high in terms of what you want them to deliver for everybody that walks through your door. Why does that matter so much to you?
Shawn (12:25):
You know, you’re spot on and shout out to my team of two, Abby and Nolan, they are absolutely amazing. And I love them. You know, as a business owner and other business owners out there, this is your product, this is your service, or one of them, it’s an extension of your brand, your name and who you guys are. You know, for this area to continue to thrive, it needs to deliver and not deliver once in a while, but consistently, and you want a product that others will consistently rave about not consistently complain about. So, you know, as a business owner, that’s extremely important. And as a coach, this is your profession. This is an extension of who you are and this beautiful opportunity that you and we all get to do to change people’s lives, to teach, to educate, inspire, all the meanwhile creating an experience like no other day in and day out. It’s so special what we get to do, how we can create this this hour for them. Cause you can’t comprehend what happens outside of that hour for people. And we have to take that role extremely seriously and constantly work on improving it and improving the craft. And if the service is valuable, I believe that we owe it to our members to deliver on that. And we should always want to give that to them.
Josh (13:51):
Something that sticks out to me that I’ve heard you say in a roundabout way a couple of times is like the value of the teaching and the educating that you’re really doing on the day to day with your members and clients that come in. So, you know, the example that you use, you’re up at the whiteboard, you’re going to tell them that there’s these three different things. Now I know you could have gone into like exercise physiology and talked about like the muscles and biomechanics and all this, but you didn’t, but you still took the time to educate them and said, Hey, there’s these three gears that you can pull from.
Josh (14:32):
I take it and maybe you could tell me I’m wrong, but I feel like a big component of what you’re doing in these classes is always educating your people. Is that something that you’re thinking about?
Shawn (14:46):
Absolutely, you know, I’m thinking about their needs, I’m thinking about why did these people come here and what is it that they’re after? And when you sit down with people after a workout and have conversations about that workout or about how they feel, of course people want a great workout. They want a great workout on their terms. They want to, you know, people have individual goals, of course lose weight, gain strength, et cetera. So to take all those in and when we can educate on an average, OK, everybody wants to perform better in this workout. And I’m going to coach that average today. If it was a strength day, it would’ve been something a little bit different, you know? So knowing that as a coach and getting in those conversations and then being able to deliver it back on a global platform, like to the masses, that’s extremely important.
Shawn (15:36):
Of course you can make your individual tweaks as you go. Whereas, you know, an example could have been, I had a bigger athlete in the class who was just a monster on the machine. Well, I told him, Hey, I want you to live a little higher on the strokes per per minute pace here, because you know, I think that the middle pace, his sustain is a little bit different than the rest of us, and that’s individualized, but it’s extremely important to not only have those conversations, but then to teach and implement that back.
Josh (16:05):
You know, what’s interesting is you talked about individualizing it right there, and I know that not only are you coaching the group at your gym, but you also do some personal training. What do you think are the big differences between just in general coaching group classes versus coaching say one-on-one sessions?
Shawn (16:28):
You know, it’s a great question. And, you know, we spoke about this a little bit where the natural organic flow would be a new coach learning to work with one person first and building their craft there to start. One-on-one is intimate. It’s you and another person it’s very individualized. You learn that there’s an extreme amount of communication that needs to be ongoing for whether it’s 30, 45 or 60 minutes, not only, you know, your craft that you’re implementing as well. That craft gets multiplied of how many things that you’re in control of when you’re coaching a group. That group is made up of many different abilities, many different skill levels, many different personalities, moods, you name it. And a well-executed craft is what leads to a really great well-run class. And you need as a great group coach, extraordinary presence, awareness, leadership, and an ability to command the room.
Shawn (17:38):
And I don’t mean command the room like military boot camp. That’s not what I mean. I mean, command the room with a presence of certainty, of, you know, knowing where you’re going, knowing what you’re doing, professionalism. And obviously you have to manage your time effectively so you can see each person as well. So there’s a lot going on with group. And, you know, we’ve talked about this at length where the natural flow is, you know, someone comes out of some sort of certification and then jumps into coaching a half dozen people. And there’s so many things going on.
Josh (18:11):
Oh man. Yeah. Full disclosure. Like I used to onboard my coaches way back in the day like that. It was like, well, I’m here coaching the group. Why don’t you come watch me? I tell you a couple of things and then boom, you’re going to it. And we created some coaches, but we probably burned some coaches that way too. And now we’ve found what we believe is just the best way to do it.
Shawn (18:36):
Maybe a good analogy to think about that is like learning to drive by just jumping on the freeway versus, Hey, let’s go over here, nice and slow do this nice organic way. So you can get your way versus jumping on the highway and trying to dodge and weave cars at 55 miles an hour.
Josh (18:57):
I love that you use the car analogy, man. Cause if you know anything about me, that’s my love language is anything automotive related. So you sold me right there. What do you think are the common, you know, big mistakes that novice group coaches make?
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Shawn (19:46):
You know, there’s a ton here. And this isn’t to knock novice coaches, because I was there once you were there, obviously. And if a novice coach can hear these and maybe improve on them, that would be incredible. So, you know, what I’ve seen is a novice coach will make it more about the workout or what’s written on the board than the human beings in front of them. It’s like lost in translation. They come out of their level one or level two and you might laugh at this and they want to just correct every single thing that they see.
Josh (20:25):
And we call that word vomit. It’s like everything. Let me tell you everything that I just learned.
Shawn (20:29):
Right? This one takes time. It’s the craft of leaning into emotional intelligence of delivery of good, bad, good. And you know, I don’t even like the word bad in there. I like good, improve, good. And what I mean by that is you see somebody, excuse me, with a fault in the push press. And that could be, you know, maybe they’re pressing the bar out in front of their face versus locking out overhead versus, you know, a novice coach. No, no, no, no. Bring your head through the window. And that was just what we would consider like the bad. And we give them the good of, Hey man, Josh, I love how strong you are, my friend. Now, hey, the push press. This is what I’m seeing. Let’s just bring your arms back here. And then that push press will feel even better. And that takes time to build, obviously with that delivery of feedback is critical and that’s important to the members.
Shawn (21:24):
We talked about this, a lack of certainty because they aren’t sure of themselves. Part of that of course is confidence. But part of that is knowing, knowing, like we talked about knowing like a scientist, but being able to teach it and perform, I forgot the other part, teach it like a kindergarten teacher, but perform it like a rockstar. That’s the last part. And you know, Josh, I really believe a new coach could gain a ton of credibility by being authentic and leaning into their vulnerability. And what I mean here is if I was just—here’s what I mean, let’s say I was in your gym and all of a sudden I wouldn’t go my level one. And you brought me on as a new coach. Imagine saying to your class, something of the following: You know, guys, I was just there on the other side of the room, like you. Now I’m up here and you know, I’m sure you’re so used to seeing Josh and Shawn.
Shawn (22:33):
And I want to say, I don’t know it all, and I’m not claiming to. I’m up here because I love to help people. And I want you to know that I will work harder than ever before to become a great coach, because I want to be up here to serve you guys, to help you get better. And it’s not gonna be perfect today, but I’m going to work on getting really great. I just think there would be some power in that vulnerability of a new coach versus just jumping up there. And the members are like, you were just right next to me.
Josh (23:06):
We’ve all seen that, for sure.
Shawn (23:08):
Just some thoughts there.
Josh (23:10):
That’s great, man. I think about onboarding new coaches, like as an owner, I know you do too. Like, what’s the process that you go through, letting your members know like, Hey, this is the stage that Jimmy is at, or this is where he’s at now in his development, but I’ve never thought about it like that of when you are the coach and you finally get the platform, so to speak, to stand on, what happens? And I think man, that even me, I kind of got goosebumps listening to you talk like that because I know if I was in that class and somebody said that and had that vulnerability, it’d be like, all right, let’s go. We’re just going to have a great time.
Shawn (23:53):
Right. It gives the individual grace when they’re imperfect, because you may be used to Josh’s coaching or Shawn’s coaching and it might be at a certain level. And then you have, you know, let’s just call them Dave and Dave gets up here and he’s new and he maybe isn’t as well-spoken. And he’s not as sure of himself yet, but man, you know he is passionate. He loves this. He wants to help. And he spoke that at the beginning. You know, I think there’s a lot of power there for coaches.
Josh (24:22):
You know, working with these new coaches that come into the group coaching course on the Two-Brain Coaching side, you know, they have this period of online learning and then they also get mentorship, you know, on a zoom call with you. But I know that I’ve gotten a lot of questions. I don’t know if you have, from coaches and owners alike, you know, how do you coach coaches from afar? You know, how can you ensure that they’re getting better on the floor if you can’t actually be there to take or observe their classes?
Shawn (24:53):
Yeah, it’s a great question. You know, and a great coach is always aware that this refinement of their craft is going to be ongoing forever. There’s never a point when we’ve reached it. You know, particularly to what you’re speaking about, obviously the mentorship is huge. I love those calls with individuals. And within those calls, there has been, you know, when I’ve worked with coaches, a good amount of role-play, so we’ve implemented something, I’ve learned something, or they’ve exposed something to me that they’d like to improve or work on and we’ve worked on it or I’ve given them tools. And then they went and used that. And we’ve also used record pieces. So whether that’s, Hey, I want you to record your whiteboard brief. I want you to get yourself recorded of you coaching this particular piece.
Shawn (25:41):
So there’s this feedback loop that they work a skill. We expose where they need to improve and where they’re aiming to. We work on that. And then we also give the homework, I guess you could call it outside in their facilities and then record that and bring that back. And it’s this constant state of communication. There’s coaches who I still talk to to this day after working with them in like November and December and still touch base with them on things that we were working on back then. So it’s this, again, this never-ending pursuit of working on your craft, but just to kind of button that up for you, recording the mentorship is huge. Those calls, there’s a lot gained in those calls and there’s a lot that I’m learning within those calls about coaches too.
Josh (26:27):
Do you find that when you’re getting on calls with these coaches, that they’re bringing some vulnerability and some honesty that maybe they might not necessarily share with their owner?
Shawn (26:40):
Yes. And, you know, shout out to the mentees that I’ve worked with. Absolutely. It, has to be that way too. And I pride myself on creating an environment where I meet an individual on the first time. And, you know, within a few moments, we’re getting pretty deep and creating an environment where they feel warm and welcome to do that. And I don’t just take that with me, with the coaches that I work with, but I take that with me, with my members in my facility as well. And I think obviously coaches, that should be something that we are always working towards. But absolutely, Josh, you know, we have to create that relationship together for them to be truly open, truly transparent, truly vulnerable, so there is room to grow.
Josh (27:30):
Yeah, it’s funny because I’ve talked to a lot of coaches and owners, you know, through this whole process with Two-Brain Coaching and that’s been this completely unexpected positive outcome that has transpired that these coaches are getting on calls with you guys, and they’re being completely honest and vulnerable about what their intentions are within the profession. You know, what they’re getting or not getting potentially from their owner. And that’s always a tough conversation I’m sure for this coach to have. So the fact that they’ve got, you know, you and everybody else on our team that can kind of facilitate this discussion, I think is a huge understated benefit that I don’t know if any of us on the team could have expected that to take place, but I’m so very thankful because I think more than anything, what it does is it really pushes our profession forward.
Shawn (28:32):
Absolutely. And I think just like in my gym and working with these coaches virtually, you have to look across the screen or across the room or in front of you at a person and see something that is extremely genuine and congruent. And that leads from the heart, that I genuinely want to help. I care. I’m invested. I want to get to know you, you’re important to me. Yes, you’re a stranger, but you know, we are connected now and that’s the roots. And then from there, the magic can happen.
Josh (29:07):
So what are some of the other, let’s say non-technical skills that you think are really important for coaches to develop and embody and use just to be successful.
Josh (29:22):
I mean maybe I can give you a little bit of context. So I talk to coaches and owners a lot and a frequent question is, well, I’m thinking about taking, you know, this certification, what do you think? And anytime I hear like a continuing ed or a certification, it’s usually very technical in nature, right? So I want to get better at Olympic lifting or I want to get better at this specific methodology. And they think that that’s going to be the key to unlock, you know, being an even better and better and better coach. What do you think are some other things that they should be developing to really become successful? Is it sales? Is it marketing? Is it, should they take public speaking, focus on building relationships, personal development?
Shawn (30:19):
What a great question. You know, the stuff you alluded to earlier, like the craft type stuff, the working, you know, refining your craft and Olympic lifting or gymnastics. That’s stuff is of course important. But in my opinion, the stuff that moves the needle the most is going to be relationship building. And that area you’re going to have relationships your entire life, in the gym and out of the gym. So it’s a skill that deserves striving to get to mastery. And I say mastery, but it’s always that elusive end result, which is never going to be there.
Josh (30:55):
You never get there.
Shawn (30:56):
You never get there. Public speaking is also so critical. That’s one of those things, the more you do it, the more comfortable you’re going to be. I remembered, I’m sure you do too, getting up there the first few times of class and you’re just nervous and you can see it in coaches because you were just around your friends.
Shawn (31:14):
And now all of a sudden you got however many 20 eyeballs on you and you’re just creating these stories in your mind. Those two to me are the most important. Of course, sales, marketing. These things are extremely important. So is the understanding the Olympic lifts, of course, but if you cannot genuinely connect with another human being, that’s a problem. If you can’t go up to them, ask questions and really the questions and caring are your key to success, asking people questions and caring and remembering what they’re saying and what they’re sharing, being invested in them, building a dense relationship that you want to stand the test of time.
Josh (31:59):
Yeah. You know, as you were saying that, the relationship-building piece, I was thinking back to very early in the episode where you said, and I brought this out, one of my nuggets, when you were describing a great group classes, you know, you’re delivering this experience that somebody is going to go and share and brag about. So the way that I hear it as an owner, you know, and working with coaches at Two-Brain Coaching is OK, if I can get you to build great relationships, to communicate, to show that you care and deliver this great group class, the sales and marketing, they take care of themselves in a way, right?
Shawn (32:40):
Yeah. Of course there’s work to be done there, but that’s a huge element of that, you know, Josh, and you speak right to it. Where when people are raving, not only about the class, about the experience, but about the individual that, and I mean, I don’t want to, like, I’m not here to pat myself on the back or my team, but I just think about what a lovely community we have and how the way we lead from our core values and who we are genuine and authentically and how our members openly will brag to these people. And these people are just so intrigued to then meet us. And I’ll give you a really classic example. We have this member, and she’s 60. She’s so sweet. She’s got this Russian accent. I wish I could imitate it right now because it’s awesome.
Shawn (33:28):
And she works for a gynecologist and she got her boss, the gynecologist, a session with me for Christmas. And you know, I’m going to kind of like wrap around to the end here now. And the gynecologist after one session had said, I don’t know why I waited so long to come here to meet you. Marina—her name is Marina—would always brag about you to me and tell me how great you are. And it was obviously getting over that fear, the hurdles, the stories that we have. But the member, you know, talking up not only the experience of how great this gym is, the classes, et cetera, these people, but this person. And as an owner, that’s your coach, you know, and that’s not just me, that’s my team too. So that’s so valuable for coaches to strive to be world-class, to lead these experiences, to hit these marks because that’s the lifeblood of the business.
Josh (34:33):
Yeah. And man, what a great representation of just what it actually means to deliver this great service, because, you know, every year at Christmas time, I’m famous for always getting like new pairs of shoes. And it has trended into every year I get my staff new pairs of shoes. Well, uh, this year was a little bit different and the supplies were short and COVID and all of it. So, several weeks before I was going to go and buy all the gifts, my wife and I went to a really nice restaurant. It’s not the same one that I talked about at the summit a couple of years ago. It was a different, but it was a nice steakhouse. That’s one of my favorite things to do. And so we went and just had the most exceptional time at this restaurant.
Josh (35:21):
I mean, the service was great, the ambiance, just everything. It was just so amazing. And so we were my wife and I were talking and I said you know, I’m not going to do the shoe thing because of, you know, whatever circumstances she’s like, why don’t you get gift cards to this restaurant? And so that’s what we did. I mean, we bought, you know, hundreds of dollars worth of all these gift cards for the staff because I had such an amazing experience just at that one outing that I wanted everybody else to experience. And it’s because of the service, you know, that I got delivered. You know, if it had just been another night out with a great steak, I might’ve told a couple of people, but I certainly wouldn’t have invested my money to getting other people to take up that experience too.
Shawn (36:11):
That’s a great story, a great share. And it just stamps to the coaches and the, you know, the gym owners out there, world-class coaching is your service. And providing that creates what you just mentioned, this I want to go back tomorrow or I want to tell people about this and I want them to experience this too.
Josh (36:35):
Yeah. So get this, this is funny. And it has nothing to do with what we’re talking about, except for the continuing the steak dinner story, it was Capitol Grill, for those that are wondering, but when you buy a certain dollar amount of gift cards, they actually give you 10% of the value back in a gift card. And they send you in rose gold box, a wooden box, a set of steak knives from their restaurants. So we got these, you know, this nice set of knives that probably are still stuck under our cabinet, but it was just a really incredible gesture. So, as a gym owner, whether, you know, yourself or people that are listening, you know, we’ve got this team and we want to replicate awesome team members. What do you look for when you’re hiring? You know, what do you look for in a potential coach when it comes to hiring somebody new?
Shawn (37:35):
Yeah. That they absolutely love people. They love helping people. They are team oriented, they are growth oriented and growth mindset. They are coachable no matter their age, their experience level, or, you know, their fitness level. You know, when thinking about this, I’m thinking of my two studs, Abby and Nolan, and I wish the listeners could see them in action. Just a personal shout out to them. But, when I think about hiring, I think of those two and who they have become and those things right there are their foundation. And then from there you can grow. You can grow, you know, inside the business, whatever success looks like to you. But those things to me are what I would look for.
Josh (38:40):
That’s awesome, man. Well, I think that’s a great place to end it. And Shawn, I just want to say thank you so much for your time today. And one of the things that as I’m listening to this, and obviously you’re part of the Two-Brain Coaching team and you were chosen for this particular mentorship position on this course for a reason. But if anybody out there is listening and feels like I do, that, man, I have somebody who I think would be a great group coach, or you’ve got group coaches that think that they could take something away from Shawn, like I do. How can they get in touch with you, man?
Shawn (39:26):
Yeah. Well first thank you for the opportunity to be on the podcast. And thank you for those who have listened up to this point. I hope you’ve taken something away and are smiling somewhere. Absolutely. I would love to help, you know, that is why we do what we do, help first. I can be reached that shawn@twobraincoaching.com and on the group coaching modules.
Josh (39:52):
Awesome. So Shawn, like I said, everyone, is the mentor that heads up the group coaching course. You can find that on twobraincoaching.com. If you’ve got somebody that is going to be a brand new coach, if you’ve got a veteran coach and you want to polish their skills and really take them from where they are to being world-class, I would not hesitate in getting on board with Shawn and the course he’s in charge of and getting onto his schedule before it fills up real quick.
Shawn (40:23):
Thank you, Josh.
Josh (40:25):
All right guys. Take care.
Andrew (40:30):
Chris Cooper’s new book “Gym Owners Handbook” is out now. To get the book and start growing your fitness business today, click the link in the show notes.
