“If you’re trying to monetize your blog, you’re doing it wrong.” — reader comment on DontBuyAds.com, 2011
“How much does it cost to sponsor your podcast?” — software company, 2017
“How can we buy a booth at your Summit?” — insurance company, 2019
We don’t sell podcast spots. We don’t sell advertising. We don’t sell trade show booths.
Our mission is to make gym owners profitable. As a gym owner myself, I know that we need certain tools to run our business. And as a mentor, I know it’s my job to say “This is the best one” as definitively as possible.
Making Things Better
When I opened a gym in 2005, I made appointments in a paper calendar. When it was time for clients to pay their bill, we’d count the sessions in our calendar and give them a total. Then, around 2006, we began using an online booking calendar. And in 2007, we signed up for MindBody.
I mentioned MindBody in my first book because it solved gym owner’s problems: clients could book their appointments online and pay for them in advance. The system removed the “time to pay me!” conversation for coaches and trainers and gym owners. It was really revolutionary. And back then, there were only a couple of alternatives (I remember testing ChampionsWay, too—they mailed me a CD back then).
But now the fitness space is jammed full of products and tools. So my job has evolved from saying “here’s this thing that might help” to “this one is best.”
Two-Brain’s responsibility as industry mentors is to filter through tools and products and share the results with you. But our responsibility as industry LEADERS is to improve things. That’s what our Partnership program is built to do.
Driving Change
A few months ago, we published our Gym Management Software report.
Before we could measure the platforms objectively, we had to publish Software Compliance Targets for gym management software. It cost tens of thousands of dollars to put our study together and publish the results objectively.
But the best part was that we took the time to say: “This is what gym management software SHOULD do for gym owners.”
We set a high bar. And when we published our gym management software review, none of the platforms met the compliance standard.
But then, two of them went to work. While several platforms said “We want to be the best!” Wodify and Arbox actually devoted resources and capital to meeting the standard. They improved their platforms to help gym owners because we gave them a target to hit.
What did we make from those improvements? Zero dollars. And a huge difference.
The Very Best
On Sept. 1, we’ll publish our review of coaching software platforms. It, too, cost tens of thousands of dollars to put together. And our hope is that the report encourages improvement because we want fitness coaches to have better tools.
Now, back to our Partnership program.
When a service in the fitness industry reaches our compliance targets, they become eligible for Partnership in Two-Brain. They get mentioned on our site, in our podcast and at our Summit. Yes, they pay something—and that money funds future testing for standards.
They also build useful tools for Two-Brain clients, answer questions high-level gym owners ask and provide all kinds of extra support. Partners get an amazing ROI for their commitment, but it’s not because we push them to Two-Brain clients: it’s because they’re the best. They’ve done the work to prove it.
Great mentors separate signal from noise. Instead of saying “here’s an idea for you!” a great mentor says “here’s the clarity you need.”
Below you’ll find the official Two-Brain Partners for 2019. We don’t have exclusive partners in any category. But there are usually only one or two who actually meet our standard of excellence:
AffiliateGuard (insurance)
Rhino Bootcamp Programming
RigQuipment Finance
ForTime Design (websites)
Driven Nutrition
Forever Fierce (apparel)
Incite Tax (accounting and bookkeeping)
Level Method
UpLaunch
InBody USA
Two-Brain Media (media production)
