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Todayâs guest, Joleen Bingham, has developed an ascension model to help you retain staff by creating careers for them. Since implementing the model, Joleenâs staff retention has improved, and she has multiple team members earning over $100,000 a year.
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin sits down with Joleen, a multi-gym owner and the leader of Two-Brainâs Tinker program for upper-level gym owners.
Joleenâs model begins with a consistent, structured hiring process that eliminates many staffing problems before they appear.
The onboarding stage features a clear checklist and standard operating procedures (SOPs) that document expectations, and the owner's values and vision for the gym are communicated.
Once a staff member has been onboarded, the model focuses on development, moving from basic to more complex skills. Owners also mentor team members to help them work in areas of passion.
The next step is growth and retention. Career Roadmaps are a huge focus here: They help staff members become leaders and stick around long term.
The final component is the exit: ensuring you have a strategy for when staff members eventually leave.
Tune in to hear Joleenâs full staff ascension plan and to get an exclusive look into Two-Brainâs resources for clients.
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Mentorship: Tinker/Stage 3
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1:55 - Mistakes and how to fix them
4:44 - Staff ascension template
19:16 - Growth and retention
25:51 - Decrease your turnover
31:41 - Take action with staffing -
A link is missing between credentials and careers in the fitness industryâand itâs costing gym owners a lot of great people.
Common story: A trainer starts making $20 per class and works up to coaching 40 sessions a week. But the trainer isnât making enough money and canât see a way to make more without burning out. So the coach leaves the fitness industry to âget a real job.â The gym owner shrugs and tosses another coach into the cycle.
Sound familiar? If so, this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym" is for you.
Host Mike Warkentin and gym-owning mentor Karl Solberg discuss the detailed coach ascension program used at CrossFit Medis and CrossFit Sickla in Sweden.
The model allows trainers to level up as they develop and add the skills that bring more value. Clients get better results and pay more, the gym earns more, and the coach earns more and creates a career. Everyone wins.
The first step: Create an evaluation for your coaches and then review their performance regularly to ensure theyâre improving.
To go further, review Karlâs system and consider building something similar to create careers for coaches at your gym.
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1:43 - Ascension plans increase value
3:35 - Levels increase value
6:48 - The coach ascension plan
10:48 - A detailed look at the plan
32:53 - Creating and implementing -
Mangler du episoder?
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Itâs Worst-Case Scenario Week on âRun a Profitable Gym.â
Today, host Mike Warkentin is joined by Matthew Becker, owner of GymLaywers.com, who shares stories of partnerships from hell and explains how to avoid them.
Partnerships in gyms can go wrong fast and create living nightmares for entrepreneurs. Partners might have very different views on topics such as dating members, day-to-day operations and finances, and sometimes a partner might even be involved in illegal activities. Or maybe one partner just isn't pulling their weight.
Without solid agreements in place, these situations can spiral quickly.
For example, gym owners in need of money might sell paid-in-full memberships, then have a disagreement and close the gym abruptly, leaving members out of pocket. In the worst cases, the money is long gone, and the owners can find themselves facing criminal charges.
Matthew, former gym owner, shares tips for avoiding these situations and getting out of them as quickly as possible if you run into partner trouble. It boils down to proper business setup, management and documentation.
To ensure your business will protect you legally and financially, get a lawyer to create or review a partnership agreement. You can reach Matthew at Gymlaywers.com.
Links
"Your LLC Isn't Protecting You if You Do These 5 Things"
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1:41 - Potential legal problems with partners
10:24 - Preparing for the snowball
19:32 - Partners leaving and presales
29:26 - It keeps getting worse?
38:39 - Stopping the daisy chain from hell -
Although fitness training is incredibly safe, injuries and emergency situations are unavoidable.
The best plan: Be prepared.
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin sits down with Erik Zeyher, owner of Warlock Athletics in New York.
In mid-August, one of Erikâs clients had a heart attack at the gym. Coaches and other members quickly worked together to administer CPR and resuscitate the member using the gymâs AED.
At the hospital, the member's wife said that if her husband had been anywhere other than the gym, he wouldnât have survived.
Erik and his team have a full emergency plan in place and undergo regular AED training, and their preparation allowed them to save a life.
In the aftermath, Erik had to make critical leadership decisions, such whether to continue with classes, how to comfort clients who witnessed the event, how to communicate with his larger community, and how to ensure his staff members recovered from the stressful situation.
Tune in to get the full story and Erikâs tips for emergency preparedness so you can form your own action plan.
Links
Chris Cooper on the CALM model
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1:15 - Medical emergency at Erikâs gym
8:39 - What about the staff and other clients?
15:11 - Following procedure after a crisis
24:29 - Things to think about post-event
28:49 - What is on Erikâs list? -
Most gym owners experience a revenue slump during the summer months. But todayâs guest posted his greatest monthly revenue total of the year in June.
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin digs into summer revenue with Stan Skolfield of Skolfield Sports Performance in Maine.
Stanâs gym focuses on youth sports performance, and his summer programsâperfect for kids who are out of schoolâgenerate front-end revenue and downstream revenue for rest of the year.
In summer, Stan runs camps and events that target under-serviced demographics. These outdoor camps donât take up any space in his gym, and they funnel kids into his core programs that run during the school year.
To ensure heâs always got a steady stream of leads, Stan employs a consistent social media posting schedule to connect with youths who are attached to their screens. He pairs great content with sell-by-chat marketing to get more people in his gym.
If your gym focuses on adults, adding a kids program is a fantastic way to boost summer revenue. Stan even shares an exact template for running a summer sports camp so you can avoid a summer revenue dip in 2025.
Links
Bill Parisiâs episode
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2:59 - How did Stan hit his June revenue?
6:07 - Skolfield Sports Performance
11:40 - Breadcrumbs into main program
16:54 - Progress over the last 5 years
23:10 - Add $2,000 to next Juneâs revenue -
For many gym owners, revenue drops off a cliff in summer. For others, it soars higher than ever.
How can you make sure your gym is crushing it instead of crashing in summer?
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â Two-Brain founder and CEO Chris Cooper presents the Top 10 revenue leaderboard for June 2024 and shares the leadersâ tactics.
The top gym in June posted its best month of revenue thanks to a very successful kids summer program thatâs a feeder for its main offerings. Your takeaway: Kids programs thrive in the summer months if you build them properly, and theyâre a great option for gym owners looking for additional revenue.
Outside specialty programs, the Top 10 gym owners all employed similar strategies to generate revenue: They prioritized consistent growth, they focused hard on their clients, they used targeted ads, and they relied on mentorship.
Tune in to hear more and then use the tactics you learn about to hit your personal best month for revenue.
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1:49 - June 2024 Revenue Leaderboard
5:18 - Consistency, not beginnerâs luck
6:58 - Lessons from the Top 10
7:37 - Camp revenue breakdown
11:23 - The common theme for the leaderboard -
What are the best gyms in the world doing?
Two-Brain Businessâ annual "State of the Industry" report has the answers. Itâs the most robust dataset on microgyms anywhere in the world, and it helps gyms grow by enabling their owners to make decisions based on science instead of guesswork.
You can be part of the 2024 report and get access to 16 special resources for gym owners by submitting your survey response before Sept. 4, 2024, via the link below.
In this special episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â Two-Brain founder and CEO Chris Cooper joins Sevan Matossian and Matthew Souza on âThe Sevan Podcastâ to discuss the state of the fitness industry, including the state of the CrossFit community.
They talk about some of the issues facing CrossFit in recent years, touching on everything from the evolution of CrossFit HQ after Greg Glassmanâs departure to the best way to help CrossFit affiliates.
Gym owners face lots of challenges in 2024, but they can avoid mistakes and grow their businesses faster by making decisions based on data. Two-Brainâs âState of the Industryâ report will be published in late November, and gym owners who contribute their numbers will get the guide before anyone else.
To be part of this yearâs data set and get access to a special Resource Hub for gym owners, fill out the survey here.
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0:01 - The "State of the Industry" report
12:39 - CrossFit and its affiliates
29:39 - The CrossFit Games
53:35 - Getting help when opening a gym
59:17 - CrossFit and the fitness industry
1:06:20 - CrossFit ownership
1:13:57 - Fill out the survey! -
Why did you become a gym owner? The simple answer is probably to help others, but the more complicated answer is that many of us have had our own health and fitness transformations.
Many of us have seen depression, obesity and sickness reversed by the pursuit of fitness and health, and we want nothing more than to share that knowledge, joy and wellbeing with others.
But the fitness business is far too fragile. A new law or rent increase might be all it takes for a host of gym owners to run out of money and go out of business.
To protect our businesses and grow with stability, we need to know what works and what doesnât work. And that info needs to come with proof, not opinions and anecdotes.
To give you the info you need, Two-Brain Business surveys gym owners around the world and publishes our âState of the Industryâ guide for free every year. We do this so you can make decisions based on science and avoid wasting time and money on experimentation.
We hope youâll take a few minutes to participate in this yearâs State of the Industry Survey. In exchange, weâll give you priority access to the guide this fallâand to sweeten the deal, weâll give you a bonus package of exclusive Two-Brain materials that will help you right now.
But your greatest reward is in pushing the fitness industry forward. If we can build stable, profitable businesses that last for decades, we can help more people improve their health.
Links
State of the Industry Survey
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0:22 - Lifespan is going backward
3:08 - The fragility of the fitness industry
4:40 - The effect of change in your business
8:34 - Hereâs where gym owners go wrong
10:57 - State of the Industry Survey -
An undeniable truth in the fitness industry: If your athletes arenât getting results, theyâre going to go somewhere else.
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin sits down with two of the minds behind NCFIT, a programming and coaching development provider for CrossFit affiliates. Jason Khalipa, a CrossFit Games champion, is NCFITâs founder and owner. Matt DellaValle, aka âMDV,â is the companyâs chief fitness officer.
The trio discuss the evolution of gym programming over the last 15+ years and explain how you can ensure your programming generates results.
Many gym owners get great results for clients and reclaim their time by outsourcing programming to a trusted provider, such as NCFIT.
All NCFIT workouts come with a detailed class plan that includes a description, a teaching outline, suggested substitutions and a coaching video that highlights one or two major aspects of the workout.
Each workout is presented with two variations: one for the high-intensity Performance track and the other for the more moderate Fitness track. Aside from the standard NCFIT workouts, they also offer streams for strength and bodybuilding, competition and on-the-go training.
Listen to the full episode to learn key strategies for improving the programming in your gymâwhether you choose to outsource it or not.
Links
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5:06 - Reaching potential with a great experience
11:18 - Do your own programming or outsource?
18:08 - Hard for the sake of being hard
29:12 - The essentials of good programming
38:38 - 2025 programming calendar -
In 2024, workouts shouldnât be hard for the sake of being hard.
You must ask, âWhat outcome is this workout designed to produce?â and âWhat are my clientsâ goals?â
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â Mike Warkentin sits down with Chris Cooper, Two-Brain founder and owner of Catalyst Fitness, to talk about what good programming looks like.
One way to ensure youâve got strong programming is by outsourcing it to an expert provider like NCFIT, Mayhem or CompTrain.
But whether you outsource your programming or create it yourself, the key is being intentional.
Goal reviews play a crucial role in that. Do your clients want to get stronger? Do they want to lose weight? Do they want to compete at the CrossFit Games?
Good programming produces the results the clients want and increases retention.
Tune in to hear why âspicierâ workouts arenât the answer and find out what you can do to improve your programming today.
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1:57 - The programming story
5:49 - Should you do your own programming?
12:04 - Why did Chris go back to programming?
17:08 - How does programming help coaches?
22:47 - Pressure to over-program -
What do your prospective clients need to see one week before joining your gym?
In this episode, host Mike Warkentin and marketing expert Colm OâReilly talk about how to build a direct-response campaign that stops the scroll and brings in new members.
A direct-response campaign asks people to take action and makes it easy to do so: âDo you want to get fit? Hereâs how to get started.â
Colmâa Two-Brain mentor and the owner of CrossFit Ireland and We Do Your Paid Marketingâexplains the importance of knowing who you are targeting and what problems you can solve for them, and he outlines simple but effective direct-response strategies such as sell by chat and monthly email campaigns.
One of the benefits of direct-response campaigns is that you can track their effectiveness and return on investment (ROI). If you set your funnel up properly and run the numbers, youâll know for sure if youâre wasting money on ads or using them to generate front-end and downstream revenue that more than covers your marketing costs.
Two-Brain mentors help clients create and maintain four marketing funnels that ensure a steady flow of high-quality leads. If youâre struggling to acquire new members, a mentor can help.
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Read more: Direct-Response Campaigns
Read more: QuickCasts
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0:46 - Paid branded vs. paid direct-response campaigns
6:14 - What to focus on right away
16:26 - Powerful tactic: sell by chat
21:55 - Solving the clientâs problem
29:00 - What can Colm do for you? -
When you think of a business with an iconic, unforgettable brand, what comes to mind? What sets this brand apart?
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin sits down with Two-Brain CMO John Franklin to talk about how gym owners can use brand and direct-response marketing to grow their businesses.
Brand marketing is all about telling your story: why you do what you do, and for whom.
Direct-response marketing is all about creating offers to get people to do something specific âright now.â Two examples: Paid ads that give people a compelling reason to purchase gym services today and social-media sell-by-chat strategies where the goal is getting a follower to book a free consultation.
As John explains, brand and direct-response marketing go hand in hand. The stronger your brand is, the more effective your direct marketing will be because a strong brand has earned the trust of consumers.
Tune in for key tactics from a marketing expert, as well as real-world examples from established brands such as CrossFit, Zumba, Beachbody and Budweiser.
Links
How to Discover Your Brand/Niche
Two-Brain blog on QuickCasting
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0:43 - Brand vs. direct marketing
2:39 - Fitness brands that did it right
7:47 - Essential elements of direct-action marketing
13:32 - Clarify who you are and what you do
21:56 - Gyms with great brands -
In good times, your gym will rise to the level of your marketing.
âShould we talk about this?ââIs it important to get in front of the conversation with our community?ââShould we post online about our feelings, or should we wait and calm down, or should we say nothing at all?"
In bad times, it will fall to the level of your leadership.
Your gym is more than a place to exercise. Itâs a community of people united in a common goal. Itâs a movement to change health and longevity in your town.
As the owner of a gym, youâre the leader of that movement. Nobody opens a gym just to make a living. They open a gym to make a difference. Itâs not just a job; itâs a crusade.
This week the CrossFit community experienced a tragedy: a death on the CrossFit Games swim course. Every gym owner is going to face a crisis in their community at some point, too.
My job is to lead the Two-Brain movement: to help caring, compassionate coaches build sustainable gyms that last for decades; provide opportunities for other coaches who are on the same mission; and actually change lives.
You canât become a better leader by reading a book or taking a course or participating in a round-table discussion on leadership. You become a better leader by leading through a crisis and evaluating the effects of your actions afterward. You do that by having mentors and models, and we do that through mentorship at Two-Brain.
One of my personal mentors is Bonnie Skinner. Bonnie is a registered psychotherapist and the founder of Level Up Mental Fitness Coaching.
On this special episode of our podcast, Bonnie will answer questions such as:
Then I share a model for communication that I fall back on to help me in times of crisis. Itâs called the CALM model, and it can be used by leaders in any challenging period. Iâll lay out the structure and use the CrossFit Games tragedy as an example.
Clarity: Here's what happened: It's a tragic accident.
Assurance: These are high-level athletes who understand their risks and eagerly accept them. He would have wanted the Games to continue for his brother, his fellow competitors, his fans and all of us.
Leadership: Let's all remember how fleeting life can be and reflect on it during our gratitude practice this week.
Movement: We're going to remember him with a tribute on Monday.
Your clients will always look to you for leadership in times of crisis. Help them by going first: Don't wait for them to see some of the horrible criticism online. Help by keeping them focused on the athlete and his family. Help by giving them a way to express their grief, memorialize the person and lean on their community.
Being a leader doesnât mean inventing solutions from scratch; it means seeking and finding the best way to lead.
You can use others as modelsâyou can read biographies, for example. Or you can find a mentor. -
Theft, fraud, lies and messy affairsâthese are just some of the reasons why staff members get fired from gyms.
So how do you deal with severe staff stress?
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin talks HR horror stories with Two-Brain mentor Andrea Savard, who has co-owned her gym, FirePower Fitness and Wellness in Ontario, Canada, for 20 years.
Over the years, Andrea has had to part ways with staff members, and even clients, who did not live up to her gymâs standards.
She shares some of her worst staffing conundrums and how she handled them. (Yes, she has tense tales.)
According to Andrea, many situations are not preventable. If you stay in the game long enough, youâll have to fire a staff member.
But there are steps you can take to mitigate the likelihood of HR disasters and facilitate swift action when they do appear. Individualized electronic access codes and passwords, staff agreements and regular evaluations, and a code of conduct are just some features of gyms that are set up to professionally manage staff. A good lawyer on call doesnât hurt, either.
Tune in to hear more top tips from a veteran gym owner.
Links
Andrea's Code of Conduct
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0:53 - Andreaâs interesting situations
6:35 - Did you take the cash box home?
16:23 - Theft can turn into fraud
27:59 - What did Andrea change?
33:07 - Donât share private details when firing -
How do you know when itâs time to part ways with a coach?
To answer that question, âRun a Profitable Gymâ host Mike Warkentin sits down with Josh Martin, former gym owner, Two-Brain mentor and owner of The Refined Art of Coaching.
Often the issue isnât actually with the coachâitâs caused by a lack of clear and reasonable expectations.
The key is to get your expectations out of your head because people canât read your mind.
Josh shares tactics for ensuring your coaches are hitting standards and explains how you'll know when theyâre damaging your product.
And sometimes you might have the right peopleâbut theyâre in the wrong positions.
Eventually, though, almost every entrepreneur will have to remove a coach, so Josh offers different approaches to firing and lays out their pros and cons.
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Sample Coach Evaluation
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1:13 - When to part ways with a coach
8:09 - Career Roadmaps & evaluations
13:51 - Having to fire a coach
24:30 - Signs a coach can be saved
31:49 - The right people in the wrong seats -
Two-Brainâs Top 10 leaderboard for client headcount in May ran from 341 to 941 clients at single-location gyms.
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin talks with Robin Sowden-Taylor, owner of the large gym Ion Strength and Conditioning in Wales, as well as a smaller gym thatâs on track to follow the same path to growth.
Ionâs mission is to have a positive impact on health and wellness in the local community. With 430 members and impressive length-of-engagement (LEG) stats, Sowden-Taylorâs business is on the right track.
Ion specializes in group training and has large classes of up to 80 participants. Robin explains how his coaches manage these huge groups and how Ionâs growth comes partially from specialty programs that serve kids, over 60s and moms.
It can be very difficult to run a huge gym without guidance and a commitment to improving entrepreneurial skills. Robin takes inspiration from Jason Khalipa, Ben Bergeron and his Two-Brain mentor, Lisa Palmer, who provides him with the accountability he needs to get things done.
Listen to hear exactly how Robin has strengthened staff and client retention and grown his gym to 400+ members. A Two-Brain mentor can help you determine exactly how many clients you need at your gym, then teach you how acquire and retain them so you can run a thriving business, too.
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3:53 - Summary of Robinâs larger gym
9:25 - Staffing
15:26 - Managing massive groups
21:47 - Retention numbers and success
34:43 - Goal Review Sessions -
It doesnât matter how good your sales are if youâre losing clients due to poor coaching. People just won't stay and pay if your productâcoachingâis lacking.
As a gym owner, you sell results. Results help clients become healthier, and they increase retentionâone of the most important metrics in your business. No million-dollar gym has poor retention.
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin talks coaching with Oskar Johed, co-owner of CrossFit Medis and CrossFit Sickla in Sweden and a member of CrossFit's Level 1 Seminar Staff.
According to Oskar, good coaching starts with hiring: Youâve got to bring in the right people and have a system in place for onboarding them.
Then you must create Career Roadmaps for them; Oskar shares his gymsâ elite-level coaching progression, which you can use as a model.
Finally, regular evaluations are essential for developing strong coachesâyou can even give instant feedback like Oskar does.
Tune in to hear all of Oskarâs expert tipsâhe provides actionable steps you can take today to improve the coaching in your gym.
Links
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2:36 - When should a gym focus on coaching?
6:37 - First steps to improving your product
14:28- Ensuring performance & improvement
26:35 - Do credentials matter?
33:02 - Good numbers but coaching can improve -
If you doubled your average revenue per member, how many clients would you need to pay yourself $100,000 per year?
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin sits down with Kieran OâDwyer, Two-Brain Business mentor and owner of two gyms in Australia.
Prior to joining Two-Brain, one of Kieranâs gyms grew quickly from 100 to 270 members, and his systems were totally overwhelmed: The gym couldnât manage the clients and major retention problems appeared.
When Kieran found himself bleeding more members than he could replace, he sought out the support of an expert gym owner. His mentor, Peter Brasovan, helped him shift his focus to current members, improving their experiences through goal reviews, milestone rewards and better membership options.
By refining his business systems and focusing on high-value clients, Kieran is now earning more and paying his staff more. He also has better retention, increased average revenue per member and less stressâall with fewer clients.
That stack of wins freed up his time: He can now mentor other gym owners to target and retain high-value clients and generate more revenue.
Links
Free guide: â5 Ways to Make $100,000 Per Year From Your Gymâ
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2:04 - More members but retention is suffering
6:02 - Stress, scrambling and sleeplessness
13:25 - Financial hit when scaling back?
21:14 - Did reducing client count help?
25:00 - Advice for gym owners who want to grow -
How can you acquire and keep more gym clients?
Our top fitness entrepreneurs share their secrets.
This monthâs Two-Brain leaderboard features coaching gyms with outstanding member countsâranging from 341 to a whopping 941.
In this episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper runs through the Top 10 gyms around the world for client headcount and then shares the ownersâ tips with you.
A few themes: These gyms all have great retention, funnels, sales systems and general business systems that can be used by large, cohesive teams.
Another commonality: All these gym owners invested in mentorship and have seen a great return on that investment.
Whatâs the best plan if youâd like to push your client count above 300?
Start with 150 members and use a mentor to help you create airtight systems to manage them. Then scale up slowly with a stable foundation under you.
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1:25 - The May 2024 leaderboard
3:52 - Using the 150 Model
5:06 - Common themes
7:31 - Focus and operating at scale
11:39 - Building systems with mentorship -
What are the rewards if you create an outstanding client journey at your gym?
Better retention, greater lifetime value, lower marketing costs, higher profit and vastly improved results for clients.
On todayâs episode of âRun a Profitable Gym,â host Mike Warkentin chats with Peter Brasovan, former owner of Myriad Health + Fitness. Now a Two-Brain mentor trainer, Peter explains exactly how to build a strong client journey.
Key highlights include using the Prescriptive Model, No Sweat Intros and goal review sessions.
A critical mistake gym owners make? Not getting every single client on the same journey. Youâve got to give A+ service every time.
Thatâs harder to do as your gym grows, so Peter tells you how to find the right client success manager (CSM) and ensure you get a return on your investment in this key staff member.
Tune in to get the 411 on a 10-out-of-10 client journeyâthen take two tips from Peter to start improving your client journey today.
Links
The Prescriptive Model
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0:58 - The client journey
9:07 - Find the client's goal
18:42 - Action is greater than perfection
24:31 - The client success manager
30:01 - Common issues for gym owners - Se mer
