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Julie Johnston of Camp Rhino created the first bootcamp in Vegas (maybe the world!), had a Ninja Warrior course before anyone else, and now combines OCR, CrossFit and her giant bootcamp under two enormous roofs in the desert.
Just listening to Julie on this episode will make you smile. It's a great kickstart to your week--and the way she kickstarts all of her bootcamps--a two-hour lesson called "The Happiness Workshop"--will kick your BRAIN into high gear! It's a perfect interview for a Monday!
We'll talk about how Julie grew her businesses to where it is today through some ingenious techniques, crazy risk and massive personality.
Julie comes from a long line of business owners. Seeing the stress that so many of her relatives went through to own their own business motivated Julie to steer clear of ever owning her own business. It wasn’t until she was in college that her entrepreneurial spirit took root and she soon abandoned her initial impression of what it was to be an entrepreneur. After much stress in her first entrepreneurial adventure, Julie began gaining a lot of weight and she knew something had to change to get her health in order. Julie decided it would be best to join a boot camp class and within a few weeks she was teaching her own class.
It wasn’t long before July wanted to start her own boot camp even though her friends and family thought she was crazy. For the first year, it was not very successful. Julie was determined to succeed however and she not only lost the weight that she needed to lose but she was slowly gaining clients for her new business. It was at this time that Julie came up with an ingenious idea to generate some buzz around her new business when she challenged two news stations to battle it out in a boot camp competition. This gained her the publicity she needed to really push her business to a new level.
One of Julie’s keys to success is her supportive family surrounding her business. Julie’s brothers have been trainers at her gym since the beginning and have gone along with all of her crazy obstacle course ideas. In addition to CrossFit, Camp Rhino offers some outrageous obstacle courses. Julie even built an obstacle course out in the desert at one point in time. Family is extremely important to Julie and she will always make time for them no matter what.
Being a successful gym owner can take a large investment of time. Despite this, Julie makes time every day to train and stay in shape. She has learned that no one likes a fat gym owner and the fear of gaining weight like she once did keeps her motivated to set the pace and lead by example in her gym.
Another important component of Julie’s gym is running something she calls, The Happiness Workshop. Julie takes creating a positive and happy environment very seriously. This allows Camp Rhino to be a positive place without whining, excuses, and complaining. Loving others and being the best version of yourself is what it is all about and what Camp Rhino is all about.
Episode 97 – Getting Retail-Ready with Matt Albrizio of Forever Fierce
On today's episode, Matt Albrizio of Forever Fierce shares his best practices for selling retail items at Christmas; how to buy gifts for your coaches; and how to create a Retail Plan for 2018.
Episode 96 – Mentoring Your Staff with Ken AndrukowKen Andrukow, a senior Two-Brain Mentor and owner of Reebok CrossFit Ramsay, joins us on the show today. Ken's gym one of the top gyms in the world, and he attributes his success to his staff.As we identify the "gold standards" in the gym industry, Ken is at the top of the leaderboard in many categories (including profit). One of these gold standards is staff retention. Ken's metrics are great because his relationships are great.We all know that money alone does not keep a staff member satisfied. You must also find out how to deliver on their perfect day to keep them around. In this episode we talk about how to mentor your staff, how to setup goals with your staff, make sure they are on the right track, and how to make sure they can see a clear path to their perfect day. Ken has done a remarkable job growing his gym from 300 members when he started as a TwoBrain client, to now reaching 500. His metrics (ARM, LEG and profit) are even more impressive. But from a staffing perspective, this can present quite a few challenges for a gym owner. At about the 200-member mark, Ken realized that he could not manage the gym alone anymore. It was at this time that Ken had to step away from coaching and focus on growing his businesses full time. Ken also realized that he had to completely replace himself in all roles to have time to grow the gym. According to Ken, “It’s about making sure all of your staff react to every issue the way you would.”Ken's core values include integrity, empathy, loyalty, and tenacity. Ken puts every one of his prospective employees through a training program on these core values to ensure they match up and will be a good fit. One of the ways that Ken conveys these core values to his employees is through stories. Stories about his childhood and life challenges are really important and meaningful in showcasing these values.Another key item to have when operating a large gym is to have systems in place for your staff to follow. As Ken’s gym grew he assumed everyone else could read his mind and know what he wanted. He soon found out, however, that this was not the case. As more and more members were asking Ken directly for help, he knew that systems must be developed for his staff to handle. It wasn’t until he put systems in place and gave people the authority to solve problems that he had the time to grow his businesses.Above all else, he says, staff really want to know they are making a difference in people’s lives. A large part of success is about mindset and if your staff can have the same positive mindset that you have the opportunities are limitless. Join us today as we dive into staffing questions and much more!Timeline:2:53 – Ken Andrukow Introduction4:38 – Ken on growing his gym from 300 to 500 members8:32 – The core values are important to Ken and his staff12:42 – Mentoring your employees through one on one meetings19:41 – How often should mentoring meetings be taking place?23:05 – How does a typical mentor meeting go?27:20 – What is it that truly motivates staff and keeps them around?30:52 – What it is like to lose a team member to another gym?34:03 – Helping another team member start out at a new gym38:34 – How to properly give feedback to your staff42:18 – The people that got us here are not going to get us where we want to goContact Ken:https://www.reebokcrossfitramsay.com/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO6WJ_wZsiprvV5JldxapnQhttps://www.instagram.com/reebok_crossfit_ramsay/https://www.facebook.com/CrossFitRamsay
If we're all going to be excellent--as athletes, as coaches or as business owners--don't we need a common definition as a target?
Episode 95 – Rachel Balkovec
Rachel Balkovec is the first female strength and conditioning coach for any major sport within the United States. Rachel is currently with the Houston Astros, and I spoke to her on the eve of Game 6 of the World Series.
Rachel took the prescribed route for education in strength and conditioning. She got her first degree, then the CSCS, and then pursued her first internship. Then she did her second. Eventually, her third...
She's been through Athletes Performance (now EXOS.) She got into the graduate program at LSU, then did an internship for the St Louis Cardinals--twice. She worked weekends for years, waitressing and helping retirees go to the bathroom.
She referred to Angela Duckworth's book "Grit" right at the start of this podcast. Grit COULD be the title of this episode.
After so many experiences with athletic training Rachel assumed she was a shoe in to obtain additional internships while she was pursuing another degree. It was at this moment that she realized how hard it would be to make it as a woman in Major League Baseball. After countless attempts to contact teams and submit her resume, she heard nothing. It wasn’t until Rachel changer her name to Rae, that she finally got a call back.
It wasn’t until another internship with the Cardinals that she secured a strength and conditioning coaching position where she now overseas eight minor league teams and roughly 200 players. Now that the Astros have won the World Series, it is all about what they can continue to do to elevate their game and continue their success. It is one thing to get to get to the top but a whole different thing to stay there, according to Rachel.
One of Rachel’s major jobs is to support the minor league teams in foreign countries. Many of the players in Major League baseball come from Latin America and they are signed to teams as young as 16 years of age.
The marketing crisis for gyms has "almost" been solved - at least for now. What's the NEXT hurdle we'll face?
Episode 94 – Out of the Cave, with Dave Picardy and Chandler WalkerDave Picardy and Chandler Walker own Out of the Cave Media. Between the two of them, they have spent years working with gym owners and now they are pursuing a different passion which they call relationship marketing. In this episode we talk about relationships with your clients and how you can leverage these relationships to give them the best experience possible all while also growing your business.Chandler originally started a blog about fitness before even considering starting a gym. After realizing that relationships are the real key to growing your business, Chandler began helping others which brought on the onset of Out of the Cave Media. Dave on the other hand began his onset into the fitness industry as a personal training. Things were good except for the amount of hours he had to put into his business to make a living. Soon after Dave learned about CrossFit he became certified and began his CrossFit journey. Dave’s passion for helping others and connecting people together led him to connect with Chandler and help gyms focus on their relationships with their clients. Out of the Cave gives both Dave and Chandler a great platform to enact something they like to call relationship marketing.Relationship marketing is really about building a culture of caring between the business, the coach, and the client. What this really comes down to be own you show yourself to the consumer and to the staff. It is important that this relationship is always mapped out and when they interact with you they feel comfortable. Having the customer feel as though they are attached to you is important. Successful gyms always have a story and people love to be around this type of business. Ultimately where everyone struggles is telling a story and getting all of the coaches and employees to be a part of that story. This is where Out of the Cave Media steps in to help tell this story.One of the important aspects of telling your story is getting your team involved. It is important that they also use social media and help tell the story. Despite this, you do not want to force it upon your team. It is important to motivate your team and get them onboard to contribute to the overall plan. If someone really likes making video but hates doing blogging then you should plan accordingly to achieve the best results.Another important aspect is to showcase your local affiliate culture. Although the CrossFit HQ content is nice and well-polished, putting a face with the name and showcasing who you are to potential clients is really important. Telling your story in a unique and identifiable story allows people to recognize you in the community and relate in a much easier way.Another way to leverage relationships without producing any content is putting yourself in situations where you can talk about your business. The more relationships you build and the more relationships you have the more people are going to care about you and what you have to do. This is more about becoming a leader within your community rather than schmoozing people and luring them into your gym. You want to establish relationships around town and see how you can help them first. When you truly care about someone they will notice and turn to you for help when they need it. This episode is full of wisdom. Be sure to be ready to take notes and see how you too can implement these strategies into your own business!Timeline:0:58 – Dave and Chandler of Out of the Cave Media Introduction1:39 – What brought Dave and Chandler to this stage of their gym owner career.8:30 – What exactly is relationship marketing?9:32 – Why is it important that the client is part of the business' story?12:38 – The beginning steps to telling your business’ story.14:30 – What expectations should the staff have for producing content?18:18 – Perfecting content. I
Greg Glassman isn't your average genius.
Greg shares the mannerisms of the virtuoso: He moves while he talks, fidgeting with coasters on the table. He leans in, then back, tipping his chair from one side to the next. His answers are so quick, most of the time, that you'd think they were rehearsed. But they're not.
And Greg isn't just a big thinker. He's also a big doer: He acts. He travels extensively. He has frequent speaking engagements. Old-time CrossFit fans will remember his monthly manifesto, emailed as a PDF to be printed with "CrossFit Journal" on the top. In 2001, he put the workouts from his private training gym online for free, and hasn't missed a day since.
Greg has spawned a worldwide health initiative. He's also given over 25,000 people the opportunity to be entrepreneurs and change lives. This is my passion. But that's not his true genius.
Last week on this podcast, I introduced some of Greg's Media team—Tyson Oldroyd, Mike Warkentin and Matt Bischel. They're part of "CrossFit HQ" — an army of professionals dedicated to helping Greg's affiliates. They're all loyal to the point of fanaticism; many have been with the company a decade already. Very few people quit CrossFit HQ: They love the opportunity to serve in a meaningful way. And they love Greg.
I flew across the country to sit with Greg at his kitchen table for 90 minutes. It took days of travel and three years of conversation to reach this point. My questions weren't pre-approved or censored afterward. Greg greeted me at his front door with a hug; when we parted a few hours later, he said "Love ya, man. Keep doing what you're doing."
THAT is Greg's true genius: the ability to spread his care; to inspire everyone around him to beat their plowshares into swords and follow him.
"CrossFit is not an exercise program. It's a fitness program." What did Greg mean by that? Listen in...
Brian Willis of the Excellence in Training Academy caught Chris for a one-hour interview. This is restricted content for Brian's private member site, but he allowed us to share it here. If you're involved with law enforcement trainers and would like to join the Excellence in Training Academy community they can use the code eitmonthfree at www.excellenceintrainingacademy.com and get the first month’s membership free.
If you visit the CrossFit Facebook page, you'll see this:...not "Education Company". Not even "Fitness". "MEDIA/NEWS".Since the first days of the PDF-emailed Journal, I've learned from--and copied--CrossFit HQ's media team. More than any other organization on the planet, CrossFit educates its fans and consumers to create frenzied evangelists. They publish every day. They produce world-class video, employ full-time writers and editors, and pay above the grade for quality photos.What can we learn from CrossFit HQ's Media Team?Just about everything.There are 200 people in HQ Media. It's a multimillion-dollar operation to produce the best exercise demos, Journal articles, full-length movies, daily blog content, social media--and now, podcasts. They're among the best in the world, and they do it to help CrossFit affiliates grow.Many of us don't realize it, but HQ's media can serve as a template for our own. Content marketing bridges the gap between our service (fitness) and a client's needs (lose weight, get more energy, etc.) We can copy their methods, share their videos, and use their testimonials in OUR gyms.For this episode, I traveled to Santa Cruz, CA and visited CrossFit HQ for three days. I was interviewed for their new podcast, and then turned the tables: I asked Mike Warkentin (managing editor of the CrossFit Journal), Tyson Oldroyd (head producer) and Matt Bischel (head of social media) to answer questions about production, promotion and best practices.This interview runs over an hour, and it's FULL of useful stuff that I haven't seen or heard anywhere else. For the first time, HQ allowed me to peek under the skirt, and ask "Why?" and "How?" - and even though I've worked closely with HQ Media for years, many of the answers still surprised me.Don't listen to this podcast while driving. Wait until you have a pen and paper ready, because you're going to want to take notes!
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