Stay ConnectedWe’ve already helped 3,000 gym owners become more profitable, and we’re the #1 gym mentorship program in the world.
This channel (presented by Two-Brain Business) is packed with business tools for gym owners and CrossFit affiliates. We provide actionable, data-backed business advice for all gym owners, including those who own personal training studios, fitness franchises, and strength and conditioning gyms.
If you don't post pictures of torn, bloody hands like you did in the old days, is it really your gym?
If there isn't a shirtless athlete vomiting in the corner, is it really your gym?
If you aren't the one unlocking the doors at 5 a.m. and locking them again at 9 p.m., is it really your gym?
Things change, and so will your business if it's to survive the test of time. Here's Coop on which changes matter—and which don't.
P.S. Coop's new book is out! For everything you need to start and scale a fitness business, get your copy of "Start a Gym" here.
Links:
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:14 – The story of Theseus’ boat.
3:06 – Grandfather’s axe.
4:38 – The story that matters.
You get a scary-looking letter in the mail. The gist: "Pay us now or stop playing music in your gym!" Is it legit? Are they watching you?
The truth is that's the smallest of mines gym owners must navigate on the legal battleground of gym ownership. Matt Becker knows firsthand. He's a gym owner, laywer and founder of gymlawyers.com, and here, he joins Chris Cooper to answer your top questions about the legalities of gym ownership.
P.S. Coop's new book is out! For everything you need to start and scale a fitness business, get your copy of "Start a Gym" here.
Links:
Gym Lawyers
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
2:42 – ASCAP and music licensing fees. Are they legit?
10:36 – Do you need an AED on-site? What about training to use it?
15:59 – All about waivers. What do they protect gym owners from? What don’t they? What should you absolutely have on yours?
21:16 – Why you need incident reports on hand.
23:19 – Leases and escape clauses.
30:37 – Noncompetes and non-solicits: What they are and whether they’re reasonable.
34:41 – Employees vs. independent contractors: rules and language to look out for.
42:46 – When a noncompete clause invalidates an entire contract — and when it’s actually valid.
45:57 – Non-solicits: Should you have one?
49:16 – When to seek help from an attorney.
Aspiring gym owners: What if you had the solutions to all the newbie gym-owner mistakes BEFORE you made them?
Current gym owners: What if you could get the answers to the problems that have been plaguing you since you opened your doors?
Sit tight — all that and more is coming your way in Chris Cooper's latest book, "Start a Gym" (both the book and its namesake course will be available on Jan. 24, 2022).
Here, Coop shares a preview of what the new book and course contain and how they can help new and existing gym owners alike build a stable, profitable business.
Links:
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
00:14 – Now is the best time to start a gym business.
6:13 – Should you buy an existing gym or start from scratch?
6:58 – Should you take a partner?
8:32 – Choosing your method.
10:16 – Choosing a location.
12:02 – Buying equipment.
13:58 – Setting up your services.
14:29 – Setting your prices.
15:13 – Selling your services.
16:27 – Setting up your media platform.
17:22 – Getting your first clients before you open.
18:36 – Pre- and post-launch checklists.
18:53 – Advice from millionaire gym owners.
19:44 – Rolling the dice.
The client/member journey. Helping people lead better lives. Leadership and relationship-building.
All of the above and more are key for building a healthy community with healthy community members — and Tres Kennedy is doing just that in two places: Move Church, where he serves as a pastor, and CrossFit Wotown, the gym he owns with his wife Erin.
Here, he shares some of the lessons he's learned apply to both his flocks.
Links:
CrossFit Wotown
Move Church
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
00:48 – Planting a church and starting a gym.
3:57 – The member journey: surprising similarities.
6:11 – Taking Two-Brain to church.
8:12 – Breaking barriers.
10:08 – Identifying drop-off points and taking action.
12:02 – Taking self-improvement beyond the workout.
16:24 – What being a pastor has taught Tres about entrepreneurship.
21:19 – “People don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care.”
23:01 – Retention, self-worth and cynicism.
25:47 – The critical thing gym owners must know to build tight-knit community.
29:29 – Gym owners: your homework.
Chris Cooper sits down with CrossFit Home Office reps Gary Gaines, Austin Malleolo and Daniel Chaffey to talk about CrossFit affiliation and more.
First question from Chris: What is the value proposition for CrossFit affiliation now with Eric Roza at the helm? The four also discuss CrossFit's mission, new and upcoming CrossFit products, lobbying efforts, CrossFit in the era after Greg Glassman, and what people can expect in the future from HQ.
If you're a current CrossFit affiliate or if you're considering affiliation, don't miss this one.
Links:
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:12 – Who is Gary Gaines? And what does he do for CrossFit Home Office?
6:04 – What is the value proposition of CrossFit affiliation?
11:59 – How does CrossFit Home Office evaluate its ideas?
22:22 – How does CrossFit evaluate the outcomes of its new products?
33:21 – What about getting metrics and data from gyms?
39:06 – Are we still fighting Big Soda, and what’s the mission now?
41:56 – The new culture at headquarters.
51:44 – Direct-to-consumer products. Is CrossFit competing with its affiliates?
55:53 – CrossFit gyms as essential businesses: What is HQ doing?
1:00:46 – Regional gatherings for affiliates.
1:05:31 – The future of the CrossFit Home Office roadmap.
1:07:58 – Defending the brand.
1:12:20 – How to get in touch with CrossFit Home Office.
When you were new to your sport or discipline, you probably made a lot of mistakes. But what was the key to getting better? More reps, yes — but more importantly, better reps. To improve, you had to acknowledge what you were doing incorrectly and do something different.
The same goes for entrepreneurship. You're gonna make mistakes. The key is to learn from them and do better — and not get stuck doing something that doesn't work just because you've already invested time and money in it.
Chris Cooper is not immune to mistakes; Two-Brain Business is built on the mistakes he's made and learned from. Here, he shares the four simple steps you need to take after making a mistake to improve the outcome the next time around.
Links:
Incite Tax
Drink O2
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:37 – The sunk-costs trap.
6:01 – Only make new mistakes.
6:59 – Never repeat mistakes.
8:15 – Use trial timelines.
9:50 – Determine what success looks like in advance.
13:01 – Use the impact filter.
16:50 – “Make mistakes, make ‘em fast, and learn from every one.”
Your business will never grow if you spend all your time coaching classes and mopping floors.
So unless you want to do that for the rest of your life, you've got to make time to work on your business instead of in it.
Chris Cooper explains how.
Links:
The 10-Hour CEO
How To Optimize Your Day
Driven Nutrition
Gym Lead Machine
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:00 – How Coop turned a crazy job into a great business.
7:04 – Start with one hour per day.
8:00 – Creating time, space, and capital.
9:57 – The principles at work: Parkinson’s law and the Pareto principle.
11:08 – Free resources to take you from Founder to Farmer phase.
Nyan Cat. Doge. Charlie Bit My Finger.
If all you think of when you hear "NFT" are funny internet things that inexplicably sell for tens of thousands of dollars, you need to listen to this podcast.
Web 3.0 — in which creators license and sell their work on their own on the blockchain — is on the horizon, says Two-Brain Business founder Chris Cooper. And with it comes some great potential opportunities for gym owners.
Links:
Forever Fierce
Arbox
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:10 – The dawn of Web 3.0.
4:41 – Gym owners and NFTs: Programming.
7:39 – NFTs: eliminating the middleman.
8:45 – Selling pull-up progressions as NFTs.
10:13 – An example from the Two-Brain community.
12:33 – Who stands to win big with NFTs.
In the fitness industry, voices will always say, “This worked for me, and it will definitely work for everyone!” Those are the “n = 1 experts.” And maybe their ideas will work for you. But their advice carries risk:
Worse are the n = 0 “biz coaches” who will sell you an idea they haven’t tested themselves.
But data? Data eliminates risk and silences those without proof.
Data also makes great things possible: Two-Brain created six first-time millionaires in 2021. Real millionaires. Not the shell-game success stories who say “I made $100,000 at my gym last month and expect it to continue forever!” Instead, we helped real gym owners grow their net worths to over $1 million.
Our 2021 report contains information from 14,162 gyms. It is the largest and most comprehensive data set ever collected in our industry. It’s the info gym owners need right now.
Links:
Download the free State of the Fitness Industry 2021 report
Arbox
PushPress
Wodify
Incite Tax
Zen Planner
Gym Lead Machine
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:04 – Why the data matters.
4:38 – Where our data comes from.
6:22 – Length of time in business.
7:13 – How many clients the average microgym has and their avatars.
9:23 – Who grew in 2021.
13:43 – How much gyms are charging.
15:38 – Where the revenue comes from.
16:14 – How long members are staying.
17:24 – What gyms are selling.
23:50 – CrossFit Games Open participation rates.
25:16 – Staffing and staff compensation.
27:46 – How much gym owners are paying themselves.
30:17 – What differentiates high earners from low earners.
31:07 – Gym owner hours worked.
33:51 – Profitability and square footage.
34:45 – Profitability by sector.
35:49 – Business debt.
36:11 – Profit and post-COVID bounceback.
37:15 – Why we made this guide — and are giving it away for free.
What do you tell your clients about the last few weeks of the year? Do you tell them "Eh, forget it; eat all the trash you want and start fresh next year"? No! You teach them to take advantage of those last few weeks to keep working on their fitness and start the New Year on a roll.
The same concept applies to revenue. Just because the holidays are upon us and the end of the year looms near doesn't mean your 2021 earning potential is capped. Try one—or all!—of Coop's top-five tactics to bring in extra revenue before you close the year's books.
Links:
"Nutrition Challenges Are Dead. Kickstarts Are the Answer."
"How to Run Specialty Courses Every Day of the Year"
Affinity Marketing guide
Book a Free Call with a Mentor
Drink O2
Forever Fierce
Beyond the Whiteboard
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
2:42 – The retail pre-sale.
4:10 – Write a “top gifts for …” blog post.
6:43 – Run a “save-your-spot-for-January” promotion.
7:59 – Host a Bring-a-Friend holiday party.
9:21 – Run a January kickstart.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
