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Average revenue per member (ARM) and length of engagement (LEG) often steal the spotlight when it comes to tracking your metrics, but do you know your average lifetime value (LTV)?
It's just what it sounds like: How much a client spends over the entire course of their business relationship with you. And while it may not seem as immediately crucial as ARM or LEG, knowing that number can help you make important decisions, such as how much to spend on lead acquisition.
Debbie Rosslan owns CrossFit Unstoppable in Jefferson City, Missouri, and her LTV is one of the best in the biz: She's among the top 12 Two-Brain gyms whose LTV ranges from $8,200 to $14,000.
Get a glimpse of how she does it here.
Links:
CrossFit Unstoppable
Forever Fierce
Gym Lead Machine
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
2:00 – CrossFit Unstoppable: Then and now.
5:34 – Building relationships with clients.
7:13 – The 100-Month Club and other key touchpoints.
11:18 – Membership: The sweet spot.
13:54 – Gamifying retention.
16:15 – Knowing your client avatar.
20:11 – Learning from LTV.
23:21 – Improving LTV with goal-review sessions.
28:20 – Getting members to buy in to goal reviews.
30:18 – Generating reviews.
At the time Billy Gorham bought out his business partner, the gym was more hobby than business—so Billy joined Two-Brain Business' RampUp program to learn how to level up.
One year later, he's surpassed his total revenue for 2020 just five months into 2021. He's increased his membership from 55 members to 130—and also increased average revenue per member by almost $100. Plus, he's on track to make about 10 times his investment in the RampUp program.
But mentorship isn't all about money. Billy says the program has also helped him revolutionize the client experience at his gym and build real careers for his coaches.
Tune in to learn exactly how RampUp helped him hit all these milestones and more.
Links:
RampUp program
Chalk It Pro
Driven Nutrition
Gym Owners United
Book a free call
Timeline:
2:12 – From “garage-style gym” to “premium health and fitness center.”
3:22 – The state of CrossFit Jax pre-Two-Brain.
4:27 – Buying a gym right before COVID.
7:24 – Love at first sight: The Two-Brain Roadmap.
9:50 – Finding focus.
12:38 – Identifying the right client avatar.
14:20 – Results and revenue.
17:05 – Focusing on high-value services.
19:29 – Increasing profit margin.
21:27 – Moving the goalposts.
22:26 – The power of mentorship.
25:42 – “Don’t hesitate. It’s by and far the best thing you can do for your business.”
Do you track your gym's average lifetime value (LTV)? LTV is how much a client pays you over the entire course of your business relationship.
It's a marriage of two other important metrics—average revenue per member (ARM) and length of engagement (LEG)—and it's a great way to get some perspective on the health of your business.
Jonathan Beckner owns Move Functional Fitness in Decatur, Georgia, and in March 2021, his gym's average LTV was just shy of $12,000. Yes, that's the correct number of zeroes.
Here's a look at how he hit that number and why you should be tracking LTV.
Links:
Move Functional Fitness
"How to Make $100,000 Per Year With 150 Clients"
Level Method
Gym Lead Machine
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:45 – Looking at length of engagement.
6:07 – How to get clients to stick around.
8:16 – Keeping clients during COVID.
13:45 – Lifetime value: a reflection of the value of your services.
15:34 – Increasing average revenue per member.
18:23 – LTV: Providing perspective on ad spend and lead costs.
22:14 – To increase LTV, focus on value first.
Kate Spinner has suffered, survived and triumphed over more challenges in the last decade than many do their entire lives.
You might know her better as Kate Rawlings, a former CrossFit Games athlete and the founder and owner of Coca CrossFit in Ohio. She opened her gym just a month after competing at the 2010 CrossFit Games, and since then she has weathered major injuries, shifts in career identity, family tragedies and now, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet despite it all, Kate and her business are stronger than ever. Even as some gyms are still picking up the pieces after repeated lockdowns, Coca CrossFit has grown, added programs and doubled its revenue.
Even better, Kate says she's living her Perfect Day.
Links:
Coca CrossFit
Incite Tax
Two-Brain Coaching
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:33 – Can you be an elite CrossFit Games athlete and an elite gym owner simultaneously?
5:53 – The 2010 CrossFit Games: One pair of shoes and Amanda under the lights.
10:39 – Dealing with major injuries and reassessing priorities.
15:08 – The early-adopter benefit.
17:43 – “Coca CrossFit 2.0”
18:35 – All the stuff Kate wasn’t paying attention to in her business.
19:55 – Heart-shattering tragedy.
27:34 – Learning vulnerability.
29:42 – Running a gym with a baby strapped to her chest.
31:54 – Right as things were getting good: COVID hits.
34:18 – The 48-hour ultimatum.
36:09 – Finding Two-Brain Business: “They’re our people.”
37:04 – How Coca CrossFit doubled its revenue in one year.
39:26 – Moving into the CEO role.
42:02 – Big plans for the future: aligning passion, vision and history.
In his roughest years, Jeff Jucha was paying his gym's bills by maxing out his personal credit cards. He couldn't afford staff. And his bed was a hammock bolted to the gym office walls.
But when an almost life-threatening sickness showed him just how much he'd been worn down, he made some changes. The biggest one? He started paying himself first.
Since then, Jeff's become a profitable gym owner and now helps others do the same as a Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business mentor. Tune in to hear his story and learn how you, too, can make your business profitable while prioritizing your own well-being.
Links:
"How to Make $100,000 Per Year With 150 Clients"
"Profit First for Microgyms"
Why Your Gym Must Pay You First (And How To Make It Happen)
Chalk It Pro
Two-Brain Programming
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:52 – No money, no goals, no structure.
3:11 – Maxing out personal credit cards to keep the gym afloat.
6:06 – Sleeping in a hammock—in the gym office.
7:54 – Divorce, worsening mindset and debilitating sickness.
11:21 – The first step toward change.
13:00 – Finding new ways to increase revenue.
18:27 – Writing himself a check.
22:56 – Taking the next step with Two-Brain.
26:02 – Lessons learned from the Profit First method.
28:49 – Set the intention for your business.
31:39 – How to start paying yourself when you don’t know where the money will come from.
36:03 – What happens when gym owners start paying themselves first.
"Bro, how much you bench?"
How seriously would you take someone who judged your fitness based on just your bench press? Well, the gym owner's equivalent is membership numbers, and more is not always better.
Don't believe it?
Here's Chris Cooper on why more members won't make you rich—and what you should do instead to increase your net owner benefit by $40,000 per year.
Get the guide: "How to Make $100,000 Per Year With 150 Clients."
Links:
Forever Fierce
Driven Nutrition
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
00:28 – “How much you bench?”
3:37 – Origins of the “more is better” model.
9:47 – The exception, not the rule.
12:20 – Why you don’t want more members.
14:56 – The metrics you should think about instead.
16:35 – How to make more money with fewer clients.
18:42 – Where to start.
Gym owners: Stop cutting your own pay to make ends meet. It doesn't make your business stronger.
Still skeptical? Take it from Ashely Coffey, owner of Get Fit in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
When she first opened her gym, it was a struggle just to pay her coaches, much less herself. She was working 14-hour days and wearing all the hats, but her business wasn't growing.
Then she tried Mike Michalowicz's Profit First method, which teaches business owners to pay themselves before paying any other expense. The result? Ashley's gym has grown, she's off-loaded lower-value roles, and the business is profitable.
Links:
Get Fit
AGuard
Chalk It Pro
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:07 – Horror stories.
7:02 – Starting mentorship in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
9:19 – Discovering “Profit First.”
11:34 – Starting small.
13:44 – Eating the sandwich.
14:38 – The snowball effect.
16:10 – Climbing the value ladder.
20:24 – Concentrating on high-value roles.
23:03 – Dealing with bumps along the road.
25:11 – You can’t help others if you’re not OK.
26:44 – Setting goalposts to drive revenue growth.
27:49 – You are a legitimate business expense.
29:10 – Life on the Profit First plan: stability, confidence, and growth.
31:12 – Success breeds success.
Money's tight this month. But your gym will make it—as long as you cut your own pay a little. No problem; you're not in this business to get rich, right?
But you can't live like that forever. Eventually, your business needs to be profitable and you need a paycheck—or you're going to burn out. But how do you get there?
The Profit First system, developed by Mike Michalowicz, is a powerful technique for managing cashflow to result in profit. Gym owner and certified public accountant John Briggs tweaked the system even further in his book, "Profit First for Microgyms."
Here, John explains how you can use the system to get out of debt, pay yourself and your team, cover your expenses and make a profit.
Links:
"Profit First for Microgyms"
Incite Tax
Arbox
Chalk It Pro
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
2:25 – What is Profit First?
3:04 – Parkinson’s Law.
6:18 – The gym-owner trap.
11:14 – The seven accounts: income.
12:19 – The seven accounts: team members.
14:13 – The seven accounts: owner pay.
17:20 – The seven accounts: profit.
22:31 – The seven accounts: tax.
24:14 – The seven accounts: operating expenses.
24:28 – The seven accounts: equipment.
25:48 – Why the system works.
27:29 – How to start implementing Profit First if you’re broke.
29:38 – Analyzing expenses and generating revenue.
33:27 – Starting small.
35:14 – How Profit First will make your life better.
36:53 – Where to start.
Gym owner Jason Cohen recently did a hard audit of his business, taking a close, honest assessment of its five most critical aspects: the client journey, operations, facility, marketing, and sales.
After the audit, he made some changes. Since then, his gym has been more successful than ever.
Here's what Jason learned when he got up close and personal with his business—and how you can find and patch the holes in yours.
Links:
Locomotion Fitness
Level Method
Gym Owners United
Two-Brain Programming
The Gym Audit
Timeline:
2:08 – Why audit your business?
6:12 – The client journey.
10:45 – Operations.
17:40 – Facility.
28:16 – Marketing.
36:26 – Sales.
You might be over the pandemic, but that doesn't mean the pandemic's over—just ask Ruth Cheng, owner of CrossFit PTBO in Peterborough, Ontario, which just entered its third lockdown.
Each of those lockdowns set Ruth to tears as she watched the cancelations pour in. Yet despite the hardships, the gym's gross revenue grew 20 percent in 2020 compared with 2019.
Here, she shares her strategies for retaining clients, increasing revenue and staying positive during one of the toughest years gym owners have ever faced.
Links:
CrossFit PTBO
Level Method
Two-Brain Programming
Working With a Spouse: The Secrets to Ending the Stress
“Couple-Preneurship”: How to Work With Your Spouse
Gym Owners United
Timeline:
1:33 – Growth during one of the toughest years for gym owners.
2:54 – Drawing strength from partnership.
3:47 – When the pandemic hit.
6:28 – Watching cancelations pour in.
7:53 – Finding the strength to keep going.
10:55 – Moving the gym during lockdown.
13:33 – Retaining members during lockdown.
17:37 – Making a plan to re-acquire the ones who left.
18:11 – The power of communication.
22:40 – The race to $50k.
25:26 – Increasing revenue by listening to clients.
28:22 – What to do if you’re feeling beat down.
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