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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.
How Excellence Makes You Money
(Originally published on September 11, 2018)
The Pursuit of Excellence is a CrossFit hallmark, but it is not unique to the fitness industry.
From the start, we’ve written that excellence in coaching means great results for your clients. Excellence in business means great results for your family, your clients and your staff.
Excellence in coaching does NOT make you excellent in business. They’re completely different skill sets. And if you own a gym, excellence in business is your job.
This doesn’t mean being excellent once, or having peak moments of excellence, but being consistently excellent. Today we talk with Danielle Brown, manager of quality control at Two-Brain Business, on how to achieve operational excellence and consistency.
Dani will give us step-by-step instructions to build a framework for excellence in your business. She’ll also tell you exactly how we do it at TwoBrain: from hiring future mentors; giving mentors feedback; continuing staff education and ensuring excellence for OUR clients. Then we’ll be discussing the “Queen Bee Role” that we mentioned in last week’s episode.
Call her Dani or Danielle; call her coach or use Her Excellency: Dani is a favorite at TwoBrain.
Danielle Brown has been with Two-Brain from the start, first as a client and now as a mentor.
She opened her CrossFit gym in 2011, where she dove into learning anything and everything about business that she possibly could. Since then she has experienced it all and knows what it takes to run a successful gym and helps other entrepreneurs achieve success in their gyms.
Join us today and take good notes as this episode will truly be invaluable. After listening, be sure to head over to twobrain.com/test and see where you are at in your entrepreneurial journey!
About Danielle:
https://twobrainbusiness.com/mentor-item/danielle-brown/
Timeline:
3:03 – Introduction to Quality Control.
4:35 – Danielle Brown’s journey from Two-Brain Mentor to manager of Quality Control.
7:18 – The truth about coaching and business success in CrossFit.
9:22 – How important is it to be awesome at the service that you provide?
11:11 – Where to find the best practices for your industry.
14:10 – Setting an example within your business for staff.
16:08 – How are mentors at Two-Brain selected and trained?
19:41 – The Two-Brain Mentoring quality-control process.
23:52 – How to know whether your staff is running at a gold standard.
25:32 – How to gain comfortability with reviewing the performance of your staff.
26:45 – The importance of conveying what the gold standard is in your business.
28:28 – The effects of implementing a quality-control system on gym retention.
30:16 – Why Quality Control might be the Queen Bee role in your business.
31:51 – Two-Brain Stories with Brian Strump.
Two-Brain Radio With Sean Woodland, Episode 6: Craig Howard
On today’s episode, Sean Woodland sits down with two-time CrossFit Games competitor and owner of Diablo CrossFit Craig Howard. Howard won the 50-54-year-old division at the CrossFit Games in 2013, and his affiliate in Pleasant Hill, California, is in its 13th year of operation.
Sean talks with Craig about the keys to competing and training as a masters athlete, how he grew Diablo CrossFit from garage gym to the world-renowned affiliate it is today, and how his gym has managed to send nearly 60 people to the CrossFit Games while still nurturing a robust community of everyday CrossFitters.
Links:
https://diablocrossfit.com/
Contact:
@cshdiablo (Instagram)
Timeline:
1:07 – Craig’s first CrossFit workout: Murph.
3:52 – The 2008 CrossFit Games at the Ranch.
5:10 – Winning the “crispy division” at the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games.
7:37 – How to train effectively as a masters athlete.
10:16 – The early days of CrossFit.
11:32 – Opening CrossFit Diablo and finding clients before CrossFit was famous.
15:23 – Transitioning from hobby to business.
16:44 – Lessons learned: You can’t be everything to everyone.
19:09 – How to train your coaches to be effective trainers.
21:59 – Dealing with assholes.
23:53 – The key to Diablo CrossFit’s longstanding success: Creating an environment where people thrive.
26:48 – Thoughts on open gym.
29:01 – On producing more than 60 Games athletes but not alienating the rest of the community.
32:53 – Thoughts on CrossFit Inc.’s shift toward health, the elderly, and eliminating its social media.
39:01 – Leaving a lucrative career in pursuit of the Perfect Day.
40:56 – Don’t sacrifice your bread and butter for the sake of add-ons.
Two-Brain Marketing Episode 15: Dr. Ashley Mak
Today we are joined once again by Dr. Ashley Mak, physical therapist and owner of Hudson River Fitness in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Through a detailed marketing and email nurture campaign, Ashley signed 50 paying clients in just the single month between when he signed the lease in December 2016 to when he opened the doors in January 2017.
Since then, he's continued to streamline and develop his sales and marketing tactics, spending roughly $1,300 a month on ads and generating $7,500 in front-end sales.
In this episode, Ashley shares every step of his sales process from his text and email nurture campaigns to the scripts he gives his sales team. You'll also learn how he uses role-playing to hone No-Sweat Intro consultations for the best sales outcome.
Join us to learn strategies to improve your sales process and turn more leads into clients.
Links:
https://www.hudsonriverfitness.net/
https://incitetax.com/
Contact:
ashley.mak@twobrainbusiness.com
Timeline:
2:05 – Intro to Ashley Mak.
8:15 – How Hudson River Fitness got 50 contracted clients before opening the doors.
14:24 – Differentiating Hudson River Fitness from other local gyms and developing a founders deal nurture sequence.
19:27 – Hudson River Fitness’ ad sequence and nine-touch point system.
21:11 – Letting go, learning to delegate the sales process and writing scripts.
26:37 – Being a filter in the “noisy world of health and fitness.”
28:50 – Training your sales staff.
29:36 – Using the No-Sweat Intro as an information-mining opportunity: the Discovery Phase.
30:52 – Making an emotional connection.
33:01 – Identifying objections ahead of time.
37:21 – Training your sales staff through role play.
43:13 – The key to success: Ask for help.
Episode 173 - Replay of Episode 48: What To Do When It All Goes Wrong
(Originally published on October 3, 2016)
"Nobody wants our job. But everyone thinks they do."
These are the words Two-Brain Mentor Jay Williams texted me on Friday night. After a rough week in which even my podcast interview didn't happen on schedule, I reflected on how well I handle stress NOW than I did five years ago. I recalled those dashboard-punching, angry-email-sending days, and thought, "I bet these lessons can help someone else get through it."
This episode is dedicated to the martyr; to the workhorse; to the owner who thinks, "I'll just outwork everyone else, and things will be okay." It's not going to happen, and you're hurting everyone (including yourself) in the meantime. You need to do something different.
But that's stressful. Here's how to deal with it. Other times, things are going to go wrong. Sometimes they'll all go wrong at once. When they do, here are the tools to get you through.
Links:
www.Uplaunch.com
Timeline:
5:26 – Working on problems and making mistakes.
8:34 – Dealing with stress.
11:17 – Treat problems like math: Break them down.
14:16 – Look at mistakes through the Growth Mindset.
19:31 – Business is cyclical.
21:32 – Practicing positivity.
28:22 – Stoicism and the worst-case scenario.
34:43 – Identify problems in advance.
39:29 – Respond, don’t react.
Episode 5: Kirsten Pedri
On this episode of Two-Brain Radio with Sean Woodland, Sean talks with former CrossFit Games competitor and current owner of CrossFit Davis in California, Kirsten Pedri.
Kirsten has competed at the CrossFit Games as an individual in 2017 and as a master in the 35-39-year-old division in 2018. She joined Sean on the phone to talk about her long road to the Games, what motivated her to become a gym owner, why she loves coaching everyday athletes, what it’s like to train her 99-year-old grandmother, Betty, and tips for training while pregnant.
Links:
https://twobrainbusiness.com/
http://www.crossfitdavis.com/
Timeline:
1:17 – How Kirsten found CrossFit.
3:50 – Becoming a competitor.
5:47 – Kirsten’s first Games experience.
8:33 – Transitioning to the masters competition.
12:07 – Lessons from competition.
13:32 – Becoming a gym owner.
16:25 – When your spouse is your co-worker.
18:15 – Coaching and empathizing with non-elite athletes.
20:09 – Coaching 99-year-old “Grandma Betty.”
21:53 – How to effectively coach older clients.
24:55 – Thoughts on CrossFit Inc.’s new home-workout video series.
31:24 – Proudest coaching moments.
33:03 – What the future holds.
35:19 – Training while pregnant.
38:07 – Forging lasting relationships.
Two-Brain Marketing Episode 14: Jack Wheeler
Today we are joined by Jack Wheeler, founder and CEO of 360 Fitness, a high-end personal training and small-group training studio in Red Deer and Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada.
In the last year, Jack spent $52,000 on Facebook ads and generated $400,000 in new-member revenue, and in this episode, he'll tell you how he did it.
You'll learn how he markets to and funnels new clients in through evergreen 21-day and six-week challenges as well as how he retains new clients through customized offers and an education-first mindset. Plus, he shares how he generates additional revenue—enough to pay for a full-time front-desk and admin staff—through in-house supplement, shake and meal sales.
Join us to learn how you can best invest your resources to generate new revenue.
Links:
http://360fitness.ca/
Contact:
http://360fitness.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/jackwheelerreddeer
Timeline:
1:58 - Intro to Jack Wheeler.
3:40 - How Jack and Mateo met.
7:50 - The 21-day and six-week intro challenges.
11:15 - An education-based approach to nutrition.
15:03 - Investing in free educational content for your members.
16:25 - To design resources and offerings, ask your members what they struggle with.
19:15 - Make it easier for clients and generate more revenue by offering supplements, shakes and meal services.
24:04 - Internal vs. external marketing strategies.
27:12 - Advertising copy and lead generation.
32:31 - The “know, like, and trust” factor.
34:18 - Ad spend and ROI.
36:17 - Constructing tailored marketing sequences.
40:55 - The client’s first experience and the conversion process.
46:28 - The key to success? Grow some balls.
Episode 172: Gym-Management Software
Today we are joined by the famous Jay Williams.
Jay is the owner of CrossFit Hale in California and CrossFit Thames in London. He's also the Director of New Product Development at Two-Brain Business and has worked alongside Chris since the very beginning.
In this podcast, Jay shares the science behind his recent quest to find the top-ranking gym-management software systems. He discusses how he created an unbiased review system that ranked systems based on functionality, usability, reporting, integrations and "bonuses."
The results just might surprise you.
Join us to hear how your favorite software measured against the competition!
The 6 Best Gym-Management Software Platforms: Our Unbiased Review for 2019:
https://twobrainbusiness.com/best-gym-management-software-2019/
Other Two-Brain Episodes with Jay:
https://twobrainbusiness.com/two-brain-radio-episode-4-jason-williams/
https://twobrainbusiness.com/episode-129-taking-action/
Contact Jay:
Timeline:
3:12 – Introduction to Jay Williams.
4:33 – Jay’s software-development background and software evaluation process.
8:00 – Creating a scoring system for the top six gym software applications.
12:55 – All the applications looked amazing—at first.
14:35 – How do the top CrossFit software applications stack up?
18:20 – The surprising winner, based on the rankings.
22:45 – How one small application you've never heard of seriously impressed.
24:29 – Why you shouldn't run out and buy a new system.
Episode 4: Zach Forrest
On today’s episode, Sean Woodland talks with three-time CrossFit Games competitor, CrossFit Training Staff member, and owner of CrossFit Max Effort, Zach Forrest.
Zach discusses why he had to close two of his locations in Las Vegas and the lessons he learned from the ordeal, his experience competing at the CrossFit Games and the time he lost his pants while coaching at a Level 1 Certificate Course.
Links:
https://twobrainbusiness.com/
Timeline:
1:19 - Zoning regulation issues and the closing of CrossFit West Vegas.
6:54 - The end of a lease, a "financial death trap" and the closing of CrossFit Max Effort.
10:47 - Taking the emotion out of business decisions.
13:45 - The downside of working with an investor.
17:55 - The owner-operator affiliate model, and why Zach wants something different.
19:25 - How to re-open a gym after you've sent all your members to another one.
22:00 - Zach's early days of CrossFit in the Navy with Dave Castro.
24:46 - Joining the Level 1 Seminar Staff.
27:02 - The mystery of the lost pants.
28:40 - The 2009 CrossFit Games at the Ranch.
32:48 - Retiring from competition to focus on business.
34:58 - Proudest coaching moments.
36:56 - CrossFit people are good people.
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