Built To Grow

Gyms are both incredibly rewarding and difficult businesses to run. On the one hand, they offer the chance to make a great living from something you are passionate about and help people stay active and healthy. On the other hand, running a gym successfully as a business is an incredibly difficult thing to do.Most gym owners spend their time fighting fires in their gyms on a daily basis. They are fully immersed in the operations of their gyms.This is not what you should be doing as a gym owner.A proper business should run independently of the owner and generate enough cash flow for the owner to invest in other things.To do this, you must first understand your goal as a gym owner and what you want from your business.Tim and Randy believe the goal should be improving your cash flow to a point where it exceeds your monthly expenses, then increasing the owner benefit.Key Takeaways- The million-dollar model – our new coaching program (00:37)- What is owner benefit (03:13)- Cash-out vs. cash flow (05:47)- What is yo

Every gym owner should be getting and reviewing their P&Ls regularly to gauge the status of their business.A P&L statement is a financial statement that summarizes a business’s income and expenses for a given period. It can be monthly, quarterly, or yearly.It includes revenue from memberships and products, operating expenses, and non-operating income. Understanding the numbers on the P&L can help gym owners more accurately assess the financial health of their business.It’s rare in the gym business to see any gym owner share their P&Ls, but in this episode, Tim and Randy do exactly that.The proof of the pudding is in the eating - The reason for sharing the P&L is to show gym owners that what they teach here in the podcast and in the coaching programs is actually something that is happening.Tune in to hear about the P&L numbers from Tim’s gym and how to build a million-dollar gym business!Key Takeaways- The importance of reviewing your P&L (00:43)- The average profit of a gym (02:41)

In this episode, Tim and Randy are joined by Zach Columbia to discuss an interesting observation from fitness clients.The better results you get them, the less likely they will stay with you.What does this mean?Clients search us out because they are in some form of pain. They might be overweight, out of shape, have low energy levels, etc.This motivates them to show up for a consultation, which can be uncomfortable and intimidating, and sign up for our services.Once they give their credit card, their pain level decreases since they have taken action. With each workout, their pain level decreases further, and they start to see results, bringing down the value they place on our services.The better the results, the less they need us.... because they are no longer in pain, making them less motivated and less likely to stay.This is the opposite of what many gym owners think and expect of their clients, but it happens.So, how should you go about it?Tune in to learn more!Key Takeaways- FitPro Growth Summit update (00

You’ve heard Tim and Randy talk about the Iron Circle numerous times. It is a mastermind of gym owners who are doing well in the business but are looking for more.It is designed to allow gym owners to not only come together to share ideas and successes but also to learn from each other and discover new ways to grow their businesses and other aspects of their lives.Iron circle members recently grouped together for an event in Orlando, Florida, and it was epic.Tim and Randy describe how it all went down in this episode and some of the reasons why you should join this group. But you have to qualify!Tune in to learn more.Key Takeaways- What is the Iron Circle (01:16)- How to qualify for the Iron Circle (03:47)- The Iron Circle is much more than business (04:29)- Recap of the Orlando event (07:41)- Guest speaker at the Iron Circle event (09:28)- Solving major problems with the help of your peers (12:54)Additional Resources- Learn more about our Business Accelerator Coaching Program for Gym Owners  - Grab your tick

The exit plan of an independently owned gym business is seldom a big windfall of cash.There we said it.It might come as a surprise to you, but the gym business is not a cashout type of business. There will be a few cases here and there, but this is not something you can bank on for your retirement.Most of the people who are successful in this business understand that a gym is a cash flow business.This means that you create enough cash flows in your business to cover the base operating expenses, then have some excess which you can reinvest in other areas to build wealth.How do you ensure your business is generating excess cash flow?Tune in to find out!Key Takeaways- Gym business is a cash flow play (02:37)- What’s your game plan as a gym owner (04:44)- Knowing the end goal of your business (07:51)- Systematize your business (13:11)- Make your recurring revenue greater than base expenses (15:43)Additional Resources- Learn more about our Business Accelerator Coaching Program for Gym Owners  - Grab your tickets f

Are you ready for some tough love? Because that's exactly what Tim and Randy are bringing you today.The point of this episode is simple. The fitness business is hard, there's no denying it. But if you want to succeed, you've got to be willing to go all in.If you're not willing to put in the work, then get the hell out now and do something else. Because this game is not for the faint-hearted.But here's the thing: it's not as difficult as it needs to be when you know where your time and attention need to be spent. You can win this game, there's no doubt about it, but you need the right mindset and the right strategies.Tune in to this episode for some tough love on what it takes to succeed as a gym owner!Key Takeaways- Fitness growth summit update (00:29)- Why there's resistance to raising rates in fitness (04:28)- The value of fitness services (08:08)- The gym business is not a hobby (09:17)- Go all in to change your life (17:51)- The playbook of gym business success (18:15)Addit

Many gym owners are on the search for the next big thing that will massively change their business. They are looking for a big marketing campaign or the next big challenge that will massively transform their business.But this is not usually the case. Small changes in how you run your business will make all the difference. These little things have the greatest opportunity to stabilize your business.And there’s no better place to start than at your financials. At the core of a lot of gym owner stress is managing cash flow and paying all your bills as they become due.In this episode, Tim and Randy share some simple tweaks that will make a big difference in your cash flow cycles and greatly lower your stress.Tune inKey Takeaways- Shift to twice-a-month payrolls (02:58)- Weekly vs. monthly billings (06:00)- Stabilize your business (08:19)- How to reduce financial stresses (10:13)- It’s the small things that make the difference (15:20)Additional Resources- Learn more about our Business Accelerator Coaching Program

A lot of gym owners have some sort of background in sports. Maybe that was the catalyst for opening a gym and getting into the fitness industry.Some even decide to set up their gyms as sports performance training facilities to train athletes and youth sports and mold those kids into better athletes.While this would definitely be exciting and fun, this business model has numerous challenges.For one, youth performance facilities are unsustainable due to their seasonal nature. You’ll always be scrambling for adult fitness clients during the offseason. What this then means is that you don’t have an identity for your business.But this is not the only challenge…tune in as Tim and Randy dissect this model in this episode.Key Takeaways- Growth Summit update (00:26)- The good and bad of a sports training model (01:49)- Creating your business identity (04:04)- The difficulty of marketing a sports facility (06:08)- Select your piece of the pie (09:56)Additional Resources- Learn more about our Business Accelerator Coachi

Are you a gym owner who feels like you're not living up to your potential in your business? Do you feel like something is holding you back, but you're not quite sure what it is?It's time to stop wondering and start taking action.You have to take complete responsibility for the success or failure of your business.You have to be proactive in how you spend your time on the business to ultimately achieve your goals. Without a clear plan for how to run your gym, you'll be stuck putting out fires all day long.Knowing the difference between being self-employed and being a business owner is key to making your life easier as a gym owner. To become a business owner, you have to have good systems and clear processes and run them consistently. That's what a business is all about.In this episode, Tim and Randy outline what is holding you back from succeeding in your gym business and what to do about it.Key Takeaways- Why you aren't living up to your potential (01:30)- Take complete responsibility f

If you find yourself in a position where revenues in your gym business have stagnated month over month and year after year, something has to change.You probably need a paid ads strategy to force growth.As Tim and Randy have said many times in this podcast, you need multiple poles in the water to catch fitness clients in the marketplace.Paid advertising, without a doubt, is the only predictable method of generating leads on demand.In this episode, Tim and Randy share how to run a successful paid ads marketing strategy in your gym. Listen in!Key Takeaways- The only predictable method of generating leads (02:46)- Can referrals sustain a business? (05:29)- Finding and scaling winning campaigns (07:53)- Forced split test in FB ads (10:29)- Control the messaging in your marketing (13:13)- Working with an ad agency (15:47)Additional Resources- Learn more about our Business Accelerator Coaching Program for Gym Owners  - Grab your tickets for the 2023 FitPro Growth Summit  - Learn more about The Iron Circle - Business

Reoccurring monthly revenue is one of the best things about a fitness business, especially when you build it up to a number much higher than your base operating expenses.When you are at this point, your life changes. You don’t have to worry about covering upcoming expenses. You just focus on growth.This is actually the ethos of the Business Accelerator Coaching Program for Gym Owners.Unfortunately, not many gym owners are in this position. Some are living paycheck to paycheck in their business, constantly worrying if they’ll be able to meet their monthly base expenses. They are essentially coming from behind every month.This is very tough and causes a lot of stress to these gym owners as they have to make extra sales to keep the lights on every month.For 2023, Tim and Randy want your only goal to be growing your gym business to a point where before even the month starts, you know that you have the revenue coming in to cover ALL your monthly expenses without having to make extra sales. Here’s how to do it….Key

There are some gym owners out there who still think that there is some kind of magic marketing hook or photo that will bring them all these high-quality clients, and they'll end up making a lot of money.That's the wrong way to think about it. We are well past that type of homerun marketing that worked many years ago.These types of marketing campaigns might lead to a high volume of leads but not the quality you might be looking for.You'd rather have a lower but higher-quality lead flow with a higher purchasing intent.How do you ensure this?Tim and Randy reveal how you can take the guesswork out of your marketing and ensure your marketing produces a return on your marketing spend (ROI).Tune in!Key Takeaways- Volume of leads vs. quality of leads (02:40)- Marketing is a process, not one thing (04:36)- How to test your marketing (09:31)?- The marketing metric that really matters (14:40)- The problem with running challenges (18:02)- Creating a long-term sustainable business (23:55)Additional Resources -

We've all experienced a situation where a prospect books a consultation at the gym and fails to show up. As frustrating as that can be, it's important to interrogate the reasons why some people just dont show up.Forgot about the flimsy reasons you might have heard…. some will even say they forgot the appointment.Tim and Randy believe the main reason why they don't show up is a loss of motivation between booking the appointment and the appointment time. They've lost their mojo or their excitement for starting a fitness program.What can you do about it as a gym owner?Listen in for some pro tips on how to get your prospects to show up for their consultations.Key Takeaways- Why are people not showing up for the consultation (03:47)- Meeting your prospects where they're at (05:40)- Lowering your prospect's anxiety about starting a fitness program (07:37)- Call your prospect before the appointment (08:40)- Pro-tip to get rid of prospect's excuses (11:05)- Learn how to get clients into yo

There are several reasons why you might not be charging enough for your services in your gym business.But the primary reason is that clients can't differentiate what you offer from your competition, so they just go to the cheapest.Your deliverable in your gym must look, smell and feel different from the others if you are to charge enough for your services.And always remember, we are not selling a workout or a nutrition plan. These are freely available. We are selling health, longevity, self-confidence, etc.These are priceless things that clients are ready to pay whatever you are charging for, provided you have something unique deliverable that will get them to these priceless end results.How do you go about this? Tune in to learn more.Key Takeaways- 2023 FitPro Growth Summit Announcement (00:47)- How different is your deliverable (03:39)- What are your clients paying you for (04:59)- We are not selling workouts (06:11)- Don't even look at your competitors (09:07)- Creative vs. competitive mindsets (10

Today we hit a very proud milestone for the podcast. We are at episode 400.We are grateful for all gym owners who tune in twice a week to listen to Tim and Randy as they help you win this fitness business game. Thank you for all the feedback, reviews, and social media posts. We appreciate you.To celebrate this milestone, we polled members in the Business Talk with Fitness Professionals Facebook Group to what they wanted to hear us talk about on this episode.Most of you said they wanted to hear us talk about how a gym owner can remove themselves from the day-to-day operations of the gym.If we use the Cash flow quadrant, most gym owners want to get from the self-employed quadrant to the business owner quadrant.Tim and Randy share some tips on how you can become a business owner and get to do more with your time.Tune in.Key Takeaways- The Cash Flow Quadrant (02:09)- Self-employed vs. business owner (06:13)- The role of an entrepreneur (14:07)- SOP, processes, and systems in a business (16:13)- Eliminate, delegat

Someone recently asked in our Business Talk with Fitness Professionals Group how a gym owner can tell if their service is good enough.The premise of this question comes from the fact that we all get those comments/complaints/suggestions from our clients on what we should do to improve our service.In some cases, these comments are helpful as they help us deliver a better experience. But in some cases, you have to remain steadfast as an entrepreneur and don’t be easily persuaded by everything that comes across your ears.There is no doubt that we should always strive to improve our service, but you have to be comfortable with the fact that you can’t please everybody.In this episode, Tim and Randy share their thoughts on when good enough is good enough and where to go from there.Tune inKey Takeaways- Details about our upcoming secret meeting (00:41)- When is your service good enough? (04:39)- You could always do better (06:02)- What’s your brand promise to the marketplace? (08:33)- Don’t be easily persuaded by ev

One of the biggest reasons why clients cancel their gym memberships is change. Clients generally don’t like change. It doesn’t matter if the change is positive; some people will always complain about it and leave.Here at our gym, we recently undertook a major remodel where we changed everything. Unfortunately, this led to a massive loss of clients.The good thing is some clients were coming back from the summer freezes, so we ended up with our delta even.   But the point of this episode is how to mitigate client attrition due to change, especially change brought about by a coach leaving.Tim and Randy share some invaluable lessons gym owners can learn on the best way to handle those inevitable changes in their gym.Key Takeaways- We are revamping our coaching program (01:25)- Why clients leave (03:00)- What went wrong with our remodel (06:38)- Times of change drive attrition (08:05)- Cultivating teamwork to minimize the impact of a coach leaving (10:07)- Controlling the narrative around change (18:35)- Don’t mak

You must have heard of the AI writing tool that has taken the internet by storm. ChatGPT is an interesting tool that gym owners can leverage to create all manner of content for their business.You can use it for website content, blog posts, emails, sales copy, meal plans, and all client communications.Granted, there is no perfect AI tool, but ChatGPT is damn close. It will do all the heavy lifting in your gym business as far as content goes.As with every other technology, not everybody is convinced about ChatGPT, but we encourage you not to fight it but leverage it for your content needs. We have used it, and it blew our minds with what it can do.Tune in to this episode to learn how their powerful AI tool can help you in your gym today.Key Takeaways- What is ChatGPT (01:47)- How to use ChatGPT in your fitness business (04:41)- Will AI replace human copywriters? (11:16)- Fitness content you can create with AI (14:32)Additional Resources- Become a member of the Gym Shirt Club and receive a shirt every month: htt

A new generation of workers is entering the job market, and as gym owners, we need to be prepared on how best to work with them.Gen Z is unlike any other generation we have had before. They are even different from the millennials. The reality is that they are with us now in the workforce, and we better understand what drives them.This generation grew up with full access to the internet, screens, and technology. This significantly impacts their worldview and, by extension, their social skills.In the fitness industry, gym owners need to learn how this generation and their unique traits will impact their business.Tune in to this episode as Tim and Randy discuss how best to work with these new kids on the block!Key Takeaways- Social skills for Gen Z (01:26)- The declining value of hard work (04:37)- The illusion of quick success (06:11)- How gym owners can keep hold of younger coaches (13:20)- What we offer our coaches here at our gym (15:36)- What drives Gen Z? (18:43)Additional Resources- Learn more about our B

In the fitness business space, there are 3 types of training concepts. You can either have one-on-one personal training, semi-private personal training, or large group training/class-based concept.Most gyms are running the large group concepts, but as we have talked about numerous times in this podcast, the semi-private model is better for different reasons.One of these reasons is that you can provide your clients with a better experience and results, which means you can charge more, which makes a lot of business sense.We believe if you're going to have both, or if you're going to introduce semi-private and already have large group training, then they need to have completely different deliverables for two.They have to look different, smell different and taste different. It can't be the same delivery with fewer people.In this episode, Tim and Randy explain the key differences between the two models and how to transition to semi-private personal training.Key Takeaways- The 3 fitness business concept