Built To Grow

In this episode, Tim and Randy will dive into what it means to be a business owner versus being self-employed. Being self-employed is not the same as being a business owner. For example, a business owner has an ownership stake in a business but may not be involved in its day-to-day operations. In contrast, a person who is self-employed both owns the business, but they are also the primary or sole operator of the business. Figuring that out is critical for every gym owner, because it determines whether they own a business or a job. Tim will base their discussion off of Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow Quadrant which categorizes people into four categories, namely employee, self-employed, business owner, and investor.The employee has to go to work to get an hourly wage or salary while a self-employed person owns a business, but they must be involved in the day-to-day operations of the business for it to generate revenue. If a self-employed gym owner left their gym, it would cease to operate. A lot of gym owners are i

In this episode, Tim and Randy will discuss something that takes a gym owner stopping and looking at what’s going in their gym to figure it out. And this is the issue of churn rate. Every gym gets to a point where it has achieved a specific number of clients and starts losing some at a certain rate. That’s what the churn rate refers to and it can be a very difficult balancing act trying to sign up new members into a gym to replace the ones who leave especially as the number of members continues to grow. The higher the price point, the harder the balancing act becomes, for example, at a $9 per month price point, no gym member will ever leave, but at $400 a month, a lot of members will be keen to leave especially if they’re having financial issues of any kind.Tim and Randy surveyed the members who leave their gym and discovered that 80% of them leave because of insufficient usage, meaning, that despite the gym having the best client experience, those particular members were not showing up enough for training. T

In this episode, Tim and Randy will give us a bit of a behind the scenes look at their just concluded Iron Circle event, where they have their Iron Circle members fly in and have round tables where they share the biggest needle movers in their gym businesses and what they’re struggling with. The Iron Circle is made up of gym owners who make upwards of $400,000, and that is basically what guides the conversations at the event, because such gym owners only talk about how to further their business growth.Tim and Randy will share some of the valuable takeaways from the event based on what different Iron Circle members shared about their wins with their gyms. Tim will also talk about what he shared at the event on data, and how he used it at his gym to figure out where most of his revenue comes from, which clients bring in that revenue, and a lot of other valuable client-oriented data that now help in developing marketing strategies, structuring classes, and the overall daily decision-making processes.The issue of

In this episode, and in celebration of the 100th episode of the podcast, Tim and Randy will go back in time and share their backstories to give us a mental picture of just how far they’ve come to be where they are as far as the podcast, Pulse Fitness, and PF Marketing Solutions are concerned. Tim goes all the way back to college where he played college football and studied construction management which then led him into a pretty great job in construction out in California where he even engaged in real estate investing quite successfully. That is where he met his wife and with his earnings from investing they bought a house in Arizona and moved.While working in the Arizona construction scene where there wasn’t much going on in terms of real estate investing, Tim noticed that there was a very successful Anytime Fitness gym which got him interested in the business. The gym owner was very helpful in advising him on everything gym start up and management, but when he decided to set up an Anytime Fitness of his own

In this episode, Tim and Randy will discuss the importance of a gym matching their brand identity to their avatar client, and how it contributes to growth. Brand identity is all about how a business owner wants to portray their business to their customers, and includes how one chooses their business name, the design of their logo, the colors and shapes or graphics they use, and the type of language they use (their “tone of voice”).Brand identity is different to brand image, which is the result of brand identity efforts, that is, a successful brand identity translates into a positive brand image. The strongest brand identities are instantly recognizable, even to small children, and immediately convey a message about that business. The same applies even to gym businesses and Tim and Randy will refer to Andy Frisella’s concept of a business focusing on only 49% of a market which should comprise of the potential clientele that can believe in the business’ products and services, be willing to spend their money on

In this episode, Tim and Randy will dive into the leadership side of gym ownership and talk about how the business side of personal training or fitness coaching has evolved from being more of a hobby-oriented operation to become more professional and well organized. Since the 80s, the perception people had of personal training as a profession had a beach body vibe to it, but with time, it’s become important for fitness business owners to focus on building formidable business and leadership skills to keep running their business successfully in the industry.When most fitness business owners set up their businesses, they have a grandiose idea of what the business is going to be like. They see it growing tremendously to become a cash cow for them without them specifically putting in much effort, but then a few years later, they find themselves in a horrible position with the business not growing much or even being at the verge of collapse. That’s when they start looking for all sorts of solutions, and sometimes t

In this episode, Tim and Randy will talk about how gym owners should tackle the roles and responsibilities of their staff and why it’s important. Things can fall apart really quickly in a gym if the owner puts the wrong people in the wrong roles, and so it’s important for every gym owner to learn how they can effectively gauge the capabilities of their employees before delegating tasks to them. There are specific things that happen in a gym every day, like answering the phone, training clients, doing sales consultations, cleaning the gym, and others. Those things have to happen for the business to stay afloat, and so therefore, a gym owner has to be very keen on delegating them to the most qualified employees so they can become functions of the business. It’s only then that things can start to make sense where a gym’s successful operations are concerned. One of the best things Tim did earlier on at his gym was to conduct a DiSC personality assessment of all his employees, so he could figure out the role each

In this episode, Tim and Randy will discuss a problem that affects a lot of gym owners and entrepreneurs in general. And that is the issue of what to do when one gets stuck. A gym owner always has a lot of things to do, and they may sometimes have it all planned out or be totally confused about what step to take next and how. Sometimes they might make a difficult decision for the best interests of the business or choose to just settle into what they know and leave things as they are, but at the end of the day, change is necessary for growth. The first thing they must do is change their mindset, so they can be well-prepared to take the right steps.Entrepreneurs are great at creating business ideas and even starting businesses, but they almost always have challenges when it comes to implementing all the priority tasks that can facilitate the successful operation of the business. And that is where Tim and Randy encourage gym owners to first of all write a list of action items that they know by figuring out their

In this episode, Tim and Randy will recap their recent client lifecycle automation workshop where 30 gym owners from all over the country were present. The gym owners learned about everything automation and were even able to automate their gyms from the workshop with some of them seeing great results less than a week after the workshop.Running a gym is a lot of work. Between teaching classes, personal training and making schedules, there's not much time left to take care of marketing and communication with members. Automation is a great and powerful tool of keeping up with that without spending too much time on them. More and more gym owners have been realizing that and reaching out to different experts to help them automate their gyms. Tim and Randy’s whole philosophy in gym marketing is having multiple poles in the water, because one can’t rely only on Facebook, their website, referrals, or walk ins. This is where the automation software they use (Keap) comes in, because it enables them to have their mu

In this episode, Tim and Randy will discuss the most common places gym owners invest their money hoping for a return. There is a widespread opinion among most gym owners and fitness coaches that certifications and educational qualifications are a necessity for attracting and retaining clients, but the reality is that clients don’t really care about that because they’re more focused on the experience and results they can from a gym.Tim considers kettlebell, TRX, battle rope, and other certifications as a waste of time and money because even though they may make coaches more confident in their roles, when it comes to a gym’s bottom line, they’re actually an expense. Before investing in equipment, education, or anything else, a gym owner should consider whether that investment will actually move the needle of the business forward.Tim and Randy are all for education for those gym owners and coaches who want to seek it, but they encourage more of an investment in business coaching programs or courses that are spec

In this episode, Tim and Randy will explain exactly how a gym owner can elevate the client experience in their gym to that of a Michelin star restaurant. Client experience was one of the things they highlighted in their predictions podcast for 2020 as being one that will make the difference in 2020 for gyms that will either make it or fail. There are too many fitness options for people out in the market which gives gym businesses a lot of indirect competition. And even though a gym is training oriented, for potential clients, every fitness oriented business like a yoga studio or Pilates studio is an option they can choose instead of a gym.To clients, everything comes down to the experience and results they will get at a fitness facility regardless of whether it's a gym or any other form of fitness facility. Therefore, every gym owner must work on improving their client experience, so they can stay competitive and grow. Tim implemented the same at Pulse Fitness this year, so they could do better than in 20

In this episode, Tim and Randy will wrap up their 20 must-haves for a gym business to grow in 2020. They will share the last 5 aspects starting with retention strategy (also referred to as churn rate or attrition). It basically just means a gym being able to keep their clients happy, keep them paying, and not canceling their memberships. The rule of thumb with retention is to try to keep it under 3% each month on average. Obviously, some months may be higher than others, but 3% is the number a gym owner must ensure they’re maintaining.There are a number of things one can do to build a strong retention strategy, and one of them is looking at month-to-month versus annual memberships, and how they affect retention. Month-to-month memberships are definitely easier to sell, but Tim highlights the need for annual memberships with monthly memberships as a backup plan. There are tons of great strategies that a gym can apply to retain their clients, and Tim and Randy will share them all.Another must-have for every gym

In this episode, Tim and Randy will begin the second half of their four-part series where they're laying out the 20 must haves for gym owners to grow their fitness businesses in 2020. A marketing plan will be the first thing they emphasize on, and for a gym, having multiple poles in the water every month of every year is the way to go about it. A great example is how Tim currently has a banner out, SEO going up, email marketing, text message marketing, joint venture partnerships, fliers, ClickFunnels, an evergreen trial, internal challenges, referral programs, and so much more going on at the same time for marketing purposes.The next thing a gym owner must do is data tracking. Data is usually what drives the marketing and business decisions for Tim’s gym, and there are multiple areas in a gym’s operations that we can invest in data tracking. In marketing for example, it helps in understanding the important KPIs from our marketing campaigns so that we can know the success or failure of a campaign which the

In this episode, Tim and Randy will do part two of their four part series about the 20 aspects of business that every gym owner must have to grow their business in 2020. They will cover five more aspects which will be number six to ten in the list. The first one will be a staffing plan which is mainly made up of job descriptions and performance reviews. With properly laid out job descriptions, things can run more smoothly in a gym without the owner micromanaging everything because they can be able to hold their staff accountable at all times.A gym owner being strategic in their client experience is the next crucial step for them to take. To the market, every gym seems to offer the same thing as every other gym, and the only way a gym can differentiate itself to keep its clients and win more, is through their client experience. The first thing a gym owner must do when developing their strategy is to look at their gym from a potential client’s point of view so they can figure out what to improve on.Another must

In this episode, Tim and Randy will do part one of a four part series about the 20 aspects of business that every gym owner must have to grow their business in 2020. These aspects are based on the business systems and strategies that every single type of business (not just in the fitness industry) should have in place. The first one is brand promise or the value proposition. This is a statement that a business makes to its customers stating what customers can expect from its products and services in terms of the benefits and experience they can get, both the tangible and intangible.That statement does not refer to a business’ tagline, and it’s not just a statement, but it reinforces a business’ relationship with its customers when it executes the brand promise. The second aspect is all about the importance of having business goals, and it starts with a gym owner writing down the goals that they have in their minds for their business. That makes it easier for them to then embark on how they can achieve those g

In this episode, Tim and Randy will talk about their ProFit GPS platform and how powerful it is as a lead generation tool for fitness businesses. They will talk about how they used to run lead generation and low barrier offer campaigns for clients and how they transitioned from that by putting everything they had on lead generation into the GPS platform.When they cover the topic of the GPS in their Ultimate Funnel Workshop, they emphasize the importance of a gym having an evergreen funnel, which is basically an offer that never goes away. That funnel is what should form the standard trial to a gym, and when an existing gym owner creates the funnel for their gym, they not only set themselves apart from their competition but also win big in terms of having their current clients promoting the funnel for them.Tim and Randy will share the successes of one of their long term clients (Jason) who tried out the GPS in their gym, and share his 2019 data which reveals that he generated $189,000 within less than a year f

In this episode, Tim and Randy will talk about the business side of fitness businesses which presents a problem for a lot of gym owners. One of the biggest issues in that arena is that gym owners use their businesses as a personal ATM or checking account. They run all their personal expenses out of the business, which may be rooted in the fact that most of them started out as solopreneurs, and that just ends up creating a big mess because they can never tell how their business is doing at any one time.It’s very important for a gym business to be treated as a separate entity from its owner, with the owner being on the outside and being paid by the business. The gym owner must also have their personal expenses and life outside of the business. That way, they can always have a clear cut picture of how healthy their gym is doing.Tim and Randy will talk about the importance and benefits of one building their business as an asset and break down exactly what a gym owner can do to achieve that. Tim will also share wh

In this episode, Tim and Randy will dive deep into the discussion of what marketing is and should be for fitness businesses. The first thing that goes into a gym owner’s mind when they think about marketing, is lead generation. They always feel that what they ultimately need to grow their business are leads, but they’re not conversant with the fact that how those leads come in and what they come in from determines the success or failure of a marketing campaign.Marketing for a gym should be about attracting prospects who will end up as actual gym memberships, and what a gym owner should base their marketing off on is the solution to the problem that their gym is solving for people. Getting a marketing company or a third-party entity or individual to run a campaign to generate leads for a gym would be a waste of time for the owner, because leads almost never turn into clients.They should instead focus their marketing more on the education and nurturing process in as far the problem a gym is solving is concerned

In this episode, Tim and Randy will have a conversation with the Tax Goddess herself, Shauna Wekherlien. Shauna is a CPA, MTax, CTC, CTS, and the owner of Tax Goddess Business Services, PC. She is a Certified Public Accountant (AZ), has her Master’s Degree in Taxation from Arizona State University, and is one of the elite Certified Tax Coaches in the USA (1 of just 5 in Arizona). As a Certified Tax Coach, she is trained to lower her clients’ taxes to the bare legal minimum  and is in the top 1% of tax strategists in the US. She is also an author, speaker, investor, and a highly sought-after tax strategist whose reputation has been built on 16+ years of experience and implementing innovative tax solutions for individuals and businesses. She was actually the number one rated speaker at the previous growth summit.Shauna has been featured on many news and radio stations (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, Sonoran Living, The List, KFNX, KFYI, etc) as well as in many written publications (CNNMoney, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix

In this episode, Tim and Randy will share a secret little software that Tim's incorporated into Pulse Fitness that gives him real-time, behavior-driven metrics that he can use in making the best decisions possible for the business. The super data analytics tools that he uses to run his gym are a real game-changer because what comes out of the box when one uses MindBody doesn't give them all the real gnarly data they need to run their gym business.Tim, for example, uses the data to look at what he’s spending on marketing and determine the return he’s getting on investment so he can decide whether to keep his ads on or cut them off. He uses software called Ikizmet to get all the deep data analytics he needs for his business and applies that in his decision making. The software speaks perfectly to MindBody and extracts all the necessary data out of it to help gym owners tell how their business is doing. It even looks into client behavior trends and tells a gym owner the clients that are at risk of leavin