May 29, 2025 • 20 mins
Gym owner Aaron Scott followed Two-Brain content for six years before finally signing up for mentorship. When he did, everything changed.
In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Aaron shares exactly how he doubled his revenue at CrossFit Structure in the U.K.—without dramatically increasing his client count.
He reveals how implementing high-value onboarding, raising rates with confidence and improving back-end systems helped him grow monthly revenue from £7,500 to over £15,000.
With mentorship, Aaron also increased average revenue per member (ARM) by £40 and tripled his length of engagement (LEG).
Building the right systems allowed Aaron to reduce stress and buy back hours so he can spend more time with his family.
If you’ve been sitting on a pile of free content but still feel stuck, tune in to hear what happened for this gym owner when he finally started working with a business expert.
Links
The Prescriptive Model
Gym Owners United
Book a Call
1:28 - Before and after mentorship
6:00 - Results using free resources
7:44 - Immediate changes with a mentor
11:60 - Three rate increases
15:49 - Aaron’s recent accomplishments
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 03 (00:00):
Can you compare gym metrics when you were using our
free content to your metrics inthe current period when you're
working with a metric?
What has changed?
Speaker 00 (00:07):
The month before we started the mentorship, we are
at 101 members.
Our arm was 100 pounds.
Our leg was 6.2.
And then our revenue was 7,500pounds a month.
Looking at today, we're at 115members now.
Our arm is at 140.
Leg is at 16.
(00:28):
And our revenues now it's at15.2 so 15,220 free
Speaker 03 (00:37):
resources for gym owners we produce mountains of
them it's part of the no gymleft behind philosophy we crank
out the Best free stuff in thefitness industry.
We give it away daily for freein the Gym Owners United group,
which you can join atGymOwnersUnited.com.
So, if everything is freelyavailable, why buy mentorship?
The short answer is thatknowledge is just part of the
equation.
You'll improve your gym muchfaster if you have a plan and
(01:00):
someone to help you execute theplan.
Today on Run a Profitable Gym,I'll talk to a gym owner who
followed Two Brain for six yearsand then signed up for
mentorship in 2023.
He'll tell you why he made thatdecision.
Aaron Scott owns CrossFitStructure in the UK.
Aaron, welcome from across thepond.
How are you today?
Speaker 00 (01:18):
Yeah, I'm great.
Thank you.
Yeah, thanks for having
Speaker 03 (01:20):
me.
I am very excited to talk toyou about this topic because I
did the same thing as you.
I had a pile of knowledge and Ididn't know what to do with it.
So let's get into it.
Let's make it real for people.
So can you compare gym metricswhen you were using our free
content to your metrics in thecurrent period when you're
working with a metric?
What has changed?
Speaker 00 (01:35):
Yeah, so we pulled up the metrics.
The month before we started thementorship, we are at 101
members.
Our arm was 100 pounds.
Our leg was 6.2.
And then our revenue was 7,500pounds a month.
Looking at today, we're at 115members now.
Our arm is at 140.
(01:56):
Leg is at 16.
And our revenue now is at 15.2.
So 15,220.
Speaker 03 (02:03):
So, these are significant increases,
obviously.
Yes.
Like your average revenue permember, was it 40 extra pounds
you said?
Speaker 00 (02:11):
Yeah, another 40 pounds a
Speaker 03 (02:12):
month.
Wow.
And length of engagement, did Iget it right?
Is it like 10 extra months?
Speaker 00 (02:17):
Yeah.
So, it was 6.2 and we're at now16.
So,
Speaker 03 (02:23):
you're holding every member for 10 months longer and
earning 40 extra pounds permonth as a result of that.
Like that's a big snowballrolling downhill.
Speaker 00 (02:32):
yeah it made a massive impact joining two brain
like pretty much from from theoff like i think within the
first three months i mean likeyou guys advertise You make all
your money back and we did thatand more.
Speaker 03 (02:45):
Oh, that's good to hear.
I'm fired up about that becauseI did the same thing where I
was struggling.
In fact, I was losing money,right?
And then I started getting helpand everything completely,
complete U-turn turned around.
So let's dig into it and let'shelp people.
So listeners, you have thedata.
That's real Jim Warner, realstory, real numbers.
That's what happened.
Let's talk about, you know,what you were doing before that
and all the other stuff.
(03:05):
So 2023, years of watching andlearning, you know, what did,
what made you finally pull thetrigger on mentorship What
problems were you trying tosolve?
Speaker 00 (03:13):
So we were just coming off the back end.
So the metrics I gave you therewas just after we had let go of
one of our weak lines in thegym.
Follow suit of that, we hadabout another 15 to 20 members
go.
And I mean, it ended up beingthe best thing we ever did, but
it was hard times financially.
It hurts.
Yeah.
So I was trying to figure out,or we were trying to figure out
(03:35):
who we wanted in the gym.
And who we didn't want we knewnow, but then it was just
figuring out how to actually runa gym.
I knew how to coach.
I've been doing that for years,trying to be the best coach I
could, but that didn't reallymatter if I was so tired that I
couldn't really coach that well.
Speaker 03 (03:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I made the same mistake and youthink you're going to be a
great coach and that's going tomake you a great business owner
because everyone's going to loveyour coaching, but somehow the
business doesn't grow on its ownbecause you're a bad business
owner.
And that's exactly what I was.
I just, I could teach fitnesspretty well, knew nothing about
business and I was in deeptrouble.
So you had some members, youhad to get, you had to pull a
weed essentially, and you hadsome members leave.
(04:16):
So you're in a bit of adownturn at that point.
Was that correct?
But still a good decision, butkind of a low point.
Speaker 00 (04:21):
Yeah, that was probably our biggest low point
that we've had.
It was so scary at the time,especially because you do that
and you expect to come into thegym the next day and you expect
all this kind of backlash aftera bit.
But I think that's where wefigured out who we actually
wanted in the gym because assoon as we did that, what I
actually walked into the nextday was like, oh, actually,
thank you for doing that.
There was a lot of appreciationfor it.
(04:43):
Yeah, it actually gave us a lotof freedom to make the right
choices because we weren't asnervous and scared to do that
anymore.
Speaker 03 (04:51):
So in a little point when you're, you know, you're,
you're in a storm and you'redealing with the follow-up after
getting rid of weed client, whydid you make, pull the trigger?
Like what made you say I'mgoing to sign up for mentorship
at this point?
Was it like, was it an obviousthing or what was the thought
process?
Speaker 00 (05:06):
So I remember reading two brain stuff for
years and I just never reallybeen able to implement it.
So I'd seen it and it was just,I needed someone to hold me
accountable because I'd seen it.
I knew what I should be doing,but I would try things and it
just wouldn't stick or on myside, I just wouldn't make it
stick.
And there's just no one thereto hold me accountable.
Speaker 03 (05:29):
Yeah.
And when I was looking forpeople in our client group to
talk about this topic, I put upa post and I got a bunch of
responses and asked, who lookedat Two Brain content for a long,
long time before getting helpand jumping in?
And a number of people, I thinkthe longest person on that
thread, I think was like 12 or13 years or something ridiculous
where they just looked at stuffforever and then finally jumped
(05:51):
in.
Six years and I was similar.
I looked at Coop stuff.
We worked together way back inthe day, so I always knew what
he was doing.
I was looking at his stuff, butit took me a while to get into
it.
So, in the six years thatyou're looking at the content,
were you able to implement anyof the stuff or just didn't
quite stick as you said, or howdid that go with that in that
six year period?
Speaker 00 (06:09):
No, I actually went completely the opposite way.
I felt like I read it and thenjust for some reason, uh,
ignored all of it and did allthe wrong things.
Um, well, my wife and Iactually started up a gym before
this one, probably about six,seven years ago when I first
started reading all the two andit didn't work out.
Um, put a lot of money into it.
(06:30):
We didn't even get the doorsopen and just made every mistake
you could.
Uh, so that's why I knew a yearinto us owning this gym.
I was like, I just didn't wantit to end up another failure.
So I was like, what did you do?
I just didn't want to failagain.
Speaker 03 (06:44):
Yeah.
And that's the double-edgedsword of producing content.
So we produce all sorts ofstuff.
And as I said in the intro,Chris has the philosophy of no
gym left behind.
So if a gym can't affordmentorship, we still want to
help them and give them stuff.
But because we don't know who'sout there, we can't say, this
is the exact thing we need toproduce for that one gym owner.
We can only kind of carpet bomband say, this is very helpful.
Put it out to the world.
(07:05):
And what happens is you getthis massive pile of stuff and
people try to sort through it,but they can't on their own.
And if the other side of it isif one gym owner reads that one
right article and takes actionon something and save something,
like for example, how to raiserates, that's an incredible
life-changing thing that canwork.
So that's why we put out thatstuff because the stuff, there
are people out there that areusing this stuff.
(07:25):
But the other thing thathappens is exactly what you
said, where you have this stuffand you don't know exactly where
to start and you maybe getoverwhelmed and you start
saying, I'm not sure what to do.
And if you do some stuff, itmight be in the right order and
so forth.
So let's talk about the otherside of it.
So 2023, you sign up, you'vebeen falling for six years and
you've got this pile of stuffthat you haven't really worked
on.
What do you notice right awaywhen you start working with a
(07:47):
mentor?
What happens?
Speaker 00 (07:48):
It was pretty scary because we had to make a lot of
changes and it was all for thegood though.
Within, like I said, withinthat first three months, we made
all the money back that wespent on the course, the ramp up
course.
And it was more just gettingover the nerves of raising
prices, things like that.
And a lot of the backendsystems that I just didn't even
(08:09):
really think of.
We had someone there.
So Lisa, now Lisa Palmer is ourmentor and yeah, she's been,
she's been great.
I think that was a big thingfor us as well.
Like we were told because itwas an American company and
we're here in the UK, um, thatit wouldn't work as well.
And then we got put with Lisaand she just shows that it does
work.
It works just as here or justas well here as it does in the
(08:31):
States or anywhere else.
Speaker 03 (08:33):
Yeah.
There are small tweaks here andthere that are a little bit
different from region to regionand so forth.
Like rent costs might bedifferent in Las Vegas versus
some other place and likedifferent things like that.
And then ad costs might bedifferent or whatever, but by
and large, the principles workand we've seen this around the
world because there are twobrain gyms all over the world by
and large things work it's justthe order of how they're
applied and maybe small regionalvariations and that's why we
(08:55):
have mentors scattered all overthe world who could help with
that and lisa palmer she'sfantastic right like she just
she is a boss she runs ourtinker program as well and i've
seen her in action she's prettylike do this thing right now did
that work for you
Speaker 00 (09:08):
yeah that's that's actually a meeting with before
we actually had lisa we I can'tremember her name, but she
pretty much put us with Lisa.
And in that interview, she'slike, yeah, you guys will suit
Lisa.
But I think I needed that.
I think my wife and I bothneeded that.
Like I said, I just wasn'tbeing held accountable, and Lisa
can definitely do that.
And it worked.
Speaker 03 (09:31):
Yeah.
As entrepreneurs, we kind ofalmost want to do it our own way
a lot of the time.
But I find that when I havethat option, I sometimes don't
do the stuff that really movesthe needle and I'm avoiding
things.
Like I'll be honest, sometimesI just avoid the hard stuff.
Like raising rates was a reallyhard one.
I avoided that for, I want tosay five or six years.
I literally put the rateincrease in our software.
I didn't pull the trigger forlike five years until a mentor
(09:54):
helped me do it.
And I probably lost a hundredthousand dollars in that
five-year period, if not more.
So that's a personal example ofhow I didn't take action.
Do you have anything like that?
Do you have something that youwere putting off that Lisa was
like, you need to do this?
I
Speaker 00 (10:07):
think it was, it was mainly pricing.
So it was pricing pretty muchevery point.
So our onboarding, we had anonboarding, which I'd learned
from two brain and we didimplement.
It was just very cheap.
So I think We raised thatpretty much straight away.
That's where we made most ofthe money back actually, was
actually putting that onboardingsystem in and making it better,
putting more value in it so wecould charge more as well.
(10:28):
And it made it better for theclient that was coming in.
They got way more value out ofwhat we were doing then.
That was probably our biggestpoint was around the pricing and
all the backend systems, likechecking in with people, like
the goal reviews, like weweren't really doing any of
that.
And that's why our churn ratewas super high at the time.
So putting all that in place aswell has made a big difference.
Speaker 03 (10:48):
And then of course you get the 40 pounds extra ARM
average revenue per member permonth.
And then you've got huge lengthof engagement.
So like this stuff all startedto change and it made huge
results.
Our initial program listeners,if you're thinking about it, is
designed to get you quickresults, quick wins, exactly
like that.
Where it's like, we want you topay for the program and start
(11:08):
seeing results fast.
And then eventually once youget through that period, we're
going to start backfilling lotsof systems and doing some other
work.
That's not, you're not going tosee essentially like staff
playbooks and things like that,at the beginning period is
really to ramp up, get you wins,maybe fix some pricing, create
and sell high value services, dosome things that are going to
put you in a spot where you havea little bit of time to then
build out all the other stuffthat you need to run a business.
(11:30):
And then after that, we getinto the growth phase where you
start targeting all thesespecific things and metrics and
bumping them all up.
And then eventually when you'reearning about $100,000 a year
from your gym and it's verysolid, that's what we call the
tinker stage.
And you are going to startthinking about what's next.
And that's a super excitingtime where you can start
thinking about opening a secondgym, maybe doubling the size of
(11:50):
this location, maybe investingin real estate, whatever it
might be, there are resourcesavailable for that.
So that initial period, youstart working through stuff.
Talk to me about the rateincrease thing, because that's a
terrifying thing if you're outthere on your own, but Two Brain
has a plan and it's likespreadsheets, math, you know,
lists of who might leave, whowon't leave, that kind of thing.
(12:10):
And you do all these differentcalculations.
Then you pull the trigger.
It's super scary.
with the help of a mentor wasit easier and what happened to
your membership like did youlose all your members
Speaker 00 (12:21):
no no it's uh fully fine like we've done it uh i
think three times in now aswe've been in two brain and yeah
it's been fun every time youkind of expect well this last
time we knew what was cominglike it was surprising the first
time we did it and the planthat Two Brain had that you can
put in place, like how detailedit is, like all the emails, like
(12:43):
everything that goes out.
It's all this, like you're amonth or more ahead of this
price increase and showing thevalue that you have in the gym.
And people don't even questionit.
And it's been fun every timewe've done
Speaker 03 (12:57):
it.
And you said you had 100members before you had about 115
now, correct?
Unknown (13:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 00 (13:02):
Yes.
Speaker 03 (13:02):
Yeah.
So that's 15 extra managerspaying $40 or 40 pounds extra
per month and staying an extra10 months.
Like that's, that's massive.
Like that is just that, thatit's like a force multiplier
where all these things cometogether and all of a sudden
your revenue goes up and thenyour profit goes up.
Your net owner benefit goes up.
Your lifestyle is better.
You get home to see your kids.
Like the whole thing is kind ofa great thing.
And you sent me a picturebefore the show.
(13:23):
Is that you and your kids inthe school bus?
Speaker 00 (13:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's it.
Yeah.
Do you get to
Speaker 03 (13:27):
see them more now?
Speaker 00 (13:28):
Yeah, exactly.
And that was, that was part ofthe reasons of, the mentorship
as well as like my wife pulledme aside and it's happened a few
times.
It's like, I just get very intothe gym and like, I just, I
won't hardly see the family atall for like weeks at a time.
And she was getting to thepoint where she was pulling me
aside and like, we haven't seenyou.
Like, and even when I am athome, I'm so tired that I have
(13:49):
nothing to give.
So yeah, that was, that was abig reason we wanted to make the
changes.
Like I just had nothing left atthe gym or at home.
Speaker 03 (13:57):
So lifestyle's improved now.
Speaker 00 (13:59):
Oh, massively.
Yeah.
Speaker 03 (14:00):
Yeah.
That's great.
Speaker 00 (14:01):
We can actually take vacations, which is, which is
nice.
Um, but I think we can evenlike, I think people here at the
gym also, they, they get morehelp as well.
Um, so like they're payingmore, but they're also getting
the results they want.
Whereas before a lot of them,there was, there was so many
things going on.
Like a lot of people wouldleave so quick, whether it be
like through injuries or theyhad like Their goals didn't
(14:23):
align with what we thought theywere.
And with the goal reviews andthings like that, now that we
have all the systems on the backend in place, we can keep a
track of whether there'sactually progress.
If there is anything going on,even if it's in a personal life,
we know what's happening.
It's just making sure allthat's dialed in all the time
and you can't really pull yourfoot off the pedal.
Speaker 03 (14:43):
Do you mind sharing what Lisa has you working on
right now?
So what is your current focus?
Speaker 00 (14:48):
Biggest focus at the minute was actually...
two of my coaches are away andI'm going to be taking quite a
few of the hours.
So what we were looking to dois try to push towards that
tinker.
Like we're getting close.
So we're a bit of a pushtowards that.
Um, but we're actually doingright now is we need to do well.
So I don't completely wreckmyself cause I'll be taking some
of the hours is we're actuallyholding still.
(15:09):
So I actually came in withlike, I want to try this out,
try this out and try to bump itup a little bit more.
But then, yeah, Lisa wasactually saying to let's, get
through this next month.
Slow down a little bit.
Make sure you're not going tocompletely burn out and save it.
We have time.
Play the long game.
don't go backwards.
Speaker 03 (15:29):
And that's exactly it.
Sometimes you need a manager tosay, Hey, don't do that thing
because I'm the same way where Iwould, okay, I can handle 18
hour days and I'm going to keepplowing.
And all of a sudden you can't,your clients are notice you're
upset.
You're yelling at people, theyall leave and you're back where
you started.
Whereas if you say, Hey, justslow down here, let's weather
the storm here.
And then let's target the nextthing.
We go from there.
What was the previous thingbefore this period?
(15:50):
So what in the previous period,what's the most significant
thing you've accomplished in thelast three months with Lisa's
help?
Speaker 00 (15:55):
I think goal reviews have been the biggest ones
because we weren't really doingthem.
And again, that's just wherewe've seen the biggest progress
in the gym and for us andclients.
That's probably been thebiggest thing is actually
setting a system for goalreviews.
Speaker 03 (16:09):
yeah and we've seen our data shows that when you
start using goal reviewslisteners you're going to see
your length of engagementincrease because you're having
that regular content you knowwhat your clients want to
accomplish and then you canprescribe to them the stuff
that's going to help themaccomplish those goals that
prescription is going to raiseyour arm because you are saying
hey dude you need to do somepersonal training in addition to
this or maybe nutritioncoaching or habits coaching or
whatever arm goes up which meansrevenue goes up and then it's
(16:32):
the daisy chain where profitgoes up net owner benefit goes
up happiness goes up and it's abeautiful thing so goal reviews
if you take nothing from thispodcast If this is the free
thing you're listening to today,take a look at goal reviews.
Take one member and book themfor a goal review session.
Talk to them about what theywant to do and tell them how to
accomplish it.
Then do the next one.
That is a big one that you cantake from this today.
Aaron, do you mind?
(16:53):
I want to be listeners in casethey forgot the numbers.
Do you mind telling me thestats again from the opening
part of the show that you getlisted for me?
You had clients, ARM, length ofengagement and profit.
Can you battle that off onemore time so they know what
you're all about?
Speaker 00 (17:08):
Yeah, so our starting was 101 members, 100
arm.
Our leg was 6.2 and revenue forthe month was 7,500.
And yeah, now 115 for members,arm is 140, leg is 16 and
revenue 15,220.
That
Speaker 03 (17:28):
is the difference.
That is an inflection point,obviously, and the data
listeners right from ground zerothat is what can happen so
aaron i'm going to ask you thisquestion to close this guy out
what is the best way for alistener to use our free
resources and when is it time tomake take the next step
Speaker 00 (17:44):
i would say just have a have a plan on actually
acting on what you're reading uhthat was the thing i made was i
would i would read a lot butwouldn't put anything into
action there was no plan to putanything into action and from
there like just start with TwoBrain as soon as you can.
If I would have started withTwo Brain that first year, there
would have been a lot less kindof pain in that first year of
opening up.
(18:04):
It would have been way easier
Speaker 03 (18:07):
i love it and to help out so you've given them
the recommendation i'm going togive them the resource i'm going
to put a link in the show notesis to the prescriptive model
listeners if you want to look atsomething today and take action
on it it is the essentialreading the prescriptive model
will tell you exactly how toconnect with members find out
what they need prescribe thesolution to their problems and
(18:28):
and help them.
And it's a whole cyclicalthing.
Chris Cooper has laid thisthing out in total detail.
If you take action on this onefree thing, I guarantee that
your revenue and your averagerevenue per member and your
profit are going to go up.
And then at that point, I wouldencourage you to book a call to
talk to a two-way mentor tofind out what's next and how you
can get further.
Because Aaron did this, had abig hockey stick where his
(18:49):
revenue all went up, everythingwent up.
And now he's looking at thattinker stage.
How far away do you think youare from that next stage where
you can really start playing?
Speaker 00 (18:57):
We're hoping in the next few months.
That's the
Speaker 03 (19:00):
goal.
So this is it.
Tinker Stage, very exciting.
This is when you're makingabout $100,000 a year from your
gym.
It's stable, solid.
And now you're thinking aboutwhat's next.
And this as an entrepreneur isprobably the most exciting thing
you can possibly do.
So I'll leave that with youlisteners as a long-term goal.
Aaron, thank you so much forsharing your time with us and
the metrics.
Congratulations on the success.
(19:20):
Thanks for taking action andshowing us what's possible.
Speaker 00 (19:23):
Thank you.
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 03 (19:25):
That was Aaron Scott.
This is Run a Profitable Gym.
I'm your host, Mike Warkin.
And thank you so much forwatching and listening.
Please hit subscribe whereveryou are with my thanks.
And now here's Two Brainfounder, Chris Cooper with a
final message.
Speaker 02 (19:36):
Hey, it's Two Brain founder Chris Cooper with a
quick note.
We created the Gym OwnersUnited Facebook group to help
you run a profitable gym.
Thousands of gym owners justlike you have already joined.
In the group, we share soundadvice about the business of
fitness every day.
I answer questions, I run freewebinars, and I give away all
kinds of great resources to helpyou grow your gym.
(19:57):
I'd love to have you in thatgroup.
It's Gym Owners United onFacebook or go to
gymownersunited.com to join.
Do it today.
Hey!
Can you compare gym metrics when you were using our
free content to your metrics inthe current period when you're
working with a metric?
What has changed?
Speaker 00 (00:07):
The month before we started the mentorship, we are
at 101 members.
Our arm was 100 pounds.
Our leg was 6.2.
And then our revenue was 7,500pounds a month.
Looking at today, we're at 115members now.
Our arm is at 140.
Leg is at 16.
(00:28):
And our revenues now it's at15.2 so 15,220 free
Speaker 03 (00:37):
resources for gym owners we produce mountains of
them it's part of the no gymleft behind philosophy we crank
out the Best free stuff in thefitness industry.
We give it away daily for freein the Gym Owners United group,
which you can join atGymOwnersUnited.com.
So, if everything is freelyavailable, why buy mentorship?
The short answer is thatknowledge is just part of the
equation.
You'll improve your gym muchfaster if you have a plan and
(01:00):
someone to help you execute theplan.
Today on Run a Profitable Gym,I'll talk to a gym owner who
followed Two Brain for six yearsand then signed up for
mentorship in 2023.
He'll tell you why he made thatdecision.
Aaron Scott owns CrossFitStructure in the UK.
Aaron, welcome from across thepond.
How are you today?
Speaker 00 (01:18):
Yeah, I'm great.
Thank you.
Yeah, thanks for having
Speaker 03 (01:20):
me.
I am very excited to talk toyou about this topic because I
did the same thing as you.
I had a pile of knowledge and Ididn't know what to do with it.
So let's get into it.
Let's make it real for people.
So can you compare gym metricswhen you were using our free
content to your metrics in thecurrent period when you're
working with a metric?
What has changed?
Speaker 00 (01:35):
Yeah, so we pulled up the metrics.
The month before we started thementorship, we are at 101
members.
Our arm was 100 pounds.
Our leg was 6.2.
And then our revenue was 7,500pounds a month.
Looking at today, we're at 115members now.
Our arm is at 140.
(01:56):
Leg is at 16.
And our revenue now is at 15.2.
So 15,220.
Speaker 03 (02:03):
So, these are significant increases,
obviously.
Yes.
Like your average revenue permember, was it 40 extra pounds
you said?
Speaker 00 (02:11):
Yeah, another 40 pounds a
Speaker 03 (02:12):
month.
Wow.
And length of engagement, did Iget it right?
Is it like 10 extra months?
Speaker 00 (02:17):
Yeah.
So, it was 6.2 and we're at now16.
So,
Speaker 03 (02:23):
you're holding every member for 10 months longer and
earning 40 extra pounds permonth as a result of that.
Like that's a big snowballrolling downhill.
Speaker 00 (02:32):
yeah it made a massive impact joining two brain
like pretty much from from theoff like i think within the
first three months i mean likeyou guys advertise You make all
your money back and we did thatand more.
Speaker 03 (02:45):
Oh, that's good to hear.
I'm fired up about that becauseI did the same thing where I
was struggling.
In fact, I was losing money,right?
And then I started getting helpand everything completely,
complete U-turn turned around.
So let's dig into it and let'shelp people.
So listeners, you have thedata.
That's real Jim Warner, realstory, real numbers.
That's what happened.
Let's talk about, you know,what you were doing before that
and all the other stuff.
(03:05):
So 2023, years of watching andlearning, you know, what did,
what made you finally pull thetrigger on mentorship What
problems were you trying tosolve?
Speaker 00 (03:13):
So we were just coming off the back end.
So the metrics I gave you therewas just after we had let go of
one of our weak lines in thegym.
Follow suit of that, we hadabout another 15 to 20 members
go.
And I mean, it ended up beingthe best thing we ever did, but
it was hard times financially.
It hurts.
Yeah.
So I was trying to figure out,or we were trying to figure out
(03:35):
who we wanted in the gym.
And who we didn't want we knewnow, but then it was just
figuring out how to actually runa gym.
I knew how to coach.
I've been doing that for years,trying to be the best coach I
could, but that didn't reallymatter if I was so tired that I
couldn't really coach that well.
Speaker 03 (03:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I made the same mistake and youthink you're going to be a
great coach and that's going tomake you a great business owner
because everyone's going to loveyour coaching, but somehow the
business doesn't grow on its ownbecause you're a bad business
owner.
And that's exactly what I was.
I just, I could teach fitnesspretty well, knew nothing about
business and I was in deeptrouble.
So you had some members, youhad to get, you had to pull a
weed essentially, and you hadsome members leave.
(04:16):
So you're in a bit of adownturn at that point.
Was that correct?
But still a good decision, butkind of a low point.
Speaker 00 (04:21):
Yeah, that was probably our biggest low point
that we've had.
It was so scary at the time,especially because you do that
and you expect to come into thegym the next day and you expect
all this kind of backlash aftera bit.
But I think that's where wefigured out who we actually
wanted in the gym because assoon as we did that, what I
actually walked into the nextday was like, oh, actually,
thank you for doing that.
There was a lot of appreciationfor it.
(04:43):
Yeah, it actually gave us a lotof freedom to make the right
choices because we weren't asnervous and scared to do that
anymore.
Speaker 03 (04:51):
So in a little point when you're, you know, you're,
you're in a storm and you'redealing with the follow-up after
getting rid of weed client, whydid you make, pull the trigger?
Like what made you say I'mgoing to sign up for mentorship
at this point?
Was it like, was it an obviousthing or what was the thought
process?
Speaker 00 (05:06):
So I remember reading two brain stuff for
years and I just never reallybeen able to implement it.
So I'd seen it and it was just,I needed someone to hold me
accountable because I'd seen it.
I knew what I should be doing,but I would try things and it
just wouldn't stick or on myside, I just wouldn't make it
stick.
And there's just no one thereto hold me accountable.
Speaker 03 (05:29):
Yeah.
And when I was looking forpeople in our client group to
talk about this topic, I put upa post and I got a bunch of
responses and asked, who lookedat Two Brain content for a long,
long time before getting helpand jumping in?
And a number of people, I thinkthe longest person on that
thread, I think was like 12 or13 years or something ridiculous
where they just looked at stuffforever and then finally jumped
(05:51):
in.
Six years and I was similar.
I looked at Coop stuff.
We worked together way back inthe day, so I always knew what
he was doing.
I was looking at his stuff, butit took me a while to get into
it.
So, in the six years thatyou're looking at the content,
were you able to implement anyof the stuff or just didn't
quite stick as you said, or howdid that go with that in that
six year period?
Speaker 00 (06:09):
No, I actually went completely the opposite way.
I felt like I read it and thenjust for some reason, uh,
ignored all of it and did allthe wrong things.
Um, well, my wife and Iactually started up a gym before
this one, probably about six,seven years ago when I first
started reading all the two andit didn't work out.
Um, put a lot of money into it.
(06:30):
We didn't even get the doorsopen and just made every mistake
you could.
Uh, so that's why I knew a yearinto us owning this gym.
I was like, I just didn't wantit to end up another failure.
So I was like, what did you do?
I just didn't want to failagain.
Speaker 03 (06:44):
Yeah.
And that's the double-edgedsword of producing content.
So we produce all sorts ofstuff.
And as I said in the intro,Chris has the philosophy of no
gym left behind.
So if a gym can't affordmentorship, we still want to
help them and give them stuff.
But because we don't know who'sout there, we can't say, this
is the exact thing we need toproduce for that one gym owner.
We can only kind of carpet bomband say, this is very helpful.
Put it out to the world.
(07:05):
And what happens is you getthis massive pile of stuff and
people try to sort through it,but they can't on their own.
And if the other side of it isif one gym owner reads that one
right article and takes actionon something and save something,
like for example, how to raiserates, that's an incredible
life-changing thing that canwork.
So that's why we put out thatstuff because the stuff, there
are people out there that areusing this stuff.
(07:25):
But the other thing thathappens is exactly what you
said, where you have this stuffand you don't know exactly where
to start and you maybe getoverwhelmed and you start
saying, I'm not sure what to do.
And if you do some stuff, itmight be in the right order and
so forth.
So let's talk about the otherside of it.
So 2023, you sign up, you'vebeen falling for six years and
you've got this pile of stuffthat you haven't really worked
on.
What do you notice right awaywhen you start working with a
(07:47):
mentor?
What happens?
Speaker 00 (07:48):
It was pretty scary because we had to make a lot of
changes and it was all for thegood though.
Within, like I said, withinthat first three months, we made
all the money back that wespent on the course, the ramp up
course.
And it was more just gettingover the nerves of raising
prices, things like that.
And a lot of the backendsystems that I just didn't even
(08:09):
really think of.
We had someone there.
So Lisa, now Lisa Palmer is ourmentor and yeah, she's been,
she's been great.
I think that was a big thingfor us as well.
Like we were told because itwas an American company and
we're here in the UK, um, thatit wouldn't work as well.
And then we got put with Lisaand she just shows that it does
work.
It works just as here or justas well here as it does in the
(08:31):
States or anywhere else.
Speaker 03 (08:33):
Yeah.
There are small tweaks here andthere that are a little bit
different from region to regionand so forth.
Like rent costs might bedifferent in Las Vegas versus
some other place and likedifferent things like that.
And then ad costs might bedifferent or whatever, but by
and large, the principles workand we've seen this around the
world because there are twobrain gyms all over the world by
and large things work it's justthe order of how they're
applied and maybe small regionalvariations and that's why we
(08:55):
have mentors scattered all overthe world who could help with
that and lisa palmer she'sfantastic right like she just
she is a boss she runs ourtinker program as well and i've
seen her in action she's prettylike do this thing right now did
that work for you
Speaker 00 (09:08):
yeah that's that's actually a meeting with before
we actually had lisa we I can'tremember her name, but she
pretty much put us with Lisa.
And in that interview, she'slike, yeah, you guys will suit
Lisa.
But I think I needed that.
I think my wife and I bothneeded that.
Like I said, I just wasn'tbeing held accountable, and Lisa
can definitely do that.
And it worked.
Speaker 03 (09:31):
Yeah.
As entrepreneurs, we kind ofalmost want to do it our own way
a lot of the time.
But I find that when I havethat option, I sometimes don't
do the stuff that really movesthe needle and I'm avoiding
things.
Like I'll be honest, sometimesI just avoid the hard stuff.
Like raising rates was a reallyhard one.
I avoided that for, I want tosay five or six years.
I literally put the rateincrease in our software.
I didn't pull the trigger forlike five years until a mentor
(09:54):
helped me do it.
And I probably lost a hundredthousand dollars in that
five-year period, if not more.
So that's a personal example ofhow I didn't take action.
Do you have anything like that?
Do you have something that youwere putting off that Lisa was
like, you need to do this?
I
Speaker 00 (10:07):
think it was, it was mainly pricing.
So it was pricing pretty muchevery point.
So our onboarding, we had anonboarding, which I'd learned
from two brain and we didimplement.
It was just very cheap.
So I think We raised thatpretty much straight away.
That's where we made most ofthe money back actually, was
actually putting that onboardingsystem in and making it better,
putting more value in it so wecould charge more as well.
(10:28):
And it made it better for theclient that was coming in.
They got way more value out ofwhat we were doing then.
That was probably our biggestpoint was around the pricing and
all the backend systems, likechecking in with people, like
the goal reviews, like weweren't really doing any of
that.
And that's why our churn ratewas super high at the time.
So putting all that in place aswell has made a big difference.
Speaker 03 (10:48):
And then of course you get the 40 pounds extra ARM
average revenue per member permonth.
And then you've got huge lengthof engagement.
So like this stuff all startedto change and it made huge
results.
Our initial program listeners,if you're thinking about it, is
designed to get you quickresults, quick wins, exactly
like that.
Where it's like, we want you topay for the program and start
(11:08):
seeing results fast.
And then eventually once youget through that period, we're
going to start backfilling lotsof systems and doing some other
work.
That's not, you're not going tosee essentially like staff
playbooks and things like that,at the beginning period is
really to ramp up, get you wins,maybe fix some pricing, create
and sell high value services, dosome things that are going to
put you in a spot where you havea little bit of time to then
build out all the other stuffthat you need to run a business.
(11:30):
And then after that, we getinto the growth phase where you
start targeting all thesespecific things and metrics and
bumping them all up.
And then eventually when you'reearning about $100,000 a year
from your gym and it's verysolid, that's what we call the
tinker stage.
And you are going to startthinking about what's next.
And that's a super excitingtime where you can start
thinking about opening a secondgym, maybe doubling the size of
(11:50):
this location, maybe investingin real estate, whatever it
might be, there are resourcesavailable for that.
So that initial period, youstart working through stuff.
Talk to me about the rateincrease thing, because that's a
terrifying thing if you're outthere on your own, but Two Brain
has a plan and it's likespreadsheets, math, you know,
lists of who might leave, whowon't leave, that kind of thing.
(12:10):
And you do all these differentcalculations.
Then you pull the trigger.
It's super scary.
with the help of a mentor wasit easier and what happened to
your membership like did youlose all your members
Speaker 00 (12:21):
no no it's uh fully fine like we've done it uh i
think three times in now aswe've been in two brain and yeah
it's been fun every time youkind of expect well this last
time we knew what was cominglike it was surprising the first
time we did it and the planthat Two Brain had that you can
put in place, like how detailedit is, like all the emails, like
(12:43):
everything that goes out.
It's all this, like you're amonth or more ahead of this
price increase and showing thevalue that you have in the gym.
And people don't even questionit.
And it's been fun every timewe've done
Speaker 03 (12:57):
it.
And you said you had 100members before you had about 115
now, correct?
Unknown (13:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 00 (13:02):
Yes.
Speaker 03 (13:02):
Yeah.
So that's 15 extra managerspaying $40 or 40 pounds extra
per month and staying an extra10 months.
Like that's, that's massive.
Like that is just that, thatit's like a force multiplier
where all these things cometogether and all of a sudden
your revenue goes up and thenyour profit goes up.
Your net owner benefit goes up.
Your lifestyle is better.
You get home to see your kids.
Like the whole thing is kind ofa great thing.
And you sent me a picturebefore the show.
(13:23):
Is that you and your kids inthe school bus?
Speaker 00 (13:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's it.
Yeah.
Do you get to
Speaker 03 (13:27):
see them more now?
Speaker 00 (13:28):
Yeah, exactly.
And that was, that was part ofthe reasons of, the mentorship
as well as like my wife pulledme aside and it's happened a few
times.
It's like, I just get very intothe gym and like, I just, I
won't hardly see the family atall for like weeks at a time.
And she was getting to thepoint where she was pulling me
aside and like, we haven't seenyou.
Like, and even when I am athome, I'm so tired that I have
(13:49):
nothing to give.
So yeah, that was, that was abig reason we wanted to make the
changes.
Like I just had nothing left atthe gym or at home.
Speaker 03 (13:57):
So lifestyle's improved now.
Speaker 00 (13:59):
Oh, massively.
Yeah.
Speaker 03 (14:00):
Yeah.
That's great.
Speaker 00 (14:01):
We can actually take vacations, which is, which is
nice.
Um, but I think we can evenlike, I think people here at the
gym also, they, they get morehelp as well.
Um, so like they're payingmore, but they're also getting
the results they want.
Whereas before a lot of them,there was, there was so many
things going on.
Like a lot of people wouldleave so quick, whether it be
like through injuries or theyhad like Their goals didn't
(14:23):
align with what we thought theywere.
And with the goal reviews andthings like that, now that we
have all the systems on the backend in place, we can keep a
track of whether there'sactually progress.
If there is anything going on,even if it's in a personal life,
we know what's happening.
It's just making sure allthat's dialed in all the time
and you can't really pull yourfoot off the pedal.
Speaker 03 (14:43):
Do you mind sharing what Lisa has you working on
right now?
So what is your current focus?
Speaker 00 (14:48):
Biggest focus at the minute was actually...
two of my coaches are away andI'm going to be taking quite a
few of the hours.
So what we were looking to dois try to push towards that
tinker.
Like we're getting close.
So we're a bit of a pushtowards that.
Um, but we're actually doingright now is we need to do well.
So I don't completely wreckmyself cause I'll be taking some
of the hours is we're actuallyholding still.
(15:09):
So I actually came in withlike, I want to try this out,
try this out and try to bump itup a little bit more.
But then, yeah, Lisa wasactually saying to let's, get
through this next month.
Slow down a little bit.
Make sure you're not going tocompletely burn out and save it.
We have time.
Play the long game.
don't go backwards.
Speaker 03 (15:29):
And that's exactly it.
Sometimes you need a manager tosay, Hey, don't do that thing
because I'm the same way where Iwould, okay, I can handle 18
hour days and I'm going to keepplowing.
And all of a sudden you can't,your clients are notice you're
upset.
You're yelling at people, theyall leave and you're back where
you started.
Whereas if you say, Hey, justslow down here, let's weather
the storm here.
And then let's target the nextthing.
We go from there.
What was the previous thingbefore this period?
(15:50):
So what in the previous period,what's the most significant
thing you've accomplished in thelast three months with Lisa's
help?
Speaker 00 (15:55):
I think goal reviews have been the biggest ones
because we weren't really doingthem.
And again, that's just wherewe've seen the biggest progress
in the gym and for us andclients.
That's probably been thebiggest thing is actually
setting a system for goalreviews.
Speaker 03 (16:09):
yeah and we've seen our data shows that when you
start using goal reviewslisteners you're going to see
your length of engagementincrease because you're having
that regular content you knowwhat your clients want to
accomplish and then you canprescribe to them the stuff
that's going to help themaccomplish those goals that
prescription is going to raiseyour arm because you are saying
hey dude you need to do somepersonal training in addition to
this or maybe nutritioncoaching or habits coaching or
whatever arm goes up which meansrevenue goes up and then it's
(16:32):
the daisy chain where profitgoes up net owner benefit goes
up happiness goes up and it's abeautiful thing so goal reviews
if you take nothing from thispodcast If this is the free
thing you're listening to today,take a look at goal reviews.
Take one member and book themfor a goal review session.
Talk to them about what theywant to do and tell them how to
accomplish it.
Then do the next one.
That is a big one that you cantake from this today.
Aaron, do you mind?
(16:53):
I want to be listeners in casethey forgot the numbers.
Do you mind telling me thestats again from the opening
part of the show that you getlisted for me?
You had clients, ARM, length ofengagement and profit.
Can you battle that off onemore time so they know what
you're all about?
Speaker 00 (17:08):
Yeah, so our starting was 101 members, 100
arm.
Our leg was 6.2 and revenue forthe month was 7,500.
And yeah, now 115 for members,arm is 140, leg is 16 and
revenue 15,220.
That
Speaker 03 (17:28):
is the difference.
That is an inflection point,obviously, and the data
listeners right from ground zerothat is what can happen so
aaron i'm going to ask you thisquestion to close this guy out
what is the best way for alistener to use our free
resources and when is it time tomake take the next step
Speaker 00 (17:44):
i would say just have a have a plan on actually
acting on what you're reading uhthat was the thing i made was i
would i would read a lot butwouldn't put anything into
action there was no plan to putanything into action and from
there like just start with TwoBrain as soon as you can.
If I would have started withTwo Brain that first year, there
would have been a lot less kindof pain in that first year of
opening up.
(18:04):
It would have been way easier
Speaker 03 (18:07):
i love it and to help out so you've given them
the recommendation i'm going togive them the resource i'm going
to put a link in the show notesis to the prescriptive model
listeners if you want to look atsomething today and take action
on it it is the essentialreading the prescriptive model
will tell you exactly how toconnect with members find out
what they need prescribe thesolution to their problems and
(18:28):
and help them.
And it's a whole cyclicalthing.
Chris Cooper has laid thisthing out in total detail.
If you take action on this onefree thing, I guarantee that
your revenue and your averagerevenue per member and your
profit are going to go up.
And then at that point, I wouldencourage you to book a call to
talk to a two-way mentor tofind out what's next and how you
can get further.
Because Aaron did this, had abig hockey stick where his
(18:49):
revenue all went up, everythingwent up.
And now he's looking at thattinker stage.
How far away do you think youare from that next stage where
you can really start playing?
Speaker 00 (18:57):
We're hoping in the next few months.
That's the
Speaker 03 (19:00):
goal.
So this is it.
Tinker Stage, very exciting.
This is when you're makingabout $100,000 a year from your
gym.
It's stable, solid.
And now you're thinking aboutwhat's next.
And this as an entrepreneur isprobably the most exciting thing
you can possibly do.
So I'll leave that with youlisteners as a long-term goal.
Aaron, thank you so much forsharing your time with us and
the metrics.
Congratulations on the success.
(19:20):
Thanks for taking action andshowing us what's possible.
Speaker 00 (19:23):
Thank you.
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 03 (19:25):
That was Aaron Scott.
This is Run a Profitable Gym.
I'm your host, Mike Warkin.
And thank you so much forwatching and listening.
Please hit subscribe whereveryou are with my thanks.
And now here's Two Brainfounder, Chris Cooper with a
final message.
Speaker 02 (19:36):
Hey, it's Two Brain founder Chris Cooper with a
quick note.
We created the Gym OwnersUnited Facebook group to help
you run a profitable gym.
Thousands of gym owners justlike you have already joined.
In the group, we share soundadvice about the business of
fitness every day.
I answer questions, I run freewebinars, and I give away all
kinds of great resources to helpyou grow your gym.
(19:57):
I'd love to have you in thatgroup.
It's Gym Owners United onFacebook or go to
gymownersunited.com to join.
Do it today.
Hey!
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