August 25, 2025 • 17 mins
In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Chris Cooper reveals the monthly leaderboard for net owner benefit—what gym owners actually pocket from their businesses.
The top-earning fitness entrepreneur takes home over $45,000 a month!
So what are our elite gym owners doing that others aren't?
The Top 10 includes gyms from Belgium, Norway, Canada and Hong Kong, proving location doesn't limit earning potential.
The leaders also proved small gyms can dominate: One top earner has only 90 members, and another operates in just 1,400 square feet of space.
Chris breaks down the two key factors behind high net owner benefit for gym owners: consistency in delivery and total business excellence.
You’ll also find out which business models are driving these impressive income stats. Some gym owners focus strictly on one-on-one coaching, while others use semi-private training or a combination of high-value services to increase revenue.
Listen to learn about the marketing, sales, retention and staff-development systems that separate top-earning gym owners from those who are barely breaking even.
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1:58 - Top-earning gym owners revealed
4:43 - Keys to high net owner benefit
8:45 - Staff systems support growth
10:53 - Models with the highest NOB
15:56 - What all 10 have in common
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Who makes the most money from their gym?
Hey, I'm Chris Cooper.
This is our monthly leaderboardshow when I report to you who is
doing the best in one categoryof gym ownership, and then I
interview them and I tell youexactly how they're doing it so
that you can do it too.
This month, we're talking aboutnet owner benefit, how much the
(00:21):
owner actually takes from thegym.
Here's why this is important.
People don't go out of businessbecause they don't have enough
clients.
People don't go out of businessbecause they don't have enough
revenue.
People go out of business whenthey're not making enough of an
income to support theirentrepreneurial habit.
Now, getting more clients mightbe the way that you make more
(00:42):
income from your gym.
Getting more revenue might bethe way that you make more
income from your gym, butthey're not the same thing.
Sometimes you can increase yournet owner benefit by getting
more clients.
Sometimes you can increase yournet owner benefit by earning
more from the clients you have.
And the best way to do it isboth.
And when you're earning a higherincome, that means you have more
(01:05):
money to pay your coaches andmore money to expand and more
money to give to charity.
And so we say that ultimately wecan measure your success by how
much you earn from your gym.
What you do with that money isup to you.
My motto, and I've got this onmy wall is make lots of money,
give it away because I like tojust keep what I need, maintain
a minimal lifestyle and thendonate a lot, send kids to camp
(01:28):
and stuff like that.
What you do is up to you.
But the key is that if you'renot making a good income, you do
not have a healthy business.
You have a very fragile businessbecause if anything happens to
you, that business isimmediately over and all of your
clients, all of your staff andall the people that you support
with your charitable donations,they're all out of business too.
(01:49):
So today, we're going to talkabout who has the highest net
owner benefit earnings from TwoBrain, and I'm going to talk
about exactly how they gotthere.
So let's start with our top 10earners of net owner benefit
last month.
Now, these are all in USdollars.
I converted them just to makethe table easy.
But in 10th place was a gym fromBelgium, and the owner made
$17,708 take home net ownerbenefit last month.
(02:12):
9th place with$17,744 was a gymin the US.
In 8th place, a gym owner madeThey were also in the U.S.
In seventh place, a gym ownermade$22,933, also in the U.S.
In sixth place, a gym in Norwaymade$22,992, so close to taking
(02:35):
home 23 grand last month.
In fifth place, a U.S.-based gymmade$23,344.
In fourth place, a Canadian gymwith$23,503.
Third place, a U.S.
gym with$25,300.
Second place, a U.S.
gym with$29,767 net ownerbenefit last month.
(02:57):
And in first place, a gym inHong Kong with just over$45,000
U.S.
in net owner benefit last month.
Now, usually, we're talkingabout recurring revenue so that
we know that they're doing thisevery month.
In this case, we made anexception.
The Hong Kong gym had a bonuspayment because they made so
much profit in 2024.
Without that payment, her NLBnumber recurring would be would
(03:19):
still be in the top 10.
So she's a top earner regardlessof bonuses.
And so I really wanted toinclude her here for a few
reasons.
Number one, I'm really, reallyproud of gyms outside the US
doing this well with US dollars.
Number two, I've always beenreally, really proud of the
fitness industry's ability tocreate female entrepreneurs.
(03:41):
If you look just atentrepreneurship and ownership
of small businesses, especiallyin North America, you'll see
that just over 30% of smallbusinesses are owned by women.
But in the fitness industry,that number is right at 50%.
And CrossFit actually had a lotto do with this.
And so one of the reasons thatI'm so proud to be part of the
fitness industry is that itcreates equal opportunity for
(04:03):
anybody to start a fitnessbusiness from scratch, whether
they've been an entrepreneurbefore, whether they have any
education in business ownership.
I sure didn't.
And eventually becomesuccessful.
It's an enormous opportunitythat is not threatened by AI.
It's not threatened by, youknow, the dollar where you are
or what's going on in the stockmarkets.
(04:24):
It's a great opportunity for youto actually do something to help
other people.
And it doesn't matter if you'remale, female, whatever.
It doesn't matter.
Anybody can start a fitnessbusiness and be successful.
I firmly believe that.
So today, I really want to talkabout the top tips from all of
these, including the one and whoowns this gym in Hong Kong.
There's really two things thatproduce net owner benefit, and
(04:45):
you're going to hear quotes fromour leaders here in a moment.
The two things are consistencyin delivery and total business
excellence.
That means, yes, you have to beexcellent at coaching.
You also have to be excellent atbilling.
You have to be excellent atmarketing.
You have to be excellent atsales.
You have to be excellent atretention.
You can't just take any of thesethings for granted and think
that being great at coaching orhaving a certification just
(05:11):
carries weight in all of theseareas.
You can't.
Any one of these things can killyou.
You can be the best coach in theworld, but if you're bookkeeping
stocks, you're going to be outof business.
If you're not profitable, yourlandlord's going to raise the
rent 5% and you'll be out ofbusiness.
We shouldn't get mad atlandlords when the rent goes up.
I mean, they're running abusiness too.
Instead, we should be mad atourselves for not being prepared
(05:33):
and having significant businessstrength and margin and
anti-fragility to survive thingslike that.
The reality here is that yourbusiness Business will grow to
the level of your marketing andimmediately fall to the level of
your systems.
Your systems are what you doconsistently.
You know, the worst coach is thestandard at your gym,
unfortunately, and the worstdelivered service and the least
(05:54):
clean bathroom.
Like this is what the level ofyour business will sink to.
It's the weakest link in thechain that limits you.
So when a gym owner is on thisNOB leaderboard, you know that
they've earned that spot througha commitment to virtuosity in
all aspects of their business,not just being the best coaches
in the world.
You know, I think My GymCatalyst has the best coaches in
(06:15):
Sault Ste.
Marie, but that is not enough.
It's necessary but insufficientto build a great business.
And these businesses are notjust great at marketing.
They're not just great atstaffing.
They're not just great atgetting ROI or managing their
expenses.
They're not just great atretention.
They're great at everything.
So when I report these numbersto you, they're rolling three
(06:35):
months averages.
So you're seeing consistentstable numbers, not just these
one-hit wonders.
All the owners that we Weinterview, expect these numbers
to continue in future months.
We're not just pulling the oldbait and switch thing that you
used to hear from like adagencies.
Oh, this person made$80,000 inthis one month.
They must be a millionairebecause 80,000 times 12 months
(06:56):
is a million dollars.
But of course that gym had onegood month and never did that
again.
And the next few months wereactually even worse because
people had paid up front for aservice that took months to
deliver.
That is not what we're abouthere.
We're about showing you thepeople who earn the most from
their gyms and consistently dothat.
So all of these owners canreasonably expect the numbers to
continue.
(07:17):
One owner actually slightlyreduced his NOB number on
purpose so that he can reinvestin staff education to improve
his business.
These are great career numbers,but they're not bought myself a
job numbers.
The number 10 gym owner willearn about$212,000 over the
course of a year, which isenough to fund a great life.
(07:37):
It's also a far cry from arguingabout expensive cheese.
So Thank you so much for joiningus.
(08:02):
are great at many aspects oftheir business.
And that means that NOB is theproduct of total business
excellence.
They're being rewarded forpursuing business virtuosity in
marketing, in sales, inretention, in bookkeeping, and
coaching, of course.
And so when we asked our leaderslike what elements contributed
to your NOB, they said businessmodels, staffing systems,
(08:24):
training and education,retention, marketing, ROI and
cost management, payingthemselves first, and
mentorship.
They all rely on an objectivementor to help them build all of
these things.
That means they're trackingtheir numbers through the
TrueBrain dashboard and they'retaking clear action to improve
them every single day.
(08:45):
Now, the one answer that everyone of these top 10 gyms gave
was staff.
All of these owners areoperating at a CEO level.
That means they focus on onething at a time to produce
results, but they also see howeach of those targeted actions
improve the big picture.
You get good at marketing, andif your retention is also good,
your gym grows.
(09:05):
You get good at sales, and ifyour coaching is also good, your
gym grows.
You get better at coachingwithout improving the other
areas, and your gym doesn'tgrow.
But all these people mentionstaff.
Here's the key.
All of us can get lucky withstaff off once.
Maybe twice.
I've been very, very lucky withstaff four or five times.
(09:27):
But none of those staff willstay if you're bad at the other
parts of your business.
When you open a business, youimmediately assume
responsibility for making thatbusiness successful because if
the gym isn't making enoughmoney, you can't pay the staff
enough to keep them.
If the gym has a churn problemand you're constantly doing
these challenges, bait andswitch that you're getting from
(09:48):
ad agencies, your staff's gonnaburn out.
If you don't have a solid set ofsystems and playbooks that you
rigorously follow with everystaff, well, your staff isn't
gonna be guessing and you'regonna be micromanaging them and
they're going to quit.
If you don't have a staffascension model, they're not
gonna be able to see the future.
They're gonna lose hope and goopen their own gym or quit and
(10:09):
go get a job selling realestate.
Staff is critically important,but the way that you build your
business is what supports yourstaff.
I'll give you another one.
Another person was talking aboutstaff training.
And some gym owners who are kindof broke, they'll say like, what
happens if I invest this moneyin my staff and they quit?
Well, I'd like to turn thatquestion around and ask you,
(10:31):
what if you don't train yourstaff and they stay?
Now they're hurting yourbusiness.
So Well, staff is critical.
Having all of the pieces workingtogether is even more critical
because you're going to get thegreat staff in and then you're
going to lose them.
And then you're going to get theB plus staff in and then you're
going to lose them.
And eventually you'll findyourself settling for the people
(10:51):
who will settle for yourbusiness.
Okay.
Let's talk about variousbusiness models.
So some people who are brand newto this podcast will say, I run
a CrossFit gym.
That's my business model.
CrossFit's a method.
It's not a business model.
A business model is your mix ofone-on-one training, small group
semi-private and big grouptraining and the other things
that you sell to might benutrition coaching it might be
(11:12):
access whatever that's yourbusiness model so first let's go
through the different businessmodels that are producing this
high net owner benefit forpeople one person on the list
said we are strictly one-on-onetraining our arm is 600 and we
focus on high ticket packagesanother one said we've built
programs that serve the mostunderserved in the fitness space
(11:32):
we have programs for kids allthe way to legends notice this
person said under underserved,not undervalued.
People generally can charge morefor kids or seniors programs,
right?
The narrower your niche, thehigher the value because people
will prioritize paying for theirkids before they'll prioritize
paying for their own fitness.
(11:52):
So these are underservedsegments of the population.
They're not undervalued.
The next person on the listsaid, about two years ago, I
started to shift from justpersonal training and group to
include semi-private.
Guess what?
ARM went up, revenue went up,staff needs actually went down,
NOB went up, and what they couldpay the staff was more.
(12:13):
The next person said, The nextstrategy that they all mentioned
or many did was payingthemselves first.
So this person said, focusing onpaying myself more and more is
(12:33):
the main reason our NOB went up.
Making it a goal to reach$17,000NOB on average was the
inspiration.
It shows again how importantgoal setting is, meaning you got
to have a plan to pay yourselfand give yourself raises too,
because as an entrepreneur,nobody else can do that for you.
A few people mentioned staffdevelopment and systems.
So this person said, we have twobrain structures and systems in
(12:56):
place for coaches to win.
Another said, we have SOPsdialed in and great staff to
make sure everything runssmoothly even when I'm not
there.
A third said, we've been able tocreate career opportunities and
payroll has never been higher.
I couldn't be happier aboutthat.
What a great win that is.
When your gym is so successfulthat you can pay people more.
Amazing.
(13:17):
Another one said, I allow ourcoaches to have more ownership
of all of our programs.
We follow the four nights modelfrom Two Brain.
This has allowed me to build asolid, focused, and full-time
team.
Another said, coach educationhelped them become more of an
authority and justify our higherrates.
Boom.
Another said, I have a greathandle on developing personal
trainers.
(13:38):
Many of our NOB leadersmentioned retention.
This one said, we are using theretention strategies from Two
Brain and this is emphasize inour numbers.
Membership is slowly ticking up.
When we started Two Brain, wewere at 70 members.
Now we're at 90.
And look at their NOB.
They're among the top 10 gyms inthe world with only 90 members.
Getting more members atdiscounts and packing your group
(14:00):
classes, that is not the way tocreate a solid gym.
Another person said, things likepre and postpartum programs,
like niching down, has reallyhelped us increase our NOB.
Getting our CrossFit certifiedcoaches personal training certs
helps them retain one-on-oneclients longer with better
results.
That's very interesting to me.
Another one said, we do 90-daygoal reviews and we use a 90-day
(14:23):
client journey, includingon-ramps, to onboard all new
members.
This has been an integral wayfor us to build member retention
and increase sales.
Now let's turn to marketing.
What are these top earning gymsdoing for marketing?
Well, one said, we go reallyhard on marketing and that drove
the amount of new startups wegot, which meant more revenue,
which eventually meant moreprofit.
(14:43):
And another one said, most ofour leads come from referrals.
So we drive that engine reallyhard, which we teach in
TubeWrite and exactly how to dothat.
Another one mentioned ROI andROI is really like how much
return can you get on theexpenses that you pay out?
So this person said, ourspending is rigorously
evaluated.
We don't like to be in debt.
So we pay in full whenever wecan.
(15:05):
Another one said, we have a verysmall box.
We're doing all of this in 1400square feet.
I'm just pausing there for abeat.
1,400 square feet to get amongthe top 10 gyms in the world for
owner income.
Another person said, I ammaniacal about my spending.
Every dollar that comes in isscrutinized.
I know what it's doing and howit's benefiting us.
(15:27):
Every dollar going out isscrutinized the same way.
Loose funds are not wasted.
They go back into growing thegym or into my pocket.
So let me just sum up for you.
Here's the total package fromlessons learned on this net
owner benefit leaderboard, whatthe most profitable gym owners
in the world can teach us.
This person said, I think it'sour belief that we should center
(15:47):
on the beginner athlete thatmakes us so successful, but it's
also a great location, greatstaff and appropriate pricing,
right?
It's the whole picture.
All of these people, of course,on the top 10 leaderboard
mentioned mentorship.
One put it very plainly.
They said, we do all the twobrain things.
Another said, Kenny Marquardt,as our tinker coach, is really
great at challenging us to workless in the business.
(16:10):
Another said, I'm over the moonabout making the leaderboard.
I started following two braincontent in 2022, and I thought
the leaderboards were so cool.
I never imagined making one.
Hey, look, Your gym should beprofitable.
If it's not profitable, it won'tbe around for long.
You need to be making a goodmoney or you won't be in the
industry for long.
(16:30):
And we can follow the example ofall of these and the inspiration
from all of them, copy what theydo, and do the same in our gyms
too.
I'm Chris Cooper.
The reason I want you to besuper profitable in your gym is
because I know you're notgreedy.
I know you're going to give yourstaff raises.
I know that you're going to helpmore people.
And I know that you're going tohelp your community more.
If you would like some helpyourself, we've got a great
(16:52):
community for free calledGymOwnersUnited.com.
You can hop over there, you canjoin, and we'll help you grow
your gym for free in that group.
We'll give you tools everycouple of weeks.
We'll give you webinars.
We'll give you advice.
If you ask a question, me or mymentors will often jump in and
give you something that willactually help you.
That's for free.
(17:12):
You can join today atgymownersunited.com.
Who makes the most money from their gym?
Hey, I'm Chris Cooper.
This is our monthly leaderboardshow when I report to you who is
doing the best in one categoryof gym ownership, and then I
interview them and I tell youexactly how they're doing it so
that you can do it too.
This month, we're talking aboutnet owner benefit, how much the
(00:21):
owner actually takes from thegym.
Here's why this is important.
People don't go out of businessbecause they don't have enough
clients.
People don't go out of businessbecause they don't have enough
revenue.
People go out of business whenthey're not making enough of an
income to support theirentrepreneurial habit.
Now, getting more clients mightbe the way that you make more
(00:42):
income from your gym.
Getting more revenue might bethe way that you make more
income from your gym, butthey're not the same thing.
Sometimes you can increase yournet owner benefit by getting
more clients.
Sometimes you can increase yournet owner benefit by earning
more from the clients you have.
And the best way to do it isboth.
And when you're earning a higherincome, that means you have more
(01:05):
money to pay your coaches andmore money to expand and more
money to give to charity.
And so we say that ultimately wecan measure your success by how
much you earn from your gym.
What you do with that money isup to you.
My motto, and I've got this onmy wall is make lots of money,
give it away because I like tojust keep what I need, maintain
a minimal lifestyle and thendonate a lot, send kids to camp
(01:28):
and stuff like that.
What you do is up to you.
But the key is that if you'renot making a good income, you do
not have a healthy business.
You have a very fragile businessbecause if anything happens to
you, that business isimmediately over and all of your
clients, all of your staff andall the people that you support
with your charitable donations,they're all out of business too.
(01:49):
So today, we're going to talkabout who has the highest net
owner benefit earnings from TwoBrain, and I'm going to talk
about exactly how they gotthere.
So let's start with our top 10earners of net owner benefit
last month.
Now, these are all in USdollars.
I converted them just to makethe table easy.
But in 10th place was a gym fromBelgium, and the owner made
$17,708 take home net ownerbenefit last month.
(02:12):
9th place with$17,744 was a gymin the US.
In 8th place, a gym owner madeThey were also in the U.S.
In seventh place, a gym ownermade$22,933, also in the U.S.
In sixth place, a gym in Norwaymade$22,992, so close to taking
(02:35):
home 23 grand last month.
In fifth place, a U.S.-based gymmade$23,344.
In fourth place, a Canadian gymwith$23,503.
Third place, a U.S.
gym with$25,300.
Second place, a U.S.
gym with$29,767 net ownerbenefit last month.
(02:57):
And in first place, a gym inHong Kong with just over$45,000
U.S.
in net owner benefit last month.
Now, usually, we're talkingabout recurring revenue so that
we know that they're doing thisevery month.
In this case, we made anexception.
The Hong Kong gym had a bonuspayment because they made so
much profit in 2024.
Without that payment, her NLBnumber recurring would be would
(03:19):
still be in the top 10.
So she's a top earner regardlessof bonuses.
And so I really wanted toinclude her here for a few
reasons.
Number one, I'm really, reallyproud of gyms outside the US
doing this well with US dollars.
Number two, I've always beenreally, really proud of the
fitness industry's ability tocreate female entrepreneurs.
(03:41):
If you look just atentrepreneurship and ownership
of small businesses, especiallyin North America, you'll see
that just over 30% of smallbusinesses are owned by women.
But in the fitness industry,that number is right at 50%.
And CrossFit actually had a lotto do with this.
And so one of the reasons thatI'm so proud to be part of the
fitness industry is that itcreates equal opportunity for
(04:03):
anybody to start a fitnessbusiness from scratch, whether
they've been an entrepreneurbefore, whether they have any
education in business ownership.
I sure didn't.
And eventually becomesuccessful.
It's an enormous opportunitythat is not threatened by AI.
It's not threatened by, youknow, the dollar where you are
or what's going on in the stockmarkets.
(04:24):
It's a great opportunity for youto actually do something to help
other people.
And it doesn't matter if you'remale, female, whatever.
It doesn't matter.
Anybody can start a fitnessbusiness and be successful.
I firmly believe that.
So today, I really want to talkabout the top tips from all of
these, including the one and whoowns this gym in Hong Kong.
There's really two things thatproduce net owner benefit, and
(04:45):
you're going to hear quotes fromour leaders here in a moment.
The two things are consistencyin delivery and total business
excellence.
That means, yes, you have to beexcellent at coaching.
You also have to be excellent atbilling.
You have to be excellent atmarketing.
You have to be excellent atsales.
You have to be excellent atretention.
You can't just take any of thesethings for granted and think
that being great at coaching orhaving a certification just
(05:11):
carries weight in all of theseareas.
You can't.
Any one of these things can killyou.
You can be the best coach in theworld, but if you're bookkeeping
stocks, you're going to be outof business.
If you're not profitable, yourlandlord's going to raise the
rent 5% and you'll be out ofbusiness.
We shouldn't get mad atlandlords when the rent goes up.
I mean, they're running abusiness too.
Instead, we should be mad atourselves for not being prepared
(05:33):
and having significant businessstrength and margin and
anti-fragility to survive thingslike that.
The reality here is that yourbusiness Business will grow to
the level of your marketing andimmediately fall to the level of
your systems.
Your systems are what you doconsistently.
You know, the worst coach is thestandard at your gym,
unfortunately, and the worstdelivered service and the least
(05:54):
clean bathroom.
Like this is what the level ofyour business will sink to.
It's the weakest link in thechain that limits you.
So when a gym owner is on thisNOB leaderboard, you know that
they've earned that spot througha commitment to virtuosity in
all aspects of their business,not just being the best coaches
in the world.
You know, I think My GymCatalyst has the best coaches in
(06:15):
Sault Ste.
Marie, but that is not enough.
It's necessary but insufficientto build a great business.
And these businesses are notjust great at marketing.
They're not just great atstaffing.
They're not just great atgetting ROI or managing their
expenses.
They're not just great atretention.
They're great at everything.
So when I report these numbersto you, they're rolling three
(06:35):
months averages.
So you're seeing consistentstable numbers, not just these
one-hit wonders.
All the owners that we Weinterview, expect these numbers
to continue in future months.
We're not just pulling the oldbait and switch thing that you
used to hear from like adagencies.
Oh, this person made$80,000 inthis one month.
They must be a millionairebecause 80,000 times 12 months
(06:56):
is a million dollars.
But of course that gym had onegood month and never did that
again.
And the next few months wereactually even worse because
people had paid up front for aservice that took months to
deliver.
That is not what we're abouthere.
We're about showing you thepeople who earn the most from
their gyms and consistently dothat.
So all of these owners canreasonably expect the numbers to
continue.
(07:17):
One owner actually slightlyreduced his NOB number on
purpose so that he can reinvestin staff education to improve
his business.
These are great career numbers,but they're not bought myself a
job numbers.
The number 10 gym owner willearn about$212,000 over the
course of a year, which isenough to fund a great life.
(07:37):
It's also a far cry from arguingabout expensive cheese.
So Thank you so much for joiningus.
(08:02):
are great at many aspects oftheir business.
And that means that NOB is theproduct of total business
excellence.
They're being rewarded forpursuing business virtuosity in
marketing, in sales, inretention, in bookkeeping, and
coaching, of course.
And so when we asked our leaderslike what elements contributed
to your NOB, they said businessmodels, staffing systems,
(08:24):
training and education,retention, marketing, ROI and
cost management, payingthemselves first, and
mentorship.
They all rely on an objectivementor to help them build all of
these things.
That means they're trackingtheir numbers through the
TrueBrain dashboard and they'retaking clear action to improve
them every single day.
(08:45):
Now, the one answer that everyone of these top 10 gyms gave
was staff.
All of these owners areoperating at a CEO level.
That means they focus on onething at a time to produce
results, but they also see howeach of those targeted actions
improve the big picture.
You get good at marketing, andif your retention is also good,
your gym grows.
(09:05):
You get good at sales, and ifyour coaching is also good, your
gym grows.
You get better at coachingwithout improving the other
areas, and your gym doesn'tgrow.
But all these people mentionstaff.
Here's the key.
All of us can get lucky withstaff off once.
Maybe twice.
I've been very, very lucky withstaff four or five times.
(09:27):
But none of those staff willstay if you're bad at the other
parts of your business.
When you open a business, youimmediately assume
responsibility for making thatbusiness successful because if
the gym isn't making enoughmoney, you can't pay the staff
enough to keep them.
If the gym has a churn problemand you're constantly doing
these challenges, bait andswitch that you're getting from
(09:48):
ad agencies, your staff's gonnaburn out.
If you don't have a solid set ofsystems and playbooks that you
rigorously follow with everystaff, well, your staff isn't
gonna be guessing and you'regonna be micromanaging them and
they're going to quit.
If you don't have a staffascension model, they're not
gonna be able to see the future.
They're gonna lose hope and goopen their own gym or quit and
(10:09):
go get a job selling realestate.
Staff is critically important,but the way that you build your
business is what supports yourstaff.
I'll give you another one.
Another person was talking aboutstaff training.
And some gym owners who are kindof broke, they'll say like, what
happens if I invest this moneyin my staff and they quit?
Well, I'd like to turn thatquestion around and ask you,
(10:31):
what if you don't train yourstaff and they stay?
Now they're hurting yourbusiness.
So Well, staff is critical.
Having all of the pieces workingtogether is even more critical
because you're going to get thegreat staff in and then you're
going to lose them.
And then you're going to get theB plus staff in and then you're
going to lose them.
And eventually you'll findyourself settling for the people
(10:51):
who will settle for yourbusiness.
Okay.
Let's talk about variousbusiness models.
So some people who are brand newto this podcast will say, I run
a CrossFit gym.
That's my business model.
CrossFit's a method.
It's not a business model.
A business model is your mix ofone-on-one training, small group
semi-private and big grouptraining and the other things
that you sell to might benutrition coaching it might be
(11:12):
access whatever that's yourbusiness model so first let's go
through the different businessmodels that are producing this
high net owner benefit forpeople one person on the list
said we are strictly one-on-onetraining our arm is 600 and we
focus on high ticket packagesanother one said we've built
programs that serve the mostunderserved in the fitness space
(11:32):
we have programs for kids allthe way to legends notice this
person said under underserved,not undervalued.
People generally can charge morefor kids or seniors programs,
right?
The narrower your niche, thehigher the value because people
will prioritize paying for theirkids before they'll prioritize
paying for their own fitness.
(11:52):
So these are underservedsegments of the population.
They're not undervalued.
The next person on the listsaid, about two years ago, I
started to shift from justpersonal training and group to
include semi-private.
Guess what?
ARM went up, revenue went up,staff needs actually went down,
NOB went up, and what they couldpay the staff was more.
(12:13):
The next person said, The nextstrategy that they all mentioned
or many did was payingthemselves first.
So this person said, focusing onpaying myself more and more is
(12:33):
the main reason our NOB went up.
Making it a goal to reach$17,000NOB on average was the
inspiration.
It shows again how importantgoal setting is, meaning you got
to have a plan to pay yourselfand give yourself raises too,
because as an entrepreneur,nobody else can do that for you.
A few people mentioned staffdevelopment and systems.
So this person said, we have twobrain structures and systems in
(12:56):
place for coaches to win.
Another said, we have SOPsdialed in and great staff to
make sure everything runssmoothly even when I'm not
there.
A third said, we've been able tocreate career opportunities and
payroll has never been higher.
I couldn't be happier aboutthat.
What a great win that is.
When your gym is so successfulthat you can pay people more.
Amazing.
(13:17):
Another one said, I allow ourcoaches to have more ownership
of all of our programs.
We follow the four nights modelfrom Two Brain.
This has allowed me to build asolid, focused, and full-time
team.
Another said, coach educationhelped them become more of an
authority and justify our higherrates.
Boom.
Another said, I have a greathandle on developing personal
trainers.
(13:38):
Many of our NOB leadersmentioned retention.
This one said, we are using theretention strategies from Two
Brain and this is emphasize inour numbers.
Membership is slowly ticking up.
When we started Two Brain, wewere at 70 members.
Now we're at 90.
And look at their NOB.
They're among the top 10 gyms inthe world with only 90 members.
Getting more members atdiscounts and packing your group
(14:00):
classes, that is not the way tocreate a solid gym.
Another person said, things likepre and postpartum programs,
like niching down, has reallyhelped us increase our NOB.
Getting our CrossFit certifiedcoaches personal training certs
helps them retain one-on-oneclients longer with better
results.
That's very interesting to me.
Another one said, we do 90-daygoal reviews and we use a 90-day
(14:23):
client journey, includingon-ramps, to onboard all new
members.
This has been an integral wayfor us to build member retention
and increase sales.
Now let's turn to marketing.
What are these top earning gymsdoing for marketing?
Well, one said, we go reallyhard on marketing and that drove
the amount of new startups wegot, which meant more revenue,
which eventually meant moreprofit.
(14:43):
And another one said, most ofour leads come from referrals.
So we drive that engine reallyhard, which we teach in
TubeWrite and exactly how to dothat.
Another one mentioned ROI andROI is really like how much
return can you get on theexpenses that you pay out?
So this person said, ourspending is rigorously
evaluated.
We don't like to be in debt.
So we pay in full whenever wecan.
(15:05):
Another one said, we have a verysmall box.
We're doing all of this in 1400square feet.
I'm just pausing there for abeat.
1,400 square feet to get amongthe top 10 gyms in the world for
owner income.
Another person said, I ammaniacal about my spending.
Every dollar that comes in isscrutinized.
I know what it's doing and howit's benefiting us.
(15:27):
Every dollar going out isscrutinized the same way.
Loose funds are not wasted.
They go back into growing thegym or into my pocket.
So let me just sum up for you.
Here's the total package fromlessons learned on this net
owner benefit leaderboard, whatthe most profitable gym owners
in the world can teach us.
This person said, I think it'sour belief that we should center
(15:47):
on the beginner athlete thatmakes us so successful, but it's
also a great location, greatstaff and appropriate pricing,
right?
It's the whole picture.
All of these people, of course,on the top 10 leaderboard
mentioned mentorship.
One put it very plainly.
They said, we do all the twobrain things.
Another said, Kenny Marquardt,as our tinker coach, is really
great at challenging us to workless in the business.
(16:10):
Another said, I'm over the moonabout making the leaderboard.
I started following two braincontent in 2022, and I thought
the leaderboards were so cool.
I never imagined making one.
Hey, look, Your gym should beprofitable.
If it's not profitable, it won'tbe around for long.
You need to be making a goodmoney or you won't be in the
industry for long.
(16:30):
And we can follow the example ofall of these and the inspiration
from all of them, copy what theydo, and do the same in our gyms
too.
I'm Chris Cooper.
The reason I want you to besuper profitable in your gym is
because I know you're notgreedy.
I know you're going to give yourstaff raises.
I know that you're going to helpmore people.
And I know that you're going tohelp your community more.
If you would like some helpyourself, we've got a great
(16:52):
community for free calledGymOwnersUnited.com.
You can hop over there, you canjoin, and we'll help you grow
your gym for free in that group.
We'll give you tools everycouple of weeks.
We'll give you webinars.
We'll give you advice.
If you ask a question, me or mymentors will often jump in and
give you something that willactually help you.
That's for free.
(17:12):
You can join today atgymownersunited.com.
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