Advertise on podcast: Run a Profitable Gym

Is your gym ready to hire a full-time coach? Use our free calculator to find out. Hiring the wrong coach costs you money, and it costs you time you never get back. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” John Franklin talks with Two-Brain mentor Brian Bott, who runs three gyms in New Jersey that bring in over $1.5 million a year in revenue, with coaches who have stayed for a decade or more. Brian explains what he screens for, how he onboards new coaches, how he pays them and what he does when a hire goes wrong. He also shares how to decide who to hire first, how to find candidates without relying on job boards and how to keep quality consistent across multiple locations. Tune in to learn how to hire right the first time and build a team that wants to stay. Links Full-Time Coach Calculator Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - Why a bad hire makes gym owners afraid to hire again 0:53 - How a three-location gym structures its coaching team 4:17 - What to look for when hiring a coach 6:57 - How new coaches are onboarded on the floor 9:32 - Where to find great coaches for your gym 13:03 - How to post the job and structure coach pay 20:21 - What to do when a hire doesn’t work out 23:12 - How to keep great coaches for years 28:58 - Who to hire first and how to hand off clients 36:42 - How to keep coaching quality consistent across locations

Is your gym ready to hire a full-time coach? Use our free calculator to find out. Tres Kennedy charged $150 a month for personal training plus unlimited group classes. He thought no one in his small Alabama town would pay more. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” John Franklin sits down with Two-Brain mentor Tres Kennedy to talk about packaging, pricing and handling objections. Tres explains how he moved from giving away his on-ramp to prescribing coaching at nearly double the price, and what happened to his gym’s close rate, staff pay and retention. Then John and Tres role-play a real consultation, working through the objections gym owners hear most: “I need to think about it,” price pushback and “I need to talk to my spouse.” Tune in to learn how to charge what you’re worth and keep the sale moving when a prospect hesitates. Links Full-Time Coach Calculator Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - How he first priced and packaged his gym 2:37 - His offer today and the fear of charging more 5:41 - His average prospect and what changed after raising prices 10:04 - Building conviction and checking your pricing 13:10 - Objection-handling role-play 16:34 - Framing the solution and presenting the price 19:18 - Handling “I need to think about it” and price objections 25:00 - Standing firm when prospects want something cheaper 31:50 - Handling “I need to talk to my spouse” 34:25 - Advice for owners who struggle to charge what they're worth

Is your gym ready to hire a full-time coach? Use our free calculator to find out. Nearly 60% of gym owners say not earning enough is their biggest struggle, more than double the number who say staffing is the problem. According to Chris Cooper, the fix is hiring, but only if you hire in the right order. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris explains why the order of your hires matters more than how many people are on your payroll. He shares the story of the first hire that taught him how buying back your time actually works, and why the right hire isn’t the one that feels most urgent. Chris shows you how to figure out what you’re really paying yourself per hour, which task to hand off first and how to plan what you’ll do with your reclaimed time so each hire pays you back. Tune in to learn how to hire in a way that puts more money in your pocket. Links Full-Time Coach Calculator Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - Why hiring is really about your paycheck 0:59 - The cleaner story that taught buying back your time 2:30 - The one number every hire gets measured against 3:50 - Hire for the cheapest task you’re still doing yourself 5:22 - Where most hires quietly fail 5:43 - The 2.5x rule before you post the job ad

Get our free guide, "How to Make $100,000 a Year While Working Just 4 Hours a Day." Why do some gyms have members who bring friends and stay for years, while others struggle to keep the clients they have? Every gym has four types of members: champions, loyalists, wanderers and critics. In this episode, Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper explains how to spot each one. Each group needs something different from you, and treating them all the same means spending your time in the wrong places. Chris explains what each kind of member needs and how to move them up a level, from the coffee conversation that turns your best clients into recruiters to the way to handle members who complain about everything. He shares stories from his own gym along the way. Tune in to learn how to build a gym culture by design, not by luck. Links $100K Income Guide Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - Why some gym members become raving fans (and others don't) 1:20 - The client every gym should be built around 2:25 - Turn your best clients into your biggest recruiters 6:00 - Why the best coaches still need their own coach 7:10 - The quiet clients you're probably taking for granted 9:55 - The clients who showed up excited and then went quiet 12:24 - The member who complains about everything (and what it really means) 15:43 - The one move that fixes every client relationship

Book a free call and get outside eyes on your sales process. Every gym with coached classes says they sell coaching. But if everyone who joins gets the same unlimited membership, are they actually buying coaching, or just access to a class that happens to have a coach? In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin breaks down how to prescribe real coaching in a sales consultation, and what to do when a prospect pushes back. He explains why most objections aren’t really about price or timing; they’re a sign that the prospect doesn’t believe your offer will actually solve their problem. John walks through the exact language for “prescribing up” instead of defaulting to the easiest thing to sell. He also introduces the PULSE framework and addresses the most common objections gym owners face, from “I need to think about it” to pricing and spousal pushback. Tune in to learn how to sell high-value coaching with confidence, without sounding pushy or salesy. Links Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - Most objections aren’t really about price 1:14 - Why comparing yourself to Orange Theory is a trap 2:18 - What real coaching looks like 3:19 - The prescription framework (like a doctor, not a menu) 6:03 - The tools are the delivery, not the product 6:59 - How Darren Thornton built a 7-coach, $1M/year gym doing this 9:30 - Handling “I need to think about it” 10:48 - Handling the price objection 12:36 - Handling the spousal objection 13:37 - Handling the “I'm busy” objection 16:00 - Why the biggest objection is in your own head

Grab our free tools to help you fix the most common problems gym owners face. If your gym has been stuck at the same revenue number for a year, you probably think you need more leads. You’re only half right. In this episode, Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin breaks down why “I need more leads” is usually a symptom, not the real problem. He explains the two things that keep gyms stuck: not consistently doing the work that generates leads, or a bigger structural issue in your business that’s harder to see from the inside. John introduces the Golden Hour, a dedicated daily block for tackling your gym’s biggest bottleneck, and shares the story of Jared, a gym owner who'd been flat for 10 months until he committed to that one habit and posted his best revenue month ever. He also shares the story of Charlie, a UK gym owner who made one change to how he positioned and priced his coaching that’s projected to triple his revenue in just over a year, without adding a single new client. Tune in to figure out whether your gym’s plateau is an effort problem or something you can’t see from the inside, and how to get unstuck for good. Links Free Tools Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - The two reasons gyms stop growing 1:00 - Why busy isn't the same as productive 3:01 - The Golden Hour and establishing the run 5:30 - How a Two-Brain client turned a flat gym around 7:31 - The revenue jump after Jared got serious 8:38 - The problem you can't see from inside your own gym 9:47 - The pricing change that transformed Charlie's gym 11:58 - What's really holding your gym back

Their gym has been open 14 years, has over 150 members and pulls in around $30,000 a month. But growth stalled, and they wanted to know why. In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin sits down with Tanya and Meredith, longtime owners of a Sarasota CrossFit affiliate, for a real, live coaching session. John opens up their books and pricing sheet, which includes 15 different things a prospect can buy, and starts asking hard questions to find out exactly what’s capping their revenue. What John uncovers is a common but costly pattern: personal training makes up only 10% of their revenue, even though the vast majority of new prospects walk in intimidated and needing more support than a group class alone provides. John walks Tanya and Meredith through a repositioning of their entire onboarding and pricing structure, one that could significantly change how much of every dollar makes it to their bottom line. Tune in to hear a real mentorship session unfold and see exactly what it takes to break through a revenue plateau. Links Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - A profitable gym stuck at $30,000 a month 1:15 - Meet the co-owners running a 14-year affiliate long distance 7:43 - The seasonal revenue swing and the number they want to hit 10:35 - Fifteen ways to buy in, and where all the revenue comes from 12:37 - Personal training pricing and the onboarding that leads to membership 16:54 - What the numbers reveal once you compare them to industry benchmarks 18:25 - Why a loyal, stable staff still can't carry the business further 23:54 - Reframing onboarding around coaching instead of group class 27:21 - Consolidating fifteen memberships and reworking the price 35:36 - Real proof it works, and the plan to make the change stick

This episode contains important visuals and is best enjoyed on YouTube. No amount of planning makes handing over your life savings feel completely safe. Today Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin sits down with Steven Smith and Andreia Onofre Smith, who are 40 days from opening their first gym after nine years of planning. This is a real, live mentorship session: John and the couple walk through their SBA financing process, their build-out timeline and the founders club offer they’re using to bring in revenue before the doors even open. Steven and Andrea share the vision behind their gym, a family-first concept built around helping parents stay consistent with fitness by giving their kids a genuine experience of their own, not just childcare. But the real value in this episode comes when John spots a critical gap in their pricing plan and walks them through exactly how to fix it before opening day. Tune in for a rare, unfiltered look at what it actually takes to open a gym the right way, mistakes, financing headaches and all. Links How to Buy a Gym Step by Step Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - Live coaching before two first-time gym owners open their doors 1:00 - A gym built for parents who stopped showing up 3:02 - Nine years of planning and a deal that fell through in 2018 5:38 - Why they hired a mentor before they even had a location 8:36 - Financing and building out a gym in New Jersey 14:49 - What a Two-Brain mentor does before day one 17:24 - Building and pricing a Founders Club offer 29:22 - The scheduling problem stopping them from adding small group training 40:53 - Where their first members came from

Grab our free tools to help you fix the most common problems gym owners face. A cheap intro offer brought in members who weren’t ready to commit—and retention that Dan Purington calls an “absolute dumpster fire.” In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin talks with mentor and gym owner Dan Purington, who runs a CrossFit affiliate doing north of $700,000 a year in revenue with fewer than 200 members. Dan breaks down how he rebuilt his entire onboarding process from a $70 low-barrier offer that attracted the wrong people into a $499, five-week hybrid on-ramp that more than doubled his revenue. Dan explains the “curated” approach behind his on-ramp, why he moved nutrition conversations to week five instead of the front end, and how giving prospects a taste of personal training alongside CrossFit or small group strength naturally upsells members into higher-value memberships. He also shares how this shift let him build real, full-time careers for his coaching staff, and tackles the most common objections gym owners raise about space, staffing and pricing when they consider making a similar change. Tune in to see how a smarter onboarding process can grow your revenue and solve your staffing problems at the same time. Book a free call and rebuild your onboarding process with a mentor. Links Free Tools Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:34 - The $70 on-ramp that became a dumpster fire 5:08 - Inside Dan's 1,800-square-foot gym 8:09 - What's actually sold in the no-sweat intro 10:29 - The 5-week onboarding, breakdown 12:45 - Why they call it "curated" instead of unlimited 16:16 - Why nutrition waits until week five 19:28 - How the onboarding upsells members into small group 21:25 - How this model built full-time coaching careers 30:51 - Common objections: pricing, space and staffing 36:18 - The revenue jump after the switch

Listening to this alone won’t make your gym more profitable. A mentor will. Book your free call with the Two-Brain team. If you can’t attract good coaches, the fix probably isn’t your job post. It’s your salary cap—and that’s determined by how your gym packages and prices its services. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin explains why gyms end up stuck offering $25-an-hour split shifts instead of real, full-time careers, and how to fix it by growing your salary cap. He breaks down exactly how to calculate what your gym can afford to pay staff, and then walks through why your model is capping your revenue. You’ll find out how shifting to a “coaching first” model can double what a client is worth to your gym and use the extra revenue to attract and keep better coaches. Tune in to learn how to build a gym that can actually afford to pay great coaches what they’re worth. Links Darren Thornton's Full Story Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - Why your A-player job posts attract bad candidates 2:05 - The salary cap concept limiting your payroll 3:19 - Real numbers: calculating your gym’s salary cap 4:49 - How growing revenue grows your salary cap 7:30 - Where the onboarding model came from 9:50 - The hidden friction in the onboarding model 11:11 - The coaching-first model top gyms are using 13:33 - Case study: from $9K a month to $1M a year 15:26 - The coach-pay formula explained 18:45 - How to build a team of A-players

Listening to this alone won't make your gym more profitable. A mentor will. Book your free call with the Two-Brain team. Darren Thornton left his gym for 10 weeks to live in a van with almost no contact—and came back making more money than when he left. In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin talks with Two-Brain alumnus Darren Thornton, who built a gym doing over a million dollars a year in revenue with seven full-time coaches on salary. Darren walks through his entire hiring process step by step, from writing a job description designed to filter out uninterested applicants to the four different offers he might make at the end of an interview. He also breaks down the pivotal decision that let him build a full-time team in the first place: shifting to a high-value membership model that ensures every coach has enough paid hours to build a real career. Darren shares the exact numbers behind the transition, the pushback he got early on and why he believes this model is ultimately better for members, not just for staffing. Tune in to learn how to build a gym that can actually support full-time, well-paid coaches. Links State of the Industry Survey Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - He went dark for 10 weeks and came back making more money 2:24 - The hardest skill this gym owner had to teach himself 3:33 - Building a job post that filters out the wrong people 9:18 - The unpaid trial that exposes who's not serious 16:04 - Why every coach on his team is full-time, no exceptions 18:15 - What actually gets someone hired at his gym 23:47 - What happens the moment the interview ends 29:43 - From one guy in a cape to seven full-time coaches 35:04 - The math behind mandatory personal training 46:36 - Why standing out meant turning members away first

Fill out our State of the Industry survey and get a free report card showing how your gym stacks up. If Chris Cooper started a gym tomorrow, with no reputation, no members and no brand, what would he do? In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin puts founder Chris Cooper through a real-time thought experiment: build a gym from scratch using everything he's learned from 30 years in the industry. The pair work through six categories step by step: the coaching model, pricing, space and lease decisions, equipment spend, the exact marketing funnels Chris would use to land his first clients without ads, and when and how he'd eventually bring on staff. Chris gets specific throughout, sharing real numbers on rent, equipment budgets, pricing and how many clients it takes to earn $50,000 in year one. He also touches on the advice he's giving his own daughter as she considers opening a gym of her own. Tune in for a candid, numbers-driven look at what a smarter gym launch looks like today. Links State of the Industry Survey Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:03 - Starting a gym with a clean slate 1:12 - The coaching model: one-on-one to semi-private 4:28 - Marketing without ads or a following 10:36 - Space, lease and build-out decisions 16:21 - Earning a full-time income 20:57 - When and how to hire

Fill out our State of the Industry survey and get your custom Gym Report Card!   Every gym owner thinks their problem is unique. In reality, it’s usually one of six. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper breaks down the six problems that show up again and again in struggling gyms, and why most owners don’t realize which one is holding them back. Chris walks through each bottleneck: not having enough clients, not paying yourself first, not charging enough per client, not keeping clients long enough, expenses that are too high, and trying to do everything yourself. Along the way, he shares specific benchmarks to aim for, including client counts, average revenue per member and realistic retention numbers. His core message: You don’t make six figures as a gym owner by working harder or finding one big secret. You do it by knowing which of these six problems is actually costing you the most money right now, and fixing it. Tune in to figure out which bottleneck is holding your gym back. Use the link below to get our free training on how to make $100,000 per year as a gym owner. For more support, join Gym Owners United: http://gymownersunited.com Links State of the Industry Survey $100,000 Income Training Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - Why most gym owners are solving the wrong problem 1:23 - The client count that actually pays your bills 2:49 - Why paying yourself last is quietly killing your gym 4:41 - The real number your revenue per member should hit 7:47 - The retention number almost every gym owner gets wrong 9:11 - The expenses that feel necessary but are actually draining you 10:27 - Why doing everything yourself caps your gym's growth

Turn more consultations into memberships with our free Objection-Handling Scripts. Can Chris Cooper close a sale in 15 minutes—even with a client who's trying to make it hard on him? In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris puts himself to the test with a live, unscripted consultation. John Franklin plays a deliberately difficult prospect: a busy parent with a recurring back injury, an unpredictable schedule and a strong preference for flexibility over structure. Watch Chris run through a No Sweat Intro in real time: asking the right questions, uncovering the actual goal, and prescribing a program that addresses all of the client’s concerns at once. When John throws out objections around commitment, cancellation and pricing, Chris handles each one without flinching or discounting. By the end, you’ll see exactly what it looks like to coach someone into a confident yes. ➖➖➖ Fill out our State of the Industry survey and get your custom Gym Report Card. Links State of the Industry Survey Objection-Handling Scripts Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - 15 minutes to close a difficult client 0:47 - What actually brings a hard-to-please prospect into your gym 3:03 - Get a client to picture their life 6 months from now 5:08 - The exact program prescribed for a client afraid of re-injury 6:55 - Handling the “this might hurt my back again” objection 7:27 - The scheduling flexibility test every busy client puts you through 9:35 - The moment he asks about price 10:36 - The cancellation question every gym owner dreads 12:41 - The “let me think about it” moment 13:55 - Why giving yourself permission to say no closes more sales

Turn more consultations into memberships with our free Objection-Handling Scripts. "I need to think about it." "It's too expensive." "I need to talk to my spouse." Sound familiar? In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin and founder Chris Cooper role-play the most common sales objections gym owners hear. They show you how to uncover the real objection hiding underneath the surface-level one. The pair introduce the PULSE framework for handling objections: pause, understand, locate, solve and end with a decision. They walk through real scenarios one by one, including the "I need to think about it" smoke screen, the spousal objection, price pushback and the "I've been burnt before" objection, showing exactly how to respond without caving to a discount or letting a prospect walk away undecided. Tune in to hear exactly how to turn "I need to think about it" into a yes. Links State of the Industry Survey Objection-Handling Scripts Gym Owners United Book a Call 0:00 - Why "I need to think about it" is never the real objection 1:01 - Why discounting and delaying is costing your gym 2:49 - The framework for turning any objection into a decision 3:56 - Uncovering what's really behind "I need to think about it" 4:17 - Handling the spousal objection 5:33 - Handling the price objection 7:02 - Why you should never guess a client's budget 7:34 - Handling the "I'm too busy" objection 8:40 - Handling the "I've tried everything and failed" objection