Most Gym Owners Wait Too Long to Get Business Help

The longer you try to figure it out alone, the more expensive the lessons tend to become

“Look, the reason you’re having these issues is because you’re smart. Your brain can manage a lot of complexity. And that got you here. But it won’t get you where you want to go based on your goals.”

I took a beat and let my comment sink in.

I could see the gym owner processing my take.

He winced.

I waited another moment. I could feel my eyes soften. Because I knew exactly how this realization felt.

“If it makes you feel better… I ran the most complicated gym in the history of the world. And I loved it. And it was awesome. And by many measures, an unprecedented success.

AND, at least for me, it became exhausting to run. And I’ve also run a dead simple gym. Knowing what I know now, I promise there’s another path if you want it.”

His eyes still down, he smirked. He began some slow nods, acknowledging the possibility of a better business.

*********

I’ve had versions of this convo too many times.

The hardest part is it often happens AFTER the owner has just made some moves to go in exactly the wrong direction.

Or at the least, after they’ve just done something that will make their life harder.

Sometimes they just did a price increase before our chat… but they massively undershot market rate. And now they’re in a jam and can’t easily increase current members’ rates in the near term

Sometimes they just launched another service hoping to increase profits. But they didn’t realize there’s little demand. AND the existence of the service will make their business more complicated and harder to run.

Sometimes they’ve just signed a lease on a second location with a shaky foundation at the first. And no real strategy, money, or bandwidth to properly execute a presales, to say nothing of managing a buildout.

Sometimes they’ve spent several years allowing debt to compound to tens of thousands of dollars while avoiding making hard decisions.

I’ve said before, I can’t tell you every single gym owner needs a mentor.

But none of us are immune to blindspots.

And without another set of eyes with a proven track record, we’re relying entirely on our own (limited) experience.

I’m not saying BFU is the right fit for every gym owner.

But it breaks my heart when I see an owner finally open up the hood of the car and we see problems that could have been avoided.

Always hungry to help,

Mark

PS If you ever want an outside eye, and you think BFU may be the right fit, we have two options.

1) The Unicorn Society is our flagship coaching program for on-going support. 

Just like with a gym membership, we do ask for a commitment. Because it takes time to update your operating system. 

But just like your gym, we let you test drive us first to be sure it’s the right fit.

2) Mentorship Days are a single-day coaching session when you want a one-time deep dive.

You can work with Michael Keeler, Pete Dupuis, or yours truly, either in-person or over Zoom.

This is the perfect fit if you’re not looking to “join” anything or make an on-going commitment. 

To find out more about both options, 

Book a 10-minute intro call HERE.