10+ Tips for Working with a Business Coach with Wendy Shafranski

Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Business for Unicorns podcast, where we help gym and studio owners create a business and a life they love. I’m your host, Michael Keeler. Join me and the Business for Unicorns team each week for actionable advice, expert insights, and the inside scoop on what it really takes to level up your gym.

Get ready to unlock your potential and become a real unicorn in the fitness industry[00:00:30]

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Click the link down below in our show notes to get started Hello, fitness business nerds. What’s up? Welcome to another episode of the Business Unicorns podcast. I’m stoked for today because having back on the podcast for the 100th time, I’m not sure how many it’s been at this point. It’s BFU coach, gym owner to the stars in Florida, Miss Wendy Shafransky.

How are ya?

Speaker 2: Good, good. I’m trying to beat Boreanaz on the number of times I’m

Speaker: on your podcast. Yeah, [00:01:30] yeah. You and Mike Boreanaz are like head-for-head, you know, just- Yeah … ticking, ticking the notches off your belt. Welcome back to the podcast. How have you been?

Speaker 2: Really good. Really good. It’s slowing down. We have a lot of snowbirds that are-

Speaker: Yeah

Speaker 2: flying home for the winter, and then a lot of year-round people are like, “We’re taking a couple months off.” So-

Speaker: Yeah …

Speaker 2: kinda slowing down. A little f- a little scary, but we’re good.

Speaker: Yeah, 100%. I imagine we actually, you being in Vero Beach, Florida, and me in, in Manhattan, there’s actually a lot in common, right?

They’re both areas that kind of slow down for gyms over the summer, and peop- [00:02:00] at least New York, people empty out. They’re like- Yeah … “Bye. We’ll maybe going down to Florida.” Yeah. Good. I hope you get a, hope you use this summer for a little bit of time for yourself. Yes,

Speaker 2: for sure.

Speaker: Yeah. Thanks for doing, again, this podcast.

Today, dear listeners, what we’re gonna focus on, what we wanna talk about is Wendy’s now been a coach for our Unicorn Society members now for al- over- For two

Speaker 2: years …

Speaker: yeah, about two years. Yeah. And so what we want to do is pause and say, “Okay, what have we learned about what people do who are getting the most value from a group like [00:02:30] this?”

And so for any of you Unicorn Society members listening, this is literally gonna be a roadmap for how to get the most value from this group. And for those of you who don’t work, are not in Unicorn Society, or maybe will never work with us at BFU, that’s okay, but I want you to think of this as a roadmap for how you would get value from working with any mentor, coach, accountability group, networking group.

I think a lot of things we’re gonna be talking about, while they’re specific to Unicorn Society, I think they do represent a universal truth about how to get value from working with coaches, mentors, [00:03:00] teachers, et cetera. And, and I know Wendy, I think you, you started with a top 10 list. So w- before we get to your top 10 list, which I’m stoked about, I would love to just go back to actually when you were a member, before you joined the team as a coach.

I’m curious, what are the things that stand out to you in your memory about how did you approach getting the most value from this group?

Speaker 2: I think I really made sure I made time for it, ’cause I know as- Mm-hmm … as a gym owner, you’re in front of people, and then when you’re, after you’re coaching, you’re exhausted.

And so just carving out time. And I [00:03:30] use the analogy, if you have a fitness coach, say you wanna lose five pounds, 10 pounds, whatever. Yeah. You join a gym, but you don’t show up- It’s not gonna happen-

Speaker: Mm-hmm …

Speaker 2: by osmosis. So the same thing- Yeah … goes with working with BFU or any business coach. You have to put the time in and schedule it.

Speaker: Yeah. I think that’s so smart, and we tell people all the time that you don’t need to give us three days a week. We need one or two hours of your time per week for you to focus on working with your coach, gauging all the things we’re gonna talk about today. It’s not an infinite amount of time, but you [00:04:00] all need at least one or two hours per week to work on your business instead of in it.

And the analogy I often use is people who join groups like this but don’t show up and make the time. Mm-hmm. It’s like you’re paying for college tuition and not going to class.

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker: It’s why, why?

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: Right, like why do that and then complain, “Oh, college isn’t really working for me.” You didn’t go to any class.

You know? And we have people like that in Unicorn Society all the time, and that’s no shade. That’s not a judgment. Mm-hmm. It’s just a pure fact about how this works. Like many things, you’re gonna get out of it what you put in. And so I love that you started with that, which is [00:04:30] st- set aside time, y’all- Yeah

and then the investment will already pay off. Right. Let’s … Anything else you wanna add to that?

Speaker 2: I was just gonna say also, just to be open and honest to your, whoever who you’re working with because we all have struggles, and it’s not a judgment, and that’s what we’re here is we’re here to help you. Yeah.

‘Cause I think a lot of people kind of get in that shame sometimes. “Oh, I didn’t do the work,” or- Yes … “This bad thing is happening,” and they’re not honest. So yeah, I would just be open-minded, be honest, and just-

Speaker: Yeah …

Speaker 2: carve out time, and then you should find some value from [00:05:00] it.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, you know what that reminds me of, Wendy, is back when I, we ran Mark Fisher Fitness, I would, we’d have a, we call our clients ninjas, and we would have a ninja who’d just be gone for a while, be MIA, and I would run into them on the streets of New York.

Yeah. And I’d be like, “Hey, how you been? It’s so good to see you. Haven’t seen you in a while. You okay?” And they would immediately get shame face.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: They’d be like, “I’m sorry. I just stopped coming for a while, and then maybe I felt out of shape again, and I put on some weight, and I was just embarrassed to go back and get back to the gym.”

I was like, “But that’s what we’re here for,” right? You know what I [00:05:30] mean? Yeah. But that’s literally what we’re here for, and we hear the same thing from Unicorn Society members who literally have the same problem with their clients at their gym, where they get embarrassed ’cause they didn’t do the work for a few weeks, or they, they missed a few calls or whatever it is, and they get into that little bit of a shame spiral.

And whether you’re working with us or any coach or mentor, the, you have to show up and then say to them, “I’m feeling shame.” Show up to them- Right … and say, “I’m feeling like I fell off the horse. Help me get back on.”

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker: But if you don’t come and show up, we can’t help you with that. And yeah, those are great.

Let’s dive into your top 10 list. Where do you wanna start?

Speaker 2: Uh, [00:06:00] I’d say we s- let’s start at the very beginning, onboarding. Great. So we have a- Yeah … a month-long onboarding. You get access to a couple playbooks that they’re designed to give you some quick wins, leads, that sort of thing. And unfortunately, some people spend well more than the month trying to just onboard, and so that’s a red flag at the beginning if you’re not motivated to kind of do that work and carve out time at the beginning then.

Yeah. Oof, can be difficult later.

Speaker: I think that’s right. I think for any of you joining any program, and this was true for me when I went back to grad school, right? I was like, I needed to be [00:06:30] ready to dive in with both feet immediately and make the most of the experience. So if you’re not ready for that, and in the first month you’re struggling to make time and to connect with the material and…

You’re right, that’s a little bit of a red flag. You really wanna pause and ask yourself, “Am I really– Is this the right timing for me? Am I ready to take advantage of this?” ‘Cause groups like Unicorn Society, or to use my, continue with my analogy, college, it’s expensive, right? It’s not no money. And if you’re really gonna do it, be sure you’re ready to dive in.

And it doesn’t mean you can’t have [00:07:00] hiccups here and there or need to pause, like those things are normal. But I think that’s a great place to start. Like if onboarding is a challenge, then we might need to rethink whether this is the right fit and timing.

Speaker 2: Yes.

Speaker: Yeah. What else?

Speaker 2: Schedule your calls with a coach.

Oh, yeah. So this could be one big hour call to just really hammer some things. It could be two half an hour or four 15-minute just for the accountability. But just block out time to make those calls and nothing… It, it– We can really help you dig into the playbooks to find what’s right for you, [00:07:30] ’cause our playbooks are bu- uh, built on best practices, but that might not mean that it works for your gym.

When I was a member, I was like, “I, we don’t do LBOs.” And you’re like, “All right, then maybe we can figure out another way to have kind of an offer or to get people through the door.” So yeah, those calls are just so important, because they’re all about you.

Speaker: Yeah. I think that’s so smart, Wendy, and you’re right that our Unicorn Society, like many other programs like it, it’s not designed to be like self-serve.

It’s not a vending machine. Right. Right? So it’s not like you [00:08:00] join this group, go take some virtual courses or read our online playbooks, and then go figure it out yourself. The reason we have Wendy and the rest of the coaching team and myself is because we’re here to help figure out the right size- Yeah

the right approach to that playbook, the right approach to that strategy, the right next steps. We’re help you– We’re here to help you get unstuck when you go to implement something we recommend and it doesn’t work for you. Mm-hmm. We’re also here to celebrate when it does, right? Yeah. And so scheduling, and for Unicorn Society members, you get an hour of one-on-one coaching and unlimited office hours every month.

And so whether you’re in a [00:08:30] program like that or some other, book the time. Like schedule in advance, make it a priority. I always tell people during onboarding, schedule your coaching calls and treat it like that doctor’s appointment that you had to wait six months for, right? Right. Treat every call like it’s just like a real priority for you, and you’ll make time for it.

Yeah. Okay, so that was number two. We’re- Yeah … we’re on a roll. We are. What’s number three?

Speaker 2: Answer your Mina check-ins every week.

Speaker: Oh.

Speaker 2: So as accountability coaches, we have a cohort, and we check in and say, “All right, did you get done what you said you were gonna get done last week, and what’s [00:09:00] your focus, most important next action this week?”

And I think a lot of it is the shame thing, and maybe they haven’t done the thing, so- Yeah … a lot of people just go silent. But it really helps us engage and support if you’re y- you know- Yeah … answering those messages.

Speaker: Yeah. That’s a great one, Wendy. The, the thing that I know in my bones from being a coach now for so many years is that coaching is like a relationship.

Yeah. And so much of the success of any relationship, whether it’s personal or professional, is about a cadence of connection. It’s like [00:09:30] a pulse- Mm-hmm … of when we talk, how we talk, what we talk about. And coaching relationship is only successful if we have a regular cadence- Mm-hmm … regular rhythm to when we’re talking.

‘Cause that’s why for all of us, like Wendy mentioned, once you g- once you join Unicorn Society, you get an accountability coach, and every week they’re reaching out to say, “What’s the one thing this week, come hell or high water, you’re going to accomplish? And if you’re not sure, let’s talk about it.” Mm. But we wanna make sure that you’re making progress on your priorities and not getting stuck- Right

in the little things. Yep. And again, whether you’re working with us or another [00:10:00] coach, you gotta have that pulse, that rhythm that builds the relationship and rapport over time. So I’m obsessed with that, and we could probably talk the whole podcast about that. Yeah. But let’s keep going. That was number three.

Okay. Okay.

Speaker 2: Number four would be to use the, the dashboard. Yeah. It’s a– For those of you who don’t know, it’s a spreadsheet where you track leads and all, all sorts of metrics that are valuable. And we’ve got a couple versions, a very streamlined version and then a little bit more detailed one. You can always make it your own.

But it’s all too often we ask somebody, “How are leads?” And they don’t know. Or, [00:10:30] “How’s retention?” And they don’t know. Yeah. The, that’s just really important. We even did a quarterly challenge to get people used to doing that, and- Mm … I think once people got in the rhythm, they really enjoyed it, and especially they were able to make better decisions based on real hard data.

Speaker: Yeah. Said my friend. Yeah, I don’t have much to add there other than, y’all, if you wanna run a business, you gotta know your numbers.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: You gotta know your numbers, right? It’s like if you’re gonna be a personal trainer and help people build strength, and you’re not tracking the weights you’re lifting over time, you’re just kinda winging it.

I don’t know- [00:11:00] Yes … a little heavier, a little lighter. I don’t know. That probably isn’t gonna go very well, right? You get away with it for a little while, right? But you gotta know the numbers to make better decisions about what to do next. And if you listen to this podcast for more than just a few episodes, you’ve probably talk, heard me talk about making more evidence-based decisions- Yeah

as a gym owner, and you just gotta track those numbers. Let me just ask a quick follow-up to you, Wendy. When, when you look at your dashboard on a regular basis, what are some examples of the kind of lessons you learn, decisions you make that are driven by those numbers?

Speaker 2: I will, [00:11:30] first and foremost is leads, like that’s right at the top.

Mm-hmm. And I know that if they start to dip over time, I have certain marketing levers I can pull. Like maybe I’ll do some paid ads, or maybe I’ll do a workshop or something like that. But yeah, you’re making decisions because you’re not, it’s not a feeling that leads are not as good as they are. It’s you’re actually seeing, whoa, they’re in half of what they were a month ago.

I need to get on it.

Speaker: Yeah. 100%. I always found, especially at MFF, we tracked everything at MFF may- maybe too much, maybe to a fault. Same. We learned our [00:12:00] lesson with Business of Unicorns. I think we’re a little more streamlined about what we decide to track here in terms of metrics, but it really helps me separate the facts from the feelings.

Speaker 2: Yeah. ‘

Speaker: Cause I can feel like w- in Unicorn Society even right now, we have some people who leave the group from time to time. Yeah. And I could do two exit interviews in a week and just feel so defeated. Like, “Everyone’s leaving. Everyone hates me.” And I look at the data, I’m like, “Oh, our average retention for the year is like under 2%.”

Speaker 2: Yes. ”

Speaker: We’re crushing it.”

Speaker 2: Right.

Speaker: And it just really helps me regulate my feelings with- [00:12:30] Mm-hmm … and ground them in facts. Okay. So- I

Speaker 2: even get things like the sales rate or like- Oh, man … conversion rate and stuff like that, and I don’t do the sales anymore. It’s my trainers. So if it’s not e- not where I want it to be, we can role play or we can, you know- Mm-hmm

we can maybe look at the script again, and do we need to adjust? So yeah. It’s just valuable information.

Speaker: Yeah. And looking at those numbers every week allows you to be proactive. Mm-hmm. We call those weekly metrics often leading indicators, meaning they’re the things that we can be proactive about changing every week from week to make the numbers better, so our months end as profitable and fantastic [00:13:00] as possible.

And yeah, it really helps to keep your finger on that pulse.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: That’s a great one. That’s number four. Is that where we’re at?

Speaker 2: Yes. Yeah.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker 2: Number five is- Let’s do it … to-

Speaker: Halfway …

Speaker 2: take advantage of office hours.

Speaker: Oh.

Speaker 2: Which we have a multitude of office hours with all different coaches all week, and if you have a quick issue or need some experience shares or whatever, just pop in.

It, it can only take you 10 minutes. But I actually love the office hours where there’s multiple people, and after they get their question answered- … sometimes they stick around, and then they [00:13:30] have opinions, and it’s more like a crowdsourcing thing. So that’s a really great tool that we have as well.

Speaker: Yeah. I think that’s so great, and I’ll make this relevant to people who are not in Unicorn Society, which is oftentimes your best Your best sol- best way to find a solution to a problem is crowdsourcing Right.

And in a group like, like Unicorn Society, you can crowdsource with over 100 other gym owners who are gonna give you great, immediate, honest feedback, whether that’s in our Circle platform [00:14:00] or on a group, group office hour. But for those of you who are not in a group like this, I think curating a group of other business owners or gym owners that you know that are on a WhatsApp thread with you or in your followers on Instagram and be able to crowdsource with some folks, “What do you all do when you come up with this issue?

Hey, I’m having this problem. How did y- how would you solve it?” That’s just, like, worth its weight in gold. And I think we hear from a lot of folks that being part of Unicorn Society, that’s one of the things they find most valuable, is getting into an office hour, talking to a coach, [00:14:30] yes, but also listening to other people’s challenges and how they’re solving them can teach you so much about how to run your own business.

Yeah. I also, I think you b- you’re the same, I just also love being in office hours. Oh, yeah. It just feels so fun. Yeah. It’s like such a fun vibe to have a bunch of people just talking about what they’re working on and, and sharing ans- sharing solutions. So yeah, that’s great. So that, that was number five.

We’re at the halfway mark. We’re doing great. Number six.

Speaker 2: I’ll just segue. This is out of order, but in-

Speaker: Sure …

Speaker 2: you’re talking about crowdsourcing, so be active in Circle, which is our [00:15:00] platform- Mm-hmm … where all our gym owners can, again, crowdsource or can post a win and it motivates other people. And don’t not only post ’cause you want feedback, but give other people feedback and create- Mm

those connections with people and learn from them and pay it forward and all that good stuff.

Speaker: Yeah. That’s, it’s been such… We’ve only had Circle for less than a year now as our community platform. It’s been so great for that kind of engagement. One of the things I know you’ve probably heard me say a billion times, Wendy, but I also say during our onboarding for Unicorn Society, and this [00:15:30] is a good kind of life mantra, is when you enter any sort of community, you wanna think about how you can be both a teacher and a student.

Yeah. How you can show up in a community and have some value to offer, have something to share, some- something, some wisdom to offer- Mm-hmm … some experience to offer. And you also wanna come curious and thirsty or hungry to learn from others, and I think Circle’s a perfect place for that. Yeah. A platform like that is the perfect place for it.

And so again, whether that’s with us or you going to conferences, like the Results seminars, [00:16:00] the, those kind of things. I said Results. What I, what I meant Perform Better, sorry. Yeah. Perform Better seminars. There’s all kinds of seminars. But going to some sort of conference or seminar where you can show up, get to know people, stay curious, but also go and have something to offer.

Go and have- Yeah … some value you can provide to those folks. Yeah. That’s great. All right. That was number six. What’s number seven?

Speaker 2: You gave me another segue. Attend the retreats.

Speaker: Oh, yes. Retreat. I’m wearing a retreat, retreat- Yeah … T-shirt right now from our Austin retreat.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. Say more about what the value is there, Wendy.[00:16:30]

Speaker 2: I think more than anything, it’s connection. It’s learning, it’s connection, it’s inspiration. It’s just one of… It’s really like a magical weekend. People leave there so inspired, so happy. You’ve met people online or you’ve heard their voice on the podcast, and now you got to go to dinner with them. So it’s a mix of a lot of fun, but a- A lot of work and learning as well.

And-

Speaker: Yeah …

Speaker 2: people always leave with a couple action items that are really gonna change their business

Speaker: Yeah, 100%. Yeah, that’s it. I was talking to someone [00:17:00] yesterday and, and it was a business partnership that came to our most recent Atlanta retreat, and the way they described it was, “We got home from the retreat and our heads were on fire.”

Right? That’s how they described it. They’re like, “Our heads were just on fire with ideas and things we could try, and just motivation.” They just left really re-inspired and motivated- Yeah … to do stuff, and I hope that’s the experience people, most people walk away with from our retreats. That- Yeah … or just being rejuvenated- Yeah

and feeling reconnected to your passion and purpose for doing this

Speaker 2: work. Yeah. And I’ve noticed people make time twice a year to go, and [00:17:30] that’s like- Yes … the highlight of their year.

Speaker: Yeah, 100%. And we’ve seen statistically, I have the numbers to back this up, folks who come to the retreats consistently both stay in the group longer and get better results over time.

So making time to step out of your business, in this case, in our case, twice a year, and go think big picture with other people about how you can improve and learn new strategies, level up your skills as a business owner, as a leader, as a marketer. Those are all the things we do at these retreats, and if you can do that twice a year, again, with us or not, you’re [00:18:00] gonna, you’re gonna get farther faster- Yeah

just by dedicating that time to your own development. Yeah. That’s such a great one. Again, we could talk about retreats this whole podcast probably. Let’s keep going. I forget, I think we’re on eight already, aren’t we? Wow.

Speaker 2: Use the BFU library. If you have a- Mm-hmm … an issue, read a playbook. There’s retre- if you didn’t make it to the retreat, there’s recordings from the past.

Any topic is covered somewhere, probably multiple times, in the library. I know for some people, especially when they’re newer, it’s a little overwhelming, so that’s where the coach comes in to help you kinda [00:18:30] streamline that. But yeah, we have a ton of content.

Speaker: Yeah, 100%. Yeah, we have, like, over 100 playbooks and courses that are in our library people have access to.

And you’re right, that it’s like walking into the New York Public Library for the first time, be like, “Whoa. I, I can’t even, I can’t even get through all these rooms in a day, let alone all the books,” right? It’s like people are just so overwhelmed. But I think to your point, Wendy, that’s what the whole coaching team is here for.

We’re the curators of that content. We’re the librarians, so to speak, right? And so when you have a project that we have [00:19:00] agreed that you’re gonna work on, we’ll go find the tools or resources or courses in the, in, in the Unicorn Society world that you might need to get started. And again, when during onboarding, I like tell people, like, “Now that you’re in this group, you never have to start with a blank piece of paper again.”

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: You never have to start with a empty slate- Mm-hmm … empty ca- empty canvas. Like, we have a first draft of pretty much anything you could possibly want to do in your gym, more than you might ever need, in fact. And so hopefully that’s helps people avoid that kind of activation energy that’s required [00:19:30] to build that first draft.

Yeah. We just help you move right on to making our draft your own- Mm-hmm … which I think just saves a lot of time. And again, I keep, I wanna keep making this relevant for people who are not in Unicorn Society by saying, even if you’re not in this group, go find out where you, where do you like to get your reliable curated information from.

There’s a lot of information out there on the interwebs about how to be an entrepreneur or how to run a gym, and it’s not all good. It’s not all good. Yeah. And we’ve gone out of our way to make our curated library of [00:20:00] materials, like, really thoughtful. Yeah. 100%, yeah. We improve it all the time. I would say of the 100 and plus courses and playbooks, I would stand by 99% of them.

There might be a few duds out there, right? Right? But I would stand by almost all of them by saying this is really the best thinking our industry has at the moment for how to do this, and not everything out there is as good as that. But for you listeners, go find the places that, that you like to turn to that have quality, well-vetted suggestions and tools.

Right. Yeah. [00:20:30] Okay, great. That was all– That was library. Now we’re on number nine. We’re almost at the end.

Speaker 2: It’s take part in our quarterly challenges. This is BFU specific, but we have- Yeah …

Speaker: our

Speaker 2: first challenge of this year was to get consistent using the dashboard. One is getting out and talking to strangers, kind of like grassroots, guerrilla-type marketing.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker 2: And the people that are doing it are very motivated to do so and are seeing results as a-

Speaker: 100%. The people who– We have a, often a leaderboard for each of our quarterly challenges, and the people who are at the top of the leaderboard are getting [00:21:00] such cool, great results, building partnerships- really becoming what we often call three-mile famous, making sure that their gym is really well known in their market.

And yeah, those challenges are fantastic. And for me, I think the lesson I’ll say here for people who are not in Unicorn Society is sometimes it’s really valuable to gamify your work.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: Sometimes it’s useful to challenge yourself and be a little competitive and make it fun to do this work. So that’s part of why we do these challenges is we’re not asking people to do anything [00:21:30] new that we don’t already ask them to do in these challenges.

We’re just picking some focus and gamifying it, making it a little bit challenging and fun for a quarter, and that’s really useful to do in your business for your staff. That’s really useful to do for your clients. And for you as an owner, you also need a little gamification from time to time. Oh,

Speaker 2: yeah.

I’ve seen people that, in this one particular, that are so scared about getting out there and talking to people they don’t know, but it’s really, they’re, they’re becoming a different person because of it. So it goes beyond just the gym, so-

Speaker: Yeah …

Speaker 2: very cool.

Speaker: Well said. Well said, Wendy. Are we on number 10 [00:22:00] already?

Speaker 2: We are. I have a couple bonus, but we can start

Speaker: with 10. Oh, good. I was nervous we weren’t even gonna get through all of them, and we’re doing it. So number 10.

Speaker 2: I was, my 10th is either attend or watch a weekly live training. So watch after the fact if it didn’t fit in your schedule. But we’ve every week a really cool topic, and I tend to watch them afterwards, but I learn something from them all the time.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I think this is our way of continuing to keep our finger on the pulse of what people need and new information we’re learning about latest marketing trends or what’s going on in the industry. And so every single week we have this [00:22:30] one-hour live training you can join when you’re in Unicorn Society, and this is our way of continuing to offer something unique and different.

And I’ll maybe add just a, maybe this might be one of your bonuses, so hopefully I’m not taking your bonus, but I would say in addition to coming to our weekly live trainings is involving your team in our weekly live trainings. That was mine. Is that one of your bonuses? I stole it. I’m sorry. But, but not, not just you as a gym owner, but we know one of the things that makes Unicorn Society a little unique, I think, is we like to work with your whole team.

Unicorn Society is not just for the owners, right? We want your whole team to, at least up to [00:23:00] five of them, we have some limits, but to be on circle, to be jumping into office hours, coming to these weekly live trainings, ’cause we know if we can help you and your team level up together- Yeah … that’s only gonna make your life as a, as the founder easier.

Speaker 2: And that’s key in delegating to your staff as well. Yeah. So you have a little more free time and you can do the things that you enjoy. ‘

Speaker: Cause now they know the same things you know. And they took the same course, they went to the same weekly live training. Yeah, that’s huge. I think we have a few minutes. I, I stole one of your bonuses, but what else was on your list?

Speaker 2: Just, this is a minor one kind of- Yeah … [00:23:30] but it’s to fill out your quarterly check-ins.

Speaker: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Yeah. I don’t, I- Yeah … do you know the percentage we get of that, of participation? I’ve surveyed- It,

Speaker: it varies wildly. Usually I think Q4 is the worst ’cause it’s the holidays and we can’t- Yeah, yeah … get anyone’s attention.

But I think the, I think the lesson here is for all you Unicorn Society members out there, the reason we do a quarterly check-in to say, “Are you getting results?” Every quarter, just fill out this short little survey that tells us, uh, are, do you have more members? Do you have more money? Do you have more profit?

Do you have more time and freedom? Are you moving the needle on the things that matter most? [00:24:00] And we check in to make sure you’re actually making progress. And I think the lesson for you all that are not in Unicorn Society is that regardless of whatever kind of support relationship you’re in, coach, mentor, teacher, networking group, accountability group, whatever it is, you should pause once in a while and ask yourself, “Am I getting the results and the outcomes I want from this experience?”

And hopefully you do that in collaboration with the folks that you’re doing it with, right? And so for us, we ask people every quarter to fill out this short little form to tell us if they’re making progress, and then the coach on the next call [00:24:30] will go over it with them and say, “All right. You filled out the quarterly, quarterly check-in, and this is what you said.

Congratulations, you’ve had these wins. This is an area where we haven’t found success yet. Let’s figure out how to tackle that this coming quarter.” So it’s our way of really making sure that you’re not in this group for long without getting progress made. But you gotta fill it out for us to know- Yeah

whether or not that’s happening. Yeah. That’s a great one. I don’t think that’s small at all. I think that’s so important, and we’ve pushed to get as much participation as possible, but it’s hard to get everyone’s attention. Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 2: All [00:25:00] right. So besides that- Anything

Speaker: else?

Speaker 2: Touched on all the time blocking and stuff, and just making- Yeah

time for this, which is by nature, if you’re gonna be participating in this stuff. But the last one would be listen to the podcast. You can do it in your car.

Speaker: Yay. I’m giving applause to that. Yeah, listen to the podcast, y’all. Yeah, whether in Unicorn Society or not, I think we, we put out two a week, right?

Mm-hmm. And we’re on episode, I don’t know, 500 and something. And so-

Speaker 2: Four,

Speaker: five … yeah. We- I think they’re short. We used to, I don’t know if you remember this, Wendy, but when I first started this podcast m- [00:25:30] nine million years ago, every episode was a freaking hour. Some were over an hour. And, and back then I just- You’re

Speaker 2: like Andrew Huberman.

Speaker: What’d you say?

Speaker 2: You’re like Andrew Huberman of business building.

Speaker: Exactly. Exactly. I was like… And I just, I like, I still do long, in-depth conversations, but we got feedback and I listened, and people are like, “Hey, I wanna listen to a whole episode on a commute, so let’s just make this under 30 minutes.”

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: And, and so we do. And so I love that you put that one at the end, Wendy, ’cause I think this is a great resource. And it’s free, y’all. Yep. It’s free. Yep. And we have literally a hu- [00:26:00] hundred, hundreds of hours worth of, I like to think, some really great insights about how to run the gym effectively. And we have a guest from time to time who also come and shed light on other tools and resources.

I just did one recently about Coach 360, which is a new platform that everyone should know about. I did one recently with the founder of Freedom Maker, which is a virtual assistant. So- Mm-hmm … it’s not just inside the BFU team. We also have external people, if you haven’t really- Yeah … explored this podcast much, to go listen to.

Any final thoughts, Wendy, [00:26:30] about folks who really make the most from a coaching group like Unicorn Society?

Speaker 2: Yeah, I just think an, an open mind and knowing that it- not everything’s one size fits all. There’s best practices, but, you know- Yeah … you can hack any system to work for you, and that you can feel good about too.

Yeah. ‘Cause I think at the end of the day, we all wanna feel good about what we’re doing and believe in what we’re offering and the way we’re getting there.

Speaker: Yeah. 100%. I think that’s so great. Well, thanks Wendy, obviously for being on the podcast, for putting together a top 10 list, which was [00:27:00] fantastic. And I think folks who are in Unicorn Society, hopefully if you’re listening, you find that valuable and you can see there’s lots of really valuable ways to engage.

And if you’re not in Unicorn Society, and maybe never will be, hopefully there’s some lessons in this for how to really engage with mentorships, coaches, groups like that to get value and feel supported. Yep. Awesome. Thanks, Wendy. And dear listeners, have a kickass week. I’ll see you all in the next one. Bye everyone.

[00:27:30] Bye.