Run a Profitable Gym

Two Brain Stories- Kristy Anderson

Episode 156- Youth CrossFit with Gretchen Bredemeier

Episode 156- Youth CrossFit with Gretchen Bredemeier Today we talk about CrossFit youth programs! If you are like me, you were very enthusiastic to start one but didn’t realize just how much work CrossFit Kids can be! On this episode, we talk with Gretchen Bredemeier who has started a really excellent program for CrossFit Kids. We dive into what sort of challenges a gym owner will face with a youth program, customizing the youth program to meet the needs of your gym, and we talk about the R...

Food For Thought Friday- Do You Praise For Process Or For Talent?

Two Brain Stories- Josh Melendez

Two Brain Mentor Series: Brian Strump

Episode 155 – Driven Nutrition with Jason Rule

Announcer:                            00:02                       Welcome everyone to to brain radio. It is our mission at TwoBrain is to provide 1 million entrepreneurs the freedom to live the life that they choose. Join us every week as we discover the very best practices to achieve perfect day and move you closer to wealth. Announcer:                            00:26                       This episode is brought to you by ForTime Design. The real focus of this episode is talking about th...

Episode 155 – Driven Nutrition with Jason Rule

Announcer:                            00:02                       Welcome everyone to to brain radio. It is our mission at TwoBrain is to provide 1 million entrepreneurs the freedom to live the life that they choose. Join us every week as we discover the very best practices to achieve perfect day and move you closer to wealth. Announcer:                            00:26                       This episode is brought to you by ForTime Design. The real focus of this episode is talking about th...

Food For Thought Friday- What Are Bright Spots Friday?

Two Brain Stories- Ashley Andrews

Episode 154 – The Intramural Open, with Mike Lejeune

Episode 154 – The Intramural Open with Mike Lejeune The Intramural Open is a fantastic way to build your community during the CrossFit Open. The focus is on inclusion and celebration instead of competition (though there’s a good bit of that, too.) Every year, we’ve built and improved on the idea thanks to the feedback from those gyms.   The Intramural Open was invented by Chris Cooper, founder of Two-Brain Business. You can download our 2019 Intramural Open Guide here for free! You shoul...

Food For Thought Friday- Is Your House Running Properly?

Two Brain Stories: Ruth Cheng

Episode 153 – UpLaunch with Matt Verlaque and Jake Johnson

Episode 153 – UpLaunch with Matt Verlaque and Jake Johnson   If you were building the perfect software tool for gyms from SCRATCH, where would you start?   I would start with a CRM. The most important work we do is the work that helps our clients. That doesn't mean a scoreboard; that means a way to help them get started seamlessly, stay excited and engaged, and reward them for great behavior.   The second most important work we do is the work that helps our coaches. That doesn't mean e...

Food For Thought Friday- 5 Mantras To Live By

1. “Heartily know, when demigods go, the gods arrive.” – Emerson. People leave your gym (or life) for a reason. Usually it’s to make way for better people. 2. “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”– Eleanor Roosevelt. Seriously, you’re the only one worrying about your programming and most of the “box drama”. Your clients have lives outside the box. 3. “They’re not your friends.” – Big Nick Your clients are your clients. They pay y...

Two Brain Stories: Ryan Stemper

Two Brain Mentor Series: Jeff Burlingame

Two Brain Mentor Series Jeff Burlingame At Two Brain we have over 20 mentors from around the world. In this episode I interview mentor Jeff Burlingame to hear how he got started in the gym business, and his path to becoming a mentor.  Jeff knew he wanted to be mentor in his late teens after years of watching TV shows like Kitchen Nightmares, Hotel Hell and Bar Rescue. As he started frequenting gyms he realised he wanted to mentor gym owners. Hear about his journey to get there, which inclu...

Episode 152 – The Tinker Phase of Entrepreneurship, with Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith is the owner of Cannon CrossFit, a real estate investor, and leader of the TwoBrain Tinker program. In this episode, Jeff talks about his story, what it means to be a mentor, and what it means to help those in the Tinker Phase. ​ Contact Jeff:[email protected] Timeline: 2:39 – Introduction with Jeff Smith 11:30 – Joining Two Brain as a mentor 13:09 – Joining the military, the motivation behind the decision 15:31 – Jeff’s other business, real estate. 17:14 – The impor...

Food For Thought Friday- 2019 Pricing

New Project: Mentor Series

Two Brain Stories: Josh Price

Two Brain Mentor Series: Jeff Smith

Two Brain Mentor Series: Jeff Smith In this series we are diving into each mentor, finding out their journey and what makes them really great mentors. Jeff Smith is the owner of CrossFit Cannon in Houston.  Originally from Central Illinois, he played football in college before joining the military. After he left, he worked in IT and started investing in real estate and flipping house while working full time. Hear about his journey into fitness, how he discovered CrossFit and why he decided...

Episode 151 – Two Brain For Clinics

Episode 151 – Two Brain For Clinics This week we have a special episode introducing a new service being offered by Two-Brain Business called Two Brain For Clinics. Dr. Brian Strump, a practicing chiropractor joins us to discuss exactly what is Two Brain For Clinics and how this new service can be leveraged along with a CrossFit gym or simply on its own to help chiropractors push their practice to the next level.   Brian is the owner of Live Active Charlotte, home of both CrossFit Steele C...

Food For Thought Friday- Top 10 books to develop you as a CEO

Mindset- Carol Dweck The Dichotomy of Leadership- Jocko Willink Remember It- Nelson Dellis Help First- Chris Cooper Leaders Eat Last- Simon Sinek Start with Why- Simon Sinek Tribe- Sebastian Junger The obstacle is the Way- Ryan Holiday Ego is the Enemy- Ryan Holiday How to Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie

Two Brain Stories: Eden Watson

Episode 150 – Wodify Industry Survey with Olivia DiGiorgio

Episode 150 - The Wodify Affiliate Trend Report A few months ago, Wodify released the results of its "CrossFit Industry Report" survey. The numbers caused a stir. There are plenty of these surveys out there. Most are subjective: they ask gym owners what they think, or to self-report numbers. But this one is different: it's an objective look at data pulled directly from 4500 users' dashboards. And some of that data is downright scary. Wodify has build their new Business Metrics Dashboard u...

Food For Thought Friday- Resolution Seminars

Episode 149 – Vaughn Vernon – Lessons Learned

  Today we are joined by Vaughn Vernon, owner of Affiliate Guard. Affiliate Guard is an industry-specific company that provides insurance coverage for affiliates. Founded by Vaughn in 1999, Affiliate Guard insures 2,500 gyms across the world today. Join us as we talk about Vaughn's growth as a business and as an entrepreneur. This episode is NOT about insurance. But Affiliate Guard is an official TwoBrain partner, which means they uphold the TwoBrain standard of excellence and care.   Don...

Food For Thought Friday- Who's The Real Enemy Here, Failure or Success?

Happy Holidays From The Two Brain Team!

Turtles All The Way Down

Why Most Businesses Are Just Houses Made of Cards The scientist Bertrand Russell once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how earth orbits the sun, and the forces holding our galaxy together. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady stood up in the back of the theater and said, "What you've just told us is rubbish. The world is a flat plate, resting on the back of a giant tortoise." Russell asked, "What is the tortoise resting on?' The old lady replied, "You're very clev...

Merry Christmas From Coop

The Martyrdom

"10:19pm. Leaving the gym. Missed my girls, but my 5am class will have clean floors. All about the hustle!" "I don't care if this gym ever pays me. I love the community and I'll fight like hell to keep this box open!" "A bunch of members quit when this new box opened down the road. They've got daddy's money and all the toys. But I'm just going to keep coaching my clients even better even if it means my wife has to go back to work." Scroll through the Instagram and Facebook pages of gym ow...

Farm 'til It's Gone

I spent New Year's Eve with a friend named Matt. Matt's a farmer. We sat at his handmade kitchen table drinking Mad Jack, both of us stifling yawns: I'd been up since 4am. Matt had been up all night, fixing power lines in -30 weather for his "real job". Matt works for the power company, but he's still a farmer. Our wives were talking about a mutual friend who'd won the lottery in 2017. Half a million isn't enough to retire on, but it pays a lot of bills, and I asked Matt what he'd do with ...

Food For Thought Friday- Why Do Movies Gross More Than Books?

Do You?

Do you have any idea how special you are? Over the last 72 hours, half a million people did the same crazy workout and then shared their score in public. Most of those people didn't win first place. Most of them didn't even want to compete. They didn't do it because Dave Castro made a workout so compelling that it made everyone jump off their couches and start exercising. They didn't do it because Greg Glassman's 2002 Journal articles made them want to exercise until their hands ripped or ...

How To Pay Your Staff

Go ahead, give them a salary.   Then type up the contract on your Electrolux typewriter, send them a turkey at Christmas, and flip your calendar ahead to 1983.   35 years from now, you'll ask your staff what they like; find their strengths; and put them in a job that rewards them financially and emotionally.   Or feel free to jump ahead to 2018 now.   Pay your staff for the value they bring to your business.   Start by breaking down every role in your business. Think of these as th...

How To Pay Your Staff

Go ahead, give them a salary.   Then type up the contract on your Electrolux typewriter, send them a turkey at Christmas, and flip your calendar ahead to 1983.   35 years from now, you'll ask your staff what they like; find their strengths; and put them in a job that rewards them financially and emotionally.   Or feel free to jump ahead to 2018 now.   Pay your staff for the value they bring to your business.   Start by breaking down every role in your business. Think of these as th...

Should You Post Your Prices on Your Website?

One of the most common questions asked by CrossFit gym owners is one of the most difficult to solve.   Like so many things in fitness, the correct answer is "It depends."   But I've never been satisfied on that answer, and when I hear it, I always want to reply: "Depends on WHAT?" So here you go: the real answer.   Should you put your prices on your website?   It depends what phase of entrepreneurship you're in.   If you're not sure which phase you're in, start by taking thetest he...

Episode 148 – The Multiple-Location Model

It's no secret that many CrossFit affiliates have opened a second location and had a very bad experience. The mistake usually comes from the old, flawed model of "the more clients, the better" and has sometimes been fatal.   As I wrote in "Should You Open A Second Location?" A second location doesn’t double your work; it quadruples it. There's a checklist in that article to help you decide whether the opportunity is really worth it.   But Jeff Larsh is one of the very few who has done it...

Food For Thought Friday- Are You Talking with Your Staff?

Episode 147- How To Sell Your Business

On this episode, we talk to Tammy Friedt. Tammy is one our amazing mentors here at TwoBrain, and she recently sold her business! Selling a business or a gym is not an easy task and it takes a lot of patience in order to do it correctly. Today hear directly from someone who has lived through this process and gains some insight and tips into how it all happens. Learn about what needs to be done to prepare and sell a business, what documentation and legal advice you will need, and also we talk...

Food For Thought Friday- Do You Have A Profit Account?

Episode 146: 1099 or W-2?

Episode 147 – 1099 or W-2? With John Briggs of InciteTax  Recently, I have started to see a trend where gym owners are increasingly being audited by the IRS. Today we talk about such things as how to survive an IRS audit, Tax Planning for the New Year, and what exactly is a 1099 contractor .  As the year draws to a close, now is the time to start thinking about closing out your books and taxes for the year. Additionally, John has also bought himself his own CrossFit gym and we check in to ...

Food For Thought Friday- Play

Episode 122 Replay: How To Map Your Client's Journey (And Why It's Huge)

Today we are talking about a very productive task that you can do for any business: mapping a client’s journey. This is all about determining what process you want a client to go through and what experiences you want them to have with your business. Today is all about the big picture and it is also an interactive session so be sure to have a whiteboard or notepad ready to write your own client story! Data shows that the best way to start a client’s journey with your business is through an i...

Food For Thought Friday- We Don't Do Black Friday Sales

Episode 145– Chris Cooper

On this episode, we sit down with Chris Cooper, the founder of Two-Brain Business.  Nearly ten years ago, Chris ran into trouble with his first business--a CrossFit gym--and hired a mentor. He began feverishly writing down all the lessons he was learning and blogging them along his journey to help others. Hundreds of blog posts later, Chris launched his first book, Two Brain Business, which is now the bestselling fitness business book of all time! In 2016, he launched TwoBrainBusiness.com a...

Food For Thought Friday- What Are You Thankful For?

Episode 144: AJ Wilcox, LinkedIn Ads Expert

Episode 144– The LinkedIn Expert – AJ Wilcox   I've always been puzzled by LinkedIn. On one hand, all of my ideal clients seem to be on there. LinkedIn is the social media for professionals, where you can identify high earners and find local entrepreneurs. And I think entrepreneurs are great CrossFit clients: they can afford it; they have a more open schedule; and they understand my rates and my hours. On the other hand, LinkedIn doesn't make it easy to advertise to these people. The new...

Food For Thought Friday- Do You Train With Your Class?