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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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