Get Chris Cooper's books free on Kindle this week: https://twobrain.co/4bitrbb

Chris Cooper has written 10 books, and he says it's not because he loves writing. It's because he kept watching gym owners hit the same walls over and over, at every stage of ownership.

In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Chris breaks down which book he'd hand you depending on exactly where you are in your journey.

• "Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Chief": for gym owners who feel stuck and need to know their single next step
• "Start a Gym": for those opening their first location or still in year one
• "Gym Owner's Handbook": for owners who've realized running a business is more than just being a great coach
• "Help First": for anyone who wants to grow without feeling slimy or salesy
• "Millionaire Gym Owner": for owners finally making consistent income who don't want to blow it
• "The Golden Hour": for gym owners who know what to do but can't get out of reaction mode long enough to do it

Tune in to find out which book matches your exact stage of gym ownership right now.

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Free Books

Gym Owners United

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0:00 - The lesson I wish I had 20 years ago

1:33 - The one book every gym owner should start with

3:28 - Before you open your first gym

4:33 - When coaching isn't enough anymore

5:34 - The marketing book that changes everything

7:08 - What to do when your gym finally makes money

8:18 - The habit behind every successful gym owner

9:44 - The shortcut to building a profitable gym

Get Chris Cooper’s book “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Chief” free on Kindle this week (Jul. 27-31): https://twobrain.co/4gLvR5E

If you’re a gym owner who feels stuck, you probably don’t need more information. You need focus.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper joins CEO John Franklin to break down the four distinct phases of the entrepreneurial journey, based on his book “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Chief.”

Chris explains why the Founder phase is about narrowing to one clear product and getting good at conversations and invitations—not diversifying or over-investing in space and staff. He shares the story of nearly running out of money and being told by his own mentor that he wasn’t ready for marketing yet.

From there, Chris and John walk through the Farmer phase (buying back your time instead of hiring your clone), the high-risk Tinker phase (where entrepreneurs often blow up what’s working by chasing shiny new ideas), and the Chief phase, where the goal shifts from personal wealth to building a legacy that multiplies impact beyond any one person.

Chris also shares real stories from his own journey, including the mentor who talked him out of opening a coffee shop and the moment that reshaped how he thinks about giving back.

Tune in to figure out exactly which phase of entrepreneurship you’re in right now, and what to focus on to move forward.

Several of Chris’ other books are also free on Kindle this week, including “Start a Gym” and “Millionaire Gym Owner.” Grab your copies via the link below.

Links

"Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Chief"

More Free Books

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0:00 - The four stages every gym owner goes through

0:50 - Why Chris rewrote “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Chief”

3:36 - How to escape the Founder phase

7:34 - Why more leads won’t fix your gym

10:50 - When you’ve officially become a Farmer

12:02 - The hiring mistake almost every gym owner makes

19:45 - Why successful gym owners get distracted

24:39 - How Tinker gym owners build lasting wealth

28:00 - What the Chief phase really looks like

31:13 - How to create a legacy beyond your gym

Want to run an in-gym event that brings in new members and keeps them around? Download our step-by-step Intramural Open guide.

Are the CrossFit Games dead? And should gym owners even care?

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper joins CEO John Franklin to discuss the state of the Games, as it heads into its 20th year.

Chris has been on both sides of this conversation. He worked for CrossFit HQ, recently interviewed the brand’s new CEO Bruce Edwards, and made the decision to reaffiliate his own gym.

He walks through how the Games shifted from a small community meetup into an expensive, sponsor-driven spectacle, and why that shift disconnected it from the everyday members who make up most affiliate gyms.

John puts Chris through a four-question report card on whether the Games still market the brand, measure real fitness, bring new people into CrossFit and keep members in affiliates longer.

Chris’ answers point to one consistent theme: Gyms don’t need to wait on HQ to fix this.

The pair dig into what’s actually working elsewhere, including HYROX, Spartan Race and Street Parking meetups.

They explain how gym owners can borrow those ideas to build their own intramural events, using the same repeatable workouts each year so members can track real progress and feel proud of what they’ve accomplished.

Tune in to hear Chris’s take on where the Games went wrong, and how any affiliate can create that same “peak moment” feeling for members without needing CrossFit HQ to get it right first.

Links

Intramural Open Guide

Gym Owners United

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0:00 - Are the CrossFit Games still helping gym owners?

0:51 - What the CrossFit Games were originally built for

3:11 - When the Games stopped helping affiliates

7:21 - What gym members are actually looking for

10:20 - How the Open lost its original purpose

14:42 - Chris Cooper grades the CrossFit Games

20:25 - What Chris would change at CrossFit HQ

25:12 - Why fitness festivals outperform competitions

29:09 - How to reinvent the CrossFit Open for your gym

34:23 - Why Chris re-affiliated with CrossFit

Use our AI-powered Instagram audit to identify the biggest gaps in your gym’s social media and generate more leads: https://gymig.com/

Isaac Morgado’s gym content system generates 140+ leads per month.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” John Franklin sits down with Isaac to break down his exact Monday-morning process for batching a full week of lead-generating content.

Isaac explains why he shifted away from trend-chasing reels toward value-based, saveable content, and he reveals the main content buckets he rotates through.

He also shares how his personal brand is starting to outperform the gym page, and how paid ads (including a surprisingly cheap Hyrox campaign) work alongside organic content to build trust before someone ever fills out a form.

Tune in to get a simple framework for turning one piece of long-form content into a week’s worth of leads-generating posts.

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Gym Instagram Audit

Gym Owners United

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0:00 - The content system behind 140 gym leads a month

0:59 - What a high-performing content system actually looks like

3:00 - Plan a full week of content in 90 minutes

6:29 - Create content people actually save and share

8:34 - Free AI Instagram audit for gym owners

8:50 - Why valuable content beats viral content

15:03 - Turn one podcast into weeks of content

20:21 - Which marketing channels deserve your time

24:10 - How paid ads and organic content work together

28:29 - Where struggling gym owners should start

Calculate exactly what you should be charging with our Revenue Per Session (RPS) Calculator, linked below.

Don’t set your prices by copying the gym down the street (and maybe knocking off $10).

Instead, there’s a data-backed way to do it, using real numbers from thousands of gyms and one metric that tells you if your price is pulling its weight: revenue per session (RPS).

In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain CEO John Franklin explains what revenue per session (RPS) is and why $200 is a healthy target to aim for.

He walks through the math for calculating your session rate and RPS and shows two different ways to hit the $200 RPS benchmark—raising your prices or increasing class attendance.

Pulling data from Two-Brain’s “State of the Industry” report (metrics from over 7,000 gyms), John analyzes large group and small group/semi-private models side by side, comparing lead volume, close rates, pricing and membership usage.

Listen to learn how to set data-backed prices that let you pay coaches well and run a more profitable gym.

Links

Rate Per Session Calculator

Gym Owners United

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0:00 - Stop copying your competitor’s prices

0:41 - The metric every gym owner should track

1:24 - What 7,000 gyms taught us about pricing

3:01 - Calculate your revenue per session

4:28 - The $200 rule for profitable gyms

5:58 - How to charge the right price

6:59 - What if you can’t raise your prices?

Semi-private training is one of the most talked about revenue plays in the fitness industry, but there’s rarely a clear roadmap for adding it to an already packed group training schedule.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” John Franklin sits down with Jamie Warren, CEO of Iron Tribe Fitness, who took his gyms from nearly 100% group training revenue to a 50/50 split with small group—without blowing up his schedule or losing his culture in the process.

Jamie explains how he made the change: identifying which coaches and clients to beta test with, protecting the schedule with a “do no harm” approach, and using client demand to decide which class slots to convert.

He also shares real stats, including how average revenue per member nearly doubled and why net margins ended up roughly twice as high even with a similarly-sized member base.

Tune in to learn how to build a semi-private, small group training program that adds real value for clients and for your business.

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How much revenue does your gym generate per session? Measure your RPS against the healthy $200 benchmark and find out what to change if you’re not there yet: https://twobrain.co/4wv2VDk

Links

Rate Per Session Calculator

Gym Owners United

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0:00 - Why Iron Tribe added semi-private

4:15 - Building the beta test with existing coaches

9:40 - The webinar launch and first 100 members

16:20 - Protecting the schedule during the transition

22:05 - The revenue and margin results

28:30 - Advice for gym owners on the fence

Some gyms are struggling to break even on their HYROX affiliation. Others are generating 15X or even 89X return on their affiliation fees.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” John Franklin sits down with Lisa Palmer, a Two-Brain mentor and HYROX affiliate in London.

The U.K. is one of the most mature HYROX markets in the world, roughly three years ahead of North America.

Lisa walks through how she layered HYROX onto her CrossFit schedule, replacing low-attendance classes instead of adding new ones, and how the move became an unexpected retention machine, dropping her gym’s churn from 14% to under 5%.

She and John dig into the full playbook: building race-prep courses around official HYROX events, running simulations that pull in thousands of dollars, using HYROX to catch members who need a lower-impact option, and turning that same funnel into CrossFit upgrades.

Lisa also shares what she’d do differently if she were starting over and how gyms of any size can find an entry point.

Tune in to learn how to build a HYROX program that actually pays for itself many times over.

Want to generate more revenue from HYROX? Check out our HYROX toolkit, linked below!

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HYROX Toolkit

Gym Owners United

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0:00 - Why some HYROX affiliates never make money

1:12 - Should you add HYROX to your gym?

3:20 - The unexpected benefit that changed everything

5:58 - Free HYROX resource for gym owners

6:16 - The HYROX growth strategy she'd use today

10:25 - Turning HYROX into multiple revenue streams

13:01 - How top gyms market their HYROX program

19:08 - The hidden retention advantage of HYROX

25:05 - Is HYROX right for every gym?

HYROX is everywhere right now, and your gym doesn’t necessarily have to become an affiliate to cash in on the trend.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain Business CEO John Franklin breaks down the “mini sim,” a scaled-down HYROX-style competition any gym can run without paying affiliation fees or buying new equipment.

John walks through the exact blueprint: cutting the running volume, running it as a doubles event to build in referrals and setting a financial target (Two-Brain gyms have made $2,500-$6,000 from their first event).

He covers the week-by-week promotion plan, including real examples of gym posts that sold out events fast.

He also details race-day logistics (staffing, heats, avoiding bottlenecks) and how to turn one-time event revenue into new recurring members.

Tune in to get a complete playbook for running your first HYROX-style event and building an ongoing program members love.

Use the link below to access our complete HYROX toolkit for gym owners!

Links

HYROX Toolkit

Gym Owners United

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0:00 - Why every gym should pay attention to HYROX

1:02 - The low-risk way to test the HYROX trend

2:09 - The hidden growth opportunity most gyms miss

4:06 - Planning your first HYROX-style event

5:46 - Where your first participants will come from

7:00 - Real gym marketing examples that worked

8:40 - The promotion mistake that kills event sales

9:26 - Race day secrets for a smooth event

13:35 - The email every gym owner should send

17:02 - Turn one event into long-term members