I was hired for a full day of business consulting by a tremendous gym owner a few months ago.
He had 2 locations and wanted to spend a full day to help him get clarity on his vision for the future…
…and to help create a strategy to get there before his first child was born.
Like many gym owners, he was dealing with a lot of head trash. After 7 years of running 2 gyms, he was confused on many fronts.
His role…and best use of his time?
Should he focus on his 2 locations, open more, or condense to one?
Did he have the right people in the right seats?
How could he maximize his sales and marketing to drive profit?
I also knew that he was struggling with self-doubt, comparison syndrome, and a running voice in his head that kept telling him he was in over his head.
He invested a heavy financial fee for the full day of consulting with me, took a flight and two nights away from his family.
I had him send me a detailed outline before he flew into town so I could gather my thoughts and formulate the plan for the day.
While I do have a tentative plan for what I want to get done over the course of these days, there is no hard agenda until i see the financials and get answers to some very important questions.
Here was what ended up being the agenda:
- 9-10 AM: Build Self-Confidence
- 10-12 PM: Maximize Profit through Price
- 12-2 PM: Put the Right People in the Right Seats
- 2-5 PM: Get the Marketing Firing
Here’s an outline of what we covered
Hour 1: The Mind
We started at 9 AM in the lobby of a local hotel…
…by 10 AM he had acquired the skills and knowledge to tame the beast inside his head.
The first hour had nothing to do with business…
…But had everything to do with business.
While I am not at liberty to give you the details of that first hour (I wish I could), let’s just say I gave him the mindset tools to be successful, happy, and free despite anything that happened with his business.
I essentially gave him permission to change how he thinks and to be able to feel happy…even if his business was not exactly where he wanted it to be.
Because I know that happiness won’t come just because you achieve a business result
I gave him 3 very specific techniques to master the narrative going on his head…
….so he could finally be happy and not rely on business wins to give him a short hit of happiness or security.
If he applies them, his life will be transformed.
Hour 2-4: Money
After I gave him the tools to be happy in his head no matter what happens in business…we went to his financials.
I had him bring his profit and loss statement from the past quarter.
The PnL is the ONLY truth-teller in business.
Failing to look at this means you’re not in touch with reality and is the fastest way to fail in business.
After looking at his numbers, I found a blazingly obvious adjustment that needed to be made.
My fresh eyes noticed it immediately…his eyes were too closed to see it.
He needed to raise his prices.
He didn’t see it because, like many of us, there was a part of him that didn’t want to…even though a price increase is 100% the fastest way to start making more profit.
Raising prices is a very emotional thing.
It’s risky.
Not risky in the sense of people will leave.
But risky in the sense of what people will say.
This is why people fear public speaking so much; it’s the fear of being judged.
When you raise your prices you’re essentially putting a target on your chest.
You’re doing something that most people won’t like and you’re opening yourself up to have a lot of hard conversations.
This is why more people don’t raise their prices….even if it’s a very clear, necessary strategic decision.
I helped him…
1) come up with how much he would raise his prices
2) what to say in his price increase letter
3) gave him a deadline to send the letter (which is the most important of the 3)
I also told him how much more money he would make in the next 12 months with this price increase.
The number was not significant in terms of how much the increase was to his members.
But they were very significant for his checking account…very.
This second hour about raising prices paid for this consulting day…and probably the next 20 consulting days he’ll do with me.
Hour 4-5: The right people in the right seats
I had him bring an organizational chart, which told us the team he had, and what their roles were for the company.
He essentially had one main trainer leading each gym.
Neither was performing as best as they could because one was focusing on adults…and wanted to train athletes.
The other was training athletes and wanted to grow adults.
We switched them!
It was easy for me to see but harder for him because he was so entrenched in the business.
Fresh eyes see things that tired eyes don’t.
Every gym owner needs fresh eyes on their business.
Hour 5-8: Marketing
We spent the rest of the day focusing on his marketing.
- We built a sponsorship program
- Rebuilt his website
- Mapped out his Q4 Marketing calendar
- And a ton of other stuff I can’t even recall
___________________________________
This day occurred on September 16th, 2022.
Fast Forward to today, and I am proud to report that his life and business have been transformed (his words).
In just 3 months…
- He went from 90-120 Personal Training Clients
- Went from 30-75 Athletes
- Made a huge decision on a new facility
- Had only ONE person leave after his price increase
- Has more confidence and belief in himself than ever
I thought this would helpful to see some of the core things to look at in your business that will make the biggest impact.
Addressing these 4 things will have huge potential for change and growth.
- Your Mindset
- Your Prices
- Your People
- Your Marketing
See you next time!