Michael Keeler

The 5 Tiers of Gym Owner Activity

Whoa Nelly, I’m getting SUUUUPER pumped about my free training next Sat Dec 16th and Mon Dec 18th on how to have an amazing first quarter of growth in 2024… All while working 5 hours LESS in your business. We’re going to grow your business bigly af. If you...

Missing the Low-Hanging Fruit

My wife trains at a CrossFit near our home. I’d imagine this sounds a little strange when you know that I own a gym.  Actually, the argument can be made that my wife owns a gym as well, but that doesn’t change the fact that the facility is situated 20-minutes from our...

Have You Done This Assessment Yet?

First up, if you haven’t already booked your spot, be sure to claim your seat for my upcoming online workshop.  I’m going to give you a step-by-step plan to grow your gym by as much as $5k per month or more by April 1st.  And I’ll show you how to do it while working 5...

Less, Not More

This world of abundance we’ve created for ourselves has a tendency of taking away just as much as it gives. While we’re efficient at creating nearly everything at scale, it doesn’t mean we need more of it all.  I’m routinely reminded in just about every facet of my...

Thankful For You

As the holiday season starts in earnest, we wanted to take a moment and thank you so much for your continued support and belief in BFU. We don’t take it for granted that there are MANY places you can go to get information on how to run a better gym.  It means a lot to...

Easier Than Ad-spend

If I asked you to list your three best lead generation strategies, my guess is that you’d fill some or all of the slots with traditional paid advertising options.  Facebook advertising drives you leads. Google advertising drives you leads. Sponsoring events in your...

Talent Will Be Found

I heard it all the time during graduate school as I studied entrepreneurship: The quality of your location will make or break your service business. Here I am a decade and a half later, running a gym situated at the rear of a 200,000+ square foot industrial building....

Your Money Story (And Mine)

Great news! Mike Boyle is joining us for the virtual Unicorn Society retreat in early December. His talk is on “Finding Trainers, Hiring Trainers, and Training Trainers.” You better believe my ass is going to be watching and taking notes! I’m prrrretty sure you know...

Foundations Before Facebook

People ask me all the time what I think about CrossFit. They expect me to badmouth the competition.  Yeah, CrossFit is flawed.  Guess what... so is my business. The thing about CrossFit that can be concerning is the fact that beginners occasionally find their way into...

We’re about to close the early bird window for the Unicorn Society.  This is your last chance to lock in the very best pricing before we raise the rates. You don’t have to make any commitments, but you do have to apply by this Sunday.  LEARN MORE I’m not gonna lie,...

Management = Mentorship

Do you have a colleague who reports directly to you? An employee? Maybe even an unpaid intern? A “yes” to any one of these questions means you are in the business of mentorship.  I know what you’re thinking -- let’s not build this into something bigger than it really...

Quickie Pro Tip [Better Results + Less Time]

Keeping today quick, as I’m heading up to Perform Better in Rhode Island to do a private training for Fitness Together. Very much looking forward to spending a day teaching some committed gym owners how to get better results! (And just in case you live under a rock,...

What About Pre-Owned?

I know what it feels like to dream about opening a gym. I envisioned the perfect footprint, the smell of new flooring, and the challenge of building something from nothing. Now that I’ve done it, I realize that most of that is overrated. Finding the exact layout you...

The 5 Most Common Gym Owner Mistakes

Behold! Today I bring you… The 5 Most Common Gym Owner Mistakes 1) Your prices are too low.  If you don’t charge a sufficient amount for your services, you won’t be able to pay your staff well and have appropriate margins. Perversely, it will also mean more...

Self-awareness Doesn’t Equal Action

Leaders are flawed. All of them.  Some are blissfully unaware of their shortcomings, while others have some degree of self-awareness surrounding weaknesses. The ones who do spot their flaws are prone to make the mistake of confusing acknowledging their weaknesses with...

How Much Should Gym Owners Make? [TOMORROW]

Wanted to give you a nudge in the (very unlikely event) you have thus far managed to avoid hearing about the FREE TRAINING I’m doing tomorrow. 😉 “How Much Should a Gym Owner Make?” And Other Financial Benchmarks Owners Need to Know A FREE training from Business for...

Your Content Bank

Everyone hears crickets when they publish their first blog post. Everyone accrues an embarrassingly feeble view count on their first handful of YouTube videos.  Repeat after me: Everyone starts at zero. But you’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to trust your inner...

MF on the Physical Preparation Podcast

Got a new podcast drop for ya. Was a pleasure to catch up with my pal Mike Robertson since I was last on his show.  5 years ago!! Needless to say… some stuff has happened haha. 🙂   I really enjoyed this interview, as we really went deep on a number of topics that...

Flexibility or Scale – You Can’t Have Both

Find me a small business owner employing five or less people, and I’ll show you a person who dreams of scaling larger. Bring me one with more than six of them, and I’ll show you a person who probably longs for the simplicity of his “small team” day of business. 1-5...

Increase your income AND your staff’s income [?]

First off, if you happen to be in NYC next Friday Oct 6th –– or want a good reason to visit! –– I’ll be doing a fireside chat about Mark Fisher Fitness and marketing at the Boutique Fitness Solutiont’s CEO Summit. I’ll also be there all day, presumably taking furious...

Explain It to Me Like I’m a Kindergartner

I was fortunate to have the pleasure of bringing my first-grade son to work with me three days a week for a six-month period when a pandemic changed the trajectory of his elementary school education. While the stress of home-schooling my child while simultaneously...

How Much Should Gym Owners Make? [FREE Training]

One of the most common concerns I hear from gym owners is this:  They’re not really sure how they’re doing. Or, to put a finer point on it… “How much should a gym owner make?” It’s only natural to want to know how you’re doing compared to other people. And too many...

Ditch The Sandwich

My first boss after college was masterful at delivering difficult feedback using the “shit sandwich” approach. You know the format: Step 1 - Deliver complement Step 2 - Roll out the critical feedback Step 3 - Mix in one more compliment The first problem I had with...

Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working [Don’t Mess This Up!]

Today’s thought may be obvious to some of you. But man o man, do I see this messed up a lot. Ya see, there aren’t an unlimited number of ways to generate leads for your gym. And as you build up capacity and want to increase your lead flow, at a certain point you’ll...

The Why Behind The Why

Teaching clients the “why” behind our training instead of just the “how” helps to improve their engagement with the process. The hidden perk that is rarely discussed, however, is that by doing so, we educate our best brand ambassadors on how to properly articulate our...