Bad News Coming Down The Pike…
There are some economic headwinds a-blowin’. It would be unwise to completely ignore them. And even sillier to not be prepared if things keep going south. The good news is most training gyms can buffet macroeconomic storms pretty well. If you’ve been doing the right...
MF’s Latest Keynote Takeaways
We are now two weeks away from baby MFF’s due date. Yowza! With a baby on the way, now’s not a great time for me to be on the road. So it’s pretty awesome that I can now do virtual keynotes from the comfort of my own home. Today I have the good fortune of delivering...
Writing Emails People *actually* Want To Read [5 Tips]
This weekend is our Unicorn Society retreat in Portland, OR. Our team and Unicorn Society members are spending the weekend working on their businesses, drinking amazing coffee and craft beer, and enjoying summer in one of my favorite cities. And I’m not gonna be...
About Us
Since we’re just a few days away from the closing of the Early Bird window for the Unicorn Society’s midyear enrollment… I want to shamelessly talk about the humans who provide the BFU coaching magic. You see, if you’re looking for support in growing your training...
The Only Way You’ll Ever be Free
Today is an exciting day, as I’m heading to Perform Better in Orlando. It’s one of my favorite events, and it feels so good to be back in person for the first time in two years. I’m giving a talk that covers the 10 Ways To Grow Your Training Business in 2022. If you...
BFU’s #1 Blog Post
First up, I want to share an awesome (free) offer from my pal Sumit at Naamly. I’m speaking at Perform Better in Orlando, FL next week from June 3rd-5th, and thanks to Sumit, you can see me speak for free. We know inflation has made things super expensive and we also...
My exact morning routine to win the day
First off, GREAT news about our next Unicorn Society Retreat… Would it sweeten the deal to know my dear pal Luka Hocevar is going to be a guest speaker at next Unicorn Society retreat on Fri June 17th - Sat Jun 18th? 😉 Come spend time with your BFU brethren enjoying...
I’m nervooooous [Help Requested]
I’ve mentioned this a couple of times, but after a few months of working out the kinks, lots of learning, and getting up the first batch of videos… I’m proud/ nervous to debut the new Mark Fisher YouTube Channel! Your support would mean so much. I’ve been working...
MF’s upcoming book (!)
Welp, I’m finally doing it. I’m putting together a book! It’s going to be a compilation of my most popular emails and blogposts from the last two years. Right now, I’m in the process of editing it. I’m really excited to create a single resource chockful of frameworks,...
Physiological Leadership
First off, a quick note to say that I’m SO excited to return to my old stomping grounds and speak at the Perform Better Summit in Orlando, FL on June 3rd-5th. Even before I was a speaker on the tour, this was always one of my can’t-miss educational events every single...
What Should Happen EVERY Session?
Now, we all know that we should have “standard operating procedures” for our training gyms. But sometimes, this can feel overwhelming. Even the term “standard operating procedure” can sound daunting. The good news is that if you do this right, it should be simple....
MF’s Favorite Books for Training Gym Owners
A few thoughts on this list: Want to learn more about how I get through so many books? Lucky you! Since writing the original version of this post, I’ve outlined my entire system in this post HERE (NOTE: This too needs an update, but it’s a solid overview). This list...
Time Away From Your Business…
First off, in case you missed it on the socials, I’m proud to announce I’ve recently become an investor in Alloy Personal Training, an emerging fitness franchise. I’m really excited about this opportunity. I expect to learn many lessons and become even more helpful to...
The Time I Felt Lowest About Myself (and MFF)
I’ve recently found myself digging into the rabbit hole of “mimetic theory” and the work of philosopher Rene Girard. Girard was a professor at Stanford and was a big influence on a few Silicon Valley luminaries. I was vaguely familiar with his work, but after reading...
Takeaways from Miami [Unicorn Society Retreat]
Spending a few days with some of our training gym owners, enjoying Miami, and working on our businesses is more fun than a barrel of monkeys on LSD! In addition to our usual quarterly planning session, this meet-up’s topic was leadership. As usual, the BFU team...
Easy Actionable Tip [Quick]
Keeping this one super quick today, as we’re in prep mode for our first Unicorn Society retreat of 2022. And that means I’m living dat good Miami life with the other unicorn-lovers! But worry not, I shan’t leave you hanging without any Thursday goodness. Today’s...
10 Ways to Grow Your Training Gym
Time sensitive offers are a great way to encourage your prospects to finally try out — or return to — your training gym. Now there’s a bit of an art to this. We don’t want to “train” our audience to always wait for something special. But a clear call to action and a...
Episode 113: How to Invest In Your Team’s Education to Get Results with Michael and Mark
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
Introducing BFU’s Pete Dupuis [NEW]
Want to share a very important point that came up in our private Unicorn Society Facebook group. One of our members shared this insightful thought in a post: “I thought I was running a people first business. But now I realize it’s been a people pleaser business.”...
Episode 112: How to Set Goals and Key Metrics for Your Gym with Matt Kasee and Adam Terry
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
The Requirement
I’m not one for dogmatism. But some principles are essentially laws of nature. And if you’re looking to run a successful training gym? Success requires investment. This is true no matter how you define “success.” Want to make a bigger impact with your business? Want...
Episode 111: How to Start Creating Systems in Your Business with Ben Pickard
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
Episode 110: Organizing Your Time and Staying Productive with Steve Bergeron and Jason Giles
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
How Do I Find Good Employees For My Training Gym?
(Diligent readers will note I shared a version of this email over the summer. But since I know staffing is still an issue, I wanted to share it again.) Finding qualified team members is one of the biggest challenges of owning a training gym. And the stakes are high to...
Episode 109: How to Manage Your Training Gym Facility Like a Pro with Michael and Pete
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
Does Your Facility Look Like sh*t?
Maybe that’s the issue Now I don’t actually know, of course. I’ve not been to most of your facilities. But some fitness facilities do look like doodoo. As the oft-quoted, possibly made-up, but still reasonable-to- believe stat goes, the number one reason people leave...
Episode 108: Raise Your Rates with Confidence with Andy Fernandez and Renee Metivier
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
Episode 107: Michael and Mark Share Productivity Tips for 2022
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
What Kind of Help do You Need?
Welcome to a brand spankin’ New Year. 🙂 As we think about the year ahead, I wanted to drop you a short note and invite you to get crystal clear on what kind of help you need. You see, sometimes, we know the root of a given issue and we know how to solve it. We just...
5 Top Posts of the Year
Have some extra time this weekend to catch up on some reading? Here are some of our most popular posts from over the last year. They’ll help you hit the ground running in 2022! Why MFF Closed a Location [$500k Lesson] - My scars are your lessons! Haha. All kidding —...
Episode 106: Using Virtual Assistants with VA’s for Gyms and Scott Rammage
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
Episode 105: Developing Entrepreneurship Among Your Team with Molly Kieland
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
Don’t Drive Angry
Quick thought for you today... If you run a business, I bet that sometimes you have feelings. This is normal. It means you care! And feelings can be helpful signals. We don’t want to dismiss them or attempt to block them out and repress them. That never works anyway....
Episode 104: The Power of Delegating with Megan Hanna & Chris Perry
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
You May Unsubscribe…
You can usually trust this missive for a weekly heapin’ of actionable fitness business know-how. But long time readers know your friendly author’s commitment to a never-ending liberal arts education. You see, if you want to win at your business — and be the best human...
Episode 103: Charlie Deist on Building Culture
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
How Can I Sell Without Feeling Sleezy?
Today we’re going to cover how to sell your services without feeling sleezy. First point: if you’re concerned about this, you probably don’t need to worry. At the end of the day, those of us that are concerned about turning people off or being too pushy usually don’t...
Episode 102: Mark and Pete on Identifying Where You Need Help in Your Business
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
Episode 101: Michael, Mark & Pete Share the Most Common Mistakes Gym Owners Make
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
2022
Seems hard to believe. But we’re a stone’s throw from 2022. If you don’t already have a dedicated 2022 planning session in the books, now would be a great time to pencil one in. The Unicorn Society is gathering in Nashville this weekend to prepare for the new year. In...
Episode 100: Michael and Mark on the Importance of Mentorship and Peer-Learning for Entrepreneurs
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
I Was Feeling Pretty Low. And Kinda Disgusted. But This Really Helped.
I want to share a powerful framing that encapsulates why I’m so passionate about the Unicorn Society. But first, lemme tell you a quick story. Your ol’ pal Mark has had some ups and downs over the past 18 months. I suspect I’m not alone and maybe you can relate. When...
Episode 99: Kelly Edwards Explains How to Run a Successful Youth Athlete Program
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
15 Traits of Successful Training Gym Owners
As we chat with training gym owners for the January enrollment of the Unicorn Society, I’ve been reflecting on the differences between those who just get by and those who thrive. (Want to learn more about the Unicorn Society? Go HERE.) Listen, this can be tough biz....
Episode 98: Michael and Mark on “Non-Social Media” Marketing Strategies
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
How To Learn Faster
If you’re a long-time reader you know I’m pretty aggressive about my education.BEHOLD. *Cue the Majestic Trumpets of Angels” In all honesty, I can’t think of anything more fun than learning. In fact, if there’s one thing I know about myself, it’s this: Mark Growing/...
Episode 97: Chris Burgess Shares How Customers Are Behaving Differently Post-COVID
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
36 hours Of Pain
One of the hardest parts of running a business is “ripping off band-aids.” The band-aid in question can be any number of situations demanding a change: A pricing model that won’t allow for profitability A long term employee that’s no longer working out A new hire that...
Episode 96: Bonus Episode Michael and Mark Reflect on the Importance of Stepping “Out” of the Business
What if you were friends with a bunch badass business leaders and entrepreneurs and could ask them about their successes, challenges, and most valuable advice? That’s exactly what Business for Unicorns delivers. Join business coach and entrepreneur Michael Keeler as...
Simple Marketing Calendar For a Training Gym [Easy]
I hope this missive finds you well and drinking something seasonal including but not limited to a pumpkin spice latte, apple cider, or a pumpkin ale. #basic If you haven’t already put some thought into leveraging Black Friday/ Cyber Monday, now’s the time to get...