Latest News and blogs
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...
Getting Outside Yourself
For a few years, I’ve been a part of a Men’s Leadership and Support group in my town. From the outside, it’s a community of like-minded people who want to grow and serve their communities. From the inside, it’s bonding, leadership coaching, and a lot of what I can...
Drinking Through a Firehose
Solve pain points, sure. But stop hitting them all in a single piece of marketing. Quality fitness instruction should check a whole bunch of boxes on your “get healthy checklist.” Get stronger Lose weight Increase athleticism Reduce injury risk Improve sleep quality...
40 for 80
Just about every gym owner I know made the move to brick and mortar entrepreneurship after deciding that the need for independence was all the justification needed to walk away from paid employment. This meant stepping away from a steady paycheck, from health...
My 5 Favorite Gym Business YouTubes
I’m about to be totally off grid for my yearly pilgrimage to Burning Man. As in, no digital communication of any kind. I will miss you terribly! But while I’m away, I wanted to share with you some fitness business knowledge to feast upon in my absence. Below you’ll...
Niche Identification
They say: “the riches are in the niches.” Thing is, the people who make this declaration rarely discuss the art of identifying and developing a niche. This isn’t as simple as spotting an untouched spot in the market and then announcing that you own it. Instead, you...
How Many Services Should Your Gym Offer?
This is an important question. Cuz if you screw this up, you leave money on the table OR you bury your business and team in complexity/frustration/sadness. Or both! As usual, allow my missteps to save you time and money. Click the link below to learn more. HOW MANY...
Be The Example
Do you wish that your employees read more? Get them all in a room and deliver a presentation on the most important takeaways you pulled from the two books that you read in the past month. Want them to attend more continuing education events? Invite a colleague to join...
The Most Successful Gyms Do THIS [3 Steps]
Part of my job is doing 99% of the new member interviews for Unicorn Society to make sure we’re truly able to help anyone who joins our Business Mentorship program. That means I get to talk to a LOT of fitness business owners like you - to hear their struggles, learn...
The Selling Cop Out
The best coaches and personal trainers are world-class conversationalists, and the most effective sales pitches are just thoughtful conversations surrounding a well-differentiated product or service. If you’re as good at your job as you believe yourself to be, the...
4 Quick Thoughts on Gym Salez…
Coming in hot with four quickies… 1) Positioning - As a training gym owner, you want to control the messaging so you’re compared to personal training, NOT to open access gyms (like Planet Fitness). While you’ll never win this battle 100% of the time, you can support...
Facts & Stories
My business functions in an industry that is driven by metrics. How many kilos can you deadlift? How fast can you sprint 40-yards? How many pounds did you help a client to lose? Metrics are important. After all, they’re essentially the key performance indicators that...
Get More Leads [20 Ways]
Here’s a list of 20 Ways to Get More Leads for your gym: 1) Make sure your website homepage makes it immediately clear 1) who you help, 2) how you help them, and 3) exactly what to do next (with a big obvious call to action button above the fold). 2) Have a compelling...
Conflict & Apathy
Find me a mature small business that is immune to the occasional underperforming year of operations. You can’t. Clients come and go, staffs turn over periodically, and an unpredictable economy can swing the pendulum of productivity in one direction or another at any...
False Influence
Sometimes, when faced with an important decision that impacts my entire team, I come to a conclusion on the direction I intend to go with it. That is, after all, my right as a business owner -- to make difficult decisions on behalf of the staff. In the past, when...
The Numbers You Really Need to Know [SIMPLE]
When I’m looking to quickly cut to the heart of the matter and understand how a gym is doing by the numbers, this is what I want to know: Finances - Each of the Last Three Months AND 2022 Totals Revenue Expenses Owner Pay + Perks People Costs (excluding Owner)...
The Client’s Best Interest
A dad called our gym to ask about our remote training services. He was uncomfortable with the idea of his teenaged son executing complex training material outside of the supervision of a qualified coach.I get it, I said. Certain loaded movements in the gym can be...
Timely Business Development
What better feeling is there than seeing your business operating at capacity? Clients are buzzing around the space, staff members are efficiently doing their jobs, and cash flow is good. There’s a natural inclination to take your foot off of the gas pedal at these...
[2 NEW MF INTERVIEWS]
Ohboyohboy, I’m currently flying through the air to Long Beach, California. I’ll be speaking at the Perform Better Summit, one of my very favorite educational events in the entire industry. It’s also my first time at the Long Beach one, and I’m super pumped to catch...
My Biggest Fear Tackled (Post-Introduction)
No matter how hard I try, I can’t escape the feeling of imposter syndrome as my finger hovers above the “publish” button. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, blogging on my own website, wherever...I can’t help but worry about judgement. This is why I have a sign hanging...
What REALLY Separates High Achievers
Happiest of Thursdays to ya! Next week I’m going to be giving my first talk of the season for Perform Better out in Long Beach, CA. (Not too late to book your ticket, btw! Do so HERE!) I’m covering one of my favorite topics: time management for fit pros and gym...
Business Survival in 5-Steps
Five words spilled out of me when I first sat down to put my philosophy on small business ownership into words: Strategize Act Reflect Adapt Repeat I stared at it, asking myself: How do I build this into the framework of a book about how I run my business? Eventually...
I’m Launching a NEW Podcast…
There’s a reason people call me “Prolific AF MF!” Ok. Actually, I’ve never been called that. But it would be a reasonable moniker! As you know, I’ve been putting my heart and soul into my YouTube channel, which you can subscribe to HERE. If I do say so myself, think...
Do What Everyone Does, Get What Everyone Gets
The more I look around, the more I see peers within the industry listening to the same handful of podcasts, reading the same collection of books, and attending the same series of seminars. The crazy thing about this habit is that each of them are doing so with the...
Results Drive More Leads Than Marketing Dollars
There’s a gym owner in my network who prides himself on having a beautifully complex marketing calendar designed and published on the wall of his office for the entire year ahead on January 2nd of each calendar year. He agonizes over objectives for each campaign, and...
The Struggle [Personal]
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. LEARN MORE If you know you’re not totally happy with where you’re at with your gym, let’s assess the situation… The...
Easy Actionable Tip [Quick]
Wanted to hit you up with one of my FAVORITE easy-ass tips to improve your business results. Sometimes members terminate their agreement. And most of the time, they’re not runnin’ out of the joint cursing you off. (At least I hope.) The next time you have a member...
Distinct Lack of Shortcuts
Nobody opens a gym and says to themselves: “I hope to take this place from zero clients to fully booked in a slow and deliberate manner.” We crave success, and we want it yesterday. Problem is, there isn’t a shortcut in the fitness game. We spend our days telling...
Mastering Marketing and Managing Distractions
First off, this is your early warning that we start official enrollment for the Unicorn Society on Sunday. It’s one of two times per year that we do open enrollment, so if you fancy more personal coaching from Keeler, Pete, Ben, and yours truly, now would be a great...
Disproportionate Returns
Fostering loyalty with clients and employees is about maintaining habits that deliver effects that are disproportionate to your effort. Imagine the next year in your new favorite client’s life… Let’s say that you throw him a free tee shirt in the weight room as a...
Values AND Profit
First off, if you haven’t booked your tickets to Perform Better’s 3-Day-Summits… what are you waiting for?? BFU Coach Pete Dupuis is speaking in Orlando, and yours truly will be in Long Beach and Chicago. It’s one of the hands-down best events in the industry. I’ll be...
Didja get it yet? Didja???
Ok ok, I’m not gonna pressure you. But I reeeeally do think you’ll dig my new(ish) book… We’ve been getting awesome feedback, and I think you’ll find it chockful of actionable stuff and hard-won lessons from life as a gym owner. Speaking of feedback… Please enjoy this...
MFF NYC Mentorship [New Date Added]
For the first time ever, I’m offering a full day of personal mentorship at Mark Fisher Fitness for a small handful of gym owners. It will have a hard cap of 4 gyms max to ensure tons of individual attention. We’ve recently added a new date and will be hosting on May...
Become a Learning Machine
Long time readers know your author REEEEALLY likes education. Books, audiobooks, podcasts, courses, conferences: learning is my hobby and my passion. And it’s been the key to my success. So it’s with great excitement that I bring you the updated version of my personal...
If I Could Go Back in Time [Aging Gym Owners]
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my time in the industry, it’s a confirmation of a well-known psychological principle: Humans are bad at anticipating what will actually make us happy. The fancy term for this is “affective forecasting.” Here’s how it shows up with...
I Hate This Offer. 🙁
Today I shall toss my hat into one of the perennial debates of the Gym Guru Industrial Thought Leader Complex: To offer year-long pre-paids or NOT to offer year-long pre-paids, that is the question, Hamlet! My take: I don’t love pre-paids. Let me share my thinking....
New [FREE] Resource
First off, if you missed the big announcement on Sunday, we’ve just opened up enrollment for our next Business for Unicorns course. One of the biggest challenges gym owners face is finding, hiring, and developing a team of ass-kickers who will do great work day-in and...
Step-by-Step Plan to Immediately Boost Revenue [Easy!]
Keeping today super quick, cuz I’m FLYING TO VEGAS TO HAVE ALL THE FUN AT THE UNICORN SOCIETY RETREAT. (sorry for the caps. just very excited.) But before we dig into today’s content… Remember, for the FIRST TIME EVER, I’m offering a full day of Mentorship with yours...
BFU’s “Secret Weapon” Speaks!
It’s no secret that Cressey Sports Performance and Mark Fisher Fitness have had some unusual success. CSP is pretty much the premier baseball training facility in the entire world. MFF has made well over $30 million dollars in one of the world’s most...
Spend the Day with MF in NYC?
For the first time ever, I’m offering a full day of personal mentorship at Mark Fisher Fitness for a small handful of gym owners. It will have a hard cap of 4 gyms max to ensure tons of individual attention. This will be a truly game-changing opportunity to spend an...
Is AI taking your job? Maybe…?
Below are some bold predictions about how artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT3 and DALL-E are going to impact your work as a gym owner. You and your staff will still play the most important role. The “human stuff” will be hard and probably impossible to...
Want to See How Other Gyms Are Run?
Do you ever wonder how other gym owners pay their trainers? Are you ever curious about how other gyms are generating leads? Would you like to know how other gym owners are paying themselves? If so, you’re invited to participate in our first EVER Business for Unicorns...
MF on Leadership
First off, if you haven’t signed up to join us in Vegas on March 24th-25th, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING WITH YOUR LIFE. Ok, ok. I understand you may need to ask your spouse first. But we only have a handful of spots for non-Unicorn Society members. And it’s going to be an...
Do You Have To Pay For Digital Marketing?
Before I give you today’s heapin’ of gym business knowledge, I want to tell you about an event I have coming up. Join me in Alexandria, VA, at the 2023 IDEA Personal Trainer Institute for my session, “Time Management for Fitness Professionals.” You’ll get early-bird...
#1 New Gym Owner Mistake
Let’s talk about the most common mistake I see new gym owners make… REAL TALK: This one is a DOOZY. It comes from a wonderful place. And it’s hard as hell to back your way out of. You see, many-a-new gym owner are excited for the chance to right the wrongs visited...
Seen My *Newest* Project? [Gym World Worldwide]
Keeping it brief today, but wanted to be sure you saw my newest project. That’s right… MOAR MF CONTENT! My pals John Franklin and Mateo Lopez from Kilo have joined forces with yours truly to start a new kind of fitness industry YouTube show: Gym World Worldwide! We...
My Birfday!
But Monday was my birthday. I’ve cheated death. Yet again!! Between my birthday and the time management workshop I did a few weeks back, I’ve got time on the brain. To that end, I wanted to share a resource with you that can help you use your time more effectively....