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 covering my absolute best tips for time management for fit pros and gym owners. You’ll also get to see “Who’s Who” of fancy industry thought leader types. Don’t miss it!
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Now, throughout my career, I’ve built a reputation as the “culture guy.”
And this makes sense. MFF is a colorful-ass place.
Say what you want about us, we sure don’t look or feel like any other gym in the industry.
To that end, the first half of my life as a consultant-speaker-person, my focus was squarely on culture: specifically, on how to clarify your mission and values, and then use that to inform the rest of your business systems like hiring, customer service, training standards, brand, etc.
And let’s be clear. I STILL think that’s a very important piece of the puzzle.
As the saying goes, “a business without a clearly articulated mission as the default objective of making the owner wealthy.” And while your team may love ya, that’s not going to get them bursting out of bed in the morning to come chew lightning in your facility.
But on the other hand, if marketing, sales, and finance get zero attention, you’re probably going to run into issues.
It’s been my observation that if you’ve wandered into the Unicorn Universe, you are NOT a profit-maximizing grifter. If you’re reading this, my bet is you care deeply about your team and your clients. You think deeply about how to balance the collective well-being of all stakeholders.
This archetypal, heart-centered unicorn-lovin’ gym owner LOVES spending time and effort working on culture. But sometimes, said gym owner is reluctant to, ya know, actually follow up with leads, or dial in a sales script, or look at payroll as a percentage of revenue.
Listen, “man cannot live on bread alone.” We all require meaning and purpose if we want to live a fulfilling life. But at the same time… ya gotta eat! Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs is still in play. It’s hard to reach spiritual transcendence when you can’t pay your rent or buy food.
Your business is the same.
Now it IS possible to be over-titled in the other direction. When gyms focus exclusively on maximizing leads, sales, profit, and net owner benefit, something is lost.
You may make more money this way in the short term. But the goal is not to focus on “bread alone” to the exclusion of your calling. This kind of business is less gratifying, with harder to inspire employees. Even from a purely financial perspective, there’s no long term legs for this kind of gym.
So in closing, both matter.
You need to run a business that makes real money and creates real profit.
AND you must be a steward of the culture and the values you believe in.
This is your opportunity to “build the city you want to live in.” At its best, running a gym is an invitation to become more of who we are in service of a community.
You get to test a philosophy of life and see if it 1) is actually valued by the market and 2) it feels good to you, your team, and your clients.
Or as, Fisher Family Principle #3 states, “Both things can be true.”
Yogis should do some powerlifting and powerlifters should do some yoga,
Mark
PS: Want to join our next Unicorn Society retreat on Friday June 23rd and Saturday June 24th?
We’ll be hosting it just north of NYC in the beautiful Hudson Valley.
It will be two full days focused on your business: deep-dive talks to dial in your sales skills, quarterly plan, and lots of quality time with fellow gym owners and the Business for Unicorns team.
Breakthroughs guaranteed.
Only 5 spots available for non-US members. Learn more below.