Business For Unicorns

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

I’ve completed the book! It’s done! Huzzah! CLAIM YOUR COPY Now as a loyal subscriber, here’s a warning: this book is a compilation of BFU emails written over a two year period. This means if you luuuurve this here weekly email, you may have already read all these...

First things first, it’s not too late to grab a spot for my time management workshop. I’ll be making the magic this coming Saturday, Jan 7th from 10am to 5pm est virtually on Zoom. Although live attendance is strongly encouraged, all registrants will get the recording...

As we come to the end of the year, I always reflect on which books had the biggest impact on me over the previous twelve months. So with that in mind, here’s my final “best of” email for 2022, where I share my favorite books of the year. First off, I can’t honestly...

I hope you’re getting some extra downtime with your family as 2022 winds down. Since I know you may have a bit more free time on your hands over the holidays, I wanted to share some of our most popular BFU podcasts of 2022 (as determined by downloads). For your...

*** Long one today. But there’s a huge takeaway here and almost no one talks about this issue. Grab a cup of coffee *** There I was,  Standing in front of the entire team of MFF trainers. And crying. Now, I’m an emotional guy. I tear up a lot. (Just like Steve Jobs....

In today’s Missive of Love, I wanted to share some of my most popular fitness business YouTube videos to date. In the grand scheme of things, my lil’ YouTube channel venture is still a glistening lil’ newborn content-making baby. But I’m really proud of how it’s...

In today’s missive, I shall cover a common question for gym owners AND a model for thinking about the answer. “Should I share financial numbers with my team?” The super short answer is “Yep!” But you have to provide some context. Here are points that need to be...

Here’s a quickie pro–tip to best nurture your facility. When making improvements, don’t do everything all at once. If you’re anything like me, you like to get THINGS DONE. FAST. (I have many lovely qualities. Patience is not among them.) So when I’m thinking about...

First up, want to give you a gentle reminder, you have until tomorrow to sign up for my upcoming time management workshop and save $200. I’ll be hosting it over Zoom on January 7th from 10am est to 5pm est. Although live attendance is strongly encouraged, we will be...

We’re just a few days away from the closing of the Early Bird window for the Unicorn Society’s 2023 enrollment… So I want to shamelessly talk about the humans who provide the BFU coaching magic.  If you’re looking for support in growing your training gym, you have one...

First off, reminder: this is one of your only chances of the year to join a crew of some of the fitness industry’s most successful gyms AND get personal coaching from Michael Keeler, Pete Dupuis, Ben “the Secret Weapon” Pickard, and yours truly.  To learn more about...

Today we have a guest post from BFU coach (and now COO!), Ben “The Secret Weapon” Pickard.  Ben was a client for many years. Since we just opened up enrollment for the 2023 Unicorn Society, I’ve asked him to share a bit about his experience. He also includes one super...

I had a pretty intense experience recently… For the first time in years –– possibly since I wrote them –– I went into old journals and reviewed my planned 5-year goals from ten years ago. The years described were 2017- 2020 (written in 2012-2015). As I flipped through...

If you run a training gym, sometimes you’re going to have to put the proverbial pen to paper. As long time readers know, your beloved author suggests consistent email marketing to your community of current and future clients. These emails need to build value by being...

We’re having our biggest Unicorn Society retreat EVER this weekend in Boston. If you’re interested in attending future ones, we’re almost ready to unveil our 2023 calendar so our Unicorn Society members can make plans. We go to awesome cities, have great meals and...

Students of the human brain are aware that different cognitive abilities peak at different times in life. Younger brains are more agile. They have more of what’s called “fluid intelligence.” Younger brains have lots of youthful vigor and energy. They have an easier...

For today’s missive, I wanted to share a video I did recently for my YouTube channel. Have you ever wondered exactly how a multimillion dollar training gym allocates its budget? Click the thumbnail below to find out how MFF spends every dollar that comes in the door!

Michael here. It’s been a while. Happy September! Let’s chat about first impressions.  Have you ever been to a traditional Japanese restaurant?  Their front door almost always has a bell or buzzer to announce that someone has entered. Then you are ALWAYS greeted by...

This week we’ve got BFU’s “Secret Weapon” Ben Pickard sharing some actionable tips on create clear standard operating procedures. Ben is one of the greatest “systems minds” I’ve ever met in the fitness industry. Give this a read and go take action! Do you ever feel...

If you’re looking for more leads, there are three ways: Add more lead-generating activities Add more lead-nurturing activities Improve the execution of your current activities Our focus today is the first two pieces. Below is a relatively comprehensive tour of your...

I get stuck in a bubble sometimes. You see, some things that are taken for granted in the fitness business circles I move in. These principles seem obvious to me.  But that’s the Curse of Knowledge for ya. It lulls me into assuming we’re all on the same page about how...

Michael, your friendly substitute teacher here, taking over Mark’s email this week.  Instead of rolling out the a/v cart to play a VHS tape, let’s talk about sales.  Take a deep breath. It’s going to be alright. I promise.  Here’s what I hear all the time from gym...

Got a quick thought for you on visual branding. Most training gym owners are not passionate about design. I totally get that. But there’s still no reason to make the most common mistake I see in branding. Good branding, above all else, should be CONSISTENT. Pick a...

Yours truly is still adjusting to NewDadlandia, so for today’s email, I wanted to direct you to the most recent video from my YouTube Channel. You see, all of time management really just boils down to five steps. And WOW, am I gonna get a chance to finetune my time...

Since yours truly is busy with New Dad Life, we’ve got a guest email from my pal John Franklin of Gym Lead Machine. Fun fact: John has been a pal of mine and Keeler’s for many years. Before his current business, John ran several highly successful Crossfit gyms in the...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...