Mark Fisher
Considerations in Advance of Introducing Physical Therapy to a Gym Setting
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...
How to Communicate About Programming to Your Clients with Pete Dupuis
A Surprising Tip for Being a Better Leader with Pete Dupuis
Mark is on Mars…
Through the magic of the internet, I’m sending you this email even though I’ve been totally off-grid since last week. Ya see, I’m on my annual sojourn to Burning Man in the Nevada desert. This yearly pilgrimage has become an indispensable reset ritual for me. Without...
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...
Programming Tips from Cressey Sports Performance Co-Owner, John O Neil
Setting Long-term Expectations with Athletes (and Clients) with Pete Dupuis
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...
Managing Your Time as a Gym Owner
Turning Plans into Action with Ben Pickard
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...
Secrets to Retaining Long-term Nutrition Clients with Jennifer Broxterman
Realistic Internal Benchmarks for Your Gym with Pete Dupuis
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...
Defending Your Culture with Mike Boyle
Should Trainers Do Sales? with Mark Fisher
How to Generate 250 Leads with One Event with Mike Bouranis
Nuts and Bolts of Discovery Sales Calls with Ben Pickard
Surprising Lessons for Moving Your Gym with Greg Morrone
How to Show Up As A New Leader with Pete
The Art of Client Gifting with Matt Guffey
Turning Clients into Coaches with Mark
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...
How to Conduct a Client Exit Interview with Mark Fisher
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...
Long-Term Planning for Your Gym with Ben Pickard
Tips for Negotiating with Your Gym’s Landlord with Pete Dupuis
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...
On Minimizing Regret and Other Errors
WARNING: Got one today straight from the heart. No fitness business tactics in this email, but arguably a more important topic... (Also, any chance you’ll be at Perform Better in Chicago this weekend? I’m speaking tomorrow. Would love to meet up and say “hai” if...
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...
There’s Really No Excuse [Mini-Rant]
Before I give you the mini-rant, there’s a cool event coming up in NYC being hosted by two heavily muscled pals with serious training chops. From Tony: The Strategic Strength Workshop by Tony Gentilcore and Luke Worthington is a 2-day theory & hands-on event...
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...
How to Right Size Your Marketing Strategy with Pete
How to Hold Team Members Accountable with Mark Fisher
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...
Should You Have Multiple Revenue Streams in Your Gym? with Pete Dupuis
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...