From Coach To Business: Recent Episodes
Todd Nief & Brandon Heavey
Looking to make the leap from fitness coach to business owner? Stop wasting your time with things that don't work. This podcast distills down starting and growing your fitness business to the essentials. The hosts, Todd Nief & Brandon Heavey, share the things they wish they knew when getting started with their businesses.
We dive into the question of when you should take the leap from working for others to starting your own business. We also outline the rest of the season and share our origin stories.
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[00:39] Todd and Brandon’s experiences owning brick and mortar CrossFit gyms as well as online coaching - and our frustration with the random tactical advice as well as the head in the clouds “inspirational” content. Structure of the season: Nuts and bolts, Sales and marketing, Operations - and when should
[09:57] When should I “take the plunge” and start my own business? What are Todd and Brandon’s stories about starting their own fitness business journey?
[26:26] Shady leases, shady landlords and crazy, chaotic environments and sacrificing your own health and wellness for the success of your business
[32:43] How should someone decide when to “take the plunge”? Should you just “go for it?” What is the opportunity cost of starting your business? What is the opportunity cost of not starting business?
[40:07] Do you know what your burn rate is? Do you know what your runway is? “Burn the boats” isn’t necessarily great advice. And - do you actually like running a fitness business?
Finding your market isn't about having a complicated business plan or doing a bunch of demographic research - it's about understanding who is paying for your services and where they came from. Then, once you understand that, you can try to find more people like that and tailor your services so that you are helping your clients solve actual, burning problems.
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[00:39] What are you going to sell? And who are you going to sell to? How do you actually get your first clients?
[08:35] What should coaches be thinking about in order to start their business? How do you actually solve a real problem for people? Are you noticing any patterns that are showing up in the people who you are working with?
[19:28] Do people need a business plan? Why would you actually create a business plan? Should you affiliate with an organization like CrossFit - or open a franchise?
[28:34] How do you create your offer? What do you charge people? How do you deal with the negative emotions surrounding money relative to what you charge for your services?
[38:07] How high touch is your service? Do you want to have a lot of clients paying a lower rate? Do you want to have fewer clients paying a higher rate?
It's time to lawyer up. We have Todd's business partner Kevin Slaughter on this episode. Kevin is a partner and Levenfeld Perkins in Chicago, and he gives us answers to many of the common questions about employees vs contractors, if it's ok to offer nutrition coaching, and whether or not waivers actually do anything. We also lay out many of the things that business owners need to think about when getting started. Even though you may think that you will always be best friends with your partners, that you will never need to raise money, and that you will always want to own a fitness business, things change. And, if you don't have a solid corporate structure in place with a clear operating agreement, you can find yourself in a nightmare scenario.
Check out more from Kevin, Levenfeld Perkins and South Loop Strength & Conditioning here: www.lplegal.com | www.southloopsc.com | @southloopsc
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[00:39] What kind of corporate entity should you create? A sole proprietorship? An LLC? An S corp?
[06:44] Brandon’s story of selling his CrossFit gym and Todd and Kevin’s story of buying out a partner. Why does an operating agreement matter?
[13:12] What about using LegalZoom or downloading an operating agreement off of the internet? Also, don’t just let your friend who is a real estate lawyer draft your operating agreement.
[16:12] How should a business think about taking on funding? How is equity split amongst people who are contributing to the business? Even if you don’t think you will ever need to raise money and you plan on bootstrapping, you will probably still have times when you will take on debt to cover cash flow issues.
[24:14] Do you need insurance? Do you need waivers? Do you need membership agreements?
[37:19] Can you provide nutrition coaching?
[40:06] Are coaches employees or contractors?
[44:25] Should I trademark my gym name or my logo?
[49:03] How should partners be paid? What if one partner is working full time on the business and another is not?
Accounting can be opaque and confusing: Are coaches employees or contractors? Should you form an LLC or another type of corporation? What if you have partners? And what the heck is a "pass-through" entity anyway? It's ok if you don't know the answers to these questions, but - if you just push them off and say you'll "figure it out" later - you can put yourself in a pretty bad position. We talk with Joe Morad from Miller Cooper to understand what the key things are that a fitness business owner needs to set up from the start so that they have a solid system surrounding the finances for their business.
Check out more from Joe and Miller Cooper here: www.millercooper.com
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[00:39] The bad way to track finances in a CrossFit gym: on a public whiteboard. Get started anyhow - but be aware that you will probably have to change what you’re doing.
[06:52] Why you should create a business bank account so you can separate your business and personal finances. And why you should plan as if you are going to raise or borrow money at some point.
[14:52] How to set up an accounting system. Does it need to Quickbooks?
[21:58] Do you need an accountant? Or can you handle your books on your own?
[27:50] What actually counts as a deductible business expense?
[32:22] Are coaches employees or contractors?
[42:00] What’s the difference between a taxable entity vs a legal entity? When do taxes pass through? When does the corporate entity pay its own taxes?
[46:44] How does sales tax work?
[52:01] How should you pay yourself as a business owner?
[01:01:25] What should you look for if you’re trying to hire an accountant?
Marketing is the juicy stuff, right? Most fitness business owners need to "get people in the door," and having a solid marketing strategy is a surefire way to do so. But, it's not just about Facebook advertising or having sick professional photos on your Instagram. How should you think about what marketing strategies to pursue? And, how do you align your marketing strategy with the product you're delivering in your business?
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[00:39] Marketing isn’t about tricking people. Nor is it about a bunch of random tactics. It’s about having a strategy to communicate to potential clients
[06:58] Why different strategies are appropriate for businesses at different scales - and why the things that you some businesses doing may not be appropriate for yours.
[15:32] It can be tough to tell what’s working when you don’t know what it feels like when something works. It’s important to track your numbers so you can lean into things that are starting to get traction.
[24:40] What is a lead funnel? Where are your customers coming to you in their journey to solve their problems?
[41:21] Recognize that what you see other businesses doing may not be applicable to you - there’s a good chance that they’re playing a different game than you or that they’re also just trying random tactics and are successful in spite of themselves
People can get caught up in marketing tools and can bounce between them without having a plan - but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be aware of all of the different options out there. We give a framework for thinking about how to prioritize things like networking, strategic partnerships, social media, email marketing, and advertising. And, we explain why different business models and different niches may have success with certain strategies that are not appropriate for your market.
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[00:39] People can get caught up in marketing tools and can bounce between them without having a plan - but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be aware of all of the different options out there.
[06:59] “Just doing a good job” and praying for referrals is not good enough. Is there a way to systemize asking for referrals during the client onboarding process? Is there value in partnering with other local businesses?
[19:30] What about networking at groups like BNI, etc?
[22:55] Should you be focusing on content creation like blog posts? Does this actually make sense for your target market? Are you actually good at this? Are people from your market actually searching for content?
[32:25] How important is social media? Folks who are “influencers” on social are often not playing the game that you think that they’re playing. It’s actually really difficult to transfer people from a social platform onto a website or into an in-person session, so make sure you understand what you’re actually trying to do on social.
[41:10] Does anyone actually check their email or is email marketing dead? Basic nurture sequences, newsletters, upcoming events, etc.
[45:55] What about advertising? Social media advertising vs Google ads vs print advertising, etc. And, the differences between direct marketing and branding.
[52:23] Start with a simple website - you should always have something that you own that isn’t dependent upon someone else’s algorithm, etc. Focus on one channel at once. Recognize that the success that other people have may come from them playing a different game than you realize.
Copywriting is one of the highest leverage skills that any business owner can have, as it helps you communicate with potential clients in language that they understand and that speaks to problems that they're actually trying to solve. Writing doesn't need to be like your expository essay assignments in high school. Nor should it be in the weeds with all of the features and bells and whistles that you love about your program. Instead, it's about deeply understanding what your clients want from your services - and what fears and hesitations they have that will make them stay home rather than coming to check you out.
We brought on Will Hoekenga to discuss the details of copywriting. Will has worked with many big names in the online business space (you can hear him regularly on the Growth Tools podcast here), and has also created a bunch of really valuable content over the years on his blog.
Check out more from Will at his website and blog: www.copygrad.com
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[00:39] Why should a fitness business owner care about copywriting? And how should a coach think about developing the skill of copywriting? People often don’t want what you think they want, so how do you zero in on what clients’ pain points are?
[10:17] The process of getting client feedback - and understanding how they think about their pain points and their struggles to solve their problems.
[19:47] Understand the benefit of solving the problem to the client - what people actually care about may not be what you think they care about. How do you read between the lines of what people say and understand what their actual desires are?
[27:32] How do you actually use the data and the information that you’ve collected from your clients? How do you translate this into positioning your business? And how does that help with building trust in an industry like fitness where people are often more skeptical and hesitant to trust?
[34:12] How do you actually create a landing page - and where is your customer coming from to get to the landing page? How should you approach copywriting in order to get someone to book a consultation?
[43:03] How can copywriting be done in an ethical way? Are we tricking people?
[46:48] Long copy vs short copy, features vs benefits, Copywriting frameworks like Attract, Interest, Desire, Action and Problem, Agitate, Solve
[54:54] Writing can be intimidating - how do you write in a way that is conversational and “sounds like you”?
[01:02:54] How to read Will’s stuff
Sales can be an uncomfortable process, and Todd and Brandon both have many shameful and awkward experiences with attempting to sell their coaching services. However, if you think of sales as a conversation where your goal is to deeply understand your client's problems and guide them to the services that will help them solve those problems, sales can move from an "icky" feeling to an opportunity to connect and truly help someone.
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[00:39] Lots of people have some discomfort with sales. If you align your marketing material, your pre-qualification process, and your sales conversation, you should be able to create “win win” situations rather than adversarial selling scenarios.
[12:41] The goal of the sales process is to understand what problem a client is trying to solve. The goal is not to “brag” about the gym.
[22:34] You should be able to recommend a variety of services to a client and help them find the best option for their needs - not just “upselling” them
[25:00] The process of initial consultations at South Loop Strength & Conditioning
[29:52] How to close the sale and pre-emptively “handle objections"
[35:11] The importance of tracking your process. And, how consultations in the online coaching space add value and build trust.
Just like anything else worth learning, mastering sales takes a lot of reps. Lachlan Rowston from The Mind Muscle Project and Creature Fitness has been in the trenches selling gym memberships for awhile, and he's had many different sales mentors throughout that process. We get the breakdown from Lachlan on how his sales process has evolved over the years, and what the most important things are for coaches to focus on when selling.
Check out more from Lachlan here: The Mind Muscle Project | Creature Fitness | @lachyrowston
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[2:45] The evolution of the sales process at Creature Fitness
[9:50] The difference maker of talking to people in real life
[16:20] Common mistakes coaches make when converting prospects to customers
[22:45] The 3 things that drive growth for any gym business.
[27:15] Aren’t money-back guarantees scary?
[36:50] The sales funnel when you’re getting started.
[44:00] Sales process tweaks for online coaching.
[46:00] Common sales advice that is terrible and should be avoided
[51:50] Never over celebrate a win or be too hard on yourself with a loss.
[52:30] Benchmarks for your sales conversion rate.
It doesn't matter how much you're getting done if you're not getting the right things done. While everyone loves to-do list apps and neat little time-saving hacks, the hard work is figuring out what to actually work. In this episode, we break down how to think about your priorities and how to make sure that you're constantly moving the most important work forward.
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[0:45] Why priorities are more important than productivity.
[5:10] A framework to think about prioritization in your business.
[9:00] Lead measures and lag measures.
[14:10] Do you feel like you’re always busy, but not accomplishing much?
[15:50] Limiting factor analysis.
[21:40] How we identify the limiting factors in our business.
[34:00] Zooming in and zooming out with your priorities.
[38:00] Todd shares how he uses the OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) framework at his gym to get the right things done.
Alright, now we get to dig into the tips, tricks and hacks that people love. While it's much more important to choose the right things to work on, we still have to get stuff done. And, like any small business owner, we both have way more on our plates than is realistic to accomplish. So, if we can figure out ways to do things more efficiently, that's a huge win. In this episode, we break down the most important aspects of productivity, and we give frameworks for thinking about how to build your own productivity system. It's not just about using a specific app or automating certain tasks with Zapier - it's about building something simple that works, and adding to it as you go.
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[1:20] Productivity doesn’t matter without prioritization.
[2:00] The purpose of a to do list and how to build yours.
[14:00] Batching similar tasks improves efficiency.
[18:10] Weekly routines ensure that you allocate your time deliberately - rather than just being reactive to what comes up.
[20:30] Align your tasks with the natural flow of your energy and cognition throughout the day.
[25:50] Brandon outlines his productivity system
[35:30] Todd outlines his productivity system.
[48:05] Start simply with your productivity system and add complexity as it is needed.
[53:45] The power of specific, actionable tasks.
On this episode, we bring on productivity expert and all-around digital knowledge mastermind Tiago Forte. Tiago has a background in the Getting Things Done methodology, and he has also developed a variety of his own frameworks for thinking about digital organization. Tiago has also done a lot of thinking about how to outsource a lot of the boring work that our brains are not particularly well-suited for to software so that we can be more creative, more effective, and more efficient.
Check out more from Tiago here: www.fortelabs.co | @fortelabs
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[00:39] Tiago’s background in the Getting Things Done methodology - and his own PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives) framework for digital organization.
[08:00] How do you define a project that has a clear outcome?
[14:11] Filers vs pilers - Why people choose different ways of organization, and how we can set up our organizational systems to be super low friction
[20:00] How do entrepreneurs balance the need for singular, all-consuming focus with the conflicting need to constantly be collecting ideas? And, how do you create “projects” in Tiago’s system and tie them to clear metrics or big picture goals?
[27:48] How does Tiago differentiate between “projects” and “areas” in his system? And how does he prioritize which projects to work on?
[35:52] “A quickly changing world demands more bottom up thinking” Simply having a list is not enough - you need to rely on your intuition to guide you to make decisions about what is appropriate for you to work on in any given moment.
[41:56] What is a “second brain” and why is it valuable to a fitness business owner?
[48:59] Many experts in things like fitness don’t realize just how valuable all of their tacit knowledge is to people who don’t have a similar background. Through content creation and systemization, fitness business owners can dramatically improve their client experience by communicating more of their knowledge in a repeatable format.
[58:52] How to learn more from Tiago and check out his courses
It's not enough to just get people in your doors. Once they show up, you have to do a great job of providing an excellent service. And, "churn" (aka monthly turnover) is the secret killer of most fitness businesses. If you aren't able to get a handle on your churn, you can be out of business even if you're adding dozens of clients per month. We talk with Juliet Starrett, one of the wisest and most-seasoned business owners in the CrossFit Game, about how San Francisco CrossFit dials in the client experience at all stages in order to maximize retention.
Check out more from Juliet and San Francisco CrossFit: San Francisco CrossFit | @sfcf | @julietstarrett
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[2:40] Keeping existing members is San Francisco CrossFit’s top priority
[7:30] Returning phone calls and emails in a timely manner is a competitive edge
[8:40] Juliet’s opinion on the single greatest asset a gym owner can have
[13:10] San Francisco CrossFit’s “Shirt On” policy and how they think about the message that their environment sends to new members
[20:00] How to make sure your members feel heard, even if you don’t take action on their requests
[24:15] The humble beginnings of San Francisco CrossFit
[28:30] Common pitfalls when starting out
[38:45] The silly thing some of Juliet’s members do when they visit other gyms
[41:30] How to make the first 90 days special for new members
[46:30] Handling a larger membership base and how to deal with a growing gym
[56:10] Why San Francisco CrossFit doesn’t record times and scores on the board
[1:01:10] Thinking about important tipping points in customer experience - both positive and negative
[1:06:30] How San Francisco CrossFit monitors retention - and tracks their biggest spenders
[1:14:05] Not every client is worth keeping
Data tracking is something that can quickly get out of control and become overwhelming. Just like most things in business, though, there's a need to "earn" complexity before getting involved in complicated systems. The reality is that most businesses have some simple key metrics that can give a solid picture of what's going on. For fitness businesses, that's usually going to be something like monthly revenue, monthly recurring revenue, and number of recurring clients. We can also create a simple system to track the onboarding process for new clients. As we grow, we may need to add more to this process, but it's key to set things up such that you are actually using them.
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[1:15] Data tracking is essential for business success, but don’t overcomplicate it. These are the most important things to think about when deciding what to track.
[3:45] How to use a simple spreadsheet to track your onboarding of new clients.
[9:15] Don’t use more than a spreadsheet until your business is large enough to “deserve” the complexity.
[10:20] KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and getting a snapshot of your business health on a regular basis.
[11:50] Make sure you’re actually looking at the data your systems are generating.
[18:00] Using data to communicate with your team.
[21:20] Our systems for tracking and reviewing financial data.
[28:55] Our systems for tracking marketing performance.
[35:45] Operations data: retention, client progress & client engagement.
[44:00] Are net promoter scores valuable?
In this season, we've gone through all kinds of ways to strategize, prioritize, and execute on the most important things to start and grow your fitness business. However, sometimes you're just not getting things done. And, in that case, the most important thing to do may be to look inward and figure out what's preventing you from moving forward. On this episode, we have The Alpha Hippie himself Angelo Sisco breaking down the ways that the ways that we get in our own way - and what to do about them.
Check out more from Angelo, O'Hare CrossFit, and Conquer Athlete: www.oharecrossfit.com | @angelo_sisco | @oharecrossfit
If you're enjoying the show and want a breakdown of many of the strategies, tips and tactics we recommend - as well as some of the recommendations from our expert guests - head over to www.fromcoachtobusiness.com to download our cheat sheet on starting and growing your fitness business.
[0:45] Talking about our feelings, astrology and being touched by strangers.
[4:00] Struggling to execute your game plan? It’s probably due to either shame or fear. Learn the signs of both.
[9:18] Are you more of a “sales" or a “product" person? Learn how to recognize which camp you fall in - shore up the gaps that your natural tendency creates.
[14:30] Good artists copy, great artists steal. Sometimes being second on the scene serves you better in business.
[21:15] There has never been a better time to connect, grow, learn and start a business.
[23:10] What it says about you if you are unwilling to collaborate with others in your industry - and the key to forming meaningful relationships with other coaches and business owners.
[29:12] Scarcity vs. abundance mindsets. What they are, when it actually makes sense to have a “scarcity mindset" and why it lead Angelo to start his gym in the first place.
[35:40] The (in)famous "O’Hare CrossFit Against the World” t-shirt.
[37:25] The reason Angelo didn’t enjoy his success the first few years of operating his business - and how you can avoid this trap.
[49:05] How would Angelo of 10 years ago respond to what Angelo today has to say? Probably not politely 🙂
[56:20] That 27 day productivity planner might actually be holding you back.