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What is going on everyone? I wanted to make a quick video for you guys

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learning how to do this or podcast about why gyms fail. And so I've been doing a

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lot of looking into this recently because I've been looking into what gyms did

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and changed during the recession of 2007-189 to adjust and oftentimes the

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things that happened during those periods are the things that really boost

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profitability because it's like only when there's lots of constraint do we

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get to see like massive changes in how they how we conduct business, right? And

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so the number one reason that micro gyms fail is because they don't know what

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business they're actually in and that's because they lack context. And so some of

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you guys may know just from the industry data that I've pointed out that like

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lifetime fitness is like $99 a month. Equinox starts at $99 a month and a lot of

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these nicer gyms are at $99 a month, which means that they're in a shooting

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distance of the industry average price.4 crossroads becomes some of my

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priorities, etc., which is $118 a month, right? That's the actual average, not

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what people say, but that's the actual average. And what's interesting is that if

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you look at what those types of facilities offer, so most of them have high

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density training classes, CrossFit classes, or they call them like cross

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training or whatever they want to call them, but basically it's CrossFit, right?

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And so they offer comparable services to what we as

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micro gym owners are offering, except they also have marble bathrooms and

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beautiful countertops and massive 100,000 square foot facilities with

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beautiful equipment and daily usage gyms and nice lockers and all of these

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things that we don't offer and they're offering it at $20, $30 less per month.

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So sometimes we think that we're like, well, we offer the best classes.

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We don't, you know what I mean? Like they have really happy trainers that

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they do the same things as your trainers do, right? And so like I want to be like

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super real about like why gyms actually fail? And I think it's lacking

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context into what business you're actually in. You're not in the fitness

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business despite the fact that you have fitness classes at your facility.

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I'm gonna say it again, you're not in the fitness business despite having fitness

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classes your facility because if people wanted that, they would go to the

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nicer facility that has equal or better training classes with better

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ancillary services, the juice bar, the nice bathroom, the huge gym that goes

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with it so that if they want to do extra workouts, they can, the pool, the

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racket ball court, all of that stuff for less money than your

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charging, right? So what business are you actually in?

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And so a lot of kind of a lot of, for those of you who like know our stuff,

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there's three main things that we sell in the console, right? It's fitness,

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nutrition, accountability, all right? Those are the three things. Now,

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some of those places don't offer the nutrition, so that's a

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plus point that we have, right? That's one other thing that we're doing, we're

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approaching the person from a holistic standpoint.

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The third thing is accountability, right? And so accountability is,

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is the overarching umbrella, but it's the main value ad that you really offer

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as a facility. And the reality is that a lot of people are like, yeah, we have a

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community and that's what people stay for and that's what they love and that's

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true. That is actually why people are coming, but

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most gyms aren't actively doing anything to actually foster true accountability.

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And so they're surprised when they consistently have 10% plus month over

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month turn, or they can't get people who go on trials or front-end

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programs to stay, right? And it's because the actual thing that you're

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providing is not any better than what those people can get at lifetime or

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goals who have their own, you know, crossfit version.

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Like all these gyms have adapted to that. They've incorporated all of the

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the large group, Barbara, large group, high intensity, all that stuff's there.

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Like it's there, it's done. And so if you want to compete, right?

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You have to know what game you're competing at, right? And so

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the things that you're actually selling, the things that people actually come

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for are not, they're not the sessions. That's not why they're coming.

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That's not why you get to charge $150, $200 a month plus, right? That's not why,

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that's not why. It's because if they don't show up,

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you reach out to them. It's because if they have a birthday or someone dies in

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their family, you send them flowers. It's because you write them a handwritten

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card every month. It's because you offer premium

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service, not premium classes, not premium

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facility because you don't, it's be real, you don't like, you're like, no, we're

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better, you're not like just, you're probably not. I'm just being real.

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Like you're probably not because you have access to the same trainer pool,

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except there's more prestige in saying that you were a personal trainer at

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lifetime or personal trainer at Equinox than it is saying I'm a personal trainer at,

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you know, Joe's fitness. I'm just being super real with you.

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There's not more prestige there, right? And they have more

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opportunity for one-on-one trainers, uh, one-on-one training clients who are

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probably higher SCS socioeconomic status, like more income, right?

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So there is more opportunity for a lot of those trainers there. So like,

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so why would someone work for you? Why would they be better? They're probably not.

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And so if the only competitive advantage that you have

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is your accountability and your premium service,

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are you actually offering premium service?

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Probably not. And for everyone who does not understand

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that that's actually the game you're in, that's actually the game we're playing,

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that's what we, that is our competitive advantage you're going to lose.

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Real quick guys, if you can think about how you found this podcast,

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somebody probably tweeted it, told you about it, shared it on Instagram,

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or something like that. The only way this grows is through word of mouth.

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And so I don't run ads, I don't do sponsorships, I don't sell anything.

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My only ask is that you continue to pay it forward,

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whoever showed you or however you found out about this podcast that you do the exact same thing.

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So if it was a review, if it was a post, if you do that,

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it would mean the world to me and you'll throw some good karma out there for another entrepreneur.

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And so right now, if you don't have processes in place to make sure you hold your members accountable,

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to make sure that if they don't show up by Wednesday, you're checking in with them,

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to make sure that you're touching base with them at least twice a month outside of the classes,

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just to see, hey, Paul's check, how you doing, hey, how's life, how's everything going, right?

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This is Maggie, you can also say, hi, Maggie, if you don't have those processes in place,

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then what game are you playing, right? Do you know the game that you're trying to win at and

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might not actually be? And so I wanted to just make this because a lot of people

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aren't sure what game they're playing or they think they're playing a game and they consistently

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are losing and they're like, why am I losing members? Our classes are so great. Everyone says

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that our classes are awesome. No one cares, right? Like no one cares, it doesn't matter.

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It's about everything that is not in the class. It's everything outside of the fitness,

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the fitness is what they come for, it's the burger, right? But everything else is why they stay,

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right? That's what separates your facility from lifetime, from goals, x-fit, from, you know,

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equinox. Because if you're just competing on that one level, you're going to lose. Like you are,

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like we can't compete on a facility basis, right? And if you're like, that's why I want,

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guys are like, I'm going to go pursue all this money and equipment. I'm like, you're not going to win.

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Even if you put 30 grand in equipment, you're still not going to win. That's not the game, right?

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Like they spend 10 million on a facility and then they ask for a hundred bucks a month,

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you're not dropping that, right? Like you're not going to beat them at that game. So don't play

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that game. You're not going to beat them at the great sessions game. I mean, you should have

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absolutely quadrature trainers and they should be knowledgeable and they should be friendly and they

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should save everyone's name when they come in, which is something that some of the big gyms don't

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do because they don't know who they are, right? But like you need to take that personalization aspect,

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that accountability aspect, that community aspect and put it on steroids. Like if you're not running

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members events, what are you doing? You know what I mean? Like if that's, you're like, we're here

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for the community, but you don't have a community events. Like we're all about family, except you

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don't have, you don't know everyone's name and your trainers don't know everyone's name and they

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don't welcome them my name when they come in. Like we really care about a members, but when your

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members actually have life events, you're not writing them a handwritten card. You're not sending

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them flowers. You're not, you don't even know, right? So do you or do you say it or do you do it?

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Is it actually part of your business? Are you doing it on a regular basis? Do you have processes

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in place so that it's consistent, right? And that's the game. That's the game we're in.

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And so if you don't know a game you're playing, it's really hard to win, right? And so I'm just

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making this video for you. For those of you who are might not, who might be new into our community,

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right? Welcome. But that's the game we're playing. And if you are not playing that game, you're

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going to lose and always wonder what's going on. My sessions are so great. I'm such a good trainer.

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I don't know why people aren't saying it's because your classes don't matter. That's not why they stay.

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That's not why they come. Well, they come a little bit because they don't know, right?

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But that's not why they stay. Because if you look at the comparisons that they have,

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every other gym will beat you and virtually other every category that some people are trying

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to compete at. So play the right game and optimize your business around the competitive

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advantage that you actually have. And that is the game that we play. And that is how we have premium

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services. And that is how you retain members. And that is how you make a robust business that

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isn't that doesn't waver when someone loses a job, when someone gets a decrease in pay,

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when the economy turns down, whatever, right? Because you're such a high high, like you're so high

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on the hierarchy of needs for that person, that they'll do anything to stay in it. Does that make

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sense? So if you don't have those things in place, if you're not reaching out to your members

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by Wednesday, if they haven't showed up, if you're not regularly like providing value to them

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outside of the gym, if you're not creating member events, if you're not doing things for charity

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with them so that they can feel part of something bigger, if you're not recognizing them by name,

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if you're not writing handwritten cards to them every month to show them that you appreciate,

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if you're not celebrating the life events that happen outside of the gym to show that you are more

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than just a gym, then you're going to lose. And so I would like you to not lose. So that is my

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recommendation. If you all are on here, thank you. Say some of the things that you guys do to show

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that you go above and beyond on the non fitness side, because that is the game we're in.

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When the premium service game, we're not in the fitness game. All right guys, lots of love,

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and I will see you guys soon.