Chris Cooper - Two-Brain Business 2.0

As I make the final edits on this book, the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games is on television in the background. If, like me, you were an affiliate gym when the first Games was staged, youll appreciate how miraculously our passion has spread in less than a decade.

CrossFit has changed the way the world thinks about exercise. Not by watering down the definition of fitness to increase participation rates; nor by reclassifying shopping and strolling as exercise. No, the brand has changed the context of fitness by pushing the ragged edge of possibility.

JFKs famous speech on September 12, 1962 challenged the nation to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. It was an outrageous challenge because it pushed the edge of possibility. But innovation requires outrageous challenges, not relaxation of standards. The man on the moon goal created the momentum to eventually launch the rocket. Rocket scientists had already been working to catch the Russians in technology, but refocusing on the audacious goal shot the nations science to the forefront. As JFK said,

We choose to go to the moon not because its easy, but because its hard.

No one knows this better than a box owner.

Before CrossFit, many fitness professionalsme includedthought wed solved the puzzle. But CrossFit wasnt just the missing piece: it was a whole new picture. This new definition of fitness is our moon shot: the inspiration required to change our universe. But theres a major difference: JFK already had rocket scientists. They required a deadline, and a big goal, but they already knew how to make things go boom!

For many affiliates, the inspiration came first. And thats fine; were starting with why instead of how. And a gym is very easy to start: an essay, a cool name, and a licensing fee smaller than a monthly car payment. We already know how to press the launch button.

The trouble is keeping the rocket in the air. Forget about landing on the moon: what happens when the rocket is ten feet up?

The world is watching our rising starship. Some are waitinghoping, evenfor a crash. The crash wont come from athletes: we continue to get faster, stronger, better. But these are the astronauts, not the scientists. We, the owners of thousands of small gyms, need to build ships that can reach the moon and, as JFK said,

deliver a man safely back to earth.

This means a sustainable business that will provide its owner with the money, sleep and joy necessary to inspire. It means a 30-year machine that can be turned over to your kids, so they can coach the children of your current members. It means the creation of wealth: a high value for the time spent. It doesnt mean short-term patches, like coupons or discounts, but the relentless pursuit of business excellence.

It means drawing a blueprint, then tightly turning every screw before lighting the match. Luckily, Ive done the first part for you. This book, combined with Two-Brain Business and Help First, is the blueprint. Directions on turning the screws and the shared experience of other rocket scientists can be found at www.twobrainbusiness.com.

This book was written to educate and inspire. The educational pieces are driven by data, not dogmayou wont find untested advice here. The inspirational pieces are my own extensive (and very expensive) experiences as a gym owner. Most valuable of all are my mistakes: laugh at them, learn from them, and save the money and anguish Ive already spent.

Work until youre happy. Then stop.

Chris

For my kids,

and for yours.

Table of Contents

What is Wealth?

Defining Your Perfect Day

What are assets?

What are liabilities?

Starting with Why Instead of What

Being Authentic

The Entrepreneurial Path

Being The Meta

Productizing Your Service

The Risks of Innovation

Building A Robust Business

The Stratified Model

Stacking

What Are The BEST Gyms Doing?

Generalists and Specialists

Moving to Higher-Value Roles

Kill It or Fill It: Maintaining a Minimum Value for Your Time

Tactic: The Nutritional Base

The 10-Hour CEO

The 10-Hour CEO: A 10-Week Programming Skills Progression

Turning Your Hobby Into A Business

Measuring

Metrics That Matter

Net Revenue

ARMs and LEGs

Retention

How Do You Like Your Steak?

The Client Continuum

The No-Sweat Intro

OnRamp, Foundations and Intake Programs

Tactic: Explaining The Why

Tactic: Frequenting The Podium

Tactic: One-On-One Time

Tactic: Skill Sessions

Benefits-Based Programming vs. Features-Based Programming

Empowering Others To Fulfill Their Dreams

Replacing Yourself

A Hierarchy of Staff Qualities

The 4/9 Model

Paying Staff for Other Roles

Staff Training: The Advanced Theory Course

Evaluation

How to Run a Staff Meeting

The Big Problems (and How to Fix Them)

The Icon Problem

The Tuxedo Problem

The Copycat Problem

Fear of Failure

The False Start

The Retirement Problem

Growing Your Assets

The Cyclical Nature of Business

Expanding An Asset

Growing To Multiple Assets

Growing Multiple Assets at Once

Duplicating An Asset

Your Biggest Asset: Your Brain

Your Second-Biggest Asset: Your Knowledge

An Entrepreneurs Investment Strategy

70-10-10-10 investment in time

Partnerships

Investing In Others

Growth: Good Debt vs. Bad Debt

Conclusions

Turning Pro

Failure To Thrive

Dogma Vs. Data

Appendix 1: Affiliate Survey Responses

Prefac e :

Two-Brain Business was published in 2012. Compiled from over 400 blog posts on DontBuyAds.com, 2BB started as a greatest hits handout at my first seminar. I was invited to share the speakers podium with some (then) big names in the gym industry. One of the others had won the CrossFit Games; another had just opened his sixth franchise. I had nothing on these two, so I self-published Two-Brain Business and shipped 30 copies to the host gym.

That first batch had a hand-drawn head on its green cover. It was imperfectly edited, lacked a table of contents and the pictures didnt line up properly. But it was punk: the DIY nature made it somehow even more legit to the readers, as theyd tell me later. Like a homemade sample tape, Two-Brain Business was never supposed to be the studio cut. But I got busy.

Within a few months, I started getting emails asking for help. As I sit down to write this update, my knowledge has been upgraded by conversations with over 800 gym owners. All one-on-one, and all on my dime. Over 10,000 hours worth of testing, trialsand sometimes tears.

Two-Brain Business 2.0 isnt a sequel; its an upgrade. It took me three years to record the audiobook version of Two-Brain Business, and I realized some of the information was outdated. Some was simply no longer true, and some had been refined by the hundreds of gym owners testing my theory in their real-life labs.

This is what I know to be true now. Each strategy and every tiny tactic have been proven to work in gyms around the world. 2BB2 contains less theory, fewer stories (though Ive kept a few great ones) and more actionable items. And a table of contents, too.

Thanks for every email, every phone call. Thanks for lugging your book to my seminars, asking for an autograph, and being sincere when I look struck dumb. I think were in this together.

Thrive,

Coop