Run a Profitable Gym
Run a Profitable Gym is packed with business tools for gym owners and CrossFit affiliates. This is actionable, data-backed business advice for all gym owners, including those who own personal training studios, fitness franchises, and strength and conditioning gyms. Broke gym owner Chris Cooper turned a struggling gym into an asset, then built a multi-million-dollar mentoring company to help other fitness entrepreneurs do the same thing. Every week, Chris presents the top tactics for building a profitable gym, as well as real success stories from gym owners who have found incredible success through Two-Brain Business mentorship. Chris’s goal is to create millionaire gym owners. Subscribe to Run a Profitable Gym and you could be one of them.
Run a Profitable Gym
Zero to $100,000 Annual Income in Less Than 1 Year
First-time entrepreneur Natalie Winslow opened her gym with the support of a Two-Brain mentor and brought her income from $0 to $100,000 in under a year.
In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym” host Mike Warkentin talks with Natalie, owner of The Gym at Tierra Verde in Florida, to find out the exact steps she took to build a profitable gym fast.
Natalie shares how her mentor guided her to develop a solid plan for her business, including standard operating procedures that ensured the gym ran smoothly from Day 1.
Another key aspect of this plan was the Two-Brain Founders Club, which allowed Natalie to hit the ground running with 45 members on opening day—and 75 percent of them are still clients today!
Mentorship also helped her avoid costly mistakes gym owners make when structuring their businesses and hiring new employees.
Tune in to hear about Natalie’s journey from stay-at-home mom to six-figure-earning gym owner—then book a call via the link below if you want to talk about how mentorship can help you, too.
Links
Gym Owners United
Book a Call
00:53 - Journey to $100k NOB
04:10 - Summary of Natalie’s gym
06:56 - Starting a gym with a mentor
11:42 - Setting goals with a mentor
15:30 - Where gym owners can start
Earning a hundred thousand dollars as a gym owner. Many people think it's impossible, but I'm here to tell you it's possible. And in fact, it's likely if you have the right help, you don't have to trust me. I brought back up. Her name is Natalie Winslow, and she is the owner of the gym at Tiara Verde. We're gonna talk about six figure income for gym owners. This is Run a profitable Gym . I'm your host, Mike Kinin . Do me a favor, hit like, hit subscribe wherever you're watching or listing . It really helps us out and I appreciate it greatly. Natalie, are you ready to help people discover what's possible as a gym owner?
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1:I am fired up about this because as I said to you before the show, our mentor team has said wonderful things about Natalie and we're gonna talk about those great things that she's accomplished. But first I wanna ask you this one, and I'll tell you full disclosure for myself, my gym was losing $5,000 a month at one point. I was drowning. I needed help. It was, I , I could not see the bright spot of anything. Every entrepreneur has had very tough times, myself included. Talk to me about a low point that you've had and can you compare that to your life at present? How , where have you been?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so our gem is fairly new still. I mean, we've been open less than a year, right? Or actually a year. I'm a celebrator one year anniversary of last month. And so , congratulations.
Speaker 1:Yeah,
Speaker 2:I , this is my first stint into entrepreneurship. And so at the beginning of this, you know, I really had no idea what I was doing and , uh, didn't know where we were gonna get the money from, and I didn't know any of that. So there was a point at time when we were, we were ready to go, we had to build outgoing , and we had this plan to lease all the equipment, and then all of a sudden we, we couldn't lease the equipment. We , um, didn't have the finances that the company needed to show. And so we were here with a full gym, build out a lease sign , and no equipment. <laugh> . Oh,
Speaker 1:No, <laugh> . Wow. That's stress .
Speaker 2:So <laugh> Yeah. To say that least . Yeah . So we had to kind of figure out how we were gonna make that work. Um, and we did, we dug deep and , um, borrowed some money and we got it. We got it figured out fairly quickly. But that was , um, a really scary time. And now we have, you know, this gym that's thriving. Yeah . All brand new equipment and looking back now, that was, that was a , that was a moment of freak out , but we're, we're doing great <laugh> .
Speaker 1:So if I, if I have this right, then you went from like, about to open a gym that's just a hallway with no vacant, with no equipment whatsoever. You went from that to six figure income in less than a year.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow. That's incredible. Yeah . How does that feel?
Speaker 2:Pretty describe Right, because we jumped into this and when we, when I decided that I wanna open a gym, I did not do it with an income expectation, you know, and I thought, okay, it's gonna take, I'm gonna make a little bit of money, you know, my husband's got a great job. This is gonna be a passion project for me. That's gonna be something fun. But I, I literally did not think that it was possible to make that kind of money with this. Um,
Speaker 1:Well, 12 months later, <laugh>,
Speaker 2:Here we are , <laugh> . Wow . Yeah . Yeah .
Speaker 1:That's incredible. And when did you start working with True Brain ?
Speaker 2:In the very beginning. So right
Speaker 1:At the very beginning. So before no entrepreneur entrepreneurial experience, you decide , I'm gonna get a mentor, I'm gonna spin this thing up. You get some stress, you get past it. A hundred k.
Speaker 2:Yeah. 'cause so I knew I didn't know what I was doing, right. And I, and I'm not a , I'm not a coach, I'm not a, I'm not a personal trainer, so I didn't come into this with any kind of fitness experience or background. And so I knew I needed help from the very beginning. I knew I had a vision in mind and I knew what I wanted to do, but from late out the exact steps, like I didn't know what a SOP was. I, I had, I had no idea . Right. And so we talked about this in January of 2023 , and then I, I started working with two Brandon February or February of 2023 .
Speaker 1:Okay. That's amazing. I'm gonna ask you some more questions about that, but this is gonna place that I need to ask you for the 62nd summary of your gym. So let's bring listeners up to speed. What do you do? So you said like, you're not a coach, you're, you are an owner, which is a really cool thing because so many gym owners are coaches. First you came at it a different way. Talk to me about what your gym is, how much space, who do you serve, what do you got?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so our facility is a 27 access facility. We have about 4,800 square feet. We have a lot of busy professionals. We have a lot of parents, we have a lot of retired individuals. Um, our community has , um, a a a lot of retirees here. And so we wanted to build a community or build a gym that was not intimidating. There's, you know, we knew being an access facility that we were gonna draw a crowd of people who just wanna come in and work out . Right. You know, that was kind of what my, I like to do. That's what my husband likes to do. But we didn't, we don't wanna be bothered by influencers and squat racks and , and you know, that sort of thing. Not that there's anything wrong with that, that's just not, you know, what we wanted for our facility. Right. You know? And so we wanted somewhere that wasn't intimidating, like some of those big bucks gyms where anybody could come in at any fitness level and feel very comfortable, you know, if they don't feel like anybody's watching them , um, they just wanna come in and work out . And so we have, like I said, we have the 4,800 square feet. We have a lot of basic equipment, but we also have turf with functional fitness equipment. We have spa racks and , um, we wanted to have a little bit for everyone. So it's not super crowded. There's tons of space for people to spread out, you know , um, most of the time there's never more than 15 people in the gym, which people love. People really like that . It's quiet. It's not super busy. They can come in, get their workout done, and then head home.
Speaker 1:Okay. Do you do any personal training or anything like that? Or is it just access strictly?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do. We actually do, we have, we have two personal trainers, and then we also do a group fitness class, but we only do one group fitness class in the mornings. And then we do have a stretch class too, like stretch and mobility. I failed to mention that. We also do have a recovery room with , uh, infrared and sauna , um, infrared sauna and cold punch . And so people really like that too .
Speaker 1:Okay. So that is a cool summary. That's an interesting business model. And I'm really fascinated because, again, so many people that I've talked to, they're coaches first and they open a gym on the side. You came at a different way. And this is very interesting. You also started with something I wish I had done, started working with a mentor Right off the bat, if I had done that, I might be retired on , I might be leaving Florida with you and dropping in at your gym on vacation. <laugh> , <laugh> . But I took a different path. That was a bit of a mistake, but you know how it goes. Well , let me ask you this. You started with a mentor. How did that relationship go? What was the plan to like, make things go exactly the way you wanted, step by step ? Like, I missed this opportunity. What happened when you had help and guidance?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so from the very beginning, like I said, I didn't know how to open a business, what to do, you know, how to run a business, what to do for financing. When we did have questions about that, and it , working with my mentor helped me set up a solid plan of action, what needed to be done first, you know, how , how do we , um, develop this? We did hit some snags , so it took us about a year to get our doors open. And every step of the way she was there to guide me. Even if it was like something, it was a slow month, you know, she's like, okay, you know, what are you working on for your s SOPs ? What are your , what do you got plans for the future after you open the doors? What do you, what is your yearly, your annual plan look like? You know, things that I never would've thought about before she helped, like I said, create just a solid plan so that I felt confident every step of the way.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like there were any large mistakes that you would've made without a mentor's help? Because there were so many things that I did wrong that I wish someone had said , whoa, not that way, Mike. Anything like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Oh yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, I , I mean, no doubt. Like I said, I jumped in in this not knowing what I was doing, you know, and yeah, absolutely. There, there would've, there would've been lots of , um, mistakes as far as like software goes and making sure that I had a plan when it was time to bring on new employees, make sure that everything was, you know , um, ready to go for them. And then also, you know, as far as even just opening a business, what to do with, you know, taxes or , you know, making sure you have that stuff set up with the city and the county and all of that stuff. You know, some things that I may have overlooked. They were , um, helpful in reminding me and guiding me to do those things.
Speaker 1:Did you run a founder's club by chance?
Speaker 2:I did.
Speaker 1:Ooh , how did that go? And listeners, this is a very cool thing that we helped gyms do in their opening open with members on day one. How did this go for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that was huge because there um, was a lot of excitement in the community about us opening the gym, but without running that founder's club, we wouldn't have had any money coming in the door until it opened. Right. And we're already paying bills at that point. And so with the Founder's Club, we started with about 45 members. Ooh ,
Speaker 1:That was great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was, I was surprised by how many people were jumped on board with that. Um , we did three different tiers of membership , um, with the Founder's Club, and we still have, I would say 75% of those people are still members here.
Speaker 1:Wow. That's cool. Yeah . You know , do you mind who, the first person who came through my door, the second it was unlocked when I opened my gym, it was the city tax collector,
Speaker 2:<laugh>.
Speaker 1:I'm not even making that up. The door is unlocked and it was just like, hello, and here's your tax bill. And I'm like, we haven't, we have no members, you know? Yeah . And it was just like, it was the worst. Right. And I just like, I was just like, I'm looking at this giant bill I didn't expect, 'cause I didn't know about these things either. And I look around vacant gym, nobody's here. And I , I was, I was in trouble. Right. And so you went the other way with the Founders Club where you, and this is a guys, listeners, this is a plan. It's laid out step by step . You do these things and you acquire these members and you hit the ground running with people on day one, they're already paying and you don't have that stress. And you might even be breaking even or profiting at that point. I can't remember what our, our record is for it . Uh , a founder's Club open , but I think it's like 70 or 80 members. It's something big where if like, I think eventually I worked up to 16 and I was still terrified. But imagine 80 members on day one, like in 45. So for you, was that a comfort where you're like, I've never done this before. I'm , I'm not a , you know, I'm not a gym owner now. I am. I have 45 people already signed up and the door's open . That must have felt great.
Speaker 2:Oh , it was huge. Yeah. It was huge because we, you know, we knew exactly how many members we needed to pay their rent. And to be 45 members closer to that number was amazing. <laugh> . Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So we were people, you know, we were paying all our bills within the first two months and then making money right after that. So, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you just said a couple of things that are super important. You knew how many members you needed to break even. I didn't know that number. And so I'm guessing that you set your prices and thought, thought about your member account, all these things like with a spreadsheet and did some actual calculations. Whereas I just opened Jim and said, anybody wanna do Fran? And what do you wanna do ? CrossFit. And it was a struggle for me. So you actually went through like spreadsheet, this many members at this many rate pays this many bills and this is profit. Did you do that stuff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I did that through with our, all with our mentor. Yeah. Right . So we sit down and we went through the plan and said, okay, this is exactly what you need, you know, and then, you know, once we hit that number, okay, then we set the next goal, you know, okay, the next goal is gonna be an income goal. 'cause that wasn't what I was , that wasn't what I was expecting. Right. And so she's like, okay, exactly how many members, how much more PT do you need to sell? What do you need to do for that? And so having that was extremely valuable.
Speaker 1:Oh, is that ever cool. So then you set an income goal. Now talk to me about how this went. Was it like kind of straight line then hockey stick up, or was it like the incremental thing across the board? How did that change for you? Like, were there major inflection points or what, what, how did the talk to me about the rise?
Speaker 2:So as we started getting more members, and as we started selling more pt , you know, looking at all of our metrics, we realized that our, what is the right word for this? Our recurring income was staying the same and staying very steady , or not recurring income. Our recurring expenses was staying the same, staying very steady, and we were making a lot more money. And I was still not paying myself. And I was scared, <laugh> , and , you know , um, and she was like, you okay, you have to start paying yourself. And so I, I did a little bit at a time and then I realized that's during that time, after those first few paychecks, I realized, okay, this could be something more, right? This , this , there , this could be something more. And so it wasn't a hockey stick per se , because we were bringing the money in. I just wasn't <inaudible> . But then once I, once she was like, okay, you can do this <laugh>. Then that's when I was like, okay, wow, this is, this is great .
Speaker 1:What did it feel like to get that first check?
Speaker 2:It was a little bit emotional, I'll say, because I've been a stay at home mom for a long time and being able to contribute back to our family and to , um, make our goals as a family was like a feeling I can't describe for sure. Yeah .
Speaker 1:Isn't that ever cool? So your mentor says to you, you gotta pay yourself. And you're like, I don't think I can <laugh> . And then you pay yourself. And all of a sudden it's this thing like, I am contributing. I'm , and it's going up and I can't. And then did that feel like, you know, I'm a real business owner and I'm, I'm doing it. Was that a real success moment for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Right. Like it , and , um, it is, it's hard because she would ask me, she was like, are you surprised? Are you surprised? And I'm like, yes. Every single day <laugh>, because it wasn't what I started this out to be . Right. You know, I started it out, like I said, as a , as a passion project. And it's, and it's become something else. And now I see that the options are limitless. Right now we're looking at, you know, opening a second gym and a third gym and then a fourth gym. And then, you know, we're maybe retiring my husband so he can come on board with us. In in through this.
Speaker 1:You had probably the hardest job in the world, which is stay at home mom. Like that's a, that is a tough job that I couldn't do. But then you said you jump into something completely brand new and you get this first check and you feel like I'm contributing to the family. Now you're talking about retiring your husband, like that's incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is . <laugh>. Yeah. It was something that , um, it's still hard. It's still crazy to even think about the , the potential is there, but it is, it is. And it could happen , um, soon.
Speaker 1:So what would you say? There are gym owners out there that are struggling and I, you know, I talk to 'em on the show all the time because I know they were like me years ago. Just couldn't see it. I didn't pay myself. I was like, you, I didn't pay myself at all. And I was just like, eventually, I , I , I almost didn't wanna run the gym anymore because I wasn't making any money from it. So they're listening. What would you say to them if they're saying, I, I just, I don't know where to start. I dunno what to do. I am kind of screwed, but I'd like to earn more money. What's your advice?
Speaker 2:Don't give up for one , you know, and , um, two , make sure you have a mentor because without somebody there to guide you, because sometimes it kind of , I can see where I'd feel like you're just kind of spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere, right? Because being caught up in the day to day stuff , it's hard to see the bigger picture. And sometimes it took my, excuse me, my mentor would be like, alright , let's lay it all out, you know, help you talk through this, help you see, see the light at the end of the tunnel. Whereas without that, like I said, I can see how it would feel like you're almost drowning and you don't know how to call yourself up . So , um, having that mentor though, was key to our success. Hundred percent . Mm-hmm <affirmative> .
Speaker 1:I saw online someone talking about mentorship and saying it , it's a cost. It's like , and it is, right? But we gen we provide ourselves to , and generating ROI for business owners. Talk to me about what made you make the decision. So you're sitting there, you're, you know, you're leasing stuff, you're buy equipment, you're doing all these different things to open a business, and you've never had this entrepreneurial experience. Was it hard to pull the trigger on mentorship and what made you do it?
Speaker 2:It was hard because like I said, in the beginning, I was a stay at home mom. And so when I decided to do this, I didn't have any income coming in. And so you're like looking at the expensive mentorship and you're thinking , okay, is this gonna be worth it? How am I gonna pay for it ? You know, what am I gonna do? And I mean, I put it on a credit card and said, okay, we're just going to pull the trigger and make it happen. Because I know, I knew that I needed the guidance, you know, I knew that I knew someone to help me and that if I could get the doors open and we could, you know, get some money flowing, then we could pay back that credit card bill and we have tenfold . So it's just, you know, it's like, but it was a very scary step because you're like, I don't, I don't feel like I have the money to do this, you know? But without that, we would be nowhere where we are today. Mm-hmm <affirmative> .
Speaker 1:Why did you pick Two Brain ? Because there's lots of companies. Why did you pick Two Brain and when did you know that it was the right choice?
Speaker 2:So I did some online research as far as mentorship companies go , just from what I saw online to Brain seems like they had the most comprehensive approach to the mentorship. And then I also liked that there was different levels of mentorship. So, you know, not that I was thinking I would be where I am this far, this fast , but I was like, okay, down the road, you know, when I'm ready to do other things, then, you know, there's somebody that I can stick with. And , and I was looking for, I was looking for a mentor that could help me not only just build a gym, but build a business. You know? And they seemed like two Brainin seemed like it had , um, everything that I needed. And then we did the phone , the first initial phone call with Two Brain , and it just felt very comfortable. It felt like I was talking to a friend, right? It didn't feel like somebody who was trying to be super salesy or convince me that, you know, they were the best ones for the job. You know, it was just, it was a real down direct conversation about what mentorship was and, you know, why tutoring could help me be successful. And they just made me feel very comfortable. Mm-hmm <affirmative> .
Speaker 1:Uh , that's good to hear because that's the whole goal is to help first. Uh , the book that I've got, oh , behind me this side, right? Chris Cooper helped first trying to help people. It's not necessarily selling, this is the same principle at , uh, at our level and also at the gym level where you're trying to help clients and to help them . You offer them their service and you're offering them fitness. We're offering ROI for Jim Moores , which you've obviously got, which I think is so cool. I'm gonna ask you as we close out here, you mentioned a few things. You're talking about maybe scaling up to like three or four different businesses and taking, saying to your husband, Hey, you don't have to go to work anymore. Is that, is there any other plans you've got going on? Or are those the big ones? Obviously those are huge.
Speaker 2:So right now, those are huge. Are in the beginning, just six months ago, our plan to open a second gym was probably gonna be in a couple of years, but recently we've kind of taken another look at that and decided that within the next six months I'd like to have the second location picked out and then , um, open within a year and then open one gym a year going forward , um, for the next four years.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. So I've always, Chris Cooper has always said that , uh, the average time with, you know , regardless of starting point, the average time to get to a hundred KA net owner benefit for a gym owner with mentorship is 25 months. But he is often said every , he says that, he says, there are some people who have done it much faster. And I was wonder , I was wondering who those people were. 'cause I often, you know, I don't talk to everybody. Now you, here you are. That's you. <laugh>
Speaker 2:Yeah, <laugh> .
Speaker 1:It's very exciting . How cool is that? You're the , you are the person that's messing up the average. You're not messing up the average, but taking the average down. That's incredible. And there's more like that. So listeners, if you're listening and you're feeling crappy out there about anything, know that regardless of starting 0.0, wherever you're at, br can get you to a hundred k net owner benefit in about 25 months. And that's the average. Some people do it much faster if they do. Like Natalie did, you take the advice of a mentor, you do the work, you knock things off, and you keep pushing forward. You can shave a lot of time off that, and all of a sudden you are thinking about retiring your partner, opening a multi gym empire and having a great time. I love it. So, Natalie, thanks so much for sharing your story. Thank you . That's , that's such a good one. We'll have you back , uh, I might see you on the leaderboard at some point. We'll have you back and we'll talk about that too. Awesome. Thank you so much. All right . That was Natalie Winslow. I'm Mike Warken and this is Run a Profitable. Jim , if you wanna hear more about the stuff that we talked about today, book a call. That link is in the show notes. And now here's two Brain founder Chris Cooper with the final message.
Speaker 3:Hey, it's two Brain founder Chris Cooper. With a quick note, we created the Gym Owners United Facebook group to help you run a profitable gym. Thousands of gym owners, just like you have already joined in the group. We share sound advice about the business of fitness. Every day I answer questions, I run free webinars and I give away all kinds of great resources to help you grow your gym. I'd love to have you in that group. It's Gym Owners United on Facebook, or go to gym owners united.com to join. Do it today.
