After working with over 1800 gyms worldwide, we know that our program can get a gym amazing results.
Our strategies are commonly used in huge businesses. Our tactics are specific to the fitness industry, and tested relentlessly. Every tool, every template, every social media swipe file has been tested hundreds of times. They work.
But still, around 1.8% of the time, a client struggles in our RampUp program.
They get the same strategies and tactics as everyone else. They have 1:1 coaching calls (and, honestly, we sometimes do a couple of extra calls to get them on track.) So why aren’t these outliers getting the same results as the others? What’s missing?
I didn’t want to guess, so I looked at our most successful gym owners: the ones who ascended rapidly from their starting point to 100k NOB and then to 1M net worth. I called their mentors; I looked at their call notes and walked through their metrics month by month. Then I scrolled through their Facebook posts and questions, and FINALLY a theme began to emerge.
The most successful gym owners have SKILLS that the least successful don’t.
For example, the most successful gym owners are able to focus on the work they’re assigned in RampUp; make time to do it; and complete it between calls.
In fact, the most common thing these fast-ascenders say in interviews is “I just did what my mentor told me to do.”
Conversely, if you read the conversations and exit interviews of the unsuccessful, the opposite theme is repeated over and over: “I just don’t have time to do it,” or “I’m so overwhelmed, can I pause and come back later?”
Focus is a skill.
Some clients have the skill of focus already. Usually, these are people who have a family, own a business and also train hard. The most focused sometimes have multiple “fields of play”, each of which is important enough to warrant their full attention. So they’re not just running a business, but also raising kids or pets and doing Triathlons.
Some clients don’t have strong focus skills, but they can force a deep focus when required. These are people (like me) who do their best work right before a deadline. When given a short leash, these clients can be really successful with our RampUp program, but they’ll never be successful just by reading books or listening to podcasts. They won’t benefit from a group coaching program unless they’re in it for a very long time. They’re a bit slower than the first group, but they’ll get there. A 12-week sprint with frequent touch points will keep them on track.
Others don’t have any focus skills, and they’re overwhelmed and stressed all the time. In most cases, 1:1 mentorship is their only hope…and even then, they might struggle to keep up with the mentor’s pace. In these cases, the mentor has to do really frequent touch points – almost daily. Or they can make appointments with themselves to do the work and show their mentor when they have “focus blocks” planned. These clients might benefit from scheduled “open office hours” where they just show up and work. But they won’t benefit from getting a new task or idea every month.
Finally, the 1.8% who are so overwhelmed that they can’t get anything done. These clients might not be successful in your program or any other. If they have compounding stressors, like money or problems at home, your coaching sessions will just become therapeutic venting. You’ll have to keep these clients on a very short leash – “text me what you plan to accomplish every morning, and tell me what you got done every night”. They should also be coached on building a schedule to do the work–and their expectation to have the work done–on the very first call. In fact, you might want to add a qualifying question to your sales script: “When do you plan to do the work required to get a great return on this investment?”
There are other skills that some entrepreneurs lack, like:
An abundance mindset (vs a scarcity mindset)
Focus on the “gain” instead of the gap
Patience
Virtuosity (doing the basics really well instead of chasing novelty)
…and more. I’ll go deeper on these in the coming weeks!
