Fitness Business University Podcast

Speaker 1: What's up guys?

Welcome to the fourth episode
of my Long Island Gym Tour.

If you're listening to this,
all in a row like binging these,

get a life no, I'm totally
kidding.

But if this is your first one,
go ahead and listen to all the

other ones.

But, very briefly, what I'm
doing?

I'm taking a full day and
visiting as many gyms on Long

Island as I possibly can before
I do my consulting day with

Anthony Bevlogos, a gym owner,
the mastermind that hired me for

the day, and I came up a day
before to visit all the gyms

that are in my SPF mastermind
that are on Long Island, and so

I've visited four gyms.

Now I'm on my way to my fifth.

I'm actually just left Manny
Rodriguez and I'm on my way to

see TJ Lopez.

It's my final stop for the day
before we sit down and have a

nice steak dinner, which I'm
excited for, and have enough

travel for the day.

But just visited Manny.

He's an interesting story.

Manny was a cop and, you know,
retired in 2008 and then

basically fell into a business
where he took over a bootcamp in

a gymnastic school and it
basically started crushing it

and he's done really, really
well.

He's had some ups and downs
through COVID and stuff like

that.

But we got a great conversation
and a couple of highlights from

our chat was this the first one
was he's still training more

sessions than he wants to train,
and I know that's the case with

a lot of gym owners that are
trying to run the business.

But you're tired from doing so
many sessions and I know what

that's like, cause it's like as
a gym owner you want to kind of

grow the business and when
you're training too much on the

floor it kind of almost is like
you start to get like resentful

on the like.

I'm doing all this training and
I don't have any time to run

the business or grow the
business or learn and all that

stuff, and so I get that.

I don't usually advise people
to go cold turkey like to go

from 40 sessions a week to zero,
because one, you get a massive

increase in payroll and two, I
think that a lot of times people

don't know what the hell to do
with their time.

So I prefer more of a
progressive decrease in the

amount of sessions.

This is pretty much what I
followed and no one ever told me

this.

I just kind of naturally did it
and it tends to work.

But in in Manny's case, one of
the, he was telling me he would

think he was doing around 23
sessions a week and actually,

hold on, let me charge my charge
, my phone, because I've been on

ways all day and my phone is
dying.

So he was doing 23 sessions a
week and he wanted to cut it

down.

And I was just like, all right,
let's do this, let's take 13

sessions away and delegate 13
sessions to either a current

trainer that you got or we can
hire a part-time trainer to do

it.

And here's the mindset you got
to have when you take hours off

your plate, because, because
most of the time it's not just

oh, I need 13 hours a week to
just sit on my ass and do

nothing, it's not that you want
time and you want to invest the

right time.

Holy shit, look at all this
traffic Long Island, awesome.

Anyway, sorry, you want to
replace the hours with the right

things to do, right, but
sometimes we're scared to make

the investment.

Manny, in this case, wasn't and
I'm not speaking just

specifically on what we talked
about, but I do think there's a

lot of people there that are
afraid to give up sessions as

the owner because we don't want
to add more payroll.

We don't want to have to pay
another person, we don't want

our costs to go up and
everything like that, and I

think that that's going to keep
you on the sidelines for a while

.

So what I like to try to do is
look at it.

You're making an investment and
in Manny's case, if it's 13

sessions, let's call it, I don't
know.

Let's say it's going to $2,500
a month, right To have this

part-time trainer do 13 sessions
.

So what that investment is
giving us, we're making an

investment in getting 13 hours
back.

Sorry, sometimes the traffic
makes me lose my train of

thought.

We're getting an investment of
13 hours back for 2,500.

So, for $2,500 investment in
part-time trainer, he is getting

26, 50 hours a month.

Now go back to episode one in
Long Island gym tours and when I

talked about with Joey Olivia,
where I talked about the

Operation Money Suck activities,
what are the things that you're

doing to bring in the money?

Well, that's what Manny's got
to replace this time with.

He's got to take these 13 hours
a week, 50 hours a month

roughly, and he's got to go do
money-making activities with

that time.

So now he's making a $2,500 a
month investment for 50 hours of

time.

What I got to do is make sure I
make it count on the things

that I do now.

So that's the first thing.

The second thing is Manny's gym
was in a gymnastic studio and he

is at the top floor of a
gymnastic studio and sometimes

people look at that stuff.

It's like, oh, people don't
want to come to a gymnastic

studio and stuff like that.

But at the end of the day, the
perfect clients are the parents.

I was like watching the people
come in and out.

So it's some souped up infinity
.

I was watching the clients come
in and out.

It's like the exact people that
he wants in his gym, just

literally coming there.

Now I'm not saying that he's
going to get them to come like

while the kids are there.

I think that that's kind of
something that's a little bit

harder to do.

But if they're coming there on
a regular basis, there's likely

they live in the area, so
they're going to be, you know,

local and there's a good chance
they can become customers.

Now he told me he's like yeah,
that's how I started.

I got a lot of people in the
very beginning and now I don't.

I was like well, when's the
last time you made an offer to

go get these moms in the door
from the gym.

He said two years ago.

I was like, well, it's time,
right, and so that's the thing

is like going back to episode
number three on long island gym

tours.

What I talked with johnny sordo
is make more offers, make more

money.

Well, here's the thing where we
just need to make more offers.

Now the idea I gave him is
genius, right, and if you're

listening to this, you should do
this too with any joint venture

that you've got.

But what he should do is he
should do what I call a mini

joint venture sweepstakes, which
I created the original

sweepstakes, but then Joe Hashi
created the joint venture

version of this.

And then Carly works with us,
spf.

It was our marketing guru at
SPF.

She, you know, made a playbook
out of this.

But essentially what you do is
he would go to the gymnastics

studio and say, hey, I want to
give you away 10 free one-month

memberships to all the moms at
the gym and they would fill out

a form, apply to win, and then
you'd pick 10 people to win and

then you would follow up with
the rest and get them in with

another offer Maybe it's a free
week or something like that or

get them in the door some way,
shape or form, but it's a way

for the gymnastics studio to
make an offer.

And he was telling me so yeah,
sometimes I talk to people and

they don't want to come up and I
was just like, no, we just need

to set up consistent plays.

And then here's the thing.

I think he has a good
relationship with the gymnastics

studio.

Sometimes the best thing you
can do is set up some type of a

monthly recurring thing where he
does something for the

gymnastics's you know, free
workshops or lectures, whether

that's him paying them, whatever
it is but for some consistent

follow-up and some consistent
marketing to that list, because

that list is goldmine for him,
right, just like the list of a

local salon that has a lot of
potential appliances is goldmine

for you, right?

This list of moms in this
gymnastics suit is a frigging

gold mine.

And if he just goes to that
list regularly, on a regular

basis, then there's a great
chance he's going to get a lot

more customers, right.

So we talked about that.

We also talked about model like
and he was asking about, you

know, small group.

He was another one doing large
group and he's like is it time

for me to go to small groups.

I'm gonna go small group and I
was like you know, let's just

let's get this thing to a
certain amount of members and

large group, let's cut it
cranking again.

So I, I'm this small group guy.

A lot of people look at me as
the small group person because

I've written the book on it, but
at the other day I don't think

it's like everybody, it's not
like I'm like that's the only

way to run a business.

He's made a lot of money doing
large group.

So I'm not saying that everyone
needs to do small group.

And I told him take it hard to
the end of the year and and then

grow this thing, you know,
cause he's at a strong price

point for large group.

He's done really, it's charging
more money on large group than

I've ever heard of, which is a
good thing, right.

So I told him to keep it going.

So it's not always about, oh, I
got to find this new shiny

thing right and pivot to this or
go to that.

It's not.

It's about maximizing what
you're currently doing and going

to get it cranky.

So that was kind of what we
talked about and it was some.

It was.

He had some really really
interesting things going on.

He had one good trainer that
was there.

The kid was really good.

The kid was like he was really
attentive with his client.

He was at the client.

He told me that had lost like
40 pounds.

I was really impressed with his
staff.

And one of the questions he
asked me was you know how do you

pay?

You know someone that's been
with you, you know you for a

long time and stuff like that.

And here's kind of like what I
told him.

I was like here's the deal.

It's like if we just make up
comp structures for random

people at random times, our
business is going to be all over

the place.

And my advice was is that he's
got to look at his business on a

pretty much like a map?

Yeah, when I say a map, what I
mean is you have to look at the

roster of your business in terms
of the positions you have and

lay that out.

How many trainers do you have?

Do you have a head trainer?

Do you have someone in a sales
position?

And then it's called an
organizational chart where you

would lay all the positions out
on this kind of chart, if you

will Hopefully you've seen this
before this kind of chart, if

you will.

Hopefully you've seen this
before Right, and I was like,

based on where your business is
economically, based on how much

money the business is, the
business can afford to pay

certain positions, x amount of
dollars.

It all needs to fit within a
payroll that's roughly 30 to 40

percent, right, and so if you
take all the positions on the

team, right, it should equate to
around 30 to 40% of the revenue

.

So, for example, you are doing
$10,000 a month in revenue.

You have three to four.

You have a basic almost think
of it like a salary cap.

You have a three to $4,000
salary cap for all positions and

again, that's not a good
example from that, but that's

kind of almost like what you
have to play with as a whole.

And now what you have to do is
you have to decide with, again,

multiple factors what is the
going rate for a position of

that size and what's the range?

I mean, what's the bottom and
the top?

It's not only one number.

It's not like 60 grand, is it?

It's usually a range between
40,000 to 60,000.

Like, so, coming up with the
bottom number and the top number

.

But the big thing, I told them,
was create the comp structure

for the position, not the person
.

That's a really, really
important piece.

And it's not just that, it's
also create the job description

for the position, not the person
.

So comp structures, job
descriptions made for the

position, not the person you
create it first, then you put

the person in the box, then you
put the person in the role.

When you do it backwards, you
end up having all these random

things and then it's very, very
hard to be consistent.

So his best bet is okay, my
business is doing this revenue

level.

I have this total salary cap to
play with.

This is the most important
position we've got, so it's

going to be a higher base salary
and then there's a possible

bonus structure that could be
created.

Again, I'm not going to get
into this on that podcast.

It's a whole separate podcast
in general, but that was my big

piece of advice to him was to
create that comp structure based

on the company and what the
company can afford to pay and

what the company you know is
structured around, and that's

what I would do with that one.

So it was a really great
question and the guy that he was

asking about it seemed like a
great kid and seemed like he's

worth every penny.

But you just got to be careful
with just like randomly throwing

money at people and then almost
forgetting.

You know what you did and what
you, what you promised and all

things like that.

So have it on paper what's the
role, what's the job description

for the role, what's the comp
structure for that role, and

then we'll from there a lot of
roles in there.

So that is my time with Manny
Great guy, new member of the SPF

mastermind, very excited.

He came to our event as guests
and then ended up signing up at

the event, which I thought was
super cool, and he gave me a

nice compliment.

He said I've been in other
groups before because man, he's

older, so he's been around for a
while and he's like I've been

in other groups before and he's
like the community that you've

built and how people help each
other is like why I joined and

so it's like a really cool thing
for him to see that and it is a

good group I'm really, of all
the things that I've built, you

know the spf mastermind is one
of the things I'm most proud of

my entire life super, super
awesome group of people.

So very excited about that and
our next meeting is coming up in

November.

So if you want to join us I
don't know why this idiot's

tailgating me.

I'm in the slow lane.

I'm recording a podcast, bro,
don't be tailgating me.

12, 13 W A-hole.

I'm in the slow lane and this
guy's totally tailgating me.

Hold on 13 W.

Okay, I'm in the slow lane and
this guy is totally tailgating

me.

Hold on 13W.

Okay, I'm exiting at 495.

Okay, so I am on my way to my
man, tj Lopez.

Tj is such a great guy.

I've known TJ for such a long
time and I've been working with

TJ.

Tj is one of my first
mastermind members.

He's an original founding
member of my CEO mastermind and

actually is the only one in the
group that has never missed a

meeting.

So we started the meetings in
2019.

We meet four times a year.

Sometimes the meetings are in
California, Sometimes the

meetings are in Colorado,
sometimes the meetings are in

Michigan, sometimes the meetings
are in New Jersey.

Never once has TJ Lopez missed
a meeting four times a year

since 2019.

Incredible, and it's just a
great human being.

And he's our SPF gym owner of
the year award, so it's very

fitting that I'm ending the day
with him, super excited to see

his gym and his business.

He has made some monster gains.

I'll talk about him after I when
I record his podcast.

Uh, after I talked to him, but
so I'll talk about it more.

But uh, he's done super, super
well in the last several years

and just a great human being.

So I'm going to TJ, going to
amp right now on the way and

then going to have some steak
dinner with my man, tj and AB

Eat good, and then I have my
consulting day tomorrow with

Anthony Bevilacqua, so fun day.

I'll see if I have an interview
to record one more podcast today

, but if you're listening to the
Long Island Gym Series, all of

these have been recorded on the
same day in the car.

So I apologize.

Sometimes it's hard to do my
best work in dodging traffic and

getting people beeping at me
and tailgating me and all of

that.

So whatever shortcomings that
came out of this podcast, please

accept my apology in advance,
but doing the best I can with

the situation, trying to give
you everything as fresh as I

possibly can.

So I'll be.

This is awful.

I'll see you on the next
edition of Long Island Gyms,

peace.