Alex, host of the Gym Secrets podcast, discusses the realities of running a gym business while responding to listener questions mid-flight to evade Hurricane Maria. He emphasizes that businesses, like gardens, require regular attention and can't be left on autopilot, especially service-oriented gyms. Alex stresses the importance of passion for one's work and providing creative solutions for customer problems. He also touches on knowing when to let go of problematic clients and the value of customer feedback in assessing staff performance. Additionally, Alex shares insights into his shift from a done-for-you to a done-with-you service model to improve customer relations and scalability. He advocates for significant investment in personal development and continuous learning as a means of future-proofing one's career. Lastly, Alex discusses his approach to tithing, giving 10% of his personal income to his church, and the spiritual and material benefits he attributes to this practice.
Hey, everybody, it is Alex. And this is the gym Secrets podcast. And today we're going to be talking about some of the frequently asked questions that we get most commonly from gym owners.
This quote sets the stage for the podcast, indicating that the episode will focus on addressing common inquiries from gym owners.
There were no flights left, and so we were fortunate enough to get on this flight. So we are feeling very blessed.
This quote explains the circumstances under which the podcast is being recorded and conveys a sense of gratitude for their situation.
In my belief, that's a great question. And this kind of goes back to the analogy that I use, that businesses are like gardens and not like machines.
Alex uses an analogy to illustrate his belief that businesses require ongoing attention and care, similar to a garden.
And they're like, ha. There is no passive income.
This quote highlights Alex's stance on the myth of passive income, emphasizing that all investments require some level of active management.
And so not being there for 30 days is doable, but not being there for 90 days, that's like a stretch.
This quote conveys Alex's view on the feasibility of managing a business remotely and the limits to how long this can be sustained effectively.
And so I think it's really connecting with the cause that you're behind for us. I love gym owners. I love gym owners. I love solving gym owner problems.
This quote underlines Alex's personal commitment to gym owners and his drive to address their specific challenges.
And I try and come up with products and solutions to issues that I faced and that they have as the marketplace changes.
Here, Alex discusses his proactive approach to innovation and adaptation in response to evolving market conditions.
And if you're thinking about your customers like that, you'll be pulled instead of pushed to work. You'll feel obligated. Like, I have to help these people.
Alex suggests that a customer-focused mindset leads to intrinsic motivation and a sense of duty to assist one's clientele.
Can you get your business to run on autopilot for a year? Not that I know of.
Alex expresses skepticism about the feasibility of automating a service-centric business for an extended period without direct involvement.
Oh, how do you know it's appropriate to fire a client or member? As soon as you think about them a lot is pretty much the answer there.
Alex provides a straightforward metric for assessing when a client may need to be let go, based on the frequency and nature of thoughts about them.
Charlie's awesome. He's not really happy with us right now because he's been moving and he's been on planes a bunch.
This quote gives insight into Alex's personal life and the current state of his pet's well-being.
And as much as I was against having a pet, he's nice to have a little brightness in your day when you just want like a mental break.
Alex reflects on his change in attitude towards pet ownership and the benefits it has brought to his life.
What caused the shift from done with you to done for you? Sorry, done for you to done with you?
This quote indicates a correction in the discussion about the direction of the business model change.
If you ever want to have the video version of this, which usually has more effects, more visuals, more graphs, drawn out stuff, sometimes it can help hit the brain centers in different ways.
The speaker explains the benefits of the video version of the podcast, suggesting it may cater to different learning preferences.
It's absolutely free.
Alex emphasizes the accessibility of the video content, highlighting that it is available at no cost.
"One is scaling a sales team each month, because what happened is we were able to basically sell out our services with six sales guys, six months out within two weeks."
This quote explains the rapid success Alex's team experienced in selling services, leading to the need for scaling the sales team.
"And so for someone like me, that was really frustrating because I was getting on the phone with people being like, yeah, the first time we can take you seven months from now."
Alex expresses frustration with the inability to immediately accommodate new clients due to the existing demand.
"And for me to continually scale salesman was really hard because it takes a lot of hustle, and there's a ton of travel and logistics."
The quote highlights the difficulties in scaling the sales team, particularly the effort and logistics involved.
"It wasn't as high margin as I wanted it to be. Tons of revenue, but the margins weren't there."
Alex notes that despite generating a lot of revenue, the profit margins were not meeting expectations.
"And then the other reason was that I actually had a lot of resentful customers."
Alex identifies customer resentment as a significant issue that influenced the decision to change their approach.
"If someone averages, gym owners average about 20,000 a year take home income, which is really sad, and it's true, and that's what we're trying to fix."
The quote provides context on the financial struggles of gym owners, which is the customer base Alex is trying to help.
"But if they're averaging 20,000 a year take home income, and then some dude comes in and makes 50 grand in 30 days, it was really 21 days from his gym. They didn't really like me that much."
Alex explains the root of the resentment: gym owners felt overshadowed by the significant earnings Alex's services could generate in a short time.
"I use the same thing for customer service, which is I should be getting posts regularly about you, about how amazing you are on Facebook."
Alex describes the use of social media feedback as a tool to gauge employee performance.
"If I don't see posts with you almost daily. I'm going to think that there's an issue."
The absence of regular positive feedback on social media is a red flag for Alex regarding an employee's performance.
"There should be zero complaints. There should be customers going out of their way to personally tell me how awesome they are."
Alex sets high standards for customer service, expecting no complaints and proactive positive feedback from customers.
"Even with our gym owners, if our service providers aren't doing a good job, I think everyone has good enough rapport with me to be like, hey, by the way, this sucks."
The quote emphasizes the importance of maintaining good relationships with customers to ensure open and honest communication about service quality.
You want to always communicate that you have exceptional training and exceptional service, and you want to make it clear to everyone that if they don't like that, they need to tell you if they get anything but exceptional service.
Alex highlights the necessity of ensuring customers are aware of the business's promise of exceptional service and training, and the importance of customer feedback in maintaining service standards.
And so that way your customers start policing your employees for you because there's no way you can be everywhere at once.
Alex explains how customer feedback serves as a means of quality control, effectively allowing customers to oversee employees and ensure the service standard is upheld.
I consume a ton of information, courses, seminars, masterminds, like a lot. I hire guys for multiple thousands of dollars an hour just to give me 2 hours of time on how they're truly doing something and apply it to my business or gym business or whatever.
Alex discusses his approach to continuing education, which involves consuming a wide range of informational resources and hiring experts to gain insights applicable to his business ventures.
I invested probably three quarters of my income for the first three years in learning more stuff.
This quote illustrates Alex's commitment to self-improvement and education, highlighting the extent of his financial investment in his personal development.
You are the biggest investment you can make because ultimately, if everything's taken from me, I can make it all over again because I made that investment.
Alex emphasizes the value of investing in oneself, suggesting that the knowledge and skills acquired are assets that can enable him to rebuild if necessary.
You want to feel secure, get better. You know what I mean? Get smarter, get faster.
This quote reinforces the idea that self-improvement is a form of future-proofing one's career and life.
So for us, tithes is 10%, and so we give 10% of what our income is. So the business can make whatever the business makes. But then whatever we write ourselves as a check is what we tithe off of.
Alex explains his method of tithing, which is based on giving a percentage of his personal income, not the business income.
And then an Offering would be anything that we go above and beyond that tithe, which is always to our Church.
Here, Alex distinguishes between tithes and offerings, with the latter being additional contributions beyond the obligatory tithe.
It's like Malachi 13 something. But anyways, I always remember it because basically if you give to the Lord, he says, test me in this and watch and see if I don't open up the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there won't be enough room to store it.
This quote references the scriptural basis for tithing and the blessings Alex believes are associated with this practice.
And yeah, we do. We just pay via Ach and that'll be all the faqs for this podcast and we are going to get to them in the next one.
Alex mentions the logistical aspect of how he fulfills his tithing commitment, which is through an automated clearing house (ACH) payment.