Run a Profitable Gym

Want to earn $100,000 a year from your gym? Passion alone won’t cut it. You need a clear plan.

Today, Chris Cooper introduces a proven, step-by-step guide: “The Gym Owner’s Checklist for Hitting $100K+ Annual Income.”

Based on data from thousands of gyms worldwide, this checklist outlines exactly what you need to do to build a profitable, sustainable business.

It’s broken down into six essential areas:

- Get More Clients
- Average Revenue Per Member (ARM)
- Length of Engagement (LEG)
- Effective Hourly Rate (EHR)
- Staff
- Finance

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the business side of gym ownership, this checklist will give you a clear path forward.

Join Chris for a live walkthrough and Q&A on April 29 at 12 p.m. EDT in Gym Owners United—linked below.

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Gym Owners United

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0:01 - Intro

2:29 - Overview of the checklists 

3:48 - Client headcount, value & retention

8:13 - Owner pay, staff & finance

9:50 - Your next step

At just five months old, Emilie Towns’ gym is already averaging more than $450 per member per month.

Instead of offering big group classes, Emilie built Ardent Fitness on a high-value foundation by focusing on semi-private and small-group training.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Emilie shares how her mentor helped her launch with clarity and confidence, and she lays out the systems that drive her success.

She breaks down her onboarding process and pricing strategy, and she explains how the Prescriptive Model has helped her retain clients, reinforce value and consistently deliver results. She also shares how she overcame early sales fears to find high-value clients.

If you've ever wondered how some gyms can charge so much more than others, dig into this episode!

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"Help First"

The Prescriptive Model

Gym Owners United

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0:01 - $454 ARM in 5-month-old gym

3:32 - Small group vs. semi-private

11:24 - Running a semi-private program

14:27 - How to find high-value clients

22:18 - The Prescriptive Model

What if every client in your gym happily paid you $20 more per month? What about $50 more? Or even $100 more?

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper presents the Top 10 leaderboard for average revenue per member (ARM), with the No. 1 gym earning $724 per client per month.

He explains how these elite gyms have boosted their revenue by prioritizing client value over headcount.

In fact, one gym on the leaderboard increased its revenue by 38 percent while reducing its client base by 20 percent.

Chris also breaks down the Prescriptive Model, a client-centric strategy that aligns gym services with individual goals to produce better results.

Focusing on measurable results—instead of just workouts—builds trust, boosts retention and justifies premium pricing.

Tune in to hear why “more clients” isn’t always the answer and then start scaling your gym’s average revenue per member.

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The Prescriptive Model

Gym Owners United

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00:28 - Top 10 gyms for ARM

04:30 - Why you must be profitable

09:03 - Fewer members, more revenue

11:54 - Quotes from top gym owners

16:30 - Method versus model

When Theresa Straight signed up for mentorship, she was working 70-80 hours per week—coaching for 30-plus of those—and barely scraping by.

Seventeen months later, she’s doubled her client headcount, doubled her average revenue per member and quadrupled her revenue.

Theresa raced through the stages of Two-Brain mentorship and has reached the elite Tinker level, where gym owners are earning over $100,000 per year. Her focus now is on using her gym to support her family’s lifestyle and create a bright future.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin talks with Theresa about the exact steps she took to grow a thriving business and get her time back.

Theresa breaks down the mindset shift that helped her transition from “coach” to “CEO” and shares key actions that fueled the gym’s growth: developing onboarding and retention systems, implementing goal reviews, and hiring staff.

Ready to grow without grinding yourself into the ground? This episode is for you. 

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The Stages of Mentorship

"The Golden Hour"

Gym Owners United

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0:01 - Theresa’s 17-month transformation

3:57 - Pre-mentorship struggles

9:34 - Quick wins in Stage 1

13:12 - Moving from coach to CEO

21:29 - Becoming an elite gym owner

Struggling to turn gym leads into paying members? Your sales funnel might need some first aid.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” marketing experts John Franklin and Matt Temby break down sales data from three gyms, identify gaps in their sales processes and explain how to fix them.

The pair dial in on three key lead-tracking metrics: set rate, show rate and close rate. They explore why one gym has trouble getting leads to set appointments, why another has so many no-shows, and why a third struggles to close high-ticket sales.

John and Matt walk through changes each gym could make to improve their sales, such as contacting leads faster and asking better questions during the sales consultation.

Tune in to hear real-world examples of sales-funnel remedies, then find and fix the weak points in your gym’s funnel.

To learn more about improving your sales process, check out Matt’s last two appearances on the show, linked below.

Links

Sales Process Overview

Handling Objections

Gym Owners United

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0:01 - Intro

0:39 - Setting more appointments

5:13 - Getting leads to show up

6:07 - Closing more sales

8:28 - Increasing high-ticket sales