55 Strategies

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc.
2009
www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009
55
Fitness Business
Strategies for Success
Avoid making the same mistakes

we made opening a fitness facility
By
Rachel and Alwyn Cosgrove

55
Fitness Business
Avoid making the same mistakes

we made opening a fitness facility
By
Rachel and Alwyn Cosgrove

What people are saying about Alwyn and
Rachel Cosgrove…
"I got the book a couple days ago...last night I sat down
and read it cover to cover. It's an absolute gem! Gets
straight to the point!! You have obviously put a ton of time
learning/studying the business side of things and your
expertise shows.
I really appreciate all the help you've given me over the

years...”
Joe DeFranco, DeFranco’s Training Systems
"Alwyn Cosgrove not only "gets it" but he can teach it.
This is the real key. A guy with brains, and a sense of
humor."
Mike Boyle, Elite Strength coach,
www.bodybyboyle.com

“I just finished the new book. Great guide! Seriously, you
two are making it so much easier for people to succeed,
achieve results faster and feel less frustrations.”
Rob Pilger
"At my last live event, I had some of the best speakers in

the fitness industry, but Alwyn Cosgrove stole the show!
His in-depth knowledge, his sense of humor, his timing,
and his warmth won over the crowd instantly."
Ryan Lee, Fitness Entrepreneur, http://RyanLee.com

"Alwyn Cosgrove is the most knowledgeable fitness
trainer I've encountered in my 10-plus years as a fitness
journalist"
Lou Schuler, Former Fitness Editor - Mens Health
magazine, Author - Testosterone Advantage Plan,
Book of Muscle, The New Rules Of Lifting
“I really hugely admire the system that Rachel and Alwyn

Cosgrove use running their gym. It’s a system that will
probably endure regardless of trends. I love the
philosophy of training multiple people at the same time.
Having weekly meetings with their team, setting weekly
goals and that essentially everybody in the gym has the
same philosophy and meet weekly to discuss that
philosophy. That’s brilliant. Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove
and Results Fitness are the future of the industry.”
TC Luoma Editor-in-Chief of TMuscle Magazine

“Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove are my top sources for
fitness advice. From fat loss programming to sports
specific training, they are, without a doubt, the best in the
world at what they do. In fact, there's no one in the fitness
industry I trust more.”
Adam Campbell, MS, CSCS, Fitness Director for
Men's Health Magazine

55
Fitness Business
Avoid making the same mistakes we

made opening a fitness facility
By Rachel and Alwyn Cosgrove
Copyright©
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without the written permission of the author
and the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.

55 Fitness Business Strategies for Success
is a trademark of AlwynCosgrove.com, Inc.
Published by:
AlwynCosgrove.com, Inc.
24420 Walnut Street
Newhall, Ca. 91321
Order Information:
To order more copies of this book or to learn about
other products by Rachel and Alwyn Cosgrove go to
www.resultsfitnessbiz.com,
www.AlwynCosgrove.com or
www.RachelCosgrove.com.

Other Books
By Alwyn and Rachel
Cosgrove
• The Results Fitness Ultimate Fat Loss
Programming and Coaching System
• The Fitness Professional’s Action Guide to The
Female Body Breakthrough
• The Female Body Breakthrough
• The New Rules of Lifting
• The New Rules of Lifting for Women
• The New Rules of Lifting for Abs

Special Thanks To:
• Our team at Results Fitness who are the best at

what they do!
• The members of Results Fitness, without them we
wouldn’t have a gym!
• Our Results Fitness Biz Coaching Clients
• Thomas Plummer who has influenced our business
model tremendously as our advisor and friend.
• Perform Better and Chris Poirier who have been
extremely helpful as our gym equipment and
professional development company of choice,
sponsor and friend.
• And of course our families who have always
supported us in our fitness business endeavors!

Before you get started…
W e have successfully owned and operated Results

Fitness, since May of 2000, at this point over 11
years. In the journey to becoming an extremely profitable
gym over time, we have made a ton of mistakes, have
learned a ton of lessons and want to save anyone else who
is considering opening their own place from making the
same mistakes we made and get you to where we are now
quicker than we did.
We run our business by the ideas in this book every single

day. They work. They have worked for us and for others
who have followed them. They will work for you in your
fitness business if you follow them.
But please understand this book is only going to give you a

taste of information to get you started thinking the way you
need to think to be successful in your fitness business. Each
of these lessons could have a whole chapter or an entire
speech on the topic.
If you are opening your own fitness facility, the lessons in

this book will save you a ton of money, a ton of time making

mistakes and a ton of frustrations. Read this carefully, take
notes and really implement the ideas we have laid out.
Everything in this book has been tested out and most of it is
a lesson learned from a mistake we made. If only we had a
book like this when we first started out….

Lawrence: What would you do if you
had a million dollars?
Peter Gibbons: Nothing.
Lawrence: Nothing, huh?
Peter Gibbons: I would relax... I
would sit on my ass all day... I would
do nothing.
Lawrence: Well, you don't need a
million dollars to do nothing, man.
-From the movie “Office Space”

Strategy 1
Design your Life
S tart with the end in mind. You are not in business to

be in business, you are in business to be able to live
the life you want to live! You have to take the time to sit
down and think about what it is you want in life. Design
your lifestyle and decide what it is you want. Describe a
perfect day in your life. What would it consist of? What
would you do if you were financially independent and no
longer had to work? How much does it cost to live the life
you want to live? When do you want to retire? What will
the lifestyle cost that you want to live when you retire?
Figure it out. Design Your Life! Independently wealthy
doesn’t have to mean you have millions. Sit down and
write out where you want to be in 1 year, 5 years or 10
years. What is the goal of opening this business? Where
do you want it to take you? What are your current
frustrations? Why aren’t you happy with what you are
doing now? What do you want to change? Are you the
type of person who takes risks? Are you up for a
challenge? Remember, it takes great challenges to do
great things.

Strategy 2
You are running a business!
T he decision to open your own place is a big

commitment and isn’t right for everyone. Deciding to
open your own place is a decision to become a business
owner. You will have to learn how to run a business. Your
job is no longer a personal trainer, it is a business owner.
You will need to work more “on” the business, than “in”
the business! This is the mistake many trainers make is
they open their own place but they continue in the role of
a personal trainer and never really get the business
producing what it should. They spin their wheels training
clients hour after hour and never step out to look at the
big picture of their business. Realize that you are
choosing to change your career when you open a
business. You will need a whole new set of skills. When
we opened we had a book shelf of every exercise
physiology book, training book, nutrition book you could
imagine. After opening our gym our book shelf quickly
doubled with business books and now has more business
and financial books than training books. You have to shift
your focus.

Strategy 3
Have a business Plan
Y ou have to think about what it will cost you per

month to run your place and how you will make that
with a profit. Start by writing out a budget of what
everything will cost. Have a business plan of what your
monthly costs will be and figure out how many sessions
you need to be doing to cover costs and make a profit.
For a start, if you are charging around $50.00 per training
session and paying your trainers $20.00 per session, you
have a profit from each session of $30.00. Divide your
total cost by $30.00 and figure out how many sessions
you need to have your trainers doing to break even and
to make a profit. You are not in business to break even.

Strategy 4
Rent factor will determine your
business plan.
Y our first big decision is deciding on your location.

Write out everything you will need to purchase
before you open. Finding a location and figuring out the
rent factor will determine a lot when it comes to figuring
out your prices and business plan. You need to check out
what is available in the area you want to open in and
what the rent is going to be. You also want to figure out if
renting, building or buying is the way to go. The answer
to this will ultimately depend on how much capital you
can raise to get started. If you have a wealthy investor as
a client he/she may be very interested in investing in real
estate with you to open your gym in.

Strategy 5
Figuring out Payroll
O ur payroll was always such a high percentage of

our budget compared to what the industry
standards are for a typical commercial gym. The reason
is that when you include fitness coaching as part of your
membership, which is the model we recommend, every
time you sign up a new member your payroll will
increase. Your payroll will most likely end up being closer
to 55% of your total budget rather than the recommended
32-38%. Since as you are growing this percentage will go
up, I look at my budget without including the fitness
coach payroll to get a good idea of where I am at as a
business. This also tells me how many sessions I will
need my fitness coaches to do to cover my fixed
expenses. I recommend looking at your budget, with only
fixed expenses, not including pay roll. Then looking at
how much profit per session you make and divide your
budget by the profit to figure out how many sessions you
need to be doing. Really the more you are paying out to
your trainers, means they are doing more sessions and
you are more making more profit- it is a win, win! So the
higher their payroll is the better. I know, hard to grasp!

Strategy 6
Getting Started
Build Out – depends on the location. Hopefully you can
put some paint up and call it a gym. $5,000- $300,000
depending on how upscale and how much is involved.
Gym Equipment $10,000- $50,000 With our coaching

members we have consistently seen that a budget of
$10,000 gets them the basics to get started.
Misc(computers, software, stock, inventory, licenses,

permits)- $5,000-$10,000
So start up costs could be $20,000 and could be up to

$500,000. If you are planning to borrow this from a bank
you will need to write out a business plan to take with you
and most likely have good credit and some money
already in the bank. Banks like to see assets and good
credit.
Or you could do it more the way we started. Maybe you

have $10,000- $20,000 or family or a client has offered to
invest some money but you are on a minimal budget.

Keep it simple. Find a location that you can move in and
get started day one when you pay rent. Purchase some
Kettlebells, some swiss balls, a couple of Airdyne bikes
and maybe a Freemotion Cable Cross and you are ready
to get started. Get your sign up, put some paint on the
walls and get your energy going because that is what the
clients will come for. As you are making money you can
reinvest in the gym.
If you are doing construction, get a contractor who comes

highly referred, call references and do your research. I
am not kidding, seriously take your time. And plan on (in
our experience) spending three times as much as you are
planning on and it will probably take twice as long. They
will give you a quote for the job that will include the
basics but as you get into it there will be stuff come up
that will cost more. Then when you have to get the city
involved they will make you do certain things to make it
ADA compliant and safe. Whatever quote they give you
assume it will be at least twice as much.
Figure it all out up front so you know what you will need.

Strategy 7
What is your Mission Statement
Y ou need to have a mission statement for your

business. This will create your unique culture in your
gym. We are always asking our coaching members,
“What’s the bigger vision?” What drives you and your
business everyday? What is the purpose or the reason
that will drive you and your staff to give your best every
single day?

Strategy 8
What’s in a name?
T he name of your business needs to be simple and

tell you exactly who you are and what you do. Don’t
get too technical. Hire a company to design a logo for you
but don’t spend too much money or time on this. Pick a
name and a logo. You aren’t married to it. No one ever
joined a gym because of a logo. We have changed our
name more than once. We made the mistake of starting
off with our last name as part of our company name-
Cosgrove Fitness Training Systems. The problem with
having your name in the title is when you are small and
there are two of you training clients with the last name
Cosgrove and you have to hire your first employee and
her last name is Smith nobody wants to work with Chrissy
Smith, they want to work with the Cosgrove’s whose
name is on the door. So, we don’t recommend using your
name in the title. Thomas Plummer taught us a saying
that we use when thinking whether a name will work or
not- “Tell me fast, tell me true or my friend to hell with
you!” Basically if your name doesn’t tell the person what it
is you do and they have to try to figure it out, you lost
them. Keep it simple. As trainers we tend to want to get

all scientific. Brainstorm and write down as many names
as you can think of, or words that say what you do and
eventually something will come to you that is simple, to
the point and says exactly who you want to be.

Strategy 9
Be legendary at one thing
D on’t try to be the jack of all trades. Be an expert at

one thing. You can’t be the best at everything.
Decide what you want to be known for and kill that
category! You want to be the first person that pops in
people’s heads when they think of your specialty. It has
been called TOMA which stands for Top of Mind
Awareness. If someone says fat loss, as an example, you
should be the first person people think of, or at the top of
their mind. How can you become TOMA at what you do
best?

Strategy 10
Have a Primary Question
H ave a Primary Question that drives every business

decision you make. Ours is- “Will <insert X> help us
to deliver better or faster fitness results, or enhance the
delivery or environment of these fitness results?”
For example, when we decide to add a service or profit

center we ask ourselves, “Will this service help us to
deliver better or faster fitness results, or enhance the
delivery or environment of these fitness results?” If the
answer is Yes, we will bring the service, product or profit
center in to offer our clients.

Strategy 11
Move Fast
T he faster you can make decisions and keep things

moving the more successful you will be. Keep
moving forward! Successful people do not dilly dally. You
must be quick at making decisions. Think of being at the
top of a snow covered mountain with a huge snowball.
You want to push the snowball down the hill to go in a
certain direction. You could stand at the top of the
mountain and draw up your plans, run through every
different scenario, think things through but you will never
get the snowball moving until you push it. Instead of
trying to figure out the exact way to get it moving. Just
push the snowball and run along side it to push it in the
direction you want it to go. All of the planning in the world
won’t help. Just get the ball rolling!!! And fix it on the way!

Strategy 12
Know the foundational numbers
Thomas Plummer first introduced us to some of
these and they are used on a daily basis around our
gym.
• BOE: Base Operating Expense, or what it costs you
to pay all of the bills each month. Know how much it
costs to run your gym every month!
• Cash Flow: This is your daily revenue arriving in the

gym from a variety of different sources, such as new
sales cash and profit center income. Everyday you
should look at what came in and where you are in
relation to how much you want to make that month. If
you are behind, you need to take action and do
something to increase income the next day.
• Receivable Base: Money you could count on

collecting in the future from your current members if
you never sold another membership. This is the most
valuable asset your gym owns. This is why we get
our members on a 3 month or 12 month agreement.
This guarantees you income every month. You

should make decisions to enhance your gym’s
receivable base. As trainers, we are so used to
getting a lump sum of maybe $1500.00 for a certain
number of sessions- we don’t want this anymore.
Instead we want it broken up over the next 3 months.
I repeat, you don’t want paid in fulls. I know the
money is nice in full but it does not build a strong
business long term.
• The Daily Number: When you look at your cash flow

each day, subtract it from what you want to make
that month and then divide it by the number of days
left in the month. This is your daily number or the
amount of money you have to bring in every day to
hit your goal for the month.
• Profit Mode: The Day of the month your gym

deposits enough money to cover the gym’s BOE.
The goal is to go into profit mode as near as we can
to the 1st of the month. So, when your receivables =
BOE you are there! That is the ultimate goal!
• Session Number: I discussed this earlier. You have

to know how many sessions a week you need to be

doing to cover your costs to run your gym. Always
keep an eye on the session number you are doing as
a gym to make sure you are in profit mode. For us
each trainer is required to maintain 60 client hours a
week. Keep in mind these are semi private so this is
about 30 hours a week and for us equals a $1500-
$2000 profit per week/ per trainer. If they fall below
this we have to address the situation.
• A business is not a business if it doesn’t net at least

20% profit a month. The goal is to record 6 months in
a row making at least 20% net, then the business is
stable enough to risk another business venture.
• 70% of BOE should be covered by your receivable

check. This is your goal to create an extremely
stable and financially solid company.
• An acceptable renewal rate is 60%. Members make

up their mind the first 30 days to renew. You need to
track this. If you are only keeping 40% of your
members, you need to look at your model, your
customer service and figure out why are people
leaving. To have a strong business your renewal rate

should be at 60% or above especially in this
business model.
• You should close 60% of your potential member

traffic. 60% of people who walk in your door should
sign up!

Goal Setting can be so
powerful. It provides focus.
It shapes our dreams. It
gives us the ability to hone in
on the exact actions we need
to do to get everything that
we desire in life.”
– Jim Rohn

Strategy 13
Set financial goals
S et goals for each of the numbers in strategy 12

every month. Figure out how much you want to
make that month. Divide that number by the days in the
month and figure out your “Daily Number.” This is the
number you have to make every day and go after it. The
first day you don’t make your daily number you have to
take action to make sure you catch up. It is amazing how
powerful it is to write down your goal for the month. We
started this on the back of an envelope that we would
stick all of our receipts in. Everyday we would subtract
what we made that day and divide the remainder by the
days left in the month to give us our new daily number. It
was amazing when we started doing this how close we
would come to hitting the goal we set each month. A
written goal is extremely powerful! Every month we
figure out the goal much like we did back on the
envelope. We use the last 3 months and the same month
last year and then add 3-5%. We then divide this by the
number of working days in the month to give us a daily
number we need to hit each month. This number is
written on a board where our entire team can see it.

Having the number you need to hit in your subconscious
will keep you focused each day on what you need to
bring in. As a business owner, you need to make sure
that you and your employees sell something to someone
every single day and everyone is aware of where the
business is each day and what their job is on the team.

Strategy 14
Have accurate tracking software
O ther very important numbers for a fitness coaching

center is the session numbers. Have accurate
software to track sessions and schedules. You must find
an accurate way to track your session numbers. If you do
not have an accurate method, this can cost you
thousands in lost sessions. This is very important. Using
a software system that has the fitness coaching schedule
and subtracts the sessions as they are completed is
ideal. This will keep the client from booking another
session if they have none available and will also keep the
coach from getting paid for a session that did not happen.
You will have to find the software that is right for you but
this is very important to pay attention to as you hire
coaches. The bigger you get the harder it is to keep track
and the more money you will lose. You have to get a
tracking method in place sooner than later.

Strategy 15
Build a Receivable Base.
C harge members a monthly automatic membership

fee. This is one of the keys to a financially strong
fitness business. We made the mistake of charging per
session when we first opened and the problem is you
have no guaranteed income. There is no guarantee that
you’ll be in business next week. This is not a good
business plan. Do not depend on whether your client is
going to show up this week or not and maybe bring you a
check for the next 10 sessions. Also when you are
constantly asking your clients for money it puts too much
emphasis on the money and not on the clients workouts
and results. Trainers are not good at asking people for
money so this alleviates some of that. Initially you do
have to ask them to get started but once they sign the
agreement they will be automatically billed monthly and
the trainer can focus on getting the client in shape.

Strategy 16
Have contracts and agreements.
A little hint, when you are selling someone, call it an

“agreement.” Using the word “contract” can have a
negative connotation. When you are holding someone to
the obligation they made to you and not letting them out
of their legally binding “contract.” You must have
contracts to build a solid business. Be up front and
honest with your members about what they are signing.
Stick to them. When we introduced contracts we didn’t
have too much hassle from our clients. They trusted us
and understood that we need to run our business.
Besides for most of them now they didn’t have to worry
about bringing us a check all of the time because they
kept forgetting. We were actually making things easier on
them.
Your clients need to be on a 3 month or 12 month

contract from day one. This does not automatically
renew. Instead you have to ask the member to renew
again at the end of the agreement. Do not do month to
month memberships. This is very important: Having a
contract such as this is only as good as you will stick to it.

When you sign up a member on an agreement be up
front with them about what they are signing. Do not
mutter through the fine print, instead be open and honest
that this is a 12 month agreement and they are
committing to pay the membership fee for the next 12
months. The only way to get out of this contract is with a
medical note or if they move outside of a 20 mile radius.
Communicate everything clearly BEFORE it is a problem.

Strategy 17
Get a third party billing company
D o not do your own collecting. This is the first thing

you should farm out. This keeps you from being the
bad guy. This way you can always blame it on your third
party. Having a receivables base builds a strong business
but you must take yourself out of the line of fire. You want
your clients to see you as the nice guy, not the guy who
is collecting their money. Point the finger at someone
else. We usually say, “We use a third party billing
company to allow us to focus on what we do best which
is work with our clients, designing programs and getting
the results we are known for.”

“Run the Plan, not the
Man.” - Thomas Plummer

Strategy 18
Systemize everything!
H ave a script for everything you do. Role play and

train your staff daily to BE you. You don’t want to
own a job! Run a systems dependent business rather
than a people dependent business. The systems run the
business and the people run the systems. You can't do
without people, but the more you systemize, the less
dependent you become on people. Your job is to run the
system - not the individual -- run the plan, not the man. If
there is a problem - 1) was the system followed? Yes -
tweak the system, No -- write up the employee.

"What gets measured - gets
managed"
- Peter Drucker

Strategy 19
Track and Test Everything
Y ou should constantly be tracking and testing

everything you do. Test your marketing, test your
phone scripts, test your sales pitch, test everything. This
is done by keeping track of numbers. How many phone
calls did you get? How many came in to your gym? How
many signed up? When you make a change test to see if
it works better, then track and compare to figure out what
works best. Do not wing anything. Keep track of
everything you do- track and test and constantly hone
your business strategies according to the numbers and
what is working.

“Business would be great
if it weren’t for the
employees and the
customers.”
– Alwyn Cosgrove

Strategy 20
Hire Slow, Fire Fast.
F irst of all who are you looking for? Know what you
want. Can this employee live by your mission
statement and fit in with your core culture? Take your
time when you are hiring. Meet them more than once,
have them come in and do an on the job interview and
really try to get them in different situations to see who
they really are. Everyone can interview very well and
impress. Everyone knows the right answers to all of the
interview questions. The hard part is figuring out who the
person really is.
Our steps
1. Everyone sends in a resume(no resume, no
interview)
2. Email them a questionnaire about your
business and ask them to drop it off.
3. Phone Interview
4. In Person Interview (sometimes a group
interview)
5. On the Job interview, shadowing a coach and
interacting with members and staff (we
currently require 6 weeks)

Strategy 21
Hire for attitude, train skill.
Y our business should be operated by people with

great attitudes but the lowest possible skill level to
do that specific job. This enables you to find staff when
you need them at the lowest possible price. You don't
want systems that can be operated by only high quality
people, because when that person leaves, you will have
trouble getting a replacement.
DO NOT CONFUSE LOWEST POSSIBLE SKILL WITH

LOW SKILL.
When we first opened we made the mistake of wanting

only the top certified, degree in the field, best trainers
there were. These trainers came with education and they
knew a lot and were pretty set in their ways but they did
not work in our model because we wanted people who
were going to do it our way, not their way. We quickly
realized that instead we needed people we could mold,
people who maybe didn’t have all of the certifications and
degrees but had a passion for fitness and wanted to
motivate people. People who were trainable and we

could teach them our philosophies and our systems and
they would learn quickly and follow what we told them to
do. With this in mind, we have successfully hired people
who were clients, a triathlete who was working in
marketing, a school teacher who wanted a new career
and we trained them ourselves in our philosophies. We
got them all certified and then immersed them in our
training philosophies.

Strategy 22
Remember Employees MUST = More
Profit
R emember employees must equal more profit. The

only reason to have employees is to generate more
income. Not to provide a job for someone. Once you
have taken your time hiring and are starting to build a
good team of people around you the key is to build a
strong culture of teamwork and accountability. People
need to be held accountable. They need to know their
expectations clear and up front and then be held
accountable from day one. You have to break them of the
bad habits and start the new people with good ones.
Culture is simply defined as "how we do things here".
That is up to you to decide and it is constantly a work in
progress.

Strategy 23
Establish expectations upfront with
employees
S et the table, so to speak, with them early. Let them

know what is expected and how things work up
front. I always personally sit down with a new employee
and go over our core values, company policies, our
mission statement and what is expected of them. This is
all included in the employee manual. This is when I cover
that they need to bring their best every single day, take
ownership and be the best part of our member’s day! In
our culture, nobody is allowed to have a bad day. Leave it
at the door. No bad attitudes allowed.
I make sure they know that they are not expected to

know everything day one and to please do not hesitate to
ask if they don’t know an answer. I also am very clear
that anything they do wrong the first time is completely
my fault for not training them properly. I always tell them
that initially I may be constantly on them, correcting them
and asking them to do things differently. This does not
mean that they aren’t doing a good job, it is just easier to
fix little things as I see them immediately than to let the

little things keep adding up until eventually it is a big
problem.
This is across the board for all employees. If you see

someone doing something that is not quite how you want
it done- do not put it off, do not avoid the confrontation-
immediately address the problem and fix it and it will be
no big deal. Otherwise, they will continue to do it and it
will continue to bug you and eventually you will walk in
having a bad day and fire them.
Our employees all work together as a team and if I hear

someone not practicing good team work, stealing clients
or bad mouthing another team member I immediately talk
to the employee and fix the problem.

Strategy 24
Paying your staff
Y ou pay for productivity. What are they worth to the

company? What would be worth more? We came
up with a pyramid and have found it helpful in two ways:
1. To give our employees a path to follow and 2. To give
us a concrete set of standards for a specific amount of
pay rather than just paying more because we happen to
like someone. On the pyramid there are specific
expectations for each amount of pay. If they want to get
“X”, they have to meet “X” expectations. On the pyramid,
there is no limit to how much you can make with our
company. Understand that some people won't move up
the pyramid. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
There IS a limit to how much one position or skill set

pays. e.g. Even if I were to hire a top strength coach in
his field, there is still only so much I'm prepared to pay to
supervise a workout session, especially when it is written
by someone else.
There is no pay increase for longevity - only for improved

skills. We have had fitness coaches be hired and move

up the pyramid faster than existing fitness coaches.
Being at our company the longest does not necessarily
mean you make the most money.

Strategy 25
Train your staff Daily.
S o you have these systems in place but how do you

get them implemented and make sure they are
being followed? Training, Training, Training! You can
never spend too much time training your people.
Everyday you should train at least one of your staff
members on something.
I use role playing a lot to the point where it can be

obnoxious but it works. My staff never know when I will
come walking in the front door acting like a new customer
or ask them about a supplement on the shelf and what it
does for me or I’ll go stand next to my front desk girl and
say, “ring,ring” And she knows we are about to role play a
phone call and will immediately say, “Results Fitness,
Lisa speaking.” I would rather them practice with me over
and over and mess up with me so that they are ready for
the people who count. Every single day, role-play
something with someone on your team.
We also push our staff to get constant continuing

education. We bring people in to work with them or have

in house staff trainings with Alwyn or myself or send them
to conferences such as Perform Better. If they aren’t
getting better, they are getting worse. You might be
asking, “Yeah, but what if I spend all that time and money
training them and they leave.” And I’ll ask you back,
“What if you don’t spend any time or money on them and
don’t train them and they stay?”Every single day you
should spend a half hour to an hour training someone on
your team. If you only have one employee, spend an hour
to a half hour with that employee every single day.

Strategy 26
Three Strikes and you’re out Policy
F iring - 3 strikes and you're out rule. No exceptions. It

will come back to bite you in the ass. We stick to a
three strikes and you’re out policy. The first time they do
something I bring them into my office and give them a
verbal warning. One rule of thumb you should stick by-
Chew ass in private, praise in public. The second time
they get a written warning and if I have to give another
written warning depending on the situation it will usually
be a dismissal. Document everything.

Strategy 27
Surround yourself with people who fill
your gaps
H ire people who are good at what you are not good
at. If you don’t like being the bad guy, hire someone
to be that person. Your first hire shouldn’t necessarily be
another trainer. If you are good at training people and
enjoy it, get someone to do the work you aren’t good at
and don’t want to do.

Strategy 28
Learn to delegate!
T rust your team. You cannot do it alone. I have heard

it said that the real definition of an entrepreneur is
someone who always says, “Get the hell out of my way
and let me do it!” You will never be able to grow your
business with this attitude. Take the time to train your
staff and then hand it over to them and trust them.

Strategy 29
Culture in your Business
B uild a culture based on core values. The most

important thing you can do for your business is
figure out what your core values are.

Strategy 30
Realize the value of what you do is in
the program not in rep counting
M any trainers make the mistake of charging per

session. Usually that price includes writing a
program. If you are a somewhat good trainer you should
be taking time outside of when you are actually face to
face with your client to strategize, prioritize and come up
with an effective, safe program for each client to follow to
get them to their goals. This time spent designing a
program is usually not accounted for in your fee. Yet, this
program is the most valuable part of what you do. Start to
think of yourself as a professional who charges by the
hour. What are you worth per hour? Start charging for the
time you take to write a program as a separate fee. You
are not just a rep counter. Take your career seriously,
learn how to write a good program and charge for it.

Benefits:
1. Your client realizes the importance of what you are
doing for them and that you take your job seriously and
will give them the best you know how. This repositions
you as a consultant and not just a “per hour” employee.
You’ll get paid for expertise not for time. The fact that you
will take time outside of the session to strategize and plan
out their program is impressive and will make your clients
take you seriously and value your knowledge.
2. You can have program design as a separate option

on your price sheet, and a separate profit center. Not
everyone wants a trainer every session. Some clients
can’t afford a trainer every session so it is an entirely new
market. You may have clients who only want the program
and will come to you once a month for a new program.
What will this cost them? This is a whole new clientele
you have just opened your services up to.

Strategy 31
Systemize your training philosophy
W e discussed having systems in strategy 18, now

we are specifically talking about having a system
for your training philosophy which most trainers don’t
think about. The reason you are ready to open your own
place is because you have been successful as a trainer
and your clients are referring you more people than you
can eventually handle. You also see the long term plan
that you don’t want to train clients for ever and want to
have your business generate income for you. Now that
you are opening your own place you want to eventually
have trainers working for you. The only way to grow your
business and be successful is to replicate yourself and
create systems.
You have to breakdown what you do with your clients,

how you say hello to them, what you talk about, how you
motivate them, what programs you do with them,
everything so that you can replicate that with your next
staff member. The goal is to eventually oversee the
trainers working for you while they continue to train the

clients and get the same results and success that you
did.
You need to lay every single detail out for your staff to
assure that they are servicing your clients exactly like you
would. Start with systemizing how the programs are
written so that every client will get the same type of
program. Our goal was that we wanted every client that
came in to get exactly what they would get if they were
working with Alwyn or myself. This started with the
program being designed how we designed it. We have
our basic program design philosophy in The Program
Design Bible. I am not going to get into program design in
this book, since this is a business book. Whether you use
our program design system or have your own, you must
have a system.
Everything we do is to increase client results. The better

results our clients get they will become raving fans of us.
All of our systems are to increase results. If we find
something that works better we will change our system to
incorporate it. The key is to have a system in place.

“Results by Design, not by
Coincidence.”

Strategy 32
Have a separate program design
department
E very program needs to be designed according to the

same systemized philosophy. You shouldn’t have
one trainer who does functional training with her clients,
and another trainer who does Olympic lifts and another
trainer who does all power lifting or bodybuilding. Decide
on one philosophy and create a system to design all of
the programs through that philosophy so every trainer is
using a program that follows the same philosophy. Every
client should get the best that you have to offer- you
decide what that is. Initially you will be designing all of the
programs and as you hire trainers, you will design the
programs that they will implement. You should have a
standard evaluation that any of your trainers can take
them through and then they turn this evaluation into the
Program designer. We use The Functional Movement
Screen developed by Gray Cook, along with a health
history, goal assessment, range of motion test and
flexibility test. This evaluation can be easily taught to a
new fitness coach. The program designer should work off
of a template. The key is to have a system.

Benefits:
• Allows you to hire trainers who may not know how to
write a program. Remember in the staffing chapter when
we discussed hiring the people with the lowest skill? This
is exactly what we are talking about. Hire someone who
loves fitness, has a great personality but may not know
how to periodize a 16 week program to get 20 pounds of
body fat off of somebody safely and effectively. Leave
that to the Program Design Team.
• Again you have a business because what you do

with your clients is successful- why would you want your
clients to do anything different from what you would do
with them?
• It creates a great environment for teamwork. The

client knows they have someone writing their program
and someone teaching it to them. They have a whole
team working to get them the best results possible.
• If a trainer leaves or a program designer leaves, the

client is not affected. Someone else takes over the same
system and the client’s training does not miss a beat.

Strategy 33
Switch to Semi Private
A t this point all of our coaches do semi private only

training. They see up to 3 people in each hour. The
program is still individualized but each trainer works with
up to 3 people an hour.
When we opened we were all private sessions, like most

trainers.
We weren’t always semi private. Don’t be afraid

to change!
As you know most trainers have certain peak hours when

they see clients, usually 6am to 11am and 4pm to 9pm.
With private clients once these hours are full, that’s it!
Switching to semi-private allowed us to have the same
number of clients with only 2-3 trainers.

Benefits of Semi-Private Training
• Less employees and more clients is always a good
thing!
• It takes the focus off of the trainer, and puts it on the
clients. It is about them. They look forward to seeing each
other. Makes it fun!
• It increases results because the clients now have a
support group of people just like them.
• It gives the client more flexibility with their schedule
now because the trainer has three possible openings
each hour instead of one.
• The trainers can increase their income because they
can get paid for three people each hour. Also if a client is
on vacation or sick, instead of the trainer making nothing
that hour, they still have two other clients coming in. It is
very rare in our gym that a trainer will have no one during
peak hours.
• The gym can make more money because every hour
we are servicing more members.
• The client can pay a little less money. This allows
you to charge them less than you would for a private
session.

• The trainers love it because it eliminates the small
talk during rest periods. Instead they are off working with
someone else. The hour goes much quicker.

Strategy 34
Team Work
T his is something else we do differently than most

gyms. Having the program designed by one person
starts this off. Because of this, the clients can work with
any of the trainers at any point in time. If their schedule
changes or they just like working with a different trainer
they can and their program won’t change. All of the
trainers speak the same language and if any of the
clients ask any of them a question they will get the same
answer. This is usually not the case at most gyms, every
trainer will give you a different answer.
Benefits
• Again the client has a whole team of people working
to get the best results for them. Everyone bounces ideas
off each other. If one trainer happens to know more about
an issue a client is having they can pitch in and help out.
• It creates a very supportive environment for both the
employees and the clients.
• Our staff all learn from each other, push each other
to get better, ask each other questions and help each
other.

Strategy 35
Learn to Sell!
T he dirty 5 letter word- Sales! You can be the best at

what you do but if you don’t know how to sell you will
never be successful in your business. Learning to sell
and teaching your staff to sell is absolutely necessary to
run a successful company. Everyone needs to sell
something to someone everyday! Know everything about
the product you are selling and believe in it! Live it! If you
absolutely believe in your product there should be no
problem learning to sell it.
Sales is not a dirty word. You must learn how to sell to be

successful! When we first opened we were very clear that
we did not want to be sales people or have sales people
instead we would just be good at what we do and
hopefully people would pay us money. We were so
scared of sales and numbers and discussing a sales goal
for the month was completely foreign to us.
This didn’t work so good for running a business. We

quickly learned that we better figure out this sales stuff
and start making some money. We realized that we had

to pay bills and make money to stay open and we better
start learning how to sell.

Strategy 36
Trickle Down Effect
F irst thing is to understand the trickle down effect.

Depending on how many new members you need to
get a month, you can figure out how much advertising
you need to do. We have found the following to be true
and this is what we shoot for most months-
Advertising 1% conversion to !
Phone Ringing (inquiry) 60% conversion to!
Prospect makes appt 60% conversion to !
Trial Members - 70% conversion to !
Full Members Signed Up!
In numbers this means,

4000 mailings !
40-50 phone calls !
25 tours/appointments !
15 trial memberships !
8-10 Sign Ups!
Increase any of the earlier steps and you increase the

number of sign ups!

For example-
If you are hitting 50% at each step above
100 people see the ad
50 people call your gym
25 people come into the gym and meet you
12.5 people sign up
If you improve each step by only 10%
110 People see the ad
66 people call your gym
39.6 people come into the gym and meet you
And approximately 24 people sign up!
Improving each area by only 10% DOUBLES the
bottom line!
You should be keeping an eye on these numbers each

month to know where to focus your staff training. Are you
getting plenty of calls but not converting any of them to
showing up in the door? Then you need to work on the
phone call. Or maybe they are showing up but you can’t
get them signed up. Then you need to work on sales
skills and your customer service.

Strategy 37
“Buy” The Sale
W hen someone comes in to your gym to sign up,

you have to “buy” the sale. They aren’t buying a
gym membership, they are buying a new body and you
can’t hand that to them when they walk out the door after
giving you money and signing a legally binding
document. You don’t want them to leave feeling empty
handed. So you give them some stuff so they feel like
they got a deal, their expectations have been exceeded
and they don’t have regret! The gifts we give out cost us
about $200.00 but the perceived value is about $500.00
worth to a new member. You have to “Buy” the sale.

Strategy 38
Don’t try to save yourself in to
profitability
W hen your cash flow is not looking so good the first

instinct is to cut back and start saving money.
Something to keep in mind, it is often impossible to
“save” yourself into a profit. Keep an eye on your budget
and cut costs where you can but to really have a
successful, profitable business spend more time
generating income than trying to find ways to save.

Strategy 39
Customer Service
W ithout strong customer service, member retention

rates are going to be a major issue within your
facility. If you are not renewing at least 60% of your
members you have customer service issues guaranteed.
We aren’t in the fitness business; we are in the people

business. Fitness is the delivery system, but people and
helping them should be the foremost thing on your mind.
People come for fitness but they stay because of the
service we deliver consistently over time.
How will you stand out from your competitors? What will
differentiate you from the other gyms in the area?
Legendary Customer Service is defined as what kind of

first time experience we provide to our guests and how
the member is treated on a daily visit. These things will
be hard for your competitors to copy.
Customer Service has to come first in everything you do.
Teach your staff how to give exceptional customer

service and use words like “absolutely!” “I can do that for
you!”
We use a game around our gym where I give out gold

coins throughout the month to my staff. These are
exceptional customer service gold coins. Anytime I hear
someone saying one of the above, or doing something
above and beyond they get a gold coin. At our meeting
each month I exchange them for dollars and then usually
give the person with the most $100 bill. This worked
really well to step up the customer service around our
gym.

Strategy 40
Exceed your client’s expectations!
I n general, people are motivated by gain (reward) or

avoiding loss (punishment). If a member’s experience
in our gym is rewarding, he/she will continue to be a
member. If it is negative, he/she will stop being a
member. The first step to retaining members is to
understand their needs. New members expect certain
basic services and support as part of doing business with
us, e.g., personalized programs; a friendly, well-groomed
staff; towel service; and results. These are base
expectations. Customer service goes one step beyond
base expectations.
Meeting base expectations is no big deal to members.

However, to obtain a renewal from a member who will
also spend money on supplements, bring in guests and
tell others about the gym, he/she must be moved into the
Zone of Commitment by having base expectations
exceeded.

Strategy 41
Manage Your Risk
O wning your own business is not only a risk

financially but you are also taking on liability for any
individual who comes through your doors AND you are
taking on the liability for anything your employees do.
You should be constantly asking yourself if you are doing
everything you can to minimize risk in your gym. Know
and understand risk management. Get good insurance
and build a relationship with them. We recommend
Association Insurance (www.gyminsurance.com). Believe
it or not risk management starts with good customer
service, caring about your members and watching out for
their best interest.

Strategy 42
Marketing
L earn about marketing! Marketing is

important to your business. You can have everything
else down but if no one knows about you, they can’t
extremely
come in and spend money at your business. In the end it

all comes down to marketing. Separate your marketing
into two groups- external and internal. External is
anything you do to try to get people to know of you and
attract members who are not currently coming to your
facility or know people coming to your facility. This
includes press releases which is a very inexpensive way
to get free press and become the expert in your area.
Internal marketing is promotions or marketing to your
current customers primarily. It's in-house marketing.
Some examples are marketing to past prospects, past
members, referral programs, renewal programs etc.

Free Gift
For a FREE copy of our Press Release
Calendar go to www.resultsfitnessbiz.com.
This gift will give you ideas for each month of
what press release to send out. You have no
excuse to not start marketing today.

Strategy 43
Market Consistently
N ever cut back on your marketing budget! Market

consistently. Marketing is accumulative! Even when
you are really busy and feel like you want to cut back on
spending money on marketing you shouldn’t. It is better
to continue marketing ongoing. Think of it like an
investment. You have been investing every month on
getting your name out there and if you stop for a few
months you have to start all over branding yourself. Stay
in front of your market constantly keeping you on their
mind as the place to go. And be proactive, not reactive
with your marketing!

Strategy 44
You are a leader!
Y es, you are a leader whether you lead your clients

or your employees, you lead people in a direction.
What direction that is, is up to you! Are you a good
leader? Are you a great leader? How do you become a
great leader?
As the owner of a business you have put yourself in a

leadership position and need to learn to be an effective
leader. You must lead by example and have a positive
mental attitude at all times. Fake it until you make it.
Treat your staff how you want them to treat your clients.
You cannot afford to have bad mouthing, pettiness,

gossip, or negative attitudes from you or your staff.
Absolutely no bad energy in your facility. Do not tolerate
it. If someone has a bad attitude or is negative it will
slowly grow and infect your entire staff and your clients.
Think of negative energy as a cancer in your gym. You
must eliminate it and get it out before it starts to grow.
Because it will grow slowly and silently.

“Fake it until you Make it!”

Strategy 45
Fake It!
F ake it even when you don’t feel like it! I am a big

believer in the fact that there is an exchange of
energy between people. There is an exchange of energy
between you and your clients and an exchange of energy
between you and your team of employees which will
trickle down to your clients. As their leader they are
looking to you to set the energy tone everyday. If you
don’t come to your business with a great attitude, they
will all follow you. Some days the last thing you want to
do is smile and have a good attitude but you have to fake
it!

“To become financially
independent you must turn
part of your income into
capital; turn capital into
enterprise; turn enterprise
into profit; turn profit into
investment; and turn
investment into financial
independence.”
– Jim Rohn

Strategy 46
Pay Yourself First.
I nstead of paying the bills or whatever else, pay

yourself a paycheck first and put 10% into savings.
Then with whatever is leftover pay everyone else. You
must get in the habit of paying yourself a check out of the
business every month and saving 10% of it every single
month no matter what. This is non-negotiable.

Strategy 47
Debt
K now the difference between good debt and bad

debt. To be running a solid business you should
have some debt but this will be “good” debt. This is
money you borrow to invest in your business, reinvest
and keep it up. If you have no debt at all you are probably
not reinvesting in your business enough. Think of this
debt as an investment in your business. It is better to get
a low interest loan than to use up all of your money in the
bank. Bad debt is consumer debt that you are paying an
interest rate on. Your goal should be to eliminate any
personal consumer debt you have. Understand the
difference between debt that is a loan for your business
and debt that is personal consumer credit card debt and
why one is an investment and the other is not.

"Reinvent your business
constantly. The end goal may
be the same, but the tools
and methods are constantly
evolving."
– Ken Tucker
"You've got to reinvent

your business to fit the
realities of the new market"
– Seth Godin

Strategy 48
Reinvent and don’t be afraid of change
C hange = Growth! Don’t be afraid of change. We are

not afraid of change and even with our current
business are constantly making changes and taking new
risks that usually pay off, but not always. Being a
business owner takes this kind of attitude. You are taking
a huge risk and if you don’t move fast, make decisions
and keep your momentum going you will not be
successful as a business owner. Give your facility a face
lift every 5 years. You must reinvest and reinvent your
gym. Your clients will get bored if you don’t. You need to
get new equipment, new paint. Even simply moving stuff
around keeps your clients excited! Opening your own
business is a risk and there are much easier ways to
make money. It is potentially a big return too but is a way
bigger risk. This is something to keep in mind, if you have
made the decision to do something get the momentum
moving forward. You should attend seminars such as
Perform Better, keeping yourself and your staff growing
and learning. You will never have the perfect plan. If you
are not a risk taker, opening a business is not for you.
Move fast, make changes and reinvent!

"It's time to reinvent ourselves.
The time has never been better
or more urgent in which to
question every truth, belief,
premise, product, service and
price of your business. This is a
time of transition to a new
economy which you are going
to participate in, willingly or
reluctantly, successfully or
unsuccessfully."
-Dan Kennedy

Strategy 49
Study an hour a day!
S tay ahead of the trends! Read, study and learn!

Spend an hour a day studying, reading or learning
something to keep yourself and your business on the
cutting edge.
Suggested Reading List:

We read A LOT and it is hard to narrow it down to a list
but here goes…
Below are some books that changed our business
• Delivering Happiness(Tony Hseih)
• Good to Great(Jim Collins)
• 7 Habits of highly successful people(Stephen
Covey)
• Raving Fans(Ken Blanchard)
• Think and Grow Rich(Napoleon Hill)
• Making Money in the Fitness Business(Thomas
Plummer)
• The Business of Fitness(Thomas Plummer)
• Open a Fitness Business and Make Money Doing
it(Thomas Plummer)
• Rich dad, Poor Dad(Kiyosaki)

• The E-Myth (Michael Gerber)
• The E-Myth Physician(Michael Gerber)
• The Power of full engagement (Loehr and
Schwartz)
• The 5 dysfunctions of a team (Patrick Lencioni)
• Closing the Sale (Zig Ziglar)
• Secrets of a Millionaire Mind (T. Harv Eker)
• The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for turning
Ordinary into Extraordinary (Joseph Michelli)
• The Rules of Management(Richard Templar)
• Get Everything you can out of all You’ve Got (Jay
Abraham)
• Uncensored Sales Strategies by Sydney Biddle
Barrows and Dan Kennedy
• No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs by
Dan Kennedy
• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
• Getting Things Done by David Allen

“An Investment in
Knowledge pays the best
interest.”
– Benjamin Franklin
“We do not rise to the level

of our expectations, but fall
to the level of our training.”
- Unknown

Strategy 50
Invest in Professional Development
U nderstand the concept of the closed loop. The

closed loop includes people who understand that
the more you learn, the more you earn….Education is
not an expense, it is an investment - and the return on
that investment is entirely up to you. If you “get” this, you
will be successful. Become a part of the closed loop. If
you're part of the closed loop 5% - you'll constantly see
education as an investment - you'll see these
opportunities. You'll spend $20 to make $200,
spend $200 to make $2000, spend $2000 to make
$20,000 etc. You learn - you apply - you earn - you
reinvest - you learn again-- it really is that simple.
And if you've ever heard yourself use the phrase, "that's

way overpriced", asked if a book is "worth getting" or
found yourself wondering if a course/seminar etc is
"worth it" - you're part of the 95%. Change your mindset
and you'll change everything.

Strategy 51
Thoughts are things!
H ave a prosperity mindset rather than a poverty

mindset. Having an abundance mentality rather
than a scarcity mentality. If you constantly focus on
“having no money” and “that is too expensive” and “I’ll
never be able to afford that”. Guess what? You’re right!
Instead change your dialogue and your mindset and
you’ll be amazed at how as soon as your attitude toward
money changes so will your luck with it.

Strategy 52
Exit strategy
B uild your business with an exit strategy in mind. If

you can’t step away from your business and it won’t
keep running, you have a job, not a business. It is a good
idea to have a 5 year plan and be able to get out of your
business in five years whether you want to or not. Have
an exit strategy. You never know what life will throw at
you. In our case Alwyn was diagnosed with cancer twice
and we were able to step out of the business and focus
on him fighting and beating the disease. Our business
ran without us and we continued to collect a salary.
Something to think about- would your business survive if
this news was dropped on you? As you start your
business always keep an exit strategy in mind.

“It’s not show friends, it’s
show business.”
- from the movie “Jerry
McGuire”

Strategy 53
Draw a line.
K eep work and personal life separate. Be careful

being too friendly with your staff. You have to
maintain the line between personal and business. The
closer you get with them personally the harder it will be to
separate yourself when you have to be the boss and
reprimand them for something.
This can be a tough line to distinguish. You have to care

about them and have a genuine interest in their well
being to get the best out of them. The better you know
them, the more you’ll get out of them. Let them know you
care, get to know them personally but maintain a
professional line to maintain that respect they should
have for you. Never hire someone, you couldn’t fire.

Strategy 54
Implementation is key.
I t is one thing to read and learn and know all of the

lessons in this book but none of it does you any good
unless you DO! There is a saying that the difference
between a successful person and an unsuccessful
person is not usually knowledge but implementation.
Take action! Reread #11 about moving fast and do not
put it off- take action!

Strategy 55
Keep Balance
E veryone always says – “keep balance in your life.”

What does that mean? This is so hard to do when
you are passionate about your business and want to
spend as much time as you can working on or in it. The
key to realize is that taking time away from your business
will improve your business. You can’t be “in” it 24/7 and
be the best you can be. Everyone has the same number
of hours every week, how do you use those hours? What
I have found is that when it comes to balance, it is easier
for me if every day is not balanced or every week is not
balanced but over the year I am in “balance”. This way, I
might launch a new marketing campaign at the gym with
a special and know that we will have a busy week and I
will plan to be there morning til night everyday and not
feel guilty about it. So I am out of balance this particular
week- that is ok, because the following week we will plan
to have a weekend away or I’ll plan to leave work early
everyday putting me back “in balance.” I have found this
all or nothing approach works well for me as long as I
make sure to balance things out over the year. Having a
business can become very consuming but you cannot let

it take over your life. You will be more successful as a
business person if you take time out of your business on
a regular basis. If you work all the time, you will never
enjoy the things you work for.

“I believe that being successful
means having a balance of
success stories across the many
areas of your life. You can't
truly be considered successful
in your business life if your
home life is in shambles.”
--Zig Ziglar

One Last Thought
Strive to be the best at what you do. Choose one focus and
learn everything about it, become the best and you will
never be short of work. You only get one shot at life. Give it
100% and never have any regrets. Turn your “somedays”
into “todays.” Take action and never look back.
The fitness profession is an amazing profession where we

have the chance to change people’s lives and make a
difference. The more you know about business and how to
be successful, the more people you can help! Now take
action!

Congratulations!
By purchasing and reading this book you are
eligible for a $200 discount coupon to attend
a Results Fitness University LIVE Event.
When checking out enter the code –

55strat06072011
Find out about our events at

www.resultsfitnessuniversity.com.

Links and Resources
www.resultsfitnessbiz.com- Our home base
membership site for our business mentorships,
coaching group and Platinum coaching members.
www.alwyncosgrove.com- Alwyn’s home base
www.rachelcosgrove.com- Rachel’s home base
www.results-fitness.com- Our Gym website
www.thomasplummer.com- Thomas Plummer has

been extremely influential in our business model and
business decisions. Check out his books, seminars and
products.
www.jointhenfba.com – Thomas Plummer’s company,

the National Fitness Business Alliance, creates a
resource for your business needs.
www.performbetter.com The number one source for

equipment and the best conferences and seminars in
the industry. Don’t miss a Perform Better event, you’ll
fall behind.
www.gyminsurance.com- Our insurance company.

About the Authors
Alwyn Cosgrove.
Born in Scotland and initially exposed to fitness training
through an intense competitive sport martial
arts background, Alwyn Cosgrove began reading and
studying any training related material he could get his hands
on. This led Alwyn to formal academic studies in Sports
Performance at West Lothian College and then progressed
on to receiving an honors degree in Sports Science from
Chester College, the University of Liverpool.
During his career as a fitness coach, Alwyn began with

assisting in martial arts lessons in 1986 and teaching fitness
classes in 1989, and has studied under all of the top fitness
professionals and coaches in the world and has worked with
a wide variety of clientele, from general population clientele

to several top level athletes, World Champions and
professionals in a multitude of sports.
A sought after ‘expert’ for several of the country’s leading

publications including a regular contributor to Men’s Health
magazine, Alwyn has co-authored two books in the “New
Rules of Lifting” series (with a third on the way) and
currently spends his time training clients, training his staff at
Results Fitness, speaking on the lecture circuit and
coaching fitness trainers worldwide in their businesses.
For the past decade, with his wife Rachel, Alwyn runs
Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California- which has twice
been named one of America’s Top Gyms by Mens Health
magazine, a gym which specializes in programs for real-
world busy people, and prides itself on “changing the way
fitness is done – period!”
Rachel Cosgrove
Rachel co-owns and operates Results Fitness with her
husband Alwyn Cosgrove, a fitness center in Southern
California for over 10 years. Rachel has been featured in
numerous magazines including Muscle and Fitness Hers,
Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Oxygen,
More Magazine, Runner’s World, Women’s World, Real

Simple and Shape magazine. She currently has her own
column in Women’s Health Magazine and is the best
selling author of the book The Female Body
Breakthrough, published by Rodale in November 2009.
She has also been interviewed on television on Fox,
ABC and WGN in Chicago numerous times discussing
her book and sharing her message. She lectures
nationally and internationally on topics such as strength
training, fat loss, business in the fitness industry and
nutrition specifically for women helping them to reach their
potential in all aspects of their life.
Rachel, along with her husband work with the team of

fitness coaches at Results Fitness to ensure that the clients
are getting the absolute best there is in training programs,
coaching, customer service and results. Their clientele is
made up of 70% females whose number one goal is to lose
fat and become “fit females.” As a team, they document
every workout and every result, learning from every single
client and have become the best at transforming women into
fit females. They have landed on what they consider to be
the most effective system to get results with their female
clients and will share their secrets in this manual. Rachel
settles for nothing less than excellence when it comes to the

quality of service her team gives to the clients of Results
Fitness. After coaching women for over 15 years, Rachel
doesn’t coach as many clients as she used to, but instead
spends the majority of her time coaching her team of
employees and working with other trainers to help them give
their female clients a breakthrough. She has realized that
through her team at Results and by teaching other trainers
what she knows about how to coach women, after doing it
for over 15 years herself, she can reach and help far more
women then she can on her own.
She and her team strive to become the best part of their
member’s day, achieving results and changing lives while
having fun doing it! They are on a mission to Change The
Way Fitness is Done.

Contact Us
Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove
Results Fitness
24420 Walnut Street
Newhall, Ca. 91321
661-799-7900
www.resultsfitnessbiz.com
info@results-fitness.com

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www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc.

Avoid making the same mistakes

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

Avoid making the same mistakes

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

I really appreciate all the help you've given me over the

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

"At my last live event, I had some of the best speakers in

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

“I really hugely admire the system that Rachel and Alwyn

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

Avoid making the same mistakes we

By Rachel and Alwyn Cosgrove

Printed in the United States of America.

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

• Our team at Results Fitness who are the best at

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

W e have successfully owned and operated Results

We run our business by the ideas in this book every single

But please understand this book is only going to give you a

If you are opening your own fitness facility, the lessons in

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

had a million dollars?

Peter Gibbons: Nothing.

Lawrence: Nothing, huh?

Peter Gibbons: I would relax... I

would sit on my ass all day... I would

Lawrence: Well, you don't need a

million dollars to do nothing, man.

-From the movie “Office Space”

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

S tart with the end in mind. You are not in business to

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

T he decision to open your own place is a big

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

Y ou have to think about what it will cost you per

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

Y our first big decision is deciding on your location.

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

O ur payroll was always such a high percentage of

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

Gym Equipment $10,000- $50,000 With our coaching

Misc(computers, software, stock, inventory, licenses,

So start up costs could be $20,000 and could be up to

Or you could do it more the way we started. Maybe you

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

If you are doing construction, get a contractor who comes

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

Y ou need to have a mission statement for your

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

T he name of your business needs to be simple and

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

D on’t try to be the jack of all trades. Be an expert at

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

H ave a Primary Question that drives every business

For example, when we decide to add a service or profit

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009

T he faster you can make decisions and keep things

www.resultsfitnessbiz.com © Cosgrove FAST Systems, Inc. 2009