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WWW.TWOBRAINBUSINESS.COM TWO-BRAIN BUSINESS CEO BOOK 2020

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Page 1: TWO-BRAIN BUSINESS CEO BOOK 2020

1WWW.TWOBRAINBUSINESS.COM

TWO-BRAIN BUSINESSCEO BOOK

2020

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TWO-BRAIN BUSINESSCEO BOOK 2020THE 10-HOUR CEO

A 10-WEEK SKILLS PROGRESSION

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

WEEK 5

WEEK 6

WEEK 7

WEEK 8

WEEK 9

WEEK 10

SAMPLE PLANNER

WORK SMART, NOT HARD

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THE 10-HOUR CEOTHE MOST COMMON MYTH IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS THIS:

“IF I’M REALLY GREAT AT MY SERVICE, MY BUSINESS

WILL BE SUCCESSFUL.” It’s not true. Michael Gerber’s book “The E-Myth” was the first to make a real difference in my business. The book pivots on this sentence, in which the narrator says to the fictional main character:

“If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business—you have a job. And it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for a lunatic!”

Most first-time owners of small businesses aren’t entrepreneurs—not yet. They’ve simply bought themselves jobs. An entrepreneur is more than a business owner. An entrepreneur builds a sustainable business that doesn’t depend on his or her presence. An entrepreneur is free to innovate and practice because daily operations are automated by highly trained special-ists. The mark of the professional entrepreneur is not the ability to dig deeper but to detach.

“The mark of the professional entrepreneur is not the ability to dig deeper but to detach.”

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It’s the willingness to sacrifice “good” for “better” and to avoid any work done for its own sake. True entrepreneurs know that “the hustle” and “the grind” can simply be a camouflage for struggle.

“They intoxicate themselves with work so they won’t see how they really are.” —Aldous Huxley

On the first day of business in the service industry, most of us were practitioners: We did the thing we sell. We coached classes or did personal training. We delivered our service, just as we would have if employed by someone else. But at some point, we realized that coaching more wouldn’t satisfy our entrepreneurial dreams. And so we pursued business growth. We started to level up.

This is the point where most of us sought mentorship—to guide us through building consistent practices, then building culture and perfecting our service. In this stage of “leveling up,” it’s critical to adopt the mindset of CEO. You must sit in the CEO chair, drink from the CEO cup. You must wear the role of CEO like a fine suit. To become a true entrepreneur, you must first become the CEO of your business. Then, if you like, you can replace yourself even in that role and work on the next business ... or just take a break.

HERE’S HOW WE DEFINE THE ROLE OF CEO • The CEO of your gym is responsible for setting the vision, planning long-term

objectives, creating the processes to replace himself or herself and finding a replacement.

• The CEO dreams up new programs and revenue streams, and when they’re dialed in, he or she hands them off to a manager.

• The CEO tries new marketing, then hands off the idea. • The CEO attends meetings, writes contracts, forms partnerships. He or she is in

charge of ideas. Others are in charge of fulfillment. • The CEO role requires 10 hours of work—per month, even less than

Tim Ferris’s Four-Hour Workweek. Ferris created streams of revenue (which he called “muses” and I call “assets”) and then spent about four hours each week as CEO, watching his systems work on their own.

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In your gym, the CEO role will change over time. At first, those 10 hours per month will be spent solidifying your foundation (or simply building one). The same 10 will eventually be used for creating a pricing structure, and then long-term planning for staff, and then marketing. As those tasks are systemized, the CEO moves on to seek new opportunities: a second location, an event or an entirely different revenue stream.

Ten hours, set aside each month for growing your business, are all it takes. When we start a new client through the mentoring program, those 10 hours are usually spent doing assigned home-work. The tasks are more remedial and involve more math and formality. But those tasks are only done once; you won’t need a new staff handbook every month, for example.

As the mentoring client progresses, the same 10 hours are set aside for higher value roles. When those can be passed on, they are. And the ladder effect continues: The gym owner masters each role, then moves to the next, “promoting” himself or herself until the Perfect Day is reached.

The 10 hours never end. Even with multiple businesses running themselves, I always spend at least 10 hours every month in the CEO chair, pursuing new assets and developing new avenues. I don’t smoke a cigar, but it’s still fun.

Chris Cooper

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A 10-WEEK SKILLS PROGRESSION

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A 10-WEEK SKILLS PROGRESSION

We’re used to programming workouts with an end in mind. And we’re used to having our loads laid out for us. Plan the work, work the plan.

Many reading this book will see opportunities everywhere and try to implement everything at once. Others will skip ahead to the marketing sections. And far more will become paralyzed by the volume of information here. They’ll ask, “But where do I start?”

Fair question. One-on-one mentoring, like one-on-one coaching, provides the optimum progres-sion and solution for an individual gym. But gym owners can start with a template.

Following the good-better-best principle:

AS GYM OWNERS, WE’RE USED TO PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE.

Good: Read this book. Follow the template. Get work done.

Better: Gain context on each topic through Two-Brain resources and do better work.

Best: Be guided step by step by a mentor to optimize results.

Unacceptable: Do nothing. If you finish this book and haven’t made any changes or sought help after seven days, you’ve wasted money. Ideas without action are wishes. As my grand-father used to tell me, “You can wish in one hand and pee in the other and see which gets full faster.”

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Momentum is the greatest force in nature. Gravity used to hold that title until we found a catalyst

for explosion and punched through to the moon. So let’s start with a little catalyst of our own:

a 10-week progression to 10-Hour CEO.

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FOLLOW THE STEPS• Skills for each week are listed and broken down in this ebook, as well as in

“Two-Brain Business” and “Help First.”• Time is literal: One hour means precisely one uninterrupted hour. Set a clock

(I know you have a big one). If the task takes longer, stop anyway and restart at the next CEO hour. If the task is too easy, scale up to the next task.

• Intensity: Don’t shoot for perfection. Aim for completion instead. You can always come back later and add a glossy cover. Get words on paper.

• Consistency: I recommend scheduling the same time every week for work. Make appointments with yourself. Set alarms. If you “book” an hour into your scheduling software or Google Calendar, be strict: You are your own most important client.

The following template is based on an owner who coaches early morning classes. It’s optimized for creative power and processing speed; the important work is front-loaded in the week (because stress, fatigue and cognitive load makes us less efficient by the end of the week). After almost 20 years of coaching, I don’t require the same brainpower to lead a client as I do to think creatively about business. Coaching is relaxing and doesn’t fatigue me no matter how much I’m required to yell or hop up and down to motivate clients.

If this is different from your schedule, that’s fine: Plug the tasks from your time-line into your own calendar.

Progressions: To-do items are as specific as possible and follow the general progression of moving from solidifying your business foundation to fixing your retention system to recruiting new members to building assets. But tactics will differ from gym to gym, as will pace and schedule. Make adjustments to work flow as necessary.

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10-HOUR CEO: WEEK-BY-WEEK GUIDE

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK 1: ONE HOURComplete the Perfect Day exercise.

One year from now, you’ll be living the lifestyle you want—describe it in detail. What time will you wake up in the morning? What will you do first? What time will you go to your business—if you go at all? What will you do there? Write your answers down and be as descriptive as possible. You are choosing exactly the life you want to lead and defining your Perfect Day.

Start working to identify the services that would solve problems for members of your target market. Schedule staff meeting to review opportunities.

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK TWO: 2 HOURS

Session 1: Identify “low-hanging fruit” on your list of services that would help members of your target market.

Which can you easily implement with the resources you currently have? Which would your current clients greet with open arms? What changes are necessary to implement? What materials are necessary to prepare for launch?

Session 2: Staff meeting.

Outline new opportunities for services and non-coaching roles. Get staff members thinking about careers. Brainstorm ideas without formalizing anything. Cue staff on the need for “best practices” and consistency to create the best possible opportunities for them. Note eagerness and prepare to prioritize staff for larger roles.

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK THREE: 3 HOURS

Session 1: Staff roles and tasks: Break down every “hat” you wear into its own role. Shoot for 12-14 roles with 10-12 tasks assigned to each.

Session 2: Use the roles and tasks to create job descriptions—just bullet points. If you need some help, download our “Free Hiring Plan and Job Descriptions” ebook here. Use your lists to build contracts for existing staff, and copy the same to create evaluations. Set an evaluation calendar for the next year (one evaluation per role every three months).

Session 3: Create online infrastructure for the top market/service opportunity you’ve identified (just bullet points). You’re not currently doing or optimizing. Walk yourself through the process in reverse: Build a clickable “pay now” link in your booking/billing software. Write a blog post outlining the benefits of the service. Assign staff schedules. Launch if ready.

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK FOUR: 4 HOURS Session 1: Begin consolidation of “best practices” in your gym. How should a class run minute by minute? How should a PT session run? Create the simple checklists: opening, closing, cleaning.

Session 2: Finalize contracts for staff, including role breakdowns. Schedule appointments for reviews. Launch if ready.

Session 3: Invite two or three clients to “try out” the first new service you’re launching. For ex-ample: “Mary, you’ve been such a great client, and I know you’re working hard on those pull-ups. We’re about to kick off our new skill sessions service, and I really respect your feedback. Would you like to try a 30-minute session on me? We’ll focus on getting you closer to that pull-up, and you can tell me how you liked it afterward. OK?”

Session 4: Evaluate staff one on one. Schedule the next staff meeting. Provide two choices for meeting time and let them choose; don’t try to work around every schedule. Plan to record the meeting but make it as “mandatory” as possible.

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK FIVE: 5 HOURS Session 1: Create a cash-flow forecaster. Fill in your fixed costs (including your own wage) and variable revenues from memberships, PT sales, etc. Session 2: Staff evaluations (if necessary). Session 3: Client “trial” of new service. Write notes on feedback, execution and price. Session 4: Start staff handbook. Include checklists, sample staff evaluations, best practices, pricing, standard operating procedures, and policies. Get an incident report form from your insurer. Write a “table of contents” as a list of other things to include (this process is broken down in the Two-Brain Business Incubator). Session 5: Staff meeting. Introduce new services and brainstorm others. Highlight Bright Spots in evaluations. Choose one “point of improvement” across the board for focus over the next month based on weaknesses illuminated in evaluations. Then introduce one topic for continuing education.

Example: “Guys, we’re all very strong at starting classes on time. Great job. This month, we’re going to work toward 100 percent check-ins: Every client who attends every class gets checked in. What are the barriers to achieving 100 percent check-ins? Next, we’re going to be studying macro-nutrients this month. Here’s some material to read to get started ... .”

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK SIX: 6 HOURS Session 1: Finalize staff handbook. Print it and email digital copies to all staff members.

Session 2: Promote a “new” service. Write a blog post, email links to clients who might be interested. Mention on workout posts, mention in class, link in newsletters, etc.

Session 3: Cash-flow forecasting: Calculate your average revenue per member (ARM) and length of engagement (LEG). Forecast improvements to ARM with add-on services—just throw numbers at the wall: “What if one person bought one package of 10 personal training sessions every month? What if two people did?” Forecast changes to LEG—“What if we improved our year-over-year retention by 10 percent? What if we kept people three months longer?”

Session 4: Change your intake process. Review Bright Spots and write an intake interview/follow-up process.

Session 5: Work backward through the client’s booking process. Build clickable links to your schedule. Post links on every page of your website.

Session 6: Identify your client success manager (CSM) and make an offer for two hours of work each week. Write a contract and evaluation form. Start a tracking sheet for calls, broken up by intake, PR and retention calls.

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK SEVEN: 7 HOURS Session 1: Identify three of your best clients. Send them interview questions or set up a camera for quick interviews when they’re in the gym. Write down the people each one lives with, works with and recreates with.

Session 2: Set up a PR board and filing system for Bright Spots. Meet with your CSM to review the process for calls, emails and texts (pre-write emails and texts).

Session 3: Identify seasonal highs and lows in revenue history. Which months were highest? Lowest? Begin white-boarding specialty groups and events to push weakest months higher.

Session 4: Write your corporate intro letter and create a gift certificate for one free personal training session. Leave a blank spot for an expiry date! You’ll use these soon.

Session 5: Schedule the next service. Find a specialist who solves problems for your target market; propose a 4/9ths share of gross revenues (the specialist takes 44 percent) and loosely schedule a start date.

Session 6: Sign up for newsletter software. Build a general template. Test-send to yourself.

Session 7: Publish first client story, with links to your intake process. Share on social media, tagging the client.

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK EIGHT: 8 HOURS Session 1: Record revenues and update cash-flow calculator. Prepare other reports for bookkeeper.

Session 2: Publish second client story, and set up third to auto-publish next week.

Session 3: Review seasonal highs and lows in revenue history. Take your white-boarding further and draw up plans for programs to drive revenue up in slow months.

Session 4: Approach the clients you profiled with ideas to thank them for helping with your business. Offer to help their spouses, coworkers or friends (one approach per person).

Session 5: Execute on each approach. Send corporate intro letters, share gift certificates, schedule a team-building session or training class for the client’s family, friends or coworkers.

Session 6: Identify three clients who work in the service field: real estate agents, accountants, hairdressers, salespeople, etc. Email each and offer to post his or her business card on a “referral board” at your gym.

Session 7: Build your first newsletter with client stories and links to register for specific services.

Session 8: Staff meeting. Review staff handbook. Allow room for feedback, but all staff should commit to following it verbatim by the end of the one-hour meeting. Include a signatures page for more psychological buy-in.

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK NINE: 9 HOURS Session 1: Build a “referral board” and mount it near your front entrance. Post on your blog about it, inviting all clients who are service professionals to pin a card to the board. Reinforce the “community of trust” in your gym.

Session 2: Send your newsletter to one general group for now.

Session 3: Identify three more ideal clients. Ask each for an interview, in person or via email. Start a “brand action” tracking sheet to record the clients you highlight.

Session 4: Hire a replacement for yourself in your current lowest-value role. Write a three-month contract, agree on price and have the person start before next week.

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Session 5: Read about the Two-Brain Coaching program. What should a new coach know before standing in front of your clients for the first time? Session 6: Approach three service-industry professionals and offer them “reward” coupons for their clients.

Session 7: Schedule the start of your new on-ramp program launch. Break down the curriculum into the number of sessions required.

Session 8: Create pricing for new on-ramp program (or duplicate PT prices). Create clickable links for those who want to jump right in.

Session 9: Begin planning one larger-scale event. For example, a WOD and Wine,Corporate Team-Building Challenge or “in-house games.”

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Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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WEEK TEN: 10 HOURS Session 1: Plan to remove yourself from the next lower-level role. Enter staffing costs in your cash-flow calculator. Decide how you’ll spend the time to increase total revenue (and wealth). Schedule a starting date.

Session 2: Pull together equipment to film each movement in your on-ramp program. Choose movements in advance. Schedule staff to help where necessary. Start a YouTube, Vimeo or Wistia channel.

Session 3: Film as many movement demonstrations as possible in 60 minutes.

Session 4: Video editing. Use iMovie, Corel VideoStudio Pro or something similar.

Session 5: Send three more corporate intro letters.

Session 6: Launch new on-ramp with an introductory blog post. Create Facebook group for coaches. Link to new on-ramp curriculum. Encourage uploads of marketing content.

Some of these tasks might take more than one hour, so there are only six sessions. But the total time should still add up to 10 hours.

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As you’ll notice, the plan moves from very basic (building business systems) to more complex (seeking opportunities to help more people).

In Week 10, many initiatives are still being done for the first time and should be kept as the CEO’s responsibilities until they’re mastered.

For example, when the corporate approach has been mastered to the point of easy teach-ability and replicability, it can be handed off to someone else. The CEO then moves on to the next initiative.

At the 10-week mark, the CEO isn’t saving any time; in fact, the CEO is probably spending more time than when he or she started. But shedding roles will create a 1:1 trade for time and a 1:2 trade for value—at minimum.

These are the baby steps toward wealth. They’re necessary, and momentum will build rapidly, but they’re not the flashiest steps.

MAKE SURE YOU’RE ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD.

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Luckily, most won’t need repeating for at least a decade. My 2010 staff handbook is still 90 percent intact, with a few small changes (mostly to accommodate new technology).

Another progression most new CEOs notice is a narrowing of staff. If a gym is being coached by six part-timers, each leading two classes per week, it will probably be necessary to move toward a smaller number of highly motivated professionals. These coaches will be building toward a career in fitness and will become the cornerstone of wealth. In time, some will move up toward partnership in new ventures—but that’s a long way from Week 10.

The 10 weeks aren’t complete, of course: The CEO still hasn’t built a staff training program, run an event or even used most of the marketing tactics we teach. But these steps must be complet-ed first. In a 30-year business, these 10 weeks are negligible for time, but hugely productive for activity. Consider this your on-ramp: You already know what to do, but the above is a template for learning in the correct order.

My general manager does every day-to-day task at the gym; I have a managing partner at another business. Other assets require very little time per month to manage (less than an hour). CEO time is reserved for helping other gym owners. Though my typical day begins at 4 a.m. (when I’m most productive), I end by 5 p.m. and spend the evenings with family or coaching kids in sports. Other gym time is spent filming or writing content, recording podcasts or chatting with members.

The most important thing in the plan is its flexibility. With enough staff in place, and the revenue to pay them, the weekly schedule is completely plastic. But it changes on my terms, not every time someone yells, “fire!”

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WORK SMART,NOT HARD.

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WORK SMART, NOT HARD

Have you ever read “Once a Runner” by John L. Parker? Probably not.

I’ll tell you the story: boy runs a lot. Does OK. Finds a mentor. Mentor says, “Run a lot more.” Boy runs his legs off. Breaks the four-minute-mile mark.

It’s a beautifully written book by an author who never ran a four-minute mile.

Unfortunately, many runners read the book as a training manual. They believe the way to run faster is simply to run more. It’s not true.

The secret to running a four-minute mile, as described by Roger Bannister (the first man to actually run a four-minute mile), is interval training. Bannister ran sets of 400s to train, keeping his intensity up, spending his energy wisely.

EMBRACING THE HUSTLE CANSTOP YOU FROM DOING THE THINGS YOU SHOULD BE DOING.

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I work with hundreds of gym owners. Every one is a hard worker. All expect to get up early and work until dark. They embrace the work. Most believe (as I once did) that simply out-working everyone else will bring success. It’s not true. The hustle isn’t the goal. More time off is the goal. Paying off your house is the goal. Playing with your kids is the goal.

What’s wrong with a strong work ethic? Nothing—unless it stops you from achieving what’s really important. In other words, sacrificing intensity for volume.

Let me give you an example that I hear all too often:

“I coach eight classes every day. I’m at the gym from 5 a.m. until 8 p.m. But I don’t have time to do what you’re telling me to do! And I don’t have the money to pay anyone to help me.”

After we calculate the value of the gym owner’s time, it’s clear he or she is working too much for too little. In some cases, the owner is running classes for two or three clients—for less than McDonald’s hourly wage. Sometimes the owner is paying a coach $20 for a class worth $15. In that example—far too common—the gym owner is really gym-owned. He or she would do better to work at Walmart and run free workouts in the park on the weekends!

“Embracing the hustle” can be a harmful strategy because it can prevent you from doing the things you should be doing. It’s easy to fool ourselves into believing “more work” is the same as “better work,” that volume equals intensity. It’s not true.

Do your bathrooms need to be clean? Yes. Cleaned by you? No. You’re probably holding your business, your staff and your clients back if you’re performing every little role in the box. Work expands to fill the time allocated to it.

Stop wasting that time.

To your success,

Chris Cooper

Copyright © 2020 Two-Brain Business

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READY TO GROW YOUR FITNESS BUSINESS?

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CAN SHOW YOU HOW.

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