Speaker 1 (00:00:05) - Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt in required, where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years, and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence. Com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to up my influence. Com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you. With us right now. JP Levesque JP you are the founder of Profitable Gyms. You're found on the web at profitable gyms.com JP. It's great to have you.

Speaker 2 (00:01:16) - It's great to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:01:17) - Josh.

Speaker 1 (00:01:17) - Just you and I are chatting just on the tail of of, a you recently done a Spartan event and you do a lot of ultra events. before we kind of talk about profitable gyms and, you know, kind of what you do and who you serve. you're you're quite active, in the ultra world.

Speaker 3 (00:01:38) - I like to think of myself more as a baby turtle. you know, maybe I listen to a little bit too much David Goggins. but after after selling my gym, I thought, you know what? Let's do kind of the next chapter in fitness, which would be, you know, I ran a half marathon and then a marathon, and I thought, well, let's just take it longer and longer and kind of, you know, do the thing. So, yeah, this is my second kind of hardcore season into, into ultra racing. probably a little bit more than my wife would like. but, the end goal being to, to finish with a 100 K, this year, that would be the end goal.

Speaker 3 (00:02:15) - Wow.

Speaker 1 (00:02:16) - Wow. Well, and I'm sure you talk about this frequently, but endurance sports, you know, ultras. Absolutely. And we think about, you know, kind of the the both the physical, the mental, the spiritual, as it were, elements of that. What a great, environment, to exercise a lot of the same muscles that entrepreneurs, business owners, business leaders. obviously you work with a lot of gym owners. You know, that that mindset that that's just required to make it past the finish line. go ahead and give us your mini Ted talk on the parallels there, if you could.

Speaker 3 (00:02:57) - Yeah, I mean, there there there are a ton. And I think the funny part is, you know, I'm a CrossFit guy. I come from across the background, and and most crossfitters hate running. So kind of an odd thing that this would be my next thing, but there's a whole lot of, of parallels between ultrarunning and and entrepreneurship, because at some point in the race, physically and mentally, you will be in the gutter and your decision is essentially to, you know, suffer and push through or to quit and call it a day.

Speaker 3 (00:03:27) - And, you know, I think a lot of people have seen that, you know, that that picture or that that meme where it's some guy and he's in a cave and he's got his pickaxe and he's digging, and he stops just before he hits the wall of diamonds or gold or whatever. The thing is. And I think that's just something we need to remind ourselves of as entrepreneurs. Like the going is not easy. A lot of the time, but it's something that's worth doing. And that's the thing that I tell myself when I'm running or, you know, when you've got those ups and downs during business is just to keep going because it's something that's worth doing and you build a lot of mental toughness and resiliency when you're out there, you know, running because it's, it's just part of the nature is to is to suffer. but but you know, that going in and I think those two things, you know, they overlap very well as, as you mentioned, it's not easy, but it's worth it, I think would be the summation of that thought.

Speaker 1 (00:04:22) - Well JP, give us a maybe an overview of where we are. We're recording this you know, kind of midway through 2024. how is the gym industry doing. What are the big opportunities that that you see? and, you know, kind of a third part to this long question, you know, where might some gym owners not be seizing, a lot of maybe could just be the state of the industry or consumer, trends, that sort of thing. But, where are we right now?

Speaker 3 (00:04:54) - well, I could talk about this for a very, very, very long time. So right now we are in summer, and summer is a down season. You know, the the gym industry is is very seasonal, cyclical. And so people want to be outside and get outside and, you know, get the vitamin D and, and you know, kind of have that fun summer experience that we all remember is as kids or that we see on the internet, we're like, yeah, I want to do that.

Speaker 3 (00:05:17) - but meanwhile, as a gym owner, you're like, people are leaving my gym. They're not signing up, they're going on hold. And this kind of sucks for me. And as a as a gym owner, I felt that that was the first couple of years of my experience. And so that's that's where we are seasonally is if you didn't essentially, you know, the ant and the grasshopper, if you didn't fill your your gym with people during the good months. Well, now the the trees are barren and it's, it's much harder to kind of push that season if you weren't ready for it. That being said, there are things that you can do it, but we're in a slow season now. And so my recommendation for gym owners don't stop trying to get new people in. But this is a great time to improve your core service. So when we come back into the fall and people are ready to sign up again, especially when the kids go back to school, then you can push on sales.

Speaker 3 (00:06:03) - And so that's kind of the alternation, through the season of gyms is there's a season to work on your service and your kind of your core offering product. And then there is a season to push sales. And so we are in that season to work on the the core service. That being said, I am still seeing, marketing work. It's quite effective. You just have to know, with the seasonality, people are looking for short term commitments. They're not looking for a six month transformation or a 90 day transformation. They're looking for like a four week kind of a quick fix as that first hook to get them into the gym. So if you are marketing, it should be on those, those shorter term, front end offers.

Speaker 1 (00:06:41) - Yeah. okay. So in terms of let's say that a gym owner just like, listen, we just need so much more awareness, visibility, we need more people at the very, very top of the funnel, as it were. What do you see working well at kind of the very, very top, you know, building that awareness and visibility.

Speaker 3 (00:07:03) - Yeah. So the top of funnel, it's it's marketing. And a lot of gym owners, especially myself, came from a background where we thought, hey, if I do a really good job, people are just going to show up at my gym because they're going to know I'm awesome. And experience tells me that that wasn't the case because I thought I was pretty awesome. maybe maybe, you know, big ego back in the early days of being a gym owner. but even even though I ran a great facility and I was there all the time, and, you know, I it was clean and I loved it and this and that. Like, people didn't just magically appear, we still had to attract them. So that's kind of the first thing to get out of the way is even if you're doing a fantastic job and delivering a great service, people don't naturally know you exist. You have to put yourself out there. so filling top of funnel, basically Facebook and Instagram ads are still the best way to do it.

Speaker 3 (00:07:55) - Now, sure, there are some other organic plays that work really well, like sending previous members or unconverted trials, a reactivation campaign. That's something that would work quite well during this season. but those shorter term funding offers and they're super corny, like, like, you know, summer shred, like those kinds of things. Yeah. They just work like. Yes, they are. They're the cheesiest of offers that you can make people, but people still love them. So that's what I would be gearing towards. I'm seeing a lot of success with a 21 day and a 28 day kind of a summer kickstart or summer shred or, you know, even really like goofy stuff like Jacked in July, targeted more at males. those Those kinds of things are currently working. That being said, you've got to make sure when you're filling top of funnel, you have great no brainer offers to make people on top of a solid foundation in your gym in terms of pricing model.

Speaker 1 (00:08:49) - I'm going to ask you an off the wall question I probably would never ask.

Speaker 1 (00:08:53) - in terms of like just from an observational standpoint, our, our weight loss drugs like Ozempic impacting the gym industry in any way that you can tell.

Speaker 3 (00:09:04) - No, not that I can tell directly, but I also do not have like a, you know, a massive, you know, several hundred, franchise chain. That being said, if you if you think about it, there's two kinds of people. One person that really wants the super easy button, which is the ozempic. And maybe they've tried some other interventions before and it's just failed and there's no judgment on that. But then there's the person who wants to kind of go the the traditional route, which is kind of a silly thing to say of just trying to to get healthy and change these lifestyle factors. Ultimately, they will contribute to weight loss. that being said, a pre-COVID gym and a post-Covid gym, post-Covid world, those are dramatically different things you could get away with being kind of a sloppy gym owner back in the day, but now you are required to play at a much higher level to stay in the game and to thrive, so that that's a big shift that I've seen over the last few years.

Speaker 1 (00:10:00) - Yeah. yeah, I absolutely, okay, so, JP, tell me about how you work with gym owners. What does that typically look like?

Speaker 3 (00:10:10) - Yeah. So that's a great question. So most gym owners are looking to get new gym members and they're struggling to do that. They want to take home more income. Not so they can buy a Ferrari, but so they can take better care of themselves and their families. And they also want to provide more for their staffs. And they're also doing all of the work themselves. They are the chief gum scraper and teaching all the classes and all that different stuff. So essentially just solving those problems that make it more rewarding and fulfilling for gym owners to to own and operate their gym versus just high stress, low reward, which is when you're young and when you're new to the game, you have that passion and that that zest, zeal that's going to see you through it. But as you progress in your career and if you have kids and all that kind of stuff moving forward, it's not enough to get you by.

Speaker 3 (00:10:59) - so essentially the way we do it is we help to install a bunch of tech in your business that boosts your lead flow. That's kind of the first thing. Let's get some some bodies in. Let's start to get you some momentum. We give you some no brainer offers and some incredibly easy ways to sell people into new membership that don't feel sleazy, that feel really like you're having a natural conversation and you're an advocate for this person that wants to come in. So we've gotten people in front of you. We're giving you no brainer offers. We're giving you a very easy way to send those people up. And then we take a look at the the core foundation of your actual business model. Most gym owners have this really archaic, really dated business model that worked pre-COVID, but now with the difficulty of generally getting people to show up and how much more expensive things are in general with inflation. it's not enough for the gym owner to survive, let alone thrive. So those are some of the core things we do.

Speaker 3 (00:11:54) - You get more members, you sign them up easier. and then we, we fix kind of the core foundational pieces that actually allow your gym to become a more profitable business over time. And that's really the goal. I want you to have an easier time to run your gym, and for it to increase in value over time, versus for it to stay the same or obviously to decrease.

Speaker 1 (00:12:15) - JP is profitable. Gyms is it consulting? Is it an e-course? Explain what it is.

Speaker 3 (00:12:21) - It is it is a lot of things. and that's that, you know, kind of the difficulty of, of, of what it is I think is, is we as entrepreneurs and business owners want to be like, you see this like encyclopedia or this great big trunk of, of value I'm going to dump on your head. And people are like, it's it's too much. So in a very, very simple way, of saying this, I have a whole technology suite I call the Magic Member machine. I know it's corny, but I like it.

Speaker 3 (00:12:49) - and so that's something that's going to help to generate new leads and members and make you sales. And that's something that we install in your business. It includes back end software and a website that we build for you. And it is a massive difference maker. I've seen gyms do nothing else but install this system and grow by 50 members in 4 or 5 months. results not typical, but it's a it's a it's a it's a huge boon for the gym owner who's never had this piece. So that's a huge thing that we do. And then the second thing is I walk you through this process. It's about four calls with me personally to go through what your gym needs most. So we look at the current state of your business. We look at what you're offering for memberships and your pricing structure and kind of all your financial stuff. We dig into that. I show you how to upgrade, the revenue from your current model, from your current member base, essentially finding diamonds in your own backyard. And then I show you how to hit the gas pedal and get leads and get members on demand when you want to.

Speaker 3 (00:13:50) - And the last thing would be to put all those pieces together and create a plan for you to scale up and out. And a lot of gym owners don't want to exit their gym ever. but they there's a lot of stuff they don't want to do. So the plan basically is to give you the option to create this, this freedom of of wealth and this freedom of time so you can stop doing the things you don't want to do and just spend time on the things you do want to do.

Speaker 1 (00:14:17) - Your website is profitable. Jim's dot com also JP, you've got a produce some really great YouTube content. You you mind maybe sharing about, the resources you have available. So if someone stumbled upon this podcast, you know, and they just want to keep, keep kind of diving in, what what do you see, in terms of value?

Speaker 3 (00:14:38) - Yeah, I mean, I think we both you and I align on this. We're we're we're value first entrepreneurs. I would rather just give you the keys and say, hey, if you're struggling with this particular issue, I've solved it before.

Speaker 3 (00:14:50) - Here you go. You know, obviously if somebody chooses to work with me, it's going to be smoother, faster, better, etc., etc. but I want to just put that information out there for people. So on the YouTube channel, there are things like how to run Facebook ads and that I didn't I didn't cut the video in half and say, you know, insert your credit card to get the rest of the information. It's just no here. Go ahead and go ahead and do it. there's stuff on, how to create offers I talked about that are irresistible, how to sell to people in a in a very simple way. I don't promote the channel that much. but it is a library of content that exists to solve all the common problems that gym owners have.

Speaker 1 (00:15:32) - you know, it's just kind of looking through your content and, obviously I'm seeing some, some videos about, sales, you know, kind of sales help and sales ideas. You know, my experience, JP, is a consumer is, you know, I've certainly had some experiences where I felt like there was a bit of a hard sell.

Speaker 1 (00:15:55) - is that the norm? Is that effective, or how do you typically comment on that question?

Speaker 3 (00:16:02) - Yeah. I'll say when you look at the YouTube channel, the thumbnails are terrible. So just don't judge a book by its cover. you know what? How do you make a YouTube thumbnail, you know, kind of the different poses and the this and that. And it's like.

Speaker 1 (00:16:14) - I to do the shot. I hate that red circle.

Speaker 3 (00:16:16) - I hate it, but it's, you know, I made those videos to help gym owners. There's good content even with the thumbnails are not great. So just kind of don't judge a book by its cover. yeah. Sales with integrity is really, really important. And most gym owners, especially CrossFit gym owners, are not natural sales people because they love what they do. I want to teach Olympic lifting. I want to teach gymnastics. I want to put these things together and build a community and, you know, have this awesome facility that I love. But I don't want to feel like a used car salesman.

Speaker 3 (00:16:44) - So the best sales advice I can give people is to be an advocate for the person in front of you. If you truly want what is best for them, not just to make a sale today, you're going to feel so much better about every single conversation that you have. That's that's really kind of it in a nutshell. And I would say the other the other part to that is pick a process that you're really comfortable with. Maybe that's something that we call, you know, a no sale sale where it's a free trial that goes into a membership. You're giving people a lot of value upfront and they can choose to stay or not. Maybe you offer them a really great sort of front end result based product, which is something I had a lot of success with. And if they're a good fit, you know, be an advocate. And if they're not, that's okay too. But we again, we just want to, align with people and not push them into something they're not ready for. And honestly, I've, I went through a program that was like a hard core closing program.

Speaker 3 (00:17:42) - And when you kind of play games with words and you push people into a corner and they say, yes, and, you know, you push them into that, It doesn't feel good for either of you. So having done that once, that's not something that I would recommend that people do because that person like they said, yes, but they don't trust you. And they said yes, and they're probably going to send you a text and cancel as soon as they leave. So just the idea of being that advocate for the person who's in front of you and wanting truly what's best for them. That's really the only sort of mindset that I would that I would go into sales with.

Speaker 1 (00:18:16) - Yeah. JP, your website profitable gyms.com. when, when someone clicks there, there's actually a pretty good video that explains exactly how this works. obviously there's a button to click. Get started. anything else that you'd recommend someone do from here?

Speaker 3 (00:18:33) - No. I would say that's it. If you're interested in what I do, you can head over to profitable gyms.

Speaker 3 (00:18:39) - Jim's, dot com, and you can watch that video. It gives you a good overview of of what I do. Instagram is definitely my favorite platform. so I'm on there active quite a lot if you want to follow me there, it's JP Underscore Levesque 24. post and post and lots of stuff there. Good content. trying to keep things, seasonally relevant as well. So, you know, gym owners don't have to be reactive to what's going on in their business. They can see what's happening, as the season approaches and prepare for it accordingly.

Speaker 1 (00:19:12) - JP Levesque, founder of Profitable Gyms. Your website Profitable gyms.com JP thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 3 (00:19:19) - Thanks for having me, Josh.

Speaker 1 (00:19:26) - Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit up my influence. Com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day.

Speaker 1 (00:19:47) - Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders and And as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video that you can watch right now with no opt in or email required, where I'm going to share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for more than 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence. Com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Make sure to hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning. That's right, seven days a week you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed. I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes every single day.

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