The Business Of Strength Podcast

On this episode of the Business of Strength Podcast, host Dan Goodman breaks down why he changed his mind on Black Friday and why gym owners should stop fighting the biggest buying season of the year.Dan discusses:- Why being contrarian just to be contrarian isn't a strategy- The mistake Varsity House made with its first Black Friday offers- Why your offer should focus on your core service, not low-margin products- How to create a simple, friction-free offer people actually want to buy- Why you need to turn up your marketing volume during the busiest buying season of the year- Using reactivations, referrals, and events to drive more eyeballs to your offer- The difference between discounting your value and creating urgency- Why great entrepreneurs need to be willing to change their mindsThe bigger lesson: pay attention to how the market actually behaves, use it to your advantage, and don't let your ego get in the way of a better strategy.

In this episode of the Business of Strength Podcast, Alex Hormozi explains why transformation challenges still work and how to refresh promotions without changing the sales process. He also shares how business partners can align on growth with clear milestones.

Your gym’s social media doesn’t need more random workout photos. It needs better stories.In this episode, Joe talks about how gym owners can share their origin story, celebrate client transformations, and highlight member milestones to create content that connects. He also explains how to build a year-round content strategy with seasonal themes, email, referrals, and reactivation campaigns, and why spotlighting members can make marketing more relatable.

What should gym owners measure to understand how their business is performing? This episode covers a practical approach to tracking revenue daily, weekly, and month over month, with each location compared against the same period last year.It also explores how referrals, member reactivations, and focused six-week challenges can drive growth, why owners should make time for sales, and how clear financial targets can support accountability without turning goals into pressure.A useful listen for gym owners looking to make more informed decisions with their numbers.

It’s not always a lack of effort. Sometimes your team simply doesn’t know what to focus on.In this episode, we dig into the leadership gaps that can quietly cost a gym time, energy, and growth: unclear goals, no shared picture of how the business is performing, and roles that aren’t connected to the bigger mission.The takeaway? Give your team a clear target, a scoreboard, and ownership of what success looks like, day by day and week by week.When you’re selling time for money, wasted hours add up fast.

In this episode of the Business of Strength Podcast, Adam performs a solo episode in which we walked through a drill he did at a Coach’s Townhall. It was centered around the 4 most important conversations you can have as a coach or gym owner. These 4 conversations are what drive revenue and retention every single day. PROSPECTS CONSULTS COACHING SESSIONS GOAL SETTING MEETINGS Adam provided the acronym and script we use for each How it applies to the end listener How you can implement this with your team. If you enjoyed this episode there are 3 ways we can work together: Free 21 Day Lead and Jump start Program BOS 8 Week Sprint program Strongest Year Program Send us an email to inquire about any of our programs at [email protected] 

In today’s episode, Joe and Dan look back on the Gold Standard Retreat in Park City, celebrating the memorable setting, standout speakers, and connections among gym owners and their teams.They share practical lessons on clear communication, creating content consistently, building a positive workplace culture, and leading through mistakes with trust and encouragement. They also discuss how gym owners can bring the retreat’s ideas and inspiration back to their businesses.

Dan sits down with Jesse McBride, founder of MadeMeals, to talk about the entrepreneurial journey behind building and scaling a premium prepared-meal company. They dig into how MadeMeals got started, landing the first 100 customers, what marketing is actually working today, and why Jesse has refused to compromise on local, organic, and responsibly sourced ingredients. Jesse shares the challenges of scaling quality, managing people and food costs, the expensive lessons he’s learned along the way, and how his role as a founder continues to evolve. Plus, Jesse breaks down what he’d do if he had to start over tomorrow with $100,000, no customers, and no audience, and where he ultimately wants to take MadeMeals.

In this episode of The Business of Strength Podcast, Joe sits down with legendary weightlifting coach Sean Waxman to talk about a lifetime in the iron game and what it really takes to build athletes, men, and winning cultures in 2026.Sean shares his journey from hardcore New York gyms and Gold’s Venice to opening his own weightlifting gym in LA, riding the early CrossFit wave, and eventually walking away from the private sector to coach high school football strength & conditioning in Utah.P.S. Don't forget about our upcoming retreat, The Gold Medal Standard! Starting September 18th-19th. Click the link below:https://bosretreat.com

Meet Eric Pullman, owner of Breakthrough Performance & Personal Training in Long Island, New York!THE NUMBERS: Revenue Pace: +43% vs. prior year Profit Margin: ~38% Adult Membership: +125% Total Membership: +92% Attrition: ~6% down to ~3% Owner Coaching Hours: 0 scheduledKEY MOVES:- Retention first. Attrition fell from roughly 6 to 7% monthly down to about 3 to 4%, even as membership more than doubled. Membership quality improved alongside volume.- Paid marketing scaled aggressively. Breakthrough more than tripled ad spend versus the prior year and began tracking acquisition economics closely.- Referrals became an active system. 17 adult referral sign-ups year-to-date with referral conversations reviewed with the team every week.- A clearer adult niche. The business intentionally focused on adults, especially clients in their 50s to 70s, for steadier revenue, longer relationships and stronger referral potential.- Premium pricing with confidence. Current adult offers: higher frequency tiers at premium rates. Average adult client value holding strong.- Lean economics. Small facilities, controlled equipment spend and low fixed overhead allow more dollars toward coaching talent and marketing.- Leadership layers replaced Eric's floor time. Eric moved from required coach to owner focused on sales, marketing, hiring, financial oversight and expansion. Evan expanded into sales and referrals. Mark is leading facility number two.- Two-location launch. Dix Hills gym generated 21 sales in 17 days and is positioned to operate alongside the original Huntington location.LISTEN IN FOR:- Why retention matters more than chasing new members.- How to build a referral system your coaches actually own.- Premium pricing strategy for an older adult audience.- Moving from "I have to coach" to zero scheduled coaching hours.- The metrics that drive daily decisions: CAC, attrition, net membership, sign-up flow.- Why the second location proved Eric was ready to scale.- Building leaders who can operate without the owner hovering.Find Breakthrough Performance here: https://www.breakthroughptny.comRegister for The Gold Medal Standard: https://bosretreat.com