Built to Last Gym Podcast

EP 19: The Only 4 Levers To Grow Your Gym

In this episode Luka and Andy discuss the only 4 levers for growing your gym. They dive into each lever to share principles, strategies and tactics, as well as what they specifically do at Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance and BCI Sports Performance & Fitness gyms.  IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: => Sell to More People: The classic need for lead generation and conversion, which requires making more offers through more channels more consistently. => Increase the Average Dollar Per Sale: Optimizing revenue generated at the initial point of sale through higher pricing tiers and strategically timed upsells. => Increase Purchase Frequency: Motivating current clients in the building to buy from you more often via challenges, supplement subscriptions, and apparel. => Maximize Retention (Stay Longer): Keeping current clients as long as possible, which acts as a powerful compounding force for exponential business growth. => The Power of 10%: Making a minor 10% incremental improvement in each of the four core buckets yields a compound effect that can realistically result in a massive 50% increase in overall revenue. => Building a Marketing Calendar: Consistency beats guessing; gym owners must establish a locked-in marketing cadence (e.g., set email schedules, daily social media posts, monthly events, and point-of-sale referral systems). => The Ad Follow-Up Bottleneck: Paid ads are a valuable tool, but dumping money into advertising is useless without a relentless, urgent, and human-driven phone call and text follow-up process to cultivate long-term leads. => Collateral Branding: Consistent localized ad spend and digital content creation create a multi-touchpoint footprint that drastically drives up local organic Google searches over time. => Point-of-Sale Psychology: Capitalizing on the natural dopamine hit a customer experiences when buying allows you to seamlessly offer highly beneficial add-ons like a 3-month nutrition coaching accelerator or foundational supplements. => The Short-Term Upgrade Strategy: Spurring purchase frequency by pitching stagnant or plateaued clients on a temporary, high-accountability upgrade (e.g., moving from 1 to 3 semi-private sessions for a 12-week push) highly increases revenue and frequently converts into permanent upgrades.=> The Missing-In-Action (MIA) List: To battle high attrition, gym owners need proactive tracking tracking systems—if a client is in the gym fewer than eight times a month, there is a statistical 50/50 chance they will cancel. => Direct Member Reachout (DMR): Intentionally reaching out to clients (or parents of youth athletes) purely for words of affirmation and positive feedback, rather than administrative or payment issues, builds lasting loyalty. => The 4-Step Business Evolution: Building a sustainable gym business relies on an ongoing cycle of four major milestones: 1) Make a great product, 2) Learn how to market and sell it, 3) Document the systems, and 4) Hire and build a staff-first team to execute it. LINKS AND RESOURCES: Built To Last Gym Mentorship: https://builttolastgym.com/ [https://builttolastgym.com/] Built To Last Gym Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/ [https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/] Built To Last Training & Coaching Systems Webinar: https://webinar.builttolastgym.com [https://webinar.builttolastgym.com/]

EP 18: Why Your Gym Team Isn't Great & How To Change It

In this episode, Luka Hocevar and Andy McCloy discuss the critical importance of owner leadership, team development, and strategic investment in sales, marketing, and operations for gym success. They share practical insights on building systems, training, and leveraging outside help to create a sustainable, profitable gym business. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: => Everything begins and ends with owner leadership and accountability. Are you providing the team with what it needs to succeed? Luka and Andy break down their model for when to strategically outsource the development of sales, training, and coaching, and when to handle it in-house. => Building effective systems and processes so your team knows how to execute tasks and understands standards of operation. => The importance of continuous staff development following quality onboarding of new coaches and team members (this is a missing piece for most gyms). Align your marketing message with business goals and ensuring the entire team shares the same communication strategy.  => Why we believe sales is more important initially, but marketing eventually helps make all sales easier. LINKS AND RESOURCES: Built To Last Gym Mentorship: https://builttolastgym.com/ [https://builttolastgym.com/] Built To Last Gym Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/ [https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/] How To Hire, Develop, and Lead A Team To Build A Dream Gym Course: https://webinar.builttolastgym.com/ [https://webinar.builttolastgym.com/]

EP 17: Does Building A Personal Brand Help You Grow Your Gym?

In this episode Luka and Andy discuss building a personal and business brand, and how they differ, and whether putting time and effort into building your personal brand makes sense. We discuss pros, con's, what NOT to do, and what IS a good idea if you have a brick-and-mortar business. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: => What foundations grew both of our businesses and will stand the test of time, what every coach and gym owner should be doing.=> How to build a "3-mile famous" local personal brand that yields the highest ROI. => What are the 3 things every coach and gym owner must do to build a local brand and what it can do for them.Luka's content strategy was built based on advice Frank Kern, a famous marketer, gave him at lunch. => Does being featured in Men's Health, HBO Sports, or co-writing books, really get you any new clients? But then why should you still do it? => Build the business first or the personal brand? We provide examples, insights on what to avoid, and break down what a brand really means. => Why your "body of work" is SO important for growing your gym, and how to showcase it everywhere (something most gym owners miss). => Making your personal brand bigger than you, and what that does for your business, your team, your purpose, and ultimately - your marketing.  => How many leads do we get from social media for our gyms, and how much time should you dedicate to social media for your gym? => Should you separate your business and personal brand and create completely unique content for both? Luka answers the question in depth. => What game are you really trying to play and what does winning that game look like? This is where most gym owners make a big mistake! => Could your gym thrive without any internet (no social media, website, etc)? This marker indicates how well you are performing with your product and service. => Our best brick-and-mortar brand building strategies. LINKS AND RESOURCES: Built To Last Gym Mentorship: https://builttolastgym.com/ [https://builttolastgym.com/] Built To Last Gym Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/ [https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/] How To Hire, Develop, and Lead A Team To Build A Dream Gym Course: https://webinar.builttolastgym.com/ [https://webinar.builttolastgym.com/]

EP 16: The Top 5 Trends Shaping Demand In The Gym Industry

In this episode Luka and Andy discuss the trends that are here in 2026 and will be in 2027 when it comes to the gym business. We dive into what we think about them, which ones are legit and to pay attention to, which ones we don't think matter much, and the nuances of what to do about them and how to strategize in your gym business.  IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: => The "passion trap" is reaching critical mass. The post-pandemic boom masked poor fundamentals in thousands of micro gyms. As the easy growth era ends, owners who built on vibes rather than unit economics are being exposed. => Semi-private and high-ARM models are replacing group classes as the main models.The race to $100/month memberships is over. Savvy operators are shifting to semi-private PT at $250–$400+/mo ARM.  => The shift to a semi-private model requires entirely different sales systems, staff management, and pricing psychology; none of these areas are taught well or widely.  => Ozempic/GLP-1 drugs are restructuring the fitness value proposition.GLP-1 usage is surging, and gyms risk disintermediation unless they reposition as muscle-preservation, metabolic health, performance, longevity, and behavior change (which most gym should have been doing already).  => The gym owners who adapt their messaging, programming, and referral relationships to the medical ecosystem will win. Coaches who can navigate this pivot are suddenly essential. => AI tools create execution complexity without strategic clarity. AI marketing tools, chatbots, and automation are "taking over" but most gym owners lack frameworks to apply them in a way that makes sense. There is a demand for coaches who can translate AI capability into gym-specific systems. => Staff development is becoming the primary growth constraint. The bottleneck has shifted from marketing to team. Owners who scaled marketing now have leads but can't consistently deliver quality work.  => Staff retention, coaching career pathing, and "replace yourself as head coach" are the next frontier for successful gym owners (and what long term successes have always done). LINKS AND RESOURCES: Built To Last Gym Mentorship: https://builttolastgym.com/ [https://builttolastgym.com/] Built To Last Gym Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/ [https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/] How To Hire, Develop, and Lead A Team To Build A Dream Gym Course: https://webinar.builttolastgym.com/ [https://webinar.builttolastgym.com/]

EP 15: What NOT To Do As A Gym Owner - From Over 45 Years Of Experience

In this episode Luka and Andy break down what gym owners should not do, and what they should avoid at all costs. Many times it's not just what you do right that matters, but it's also what you avoid that could be the key in growing your business.  IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: => Why expecting linear growth is a big mistake for gym owners? => Luka shares an example of growing 400% in a year and then feeling stalled when the following year the growth was "only" 20%. => Why 1% better every day is NOT a great way to look at growth (but here's what will help you set goals). => The bottlenecks of a $250-$400k gym, a $450-$700k gym, and a $750k - $1 million + gym. => Why the training model is extremely important when determining your growth and potential profits (the wrong model can break a business).  => Over-reliance on paid ads without a strong follow-up system and other marketing strategies will not lead to success.   => How important are SEO and AEO for your gym business and 3 strategies every gym owner should implement to generate more organic leads (and improve their website). => Luka shares a "secret" website that can help you improve the SEO for your gym. => Luka and Andy share their referral system that works every time you use it.  => Here is how we added 60 reviews in a short period of time, exactly what we did at Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance. => Gym owners should consistently reactivate their past clients and leads; this is an underfocused area representing low-hanging fruit for growing memberships and revenue.  => You MUST do community events as it's key in generating boots-on-the-ground leads.  => An exercise I did with one of my new coaches taught them how to have more conversations; an elite skill for any coach or gym owner. => How to be a good boss: Let people make mistakes by giving them responsibility. => Consistently developing your team to be better coaches is an absolute must. Never ever stop developing in that area; it's the master skill.  => It's hard to have a coaching culture if the leader is not fascinated by improving coaching in their gym (it trickles down from the top).  LINKS AND RESOURCES: Built To Last Gym Mentorship: https://builttolastgym.com/ [https://builttolastgym.com/] Built To Last Gym Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/ [https://www.instagram.com/builttolastgym/] How To Hire, Develop, and Lead A Team To Build A Dream Gym Course: https://webinar.builttolastgym.com/ [https://webinar.builttolastgym.com/]