From Gas-Station Gym to 5,000 Square-Foot-Facility With Jonathan Watt

Jonathan Watt opened Townie: A Fitness Community in an abandoned gas-station garage. He painted the walls, made a post on Facebook and showed up at 5:30 a.m. the next day, praying someone would show up.

Someone did, and the gym soon expanded to the 5,000-square-foot facility it's in today. But when Jonathan found himself still wearing all the hats just before the birth of his first child, he knew he needed to "legitimize our business, and we needed to be able to hire coaches and, you know, really step up our game."

In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, you'll learn how mentorship helped Jonathan build a staff, establish a gym culture and shift his mindset on sales and marketing.

Links:

Townie: A Fitness Community
Level Method

Contact:

Instagram: @towniefitnessco


Timeline:

3:07 – Why “Townie,” and why the name rebrand away from CrossFit.

5:28 – Finding CrossFit in 2010: “It was grungy; it smelled like a gym locker room, but I loved it.”

7:24 – Discovering a passion for helping people through fitness.

9:21 – The first location: an abandoned gas station.

11:53 – Affinity marketing in the early years.

13:54 – Why sign up for mentorship?

15:41 – Putting marketing on hold to solidify procedures and staffing first.

20:07 – From Day One client to first staff member: the culture of the gym.

23:18 – On selling happiness and confidence.

24:24 – Taking the plunge into paid advertising: “It was kind of a big shock.”

26:55 – Shifting perspective on sales.

29:33 – Eliminating staffing frustrations with written SOPs.

31:52 – Reducing No-Sweat Intro no-shows with text-message follow-ups and confirmations.

32:32 – The InBody as a tool for selling nutrition.

33:49 – The key to success? Mentorship and community.