This week on The Business of Lifting Weights we sit down with Geo Rockwell, co-founder of CrossFit Mission Gorge (which he sold) and now owner of CrossFit Federal Hill and CrossFit Cove. In addition, Geo runs the 4th Pull Podcast, available on Itunes.
Geo is one of the few gym owners that has had the ability to take his businesses to another level of success and been able to replicate his success across different markets.
Topics:
(1) Geo's background and how he got started as a gym owner
(2) Benefits and disadvantages of becoming a CrossFit affiliate
(3) Challenges and getting over rejections as you start out
(4) The one print marketing method that worked for Geo in growing the gym from scratch
(5) The advice on how to grow your gym that you don't want to hear
(6) How Geo sold his first gym and moved cross-country and opened 2 other gyms
(7) The difficulty of a partnership with your business partner
(8) Geo finds a unique way of getting ideas from other gyms via a road trip
(9) What he learned makes a successful gym during his road trip
(10) What he learned are huge put-offs when stepping into a new gym
(11) What to look for in a coach when making hires
(12) What strategies in running a successful gym cary over from West Coast to East Coast
(13) What things did he do differently when opening a gym on the East Coast vs. his previous gym
(14) Results from Geo's "Foundations Membership" marketing method when opening a new gym
(15) Why marketing to the high level athlete is not the right strategy
(16) How Geo used A New You challenge to grow membership
(17) If he were to do it all over again, would Geo do anything differently this time around?
(18) Keeping the CrossFit name vs. dropping the affiliation