The Business Of Strength Podcast

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 scheduled

KEY 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.com

Register for The Gold Medal Standard: https://bosretreat.com

Meet Blake Burnard, owner of Grind Haus in Bakersfield, California!

THE NUMBERS: Revenue: +72% since joining BOS Profit Margin: 23% to 26% Membership: +50% Adult Churn: ~12% down to under 3% (75% reduction) Owner's Workload: Removed ~30 hours per week

KEY MOVES:

- The adult program became the stabilizing engine. Grind Haus moved from essentially zero adult business to 125 adults. Adult revenue now trends near $50K monthly with much higher margins.

- Blake stopped trying to "outsell" churn. Adult attrition fell from roughly 12% monthly to under 3% after building a defensive system: attendance tracking, check-ins, goal reviews, events, exit interviews, gifting and first-100-days onboarding.

- Marketing stayed aggressive and scalable. Paid social, especially Facebook, drove early adult growth, supported by referrals, email and consistent organic social.

- Capacity got smarter. Grind Haus added concurrent adult sessions into previously underused morning hours instead of rushing into another location.

- Hiring became selective. Blake now prioritizes integrity, ownership, work ethic, coachability and character over degrees and polished resumes.

- Leadership layers replaced Blake's workload. The company now has a facility leader, program leaders, coaches and interns with real KPIs and accountability. Blake created a 5-7 stage career progression tied to company growth.

- Better people improved economics. Profit margin rose while the team expanded and Blake's operational burden fell.

LISTEN IN FOR:

- How to build an adult revenue engine from zero.

- Why cutting churn matters more than constantly replacing members.

- The leadership crisis that changed everything and how Blake rebuilt it.

- Moving from salesman to systems-driven CEO.

- Why high standards in hiring create owner capacity, not just payroll costs.

- Building a leadership structure that lets you work less, not more.

Find Grind Haus here: https://www.grindhaus.com

Register for The Gold Medal Standard: https://bosretreat.com

Meet Joe Pearson, owner of The Strength Feed in Raleigh, North Carolina!

THE NUMBERS: Revenue: +22% Membership: +15% Profit: +20.2% Coaching Hours: 3-5 per week Owner's Workload: Down significantly from 2023.

KEY MOVES:

- Budget discipline became a growth lever. Monthly line-item budgeting replaced reactive spending. Equipment purchases are planned. Debt is being paid down.

- Marketing became a real annual system. Strength Feed increased marketing spend, ran more Google advertising and doubled down on proven campaigns instead of inventing a new promotion every month.

- Membership grew 15% without a matching increase in coaching payroll; better economics from the existing facility and team.

- Products got simplified around 2x, 3x and unlimited training. Average attendance jumped, creating an opportunity to align packages with how clients actually train.

- Marketing and sales have one clear owner. Joe controls lead follow-up, calls, email, social messaging and sales. He also personally completes quarterly goal-setting conversations with top members, creating retention intelligence and testimonials.

- Team doubled down. From Joe and one other coach to a five-coach team actively hiring a sixth. Travis owns performance direction and coaching acquisition. Andrew owns client success and key communication systems.

LISTEN IN FOR:

- How budget discipline and line-item budgeting became a revenue lever.

- Why membership grew without adding coaching hours.

- The shift from reactive to strategic marketing and what "proven plays" actually means.

- What happens when you move from financial fear to financial control.

- Building a team deep enough to replace your coaching hours.

- From coach doing everything to operator building systems.

Find The Strength Feed here: https://www.thestrengthfeed.com

Register for The Gold Medal Standard: https://bosretreat.com

Meet Noam Tamir, CEO of TS Fitness in New York City!THE NUMBERS:First-Half Revenue: +18% vs. prior yearQ2: Highest-revenue quarter in company historyProfit Margin: ~22% (up ~21% vs. prior first half)Noam's Workload: ~30 solid hours/week (capacity available for expansion)KEY MOVES:- Right person, right seat. Filip moved into GM/coaching operations. Parker stepped into primary sales leadership. Both owned their domains instead of Noam managing everything.- Team to salary. Moved the full coaching staff from splits to salary. Commitment and continuity improved. Coaches added private training, mentorship, and sales work to their role.- Revenue diversification. High-ticket mentorship, peptide-support coaching, and private training revenue expanded significantly.Sales efficiency. Q2 generated more joins from fewer leads than Q1 — better conversion without higher volume.- Offer clarity. "3-for-$99 Spring Back Into Fitness" sold 39 programs with ~31% conversion — a simple, low-friction entry point that scaled.- Local over paid. Micro-influencers, founder-led social, community events, referrals, and joint ventures replaced reliance on paid acquisition as costs rose.LISTEN IN FOR:- How moving the team to salary actually protected margin while scaling headcount.- Why leadership seats matter more than individual heroics.- The real math behind "owner capacity" and location expansion.- Building a gym that works without you on the floor every day.Find TS Fitness here: https://tsfitnessnyc.comRegister for The Gold Medal Standard: https://bosretreat.com

You asked we answered.

On this episode of the Business of Strength Podcast Dan Goodman answers questions for listeners.

Enjoy!

Information about the retreat.

https://bosretreat.com

In this episode, Dan Goodman shares the key lessons from our recent Business of Strength Mid-Year Reset and the exact systems we're focusing on at Varsity House to finish the year strong.

You'll learn:

- Why success can lead to complacency—and how to avoid it.

- Why retention is more profitable than constant acquisition.

- How to use client attribution to double down on what's working.

- Why consistency, systems, and meeting cadence beat motivation.

- The Keep. Cut. Combine. exercise to simplify your business.

- Why now is the time to review pricing, cash flow, and your marketing plan for Q4.

Simple. Practical. Actionable..

Giddyup!

P.S. Don't forget to reserve your spot for The Gold Medal Standard! September 18th and 19th. Park City, Utah. https://bosretreat.com

On today's episode, Joe Riggio sits down with Zach Even-Esh to unpack the people side of running a successful gym. They cover leadership, employee development, and the Five-Diamond Hospitality framework that turns great coaching into repeatable revenue.

Learn practical systems for meetings, follow-ups, reactivations, referrals, and service-recovery tactics borrowed from restaurants to keep members loyal. If you run a gym or coach athletes, this episode is a playbook for building culture, reducing churn, and turning clients into advocates.

P.S. Don't forget to register for the upcoming Gold Medal Retreat! Located in Park City, Utah on September 18th and 19th. A two-day retreat built around one of the most overlooked advantages in the fitness industry: hospitality.

Link here: https://bosretreat.com