Episode 531: How One Gym Owner Cut Attrition from 8% to Under 2% with Jeremy Ellis

[MUSIC] Welcome to the Business Futuricorns podcast, where we help Jim and studio owners create a business and a life they love. I'm your host, Michael Keeler. Join me and the Business Futuricorns team each week for actionable advice, expert insights, and the inside scoop on what it really takes to level up your gym. Get ready to unlock your potential and become a real unicorn in the fitness industry. [MUSIC] Today's episode is sponsored by InBody. InBody's body composition analyzers help Jim's accurately measure fat, muscle, and overall body composition, not just weight and BMI. By replacing guesswork with objective data, InBody helps Jim owners and coaches make better decisions around assessments, retention, and member progress. To see how Jim's use InBody to create clear conversations and more predictable growth, visit InBodyUSA.com. Hello, fitness business nerds. What's up? Welcome to another episode of the Business Futuricorns podcast. I'm super excited to have for the first time on this podcast, a unicorn-siding member, a gym owner who's crushing it in Austin, Texas. It's Jeremy Ellis, founder of Goodly Coaching. Welcome to the podcast, Jeremy. Thank you, Michael. It's good to be with you today. I'm so excited to have you. We've been really crushing it now for less, I think year or two, since we've known you as a gym owner in Unicorn Society. I'm so excited now is the moment we get to have you on the podcast and share some of the awesome shit you've been doing. Thank you for taking the time to do this. I'm excited for this conversation. Yeah, me too. Be with me. Be with you for almost two years now. It's definitely an honor to be here. Let's dive in first. Maybe just tell people a little bit about your background. How'd you come to be the founder of a place called Goodly Coaching in Austin, Texas? Yeah, it's a long story, of course, but I'll keep it short. I have been in the fitness industry for I would say almost seven years. 2018, I moved to Austin, Texas. I was with a career part of that for 17 years. I was with the same company. Wow. We started 2019. We decided to part ways and after so long and being within the same career, I took a little bit of time and thought about what do I want to do that that I love. I wanted to find a new direction, a new path, a new career and a couple weeks after that, I was studying for my CPT through NASM and decided that I was going to be a personal trainer fast forward from there. That was 2019. Got my certification 2020 went through the pandemic, navigated through that and then in 2021 found myself with a great organization, a great team of coaches here in Austin, Austin, Texas, a athletic outcomes. I was with them for more than three years and that was essentially just my accelerator as a fitness professional and just had a great experience there was also doing my own thing on the side with personal training and at a couple different places. And also renting space and then in 2024, I was making some transitions with my own stuff and decided that I was going to open up goodly coaching a brick and mortar space and with the intention of being able to help more people. I also wanted to build a team at that point and I yeah, I opened up a space just took the dive in almost three years later. Here we are. It's going going well for you. It's going well for you. I always forgot that you have this is really a second career for you. I forgot that you're with someplace for that long. That's amazing. And there's a lot of folks like you in unicorn society, we had a whole career and something totally different at first. And this is like a second or in some cases, a third chapter for people. And so that's exciting. I think the folks who come to really entrepreneurship with some tools in their pocket from working in other companies, I find sometimes have a lot easier time, but sometimes a faster climb right when you have some work experience working elsewhere. Sometimes you get a little farther faster than the folks who maybe decide to open a gym right out of college and never worked anywhere else. I think sometimes they might have the youth and hustle on their side. But they often are missing some of the experience and knowledge that comes from being in an industry for 17 years like you are. And so how do you feel like this is not a question we had planned, but I'm just curious. How do you feel like that past career contributes to the work you do in your gym these days? It actually contributes a lot. Being a personal trainer, working solo, maybe not so much, but running a business 100% my past career was in operations, management, sales and marketing. And so these are all experiences and tools that I bring with me to goodly coaching, managing people now, even just working with spreadsheets. I have a lot of spreadsheet history and sells and marketing too. I do all my own sales and marketing and social media and using all the tools there. So it's just been a lot of fun to know that my past history has definitely contributed to the success that I've been able to have in building a business for myself. Yeah, 100%. I always say it's a people too that I had a lot of jobs and careers before I opened a gym wasn't I didn't open the market for your fitness with Mark until I was in my 30s and I had a lot of jobs before that. And all of them really gave me that my own little toolbox for making that experience much better. I can't imagine having done it out of college. I don't know. I wouldn't have been as fun for me without having some tools that I was bringing to the table. Good to see you. Anyone listening to the podcast right now that is in the middle of a career that they don't like and fitness is their side hustle. Go talk to Jeremy talk to Jeremy about how to take the leap because you did it my friend. It's really been working for you. We see a lot of unicorn time members on a regular basis struggling to get some traction and figure out how to get shit done. But you seem to ever since we've worked with you. We've seen we've always been so impressed with your ability to get shit done and move things forward. So I wanted to have you on the podcast specifically unpack what are some things here you've been doing least lately that have been real wins what a lessons you've been learning over the last year. One of things before we started recording you mentioned is a big turning point for you was really figure out how to get organized as a gym owner. Can you just talk through what do you mean by that and how did you come to get more organized as a gym owner. Yeah, it was with 1000 my first year of opening goodly coaching and navigating it and figuring out along the way I went to my first retreat almost a couple years ago here in Austin with business for unicorns here in April. And and that was a big win in itself. I knew immediately with the people that were there and obviously with the experience that I knew from Brittany on athletic outcomes that this was this was already working and I just needed to be part of it. So I think for me it was I knew where I wanted to go I just needed to get organization and direction and it's the little things it's having my dashboard tracking regular numbers and figuring out what numbers are important to me tracking those metrics and getting out of a full my first full year of business and knowing where I stood at that point and where I wanted to go and making adjustments accordingly. And I think without that it's growing things up in the air and moving along the way with real no direction and so just simply just being organized in all things and creating SOPs and policies written procedures. Yeah, super helpful and just getting things organized the person that thrives in order. I mean in a room of chaos I'll lose it but I feel like that's been a success. I think there's so much there's such a parallel between what makes people successful in the gym and getting results that they wanted the gym. A lot of what makes you successful as an entrepreneur and a business owner is that we want to know okay where are we at right now where are we going what's the plan to get there and how are we going to track to make sure that we're still moving in the right direction. And I think that you mentioned doing all those things right getting really clear about what are our metrics how we track what we're doing moving forward so when you think back to the last year or so what are some of the most important metrics you've tracked and maybe also I'll stack two questions on top of each other and what are some of the more important SOPs you've created. Let's start with the metrics when the most important metrics you track these days. Some of the most important metrics is of course cells right are we out on a monthly basis that's a given utilization rate has been huge we do run small group training classes we have 22 classes across the week now and knowing exactly where we stand making sure that even if some classes feel like they're not full we know that if we're maintaining a 70% utilization rate or above we're still good. And making adjustments quickly off of that and not waiting too long before that our our attrition has been massive we went from 2024 to 2025 being nearly 8% attrition and 2024 to under 2% attrition and 2025 which was excellent and knowing that and really taking a dive into that and going how did we do that and why did people stick around and really capitalizing on those identifiers to know that hey we had a good thing going. Let's make it even better and keep people sticking with us long term. Yeah, and we'll circle back to that so do what it gets all the things you've added that have improved your attrition and we'll talk more about how to improve the client experience but I think just listening to you talk about the numbers it's it's I think that another lesson emerges for our listeners which is not just enough to track these numbers yet to be looking at the one regular basis and then taking action on them. I think all the successes you just named are not from just looking at a number they're from noticing a number is heading in the right or the wrong direction reflecting on what that means and then doing something about it's the action taking from this information that makes the biggest difference. And I think one of the actions we often take when our numbers are moving in the right or on direction is we often tweak or create SOPs so let's go question number two which was what is some of the most important SOPs you've created over the year last year or so. Yeah, SOPs for some form a couple of them that a bank he is just our onboarding SOPs what do we do from class onboarding or I'm sorry client onboarding our staff. Yeah client onboarding got it. Yeah, from the moment that somebody shows interest. Where do they go from there? Whether they're going into personal training, or they're going into small group training, and then not only from LBO to member, but then what do we do with them after that? And how do we track them from 50 workouts to 100 workouts? And what happens, everything in between? Yeah, definitely SOPs in regards to onboarding and then membership. And then having SOPs for one person in particular on our team, she's our membership specialist, Barraesh. And she's just been great, and we've essentially built her role in really being on top of our members in all aspects. And we continue as we continue to build her role, we continue to build her SOP, right? Make changes, make adjustments. If this is working, this needs to be better. That's not working. And yeah, those SOPs alone have just been huge for us. That's amazing. Good for you. I think it just goes to show that when you invest in focusing on an area of the business operationally like that, it makes a big difference. The fact that you've focused on your client experience, your client onboarding experience, and it had a real tangible benefit of moving your attrition numbers dramatically in the right direction, from 8% to 2%, is a crazy leap. And this goes to show what gets your time and attention to the business improves, right? And you create systems to be really consistent about how you treat clients during the onboarding process. They're going to have a better experience which gets them to stay longer. And so I think that's so exciting and good for you that you've been able to do that. I know another area where I know we've talked before about you getting more organized was around finances, specifically trying to have some processes in place for spending. So you can just talk a little bit about that part of the business. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, I think really on, it's really easy to just spend a lot of money because we need this and we need that. And we don't feel like we're making any money anyway. But I think as we started to find ourselves in a position where profit actually was a thing, it was, okay, let's take a look at what our expenses are. And then rent and utilities was one thing. How much are we spending every single month on our clients? What does the swag look like? Are we just buying stuff to buy stuff? And more so just tracking that and having numbers consistently across the board to know that we were overspending one month and underspending one month, but really trying to stay consistent in that. And that's just helped us to just keep that consistent and play off of that. Yeah. Yeah. So I think one of the things that people struggle with sometimes, and I don't know if this is true for you, Jeremy, but when they first started to try and put some sort of budget in place, they have a hard time creating some sort of habit for like how often do I look at it? Is this a daily thing, a weekly thing, a monthly thing? Do I need an app for this? So when it comes to putting like a budget in place for you, what are the habits that have been most helpful? Putting a budget in place, first and foremost, is having an account. I didn't have an account in the point of where I initially started and she's been super helpful in really just getting things organized. Sure. But having a budget in place has just been really helpful, even in just marketing spending. Make sure that again, we weren't overspending in one area versus the next and we really were allocating enough accordingly to make sure that we were working within our needs. Yeah, 100%. I think the kind of cornerstone habits that I've seen, both you take on and other folks in Unicorn's Side is, really all it takes is really monthly review of your expenses. You don't need to be looking at your expenses every day or every week, necessarily. If you're really a tough spot, maybe once a week is good, but if you're looking once a month when your bookkeeper or accountant's helping you close your books once a month, maybe they send you your P&L, even if you're looking once a month, that moment saying, how do we do? How close did we get to spending what we thought we would spend? How much over? How much under? Hopefully under. Are we? And what adjustments can we make in the following month? But I think even that 10, 15 minutes it takes to go read your P&L every month, maybe have that chat with your bookkeeper or accountant, that's all it takes to really make sure that your spending is within the range as you want it. I think other things, obviously, you need to know what the range is should be, right? So I think that's also a helpful piece of the equation. But good for you, I'm glad you've been able to reign it in a way that feels good to you because runaway expenses are really just a thought in your side as you continue to try and grow. Yeah, definitely. And again, the dashboard has just been super helpful for that and tracking that on a regular basis and seeing it over time and adjusting accordingly. Yeah, I'll just say this is a little mini commercial for a unicorn society for any listeners is that, when you join unicorn society, we give you a dashboard to use. We give you two options to choose from. And so you don't have to think about what to track each week or each month, the financial metrics, that are we'll just tell you what we think you should track. And people can make it their own and they'd often do, they'll either take things away. But we try to make it as easy as possible to know, not only what to track, but what the benchmark should be for those numbers. There's no second guessing. And hopefully that's been useful to you, Jeremy. I think that's-- Yeah. So maybe let's circle back. So now we talked before about the fact that you made some big investments in your member experience, both the onboarding experience and other things that have really improved your retention. And I'm sure our listeners are dying to hear, what did you do to go from such a 8% loss every single month to under two? What did you change with the member experience that's been so useful? Yeah. That's a good question. I had a conversation with another BFU member not too long ago about this. And it was cool that he reached out. And one of the-- know what we were doing is-- Yeah. --as he saw those numbers going into the new year. But again, first and foremost, is having our prospect to LBO SOP. And then from our LBO to member SOP. And then moving on, some of the things that I think we do really well for our members, if they really help with our nutrition rate, is first and foremost, a lot of communication. I think it's so easy in any kind of group setting to just feel like you're finding your way. And we just know that up to, at least for their first 10 workouts, we're talking to them and hitting them with a lot of touch points. And then up to 25 workouts. And then we have regular check-ins. We have a check-in with every single member at their 10th workout. And this is just a check-in to go, how are things going? We go over other things like our policies and procedures and hey, if you needed positive membership, this is what you do. Here's how you work our app. Just make sure that they got it down because now they're 10 workouts in, they've been able to touch some things. And then every 25 workouts after that, from 25 to 25, 50, 75 to 100, we celebrate their milestones. And we celebrate them in the gym. We post them on our social. We post them in a group chat within the app and really recognize people and celebrate them. And that's been huge. And we also use another big tool for us is our coaching app that we use. And then our coaching app, they contract their workouts, attract their progress, attract their milestones. There's also a group chat feature in there. So we're in 10th-grader workout. We get to, they get seen. - And what app are you using? Is it off the shelf app? - It's trainer-wise. - Trainer-wise, great. Yeah, there's a lot of folks who use and like, train-er-wise for this exact purpose. - Yeah, which has been great. And every milestone, they get a gift too. We give them some sort of goodly swag and celebrate them. And we have a board. And I think this is a key feature, a couple of key features for us in the gym in our communities. We have a member board and everybody gets a pull-arrow whenever they first sign up. And our newer members are at the top. And then there's categories, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200 plus. And it's so much fun watching people look at the board and then also move themselves across the board and hit some milestones. And then we have, on our mirrors in the front of the gym, as we all face the front every month, when somebody hits a milestone in our mirror chalk, mirror marker. But their name goes up there with their milestones. So it's constantly just keeping people seen, acknowledged, celebrated. And that's just, it's been a lot of fun. And I think those things alone definitely are supporting our nutrition. - Yeah, good for you. It's such a huge list of things that you do on a regular basis that are not complicated, right? They're pretty simple, but they make a big difference 'cause people feel seen, they feel appreciated. And in many ways, you've gamified the experience, right? If you're celebrating people after every 25 visits, I imagine that breaks down to people coming twice a week. That's right, what about quarterly, right? So about once a quarter, I imagine from most of your members, they're getting some sort of celebration that says, "Good job, keep on going, we see you." Now let's hit the next milestone, which means that people are getting that kick in the pants or that hug or that high five on a pretty regular basis. Probably what four times per year, I'm guessing from any of your clients, they're hitting some milestone that have them be recognized by their community. That's huge for attrition and retention. That's huge for keeping people around and giving them the next thing to work on. I think people often leave gyms, and we know this from the research, but people often leave not because they dislike you, but they leave because they're just bored. They're a little bit like, "Man, I've been doing this for a while. I need something fresh." And the fact that you're keeping it fresh, but giving them the next challenge to work on. And I'm sure in a few years, you're gonna need to find something to do with those 200 plus people. You're gonna collect a bunch of 200 plus people. They're gonna be like, "Now what, Jeremy?" You celebrate us so here and now what? Now we're just old news. You're gonna be just fine, 'cause that's what happened at MFF. We were like, "Oh, we'll never have someone that gets to a thousand visits." And then we're like, "Oh shit, we got there pretty quickly actually." And then suddenly we're like, "Now how do we celebrate people who've been around for this many years, doing this much epic work?" And I think if you keep your finger on that pulse, you're gonna keep great retention over time. That's huge. - Thanks, yeah. Yeah, we look forward to that. - Yeah. - What a great problem to have, right? That's huge. What do I mean of all the things you listed there, what are the things you get the most positive feedback on from the clients? What do they say the most about, of all those things you listed? What do they give you the most positive feedback on? - Most positive feedback. Everybody loves some swag. It's nice to get something. We actually, we spend a little bit of money on that, of course. But it is so worth it. And then we get people running around town with our shirts. on and hats on. Especially the stuff they could only get from doing a milestone. Totally. It feels earned in a really special way. It becomes more than just a t-shirt becomes that symbol of their effort and their success. Yeah and the community group chat has been that allows not only our members to see other members and every time somebody completes a workout, even if they're in class with just a couple people they know that there's 50 other people that are actually in the gym and doing the same thing as them, but recognizing them in the group chat and taking their picture and having them hold up a sign that says 100 workouts. It's just been it's been really cool and we get a lot of good feedback on that. That's amazing. Good for you. I'm going to be one more last question here which is for all of our folks listening to her like you know what my retention's been a little bit high. It's been maybe in that 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 range. I really want to bring it down. Where do they start of all the things you've implemented? Well it's the first one you'd recommend people taking a look at to improve their client experience and their retention. Yeah tracking the amount of work that they're putting in. Whether even that's one month or one year, two years tracking workouts. We love those milestones. That's been a lot of fun. I think that's one place to start because in a lot of cases I think it's like you do need tools I think to track that and maybe you can get a little bit challenging but find the tools to track milestones and anniversaries and make that a priority. I think that's it. I think you've really found the sweet spot too Jeremy of the fact that you're doing it by every 25 visits. I think it is a kind of sweet spot for a lot of folks. That means for at least once or twice a year if not up to four times a year depending on how often they're coming or more they're getting some regular praise right. It's a decent amount of touch points throughout the year to say you're doing great job. We see you. We're celebrating you. Your picture moves on the board. You get up on the mirror. You're on our social media right. That's a few times per year to really elevate them and put them on that pedestal so I think for anyone listening you really want to think about whatever your milestone system is. How frequently is that touching people? How frequently is that creating an impact? And we know from research about incentive programs in workplaces that after people are lifted up by a program like this they have a whole they have a period about two to two to four weeks afterwards where they're a little puffed up or they're a little they're a little more proud. They come to your case the gym in other cases like work feeling a little bit more I'm going to give an extra effort a little bit more seen right. I think so the more you can think about how these milestones touch people throughout the year and then make sure they're spread out enough they're not on top of each other but they're not so infrequent that it's only once every three years. You've really done that great job of finding that sweet spot of recognizing people at a regular pace so I just want to give that tour listeners as well to think about. Yeah thanks a lot this too is by tracking by tracking them and knowing where they're at on those milestones or there's those total number of workouts we also know when they're not there. So we keep a list and I meet with our membership specialist weekly and part of that part of that list that we go over is our member watch list. If somebody's not showing up or kind of MIA it's we're messaging them we're calling them we're texting them we're arguing up in each milestone they have a 15 to 20 minute check-in call with our membership specialist where they go over all their goals again and I start looking ahead and looking in review and yeah it's just it's been really fun to be part of that. Yeah amazing I think it's such a great example good for you. Thanks for taking the time to come on the podcaster I mean we could keep talking probably all day of all the great things you and your team are doing but I think sharing this information about getting organized tracking our metrics having clear process for managing your spending really investing in your client experience keep that retention low all these have been such great tips so I hope our listeners have been taking notes but thank you so much for your time I really appreciate it I'm sure we'll have you back again another year or so and to tell us all the next great things you've been doing but thank you so much for your time. Yeah of course thank you Michael it's been a lot of fun. Yeah and dear listeners have a great rest of your week and I'll see you on the next one. Bye!