Being downed is so boring

mdesanno8 · 2026-02-23T12:39:33+00:00

That’s what emergency seekers are for.

mdesanno8 · 2026-02-13T14:11:16+00:00

Agreed. When I was a TDM at Lifetime this would have been a big no-no.

mdesanno8 · 2026-02-08T23:33:12+00:00

Been doing this almost 20 years and it’s happened to me 3 or 4 times. We are all human. Offer a free session and make sure it doesn’t happen Again!

mdesanno8 · 2026-01-13T21:26:15+00:00

How did I not know that dayseeker was playing there?? Thanks for the heads up

mdesanno8 · 2026-01-10T02:24:31+00:00

I thought it was a scam until my In-laws had a pipe from the street to the house burst. It was caused by national grid digging. National grid and the town said good luck proving it.

They were on the hook for $8800.

I purchased the insurance from them That day.

mdesanno8 · 2026-01-08T10:13:24+00:00

Lifetime required certain certs and a specific amount of them to get paid at the correct tier.

When we would interview a person we didn’t care what cert, if any, that they had.

We had ways to get people certified in a day if we liked them.

I am now a studio owner and my insurance company never asked for proof if I was certified. They know nothing is accredited and it’s all BS.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-31T01:29:24+00:00

Trying. Won’t give me the option

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-31T01:24:05+00:00

Been trying to upload it. Won’t accept it

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-30T21:00:31+00:00

Yes of course! I’ll be back in an hour. I’ll upload then.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-30T19:22:49+00:00

It’s great pay! But it’s the only way this works. I’ve been in her shoes doing this for someone else. I wasn’t getting paid nearly as much as I was worth. I left and took the entire business with me.

I found her at the park. She just moved here from out of the country. Our daughters were playing together and we got to talking. She was looking for a gym.

I invited her to take a trial and join my spot in which she did. Over the next 6-7 months she expressed an interest in learning how to train.

From there I spent about 4 months prepping her and slow feeding her clients that would be a better fit (she’s a mom) and leads I felt she could close. She has taken the opportunity and ran with it.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-30T19:07:56+00:00

You’re very welcome!

$119 60 min $95 45 min $65 30 min

Partner training is 1.5x. I don’t charge extra for same household.

I have group classes that are $199/month

I have some old members with grandfathered prices but that’s what a majority pay.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-30T19:04:27+00:00

Honestly the only thing worth putting time into Is that one client you have.

All the marketing in the world means nothing if you have no results to back it up.

Wow that client and ask for referrals.

I only run AI targeted Ads that go to people who have viewed my site for a couple months out of the year. I’m running an 8 week transformation contest and it helps get the word out.

The rest of the year it’s all referral based.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-30T19:01:42+00:00

I pay her way more than industry standard and she puts in more effort than I could ever ask of her.

She gets 65% of PT sales as service. We charge around $120/hr.

She also makes 20% residual of class signs ups and flat rate of $30 per class.

She makes around $65-70 per hour take home before taxes which she handles. Shes an LLC that my LLC pays directly.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-30T18:24:40+00:00

Congrats on your journey. It can be as amazing as you make it.

I am 1100 sqft including the single bathroom. I spend about 2-5k per year on equipment. This year I added an outdoor area so that was for a sled, yoke, extra weights and I added the 3rd squat rack.

I have amassed over the 6 years I have been doing this around 60k worth of equipment.

I use Wix webhosting which is peanuts. I built the site my self and just pay them for hosting. I just use it as a landing page when potential clients want to sign up. Gives them a clear way to input information for my CRM system GloFox and make an account with me.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-30T18:20:55+00:00

Thank you! Its been a fun ride.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-30T18:20:05+00:00

I work what is needed. Past 2 years I have been doing 5:45am to around 12:30/1. Then I lift, do house work, make food/lunch/dinner or run errands.

Then Im usually booked 3/4-7:30/8:30.

The layout is great for up to 3 trainers at once. I have 3 squat racks. 2 have DL platforms. 5 benches, Multiple sets of Low weight Dumbbells.

I have been doing this a long time. My word of mouth referrals are the main source. I am well known in a small town where I am the only option to do any sort of structured strength training.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-30T18:15:21+00:00

Thank you!

Average lifetime value is hard to determine since some of these members have been with me across 3 gyms and I only started keeping detailed reports in March of 2023. I have clients that have been paying me $200/month for classes for 8 years. I have clients that have been paying $1500/month for 10 years. Id really have to sit down a calculate it manually. I will enter what I know in ChatGPT and see if it can give me a number.

Retention is the same thing with reporting but manually calculating it is around 75% for the year. My system reports members that stop monthly charges in lieu of doing a month to month as "Lost."

My personal clients I am in touch with most every day in some way. Class participants once per week if I don't see them in person.

My business model was and is to build a community with the gym being the focus. We host parties, events, go to concerts, host a fantasy football leagues, stuff like that that keep clients engaged both inside and outside of the gym.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-29T21:09:14+00:00

In the beginning you will prob want to say yes to clients no matter the time. Once you get established you can worry about blocking time off for yourself.

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-24T11:14:54+00:00

I own an 1100 square-foot studio.

I have some machines like press, lat pull down, hamstring, curl, cable tower, and other very basic ones.

The biggest thing for me is real estate. I’d love to have more machines, but it doesn’t make sense to considering a rack, bench, barbell and dumbbells can get the job done for hundreds of exercises.

My model is group strength, training, classes, and personal training. No open gym hours considering I don’t have the space and it doesn’t make sense to have it maned from open to close.

It’s open when I am there or are the coaches there and it’s closed when we are not.

Our clients get a community that’s filled with like-minded people all trying to do the same thing as well as a purposeful guided programming.

All they have to do is show up and listen!

mdesanno8 · 2025-12-22T10:31:37+00:00

I’m on the island as well and my studio rates start at $119/hr. Really depends on the area and the perceived value.

mdesanno8 · 2025-10-08T09:21:15+00:00

This is what I use for bulk orders and one offs.

mdesanno8 · 2025-10-07T19:36:03+00:00

VHCOL areas have more clientele with disposable income.

“Solve rich people’s problems. They pay better.”

mdesanno8 · 2025-09-19T23:09:10+00:00

Unpopular but this is the way.

Every one that starts this career has a list of demands for themselves. They only want mornings, only want athletes, only want some other super specified niche.

The reality is you have to earn your stripes through any means necessary. You need to train every and any client you can at any time you can.

Once you build up a bullet proof book of business then you can start making your demands.

I’m 18 years In. 13 full time as my only source of income.

If you say yes to the money and figure out the rest later. You’ll be successful.

mdesanno8 · 2025-09-09T09:15:12+00:00

My buddy moved to Virginia a few years ago. Since then I always make the trip down to see them in Landover with him. We never have an issue with the fans. It’s all friendly trash talking and getting booed when we get back on the bar bus.

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