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Thread: We Are Cash Flow Positive | Starting Strength Gyms Podcast #22

  1. #1
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    Default We Are Cash Flow Positive | Starting Strength Gyms Podcast #22

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    Starting Strength Gyms has just reached an important milestone: WE ARE CASH FLOW POSITIVE after four years of intense work. Owner Ray Gillenwater discussed the long road it took to get here, as well as the future plans of the franchise. He'll tell you exactly how well the individual gyms are doing as well as provide deep insight into the philosophies and business strategy of Starting Strength Gyms.

    03:15 - Ray's phone consult with Rip
    08:29 - Ray's business plan / All in
    16:34 - Nine gyms were sold and none built
    23:50 - We will not comply
    27:01 - September 2022 Coaches Conference
    31:09 - We are cash-flow positive
    37:06 - Competition
    45:55 - We built a successful business

  2. #2
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    Congratulations! I would pay 350 a month just to have an SS like equipped gym, never mind the coaching, so I don’t see why the business should not get to be much more successful.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by stef View Post
    Starting Strength Gyms has just reached an important milestone: WE ARE CASH FLOW POSITIVE after four years of intense work.
    This is great.
    Now, is it possible to "invest" in you?
    Are there any investment opportunities?
    Buying shares of some sort for example.
    Something small in the order of 10k$-100k€ range?
    Congratulations again.
    PHF

  4. #4
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    Ray,
    Thank you for sharing this SS franchise information in a well-presented method. I hope it is therapeutic since you have NO spare time and this must take LOTS of it. These days, we appreciate good news like this.

    I assume The Franchise is compiling massive amounts of lifting data. Will you/SS be publishing/sharing a summary of "unexpected" findings? I can't think of any potential surprises, but.....?

    To be clear, I am NOT requesting/demanding it. Just a thought for a future book/publication.

    Best wishes for continued success.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jovan Dragisic View Post
    Congratulations! I would pay 350 a month just to have an SS like equipped gym, never mind the coaching, so I don’t see why the business should not get to be much more successful.
    I have never owned a commercial gym. I have a garage gym built to "Barbell Prescription" specifications.

    In any business endeavor where you are selling to consumers, you have a huge problem in that the consumers aren't able to evaluate the quality of products and, therefore, higher quality products are often outsold in the marketplace by those that have better sales and marketing engines behind them.

    The problem is exacerbated in health and fitness because, due to the Novice Effect, almost everything out there has *genuine* adherents. (i.e. people who are successful and will talk about it organically).

    Around me there are plenty of women who shamelessly advertise their fitness businesses by running 5ks and half-marathons in shorts and sports bras with the business phone number hand-written on their bodies. These are nice people who believe in what they are doing.

    If the same results could be had attending those classes as squatting and deadlifting all by myself in my garage in the Florida heat, you can be sure that I would be there!

    Some of the models (they call them instructors) who work at cycling studios make more money than the owner of the local weightlifting gym.

    I could probably turn this post into an entire novel.

    There are plenty of things out there that cost $350/month and don't work at all. I have no idea why, but some people spend $350/month at cycling studios. They have fun. Probably also have osteopenia but hey it's fun. Then they can go to the Osteostrong for another $149/month. (How I wish isometrics had any positive effect on your body).

    The market is crowded with ineffective things promoted by exceptionally beautiful people. When it doesn't work, the customer is somehow convinced that it's their own fault for not trying hard enough or whatever. This is largely an unsolvable problem.

    Any progress in that uphill battle is an astounding achievement.

  6. #6
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    Congratulations to Ray and SS Gyms on achieving this milestone; another step forward!

  7. #7
    Ray Gillenwater's Avatar
    Ray Gillenwater is offline Administrator, Starting Strength Gyms
    Starting Strength Coach
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jovan Dragisic View Post
    Congratulations! I would pay 350 a month just to have an SS like equipped gym, never mind the coaching, so I don’t see why the business should not get to be much more successful.
    Jovan, thank you. We're hitting "pie-in-the-sky best-case-scenario" numbers at the moment which after the bizarre start and the COVID shutdowns is a surreal feeling.

    Quote Originally Posted by Pierre-Henry F. View Post
    This is great.
    Now, is it possible to "invest" in you?
    Are there any investment opportunities?
    Buying shares of some sort for example.
    Something small in the order of 10k$-100k€ range?
    Congratulations again.
    PHF
    Pierre, thanks for the offer. We'd like to keep the shares to ourselves for simplicity and control. If you'd like to invest in a franchise gym, I am compiling a list of investors for franchisees that may need access to cash in the future - with interest rates going up, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Manhattan View Post
    Ray,
    Thank you for sharing this SS franchise information in a well-presented method. I hope it is therapeutic since you have NO spare time and this must take LOTS of it. These days, we appreciate good news like this.

    I assume The Franchise is compiling massive amounts of lifting data. Will you/SS be publishing/sharing a summary of "unexpected" findings? I can't think of any potential surprises, but.....?

    To be clear, I am NOT requesting/demanding it. Just a thought for a future book/publication.

    Best wishes for continued success.
    That was a nice therapy session - one of my favorite parts of the job at the moment. I enjoy learning new skills and creating things.

    Yep, we are working on a dashboard to visualize the data that we've collected from the back-end of our digital logbooks. We can filter by age, sex, lift, etc. I'll share it broadly when the time comes. Another thing we had to invest in slowly and carefully so not to bankrupt the company.

    Quote Originally Posted by EdTice View Post

    In any business endeavor where you are selling to consumers, you have a huge problem in that the consumers aren't able to evaluate the quality of products and, therefore, higher quality products are often outsold in the marketplace by those that have better sales and marketing engines behind them.

    The problem is exacerbated in health and fitness because, due to the Novice Effect, almost everything out there has *genuine* adherents. (i.e. people who are successful and will talk about it organically).

    ....

    The market is crowded with ineffective things promoted by exceptionally beautiful people. When it doesn't work, the customer is somehow convinced that it's their own fault for not trying hard enough or whatever. This is largely an unsolvable problem.

    Any progress in that uphill battle is an astounding achievement.
    Well said. For the uninitiated, our biggest problem is getting them in the door since they're so used to being misled by the rest of the industry. If we can get someone in to see a Coach for an orientation session, our close rate is damn near flawless. And it's not much of a "close" since we don't do traditional sales. Average gym-goers are desperate for results and competence.

    Quote Originally Posted by Yngvi View Post
    Congratulations to Ray and SS Gyms on achieving this milestone; another step forward!
    Thank you!

    Really appreciate your support, gents.
    Last edited by Ray Gillenwater; 07-10-2022 at 04:40 PM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ray Gillenwater View Post
    We'd like to keep the shares to ourselves for simplicity and control. If you'd like to invest in a franchise gym, I am compiling a list of investors for franchisees that may need access to cash in the future - with interest rates going up, etc.
    Can you add me to that list.

  9. #9
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    No, you'll have to contact Ray the old-fashioned way.

  10. #10
    Ray Gillenwater's Avatar
    Ray Gillenwater is offline Administrator, Starting Strength Gyms
    Starting Strength Coach
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    starting strength coach development program
    Yep, thanks Rip. Please email me, gents. My first name @ ssgyms.com.

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