What makes a great mentor stand out from an average one? For starters, a great mentor will say, "I don't have experience with that, but I know someone who does. Can I connect you?" 

Business is Good and Chris Cooper is back, addressing the problem of "guru on the mountain top" – that know-it-all mentor who'll answer any question regardless of whether they have the skill or experience to do so!

It's okay not to have all the answers as a mentor, and today Chris is showing us why working outside your zone of expertise doesn't scale. 

In fact, it's far better to build a strong network of people with expertise in specific areas. The higher the level of client you're working with, the more value you can bring through your network.

As usual with Chris Cooper, there are plenty more shrewd business insights where that came from! Building your client's trust and affinity for your brand is just one click away. Please join us. 

"It's okay to be wrong as a business mentor. But it's not okay to pretend to be an expert." ~ Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

-Beware the "guru on the mountaintop" mentor!

-Why it's okay to say 'I don't know'

-Building scalability by having a network of experts

-The value of having a partner you can trust

-Learning not to undervalue your own expertise

And more!

Resources:

Blog - https://businessisgood.com/blog/

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Strategies guide long-term growth. Tactics generate immediate results. And skills compound.

More and more, our data set shows that clients with solid skills – like focus, virtuosity, and patience – outperform everyone else, even when they’re given the SAME strategies and tactics as everyone else.

Skills have compounding value (they become more valuable over time, because):

1 – a little bit of each skill is helpful, but a high skill level pays off even more;

2- no one can copy them – they’re an unassailable advantage;

3 – the government can’t tax you on them;

4 – you don’t lose them. If one business fails, these skills will build the next faster

5 – they can be improved regardless of outcome (if you win, you learn; if you lose, you learn);

6 – they multiply your other investments.

7 – the time and effort invested to learn them has lifelong returns.

For example, patience is a skill that will usually pay off with your investments. Given a long enough timeline, real estate almost always pays off, and stock markets trend upward. Warren Buffett has said, “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.”

Focus is a skill that will multiply your return on mentorship. As I wrote in “Strategies, Tactics and Skills“, the gym owners who get the best ROI in our mentorship program often say “I just did what my mentor told me.” And the owners who get the lowest ROI often say, “I’m just too busy to do the work!” Of course, both groups have nearly the same amount of work, but the top-earners have the skill of focus.

Another skill is a mindset of abundance: many business owners pass over opportunities to collaborate because they see only competition. For example, instead of taking BJJ gyms or cheerleading gyms in Two-Brain now, we refer these clients to excellent coaching programs. Instead of worrying about “share of wallet” with other providers, we commonly link to vendors we really like.

Another example is the skill of public speaking. I have a coach for this particular skill. If every business that I own tanked overnight, I would use this skill to rebuild from scratch. Ditto blogging and podcasting. These skills don’t go away when the market changes or you get your pricing structure wrong.

Of course, this principles works in the fitness business itself: learning how to squat, press and deadlift properly will make all future forms of exercise more effective.

The challenge with coaching skills is they have a long-term payoff, and they’re hard to quantify. Some clients might not realize they’re picking up skills in focus, planning or patience while working with you. Adding skills into your coaching program can be tough. Usually, entry-level clients need quick tactics to see a fast ROI on your program. And high-level clients, who recognize the value of skills and have the time to work on them, already possess at least a moderate skillset.

One key is to call out the skill as you’re teaching it. “I know it’s hard to understand why I’m asking for a picture of your calendar right now, but we’re slowly building the skill of focus. First, we’ll do this with me; then you’ll do it on your own, and I’ll check; then you’ll own the skill forever.”

How do you teach skills in your program?

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

After working with over 1800 gyms worldwide, we know that our program can get a gym amazing results.

Our strategies are commonly used in huge businesses. Our tactics are specific to the fitness industry, and tested relentlessly. Every tool, every template, every social media swipe file has been tested hundreds of times. They work.

But still, around 1.8% of the time, a client struggles in our RampUp program.

They get the same strategies and tactics as everyone else. They have 1:1 coaching calls (and, honestly, we sometimes do a couple of extra calls to get them on track.) So why aren’t these outliers getting the same results as the others? What’s missing?

I didn’t want to guess, so I looked at our most successful gym owners: the ones who ascended rapidly from their starting point to 100k NOB and then to 1M net worth. I called their mentors; I looked at their call notes and walked through their metrics month by month. Then I scrolled through their Facebook posts and questions, and FINALLY a theme began to emerge.

The most successful gym owners have SKILLS that the least successful don’t.

For example, the most successful gym owners are able to focus on the work they’re assigned in RampUp; make time to do it; and complete it between calls.

In fact, the most common thing these fast-ascenders say in interviews is “I just did what my mentor told me to do.”

Conversely, if you read the conversations and exit interviews of the unsuccessful, the opposite theme is repeated over and over: “I just don’t have time to do it,” or “I’m so overwhelmed, can I pause and come back later?”

Focus is a skill.

Some clients have the skill of focus already. Usually, these are people who have a family, own a business and also train hard. The most focused sometimes have multiple “fields of play”, each of which is important enough to warrant their full attention. So they’re not just running a business, but also raising kids or pets and doing Triathlons.

Some clients don’t have strong focus skills, but they can force a deep focus when required. These are people (like me) who do their best work right before a deadline. When given a short leash, these clients can be really successful with our RampUp program, but they’ll never be successful just by reading books or listening to podcasts. They won’t benefit from a group coaching program unless they’re in it for a very long time. They’re a bit slower than the first group, but they’ll get there. A 12-week sprint with frequent touch points will keep them on track.

Others don’t have any focus skills, and they’re overwhelmed and stressed all the time. In most cases, 1:1 mentorship is their only hope…and even then, they might struggle to keep up with the mentor’s pace. In these cases, the mentor has to do really frequent touch points – almost daily. Or they can make appointments with themselves to do the work and show their mentor when they have “focus blocks” planned. These clients might benefit from scheduled “open office hours” where they just show up and work. But they won’t benefit from getting a new task or idea every month.

Finally, the 1.8% who are so overwhelmed that they can’t get anything done. These clients might not be successful in your program or any other. If they have compounding stressors, like money or problems at home, your coaching sessions will just become therapeutic venting. You’ll have to keep these clients on a very short leash – “text me what you plan to accomplish every morning, and tell me what you got done every night”. They should also be coached on building a schedule to do the work–and their expectation to have the work done–on the very first call. In fact, you might want to add a qualifying question to your sales script: “When do you plan to do the work required to get a great return on this investment?”

There are other skills that some entrepreneurs lack, like:

An abundance mindset (vs a...

As business mentors how do we build curriculum – and how do we create generations of clients whose performances improve upon those that came before them? Business Is Good with Chris Cooper, and today's topic provides insight into how we create content, how we audit that content, and how we then upgrade it.

Much like the story of the tortoise and the hare, we need something or someone to compete with and measure ourselves against. Building curriculum that we improve upon with each generation of clients, and then auditing that content and improving upon it, allows us to set ever higher benchmarks for our clients. 

With each generation of clients, we are introducing new hares into the race. And the goal is for them to exceed your standards, and surpass your estimations. That's good business mentorship.

Let's learn how we can identify what content we should be teaching, how we test that content to know if it's any good, how we build courses around that content, and also how we audit ourselves so that we can all improve. Let's dive into the show.

 "If you're coaching anything, you need to outgrow this mindset that the best experiences and ideas and stories and concepts and courses have to come from you. Eventually, your clients will improve on your best tactics and tools." 

~ Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

-What can we learn from the tortoise and the hare?

-How do we identify high-value topics that will get us clients faster?

-How do we test our content solutions so we know that they will work?

-How do we buy material from other people (and our clients) to help our other clients solve their problems faster?

-How do we build courses to teach these concepts and provide our clients with the right tools?

-Understanding the Audit Cycle – how are we constantly seeking improvement for our clients? 

And more!

Resources:

Blog - https://businessisgood.com/blog/

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

We currently have 868 gyms in Two-Brain Business, my mentorship practice for gym owners.

We’re going to cap it at 1000.

I’m Chris Cooper, and this is BusinessIsGood.

Today, I’m going to tell you why we’re capping membership in my mentorship program, TBB. 

If you’d like to talk about this or any episode, go to businessisgood dot com and click “join the BIG movement” at the bottom.

Here’s why:

It’s best for our clients.

We know that the clients who get the best results from Two-Brain keep it simple: they trust the process, they follow their mentor’s direction, and they don’t get sidetracked by second-guessing or other options.

These traits are harder to instil in new clients. But if a new client joins a group that’s totally bought in, positive and making progress, they’re more likely to do the same. They learn the skills by watching others.

The best thing we can do for our new clients is to put them in a high-trust, high-affinity environment of other people who are excited and focused.

Adding a cap will mean they are more likely to encounter those people.

Right now, we have the best ‘churn’ rate in any business coaching program I’ve ever found. But still–even ONE nonbeliever, doubter, or cynic in our program affects ten others.

Clients can pull one another up, or pull one another sideways.

It’s clear: the faster a client can build momentum, the larger their result will be over time. Removing overwhelm, distractions and imperfect fits will help them build momentum faster.

We don’t want to ‘compete’ for every client anymore.

While we have more experience, data, proof, clients, and success in every metric than other business coaches in the gym industry, it’s still tempting to watch what the others are doing, or try to talk gym owners out of joining their program.

This promotes a scarcity mindset, and worse: it means we “play down” to everyone else’s level. We find ourselves building stuff that gym owners don’t need just because the “other guys” have it.

The truth is that not every gym owner is ready for mentorship with Two-Brain yet.

With a cap, we’ll stop chasing ‘bad fits’ or feeling like we’re losing when a gym owner signs up with someone else.

We’ll always ascend the best clients to Two-Brain, even if they start elsewhere.

Over the last decade, I’ve worked with many clients who have had another business coach or mentor. Some were happy with the other program, but had simply outgrown it. Others were skeptical of all business coaching because they’d had a bad experience.

But either way, the best fits always find their way to Two-Brain, even if they start somewhere else. “Best finds best” isn’t a slogan – it’s our business plan.

We want to focus on getting the big results FASTER.

Two-Brain could continue onboarding 35-40 gyms per month indefinitely.

Instead, I want to focus on getting Two-Brain gym owners to earning 100k NOB–and then to 1M net worth–FASTER.

We’ve proven we can do it. Every month, a couple of dozen of our clients reach 100k NOB for the first time. And, on average, two of them become millionaires.

For the last five years, we’ve been focused on building everything they needed to get there. We’ve been tracking and publishing how the best gyms do it across the Simple Six metrics.

Now that we’ve done it with hundreds of gyms, we can ask “How do the FASTEST gyms do it?”

We know what’s possible. Now we’ll do it for time.

We want to actually change the industry.

We’ve seen, from our data, that a thousand well-run gyms can actually have greater impact than 2000 pretty good ones.

The best gyms create full-time jobs for trainers, keep clients engaged far longer, pay the owners dramatically better, and have the systems to last 30 years.

If you believe in the libertarian ideal of...

No matter what field you’re in, you can build a staff training program following these five steps.

If you’re a business coach, you can help your clients do the same. Take this model and apply your own branding.

First, a question: why do we have to train staff at all? Doesn’t our education system prepare people to work?

In Western culture, our education system is an “industrialized Greek model”.

We follow the original Greek teaching model: a student sits at the feet of their teacher, listens to a speech on a topic, and asks questions to better understand. This was used by Socrates to teach Plato, and by Plato to teach Aristotle. The needs of industrialization sped up the process by incorporating large classrooms, specific subjects and more emphasis on following specific instructions.

But another model–the Hebrew model–is better for training staff on the job.

The Hebrew model follows four phases:

I do, and you watch.

We do it together.

You do, and I watch.

You do.

The Greek model is designed to teach what the teacher knows. The Hebrew model is designed to teach who the teacher IS. It’s powerful for on-the-job training because it’s simple. But it’s incomplete. It requires an evaluation process. For staff to become masters at their craft, they must do more than know how–they must adopt a process of constant improvement. That process should be driven by feedback.

In early Hebrew times, tradespeople received fast and direct feedback: “this food is no good”, or “your sheep are small.” Apprentices learned first from a master, and then from their customers or patrons. There were no managers or NPS processes–you improved, or you starved. This is the root of a free market economy.

In a more complex world, feedback is slower and less direct. Having hundreds of clients makes it hard to find the most important feedback. Multiple levels of leadership means every piece of feedback passes through filters. And removal of severe incentives–eat, or don’t eat–means that feedback isn’t always applied with urgency.

That means we must add a feedback process to create continuous improvement.

So the model for staff development is this:

I do, you watch

We do together

You do, I watch

You do

I correct, you do better.

This is a cycle of mentorship that can be applied in any service business.

For example, in a gym, a good staff training program looks like this:

I coach and tell you why I’m coaching this way

We coach together. I give you specific assignments to help me.

You coach, and I give you feedback to improve until you’re ready.

Then you coach alone for awhile, and reflect on what you know.

After three months, you do a self-evaluation and I do a managerial evaluation.

Then you coach alone, and we repeat between practice and evaluation forever.

In an accounting practice:

I walk you through a series of P&Ls and tax returns and talk while I do.

Then I assign specific parts to you, and check your work.

Then you do a series of P&Ls and tax returns and I audit them.

Then you go off on your own for three months, and take notes.

Then we do an audit of your work and make notes for improvement.

Mentorship is different from “teaching”, at least in the Western sense. As mentors and coaches, we must be less invested in what our clients are LEARNING and more invested in who they’re BECOMING.

Use this model to train your own staff, or teach it to your clients. Add templates and tips to build out your ‘staff training’ program!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

How do you produce more content, better content, and do it consistently well? Business Is Good! - and today, your host Chris Cooper is sharing his ABC Content Plan.

The ABC Content Plan is a framework that will allow you to consistently build better content over time. It's also how Chris built a $25 million company from a 200-word daily blog. 

Separating the content you produce into levels, according to Chris's framework, will allow you to focus your energy more wisely, and spend your time on the content that matters, according to your strategy. Along the way, you will see that your content in one medium suddenly has new reach in others.

From online books to YouTube videos, and from podcasts to blog posts, categorizing your content according to its long or short-term value will help you to grow your brand. What content are you saving for your social media channels (C-level content, and how can that possibly turn into A-level content in time?

Chris is showing us how your hard effort can be triplicated, by turning a YouTube video into audio for your podcast, with the transcription of that audio being turned into a blog article. All of this makes you and your brand easier to find online, and for your potential customer to consume your content in the manner of your choosing. 

Creating a quality, consumable content with Chris Cooper is as simple as ABC... please join us.

"Content is the foundation of my mentorship practice, it's the foundation of everything that I do. But I make better and better content by identifying what my clients like hearing about, and making sure that I'm telling it in a different way all the time." 

~ Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

-Understand the A, B, and C of the ABC Content Plan

-How to systemize the B and C levels (the daily and weekly publishing deliverables)

-Chris's top secret 'Power of 10' strategy for building A-level content

And more!

Resources:

Blog - https://businessisgood.com/blog/

Traction (book) - Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business: Wickman, Gino: 0783324916904: Amazon.com: Books - https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

If you could spend 1 hour doing something – or 10 hours – and get the same results, which one would you pick? Of course, most of us would choose one hour. But in truth, in business, that rarely happens. 

As business owners, we have often been brought up with a job mindset, believing that the harder we work at our jobs, the more successful we will be. 

The reality is that our job, as owners, is to focus on outcomes: how do we put those first, and what are the fastest ways to get there? 

Shifting our mindset involves learning not to feed the amygdala (that part of our brain that feeds off our 'fight or flight' problems) as a CEO or entrepreneur, i.e. looking for problems to solve and stressors to resolve.

Rather, we need to be more strategic in our approach to how we reinvest our time and set future outcomes that will help us grow our business – and accurately reflect a worthwhile return on our time investment. 

Chris is hammering home an appreciation that your greatest asset is your time, and that from there you need to figure out the fastest way to get to your business outcomes in order to see real growth. Let Chris show you how to work smarter, not harder in this enlightening episode of Business Is Good. 

"As an owner, you invest your time (which is your most valuable asset) to get an outcome back."

- Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

-Why your job as an owner is to produce outcomes (not to produce work)

-Why we think we need to keep working really hard in business to achieve success

-How to focus on outcomes to put them first –  and find the fastest ways to get there

-Thinking like an investor as a CEO – learning to reinvest your time in future business endeavors

-Ask yourself: what is your Return on Time (ROT)?

-How to work out your Effective Hourly Rate

And more!

Resources:

Blog - https://businessisgood.com/blog/

Traction (book) - Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business: Wickman, Gino: 0783324916904: Amazon.com: Books - https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

clients, increase, expenses, arm, business, gym, photographer, revenue, hourly rate, work, bucks, crm, paying, owner, hire, retention, simple, coaches, raise, coming

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

clients, increase, expenses, arm, business, gym, photographer, revenue, hourly rate, work, bucks, crm, paying, owner, hire, retention, simple, coaches, raise, coming

Today, we're going to talk about raising client value before you do anything else. I'm going to go through this in three big topics.

First, the six levers that will grow any business.

Then, why ARM (client value) comes firs

Then I'm going to talk about how ARM improves everything else.

Then I'm going to tell you how to improve your ARM. O

If you're trying to boost your net owner benefit--how much you take home--the easiest way to do that is to increase how much each client pays.

If you're trying to increase length of engagement, how long a client sticks around, the best way to do that is to start with high value clients who stick around longer.

If you're trying to boost your effective hourly rate, the best way to do that is to increase the price that your clients are paying.

If you're trying to get a better return on your expenses, the best way to do that isn't by cutting your expenses. It's by increasing your revenue.

And if you're trying to get more clients, I challenge you to ask, "do I actually need 50 more clients if every client that I'm paying is playing slightly more?"

Then I'm going to give you three case studies.

Thanks for listening to business is good. If you'd like to chat about this episode or the blog posts or podcasts that I put on the business is good site. Just go to business is good.com and click Join the movement. We'll see you there.

Thanks for listening to business is good. If you'd like to chat about this episode or the blog posts or podcasts that I put on the business is good site. Just go to business is good.com and click Join the movement. We'll see you there.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

How would you scale from one client to ten without hiring anybody – and still give those clients excellent service? That’s the question for the one-man band. How to build a single-person business is what Chris Cooper is addressing today on Business Is Good. 

Chris is sharing his vast experience as a business coach and mentor by narrowing down the decisions that the person running their own business has to make to three key areas. These are: should you do it, how to scale up your time effectively, and the tech you need to build a single-person business. 

You want to grow your business, you don't want to lose existing clients, and you know a little bit about different coaching modalities, CRM software, and social media platforms (like Facebook) that you can use to communicate with your clients. 

But how do you tie it all together, take advantage of increasing AI software opportunities, and succeed as a one-man band? Chris is here to guide us as he expertly weighs up the pros and cons of marching to the beat of your own drum while scaling your single-person business. 

"If you're thinking about scaling up by going one-to-many, what I would suggest (and what seems to be working for a couple of programs right now) is to go one-to-few."

- Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

-Creating courses as a way to increase revenue and maximize your time

-Building a client-centric business

-How to scale your time from one-to-one to one-to-many

-Various models on how to scale effectively

-Dealing with a high turnover of clients 

-Talking to 12 people at a time as the ideal number for maximum retention

-Using an existing social media platform (like Facebook) for client support

-Following up with clients to help keep them accountable for generating results

-Using the right CRM that fits your niche 

-Using AI to take people's dashboards and look at their metrics

-Using AI to create media for you if you are a single-person operation

-Hiring people who are good at what you aren't 

-Having high churn as a single-person business

And more!

Resources:

Blog - https://businessisgood.com/blog/

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

How to Consistently Produce Better and Better Content.

In this episode, I tell you how to produce content for YouTube, your Podcast, your blog AND your social media...all at once!

Then I tell you how to use the media you produce to create a book, longform video or audiobook using a model we call "The Power of Ten." (It's how I wrote my last book, "Start A Gym".)

I'll start by telling you what each "level" of content means:

A - longform, big projects, like a book or film

B - shorter-form daily or weekly content, like a podcast, YouTube video or blog post

C - amplifiers, like reels, tweets, pictures or snippets.

Then I'll tell you how to systemize the process to create MOUNDS of content from one recording.

Finally, I'll tell you how to make your content better and better over time, so it doesn't matter where you start!

Every company is a media company.

You MUST publish content.

Your first content doesn't have to be great - you'll bury the bad stuff with new stuff, as long as you keep getting better.

Want to chat about it? Visit www.businessisgood.com and join our community of entrepreneurs!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Whether you're running a personal training business, a coaching business, or teaching painting on the weekend, chances are that you've thought about how you can scale your business. 

Fear not: if you hit a ceiling whenever you try to scale, then Chris Cooper is here with four tips that will take your coaching business from 'one to one' to 'one to many.'

Learning how to leverage technology and add group coaching to your business offering while creating replicable models AND hiring the right staff is no easy task. 

Chris breaks it all down for us, though, taking us on his journey to where he is today while also outlining the practicalities of how you could get even two of your clients to start working together.

It's all about advancing your business further forward, faster – and still delivering those outcomes to your clients. Chris's mentorship insights mean you can apply the lessons he's learned in his business journey in a smart and seamless fashion. Please join us. 

“You don't have to hire the same person that you are."

- Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- Hiring an administrator to buy back more time 

- Seeing your first hires as investments

- Can you scale using an online course?

- Getting your clients to train/learn together

- Putting your clients into groups of 8 to 12 people (a 'board')

- Building an ascension model – what that means

- Understanding what your client needs

- How to replicate what you do by creating models

- Developing models so you don't have to develop skills from scratch

- Evaluating which of your clients would work well together

And more!

Resources:

Blog - https://businessisgood.com/blog/

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

BiG Podcast - Partnerships and Sponsorships

Mon, Mar 13, 2023 8:11AM • 17:44

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

audience, website, product, gym, building, recommendation, people, clients, business, bike, partnership, recommend, booth, owners, company, test, trek, podcast, local bike shop, sell

I will pay you $500 for a 30 minute phone call. Hey, I'm Chris Cooper, this is business is good. And today I'm going to tell you about sponsorships. Why I don't take sponsorships on my podcast and why I said no to the software company that wanted to pay me 500 bucks for a 30 minute phone call.

Today, I've got three big key topics for you. First, we're going to talk about the value of your audience. Second, we're going to talk about the value of your recommendation. And third, we're going to talk about the partnership funnel. But first, a story.

In 2006, I was sponsored by Trek bikes. Trek was the biggest most popular cycling company in the world. At that time. Lance Armstrong was winning the Tour de France seemingly every year on a Trek bike, everybody wanted to ride Trek bikes. But I wasn't a cyclist, I was powerlifting. Best case, I might have been the fastest powerlifter with a bicycle within a square mile or something. But the local bike shop wasn't interested in my legs, they were interested in my audience. I was a personal trainer at a local gym, I had a full book, and every Tuesday night, I would lead a cycling group for any of my clients who wanted to come. Now my clients were high earning individuals who could afford to work with a personal trainer a couple of times a week, they had high affinity they really liked and trusted me, most of them were beginners, some of them were thinking about doing their first triathlon.

And so when they thought about what kind of bike should they buy, they would naturally turn to me. And so it made sense for the local bike shop to put me on a Trek. Now, this didn't make sense to me at the time, because I didn't understand the value of the audience, I thought that they really thought I was an amazing athlete. And that's why I was gonna get sponsored by Trek. Of course, at the end of the summer, the store asked for its bike back. And I don't blame, you know, at least they didn't ask me to pull up under the cover of darkness and leave the bike, because they were embarrassed by my actual cycling prowess. But they did sell bikes from this program. And I learned something, which is if you know how to build an audience, you'll never go hungry.

Your audience is more valuable than what you know. even more today than 20 years ago, attention is really hard to get and it's extremely hard to keep. Now that my mentorship practice Two-Brain Business has 40,000 people on its daily email list, 10,000 YouTube subscribers and almost 3 million podcast downloads, people want to get in front of my audience. So here's why I don't take sponsors on any of my podcasts and I recently turned down offers for 500 bucks for a 30 minute phone call. And I will politely decline your offer for your amazing revenue share program if I push your product to my audience of gym owners.

Let's start with point number one the audience is harder to build than the product is. If you're like me, and you're listening to this, and you're a founder or a business coach, you're probably really in love with your product. You love building out your courses or your widget or your cookies or whatever it is that you make. And you want to believe that simply making the best widget, the best courses, the best cookie will guarantee your success. This is called the technicians curse. And I first read about it in the E Myth mastery book. But the reality is that more and more, it's less about what you make and more about your ability to build an audience.

building an audience is easier than...

How can you get your clients better results — and use those results to get more clients? The A+ Client Results Framework is what you need to get better results for your clients over time, resulting in more clients for you. And in this episode of Business Is Good, host Chris Cooper shares the four phases that create this framework.

It starts with assessment and how you measure and track what your client is doing. You then have to hold your client accountable to do the work, which will then lead to a natural affinity between you as their mentor and them, their staff, and their brand. Next, you publish your values often and then build your authority by sharing the success stories of what you’ve done for other people. And then you start over!

Learn how to lead with positivity and base decisions on evidence by applying Chris’s A+ Client Results Framework to your business and mentorship program. As always, the advice dispensed on Business Is Good is worth its weight in gold. Please join us!

“Tracking the data and knowing the averages is the key that allows people to exceed that average and become better, and push the envelope up over time.”

- Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- Assessment - measure and track how your client is doing

- Adherence - hold the client accountable to do the work to get results

- Affinity -  how tightly tied are your clients and your staff to your brand?

- What are your values, and how are you communicating them?

- Are your decisions evidence-based? 

- Authority - share success stories of what you’ve done for other people

- Why you should repeat the process of auditing your clients and measuring results

- Creating an evolutionary cycle that is tied to results over time

And more!

Resources:

Blog - https://businessisgood.com/blog/

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Ask yourself: what level of leadership are you at now and what influence do you need to build to get to the next level? Respect to Chris Cooper and the information he’s distilling for us in this luminary and logical episode of Business Is Good. 

We all know the term “influencer” from social media these days, but what does real influence have to do with leadership? And, more importantly, how can you grow your business, your family, and your community by becoming a better leader by wielding more influence?

There are 5 levels of leadership that are worth understanding to gauge where you are. What those levels are — and how to level up — is what Chris is here to teach us. In between, he’s weaving personal stories that add gravitas to the theory while providing us with relatable contact points on how we can grow our level of influence. Please join us. 

“You can change how people view you as a leader and you can become a more impactful leader by improving your influence.” – Chris Cooper



In This Episode:

- What are the 5 levels of influence? 

- Understanding positional influence 

- What is permission influence?

- If you have a proven track record, do you wield production influence?

- Appreciating respect and how people follow you because of who you are

- Chris’s success with CrossFit and building a foundation of trust

- Using data to show how you can help people

- The importance of intent when creating media — showing people HOW and WHY

And more!

Resources:

- The 5 Levels of Leadership - John Maxwell: https://www.johnmaxwell.com/blog/the-5-levels-of-leadership1/

- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition by Robert B. Cialdini: https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/006124189X

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

What can we learn about our business when teaching tomorrow’s leaders? Business Is Good has never been better in this beautifully philosophical episode with our host Chris Cooper as he reflects on what he teaches teenagers about entrepreneurship. 

Considering that most of what teenagers will learn today will become outdated and obsolete by the time they finish high school, Chris reminds us that it’s the values and principles that underpin entrepreneurship that will make the biggest impact on the world. 

What are the gifts that teenagers need to pursue a career of lifelong learning? Why is building an audience so important in today’s entrepreneurial landscape? And why is mentorship so crucial in helping you fast-track your business growth? Chris Cooper’s inspirational approach to entrepreneurial education has never been more evident than when he’s considering the mind of a teenager — full of potential to shape our world for the better. 

“Every business now is a media business. You start by building an audience before inventing a new product or coming up with a new idea.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- Building an audience by sharing what you are learning 

- If you know how to build an audience, you will never go hungry

- Why fame is the most efficient business model

- How mentorship can help you grow your business faster

- What do you give kids when you want to inspire them to go into entrepreneurship?

- Why the way your parents plan to retire is not the way you should plan to retire

- What long-term impact do you plan to have on your family and community as an entrepreneur? 

- Write your own entrepreneurial textbook

And more!



Connect with Chris Cooper:

- Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Why do we need business coaches? What is the difference between a coach and a mentor? And how do coaches earn the permission and trust to help someone grow their business? 

These are the questions Chris Cooper is answering for us today on Business is Good. He provides us with personal stories from his early days in business that illustrate the value of having a coach who can support you in growing your business faster than you ever could on your own. 

Chris’s advice is invaluable as he shows us how ‘simple scales faster’ and explains why successful entrepreneurs don’t have time to volunteer — which is why we need to seek out business mentors. 

There’s insight on what value a coach can add to solving a specific business problem, as compared to what you might gain from working with a mentor for a few years. 

The groundwork is all laid for you by Chris in terms of the logic of having a business mentor help you grow your business quickly and efficiently. Listen in and learn how Chris’s ideas can positively impact your business.

“I want to help the next generation of entrepreneurs grow faster than I ever did and reach new heights. Because that is what will change our local economy, our larger government economy, and our world, by helping people grow.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- Chris’s first experience with a gym mentor

- Why mentorship is not just about finding a successful entrepreneur

- The difference between a coach and a mentor

- ‘Simple scales faster’

- Learn to paint by numbers before you start coloring outside the lines

And more!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- http://www.businessisgood.com/

Business is Good has never been better with ‘The Simple Six’ and Chris Cooper as your business mentor. The Simple Six is a process where you can grow any service-based business using the principle of incremental growth and compounding gains over time.

Join Chris as he outlines The Simple Six, explains the difference between strategies and tactics, and how to use The Simple Six every day to snowball your business growth. 

Chris has been mentoring entrepreneurs worldwide on how to get better results faster, and he’s developed these six actions you can take to fast-track your business success. Stick with Chris and you’ll appreciate that applying ‘The Simple Six’ each time is like turning a giant wheel for your business once — and that each time you do it, things will get a little bit easier.

“The first step to getting results is to be able to focus on one tactic at a time.” 

 – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- Increasing the number of clients you serve

- Increasing the value of each client that your business works with

- Increasing the length of engagement or the amount of time your clients spend in your business

- Valuing your time

- Measuring the return on investment on everything that you buy

- Calculating the amount that your business pays you

- How to go from strategy to tactic

- Doing a ‘Six Storm’

- What is your average revenue per month?

- Setting goals based on your strategies

- Choosing the easiest, fastest tactics

- Work on your business before you work in it

And more!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

What are the 11 things you must have to grow your business exponentially? Business and marketing are evolving so fast these days; there are tools needed to track your growth and help figure out where you and your business are going. 

Chris Cooper is back with an episode that is bursting at the seams with tools that you can apply to your business as you try to grow exponentially. And fear not – you don’t need to remember 11 complicated growth strategies or philosophies. Chris has distilled the 11 tools needed down to two simple acronyms. 

We start with unpacking your Massive Transformational Purpose, and we end with assessing your engagements with your staff, your clients, and your wider business community. There’s a smart Call To Action, too, so you can apply Chris’s business acumen to your mentoring practice and business. Join us for IDEAS on how to SCALE – you won’t regret it.  

“The Left brain of your business is in charge of systems and processes and data. The right brain of your business is in charge of creativity, managing growth and having empathy for people.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- What is your vivid vision? What are your goals numerically? 

- Do you have straightforward ways for people to interact with you? 

- Define your interfaces: separate staff and clients

- Which metrics are important to your business? Track those

- Don’t get disrupted; disrupt yourself

- Understanding evidence-based decision making

- Go to your audience

- Create things that can be delivered 24/7 without you being present

- You need a larger community of people who are paying you attention if not paying you money

- Always be hiring 

- Marketing is now a science, not an art form

And more!

Resources:

• Vivid Vision (the book) - https://www.amazon.com/Vivid-Vision-Remarkable-Aligning-Business/dp/161961877X
• Exponential Organizations - https://www.amazon.com/Exponential-Organizations-organizations-better-cheaper/dp/1626814236

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

Greg Glassman is the Founder and former CEO of CrossFit, a gym franchise that is popular all over the world for how it revolutionized the fitness industry. Our host, Chris Cooper, was fortunate enough to spend many years working for CrossFit, which gave him an eagle-eyed perspective on what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. 

In this episode, Chris candidly offers us the six lessons he learned from someone he describes as the ultimate disruptor. Some lessons were harder to learn than others, and sometimes he needed to learn them twice before they really sunk in. Chris Cooper shoots from the hip while speaking from the heart, which makes his insights into the entrepreneurial journey so invaluable. 

There are lessons on being prepared to fail, why a $10,000 charitable donation is better than $1 million, understanding that we are all media companies (no matter the nature of our business), and the societal value of creating entrepreneurs. 

If you’re a business owner looking for insight into the world of CrossFit and the lessons you can apply to your entrepreneurial approach, Chris Cooper is here with tools to save you from learning these lessons the hard way.

“Every company is now a media company, no matter what it is that you are good at.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- “The next time I start a billion-dollar business from my garage…”

- The pitfalls of losing focus for scope

- Your business is a media company

- How to avoid losing money when doing charitable work

- Build your own platform, create your own audience

- Entrepreneurship grows economies

- Meet your heroes, even if you're likely to be disappointed 

And more!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

How much does being the best matter? In this episode of the Business is Good podcast, Chris Cooper illustrates why being the best business in your industry is 10 times more important than being second. 

Chris lays it out for us with 3 key reasons that involve appreciating exponential value (and understanding how it’s different from incremental value), ascension value, and why 'being the best' is actually a subjective metric. 

There's also actionable advice on how to compile a list of your best clients (the ones that make you happiest) and cross-reference that with a list of clients that earn you the most money. These lists will help you focus on your best-earning clients and those that bring you the most joy, and zero in on how you can meet their additional needs. 

This episode is a great reminder that you also don't need to be the best to everyone, but that ‘best finds best’ – which is incentive enough if you're looking for reasons to dial up your ambition in your business.

“If you're the best, the best will find you. Because best finds best.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- The 3 big reasons why being the best is so important

- Understanding exponential value and why it's better than incremental value

- What does ascension value mean? 

- Why you don't have to be the best for everyone

- Identifying your best clients using the Pumpkin Plan

- Figuring out what else you can offer your best clients

And more!

Resources: 

- The Pumpkin Plan

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

In the old days, when you thought about a franchise, you probably thought about McDonald’s - the prototypical franchise model. Someone who wanted to be an entrepreneur, create wealth for themselves and have some freedom, but who really didn’t want to take the risk of starting from scratch with their own ideas (that might not work) would invest in a famous franchise like this one. 

When people invested in a franchise, they would get a reputable brand, massive advertising, precise information about the equipment they should buy, training on how to make the product, how to sell it, and how to store everything. They would receive instructions about the whole process. A franchise wasn’t necessarily drawing the highest profit margin, but you could get revenue consistently. It was a predictable money machine. 

But the modern franchise is different. And it is failing. 

Right now, modern franchises don’t have the attributes that they need to be successful in the long run. But luckily, there are three things that franchises can implement in order to survive and serve their franchisees better. In this episode, Chris Cooper shares these actionable items with you so you can improve your business (even if you don’t have a franchise.)   

“The modern franchise doesn’t have the attributes that it needs to survive in a modern information-based economy.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- Franchises in the past

- Franchises in the present

- Importance of tracking metrics

- Learning from metrics taken 

- Incentives propel evolution 

- What to do for your business

And more!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

Have you ever been called a “slave trader” on social media? Chris has. And the business coach who did it probably got what he wanted from him - and that’s attention. This experience has led Chris to think about the efficiency of negative marketing and he goes in-depth about the controversial subject in this episode. 

Chris shares the definition of negative marketing and explains how it works—until it doesn’t. The truth is that negative marketing can get you a little bit of a jumpstart. It’s a valid business tactic to attack the leader in your category. But in the long run, you can’t build your business by tearing your competition down. 

Being your own self is the best marketing strategy. You need to be bold enough to say: “I have my own ideas and I’m going to share them.” Of course, this is easier said than done. It is scary to give advice because, no matter what you say, you are going to be judged by that advice. 

Until you share your own thoughts, experiences, and opinions, your growth will always be limited by the other people in your category. When you start expressing your own opinion, you will be attacked. However, you have to do it anyway. If your ideas can help another human being, you don’t just have the opportunity to share them; you have the responsibility to do it. 

“You can’t build your own brand by tearing another brand down.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- What negative marketing is

- The problem with negative marketing

- Chris’ personal experience with negative marketing

- Fear around being your own self and sharing your ideas

- How to help others by expressing your opinions

And more!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

Years ago, when Chris Cooper was powerlifting, he would go to a federal prison in the United States twice a year. There, he actually got to meet and compete with prisoners who, in most cases, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Chris and his team would get locked in from 6 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, with a small break at lunch. 

Aside from all the amazing feats of strength that he witnessed from people with little training, access to quality nutrition, or equipment, he got a lot of insight that helped him to live better and grow his business. In this episode, Chris will share with you the 3 best tips he learned while spending time in prison.   

The reality is that, in the internet age, you cannot protect your intellectual property. You have no secrets anymore. Therefore, it’s best to share everything with everyone. This doesn’t mean that you won’t get paid. Your value comes from serving your audience by giving them exactly what they need at the right time in order to prevent overwhelm. In business, just like in prison, you can’t protect knowledge, but you can protect your tribe. 

Does this sound useful? Great, because Chris offers two more juicy tips in this episode. The tips he learned in prison can be implemented right away to change your life and your business for good. 

“Our actions over time define who we are. We can affect those actions by the way that we feel, and we can affect the way we feel by taking pride in the way we take care of ourselves.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- How Chris ended up in a federal prison in the United States

- Not having secrets is great for your business

- Importance of looking good and taking care of yourself

- Having a routine is more powerful than being disciplined

- Tips for implementing a successful daily routine

And more!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

Are you looking for ways in your business to measure your value and, if possible, drive up your price? Chris Cooper is here to show you how – with 5 simple but effective tools that will help you as a business owner. 

Each tool involves appreciating an aspect of your business that demands your focus. That’s the hard part. The easy part is tuning in, right here, as Chris breaks it all down for us. What is your ‘Niche’? Because the narrower your niche, the higher your price because the greater your specialization. That’s the first tool. 

Are you willing to constantly upgrade your methods to offer your clients more? That’s ‘Audit’ – the second tool of Chris’s that we’re sharing here. You always have to be improving in your business and so need to be constantly asking yourself: is this working?

There are three more tools that are explained and expounded upon with anecdotes, quotes, and stories from Chris’s own entrepreneurial endeavors. Jump in and give it a listen and soon you’ll be counting the 5 things you need to improve your value and drive up price on one hand – while counting your business growth on the other! This is business mentorship at its pragmatic best.

“You have to be committed to solving your audience's problems more than stoking your own ego.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- The smaller your niche, the greater your value

- People are actively seeking trust in troubled times

- Delivery – you have to get results

- Auditing yourself – how can I get my clients there faster?

- How do you scale 1-on-1 mentorship?

- What Ernest Hemingway means when he says that you have to murder your darlings

- Why your price is a reflection of your value

And more!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

In this episode of Business is Good, Chris shares a valuable mental exercise for CEO’s who want to grow their companies. Flip the script and think about what you would do if you definitely didn’t want to grow your company. This is a great way to identify the things that are holding you back. 

Chris breaks down the three things that most people do to sabotage the growth of their companies. The first of these is starting new ventures. As alluring as it can be to start a new business, it is a trap. The number one reason that entrepreneurs start new businesses is because they don’t know how to grow their current business. 

The second mistake that Chris sees a lot is that people who have reached a plateau point in their business start to make massive lifestyle changes. They move to a different state, get a divorce, fire key staff or start drinking. This only creates problems that they then need to solve.

The third thing that CEO’s do is abdicate the responsibility for growth to someone else. This can only hurt your growth. As the CEO, you are the primary engine of growth - you can’t outsource that. 

If you want to break through the growth plateau phase in your company and avoid these mistakes, this episode is for you! 

 “If you want to stop growth, the best way to do it is to start a different company, to make a big lifestyle change or to abdicate responsibility to somebody else.” – Chris Cooper

In this Episode: 

- Three things that most people are doing to stop their growth

- Why starting a new venture is NOT the best way to grow your business

- A real-life example of how starting something new can hurt your growth

- Why the novelty of starting something new is so attractive

- Making big changes in your life can seriously hold you back from growth

- As CEO, it’s your responsibility to grow the company

- The CEO’s job is growth - you can’t outsource that

- Put new ideas on the shelf for 3 months, then see if you’re still excited

- Questions to ask yourself as the CEO of your own company

Resources mentioned in the show: 

- Anything You Want by Derek Sivers

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

Are you stuck trying to grow your business and don’t know where to start? Do you invest more in staff or spend more time on marketing? In this episode, Chris Cooper shows us how he grew his business from zero to $5 million in annual revenue in four short years – and in so doing, answers our questions about systemizing growth.

The trick is in learning to appreciate that going from zero to $1 million is different than going from $1 million to $3 million and then from $3 million to $5 million. You need to be mindful of what stage your business is at in order for it to grow. 

Chris succinctly breaks it down into 3 key stages for us, based on his hard-earned experience of gym owner mentorship. Learning how to systemize your operations, shore up your personal weaknesses, and hire expensive staff to survive the ‘valley of death’ are just some of the invaluable lessons Chris imparts. 

The Business is Good podcast is a must-listen for any business owner looking to systemize their operations. And the way Chris Cooper explains ‘process’ so simply makes it a joy to engage with. 

“Nail your operations. Measure the results your clients are getting. And then constantly seek to improve those results.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- Zero to $1 million: systemize and optimize your product and your niche

- $1 million–$3 million: expand your audience, systemize and optimize your marketing and your sales

- $3 million–$5 million: hire your way up, systemize your incentives and your hiring, and automate wherever you can.

- Why your business will fall back to the level where it is weakest

- The value of a cohesive Facebook advertising campaign

- Knowing which metrics are important when it comes to measuring your growth

And more!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com

Welcome to the Business is Good podcast with Chris Cooper. Chris Cooper is here to show you how he grew from a 200-word blog to a $20 million company. He speaks from a lifetime of lessons owning gyms and creating valuable business content, teaching us that it's about sharing experience and not just sharing opinion.

Whether it's learning to adopt the 'help first' mindset when growing an audience or constantly auditing yourself to keep assessing what your audience wants, Chris has tips galore on how to consistently improve in your business.

In this debut episode, Chris distills his wisdom into '3 keys to growing,' from building an audience to building a company with a massive audience. His personal journey as a businessman is built into the narrative, and what's so refreshing about Chris's take is that he is a teacher who learns by teaching himself.

There's candour and humility as Chris shares his business advice that is at once authentic and inspirational. If you're a business owner looking to scale and open to mentoring advice, Chris Cooper will lead the way in teaching you how to set aside your ego, grow personally, and grow your business too. Please join us. 

“I had to pivot to do the harder thing. Which was not just criticizing or condemning bad ideas, but actually sharing what worked.” – Chris Cooper

In This Episode:

- Chris’s 3 keys to growing

- 2008, when Chris had two gyms (and one was eating the other)

- The value of connecting with a business mentor

- Long road ahead: 3 years to get 100 readers a day

- Pivot to the harder thing – sharing what works

- Chris's 'evolution of helping'

- Tip: your value is hidden in the top 10% of your content

- Chris's clients soon exceeded his growth – getting over your ego

- Publish consistently to achieve success

And more!

Connect with Chris Cooper:

- www.businessisgood.com