My business partner Eric casually strolled into my office today, shaker bottle in hand…
“How are our June numbers looking so far?”
I point to the spreadsheet open on my monitor.
“That’s what we’ve collected to date. That one right there is our number from 2016. That’s the total dollars we need to collect on a daily basis during the 15 remaining days we’re open this month if we want to do 10% revenue growth in relation to last year.”
He smiled. “Running this place is a constant race. Even if we obliterate that number, we’re right back to square one on July 1st. It’s not like we’re going to head down to the cafeteria for a celebratory meal.”
He’s 100% correct.
We’re hosting our first CSP Business Building Mentorship this week and you can be certain that there will be a recurring “know your numbers” theme.
The great thing about knowing your numbers is that you can constantly work toward eliminating inefficiencies. It also allows you to set specific measurable goals that are based on a timeline. The dangerous habit you can fall into, however, is embracing a mentality that you’ve “won” simply because you hit your number in a given month, quarter, or year.
You don’t win when it comes to running a fitness business. You compete with yourself, and establish self-determined performance metrics. Operating Cressey Sports Performance is akin to competing in a never-ending version of the Tour de France. Hitting a performance target each month is like winning a stage in the race, but it doesn’t mean we’ll ever get to climb off of the bike and collect our grand prize.
Gym owners need to treat their operating habits with the same mentality that their best athletes bring to the gym. Strive to be better today than you were yesterday, and you’ll be fortunate enough to keep playing the game. The best way to do this is to know your damn numbers, and you don’t need to overcomplicate things with complex metrics.
Understand exactly how many dollars you need to collect each month before you can even think about writing yourself a paycheck. Once you’ve got that figure in mind, hustle your ass off to hit it as early in the month as possible.