Which one is more expensive? The $20/month gym membership you never use, or the $200/month gym membership where you show up, receive professional coaching, lose body fat, gain strength, make lifelong friends, improve the quality of your life, and get results? It’s kind of a trick question, but I hope you get the point.
Really, “expensive” is just a subjective term and it simply comes down to what is important to you and what you value. What seems expensive to one person may seem like a great deal to another. Where we choose to spend our money each month, shows what we tend to value the most. So instead of saying, “why is X so expensive?” we should ask ourselves, “what type of value or return do I get from my purchase?” Our personal training rates can get upward of $500/month, and our small group and nutrition coaching programs are between $150-$250/month. If you break it down even further, our group membership really costs around $10/session. Is your health and fitness more valuable than your daily lattes or your weekend night out?
Cheaper is rarely better, and below I’m going to explain why our gym is more expensive than most and the return on investment we provide our clients.
- Coaching not access. At Townie we are a coaching service. We provide personal training, small group fitness, and nutrition guidance. We guide each client through daily workouts tailored to their ability and goals as well as provide customized nutrition coaching and accountability. Each time you walk through our doors or interact remotely with a nutrition coach, you are receiving individualized guidance and training from a professional in their field. At the big box gyms, you simply pay for access to equipment. Pay your monthly fee and you can access the equipment whenever you want. But what if you don’t know what to do to get real results? What if you need accountability to keep you on track? This is the value of a coach. Someone who will give you a plan to follow, ensure you are moving properly and safely, and hold you accountable to achieving your goals.
- Health and disease management. Think of your membership at Townie as the best and most effective preventative medicine program in the world. Chronic disease—including obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer—accounts for 70 percent of the deaths in the United States every year. At Townie, we provide people with non-medical health care that works: Regular training and good nutrition allow people to avoid chronic disease and live longer, fuller lives. Did you know that the cost of insulin for a diabetic patient is upwards of $1,000/month? Paying $200/month for a gym you actually attend doesn’t seem so expensive anymore. Hire a coach, get healthy, add years to your life, and avoid catastrophic medical costs in the future.
- Money is a great motivator. In the first few years starting out as a coach and fitness business owner, I occasionally would offer my coaching, time, and expertise for free. Do you know how many of those people actually got the results they were looking to achieve? ZERO! Why? Because they had no skin in the game. A little pain in the pocketbook has a way of making people extract as much value as possible from the service or product they purchase. People who pay, pay attention. In the gym, that means showing up for your workouts on a regular basis, listening to your coach, taking your training more seriously, responding to your nutrition coach, and ultimately reaching your goals.
- We have a limited number of clients we can serve. We are a small gym of about 125 goal oriented and driven members. We know every single person in our gym by name and probably know their spouse, kids names, and where they went on vacation this summer. Our mission at Townie is to create a family of 150 humble, hungry, and happy people who crush life into their 90’s. We have to keep our gym small to ensure that we can provide the best possible service and quality of coaching to each and every one of our clients. Our average group class size is between 9-10 clients with no classes over 16 people. This makes sure that our clients receive the coaching and accountability they need to reach their goals. Did you know that the big box gyms entire business plan is built on you NOT coming to the gym? They sign up tens of thousands of members banking on the fact that you may show up once per year to use the massage chairs. Our business is the exact opposite! We’ve built Townie with the sole focus of helping our awesome members get healthy and freed up for maximum impact. Our client’s results drive everything we do, and we prioritize quality of service over quantity of clients.
So how valuable is your health to you? Do you just want access to equipment or professional coaching? Do you want a gym membership or results? What would you pay to achieve your fitness goals and add years to your life? If your current gym/fitness program is helping you achieve the results you want, do not stop! If you’ve built a habit of going to the gym 3+ times per week and you are seeing progress, then my only aim is to encourage you to keep going. Consistency is ultimately the biggest key to results. But if you are struggling with consistency in the gym, not sure what diet to follow, and simply tired of trying everything and nothing is working, we would love to talk to you!
We’re looking for people who:
- value coaching, accountability, and community over access to equipment
- understand paying a little more for personal attention will help you get results faster
- understand when you pay for something you are more likely to use it and value it
- are prepared to invest in their health to improve their quality of life
- value being surrounded by like minded individuals on the same mission
If this sounds like you, I’d love to chat!
Coach Jonathan
