Today’s Profit Made Simple post is a little different. We flipped the tables and I’m the guest on Shane Da Costa’s ‘Freedom Formula’ podcast. We go deep on identity, offers, pricing, proximity, and what it actually takes for a fitness studio owner to move from technician to CEO.

If you’re building a fitness business for profit, impact and freedom, this one gives you a clear, practical path.

• I left a comfy corporate sales role to train clients from the back of my car.
• Opened a 30 m² Coogee studio by pre-selling $15–$20k of memberships to fund the fit-out.
• Accidentally birthed a second company by writing Australia’s first kettlebell course which turned into a global education brand with 16+ accredited programs and a 30-person presenter team.
• Sold my studio, separated from my education partner, and went all-in on coaching fitness business owners (mastermind now ~150 studios).

Why you should care: every jump required the same moves you’ll need: validate demand fast, package real value, raise prices, hire better, and change your identity before your outcomes change.

We didn’t set out to build a B2B education machine. We tested a general population workshop, then noticed trainers piling in. That signal flipped everything:

1. Shorten delivery: 6-week series → 1-day intensive (easier for PTs/studio owners).
2. Change the message: “Get certified, differentiate, be first to market.”
3. Leverage distribution: partner with channels that already have your audience (industry bodies, events, lists).
4. Stack the ladder: Level 1 → Level 2 → Level 3 → complementary tools. Raise LTV instead of living on one-off sales.

Fitness Business Translation:

• If your 6-week challenge keeps filling, add 6-month Transformation as a follow on product
• Find who already holds your market (sports clubs, employers, allied health, mums’ groups) and borrow their distribution.
• Think Problem → Solution → New Problem. Every result creates the next gap you can ethically fill.

You’ve heard me teach this to clients; Shane pulled it out of me on the show. It’s how we take a studio from stressed operator to scalable company.

Your internal state leaks into the business. Scarcity energy drives discounting, overwork and frantic decisions. Abundance shows up as clean pricing, boundaries, and calm speed.

Do this this week: 10 minutes daily to prime — wins list, client impact, and the future you’re building. Then touch pricing and people decisions (never the other way around).

Most owners still identify as coach. That identity got you here; it won’t get you there. CEOs make different choices:

Be → Do → Have:

• Be: I am the CEO of a seven-figure studio.
• Do: Block CEO time first, lead the team meeting, review the numbers, create one partnership a week.
• Have: The team, time and profit you’ve been chasing.

If you can’t show it in your calendar or bank account, it isn’t real yet.

Everyone has a baseline ‘temperature’. You spike to 23° (wins, growth) but drift back to 20° because it doesn’t match your self-image. Rooms reset thermostats.

• Join a room where you’re the smallest fish.
• Borrow belief and behaviours: pricing posture, hiring standards, decision speed.
• Live events > content. You can Google tactics; you can’t download energy and standards.

I’ve worked brutal hours that gave me energy (building offers, teaching, coaching) and “reasonable” weeks that drained me (admin, cleaning, low-value tasks). If you’re fried, run an activity audit:

• Double: content, coaching, leadership, partnerships.
• Delegate: admin, scheduling, basic marketing tasks.
• Delete: discounts, time-wasting offers, unaligned services.

1) The Offer Ladder

• Front End: 6-week Challenge or 28-Day Reset (high intent, price to qualify).
• Core: 6–12-month Transformation (habit, strength, nutrition, accountability).
• Ascend: Performance/Body Recomp/Small-Group PT; pricing >$99/week.
• Partner: Corporate Wellness, Athlete S&C, Allied Health referrals.

Audit margin by product. Kill anything under 60% gross margin unless it feeds high-LTV offers.

Lift anchor pricing quarterly. If you’re always “full”, you’re underpriced.

• 30-day on-ramp with check-ins at day 2, 7, 14, 28.
• Scoreboard visible: attendance, PRs, habit streaks. Clients stay where they see progress.
• Coach career path so you’re not the safety net.

• 45-min Scorecard: leads, shows, sales, EFT, churn, payroll %.

• 60-min Team Huddle: wins, numbers, bottleneck, one process improvement.

• 90-min Deep Work: partnerships or product — calendar it first.

• Day 1: Raise prices for new clients (even +$5/week).

• Day 2: Remove one low-margin offer.
• Day 3: Craft the upsell product to compliment your current offers
• Day 4: Make 10 partnership calls (sport clubs, physios, employers).
• Day 5: Publish a founder video on your vision and standards.
• Day 6: Delegate one recurring task permanently.
• Day 7: Book a room (mastermind/event) where you’re not the smartest person there.

Even now, I’m the bottleneck. My next leap is leadership: vision, communication, innovation, and building leaders under me. That’s the work. The same will be true for you once leads and sales no longer cap growth.

Freedom = doing more of what you love with the people you love.

Build your business to serve that, not the other way around.

• 🎧 Episode: Profit Made Simple x Freedom Formula

• ▶️ YouTube & Podcast: Profit Made Simple
• 📸 IG: @coachdanhenderson (Coach Dan Henderson)

If this resonated, share it with a fellow studio owner who’s ready to trade busy for free and focused. And if you want help implementing the 4 H’s, the offer ladder, and a CEO rhythm inside your fitness business, shoot me a DM with “FREEDOM” and I’ll send the next steps.