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EP7 - Gym leader

· 2 min read
david len
david len
Serial entrepreneur. Always maximizing shareholder value.

The owner of my local gym was drowning in sentiment and debt.

He loved his "community."

I dont think he understands -- His "community" was bankrupting him.

So I bought his gym for pennies on the dollar.

He thought I'd add new machines -- I didn't add a single thing.

I brought in a bulldozer and tore out the basketball court. His staff was horrified.

They saw a feature. I saw a filter.

You see, a basketball court attracts a certain demographic -- High-usage, low-spend, zero secondary revenue.

They weren't customers -- they were liabilities.

By removing their reason to be there, I removed them.

Suddenly, the gym was quiet and clean. Then I doubled the membership price.

And the real customers started to arrive.

They weren't paying for the equipment. They were paying to not be at a gym with the people who used the basketball court.

I didn't sell fitness. I sold exclusivity as a service.

Profit isn't about what you add. It's about who you have the courage to subtract.

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Footnotes​

  1. True story. Some guy just got rid of some parts of his gym, stop a certain group of people coming, and now he has a quiet, clean, profitable gym. ↩