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Geronimo Unfiltered

Geronimo Unfiltered

Most studio owners decide to open their fitness and wellness businesses because they want to help people and add more meaning into their lives. 


Their heart is in the right place, but scaling a profitable business that feels incredible to own and run is trickier than ever before. So where they get stuck is no one has ever shown them how to run a wildly successful business, without the overwhelm and chaos.


Plus, they’re doing it all alone. 


Until now.


Welcome to The Geronimo Unfiltered Podcast for ambitious boutique studio owners who are allergic to average and know they’re capable of more. They’re just missing the HOW.


I’m your host Doza, CEO and Founder of The Geronimo Academy... And together with my crew and my community of owners and managers who are the doers and the implementers, we are on a mission to pioneer a better way to own and operate a health and fitness business, while building a life you love, not hate.


So, if you’re ready to push your boundaries, level up your money, meaning and impact & stop doing it all alone… then you’re in the right place ... 


This is going to be raw and unfiltered, zero bullshit. 


So take a deep breath, strap yourself in, and let’s get started.

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  • 21 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 40 min
  • English

Episodes 21

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  • #182
    Tuesday · 35 min

    Why Some Fitness Studios Grow 14x Faster Than the Industry

    The Australian fitness industry is growing at 1.4 percent, Our studios in the Academy are growing at 20 percent. That's 14 times faster than the industry, and it's not an accident. Today Ryan and I are breaking down exactly what those studios do, so you can stop believing the market is the reason you're stuck.

  • #180
    September 29 · 43 min

    3 Steps to Building a Team That Cares as Much as You Do

    Today Sophie and I are teaching you the three steps to creating a team that cares about your business like it’s their own. And giving you the tool that helps you to create your own vision book.

  • #179
    September 22 · 19 min

    The First 3 Days Decide Whether They Become a Member

    The first three days after someone starts their trial decides whether they convert into a long-term member or ghost you by the end of the week, and it's not just costing you the sale, it’s costing you an opportunity to create a lifelong member.

  • #178
    September 15 · 35 min

    Double Your Profit Without Selling a Single Extra Membership

    If you're already busting your ass on retention and you're still getting blindsided every time someone cancels, that's exactly what a discovery call is for. We'll go through your churn with you and figure out what's actually going on, no fluff.

  • #176
    September 8 · 33 min

    Stop Running Your Studio on Vibes Before It's Too Late

    Sal came in with a marketing background and years of "why isn't this working," and walked out the other side owning a yoga studio doing $70k months on the way to seven figures. This is the identity shift behind the growth, not just the growth.

  • August 4 · 1 hr 15 min

    Back Yourself Before You’re Ready (to build a $1M studio)

    Everyone tells you the studio's going great. Meanwhile you've been rehearsing one conversation with one staff member in the shower for three weeks. If that's you, this episode was made for you. 👉 Grab Annelise's workbook and write the shit down as you listen: https://bit.ly/p-the-studio-owners-workbook-for-backing-yourself 👉 Then book your free discovery call and let's look at what's actually keeping you stuck: https://bit.ly/p-your-studio-check-up Follow Geronimo Unfiltered:⁠Spotify ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠ Instagram⁠ Communication coach Annelise joins Sophie and me to unpack why the scariest parts of running a studio, the tough conversations, the camera, the sales calls, have nothing to do with speaking at all. Annelise grew up a shy kid with a speech impediment and went through speech therapy. Now she's got 15 years of training people to speak behind her and delivers keynotes on stages in the US. I know that climb personally, because I had a hectic stutter as a kid myself, and Sophie was so quiet when she trained at my studio that members genuinely asked if she was on mute. None of us got here by finding confidence. We built it, rep by rep, like a muscle. Annelise reckons the real blocker is the fear of being perceived. It's the same fear behind the conversation you keep putting off, the camera you keep avoiding, and the sales call you keep fumbling. She walks us up the ladder she takes every client through, from desire to discipline to evidence to trust, and shows why you already coach your members through this exact process every day. You just haven't turned it on yourself yet. In this episode you'll hear: The banana bread trap: why one botched conversation convinces you you're "just not a leader" and what to do instead Three questions that turn confrontation into conversation: "help me understand", "what would it take" and "would it be helpful if" Why saving the big moments for the big moments is exactly why you're shit at them The evidence list: a two-minute Monday morning habit that changes how you walk into your business "Learn to love all doors": the lesson from Annelise's dad that rewires how you handle rejection, on sales calls and cancellations alike If this one hit a nerve, queue up "Why Outsourcing your Confidence is the FASTEST Way to Close your Business" next. It's one of our most downloaded episodes ever, and it's the same wound from a different angle. And if you're done borrowing confidence, book your free discovery call. Sophie went from members asking if she was on mute to coaching hundreds of studio owners, and I went from a kid in speech therapy to a sold-out room of 300. The reps work. Let's map yours: ⁠https://bit.ly/p-your-studio-check-up⁠ CHAPTERS 00:00:00 The accidental leader problem 00:04:02 Your fear has nothing to do with speaking 00:07:47 My stutter, Toastmasters and The King's Speech 00:13:29 Three frameworks for hard team conversations 00:20:43 Stop saving the big moments for the big moments 00:23:00 Desire, discipline, evidence, trust 00:24:37 "I'm not a runner": the 1k lesson 00:30:28 Writing your evidence list 00:36:11 Borrowed confidence and finding your leadership voice 00:44:30 Sales calls and the fear of rejection 00:46:16 Learn to love all doors 00:53:12 When cancellations feel personal 00:56:35 Rapid fire: speaking up, firing and being on camera 01:12:06 Three Monday morning steps

  • July 28 · 42 min

    The 3 Systems You Need To Go from Reactive to $115k Months

    Everyone tells you you're killing it. But your week is back-to-back fires, the business only works because you're holding it up, and deep down you know this pace has a price. Book your free discovery call and let's map out what your studio actually needs next: https://bit.ly/p-your-studio-check-up Follow Geronimo Unfiltered: ⁠Spotify ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠ Instagram⁠ Connor built five businesses by 28 and it nearly killed him. This is the story of one cardiac ward, two business sales, and the three systems that turned Athletic Culture into a $115k a month gym. He was doing 16-hour days and hadn't taken a real holiday in ten years when his heart gave out last August. A hole in his heart nobody picked up at birth, two weeks on a cardiac ward surrounded by 70-year-olds, then open heart surgery. Most owners would have used that story as the reason to quit. Connor used it as the reason to redesign everything. He sold the pasta bar from his hospital bed, let go of a cafe, and went all in on the gym he calls his baby. Three months after surgery his partner sent him a video of my heart attack, he inquired that day, and signed the same afternoon. Eight months later Athletic Culture has gone from stuck and reactive to $115k months, and he hit a goal we set for the end of this cycle before we were even halfway through it. Me, Connor and Sophie get into exactly what changed, and then his manager Taylor takes the chair to tell the owner's side of the story back to us. In this episode you'll hear: How Connor built a $100k a month gym with no sales system, no leads and no paid ads, and why that run was always going to hit a ceiling The retention play that turned the slowest weeks of the year into his biggest Fitness Passport month ever The playbooks and structure Taylor now runs, so problems get sorted before they become fires How to prove your culture instead of just claiming it, plus the hiring rule that protects it: character over qualifications, no dickheads What Taylor says owners get wrong the moment they finally hire a manager Loved this one? Binge this next: The Hidden Reasons Your Culture Sucks and How to Build One Built to Win. Connor says culture is his secret sauce. That episode is how you build yours on purpose. Connor went from a cardiac ward to $115k months in under a year, working fewer hours than he ever has. If you're ready to find out what that looks like for your studio, book your free discovery call here: ⁠https://bit.ly/p-your-studio-check-up⁠ Chapters 00:00:00 Five businesses, 16-hour days, then a cardiac ward at 28 00:07:25 Why he didn't quit, he redesigned everything instead 00:11:21 Selling the pasta bar and the second cafe 00:15:00 System 1: sales 00:16:12 Culture is king, and how to actually prove it 00:19:33 How a 21-year-old ends up with five businesses 00:26:05 System 2: retention and the Survivor Series 00:27:57 System 3: playbooks, structure, no more firefighting 00:28:44 The heart attack video that brought him to Geronimo 00:34:40 Taylor takes the chair: the manager's view 00:41:06 The letting-go conversation every owner needs to hear 00:47:05 The 3-2-1 goal game: naming the November number 00:49:58 Final advice for owners and managers

  • July 21 · 41 min

    The Studio Growth Playbooks that Took a Dog Training Business from $50k-$100k/mo

    Everyone tells you your business is different too. Your market, your model, your members, your suburb. If that story is the reason you haven't fixed your intro offer or built your rollover process, grab the free Vision Book Template that Nath used to rebuild his business: https://bit.ly/p-vision-book-template And if you want to see exactly how this playbook maps onto your studio, book a discovery call here: https://bit.ly/p-your-studio-check-up Follow Geronimo Unfiltered: Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube Instagram A dog training business joined a gym growth academy and doubled to 100k months in six months. This is the episode that kills the "my business is different" excuse for good. Every week someone tells me their market is unique, their clients are special, and the model wouldn't work for them. Then Nath called my sales team, said "I'm not your avatar, but I want in," and joined a coaching program built for gym owners with a dog training business. My first reaction was to ring my sales team and ask what the hell they were doing. Six months later he's doubled the business on the exact playbook we teach studio owners, with nothing watered down or adapted for dogs. What almost stopped him had nothing to do with the industry, and everything to do with what he was refusing to let go of. That part of the story is the reason to listen to the whole thing. In this episode you'll hear: The exact model: a four week Calm Dog Kickstart, a 70% rollover rate, and a $148 a week membership (yes, for dogs) The moment he rang his coach to quit at 75k months, and the answer that turned it into 56% growth in two months The identity shift from doing the work to owning the business, and what was actually underneath the refusal to let go The 70% rule in action: he launched his vision book, lost four of his twelve staff in a week, and kept going anyway Why "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" is a lie, in dogs and in business owners (including a live fix for Doza's whinging Labradoodle) If this one hit, binge this next: STOP Playing Small. It's the other half of this story, because Nath's real unlock wasn't the kickstart or the rollover process, it was refusing to stay at the level everyone said was already good. Nath came in at 50k months running a dog training business, and the same frameworks took him past 100k with a mission to save 10,000 dogs. If he can do that in an industry we'd never coached before, imagine what the playbook does inside an actual studio. Book your discovery call here: ⁠https://bit.ly/p-your-studio-check-up⁠ CHAPTERS 00:00:00 The dog training business that broke our avatar 00:02:03 "I'm not your avatar, but I want in" 00:04:50 The business model: entry points and the Calm Dog Kickstart 00:07:47 Inside the $148 a week membership 00:11:31 Recap: 50k to 75k, then the bottleneck 00:12:28 The call with Rob that nearly ended it 00:14:47 Why he couldn't let go: the identity underneath 00:16:46 PSA: "my business is different" 00:20:58 The mission: 10,000 dogs 00:22:20 The 70% rule: losing a third of the team 00:24:57 What's next: the 10k Dogs podcast 00:26:33 Live demo: fixing Duke's whinging 00:28:44 Burnout, Separation Sunday and family 00:33:55 Moving the goal: 300k months 00:37:08 Business principles, not business models

  • June 30 · 44 min

    How To Leave The Floor Without Your Gym Falling Apart

    Want us to look at your studio and find the quick wins then book a free 15-minute discovery call. Follow the show so you never miss an episode: Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube Instagram Reece and Summer own a studio that's just hit 0% churn at 200-plus members, with Reece finally off the floor after 11 years and a million-dollar studio on track for their one-year anniversary. In this episode I sit down with both of them to break down exactly how they did it. Everyone says they want to work on the business instead of in it. Almost nobody does, because it was never really a time problem. It's that the whole business lives in the owners' heads, and getting it out means becoming a different kind of owner. They did it one system at a time. Killed free trials. Installed a paid intro. Learned the sales script so Reece could hand it off. Brought on a VA and got 20 hours a week back. Built a retention system the whole team runs. And somewhere in there, Reece stopped seeing himself as "just a PT" while Summer kept the vision and the systems pointed at where they're actually going. In this episode you'll hear: Why getting off the floor is an identity shift, not a scheduling fix Why we kill free trials and install a paid intro instead How to learn a sales script so someone else can run it for you The right way to bring on a VA, and the feedback loop that makes it stick The retention system holding a 200-plus member studio at 0% churn Why every member gets allocated to a named trainer The vision book, the Polaroid wall, and the "make yourself proud" standard Why looking at your numbers every week is the unlock, not the threat Reece and Summer's advice for anyone standing where they were a year ago If this one resonated, go back and listen to "The Retention Revolution: What the Top 1% of Studios Are Doing Differently". It's a perfect follow-on. And if your head's spinning and you're thinking "okay, what do I actually do now" - book a free 15-minute discovery call and we'll look at how your studio's going right now and where the quick-win opportunities are. Chapters 00:00:00 12 months in: from burnt out to back-to-back record months 00:02:01 11 years on the floor, and why getting off it isn't about the hours 00:02:40 The first change: delegation and learning to trust the team 00:04:21 Why we killed free trials and installed a paid intro 00:06:05 Learning the sales script (and why it's not about being a closer) 00:08:11 Bringing on a VA: where to start and what to hand over first 00:12:20 Training a VA with playbooks and a feedback loop 00:13:55 The retention systems: going from feel to a real system 00:18:45 The Polaroid wall and 0% churn at 200-plus members 00:20:43 Allocating every member to a trainer: the secret past 350 00:22:17 What "working on the business" actually means 00:23:54 The vision book and the three-year picture 00:28:35 The identity shift from trainer to leader 00:31:52 Leaving for the summit, and what they found on return 00:36:18 What's next: more locations, more impact 00:40:05 The advice: right people, know your numbers, lean in

  • June 23 · 49 min

    How to go from $17k to $55k Per Month Without Running Every Shift

    Book a free 15-minute studio review call and we'll look at how you're tracking right now and where the quick-win opportunities are to get you moving faster. FOLLOW THE SHOW: Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube Instagram A year ago Siennah was burnt out, running every shift, and doing 17K a month. Today she's at 55K with 180 members and a studio that runs without her glued to the floor. I got her in for her pod debut to pull apart exactly how she tripled the business in 12 months, while she was still only in her third year of operation. This one's honest. She started in a park dragging her coffee customers to a boot camp, moved into a single-car garage hauling mats in and out every day, and nearly lost the love for the thing she'd built before her mum kicked her up the backside to get coached. We get into the three moves that actually moved the needle, the identity crisis of becoming a leader at 25, and the grit underneath it all. In this episode you'll hear: How Siennah tripled from $17K to $55K/month in 12 months The three stepping stones she points to as the real difference Why getting off the floor meant trusting someone else to run her standard Going from a $20/week trial to a $249 intro that converts ~70% on the phone Why she slept on inductions and what changed when she installed them How an 80% rollover rate became her fastest growth lever Building a model that serves members from age 10 to 95 The identity work behind stepping up as a leader at 25 Why content is the leverage that grows the movement past the four walls Grit, growing pains, and the 24-hour rule for when it all feels too much CHAPTERS 00:00:00 - Pod debut: Siennah's in the house 00:00:30 - 17K to 55K in 12 months 00:01:18 - Who she was a year ago 00:02:40 - How the podcast pulled her in 00:08:30 - The three biggest moves she made 00:09:09 - Trusting someone else to run her standard 00:10:17 - Becoming a leader at 25 00:11:55 - From $20/week trial to a $249 paid offer 00:13:53 - The selling shift and 70% conversion 00:14:11 - Why she slept on inductions 00:15:22 - Rollovers, churn and the real accelerator 00:28:06 - Age 10 to 95: the multi-demographic model 00:30:12 - The identity shift 00:33:29 - The million-dollar studio goal 00:35:08 - Content as leverage 00:41:08 - The traits that set the top studios apart 00:42:30 - Grit, growing pains and the 24-hour rule 00:45:43 - Her advice to anyone sitting in "fine" 00:48:39 - Wrap-up If this one landed, go back and binge the episodes on getting off the floor and building a team that runs without you here. And if your head's spinning and you want to know your next move, book a free 15-minute studio review call and we'll find the quick wins together.

  • June 2 · 31 min

    Deep Dive into Ads: Create the right ads and get more members without losing money

    👉 Steal the Avatar 550 framework free: five questions to ask 50 members so you know exactly who you're talking to and what to say. Grab it here: https://bit.ly/p-avatar-550 Want to know where your studio is actually leaking? Book a free 15-minute studio check-up and we'll show you the quick-win opportunities to get you moving faster: https://bit.ly/p-your-studio-check-up Subscribe and follow so you never miss an episode: Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube @GeronimoUnfilteredOfficial Instagram @thegeronimoacademy The boss is out getting an MRI, so we went rogue. Jess and I took over the pod to break down everything we coach our clients on about marketing a gym or studio in 2026. She's nine years in the industry, seven with us, and helps manage over five million dollars in ad spend a year. We can tell an owner's ads are broken without looking at a single metric. This episode is how you spot the same ten things we spot, and what to do instead. Here's the uncomfortable truth: your ads probably look beautiful and convert nobody. The generic, talk-to-everyone, free-trial playbook is dead. You've got 1.7 seconds to stop the scroll, and in a trust recession, polished reads as fake. The fix is getting so specific it's almost uncomfortable, and using language you already have in your DMs and sales calls. In this episode you'll hear: - Why the old generic ad playbook stopped working in 2026 - The offers quietly killing your lead quality - How to build a hero narrative and why a demographic isn't an avatar - The avatar 5x50 framework we give away free - The raw, face-to-camera content converting right now - The only two Meta metrics that matter and the benchmarks to hit - Short vs long copy and why creative beats the buttons you press - The three action steps to start with if your ads are broken Chapters: 00:00:00 What's different about studio marketing in 2026 00:01:22 The old way: generic, polished, and dead 00:02:53 The offers killing your lead quality 00:06:34 The three coaching conversations we have every day 00:07:12 Building a hero narrative so specific it's uncomfortable 00:08:23 Why a demographic is not an avatar 00:10:52 Why raw and unfiltered beats polished right now 00:12:46 The face-to-camera content that's actually working 00:15:08 The IDEA copywriting framework 00:16:30 Short copy vs long copy 00:19:28 The only two Meta metrics that matter 00:22:07 The benchmarks you need to hit 00:23:04 Where to start if your ads are broken 00:25:24 Step one: get clear on your avatar 00:25:43 Step two: ad copy and creative 00:27:49 Step three: get comfortable on camera 00:29:50 Your first move and the free Avatar 550 framework If this one got your head spinning in the best way, go deeper: listen to 10x Your Leads in 2025: Why Your Ads Aren't Working (And What To Do Instead) next, it's one of our most downloaded episodes for a reason. And when you're ready, book your free 15-minute studio check-up here: https://bit.ly/p-your-studio-check-up

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