The Genius Planet Fitness Strategy

How I got here…

21: Graduated Vanderbilt in 3 years Magna Cum Laude, and took a fancy consulting job.
23 yrs old: Left my fancy consulting job to start a business (a gym).
24 yrs old: Opened 5 gym locations.
26 yrs old: Closed down 6th gym. Lost everything.
26 yrs old: Got back to launching gyms (launched 33). Then, lost everything for a 2nd time.
26 yrs old: In desperation, started licensing model as a hail mary. It worked.
27 yrs old: "Gym Launch" does $3M profit the next 6 months. Then $17M profit next 12 months.
28 yrs old: Started Prestige Labs. $20M the first year.
29 yrs old: Launched ALAN, a software company for agencies to work leads for customers. Scaled to $1.7mmo within 6 months.
31 yrs old: Sold 75% of UseAlan to a strategic buyer in an all stock deal.
31 yrs old: Sold 66% of Gym Launch & Prestige Labs at $46.2M valuation in all-cash deal to American Pacific Group. (you can google it)
32 yrs old: Started making free content showing how we grow companies to make real business education accessible to everyone (and) to attract business owners to invest or scale their businesses.

Today: Our portfolio now does $200M/yr between 10 companies. The largest doing $100M/yr the smallest doing $5M per year. Our ownership varies between 20% and 100% ownership of the companies. Many of them we invested in early and helped grow (which is how we make our money - not youtube videos).

To all the gladiators in the arena, we’re all in the middle of writing our own stories. The worse the monsters, the more epic the story.

You either get an epic outcome or an epic story. Both mean you win.

Keep crushing. May your desires be greater than your obstacles.

Never quit,

Alex

*FULL DISCLOSURE*
I make content to make money - just - on a longer time horizon than most. I want to build trust with business owners so we can find the best ones and help them scale. And if they’re awesome, write them a check and go all the way as partners.

[DeadShoot-epfn]

It confirms that humanitarian way of making money is better than cheating👍

[edwardrygalski]

I work for planet fitness. The software we use is terrible and makes cancelling memberships as difficult for employees as it is for members.

[Jackthedog]

Planet fitness charged me 9 months straight after canceling in person and I moved out of town to then tell me I had to come in person to do it again or they would keep charging me. I threatened news and court and they figured it out. Must be a wildly different situation for other stores/states because they couldn’t have hit me with the door harder on the way out and will never see a penny from me if they’re the last option on planet earth.

[Self-knez]

To cancel your PF membership online, swap your home address online to a random address in California. Then wait a day, and log back in online. There should now be a button to cancel online.

Apparently in CA there’s a law that forces PF to allow CA residents to cancel online.

[justindavis]

no idea what you're talking about, PF is the worst cancellation process of any business I've ever heard of

[joshpattersondarthmenno]

They scam too, they won’t let you cancel. Try, I promise they don’t unless you’re in person and other hoops.

[NocturnalNut]

They make it SO UNNECESSARILY DIFFICULT TO CANCEL. I couldn't get to my home gym to cancel in person. I also couldn't change my home gym unless it was in person. So I couldn't transfer to a location close to me so I could cancel. Tricky tricky. I had to cancel my card on file so they could no longer charge me. After a few months, they dropped me once they realized they were never going to siphon money out of me ever again.

[sandysoma]

Are you kidding me?? #1: They generally do NOT make cancellation easy. Almost everyone I've spoken to has had to go in-person, often more than once, and/or send a certified letter to the billing co. In MO. They make it very difficult which only pisses people off. If people go back to them later, it's generally only because they're still the cheapest gym around-- not because of "friendly exits."😄 #2: They don't make billions "because of this approach." They make billions because they're only $10 and people don't care about (or notice) $10 a month for years, most of whom never use the club. This video is a truly fictional perspective on why PF is successful!

[bradenpittman]

If you’re having trouble canceling your planet fitness membership, change your home gym on the website to any location in California and you can cancel online.

[YujinH]

They also make it frustratingly difficult to cancel memberships for military personnel or those who move frequently

[oaktownray]

Thats the complete opposite of what ive heard its like to try to cancel at planet fitness

[bradleypidge]

He's not lying. I once moved 1900 miles away to another state and the gym. I was a member of threatened to send me to collections because I did not remain living in the state and paying for a membership that I agreed to pay for when there was clearly a moving clause in the contract. I signed stating that if I moved away from the gym I would no longer be financially liable for my membership. It took 3 months of arguing with the owner receiving multiple Threats weekly until I sent him a copy of my utility bill showing full well that I now live 1900 miles away from the gym and I never heard from him again because it was written in the contract and he knew he had no Cos 2 send me. To collections. But all of that harassment and that negativity that I receive from that gym. I will never use their gym again. In fact, I have communicated this with family members and they quit using that gym.

[jchazer]

That is ABSOLUTELY NOT the experience I had canceling my membership. They make it hard AF.

[rianime]

Yes, this is the moral way to do it. So many gyms, have cancellation fees and requires you to pay an extra month membership.

[squiffedallday]

So friendly I had to drive an hour and a half to show them my ID and proof of residence in person to cancel my
Membership.

[user-cv]

When I had a membership in high school, my mom just called the bank and blocked them from collecting payment. Never heard from them.

[yurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-np]

Literally why I’ll never go to LA or 24 hour fitness again

[Stevenpwalsh]

Was part of a gym that had thr worst exit. Celebrated when the state AG office shut them down.

[sphinx_y]

Not sure why people are saying PF has a very annoying/difficult cancellation, when i cancelled mine to move gyms it took like 2-3 minutes

[DrDeadlifts]

They also do it because they target a segment of the population who wants to get fit but who doesn't take it seriously, which means that the bulk of their membership doesn't utilize their locations. Instead, the low monthly subscription just ticks away, unnoticed.