Entrepreneur Chris Cooper found himself broke and burnt out three years into owning his own business.
“I started Catalyst Gym in 2005 to make a better income for my family. But I had no idea how to run it,” he told Village Media.
He says a lucky shot at a mentorship program through the Innovation Centre gave him the proper fuel he needed to turn Catalyst into a Sault Ste. Marie success story.
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According to Cooper, it took a couple of years to make the gym strong. In that process he chronicled the path to gym mastery through more than 350 blog posts. His hard lessons learned were the intervention others needed.
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Cooper expanded, “In 2016, I founded Two-Brain Business, which is now the largest business coaching organization in the world for gyms, with 1,000 gyms in the program worldwide, 1,500 alumni, 10,000 in our free organization (Gym Owners United) and 70 staff around the world, including 55 mentors!”
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Now, he's taking his mentorship one step further, in SPACES, the Sault’s very own social media network.
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Cooper is aiming at generally passing on lessons learned and mistakes he has made, to help others avoid them.
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He explained, “with 1,000 gyms I see lots of wins and mistakes, and some of them are quite often my own mistakes. I also want to share what’s working right now.”
He added, “I want to share very specific thoughts and advice in SPACES, like go out and do this one thing for your business today!”
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Cooper shared a shout out to a local business and pointed out two things that they are doing, and doing well, as an example to other entrepreneurs.
In other posts, Cooper shares some of his business podcasts so local entrepreneurs can access those tips.
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Cooper is also enjoying the Fitness space and posting a lot there.
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“My gym, Catalyst, is still here 20 years later, and I have a strong interest in health and fitness, generally. In the Fitness space, I tend to post questions people ask me about health, nutrition, fitness, or I ask others questions. I have had some good comments on some of those posts.”
Cooper’s post on diet and nutrition had a lot of respectful commentary, and some humorous stories from other SPACES members. And people are always interested in latest weight loss fad, like this one where Cooper tackles whether people should be taking Ozempic - and how to train if you do.
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Cooper had some insightful thoughts on the Sault in his interview as well.
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“I think the Sault is too dependent on industrial employers," he said. "We have a strong history in the production of paper and steel and associated products, but when those markets go bad, it has an enormous impact on our community."
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We still need these large employers, but the best hedge against market downturns, tariffs, strikes and layoffs is economic diversity. That means more entrepreneurs growing faster, to employ more people, expand the tax base, and make the Sault's economy less fragile.”
He added, “My mission is to use what I've learned from mentoring thousands of business owners, and owning a successful gym for 20 years, to help my neighbours."
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"SPACES is a wonderful way for me to continue to do just that.”