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Brendan Chaplin
I help coaches & entrepreneurs build + scale an online business to achieve money, location and time freedom | 20 year performance coach for elite athletes | Entrepreneur, Investor and Barcelona beach resident 🏝️
Brendan Chaplin is a successful CEO, keynote speaker, and business coach with a wealth of experience in the fitness industry. He is the founder and CEO of Strength and Conditioning Education, which provides advanced fitness programs and education in the UK. Brendan is also the executive director of the Youth Strength and Conditioning Association and former Fitness Editor of Alpha Fit Magazine.
Brendan holds a Master's degree in Strength and Conditioning from the University of Bolton, a Bachelor's degree in Construction Management from Northumbria University, and a Chartered Director Certification in Business Strategy and Management from The Institute of Directors.
Brendan has worked for various organizations, including the Huddersfield Giants RLFC, Leeds Metropolitan University, and Durham University, where he was the Head of Strength and Conditioning. He was also the Managing Director of Athletes Unlimited and a Non-Exec Director of The Youth Strength and Conditioning Association. Brendan's business coaching agency, Strength and Success, provides guidance on how to grow personal training businesses, set up gyms, deliver advanced fitness education, and scale businesses.
As a keynote speaker, Brendan has delivered presentations and workshops worldwide on business growth, transformational coaching, online marketing, designing products, and services that deliver value. He is an impressive personality in the fitness industry with an extensive background that spans over two decades.
Highlights
15 years ago, I had expertise that I KNEW I could sell, but I didn’t know how to.
Today, I’ve sold my expertise to 1000s of clients.
Here's 4 business models to make money from your knowledge:
- Membership Sites
Think Netflix for your niche. My very first online offering in 2009 was a £9/month strength training membership site. It's great for building monthly recurring revenue (MRR), but be prepared for customer churn.
✅ Pro: Builds predictable income. ❌ Con: Needs a larger following to start and can be a slow burn.
- Digital Products
Create once, sell multiple times. This was my bread and butter before I went full-time on my business. I've created hundreds of products and masterclasses that still generate income today.
✅ Pro: Quick to launch and scalable. ❌ Con: Often lower price points and need regular updates.
Coaching and Consulting
From fixed-price sessions to my suggested method of outcome-led programmes, this model is perfect for delivering your very best work and selling high-value offers. It's highly profitable and impactful, but requires your commitment along with active marketing and delivery.
✅ Pro: Highly lucrative and allows for your best work. ❌ Con: Less scalable and demands consistent delivery.
Online Courses
Perfect for teaching specific skills. Can range from self-paced to coach-supported formats, with pricing varying accordingly.
✅ Pro: Higher price points than products and relatively quick to launch. ❌ Con: Some upfront work with no guaranteed sales.
The secret sauce? Combining these models strategically to work together based on your career stage, your experience and personal values, and your audience. In other words, your go-to market strategy.
Remember: None of this matters without an audience. Spend 80% of your time building your brand, creating value, and understanding your audience's needs.
Don't build what you want - build what your audience needs.
Which of these models aligns best with your expertise and audience?
2005: 60 hours/week. £25 - £40 per session. 2024: 20 hours/week. £5K - £50K per client.
Here's 5 things I did to create a high-value coaching programme that sells:
- Solve a burning problem
Don't just offer generic advice. Identify a specific, urgent issue your ideal clients are facing. Ask yourself what’s the biggest problem I can solve for my clients? For example, instead of 'business growth', you might focus on 'improving customer acquisition for SAAS businesses by 20% in 90 days'.
- What’s your system?
Develop your own intellectual property that sets you apart and combines proven strategies in a step-by-step process. Document and present your process to people and demonstrate its effectiveness with case studies and results.
- Bespoke and personalised support
No cookie-cutter approaches. The client is the agenda. Lead with ‘how do you over-deliver on the outcome you’ve promised’ and demonstrate this to the client. Every client I work with has a completely bespoke strategy we create together. When people can see you’re massively invested in their success it’s far easier to get their commitment and buy in.
- Create tools and assets
Don't just teach - give clients practical resources they can implement immediately. I created custom analytics dashboards, email sequence templates, sales scripts, profiling tools and more. Do the work to accelerate the results and improve your service.
- Focus on transformation, not information
Your programme isn't about dumping information. It's about facilitating real change. I structured my programme to deliver quick wins in the first 30 days, then deeper strategies for long-term growth. This builds momentum, creates even more buy in and catalyses long lasting results.
The key shift was moving from selling my time to selling transformation.
When you truly believe in the value you provide, promoting your high-value offer becomes exciting, not daunting.
You’re inspired to get it in front of the right people, not daunted by downgrading and discounting to the wrong people.
Which of these areas do you need to work on to elevate your offering?
