YouTube: https://youtu.be/l7_FKnUdu_0

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3spE4cK6CocGdUmCIhnfi8?si=sF0TCrOyRfOAZisqPLtaIw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cheer-biz-podcast/id1596523298?i=1000774464449

Stop Chasing New and Start Mastering What Already Works

In this solo episode, host Dan Cotton delivers a candid wake-up call to cheer gym owners about the hidden dangers of entrepreneurial distraction—and why doubling down on your existing programs is almost always the smarter, more profitable move.

Welcome back to the Cheer Biz Podcast. In this solo episode, host Dan Cotton tackles one of the most common pitfalls he sees among gym owners: the relentless pull toward trying something new. Whether it’s launching a ninja program, opening a preschool, or building a dance room without a plan to fill it, Dan argues that the impulse to chase the next opportunity is often rooted in boredom—not business strategy. With humor, honesty, and hard-won experience from running his own gym, Dan lays out five compelling reasons why gym owners need to pump the brakes before adding anything new to their plate.

All Business Is Hard—Every Single One

Dan opens with a confession: he has what he calls “entrepreneurial ADD.” He’s always looking at other businesses and thinking, “That seems easy.” His wife Tori has told him more than once to stop trying to turn everything into a business—including, most recently, their new four-acre property after attending a wedding at a similar venue.

But Dan is quick to point out that this is a trap he’s seen play out across industries, not just cheer. He’s been in rooms with high-achieving business owners—construction, e-commerce, coaching, med spas, law firms—people doing three, five, even ten million dollars a year. And from the outside, every one of those businesses looks simple. It’s only once you get into the trenches that the grit and the grind become visible.

“All business is hard,” Dan says plainly. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s owning a cheer gym, running a choreography company, coordinating judges—they’re all hard.” The old adage that the grass is greener on the other side? Dan’s version: it’s fertilized with manure. Every shiny exterior hides real challenges underneath.

He points to the ninja program wave that hit the cheer industry roughly seven years ago. Everyone was saying it was easy money—just set up some obstacle courses and watch the boys flood in. Some gyms made it work, but many didn’t. The same pattern played out with trampoline parks and frozen yogurt shops. New isn’t a shortcut. Gyms that added ninja classes attracted kids initially, then lost them two months later when the same obstacle course got old. What looked like a simple win turned into a distraction with no lasting return.

Your Attention Is Your Most Valuable Asset

Dan’s second point gets more personal: starting something new has a very high attention cost, and attention is one of your most valuable resources—second only to time. When you launch a new program or venture, you’re not just learning a new skill; you’re pouring focus into something that has no momentum yet, while simultaneously managing everything you already have.

He frames it this way: you could give more attention to a program that already has 150 athletes and grow it to 175 or 200. Or you could redirect that same attention to something brand new and grow it from zero to 10 or 15. Even though the second scenario might feel exciting, you’ve actually grown less—while spending more energy. The math doesn’t lie.

Dan acknowledges that there are seasons in business where pivoting or adding something new is the right call. But for the bulk of gym owners he talks to, that season hasn’t actually arrived. They just haven’t thought it through carefully enough.

You Haven’t Maxed Out What You Already Have

This is Dan’s most direct challenge to gym owners: before you start something new, ask yourself whether you’ve truly optimized what you already offer. Most gyms, he argues, have significant room to improve their existing programs—their All-Star teams, tumbling classes, private lessons, stunting programs, birthday parties, or dance classes—before they need to add anything new to the mix.

Could you improve how you deliver your product? Could you better train your staff? Retain more athletes? Charge more? Grow the programs you already have? These are the questions that should come first. The attention you’d spend on something new would, in most cases, generate far more return if pointed at the things you’re already doing but haven’t yet done as well as you could.

Dan uses his own gym as a real-world example. After moving into a new building, he and his team started two new initiatives: a preschool program and a full dance room. Neither took off. The preschool got some attention but didn’t gain traction. The dance room? It’s now used for birthday parties, overflow tumbling, and jumps and stretch classes—because they don’t have dance instructors and dance is a whole new world they haven’t been able to focus on. Dan doesn’t say this with shame—just honesty. “New is something that’s going to take a lot of attention and effort,” he says. “And we gave it a marginal amount.”

New Doesn’t Automatically Mean Better

Dan’s fourth point is a mindset correction. Much of the time, the desire to try something new is really just a desire to feel excited again. Gym owners get bored. They want to shake things up. But novelty and quality are not the same thing.

He puts it bluntly: a brand new Hyundai isn’t automatically better than a 2024 Mercedes-Benz or Porsche or Toyota Supra. The new version might actually be inferior to the older, more refined version that had years of attention and iteration poured into it. The same logic applies to gym programs. Something new won’t automatically outperform something established, and the risk is double-edged: the new program may not succeed, and your existing programs may suffer because you took your eyes off them.

“New may be a double-edged sword,” Dan says. “You may start something, it doesn’t go well, and then your main product dipped because you took your attention off it.” That’s the scenario every gym owner should be trying to avoid.

You Cannot Master Something You Just Started

Dan’s fifth and final point is simple but important: mastery takes time. You cannot be a master of something brand new. It’s not possible. And yet gym owners will sometimes launch a new program and expect it to perform at the same level as something they’ve been refining for years.

He draws a parallel to the gym floor: when an athlete lands their first back handspring, they don’t have it mastered. Some will fall. Some won’t be consistent. It takes reps, iterations, and time at bat to build real expertise. Business is exactly the same. Starting something new means operating in beginner mode, and beginner mode has a cost—in quality, in efficiency, and in attention.

Dan’s recommendation: master everything you’re already doing first. Cap those things out. Then, if there’s still room and it’s genuinely the right season, explore something new.

Iterating Is Not the Same as Starting Over

Before wrapping up, Dan draws an important distinction that reframes the whole conversation. He’s not saying never change anything. He’s saying to be precise about what kind of change you’re making.

Trying something different is iterating on what you already do. Switching up your Facebook ad creative, testing a new enrollment strategy, splitting a class into two levels—those are refinements. They build on existing knowledge and existing momentum. That’s healthy and necessary.

Starting something truly new—like going from no preschool program to building one from scratch—is a different animal entirely. It requires a different level of commitment, a different depth of expertise, and a much higher attention investment. Gym owners need to be honest with themselves about which category they’re in before they dive in.

Final Thoughts

Dan closes the episode with a gentle reminder that this episode isn’t about limiting growth—it’s about protecting it. The temptation to chase new things is real, and Dan admits he feels it himself. But the gym owners who build lasting, profitable businesses are the ones who resist that temptation long enough to truly master what they’re already doing.

If you’re a gym owner looking to grow your business with the right strategies and a community of peers who get it, head over to the Cheer Gym Owners and All-Star Cheer Coaches and Owners groups on Facebook. You can also learn more about the Next Gen Owners Academy and upcoming Cheer Biz Accelerator events—where you can step inside Dan’s gym or the gyms of coaches Danielle, Rihanna, and Shelly—at nextgenowners.com. Thanks for listening to the Cheer Biz Podcast.