The Cheer Biz Podcast

Tryouts Are Closer Than You Think

Tryouts are closer than you think—and if parents don’t trust your team placements, the day after tryouts can turn into emails, angry calls, and families threatening to quit. In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, Dan Cotton breaks down how to build trust in your placement decisions before tryouts even happen by tightening your systems and educating parents early.


Dan shares how his gym went from dreading team announcement day to having only a handful of post-placement conversations—by clarifying expectations, creating a skills rubric (low/medium/high range), and changing the tryout process so coaches evaluate athletes over time instead of a quick snapshot.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

Create a clear tumbling + execution rubric so parents understand what “level-ready” really means

Use level evaluations + 2–3 weeks of level practices to place teams with more confidence and accuracy

Educate families on stunting roles, team needs, and why placements aren’t only about tumbling

Reduce entitlement and confusion by explaining your methodology upfront

Protect your time by preventing placement blowups before they start

If you’re a cheer gym owner, director, or coach, this episode gives you a practical placement system that builds parent buy-in, improves team quality, and makes tryout season calmer for everyone.

Why Boys Don’t Join Your Gym

Want more male athletes in your cheer gym? In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, Dan Cotton breaks down what actually works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to building a strong coed cheer program. Dan shares lessons learned over eight years of running coed teams—from the early “all-girl gym” days to growing a true boys pipeline—and explains why most gyms struggle to recruit male cheerleaders in the first place.

You’ll learn how to:

Make it obvious online that your gym is open to boys through branding, content, and messaging

Use stunting as the gateway to get boys hooked quickly

Run open stunt sessions and create low-pressure entry points for new male athletes

Fully integrate boys into the sport instead of letting them “stunt only”

Motivate boys through competition, strength, community, and responsibility

Avoid the common mistakes that backfire, including “boys cheer for free” and out-of-town recruiting

If you’re a cheer gym owner, director, or coach who wants more coed opportunities, stronger stunting groups, and a healthier pipeline of male athletes, this episode gives you the real strategy to make it happen.

Why Parents Don’t “Trust the Process”

In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, Dan Cotton sits down with Chris Rack, owner of Cheer Athletics Chicago, a former corporate executive who left a high-level leadership career to build a cheer gym—and challenge the status quo. Chris shares what happens when you bring sales and marketing systems, speed-to-lead, and world-class customer service into an industry that often struggles with communication.

You’ll hear how Chris built processes to respond to leads quickly, why “trust the process” frustrates parents when the process isn’t explained, and how his gym earned a wave of five-star Google reviews in its first months by obsessing over the customer experience. He also breaks down how to create buy-in with athletes and staff, why fear-based coaching is fading, and what modern athletes need from gym owners now.

If you’re a cheer gym owner, director, or coach looking to improve communication, retention, culture, and growth, this episode is packed with practical ideas you can implement immediately.

Culture Misalignment: The Breaking Point

In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, Dan Cotton breaks down a tough question every cheer gym owner eventually faces: when should you fire a customer and end the relationship? Dan shares why he’s not a fan of the “Bye Felicia” mentality, but also explains the two situations where letting someone go is not only justified—it’s necessary to protect your business, staff, and gym culture.

You’ll learn how to handle:

Nonpayment and why allowing multiple missed months creates a hole most families can’t climb out of

Culture and values misalignment, including gossip, public negativity, and rumor-spreading that poisons trust

When to have a sit-down conversation vs. when it’s time to part ways

How to set clear expectations so you don’t enable entitlement or inconsistency

Why educating new families (and re-educating long-time ones) prevents problems before they escalate

If you’re a cheer gym owner, director, or program manager, this episode gives you a clear framework to protect your culture, enforce standards with professionalism, and make the hard decision the right way.

Beat Everyone at Social Media in 2026

In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, Dan Cotton shares the exact strategies cheer gym owners need to excel at social media in 2026—without obsessing over vanity metrics like likes and followers. If you’re a local, service-based business, the goal isn’t going viral nationwide. The goal is building trust, staying visible in your community, and turning attention into leads, registrations, and revenue.

Dan breaks down how to use AI the right way (and what to avoid), why you need a presence across multiple platforms, and how to post more content than feels comfortable so your ideal families actually see you. He also explains how to leverage your best content creators—your athletes and staff—and why consistent engagement on other people’s posts builds goodwill, reach, and algorithm momentum.

If you want your gym to grow faster in 2026, this episode gives you a clear plan to build a stronger online presence, create better content, and show up confidently without worrying about what other gym owners think.

How to Be Your Gym Owner’s Favorite Coach

In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, host Dan Cotton pulls back the curtain on the real-life behaviors that drive gym owners and managers absolutely crazy—and what great employees do instead. As the owner of three companies with over 75 employees and a consultant to more than 150 gyms, Dan has seen the same patterns over and over again.

He breaks down the most common staff habits that quietly erode trust and culture: showing up late or unprepared, calling out right before a shift, leaving mats and equipment out, walking past overflowing trash, gossiping on the floor, starting and ending classes off-schedule, ignoring curriculum, and asking for more hours only to turn them down when offered.

You’ll learn:

How late arrivals and last-minute call-outs wreck operations and trust

Why “that’s not my job” thinking hurts the entire gym

How gossip and venting in the gym poison your culture

Why time, cleanliness, and curriculum matter more than you think

How to become the coach owners want to promote and pour into

If you’re a cheer gym owner, director, or coach, this episode is part vent session, part leadership training—and a must-listen before your next staff meeting or hiring push.

AI Mistakes Cheer Gym Owners Make

AI is powerful—but it can also make you look unprofessional, confuse your customers, and cost you real money if you use it wrong. In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, host Dan Cotton breaks down the five biggest AI blunders he sees cheer gym owners making right now—and how to avoid them.

Dan shares real examples from his own businesses and from gym owners who have relied on bad automations, untrained chatbots, and generic AI business advice. From cringe-worthy auto-responders and risky AI chat on your website to using tools like ChatGPT for pricing, finances, and copy-paste emails you never even proofread, Dan shows you where AI goes wrong and how to use it safely and strategically instead.

You’ll learn:

Why lazy auto-responders are quietly turning off leads

The danger of plugging in untrained AI chatbots for parents and prospects

Why generic AI advice on pricing, profit, and opening a gym can lead you into bad debt

How copy-paste AI content makes you sound fake—and how to fix it

What “AI hallucinations” are and why you must verify anything it tells you

If you’re a cheer gym owner, director, or coach who wants to use AI to save time and grow smarter—without embarrassing mistakes—this episode is your practical guide to using AI as a tool, not a trap.

The Boundary Blueprint: Family Atmosphere Without the Mess

Can your gym feel like family without turning messy? In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, Dan Cotton shares how to build a genuine family atmosphere with standards, consequences, and clarity—so you’re loved and respected. He walks through the early years of blurring lines with friends-turned-staff, the painful lessons (including a real embezzlement case and what it cost), and the systems that now keep his teams connected, accountable, and drama-free. You’ll learn how to set role expectations, hold compassionate but firm conversations, and avoid the entitlement that burns owners out. If you’re a cheer gym owner, director, or coach, this is your blueprint for a healthy, high-trust culture that actually performs.

You’ll learn:

Where “family feel” goes wrong—and how to fix it with clear roles and consequences.

The difference between empowering staff and enabling inconsistency.

A simple framework for tough talks that protect standards without losing heart.

Why “loyalty without accountability is dependency,” and how to reset expectations.

Your 2026 Game Plan Starts Now

We’re closing out 2025 with a hard look at the habits that quietly stall growth—and how to fix them before 2026. In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, Dan Cotton lays out the five biggest blockers holding cheer gym owners back (plus a bonus): weak websites and marketing, inconsistent social media, lack of patience and consistency, focusing on the wrong things, not protecting your time and health, and misusing AI. Expect clear examples, tough love, and a step-by-step plan you can put to work today.

You’ll learn how to:

Turn your site into a lead-gen machine and stop guessing at what works in Facebook/Instagram ads.

Build a daily content cadence that actually drives inquiries (and why three posts a day isn’t crazy).

Trade “quick wins” for repeatable systems and patience that compounds.

Refocus on goals, staff development, enrollment, and routine quality—what truly moves the needle.

Guard your energy: sleep, fuel, move, and batch work to reclaim hours each week.

Use AI as a scalpel (not a hammer) to edit, iterate, and speed execution—without losing your voice.

If you run a cheer gym, tumbling program, or youth sports facility, this is your blueprint to grow enrollment, strengthen culture, and hit your 2026 goals with clarity.

Culture First, Banners Later

In this episode of the Cheer Biz Podcast, Dan Cotton sits down with Ashley Newberry, gym director at Dream Extreme All-Stars in Vacaville, CA—Miss California, children’s book author, and culture-builder behind one of NorCal’s fastest-growing programs. Ashley shares how a single private lesson snowballed into camps, classes, and a full program; how her team moved from a shared gymnastics space into a cheer-focused facility; and why putting safety, belonging, and communication first created explosive, sustainable growth.

You’ll learn:

The Novice-3 “bridge year” strategy that helped a Junior 2 group confidently step into Level 3—without burning them out.

Practical ways to educate parents on attendance, stunting math, and score sheet realities to protect team opportunity.

How a cheer sister program and all-gym “pink practice” build cross-team community and retention.

Systems for monthly newsletters, read-tracking, and message consistency across platforms.

Why “confidence and character over trophies” is a winning business strategy.

If you’re a cheer gym owner, program director, or coach, this conversation gives you a playbook to level up divisions, communicate like a pro, and grow a gym families trust.