How Retro Prices Can Deliver Cutting-Edge Profits

Being the low-cost provider is never easy--especially when you're a start-up. But the Retro Fitness line of gyms beat the odds. Here's how.

Courtesy of the company

Retro Fitness, an East Coast-based gym franchise, launched its low-priced model in the middle of an economic boom.

 

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A low-cost pricing strategy is tough to swing when you own a small business and there is little scale to economize. You're too small.
Plus, conventional wisdom says a start-up following a low-cost pricing strategy is on a sure path to failure. (If Horace Greeley was alive today he'd say, "Go differentiate, young entrepreneur.")
I fall squarely into that camp. Tell me you're starting a new business in a mature industry and you plan to be the low-cost provider and I'll instinctively cringe. So I found someone who thinks--and definitely acts--differently.
Here's another in a series where I connect with someone smarter than me and discuss a specific topic. (There's a list of previous installments at the end of this article.)
This time I talked about price and value with Eric Casaburi, founder and CEO of Retro Fitness, the rapidly expanding 80s-themed fitness franchise approaching 100 current locations and over 150 by the end of 2013.
You started Retro Fitness during one of the greatest economic booms in history. Yet you dramatically undercut prevailing prices. Why?
There is a pricing vertical in almost every industry: High end, intermediate (which is the worst place to be, especially now), and low cost.
The average gym was offering $39.99 to $49.99 per month memberships. Our approach was, "Do you remember when gyms were affordable?" (In fact that was one of our early tag lines.)
So we bypassed the intermediate level and set our membership price at $19.99. I decided that if we could make money at $19.99, people would fall in love with us.
Low-cost providers are typically no-frills operations--customers accept the trade-off between price and value/service. What did you decide to cut?
We didn't cut anything.
Here's the thing. If you're in retail, unless you are Wal-Mart you don't want to be Wal-Mart. You want to be, say, Target: Nice finish, nice atmosphere, good prices, a little better service--a retail experience done well at a low cost. We want to be Target.
Prospective members often say, "Hold on. You have better treadmills, better TVs, iPod integration, movies, a smoothie bar, great personal trainers. What's the catch?"
It's awesome as a business owner to be able to smile and say, "There is no catch."
Who is your target customer?
When we were starting out, everyone in the industry targeted baby boomers because they have greater spending power. I thought, "Wait. Most of those people might say they want to work out, but they don't actually work out. They would rather relax and have a nice dinner."
So we focused on Generation X: They're educated about physical fitness, they're getting jobs and getting promotions, they're building a family. I understand them because I'm one of them.
Remember, we started out building gyms in suburban New Jersey. Our target audience could afford to pay more, but they loved to say, "You're paying $50 bucks. I'm paying $19.99. And my gym is better." That's our goal: Provide an exceptional value proposition.
Still, you have to keep costs down somewhere.
We do, but not where it touches the customer. For example, I was able to negotiate great deals with vendors because we were growing and scaling and they were smart enough to want to take that ride with us.
Real estate is also a key. One of my best assets is my real estate knowledge and ability to analyze demographics. Sam Walton used to fly over towns and look for steeples and schools. I couldn't afford a plane, so I drove around and sat in parking lots and watched and talked to everyone I could find.
The goal is to find a great location, one that's like being at the corner of Main and Main, yet still be able make a profit. Everything starts with making smart location and real estate decisions.
It also helped that you were willing to open facilities unlike what others built and in locations others wouldn't.
Early on I considered putting a facility in Manahawkin, New Jersey. People said I was crazy: It's a small town (but there was no competition) and everyone else was building 30,000 to 40,000 square foot facilities. Mine was going to be 10,000 square feet.
But it penciled really well. The math worked.
Everyone around me disagreed, including my partner at the time, and I almost walked away. I'm so glad I didn't because that gym catapulted us to success. It was so profitable I was able to hire people I couldn't have afforded, do things I couldn't have done--it really taught me how to operate and basically who to be. It's still a phenomenal gym.
In essence, I decided I would rather have three 10,000 square foot units than one 30,000 square foot unit. That decision made me think seriously about becoming a multi-gym owner and it made me think a lot bigger.
I assume you also offset the low cost of membership by selling additional services and products.
That's another problem in the fitness industry. A lot of gym owners want people to sign up for a membership and then never actually come to the gym.
As a gym owner I want you to come to my gym five times a week, because when you're there you might want a smoothie, tanning sessions, clothing, time with a personal trainer. If you're just sitting at home paying your membership we can't sell you anything. And eventually you'll stop paying your membership because you're not getting anything out of it.
We want members in the gym every day. One, that means they love working out and love our facilities. They'll be long-term customers. Two, that gives us the opportunity to meet even more of their needs.
I get that, but the problem with upselling or "further-selling," a goofy term I heard recently, is that it can be really, really irritating.
If I go to buy a tailored suit the salesperson will try to sell me shirts and ties and belts and everything he can because I may not be back for months. He gets one shot at me. He has to sell hard. I get that.
We see our customers all the time. We get to talk to them, hang out with them, see what they want and need, and then we can support those needs. It's much more seamless and natural. When you're close to your customers you can be what I call a "serviceman," not a salesman.
Say you often order a fat-burning shake at our smoothie bar. I know you're trying to lose weight, so I can recommend other weight loss products. If you often order muscle-building shakes I can hook you up with a personal trainer to make sure your workout regimen gives you the best shot at reaching your fitness goals.
When you frequently see your customers all you have to do is listen, pay attention, and provide the services they need. You don't have to push. You don't even have to ask.
They'll tell you what they need.

How to Take Your Business to New Heights

Do you know what your company can do when you really hustle? Now's the time to find out.

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If, hypothetically, one Saturday evening in 1986, you gave one case of beer each to a local policeman with a radar gun and a less-than-dedicated airport employee willing to look the other way, you might have determined your motorcycle could hit a top speed of 157 miles per hour.
Not without a little hypothetical excitement, though. When you hit about 130 mph, the bike started wobbling like a drunken Slinky. When you accelerated through the 140s into the 150s, you could have been forgiven for thinking that adult diapers just might make a smart addition to your standard motorcycle attire.
Still, when you swung back by the police car and saw the readout on the radar gun, you might have realized the words top end no longer signified a possibility but an achievement.
All hypothetical, of course.
Lots of things are possible. But you can never know what is truly possible for your business unless you make an all-out effort. And you can't make an all-out effort unless you step away from business as usual and the joys of multitasking and all of your daily "stuff" to hit your true top end.
Say you sell and install high-end audiovisual systems. Maybe you describe your business this way: "We provide top-of-the-line multimedia experiences and outstanding service for discriminating customers..."
Sounds good (at least if you're into marketing drivel), but what do you really do?
To turn a profit, every month you need to sell x number of boxes, perform y installations, and invoice z maintenance contracts. 
That's your business: boxes, installations, and maintenance contracts. Without the right combination of x, y, and z, you don't have a business.
Because selling boxes naturally leads to installations and then to maintenance contracts, although you can and probably should tweak the terms of your maintenance agreements to improve revenue (pricing, payment terms, additional value-added services, etc.), just selling more boxes automatically drives new installations and additional maintenance contracts.
So this week, or better yet, this month, focus primarily on sales. Turn admin employees into cold callers and appointment setters. Reconnect with old customers. Increase direct-response advertising spending; forget "branding" and focus on marketing efforts that directly generate leads, appointments, and sales.
Do what it takes to double or even triple your average number of sales calls.
What could happen if your business went all out to determine its true top speed in terms of sales?
Sales are just an example. Maybe productivity is the key driver in your business. Maybe quality is more important than productivity. Decide what you really do, and hold your throttle wide open and find out what is truly possible for your business.
Sound impossible? Then pick something small and knock that out. Go hard for a day or a week, and you'll go home surprised by what you managed to achieve. And you'll be eager for more.
After all, if you combine an empty superspeedway, a Nascar driver able to brush aside the objections of track employees, a few engine modifications, and a total lack of common sense on your part, you might just learn your Hayabusa can reach a top speed of 193 mph.

What Stephen Covey Taught Me About Work and Life

My heart is heavy today. I just learned of the death of one of the most influential individuals in my life, a man who changed the way I think about the world and who guided me toward my current career as a workplace author, speaker, and consultant.
That man is Stephen Covey.
I first came across his most famous work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, when I was researching my first book and was still struggling to succeed as a driven twenty-something in a complex business world.
Several years later, I would be thrilled to collaborate with Stephen on an article for the Wall Street Journal and a webinar I produced on career change.  He graciously wrote the forward for my third book, New Job, New You, and we then co-hosted two events to bring Stephen’s most important ideas to a new generation of professionals.  Throughout our relationship, I was in awe of Stephen’s wisdom and very grateful that he was willing to serve as a mentor to me.
Stephen was turning 80 this year and I hoped he would have many years left to contribute plentifully to the field he pioneered decades ago.  But unfortunately, it was not meant to be.   As I remember him today, I thought I’d call out some of his lifehacks that resonated most with me:

Draw your big picture with a personal mission statement

Too often, we drift through our lives like sailboats – meandering aimlessly from one thing to another. This is how I operated for my first few years out of college – until Stephen came into my life. He taught me to be purposeful about my life and work and to think hard about what I wanted to be (character), what I wanted to do (contributions), and the values I held dear. I have adjusted my personal mission statement over the years, but I’ve never forgotten about it. It’s my compass, and it reminds me where I’m going during bad days and setbacks.

Act rather than be acted upon

We are responsible for making things happen in our lives. If you wait around until the economy gets better or your kids are grown up to pursue your dream career, you may never get there. I used to complain that circumstances were preventing me from my goals, until Stephen showed me that I would be more successful if I focused on generating solutions rather than calling out problems.  And to this day, I try never to get stuck in what Dr. Seuss calls “the waiting place.”

Get people to cooperate through win/win

People don’t care what you need to do – they want to know what’s in it for them. When you don’t have direct authority over people, think about what would make them want to do what you’re asking. By devising a win/win proposition, you get what you need and the other person gets what she needs. Everyone benefits and feels good about the interaction.

Revitalize your life and work by sharpening the saw

Stephen’s concept of taking time for self-renewal in times of stress and change is of particular importance today when the business world is tougher than ever. When you work so hard that you burn out, you’re not helping anyone. Thanks to Stephen’s influence, I have tried to lead a balanced life, carving out time for my physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual pursuits so that I bring my most authentic and effective self to my work.
Thank you Stephen Covey for the difference you’ve already made and will continue to make in millions of lives. You will be missed.

Modern Mayans

In spite of the invasion of foreign tourism, Mayan culture has remained amazingly intact. Many of the Yucatan Mayans whose ancestors were hunters, chicle farmers and fisherman now work in hotels and other tourist related businesses. More than 350,000 Mayans living in the Yucatan speak Yukatek Mayans and most speak Spanish as a second language, primarily learned in school.
The clothing worn is as it was in the past. It is relatively easy to determine the village in which the clothing was made by the the type of embroidery, color, design and shape.
Mayans women can be seen wearing huipils, simple cotton dresses decorated with embroidery. The designs in their embroidery and weaving can be traced back to pre-Columbian times.
Although Mayans in other parts of Central America choose to limit contact with outside influences, Mayans working in the tourist industry are generally open to conversation with polite strangers and if asked will teach you a Mayan phrase or two.
In the Indian communities, as it was with their Mayan ancestors, the basic staple diet is corn.
Mayan dialects of Qhuche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, and Mam are still spoken today, although the majority of Indians also speak Spanish.

Maya Civilization Wikipedia

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The Maya were resourceful in harnessing energy, creating amazingly sophisticated works of art and engineering and sustaining a civilization for approximately 1,500 years. It has been shown that the Maya had attributes of the supernatural, and were masters of their environment. Their secret wisdom remains unknown, some people attributing it to extraterrestrials races, whose space ships are seen to this very day in Central and South America.
As with ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, Mayan rulers filled vast cities with sky high pyramids, ornate and lavish palaces personifying the power of the great kings and their connections to the gods, and astronomical observatories which helped them created their calendars and plan their lives.
The cause of the Mayan collapse came over decades with no one quite sure what happened. There is no one single explanation for this implosion, but some scholars seem to believe that environmental catastropy lead to a full blown meltdown - lack of food and polluted water which produced malnutrition and disease.
As with all civilizations, we discover that their Gods - like those some people worship today our Gods - did not help - as they do not exist - only our own consciousness to guide us in the wastelands of realities.
Mayan archaeology is coming into it's Golden Age with the help of satellite imagery and photography. There are innumerable Mayan cities, temples, and settlements still to be discovered. We have learned that the Maya were an innovative, creative, and majestic people with their own particular taste for violence. The allure of the Maya is coming to the fore. Like the mystique of Egypt, people are drawn to the land of the Maya, each year. There is something they are guided to find, perhaps linked to major planetary grid points that awaken consciousness.
Could other attractions to the land of the Maya include:

• Mayan architecture with its serene palaces and temples
• the intricacies of hieroglyphs and art in a complex writing system
• the astounded comprehension of astronomy and mathematics with a concept of zero unparalleled in antiquity
• is it simply because these remarkable people carved magnificent cities, not just villages and towns, right out of some of the most inhospitable landscape in the entire world? In the rain forest between Honduras and the Yucatan, there are literally thousands of Maya sites that remain untouched. In Palanque alone there are approximately 1,550 buildings that lie unexcavated with endless archaeological treasures yet to be found.

Quetzalcoatl

Post Classic Period - 1000 - 1500 AD - Growth and Ruin

After the Classic period, the Mayans migrated to the Yucat‡n peninsula. There they developed their own character, although their accomplishments and artwork are not considered as impressive as the Classic Mayans. Most of the ruins you can see South of Cancun are from this time period and are definitely worth a visit.
Chichen Itza (near Valladolid), Uxmal (near Merida) and Mayansp‡n (west of Chichen Itza) were the three most important cities during the Post Classic period. They lived in relative peace from around 1000 - 1100 AD when Mayansp‡n overthrew the confederation and ruled for over 200 years. In 1441 the Mayans who had previously ruled Uxmal destroyed the city of Mayansp‡n and founded a new city at Mani. Wars were fought between rival Mayansn groups over the territory until the region was conquered by the Spanish.
Chichen Itza was first populated between 500 and 900 AD by Mayans and for some reason abandoned around 900, the city was then resettled 100 years later and subsequently invaded by Toltecs from the North. There are numerous reliefs of both Mayan gods including Chac and the Toltec gods including Quetzalcoatl.
For some reason the city was abandoned around 1300. If the Spanish did not make it a policy to kill all of the Mayan priests and burn books when they arrived in Mexico, we would all have a few more answers.

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Post Columbian Period - Conquest and Rebellion (1500 AD)

On his second voyage Columbus heard of Yucatan as a distant country of clothed men. On his fifth voyage (1503-04) he encountered, south-west of Cuba, a canoe-load of Indians with cotton clothing for barter, who said that they came from the ancient Mayan civilization.
In 1506 Pinzon sighted the coast, and in 1511 twenty men under Valdivia were wrecked on the shores of the sacred island of Cozumel, several being captured and sacrificed to the idols.
The Spanish colonization of the islands of Hispaniola and Cuba allowed them to launch exploratory forays around the Caribbean. C—rdoba discovered Isla Mujeres in 1517 and sailed down the Yucat‡n Gulf coast to were he suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Mayans. CortŽs set sail in 1519 and landed in Veracruz. He conquered the Aztecs in a year, but it took another 20 years to conquer the Yucat‡n. In 1526 Francisco Montejo set out to conquer the Yucatan.
The Mayans fought the invaders for 20 years, but eventually succumbed. The Mayans were slaughtered during the battles with the Spaniards, but imported European diseases decimated the population. The Mayans were moved into villages and paid heavy taxes to the Spanish government. There were periodic rebellions against the Spanish.
The Yucatan Mayans launched a major uprising starting in July 1847 called the Caste War. The Spanish were distracted by the war between the US and Mexico and nearly lost the peninsula. The Mayans attacked Spanish villages armed by English settlers from Belize and with guns distributed to defend Yucat‡n's secession in 1846. They regained 90% of their lands and held all of the Yucat‡n except Campeche and Merida.
At the height of their revolutionary success, the Mayans inexplicably withdrew to their villages - reputedly to plant corn for the season. The war with the US ended in 1848 and reinforcements were sent to the Yucat‡n, where they drove the Mayans back to Chan Santa Cruz. The Mayans resisted for several years, but disease and weapons shortages forced them to surrender in 1901.
After 50 years of independence, their lands became federal territory. In reality, the Southern and Eastern half of the peninsula remained a virtual no man's land to outsiders where the Mayans lived almost as they pleased. This changed in the late 1960s when coastal development began.
Father Alonso Gonzalez, who accompanied this expedition, found opportunity at one landing to explore a temple, and bring off some of the sacred images and gold ornaments. In 1518 a strong expedition under Juan de Grijalva, from Cuba, landed near Cozumel and took formal possession for Spain.
For Father Juan Diaz, who on this occasion celebrated Mass upon the summit of one of the heathen temples, the honour is also claimed of having afterwards been the first to celebrate mass in the City of Mexico.
Near Cozumel, also, was rescued the young monk Aguilar, one of the two survivors of Valdivia's party, who, though naked to the breech-cloth, still carried his Breviary in a pouch. Proceeding northwards, Grijaba made the entire circuit of the peninsula before returning, having had another desperate engagement with the Mayans near Campeche.
After the conquest of Mexico in 1521, Francisco de Montejo, under commission as Governor of Yucatan, landed (1527) to effect the conquest of the country, but met with such desperate resistance that after eight years of incessant fighting every Spaniard had been driven out. In 1540, after two more years of the same desperate warfare, his son Francisco established the first Spanish settlement at Campeche.
In the next year, in a bloody battle at Tihoo, he completely broke the power of Mayans resistance, and a few months later (Jan., 1542) founded on the site of the ruined city the new capital, MŽrida. In 1546, however, there was a general revolt, and it was not until a year later that the conquest was assured.
In the original commission to Montejo it had been expressly stipulated that missionaries should accompany all his expeditions. This, however, he had neglected to attend to, and in 1531 (or 1534), by special order, Father Jacobo de Testera and four others were sent to join the Spanish camp near Campeche.
They met a kindly welcome from the Indians, who came with their children to be instructed, and thus the conquest of the country might have been effected through spiritual agencies but for the outrages committed by a band of Spanish outlaws, in consequence of which the priests were forced to withdraw.
In 1537 five more missionaries arrived and met the same willing reception, remaining about two years in spite of the war still in progress. About 1545 a large number of missionaries were sent over from Spain. Several of these - apparently nine, all Franciscans - under the direction of Father Luis de Villalpando, were assigned to Yucatan.
Landing at Campeche, the governor explained their purpose to the chiefs, the convent of St. Francis was dedicated on its present site, and translations were begun into the native language. The first baptized convert was the chief of Campeche, who learned Spanish and thereafter acted as interpreter for the priests.
Here, as elsewhere, the missionaries were the champions of the rights of the Indians. In consequence of their repeated protests a royal edict was issued, in 1549, prohibiting Indian slavery in the province, while promising compensation to the slave owners.
As in other cases, local opposition defeated the purpose of this law; but the agitation went on, and in 1551 another royal edict liberated 150,000 male Indian slaves, with their families, throughout Mexico.
In 1557 and 1558 the Crown intervened to restrain the tyranny of the native chiefs. Within a very short time Father Villalpando had at his mission station at MŽrida over a thousand converts, including several chiefs.
He himself, with Father Malchior de Benavente, then set out, barefoot, for the city of Mani in the mountains farther south, where their success was so great that two thousand converts were soon engaged in building them a church and dwelling. All went well until they began to plead with the chiefs to release their vassals from certain hard conditions, when the chiefs resolved to burn them at the altar.
On the appointed night the chiefs and their retainers approached the church with this design, but were awed from their purpose on finding the two priests, who had been warned by an Indian boy, calmly praying before the crucifix. After remaining all night in prayer, the fathers were fortunately rescued by a Spanish detachment which, almost miraculously, chanced to pass that way.
Twenty-seven of the conspirators were afterwards seized and condemned to death, but were all saved by the interposition of Villalpando.
In 1548-49 other missionaries arrived from Spain, Villalpando was made custodian of the province, and a convent was erected near the site of his chapel at Mani. The Yucatan field having been assigned to the Franciscans, all the missionary work among the Mayans was done by priests of that order.
In 1561 Yucatan was made a diocese with its see at MŽrida.
1562 - the famous Diego de Landa, Franciscan provincial, and afterwards bishop (1573-79), becoming aware that the natives throughout the peninsula still secretly cherished their ancient rites, instituted an investigation, which he conducted with such cruelties of torture and death that the proceedings were stopped by order of Bishop Toral Franciscan provincial of Mexico, immediately upon his arrival, during the same summer, to occupy the See of MŽrida.
Before this could be done, however, there had been destroyed, as is asserted, two million sacred images and hundreds of hieroglyphic manuscripts - practically the whole of the voluminous native Mayans literature. As late as 1586 a royal edict was issued for the suppression of idolatry.
In 1575-77 a terrible visitation of a mysterious disease, called matlalzahuatl, which attacked only the Indians, swept over Southern Mexico and Yucatan, destroying, as was estimated, over two million lives. This was its fourth appearance since the conquest.
At its close it was estimated that the whole Indian population of Mexico had been reduced to about 1,700,000 souls. In 1583 and 1597 there were local revolts under chiefs of the ancient Cocom royal family. By this latter date it was estimated that the native population of Mexico had declined by three-fourths since the discovery, through massacre, famine, disease, and oppression.
Up to 1593 over 150 Franciscan monks had been engaged in missionary work in Yucatan.
The Mayans history of the seventeenth century is chiefly one of revolutions, viz., 1610-33, 1636-44, 1653, 1669, 1670, and about 1675.
Of all these, that of 1636-44 was the most extensive and serious, resulting in a temporary revival of the old heathen rites. In 1697 the island capital of the Itz‡, in Lake PetŽn, Guatemala, was stormed by Governor Mart’n de Ursua, and with it fell the last stronghold of the independent Mayans. Here, also, the manuscripts discovered were destroyed.
In 1728 Bishop Juan Gomez Parada died, beloved by the Indians for the laws which he had procured mitigating the harshness of their servitude. The reimposition of the former hard conditions brought about another revolt in 1761, led by the chief Jacinto Canek, and ending, as usual, in the defeat of the Indians, the destruction of their chief stronghold, and the death of their leader under horrible torture.
In 1847, taking advantage of the Government's difficulties with the United States, and urged on by their "unappeasable hatred toward their ruler from the earliest time of the Spanish conquest", the Mayans again broke out in general rebellion, with the declared purpose of driving all the whites, half-breeds and negroes from the peninsula, in which they were so far successful that all the fugitives who escaped the wholesale massacres fled to the coast, whence most of them were taken off by ships from Cuba. Arms and ammunition for the rising were freely supplied to the Indians by the British traders of Belize.
In 1851 the rebel Mayans established their headquarters at Chan-Santa-Cruz in the eastern part of the peninsula. In 1853 it seemed as if a temporary understanding had been reached, but next year hostilities began again. Two expeditions against the Mayans stronghold were repulsed, Valladolid was besieged by the Indians, Yecax taken, and more than two thousand whites massacred.
In 1860 the Mexican Colonel Acereto, with 3,000 men occupied Chan-Santa-Cruz, but was finally compelled to retire with the loss of 1,500 men killed, and to abandon his wounded - who were all butchered - as well as his artillery and supplies and all but a few hundred stand of small arms.
The Indians burned and ravaged in every direction, nineteen flourishing towns being entirely wiped out, and the population in three districts being reduced from 97,000 to 35,000. The war of extermination continued, with savage atrocities, through 1864, when it gradually wore itself out, leaving the Indians still unsubdued and well supplied with arms and munitions of war from Belize.
1868 - fighting broke out again in resistance to the Juarez government.
1871 - a Mexican force again occupied Chan-Santa-Cruz, but retired without producing any permanent result.
1901 - after long preparation, a strong Mexican force invaded the territory of the independent Mayans both by land and sea, stormed Chan-Santa-Cruz and, after determined resistance, drove the defenders into the swamps.
1910 - Mexican troops put down a serious rising in the northern part of the peninsula.

Mayan Classic Period - 300-900 AD

Most artistic and cultural achievement came about during the Classic period 300 - 900 AD. The Mayans developed a complex, hierarchical society divided into classes and professions. Centralized governments, headed by a king, ruled territories with clearly defined boundaries. These borders changed as the various states lost and gained control over territory. Mayansn centers flourished in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The major cities of the Classic period were Tikal (Guatemala), Palenque and Yaxchil‡n (Chiapas, Mexico), Cop‡n and Quirigua (Honduras). For most of this period, the majority of the Mayans population lived in the central lowlands of Mexico and Belize.
The Northern Yucatan (where present day Cancun is located) was sparsely populated for most of the Classic period with only a few cities such as Dzibilchaltœn (near MŽrida) and Xpuhil, Bec‡n and Chicann‡ (near Chetumal). During the 9th century the population centers of the central lowlands declined significantly. This decline was very rapid and is attributed to famine, drought, breakdowns in trade, and political fragmentation. Fragmentation from large states into smaller city-states focused resources on rivalries between cities including not just wars, but competitions of architecture and art between rival cities. As the cities in the lowlands declined, urban centers sprung up in the Northern Yucat‡n, including Uxmal (near MŽrida).
Anthropologists used to contrast the "peaceful" Mayans with the bloodthirsty Aztecs of central Mexico. Although human sacrifice was not as important to the Mayans as to the Aztec, blood sacrifice played a major role in their religion. Individuals offered up their blood, but not necessarily their lives, to the gods through painful methods using sharp instruments such as sting-ray spines or performed ritualistic self mutilation. It is probable that people of all classes shed their blood during religious rites. The king's blood sacrifice was the most valuable and took place more frequently. The Mayans were warlike and raided their neighbors for land, citizens, and captives. Some captives were subjected to the double sacrifice where the victims heart was torn out for the sun and head cut off to pour blood out for the earth.
The Mayansn civilization was the height of pre-Columbian culture. They made significant discoveries in science, including the use of the zero in mathematics. Their writing was the only in America capable of expressing all types of thought. Glyphs either represent syllables or whole concepts and were written on long strips of paper or carved and painted on stone. They are arranged to be red from left to right and top to bottom in pairs of columns. The Mayansn calendar begins around 3114 BC, before Mayans culture existed, and could measure time well into the future. They wrote detailed histories and used their calendar to predict the future and astrological events. Fray Diego de Landa, second bishop of the Yucat‡n ordered a mass destruction of Mayansn books in 1562 and only three survived.

Mayan History

The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, El Salvador, and northern Belize.
Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Mayans developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. The Mayans were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools. They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. The Mayans were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples.
Many people believe that the ancestors of the Mayans crossed the Bering Strait at least 20,000 years ago. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Evidence of settled habitation in Mexico is found in the Archaic period 5000-1500 BC - corn cultivation, basic pottery and stone tools.
The first true civilization was established with the rise of the Olmecs in the Pre-Classic period 1500 BC -300 AD. The Olmecs settled on the Gulf Coast, and little is known about them.
The Mayans are regarded as the inventors of many aspects of Meso-American cultures including the first calendar and hieroglyphic writing in the Western hemisphere. Archeologists have not settled the relationship between the Olmecs and the Mayans, and it is a mystery whether the Mayans were their descendants, trading partners, or had another relationship. It is agreed that the Mayans developed a complex calendar and the most elaborate form of hieroglyphics in America, both based on the Olmec's versions.
Mayans seem to have entered Yucatan from the west. As usual with ancient nations, it is difficult in the beginning to separate myth from history, their earliest mentioned leader and deified hero, Itzamn‡, being considered to be simply a sun-god common to the Mayan civilization. He is represented as having led the first migration from the Far East, beyond the ocean, along a pathway miraculously opened through the waters.
The second migration, which seems to have been historic, was led from the west by Kukulcan, a miraculous priest and teacher, who became the founder of the Mayan kingdom and civilization. Fairly good authority, based upon study of the Mayans chronicles and calendar, places this beginning near the close of the second century of the Christian Era.
Under Kukulcan the people were divided into four tribes, ruled by as many kingly families: the Cocom, Tutul-xiu, Itz‡ and Chele.
To the first family belonged Kukulcan himself, who established his residence at Mayanspan, which thus became the capital of the whole nation. The Tutul-xiu held vassal rule at Uxmal, the Itz‡ at Chichen-Itz‡, and the ChelŽ at Izamal.
To the Chele was appointed the hereditary high priesthood, and their city became the sacred city of the Mayans. Each provincial king was obliged to spend a part of each year with the monarch at Mayapan. This condition continued down to about the eleventh century, when, as the result of a successful revolt of the provincial kings, Mayapan was destroyed, and the supreme rule passed to the Tutul-xiu at Uxmal.
Later on Mayapan was rebuilt and was again the capital of the nation until about the middle of the fifteenth century, when, in consequence of a general revolt against the reigning dynasty, it was finally destroyed, and the monarchy was split up into a number of independent petty states, of which eighteen existed on the peninsula at the arrival of the Spaniards.
In consequence of this civil war a part of the Itz‡ emigrated south to Lake PetŽn, in Guatemala, where they established a kingdom with their capital and sacred city of Flores Island in the lake.