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Hi fellow practitioners. My brother and I are kicking around the idea of opening a jiu jitsu gym. Neither of us are certified to teach. The concept would be just a training center where people can come to practice. Of course my ultimate goal would be to teach. Anyway, any thoughts on if this could be successful? I was thinking of charging $25/month to use the gym. There is no jiu jitsu school in my city. Thanks!
My brother and I opened up our own gym when I had been training for about 10 years and we had both been competing for like 7 or 8 years. We currently charge $40 per month.
Honestly, the best route is probably just to start making the drive to the closest moon, work your way into running a hotbox, and then progress from there. But, I can tell you what we did if you are interested.
I understand keeping it affordable but make sure you're charging what you're worth regardless if you hold no rank. The downside to only charging $25 would be people looking at it them saying "that's cheap. I wonder what's wrong with them"
That's one question. Matt says it would be "a training center where people can come to practice" and that he would be "charging $25/month to use the gym".Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent Smith
Maybe he is not planning on offering instruction at first and people would just be paying to use the mat.
How much experience do you guys have, Matt?
Make it less of a club and more of a place to learn. Dirtbags/Spaz-belts get in way too easy if it's just a "rolling" club. Charge what makes you money, not just what pays the bills, and get good at bjj man. These things allow you to hold a place down when competition enters your city. If there's no bjj in your particular city, you'll have some bad practice going on. You gotta get good if not already.
If no one is going to teach, I'd make it invite only and not charge. It will just be some buddy's getting better. You see all these threads on here where people ask about how to deal with D-bags? No leader means no way to do that. It would be dangerous for you students or whatever you would call them... I wouldn't open it to people you don't know OR charge until someone is ready to teach and run/ control the class. There is a reason why almost every gym requires someone of a certain experience to be there even on an open mat... Your looking at opening fight club lol. Charging would make it way worse because people would fill entitled/like you owe them something and would probably be less open to your safety advise. Keep in mind, the average person who comes in is usually more wanting to test themselves that study hard from online martial or something at an open mat.
Again, sorry if this was blunt and hope this helps!!!
Thats your brother that you do the podcast with? Whens the next episode? You're going to wait until metamoris 3 is stale? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Hanley
Depends what your aims are… if you want to have a gym with a few people to train with then your idea is probably not far off. Get people your kind of age/size/goals in the door and explain to them you are only looking to make enough to keep the place open.
If you are looking to make a living you need to think bigger. Do you kick box? Know much about S&C? MMA Fighters / BJJ Competitors are your smallest market by far. You want to think about how you will make your gym marketable to kids (main money bringers in most Martial Arts gyms - more about reaching the parents), women who want to get fit but not compete (second biggest - need results), casual Martial Artists (third biggest market - these guys you need to keep interested) and competitors (by far the smallest market - you need to teach stuff that works).
Start a club that works on developmental classes. Not a gym, but a club. I did that with sambo, over the years, and now have more international comp experience in sambo than the overwhelming majority of players in the United States, official affiliation with the two major sambo organizations here, hours upon hours of training at seminars here and in Russia, and I have never not placed at a domestic tournament.
We have a strong club now, with some of the best players in the US. And honestly, sometimes people talk shit, or question my legitimacy, or tell everyone how they tapped me (which has little to do with real sambo) years ago, or whatever. And honestly, sometimes it hurts, or is discouraging, especially since I have put so much blood, sweat, and tears (literally) into the sport.
Fuck them, though. I'm doing what I love, and now there's a place in Austin to train real sambo.
Is your gym more like a training studio, or a gym with wieghts and mat space? You should look for your closest moon head and train with them as much as you can. Even if you don't want to teach, its your gym and your in charge. I'm a Manager at Bender's gym, but our 10th planet school is inside Bender's. Brandon our head coach definetly runs the show here, I mainly stay in the office signing people up and taking care of paperwork. I love my job, I don't know alot of people that can say that. Meanwhile you enjoy this sport and truly want to share the Martial arts with others you can go as far as you want bro..
Thanks for the responses guys... Time to train and I'll get back to you. I still have some things to ask.
Yeah, Patrick is my brother. Maybe if we mentioned that more often it would give a little more context to the stories we tell on the podcast.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaron Gustaveson
It's mainly just scheduling. Between our day jobs and running the gym, it's a time crunch. But we'll get on it soon!
We've been teaching ourselves through video for a few years. And yes, I was just planning on them paying to use the mats...Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Hanley
Many thanks for your responses.
My plan is just to have mats to roll on. Maybe a couple heavy bags. People can come in and practice what they are learning. I was in Brazil training at Costha's gym. My brother and I practice the MTS drills. So we are always seeking out techniques to try. There is a large military base here and a small special forces compound. Love to get some of those guys in. People would know up front that it's a training center and I don't/can't promote with belts.
I love the idea! I live near Ft. Bragg, NC and don't see any 10th planet moons here. I have often thought about renting out a space and then trying to get a skilled purple/above belt in to do the teaching and maybe try to offer room/board/transportation or something to make it worth the person's time. I can relate to what you are trying to do and wish you the best of luck!
Greg