That moment when...

[Nick Paul]

Teaching jiu jitsu full time is living the dream, if there's one thing I've gathered from coaches and gym owners, it's that you just have to go for it. It's a long journey for sure but there's really nothing stopping you, best of luck to you bro. Hopefully all of us who have this passion can make it happen

[Kevin Hughes]

Teaching jiu jitsu full time is living the dream, if there's one thing I've gathered from coaches and gym owners, it's that you just have to go for it. It's a long journey for sure but there's really nothing stopping you, best of luck to you bro. Hopefully all of us who have this passion can make it happen

It is definitely the ultimate dream, and I think you're right. You just have to fully commit to it. Victory or Valhalla. I appreciate it immensely, man.

[Andrew Alexander]

Honestly I started in a spare bedroom on impact mats. I studied my ass off, whether it was mastering the rubber guard book mts or the DVD I make it a point study everyday. Like Brent said it's an obsession, I often lose sleep thinking of comp. scenarios, what I'm going to show my students my future and goals. I honestly think you will be a moon head and an amazing teacher. Just the fact that you drove 800 miles round trip woke up at 5 am to catch the cal train in to SF to go see Denny with me on 24hrs notice just proves your dedication. Your an amazing student and a sponge Kevin, super proud of you buddy and I'm glad you caught the bug. Keep grinding. I was a no name blue belt out of some small city nobody even knows about, and I grind to make you and the rest of the 10PGP killers the best you can be. Keep doing your thing and work night and day toward this goal. I know you can do it

[Ken Lowery]

All I'm sying is South Mississippi could use a moon. Getting real tired of seeing Gracie United shirts walking around here.

[Amir Allam]

I feel you man. I'm about to graduate with a bachelor's in biology and have opportunities to go to grad school...

If you can get full support (fairly common in the hard sciences), then I advise that you go to grad school, get a degree or two, have a ball. I can't think of a job that can give you more flexibility to not just train constantly, but also to live in an analytical headspace wherein you're dissecting every action with the goal of continually improving your life. Grad school is a trajectory, a teleological system that readily complements martial pursuits. In addition, it is really difficult to get rid of a shitty graduate student who isn't *too* shitty; the time-consuming process is more like starving a plant of sunlight than putting foot to ass.

I know a guy who started jiujitsu when he moved to LA for grad school. After a rigorously scientific but difficult social year spent in the world's most superficial city, he burned out and started eschewing science in favor of grappling. He began training upwards of 5 hours per day, and working more like 3. Somehow he managed to barely pass his qualifying exam, and in a stroke of divine coincidence his advisor went on sabbatical for a full year immediately afterwards. Guy trained like a maniac; I barely saw him in the office but he'd show up to teach classes with black eyes from MMA sparring.

Anyway, the point is that you can have a stable (albeit small) income, freedom to train when you want, and very little oversight if you pick a good advisor.

[Ross Davidson]

If you can get full support (fairly common in the hard sciences), then I advise that you go to grad school, get a degree or two, have a ball. I can't think of a job that can give you more flexibility to not just train constantly, but also to live in an analytical headspace wherein you're dissecting every action with the goal of continually improving your life. Grad school is a trajectory, a teleological system that readily complements martial pursuits. In addition, it is really difficult to get rid of a shitty graduate student who isn't *too* shitty; the time-consuming process is more like starving a plant of sunlight than putting foot to ass.

I know a guy who started jiujitsu when he moved to LA for grad school. After a rigorously scientific but difficult social year spent in the world's most superficial city, he burned out and started eschewing science in favor of grappling. He began training upwards of 5 hours per day, and working more like 3. Somehow he managed to barely pass his qualifying exam, and in a stroke of divine coincidence his advisor went on sabbatical for a full year immediately afterwards. Guy trained like a maniac; I barely saw him in the office but he'd show up to teach classes with black eyes from MMA sparring.

Anyway, the point is that you can have a stable (albeit small) income, freedom to train when you want, and very little oversight if you pick a good advisor.

That's a really great perspective man! I hope you don't mind me pm'ing you at some point in the coming months for advice.

[Arman Fathi]

Absolutely. This journey is definitely a lifetime investment. So, was it two weeks in that you hit a switch and have dedicated everything you can to make it a reality, or just when you decided it was something you would one day, actively pursue? When will it be the right time? What do you want to accomplish before you commit yourself to a moon, and where?

I'm currently in grad school. I don't see my schooling as a hinderance to my training. My goal is black belt, and I'd like to be considered a 'good' black belt one day, God-willing, so obviously that requires a lot of training. It took a lot of evaluation, but financially speaking and (imo) expertise speaking, I don't feel like I'm quite ready to go all-in. I do train everyday though. The difference in my motivation however from people I've talked to is that I don't see my career as a hinderance to training. Rather, I see it as a way to empower me to train as much as I want. My priority is to chase a career that has flexibility, pays decently, and allows me to be my own boss so that one day I can be in a position to open my own school. It's like jiu-jitsu: if your plan is to submit someone from the mount with an armbar, it'd make sense to get to the mount first. Put yourself in a position to achieve your goals, however that may be. So to answer your question, I knew that this was something I wanted to do almost instantly, but even today my priority is to attain financial flexibility, as well as a black belt before I'd personally want to call myself a school owner. This isn't to say I couldn't go all in, but the fact is that I want to make sure I am stable so that I can go in with my own vision and money doesn't have to be the main priority.

[_campbell03]

I can pretty much second what Amir Allam is describing to you. I am currently a graduate student at Eastern Kentucky University as well as a Graduate Assistant and train at 10thP Richmond Ky. As a GA I work "20 hours a week" and when I say work I mean I sit in the office and do homework, read these forums and various blogs. It is honestly not too bad of a life for a couple years when you consider getting summers and christmas breaks off every couple months. Most programs have plenty of GA spots that will pay for a couple of your classes and a good chunk of your living expenses. I pretty much get to pick the hours I come to "work" and classes are at night so that cuts into some training but as long as your moon/gym has day classes, as many do, you can fit in training time. Last semester I was still able to make it into the gym 4-5 days a week and it should be 6 days a week this semester. Also, you have to try really hard to get fired as a GA from what I understand. If you want to be any kind of martial arts instructor some day Grad School and a GA spot are not a bad option when you're going through your growing pains in the gym as well. IMO

[Kevin Hughes]

Ahh you did say aspiring.

I have no doubt you'll accomplish any goal you set. Im sure that goes for anyone thats knows you.

I remember Zog posting something not too long ago on FB about how he got free of working a regular job (in real estate I think) and finally switched over to only coaching. If I recall correctly he thanked his wife for her support over the years, which seems to be a universal thing for anyone that is highly accomplished in BJJ.

Seems all our women are more than happy to sacrifice so that their guys can accomplish their bjjj goals, not that this makes its easy to ask them to do it.

Steve Maxwell had some interesting things to say about it (I believe it was on JRE) He was talking about how women would rather be with a guy pursuing his true passions than working a regular job even if there are sacrifices that come with that. He had some other things to say about it but that part stuck with me.

With the seattle spot though I think you could make good money without a backup job. Those that dont know you, probably think its crazy to be talking of such goals at this point but I know better.

Thank you very much, once again, Aaron. Your belief in me means a lot. I love the support. It makes this crazy idea seem even more attainable.

That is an excellent point. I believe that was on JRE. I can not thank my girl emouth for her endless support. When I had only been training for a month or so, I jokingly said, I just want to train and teach jiu jitsu for the rest of my life. To which she replied, "If you could just find a way to make at least minimum wage doing so, then I'd support you." I obviously am now and would prefer to make more than minimum wage, but just hearing that support was a green light in my mind. It's very reassuring to know you'll always have someone by your side while you chase your wildest dreams.

The more I think about it, the more I realize, yes, a passion for the art and the support from their girlfriends/wives are the two common similarities for most of the greats in this game.

I know, a blue belt, who has only been training for 10 months. I probably sound completely insane to most people, but I'm in this for the long haul. I totally agree with the Seattle spot though!

[Kevin Hughes]

Honestly I started in a spare bedroom on impact mats. I studied my ass off, whether it was mastering the rubber guard book mts or the DVD I make it a point study everyday. Like Brent said it's an obsession, I often lose sleep thinking of comp. scenarios, what I'm going to show my students my future and goals. I honestly think you will be a moon head and an amazing teacher. Just the fact that you drove 800 miles round trip woke up at 5 am to catch the cal train in to SF to go see Denny with me on 24hrs notice just proves your dedication. Your an amazing student and a sponge Kevin, super proud of you buddy and I'm glad you caught the bug. Keep grinding. I was a no name blue belt out of some small city nobody even knows about, and I grind to make you and the rest of the 10PGP killers the best you can be. Keep doing your thing and work night and day toward this goal. I know you can do it

This! Andrew your cosign means the absolute most to me! You know me better than anyone in this jiu jitsu world, so having your support is imperative to my success. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me. From the first day I stepped on the mats with zero formal training, to the wars we had last night, it means everything to me. Seeing you dedicate your life to this, and show up to the gym everyday ready and willing to instruct wether there were 20 people in class or just me, says a lot about you as a person and a coach. I'm going to keep working my ass off, and won't let you down! I have big shoes to fill if I wish to accomplish as much as you already have in your time spent in this game.