9 Lessons in 9 Years of Jiujitsu Entrepreneurship [Part 2]

Good morning!

Last week I shared a few lessons I’ve learned in my journey of jiu-jitsu entrepreneurship. Today’s email completes the last part of this with some more emphasis on the business side.

This another paid post so if you’re interested in checking it out, make sure you’ve upgraded here.

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Quick Mat-keeping Note:

You may have noticed I haven’t put out any free articles lately —In truth, I’ve been a bit busy and haven’t had much time to write so I’ve been making sure my paid subscribers get some love.

Once things sort themselves out, I’ll get back to some free stuff.

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I remember I was working at a restaurant.

A business I just tried to build was about to fail and some money I had coming in from graduate school for work as a research assistant was also coming to an end.

I got a call during pre-shift.

“Hey, I’m about to acquire a jiu-jitsu school and I want you to run it. If you say no, I’m not interested. The only way I’m going to buy it is if you’re on board”.

I stunk like pork broth. Of course I’ll take the opportunity to run this academy.

I was done with the restaurant two weeks later to embark on a journey of running an academy full-time.

I was a purple belt at the time. I was also trying to run a jiu-jitsu apparel business that got off to a good start but flopped immediately after for circumstances beyond my control. It crushed me a little but I always find ways to land on my feet.

I worked at the restaurant for a few weeks before this call and was done soon after. Off to teach jiu-jitsu.

I lived about 45 minutes from the academy.

I was big into podcasts and because I was trying to get a business off the ground, I would listen to all sorts of podcasts on business, entrepreneurship and marketing.

During my commute, I’d happen upon an amazing podcast that changed my life and it’s perhaps the reason that my school is what it is today, over 9 years later.