BJJ Business or Lifestyle

What is a BJJ school ? Is it a business or a lifestyle? Well we all have to pay the bills without the loot the gym’s not going to last very long. Most schools are started because the owner loves BJJ and has normally spent a great deal of time in getting to a high level. There’s not a lot of money in BJJ as the plethora of instructionals and lack of millionaires bear witness to apart from possibly a man named Lloyd who arguably is making his money from his incredible marketing skills rather than BJJ.

For a school to survive it needs new students – it can’t run on the old timers forever and new partners will come and go. Now how do you keep students coming through the door ? Well you need to be credible, you need to be professional, you need to have a decently fitted out gym and you need your black belt certificate / championship medals plastered on the walls – if you don’t then know your newbies won’t be staying long ! A culture of no ego – I mean a real culture and not just lip service and a real care for the wellbeing of students can all serve the instructor and business well….

It’s going to be awfully hard for someone to really estabish himself without any sort of competition behind him – talking the talk is just that – talking …. the instructor or his students need to have won or come close to winning some tough competitions not some back yard get togethers where you’re rolling with your 80 year old grand dad !

Youtube destroyed the secrets of BJJ but we still find schools only teaching the best techniques or focusing on their loyal few who are taking privates regularly getting the cream of instruction – money talks – but is this bad customer service ? I think so, not having a proper plan in place to develop your new students is a recipe for disaster. We have access to every technique under the sun but we know there are only a handful which account for 99% of wins – strange isn’t it that after one week you’ll be learning the crazy reverse half guard, on top backward Kimura !!! The instructor needs to focus on your game as an individual and pair you up with the right level. Its unlikely you’ll come back if you keep  getting paired up with brown or purple belts and you don’t even know what a full guard is !