Jeremy: [00:00:00] Financially, that's my, like, that's
the thing that makes me the most nervous. 'Cause I've never been an entrepreneur before. You know, I've always been a worker I've. always been good at that, you know, like I've worked my way up in the things that I've done and I've done done well with those things.
Um, but this is the first time I'm doing my own business and I'm in charge of bringing my own customers in.
Riley: Today I've got my good friend Jeremy Corbin on here today, and this is a special episode where [00:01:00] we are going to, Jeremy's gone on a, a new journey here and.
Uh, we're gonna tell you about it. It's really cool. He's, he's starting a new business in the, uh, in the martial arts field. And what we're gonna do is a, a few episodes here where we document the process. And so he's still very early in this process and going through the, you know, space rental and building out the space and, and, and just the beginnings of this, this new journey.
And so we're gonna talk about all the things that have led him to where he is and. Where he's gonna go from here. So you will be interested in seeing this. It can be very different than some of our other episodes. Um, in the fact again, that it's gonna be a multi, multi, uh, multi episode, uh, process. As we walk through this with Jeremy, um, Jeremy, the Jungle Cat, welcome to the show.
Jeremy: I'm, I'm also the first guest that has no idea what they're doing. So
Riley: Nope, you're not
Jeremy: that's another, that's another first.
Riley: me. [00:02:00] No, man. So Jeremy, you and I have been friends for a while, so, you know, I, I've got all the background here for the most part. But tell the audience who you are. What was life growing up as a kid like, and where'd you come from?
Jeremy: Okay. Um, yeah. My mom moved around
a little bit when I was a, when I was a kid. We, we, I grew up in eastern Washington state, so grew up kind of in and around the
mountains. We were usually pretty rural, um, just, you know, kind, kind of a country life, country, um, background. That's kind of how I grew up. Um, after, after I got graduated
from high school, I, I joined the Navy.
I was in the Navy for six years as a cb. So if for, for people that don't know what a CB is, it's construction. So the Navy has a Civil engineer Corps, which is called the, the Navy cbs. I worked as a heavy equipment mechanic. Um, [00:03:00] I did, I worked as a mechanic a couple years in, in high school, and then I worked, um, for six years as a mechanic in the Navy.
And then, uh, when I got out, I. My dad was out of business in Las Vegas and I moved to be near my parents in Las Vegas, and we were, I worked as a handyman and we did a lot of like remodeling homes. Um, so I spent most of my time remodeling homes for a couple years and then, uh, the economy, um, crashed around oh eight and Las Vegas was hit pretty hard by that.
So I ended up moving back to the northwest. Um, one of my, one of my longtime friends got me an, an interview with a, a water well pump company. And so I went to work in, uh, in Yakima, Washington for a pump company, um, as a, as a pump technician, like submersible, water wells, that kind of thing. And then, uh, from there I went to [00:04:00] work for a manufacturer of pumps and I worked, worked as a, uh, field service engineer for several years and then worked my way up to.
Regional manager. So, and that job was like supporting sales. You know, I did mostly tech support. A lot of it was over the phone. Um, I did, taught a lot of seminars. You know, I'd do anywhere from a one hour seminar, do an all day seminar teaching people how electricity works or, you know, plumbing or things like that.
So that's kind of my
up, up to date where I'm at now.
Yeah.
Riley: So, so really the huge portion of your career has been a job, right? You, you've worked for someone else
Jeremy: Yeah, absolutely.
Riley: Now as, as, as things have moved on, you know, you've, you've made this move to Texas, from Idaho, and I want you to talk about that kinda what spurred that and what was the, the thing [00:05:00] that really made you guys make that that big move.
Jeremy: So yeah, I. I have been feeling
for the last few
years that I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Um, I kind of feel like Jesus has put that on my heart that I need to do something else. And, uh, you know, my wife and I had been talking about that for years. Um, we, we didn't move until we moved because my daughter was in high school and I didn't wanna displace her, her, you know, junior or senior year.
So we were kind of waiting till that happened. As we were waiting for that, you know, for her to graduate high school. Um, her grand, my wife's grandfather got ill, and, uh, her, her grandmother, you know, needed some help and her mom needed some help. And so Brittany, my wife's Brittany, Brittany was really feeling like she needed to be closer to home.
And so, you know, we thought. I can [00:06:00] maybe go do the thing that I'm supposed to be doing, which I, I hope we're right about that. Um, so that's one thing we can do. And also we can be closer to our family. 'cause Brittany and I have been married for, you know, 17 years. We've been together for longer than that, and most of that time we lived, um, in the Northwest.
And so she's been so far from her family. But, so those are kind of
the big drivers for us moving to Texas.
Man
Riley: with that move, you've, you've had some interesting experiences on your way down there, you know, and, uh, trying to find a house. And I, uh, just, just for audience sake, there was a, kind of a funny, when you, when you're looking for a house, tell the, tell the story about the fleece. It just cracks me up.
It's terrible. It's kind of
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah. So,
yeah, I, we. My wife is a doula and, uh, she had, through social media, met a doula down here in the area. Her husband was a, um, a realtor, so that's how we got hooked up with a realtor. Um, [00:07:00] and he's been great. Um, so what we were doing was we're kinda like corresponding via text over the internet about things to look at.
And so we met him, I met him down on one of the trips down where we, I was taking a bunch of our household stuff to from, from Idaho down here. And, uh, one of these houses, it's, it was closed and they, you know, it had been, I think someone, I think it was in the state. I think someone passed away and their kids were trying to sell it.
And, uh, it was pretty rundown. We knew we were gonna go in, but as we went in, we were looking around, um, we didn't realize that it was completely flea infested. And so as we came out. I noticed all these black things on my legs and I thought maybe there were seeds or something like that from walking through the grass in, in the, around the building.
And uh, I brushed them off and, you know, 'cause they were itching and I didn't really think much of it till later. But at the same time, my realtor, he [00:08:00] got completely covered in fleas. Like we got a half mile away. He's pulling over, he is hopping out of his truck, shaking the fleas off. And then I had bites covering my, my legs looked like I had some infectious disease from all these flea bites on my legs.
And yeah,
so that was, that was fun.
Well I bring, I bring that
Riley: up 'cause it was, it was a little bit comical 'cause you showed up to the to class and the juujitsu class and we're always very aware of. Funky skin things going on with people. 'cause it's such a close contact sport, you know, for those of you who aren't in it, skin disease is something we pay attention to because nobody wants that crap.
Right? And when you show up with all these bites all over your legs, and I don't think, I don't think I, uh, maybe was even graceful about it. Just like, dude, what's going on with your leg?
Jeremy: Yeah. You
and and Josh both, uh, both like, Hey, what's that? What's, what do you got going
on down there?
Riley: Yeah, we wanna know right now and you
Jeremy: yeah, for sure.
Riley: enough. I know [00:09:00] you're, you're well aware of that stuff too. And um, so it seemed outta character a little bit, but then yeah, when we found out it was flea bites, we're just, as long as you don't drag more fleas in with it, we're good.
Jeremy: Right, right.
Riley: Um, so talk about this, man, you, you. Mentioned just a little bit ago that, uh, that, that Jesus had put on your heart to do something that you're supposed to be doing. What, what do, are you feeling like that is?
Jeremy: Uh, I, I feel like I,
well, I mean, it's jujitsu. I'm, I'm gonna. I feel like I could have an impact on people's lives doing this. And I, I feel like I can, I can be a good role model for, for younger men. And, um, I also am, I'm hoping that I can get some vets, you know, to the, to the gym and I can, you know, give them something positive to do as well.
Um, you know, like, this is the thing I've been thinking about for a while. And in, in my life I had a couple of of men in my life that. [00:10:00] That had a, a big impact on my life. I, I would think, I think of them as mentors. Um, that all passed away in, in pretty quick su succession. Um, my mixed martial arts instructor in, in Washington, rich Garrin, um, I learned tons and tons about martial arts from him.
And, um, he passed away and it was a, a real fluke thing. You know, I think he, he broke his ankle, which led to an infection, and the infection got into his heart. And, uh, the next one was, was one of my best friend's dads, um, Gary Johnson. He passed away and then it was the next year when Keith Owen passed away.
And, uh, you know, the memorials for these guys like really touched me and it like made me think how much impact they've had on other people's lives and started to seem like maybe I should be doing things that I can impact other people's lives. Also made me just reevaluate like I. Hey, am I, am I really doing [00:11:00] the right thing with my life?
And I mean, I already knew the answer was no. But you know, I, I, I had a good job. I was making good money. I had a great house and, you know, I had a lot of the things that I wanted. And, um, so it wasn't like an easy choice to give those things up and, and a job that I was pretty good at to pursue something that,
you know, I've never done professionally before.
So.
Riley: And you, you brought up something that several people that I've interviewed on the podcast have brought up, and it's that, that fear of, not fear, I shouldn't say it, is kind of a fear, but it's that feeling locked into a certain career choice because you've done it for a while and you've climbed the ladder a bit, you're making good money, and it's the, there's that.
Thing. You know, you kind of have an income level and lifestyle level, but then if you want to do a new thing, there's that dip. There's that financial dip that happens where it's like, man, I'm gonna have to take a pay cut for a while. Can I survive [00:12:00] that pay cut or do I just have to stay locked into this thing?
'cause that's what my lifestyle is up to. And that's really interesting that, you know, to hear, hear you say that. 'cause one of my next questions is, what's making you nervous? What, what kind of things make you nervous about this next venture?
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah. Financially, that's my, like, that's
the thing that makes me the most nervous. Um, 'cause I've never been an entrepreneur before. You know, I've always been a worker I've. always been good at that, you know, like I've worked my way up in the things that I've done and I've done done well with those things.
Um, but this is the first time I'm doing my own business and I'm in charge of bringing my own customers in. And, um, I think we're set up financially that we, we would be fine if, if, even if the business tanks not that I think of
can, but we'll survive it. I also.
part again. [00:13:00] Say that part again, man. I don't want, want people to hear that.
Yeah, I, so we've set ourself up
financially in a way that will still be okay, even if the, the business fails. Um, and I have enough confidence in myself that I can go find another career if I needed to. Um, but you know, right now that's not a plan B. Like right now, I just have a plan A, which is. To make this, this jujitsu
business work, and that's kind of where I'm at right now.
Riley: Yeah, that's, that's something that's very common. Um, you know, that nervousness, it is something you've never done before, right? And so there's way more, well, we're gonna talk about this a little bit more as kind of time as the episode goes on, but. There's way more to starting a business than the actual tactical part of, in this case, teaching jiujitsu classes.
Right. And you're, you're in that right now, right in the thick of it where it's like, dude, I haven't taught a single class yet, but holy crap, is there a lot going on here? [00:14:00] Right.
Jeremy: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
Riley: What's um. Tell us this, 'cause you, you, you're going into the, to opening a jujitsu school, but talk about a little bit about your martial arts background so people understand kind of where you come from, what got you into the sport in the beginning.
Jeremy: yeah, yeah. Um, so I, like I said, I grew up
in, in Eastern Washington state. My uncle was a, was a jailer, and he was a defense tactics in a, in a master defense tactics instructor. And so he taught me, um, you know, like some hand to hand stuff. He also was a high school champion wrestler. So my uncle taught me how to wrestle my uncles.
Looks like a, he's a tough guy, you know, and he knows, knows how to handle himself. Um, I got into some standup martial arts back in high school. Did some karate, some kung fu, some, some different weapons stuff. Um, largely I didn't train any martial arts while I was [00:15:00] in the Navy, um, because I was in a, you know, I was in a deployable unit, so it was hard to like, which is an excuse.
I could have done it, but like it was hard to be steady in a school at that time. Um, but, you know, being interested in fighting and always being interested in martial arts, um, I knew that I wanted to. Start in, in Brazilian Juujitsu. Um, you know, I had watched the early UFCs and I saw how effective it was.
And so as soon as I got out of the Navy, I, I, um, started doing Juujitsu in Las Vegas. I trained over at Team Mika. Um, I trained there for a few years. Um, and a couple things happened at the same time. One is, uh, I was, at that time I was boxing and doing juujitsu and also some judo. And, uh, I got injured in, in boxing practice. Um,
[00:16:00]
Jeremy: Um, I, uh, cracked a couple ribs sparring, and then I waited a few months and came back and it, it wasn't quite healed and they re cracked. And then, uh, so I took some time off, but also this is a time where the economy was starting to crash. And so, um, really my focus had to be on just paying the bills. And, uh, so.
I took a couple years off between, you know, [00:17:00] like 2008 I think is when I stopped. And then I started up again, I think around 2011. And, uh, I started training at Yakima Mixed Martial Arts. Um, and so we did, um, kickboxing, which was mostly like tie boxing. There was some western style boxing and kickboxing in there too.
We did a bunch of wrestling and then my, my professor there was, he was a black belt under Syl, Sylvia Baring. So we did, uh, jiujitsu too. So bunch of Nogi, juujitsu, bunch of gee, juujitsu, um, standup martial arts, bunch of wrestling. And then, uh, did that for, I don't know, 7, 5, 5 or seven years until I moved to, um, Boise.
Um, the Boise area, and then I started training at Team Rhino. Um, with my job, I was traveling all over the northwest. I I covered Washington, Oregon and Idaho's, which, which allowed me to train at a lot of gyms all over the [00:18:00] northwest. And I had stopped in and trained over at Team Rhino, Keith's gym a couple of times.
And, you know, Keith was amazing. Um, he was a great instructor and the atmosphere at the gym I always thought was great. The really, really great culture of, of wanting to pursue technique and not just corroborate each other, which is kind of how the MMA gym was. Um, so yeah, and then I did that. Um, up until, until I moved here, which is a couple months ago, I got.
Um, my blue belt from Mika in Las Vegas in, in Jiujitsu. I got my purple belt from Rich in, uh, in Yakima, and then I got my brown belt from Keith, and then, um, he passed away when I was a brown belt. So, um, I got my black belt from Pedro Sauer, which was, which was a huge honor,
but I wish it had come from Keith.
Yeah,
Riley: no, I hear you on that for sure, man. I'm floating in that same boat right now. Right.
Jeremy: [00:19:00] Yeah,
Riley: Um, so let's fast forward a little bit. You, your martial arts, uh, new studio is gonna be called Jungle Cat Juujitsu. Now
Jeremy: yeah,
Riley: tell us where the name Jungle Cat came from.
Jeremy: sure. Yeah. Um, I
spent a long, long time as purple belt. I was a purple belt for. Uh, four or five years I think. And there's a, I had a couple things happen. Um, like couple things like occur to me as I was a purple belt. One is to challenge myself. The first thing I I tried doing was I would call my shop.
So when I would start a role with somebody, I'd say, Hey, I'm gonna arm bar you, or I'm gonna arm bar you from, from guard, or, um, and I wouldn't let myself get any other submission. And then. After that, I started noticing that the, the best players in my mind, you know, like Keith or, or some other guys, they didn't need to go [00:20:00] fast so they could beat you up in slow motion.
And I thought, well maybe that's, maybe that's jitsu at its highest level is to be able to do it at whatever pace you wanna do it at. And so I started working towards being able to. Do jujitsu and pur pursue like the victory in, in position, in slow motion, and it's in my nature to talk crap to people when I roll.
And so I would start talking crap to people as I was beating them up in slow motion. So I would be saying things like, Hey, you know why you can't stop me? It's because I'm too fast. It's like, I'm you, you're losing because I'm this, I'm the speed of a jungle cat, or I move as fast to cheetah or things like that.
And the guys that I was talking crap to and beating up in slow motion, they sort of call me the jungle cat. So that's kind of where that came from. It just
ironic.
Well, I'm, I'm one of those guys.
Riley: I, [00:21:00] I can, I can. I can attest to the fact that you would call your shots and used to tick me off so bad. Yeah. I'm gonna scissor sweep you, and then I'm like, no, you're not. Next thing I know, I'm on my back going son of a gun. He got me again.
Jeremy: Hey, I think people should try
that. If, uh, especially if you're, um, trying to challenge yourself with, uh, you know, you're an advanced belt or becoming an advanced belt. Tell people what you gonna
do, do and then challenge yourself to actually do that thing.
Riley: No, it definitely, um, ups the difficulty of the game, right? Because if, especially if you've told them now, they're just defending against that one thing, it makes it much harder. You gotta, you gotta be tricky. So,
Jeremy: Right.
Riley: slight side question, but have we ever determined what a jungle cat is?
Jeremy: I don't think so.
I mean, I, so our, our mutual good friend, um, Colleen, she, she did the, the logo for the gym and [00:22:00] it looks like a, um, uh, a Jaguar in the picture. Um, I think it could be any, you know, any, uh, the jungle cats could be a lion or a tiger or, um. I'm, I'm hoping that, you know, once I start getting some swag for the gym, I can do like different, different jungle cats, but I don't think it's a specific
Mix it up.
Yeah, I think so.
Riley: I like it a lot. I, I think, uh, Jaguar's pretty appropriate to me that that's probably the first cat that actually comes to mind. But you're right,
Jeremy: Oh, really?
Riley: other cats that could be considered a jungle cat. So. Awesome, man. Well, so now talk about this, um, as you're, as you're going into this thing, you've moved down to Texas now, you're, you're, uh, beginning this search for a location to put your, your school in.
What does that look like?
Jeremy: Yeah, this is, um, I guess, kind of
an unexpected challenge for me. I mean. I say [00:23:00] unexpected. I like, I've never done this process before, so I don't really know what I'm getting into. But, um, I rented, um, residential spots a few times and you know, when you go rent a house, you, they're happy to rent it to you.
You fill out a credit app or, or maybe just a, a rental application and then that's the deal. Um, but that, it's been a real cha it was a real challenge for me for the commercial space. Um. And I like a lot of reasons for that. Some is, you know, a lot of commercial property just isn't put online or you have to know someone's website.
It's not like residential where it's, you know, at least for sale, everything's on the, the multiple listing system and you can look@realtor.com or whatever. Um, there are commercial real estate websites, um, that, that you can look up. Um. Commercial properties, but it's, you know, they're, they're just not inclusive of everything that's out [00:24:00] there.
And so I spent a lot of time like looking online for spots and I would drive around town and I would look for lease signs as I was out and about. And, uh, so that was kind of a challenge, just finding a spot that, that I, that would work for what we're trying to do. And the other part of that is, um. Just dealing with the commercial property guys.
You know, I, here I am a startup business, um, with, I have no experience doing this. Um, it's not gonna take much overhead, I don't think, to get it going, but I do need like, a particular kind of space. You know, I need it to be pretty big to put mats down. I needed to be insulated. I needed to be. Air conditioned for, for down in here in Texas.
'cause it gets really hot in the summer. Um, like it to have some offices and like you think about what that looks like in a building and there's not very many businesses that need that [00:25:00] particular, you know, setup. So, um, as I was talking to these commercial property guys, um, most of them would just say something along the lines of like, Hey, we don't have anything.
That meets the criteria you're looking for. Um, which is also really different than residential guys. 'cause they're usually, they're like, well, let me help you find what you're after. That's, that's how hasn't been how it's been for me at, at least here. And, uh, so that's been a challenge. Um, and it took me quite a while.
I, I ended up finding the spot that I did, um, wasn't through any of my searches. Brittany, my wife Brittany, had found, um, a spot online through Facebook Markets Marketplace, and it was kind of soso. The building was soso, it was kind of Soso area town, and we were checking it out. And the property owner, he's, you know, you're telling me like, yeah, you could pretty much do what you [00:26:00] want, but everything's as is, so if it needs repairs or whatever, then you'll, you'll need to be the one responsible for that.
And so I asked him like, Hey. That seems okay, but I want to have some inspections done if I'm gonna get into that. So, um, I contacted a, a roofing company to have the roof looked at, and I contacted, uh, an AC guy to have the AC looked at and, uh, through those inspections, I just, I just didn't, I knew that wasn't gonna be the right, the right spot for us.
But as the roofers were over there, we were kind of chatting, you know, talking about guns and martial arts and just kind of like, just, just kind of BSing with each other. One of the guys was like, Hey, you should contact the guy we rent through. He's been, he's great. And so they gave me his contact info and uh, yeah, I called this guy up and uh, I said, Hey, I'm.
Looking to start up a Brazilian [00:27:00] juujitsu business. And, uh, he's like, yeah, absolutely. I got some spaces that would work. And, uh, which was such a refreshing difference from all the experience I'd had before, um, which was great. So, um, yeah, he sent me some addresses and I checked him out and then I, you know, my wife and I went and met him and, um, it was so quick and easy after, you know, after months of searching.
You know, just couldn't get people interested in
renting me a place. So,
Riley: It seems so backwards, but that's a, that's a common thing in business where people, you know, don't answer the phone, don't respond, or slow to respond and they, you know. Gosh, it's super frustrating when we get involved in something like that. Um.
Jeremy: Well I had, I had one guy, um,
was a commercial property manager guy. We had set up an appointment to go. You know, this is my business, but my wife's my partner in this and so I want her to go and be involved in the process. And she's working from home. [00:28:00] And so, you know, she doesn't have complete availability to go at any time.
So we had worked with this guy to come meet us on the weekends so we could come look at this, put space and he just, no call Nohow. I called, left him a couple messages. Uh, I mean, it was like a week and a half later. He called me back, he's like, Hey, you still wanna come look at this place? And I'm like, well, yeah, I'm interested, but I'm kind of not interested, you know, if I'm gonna have to deal with with you.
So, um, yeah,
it was surprising. The whole, the whole thing has been surprising for me.
That's a, that's
Riley: a good, um, lesson for people going into entrepreneurial stuff. Entrepreneurial stuff is, uh. Understanding those business relationships are gonna carry on long term. And so if that's the first impression you get is somebody who, no call, no shows. Imagine when the AC unit goes out and you need him to come fix it,
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah.
Riley: a month before he responds to you.
You know, that's, that's what that relationship will look like. [00:29:00] 'cause it won't get better. It'll only get worse when he is more comfortable with
you.
Jeremy: Yeah, that's that. And that's really what I thought. And it,
it really turned, and, and the spot was cool, you know, like it was, had great frontage, great parking, it, you know, it, it met a lot of our needs and, uh, it was in our budget. And, uh, but there was a couple red flags there. I'm just like, I don't
wanna get into business with this person.
So.
Riley: I always encourage people to listen to those red flags 'cause they're going off in your head for a reason. Jeremy talk about this, man. You get into this space, now, you're in the build out phase of, of this new location you got. Um, tell us what the location's like and like, what, uh, what areas, uh, that it checked boxes, you know, as far as what you were looking for. And then what this process, um, has looked like so far in the build out.
[00:30:00]
Jeremy: Yeah. So, um, I
needed a space and, you know, I've talked to a couple different martial artists over the [00:31:00] last few years, um, about like, Hey, what are some, some things I need to look for? And, uh, what are some things, you know, to, when I'm looking for a space that I need to consider and, uh, like just being able to get to a spot easily is seemed like a big deal.
And then, um, I had a couple people tell me, you know, between 1200 and 1500 square feet of mats is kind of what you need to start a gym. And so that's what I was looking for. I, I wanted to have a couple office spaces in there. I needed enough room also to, for people to change clothes. Um, so I knew, you know, I was probably in the 1700 to 2000 square foot range is kind of what I needed.
Um, and I needed to be, I wanted it to have good frontage and to be easily easy to get to. Um, so the spot that we're at now, it's right off of, um, there's a, there's a toll [00:32:00] road that goes around Tyler, Texas. It's right off the toll road, so it's pretty easy to get to from there. Um, it's a couple minutes from Tyler and it's a couple minutes from, uh, it's in the, it's in the town of White House, um, and it's right off a highway and, uh, it's up above this, this, um, hardware, solar work, more hardware.
Um, so, and, and I talked to the owner and he is gonna let me put, um, a sign, a jiujitsu sign down at the highway. And, um, so. Can't see it from the road, but you could, you'll see our sign and it's easy to get to. Um, and the spaces, um, it's 2,500 square feet. Um, and there's another, there's another, yeah, there's another spot next to us that we can move into, we can grow into if, if we get to that point.
Um, and it's got spray foam insulation on the walls. It already had a couple of air, air conditioner units. Um. This space has [00:33:00] four offices built into it. Um, which is good. Which is great. 'cause now I can have, you know, I can have two locker rooms and I can have a couple office spaces. So, um, that'll be, that'll be great too.
It's, it's nice to have some place to change and some place to like have some privacy when you go to prepare
for, for class. So I think that's great. Um,
Gosh, that'll be really nice.
yeah. So as far as the build out, I've, you know, I've,
um, I talked to the owner about, um, painting all the foam 'cause it was just exposed foam and I'm painting it all black and it's, the warehouse is 2,500 square feet and it's this, the tallest point in the ceiling's, 18 feet up.
And so, uh, so I had to buy some scaffolding and, uh, you know, we were talking before, before we started. It's obvious when you think about painting from scaffolding. You can only paint a rectangle [00:34:00] from scaffolding, which means you gotta climb down, move the scaffolding, climb back up. And so I didn't realize what kind of a workout painting the building was gonna be, but it's been, um, kind of a interesting challenge.
But right now I'm like focusing on the things that I have to have to start my business. Um, you know, in, in Juujitsu you need mats and they need to be cleaned. Um, and then I also need a way to track the membership and, um, some right now prioritizing that I have, I've ordered all the mats. Um, the, the owner of Team Rhino Shelan o and um, she sold me some mats that they had over, over, which is, which is great.
Um, she's been, been amazing. Um. I had some mats from her and she gave me the contact where she bought the, the mats from. So I ordered more mats to fill out the space. Um, I got some wall mats coming from Fuji and I ordered some, um, [00:35:00] vinyl to cover all the mats. Um, I think a single piece of vinyl is a better way to do juujitsu mats.
Um, so I have that, that coming and I'm almost through painting. I'm, I'm like four days into painting right now, so. Um, I'm gonna put up a wall so we can train against the mats, and, uh, that's
kind of the next steps right now as far as the build out.
Riley: You mentioned it was challenging to get, get those, uh, components. The, the vinyl and the, the mats kind of tracked down, huh? You you were saying that to me off, off
Jeremy: air. Yeah.
Yeah. I was surprised. You know, I, I would assume
that you could just easily Google that stuff and. Um, and maybe it is, maybe I'm just ignorant enough to foam that I don't know. But I knew, I knew that Shelan had bought a certain kind of foam and I knew where she got it from, but I did, like, I had some trouble getting ahold of her contact.
And so I was trying to find [00:36:00] other places where I could source this foam. And, you know, and Tyler's only about an hour and a half, hour, hour and a half from Dallas. And I thought, surely there's a place over there. But. I couldn't find it. I, you know, I was looking Googling and using chat GPT and I looked on the internet where I could find this Valero foam.
Um, couldn't find it. Um, and then same thing, I figured, you know, I could contact an awning place or surely there'd be someplace local. I could get vinyl and maybe that's the case, but couldn't find it. It's not easy to find. So, um, yeah. I spent a lot of time looking for that things and, and those things I figured were gonna be a quick, easy Google search.
So yeah, that's been interesting.
Riley: Yeah, it's, it's always interesting, man. 'cause there's, there's so many little details that when you go into a new venture like this that kind of hit you in the face at certain times, you're like, man, I never even thought of this as being a problem. But now all of a sudden it's a, like you said, you had to prioritize it.
'cause [00:37:00] it's, this is coming, it's gonna, it's gonna get you if you don't, if you don't think ahead on what's coming down the pipe. Right.
Jeremy: And I also, I thought I knew how
much the mats and vinyl were gonna cost and you know, you can't really know until you know what space you're gonna fill with it. But yeah, that, that's been costing more than I, than I thought it was going to, you know, it gives me a new appreciation for these jiujitsu gym startups, you know, like, um, I thought I was.
I thought I knew it was gonna, how much gonna cost? And I'm paying more than I thought I was gonna do. And so then I have to reprioritize the other things that I wanted to do for the gym. And um, you know, like I said, like I need mats. I need the mats to be cleaned. So those are kind of my first priorities.
And then tracking attendance is gonna be next. So, um, and my wife is working on our website right now. I'm hoping, I'm hoping that's gonna be done this week. And we're, we'll be
live next week, I hope.[00:38:00]
Riley: That's, um, it's interesting to me, I talked to, uh, Isaac Payne. He, he owns, uh, PAC Juujitsu over in expert at Idaho. Um, and it, in the conversation he talked about when he started his school, he, he had a boxing ring and he had a. He had his jiujitsu mats, but then he had weightlifting equipment. He had all these different things within the gym, and he realized, oh, and he had 24 hour access, and so people could just come in whenever to use the fitness equipment now.
And he, he said it just became this monster that half the stuff he had set up in there wasn't making him any money. Um, MMA cage also. So he had, he had like all these things in there, right. Um, but the, there was a lot of it that wasn't making any money. And it was, he realized he had it in there because it kind of made him happy.
And he, he, he was like, he called it his own personal playground, you know, but at some point he realized, man, all I really need is a big room and a mat. [00:39:00] And, and so we paired it down to just this, about the size of the place you're talking about. Just a, a juujitsu school. And then he, if he wants to do a class for boxing or movie tire, MMA, there's another place in town.
He can go rent the space and just go in there and use it for a class. And so that's what he does, right? But it was that he had to really make a mindset change. Um.
Jeremy: That's good. That's good to hear, man. I'm
definitely interested in tho all those things too. You know, like, I like lifting weights and I like training and I like kickboxing and I like all those things. And I, I was really interested in doing a, a mixed martial arts gym and, uh, I talked to Jeff Curran about this, or it's probably been a couple years ago now.
And, uh, Jeff, this was, this was like right after. Um, everything was basically opened back up from COVID. So just a year or two [00:40:00] ago, Jeff and I were talking and Jeff Curran had this giant MMA gym, and then he decided to just go juujitsu afterwards. And I was kind of asking him, you know, like, Hey, you're, you know, you're a UFC fighter, you know, you're a, um, very well known mixed martial artist.
Why just Juujitsu? And he, a similar thing he was talking about, like just how much time and energy he put into things. We're taking him away from, you know, his family. They were, he was spending so much time coaching and going to different events and, uh, being a manager and, you know, he just wanted to teach martial arts and it, a lot of that took him away from it.
So it's interesting to hear that.
[00:41:00]
Riley: Yeah, you can get spread too thin, really easy in a, in a venture like this, you know? 'cause there is, there's more than one thing you're interested in. Right. Um. We'll talk about this. What's, uh, you're kind of going into this, uh, this next season, which is gonna be marketing. What, um, what ideas do you guys have?
Kind of what, what, what are you thinking at this point? Is the best way to market a juujitsu school?
Jeremy: So, um, I am,
right now I'm trying to build up my, uh, social media. Um, I'm doing some like. Um, build out stuff, some videos and some, some of those things about, um, what's going on with the [00:42:00] gym. Um, I'm also starting to put out some like tech technique videos and, um, well, you and I were at that Carlos Machado camp last year and Nat Camp a, it's got amazing jujitsu, great people.
I, I highly recommend the Carlos Machado stuff. Um. They had a bunch of business stuff there, and a lot of that was marketing. And so, uh, I took as much of that stuff as I could while I was down there. And those, the marketing team that was doing some of those classes were saying that for jujitsu gyms, the, the most effective marketing they found has been through meta, you know, so Instagram and Facebook.
So I'm trying to get like a backlog of that. And then there's, there's options for, um. Kind of boosting all your social media. And so that's kind of my, my plan. Once, once I get some of it built up, I'm gonna start boosting that, hopefully getting the, the target audience out here. Um, so far it's [00:43:00] just been word of mouth and, and I already do have some, some folks interested in coming training with me, which is, which is an amazing blessing too.
So, but that's,
that's the plan. We're we're, yeah, go ahead. Sorry.
Riley: Well, no, no, no, no. I was, I was just going to ask you, um, I remember Keith Owen would do when he was starting up. Team Rhino back in the day, he would do things at schools. He would, I don't know if you guys are gonna plan on having a kids program or not, but he, um, he would go to junior highs and high schools and he would put little seminars on or workshops, um, and teach the kids some self-defense stuff there.
And then he, he had his police academy stuff that he would do with the state police, uh, here in Idaho. And he. Built a lot of relationships that way through doing community activities. And, um, I've seen schools do like, you know, juujitsu in the park where they go out there and grapple with each other and hand out business cards in between rounds and [00:44:00] stuff.
A lot of, a lot of ideas out there on different things you can do to really promote this kind of thing.
Jeremy: that sounds cool. I, I did not know Keith,
Keith did that, that stuff, so that's cool to hear. Um. I do, I do wanna start a, a kids' class. We're gonna start with, with adults and, and teenagers. And, uh, I'm hopeful that once I get a couple of blue belts that they might be interested in helping me teach some kids classes.
Um, I think that it's good to have a bunch of people on, on the mats for classes. Um, I've been around it enough to know that the kids are just all over the place and, uh. You need some like wranglers for the kids and you know, people coaching 'em and, and giving 'em some advice. And so, um, that seems appropriate to me to, like, for a blue belt or above.
I think that, you know, someone that's giving advice to kids needs to have some idea what they're doing. Um, so that's kind of my [00:45:00] plan for that. Um, I do plan on, I do think there's a lot of connection between. Martial arts and other self-defense things. So I know like a lot of gun guys are interested in doing martial arts, um, or a lot of um, uh, fitness, especially like CrossFit and, um, fitness folks are interested in doing that.
So I'm planning on reaching out to a lot of those places around the area and, and seeing if I could drop
some business cards and things like that.
Riley: Yeah, for sure, man. It's gonna be an exciting thing. And I'd like to, um, just as, as we progress through, through these episodes of tracking, tracking your, your progress. Um. Hear what's successful and hear what's not, because I think people would be interested in that and, uh, you know, 'cause some of the things you're gonna do aren't gonna turn out like you thought.
Right. Some of the, some of the things will be successful, some of the things won't. And it'd be really cool to see both sides of that coin as we move, move through this.[00:46:00]
Jeremy: Yeah, sounds.
Riley: Yeah, man. Well, so what's next as far as the build out goes? What's your next stage?
Jeremy: So, yeah, I, right now I got
probably another half day of painting before I get all the foam painted. And then, uh, I gotta clean up and then I'm gonna build a couple of walls. Um, I want to build a wall so we can train up against it. And I want to build a wall. So once we get some merchandise, um, we have a place to hang it, display it.
Um, and then after that mats. So I'm hoping that once the mats are down, um, maybe I can get, uh, do like a soft launch and start inviting people that are already interested in to start training with me. Um, that, and just for myself, I'm, I'm so anxious to get back on the mats. You know, I've been off the mats since I left Idaho, so.
I'm, I'm very excited for that. And, uh, so yeah, that's [00:47:00] the next thing is, uh, walls and then mats, and then I definitely have a lot more to do than that. But those are
the, the big stuff, the big, the big ticket items.
Riley: man. I don't know how you're handling that, being off the mat for so long thing, but that's part of the contention of this whole thing, right? Is uh, you, you've gotta. That's part of the dip. That's, that's part of that. There's a financial dip. There's a, there's a, all this effort with the build out and then learning all these new things, but then there's also this, like this, this sport that you love, you haven't been able to partake in for a while.
Jeremy: Yeah. I mean, a couple things. A couple things about that. One is I'm just a nicer guy when I train Juujitsu a lot. A lot, and so. My wife's been like, Hey, maybe you should go find a school. You could go to an mat. Or maybe you should, you know, it, it's, it's amazing what kind of release, you know, jiujitsu does for you, at least for me.
And I know a lot of guys. Um, [00:48:00] so I'm interested that, anxious to get back on that. The other part is, you know, I came from Team RiNo and, and you know, but probably a lot of your audience doesn't know, like Team RiNo has got a ton of upper belts. You know, there's a bunch of black belts, there's brown belts, purple belts.
And, uh, your ability to go there, in there as an upper belt and just, you know, chat with other guys and figure things out, and totally nerd out on the techniques that jujitsu. Um, it's such an amazing place to train, you know, for, I think for all levels, but especially as a, as an upper belt, you know, you, you can pursue technique so easily there.
And there's, you know, guys like you and guys like Derek and, um. Professor Josh or Professor Todd, like their, their technique is so great. It's like it's, you can bounce ideas, you can help, you can help each other figure things out. You know, I'm gonna have to go teach people to get me to the point where I can bounce ideas off of guys, and I'm [00:49:00] excited for that challenge, but I'm missing out on that right now.
You know? I, I miss those days where you and I would get together and just, just totally nerd out about jujitsu and check
this thing out that I saw, you know?
Man, that was,
Riley: yeah. I gotta tell you too, just from that perspective, I've really missed that, those Tuesdays when we'd go hang out and just do nothing, just walk off in the corner by ourselves and, and, uh, chit chat about the crap we were working on was, that was always a highlight in my week and I missed that dude for real.
Jeremy: Yeah, me too, man. Me too.
Riley: Yeah, we've uh. I got, I gotta, I'm gonna have to find somebody else to do that with. 'cause I'm, once I get this dang test behind me and get that black belt done one of these days we're supposed to be doing on the 25th of October, and hopefully that all goes through like we're supposed to, and I don't end up hurt or some bull crap in the middle of it, but I'm all nervous about it now. But, uh, yeah. Yeah. Can't wait to just ju [00:50:00] do juujitsu for the fun of it after this, but.
Jeremy: I'm excited for you, man. I think,
I mean, I think there's a couple belts that are a big deal, but clearly the, the biggest deal is, is your black belt. You know, it's. It's the, the thing, like you've made it, you know, you're in the elite group. I mean, you've been advanced for so long, but it's the next level.
So I'm stoked for you. I think it's well deserved and you know, I like, like you, I hope
Riley: kind words. For sure.
Jeremy: Yeah, for sure.
Riley: Yeah, I am tired of being sick. Right. I, I spent, uh, for people that don't know in the audience, we, I spent the first seven months of this year fighting off some pneumonia and just recovering from that. It was a rough. The year it's been tough. So I, uh, was supposed to, to have my black belt test earlier in the year, but that got canceled just because of my health.
And it was a man, it was a hard thing to go through. And so it's, it kinda almost sounds whiny in the big scheme of life. Like everything else is pretty good, but it's, it is what [00:51:00] it is, man. I've had had some emotion with that for sure. So, but, uh, awesome man. Well, Jeremy, let's, um, let's do this again. I want to, uh.
Maybe give it here six weeks, eight weeks. Then we'll come back on here. Do a, it'd be shorter next time 'cause we won't have the intro stuff to go through. Uh, but just kind of get an update on your progress and, and, uh, see how things are going from there. And then maybe do it after the first of the year where once you've kind of had your grand opening and gotten some students involved and, and, uh, we'll check the progress.
Okay.
Jeremy: Yeah. That sounds great, man. Thanks. Thanks for having me on. This has been cool.
Riley: Yeah, man, it's been a, been an honor and it's fun to just sit and chit chat with you. Sure. Miss you, man.
Jeremy: You, you brother.
Riley: Dude, go in your salt, Jeremy.
[00:52:00]