just a guy trying to live the Dream of having my own school…hope you "Follow" and enjoy!

Archive for November, 2012

Now comes the Tricky Part…

Hello Jiu Jitsu and Entrepreneur Peps out there! I have to tell ya that I Missed ya’ll and Missed writing about this crazy life I live;) Well I finally got the Security Team I run at the new club up and running…we have some seriously Awesome bad ass guys on staff now:) They are all Focused and Hard Working Americans that love keeping people safe and having a Blast doing it! I’ve got a New York street brawler-turned family man, a (6 foot 8, 280 pound) Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt, a life long wrestler, a Muay Thai Instructor, and an former Army Ranger who has stories from overseas combat that will make your jaw drop! We all come to work with the intent of keeping the staff and patrons safe as well as help the bar run smoothly. Basically a solid group of Tough Guys I get the Honor & Privilege to lead at the newest and coolest 27,000 square foot bar/club in Denver, Colorado.

So now to the tricky part…I Finally made the move to Denver, Finally got a steady job,  a somewhat comfortable place to live, and I also have around 12 dudes that say they are going to train underneath me! So the tricky and final step is finding a place that I can pay very very little for that will allow me to put a mat on the ground and teach 3 days a week! It’s really not that difficult of a task, it is just extremely time consuming! I will start looking for a garage, church basement, gym floor, or whatever I can can pay $100 a month for that will allow me to teach a total of 6 hours a week. It is going to be labor intensive in terms of just calling or visiting a lot of spots and explaining over and over again who I am and what I am going to be doing with the rented space. I’ve already contacted some martial art schools to see if I could rent some of their space but they want a lot of money from each one of my students in order for me to use their space to teach…and to their absurd proposition I  say a very strong “F That” The “F” stands for “forget” btw…I had to clarify that b/c I Love my Okie Momma and am trying to keep it “Okie-friendly”…Love Ya Momma!!!

So this weekend is getting back on the work horse after being in Dallas taking care of family and friend stuff. Come Monday I will be on the prowl for a place to rent so Animal Jiu Jitsu can have it’s first Official Class:)!!! That is going to be AWESOME!!!! AW YEA!!!

November 30, 2012 | Categories: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Entrepreneurship, Health & Fitness, Jiu Jitsu | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Finally got a stable job to support my Dream…

You are now electronically/Bloggingly talking to the new Head of Security at Punch Bowl Social Food & Drink in Denver, Colorado! We are the coolest, newest, and biggest activity-based bar/club in Denver. I was promoted to this position after only two days of our grand opening. All it took was the entire management team seeing how effective I was at controlling crowds and the men on my team. I am Honored & Blessed to be offered this position! I will be making sure the 27,000 square foot facility and all of it’s staff and guests are safe and are able to have a good time….isn’t that what going out to a bar/club is all about;)

For all of you out there that have never bounced in a bar or club I have to tell you there is seriously something to be said about working on a good bouncing crew…it’s hard to put into words the feeling I have when I know my Brother-in-Arms have my back when a punch is thrown, a knife is pulled out, or a gun is fired. I have worked in some extremely dangerous places and I have worked in some chill places although almost all of my experience is in rowdy and very dangerous places:) That is all good because honestly I prefer that way. My point is that being a bouncer is a very very unique job and career. I have tried to get out of it b/c I have been shot at and almost been stabbed a significant number of times BUT it keeps calling to me:) One of the most Awesome things about this career is that I have been able to put some serious serious hurting on guys that hurt girls and/or very bad guys that try and hurt innocent people, and honestly that is a huge plus for me:) I am literally paid to make sure people are safe and that they and their loved ones go home in one piece! This is my Calling and a job I take very very seriously!

Being the Cooler (reference to one of the Greatest movies ever made “Road House”) is one of the most Amazing jobs on the planet! I have a crew of guys I literally trust with my life behind me and my decisions:) We are there to keep every single person safe and alive and it is a Special & Beautiful thing:)!!!

What does this have to do with opening a Jiu Jitsu school you ask…well everything because now I have a full time job that pays the bills plus a little bit of extra cash so I can start putting money towards Animal Jiu Jitsu!!! Because of this job I will also have my permanent schedule set up so I can start teaching 3 days a week and building my students up one by one:) It will be a few weeks before I find a garage and buy some mats so I can start making money teaching but it is getting closer every single day and this job allows me the ability to eat and live so I can focus more effectively on building My Dream:)

As Always I want to Thank each and everyone of you for taking time out of your busy and hectic day to read the rants of this Crazy Jitz Freak;) I appreciate it more then I could ever put into words!!! Be safe out there and the next time you are at your local bar or club please tell your bouncer about this Blog and tell him that I’m rooting for him and Praying for his safe return home!

November 20, 2012 | Categories: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Entrepreneurship, Health & Fitness, Jiu Jitsu | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Look, Look, Look, and Latch On…

My Hero

My express goal of this whole Jiu Jitsu Blog is to inspire and motive anybody and everybody to just get out there and “Live Their Dream” I am using this internet medium as a vehicle to reach out and touch your life, in a Totally Awesome and Exciting way:)

The picture you see before you today is my Hero, Bill Griffin. He is my Grandpa. He is the only earthly Father figure I have ever had in my life that has been around longer then a couple years and he is a serious Entrepreneurial Pimp! Today I am going to tell you a little about him and how he has influenced my life and helped me be the crazy start a business out of nothing kinda guy I am:)

Bill Griffin came from extremely humble beginnings. He literally had to shoot his food on the Oklahoma grassland just to eat as a youngster. He ended up receiving a full ride scholarship to the Naval Academy and was in line to be a commissioned US Navy officer when he decided it was not for him. He “got feed up with people telling him what to do.” Back then you could opt out of the school and officer program. I still remember hearing those stories and being amazing that someone could walk away from a totally free college tuition and a guaranteed military career, as an officer at that! He went back to civilian life only to work 50 plus hours a week selling shoes in Shawnee, Oklahoma AND going full time to college (paying for it all on his own). After years of grueling work and study he ended up getting an engineering degree from Oklahoma University and is to this day a proud fan of OU football:)

For time and space reasons I will fast forward to Bill & LaDawn (my Awesome Grandma and another Hero of mine:) living in Shawnee with my Grandfather working his tail off building everything his little company could get a contract for. Back then there was no money in building things, at least nothing like there is today! I remember hearing about how hard my Grandpa worked during the day (12 plus hours a day), only to come home and work on building specs and plans on the kitchen table. Then he would wake up and do it all over again. Regardless of how hard things were and how much money wasn’t coming in, there was always that quiet spark in him that would never quit….that Entrepreneurial Spirit was always dreaming of and searching for that one opportunity that would set him and his family financially free…and at the ripe old age of 39 it happened…

When asked what is the one thing that he would tell an aspiring Entrepreneur to help them realize their business dreams, his simple yet elegant response was; “Look, Look, Look and Latch On…when you see something that will work, you gotta go for it” Bill Griffin is the proud builder and owner of the very first Sonic in the world. Sonic now has more then 4,000 locations in the US and is going to do nothing but get bigger and better, all because Bill Griffin kept searching looking for that one opportunity to realize his personal and family dream of financial freedom and success!

There were many many years of personal and family sacrifice that Bill & LaDawn endured to make Sonic a reality, and they weren’t the only ones that were part of the first Sonic, they had several partners. But regardless of the personal and financial setbacks they encountered, and believe me there were many! along the way, they kept listening to that quiet spark inside that said “Never Quit” and they realized their goal and I thank them both, especially my Grandpa for working all those years so I can wake up everyday and say to myself “I can do it!” because my Grandpa did it first:)

November 11, 2012 | Categories: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Entrepreneurship, Health & Fitness, Jiu Jitsu | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Focused Baby…

 

Here I sit a month or two out from getting my schedule set so I can start teaching 2, hopefully 3 days a week. It’s still a waiting game to get my “pay my bills for now” jobs set up so that I can 3 days off to teach. You can’t build a Jiu Jitsu or any martial arts/fitness business by telling people to meet you whenever you have time off. That would never work. So I am planning on setting aside; 1 weekday afternoon, 1 weekday evening, & 1 weekend afternoon so my students can have some consistency and I can build off of that:)

I have been working a LOT the last couple of weeks just trying to put money together so I can breath a little bit and not worry if I will be able to pay my rent or not. It’s been good b/c I am getting some cash together but it’s also been Horrible b/c I haven’t gotten on the mat for almost 2 weeks. For all of you that roll (do Jiu Jitsu or grappling) you know that it is the biggest stress reliever known to man (or at least to a LOT of us). It sucks b/c I have not been able to get out on that Beautiful place of Zen and roll:( After the election is over I will be able to train 4-6 times a week and life will make more sense to this Jiu Jitsu Fan! I’m looking forward to slapping hands with my Brother-in-Arms and fighting so that the rest of the world and its problems are silent and non-existent:)

The picture I posted is of my Irmao Flavio and I training at Guy Mezger’s where I used to teach Jiu Jitsu. I Miss my Brother who is currently living in Sao Paulo. I am looking soooooooo forward to seeing him get married this coming May:) I will be part of the wedding and am so PUMPED I will be able to be there for my Brother who loves Jiu Jitsu just as much as I do:) He started training with Ryan Gracie when he was 5 years old and is a seriously devoted follower of the Jiu Jitsu Way…Love Ya Brother!!!

Thank You all for reading my Blog and supporting my crazy life of Jiu Jitsu Entrepreneurship….You all ROCK!!!!

November 6, 2012 | Categories: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Entrepreneurship, Health & Fitness, Jiu Jitsu | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments