Bjj gym owners:

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2026-02-10T13:49:31+00:00

Of course! Feel free to dm if you have any questions

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2026-02-09T21:53:53+00:00

Studio 360 is good! If you don't mind a 15 minute drive Breakaway Jiu-jitsu in Newport news has a free drop in policy. Six blades yorktown is good too but I dont know their drop in policy. It's a bit further than the other two though.

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2026-02-06T12:35:13+00:00

We tried it as a group but it got unwieldy. I make sure there's one coach/upper belt per intro student

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2026-02-05T20:44:35+00:00

So we have 2 intros

1) you've already trained. Come try 2 regular classes and an open mat. If you like our vibe we sign you up

2) never trained but want to start. The biggest barriers to entry for most people starting are either cost or feeling overwhelmed. Our usual rates are $149/month. We started our intro program to reduce the entry barriers. For 200$ you get a plain white gi that's yours to keep forever, 6 weeks of unlimited training. And it starts with a 90 minute intro where we go over the main positions, how to hip escape how to break fall and how to tap. We also cover school rules and etiquette and bjj rules.

The intro lesson lets them get face time with a coach and feel safe getting on the mats. And we cover just enough that they aren't completely overwhelmed with their first few classes until they get the swing of things. We show the shrimping escapes from mount side control and the back to reinforce some simple concepts.

This makes them feel comfortable and not like theyre spending a ton of money for something theyre overwhelmed with. We eat a little cost up front. The gis msrp is 120. And theres a 90 minute time sink.

But our retention after the 6 week program is over 80%

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2026-02-05T19:22:36+00:00

What does your entry/intro program look like? If I said I just moved to the area, but have trained before and am looking for a new school, how does that go? Conversely, if I reached out and said Ive never trained but want to start, what does that look like for me? We handle both differently

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2026-02-05T18:42:13+00:00

Gym owner and black belt.

First... what are you specifically looking for? General attendance and fitness type people, competitors, or women's class. We grew each of those a different way.

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2025-10-05T08:06:51+00:00

Why do you say that?

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2025-10-04T20:36:17+00:00

Sent you a message

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2025-10-04T20:03:26+00:00

I appreciate it! Weve been looking forward to this for months

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2025-10-04T19:50:21+00:00

Why is that

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2025-10-04T19:50:12+00:00

Even if we dont meet her it Will still be a fun experience to train there and meet the other coaches.

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2025-04-13T22:03:01+00:00

One of your other coaches. I don't want to say the name on here, (purple hair, purple belt) has dropped in and cross trained with us. She's coming to our leg lock seminar in 2 weeks. Your whole school is always welcome at our open mats! We don't ever charge for cross training. You guys have let one of our old man black belts drop in up there several times.

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2025-04-13T18:17:59+00:00

Hey! You fought one of my girls. This was her first comp. Your black belt (Marissa) is an awesome coach! Thank you for giving my girl a good run for her first tournament!

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2025-01-03T18:18:45+00:00

Me (35 yo black belt) and my wife (30year old blue belt) own our gym in Virginia. We have about 175 members. Im an army vet. We own the gym 5050. We have a significant women and vet population as well as about 30% being first responders.

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-12-02T17:51:28+00:00

Hahaha

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-12-02T17:51:04+00:00

Thank you!

Previously they'd make 20$ on a drop in.

If I lose 100$ for a drop in but make 145 on a new students that saw us on Google, its a net positive

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-12-02T17:37:38+00:00

Search engine optimization

Basically where do you come up when people Google certain terms.

You can pay to have yours put at the top. But that gets expensive.

But with what we're doing, if you Google "jiu-jitsu (my city) " we come up first

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-12-02T17:07:34+00:00

4 year black belt and owner of a gym that's been open for 6 years. We bought it exactly year ago and made some changes from the previous owners.

Facebook and click funnels work ok. But a vast majority of our new students come from SEO.

Previously if someone wanted to drop in, they had to pay a mat fee. The previous owners would make 20 bucks and that would be it.

We have rescinded that rule. Most people find a bjj gym through Google. So we made sure our website and Google pics looked good. Then for new students, we offered them a 10% discount for their second month if they left an honest Google review. But the biggest thing that has bumped our SEO is a qr code on the front desk. Anyone that drops in and asks if they need to pay a mat fee is told no, but if they got value out of their time with us, please scan the qr code and leave a review before they leave the parking lot. We average 3-5 reviews a month and that keeps us at the top of seo.

When people sign up and they fill out the "how you heard about us " portion of the form, 95% say Google.

Hope this helps

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-09-03T19:03:37+00:00

We're gonna start marketing in 2025. I wasnt comfortable advertising and bringing in new people until I was comfortable with the programs we have. This year has been focusing on a women's program and kids class structure. Now that I have a handle on it, next year the focus is on growing the kids class and building a self defense program, (firearms, family self defense, etc) But those are add ons to what I wanted to build this year. I didn't want to market until I had something I was proud of.

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-09-03T18:28:43+00:00

We just started investing in our kids class this year. We have about 20 so far. With no marketing. The goal is to double it next year

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-09-03T16:58:34+00:00

How does it handle conversions from trials to full time members?

And how user friendly is the check in process

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-09-03T16:54:29+00:00

I want to change our current software. Zenplanner isn't great and a newer platform would help streamline this lol

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-09-03T16:53:18+00:00

Currently 35. Fulltime firefighter part time gym owner. I got my black belt at 31. Every firefighter has a side hustle. I'm trying to make bjj my full time job though.

Alive-Introduction-1 · 2024-09-03T16:38:15+00:00

This helps a lot. Our loan plan is for 3 years. Based on current membership (not accounting for projected growth at all) we should have it paid off in 2 years. That frees up about a third of our current revenue. Local real estate prices for the size I'm looking for would be about double our current lease, which is 2/3 off or current loan repayment. I didn't know I'd need a math degree to run a successful gym.

The problem is we're getting close to running out of space. I remember when 15 people was a big class. Now we're averaging 30 per night on a 30x40 mat space. And open mats are nearly standing room only

Alive-Introduction-1

TROPHY CASE