BJJ as a Business?

Just a thought that some people wonder about. Does bjj make sense as a business? Well, I have some experience in the business world and probably an say a few words in this regard.

Firstly what one has to consider is the investment that needs to be made. If you have a shabby one room academy somewhere in the basement with no changing rooms this is one type of project, a budget/economy project that will only attract certain people, willing to pay little and get little in terms of the quality of the facilities.

Of course one might say that the only thing that really matters is the quality of the teaching. In fact, it truly believe that the quality of the teaching is just a single element that makes up the product that is being offered.

The product itself has the following attributes:

1. Teaching - very important. Sometimes the teaching is done by a poor quality instructor which reduces the value. Progression will not be possible without quality tuition. A good academy will offer private lessons.

2. Service - you must be cared for. The teacher must take care of his students, answer their questions and add elements to enhance student learning and experience. Without this, students will not want to dedicate years from their life to learn the sport.

3. Facilities - good quality facilities allowing athletes to train, work out, wash and change are vital. If you have a conditioning room, even if it is not part of the academy, that is a plus.

4. Location. This one is key. The academy must be easy to reach, whether by car, walking or underground. If no one can find it, reach it, then no one will come.

5. Brand. A great instructor, a successful team that wins in competitions, this are just some of the requisites, a good academy has it's own sports gear, patch. Many join the global BJJ teams like Alliance or Gracie Barra. It is important to be in line with the international standard and now the latest in whatever your area of expertise happens to be.

6. Events and marketing. Seminars are one way to attract students from other academies. Once they see your academy, they make a choice whether to join. Marketing activities help attract a student base. It is the job of the academy instructors and owners to then retain students.

You have to find a balance between investing too much in facilities, marketing and staff and making money. If you find the delicate balance, then you will succeed. Building a bond with the students is extremely important too. Think through the numbers your business plan. Be conservative. Don't go all out and burn out. Take careful steps, start small, find another instructor to support you and then expand when you have a good base of students.

Ideal Academy for BJJ

What would a perfect academy be if you could choose all the best traits and take away the problems? What do Academy owners do and what are they not doing and should? here is just a few things that I think that should be up there on the list:

1. Good instructors - this has got to be at the top of every list. A good teacher is really a big thing and actually it's hard to find a great teacher that can take you the whole way from white belt to world champion

2. Facilities - some may say that it doesn't matter where you train, but if your gym is not clean, the toilets are dirty, it's just not a place where people want to stay for very long. The academy is a second home and so it should be a good home for an athlete

3. Good environment. A great team, good sparring partners will take you the other half of the way to being a top class bjj player.

4. Location. Your club cannot be more than 2 hours away. You just can't travel there enough and stay for long enough unless this is your full time occupation.

5. Development - progress is important. If you don't make progress, you are wasting your time. The academy you train at should give you every opportunity to train with different people, learn from elite fighters in seminars, compete and much more.

6. Cross training can be very helpful whether you want to practice submission grappling or wrestling. The opportunities should be there to take you bjj to the place where you want it to be.

7. Conditioning. Many clubs believe that it is the responsibility of the bjj fighter to do the conditioning on his own time. I don't believe this is the right approach, it is the instructor that should be there to provide a programme for card and strength training needed.

What other things should be on the list? Something to think about.

How Many Lessons a Week Does Your Academy Offer?

A real issue I think for many training a bit more seriously in BJJ is how many sessions per week does you academy offer. My BJJ academy for example only offers 3 lessons per week which for some may be fine but for many this may not be enough.

Unless you are studying at a really big jiu jitsu academy which has five or more sessions per week, you may want to or have to cross train.

Right now I am cross training in Judo (2 sessions per week) in addition to my jiu jitsu/grappling (3 sessions per week). Three sessions a week is kind of the minimum I think if you want to progress reasonably fast and therefore I think this is a real issue for some of us.

What worries me is in fact that too many academies now look to satisfy not high level jiu jitsu fighters but MMA fans. They add boxing and muay thai instead of adding more hours for BJJ guys devoted to instruction. Unfortunately this is an issue. Some of the guys could devote more time to BJJ but the academy does not offer this and private lessons may be expensive or not convenient. This is I think a problem bearing in mind.

Devoted BJJ guys that want to grow need long sessions, lots of technical practice and sparring and more hours on the mats. Academies cannot afford to instead opt to offer other martial arts just because its suits better the demand. My opinion