Started my own MMA gym, need help!

But this guy is obviously trying to buy his way INTO OUR SPORT. .

DropBows,
If I may ask you to elaborate on the above comment? I say this only as an outsider looking in, I could only see him "buying his way in" if he started his own association and fought in it himself. I don't think having your own facility and offering to allow people to train there for a small fee is doing that. I do agree, however, that a fighter/trainer with credentials is a must if he looks to stay in. I will say that I have stopped by his gym, nobody was there and my phone call/PM hasn't been returned either. I hope he is just that busy!
 
Calling your place a McDojo is not doing justice to people who actually train at McDojo's and have skills.

I'm offended you're even allowed to post this ridiculous bullshit here and I'll flame you until my fingers get tired of typing.

reading comprehension, work on it retard

this guy has done nothing wrong and if you'd managed to actually sound your way through all the words in the thread you would realise he has gotten appropriately skilled ppl in to do the instruction as he knew very well he was not qualified
 
Well I have called this guy, always a machine left messages and even went by the gym..... Nothing.
 
not the best way to get new members.

To say I am dissapointed is an understatement, on the other hand... My search had lead me to find another gym with a very reputable instructor. It's on my way home from work and I really enjoy it there!
 
To say I am dissapointed is an understatement, on the other hand... My search had lead me to find another gym with a very reputable instructor. It's on my way home from work and I really enjoy it there!

well I would call that a gain lol

glad you enjoy it whats the gym called?
 
Honestly

startupnation.com has a good forum community / FAQ's (though emphasis on online businesses)


Go meet with the local SBDC (small business development center)

10% of whatever they give you will be applicable.


Sponsor some sports shit (little league, softball, wrestling, etc).


See if you can "speak" at colleges / schools


Put on exhibitions at colleges events, then get leads from those who are watching : Have someone just there to chat with people, get there name and number, have them come to a class.
 
well I would call that a gain lol

glad you enjoy it whats the gym called?

Oh yes, the end result was a stroke of luck for me. The gym is Team ROC. The instructor is Greg Thompson, very personable fellow. I was running late but ducked in anyway to check out his BJJ class and I liked what I saw.
 
I started a new alias for MMA Business Solutions. I was posting under StandAloneMMA.

Just wanted to let you guys know the website is being put up as we speak.

It is under HEAVY construction but feel free to tell us what you think:

Home Page

As far as referrals, the gym I own does one month free for bringing in 3 new members. Trick is you have to bring in all three members during the same month. If you dont have three referrals in our log by the end of the month your log is erased and you start over.

Its interesting for sure, i actually found that site before i found this thread just by googling "help opening MMA school". So i am in the odd position of seeing it without knowing any of your background and then looking at it again after knowing you opened and run an MMA school now.


So some quick feedback from someone who is looking for your type of service.......

1) as silly as it sounds i was a little turned off by not knowing any background on you at all. I mean i was looking at the site and thought "who's site is this and are they legit in there knowldge". Sounds bad but a cheesy testimonial or something showing what you have done, on the front page may have kept me interested the first time i was on the site.

2) Its also kinda bland and i can barely tell its a consutling site FOR MMA. Yeah i know it says it right there, but by the looks of your truck, we both know MMA is a little more "out there". I understand if your trying to look more profesional, but the page has no color, no incentive to click on the links. Meaning nothing is really pulling my eye to those links/tabs at the top of the page. If i click on those i stay on the site alot longer and am more likely to keep looking.


Anyways, those are my first thoughts or "constructive advice". With that said, i may be interested in talking to you. I am getting ready to start up an MMA gym up in the North West (3500 + sqf) and i find myself falling right into the category you mention as being a problem.
 
I can't believe you started this thread...

I hope you have a decent BJJ instructor by now. It's one thing to have a club or something, but its an entirely different to have a whole gym setup and people signing up and paying dues when you HAVE NO LEADERSHIP ABILITY WHATSOEVER. you have no experience. you have no business running a school.

You make McDojo's look good.

Why are you even doing this? There's already a legitimate mma school there. Team ROC is in Fayetteville.

You have no legitimacy at all, and I hope everyone here calls you on it.

lol, we are 30 pages in and no one has "called him on it".:icon_neut Im guessing because he hasn't once claimed to be something he isn't, ya dig?
 
I started a new alias for MMA Business Solutions. I was posting under StandAloneMMA.

Just wanted to let you guys know the website is being put up as we speak.

It is under HEAVY construction but feel free to tell us what you think:

Home Page

You've got a couple of grammatical errors on your home page. I'd also prefer a more sport specific (and less corporate) graphic. I get that you're trying to look professional and I actually think you do a good job promoting that image, but I still you think you could find a graphic that suggests both professionalism and a focus on MMA. I also think the tabs should be a different color, somthing with more contrast. Good luck with your venture. By the way, I wear the Stand Alone t-shirts all the time.
 
Congrats. You clearly started out properly. Withe the entire floor space matted and thai bags against the wall you have the basics of what every gym needs. I come from a kickboxing and boxing background and have trained in gyms with little more than this.

I personally would suggest that you:

1. shorten the length of chain on teh thai bags so that they do not touch the floor allowing them to move more naturally when hit.

2. add speed bags against the one empty wall. They are cheap, take up little space, dont take any floor space away for when rolling adn can do wonders for conditioning, hand speed and just add one more dimension to the gym

3. Creat a website. Something simple that states the specs of the gym, hours of operation and your background.

4. Give it time. If you and your former training partners stcik to it and everyone tells the peopel they know interested in no tme you will find people comming in out of curiosity. From there it is simply up to how good the training is.
 
since reading more and more of this thread i would have to say that i think you may be going about this all wrong. I was under the impression that while you have not be certified to train in anything you have achieved something in the sport or were bringing people in which have. Without proper instruction you run the risk of getting peopel hurt. If people come to your classes and think that they have been tought something of value which backfires when they need to use it it becomes your fault that they have been hurt.

In my opinion your most important task is to find quality instructors to help you out. Without a solid base and foundation the techniques you are teaching will be full of holes and imcomplete. Since you are new it doesnt really matter which discipline (wrestling, jj, kickboxing, muay thai, boxing, tkd, etc) as long as you have one present.

I have heard of quite a few gyms which only have a conditioning coach and a tma coach (usually wrestlign, jj, or mua thai) and simply have someone like yourself that has expeirence in different systems oversee the gym. Making sure that the students have solid base in one martial art from a experienced instructor allows you to start training properly and withcoaches who may not be as qualified in other areas. For instance if you have a black belt in bjj training the grappling, a decent facility (which you seem to have) and yourself overseeing it nobody would fault you for splitting the striking instruction with a blue bet in kickboxing because you are lcearly putting up quality instruction.
 
My advice would be to identify as many different viable segments that you can and target them. I think you're going to need classes to get people in, and pay the rent, but you can make them all beginner classes, because you're not trying to steal people from other gyms, you're trying to service an unserviced segment. I would guess that you could at least find somebody to teach beginner children classes,and beginner women's self defense classes. Of course you want to target people on the military base as well, but frame it as some sort of program, a however-long week conditioning program, or training program, or whatever. Your product shouldn't just be "a gym", you need to break it up into specific products that have meaning to specific segments.

As far as reaching people, one way is to "be an expert", which doesn't require much. For example if you do a free self defense seminar at the local YMCA, then hand out fliers, then you've just cemented that you're an expert in the minds of a group of people already interested in self defense. Another thing would be to write an op ed piece on self defense for your local paper, but if you do that, make it semi-controversial, and take a stand. Another thing you could try is hiring some hot young girl to hand out fliers by the military base. :)

Well that's my 2 cents.
 
Military discount comes to mind. Our MT gym goes for runs as part of training in the summer and handout little flyers to people who want them along the way. But that's downtown toronto so lot's of people. Try putting those printed sheets with numbers in some martial arts stores
 
I started a new alias for MMA Business Solutions. I was posting under StandAloneMMA.

Just wanted to let you guys know the website is being put up as we speak.

It is under HEAVY construction but feel free to tell us what you think:

Home Page

As far as referrals, the gym I own does one month free for bringing in 3 new members. Trick is you have to bring in all three members during the same month. If you dont have three referrals in our log by the end of the month your log is erased and you start over.

mcdonalds.jpg
 
I wish all D-bags had avatars like yours.

It would really make it easy to spot them by the D-Bag pictured in their avatar.

don't be jealous of SnowBro and his popped collar... hater.
 
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