For the better part of the last 2 years (2020-2022-ish) I have become OBSESSED with 2 things in business, and life.
The first is leadership.
The second is culture.
But not really in that order… Let me explain.
As I look around, it is fucking mind-blowing the things I see.
Scumbag companies, run by scumbag people who are saying one thing with their mouth, and doing the opposite with their hands.
Lazy fucking people who wont work, put their shopping carts back, and have absolutely zero fucking pride in their personal appearance or health.
When I sat back after one of the masterminds or coaching calls or books or who fucking knows what triggered it, I started thinking about the BEST TEAM I have ever been on.
Not the most winning, although that was a byproduct, but the best teams overall, I have ever been on.
I’ve been fortunate to be on a lot of winning teams. D1 Wrestling at The Citadel, ACR Football state champs, countless summer wrestling tournaments and little league football “world champs” haha
But at the higher level I wanted to see what we did differently when we were doing well, versus what we were doing when it sucked.
It was the culture.
My freshman and sophomore year at The Citadel were some of the best teams I have ever been on.
My Senior year of football, same thing… and I still talk to a few of those guys today, but rarely (maybe once a year) do we talk about the glory days.
There were certain things that were understood in those locker rooms. There were standards that were to be met, and anything less would not be tolerated…
But how do you replicate it?
What was the common factor?
How come certain teams, Penn State wrestling, Alabama Football etc win year after year after year?
Great leadership.
As I look around, I see people constantly saying “I can’t find good help” or “nobody wants to work” and that's ALMOST true…
YOU can't find good help and nobody wants to work FOR YOU.
I literally have people applying for jobs that don’t even exist for my gym.
“Man I don’t care what it is, I’ll do anything. This place has changed my life and so many others”
3-4 years ago, that wasn’t the case.
So what changed?
I stopped expecting things to fall into place, I MADE them happen.
It wasn't with a bullwhip and a megaphone.
It was by establishing a culture and tolerating nothing less than the gold standard for the core values that my wife and I had established for our business.
So what's the point in telling you this?
I am going to condense $500k+, fuck ups and mistakes in business since 2013, and show you exactly how I went from 40+ hour work weeks, running a gym 100% on my own, to the most successful, fastest growing REAL MMA, BJJ, and Muay Thai gym I know of, and not some kids karate, women's self defense fitness bullshit.
This is exactly how I took an MMA cage in the back of a gym with no heat or AC and only 18 members, to over 330 members with two simple (not easy) things.
Establishing a Culture, and becoming as well as building strong leaders.
In these next few (or a bunch of ) Blogs, I will be breaking down the past decade of work I have done to build this business, and its brand
The hardships, the challenges, the lessoned learned, and even some of the crazy shit I have done that worked.. and a lot that haven't.
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