Carlos Machado: Bringing School Business Systems to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

So we talked on several occasions and I finally decided, you know what, let’s go and get a Machado Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Texas. And when we first came down, when I first came down to Texas, actually I didn’t have a location of my own. My academy was inside his TV studio, several celebrities and nice until then. We had that idea that we had to train fighters to be role champions like us. But we didn’t have concentrate on other areas that nowadays we know are crucial for anybody into the martial arts, which is the teaching methodology. How can you teach someone in a way that they feel first of all they can do it and second that they can come back and be a very good student. It’s such an intricate system. It takes so long. Sometimes one of the challenges like people when they start, how do you get a black belt?

[05:20] Fast that, you take them 10 years to become a black belt. And all that happens is set about working in addition to the striking and the takedowns from wrestling. If nowadays you don’t have, you’ve come at times that you’ve been tested in that area and you shouldn’t be lacking knowledge in that situation if your goal is an MMA. Matter of fact, if you don’t, I’ve not changed the subject, but Quinton Jackson, who is the current light heavyweight champion, which I’m going to meet in a few days for a clip for a reality show. He is a lot into jiu-jitsu right now, and he actually, when he fought Dan Henderson defending his title in his last fight, one of the things that he mentioned was, there was the difference in his game was the addition of more jujitsu. So if you have not, there’s a guy with that projection that takes the title from Chuck LeGale and has a successful defense against a guy like Dan Henderson, who is a pride fight champion, a major fighter.

You can see the elements of jujitsu being into the game. No public. You don’t have to be an MMA fighter. You don’t have to be an athlete, into anybody’s shape and background. As a matter of fact, most of my students ranks in different styles, and that’s the beauty of it. And that kind of gives me our approach, the Machado’s, as well as had their approach too. We’re never confrontational trying to say brief thoughts of martial arts by saying that our style was more or less than everybody else’s. We just believe we have a good pride. When people feel that first of animosity, you know, or no, I mean, I love, and also So I’m very willing to learn. I’m always open-minded. A lot of my students, whether it’s from kickboxing, and the other thing about Brazil and Jiu-Jitsu, because it does not involve, you do the striking in a limited way for self-defense purposes, but the averages and submissions and techniques and positioning does not carry on the bruises.

If you were to do a full scale, I’ve had, and actually it’s a new market that’s presented to myself, that I never had the chance to invent. A lot of older guys who are in the 45 to 55 bracket, which is a major market because that group right there, in general, which is the bracket to concentrate before. And of course, not long ago in our last conversation, which I admire a lot, his intelligence on how to market things from all his experience, and He was telling me his idea and then transitioning them into a jiu-jitsu program instead of trying to sell the jiu-jitsu right off the bat. I think the general public, especially for the children’s market, is yet that educated possibly about the benefits of, but they already know the benefits of karate, which is established system and very successful in the kids’ programs.

[09:55] So we had that conversation. Mr. Conan was there with me. Well, I got to tell you, that was brilliant. I think you said about 10 things in there I’d love to expand on. So let’s take a breath for a second and move back to what you said initially. Let me ask you just a little bit. There was so much good stuff in there. I have like a whole sheet of notes already. What do your schools look like now? From a martial arts standpoint, you have schools in California and Texas. What does your organization look like right now? I tell you this. brothers because they operate in seminars and we spend probably a month talking just about martial arts business, just about that. In front of it with that knowledge. You know, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu compared to everything else but the way I guess the sense is different you know we thought that for instance you know we thought that the student would unearth a belt whenever instructor decided that it was a time for him to get the belt. We didn’t at the time, I didn’t implement the bowing before and after class. I thought that was kind of like a tradition for it was not applicable to the Brazilian informal way of doing things, but I started to slowly in doing that we’re working for the math at my school. You can get into it for the school. I guess I was introduced to that concept of the upgrades, some cash outs, options and different things.

I was starting to play with it. Also the marketing, doing more direct marketing and things like that, referral programs among my students. I invite my name and I feel I was kind of stuck on something. I didn’t go beyond a certain point. It was on the point that I tripled the school size and revenue before July of last year. I will tell you, like every martial artist that doesn’t know how to do business, I just rely on my teaching skills and my goodwill from that in that regard. My school has been consistent on the 40,000 range. This is a big change because before, obviously, I share with you, I have different streams of income catch up by doing some extra seminars here and there. days I travel to teach when I want not because I need. You know what I’m saying? Right. But I still know it’s a great opportunity to talk to individuals from your organization who I know should be there.

[15:06] Absolutely. That’s fantastic. Yeah, 250 to 300 students is absolutely nothing to sneeze at. $40,000 gross is certainly have fantastic financial and student results for a really long time. And a lot of the things that you said are the component parts of making that happen. And I wanted to go back and revisit some of those things because you’re a very… For the audience, if they haven’t understood this already, you’re a very progressive thinker. I’ve spoken to many of the… A few of the other preeminent jujitsu, cross-cyclic styles too. Not just only jujitsu, but some of the very traditional Korean styles. Hard, traditional Japanese styles. some of the very traditional Chinese styles that they have to have to operate a successful business. In marketing, you have to have a high competency in motivation, and you have to have a high competency level in sales skills and persuasion skills.

And what you said is very interesting about your structure, and I kind of wanted to expand on that. So what you’ve described is sort of the old school, even the Japanese and Korean and Chinese style, the old school style of thinking as opposed to a modern approach to operating a business. And I think that’s very illuminating for everyone. Tell me a little bit about that. Tell me a little bit about the challenges that you had and maybe struggles that you’ve had in making that change in your own mind or making that change in your organization from having, you know, have an opinion about a person and the ability to advance them or not, and having basically a non-structured school to what you had. What was that change like for you? life for you. On a personal level. Security. Almost like you get into unknown territory.

You know, I’ve never done that before. So I was concerned that I was almost afraid like, my gosh, what am I going to do? You know, tell my students all of a sudden now they have to pay for belt testing. And well, you know, not that they didn’t respect me. They never called me sir. They never called me by my last name and this and that. No, implementing all these changes. But I had in mind. I had one thing in mind. I saw results. I based upon facts. I saw results with other people I knew, the same things that I did. He was scared to death. He didn’t even tell his people all the changes he had. He told his brother who was working with him at the time to do it, which is not the case. That they might resist change. But then I explained to everybody, I said, this is for a good, for I said, this is an atmosphere of respect. Respect brings harmony. We’re here about to, you have to respect each other and the structure and you have to show it. And then they start to bow. I said belt testing is two syllabus which I do, you know, I structured the training in a way that I break down the techniques before a test which takes about three months. We’ll get tested and they advance in stripes. We use five belt ranks, the jujitsu, white, blue, purple, brown. On a testing day, You know, 40 people doing the test at the same time, all divided in different groups, depending on their sons, because who doesn’t like, oh hey, this guy’s doing good.

[20:45] You know, just to expand on that topic too, and I know that I don’t want our listeners to miss this because it’s very important. You said two things that are very important. You said you have a very systemized process to help someone get from point A to point B, and they have a reasonable expectation if they do XYZ that they’re going to be able to get there, which is a very important thing for martial arts school owners to get. Also what you described is what you’re seeing in the attitude of the students is now they’re learning how to set a goal and overcome the obstacles it takes to be able to accomplish the goal. And really if we’re talking about especially in the children’s market, it’s extremely important for us to be focused on the outcomes of what a black belt are, not necessarily technical skills, although that’s extremely important, but what the parent really wants to see is that Johnny learned how to set a goal and accomplish the goal, that he learned how to be respectful, that he learned how to overcome.

You articulated it very clearly. What you’ve integrated into your very traditional jiu-jitsu curriculum is the ability to teach somebody a long-term goal and break it down into short-term and intermediate goals. So that was… How was that received by the student body? How was that received by the families and the parents and the students? That’s kind of like in the beginning. But my main clientele are adults. Like I would say, 17 and up. They said that they didn’t care about belts or rank. They were the first ones to be there and do the whole thing. It’s kind of funny because they say, oh, I don’t care about rank. Oh, I don’t care about belt callers. That’s okay and stuff. I do the belt schedule and I do the belt testing. They’re the first ones to jump in. You know, I think with this, you give the student the means to grow, you know, if they, of knowing where they’re gonna get for them to become long-term.

But there are other psychological things that take place during the class that I’d like to mention if we have a chance. That I did. You talked about, you know, knowing what you’re accomplishing it. You’re more gifted than the others individuals there are more certain things holding back the gifted students like if I have gifted students in a class a lot of times what happens in jujitsu, the director is not watchful that guy will become not the bully but he will become the one who has the pleasure of showing everybody else lead group just for people like that who can make up my competition team directors and in trying to show everybody else why they are the best They made that sense of theory. They actually feel that they have a lie. Every time you have somebody very good in the class, instead of diminished. Because they see that guy in addition to an instructor, they’re going to pull my level up.

[25:21] Instructors know when you start teaching, you become a better martial artist. Interesting knowledge that you already have. And in the end, even for those individuals who work in things like that, they’re going to get better in their martial arts one way or the other by acting that way. So it brings a lot of cohesion and heart. There are certain things I do. For instance, I was introduced to it, is keep going back and forth. If somebody in my class usually gets someone in a submission, have to teach the one that got caught what they did, or teach the counter. And so that doesn’t know what happened. You submit the person that was upset because he got submitted. He feels he’s happy because, oh, now I’m gonna learn that move. You know, show me what you did. and the guy to teach a counter to something you already know, then teach you how to counter something that you have no idea what it is.

I try to use to make sure that the classes are fun, they’re enjoyable, and nobody feels they like this, which is not the case. I want everybody to win. That’s the ultimate goal. Absolutely. And as important as that is for kids, you said something a little while ago that I think is right on the money, confident and confident. The first thing a student needs to feel is competency. If I walked into the Jiu-Jitsu school, high level black belts, you know, rolling together, because I don’t think I can do any of that stuff. Think for me to see would be someone my size, my age, my body type doing the stuff that beginners do. What you said is exactly right. Systemized curriculum, and A plus B equals C, then I have something to, you know, sort of hang my hat on. I have the ability to say to myself, okay, if I learn X and if I learn Y, I’ll be able to, and that’s exactly what you described.

I think it’s a perfect example of how that can work in any style. It doesn’t matter how eclectic or how traditional. Can you tell us a little bit about that? What do you do with a new student when they come in the door so that our listeners would understand how your system sort of works? What do you do initially to help them feel competent? And then what do you do in the first few lessons to make them feel confident with what they’re learning? An introductory class, conduct that class, an easy class, easy paced. and it’s more like breaking the ice. The student, as you talk about sequence, the intro class, most of the time it’s the same class to everybody. But even if I have an experienced student joining the school, somebody that has some teach him the intro class, and it’s kind of interesting at the beginning, where I teach my five, one to 10 guys showing up, those from guys that doesn’t know anything, is out of shape, to another guy who’s a purple belt, which is a high rank named Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

[30:05] I’m trying to teach everybody in a way that the class goes smooth. Why and why not? So if you’re a jujitsu, he knows what jujitsu is from his previous experience, but he doesn’t know what kind of jujitsu is cool. That’s why I need to have him do an intro class. But he doesn’t know anything. I’m going to show him that despite the fact, appearance and fitness, shape, whatever, I’m teaching you, it’s like that I do for a jujitsu intro class. take down, follow up on the ground, where you control, position, and eventually do a submission. You’re short and sweet. But I think we’ve got you. Okay, Toby, out there. Yeah, I think we can hear you. There’s a little bit of static on your end, but I think it’s all right. Yeah, if for some reason it gets worse, I can call you right back and maybe change the thing.

Okay, yeah, that’s great. I think we’re good right now, but yeah, that’d be great. What I do to make a long point, let’s say I have a white belt, a guide note, no experience, and a purple belt right here. And I teach the same skill to each. A mount scape, let’s assume that’s what they were learning. I’ll teach the very basic mount scape to the guy who’s the experienced guy, I mean, the white belt, who’d be holding back anybody and without delaying of the intro class, which is. And those guys, you know, these are the bowing, how do you address each other, how do you address. These are class on the background, I point out to every student and say, that gentleman there, he’s a lawyer, the other gentleman there, he’s a dentist. The other guy there has a professional, which I do often. I want him to know that he’s going to have an environment.

He’s not going to be, like you said, somebody that feels he’s the only… He’s off to the school. I show them I have a board with all the rules. We force from hygiene to, you know, attendance, to, you know, how to talk to each other. And, you know, whatever procedure we enforce, you know, in our school. Show the facility and everything. and then from that point on, and make a commitment if they’re, you know, if we can to get them enrolled on the day they come. That sounds exact, that sounds perfect. The way we’ve always described this from an overarching standpoint, and the primary responsibility of an instructor on day one, day two, let’s say, you know, whichever, the first couple of experiences that a student has, and frankly, the first bunch of experiences up to the renewal point is really to walk that student by the hand one step at a time.

[34:22] And I think you describe that very eloquently in your system. So if I’m a listener on the phone, I really can’t make an excuse. Well my system is different. My style is different. My school is different. All of our goals are for that student to become a black belt long term, to be a student forever in, you know, so our responsibility for that beginner student is to walk them by the hand through the process, teach them exactly what our expectations are, and show them how the process works. And you describe that, you know, very beautifully in a very eclectic style. So I think that’ll be extremely valuable for everybody. Let’s talk a little bit more. You sort of have a different mindset and a different approach than in your part of the niche. now in the country. They’re focused on attracting the 17 to 25-year-old male RAM.

You’ve also integrated these other components, and you’ve appealed to a much broader market spectrum. Can you tell us a little bit about that? How did you come to think that way, and how have you made that transition? What has it done for you? I’m trying to be biased, by the way. I want to serve everybody, whether you are age 17, or 55, or whatever. My goal is to change lives. I think martial arts is a tool. I want to change my students’ lives for the better. I want to be more focused, happier. And there are several things we can talk about later on about the benefits, which I believe we both have an experience about it. But if you check your files, and I had an epiphany with that, you know, I was like, well, OK, let me see here. You have students that start on a lower membership.

They can afford to get into, let’s say, your higher. Stay there. And they tend to. So I was like, hmm, interesting. So if you pay more, that means you’re going to stay longer. I kind of like, it came to that conclusion, but I was not convinced yet. So I kind of researched that file that I have on it. Question why, of course, if you train but does not have the means to pay for the class, well, he will go for whatever the membership I can offer them, they can afford. If you already start committing yourself at expense, a few years down the road, you’re going to still be with the same job that’s going to be provide you and the more you pay for their more expensive program. That’s what I found out. The more you pay, the more. Yeah, absolutely. And in our language, the way that we’ve always described this, in almost all cases, now there are some exceptions, and we probably don’t have time to talk about that today, but in almost all cases, price determines perception of value.

[38:32] And you identified a couple of the demographic constraints that makes that true. Let’s put it in these terms as well. Do you have a certain perception of the value of like a Yugo? You know, the car, the little teeny little car, right? Well, of course you do. And do you have a perception of the value of like the 500 E-Class Mercedes? Well, yes you do. Now, is the Mercedes a 10 times better car? Well, not really. I mean, it’s still gonna drive about the same way. It’s gonna be a little smoother and a little quieter and have a few more features. But frankly, it’s an engine and it’s tires and it’s a rear end and it’s body parts, right? So the reason that we perceive the Mercedes is so much more valuable is in some measure due to the price, due to the fact that it costs more, I had to think about it more, I had to put more money aside, I had to write a bigger check when I bought it, therefore I’m going to put it in a higher category in my thinking.

So if I go to XYZ karate school down the street and I’m paying $30 a month, my perception of the value of their service is $30 a month. Now if I go to your school and I pay $230 a month, my perception of the value of that is much, much higher. I’m gonna make sure I’m there. I’m gonna make sure I don’t miss a class. I’m gonna make sure if I’m paying for it, I’m gonna make sure Johnny goes, right? And those are just a few of the reasons of what you said. And in almost all cases, price determines perception of value. And if you undercharge, you’re doing what you said you found in your files. You’re hamstringing your own retention rate. You’re also severely handicapping your ability to have long-term success with your students because frankly, if it’s to be valuable, then it’s okay if they don’t go.

And it’s okay if they don’t progress to the next level. And if they don’t perceive it’s valuable, then they don’t really care if they’re learning anything, right? So that was extremely important for all the listeners to understand is in many cases, in most cases price determines perception of value and also you need to keep that door open for longevity in your students. So that’s exactly right. What’s that? I was going to say, Toby, if I could interject on that. I became a coaching student of Master Oliver before becoming a Mile High School. I had more of an MMA style program, and we kind of catered to that market. to that market. And what you have is you have a testosterone-based, ego-driven class, and it’s about, did I submit somebody? Did I knock somebody out? And it’s about the top dog. And it kind of, as Carlos alluded to, if somebody walked in that was a middle-aged person that was there for stress management, you would completely, my personal experience that as soon as I switched that mindset that I didn’t need those people and went to a more professional class. I immediately got that person that could afford more money. In hindsight, it was fun, but it was a lot challenging because those guys don’t last more than six or eight weeks.

Then they move on. The first guy that comes in like that, they immediately want to fight on day one. If you have a family come in, they’re never going to sign up because they’re going to see somebody trying to knock somebody’s head off. And Juzitsu, as Carlos explained, is about technique and leverage and training your whole body, not just about beating someone. Yeah, and what you described right there is exactly the same curve of thinking that even in a traditional martial arts style, let’s say, you know, taekwondo, they still have to go through that in any school, regardless of what the style is, regardless of what your sport is, regardless of its dance, gymnastics, high school, basketball, whatever it is, in any group of people, you’re always going to have 20% of the people who are about twice as efficient as the other 80%. Five percent of the people who are all-stars in your market penetration dramatically.

[42:57] Now Carlos, I’d love to hear a little bit more about this. What do you do in your school to facilitate the growth of the top end? Those two? The propaganda department. I make a competition team. It’s out there if I go for tournaments. I put my top guns to do the job. We provide. I think they would sell. When they come back to the academy though, all the other students who are not in that category, they are proud for the fact that those students belong to our team, it’s an environment, that they have somebody like that on their side. Those competitors are either assisting me in the class or even if they are doing the class to beat up everybody. You know what I’m saying? They do their, put them together into competition training, but not on a regular class training which is geared like you said, when they feel they’re capable of and they don’t feel they’re misplaced, have a star next to them. Go ahead. You’re talking about me or I’m going back to what you’re saying and you’re not being repetitive. People talk about the economy and market this and that. What better with a student base category? Because even if there’s a recession or anything like that, you’ll take much longer. Dramatically, the students on that income bracket, then he would the ones on the lower bracket who probably are out of job or struggling right now.

Besides, I know the value perception and the commitment. You know, it’s a social economical thing. Money is everything, but you know, money, as we can accomplish, you don’t make you the money that you’re capable of. Like you said, you’re cutting yourself short, you know, catering just to the guys want to be in the MMA fights. I think it’s a great career. It’s a great market. Man, do shows make more money with the MMA. But if you want to the ones that are going to be the ultimate fighter champions. Yeah, absolutely right. Let me ask you a couple more questions and I really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much. It’s been fantastic. Thank you. How do you, in a traditional martial arts school, it’s been a huge topic for NAMA for a very long time to bring martial arts school operators to the mindset of communicating benefits rather than features.

[47:06] And in almost every marketing problem that a member brings to us, in the majority of the cases, and probably like 95% of the cases, they’re a flyer. In most of the cases that they’re making the mistake is that they’re talking about features. They’re talking about, oh, you know, Johnny’s going to love martial arts because he’s going to get to kick and punch and he could maybe be on the demonstration team and he gets to break boards and he gets to, you know, swing the stick and he gets to do the long staff. When they forget that, parents really don’t care. They forget that what parents and in almost all cases a buyer really wants is the benefit not the feature. When you’re selling electric drills, you really don’t want a hole. You have a really unique approach to this in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu field of communicating those benefits to your students through the features in the class and making a specific emphasis on the benefit.

And could you expand on that a little bit? How are you bringing that to the judicial students and what’s the reception been like on that and what’s that done for the school? Asking me about the steps it takes for somebody once they want to become a student in my school. I explain to you the intro class, right? Follow up on, should meet the charter, they can follow a program, very gradual sequences. They learn the sequences and that’s all they train, the percent, and more acquainted to somebody before they become a client. get to an intro class? Was that a question? Yeah, or both, or how do you communicate those benefits while you’re in the class, while you’re in the school? Most of the people that call my academy, most of the time I very seldom ask about martial arts in a general way. Contact every lead I get, they are already predetermined and that’s happened like a major part of how I get students because I try to, for instance, we have a calendar which we’re trying to implement more group of the school. Let’s say they have a UFC party, a page in their environment, sees that everything is friendly, is enticing, and then he receives a pass and gives you a number for you to call and invite the person using the student’s name as a reference and stuff.

It is successful to an extent, but the person who walks into a martial arts school, I’m sure that they’re going to have a lot of question marks. At least for tough guys, I don’t feel… Most of the time they’re insecure, reason to believe, go level. Gosh, I’m going to be eaten here. That’s not the case. Just before they come, it’s a nice way and use martial arts to help each other, that we don’t have to go through those struggles that people normally have, that a lot of times Sometimes you miss out on the opportunity of doing something that ultimately I believe and I know you do as well, will change everybody else’s life. That’s what my belief is. And makes a test and passes and all the focus and dedication, you know, that is going to serve him when he’s in a business challenge. He’s going to have that focus or even if he’s stressed out for a reason or not, I know that when he comes down to the school, when he walks out of it, he’s going to be a new guy.

[52:33] back home and hug his wife and kiss his kid and be a happy man that day because he had the martial arts experience to close the deal. You know sometimes not to be happy with their jobs. You know how stressful things are business deadlines working for a boss and things like that. At one point in time confided to me and say Carlos I’ve had terrible days and sometimes I really like my job before I would just watch the clock to go by and finishes but now I actually get anxious in a good way, can’t wait to get done so I can go to my jujitsu practice, but they will be missing. You talk about benefits, this is what people have to understand and I was talking to another gentleman a couple days ago, get some times to the wrong people. We think that we only have to market to people in the martial arts, that’s not true. We gotta get everybody out there who is not in the martial arts because they have no clue how much more quality they can have into their lives if they incorporate the martial arts with it.

I don’t know anybody, but I’ve got a big 10% concentrate on the market. Frankly, what tends to happen, and we’ve all been there, but what tends to happen is when you go and break rocks all day, when you go and teach classes all day, when you go to the office and you sit behind the desk all day, whatever it is that you do, what tends to happen is you get into kind of a little rut and you get into a routine and unless you can sort of break out of that shell you stop growing. And what it sounds like to me is Anthony Robbins says when you’re green you grow and when you’re ripe you rot. And if you ever stop learning new things, if you ever stop to implement, I’m sorry, implementing, if you ever stop trying to go out and get more information and go out and learn the things that maybe you don’t know as well, then you stop growing and you And what it sounds like to me is you’ve found new things to learn and you’ve found new ways to expand your life and that shows in your passion.

I think that’s fantastic. And one of the things that, you know, we kind of want to, it was kind of a secret but we want to kind of tell NAPMA members now is that you’re going to be doing some work with us at NAPMA. We’re going to probably have you as a guest at our show and maybe some segments on our DVD and things like that. So we’re really all excited about that. And I think that your passion for teaching and your passion for creating great students and for changing their life, I think will be a big benefit for all of our members. And also, and Master Oliver, and you’re bringing a Brazilian jiu-jitsu component of high quality black belts, not just only in a striking art, but in a grappling art as well. It’s kind of like building a foundation first, right? So once you build a foundation, certain ways you can train jiu-jitsu, that you can increase the speed and the retention.

[56:53] We start doing it more time in the beginning. I’m question again, I don’t want to get lost. So how can I help? Well, yeah, we’re doing a lot of work now cooperatively with you and with Mahaikarati. And you’re bringing to the table for our students in Mahaikarati a very robust, of course, that’s going to be their opportunity as a black belt to have something new and exciting that maybe they haven’t done very much before or have a new curriculum component that the question is how do you think that that’s going to unfold? Mr. Oliver, I think our initial goal is to have every black belt on Mahay blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. That’s a start. Okay. The blue belt is a major stepping stone in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu because once you become a blue belt, your road towards black belt is already set. You know, you can advance with a lot more grasp, a lot more speed and a lot more effectively because you’re gonna, that you gotta get, second college, you know, you got those over in your, what you really wanna do, you know.

Make the curriculum more enthusiastic for everybody because you know, you have the sequences, you can do A, B, C, D, I teach in sequences, you know. It’s not like you learn an isolated move here, an isolated move there, and then you cannot put them together. It’s all about connecting the dots. And students will feel very fast they can get, not just in the karate system, but also in their BJJ. You know, it doesn’t take them, the fact they already have the martial arts background as it is in the mindset, they’ll make them formidable students. I’m working here with the cream of the crop. You know what I’m saying? I think this guy will be an experiment that will prove to the martial arts world that we can have the best of both. A sound martial arts business with a wonderful martial arts with it, program with it.

So it’s not like you’re selling, you know, and I know that sometimes, you have good martial arts skills and terrible business skills and vice versa. The markets, we teach you how to sell, but guess what? We teach you how to be the best martial artists out there. Broke all the barriers. Can I say? I mean, it has never been tried. I think this is history in the making. We’re all very excited about it. And one thing that has always been a key component to long-term student retention past Black Belt is always having the next new thing. What’s new and exciting for the student, what’s new and exciting for the instructors to teach, and what’s gonna continue to build core competencies past Black Belt. And that’s why we’re so excited about this. We think this is gonna be fantastic for everybody. You know, let me ask one more thing, And then I really respect all your time today, and I’ll let you go.

[1:01:21] We’ve got what we’ve learned over the years in Maha Karate and at NAPMA, essential key component to any type of long-term business success, any type of long-term martial arts success, any type of long-term success in anything, fully determined by the people that you choose to surround yourself with. And we’ve got now at NAPMA, we have a couple of different mastermind groups. We have an inner circle program which is like 15 or 20 of the top owners in the industry. And then we have a peak performers group who is about 40 or 50 of the top owners in the industry. And we regularly synergize in live meetings and we bring everybody together electronically and physically to share ideas and grow with each other. How significant has that been in your history and in your past to be surrounded by people that you could learn from that you could grow with that could push you and pull you to the next level and and and that you had the ability to synergize with how how valuable is that then do you and and could you give us a little bit of uh… you know background on that course i will always try to be surrounded i have that belief uh…

uh… leave your ego at the door i want to grow i’ll pay the price you know if it is to go on the mat rolls somebody get tapped out a bunch of times but every time i get tapped out i asked him what did you do how do i do how do i be like you a question is not home and that there is so much above me i’d feel terrible no how can i be like you help me be like you and then uh… except in the uh… and i ask him i i open my arms i open my mind open my soul open my heart i say i have nothing to hide will try to give you the inside that you can take because a lot of times is too much for you to digest like food you know if you eat too much you get sick with knowledge is the same thing if you’re not ready for it You gotta take it by the stride, you know, a little bit here, a little bit there, you can kinda, you know, you’re a white belt in business.

I hope to be in purple, I’m not sure I told you that, you gotta make me a black belt in business, you know? I’ll make a black belt in BJJ, that you can nurture, you know, each other, like if you have a mastermind group, you know, the whole objective, I guess, is for everybody to grow. It’s not like one person to grow at the expense of the other, you know? everybody is winning all the time. And I think this concept, it’s extremely important because I can’t tell you how many people out there, sometimes they go through, not because they don’t know, but because they don’t have a support system of people that have been there already and know better than themselves and help them out so they can reach the next level. Who here and there, all my students, Black Mikey helps me out, concepts that you have.

[1:05:41] But you apply those principles into your business, and you see results that will be also very good. Two things, I wish I had for myself education, which I intend to set more aside, that’s one of my calendars this year, time for college. I have like some days that nothing will happen other than me investing on the things I wanna pursue. I like, for instance, you’re talking, and I’m not changing the subject, I’m trying to talk about me, I have all these things that happen to me, like I’m on the cover of You Are Doing Your Story with me for the NAPMA publication. Tuesday next week with the ultimate fighting champion. Nation for best instructor in BJJ for the year. I’m happening, I don’t want that for my ego to say that I’m good. No, you recognize so I can pull people under my influence and I can show them something that I believe will be fair religion or not.

In the end of your life, people doesn’t ask you ultimately how much money you have, but how much good you made. You know what I’m saying, how many people you loved. You know, how much, I think those things ultimately, but like an eternal thing, you know, so. That’s extremely eloquently said. The, that was the poster I used to have hanging over my desk. I used to work in an office most days and I had a poster hanging over my desk that said exactly the same thing. It says, on the day you died, nobody cares about the car you drove or the house that you lived in or the size of your bank account. All they care, all they’ll remember is how you’ve affected them, you know, and how you’ve impacted their life. So I think that was extremely important. Carlos, thank you so much for your time today.

I really appreciate it. I think all of our listeners will get a lot out of listening to you and a lot out of how you’ve implemented modern martial arts business practices into a very traditional jiu-jitsu school. And if you can do it in that market and in that type of a school, you can certainly do it in any. And I think you’ve done it masterfully. And we really look forward to working with you in the future, not only through NAPMA, but with Mile High Karate and personally. And I just can’t thank you enough for your time today. I think it was fantastic. Mr. Toby, it was an honor to be sure that I’m very thankful for your time as well and Mr. Allen. And Mr. Allen, I know you’re there too. I can’t thank you enough also for your friendship and support. And I know it was through you that I always got to meet Mr. Oliver and talk to Mr. Toby today and I’m very grateful for your support and loyalty.

I appreciate that and it’s an honor to be a student of yours. Listeners should understand that if Mr. Machado can apply these principles as I’ve done in the Jiu-Jitsu community and now through Mile High, anybody can do it in any system as Toby elaborated to. You know, change your beliefs, take advantage of all the programs that NAPMA has and the future is whatever you choose to make it. Absolutely. Thank you so much guys. Thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it. We’ll speak to everybody soon. Alright, thank you Mr. Toby. Thank you Mr. Allen. Thank you.