144 – Building A Strong Martial Arts Community: Insights From Professional Fighter And Gym Owner Damien Brown

<p>Damien Brown, a UFC fighter-turned-gym owner, shares his journey of transitioning from the octagon to entrepreneurship. He reveals his secrets to success in both the fighting world and the martial arts business realm.</p><p><strong>IN THIS EPISODE:</strong></p><ul><li>Damien Brown's journey from a UFC fighter and military man to a martial arts business owner</li><li>Base Training Centre’s most successful marketing strategy for generating students consistently</li><li>How short-term commitments, like training camps, work well for marketing jiu-jitsu</li><li>How to ensure children between the ages of 4 to 13 love jiu-jitsu until they turn 16</li><li>Opening new locations by gut instinct and finding the right partners and locations</li><li>And more</li></ul><br /><p>*Need help growing your martial arts school? <a href="https://martialartsmedia.com/application" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Start Here</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p><strong>TRANSCRIPTION</strong></p><p><em>My job is to make sure that any child between the age of four and 13 loves jiu-jitsu until they turn 16. If I'm too hard on them and they hate it and they don't like it, they leave. My job is to make sure that I teach them jiu-jitsu but I make sure they have enough fun that they want to stay in jiu-jitsu until they're 16.</em></p><p><em>When they're 16 they get graded as an adult, they start learning as an adult. It's a little bit different. They get to make their own choices. But if I can make them enjoy it that much that they stay from the age of four until 16, then I've now got a long-term member, I've got a kid that's done jiu-jitsu for 12 years that's now going to get a blue belt and go on to be a great adult addition to my gym.</em></p><p><strong>GEORGE:</strong> Good day. George Fourie here. Welcome to the Martial Arts Media™ Business Podcast. Today I'm joined by a professional MMA fighter, UFC Fighter, and owner of Base Training Centre in Brisbane, Damien Brown. Welcome to the show.</p><p><strong>DAMIEN</strong>: Hey, man. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.</p><p><strong>GEORGE:</strong> Good stuff. You've had a complete career between martial arts and your business. But before we get into the good stuff, a question I always like to ask upfront is, what's been your go-to marketing strategy, the thing that you guys do that generates the most students for you on a consistent basis? Consistently or that one thing that's the hook.</p><p><strong>DAMI