Hi, how you doing? Yeah, i'm quite quiet. You were pretty quiet. You know the funniest thing, my first impression of you was that you didn't like me. But it tur It turns out that you were just perhaps a little bit shy, which is not true. maybe? Yeah, I'm quite shy in first instances. And started chatting about all sorts of things. and then kept in touch for the whole year. And we actually ~ caught up again in person ~ this year when the conference was moved to Anaheim and spent another week together with our group of Kiwi and UK contingencies. Had a great time together and that entire year we've actually been~ basically accountability partners for each other in our businesses. How has that been for you? It's been really good just sounding things off and just advice or any bits of, especially with marketing parts as well, like, kind of, oh look at this, or what do you think? And it's quite good to get a different eye from somebody from a different place. It's been quite helpful. Yeah, So it's just, I guess, a chance thing. I was always like really into like Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles. And I was quite, I think, a boisterous boy, you know, just always on the go, you do, guess. And then my dad's friends, kids attended a karate school, and he just said, do you want to try this? I was like, yeah, and then turned up and then British championships, English championships, European championships. And then I was blackbelt at 10. Then I started playing rugby. And then there was not, there's a hard journey after that. Like there was not much for me to do except from compete. So I went more into the rugby and just kind of flitted in a way and started being more out there of other sports. And then started getting a bit more into the teaching side of it when I was 16, kind of went back. I wanted to start my own instead of join another club as well because of the culture I wanted to build. Tell me about that culture, what's really important to you, and I'm sure that what you're doing today is pretty similar to what your goals were back then. Yeah, so like, think it all stems and I've been working on that recently with like a business coach and speaking to others like you like, why do it and it's obviously a need to help people but when I was a kid, like, especially teens or like slightly older, as you've already said, was shy and I kind of struggled with self confidence and belief in certain scenarios, even though I was winning competitions. and the beliefs I had outside of that, because you'd get told you're not good enough, you've got to train harder. Sometimes in a fairly nasty way or really tough way. It's old school training is what we would say now, very disciplined, very hard. And it can make you really good. I had like a six pack of 10, 11. I was very strong and fit and I'm probably still strong now just because of that kind of thing. So I did it, but... Is it good? Good and bad maybe. So, but my first instructor again, like he wouldn't turn up sometimes to classes and forget the keys or you wouldn't get your belt after you'd graded for two weeks because he was so laid back and relaxed. You know, he's a great instructor, but the organisation wasn't there of the club. So randomly he turned up in the nightclub I was teaching in and they kind of gave me the light bulb like, oh yeah, how you doing in club? know, and then I was like, Confidence, like recently, I've just made a booklet to the parents what to say to help build their confidence. So like what I was just saying about how you say things. So now it's like a playbook of how to encourage the right way of bringing a confidence out, you know, like the right type of stuff. So that's how it kind of started. I started with two students in a village 15 years ago.~ and now it's just growing. We've got staff and you know, it's, it's getting, there really well, but it's all underpinned by that culture and the brand. That's an incredible story and I would imagine very inspiring, especially for people who are listening who ~ are thinking about starting a business and ~ are just a little bit nervous about taking that step over the Do you have any advice to people who are thinking about starting, no matter what it is, and and how they can get that confidence to just get on with it? rewarded me because I just put everything into it because I believed in it and I weren't going to give it in. I've had really hard times but I dug my heels in and I'm like, no, this is to get over the line and just push hard. And now we're really doing well because of that determination to keep going because I believed in it and didn't just give up at the first hurdle. You've got to just keep consistent and just keep going and keep building on the little blocks. nothing comes overnight. It's been that long journey to get to where we are. Yeah, absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. So talk me through how you started. You had two students. Today you have how many locations? We've got four full-time centers, one franchise location which has like four mini locations in it like satellite, we call them satellites, so they're in halls, so he's spread out across them and he's got about 350 students within that part. And then we've got ~ another franchise full-time center and then we have a Milton Keynes That is a few part time but near on most of them do pretty much full time hours or close to and that's what they want to do as a job not anything else so it's nice to be able to give them people that opportunity. Yeah, and you've actually even employed some younger people who have come through as students and become instructors. Tell me about that. I know one in particular,~ James, who comes along with you to the Social Media Marketing World conference and he is an absolute star. I've had the pleasure of spending a couple of weeks with him as well, and there are others too. So tell me about the people that you have basically nurtured through as students and they've become employees. We've got quite a few who have been here over 10 years now, which is also great, you know, and just. Those who come in, even one of my best instructors, she came in at 19 and she's now been here 10 years and she's head of the whole teaching and curriculum. It's just nice to see that development and all of them grow. Yeah, that's absolutely incredible. And you should be really proud of yourself for what you've been able to give those people and I'm sure they do really appreciate you as well.~ another really interesting thing I know about your business is that you don't just have instructors on staff. You have your own comic book artist. That's pretty unusual and pretty cool.~ I would love to hear more about how you have developed some characters and ~ how that all works in with everything you do. He did it ad hoc to start with, but over the last two years or whatever he's come full time. So he helps with social media strategies as well. But you know, he develops more short comics. we developed a life skills program to go along the curriculum. every month and quarter they do life skills like habits, brush your teeth every day, you get a certificate, so they take things home as well. What does discipline really mean? means time folding up your uniform, tick it off, then you get certificates. But There's comics that go in line with that. So every month they get that comic and it teaches them why that's good and everything. So they all just interlink. So he helps create all of that. Yeah, wow, you've really thought that through. I love that consistency of brand that you've brought through, Thank not just in a visual sense, but also into a practical sense of what people are doing and and your students are doing too. You touched on the star of your brand.~ I would love to hear the story behind that. too common. Every martial arts has something similar to that or they you I'm just like, I need something different. So they'd just come back from Vietnam. But the reason they were there, they're doing a charity bike ride for Stoke Mandeville Hospital, which is a spinal unit for people who break their backs and when my brother was he broke he fell out a tree and broke his back and severed his spine and potentially wasn't gonna walk again. And they when he went there, they're like, No, we will Oh my god, Like, cheers, mom, like So between all of that, kind of just, it was inspiring. And then I was like, that's what I want to do, you know, so called it Inspired Martial Arts. So it was really a family affair, wasn't it? You ha have everybody involved. And I mean, I know that ~ your sister also~ was involved with martial arts when Yes. you guys were both kids as well, and your sister's involved with the business today too. She really helped with that, especially with the money and the finances. She really liked it, is good with that. So it helps with budgets and it's just like, so she now the finance director. And because she understands the business, because we did it as children together and she was actually secret, she was actually better than me. know, she won everything. We won't tell anybody. Nobody will know that secrets just between you and I. When I was struggling to win, she won everything. She was so competitive. So it did drive me on to be better.~ She I love that. was, I was technically good, but she was a damn good fighter. Yeah, so it just made sense because she understands everything that what needs to be in. it kind of just works. Yeah, that's really cool. I mean,~ you mentioned that you're not particularly good at being organized. we all have our strengths and we all have the skills that we're still learning. Thank you. Obviously, as you've grown, you will have had to have realized where your strengths lie. What's that journey been like for you in realizing that you actually need to maybe delegate some things to other people or or employ new people in different areas? how their personalities work. feel I'm quite good with that, I guess, from teaching, it kind of goes hand in hand with that. You know, there's, I have my moments like any any organization, but generally like, I think that's where the strengths are. And like I say, the weaknesses for me is the organization. But I learned when I worked in for a big nightclub chain and whatever and I'm quite happy to invest in it even though it might hurt short term, long term. know it will be for the better. So I won't shortcut where quite a few people I think do because they feel they to or they're just not willing to let go of that control. Whereas I feel like that's what I've learned the most. Give them roles to people who are better and that's especially recently even more so, know, I've started letting, taking on other people to do operations and do like other skills and that's been quite helpful Yeah. What of everything that you do, say today, what's your favourite thing? Good question. ~ So now we've got like a new area for training a different style of different things and it's done. And I'm good at that. Like if a new dojo needs opening, I'm good at that. a new task of, know, getting it off the paper onto the real thing, you know, and get that car driving, I'll get it. But then I'll get bored. I don't want to keep driving it. So I'll get it started and moving and someone else can drive it. So, and that's what I've learned. I find them other people to drive it so I can move on to. building the next one was slightly different. And have you made mistakes doing things quickly sometimes as well? oh yeah, loads of times. And how do you handle that? do you still teach? face. Yeah, it's it sometimes when I'm not like feeling great and then I go and teach that it does feel me like it revitalizes me a lot. Like I haven't been able to teach it for like the last two weeks, but I know the instructor who's there can cover me really well. So it's also not still not a pressure for me to be there and do it. So I'm still quite free to do it. So like I think the important thing with the set up that we've got, I need to be able to go everywhere or do what I need to do. I don't it's nice that I'm not pinned and I can trust everybody to be able to cover any class, even if it's an elite class, like it's not all down to me. And to be honest, most of the instructors now are getting to the point like they're better than me, I've got them to be better than me, you know, like, so it really works like we all have different skills. And the way we teach is, is, all the same. But different, you know, like Everyone has like some instructors have a really soft touch, some have really high energy, some are really technical. So the kids will get the same result but from different ways of being taught. So it's nice to kind of cycle that around a bit. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me as well. So we now know where you've come from and where you are today. What does the future look like for IMA and for Jamie? really good for them and, you know, pay just as good as any other career like a chef or, you know, any office job that they could get, they can get the same out of it, but while teaching something they're passionate about. So that's big for me and kind of taking the brand and the IP, we've spent a long time taking that a lot further and developing a lot of other things around that. And that's what I've decided this year is going to be a big thing for me. means we're just moving that forward. And growing some new locations as well. and getting like, instead of doing it myself, which I've been trying to do, because like I've said earlier, I've got one franchise and another partnership franchise. But that showed me loads of gaps and loads of struggles. And it's been a lot of to and fro and we're not quite so instead of me trying to develop it, I'm not quite sure it's not really my skill set. I'm not that academic. I'm a much more sporty kind of person. I'm going to get a company in to do it all properly and help us and then we can really scale. So that's what I kind of want to look at doing is that and then push hard in the next couple of years at franchising and giving people opportunities in our way of doing things. I just love your mentality and I love how almost every single question I've asked you has come back to you giving people opportunities. It really resonates with me and I'm sure that'll resonate with a lot of other people too. franchising has the potential for a pretty fast and steep scale, I'm assuming. Is that going to be UK in particular, or are you also looking further afield? um I personally want it to be more international, especially with some of the stuff that I think we've developed. I think it will suit a lot of international markets and I want to really explore how that can look. you know, ~ I'm keen for that. I'm a real big picture person, you know, and the sky's the limit, isn't it really? Like, why? why think small, can't help it. I really want to push hard with it. I really admire you as someone who is aged under forty, who is looking at scaling their business f you know, starting fifteen years ago with two students in a village hall and now looking towards worldwide domination. That is just the most incredible thing.~ does it feel a bit surreal actually when you hear those words? I agree completely. Another thing that you've done also to support your core business is actually have other business or sort of supporting~ income streams around it. So I know that you have ~ some other areas like you've bought in merchandise recently, you also have other people that hire spaces.~ I'd love to hear a little but more about that I had this crazy idea. was like, I rang my friend was like, if I got rid of all the boxing stuff, could we like build like a pretend town like a play town, you know, like, and it's like just for under sixes. And he's like, Yeah, we could do that. And he's like a ~ rap, like vehicle rapper of signage and stuff. But he was a good friend from school. And it was like, Yeah, I could do all that and help build it all and get it. I was like, Okay, cool. Let me sell all the equipment. I'll get back to you. And I think, police and all that, you know, like pets and hairdressers. And then, but they're sitting around all the branding and everything for martial arts which is then we've got classes from three year olds up two and a half, three years old. So we get so many and it is working. So many come from that and go through. So it kind of has a whole and or three different things and then we rent a little bit of the space now to another style Brazilian Jiu so they've got somewhere to to train because they're struggling and so we get a little bit of rent for that as well so that's quite nice so yeah That's absolutely incredible how you think up these ideas out of absolutely nothing. H where do you think that's come from? Like ha is that something that's been passed down through your family or the people around you? Like how do you come up with these ideas? I generally don't know. Probably it's a family thing, maybe. don't know. My family, we're all very similar, but also very different. So we all again have different strengths, which is why my sister does all the organization style stuff because she's straight on that. But yeah, I'm just a lot more. then quickly decide. Yeah, Thanks. me of a story you told me, probably a good six months ago, and it's something that has always stuck with me. You told me a story about how you were at sort of standing behind one of your reception desks one time and ~ there was a customer there and you you actually didn't want to be known as the boss or the owner and but somebody happened to say, you know, thanks, boss or something. Tell tell us that story 'cause I think that's really cool. It's quite a nice place to work, whatever, know, because I just... that's just what i'm like, I don't want attention. I don't really like the limelight. Like I'm even struggling to do this, to be honest. And yeah, You're doing amazing. You're doing really well. but then someone walked past and was like, said something like, Oh, thanks. But like, I can't remember. They're like, mentioned me and said boss, like, because some of some of the staff like to call me like, like boss, because they just think it's funny, like boss man, they call me bossman. Only a couple of them. just like, Oh, why didn't you ask the boss man? And I'm like, and then the customer was just looking at me like,~ this all yours? and I was like, Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. I can't really struggle like taking them sort of compliments, I think. And they were surprised that you were also working on reception. Like I know that no job is too small for you. Mm-hmm. Like if you had to go and clean the toilets or go and do whatever, Yeah, yeah, yeah, you would do it, right? I was cleaning toilets today. Yeah, and I was doing reception today as well. So if I'm there, I'll just do it, you know, stop someone waiting. I think that actually shows I think it's a big part of being a Okay. a really successful leader is actually understanding every part of your business, whether it be buying the coffee and cleaning the toilets or being on reception you know, answering the phone or any any of the jobs, they're all equally as important and for you to keep in touch with everything actually happening, I think that actually strengthens your skill set as a leader. Would you agree? there's a lot of food orders and if I'm trying to help them, sometimes they're like, get out way. Sometimes you just have to do things yourself, right? I get it. I totally get it. Jamie, you and I actually share ~ the same business coach, Michael King, and we're both really lucky to have him on our teams essentially to to help guide us in both of our businesses.~ and something that he says to us and to others as well is ~ that you are the sum average of the five loudest voices in your life. have conversations, I know you're such a giver. How do people find you? What's the best way for them to get in touch with you? why don't we put it out there today? Jamie is going to get his LinkedIn sorted out. So if you want to have a conversation with Jamie, find him on LinkedIn and that will force him to get that sorted. Perfect, yeah, that sounds good to me.~ I love it. Hey Jamie, thank you so much for your time. It has been a such a pleasure as always to talk to you and share your story with everybody. Thanks again. So that's recording. ~ okay, so I'm gonna start with an introduction. Today I am super excited to introduce you to Jamie Johannes, who is based in the UK, a really long way away from me over in New Zealand. And Jamie is the founder of Inspired Martial Arts. Jamie, welcome to the podcast. So good to have you on here. ~ I think we should probably start off explaining how we know each other because ~ obviously it's a bit of a difference in industry and difference of time zone as well.~ so we actually first met each other, it was a chance meeting at a baseball game of all places in San Diego~ in I think it was April. Was it April 2025?~ yeah, and a friend of yours had organized we were at a conference and we we had not met each other before. There were a whole group of people, a friend of yours had all organized for a group of us to go to the baseball game. And ~ myself and my colleague Steph, we were sitting there ~ chatting away and~ everybody else started arriving. and everybody was like super friendly and chatty and you were not. Yeah, yeah. Well, I've obviously got to know you since then. It's now been over a year since we've known each other and you're definitely not shy. I can say that for sure once you get to know you.~ yeah, so from there over the week at the Social Media Marketing~ World conference that we were attending, we got to know each other and ~ realised we actually had a lot in common when it came to ~ the businesses that we both run. absolutely. I mean, obviously we have a bit of a time difference issue.~ I I joke to some people that sometimes it takes us a week to have an entire conversation. ~ because we're roughly twelve hours apart, give or take, ~ you know, when the times change throughout the year. But we do catch up via messages and via video calls when we can make it work. So it's awesome that we could make this one work. Yeah. ~ I'm just gonna refer to my questions for a sec, give me a sec. Okay. So I would love to hear about where you've come from on your martial arts journey. You started training when you were six years old, I believe, and Black Belt by the time you were in your teens. What did that look like for you? Tell me about your journey. never left, guess, like, and I just loved it. And literally started competing in competitions from age seven, like even probably before that. And, yeah, I wasn't the best in competitions, I always came second or third to start with. Until I within the same club, I moved to another club, got another instructor who like kind of brought out another side of like competitive streak, and then I started winning. like helping another club. Then kind of doing that on and off and then got it college, I did sports studies to do child development, sports development. And then just got working into bars and live music venues and clubs. Kind of got stuck there till I was 23 and then randomly decided enough is enough and I think I could start my own club. And there's lots of reasons why. and doing quite well. ~ Outside of that, no one knew or didn't tell anybody and I was quite shy. And that's because my first instructor was very good. I had lots of charisma. And then the second instructor brought out that fight inside of me, but it was very strict and very hard on us. I think where that brought out of good fighting confidence, it harmed or changed the way I felt. wait, what I was already getting fed up like seeing people hurt and be destructive in a a nightclub scenario. And I was like, this is not really what I saw myself doing, especially with my sports qualifications. I was like, I could do better, you know, I could do something that's different to all what other martial arts schools do, or try and be different, you know, try and break some of the mold or try and do more growth and culture building. So at 23, I created the brand. and really tried to build it all around the culture and self belief. know, like most martial arts are all good for that. But I kind of really wanted to like, layer lots into it. Like we do life skills, we do a lot of other things to grow, to grow. We've got our own comic book series to help so they can take it home, they can read about the stories of how to be believed. We've got other things coming soon with people helping with like how to take it home and help. Um, if you believe in something and you know that you can make them changes or you you got that belief in yourself, then I'm a believer of just, just do it. Like I literally quit my job at 23, like, and just went for it. It's not as easy, you know, like for everyone to do that. I was in a circumstance where I could do that, but you know, it was a tough first year, but after that, it area which is satellite which is in halls at Mink, we're looking to make our fifth full-time centre so within that we've got about 2 000 students now and growing. absolutely incredible. How do you get from two students to where you are today? What what was that your goal to get to that? What what was your plan? How did you do it? I'm quite ambitious, I have big vision, I always wanted to be... knew I'd want something that will have legacies, so it's more about building it for a certain reason. So think everything has to have a purpose, like you can't just want to be big. It's not that I want to be big. What I want to do is have... able to give people careers. Like if somebody could have made it that easier for me potentially, I would have gone down that route instead of have to... if it was the right... infrastructure and culture and everything sat in line with their morals. So that's why I'm trying to make ours our version of everything is our way. You know, I don't look at anyone else I look at what we want to achieve and what we want to get out of it. It's not just kids doing belts. It's a lot of stuff around that and still we're still evolving that all the time. Still trying to do different things, change the systems if it's necessary to make that evolve. So But it's just that, just keep going, you know, like that we've had dips or like say there's been hard times where I've had to change a lot of things or redo it or certain things that happened and you've got to try, but it's just that consistency. And I believe we've got to where we are as well, because I've gave people chances to come on board, like grow them people. And now they're like full-time instructors. You know, we've got 25 full-time instructors pretty much. Yeah, so like I said, James is one of them. He's pretty much the longest serving one now over 12 years now, I We've been teaching him. I've been teaching him since he was eight. He now does most of our social media, all of our video content because he's got really into that. He came on at 16, did a social media apprenticeship, as well as being an instructor. So now he's a head instructor of a location. And also does all the videos and YouTubes and becoming, as you know, very successful doing on our YouTube channel and being on camera. And he was a shy boy, the confidence in him do what he does on their videos is great to see. And then there's others like Victoria, I've been teaching her since she was 12. She's also one of my best head instructors over 10 years.~ And there's been a couple of other students who have come through to instructors as well. Well, that came from, so, what we started in 2011. And like I I spent a lot of time on the brand. There was a lot of culture behind that, lot of emotion behind that and why we picked that as a brand and stuff. everything I went for, I only taught, we only did children's classes to start with, because we wanted to concentrate on one niche, one thing before we went and now we obviously got big adults classes as well. But That was the problem. So I was like, okay, we need to build that. What does it need to look like? what, what's good for the children to come in and, and take that learning further. And I know 2013, I was really starting to think about it. So I had a couple of instructors, you know, part time and we were getting somewhere classes were getting busy at Milton Keynes, Peterborough locations. And I was like, how do we take this further? How am going to attract more people and know and make it feel different to everything else? And I'd seen a few people use like characters and different things, but it was not right. And I was like, why did I get into it? Because I like the Ninja Turtles like Powerangers just like, how can we do something like that? And then obviously, you know, Kungfu Panda is quite big. So was like this, that that pulls people in. So how do we translate that to us? We need our own characters. And I was like, do this. And then randomly, my dad is a hypnotherapist was like, I've got this client who's an artist and like, I'll put you in touch. And then we started talking and he sent me some concepts. I was like, wow. Then we sort of started working together. And then it just, we kind of got stories. kind of was like, this is what I've got. The, what the feelings I did, what these five points of the star confidence, can we put them into stories? he drew these comics and like, like little short run. I was like, that's perfect. And then. He just drew me all his comics, you know, and he was quite shy person really like me and he just helped his confidence come out like working us together and like it just developed and then these stories come out and they were just hit the brand of like, you know, everything was just spot on. I couldn't believe how good it came out and I've just worked with him now for since since then. So I don't know what that's like 13 years or two. He's, you know, been hit.~ So not many people know about the story of a few people do, because I don't talk about it much. But so it's a star and each point means a word like confidence, respect, discipline, focus, success. So that's the culture we stand by and then we have like a code that passer and other things that grows on to. But when I first started in 2011, so ~ I was think couldn't think of a name I couldn't think of a logo. You know, when you first started out, you know, to do. But my brother, my dad just got back from Vietnam at literally the same time. I was like, I've got this idea. I'm not sure where to go. I think we'd potentially come up with a name inspired by so that's but no, I don't think we did because I think I swear struggling. I was like, not sure. I was just like, had like a list of names. I just don't feel right. too aggressive. It's too be able to help him and with his determination he did walk again after a very long process and then to raise he wanted to give back so him and my dad set up a whole thing raise loads of money for them to give back and they both they rode a bike across Vietnam but when they come back they bought me a red t-shirt with the Vietnam Star on but it weren't just the block star you you everyone thinks it was a painted oriental type star, which was very martial arts. And I was like, that's just amazing. I was like, that's my logo. Like, it just fits perfect. Like, so I was like, I'm having that as my logo, because it's not the start of the announced site, it's its own star. But it connects everything for me, like perfectly. And I had the points already. And was like, that's just everything just fitted. And I think my mom was like, that inspired you. Why didn't you call it Inspired Martial Arts or something like something randomly like that and I was like, Yeah, so four or five years ago, she got fed up in her role in corporate stuff. she was, you know, as a lot of people do. So it just made sense for her to come and I'm not very good at organization or being like processed. So think to start with, it was quite hard, you know, like, you know, I had quite a lot of control and like make sure, especially events or stuff we did, I, I love to kind of do it and get on with it. but I've got really good at letting others do that now and it frees up time so I can do other things. Like I am getting better at that.~ generally I think I'm quite good at knowing people and kind of Where I worked for my dad first, he had live music venues and wedding venues and like hotels and stuff. And he, seeing the bits where he struggled, you know, he was always away working, but he really, he took control of everything. And even with a couple of managers, like I saw that he, where it probably started to, especially with the 2008 like,~ credit crunch and stuff like. could see where it all was like struggling and starting not to be able to grow to what he probably could have done of how good he was at business and stuff like, but he wouldn't let go of them of certain jobs and would try to do everything himself, even the stuff he probably wasn't good at. Where so I observed that. And he taught me like not to do that in a certain sense. But then when I went and worked for a big nightclub chain, I saw one of the managers I had like she was so good at getting people, loads of different people to do different skills like an audio like we've got more I got done, told to do particular things because that was my strength and I started picking it up and noticing that and I was like, okay, so I learned them skills in them places. So now I know, I think I'm quite good at bringing people in and covering weaknesses for each people and strength. like, you know, having like an artist in and a graphic designer instead of trying to do it myself, which a lot of people do or, you know, or Weirdly, even though it sometimes can be quite hard, really like dealing with people and staff, even though I probably moan about it every day, but actually quite like it. I quite like organizing things and like being unorganized. That sounds really weird, I don't know how to say it. Like big picture thinking, right? Yeah, and then, know, and I'm a real, I'm okay, that's, I'm really good at, like, starting something and building ~ and just getting it done. So like, we were half talking just before it's called, I had a space in one of the big ~ gyms, and we've just moved stuff around. And I've spent, I've done all that and got it all done within a couple of days. And got that process sorted and done. fail quickly. To you know, Like that. we tried to once we put we had tried to put MMA gym downstairs and like have a thing got coach here like did it but it just didn't work and it was a big failure and you know, I invested a bit of money and it got it all set up like it just it just didn't work but instead of trying like I said earlier, I was determined I kept going to go but that weren't my passion, I knew it weren't right and it weren't my passion. So I was like, gone, move on quickly. And then it doesn't because if you just keep going and going and going and it's not right, you're going to suffer for it, especially if it's not something you're passionate about. You if you know it works, you're passionate about it. And it's gonna cost as well, right? Yeah. So it's not contradicting what I said earlier, Yeah. but because if it's your passion and you know it's right, you've got to your heels in and keep going to get through that. But if it's not your passion and you just keep trying to pushing that rock down and moving like yeah Do you think you have quite a good gut instinct? Like are you pretty good at like going mmm no or yeah, absolutely. I'm just I have no facts behind this, but I'm just gonna go with it 'cause it feels right. think most of the time, yeah, I can sit there and feel it and know if it's right or wrong. Especially when people are moving stuff around or trying to... like, no, I can see it like this and I know it's right. Yeah, cool.~ At the moment I'm teaching once a week like a special like class which is just like we call it Star Rise membership so I teach that so it's more of a premium spot of those who want to be more an eliteist so we put that kind of program together so I teach that. Although I haven't taught for two weeks. Is it for adults?~ That's just for the children at the moment. Okay. And do you enjoy still having your hand in and doing that sometimes? I think now, more so like I'm very passionate, like I started off being passionate about making like children's growth and like getting them seeing some of the instructors that we've taken on or some of the adults who even suffer the similar being with confidence and now giving them an opportunity and growing them. That's quite a big password in mind as well. But like I said earlier, I really want to prove that these this is a career that can be Yeah, I can't sit tight too much. So I was aiming to open another two, one or two locations this year. One was like a part was sort of dealt with and then the ones that we have satellite classes in at the minute we want I don't want to turn down to a full time and then I'm also back end of this year in the next few months even I am looking at a franchising model. Yeah, it sounds a bit scary. Like, I'm very bad at looking, looking at where I am or what I've done. And a couple of people even recently, like, mentioned it to me. And I'm like, no, it's not, it's not really, I'm not really happy. And it's not really there yet. And I'm like, well, I'm right. Then I think like even a few years ago, like I was like nowhere near this. And I'm like, okay, yeah, actually, I thought we should look at what we've done. But You know, I just like to move. I'm a fast mover and I think that suits me. And when I get stuck, I struggle. I need to keep moving and like developing and stuff. But it is a little bit daunting and a little bit overwhelming. Especially like when you're not from, I didn't go to the best schools from where we're from. I never thought, you I struggle with certain stuff and I just didn't. Everyone will get it little bit, especially when you move this fast. I'm not sure that's even in my skill set to get to that point. again, if you get the right team around you and the right people and the right leadership, no one should do anything on their own. And I think that's the biggest thing. Yeah, we spoke a bit of that trying to do the MMA in different styles, but our main location is two floors. so upstairs is the whole dojo space and that that's got 600 members. And I don't know, one day I just walking, we had a boxing, I took over a bit of a boxing gym downstairs. But it wasn't the right culture and it wasn't the right type of people, even though I boxing. just, it didn't suit at the time. So I rang my friend and was like, I've got this idea. And at time I had a two year old and I'd seen some things similar somewhere else. And I took him to like a soft play and he just got kind of swamped by the older kids. I was like, it's not really going to helpful to take him where you have to keep managing he's too small for the big soft plays. So That was in end of December, oh the start of January. By the end of January, I rang him was like, well, I've sold everything. And it's empty. When can you start? And I was like, I would like to open it before Easter. And he was like, you're really serious? I was like, Yeah, I'm ready. And within three months, we turned it into ~ a play town, right? All branded all signage, everything like fully booked out for the first session and like, got a little under sixes play town and soft play. That was went under six because to me it helped the idea from obviously my kids but to me you got from zero to six now come into your venue just for parents to have somewhere to take their kids in a safe environment where they can let them because it's all penned off they can just wander around and make believe with fire engines and you know like Martial Arts is only generally open in the evenings. Now I've got a building that does day and evening. So that stops that starts. It's just nine to 10 p.m. 9am to 10 p.m. just open doing something. And then somehow in the middle of that, we evolved and had a gaming lounge like for all this to do like Warhammer, Pokemon and stuff. So then we have now lots of stock sales of making money from that. So the building is just doing two I'm not very creative like drawing. can't even write my name properly. Like, you know, but the worst handwriting and I couldn't draw a thing. Like I can't draw a stick man. But I think I'm but I think I'm visually quite creative in like, I can just look at something can just see it. Like I can and I then just struggle trying to pass that on. So I've trying to explain it like, which is nice. Now my like James who does the eyes, he just knows me now. like, can just go to him and he can draw it. And I'm like, Oh, yeah, that's what I want. Yeah. yeah. Yeah, so really utilising the people that have the skill sets. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. So I don't know, I just these things just pop into my head, like, probably a million times a day, like, and I just have to cherry pick the right ones. Sometimes it can be hard. do, which is why I bought in an operations manager and a few people. love assistant to kind of fight against me because I am very it's like a really good I think is one of the best strengths I'm very good at adapting really fast and making decisions really quick and changing things quick but it's also one of my one of my biggest weaknesses is I change things sometimes too quickly or without when they're not probably needed right there and then so these people now just kind of are there to scoop that up and that's that makes a lot of sense too. And once again, yeah, just having those right people around you and very brave of you also to recognize the areas that are maybe your weaknesses and actually empowering other people to sit to to be in a position to actually challenge you on things too. Yeah. It was needed, you know, and I think you have to be open to that, especially as a leader, you know, and I kind of trying to get that through as the culture for all the staff is like, everybody is accountable to everything. If there's no shoes on the mats and I walk across the mats with shoes on, then they should tell me no, and I shouldn't. Just because I'm the leader doesn't mean I can do it without. without them saying something, you know, I think that's there.~ I think I was just serving somebody and then they were saying like, this place is really cool. I was like, yeah, no, no, no. They were saying stuff like that. And then I was just talking to them. They just thought I was a member of staff. And I was like, yeah, you know, I'm just here. They're like, who's the boss? was like, just someone else or whatever. They're not here. And I was like, and then they said to me, was like, no, I just work here. You know, it's just fun. Yeah, I think that's the difference between a manager and a leader really. You need to be able to manage, but if you can't lead by example, then I don't think people will really get on board with it. So I think that's quite important that you get involved. I mean, there's sometimes where you just get in the way because it's like... And ~ I am certainly incredibly privileged to have you as one of my five loud loud loudest voices in my life. ~ so I just wanna thank you so much for everything you do for me as well. And I hope that everybody listening today has got plenty out of listening to Jamie and his journey and everything that he has done until today and and everything he's heading towards as well.~ and if anybody has any questions for Jamie or wants to get in touch and ask him for advice, I'm sure you would be willing to. I guess Facebook, I don't go on LinkedIn very often, but I'm planning to be a little bit more on LinkedIn. I think that's one of my tasks to kind of get better. Again, as you mentioned about having the same coach, think one of the things is kind of doing that more personal side of things, which is what I struggle with. That would be my task is how people can get to me. Instagram would probably be quite good as well because that's nice and open. Okay, so Thank you very much. been a pleasure. I'm just gonna stop recording.