The Reality of Opening Up Your Own Gym
An interview with a new gym owner.
Today’s article is an interview with BJJ black belt, fellow internet writing friend, and now, gym owner William Watts. William has contributed to this newsletter a few times in the past (and some of those articles are linked at the bottom of this article), but today we’re focusing on his newest endeavor, the East Austin Jiu-Jitsu Parlor.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like to open up for own gym and go full-time into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, you’re going to enjoy this one.
Let’s dive in!
1. It's been a while since you appeared here on The Grappler's Diary, can you refresh my readers on your background and what you've been up to this year?
This year has probably been the most stimulating year of my life. It's all been pretty positive though!
After we last collaborated on The Problem With Competition and Infinite Games, I got engaged, then I quit my day job, and then I opened a gym with my friends. Probably the most eventful 90 days of my life all in all.
2. When did the dream/desire to build your own gym occur? What is the origin story of the Parlor?
Myself and my friends/business partners Dave and Vince started talking about opening up a gym together back in Covid. Vince was living in Reno but moving back to Austin, Dave was kind of between gyms, and I just wanted to start my own thing. The idea snowballed from there.
We recruited two of our other friends/training partners, Sean and Zane, to join us and we got to work. Originally the 5 of us trained together at the now defunct MMA gym, Eastside Austin Elite so we were all familiar with each other. Funny enough the manager from the gym we met at is actually our landlord now so we're really getting the band back together for The Parlor.
We just want to teach/do jiujitsu in our favorite neighborhood.
3. Tell me about the gym's vibes/gym design/features (pics if you have any!) - what was your goal when first dreaming up your gym?
We've all lived in Austin for ~ 10 years off and on so we wanted to keep the East Austin vibe alive. The gym looks kind of industrial with exposed brick and concrete floors but overall it's incredibly well thought out. My partner, Dave, is a handyman and in a previous life he built gyms/family fun centers. He really helped funnel the vision into an unique experience.
We have 3000 square feet of mats, a full weight room, a PT office onsite, 4 showers, and we're building a steam room. All in all it's a perfect place to train and that's really the goal. We want to make jiujitsu fun and accessible so more people can come here and train safely.
That theme is a part of our gear too. If you need a new rash guard or shorts check them out here.
4. How has the reality of building the gym been different from what you envisioned it? Construction, permits, and other things people might not think about.
The reality is it just takes fucking forever. I've never met anyone who's construction was a straight shot forward. I think I remember your coach was going through construction for like 2 years?
That'll vary city by city, but the Austin permitting office has a long backlog of stuff to get through. We were delayed by about 8 months which really sucked.
5. You have a team of at least 4-5 partners, what are the benefits of building a gym with your friends as opposed to on your own?
I really like the cliche 'If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far, go together.'
Each one of us has a different skill set so we don't really step on each other's toes. For instance, Sean is Doctor of Physical Therapy. He coaches our strength classes and does PT onsite. I wouldn't be able to do that on my own, so it's only a benefit to have him as a partner.
I think people are opposed to having partners in gyms because it ends up being two jiujitsu people teaching/training together. They're bound to butt heads because they have the same skills, and, therefore, they are responsible for the same work.
Generally I would say that partnerships work well when they effectively divide labor. If two people have one job it won't get done.
6. How did you settle on location? Choosing to open a place in Austin, the current mecca of the Jiu-Jitsu world is a bold undertaking, but you guys are doing something different than most gyms here.
Dude 100%. It was (is?) very nerve racking to open a gym with some of the best coaches & competitors in the world within driving distance.
But, I mean, Marcelo’s and Renzo’s are literally less than half a mile away from one another and they both thrived. Plus there's jiujitsu everywhere in San Diego and they're doing okay. If it can work there, why not Austin?
We figured if we make something unique we're not really competing with other jiujitsu gyms. We have separate memberships for different programs and classes so we can accommodate more types of people. We're closer to a health club than a jiujitsu gym
One positive is we're really the only gym on the East Side. A lot of our members live walking/biking distance from us. We've all been around the East Side for awhile. It was either East Side or nowhere.
7. What obstacles did you face in opening your gym? Were there any that you weren't expecting or anything that was easier than you thought?
Other than the permits and construction we haven't faced too many obstacles yet.
8. What are your long-term goals with the East Austin Jiu-Jitsu Parlor?
We want to make jiujitsu fun and accessible so more people do it. Jiujitsu is a uniquely valuable activity but it can be delivered in a way that is intimidating or turns people off so they don't come back and keep training. That's bad. We want to do the opposite and we're doing everything we can to make it fun and easy to join and keep training.
We have some cool programs and partnerships in the works. Don't want to spoil/jinx anything but I think next year we're going to have a lot of good news to share.
9. You have a background in crowdfunding in the corporate world (correct me if I'm wrong here) - what has your background and prior experience brought to the table?
Immediately before opening the gym I worked for a company called SMBX. We were a Reg CF platform for debt investing. It's a fancy way of saying we helped small businesses raise money by getting investors to crowdfund a loan. It's kind of like Kickstarter, but instead of funding new products people get to fund a loan and get a return on the money they invested.
Before that I worked for a health & wellness studio called Restore. I was their second employee and while I was there we opened 165 locations in < 7 years (!!!). For a while there I was an internal business consultant for new franchisees. It was an insane first job out of college but that's like a whole rabbit hole in itself.
In a weird way, the combination of those two jobs ended up being the perfect experience to open and run a new jiujitsu gym.
10. What parting wisdom would you give someone who is leaping "full-time Jiu-Jitsu"?
You have to figure out what your priority is. Do you want to own a gym? Make videos? Or teach/do jiujitsu all the time?
Those really are all separate things and it's important to know what you want before you jump into it full force. It's really really really hard to do multiple things at the same time and be successful so pick one priority and work towards that. You can always do more/other stuff later, but start with one priority and work towards that. Maybe don't leap into anything. Take a small step in to test the waters.
If you want to be a jiujitsu coach but you don't have much professional experience, partner with someone that wants to own a gym but isn't skilled enough to instruct. They can be the manager and you can be the coach. Pretty ideal division of labor if you ask me.
Doing too many things at once is really a recipe for failure, or burnout, but that leads to failure eventually.
To learn more about the East Austin Jiu-Jitsu Parlor, hit this link.
To read William’s newsletter, hit this one.
Lastly, to read some of his last articles in The Grappler’s Diary, check out the links below.
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