GARY: Next on Start Up, we head to Dearborn, Michigan to meet up with Danny and Anthony, the founders of Detroit Jiu-Jitsu Academy, a community centered around discipline and respect.

All of this and more is next on Start Up.

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♪ My name is Gary Bredow.

I'm a documentary filmmaker and an entrepreneur.

As the country faces significant challenges, small business owners are navigating their way through a changing global marketplace with strength and perseverance, while continuing to push the economy forward.

We've set out for a 13th consecutive season talking to a wide range of diverse business owners to better understand how they learn to adapt, innovate, even completely reinvent themselves.

This is Start Up.

♪ Jiu-Jitsu was developed in Japan and later adapted in Brazil in the early 20th century by the Gracie family, developing their own style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which emphasizes ground fighting and submissions.

It became wildly popular in the U.S.

after Royce Gracie's success in early UFC events back in 1993.

It grew through the world of mixed martial arts, competitions, and eventually expanded into academies around the world in the 90s and 2000s.

Today, I'm heading to Dearborn, Michigan to meet up with Danny Agemy and Anthony Fawaz, the owners of Detroit Jiu-Jitsu Academy, a martial arts community that's nurturing a new generation of competent, skilled athletes.

Having school-aged children of my own, their mission to bully-proof kids deeply resonates with me, so I can't wait to learn more and maybe even hop in the ring myself, again.

♪ Tell me about your own personal martial arts Jiu-Jitsu journey.

DANNY: I called my friend up.

I was like, listen, you got to find me something to do.

I'm bored.

He's like, okay, I got you.

When I found the Jiu-Jitsu school, the guy's like, "You don't have to bow.

"You don't have- just come here.

"You want to learn how to beat people up?

"This is the place to do it."

I go, "Really?"

He's like, "I'll show you right now."

He goes, grab some student, skinny guy, half my size.

I stepped on the mat.

The kid came at me, grabbed me with a double leg.

I remember I hit one elbow, second elbow.

I kind of went like this on him.

By the second elbow, I fell over and I fell asleep.

I don't know what happened.

"Give me your pen.

"I want to sign up right now."

GARY: Yeah.

DANNY: Because I knew that if I stick with this, this is going to give me something special.

He should not have done that to me.

That kid should not have done that to me and my size.

GARY: He knew something.

DANNY: He knew something.

And I needed to know what that was.

That's what got me hooked.

GARY: When did this go from being something that you were really passionate about and something you wanted to do personally to like, this could be a business?

DANNY: Yeah.

I never wanted to be a business, part of it, to refer it to be a business.

I had opened other businesses before.

I understand business, but for me this was my love.

I just wanted to train.

And at that time, my professor, Saulo Ribeiro, Sensei Saulo, he decided to leave Michigan and go to San Diego and open a school out there.

And when he left, he had two choices: either the school closes or someone take over.

So I wrote up a little contract on a napkin.

I went in the back, I told Saulo, "Here's the deal.

"How about I pay you a thousand dollars "for the next 20 months?

"So $20,000, the school now becomes mine "and I'll take over.

"I'll run it the best I can."

It was a place where I can go and still hang out with my friends and train.

That's all I wanted to do.

And then something special happened about six months.

One of my students, he's like, "Listen, I "have a six-year-old son.

"I want you to train him."

I was like, "Okay.

"I never thought of doing that."

And within three months, I had a whole room of 20 kids and all those kids were sitting there.

I was like, "You know what?

"I think there's something here.

"I need to really think about this.

"All those classes I did in college, this "is where it's going to pay off.

"Let me apply some business "ethics to this now, and let's see where "we can take this."

GARY: Was it called Detroit Jiu-Jitsu Academy at that point?

DANNY: It was just called Saulo Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu.

GARY: Okay.

DANNY: Because he's a master, six or seven-time world champion himself, so his name alone was the school.

So I need to have a name that can resonate in the city.

And we were on the edge of Detroit, so it just kind of made sense.

I'll just call it Detroit Jiu-Jitsu.

GARY: Did you work with a partner or was it a solo venture?

DANNY: Eventually the school moved to Dearborn and it grew.

We went from a school of let's say 20 students in little Mevlandale to a room of now 100 students between kids and adults.

So we're still small, but we're growing.

And at that moment, in order to maintain my marriage so my wife don't kill me, I needed help.

Plus, I said to myself, if I'm gonna take this seriously and cross another threshold, I need to really reflect on myself and see what's missing in me.

I'm good at this and this and this, but I'm not good at this.

And I started looking at things I'm not good at, such as marketing, such as talking, such as just relations with the members, little things that can make a difference.

And that's when I decided I needed to find a partner.

GARY: What were those blanks that you were gonna fill in?

ANTHONY: Danny is real good with efficiency, process, and financial, being fiscally responsible.

GARY: Like a numbers guy.

ANTHONY: He's a numbers guy through and through.

Where I am is vision.

Like my dream was this part.

I wanted an area for our athletes to be able to lift and only have our athletes in here, have the best equipment and be the best that they can be.

And like, for example, this was my vision.

On another thing that he's not good at, that I'm good at, is aesthetics.

Where he does shine.

If you'd have had me managing the project on this, we'd still be building it out.

And it would have been, it would have been four times the amount of money.

GARY: Talk about the growth after that phase, the memberships and everything.

ANTHONY: We went with a very aggressive social media presence.

That's one of the big things we did.

Another thing is timing is everything in business, in my opinion.

Once I saw there was an actual market to expand into MMA because MMA is a little bit of a different world.

GARY: It is.

ANTHONY: And we got the right fighter.

That's when we realized there's a market for this.

We found the right coach.

That's very important.

Once we had the right striking coach, we knew we could go into the MMA world.

♪ GARY: Is it in the space that we're sitting in right now, or did you move into this space?

DANNY: Our previous space was in Dearborn.

It was initially 5,500 square feet, which is not a bad size for a school.

GARY: Yeah.

This is monstrous.

This is a little bit more than 55.

DANNY: Yes.

So at that time, our building had a space next door.

The landlord basically said, "The guy who's in there now, "he's not paying his bill on time, "and you're better than him in that sense.

"If you can convince him to leave, "I'll let you come in there."

A little, yeah, very tricky.

GARY: Wow.

DANNY: He put it on me.

GARY: An arm bar could work.

DANNY: Yeah.

(laughs) So I didn't strong arm or no arm bar.

I just simply really sat in there and I convinced them.

So I went and found them a nice building in a different part of the city.

GARY: Nice.

DANNY: I convinced them to move, and then they moved out.

And they moved out, I moved in and expanded.

We went from 5,500, we expanded to just under 12,000.

And you would think that would be enough, but thankfully the business has been strong.

Anthony is a big part of that, of course.

And we kept growing and growing and growing, especially when I added now other elements to the gym.

I started a kickboxing side of it, and those classes started to take off.

And that's what brought us to this location.

It opened up a couple years ago.

GARY: So you went from 5,500 square feet when you first opened to how many is this?

DANNY: We're now looking at 22,000.

♪ ANTHONY: Really, our goal here was to make sure our athletes have everything they need to get peak results.

And we wanted it 24, it's 24-hour access for our athletes.

GARY: Really?

ANTHONY: 24-hour access.

You get an app and it clicks the door and we have cameras.

So God help you if you don't re-rack your weights.

I mean, we went top of the line.

You got your, you know, you got your back rows.

GARY: This is way better than a commercial gym.

ANTHONY: It's all top of the line.

And the big thing is we have people that want, "Hey, can I just get a membership "for your gym part?"

And we said, "Absolutely not, members only."

You'll kill it.

You'll step on dollars to pick up dimes.

I'm telling you.

GARY: Yep, yep.

ANTHONY: Because in the long run, you'll hurt your business.

And what we have here is familiarity.

What I mean by that is all our members, it's always gonna be your teammates when you're working out.

So you know everybody.

GARY: Okay, now yet another room that we're in.

ANTHONY: This is, this is, this is, this is the, we call them wings.

'Cause they're too big to be called rooms.

GARY: Yes, the other wing.

ANTHONY: This is the MMA wing.

GARY: Okay.

ANTHONY: And over here, all the striking classes take place.

You got everything from your ring to your cage.

You have another 2,500 square feet of mat space.

GARY: That's impressive, man.

Just seeing that.

ANTHONY: That is a pro cage.

♪ GARY: This build out is significant, man.

It's a Herculean kind of feat.

Had to cost a lot of money.

What kind of financing did you guys use?

ANTHONY: So myself and my partner do not take out loans based on our faith.

We're Muslims, we're practicing Muslims.

We don't get loans.

GARY: Okay.

ANTHONY: So the way, and if anybody's watching, we did not leave our careers.

I'm a sergeant with the Detroit Police Department.

He runs an oil company.

I also, we both also own other businesses.

So for a few years, actually like closer to three years, we didn't cut a single check to ourselves.

So then when the opportunity came, we knew we could finance it straight cash.

We did so.

And honestly, and I'm not just trying to toot his horn, anybody else that would have done this project, it would have cost, I'm not kidding, double from what he did.

Because he's just able to, he's just good at that stuff.

GARY: He sees it.

He sees the numbers.

ANTHONY: He sees the numbers.

GARY: Break down how your gym operates.

So our gym is very plain and simple, and we have no gimmick.

Everybody has to start three months for $500.

Why do we do that?

In three months, I'm going to know, A, this is for you, or B, it's not for you.

GARY: Got it.

Okay.

ANTHONY: So after the three months for $500, it goes $200 month to month.

We got people that just want to come in and strike.

We got people that just want to come in and grapple.

Your membership is what you make up of.

GARY: How do you pay your coaches?

ANTHONY: We pay them per class.

Nobody's teaching for free.

We don't care if it costs us initially.

GARY: It's always the conundrum is how to pay the instructors.

ANTHONY: They get it per class.

You teach the class, you're getting paid.

And it's plain and simple.

♪ GARY: Talk about being a coach here.

If somebody comes in, what could they expect?

ALI: You know, we require discipline, respect, loyalty, and being a good team player, you know?

They come way before being a fighter and stepping in the cage.

GARY: Can you brag a little bit about some of your students?

ALI: The one I can talk about the most is somebody I raised as a kid, which is Abe.

They call him The Killer.

I'm a police officer as well, and I came across from him.

He's all about drag racing, reckless driving, this, this, and that, and whatnot.

And he decided one day to join and try it out and whatever, and that kind of took him the other route.

He fell in love with it, and now he's a professional fighter, and he's close to the big stage, so that's an accomplishment.

GARY: What does that mean for him if he gets a shot in UFC?

ALI: A 23-year-old kid came from being a trouble kid to making it as a pro athlete.

People looking up to him, disciplined athlete, professional athlete.

What else can you ask for?

GARY: How does that feel, man?

You're sitting on the cusp right now.

ABE: My eyes are on the UFC.

That's what I want.

And to be the first fighter out of this gym, out of this team, to make it to the UFC, you know, for us as a team.

Like, it's not like my team has been there yet.

So I'm ready to take it.

My first step, their first step, I'm ready to do it all.

GARY: What can you say to young fighters coming up that may have that same dream?

ALI: All you got to do is just show up and put in the work.

That's all it takes.

What you put in, you'll get back.

♪ GARY: What is capacity for membership, and have you gotten there?

DANNY: Acquisition is important.

We need to, you know, this is an art where, again, it's very difficult to learn.

So for every 10 students that come to my academy, I'm gonna lose seven.

But if I can stay ahead of the curve with a 30% acquisition in the positive instead of negative, I think we're gonna continue to have, I'll get that capacity number for sure.

GARY: What are the benefits that you learn on the mat that you can carry into your everyday life?

DANNY: The art itself is- really gives you courage on steroids, right, and confidence on steroids.

And again, in my youth I was bullied mercilessly.

I was not a happy child.

And those things affected me until my adulthood.

And then I found this and it changed me.

It really, in six short months, I started to get courage.

I tell parents today, you're not paying me to teach them just a bunch of moves.

You're not paying me just to kind of keep them busy like a babysitter.

What you're really investing in is giving your son or daughter a dose of confidence that you can never do as a parent.

Your kid will become fearless.

And that fearlessness will carry over to his schoolwork.

This also applies to adults.

I've seen with my eyes adult men, grown men like I was, that now transform within a year.

They look better, they feel better, they're confident.

Confidence is a beautiful gift.

♪ GARY: What do you guys love about coming to this place?

PARKER: For me, I love the sense of community.

I know I could always turn to anyone and talk about my day, ask about training, and they would have my back.

GARY: What about you?

What do you like about this place?

STUDENT: I like how it's fun.

I like to learn new stuff to protect myself.

STUDENT 2: I like how I can just defend myself when I need to, and I can have fun here.

GARY: Awesome.

Do you guys think that this place is good for kids to build confidence?

PARKER: Yeah, I definitely think so.

I'm a coach here for the kids class, and I notice the progression from kids on their first day versus their like maybe one month in or two months in, I can tell their confidence is really a lot higher.

♪ GARY: What does this place mean to you personally?

JACK: Oh man, everything.

Without this place, I don't think I'm doing so well in life.

Started using drugs around the age of 13, drugs and alcohol.

And by the time I was 17 years old, I was an everyday heroin and cocaine user.

I thought maybe I could change something if I joined up here.

And I actually joined and came in and came out a couple times.

And every single time I came back, up until this most recent time that I stuck with it, every time I was welcomed back by Coach Anthony, Coach Danny, Coach Ali, with open arms every single time.

And since then, you know, we got the 24-hour gym.

It's beautiful.

It gives me a place to go.

No matter what, I never have to go make a poor decision again.

I can come here and work on myself.

GARY: What do you think it was specifically about this place that gave you another option in life?

JACK: The people that were here were so supportive of me.

I had no self-worth.

My self-esteem was very low.

These people told me I could do it when I didn't think I could do it.

GARY: They believed in you more than you believed in yourself?

JACK: Yes.

GARY: Speak directly to somebody out there who's struggling, man.

Somebody who's hurting right now.

JACK: Get into treatment.

Go ask for help.

The hardest thing I ever did was ask another man for help, and it turned out to be the best decision I ever made.

You know, you join a 12-step program and get into some physical activity, stuff like this, and you'll meet the right people who will be there to support you the entire time.

♪ GARY: Back in college, I trained in Jiu-Jitsu at a place called the Mind Body Spirit Institute.

I can't remember why I stopped, but I'm sure that life got in the way and I prioritized something a lot less healthy.

But I'm back now, ready to hop in the ring with one of the best.

This excitement mixed with adrenaline is so nostalgic, and although I know I'm about to get twisted up like a pretzel, I think it might be time for me to revisit my love of this amazing sport.

DANNY: So what I'm going to do with this space, I'm going to take my right knee, I'm going to put it now on his hip.

GARY: Okay.

DANNY: I'm going to call this now and to lift this leg up, we call this knee on belly.

A very common position from here now is he's going to start pushing me.

What I'll do is I'll take C grip, I'll move his wrist, and I'll bite it like I'm a dog on his neck, like that.

On my neck, I'm sorry.

Now I'm going to take my forearm and put it on his elbow, and I'm going to push his head, my head this way, and pull his elbow this way, and I use my knees to frame.

We call this a razor.

Little pressure, it kind of becomes an arm lock, and makes him tap.

Simple as that.

GARY: That's brutal.

All right, let's give it a try.

DANNY: With this hand, C grip this one.

Pull it to you and bite your neck.

Yes.

Forearm on the elbow.

This forearm.

And I'm going to push-pull.

Pull with my head this way.

Yes.

Yes.

There's your razor.

GARY: Boom.

DANNY: Good job.

GARY: Tapped him out.

DANNY: Beautiful.

GARY: Thanks, man.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

You want to just try to grapple a little bit?

DANNY: Yes, yes.

GARY: See what happens?

All right, man.

Ahhh!

DANNY: All right, we'll start with a- fist bump.

GARY: Okay.

All right.

♪ ♪ ♪ Ahh!

(Gary laughing) Ahh!

I got some work to do, man.

Holy cow.

(indistinct) I thought I had endurance.

(laughing) ♪ Holy cow.

Where are you guys with the business right now?

Is it profitable?

Is it doing well?

ANTHONY: We've always been profitable.

We've never been in the red.

GARY: Wow.

ANTHONY: We've always been in the black.

And let me tell you why.

Everything sounds good on paper.

You know, for how many years people have told us, you guys should have a women's program.

We didn't have the right instructor.

GARY: Yep.

ANTHONY: So yeah, we could have rushed in and did a woman's program, but it would have been crappy.

So we built up two world medalist female and a Pan American champion female grapplers.

Now we have a woman's program.

It's all about timing.

Off the get, you could be like, you could be the jack of all trades.

"Oh, you guys should have boxing and kickboxing," but what if you don't have the right instructor?

GARY: Right.

ANTHONY: Do you know if the market is there?

It's important to do things with timing and know if the market is there for that.

♪ GARY: What is your role here at Detroit Jiu-Jitsu?

DELIA: My role here is one of the head instructors of the women's only program.

This is a space for women who might not feel comfortable training with men, who wear the hijabs and want to take it off training just with women or they can keep it on and we teach them, you know, self-defense the Jiu-Jitsu game very specific for like women because you really have to learn to manipulate guys strength and your body weight their body weight, so, yeah, that's what we teach them.

GARY: What could you say to a young girl out there that's watching this that that may be somewhat interested in getting into it?

DELIA: You should.

I believe Jiu-Jitsu is the best martial art for women.

You just have to stick with it.

Like, it's a very slow progress, but it's so rewarding and you need to- you need to get strong.

GARY: What has been the best and the worst part of owning this business since day one?

DANNY: It really is something very unique and special because I'm blessed.

I have amazing group of guys around me and members have that like you can come here and you can have a second family so to speak and people that you love.

Which brings me to the worst.

We had a tragedy happen in our gym.

One of our members who's been with us almost a decade, probably would have got his black belt this year.

He- I don't know the exact circumstances of his death.

It wasn't an accident and I'm sorry.

He- it was difficult to handle that, only because this place is to me and to my partner so much more than simply training, so much more than just coming here and learning, because we come- become so close.

It's hard to lose somebody.

GARY: You lost a brother.

DANNY: We lost a brother, yes.

GARY: Ah, man, I'm sorry for your loss and the loss of everybody here around that.

♪ DANNY: We lost an original.

He was been- he would have got his back this year because he was good on the mat, by the way.

He caught me a few times.

He's always been a pleasure on the mat, kind, just- just a tough but kind person and we got to know him deeply but I really value what we- what we have here, it's more than camaraderie, it's more than family, I just want to have a quick moment of silence.

♪ GARY: Do you remember a time in doing this where you got a little bit apprehensive, maybe wanted to quit, wanted to give in at all?

DANNY: Never.

GARY: Never?

DANNY: No.

You know why?

Because, again, it started with me as a project of love, I really loved Jiu-Jitsu.

I had that 20 years ago.

I still have that today.

So I've never- even when the business sometimes is stressful, because sometimes business is stressful, I always had that to come to that- that.

you know what?

I can just get on the mat grab somebody, mold them a little bit and bend them a little bit and I'll be happy.

GARY: I would love to get your best advice for somebody who maybe is happy in their career but also has a dream on the side for something that they want to start.

DANNY: The saying if you love it do it, right, something like that.

It does start with that.

I think I believe in that, I'm a living testament to that.

Even my day job, forget this, I do like going in crunching numbers, I do enjoy it.

So I did find, even my day job is something that I enjoy.

I might not love it like this but I do enjoy it, like I don't hate going to work.

So that's like I think that's important otherwise you won't put your heart into it.

Because love produces a good salesman, love produces a good person, a person who wants to make the business succeed in any way you can.

You got to be efficient, you got to have good organization, you got a good- crunch the numbers right or hire someone that can do that for you.

If you put these things together you'll have success.

♪ GARY: What a day, I mean this place is pure energy.

People of all races, ages, skill levels all incredibly kind and welcoming, but never once did I see anyone lose focus.

Because these folks, they're here to work, to become better versions of themselves by leaving everything they have on the mat.

They're serious about it and this isn't just about physical toughness, it's about becoming mentally and emotionally stronger, developing an unwavering belief in yourself and as a business what Danny and Anthony have built here is exceptional.

They didn't take out any loans and have remained profitable because they stayed patient and gave the business time to grow alongside the revenue.

And they've proven that you don't necessarily have to just focus on one career path, because outside of what their day jobs are they both love Jiu-Jitsu with a passion.

There's no reason why you can't have it all.

So let this serve as a reminder that how you choose to spend your time, whether pursuing one career or exploring multiple paths, that's entirely your decision.

The only rules that you need to follow in your life are the ones that you set for yourself.

Speaking of, I think it's time for me to get back into Jiu-Jitsu and I happen to know a really good academy.

For more information visit our website and search episodes for Detroit Jiu-Jitsu Academy.

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Visit us at StartUp-usa.com and connect with us on social media.

♪ ♪ We've got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us ♪ Got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ Before we pay our dues ♪ We've got a long GARY: You're not my father.

CAMERAMAN: He's not your father.

ANNOUNCER: Running a business isn't easy.

BambooHR supports your HR strategies by automating operational tasks leaving you with more time to concentrate on what's most important to you and your business.

Learn more at BambooHR.com BambooHR, a proud supporter of Start Up.

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Bluehost's AI website builder allows you to type a description for a fully generated website, with managed WordPress hosting and built-in security.

Learn more at Bluehost.com Bluehost is a proud supporter of Start Up.

ADRIA: Sustainability, kindness, ingredient integrity, became the pillars of my company.

You should slay your look, not the planet.

More than 60% of sales in Amazon's store come from independent sellers like Adria at Ecoslay.

Amazon, a proud supporter of Start Up.

ANNOUNCER: Whether your business is starting up or scaling up, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation can connect you with services and support.

From finding employees to accessing state-wide resources and partnership opportunities.

Michigan, Pure Opportunity.

ANNOUNCER: If your career is on pause, you can earn a business or tech degree from Walsh College, with a flexible schedule for working professionals who want to expand their skills for a changing marketplace.

Learn more at WalshCollege.edu Walsh College is a proud supporter of Start Up.