Gym Management

Now you've done it. You’ve decided to start a BJJ academy. You're an expert at passing the guard, but negotiating lease agreements? Setting up your LLC? 

That's a different fight.

You’re taking a big step—it's exciting and terrifying all at the same time. 

With a clear plan and a little bit of know-how, you can build a successful and profitable martial arts academy. In 2019, only 1390 academies were listed with the IBJJF. Today, there are 8,000+ academies listed! Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is one of the fastest-growing martial arts internationally.

The demand is there.

Passion, knowledge, and expertise are important, but they aren't enough. If you're looking to build a sustainable school, you need operational clarity. 

This guide gives you just that. You’ll get a clear roadmap to follow. We’ll show you how to handle all of the important to-dos that come with starting a BJJ academy. 

The Reality of Starting a BJJ Academy

Starting a jiu-jitsu academy requires focus—this isn't a side hustle you can give part-time attention to; it's a capital-intensive business that demands full-time commitment. 

Here’s a breakdown of the costs associated with starting a jiu-jitsu academy.

Estimated startup costs: 

• Facility costs ($5,000–$50,000): This includes your lease and deposits, necessary renovations, and front desk area. If you need additional build-outs (e.g., showers, locker rooms, changing areas, weight room), expect costs to increase considerably.

• Equipment ($10,000–$50,000): Mats for your gym (the cost varies considerably and depends on factors like size, square footage, and extras like spring flooring), frame kits, punching bags, mitts and gloves for MMA, and cleaning gear (e.g., mops, buckets, pump sprayers, cleaning solution, etc).

• Legalities ($500–$7,500): You'll need business registration (e.g., incorporation, state filing fees, attorney/agent fees), licenses, general liability insurance, equipment protection, and liability waivers.

• Marketing and advertising ($3,000–$8,000): Your website should serve as your marketing hub. You'll need a professional logo, gym signage, a budget for your grand opening, and ongoing marketing campaigns. You'll also need branding and marketing content for your local search and social media profiles. These are the initial costs you’ll need to jump-start your marketing and advertising campaigns. 
• Hardware costs ($500–$2,000): Hardware or terminals needed to manage the day-to-day operations—workstations, or POS terminals needed to manage payments, or gym management software.

Here's a breakdown of average monthly operating expenses: 

• Rent/mortgage payments 

• Utilities (water, gas, electricity, and internet) 

• Instructor salaries and independent contractor payments 

• Insurance premiums (general liability, equipment, and property insurance)

• Marketing and advertising (ongoing paid advertising, local search, social media, and email) 

• Software subscriptions (e.g., web hosting, gym management, accounting, email, and office software)

*Note: While I’ve pulled these numbers from a reliable source, these expenses are estimates; your actual expenses will vary. Factors like your location, gym size/square footage)

It's common for BJJ gyms to invest $10,000 to $100,000 upfront. This figure varies based on factors such as location, size, products, and amenities you plan to offer at your gym.

Factors that impact cost: 

• Location: Expect to pay more for a location in a prime, high-traffic area. You'll pay a premium for the additional foot traffic, especially if there are other large retail storefronts nearby.
• Size: Adding more square footage typically increases the price—it raises the lease price, your mat costs, and insurance costs. 
• Amenities: Premium amenities—a weight room, shower, or sauna —can substantially increase your initial build-out cost.
• Equipment quality: It's important to purchase high-quality equipment for your gym. Do not skimp on mats for your academy. Gym owners on a budget often cut corners, using tarps and styrofoam sheets to save money.

Cost-saving tips

• Start small: Choose (a.) a smaller location that offers the basics or (b.) share or sublease commercial space with other gyms and then expand as student headcount grows.
• Do-it-yourself renovation: If you're looking to cut costs, handle the basics (e.g., drywall, painting, and improvements) yourself to avoid unnecessary fees.
• Used equipment: Purchased used gym equipment (e.g., weights, lockers, and benches) from commercial sources to reduce costs associated with buying new.

Marketing needs to be a consistent part of your business from day one. 

If you want to achieve profitability quickly, focus on attracting students quickly. It's common for academies to need 75–125 students to break even. 

This obviously varies depending on whether you're working with a space much larger or much smaller than the average academy. 

At this point, a mindset shift is needed. 

If you're running your own academy, you'll need to start thinking like a business owner. This means you'll focus on making your day-to-day operations highly efficient. 

Not sure where to start? Here's a breakdown showing what this mindset shift looks like in a successful BJJ academy.

Step 1: Choose the Right Location (This Will Make or Break You)

Your location gives you leverage. 

The right location functions as a performance multiplier. It's no secret that marketing and advertising are easier with the right location. 

It's a make-or-break decision.

Your location directly affects your academy's visibility, foot traffic, and the students you can recruit over time.

According to GrowthFactor.ai: 

“The stakes are higher than ever. With 7,327 retail stores closing in 2024 alone (a 57.8% increase from 2023), making the right location decisions can mean the difference between thriving and joining the bankruptcy statistics.”

Retail stores and BJJ academies aren’t exactly the same; many schools lease space in retail locations and rely on the foot traffic to big anchor stores (e.g., Target).  

But wait, there's more: 

• “Revenue Erosion: Stores in poorly selected locations typically underperform by 30-50%
• Brand Dilution: Failed locations damage brand perception in entire markets
• Opportunity Cost: Each failed location represents 2-3 successful locations that could have been opened instead.”

Yikes. 

Here's what you're looking for:

• Neighborhoods with young families 
• Young professionals
• Plenty of free parking
• High visibility
• Lots of foot traffic to the bigger stores nearby 

To do that, you'll want to answer the right questions about your location: 

• Demographics: Who are they? What do they do? How much do they make?  
• Traffic patterns: What are your potential students' commuting patterns? What are their shopping trip behaviors? What are the comings and goings of the area? 
• Spending patterns: What are their spending patterns? Do they have any brand preferences? 
• Points of interest: Are there any competing academies in the area? How are their gyms performing? Are there any big-box stores nearby (e.g., Target, Best Buy, Walmart, Meijer)? 

You can use tools like GrowthFactor.ai to get this data. 

Space requirements

Look for a location with at least 1,000–2,000 square feet of available mat space. 

You'll want to plan for the following:

• Mats (mats, frame kits, wall pads)
• Locker and/or changing rooms
• An office or front desk area
• Lobby

Lease terms that protect you

Your money is made when you buy (lease), not when you sell. You'll want to make sure your lease is fair and includes a few key clauses. 

Negotiate aggressively on the following lease terms:

1. Rent structuring and escalation: Negotiate for fixed rent caps or market-based adjustments. Avoid automatic increases if you're not a fan of sudden rent hikes.
2. Common area maintenance: This covers shared expenses (e.g., landscaping and snow removal) you split with other tenants. Negotiate for a fixed rate and caps on annual increases, so your rates don't increase when other tenants leave. Also, watch for administration fees.
3. Anti-competition clauses: Exactly what they sound like. This clause prevents your landlord from leasing space to your competitors. Take the time to define your industry and category precisely. Make sure this applies to new and modified leases and is applicable to future property owners. You should be able to terminate your lease or receive a (dramatic) rent decrease.
4. Co-tenancy clause: This clause allows you to pay reduced rent or terminate your lease if anchor tenants (e.g., Target or Best Buy) vacate or occupancy declines. 
5. Lease terms: Look for flexibility in your lease terms, renewal options, and lease-break options. You'll want to be realistic and practical—if you plan to stay in your location long term, negotiate that into your lease. If you see this location as a stepping stone, negotiate accordingly. 
6. Personal guarantee limits: Landlords want a personal guarantee—if your business fails, you're still expected to personally cover the rent. Negotiate this down, limit this to the first few years, and cap the dollar amounts. 
7. Tenant improvement allowance: It's not uncommon for landlords to contribute $5–$20+ per square foot towards improvements, which increases property values. You can take it a step further; since you're making improvements to their property, it's not unreasonable to request reduced rents for the first year and zero rent during construction. 
8. General use clauses: So here's the thing; you'll want to define “permitted uses,” the ways you're allowed to use the property. Why? If you define your business too narrowly, you may find you're unable to add new services or products, or adapt if your existing business model isn't working. 
9. Continuous operation: Some leases require that your business remain open continuously. As COVID-19 showed us, that's not always within our control. You'll want to negotiate exceptions for a variety of exceptions—renovations, economic hardship, force majeure, etc. 
10. Relocation clauses: Leases with these clauses give landlords the right to relocate your business to another location within their center. Negotiate to have this removed. If you can't make that happen, require that your landlord provide you with a similar location, cover your relocation costs, and come with termination rights. 
11. Right of refusal: Your landlord must give you access to any adjacent spaces before they're offered to anyone else.
12. Late fees: Negotiate for reasonable late fees, grace periods, and time to “cure” before the landlord can take legal action. These terms prevent technical defaults from resulting in automatic eviction. 

Why are these negotiated terms so important? 

Overspending on rent payments is one of the easiest and fastest ways to kill a new academy. Many gym owners sign a lease without understanding what they're getting into. 

What if you can’t get all of this? 

No problem! Ask your attorney to include clauses allowing for future modifications, i.e., an "agreement to renegotiate" terms based on specific triggers—changes in circumstances, new technology, or project timelines.

One last thing: Prepare for hidden and unexpected costs—HVAC, electrical, bathroom, and flooring updates, for example, are always more expensive than we've expected.

If your school isn’t growing after launch, this guide helps you to diagnose the problem and identify the cause.

Step 2: Handle the Legal and Business Foundation

You can go as deep into business formation as you want.

The more aggressive and comprehensive your approach to business formation and legal protection, the more money you'll need upfront. 

Not gonna lie, it's all pretty boring.

But it's also necessary. You'll want to make sure you have a corporate entity in place, at a minimum. 

This keeps your personal and professional liability separate. If someone is injured and decides to sue, you'll want to make sure your personal assets are protected. 

Here's a list of entities you can use:

• LLC 
• S-corporation
• C-corporation
• Partnerships (LLP)

Think about the goals you have in mind ahead of time:

• Want to keep things simple and just get started? An LLC or S-corp may be the best option for you. 
• Looking to maximize asset protection? Choose the right state, structures, and setup in advance (speak with an attorney)
• Have other companies and assets that you want to keep separate from your gym? Ask your attorney about a more complex structure that uses a combination of corporations and trusts. 

It's a good idea to speak with an attorney about the options that are best for you. Many gym owners use DIY services such as LegalZoom, ZenBusiness, or an attorney to set this up. 

Academy owners on a shoestring budget may opt for DIY services. Academy owners looking to grow quickly and prioritize asset protection will need an attorney/law firm to get it right.

If you opt for additional protection, you will need an attorney.

If you're looking to protect your assets over the long term, you'll want to create multiple corporations, each with a specific role (e.g., operating companies vs. holding companies). 

If you're looking for a more aggressive approach, you can add other complex structures (e.g., trusts, nonprofits, additional corporations).

Why make business formation complex? 

Who would willingly decide to make incorporation more comprehensive than it needs to be? 

You would, that’s who.

Remember Joe Peters? 

He's an amateur jiu-jitsu competitor who decided to sue his former instructor for injuries he allegedly sustained during competition, even though he signed two separate liability waivers.

Peters claimed he “wasn't told he'd be fighting competitors outside his weight class.” He was 246 lbs, and his opponent was 290 lbs.

Here's where things get weird. 

His instructor, Marcus Soares, claims Peters wasn't injured at the event, he had 80 hours of practice beforehand, and that moving up in weight classes was optional. 

When you compete, there's always a risk of injury, regardless of the sport. The vast majority of people understand that fighting can lead to injury. 

A layered strategy using multiple corporations can help to limit financial losses from situations like these. 

Here's an example:

• Operating companies. This is the company that runs your academy, the one your students do business with. 
• Holding companies. Store assets—cash, intellectual property, real estate, stock in other companies, etc.

Operating companies aren't worth suing if there's no money to recover. If Joe Peters’ lawsuit is an attempt to squeeze money out of his instructor, this strategy makes it much harder to do that. 

See what I mean? 

Insurance you actually need

Martial arts instructors need insurance. It acts as your financial safety net; it's intended to protect you from unexpected events like accidents, illnesses, theft, or property damage.

Types of insurance to get: 

• General liability: This insurance protects your academy from third-party lawsuits arising from bodily injury, property damage, or personal/advertising injury (e.g., slander, copyright infringement). Your policy pays for medical expenses, legal fees, and settlements.
• Professional liability: This covers claims of negligence, errors, or a failure to “perform” professional services. These policies pay for your legal defense costs, settlements, and judgments that come from your mistakes, bad advice, or shoddy training that leads to financial, bodily, or personal injury to your students. 
• Property coverage: These policies cover your physical assets—buildings, equipment, inventory, and furniture—from events such as fire, theft, vandalism, and acts of God. It's designed to protect you from operational interruptions, keeping your business running during these interruptions. 
• Buy/sell policies: These are policies used to fund a legally binding buy-sell agreement (or buyout agreement) between business partners. It uses life or disability insurance to provide cash for purchasing a partner's share when a "triggering event" occurs (e.g., death, disability, or retirement). This policy keeps the business going and prevents unwanted outsiders from gaining control over the academy.  

According to JiuJitsuInsurance.net, academy owners can expect to spend between $500 to $4,000 per year, though costs may vary significantly, depending on the options you choose to include (e.g., liability, disability, abuse and molestation, etc.). 

Waivers that work

Jiu-jitsu is a close-contact, combat sport. 

A waiver outlines the risks students face when they decide to train with you. When they sign your waiver, they acknowledge these risks, confirm they understand, and agree to participate in your training.

Your waiver should clarify that:

• Training can cause injuries (e.g., bumps, sprains, cuts, broken bones, and even death)
• Students who train understand and accept these risks
• It's the students’ responsibility to tell their coach about health problems or injuries
• It's the students' responsibility to follow gym rules and listen to their coaches
• Students are expected to treat their teammates with respect and train safely
• The academy is not responsible for lost or stolen items
• The academy may use student photos or videos for marketing 
• It's the student's responsibility to maintain good hygiene 
• Parents or guardians must sign for minors, and minors under the age of ___ cannot be left unattended 
• Students agree and accept that the gym can give basic first aid if needed
• Students are responsible for membership terms, payments, and following cancellation rules
• Students waive their rights and promise not to sue the gym in the event of an accident (as allowed by law)

Treat your waiver as one layer of protection. You want it to be as strong as possible. 

That said, liability waivers are unenforceable if gross negligence, intentional misconduct, or public policy violations are at play—even if signed. 

Have your attorney review your waiver; the templates you find online simply aren’t enough.

You can use this information in one of two ways: 

1. Use the checklist above to evaluate attorney-drafted waivers or, 
2. Have your attorney customize a template based on these requirements.

If you’re using a gym management tool like Gymdesk, you can create, save, and send waivers directly to your members. 

Licensing requirements 

You'll need to address licensing requirements at the federal, state, and local levels. You'll want to verify: 

• Outline local business requirements 
• Identify fire occupancy limits 
• Check for any health regulations (i.e., if you sell food or drinks)

Here are a few areas that need attention: 

• An employer identification number (EIN)
• Registration with the Department of Revenue in your state (for a sales tax permit and tax registration)
• Local business license at the city/county level
• Health department permits (if you're selling food or drinks)
• Occupancy permits 

You'll want to verify that there are no additional requirements in your area. The requirements vary by country, state/province, and city, so you'll need to do a bit of legwork to identify this.

Step 3: Design Your Programs and Pricing Structure

Your class schedule drives revenue.

You'll want to create core programs that produce the greatest growth for your students and your academy. 

Most BJJ memberships range from $120 to $300 per month. Your market, region, and reputation all play a role here. The more external factors your gym can carry (e.g., reviews, wins, awards, prestige, high-level athletes, etc.), the higher the price. 

Start with core programs

Kids' programs generate the lion's share of revenue for most gyms, followed by beginner classes. Here are your core programs: 

1. Kids program
2. Adult fundamentals
3. Advanced classes
4. Open mat

Kids programs are especially profitable—it's not uncommon for them to account for 60–70% of the gym's revenue. Some academies choose to price kids’ classes lower. Many gyms don’t; it’s a lot more work for less money.

It’s more common for gyms to charge the same rate for kids and adults. 

Not sure where to start? Use this guide to build a strong kids program.

Pricing psychology

When it comes to pricing, you have lots of options: 

• Drop-ins: One-time fees for a single class.
• Class passes: Students pay for a set number of classes upfront (e.g., 10). These can be used at their convenience. 
• Month-to-month memberships for students who need flexibility and don't want to be tied down.
• Monthly subscription options for students who are looking for a long-term option.
• Family discounts, plans for parents, and multiple kids.
• Combo plans for students who participate in multiple programs (e.g., jiu-jitsu, wrestling, kickboxing, MMA, etc).

Automated billing platforms should be able to manage complexity and keep things simple; this means handling multiple membership tiers, sibling discounts, and recurring payments without spreadsheets. 

This is incredibly important when you're teaching all day.

Step 4: Build Your Curriculum Framework

A strong jiu-jitsu curriculum has four parts: 

1. Objectives that outline what your students will learn
2. Technique, the skills you’re teaching or demonstrating to your students
3. Learning methods: How will your students develop the technique and skills you’re teaching?
4. Assessments that confirm your students understand the information you're sharing 

Your curriculum should meet specific criteria: 

• Drop-in friendly: Each of your classes can be taught as standalone sessions, but they’re part of a whole that leads students towards a specific outcome
• Outcome-driven: Student expectations are set in advance. They know what they'll learn, how they'll learn it, and what to expect. 
• Structured and balanced: Your curriculum should be built around a specific set of skills. Each of these skills builds on the others, creating systems that produce deep knowledge and drive rapid progress.

Create a documented curriculum that's oriented around specific goals (e.g., pin and submission escapes, guard retention and passing, pinning, and submission systems) and tied to belt progressions.

A consistent curriculum produces consistent student progress. 

You’ll want to create a curriculum that creates well-rounded fighters. If you’ve got a few standout athletes in the gym and everyone else is just… okay, that’s a curriculum problem. 

The majority of your students should be making consistent and rapid progress. 

Each student should have their own specialty and style of course, but overall, your curriculum should consistently produce balanced, high-level athletes who are knowledgeable, experienced, and skilled. 

Building a curriculum framework

Your curriculum should cover each of the following areas: 

• Handfighting to takedowns: Your students should be competent in the five stages of the standing game—stance, motion, grip and contact, off-balancing, and, finally, the takedown. Your students should be able to hand-fight their way into a takedown and execute it successfully.
• Pin escapes: White- and blue-belt practitioners should spend 50% of their time on the bottom, working to escape pins. Your students should be comfortable with escapes and competent at creating movement towards an escape.  
• Submission escapes: All of your students should have early-, mid-, and late-stage escapes for the most common, high-percentage submissions used in competition (e.g., front head strangles, armbar, shoulder locks, triangles, leg locks, and rear naked strangles). 
• Guard play/retention: Students should be comfortable playing off their back. They should be able to make meaningful connections, off-balance opponents, and initiate offense.
• Guard passing: Students should have three-dimensional passing. Your curriculum should teach them to pass guards at long, medium, and short range, using four passing styles (loose, tight, stack, float). 
• Pinning: Students should know how to use zone management to pin their opponents and negate movement. This is about prioritizing chest-to-chest or chest-to-back connections. 
• Submission systems: Your students should be able to transition from dominant positions (e.g., mount, side control, back control) to control positions (e.g., seated head-and-arm, double trouble, kimura/side triangle dilemma). 

Did you catch that? 

I didn’t tell you how to make any of this happen. I didn’t recommend a specific set or series of techniques. I just provided a simple framework you can use to build your own curriculum.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at this comprehensive guide. It shows you how to create lesson plans and build a strong jiu-jitsu curriculum. 

Key elements in your curriculum

1. Class structure
2. Technique/performance requirements (by belt)
3. Promotion criteria

Modern curriculum tools link student skills directly to their promotions. It automates (or semi-automates) what many academies are struggling to track manually.

Step 5: Set Up Operational Systems (Before Day 1)

If you launch your gym without systems or workflows, what can go wrong, will go wrong. If that happens, you may find yourself battling a cascading failure. 

What does that look like? 

• Your marketing worked a little too well
• 50 new students showed up, ready for class
• You didn’t expect this. You don’t have anyone to help, so you’re scrambling to process payments manually.
• Other students are waiting for you to start class, but you can’t, not yet
• If you choose to have students pay after class, you may find that several leave without paying
• If you process all of the payments upfront, everyone is forced to wait, delaying class

See what I mean? 

This scenario had only one bottleneck: manual billing. 

Imagine if you had to manage multiple bottlenecks—signing and storing waivers, manual billing, handling medical issues, answering questions, and assigning partners. 

This could turn into a disaster. 

You need operational systems in place on the back end to ensure you’re prepared to receive an influx of new students. 

Operational systems checklist

• Lead capture forms
• Lead automation messages
• Self-serve/automated recurring billing
• Automated waivers 
• Attendance tracking (manual or automatic)
• Member database and CRM
• SMS/email reminders 

Classroom systems and procedures

• Safety procedures (e.g., banned techniques, intensity, approach)
• Schedule management
• Attendance tracking
• Class format (e.g., warm-ups, techniques, drills, positional rounds, open rounds)
• Assigning partners 
• Injury response and crisis management

With platforms like Gymdesk, you can automate the vast majority of these systems and procedures. You’re going to need a system that can manage all of it—billing runs, trial follow-ups, engagement tracking. 

It’s important that you keep your focus where it belongs, on your students.

Step 6: Launch Your Pre-Opening Marketing Campaign

You’ll want to start your marketing campaigns 60–90 days before your grand opening. Your gym isn’t open yet, so you’ll need to lead with a strong offer that is: 

1. Appealing to prospective students
2. Something they want that’s compelling
3. Clear and concise
4. Credible and trustworthy

Marketing tools and assets you’ll need

Here’s what you need to have to make this happen

• An ad platform (i.e., Facebook or Google ads)
• Simple website
• A few offers you can test (2-3 offers)
• Your class schedule
• Your story
• Why students should teach you

Next, you’ll create free advertising using the 60-30-10 method popularized by legendary marketers Perry Marshall and Ryan Deiss. 

Here's how it works. You divide your ad spend into three groups:

• Cold audiences (10%). These are people who have never heard of you. You promote helpful BJJ content or a small problem-solving offer to specific groups (chiropractic patients, CrossFitters, school parents, etc.). You don’t ask for their email, phone number, or commitment yet—you’re just buying attention and intel. If you lose money anywhere, you lose it here.
• Warm audiences (30%). These people now recognize your name. They’ve seen your content, visited your site, downloaded your schedule, or watched a video. They’re interested enough to lean in, ask questions, and consider a trial. Your goal is to give them a clear next step.
• Hot audiences (60%). These are the people who have already taken action—trial class, open mat, drop-in fee, following you on social, or joining your email list. They’ve shown explicit interest in training with you. This is where you spend the bulk of your budget, because these are the students most likely to sign up.

Here’s a concise breakdown:

I thought you said this was free advertising? Here’s where we change things up. 

You create a low-cost offer, something that you sell on the back end. This allows you to recoup the advertising spend you used to recruit this student. 

Here’s how it works:

1. You make an offer to the people who are warm or hot.
2. The offer is inexpensive, no more than $25. 
3. The offer is irresistible; if they’re interested, they’d be c-r-a-z-y to turn it down. 
4. They provide their information and cover the cost of advertising for you. 

And just like that, you’ve made your money back. 

Not sure what to sell? There are lots of things you can sell to your students: 

• A Gi
• Rashguards
• Instructionals 
• Merch 
• Digital seminars (discounted)
• Digital workshops (discounted)
• Relevant third-party offers
• VIP access to upcoming events 

Can you see what’s happening? 

Do this ahead of time, and you’ll find it easier to build buzz around your gym. Partner with local businesses in your community, get local press coverage, and your position is even stronger. 

Find an angle that solves a problem for your partners. 

Use an email platform like Mailchimp or Kit to stay in touch with your students via SMS or email. 

I realize I’ve just hit you with a lot. 

It’s a ton of content and frankly, I wouldn’t blame you if you felt that, as a new gym owner, this was a lot to take in. 

Here are three takeaways you can focus on to attract new members:

• First, create an offer that customers will find valuable (see above). 
• Second, choose the marketing channel you’ll use to promote your gym. Start with there, perfect it, then add more. 
• Third, divide your budget into three parts—spend the most on the people who are interested, spend the least on people who are seeing your business for the first time.

Note: Looking for more in-depth advice from successful gym owners? Check out the helpful advice gym owners have given on Gymdesk Originals. 

Step 7: Execute Your Grand Opening

Set a goal for your first three months in business. 

Attract enough students to break even on your gym. You’re looking to attract enough students so all of your expenses, including a reasonable salary for yourself, are covered.

For example, let’s say that the number is 50 students. You’re looking to add 50+ students (at full price) to your gym. 

Here's a fancy calculator for figuring out your break-even point:

Use pre-selling to register new members before your gym opens up. Not sure where to start or how to do it? Here’s how Renzo Gracie did it. 

You’re looking for students who are true believers. They believe in your gym, your instruction, and everything you have to offer. If you have students who receive a discount or attend for free, are gym hoppers, or attend multiple gyms, don’t include them in your 50-person headcount. 

Give your students the attention and support they need.

• A structured intro class
• Clear next steps
• Friendly follow-up

Make sure you have the help and support you need to give the students enough one-on-one attention when they need it (e.g., help me with this technique). Use automated reminders outside of class to follow up with trial students. 

You’re verifying that they learned a lot, felt well cared for, and, honestly, that you exceeded their expectations. 

Step 8: Survive and Thrive in Your First 90 Days

Set reasonable expectations—you’re in it for the long haul; expect to see positive cash flow within 3-6 months. 

Student retention is the real growth engine here. The better you are at recruiting and keeping your students, the better your cash flow will be. 

High-level gyms like Simple Man, Kingsway, Checkmat, or Fight Factory have higher student retention rates compared to industry averages. 

These are the early priorities to focus on:

• Work with students to write down values
• Culture is living values; everyone (instructors, students) needs to live it out
• Track student attendance
• Immediately identify at-risk students (e.g., dangerous, unstable, or aggressive students)
• Work to keep injury rates low

Common mistakes that kill new academies

These are simple mistakes, but you wouldn’t believe how many gyms struggle with these issues. 

• Overspending on rent
• No kids program in place
• Launching without systems or workflows
• Weak trial student follow-up
• Owners are trying to do everything alone

Your gym needs systems, policies, and procedures—the kind of stuff we really don’t want to talk about. 

But it’s necessary; high-level athletes build their games around systems, and you can do the same with your business. It’s not about motivation or effort; it’s about creating a process that’s automatic and easy for others to follow. 

How to Start a BJJ Academy: Start with a Plan, Build Structure 

Do you know how to start a BJJ academy? 

You’ve got a better idea. You’re about to take a big step; it’s still exciting, but it’s no longer terrifying. 

You have a plan. 

You know what it takes to build a successful and profitable martial arts academy—you have an operational playbook, everything you need to set up, build, maintain, and protect your academy. You know you’re not just launching a gym, you’re creating a safe environment for students to pursue their dreams. 

Academies that succeed rely on these six pillars: 

1. Location
2. Legal structure
3. Pricing
4. Curriculum
5. Systems
6. Marketing

Identify your breakeven point. Figure out how many students you’ll need to cover all of your expenses—rent, utilities, equipment maintenance, a reasonable salary for yourself, all of it.

Set that break-even point as your first-quarter goal. 

Find a platform that helps you create, manage, and improve your gym operations. You have what it takes to build a successful and profitable martial arts academy. 

Use this guide to create a clear roadmap you can follow. Make a list of the important to-dos that come with starting your BJJ Academy. 

Choose the right location, handle the legal setup, set your pricing, marketing, and curriculum; take all of the critical first steps you'll need to make, and you’ll find that your first 90 days set your academy up for long-term success.