How This Jiu-Jitsu School Scaled in Southeast Asia

Lightly edited for readability. Speaker labels are omitted because the source recording is not diarised; quotes attributed elsewhere on this page were verified against context.

Behind every gym, there's a story, a mission, a spark of passion that's started it all. This is Gymdesk Originals. Real owners, real struggles, and the communities they built from the ground up. So I'm over here in Singapore. It's hot. Feels like Miami hot. Gonna get something to eat, explore the town before I go visit our buddies at Gracie Jiujitsu in Singapore. Let's go take a look at the city. All right, definitely ate too much, but it's time to head over to the Gracie Jiujitsu Singapore. Let's see how we do.

So I am almost there. I'm limping around. About a week and a half ago, I was executing a roundhouse and my bottom foot, which should be pivoting, got stuck on the mat. It just twisted out like this. So I may have broken it. Hopefully I don't get it injured a bit more. So I gotta be real careful today. All right, I think I found it. Here it is. It's gonna go upstairs now. There it is right there. What's up guys? I'm Coach Vlad. If you have a fast ride to Singapore, be free to come and visit our gym.

Train a bit with us. We are Gracie Jiujitsu Singapore. We have two locations. One in Lavender, one in church or can't. Be free to come and train with us. Okay, Coach Vlad. First time in Singapore? Nice, me too. Thank you so much. Had a great class. Thank you so much. Man, I've been training off and on jiu-jitsu and judo for 20 years and just pick up these little things. And earlier, you caught me doing the choke wrong where I had my fist this way and I just needed to turn it.

And so many times I try to do it doesn't work. Now I know why. So it's great. Would love to start with a little background and maybe tell us a little bit about where you're from originally, the arts you studied in the past. Yeah, I'm originally from Serbia. It's a small country in Eastern Europe. So I started judo when I was a teenager. I was about 14 years old. So initially I wanted to train wrestling, but I come from a very small town. So there was no wrestling academy, if you believe in my town.

There was only judo. So that's how I started judo. So I trained judo for seven, eight years. And then I moved to a capital to study. So I studied sports science and physical education. And then by accident, I discovered jiu-jitsu. So that was like almost 15 years ago. So jiu-jitsu wasn't as popular as now. You know, now everywhere you go, there's a jiu-jitsu gym. That was just the beginning. So one guy came by, you know, and he wanted to show some stuff on the ground. So I was like, wow, this is really amazing.

And I started training then judo and jiu-jitsu apparently. After some time I got injured in a judo tournament, I tore my knee completely. So I switched to, yeah, I mean, it's normal, you know, now it's fine. So I switched to jiu-jitsu completely. I've been doing jiu-jitsu now for almost 15 years, a bit more than 10 years full-time coaching. Yeah, so I'm a flag belt in judo, in jiu-jitsu. Like I said, I studied sports science and physical education. I have a master's degree. And yeah, that would be a bit about my background.

When I was 26, I moved to Kuwait. So I got a good job offer to do with work as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor full-time. So I went there, I stayed for three years. And then I moved to Singapore. It's been five and a half years. I'm here coaching full-time and now running the gym. Wow. So you have a professional, like, medical background, right? And do you fold that into what you do and how you practice? Oh yeah, 100%. Yeah. How does that work? How do you use that?

So it's an interesting question. Our faculty has been put under social studies now, if you believe. Used to be under medical studies. So when I started studying, they shifted to social studies. Oh, okay. So everyone was like, how come, like, you know, it's a sports science, it's close to medicine, biology. But when I finished and when I started working, I completely understood why. We're working with people. We're working with kids. We're educating kids. So it makes sense to be under the social science. So it makes a lot of sense.

The department where I studied was a lot about pedagogy, psychology, kids' sport, you know, didactics and stuff. Of course, medical sciences as well, anatomy, biomechanics, physiology and stuff. Yeah. But how to say that part, you can be a coach without it. It's not so necessary, you know. Yeah. You don't have to know, like, every single bone in the body to coach. I mean, you can see it. But these social skills, you know, like communication with kids, being aware how to raise them, how to educate them, how to instill good values in them, I think that's something every coach you know.

Yeah. And do you feel like the knowledge of, you know, what you studied academically can be applied to when you're doing jiu-jitsu? 100%. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. I mean, jiu-jitsu is based on biomechanics, right? Yeah. So we had one subject, biomechanics, where we studied, you know, in depth. Yeah. Anatomy, it's a combination of anatomy and physics. We call it biomechanics. So basically everything what jiu-jitsu teaches. That's amazing. So you look at it from, like, two different lenses. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? But it goes both ways, you know.

So theory helped me a lot to understand jiu-jitsu better. And then, like, studying jiu-jitsu deeper helped me to understand theory even better. It makes sense. Yeah. Jiu-jitsu is also deep science, you know. Studying jiu-jitsu is a serious science. Yeah. At first, it might not look like that. But the longer you stay, you know, like Dana has said, jiu-jitsu is a science about human body. Yeah. How two bodies can work in correlation. Yeah. I've certainly felt like over the last year, as I got, you know, back into martial arts and into jiu-jitsu, it feels like you're learning a little bit more, like, oh, yeah, and it opens your mind.

And then you're, like, you realize, well, that's just, like, you may know now two moves from here, but there's, like, ten. Yeah, yeah. And there's all these setups. Yeah. It just never ends. It's an amazing art. So, judo, you started judo in Serbia. Yes. When you were seven years old? I was 14 years old. Oh, 14 years old. Okay. Tell me about the injury. What happened? Did you get caught, you know, someone was trying to throw you, or? Yeah, I mean, I got injured by my best friend, so.

Oh, no. Yeah. I mean, my mistake, you know, I was young and full of passion, you know. Although I studied everything, I didn't apply. So, I didn't apply the most basic thing, which is recovery. You know, I was pushing myself, training, like, two sessions per day, weightlifting. Oh, wow. Stuff. And we had a competition where I did very good. I won silver, almost lost gold. Gold, you know, just very good guy. So, I was super motivated. I didn't want to take a rest for a few days after the competition.

I went immediately back to the gym, train, train, train hard, you know, and after a few sessions, just, I mean, it's my bad, you know. Yeah. But I learned a lot from that mistake, you know. I never got injured anymore like that. I changed my style. I changed my approach. So, you're injured, and then how did you find Jiu-Jitsu? Like, what was the bridge from Judo, Jiu-Jitsu? So, I was doing Jiu-Jitsu and Judo a few years parallel. Oh, okay. Which was very tiring, you know. I'm sure that contributed to injury, you know, and overtraining.

But after that knee injury, it was very hard to do Judo for some time. Yeah. Because I was standing in a lot of impact and carrying an entire body weight on one leg. So, ACL, you know, tore ACL. Oh, did you have to get it repaired? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, on the ground, it was much safer. You, from Serbia, you were in Kuwait? Yes. And then from Kuwait to Singapore? Yes. So, I moved in Kuwait 2017, and 2020, I moved in here. And how did that happen?

Someone was advertising, I needed to ditch him. You wouldn't believe it. LinkedIn. No way. Yes. Come on. LinkedIn? LinkedIn, yes. Wow. All right. So, you see, LinkedIn. So, the company found me. They had, like, a huge company, you know. Yeah. They run different businesses. So, they opened, like, a huge gym, like, American-style hangar, you know, cardio weights and stuff. So, they wanted to hire me as a personal trainer person. Okay. So, then when the owner, he checked my CV, and he said, like, oh, I have a martial art background.

Like, I have one huge martial art. Oh, so, he wanted you for your physical therapy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Then he said, like, what would you prefer? So, I think that moment was, like, a turning point in my life. Ah. You know, I said I would prefer martial arts. Oh, wow. So, if I said I would prefer, you know, working as a personal trainer, I think my career would be very different. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. So, now, you're in Kuwait for five years? Three years. Oh, three years.

Okay. Five and a half. So, how did that, so, then how do you, how do you end up here? I mean, the place where I work in Kuwait was fantastic, you know. The gym is, you can possibly say, maybe largest in the world. No exaggeration. It's a huge facility. Three mat spaces. So, one mat space is, like, a basketball court. Oh, wow. That's like a good match. Wow. It's huge. Yeah. A few hundred thousand members, you know, jiu-jitsu. They run a jiu-jitsu and American taekwondo. That's like kickboxing, you know.

But, uh, Kuwait was tough for me, to be honest, you know. It's a very conservative Islamic country. And, uh, it's a desert climate, you know. I'm coming from a very green country. Yeah. Nice climate. So, I wanted to change. So, job-wise, it was amazing, you know. Fantastic. But, living there was tough. Yeah. So, I wanted to change and Singapore came out. It was a perfect solution. Yeah. So, Singapore, I came to a friend. So, one guy from Australia who was coaching here, he wanted to go back to Australia.

So, he needed someone to continue, you know, running the gym. Wow. So, all dots connected, clicked. Amazing. So, you come here and you're, like, a partner. So, I came here as a coach. Okay. Yes. And, uh, recently, actually, eight months ago, I, there was two guys running the gym. So, one of them decided to sell his shares and I bought it. So, now I'm running the gym as well. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. What a story. Yeah. A lot of luck. Like, everything like. Oh, wow. That's amazing.

I'm really happy for you. Thank you. So, sports science and, you know, kids, is that, do you apply that to when you're teaching? 100%. 100%. So, I think biggest takeaway from studying is understanding the holistic approach. Okay. So, what I see with most other gyms is they focus exclusively on competition results. That's pretty much the only value they have. So, whoever works with kids will have to look at it more holistic. You know, I like the quote of Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo. He said the goal of Judo is moral and physical development.

So, we try to teach kids, of course, self-defense skill, proper physical development. You know, I do a lot of testing. See if, you know, strength level is okay, endurance level is okay. If they have any deformities, you know, spine deformities, knee deformities, flat feet and stuff. You know, we'll work a lot on educating them, teaching them basic biomechanics. Wow. Physics, you know, in a very interesting way. So, they can excel in school. When the time comes, you know, we try to explain them the value of being a good friend, a good person, you know, discipline, organized and so on and so on.

So, we try to be holistic, you know. We talk a lot about nutrition, food, you know. So, as coaches, we are big role models for kids. So, if we say something, we take it seriously. Parents talk, we say. So, I try to explain them a lot about healthy lifestyle, you know. I encourage them, for example, to do swimming. I tell them swimming is a skill, not only sports. You know, martial arts, fitness, good nutrition. Yeah. So, we try to have a holistic approach and it's working, you know.

I have a lot of kids, a lot of parents. They love it a lot. Yeah. I saw the reviews. You guys have, you know, great reviews online. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And so, the ratio of kids to adults, I mean, are you… Close to 1-1. 1-1? Yes. I would say maybe at the moment 70, 75 kids, 70, 75 adults. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. And how's it been? Has it just been kind of growing slowly and steadily? It's been amazing, you know, past seven, eight months since I took over the business.

It's doing amazing. Yeah. We invested a lot into marketing, you know, advertisements and stuff. A bit into facility and programs. So, yeah. It's good, you know. We're planning to open a third one. As I told you, we're planning to open one in September. I mean, it's going to be open in Tokyo and we plan to open one more third one here. We have good plans, you know. Yeah, that's amazing. So, you have two locations right now? Yes, we have two locations. So, is this location one?

Yes. Okay. So, then the other one? Yes, and one is north of Singapore. North of Singapore. And you open that one after? Yeah, that's one we opened two years ago. Okay. This one has been running for more than 10 years. Okay. So, this is the original one. Yes. You got another one. And then Japan. Japan is going to happen in Tokyo in September. That's going to be our third one. So, I'm no expert. I did fly from Tokyo to here. It's a long flight, man. It's like eight hours.

Yeah. But a two-hour time difference, right? One hour. One hour. Okay. And how are you going to do that? Are you planning on going back? No, no, no, no. We're going to hire a full-time coach there. Okay. So, you have a full-time coach? So, my business partner is based in Tokyo. Ah, okay. And I'll be going there from time to time, you know, maybe seven days every three months or something like that. Okay. Nice. Are you excited about that? Yeah, of course. Yeah. Yeah. We're doing now calculations and stuff.

You're basically opening three and four. Yes. Are you more excited about Tokyo because it's new or the third one here locally? I mean, we're probably a bit more worried about Tokyo. Yeah. Because we're entering the, you know, we're new on the market. Yeah. Here we have a well-established name, you know, people know for us. So, I think here should be more routine. Hopefully, you know, not to jinx it. But Tokyo is very new. So, we'll see. We're a bit anxious but excited. Nice. And, you know, given you're teaching children here, what are some of the values that you're trying to instill there to the kids or on the mat?

Yeah. So, like I said, you know, we try to have a holistic approach to simplify, try to work on their physical development, having a good, strong, healthy body coordination. Second thing is self-defense skills. You know, we have to make sure, you know, every kid that comes here, let's say maybe after one year of training, he should be able to defend himself against any bully his age, similar size, right? And intellectual development. We'll try to teach them. For example, today I was teaching them about history of martial arts, how it originated in Japan and spread and so on.

Just basic culture, you know, about nutrition, about physics, biomechanics. Mostly about physics and biomechanics and they love it a lot. Lastly is character development, you know, being independent, strong, trustful, social, good friend, good citizen, fair play, you know, being respectful and so on. When you see, you know, a kid come in and maybe they don't have all of these qualities and you see them progress, that's got to be an amazing feeling for you, right? I mean, you know, we used to have one professor, he always used to say, you guys are doing best job in the world, best job in the world.

Never forget that, 100% true. Yeah. Every day I tell to myself, you are doing best job in the world. For me, that feeling of, like you said, seeing people improve, probably kids even more, you know, it's more satisfying, you know. In a few years, you see how much you improve, best feeling in the world, you know. You do something and you see, like, you create people, you create humans. And how about discipline? I tell a story because my son is almost eight now and I tried teaching him when he was four.

You know, I mentioned I had a taekwondo background and I used to teach. That was the first job I ever did. And I'm trying to teach my son who's four. He's not listening to me. It's so frustrating, right? I realized he was a little young and I was also trying to teach him, instead of trying to have fun with him, I was trying to teach him actual, like, moves, right? And it was not going well. So, I ended up, I gave up for, like, a year.

My wife said, do you have to teach him? So, I got him back in. I got some of his friends. I've been teaching them. And now it works because they're doing it together. But how about discipline for kids? Like, how do you instill that? So, generally, in Singapore, it's not that hard, you know? People here are very obedient and disciplined. It's very different than Kuwait, for example, or Serbia and the West. Yeah. Kids are a bit rowdy, you know. Here, kids are generally very disciplined. We have a different problem here.

Yeah. They're very shy and timid. Oh, yeah? So, that's something, for example, it was a bit cultural shock, you know? I never experienced that. Like, usually, I have to calm kids down, you know, the discipline. But here, kids are very shy. They come, they cannot step on the mat. They're so scared. So, it's a bit different challenge. But in terms of discipline, we're very strict. You know, we're very strict. Like, no talking during class. No fooling around. The moment you do that, you go out. Yeah.

Send them out for five minutes. Okay. We don't do that now because they know we're not joking. Yeah. You know, maybe once in a month or two months, you send one kid out. Oh. At the other seat, oh, this guy is serious. Yeah. So, we force them to listen. You know, if I see they're sitting and just looking through me, I'm like, hey, buddy, look here. Yeah. With young kids, you have to be like that. We speak about the youngest group from five to eight. Then eight and above is different.

You know, you can have communications with them, you know, play on their ego, you know, respect them. Come on, please, you know. Don't humiliate yourself. I have to send you out. But with small kids, almost like animals. Yeah. My daughter is six years old. So, you know, I can tell as a parent and as a coach. Yeah. You have to start very strict. Then you can loosen up the books. Yeah. Mistakes, people do it the other way. But you have to make less fun. So, our youngest, we accept is five.

Like you said, your son was four. Yeah. Four and five is a huge difference. Yeah. It's a huge difference. Huge. You know, five and it has to be fun. So, we don't teach them like moves, moves, you know. It's mostly through games, play, exercises, solid drills, partner drills, a bit of moves. Yeah. But we're strict. Yeah. So, I think that's a good combination. We're very strict, but we try to have a lot of fun. Yeah. That makes sense. Yes. So, you have trained yourself in Serbia, at least one gym, maybe a few, I don't know.

One gym. Okay. One gym. And then, obviously, in Kuwait and out here. And you have two locations. But in general, here, what makes this place so special? Do you feel different here? I'm a bit older now and more experienced, you know. So, as the time is passing, I'm becoming better as a coach. And, of course, my students are going to be better. But one thing we like here is, I think, we have an amazing, friendly community. You know. So, we're not competitive gym. We're a recreational gym.

Safety number one. Comradery instead of competition. Yeah. So, whoever comes here, they think, like, wow, you guys are so nice. They're so friendly. They take care of each other on this part. So, for me, that's the best compliment I can get, you know. I do need them to tell me, like, oh, you guys are killers, you know. Like, they're so good, so strong, you know. Our guys are very nice, very friendly. So, I think that's number one value. This is a – I just left a big fitness convention.

And there are, like, owners of gyms that have, like, thousands of locations. Anytime fitness. Yeah. For example, they were on stage, right. And they're huge out here. There were a few other ones. And one of the stats that they were citing, many of them said, 25%, 30% of people are very intimidated to go to the gym. They didn't talk about martial arts, but that's a gym. I mean, it's got to be even higher, you know, for someone who wants to try martial arts, but they're afraid, right?

I think what you just said is really, really important is to be aware of that. Like, I'm a computer guy, man. I mean, I'm seventh degree white belt. You know, I've been training for 20 years. And I don't want to, like, get injured, but I love the idea of working out. And I think sometimes, you know, so you can lose sight of that. It sounds like you're honed in on that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you saw our review. So, usually guys, when they come, I ask them, but how did you find out for us?

So, most of them say Google or word of mouth. So, you know, when you see, like, a lot of nice reviews emphasizing safety and, you know, camaraderie, friendliness, and your friend tells you, like, come, try. It's different than other gyms. It's very nice. Yeah. I think they come a bit more relaxed. Yeah. So, we didn't have, if you believe, cases like adults coming to me. Usually, if they come, they're like, okay, I know I'm kidding. Yeah. It's mostly with kids because kids are brought by parents, right?

That's right. They have no choice. Well, it sounds like you're doing it right then. You know, if you're, I mean, you're growing, which is the key, right? And so, that's good. Have you, do you have any, like, student journeys or, you know, like, any particular one that, like, stands out for you? Like, oh, man, there's just one kid that had the, you know. Oh, I have a few of them, for sure. Can you share one or two of them? Yeah, I had one kid, again, it's that butterfly effect, you know.

So, he came with his brother. They were very young, like, maybe five or six. And the kid was, like, the softest kid ever, you know. Like, crying, like, very shy, very weak, like, everything is hard for him, you know. And I was, like, oh, man, look at this kid, you know. And then his dad asked me, like, oh, good. So, what do you think? I was thinking, like, you tell him, like, man, just don't be shy. I mean, not these words, but, you know, like, oh, maybe he's a bit, you know, too young in my chair, you know.

So, his dad was, like, can I bring them, can I bring them? And I said, okay, you know, just let them try. And the kid transformed completely. You know, he's now the leader in the gym. Get out of here. So, it's been maybe five years since he came first time. He's the leader, man. He's an amazing kid, though. I mean, what do you think it is that changes a kid like that? Is it movement? Is it the actual skills that they're getting? The camaraderie? Like, how does it happen, though?

The older I am, I think it's impossible to predict what's going to happen. You know, with humans, you can never predict. Yeah. At least not 100%. Some people come, we have so high expectations. Some people have no expectation. And the other way. So, that's a very good question. Probably many factors. But I think, in his case, we were able to create a very good relationship. So, he likes me a lot. You know, like, coach, coach. Whatever I tell him, that's it. No question. So, he has a very good relationship with me.

And I think that gives him a lot of confidence. He feels nice to come here. You know, he trusts me a lot. And, of course, he improved a lot. He's winning almost every time gold medals. Oh, that's amazing. So, I think that's important, you know, creating a relationship. But it's not that easy, you know. Some kids, even some people, they're very quiet. So, it's a bit hard. Some people, it's easier. If I put myself in the kids' shoes, I see a champion, warrior. You're teaching me, and I'm getting better.

And I see myself as you know. So, maybe there's an element of foreshadowing how they're going to be if they continue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's probably some inspiration. Yeah. Yeah. So, I've traveled a lot of places. All over the U.S., there's jiu-jitsu. We have customers everywhere. You know, it's amazing. Even in Japan, you know, where I was at. I was in Sydney, Australia. We have customers down there, too, which is amazing. And Singapore, man. Jiu-jitsu is everywhere. What's the scene like in Singapore? It's seen in, like, I think Singapore is a martial art hub.

Yeah. Yeah. So, you heard from one FC, I guess. It's like Asian fandom to UFC. Okay, yeah, yeah. I think I heard it. So, that's based headquarters in Singapore. I guess you know that. Oh, no, I did not know that. Yeah, and it's partially funded by the Singaporean government. Oh, no kidding. Yeah. So, you can see, like, announcement for fights on there. Like, they have a CNA TV. That's, like, the main channel in Singapore. So, you know, like, news and stuff from the world and they're just, like, announcements.

One FC, you know, this guy fighting. So, this is the same rules as UFC kind of thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you have to have a base of jiu-jitsu, otherwise you're going to get destroyed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they have also, like, submission grappling events now, you know. Okay. UFC actually took from them that format. Oh, wow. So, they do mostly MMA and then, like, a bit Muay Thai or jiu-jitsu. So, it's very popular here. Martial arts and dance here is very popular. Dance? Yes. Ah.

Different kind of dance. Like, modern, Bollywood dance. Okay. Yoga. All this, like, for kids, for adults. Contemporary dance, Latino dance, everything, everything. Traditional Asian dance, Chinese dance. Yeah. And martial arts. So, first time in Singapore and I was curious. All the signs are in English, right? Now, I looked it up. I didn't do my homework before. It's official language. Yeah. It's amazing. So, official language. And then, second language is... Chinese. Chinese, right? Or, is it Mandarin? Mandarin, yeah. And then, there's also... Malay and Tamil. Right.

So, a lot of different languages, but almost everybody speaks English here. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And you, what is it, you learn it in school? You learn English? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a very interesting place to visit. Yeah, definitely, definitely. First, you know, I lived in Miami. South Beach for 10 years. Feels like I'm in South Beach, but instead of like a Latin flair, it's like an Asian flair. Yes, yes, yes. So, tell me about Gymdesk. How did you guys find Gymdesk? Yeah. So, we used one different system.

I'm not going to name it. I'll tell you later which one. Okay. Right? So, it was overly complicated. Okay. You know, then one friend of mine came and said like, oh, let's try this one. You know, I've never heard of Gymdesk before. And I tried it. I was like, wow, this is like so good. Everything is so easy. It's so simple. Like, straight to the point. You know, the one we used was like so many unnecessary options. And whatever you want to do, steps, steps, steps.

You know? Yeah. He was like so easy. You know? So, I said like, we're going to take this one for sure. So, we started, you know, with the smallest package. And then as we grew, increased, bigger package and bigger. And then we opened another brand. So, we took more. And we plan to use for one in Tokyo and another one in Singapore. So, it's amazing. You know? It's a game changer for us. So, very good for martial art gym. Well, I'm glad you chose us. Thank you for your business.

No, thank you. Thank you for creating it. Yeah. And I can't take credit for creating it because our founder, who's amazing, Black Belt Jiu-Jitsu. Oh, wow. He's our chief product officer now. And he lives in Japan. He comes to use it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We'll have to bring him here one day. Yes. But are there any features that you're like relying on? You use all the time? I mean, there's many good features. You know? Gymdesk is so complete. You can do basically everything. You know?

Tracking the members, financial part, you know? Billing. You can do sales. So, overall, it's very good. My personal favorite one is everything can be done online. So, when the new member wants to sign up, you just, like, type your email and he receives and he does everything remote. So, before, he used to come and then I give him laptop and then, like, I have to be there with him. And then, you know, even worse before, like, pay before, you know? So, he signs up on paper and then I have to type.

So, this one is very easy, you know? Just, buddy, give me your email, bam, click, that's it. So, I can see when it's done. Recurring payment as well is amazing, you know? Yeah. Like, you just put recurring payment, amount, date, it goes, you don't have to do anything else. So, many good options. Billing, you know? You can see how much money you made. One month, three months, six months, 12 months. That's how the business is going. Each month, you know, you can see. Yeah, all the projections.

Yes, projections. It's very good. Is there anything that, you know, you could say is sort of unexpected that you got from the product that you weren't thinking that you were going to use and suddenly you're using? Many things, you know? So, initially, we used it for members, mostly. To have a base of members and, you know, register them, you know, and put the payments. But then I discovered there is way more options. So, the one I like to use now is under marketing and messaging. Okay.

You know, so it's very easy. You can send emails to everyone. I use this one for communication as well. Okay. For example, public holiday gym closure. Just go to Gymdesk, marketing, messages, email, send to everyone. That's it. Everyone receives. Yeah. So, you're using the mass messaging? Yes, yes, yes. Mass messaging, communications. Yeah. We talked about, I saw your sheet where you're promoting some white belts to blue belt, was it? Right? And you had the sheet. We'll get you on that one, too. So, you can put all the skills in there.

And you already have a bunch of videos already, right? So, you can link in your videos with the skills. And people can practice at home. So, that'd be a good thing for you to do. Awesome. Thanks a lot. Yeah. If someone else who's going to open up their gym said to you, hey, what should I do? How would you approach that question? Would you tell them, hey, you should use Gymdesk? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely. Tell them, look, I'm using one amazing system. We've been using it for years.

It's very good. I think it's a very good value for money. Just try it. Yeah. Awesome. Definitely worth it, right? So, we talked about your future plans. You can open up, you know, two locations. This is, we'll call that, like, near future, right? Yeah. One is in September. And in Singapore, we plan to open one end of the year. Maybe we'll have to push because of Tokyo. Yeah. But next year, I would say. Okay. What's your five-year? So, our five-year vision would be, we talked about it maybe a few days ago.

Four in Singapore, four in Tokyo. Oh, yes. So, I think we have capacity for two more here. And four in Tokyo. All right. More and four. Ambitious, but let's see. Yeah. That'd be awesome. Maybe later on, Hong Konger. Anything you'd want to say to your students or, you know, the broader EJJ community out there? It's an amazing app, you know? Well, even that Gymdesk, really, just a... Yeah, I mean, joke on the side. If you guys are struggling, you know, if you're not sure how to organize your system, your members' base and membership and stuff, check it out.

You know, it's worth it. I really mean it. You know, I'm not paid by Alex or anything. It's not sponsored. So, check it and you'll see it. I think you're doing a great job. You have a lot of gyms using your system, right? So, if it's not good, you wouldn't have, like, a few thousand gyms using it. That's right. I mean, we're using it for a few years, so we're very happy. That's great. It's a great product, you know? Nowadays, it's much easier, you know? 21st century and technology and AI, it's much easier running a business.

Yeah. Before, it used to be a lot more paper and writing and stuff. Now, it's pretty much automated. So, yeah, we can focus more on our job, you know, which is teaching. Yeah, exactly. That's what you were in the business for, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to teach. Yes, not to, you know, do accounting and admin. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so we're using that as our tagline now is, less admin, more members. Yes, yes, yes. That's what we're aiming to do, our mission. So, anything else you want to share?

Thanks for coming. Yeah. Lovely meeting you. Hope to see you again. Yeah, no, it was a pleasure. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much. Yeah, and thanks for the tips. I love the, what do you call that? Like, sequencing? When you learn, like, the progressive steps. Yeah. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. And again, thanks for the choke, you know, flying with the blades, right? Is that what you call it? The blade of the wrist? Yes, blade of the wrist. Yeah. So, cool. And thanks for the role. Awesome, no worries. All right. Thanks again. Thank you. Pleasure. We'll be right back.