3/9: VISIT TO GB HQ
When you are a business owner, there is never really a true vacation. At least in this instance it was a rather enjoyable vacation/work trip. This past week my family traveled to AZ for spring break. I used to travel there often to the Mesa Proving Grounds when I worked for GM, and AZ is absolutely beautiful this time of year and a great break from the MI winter blues. I highly recommend it. For those that may not be aware, the GB North American HQ is located in Phoenix inside the GB North Phoenix gym. If you are in the area, make sure you stop in. I had a chance to talk business with one of the main business admins, Veronica “Roni” Street, and also got some training in during one of their competition classes. Adding into that, we received a visit from two of our former students, Clayton and Allison Heeren, who moved to Minnesota, and the feedback received in all those instances was positive feedback that we are on the right track as a gym, and ahead of the curve in a few respects.
From a business standpoint, I had the opportunity to work with Roni and our marketing team to help integrate our systems. While this is something that doesn’t directly affect our members, it is something that will help the operation of the gym. One of the items that GBHQ highly recommends is tracking attendance, which we do not yet do. After discussing the reasons why, they have kicked off a plan to make changes in the CRM system to make it much easier to do based on my recommendations. We have been a driving force behind many recommendations and updates to the CRM since we started using it over a year ago.
During the conversation we discussed how we conduct belt tests, which is a deviation from the standard GB method. I believe our method is better for students to retain the information. When I showed her our adult belt test curriculum, she was incredibly impressed and asked to share it with the GB team. During the discussion of our kids testing procedure, she mentioned GB was thinking about implementing daily behavioral recognition for kids. I informed her they were 10 years behind us as we have been doing that ever since I started teaching. It is encouraging to see that even in an organization of about 1200 schools now, we have produced innovations that few other schools use.
From a training standpoint, I was personally happy with my performance when sparring with the CFO, Dave Weber. I have known Dave for about a decade but last sparred with him about 3 years ago. It was great to get feedback from him, as well as knowing how I performed last time, that I have definitely made significant improvements since that last meeting. It was also very rewarding to have Clayton and Allison tell us that their new schools head instructor was very impressed with their level of skill and attention to detail. Clayton indicated everyone tries to avoid his half guard because it is so dominant, even against larger opponents. It is very rewarding to know that the level of knowledge we have developed over the years is proving itself in other locations.
None of this is possible without constantly working on improving ourselves. Most of this comes from searching out people that are doing things better than us, learning from them, and implementing the things that make sense in how we operate. From the training front, so much of this comes from seminars, which is why it is essential that members support the in-house seminars, like the one coming up with Prof Carlos Lemos and Marcos Barros. All the new students that have not attended a seminar yet, you are recipients of all the dedication from the people before you that made the commitment to attend seminars. Not only will you gain incredible insight yourself form attending this seminar, you will be part of the next team of people paying it forward to those that follow you. I’m very excited to see what additions Prof Carlos will add to our already excellent half guard curriculum and looking forward to seeing everyone there as well!
