How I Opened a Martial Arts School When I Was 22 • Hard Lessons

Hey tribe of journeymen and women. So today I am here with you to tell another very special story which I actually don't think I have on record yet and it's a story that I do like to tell and it's about the story of how I opened my Aikido dojo. You could say there are parts to it and most likely I will you know one day tell you more about the other parts but today I want to focus on with you on the part of how I specifically opened the thing and how I got a 100 members pretty soon like in a couple of months. Now the story actually begins when I was around 13 years old so it sounds like a long story yeah but it's a good one trust me and I was living in a city which was a troublesome city so this part I usually kind of have on record people ask me about my background and that's where I start and that city was a troublesome one because there was a lot of crime and both in adults and teenagers so I was often in trouble having to defend myself having to defend my friends and I was also into the whole eastern culture but the long story short I dropped into an Aikido class and I really fell in love with it and when I was about 14 years old that's when I actually when I started when I was 14 and I think I was maybe like 15 or so when I figured that I would like to be an Aikido instructor and that was kind of a wild idea obviously everybody thought it's a crazy idea and nobody thought I'm gonna do it everybody thought it's just a dream which is gonna go through and in my country it's in eastern Europe it's a big thing to study people expect you to study especially if you have a high enough IQ and I said one of the recent videos unfortunately I did I was in the smartest class of the school but I was like the most stupid kid between the smart kids so I was like if you would compare me to an average kid I'd be smart compared to an average kid but in the smart group I was like the dummy and that wasn't a problem because I really kind of owned myself and I was popular and I was doing theater and so on so I was a popular kid I had no trouble with that being the dumbest kid between the smart ones but I wanted to say that you know I wasn't like exceptionally talented at school and I actually hated school I really didn't like it like it didn't suit my needs I was a creative kid and I didn't feel like I belonged there but because I knew that in Lithuania you just kind of have to study there's no choice nobody asks you if you want to study everybody expects you to study one way or another and they don't even care so much what you study just have to study and so everybody was expecting me to do that my older brother four years older than me actually that's a picture of him and me together side by side so he did that he studied and so on and so on but I didn't know what I want to study I felt like there's no profession that suits what I want to do and I got caught in that loop of asking myself so what's the right study for me and the story goes that trying to figure out that kind of actually drove me into you could say like a light depression I think depression is you know it's way more serious than sometimes we give credit to it so I don't think there's actual depression but I was really like in a down mood I couldn't sleep and I was always kind of in a confused state of what will happen with me after I finish school and then I decided to kind of spend some time with myself and I made this walk like a 50 kilometer it's like I guess 35 miles walk which is like I went from 6 in the morning to 11 in the evening almost all the time walking with terrible shoes on my feet were bloody I had to ignore the painful meditation it's kind of funny I guess in a in a sadistic way but uh during that time I asked myself what I want to study and I realized that the real the real question is not what I want to study but if I want to study and the answer was no and then I asked myself so what do I want to do and I remembered that dream of mine to run my Aikido school to be an Aikido instructor and I decided you know what that's exactly what I'm gonna do so I come back home after that trip I come to my mom and she's washing dishes I remember that moment really vividly actually and I tell her you know what mom I'm gonna move to Japan after school and become an Aikido instructor and I remember her eyes went wide and she was like what the heck are you talking about and that's uh I like to say that that's when that two-year war started between me and my parents and me trying to prove that I will do it my parents tell me this is crazy you should at least finish university first but then I came to conclusion that no first I'll do what I want to do and then if I have enough time you might be hearing my dog if I have enough time I will then study never did I actually never finished university it's stupid but actually not stupid because I actually never felt the need to because I exchanged it into going to an Aikido school in Switzerland living there for three years and becoming an Aikido instructor and this will be a story for another day it's it's an exceptional story of the whole thing I went through there with the positive sides and the dark sides of the story but the focus of this story is how I opened my Aikido school so so I got my black belt second degree black belt in Aikido I became a yoga instructor as well I learned to teach meditation and I came back to Lithuania to my home country I decided to move to a different city so I didn't open my dojo in the city where I grew up I opened it in the city where I was born but I would visit my grandmother there sometimes my grandparents but nobody really knew me there I had like only like one or two friends there but I knew I kind of knew the city but the city didn't know me and I felt it was like a good way to have a fresh start in my city where I grew up I kind of had a good and bad I was a very heavily drinking teenager kid at a certain age I don't know if my parents know about that so I guess time for truth but yeah I was kind of partying a lot and then I went to that depression mode and then like I was kind of a bit of a weirdo I was all by myself isolated and kind of just read my books in the corner trying to kind of find the answer and so I went through all kinds of stages and I was quite known especially amongst you know teen groups and some of the adults and teachers they had an impression about me good or bad and I kind of didn't want to go back to that place to you know continue that story I wanted to have a fresh start because while I was living in Switzerland I was in the Aikido school I really there was a lot of transformation I really like learned a lot I matured I became kind of then more or less an adult although still there were so many things I had no clue about life but but I became more independent and a bit more mature and so I felt like I want people to know that version of me I want to have a fresh start why is my doggo making all that noise I guess my girlfriend is training and he likes to make noises when you train anyway so I come back to Šiauliai tough to pronounce for foreigners but that's the name of the city the fourth biggest city of Lithuania and there beforehand there like five or six years ago when I thought about the idea before I opened the dojo about opening an Aikido school there was nothing there was no Aikido in that city a couple years before I opened the the school what's named the dojo in Japanese martial arts school you could say I heard a friend of mine called and he told me there is an Aikido club and the reason I say club is because I think there's kind of a difference in the sense that a club is when someone is leading a martial arts school as a side job so no it's not a full-time place you rent some place you come in and you have your students you teach you go out and that's it you know the community is kind of it's a light version of the community a dojo for me is a full-time place it's a place where the training is always happening there you can come before you can come after and and there's a sense of great sense of community but and you could argue you know you could have a different definition but that's my definition so I say club because that's that was the my definition of club but I thought that's not an issue and my Aikido instructor also encouraged me and said you know he's you do your thing he's gonna do your thing there's no space for both of you it's not about that and I believe in him it was the right thing to do and but the funny part is I come back to Lithuania I moved to Šiauliai to that city and I'm it was December 2011 December right after my Indian trip actually if you listen to that story and I'm starting to I really kind of dove right into it because I didn't want my old lifestyle to get the better of me I wanted to kind of create a new lifestyle I wanted to create a community around me as soon as I can so it would support me and I would kind of be in my element and it actually worked pretty well but the funny part of that is I called the guy who was running the Aikido club and I said you know I'm gonna have a grand opening and beginning of the new year 2012 January I think it was January 7th the grand opening that I had the unofficial opening was January 2nd and so I called him up and I'm like you know what you should come and we should know get to know each other maybe we'll do some corporations I think we should be friends and I was a nice guy I think I'm nice enough still and I really honestly wanted to kind of you know work together not like you know run the same school but just have a good connection and support each other and he was like oh well you know I'm working that day and I can't come and I think that that was true I don't think he was lying but you know he didn't seem like he's enthusiastic either but then he told me he said you know but don't expect too much from from making an Aikido community here and he said because the way he explained with me because nobody needs Aikido in Chile it's like nobody really cares about it and I thought that's such a bad way to look at it you know it's and I think it's in general I mean let's say we're not talking specifically about a person so much but just in general I think a quality of a profound person is someone who first of all asks what I'm doing wrong you know so instead of saying this is wrong and you know it's like the people don't understand and and it's their fault just kind of putting the blame on someone else instead of asking what am I doing wrong it's it's it's a lack of thinking and maturity of a person and a mature person a profound person always asks what I am doing wrong and so it was kind of an interesting moment for me to hear that he's blaming the people and the bad side about that is that if you blame the people if you blame something external outside of yourself coffee time then you don't have to change anything you don't change it you don't have to change it's like it's their fault I'm doing everything right that's kind of that kind of that's kind of what it supposes I'm doing everything right it's their fault if they don't change they don't understand I can't do anything about it if you ask yourself what I'm doing wrong then what's the element that is missing in me then there's so much potential for change and that's kind of what I always like to ask myself it's like if I don't have a lot of kids students which in the beginning was the case of my dojo eventually the program was thriving but in the beginning I had very few children students mainly I had adults which actually I expected the opposite the other way around but but I kept asking myself so what am I doing wrong what am I doing wrong what's what can I improve that helped tremendously as you as I told you the kids program thrived later on I had three three different kids groups and just packed but but then his perspective was it's the people's fault and when I heard him say that in I didn't say anything to him but in turn I thought well we'll see about that I'll still I'll still check maybe your Aikido you know is not interesting to him I'll still see what happens with my Aikido it didn't discourage me and I was right you know I'll tell you in a moment how I made it happen but on January 2nd of 2012 when I when the first class happened I taught the first evening and it wasn't yet the grand opening it was kind of a semi-unofficial a semi-official class and I had like five of his major students come to train with me and they stayed with me and like or maybe even seven I think out of seven five stayed indefinitely and became my students and they were like some of his main guys so that already was like oh well okay that's interesting and there were a lot of reasons why you know I think I think to a degree they made the right they wanted to learn Aikido but they weren't happy about how he taught but they had no other choice when he heard that this young guy from went to Switzerland and trained and had a black belt and came back I think that that caught their attention that maybe they'll get what they're searching for and I think most of them did but the way it happened the way I did it is first of all I was super confident I was working my ass off to become an Aikido instructor for years so as I said I was like 15 when I decided that I want to become an Aikido instructor this is my mom saying hi she's doing gardening today and so I was 15 when I decided to become an Aikido instructor I thought about that idea and I was 22 when I opened the dojo I think either 21 or 22 I get confused let's say 22 and um so it was like it took me seven years of hard work three years living in Aikido school I read all the possible books I traveled and I did everything that I could to develop enough expertise and by the time I came back to Lithuania I took him in my dojo I felt I felt it was the time I felt I was ready so I had no doubts about it all the doubts I had previously I already eliminated them through years of training and getting ready so that confidence was a huge boost and because I felt like I really felt like I came back with a mission I had really high ambitions really high goals I wanted to change people's lives I wanted to change and have impact on my whole country later I realized I wasn't yet really ready to do that it's a video another video I'm going to talk about that's like how most of my students eventually abandoned me which was painful but that had happened after one year of having a really really successful start it's a whole story but uh at that day I still had the belief that I can change everything it was kind of maybe half naive you know half youngsters naivety but that confidence really helped me because I had no doubts about what I'm doing and I really felt like this is something extraordinary special that I'm going to give you this is life-changing and I need to spread the message I felt like like as many people as possible need to hear about this and actually my Aikido instructor also suggested that to do that and I trusted him 100% at that day so what I did one of the coolest moments was I called I called the national biggest newspaper which I like personally and it was still 2012 so I guess newspapers was still a bigger thing and I called him up and I said you know there's this interesting person I think you should talk about talk to and they're like who's that I was like it's me I was like you know it wasn't to be honest it wasn't arrogance but it was just complete confidence I was like I really felt like they're gonna benefit from the talk with me and they got interested and I talked to the main editor it turns out we had some people we we both knew and and they got excited about the the whole story especially because I was a young Lithuanian guy who moved to Switzerland to train and came back to teach because at that day a very big problem of Lithuania was which is still kind of is but but it was very evident at that day of young people leaving the country not coming back for better conditions and I was a unique case of going out there having this crazy journey and coming back to give to you know my people and so they they caught off caught on caught on the interest and they made this huge uh two piece it's kind of it was like on the whole newspaper actually it's interesting like I'm curious whether it's somewhere around usually my my mom keeps that stuff so after I finish recording this video I don't want to cut it out because this is a one take video at the end of it I'll maybe ask my mom and see if I can show you how it looks so it was like it was like two pages with pictures and everything a huge new year's article they wanted to send me positive for new years and it just really fit the message and so a lot a lot of people read that through the whole kanji and then a lot of people got interested because I was like really promoting myself so I was really going out there and saying look at everyone I'm gonna open this incredible thing and and people got interested so I got invited to a local radio show and I give an entry there I was invited to a local tv show so everyone was interested and I didn't you know back away from that by even one bit and when the day for the grand opening came it was like packed the whole dojo it was like maybe 60 80 people I guess like a lot of people gathered like most people I don't know and actually when I looked back at the footage of that opening I'm gonna actually put a layover off of it like how young I looked and actually funny enough I had a similar haircut at that day beforehand I had long hair but a lot of them actually became my students long-term students like devoted students so I guess my enthusiasm my passion came through and and people got really hooked on I did make my mistakes later it's the next story but that beginning was like everybody was just like tuned in and we were all in the zone we were all you know kind of in a flow state it was like really something incredible now that I look back at that day for me it seemed like it was normal it was natural like I was like oh this is meant to be but but now when I look back I was like wow that was quite something I can see why people were were impressed and and caught on another part of that story is actually which is very interesting is when I was choosing my space my physical space so when I moved to Shule I didn't give myself a lot of time to open the dojo because I said I wanted to get the momentum start started so I didn't postpone anything I went right into it and in two weeks I decided I need to find a physical space to make it a dojo and at that day it was actually a very good timing because it was 2000 end of 2011 so it means 2008 was didn't happen that a long time ago and the crisis economic crisis was still there so rents a lot of spaces were empty a lot of businesses failed and rent went lower so I could afford a good place for a lower amount of money still a lot but you know and funny enough I didn't have I had no understanding of what money is like my my relationship up to this day my relationship with money is weird I don't really care much about money but that day I had no clue what a thousand is what 2000 is now it was actually still local currency now it's euro but yeah so I had no clue about money but I finally found one space which I liked it was like an attic which funny enough later I didn't take it but then it became a yoga studio which I think is yoga studio still so it's funny that something similar still came there but I looked at that space and it was a good space and good location but it was too small in my vision and my ambition and I always used to be an ambitious person now I'm still ambitious but in a more kind of humble and smart way beforehand I was just ambitious for the good for good and but I looked at that space and I envisioned having 800 students in my vision I had 100 students and I was it like no question about it and I looked at that space and was like damn I don't see 100 people fitting in here and it was there were three owners kind of weird a little bit weirdos but I told them like you know this is a bit too small for me and they were like you know what we have this other huge space in the central location which you might like that I was like okay show me and we go to this other super good location like it was the second floor not the first floor but it was like the very very center of the city and I come in there it's huge it's 500 square meters I'll convert and write your number you know the American stuff above but it's like huge it was actually twice more than I needed and what we ended up doing with my parents they helped me set up we cut the space in in half and the other half I was kind of barely using because we put a curtain to make the the space look nicer but but still they were like it was like perfect you know it was like just so big and I could see 100 students come in there and it wasn't cheap it was 2000 litas that was local currency but but I guess right now I feel like 2000 euros and so for a young guy that was actually a lot but I had no clue about it and they said okay first three months it's 1500 and then it's 2000 and I am hyped I feel internally like my nutrition says this is it this is the right place and then the next day my parents come in to take a look and I'm just so passionate I'm so convinced about it and I'm like dad mom this is it you know and because they were supporting me initially they they they helped me make the initial investment because I didn't have my money you know I was about to earn it through this work so thank you so much my parents they're incredible but uh but yeah so uh I um so they need to make the first payment for like the first month and and they're like looking at it like well okay okay they're doubtful but they they because of my conviction they're like okay let's do it but and then we sign the papers and as soon as the owners leave my parents the first thing they tell me they're like I think this is a mistake we shouldn't have taken this place it's too big I'm like mom dad stop right here it's like and I think it was a good smart idea that I said I'm like we already took the space we made the commitment there's no place for doubt if like we decided to make it happen and that's what we will focus on we will we will make it happen we won't focus on if this is gonna work or not we won't have any doubts and and that's what I did I had full conviction and I made sure that instead of thinking this if this is gonna happen I will make it happen and I think that also gave me that extra boost to really go out there and promote myself not out of fear but out of enthusiasm and the sense that I need to fill up this huge space it was crazy it's a crazy approach now that I look back I'm not necessarily saying that you should do it but it worked out for me but also you know you have to also recognize that I've spent seven years preparing for this I lived in an Aikido school for three years and like I did the work before it's not just about coming in and having faith and everything works I put in the work as well and actually just to mention that the first three months I was exhausted the whole time because everything I did I was just teaching teaching teaching and grinding grinding grinding so it wasn't just like I had faith and it worked out there was a lot of work too but coming back to the story so so I decided we will make it work and my parents luckily my dad at the day owned a construction company and he's very good at building stuff so we spent the Christmas and the New Year's Eve just working we actually slept in that empty space with no heating and we just worked and worked and worked and my dad worked overnights and we kind of set up the place it was only 70 percent set up when the grand opening came down we still finished the last details later but I still didn't want to I didn't want to postpone the beginning I was like we have to start now and some of my friends came from other cities to help it was like actually very cool that that happened but yeah so so we filled up the space we constructed the whole thing and my parents made the initial investment they helped me buy the the tatamis the gym mats kind of for meant for martial arts and uh oh it's around 25 minutes that's where my brain starts to get fried because of talking so much so don't worry I'll get back to it so just give me a chance to get a sip of coffee I still need to finish the story there's still some cool stuff coming around the corner so uh what I wanted to share as well is when we signed the papers and my parents looked at it they said like it's like ---- you know we're gonna probably have to support you for the first six months pay instead of you for the rent which I know you know would have been tough for them but they were willing to do that which I appreciate and but they thought that that was their kind of thinking that for the next six months we'll have to support you until you get rolling and and this is all just this is tough they were kind of in a low mood thing is I was able to support myself from month one with the huge impact I made with the students I gathered with my passion then how much I got them interested in the whole thing from the very first month I was already able to pay for the gym to pay for the space and to have enough money to make a living so my parents never had to cover a month for me sometimes I I went month to month like to zero basis there were some months where I had to pay it was the day to pay the rent I take all the money I had it was like I had like two euros left like I had exactly as much as I needed and I gave it to them and I knew that for a couple of days I'll need to survive with two euros because uh you know it'll take time until my next student so there were moments like that but I was never late to pay the rent I always had it and I sometimes I borrowed like small amounts of money from my parents if I needed to cover something but usually like they never had to support me fully support me without their investment surely I would be in trouble it would have been way more difficult like initial investment but as soon as they did that I was on my own and I was able to make it which is great so yeah now you know if you talk about the story of how I maintained those students and yeah the title is in the first few months I did gather over 100 students that includes yoga which I taught meditation which I taught Aikido which I taught kids groups I had over 100 students I kept track of the day which is incredible uh later things changed I learned some lessons the way I made some mistakes and I was only 22 years old and this is going to be the next episode in the next episode I'll specifically tell you about that but the beginning was pretty rad I made the success and just to let you know I ran my dojo for seven years until I closed it which is on record it's documented on my martial arts journey channel but uh but uh they were all successful I mean I always made the money I lived doing what I love but but there were ups and downs more emotionally the lessons I had to learn my separation with my Aikido instructor so that's to come in another story but but that beginning was pretty fantastic and I think it changed a lot of people's lives now that I look back including mine so I hope you like that story I think this is where we will end it but if you have any questions if you want me to tell a specific story about another element like how to maintain 100 students over seven years which I had to learn as well or anything else let me know and I'll be happy to answer and I will also search for that newspaper so thank you for staying and as always keep questioning