John Hassett was the first person to introduce Eliot to Jiu Jitsu. Hassett began his martial arts training with Soo Bahk Do, a Korean style of karate. He transitioned to Jiu Jitsu in the late '90s,  first as a student of Steve Maxwell, and now trains under Phil and Rick Migliarese of Team Balance/Balance Studios in Philadelphia. He discusses his martial arts journey and what running two of his own schools has taught him about the martial arts business. 

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Passionate martial arts instructors sometimes struggle with the idea of running their school like a business--doesn't that make the passion less pure? In this episode, Ricardo Almeida explains why it's crucial to look at your martial arts school as business, and how to do so without sacrificing the quality of the martial arts being taught.

Ricardo Almeida is a fourth-degree black belt under Renzo Gracie, an ADCC medalist, a veteran of the UFC, PRIDE FC, and other...

Elliott Bayev is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, academy owner, and author of "Sales Jiu Jitsu," which details the similarities between sales and Jiu Jitsu. Elliott is also the first person to have a women-only school and women-only competition team in Canada. Elliott joins the Black Belt Business Podcast to discuss building inclusive martial arts schools, best business practices for school owners, and the responsibility we have as martial artists to grow the reach of our...

Karel Pravec, AKA the “Silver Fox,” is a 4th degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt, and one of Renzo Gracie’s very first students in the United States. Pravec’s BJJ expertise has him regularly sought out for seminars and classes across the world, and his Silver Fox BJJ Academy in Northern New Jersey has been grooming grappling and MMA champions since 2006. Karel joins Eliot on the Easton Online Podcast to discuss the business of Jiu Jitsu, including how...

Michael Garaguso has been running his school, Garaguso Karate, since the early 1980’s. He is professor Eliot Marshall's first martial arts instructor. Garaguso is also a master at adapting to the times, including adding BJJ into his curriculum. In this podcast he discusses how he has adapted his business practices to remain successful as times continue to change.

Chris Mierzwiak is a BJJ black belt with a background in MMA, and he has been part of the Easton community since moving to Denver in 2013. Today he joins the podcast as the new general manager of Easton Training Center - Arvada. He and Eliot discuss his journey from finding his passion for MMA in Ohio at 19 to his professional development at Zen Planner and his eventual decision to come on board at Easton full time. 

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Sean Madden is the Muay Thai Program Director for all Easton Training Center academies. In this episode, Eliot speaks with Sean about how he got involved with Muay Thai, and the experience of growing the Muay Thai program at Easton, which was first founded as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school. They discuss the development of the curriculum and the Easton Muay Thai ranking system, and the progression of skills that students gain as they advance through the classes. 

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Jordan Shipman the general manager of Easton Training Center - Longmont, the newest of the Easton academies. It opened on January 13, 2020, and just 2 months later, on March 13, Easton had to close all schools due to the coronavirus crisis. In this episode, we discuss Jordan's experience as a brand new manager of a fledgling martial arts academy, what other managers and owners can do to protect their schools during this time, how to grow during a crisis, and...

Mike Tousignant is a Jiu Jitsu black belt, and CEO of Easton Training Center. In episode 18 of the Easton Online podcast, Eliot and Mike speak over Zoom, 2 weeks after all Easton academies temporarily closed their doors due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

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Rebecca Baack has been working as a leader in the fitness industry for over 13 years. She founded and opened CorePower Yoga's first franchise and expanded to two successful yoga studios before merging with another franchise, Level 4 Yoga, which now owns 34 CorePower Yoga locations across the country. She recently left Level 4 Yoga to work on a new fitness concept she's passionate about, Boulder Movement Collective. We discuss balancing parenting and running a business, working hard to earn...