Martial Arts way of life with Mitch Langman - Success Inspired
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Episode 58

Martial Arts way of life with Mitch Langman

My guest today is Mitch Langman, successful martial arts business owner of Dark Carnival, leading martial arts facility, offering Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Strength & Conditioning and Personal Training for all levels of experience here in Canberra, Australia. 

He is a seasoned Martial Artist him self who likes to challenge the status quo of martial arts and peoples own beliefs on what they can, or can't, achieve.

Special Offer:

If you live in Canberra, come train at Dark Carnival - First week for free

For rest of the world, check out Dark Carnival Online Academy

All details on www.darkcarnival.com.au

Links / Mentions

Highlights:

  • (00:00:55) - How did Mitch get started with martial arts
  • (00:06:01) - Body is not made to sit
  • (00:08:13) - Dealing with stress through Martial Arts
  • (00:14:35) - How can martial arts help you deal with conflicts
  • (00:18:26) - Other examples of how to deal with conflicts
  • (00:21:17) - How to find courage to get started
  • (00:35:43) - How does grading works for each martial arts
  • (00:37:02) - How age doesn't matter when ti comes to keeping fit. Everyone can do it if they put their mind to it.
  • (00:43:38) - Mitch's career journey from delivering milk as 13 y.o. to successful martial arts gym owner & operator
  • (00:47:53) - Where did the Dark Carnival brand name came from?
  • (00:59:30) - Overcoming Challenges
  • (01:11:20) - Definition of leadership by Mitch Langman
  • (01:14:41) - If you're looking to start your own fitness business.
  • (01:17:09) - Top 3 tips from today's interview
  • (01:21:28) - Special offer for Canberra Locals!

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Transcript
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Welcome to the Success Inspired Podcast, a business and personal development

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podcast to help you accomplish more in life and realize your true potential.

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And now here is your host Vit Muller

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Hello, everybody.

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Welcome to another episode of the Success Inspired Podcast.

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My name is Vit I'm your host, and today with me, my guest today is a

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successful martial arts business owner of Dark Carnival leading martial arts

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facility, offering Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Strength and Conditioning

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and Personal Training for all levels of experience out here in Canberra Australia.

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He is a seasoned martial artist himself collects the challenge the status quo

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of martial arts and people's own beliefs on what they can or can't achieve.

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Please welcome to the show Mitch Langman.

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Thank you very much.

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Good sir!

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Good.

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Great to have you in the show mate!

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What I want to say, press.

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Been being a member of this facility.

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I'm very impressed what you've done, but obviously nothing happens overnight.

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Right.

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So where did you, where did you begin and how did you began with this?

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So when I started training Muay Thai, when I was 13 and I got into it

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with, uh, because my older brother.

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So a typical thing, he started doing it.

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Uh, so he's three years older than me.

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He's here to be in 16 and him and his mates are doing

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it and I begged him pleaded.

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And then when he said, no, of course I just pulled the ACE card made my mum,

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tell him to take me to training, uh, 13.

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13.

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Yeah.

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So I like that you used seasoned, uh, it's a nice way of putting it.

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Um, uh, so yeah, went along, loved it from the get go.

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And, uh, yeah.

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What are we now?

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25 years.

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Okay.

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So you're a 38.

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Yeah, 38 and um, yeah, never really stopped doing Muay Thai,

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um, doubled with Rugby a bit and other, other styles of martial arts.

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But yeah, Muay Thai was just the constant throughout 25 years.

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When you talk about like a season season martial artist I mean, that's.

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That's a, that's a long time doing martial arts

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and, uh, still learning, still learning.

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So there's not one way to teach it there, not one way to learn it.

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And every day there's something new that comes out of the woodwork somewhere.

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It's fantastic.

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I love it.

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What are some of the benefits, obviously in 25 years, you know, initially you

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experienced the benefits, but let's talk about like a short term initial

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benefits that you've experienced in your first few years, doing martial arts.

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To, to benefits more of a life benefits that you, that you've now know about

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more of a wisdom based kind of thing.

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Yeah.

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Well, I mean the, the, the initial ones that straight to mind is it's fun.

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It's fitness, you're getting stronger, fitter, faster,

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you're learning new skillsets.

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It's amazing.

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But the wisdom part is, uh, it's kind of what is most important for me and rings

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true, uh, because, you know, w when you're 13, And, you know, you watch the action

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movies, you watch the typical things.

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When you're a kid, you're already to learn how to defend myself and

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realistically, anyway, especially in Australia anyway, in Canberra, in

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particular, there's not really that much, you know, uh, uh, gang violence.

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There's not anything of that nature.

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Um, but there is still the typical schoolyard bullying.

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Um, you know, he might have familial situations, all that kind of thing.

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Kind of in the back of your head, this plan.

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Okay, cool.

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If it goes down, I know how to defend myself.

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That seems very important and it's very empowering, but it was always something

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that I realized that as I got older, uh, I don't think I valued it anywhere

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near as much when I was a child, a young teenager and a young, young male.

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It was only when I was 32, 33 34 went, oh man, this is actually really useful.

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Uh,

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So the reason that you were in valuing it back then, and he said, because he didn't

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really experience bullying yourself.

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No, no, no.

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So I got big ears.

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I had a funky haircut at the time and younger, massively bullied.

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And, uh, just because of shit that happened during my childhood did

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definitely go bullied, but, um, It was something that, uh, again, you

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kind of think that, okay, I don't have to fight or I don't have to.

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Um, whereas when, when you get older, you realize that you don't

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really have to fight like ever.

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Uh, it's always eager waffles effectively.

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So, you know, you can't pay a mortgage with street credit.

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Uh, but when you're a kid, you think that's super important how people are

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gonna think, or I was going to say, and you know, in this day and age of

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now, you know, keyboard warriors and et cetera, and people jump online, they

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can absolutely talk crap about you, but it doesn't matter at all because

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they are not going to come to you.

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They're not going to say it to your face.

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They're not going to anything.

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And even if they do.

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They're probably not going to hit you or actually mean you violence.

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They just try to assassinate your character effectively, which as a

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child is the most important thing.

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And then as you get older, John man, personal wise to tellers Tom,

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thinking about what others thought of me or gave me, that kind of thing.

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And that was probably the biggest takeaway from it is that, um, you

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know, as a kid, you they're going off gonna make everyone happy.

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I have to, uh, kind of keep up appearances and then you kind of go up.

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Why is that?

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Obviously it, as a kid, you don't have that maturity.

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So every day is about, you know, what are the people like?

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How, how do you fit with that?

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You know, if the other kids or it's about that status, right?

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You don't want to be the last one that everybody points the finger at.

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Right.

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So, absolutely.

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And then when you get older, like it's a lot easy to shake things off.

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So what would be some of the benefits for, older people, for adults?

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So obviously.

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Bullying for kids that aside, um, very important, um, to, to get kids in

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this, but for adults, um, how can, how can martial arts benefit somebody out

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there?

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Massively!

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Um, So from a health and fitness standpoint, obviously for a lot of

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people sitting at a desk and odd drive a desk for, you know, uh, seven to 10

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years, thereabouts in public service and your body is not made for sitting

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for, you know, eight to 10 hours a day.

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It's just not, it is also my understanding 10 hours a day either, but you know,

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martial arts one hour, two hours possibly.

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Maybe two or three times a week that you can just move your body

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in this really dynamic fashion.

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That's multi planar so if you're doing Muah Thai there's big rotations and

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turns and this kind of thing, the Brazilian jujitsu you're down, you're

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up, you're turning, you're trying to not get crushed to try to catch someone.

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And so you're using your body almost how it's supposed to be used.

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Uh, so the longevity of the physical aspects is one thing, but then to.

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Be able to really embody mindfulness and meditation in motion.

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So it's great to be able to sit and Zen, like, you know, meditate, most

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people don't get an opportunity.

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Uh, for majority of people, they walked through the door and, uh, they

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could have had the worst day possible.

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I could have this big meeting tomorrow or, you know, things that have to resolve

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tomorrow or the things haven't there.

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And, uh, they jumped on the mats and your brain can't be at work,

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your brain can't be at home.

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Your brain has to be on the mats because for Muay Thai, your calling pads,

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you might be sparring doing drill.

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And if your brain's elsewhere, then you'll be reminded.

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You need to be here now,Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

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You're trying to, you know, not let someone pass your guard.

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Uh, and if your brain is elsewhere, the next thing you know, you're stuck

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in the side control and it sucks.

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Then you got to escape and your brain has to come back to you and

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go, okay, let's get out of this.

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So you're forced to be in that moment, which I think is just priceless,

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Gives you opportunity to also, uh, Gives you opportunity, you

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know, to have to think about work.

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Cause I think that's another thing that we looked at in the current society.

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We live in where, so like there's more in demand on getting more done

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at work as you know, um, deadlines and especially in the corporate world,

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you know, people on the pump, living fight or flight for most of the day.

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That's another thing.

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People don't balance out that between homeostasis and Firefly.

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And for those of you guys listening to see understand homeostasis is the ability

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to, um, And for your body to recover rest it's rest and recovery, right?

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That's when your digestion starts to kick back in and everything just function.

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And so impatient.

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To balance those two scales, actually talk about it on one of

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the episodes with Robley on, if you want to listen to that specifically.

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But so back to the martial arts, I think perfect example, like a lot,

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a lot of people might not be able to do the Zen thing, do the meditation.

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It's difficult, whether it's practically not possible because of time or

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they're just not really inclined.

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I mean, I know myself, I'm not really into meditation.

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Um, but I, I do find different workarounds.

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I may be if I have a lunch.

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You know, trying to eat mindfully.

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So try to not look at the phone and just really focus on 15 minutes, just focusing

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on the food that I'm eating and in a way that that's, that's that's way for me

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to, um, uh, to de stress and just switch off from work because that's in a way.

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Yeah.

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Correct.

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And at one point during the day, do you do something for yourself

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and that is something for yourself.

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So you rock up on the mats and as much as they are.

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A team of people, uh, who there you're in coaching, you training with

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you, holding pads for you, sparring you rolling you, whatever it is,

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this is a individual sport, but you walk that road with many people.

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So, you're not here as part of a team, you're here for yourself, but

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others help you actually achieve.

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So it's just really nice, um, kind of feedback loop that you get.

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So you've got to be a good training partner, so your training partners

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can be good training partners view and so on and so forth.

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But at the end of the day, it's all for you.

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It's not for the sake of your training partner, but it just comes part and

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love it.

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So

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That's actually true.

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That's actually true.

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That's one thing I realized.

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Yeah.

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For the most of my time training in being in fitness was, you know, lifting

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weights that sort of bodybuilding style training, and then more of a functional

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stuff kettlebells, but always just my own training, but doing this over the

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last, you know, year in your, how long you've been, you know, sort of a newbie,

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um, but how long I've been doing it?

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Uh, I have noticed that, um, that it is that learning curve.

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Like every day you come in here, you learn something of somebody

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else, whether it be, um, what.

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Somebody on the same level, like me and newbie or somebody that's much, much

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higher ranking and you role with them.

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And, you know, everybody's very, um, friendly and willing and supportive I've

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not experienced any like competition in here as a, I mean, there is

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competition when you're rolling in a way, but it's a friendly competition.

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There's no aggression,

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Correct.

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That's exactly it.

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And sorry, it's a challenge.

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And so of course I roll.

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You know, in competition, um, if it's myself and some of the other coaches

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role, uh, you know, to see who will win, but it's not win at any cost.

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It's not win, you know, like survival is on the line.

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Um, but it is that, that really healthy challenge of going okay,

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I'm going to challenge myself.

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I'm going to challenge you in the process.

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Uh, you're aiming.

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This is the challenge.

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That that's, that's the respect that we get.

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That's why we slap in bump.

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It's unrespectful.

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They're going to try and, you know, stop blood going to your brain or take

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your arm out of joint or whatever it is in more time we bow, we touch gloves.

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I'm respectfully going to try and punch you in the face and I'm

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literally acknowledging our yep.

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I'm going to try and do the same thing back to you.

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There's nothing personal about it.

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There's nothing.

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Um, you know, vindictive or spiteful and malicious, it's just purely the combative

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art and that's, what's so unique about it is embodies that know the physical

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attributes, but you have to be mentally on and you have to be emotionally

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sound because if you get angry yeah.

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I was going to

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say that is one thing I've definitely noticed that controlling your

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emotion is critical, correct?

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You have to leave the emotions out of the door and the moment you start to lose

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your shit is the moment you, you stop thinking rationally and your IQ goes down.

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It's the same thing, like stress when we're on the fight or flight where

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we're pumping work and day to today.

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And the little stress your IQ goes down.

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Yes.

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Same thing,

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simple things like the technique you've spent years learning.

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You can't remember.

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I distinctly remember.

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I think it was my third fight in Muay Thai, you know, dude posted

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out and I, for the life of me could not think of what to do.

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And I spent three rounds on the end of his dude's like just post.

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I don't know what to do.

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And my coach at the time was just yelling at me, going, you do this every day, you

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know exactly what to, I couldn't remember.

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Uh, you know, you were in the cliche, jammed me up and I was

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like, I don't know what to do.

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So I know exactly what to do, but because of the stress and because

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that the performance decreased intelligence decreased could nothing.

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to save myself, what the hell did I have to do?

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And just shows how much stress we can kind of create out of

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this event and this environment.

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And yeah.

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It's all good.

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So it's good because, uh, you know, it's very stressful when people first walk

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in and, uh, it changes very rapidly.

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Hmm.

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And at first it's walking through the door is the first, the first test, so

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to speak, and then they step on the mats and there are new person amongst

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other people or makers that, oh my God, they're so much better than me.

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So they started exactly where you're not really been training three weeks long.

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Oh, my God.

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It's like, yeah, it's, it's a process frozen started so well

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done, but it is very stressful and that stress can exactly put us in

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that fight or flight immediately.

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And most people just want to run off from that's straight away.

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So no, no, no, stay, stay, stay.

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It's okay.

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It's okay.

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Trust it's okay.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, we find it.

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So these one thing that, um, that is seldom talked about in martial arts,

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which is, um, the benefit of adults.

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To be able to test, uh, what their belief is.

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So some kids went through school and they were able to, you know,

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uh, kind of bullshit their way through physical encounters that

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were the bigger kids, or that was smaller kids with a really sharp wit.

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And they may or may not have ever had to have thrown down with someone

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they've never been physically tested.

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Uh, you've got other kids that that'd be horrendously bullied.

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You know, they were actually physically assaulted as kids, and they've

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never revisited that as an adult.

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And so the development that and the kind of growth.

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So in the first instance and in the true usage of the word is to be humbled.

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Uh, this person thinks are tempered told them Bulletproof, et cetera,

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and then they'd come in and a person, you know, half their size.

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Just molds them on the mats and they cannot pin them.

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And it's, you know, they're being submitted electronic center.

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Beautiful.

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That is true.

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And they have this, they have this decision then.

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Well, everything in my life I thought was true is false.

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Now, what do I do well now?

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Now you're actually learning to honestly be a congruent as opposed

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to living this false story.

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Um, and on the flip side of it is someone who's very meek and mild and, you know,

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I've gone through horrendous bullying and that kind of thing, as I said, an

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incident in their life, and then they'd come on the mat and they discovered

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that, oh, well, I can actually do this.

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I can actually be violent and I can actually take a punch.

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I can actually, wow.

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And confidence I've been terrified of this because the last time

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you encountered violence, you are seven or 16 or something.

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You were a child, you wouldn't, you were not built for it and you were not

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prepared for it, but now you've got an option and they go, this is amazing.

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I was terrified of confidence.

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Yeah, it would affect me at work.

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So if I would, uh, you know, get into a conversation with someone

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and you know, our boss would come down and get a book and I know that.

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And, you know, but now that I've kind of been exposed to violence I'm not worried

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about that other thing that might happen.

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And so, uh, to see that growth in people is amazing.

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And then for me personally, to have that experience several times, working

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in public service, you know, dude will come down super aggressive, super

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angry, cause he got the very sharp uniforms and metals and whatever, and

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that they're tearing into you and you just kind of, you're not going to hit.

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So, can we please sit down and have a conversation here?

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Stop trying to intimidate me.

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It's not going to work,

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but you to be able to be so direct with them and say that

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if you didn't feel confident.

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. Correct, because if I'm worried

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Yeah.

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Even that's not being real realistic anyway, but correct.

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It's just based on the past beliefs

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. And if you bullied as a kid, no, no, it's happening again.

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Oh, I've got to get my, yeah, exactly.

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And intelligence here.

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Next thing you know, you're in the role, whereas especially if you

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know, you're right, fight for it.

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Just go.

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No, you're wrong.

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And I know I'm right.

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And here's the data and I know you're very upset and emotional right now.

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Let's keep it a to facts.

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Let's

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keep, it gives you a stronger ground to stand on.

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Very, very good example of resolving conflicts, right?

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This is a good example.

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Any other good examples of how much loss can help people resolve conflict?

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The, the funniest, the funniest thing that I've always been asked is, oh, you must

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have gotten in to heaps of fights when you were younger but I was like, no,

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actually I walked awayfrom all but four.

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And the four, one of them was made as being 18 year old, you know, drunk and

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stupid and not being situationally aware.

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I didn't start the fight.

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I definitely didn't end the fight because I ended up being jumped, like

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literally stumped by three people.

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It was interesting experience that's for sure.

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Um, and you know, the other three were just, uh, instances, which, you

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know, I was able to resolve because of skills you know, sweet, that's great,

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but every other time it's happened, self-preservation and just the, the

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knowledge that I don't have to do this allowed me just to walk away

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from violent confrontation, because again, like punching on it the age of

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17 or 18 in the city, You go to court.

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I go to court, you go to hospital.

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I go to hospital.

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We both go to the hospital.

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It's like, what's the point?

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This is ridiculous and over what?

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So it gave me that, that understanding that this is not

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necessary, this is not worth it.

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Um, and it was very difficult.

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My ego was going, no, but you know, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're

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gonna, they're gonna think less of you.

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They're going to, people are going to shun you.

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You're going to be, uh, you know, weak.

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I was like, no, they don't.

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And then as I get older, yeah, there's more, it gets reinforced

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more and more and more and more.

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And, uh, just several instances of your public service life.

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Having people very much finger in chest and stop that please

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on what are you going to do?

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You're you're trying to physically intimidate me.

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It's not happening can we please have a discussion or I'm just

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going to walk away because.

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You're not going to do anything and you're not getting your point across.

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So it gave me that, that kind of a, as I said, escalation process, as

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opposed to just fight or flight, is that the dimmer switch, being able

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to turn up that little bit, and being able to zero in on it more into, okay.

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Do I want to be passive?

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Do I want to be assertive or do I want to be aggressive?

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And it gives you those kind of three options and then you

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flush those out even further.

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How assertive am I going to be?

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How aggressive am I going to be?

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When is a good time to be passive and guy that's, this is a situation

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I probably shouldn't be in I'm out.

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So yeah, it gave you, it gives me that, that broad scale, as

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opposed to just one of two options.

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Yeah.

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So we covered benefits quite thoroughly.

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And, uh, and I hope that this inspires the listeners listening right now, but

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considering this now, Understanding the benefits of doing something is one thing.

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But getting started, if you're in really tough spot, psychologically, maybe you're

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going through some tough time depression and, or you've been bullied, maybe you're,

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you know, a kid listening right now that, you know, has been bullied a lot,

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getting that confidence to even step out the front door and going to some local

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gym, might be actually really difficult.

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Yes.

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Very.

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What would you recommend?

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So it's about this point I'd like to touch on, uh, the concept and the

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importance of the story and you know, any, any good book, any good movie.

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So if I was to ask you, what's your like favorite number one, movie?

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Number one movie.

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Oh man, you got me there.

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Look, I think the one that I really like is, um, you know, Pulp fiction

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as good example or Fight club

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Great.

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Yep.

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So Fight club's a great example.

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Um, because it is a true case in point.

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So you got, okay.

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Sorry.

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Who's who's a main protagonist.

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Who's the main antagonist, you know, all that kind of deal.

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What characteristics does that individual have?

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Um, you know, uh, for when I speak to a lot of people, uh, they use Harry

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Potter as the example, I love the Harry Potter books and the movies

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are great and all that kind of thing.

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And you ask for the story of Harry Potter, isn't all the,

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he's a kid and he's a wizard.

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And, you know, he, uh, he goes to Hogwarts and, you know, people try to kill him

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because he's this and that and whatever.

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And then.

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Okay, but that's not the full story.

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What happened to him at birth?

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Oh, there's more to it.

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Right.

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So he had a tragic upbringing.

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He had the call to adventure and he rose to the call to

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adventure and he went to it.

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And what was the outcome?

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Well, he met friends.

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There was trials, there was adversity.

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Uh, there were lessons learned and there was confrontation at the

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end of the nemesis effectively.

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and he over came it and, you know, but he's the story of Harry Potter is born.

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A wizard, went all goats.

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He lived a happy life.

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You wouldn't watch that movie.

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It'd be boring movie.

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So you get people and they go, okay, well I've been severely bullied or massively

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overweight or I'm unhealthy or et cetera.

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Uh, I went through a very traumatic childhood incident happened I'm

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on a bad end of a relationship.

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Um, you know, there might've been specific traumatic events that

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happened in a male or female.

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Um, and then, okay, but then what?

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Oh, then I went to a martial arts gym and I discovered myself out.

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I went to a, even a weights gym and I started to feel a,

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built a sense of community.

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So there's the call to adventure.

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There's your comrades and then what?

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Well, then I decided to test myself, okay.

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By doing what?

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Well, I went in a bodybuilding competition and I went into, uh,

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strong man competition or, uh, BJJ competition, Muay Thai, whatever it is.

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And then went on that journey was amazing . Ok so what have you learned?

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Well, I've learned so much about myself that I didn't even know was possible.

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You would read that book.

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You would watch that movie, but here's the story of an individual who is,

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you know, very, you're terrified you to experience as a youth.

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Uh, all of these adversities are heaped against them real or perceived,

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uh, and they avoid it and that's it.

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And so they've kind of subscribed to that life of mediocrity, which is absolutely

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fine if that's what you want, but for a vast majority of the population

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they're not made for mediocrity, you're not made for mediocrity.

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I'm not made for mediocrity..

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No, so we haven't done it.

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Uh, but for a lot of people that would say that is the only option because they're

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just kind of following the narrative.

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Yeah.

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Screw that, uh, you know, the, this, you know, the Fight club, which is

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the best and your, uh, Edward Norton's in there with Brad Pitt and uh,

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Brad Pitt is in the tub scrubbing.

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And he goes, I asked my dad, um, you know, dad, what do I do?

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He goes, oh, I w you go to school.

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You're in education.

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Okay, dad, I've got my education now, what do I do?

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Well, you get a job.

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I can't, I've got my job now.

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What do I do?

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Well, you find, you find a partner.

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Okay.

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Now what do I do?

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Well, you build a house.

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Okay dad, I've done all those things, now as you told me, I don't know.

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Yeah.

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It's like, wow.

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That is that it is that it

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it's like, it's like, uh, like instant soup recipe and this is

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what everybody should be doing.

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And it's like nah.

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But if that is for you.

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Amazing.

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And people are extremely happy and I do not regret them or try to pull them.

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No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

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But if you are unhappy in any of that, if it is not fulfilling,

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It's cause you're not made for it.

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And you'd know you'd known if you're not being, if, if you're not feeling

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like you're fulfilling your life, you know it because you feel miserable and

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you constantly dream, but what could be the alternative, but you never

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get the courage to overcome the fear.

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Correct.

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And I think a good strategy.

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That could be what you said, you know, you, you outlined.

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An example of the alternative and trying to write it down, maybe even think about

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all the benefits that you can, you can experience by getting yourself outside of

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that comfort zone outside, stepping out of that front door and visiting martial arts

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gym in this example, think about all the benefits that you'll you'll experience.

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How's that going to improve your life?

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Build more confidence?

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Um, all, all that.

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I think that we've covered.

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Write that down and then think about.

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The alternative, if you're going to stay where you're at and you

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know, we only have one life.

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Um, as far as I know, so trying to imagine it like a scale, right.

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And where's the scale tipping.

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Cause if, if currently you thinking about the fear and I don't really want to do

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it and all that, I'm going to experience all that bullying again or what.

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No that, that in their, inner voice.

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And if you just keep telling yourself that, then, then yeah, surely the

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scale will keep on tipping that way.

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So you need to start focusing on the, on the, on the alternative.

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And as long as that list is.

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The list of positive is longer than the list of the, you know, the other

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side then, uh, I think that's, that's a good way to make, make that commitment

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because we talk about fitness.

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Right?

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When you talk about fitness, you've got those five steps.

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You've got the first step date.

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I can't remember specifically, but from memory is the first step you

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don't really, you're not really like ready in the second step.

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You starting to think about it third step.

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Yeah.

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You were actually considering it for step you're actually planning the action.

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And then the fifth step, you do the action, something

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along those lines, right?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Uh, sorry, consideration, uh, sorry.

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Awareness, consideration, um, engagement, uh, or preparation I should say.

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And then engagement and then outcome activity.

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Yeah.

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So again, Um, so if you, uh, and again, talking to you guys listening, if you

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thinking about, you know, doing the action, then that's like a big jump.

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Just get yourself to the next step.

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What is the next step?

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Well, just trying to get yourself into that head space of considering it.

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And try and do it every day.

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So you're totally correct.

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Um, it's the good old outage of, um, you know, the definition of insanity,

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which isn't the actual definition of insanity, but we hear it recited a

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lot, which is doing the same process, expecting a different outcome.

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So this is one of those things that is, is that difference

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so difference in the process.

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So you kind of know what you've done so far.

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How's that working out for you and exactly who this was in the God's watching this.

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Now, if, uh, if you've kind of been running this loop, well break the

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loop, stop, it will be uncomfortable.

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It will be very scary because, uh, one thing we don't do anywhere near

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as much as adults is we step into this, uh, state of vulnerability

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because, uh, we like to think that now I 've got my shit locked down.

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I've got my mind, I've got my body, I've got everything.

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Okay.

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It is what it is.

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And I really don't like it.

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And to go back and address or challenge that you're going to have to put

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yourself into a state of vulnerability.

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Um, you know, to have someone, uh, in the workplace, starting

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new job, people go, okay, fine.

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I'm going to have a team leader.

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I'm going to have a manager.

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I'm gonna have whatever, you know, runs through the ranks.

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Absolutely fine.

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But for someone who stepped on the mat and, uh, actually face.

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Yeah, I can't bench 50 kilos.

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Shouldn't I be able to bench 50 kilos.

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It's like, no, like we know this, but you don't think you should,

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should not be able to punch someone.

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You think you should be able to.

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It's not that easy.

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Oh, I can wrestle.

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No, you can't.

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No, you can't.

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And you've never have, oh, but I remember years ago when you were a kid.

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Yeah.

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That's right.

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No, you haven't addressed any of this.

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And so to be thrown again in that state of vulnerability and it is again and

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again and again, because the perceived kind of barriers that we put up, we

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realize they're false and then we rip them down and then we see more ahead and

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we go, oh my God, there's more barriers.

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I'll wait way.

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They're perceived.

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Rip rip rip.

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And then you realize that wow, I was just really working against

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myself for the longest time.

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This, this is, this has been enlightening process, but you

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have to make that first step.

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Yeah.

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which is, when then people would go and talk about midlife clock crisis.

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Right?

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I think it usually between forties and fifties, right?

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Midlife crisis, you realize, oh shit, I didn't really pursue my dreams.

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And now you realize that you're yeah, you haven't really fulfilled it.

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So it is about getting yourself outside comfort zone and continuously

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challenging yourself because that's how you grow up personally.

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And like this show is all about that.

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This show is called Success Inspired Podcast.

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Whether it be personal development or business, for those of you guys listening.

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If, if you're living a life of mediocrity and you want to change it, then yeah.

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Just get your sort of arts at conference zone.

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And sometimes that might require you to, to, to get, to get

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somebody to kick you in the butt.

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You know, I I've been considering for some time, although a bit more

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difficult now because I've gotten son, but I've been considering the idea

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of, you know, doing like one of those fitness trips, literally put myself

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in an like, lock myself down, like, you know, the prison, but like go,

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going to an environment where there is somebody that will force me to do things.

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Like, for example, one of those fitness camps, like going to Thailand

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for a week,

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Yeah, Thailand is a great example and people do it all the time.

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And they come back and go Muay Thai was amazing.

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Or, and they've got so many camps in gyms and whether it be Brazillian

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Jiu Jitsu orientated or just general fitness, strength, conditioning,

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orientated, or Muay Thai, there's Yoga retreats there's everything.

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Um, you know, and yeah, you lock yourself in and you go okay.

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I'm going to go to this place and you know, they will come

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around and they'll wake you up.

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And if you want to live in breathe a fighter for argument's sake,

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they'll kick you out of bed.

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You you'll go for five kilometer run in the morning, then you'll

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come back, skip to pad work, clinch work, whatever it is, eat rest.

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And then back on the mats for another three hours, rest and then they might

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take you to fights in the nights and then you sleep, wake up, repeat

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it's a good awakening because you're, you also learn a proper, proper

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way of looking after yourself.

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Obviously they give you the right food, you get the right nutrition, you get,

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you get disciplined, you get disciplined.

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Even if it's a short one week or two weeks, I think that's enough because

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it's so intense that when you come back and that's, I'm just talking off,

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not experience, but what I believe it is to be that when you come back.

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That gives you that good reset button.

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And then you're more likely to actually continue with that

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discipline, join local dojo and okay.

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Yeah.

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Very, very it's um, yeah, people have those experiences and the go ok I'm

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going to go, uh, climb a mountain for argument sake and they lock in they go

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to , you know, uh, whichever mountain it is and they do this experience and I come

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back richer for it because they've gone.

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They've set the mind on the think and they've done it.

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And, uh, they might've taken people with them, but generally I do solo.

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They go for long hike, but most of these things are physical in nature.

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So they're tangible, they're not necessarily meditation retreats.

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They're not necessarily, um, you know, uh, just kind of a holiday.

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They go in, there's an actual challenge and they go, okay,

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I want to do the challenge.

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I want to do it for six days or the hike or whatever it is.

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And they come back and they go, okay, I did that.

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Well, I did that.

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It's amazing.

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I did this thing.

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Ok now what else can I do?

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Cause you've, you've kicked that goal.

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Now let's set the bar higher.

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Strengthens

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your integrity, right?

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Strings your own, um, um, your own, like how your discipline.

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Yeah, you know, weight lifting is the most tangible out there.

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Uh, outcome you got.

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Okay.

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We're going to start with fixed killers on the ball.

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You're right.

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Okay.

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So now I've done 50 kilos.

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Can I do 60?

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Wow.

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I did 60.

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Can I do 70?

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Wow.

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Did 70.

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And you peak at some point, but then you need to make a decision.

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Right?

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Do I make everything else looped back in so I can keep, cause it's not just

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a matter of, you know, bench has other muscles grips had other training that goes

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into it, but seeing how far you can go and how, like how long can I do this for?

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And you now have exactly, discipline.

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And that's now the goal and tick, let's go.

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Because it might just be a case of, well, okay.

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I'm not going to be able to push past that number.

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Um, let's say 130kg on bench press I mean, that's pretty, pretty good.

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Yeah.

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And based on your lifestyle, you know, you're not going to

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be going full-time powerlifting.

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So it comes to a point where you also have to realize, okay, well, that's,

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that's the end point, but then it's about, okay, I I'll maintain it.

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Yeah.

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It's the maintenance of it.

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That's what's going

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to keep my health

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and

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then you look to yourleft and there's Deadlifts, and you go,

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how much can I deadlift squats.

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Squat.

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Okay, cool.

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So now you're kind of expanding the horizons.

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So for people that do BJJ, um, you know, there's, there's stripes, there's

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belts, there's, uh, competition.

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There's so many avenues for that kind of learning.

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Um, more tide, you know, in traditional Mortara, there's no

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grading structure, you try new things.

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Um, but for here at TCM 10, our version of , we implemented a grading structure

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because not everyone has that time nor the passion to jump straight into the ring.

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Uh, so it gives them clear, defined, tangible goals to be able to kick

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sweet, caring for that one thing.

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It can negative for the next thing and it's harder.

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And then the next one's harder.

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It gets harder than it all physical.

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So, you know, do I expect a 50 year old to be able to perform like an 18 year old?

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No, but I expect you to kick off as a 50.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I expect you to punch out as many pushups in a minute as at night?

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No, but I expect you to work your ass off for you.

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So don't you rockin go and I'll, we'll see how we go.

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No, no, wrong attitude.

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You actually

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brought up a good point that he's, you know, oftentimes, you know,

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working fitness industry myself, you know, sometimes people call you that

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might be interested in joining a gym.

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And as you get a phone call from somebody older, I don't know, they

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might be in their fifties or sixties.

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And they're like, ah, nah, that's, that's not, not, not for me.

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There's all the young ones or, you know, that's past me, that's possibly that's

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stuff that I could do when I, when I was a kid, what would you tell them?

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So the, the oldest kind of active member we had in the gym

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unfortunately had to, um, to, to Alzheimer's he had to pull back.

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Um, but he was 82, 82?, too far out.

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And he would hit pads here at spar obviously, very

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controlled and very restricted.

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Um, he'll do jujitsu, all this kind of thing.

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I mean, he loved it.

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He was an old school, you know, military and police.

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He just loved it.

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And it was the only thing that kind of kept on going

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until he couldn't go anymore.

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So, you know, for his safety and just everything that was his processes,

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he had to pull back, unfortunately.

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Um, but yeah, I've got, you know, several people aged 60 plus, uh,

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and probably the biggest, uh, kind of hang up for them is just regret.

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Why didn't I do this when I was younger?

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Why did I just decide to do this now?

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Like I wish I hadn't had the time over and it's like, yep.

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But don't hang onto that grip because you are doing it now.

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So of course it will be frustrating when they go, oh, if

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my back was, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Of course.

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If I had more foundations.

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Right, but you don't.

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So how about let's move?

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Let's keep going.

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We can't, we can't live in the past.

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We can't live with regret.

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Um, but yeah, for the, for the, for the, you know, the, uh, in, for the

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elderly, for the, you know, out of shape individuals of the world, man,

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you got an option and time is ticking.

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Go do it.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Obviously you need to approach more intelligently, but that should be down

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to your coach and your trainers as well.

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So making sure you don't.

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Cause they have a really good understanding of limitations and

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pushing those limits, whereas.

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Some people are coming here, let's go calm slowly, warm up first.

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Then we just start with the bar.

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Then we put weight on it.

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And that kind of thing.

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I just get frustrated when I feel sad.

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And when I, when I hear people saying, you know, on I'm tool, um, that's,

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that's it for me, it's like, I mean, you, you still want to have quality of

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life and you still have certain things you'd want to be able to do right.

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Your grandchildren, things like that.

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So I think, yeah, people should still, if they're in that age bracket, you

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know, in that older, past 50 type of thing, you know, Um, I think people still

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should think about your skills again, you know, think about those benefits

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because you know, I've interviewed people as an example, a couple in their

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early sixties, they decided to sell the house, buy a boat and they live

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on the boat and they've got kick-ass lifestyle, you know, they sailing.

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So they've been physically active and then you go then on a contrary, you

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might somebody else who is in their sixties, who is not physically active.

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The body's deteriorated, deteriorated, deteriorating, whatever, how you say that.

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I'll blame it on my, uh, English is my second language.

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Um, so you know, so you've got those examples in your life.

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I wouldn't want to be like that.

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I definitely want to be able to do things and, and, and rely on my

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body to, to take care of me through life, to be like my granddad,

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he's 80 and he's still top shape.

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He's, you know, he's still like, you know, his posture's great and, and everything.

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So I would certainly want to be like that rather than somebody

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else who's in the wheelchair.

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You know, and just letting their posture slouch down and let their muscles atrophy.

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And, and, you know, I didn't have to rely on others to do so for you.

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That's bullshit.

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That's bullshit for me.

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I don't want to have that life.

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Yeah.

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Sorry.

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The word I have trouble with is best specificity, especially my brain specific.

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Anyway, I'm sorry.

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Yeah, exactly.

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What we are, we tend to have a tendency to do is to stop learning new things.

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Yeah.

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So it doesn't matter whether it's learning to play guitar.

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I mean, I've got a guitar there with I've tried is now my eighth

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attempt at learned to play guitar.

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I still suck.

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Um, you know, didgeridoo I've played with muck around with,

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and all this kind of thing.

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You're not can do it.

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The cyclic breathing is constantly, um, you know, a new thing.

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Um, but you get people in, they, they might've played

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soccer and only soccer Hmm.

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Football, um, their whole life.

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And then done is one range of movement.

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One range of motion that specificity, um, no is.

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It's detrimental down the track.

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If you've only played tennis, that's detrimental.

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If you've only gone.

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And as I said, if you've only done Muay Thai as dynamic as

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it is, that is detrimental.

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If you've only done Brazilian jujitsu, that's detrimental.

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The good thing about the martial arts that I find though, is they open up to others.

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So you want to be fit.

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So you want to do cardio, so you don't just get more tired.

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You do run, you do bike.

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Whatever the screaming, uh, you want to be flexible.

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So you do your stretching.

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You do my ability to do yoga.

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You do Pilates, do whatever.

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Um, you want to be strong.

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So you do weight lifting.

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You do to help aid this one thing that you enjoy doing and want to keep doing.

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So, as, as present, now you're down to one movement pattern.

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It's actually multiple.

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Um, in example, you have people selling a house going into a boat.

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They would have learned how to sail maintenance, all this kind of thing.

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And so it doesn't matter if he let him.

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I got a woodcarver whatever, it's a new skillset and forcing that

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neuroplasticity to be able to rewire and rewind new movements and new knowledge.

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And it's the key to life.

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It's what keeps hurting people young is that are constantly learning

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and doing so not just reading, it's actually making a tangible

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skillsets and a practical skillsets.

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It's not just about that physical betterment.

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It's also mental.

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Because when you physically challenge yourself.

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You're actually more sharp.

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If you, if you improve the cardio, you get more oxygen in your body and your

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body, your brain gets more oxygenated.

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You're more sharp in an example of the guy with Alzheimer.

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I bet you that if he didn't didn't train, um, he is pro his rate of

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progress would be probably faster.

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Yeah, correct.

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Right?

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Correct.

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That's probably why he put it off for so long.

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And having discussions with him that was very much the case is if it

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wasn't for training, then it would have been over a long time ago.

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Quality of life.

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Now I want to talk about your career and how do you transition into this awesome.

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awesome gym, so you talk about working in a public sector.

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Um, so tell us just a bit of a short story about your career

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transition into business owner.

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13 years old started off in the milk runs as do most kids, uh, 15 to 18 did my,

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I did my tour of duty in hospitality, which I think everyone should do a

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tour in hospitality or retail, because you will learn more about dealing with

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people, uh, than any time in life.

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Um, and then from there, uh, I was engaged with the protective service.

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So APS, uh, doing logistics and Technical support.

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And, uh, from there we got absorbed into the AFP, uh, AFP.

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I became an Armourer so, um, in the fire arms identification, uh, and armory team.

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So I was fixing maintenance.

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TheAFP's fleet of firearms, which was super cool

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Like guns for the Australian federal police?

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Correct.

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All the, all the short arms, long arms, whatever that, that's what we did.

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Cool.

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It was super cool.

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Um, but as with like a lot of kind of governmental processes, the job changed

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uh, and I kind of got a bit, nah, it's not what I was employed to do.

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So it ended up being a bit of a desk job as opposed to mechanical job.

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Um, so I joined high-tech crime operations and, uh, worked in

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there for, uh, the remaining years.

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And I just kind of reached that point where I went on.

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Not I'm not happy doing this

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So turnover, um, take turns.

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So I was training and coaching the entire time that I was working

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public service and, uh, yeah, kind of got to the point that, um, couple

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long service leave and went okay.

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I'm going to try this thing.

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And lots of things happened so this was, um, December or November, 2012.

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And, uh, you know, I'd already read the Dark Carnival as a, as a business entity.

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Um, I was training out of, um, sort of initially my garage and then, uh, uh, the

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Jinindera super school just using their hall and then Stockade training centre.

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Uh, that gives you opportunity to run the Muay Thai program there.

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So like wicked let's jump on board.

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This is actually like a big gym and everything was going really well.

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Then I was getting more kind of put off by work.

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Uh, relationship was kind of the 10 year relationship at the time.

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It was coming to an end as well.

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So it was like,

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Time to reset.

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Let's do this.

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Um, so yeah, took the plunge, uh, Took my long sentence live for as long as

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I could milked it out for leave sick, leave everything just as long as I could.

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And I was able to get my feet wet during June 6th, 2013, we opened up the doors

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in Woden at the first Dark Carnival.

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And, uh, yeah, it was well-received we, it was going well.

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Uh, initially didn't pay myself anything cause I was still getting

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my wage from, you know, long service leave and et cetera.

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And then, uh, yeah, November, 2013, I resigned from AFP, pulled out

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the safety net and, uh, let's go.

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Uh, yeah, well, many lessons were learned.

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Uh, was it easy?

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No.

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few years later, uh, my now business partner, Tasha, and she, uh, she bought

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in 20%, I was amazed that someone wanted to buy in on my business.

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You want to give me money for training people.

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Okay.

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Right.

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Excellent.

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So she bought in, uh, and then, yeah, we've been business partners

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kind of being, building their partner of the business sense.

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And we went from, you know, 175 square meters to 200 and, uh, sorry

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to 300 square meters to then moving to Phillip, which 330 square meters.

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And just last year we took her upstairs and effectively.

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Now we have 680 meters square of a training space.

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So let's talk about adversity because well, you guys don't.

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Yeah, so obviously really cool branding.

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Um, Actually let's talk about that because I'm really curious, firstly, why.com.

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So, uh, when I was a kid, I read, uh, Ray, Bradbury's

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'Something Wicked this way comes'.

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And the whole idea of this carnival of morality, uh, where it's attractive.

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It's nice, it's big lights and you come and you are tested.

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And if you demonstrate love care, compassion, and you

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pass the test, then you are.

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You're richer for the experience and for visiting the carnival, if you fail

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you become part of the economy when you're absorbed into the carnival.

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So you've got the tattooed man, not really related to me having tattoos,

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but you know, in the volt headers of the people who have been absorbed in

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and all this kind of thing is, you know, the character, it's only a short story,

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but something wicked this way comes.

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Okay.

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Uh, and it's about a doc carnival and.

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You know, it's, uh, it's it just kind of set the scene and there

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were, there was another book called Shadow Shaw, which are ran on the

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same premises or premise should say.

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Um, and that was fantastic.

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And as a young kid, I was like, wow, these are really cool concepts and I like it

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because it's the duality of it.

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And the, the concept of duality kind of ran through my entire life.

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So dark being darkness, carnival being light.

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Uh, so dark carnival.

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I see, I understand.

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It's why I have tattoos and a half of my buddy.

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Sorry from the head down to the targets, one's hot in my body.

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It's the potential for two states to exist in one that's the duality

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of nature, and you can have this really lovely, nice person.

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It can also be this absolutely ferocious fighter you can have this

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absolutely feroucious fighter.

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He might be the most caring, loving individual you've ever met.

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And for me, that resonated very heavily as, as a child fast forward, uh,

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to, I think the age of 12, 13, and.

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You know?

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Yeah.

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I came across, uh,Insane Clown Posse and they based their whole music

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on this ethos of the dark carnival.

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And I was like, rod, they're just fleshed out this concept.

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Amazing.

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And so I was like, yep, cool.

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I've dealt with this, this rad.

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Um, some of the songs are great.

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Some of the songs were absolutely terrible.

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Uh, but I really like the, the, again, the concept and the story

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behind it, I was like, this is.

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And then, yeah, just that always stuck in my head.

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I want to open up a gym called Dark Carnival.

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Cool.

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And that was since little and I just had this idea.

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I love that there is like a true meaning behind his name.

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Like there's some people open a business and they just put something that's.

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Yeah.

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Rings cool.

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It's, you know, trendy, but, um, sometimes there's not enough history to the name.

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Yeah.

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Even, even the first logo that we had, which was the DCM T logo, the dark handle,

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muy Thai, the face split down the center.

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And it is quite literally me looking at my reflection.

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So the right side is black and is fiery and has DNC kind of designed and tattoos.

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And, uh, you know, it looks angry.

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Uh, the left side is white and it's, it has the dark offsets.

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But when you actually look at the logo, which one's smiling

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and which one's grimacing.

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Yeah.

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And it's actually the docs are that smiling and the light side is grimacing.

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So yeah, it was, it was very good.

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In one, one of, one of the guys went to school with Jordan, Jordan chick he's.

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He said ideas.

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And he came back with that and was like, oh my God, you've literally designer.

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And, uh, he just went.

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Yep.

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Cool.

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Perfect.

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And so far.

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He designed like 90% of the logos.

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We have

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branding evolve based on that idea.

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And he'll work in putting that creative mindset over it.

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Correct?

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That's exactly it.

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You go onto your website.

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Um, dark carnival.com.au.

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No, you guys go check it out because it's, it's really cool.

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I like those, you know, those, um, those, you know, the cards

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yeah.

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The cards.

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Yeah.

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And, uh, even that, like, not that it has anything to do with, with

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gambling, but you've just got to be able to play your cards and having that

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ice in the hallways is so critical.

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It's so important to be able to go.

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Okay, cool.

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Let's see how you play.

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And a lot of, a lot of pivot for people that do play cards, uh,

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Yeah, and you can play other people.

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And there's, there's a whole lot of, uh, conversational engineering that goes

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into it and that's no different to life.

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And one of the branding aside, which is really cool, um, you also have

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really good culture here in the gym.

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Everybody's friendly.

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We kind of talked about it as well, but your coaches are amazing as well.

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So how do you attract the right talent?

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Difficult.

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So very difficult.

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So as the culture and the vibe and everything goes, uh, again, like,

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ah, I've got crews around here and I forget that this is actually my gym.

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It's like, someone's actually created this.

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It's like, no, you create is, oh shit, I did too.

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Um, but you attract like people and so we never set out to be a fighter.

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I train fighters and I train BJJ competitors, but that's

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not, that's not my interest.

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That's not my passion.

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It's part of the story and part of the journey.

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Yes.

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But it's not, you know, it's hard for a lot of people.

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They'll go, well, that's not your Mo tie cause more how you have to find.

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No, you do have to perform a hundred percent.

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You have to test.

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And so that's kind of what the culture has been born from.

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Uh, so two of my great mentors and really good friends in, in America, um, in LA.

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So, uh, Jerry wetsuit from central on Jim, he one of the credit breads

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on threat management and you're on, uh, you're the Australian training

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director for, and then Chris how-to who is accredited combat base.

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Uh you're in Brazil.

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Yeah.

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So Jerry, his kind of motto is what is your test?

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And the great, you just summed it up perfectly.

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And for Chris, he just says things straight transport practice, the

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art, we have to think straight because you have to keep it honest

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would this work if I needed to.

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Uh, but you can't train straight street because in that way, he's like

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one of two outlets either this, uh, touch buttery in the park have killed

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five people, but I can't trade this.

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Yeah, that kind of thing.

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Or you end up injured.

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I end up injured in training because the moves work, but

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how do you train it safely?

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Well, you have to train in a sporting environment and then you, uh, practice the

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art and the art is your, is the device.

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So when you look at the martial art, the martial is a physical

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prowess, but the art is the mental and emotional, the artistic and, uh,

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endeavor to be able to create more.

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So not just go.

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Well, that's not, not that's, that's a dogma to doctrine, that's it?

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There's no more to be discussed.

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So now it's constant being created.

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I heard recently that, um, I think mark Zuckerberg said is some, don't

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be no at all the learn it all.

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Yes.

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So you never stop.

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You should always pursue continuous learning and always seek more behind

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the, not taking it as a end state.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And, and, and in that sometimes you will be wrong.

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I could have swore that was correct.

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Yeah.

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Well, okay.

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Interesting.

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Yeah, that's cool.

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And it just changes your whole vibe, so, yeah.

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Sorry, fighting, fighting coaches.

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You draw those people in and you identify them, but not everyone

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has the same goals and aspirations.

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If it's chasing money to become a personal trainer and become a, you know,

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a, um, uh, a gym owner and trainer, because the money is not six digits.

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It's.

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You're not going to become a millionaire, but you'll be happy.

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You'll be fulfilled.

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You get to live and operate with these amazing people.

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And like you get paid well, but you can also go to public service.

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And like, I was on just shy of six figures and I'm white on the half of

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that at the moment, but I love my life.

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I I've never regretted or resented a day of having to come in.

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It's once I drag my ass out of bed, is that initial, uh, title?

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Yep.

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But that Collins expect me to come in.

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I love it.

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It's amazing.

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It's like, boom, I come here.

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Let's go.

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That's a really important point as well that you bring in across is that

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what's a true definition of success.

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I was going to ask you a question actually, but you, in a way you

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just said it is isn't, you know, financial is, it's just one element

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of, of, I mean, feeling fulfilled.

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Nobody's going to feel fulfilled purely on money.

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I don't know many people that are purely based on money and the ones who are

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purely based and money billionaires.

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I hear often that they're not happy they're living in their mansions alone.

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Yeah.

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And I mean, it, it, it might give you opportunities that

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don't exist for normally.

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A hundred percent.

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And if that's where your fulfillment lies, amazing, great.

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Some people have fulfillment in just having families, having

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a kid, having a loving wife, husband, partner, whatever it is.

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Amazing.

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Absolutely amazing.

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If that's where you're fulfilling laws, then brilliant.

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You are successful.

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If it's not where it lies, then stop it.

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Yeah.

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Uh, exactly.

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So if you just chasing that bigger house, if you're just chasing that pasta.

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Because then you get that bigger county.

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I'm not happy.

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Yeah.

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It's like, no stop doing it.

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Like you just get stuck in this again.

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Insanity.

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You're doing the same thing, expecting a different outcome.

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The next house, the next day.

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The next figure and salary will make me happy.

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It's like, no, it won't

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people should shouldn't these aspirations because oftentimes they're based

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on the external, based on something that happened in their childhood.

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Again, going back to that state dues and trying to chase that

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highest state, just because they want to be, they want to be loved.

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They want to, they want to get more, they want to be acknowledged.

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Maybe there weren't acknowledge.

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And they think that.

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Having better house by having fancy you guys now, now they can go and, you know,

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show off that, you know, and think that that's, that's, that's, what's going

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to fulfill that, but it's not really it

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is it.

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No.

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And if it is that individual, then you'll never hear them say paid, but

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for a lot of people, that facade is now what they have to try and embody.

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It's literally like wearing a mask and that mask does slip and

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hence we have 40, 50 year old.

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Oh, my God midlife crisis.

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I'm miserable.

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Like, yeah, you are.

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It didn't really change the rider

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spray.

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Correct.

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That's exactly it.

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Um, and on the flip side of it, you might have people that is all about

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raising a family and then the kids get to 1820 and parents, mum, and dad's

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seen they're going now, what do we do?

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And I have another kind of midlife crisis.

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It was like, well, my whole life was family.

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Now my family's doing their families.

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It's like, ah, now you've got another problem

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and suddenly, huh?

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To like have that blueprint.

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Nobody gives you the blueprint blueprint.

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It'd be nice to have, you know, laid it out for you, but it

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just, life doesn't work that way.

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One way you can make sure that you live more fulfilling life is that you make sure

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that you do what you truly enjoy doing.

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What were some of the toughest experiences or challenges that you

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had whilst developing Dark Carnival?

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COVID COVID aside.

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I COVID just screw out of so many people, but it also, uh, kind of

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forced us to pull the trigger on other, uh, programs, packages on the online

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academy, all that kind of thing, which is still very much in its infancy.

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Uh it's right at the moment, but we've got so much content filmed over like

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the four months we were shut down.

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It's ridiculous plugging right.

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And produced it.

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It's just being edited in, you know, Doug hall does an amazing

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job of, you know, the, the editing and the filming and everything.

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But my God there that you're never kind of lost return to normality

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that sits on the back burner and we chip away at it when we can.

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Um, but I mean, look, the, uh, the hardest part, the biggest problem

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was starting off as a one man shot, and then it gets bigger than you and

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you go, okay, I need another person.

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So.

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My, my ongoing problem is that it's constantly a lack of resources.

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It's not finances, it's people, because as you touched on, the

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people have to fit the culture and I have to fit your style of gym.

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Yeah.

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So recently we brought on, um, uh, you know, Judy, COVID one of

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the black belts up in the city that we knew he was out of a job.

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So we're like, dude, come down, we'll see ya.

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English is not his first language.

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Uh, Rodrigo.

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Yeah.

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Hunter.

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Yeah.

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And he's doing a great job.

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He's getting much better at English, but he, he was the first person I brought on.

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That's External.

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I never coached him.

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I never trained with him.

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Uh, um, whereas Rowan Dan, uh, you know, Riley, Alexa, Michael, all of

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these dudes who coach here, I've trained them all, or I've trained with them

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and so, you know, they know the, how we roll the culture, everything, whereas

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Rodrigo, he came from his own and he's now trying to find his way in ours.

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Sorry.

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It's that constant learning process.

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What do we need to be mindful of?

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What does he need to be mindful of?

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And that is a challenge.

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It's not a bad one.

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It's a good one because invariably, we're going to have to do these time and time

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and time again, otherwise we will be limited because the people don't always

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present themselves who will suit the job and suit the con uh, the culture.

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Um, and again, it is rare as unicorns to find a Dan, to find a Raleigh, to

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find, you know, these guys who just got.

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I'll do that because I enjoy it here.

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Wait, if I could clone myself, this would be amazing, but I can't.

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So I need to find a like-minded but different.

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Cause it can't just be me, needs to be other people.

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They need to bring their own flavor.

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They need to bring their own thought process, but it has to

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fit in with the culture and the vibe and the direction of the gym.

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And how did you, in, in an example of Rodrigo being an external, I

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know he's, he's black belt and

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Yes he's a legit black belt man.

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He's an absolutely beast he's had his black belt for 10 years now.

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I'm like, it's ridiculous.

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Just looking

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for black belt to have in house

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nursery.

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We weren't looking for anyone.

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Uh, he just, the opportunity presented itself.

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And, um, you know, I've spoken to other people in Canberra, but they

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were already embedded in their own gyms or doing their own thing.

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And that's absolutely great.

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Um, and then Rodrigo came about and were like, okay, cool.

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We'll see how this goes.

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And he came in and he ran a workshop and like, okay.

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And he stayed and he did a couple of weeks of closet and like,

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okay, this is so we put into like a trial period and it was fine.

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And then from there we effectively just went, okay.

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He brought his, the entire BJJ program and that wasn't necessarily a mistake.

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But it was kind of me not realizing how much there is in the background of that.

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I was like, oh, you'll understand.

Speaker:

No, there's so much in the background.

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And the, the, you know, the, the beliefs of the gym, the direction, the

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ethos, and the training, methodologies, everything that you assume that

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well, you've been here two weeks.

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You should get it now.

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Wrong.

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Uh, and so, yeah, so there's, there's learning points and you

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know, it's no harm, no foul.

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It's just learning effectively.

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I've never had to train someone who knows more than I do.

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It's always been the other way around.

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So

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approach training is, I mean, I would assume it's all, hands-on,

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you know, in-person on the mat stuff with training with staff.

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I mean, in terms of that stuff, Or do you have any like, sorry, manuals and stuff?

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So we are only in process or we have, you know, uh, coaches, coaching, curriculums,

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you know, um, kind of rough framework because you never want to go, you know,

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this is what you're going to teach, and this is how you're going to teach.

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Uh, it's more guideline of this is the direction we take, how you get there.

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As long as all these boxes are too.

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Uh, and we keep kind of true to the martial art than fun, but more often

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than not, it is through discussion.

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So we have a coach's catch up every Tuesday night and theguys

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will go :, how would you do this?

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That's cool.

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How would you do this during the day?

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Because we're all here, you know, 12 to 14 hours a day.

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Not necessarily coaching, but the guys will go, Hey, quick question.

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Or, you know, Dan will be running someone.

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You'll go, Hey coach, quick question.

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Uh, how would you approach, what's your protocol for this blah, blah,

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blah, ah, sweet and endeavour.

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You'll see them take notes and I'll come down a day later and

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they'll be doing the exact thing.

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I just kind of told them to do.

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They've refined it already.

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And they've implemented into their coaching game, into their coaching skills.

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It's like, yep.

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Sweet they get it.

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Awesome.

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Okay.

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I think key, you know, all these is that you're not just an owner of this

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gym, that you're truly an operator here as well, so they get to see you.

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And I think that openness, everybody, you know, uh, as opportunity to express

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their opinion, ask question nobody.

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Um, Like you've got this openness you've been being in the matts coachees.

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Everybody's very friendly.

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I think that that really helps.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And again, it reinforces my own and state of vulnerability

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because, uh, it's one thing.

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And this, this happens in a lot of martial arts gyms is that, you know, you walk in

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and you bow to the person on the wall.

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Who's some legend of the gym, uh, or ancient legend of whatever.

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And you know, the coaches are above, uh, questioned about it.

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Uh, any kind of a challenge as well.

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And whereas I'm on the nights I spar I roll and I get beaten.

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It happens and it's not ours because of, uh, uh, so no, that was like

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high five to you legitimately got me in that guillotine white belt.

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Like congratulations there, why I got caught, but that was you, just, you

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just like latched onto an opportunity.

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hi five to you Yeah, it is not a matter of how dare you.

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How dare he beat me in front of them?

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No, I'm fine.

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Well done.

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Excellent.

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Um, and same deal.

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The coaches are there and you know, they see me here every day, every morning,

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late at night, et cetera, and doing stuff.

Speaker:

So it's that leadership kind of role and, well, here it is proof in the pudding.

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Yeah.

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Whereas if you were a business owner, who's just doing it for building a

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wealth and removed yourself outside of that, you know, facility of business.

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And I think you'd be, it'd be a little harder to maintain a culture like you

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have, unless you got some amazing manager

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who

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does that.

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So my dad always used to say to me, uh, you know, um, you're either working

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on the business or you're working in the business and juggling those two.

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Uh, interesting suddenlies and sometimes they blur.

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Um, but working in the business, I'm constantly coaching, running

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costs is on coaching, the coaches, et cetera, et cetera.

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And then working on the business development, uh, developing programs,

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the whole backend of the business, you know, the finances experience, et

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cetera, all of this stuff is what I do.

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So what's good though, is that I've engaged Dan as a gym manager.

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So he now is trying to take over a lot of the, the front of house and

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the day-to-day operation of the gym.

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So now there's that kind of separation between, uh, business as

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usual and then the top end or the executive level decisions, which is

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what Tasha and I do his vision on.

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But you know, that that's the stuff that he doesn't have to worry about.

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So does he know about Xero and no?

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They the accounting, the bookkeeping and the invoices

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and the taxable, no it's all me.

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. And he's, by the way, he's,

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I mean, it's customer skills like his communication

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yeah.

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Fantastic.

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Yeah.

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Amazing.

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Amazing.

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But he's is he's human.

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And he does in his day of trying to manage 1,000,001 things, he likes things slip

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yeah.

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And it's not a matter of going dad, how dare you and performance

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managers understand you are super busy, but you forgot to send this

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email or this person, reached out to us and you did not respond.

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We need to make sure that the engagement, the experience of that engagement

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is like number one, please ensure.

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Yep.

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A hundred percent let's go inside.

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Those errands are becoming more, was less and less.

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Yeah.

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Have you heard of the book?

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E-Myth by Michael.

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No, it's a great book that talks about in business.

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You need to have three rollers.

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Initially we started all three when we started as a solopreneur, as running

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the business, but with just one person kick, and that is, we need to be

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technician, which is delivering the service technician example, being coach

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on the floor, they need to be a manager

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and then you need to be an entrepreneur.

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And when he started out kind of fulfilling all three ROS, what you just said, he's

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now got Dan who's managing the gym.

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You've got great coaches.

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And then you position yourself more in that bigger picture.

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Or when you talk though, the backend stuff and the business strategy

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that's when you want to get to.

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So the business, uh, the book, sorry.

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The book talks about a story of a baker that she always liked.

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Um, her mom's, um, cookies, cookies.

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It was.

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And so she really loved them.

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And then she grew up, she was a teenager and she learned how to baked them.

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And then she was an agile and, you know, she really liked them.

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So she makes them for the other people and people start buying them and then

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a lot more people start buying them.

Speaker:

And then, you know, she's, you know, suddenly had big demand and she just.

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Making the cookies and then she'd just put somebody else in managing that.

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And she just kept making the bookmaking, making those cookies and started

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hating it because of the volume.

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So she, didn't never really, she never really transitioned herself into

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the next, the next, next position.

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So it's a really good book.

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And, um, in a way you've got that set up.

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I don't, I would still recommend reading it.

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Um, it's on audible.

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I

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will get it.

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I'm sure they CA it's a quite fat quite non-book.

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Um, all right.

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So.

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Great gym.

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Great branding, great culture, great coaches, and obviously

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great leadership in place.

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Um, but on the, on the note of leadership, what's your definition?

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Cause I like to learn, I like to hear other people's perspective.

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Yeah.

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So, um, I was actually, uh, I think he told the, the president

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Felipe put up, uh, on leadership.

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He was a three-part person.

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He put pretty on LinkedIn and, uh, Yeah, it was kind of drawing on

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that in like my, my comment and reply was drawing on my experience

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over the years of public service.

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And especially when you have the role of a team leader, uh, you've got your team

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member and then you have a team leader.

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So there's this specific barrier.

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And not always was the team leader actually leading the team.

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Uh, they were just in the role that they, they ticked all the boxes.

Speaker:

There was actually a person in the team that led, um, so for me, a leader has

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to be on the ground, has to be, um, to, they always have to be on the ground.

Speaker:

No, but they should come from the ground.

Speaker:

So they have to have experience of being led and also being a leader.

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So being able to direct people to grow people, not only for

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the benefit of the individual.

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Of self, the individual of the, the individual team member,

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but also for the team itself.

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Now, should that person go to another team or lead somewhere else?

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Fine, absolutely fine.

Speaker:

You've done your job really well.

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Or if you've created a leader.

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Perfect.

Speaker:

Um, and hopefully they've left with that understanding that they

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need to lead as well as be led.

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Uh, and there's that cost balance.

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In in, in the play.

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So for me, leadership is leading from the front.

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It is dead do, as I say, uh, sorry, I should say practice as you preach

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pretty tight practice, um, practice, how you play, play, how you practice.

Speaker:

So it's one thing to be, to say it cannot do it.

Speaker:

And so this comes down to that whole level of being congruent, making sure

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that our good ladies are congruent.

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Not only can they lead, that can be.

Speaker:

But they also do, as they say, it's not just a matter of how you do it

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or how come you don't have to do it.

Speaker:

Well, I'm separated by

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yeah.

Speaker:

That's when you got, you got to check your

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ego, correct.

Speaker:

That's exactly it.

Speaker:

And they are open to learn.

Speaker:

They're open to being wrong.

Speaker:

They're open to, um, all of these things and they've just

Speaker:

got the, he's an experienced man.

Speaker:

Sorry.

Speaker:

They might be.

Speaker:

So I'm like, are you, but you're wrong?

Speaker:

So it will know.

Speaker:

Here are the reasons why, and the fact that I know that I'm not, this is why

Speaker:

I'm telling you to do this thing in this course of action or whatever.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

But he provided an explanation, correct.

Speaker:

There's a substance to it rather than just being militant, just

Speaker:

yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Which is exactly the opposite.

Speaker:

And it just closes people, um, up from feeling.

Speaker:

You know, valued, valued, and having, having the opportunity

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to say what it wants.

Speaker:

Yeah.

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So, and that's what kills culture.

Speaker:

Awesome.

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Awesome.

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Um, so we're at the end of the interview and I've got a couple

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of questions there for you.

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Shoot.

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First one, any advice you'd like to give someone looking

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to start a fitness businesses.

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Start a fitness business, uh, whether it be fitness, martial arts, et cetera.

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Uh, know what it is that you want to do.

Speaker:

So if it is just, oh no, people get fit.

Speaker:

That's rad.

Speaker:

Why do you want.

Speaker:

I understand the how's and the why's what's your motivation for doing it?

Speaker:

Um, because again, you want to be congruent with what you actually want.

Speaker:

So it's one thing to just go, yes.

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I'm going to teach people martial arts.

Speaker:

Oh, I want to try and be able to fight awesome.

Speaker:

And if it's to, um, help people lose weight, then help people lose white.

Speaker:

If you understand the full gamma of benefits and make sure you

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understand the full gamut of benefits, don't allude to them, but

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never actually explained to them.

Speaker:

Um, and just made sure that you follow it.

Speaker:

And get it done.

Speaker:

Like there's, there's no other way to do it apart from just do it.

Speaker:

So have a plan, understand your own plan, make sure that is what you

Speaker:

want to do because people, when they train with, you will know whether

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you're happy to be there or not.

Speaker:

And then they're paying for your hour and that time, energy and everything

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that I've put into that one day.

Speaker:

That's priceless.

Speaker:

It is.

Speaker:

I absolutely processed not saying, oh, Alish, do you think it was?

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I know it cause I'm distilling knowledge.

Speaker:

I'm just doing work experience on lived experience and into this.

Speaker:

And the number of times I get people rocking and they're here to learn

Speaker:

more time BJJ and we ended up talking for an hour on all matters of life

Speaker:

and whatever they're going through, that's a very important aspect of it.

Speaker:

And all that in summary, it's important because running businesses is tough

Speaker:

and you will come across times where it's so tough where if your

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motivations weren't strong enough,

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then yeah.

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If they weren't true.

Speaker:

And then you, you, you will fail.

Speaker:

Yeah.

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But if you know why you want to do it, why you to open up a gym,

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what it is you want to achieve?

Speaker:

Then there are the darkest, you know, shutdown of Corona

Speaker:

or whatever it is you be going.

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Okay, let's go.

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Let's go.

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Absolutely.

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What would be your top three things for the lesson of this podcast?

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After listening to everything we said today, what would you want them to walk or

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quote unquote walk away with after this?

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So number one is you are not made for mediocrity.

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No one is, um, and.

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If and our maintenance turtle, turtle, you know, uh, that statement is that you, you

Speaker:

are not listening to this podcast because you're just driving home and you're

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listening to a thing you, you want to be, you know, uh, you want to be inspired.

Speaker:

You want to be successful, so go get it.

Speaker:

And the second thing would be a challenge the story so what you believe

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to be true and what you believe to be, you know, what you're limited by and

Speaker:

all this kind of deal challenge it.

Speaker:

Cause you'll probably find out it's false.

Speaker:

It's actually wrong.

Speaker:

It never happened.

Speaker:

Um, great example of that is you, ask , people had you go with public

Speaker:

speaking and they go oh, I hate public speaking and your why?

Speaker:

Oh, judge, I've always sucked at it.

Speaker:

It's like, when was the last time you did it?

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

So you did a thing in school.

Speaker:

You were uncomfortable with it and now you believe you hate it.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

That's that's big.

Speaker:

And it's false did you fail?

Speaker:

I don't know.

Speaker:

Actually got okay.

Speaker:

Marks for it, right?

Speaker:

Oh, I just didn't like, it was very uncomfortable.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

You just told me you hate it.

Speaker:

Challenging challenge the story, because you might find that it's false.

Speaker:

And when it's false, you're now left again with decision yarn.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Crap now.

Speaker:

Once I, yeah, it's that point of this going?

Speaker:

Ah, crap.

Speaker:

I thought this was true.

Speaker:

It's not, I can actually do public speaking rods.

Speaker:

How many opportunities have you missed out on?

Speaker:

Because he believed you hated public speaking, man.

Speaker:

I didn't do a speech for my brother's wedding because it's like, right.

Speaker:

You could've gone and done a conference, but you didn't because you're in harm to

Speaker:

public speaking, you could have actually.

Speaker:

Who knows where that would have led.

Speaker:

Didn't challenge, the comfort zone, correct?

Speaker:

It's exactly it.

Speaker:

What's number three.

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Number three would be,

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life happens.

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Training is a constant.

Speaker:

So it's written on the wall downstairs.

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It's written up here.

Speaker:

It's one of the, one of the things I live by is that life happens.

Speaker:

Uh, training is always going to be.

Speaker:

So, regardless of whether you are, you know, going through a

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divorce, you're going through a trial, a tragedy of some sort.

Speaker:

Training's always there always full-stop, you might be a very hesitant to go.

Speaker:

You might be in a really bad spot, but it'll always be there.

Speaker:

And those people will always be there as his constant backup, factually like

Speaker:

the number of times I've had people walk in and just sit in the car.

Speaker:

Not train, just come in because they just needed to get out of their own Headspace

Speaker:

or their own instance and just sit.

Speaker:

It's been amazing.

Speaker:

But yeah, life happens.

Speaker:

Training is a constant it'll always be here.

Speaker:

So go get a done.

Speaker:

It's about the discipline

Speaker:

yeah and also understanding that, okay, I might need to take a week off.

Speaker:

I might need to take two weeks off.

Speaker:

Training is always there.

Speaker:

So when you are healed, when you already, when you've grieved, when

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you've, whatever, get back to it so that I, no one will think less of you.

Speaker:

Oh, I'm only benching 90.

Speaker:

I was bencing 134.

Speaker:

No one cares.

Speaker:

Just keep that continuum then don't stop.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So challenge the mediocrity, challenge the story.

Speaker:

And keep on training.

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

Now Mitch we've got listeners from all around the world?

Speaker:

Well, we also have some listeners that might be living in Canberra.

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Is there anything that you'd like to offer them?

Speaker:

Obviously you know, running this amazing place?

Speaker:

So we offer, um, we offer the first week of training complimentary because

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it's super important to understand what it is you're walking into.

Speaker:

And, uh, so yeah, you've got nothing to lose.

Speaker:

Just jump in, give it a go.

Speaker:

You might like it.

Speaker:

You might be out of your comfort zone.

Speaker:

But be challenged by it.

Speaker:

Uh, if general causes, you know, due to a multitude of reasons,

Speaker:

uh, might not be your jam.

Speaker:

We offer the first one-on-one private training session complimentary.

Speaker:

Um, and for those of you around the globe, we have our Dark Carnival online academy.

Speaker:

Uh, the links are through our website and it's hosted on Vimeo currently.

Speaker:

So you can just jump on and train with us wherever you are in the world.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

So how can people find you and this gym, the links again, dark

Speaker:

carnival dot carnival, uh, dot com dot a U.

Speaker:

Um, is it in one

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word?

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No dash.

Speaker:

So we have a whole website format in error.

Speaker:

Uh, we took out both with the dash and one word and it was formatted on

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the website as TOK Hoffman, carnival.

Speaker:

So we get to correct that

Speaker:

really directed to which

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one they fixed up the next couple of weeks and week.

Speaker:

Awesome.

Speaker:

Sweet.

Speaker:

Um, and then, uh, Yeah, we have, um, uh, Facebook.

Speaker:

So just look up Dark Carnival Canberra, and you will pop up

Speaker:

and then a Dark Carnival_CBR

Speaker:

he's jumped on there and yeah, quick follow.

Speaker:

We've also got a YouTube channel, um, dot carnival, uh, on, on

Speaker:

that.com martial arts and yeah, all that funny stuff is on there.

Speaker:

The region randomly plug-in so yeah,

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

There's some really good videos and there's also a good

Speaker:

one on how you tie a belt,

Speaker:

which is the most common awesome.

Speaker:

Thank you for your time.

Speaker:

I appreciate you being on the show.

Speaker:

Um, lots of wisdom, lots of great value provided to our guests today to

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our listeners, our listeners today.

Speaker:

Um, so thank you for.

Speaker:

Time out of your schedule and obviously it's Sunday, today,

Speaker:

and you could have been with your family and you decided to do this.

Speaker:

So once you, again, thank you, uh, for those guys listening

Speaker:

and watching this on YouTube.

Speaker:

Um, thank you as well for tuning in and listening to all the way as always.

Speaker:

I keep the best stuff at the end.

Speaker:

Any specialists, any cool stuff for you as always, I try to

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work something out for you guys.

Speaker:

So thank you for listening.

Speaker:

If you've enjoyed today's episode.

Speaker:

It provided some from a value to you.

Speaker:

Um, then please do me a favor.

Speaker:

If you could share it with your mates on social media, um, you know, with

Speaker:

the show, you can really help me grow the show and make more impact

Speaker:

and, uh, really appreciate that.

Speaker:

So thank you again for everybody and have a great rest of your day, everybody.

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About the Podcast

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Success Inspired
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Vit Muller

Vit Muller is a seasoned expert in HighLevel® Software, renowned for his expertise as a smart systems engineer and consultant. He specializes in empowering Advertising and Digital Marketing agencies to establish more robust and thriving businesses by harnessing the power of SaaS and Premium Snapshots. 🚀🔥