Jason

I'm a martial artist, by trade, & by lifestyle. I've been training in Taekwondo & Hapkido since I was 12 years old. I got my black belt when I was 15. I took ninjutsu between the ages of 16 & 19. Later went back to TKD & HKD after my instructor moved back to New York. I stil practice ninpo once in awhile with Terry Ham, a very good friend of mine. At 22 I started teaching out of my garage. At our first tounament we took five people, we got 4 gold & 1 bronze, was pretty proud of that. After a year or so the garage was overly crowded. I ran into my old instructor at a tournament & found out he was selling his school, but I was completely broke. So I sold my car to buy it. I had to drive an old junk car for the next few years. I was supposed to take over the school right away, but he asked me to wait a month. During that time he had everyone he could get pay off there contracts. When the place was finally mine I realized that there was very little money coming in. So to keep the place I leased my house out & moved back in with my mom. After a year, when our lease was up & the landlord kicked us out. It took me two months to find another place. I stayed in contact with all the students to make sure they followed me. Needless to say, when I opened the doors only about fifteen to twenty people(out of ~50) showed up. I was pretty discouraged. Owning a school had been my dream since I started martial arts, so in my mind it had to work. My grandpa, an extremely successful man, told me repeatedly that I was making a mistake & that I need to get out while I'm ahead. I knew that if I closed this school I would never have another chance. So I refused to give up. It took almost four years to turn the place around. That was probably the worst four years of my life. I would wake up at 5:00 in the morning to be at work on time just to get off & rush to the school & teach till 9 or 10. I stayed broke, always bouncing checks, we almost lost our house a few times. Had I known something about business it might have been an easier process, but I was to stubborn to go to school. When your young you think you know it all. Though I went though hell triing to get the school off the ground, I wouldn't have it any other way. I truely realize that the harder you have to work to get something the more you appriciate it. Now, nine years later we have approximately 200 students & multiple regional, national, & international champions. I am the proud owner of Iron Dragon Martial Arts!