Jordon DePalma 0:00

American Kenpo is our primary style when it comes to um our self-defense techniques and like most of our katas. But we do have some a little bit of taekwondo background as well with um my dad. And so uh even though we're great at self-defense, we have some guys that can jump, flip, a kick, and spin like crazy. And um, I used to be able to do spin yes. I I try to dabble. And so even though they can be great at defending themselves or at protecting themselves, we'll go to tournaments and win in the tournament industry too. And then we have our sparring and fight classes as well. Um, and we just like to have that well-roundedness because uh you might join and and really like Kata more, or someone else likes self-defense more, and someone else likes sparring more, but you're gonna learn it all because it's all important, it goes hand in hand together.

Trev Warnke 0:48

All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of Brotherhood Beyond Business Podcast. Today we're here with Jordan De Palma and we're gonna talk through his life, we're gonna talk through his business and just get to know him better. And Jordan, go ahead and first give me just some feedback on why you moved to Prescott, your family life, and give me a little bit uh base of who you are.

Jordon DePalma 1:03

Uh yeah, so I moved to Prescott Valley about eight years ago. What brought me up here wasn't anything planned. We actually opened up our karate school in Prescott Valley for somebody else who had already lived up here, one of our black belts. And um, they're like, Yeah, we want to do this. So after putting them through the training they needed, they quit about a month in. And we said, but we just signed a five-year lease. So being from the the Gilbert and Queen Creek area, I was running a karate school down there for already, I believe two years at that point. And um we reached out and said, Hey, what's a plan? I luckily had someone ready enough to kind of step into uh my school down there, and that got me the opportunity to move up here. It's kind of going back and forth a little bit quite a bit for the first couple months, and um then started running that school full time and I left the other school to them. So that school's still running, but with someone totally different at this point. But uh, so yeah, that's what brought me up here. But yeah, originally from Queen Creek, had the plans of wanting to move to a small town, but didn't know it was just gonna happen so fast.

Trev Warnke 2:04

Yeah.

Jordon DePalma 2:04

More or less.

Trev Warnke 2:05

And so how you have uh four kids, you said? Yeah.

Jordon DePalma 2:08

You married four kids? Yeah.

Trev Warnke 2:09

Tell me a little bit about your wife and your kids.

Jordon DePalma 2:10

Uh so me and my wife have been together for dating about since we started dating about three years. Uh married for we just had our first year anniversary um back in February. Uh the youngest one, so our kid together, we have a three-month-old. So um, that's our we call our you know, our band-aid of the family. Just brings all the other kids together. Um, then I have another daughter and she has two other kids. So the oldest one is a 12-year-old girl, six, seven, sorry, eleven-year-old girl, seven-year-old boy, a three-year-old girl, and then the the three-month-old. And um, they're all involved in karate too. So it's lots of fun.

Trev Warnke 2:43

Yeah, you're at that age with them that's like, so 12-year-olds are getting into like all the different sports that are gonna be happening, right? So then in terms of that, like that schedule gets busy, plays and recitals and all that kind of stuff. And the little, you know, three-month-old, like that's just like probably not as much sleep as you you enjoy. So it's like you got a pretty busy life inside of that, along with running a karate school, and then also uh nutrition shop as well, right?

Jordon DePalma 3:04

Nutrition store, yeah. So nutrition.

Trev Warnke 3:05

So that's a pretty busy life overall. So give me some information about your parents because I know your parents live here as well. Um, and people in Prescott, Prescott Valley might know your parents as well. Yeah.

Jordon DePalma 3:15

So my parents are Fred and Robin De Palma. They moved, well, they kind of live up here half of the time. When the Northern Arizona Wranglers came into town, uh, we were already indoor football fans with the Rattlers down in Phoenix. And I called my dad and said, Hey, guess what? We're getting a football team this year. And he said, Cool, so we got season tickets. I'm gonna go up here. And then somewhere along between the first and second year, he met the original owner and they worked out a deal that then they were partners for the second year, and then he took over for the third year and continued it. So crazy little story. I don't even know how we got started, to be honest. Um, there's pieces missing, but they run the football team. Um, and so they are doing that. I know that's really popular up here. I know there's a lot of the fans and founding fathers, and you know, gets together for all those games and stuff. Um, but prior to that, and currently, uh, they run the martial arts school. So my dad started the he owned his first school in 1986 um in Connecticut, and then in 1990, 91, he moved here to Arizona um in this tiny little town called Gilbert at the time. And uh he opened his first school there um and just grew that school um like crazy. And then in 9 uh 5, met my mom. They got married, or 96, I believe, met my mom somewhere along the way. Anyway, I was born in 97, so got married at some point, and then she came in and started helping out. I'm at the schools. He uh didn't want her to be a part of it at first. He'll tell you that. He's like, nope, let's keep work and home separate, but that's not how my mom is. So she came in and worked her way up in the Craigus organization, you know, trained, got to her black belt like normally people would. And then she actually ended up running one of the most successful martial arts schools within our organization, even to today. And so she no one can repeat her success with her one school yet. So we're all trying, but that's why she helps out with the schools of um watching those numbers to help us grow because she she lived it, you know. She said, Okay, hey, do this, this, and this. This is where that success comes from. And then uh so they're still involved running schools, but they're not stepping on the floor teaching all the kids, you know. My dad only comes in now and teaches the the the high-ranked black belts, the the head instructor, so we can go and share that with the other students now.

Trev Warnke 5:28

Yeah. It's funny saying Gilbert when it was a small town, right? Like there's nothing small about anything in Phoenix area anymore. So um, so what how have you enjoyed uh living in the smaller community? So when you say small community, so I grew up in a town of 600. Yeah. So it's like I know small town. Small town from Gilbert. You're from Gilbert, right? And so for me, this is still a small town because I did live in the Chicago area for about 12 years. So I definitely know what you're talking about there. Yeah, but what does it feel like living? What do you enjoy about living in a smaller community like this instead of like something like Gilbert?

Jordon DePalma 5:57

Uh I think what's fun about it is just it's a closer culture. It amazes me how many people because my wife grew up here, but how many people I come into the karate school and then she knows them. Oh, I went to school with them. I was like, that's funny to me. So that's something that's definitely different. Being in Gilbert, you don't get as many people uh when I was running that school that came in that knew each other unless it was like an invite because there's just the mass of people on, you know, one by one mile radius, and then up here it's it's a little different. So everybody comes in and they know somebody. And to me, that makes it fun. So the culture is easy to to grow to what I wanted it to because everyone's already friends with each other, you know. They grew up, they know each other, and they come in and just get to have that culture continue to build and grow um at the karate school. So it's definitely different in that aspect. Also, it's um different because there's not as much like other martial arts schools around. And um, because of that, it's like you you got less options to more or less pick from, you know, so which for me that's nice because people come in, we can have that conversation. Hey, are we the school for you? More or less, and um, you know, what are you looking for with your training? It's really easy to know for them that's like, yeah, this is a great place, it's a good culture they want to be a part of. They're not running around to a hundred different places trying to figure out, you know, what's the best martial arts school? It no, we all have great martial arts here in the town, which is cool, but but just being a part of that community is fun to be known as the karate guy that's in town.

Trev Warnke 7:19

Yeah. Yeah, that's one thing. You running both one and Gilbert and then obviously running the one in Prescott Valley, de do you see like just a higher retention rate overall because like they don't the Gilbert, they can run probably to maybe 15 or 20 different ones within a 20-minute drive, right? And so do you find yourself just having a naturally higher retention rate?

Jordon DePalma 7:36

To be honest, it really comes down to the person in charge. Um, because we have some schools down there that great retention rate and others that are still learning it. Um, and up here it's the same thing. So it's like my numbers up here when it comes to retention is about equal with um the other schools. So that doesn't necessarily honestly change it when it comes to retention wise. Um, it's just easier to know where we're at, you know. That was that's what makes it simple. It's hey, yeah, we're that karate school. That's right there. Yeah. Oh, okay. I see that all the time. You know, they know exactly like where to find it or or what we're talking about, or oh yeah, my friend went there, or my cousin trained, or you know, my friend's kid, or things like that. The conversation's a little shorter, more or less.

Trev Warnke 8:18

Yeah. I mean, for us, so we own a gym still out in Illinois, the Chicago A area. And so we can literally be a block and a half away from somebody that's lived there for 30 years and they have no idea that we've been there 12 years and that we're right behind them because like there's just so much stuff around that like if they never drive that direction, they just never see that gym. Whereas like in this area, people have asked me many times, are you gonna open a gym out here? Which I'm not going to, it's just not a desire of mine. But like I always think about that, like you can actually be instead of being the best, the the best uh kept secret when you're in a big town, sometimes you're a best kept secret, nobody knows about you, which is not a good thing. And here you can actually build a reputation and people like, oh, and they'll actually talk to other people about it. In our gym, there'll be people that have lived probably, you know, maybe half a mile from each other for I don't know, at least 10 to 15 years and never met each other once. Here you live a half a mile from somebody run into a multiple times in some type of event you went to in terms of like your kids going to school or something that you run into people. So for me, it's just a different environment, which I love. When I grew up in, like I said, small town Iowa, I grew up and we knew every single person. And so out here it's kind of getting to, for me, I've only been here three years, but starting to get to that point too where it's like, okay, I'm starting to consistently run into people I know, and that's kind of stuff.

Jordon DePalma 9:25

Yeah, and that's actually uh I know a side story, but that's how I met my wife, more or less. She, we obviously didn't know each other prior to starting to date, really. But the first time I met her, we didn't realize that one of her family friends had their kids' party at the Crowdie's Food Do birthday parties. And um, her son was at the party at the time he was two. And um, I remember him because he had a cast on his leg at the time. And uh, you know, she was there, and I wasn't I was already in a relationship at the moment, so I didn't think anything of it. But that was the first time we actually kind of ran into each other was that, and then after the fact, um, we then, you know, we go to all the the Presky Valley Town events, ran into her again, and her kids actually won some karate classes that we gave away. And uh they came down and did the classes, even signed up for like a couple weeks. Um, they couldn't continue after that, but it at least got them, you know, in the doors. And then from there, it was a they started again because somebody won them free classes again. So they came back and trained for a little bit, but at that time I was single. So that kind of stemmed into me being a little hesitant because I'm like, I don't date in the dojo, you know, when I'm single, that's a rule. But I was like, well, they're not training anymore, they just did those those free classes and they weren't around at the moment. So I was like, hey, want to go out sometime? And that turned into we now, so it's pretty fun. But that was just funny to me. It's like, man, we ran into each other all the time up until the time was right, more or less.

Trev Warnke 10:49

Yeah, and like I'm that wouldn't happen in Gilbert, or it wouldn't happen where I'm in Chicago. It's like you just you might see something one person one time, you'll never see them again in your life.

Jordon DePalma 10:57

I remember that when I was young and dating, and it's like, oh, she's cute, and then you never see them again. Even at church, it's like they would show up that one day, and then they wouldn't be there again because maybe they were visiting a friend or family and you didn't know that. So you're like, hey, have you seen this girl trying to describe what she looked like because you didn't say hi the first time and you missed out, and then you learn, okay, I gotta step up a little bit.

Trev Warnke 11:18

Yeah, no, that's a cool thing about the small communities. That's we we've been talking about it a little bit, just founding fathers, people like founding fathers and stuff I've heard them talking about, and I've talked to some different people about the fact that like this community here is so special, but it's an aging community, and young people like you and me are the ones hopefully in the future going to be able to grow it. We just gotta find a way to get more younger people to move to the area because it's just an expensive area to move to in general. But yeah, this is it's a really cool area overall. So let's dig a little bit into your two businesses, okay? Um, so let's start with uh the NutraShop part first, why you added that part, and then we'll go back from there into your um karate studio and actually the like we talked a little bit about the your name brand change. Um, talk about that change between the two just in case people associate the old name with or the new name.

Jordon DePalma 12:01

All right, cool. Yeah, so uh NutraShop, we just opened three, four months ago at this point, um, but it's been a year of development, ideas, training, communication with uh the franchise owners, you know. Um and that started just because for my own personal like fitness journey, I got tired of not knowing what supplements I needed or understanding the different stuff and why BCAs are important and which protein to take and you know, what's testosterone do for you and little things like that. So um, you know, doing my own research kind of gets hard because you know, Google sometimes says one thing and then this person says another. And uh you go into some places sometimes that that have the supplements and depending on who's working that day, still don't really have all the answers occasionally. And then you go some days and that's this person does. And uh so I wanted to have a place to where people can come in and know that whoever they're talking to is going to give the best advice they can based on what your fitness goal, the journey are is, and um, even if it's not something you're necessarily looking for, at least so you understand what that product does for you. Um, and then we know too, if there's something that's like, hey, what's this ingredient that my team's really good at? That's a great question. You know, let me write that down, I'll look it up and and we'll tell you once we figure it out. Because we want to make sure we don't give false answers too. We do that at the karate school also. We we know it's like never find or never just assume an answer, always find it. It's okay to say, let me get back to you on that when you need to, because I'd rather be confident in my answer than than guessing, more or less. So that's how that started. Um, and at the same time, because I'm getting, I know I'm not old yet, but I'm getting to that point in my life, you know, with having kids and things, my goal is to set up different businesses, hopefully, and um to have that, you know, extra revenue coming in for my kids. So that way they have something to grow up into to kind of pick and choose from when it comes to hopefully them having a job or understanding how business goes. So that started just on my own personal fitness journey and wanting to do something that had that can have longevity. Because martial arts is great, but it's really hard sometimes to grow a good instructor. You gotta find the perfect person because they have to be personable, they have to be good with kids, and they have to be a good teacher, they have to be a good role model, and they have to know martial arts. And there's a lot of little steps that comes to being a martial artist, but um, someone that can work a nutrient shop, I can train in three months and actually get them to understand and know the product and give the recommendations and teach the scripts. You know, it's a lot less training. And um, so I just wanted to have an option at least of um business growth that I can go faster when I need to versus a martial arts school because that takes the right person. Now, a martial arts school is gonna be way more successful still, but this can be successful for a single individual who really wants to, you know, get into something that I can train quickly on. So that's where it stemmed from.

Trev Warnke 14:46

Now that's a I love that, like, so looking from a business owner's perspective, right? So you have services, but one's a one I'd call a product-based service, and one is a service, like a hand-on service, right? And so hands-on service are very rewarding, but are hard are aren't always as scalable because of the human component, right? Finding the perfect trainers, finding the perfect coaches becomes an obstacle. Whereas product-based ones, like all we got to do is create a product database and what this product database, like, so example is like creatine, like who should use creatine? Why would they use creatine? You can create a quick, simple like system, like you know, somebody walks in and they have this question about I want to get stronger, or I'm looking for, you know, I know creatine's been proven for Alzheimer's now. So I'm looking for brain health. Like, oh, creatine could be a really good supplement for you. Very easy to train somebody in a very short period of time. Good trainer, especially within martial arts when you guys have a belt system too, which shows the the proven over time, right? And so it takes a little bit longer to get people into those or find qualified individuals for the the level that you want to teach at. So it's good. I I love that the perspective of creating different types of revenue streams. If everything is exact, it is a hands-on service-based thing. It also becomes is you keep running in the same obstacles. Let's say, let's just throw out an example you built out, but you also over here decided, hey, we can try and do fitness as well. So we're gonna build build a CrossFit right next door. Well, then you you're running different services in certain ways, meaning one's martial arts and one's fitness, but you run in the exact same obstacles, which isn't humans, people running these things. Whereas in this thing, you have complementary businesses, people that are doing martial arts need supplements, most likely. But also it's like, hey, I don't have to rely on having the exact same quality of people, or not exactly quality, but the hiring process isn't nearly as hard. So for you, as you're building businesses, it makes it easier. Like one is one's quicker scalable if I need to, and the other is maybe long-term, like this is the better product we can do. So I like that.

Jordon DePalma 16:34

Yep, no, definitely. And um, and yeah, and that's the fun part. And one big thing about martial arts to where, which my dad's huge on this, and um, and so am I, and I agree. But um, anytime like we hire bring someone on, uh, we actually hire people, not rank. And now sometimes rank comes first, just depending on age. You know, I got my black belt when I was 12, and being 12 years old, I'm not really old enough yet to to go teach, even though I was working my way up. But like right now, I have five instructors, and not a single one of them is a black belt because they're all good people, they're all good kids. You know, two of them are adults and three of them are teenagers between 14 and 16 right now, and and they have a good personality. And um, you know, because I can train somebody to become a black belt, but I can't really train someone's personality to to go with it. Um, and so we always look for that first. Now, if they are younger, then we get their black belt, then we're trying to see if their personality goes down the right path. But, you know, that's a fun thing about martial arts too, is uh um we have that right handbook, you know, the correct lesson plans, the structure, the trainings to say, okay, hey, you're high enough rank to work with the lower ranks because you know more than what they know still, and you can help them get to their goals of where they need to be. And um what's fun with that is two of the instructors are testing for their black belt within the next couple months here. So they're excited, but you know, they're finally old enough to come help out and they're like, yeah, so they're they're pumped to get their black belts finally. But they're the my new, they're my newest instructors. They're the youngest ones. They're the ones that just turned 14, you know. And uh my older ones, the ones that have been there longer, are like the lower ranks of the group of them, but they're more mature, you know, they have better qualities when it comes to working with kids than um sometimes you get certain high ranks to do. And and on the martial arts side, that's important because uh where karate schools can can occasionally go wrong is they hire their high ranks that aren't good at working with kids, you know, and then they wonder why, man, why is no one liking classes? Because it's like, well, this guy's teaching your white belts like their black belts and kind of scaring them off. So we don't want that to happen, but um, but still just getting to that right personality type and and the passion of martial arts is hard. You know, it's a very unique profession that you have to be able to get into. Takes a lot of personal training and and personal um want and drive and good personality goes with it.

Trev Warnke 18:53

Yeah, we actually found that in fitness as well. When we first started our business in the first couple of years, we try to hire people with extra science degrees, just technicians, right? Um, and then nobody really liked to train with them because they just didn't have the personalities, like you're saying. So then we flipped our model to being we only hired through our clients. So we just went through our clients, like who's got the best personality and loves this and has time? And then we started so all of our coaches now over the years have all just been internal coaches or internal clients and eventually grew into coaches. So because what you're looking for, most people would think you're looking for the best technicians, and you but technique can be taught. Teaching people how to be taught, getting along with people and relating to people is a harder skill to teach. Um, so you guys like figured that out early on. I'm sure your dad's known that for way longer than I've ever known that. Um, but the idea is like it is it's one of those things you would think you're gonna go out and hire the highest skill set out there. And I think in business in general, that's not what you're looking for anymore. Even like in sales, you're not looking for the person that has the most sales, you're looking for the person that relates to people the most because I can teach them a script. I can teach them how to sell anything. I can teach you pretty much any skill that's like a technique-based skill, but I can't teach you how to be a good person. I can teach I can't teach you not how to be a dick, you know? Like if you're just somebody that's I just can't teach you that. And so that's the kind of stuff that I love that, especially in a very relationship-based business.

Jordon DePalma 20:05

And it's fun because that because of that, we can give opportunities to these 14-year-olds. You know, they can come in and help out just a little bit. We're really hands-on to the kids, and and I personally like that too because it's um for for the students, that's who they're more relatable to. You know, they look at me and they're like, I can't become, you know, they call me master of de palm at the school. I can't become master of palm. He's been doing this for 25 years and and he's older than me. And it's hard to think like when you're five years old that you're gonna be me one day. But if you're lined up next to, you know, a 10-year-old that's helping out, you're like, oh, I want to be like him one day. And that 10-year-old's looking up to the 15-year-old, and the 15-year-old's looking up to the 20-year-old, and it goes up more or less. And and I like having that different ages of coming to help out for that reason too.

Trev Warnke 20:49

It's one thing that we've lost in America is the apprenticeship program, right? So it used to be, you know, especially in the 70s, apprenticeship for almost every industry you were in. If you wanted to become like an electrician, you go through apprenticeship programs. So and they still use that in other countries in the world. We just don't use that in America anymore. It's very little apprenticeship. But the idea is like you start at a younger age and you learn these skills, college kind of replaces apprenticeship. But the problem is anybody that hires people out of college is they're not really trained up for the thing that you need. They're trained up maybe to how to learn more, but they haven't been trained up in like, this is how we do these things. I would rather bring somebody in a younger age. It's like, you know, there are a lot of type of different types of martial arts out there. It's like, hey, hey, I've been trained up in this, but I want somebody trained up in my system. The sooner they're trained in my system, the better they'll be really good at our system. And so that's pretty much what you guys are creating there or have created is uh is an apprenticeship type program, like over time, and maybe they'd find a different career after 20 years old, after they graduate from college or something like that. But it's like, hey, they might also like at 13 or 14 years old, found their forever career too. And like how many people at that age found that career because they got a chance to actually experience and experience experience the joy in it?

Jordon DePalma 21:54

Yeah. And that's actually uh so my buddy that runs a school in Gilbert, uh, we call him Sheehan Stewart, Shehan's this title, but. Stevie. He uh he we we call him the the you know the lost lamb of the group because uh when he got his black belt when he was younger, he stopped training. You know, he was a teenager back in the day. And uh and then randomly we ran into his family again at a bowling alley. And um he went to college, he's got multiple degrees. At the moment, he was managing like a whole movie theater in charge of that. And um, we actually offered his sister a job interview, and so she came in for the job interview and he went with her because he wanted to just see the karate school. He was excited to see his instructor, you know. And um, we're like, hey, you want to get back into classes? And just that conversation sparked. He got back into training, he started helping out, and now he runs our largest martial arts school. So it's like he he went and did all the college stuff, but then when, oh, I really love doing this, and now he's super successful at this school, you know, and that happens. But like you said, just that apprenticeship, giving that little opportunity, because uh sometimes students start and parents and everybody they don't think like martial arts is is a career, and it absolutely is, but you just have to take the right steps and the right training to more or less get there. And we're pretty open to, I know you're saying that apprenticeship, but we'll actually hire from the outside if we have the right personality or if this person wasn't given an opportunity from their school. So we have a location in Mesa, and she's not originally one of our students, you know, she didn't go through the ranks, but she was a black belt, but we gave her an opportunity to come help out. And um, now she's running that location, and that location hit some speed bumps with other instructors been there, but she's finally it's finally grown. She got it to there because she had the right personality to go with it. And um now she's ranked with us and and you know, a high rank and everything, which is cool. No, we're excited, but you know, just that right personality and opportunities for them. Now she's growing her own people within her school too, so it's fun.

Trev Warnke 23:41

It is awesome. Because like the cool thing as you move up in like these service-based industries is when you then start to be able to train people underneath you because you've seen the journey that it takes to get up there and that helps along that. Yeah. So who who are your first of all, what are the two names of like what's your current name of your priority school and what did it used to be called?

Jordon DePalma 23:59

So currently we're now known as 360 Pro Martial Arts. And then if you look on social media, there's a dash, and then it's our our name we're transitioning out of right now, which is uh Teen USA Martial Arts. So Teen USA Martial Arts, we've been that since I can remember. So somewhere in the 90s, that that name popped up. Um, and we've been that name forever, pretty much my whole life. And we just transitioned to 360. Um, a couple of reasons was one, we uh we believe that we're a very well-rounded martial arts school. Sometimes when you train with there's nothing wrong with it, you're very one thing focused. Um, and at the same time, there's other martial arts schools that are hundred things focused. So we're we're neither of those, we're somewhere in between. So American Kenpo is our primary style when it comes to um our self-defense techniques and like most of our katas, but we do have some a little bit of taekwondo background as well with um my dad. So uh even though we're great at self-defense, we have some guys that can jump, flip, kick, and spin like crazy. And um, I used to be able to use that stuff. I I try to dabble. And so even though they can be great at defending themselves and really protecting themselves, we'll go to tournaments and win in the tournament industry too. And then we have our sparring and fight classes as well. Um, and we just like to have that well-roundedness because uh you might join and and really like Kata more, or someone else likes self-defense more, and someone else likes sparring more, but you're gonna learn it all because it's all important. It goes hand in hand together. We're not gonna be just focused on one thing plus some weapon training too. So we can have fun with some weapons, uh, from traditional to the more competitive style that you see nowadays, also. So that's where the 360 name came from. I think we finally pulled the trigger on it actually because of me. I went and sat down with my dad and said, Hey, I really like this name. It's super modern, it's cool. I think the logo we developed was really neat. And um, I want to know can I can I transition into that with my school up here? I'm already two hours away from the nearest school. I want to see if I can grow this and start it, you know, at least the small baby steps into it. And he said, no. And then a couple months later pulled the trigger on it. So I think I kind of sparked the, you know, the the reason behind it more or less. I was like, I I really like that name. Cool. You know, it's really neat to be able to say 360 pro and just go with it. Um, so that's where that comes from, more or less, just be well-rounded.

Trev Warnke 26:14

That's perfect. Because uh your dad you said is 58, you're 28, so a 30-year gap. He's been running these businesses since what you said, 86 or 96.

Jordon DePalma 26:21

86 is when he opened or bought his first school. Yeah.

Trev Warnke 26:24

So it is the same thing for my dad. My dad's 78 and I'm 39. And so I have to give my dad an idea from the side and let it become his idea months later. Still to this day, that thing is like if I talk to him in the moment with it, he will like no or just completely disagree. And then, like six, six weeks later or something, he'll be like, I've really been thinking about that thing. I think that's a good idea. Or he'll be like, or he'll say to his team, like, I thought of this idea, and I'm fine. I'm probably like, that's fine. Like, I don't really care whose idea it is as long as you switch. But it's just that like you've been in business long enough, they need to have that little bit of time to like process the idea because it's been this way for so long. And then once they process, like, oh that's probably not that bad idea. But in the moment, it's really hard to make that change.

Jordon DePalma 27:05

It's you know, it's their baby. Yeah, and they don't want to let go. And and they know someone else is gonna eventually take over, and that's where I'm starting to come up a little bit too. And you know, I can tell anytime I give something, he's a no guy. I think you know, some of the best dads are the ones that say no, and I do it with my kids all the time. Can we do this? No. And they know it's like I'm gonna think about it. Well, seven-year-old, he doesn't know that I'm gonna think about it yet. He's working on it, you know. But um, he's always been just no, but again, it gets the gears turning so he can really think it through and get it to where it goes, which I think is an important skill. How how many times do unsuccessful managers or or employees or business people are always yes men? You know, every time someone says, asks a question or wants a request, they say, Yeah, sure, let's do it. And then they don't have time to think it through and then later have to change their answer. Now that person is upset because they said yes the first time and they're like, but you said we could. And it's like actually changed my mind. I instead I'd rather be like, no, and come back later, you know, yeah, let's talk this through a little bit and see what we can make happen. But I think that's important for anybody. Yeah.

Trev Warnke 28:05

Yeah, I'm always I'm a very slow to decide person, fast to act. So like it takes me a little bit to to make a decision on something, but like when I'm like yes, it's like go, full goal, right? With things like we're gonna, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this. And I think for raising kids in general, it's like just in today's society, it's just been too much, like you can just have anything you want. It's like, uh, we need to step back and be like, okay, like parents are still the boss here. Like we'll decide to give us a second, we'll make a decision on this, then we can talk about it. And I think that's always just a good thing to, I mean, you're you know, you were raised, your dad's 58, my dad's 78, like we're they were raised in a different time. So we were raised in a different by people in a different time. And so if you if we keep those standards going forward, it's a good thing.

Jordon DePalma 28:42

And I've learned too with my kids, it's they'll ask me a question of like, let me ask your mom. So together we can have a conversation, especially if it's like, can I go hang out with a friend? Can I have a sleepover? Sometimes it's just little things like that, but I need to make sure our schedule works for that. I don't want to say, yeah, and then mom all of a sudden's like, oh no, I can't because I can't drop you, pick you up, or whatever it is, because plans or whatever, you know, we we tie that in.

Trev Warnke 29:01

Yeah, me and my wife don't have kids yet, but we still we'd even do that with our dog. Like my dog will come and try to get something from us, like just a doodle because doogle doodles have run your life. I'll be like, uh, I don't know. Let me talk to your mom first to see if you already got that treat from her. It's just it's just that little simple that communication be like, oh you're ready. You need to check in. You're ready. Um so your is your studio then is the only one that's currently called the 360 Pro?

Jordon DePalma 29:23

No, we're we all did the name change.

Trev Warnke 29:25

Oh, you did it for the whole like um.

Jordon DePalma 29:26

Yep, we've been doing it for everything. Uh, and we we made that change literally not even so it's it's brand new. So if you go to our Facebook pages, like you'll see it says 360-team USA, then the location that it's in, because we're we're in that transition right now. We want people to look us up and still know, oh, that's the same place. And I've had some people, because we've even changed like how to answer the phone. Thanks for calling 360. They're like, is this the you know, is this the diploma guy? Because then I'm like, Yes, like and they're confused. I'm like, we we had a name change, like, oh yeah, and they forget. So even the students that we we told and announced are are are forgetting too sometimes, it's just fine. They're all they're so used to it.

Trev Warnke 30:03

And with name changes, it's it's a good year, if not two year process because like you said, former students that were there years ago that haven't looked you up forever, right? And all of a sudden they're like, hey, we're gonna go back back to that studio, and then I can't find your studio online anymore, right? So where's the studio? The part about Google itself is like your former name is gonna be still listed out there forever, so then it'll redirect it long term. But uh yeah, it is one of those things. I think rebranding is an obstacle sometimes, but it's it's less of an obstacle in today's like social media world or Google world than it was a long time ago because now you can like switch something on certain platforms and Google just picks it up real fast, and now you're able to do that um through like SEO, you can really switch that stuff around pretty fast. Yeah. Um, so who is your studio for? Like, is it for adults, kids? Like, what's the range of like age groups?

Jordon DePalma 30:48

We uh we started as young as three and a half, and then there's no limit on age from there, pretty much. Uh, everyone at is at their own training because it is an individual sport, even though it's in the team setting, but we break it into three different age groups, and then depending on rank, sometimes we combine it a little bit more. But uh, we have our little dragons program, which to me is one of my most favorite class to teach. They're they're fun. I purposely put this class first on the schedule every day because it doesn't matter how stressed or overwhelmed or whatever it is. This is our three and a half to six-year-olds, you know. We start that class and they just do and say the funnest stuff. And it puts you in a good mood. You have to be in a good mood to teach that age, you know. So um, I do that selfishly, uh, to be honest. And and what's fun with that is is my three and a half year old just started. So she's doing her first belt exam next Saturday. So it's been a whole new experience for me teaching. Cause I have a kid on the floor, you know, working her way through white belt too. But that's our first age group. Next is our, we have an age group for uh first grade to 12. Um, and that's our we call just our kids' class. And so a little bit more mature, of course, what we're doing, but still going over basics and self-defense techniques. Then we have a teen and adult program, so 13 on up. So broken down more my size and uh the maturity when it comes to the little ones, make sure they're hanging out with the proper age groups that they need to be. Very cool.

Trev Warnke 32:06

I mean, that's the thing I always for from somebody an outside perspective that like always wanted to get into martial arts. My wife was big into krav magah for years. She did krav magah for I think 10 years, and because she lived when she her dad got her into it, um, because she was doing she's a teacher and she was doing inner city work. And he's like, You need to know self-defense. And so he got founded Krav Magay guy guy, and they went and did it, and she trained that for like 10 years before we ever met. Um, and so she was really into that. And so when we moved out here, she's like, Well, eventually we need to get into martial arts again, you know, something of that nature, right? Um, and so we've been talking about that. But the big thing is when you go to websites and stuff, you just never know if people train adults because adults is like you see all the kids' stuff, you don't always see the adult stuff. So that's good to kind of like know from that outside perspective, like, you know, training adults, because I think a lot more adults want to do it. I know like for BJJ, that's become popular. Yeah, and so a lot of adults like, oh, that's for adults, but like some people like miss that like taekwondo, judo can be for that. There's a lot of different sports out there in the martial arts sport-wise that can be for adults, they just don't promote to adults as much.

Jordon DePalma 33:06

Yeah. And I mean, that's just the marketing game, to be honest. So like when we market to adults, a lot of times I'm marketing to the parents of the kids. Yep. You know, we're constantly doing things like, hey, come train, come learn what your kids are learning. And that's a big thing that we do because we know it's sometimes hard to market to adults because usually the adults aren't the ones looking. Um, and if they are, they don't fully get the differences of what's going on, or they might see something and go, Oh, I don't want to train with a whole bunch of kids. It's like, no, you actually have your own age group to go work out with. Um, and then the next step, of course, for adults is just like starting anything new. It's always hard to take that first step in, you know, more or less. Most of the adults that come when they don't have their kids have trained before that and so somewhere, and so they understand how a dojo works, and so they come in knowing a little bit the expectation, so it's easier for them. Where other ones, it's it's a little harder, it's scary. You know, you see those TV shows and movies, and you have that picture in your head of what a karate school is gonna be like, or even the comedy skits sometimes about karate, and and you think that's somewhat real, and so you step in and you go, Oh no, this is this is cool. And that's why we have those age groups, just that culture. We want the adults to hang out. I know my adults actually will do barbecues and get togethers all the time. And I'm like, sweet. So they had like a Christmas get together I couldn't make, and um, they all just went and hung out. I was like, awesome. So just building that culture and that friendliness. Now sometimes they'll get to get uh they'll do the get togethers and they won't invite me. I'm like, what the heck? They're like, oh, sorry, we didn't know you wanted to go. I'm like, it's fine, I'm busy anyway. But uh yeah, just having friends for adults, how important that is to be able to have friends to train with or to do something with your spouse or just relieve stress a little bit, hit things really hard. Yeah, that's a fun stuff.

Trev Warnke 34:46

Well, in our like uh business model and the Brotherhood Beyond Business, the way we set it up is like there's four domains, but there's pillars. And the pillars start out with your faith is your number one pillar, your family is your number two pillar, but your fitness is your number three pillar, and then your finances or that's where your business fits in is your fourth pillar. And a lot of people get confused on why your fitness is in that category. And the reason that we say that is that most people can understand the faith and then the family, like that's pretty easy to say those are above your business, but why would your fitness be above your business? The reason we say it is one is the energy you create through one actually doing movement helps you improve your business, it helps you prove all categories realistically. But like it helps you improve your business too, but also the bonds and relationships you get. Like our gym is we train, I think we do a really good job training. Our training styles is somewhat unique, but it's a community of the gym that's the most important thing. Ours is a group training facility. And so because of that, people come in for the relationships more than they come in for the training. Yeah, the training, you know, they get there, they get fit, all that kind of stuff. But they're like the people are those hard workouts, people show up for the community part of it. And that's why you guys are building in martial arts too. There's a community component to it. But fitness is extremely important for entrepreneurs, for moms and dads, because fitness itself, and in martial arts just in the fitness category for me, is because you're getting your body to move more, which is creating more energy to spend time with kids, creating more energy inside your business. Energy is something that and nutrition can control that component as well, but nutrition plus fitness is like, you know, a game changer for that. And it changes all other aspects of your life.

Jordon DePalma 36:08

Yep. And I can almost uh, and I know not everybody is gonna agree with this fully, but I almost put fitness sometimes between faith and family. And and I mean that in the nicest way, but I know when I'm making sure that I I sometimes put myself first, that then lets me be a good dad, that then gives me the energy to go hang out with my kids, that gets me out of bed in the morning, that gives me an excuse to, you know, um be healthy more or less. And um, that gives me that longevity because I want to be able to, you know, my kids are in high school, beat them in a foot race. You know, we we all have that goal. We want to outlift our kids, outsprint them, out everything, our kids all the time. And uh, and and my wife is amazing because she understands that, you know, and sometimes if we're having a day to where it's like I really need to be involved more, I'll ask her, hey, I really need to get to the gym today. I'm not, you know, I need to wake up my head. I need to get focused, I need to zone in on what I'm doing. And I know days that I like don't go. I'm not the the man I want to be those days because I didn't get my my release, I didn't get my energy, I didn't get the brain powers going more or less. I'll ask her, I'll be like, is there a good time I can go today? You know, I know we're busy, but is there a time I can work around? And she's like, no, then I'll be like, okay, hey, I'm gonna wake up an hour earlier than normal. I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna go do my workouts, and I'm gonna come home and and then I can be dad, and I'm a lot better dead, in my opinion. So, you know, and and I'm not putting myself first. I actually think going for me, having that fitness, that health journey is actually putting my family first because I'm doing something for for them to myself. You know, I'm doing it for me, for them in the long run.

Trev Warnke 37:40

It's the idea in the airplane, you put your mask on first, so then you can help your family. But if you don't put it on, you'll die before you can actually help your kids out. Yeah. So it's the same idea as you're you're doing the thing by creating this energy or this mental clearness that I need to be the best father I can. I do this to be the best father. Without this, I'm not as good a father as I could be.

Jordon DePalma 37:57

Yeah. And father, business owner, everything. You know, the days I don't go, I just sit there and I've just I got this brain fog going on and just the energy levels isn't there. So, like even today, before here, you know, I was at the gym. I was like, I need to go work out before I I come in and do this podcast because I know if I just wake up and drive down, I'm gonna be sitting here and I'm not gonna have any energy going on. You know, I'm just gonna be dead weight just sitting here. So I always try to prioritize that first. And if I know I'm gonna have a busy day, I'll add it into my schedule a little earlier. Okay, hey, I'm gonna go to bed a little earlier the night before, and and I really focused on that. But uh, I think sometimes that's where, you know, men can miss out, is they don't prioritize their fitness and they put everything else first, which I get there is priority, but then it's always on the back burner. When I'm done, I'll go to the gym, and then that thing never ends. When I have time, I go to the gym, and then that time number comes. And so, you know, again, that's the nutritionist part of me coming out. But to me, that's just as important as family almost. To me, they they tie hand in hand because that gives you the energy to go be a good dad, especially if you have a boy to go play catch, run around, go to the park, or three-year-old chase your daughter around at the park and go down the slides and and not have any issues with it, more or less.

Trev Warnke 39:10

Well, that's you're in the same boat as me, where it's you know, I've been doing this since I was 16 years old. And so people, one will always say, Well, you've always been doing it, so you're used to it. And the other thing they'll say is, Well, we own gyms, and so you always have the time. I'm like, No, no, no. By owning a gym, I have way less time than you think I do to be able to do this. When I want to work out is when I'm actually coaching you or training you. So my energy levels are so so it's actually harder sometimes. And I see this for this is for other entrepreneurs too, is because we have such a big busy schedule, we think that that one hour or even a 30-minute workout takes away from our day when realistically it would add so much to your days, like because the emails that that extra 30 minutes of emails you're gonna check that you don't need to be checking because you're just kind of playing around with them. Because like, ah, just like go do a 30-minute workout, come back, and those emails will get done in seconds because your mind is fresh for them. But no, I love that that's your philosophy because I think it's uh do you know who Andy Frisella is? He owns a company called First Form Um Supplements. And so have you ever heard of First Form Supplements? Yeah, yeah, first form supplements. He owns that company and he's a big guy on uh the concept of you gotta take care of yourself first, take care of home. So in America, the idea is like you need to take care of home, you need to take care of yourself first. The best way to improve America in general or the world in general is to make the best version of yourself because the best version of yourself is gonna make everybody else around you just slightly better, right? And so his philosophy with that is like, hey, like whatever you can do, make yourself the top person you can, the best version of yourself. It's not to be arrogant, it's actually to serve everybody else. And one of those main things is your fitness and your health. The healthier and fitter you are, when somebody gets hurt, the 70-year-old gets hurt, you're fit enough at 50 years old, 50 years old to help them move. Or you're in your 70s and 80s and still are moving really, really well, and you don't have to be a burden on the other people because your body's fought falling apart. There's so much that comes through our fitness for our long term as business owners, as husbands. For you, having young kids, it's also a role model, right? You're showing them this is this is what we do. I'm a man. I work out, I do this, I create strength, I create fitness because this is what I do as a man, and then just role models for your kids.

Jordon DePalma 41:09

Yeah. And my kids already, uh, the seven-year-old Jackson the other day, he uh he goes, So what does the gym look like? Like he he knows I'm there all the time. You know, it's like I'll come home. He's like, Where were you? Like, I was at the gym. And he just to him, like that's just this extraordinary magical place that I disappear to all the time and I lift heavy things. You know, he has no idea what's going on. And he just goes, So what does it look like? And I'm like, oh man, it's awesome. There's there's you know, like weights, and you you know the movies where they're like lifting things up. He goes, Yeah, it's it looks like that, but better. Just giving this picture. So one day when he is old enough to go, he's gonna walk in and be like, you know, but that's my goal for him at this point because he's already seeing those things. But then um, you know, because he does class, he's got the best push-ups. And I think it's because that role model. He he sees me work out, and even though I'm not taking him or working out with them, he knows like, oh, I need to get strong. That's just what we do. I do push-ups, I do sit-ups. Kid has a freaking six-pack, you know, and he just does like the the most perfect push-ups and exercise. Like his fitness level is amazing. And um, you know, sometimes for seven-year-olds, that's not always the case for everybody, but to him, he's got that, he wants to have that, you know, startup at least, you know, because he's already got those good habits. And I'm glad I came into his life young enough that he gets to see that. And then my three-year-old, she's uh, I'm always like, You want to be strong like daddy? And she goes, No, I'm gonna stay little. I was like, Okay, but you want to be able to, you know, I'll try to correlate it to a three-year-old conversation. It's like, okay, that's fine, but you're gonna beat me one day in a race, right? She goes, Yeah. Little things like that. She's like, I'm gonna say little. I'm like, all right, yeah, you'll you'll be a little, don't worry. She's like, okay.

Trev Warnke 42:45

Yeah, it's the thing that I most people don't realize how much of an impact of your daily actions affect because your kids are always watching, right? We used to uh in our gym used to have this thing when some when I we probably still do it, um, but when they first start when a client first starts with us, they get a video after the first week, and the video comes to them via email. That's like uh a video of a uh uh we found on YouTube that's like they're always watching, and it's a kid watching her mom do workouts in the garage, and like the whole thing's mom, I'm always watching, right? And so that's the idea is like all the things that you're doing, the habits you're creating are doing that. For me, my dad never worked out, but my brother, when I was probably 11, took me into the weight room with uh at the at the strength conditioning um at our school when I was young uh with him, and I got to see all of them in there doing heavy deadlifts. And at 11, I was like, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen. And then from that point on, all I wanted to do is lift heavy shit.

Jordon DePalma 43:32

And all I just literally wanted to do That's how I phrase it too. Yeah, when I'm like having an anxious day or whatever, me and my cause I have been a gym to anytime fitness, you know, because they're everywhere. That's the whole reason that that I signed up there. Love the gyms out here, I love the the personal ones. I just have an excuse, you know. I travel a lot, but um, me and my wife have been driving before, and um, I just had this just this heaviness, you know, going on. And I'm like, I got I need to go lift heavy shit right now. So I'll uh we'll Pull over. We'll find it anytime. And uh she'll just sit in the truck and you know, be on her phone, do her thing, do her makeup, or take care of the baby or whatever. And I'll run in. I was like, I'll be quick. I'm gonna go, I'm just gonna go do some bench press and go do some deadlifts and go do some rows and I'll be back out. I just, you know, superset it real quick. And I come back, I was like, okay, I feel much better. She's like, You good? I'm like, I'm good. Okay, anxiety is gone. And then we'll continue on our drive. You know, it's like we'll just stop in real quick if I'm just not there, I'm starting to get anxious or my heart rate's going, or whatever it is of just like overwhelmness. That's like my my go-to to go, okay, I feel better now. I got my breathing going, I got that heavy lift in. And and those that don't go to the gym, you know, they're just missing out on that. And sometimes that's a to me, that's a save-all for everything. And it's been amazing to learn that.

Trev Warnke 44:44

What is it's it's um I call minimal effective dose. Like, what's the minimal effective dose I need for myself? And everybody's different, right? I'm the exact same way for you. Is I just need to superset two big lifts together. And honestly, if I'm having a bad day, it's two big lifts in an arm thing. I'd love to get a bicep pump on when I'm not feeling great because it's like when those things start popping, life's good. Yeah, I like the bicep one, but it's usually for me, it's gonna be back squats are one I love to do back squats. Um, and then for me, and I've always liked pull-ups for me because like at my body size, pull-ups are hard up, you know, I weigh 235 pounds. So, like for me doing pull-ups, but being able to like rep out lots of pull-ups just shows me strength for me. So I love to superset them with uh with a pull-up thing and then also doing some biceps at the same time. But yeah, it's a but that's a minimal effective dose for me. Like, what's the thing that can reset my mood? If I have an hour and a half, I'm going to use an hour and a half to lift weights. But a lot of times I don't have an hour and a half. A lot of times I might only have like at most 25 to 30 minutes. So it's just like I'm gonna hit a quick warm-up to get these muscle groups going. I'm gonna hit minimal effective dose of a super of a good strong superset. I mean, we have the one advantage we have is we've been lifting for long enough that we have a really good base. Yeah. Meaning like we know where to start. We're not just gonna go in there and lift heavy things and not know how much heavy, how, what, what you might see, let's say a 500 pound back squat, but it, but I'm in there doing a 300-pound back squat, and you're like, well, a 300 pound back's a lot. It's like, well, I usually squat 550. So if I'm squatting 550, a 300 pound back squat's a very low, it's it looks strong to you, but it's a very low amount for me. So it's like that superset might look different on the days, but it's just such a fun topic in a minimal effective dose because most people overthink what they need to do for fitness. If you have plenty of time, awesome. Hammer out a killer workout. Our house, we have a three-car garage and we turn that into a full gym. So we have a squat machine or we have a squat rack in there, we have a Smith machine in there, we have a reverse hyper, we have an infrared sauna, we have a cold plunge, all that. It's like decked out. We have an outdoor outdoor, we have uh farmers' carries, we have uh tank sleds, all that kind of stuff.

Jordon DePalma 46:33

Cancel my gym membership this time to use.

Trev Warnke 46:35

Just come work out there, man. Um but the idea for that is like most people see that you do these big killer workouts. Like, no, that I built it this way because I want to, I know what I enjoy, and I really only have 30-minute segments in my day, but I'll usually do two 30-minute segments.

Speaker 46:49

Yeah.

Trev Warnke 46:50

And so I can go out and have the tools there to be able to lift heavy stuff quickly and then be able to get back in. And I have all these tools sitting here at all times. I can go play around all I want, I just don't have the time to.

Jordon DePalma 46:58

And um, a martial artist that I look up to, his name is Dave Covar. He's you might have heard of him in '97 Display also back in the day from California. Um, but uh he shared this story, and I was like, that's that makes sense, you know. So many times people have excuses for, you know, not having time or not having the proper equipment. But um he shared the story that anytime he would be traveling with his dad, you know, or or even just being at home, his dad would wake up and do just three sets of um 10 squats, 10 push-ups, and like 20 sit-ups. That was it. And he goes, you know, dad, that's not a whole lot, you know, that's not gonna do much. He goes, Yeah, but a little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing. And like that was that. I'm like, oh, how true is that? You know, just the in in a fit gentleman still, you know, if you see pictures of him like strong, but he goes, Yeah, I'm just doing a little bit of something every day. That's still healthier for me than doing nothing at all. And I don't have all the equipment, I don't have the room, so just you know, in place doing something, and it just kept his body moving until he was back into his normal routine of okay, going to the gym or training or whatever it may be. I'm like, how important is that? Some people make those excuses. I can't train today because it's like, well, you got body weight. You can go do some push-ups, go do some sit-ups, go do some, you know, squats or things like that just to keep your body going.

Trev Warnke 48:13

Yeah, well, it's the all or nothing idea that we use, right? I either can work out perfectly or I can't work out at all. Nutrition, I can either eat perfectly or I have to binge the whole day, right? Yeah. And so it's like, I mean, then using nutrition as an example for you, it's like, you know, somebody that's traveling is like, hey, let's throw together, let's take a protein shake, some creatine with me in a BCA, and I probably make it most of the day without even eating any food. And then I have a good meal at night if I'm traveling. You travel a lot. It's like most things people try to make perfect. And the people that do a really good job, like you were saying, don't do perfect. They just do good enough. Like that guy, yeah, they show up every morning, just showed up every single time. It wasn't a huge amount, but enough to get the things going. When things could be perfect, he made them perfect. Yeah. But like in a given 365 days a year, there's probably gonna be very few perfect days out of that.

Jordon DePalma 48:59

Yeah, no, definitely. And that's super important, even in business too. You know, it's like sometimes you want to have your perfect task list, what you're gonna do every day. And that can occasionally overwhelm people, you know. They're like, I don't want to go to work, I got this huge task. And you learn real quick, okay, you know what? I'm not even gonna focus on that. I'm just gonna show up, you know, or I'm gonna write down, all right, what's the most important thing on that list? And I'm just gonna do that one thing. But just that start is okay, I got that done. All right, what's next on that list? Okay, I got that done, what's next on that list? And the next thing you know, you can have the worst fate in the world, but you got everything completed all of a sudden. That overwhelmness just went you went through it because you weren't thinking about it. You weren't thinking of the whole picture, you were narrowing it down to one or two things at a time, and you know, but just that little bit of something eventually got you there and how important that is too. And and to me, it translates to martial arts, it translates to the gym, and it translates to to business at the same time.

Trev Warnke 49:50

Yeah. No, you're right. I mean, I uh I'm a perfectionist in certain ways. Yeah, and uh like I build out a perfect schedule and I have it in my calendar perfectly laid out, right? And in a given week, I will hit a perfect day zero times. So you know what I mean? But it's the idea is like it's like I lay it out, but it it's one of those things mindset-wise over time. It's actually something I I have to pray for a lot. I pray to God a lot to be like, just give me the patience that this week's not gonna go perfect again, as every week in my life has not gone perfect. Give me the patience to be okay with that. You know, it's like one of those things where you get done with a week, like, man, I had these 30 things that was gonna get done, and I got four done. Like, what the heck happened this week? But you've got the four most important things done that need to get done. And the other things were just noise, right? And I think for business owners, we do struggle with that idea. It's like we just showing up and getting the work done, you know, that's all that matters. And the amount of stuff that you always want to get done is I I do call it noise because a lot of times it's other people's priorities I'm trying to squeeze into my schedule versus my actual priorities.

Jordon DePalma 50:43

And and that, you know, is important too is uh you kind of said it, but write it down. You know, if you you feel like you have a list of things that you do, it's overwhelming you. I've learned it's like, okay, write down that list. Actually put it on paper. Don't keep it in here, write it out so you can visually see it. And how often, you know, do business owners know what they need to do and it stays scrambled in their head, and then they're they're all over the place and they're not focusing on one thing, they're jumping around one to the next because they never looked at it as a whole of like, okay, what do I need to do? And then you can take it from there and go, I don't need to do that. You do that. You're mine, you work for me. Go, go do that thing for me. And I've learned to just write things down now. And my parents know that. So for Christmas, they got me this whiteboard and it's a checklist. This is a big checklist, it's got 10 little boxes on it. Um, I've yet to put it on my desk though, so that's my problem. I need to write down, put it on my desk. But it's just this checklist because my mom knows when I write things out, because I've told her this, that I'll just go through my checklist one thing at a time. But visually seeing it really helps me out. And then sometimes I'm like, ooh, I thought of something more important. Or I'm like, oh, I can't do this step until I do this one. But writing it down, I can then move it and go, okay, this is more important than that right now. Got to get that done first, whatever it may be. And just that's been a huge help for me with just writing things out, writing it down. And that's where my parents have always worked well together is my dad's been very, he's a very good thinker. You know, he's got all these great ideas. He'll share them with my mom, and my mom will write them down for him. And so we have these task lists like running the karate schools. It's awesome. You know, we got a 150 things that we got to do every day to keep our karate school successful. And it sounds crazy, but you know, we delegate it out from cleaning everything, but it's written down step by step in the order to do it in before classes start and then what to do during classes. So that way you're going through, you don't have to try to remember everything to do every day. And um, and that's been where their success has really come from with sharing, is my dad's like, hey, I got this idea, and my mom goes, okay, let me write it out. And that's just how the relationship has always been.

Trev Warnke 52:34

It's actually pretty amazing. Perfect. So uh there's a book called Traction. The book called Traction is like the entrepreneur operating system, is what it's designed off of. But in the book, they talk about that there's the visionary and integrator. Your mom's a perfect integrator, which means she's a system-oriented person. Your dad's a visionary, he's an idea person. You rarely will find them to be the same person. They're usually one and the other. That's my problem.

Jordon DePalma 52:56

I got both of those.

Trev Warnke 52:57

I, in my head, I do both. I'm visionary and integrator. Um, I've had to hire different business partners to help me in the different parts because my mind will be very strong here and I'll have these in, but I'll try to integrate them too quickly. Now, the business partners that are in my different businesses, I still have four total different business partners for the different businesses I run. And they all have different skill sets of being visionaries and integrators as well. So, like Nathan and Joe are my integrators and they help me be like, hey, Trevor, like, don't start integrating yet. And Danny's a really good visionary. So he meets him and me talk visionary stuff, and then I talk to my integrator guys to make sure that because I'll be the person that like come with this idea and go rebuild our website like tonight. Like I shouldn't be touching our website for a long time, or I shouldn't even be the one touching our website. But because I can do the integrator system side, my visionary brain gets in the way sometimes like both of them together. Like, I always want to start working.

Jordon DePalma 53:41

No, definitely. And I'm glad to have my parents around still because I'll call them sometimes. Be like, hey, I got this idea. What do you think? I usually call my mom first. She's the one, and that'll say, you should ask your dad. I'm like, okay. Then I call him, you know. But I know his answer, no. So I think that's why I always call her first to go over it, talk it through for a little bit. And then occasionally I'll be talking to her about something and say, What do you think of this? And I'll be like, Oh, never mind, I figured it out. Thanks for the conversation. And I just needed to speak with someone on it, more or less. And so my mom knows. I call her every day, and sometimes I'll have ideas. The other day she called me in the morning. She goes, You didn't call me last night. I was like, Yeah, sorry, I was I went to the gym, you know, or whatever it was. She goes, You always call me. I'm like, Yeah, I know. She goes, Okay, well, what's up? Just to have that quick conversation, you know.

Trev Warnke 54:24

But like mom-son, like dynamic there, to be able to talk about business, but then you know your relationship just builds stronger because you're talking about business, but you're also, I'm sure, going over family stuff at that same thing those calls too. So she's used to like just having that update too, you know.

Jordon DePalma 54:36

And because I grew up in their martial arts world, you know, it's like we we have so much to talk about. And that's been fun for our families. Like our family was did karate. That's growing up, we we were the karate family, more or less. And uh, not everybody in the martial arts world that runs karate schools has had that in their home, you know. Then we were lucky to to all do that. And uh so it became fun. And I think that's what really made me step into that role of wanting to instructor, because that's what my parents did. You know, at least they gave me the opportunity to do it, and then I realized I really like doing it too. So I just kept it going.

Trev Warnke 55:08

Well, I mean, that's perfect to transition to our last topic is legacy. Like literally, that's the legacy you guys have built. You built your legacy's been building around martial arts, right? Like this relationship that you've done through that. So have you thought about like what's the legacy I'm looking to leave? You know, you had you kind of have your parents' legacy. You know, your parents are still young enough, they're still gonna be doing business for another 10 or 20 years. And so it's not like they're gonna be stepping out of their legacy yet. But what's the kind of legacy you're looking towards?

Jordon DePalma 55:30

You know, that's actually a tough one because I still feel I'm so fresh into where's my role that I haven't gotten to that point yet of what's my legacy gonna be, you know. But I think just that legacy is, you know, having the like the proper systems and setup for for those that continue to want to do this in the future. You know, it's like when I'm gone one day, I want to be able to have everything set and ready for these other martial artists to come in and go, oh man, I'm so glad they put that together for us. You know, thanks. That was a huge help to continue it to grow. And then also for my kids to be able to know that they have, you know, options in their life to do what they want to do with their careers, but to know that they have that, they have that choice to to step in, to, to take over, to have something to always come back to, more or less. You know, if they grow up and they want to go to college and and do this and do that, you know, that's fine. We'll have those conversations when it's time with them. But I still want to have that freedom for them also to come back and say, hey, I need a job, or hey, this isn't working out. I actually really like doing that. And, you know, I want to take over the the family role more or less, um, and you know, just to have that success and future for them too. So I think that's where I'm trying to go towards. But again, it's so new and so fresh that honestly I haven't really thought of legacy yet, you know, and still in the growing phase.

Trev Warnke 56:50

And legacy is always changing, especially at a young age, it's always changing. And I think the way you said it though, especially with your kids, is that's something that's overlooked by entrepreneurs a little bit, is sometimes they think about the legacy having to be that their kids take over their business. And that's not always realistic, right? Because you might have different interests, the business might not be what they wanted to do. But one of the legacies that you leave is like by running a business and owning a business, it shows so many standards to your kids, right? It shows like, hey, I show up and do this every day. I employ people that are in this community. If I'm doing these things on a routine basis, I have to I have to show up when nobody else will show up as an entrepreneur, right? When you own a business or you've somebody, somebody has to show up, you know? And so, like even in martial arts, it's like one of those things where it's like, you know, we have a uh uh you have a class at 4 p.m. and somebody else is supposed to be co teaching it and they didn't show up. It's like who's gonna show up? Well, even though like I've removed myself from this role, I've got to be the person that walks in and does it because somebody's got to show up and do it. So that's a legacy you pass on to your kids that way. And then the cool part for like a big picture for you is uh my dad has a big business and has a legacy there, right? And he wanted me to be in that business originally, and I stepped out of that legacy because it wasn't the journey I was on. But now at 39 years old, I just took over a consulting role for his business because I'd build a skill set outside of it. Now that I can come back and help his business grow, my siblings grow. But because he had that business, I could always come back and help. That was really cool. Cause like watching my dad do this amazing thing gave me all the skills and all the desire to become my own entrepreneur, build my own stuff. But then over time I developed skill sets that he didn't have by stepping out of his role too, but to eventually come back and be able to help again. And so it's one of those things when you are, there's just so much cool stuff. I I love entrepreneurship because building businesses just gives you so many vehicles. It could be vehicles for your kids, it could be vehicles for financial wealth for your, your, your, you and your family as you get older and something happens to you physically, and now your business though can still feed your family. You know, there's so much cool stuff about that. That our legacy as entrepreneurs is just we just don't have to worry about being factory workers, nothing wrong with factory workers, but the idea is a factory worker that somebody can fire you at any point and your business is gone. I mean, your your livelihood is gone, you gotta go find another thing. For a business like, I will bet on myself a hundred times out of a hundred. Meaning, like if for some reason, so COVID, we owned a gym during COVID and we were in Chicago, which was really hard because they locked us down. Yeah. And so we're like, but what do you do? Everybody else is getting laid off from their jobs, and we're like, me and my business partner, we'll figure this out. Cause like I will bet on myself a hundred times out of a hundred. And so we ate we actually came out of COVID, built a bigger gym out of it. And then I at that point realized I'm gonna escape this m model and now go build my other businesses that the government can't control at all. Can't say they're essential or not. I do everything remotely. You can't say a thing, darn thing about it, right? But the idea was as an entrepreneur, I can bet on myself, and that's the best money I'll ever spend. And that's what you have as a legacy too, is like being your parents built this awesome legacy that now you've been you're gonna be you're taking over in chunks, and over time it will be part of your legacy, and you'll be able to hand that to your kids too. So yeah, I know, definitely. Awesome, Jordan. I appreciate the conversation today. Cool. Thank you. Subscribe, turn on notifications, and stay locked in. Brotherhood is more than business. It's about leading from the front, leveling up in every domain, and becoming the CEO of your own life. Step up, execute, and we'll see you in the next one.