We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jace Gutierrez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jace below.
Jace, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story that illustrates an important or relevant lesson you learned in school
As a Public Relations/Journalism major in college, I learned the importance of communication and how to keep messaging simple and transparent for the public. It has helped shape the way we operate our Muay Thai Academy from an academic and business operational standpoint.
At Long Beach State University, I took a news writing class. That knowledge helped me develop the necessary skills to effectively communicate our services and products at our martial arts academy and build a strategic marketing and business plan to ensure our company’s success. Writing simple yet concise verbiage for our targeted demographics has been vital in promoting our business within the community.
During my senior year, I interned for the popular reality TV show “The Ozzbournes.” I was responsible for developing press releases, email marketing newsletters, and promotional mailers to market and promote the show. The show was top-rated at the time, and the deadlines I had to meet were very stringent, so I had to learn how to write and edit my text copy fast and precisely! Little did I know then that those skills I had performed during my internship carried forward, and I retained those skills over the years, which helped me promote my own business.
Jace, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I always wanted to be a business owner, and more importantly find ways to turn my passions into a profession. I was fortunate enough to have the skills and drive to own two businesses in industries that I am very passionate about—Music Entertainment and Muay Thai. Alongside martial arts, I have a love for music. I am also a DJ/Music Producer and have held DJ residencies in notable Las Vegas nightclubs, including Encore Beach Club, Hakkasan, and Hyde Bellagio. I continue to produce music released on all digital platforms, and I am proud to say that my music career paved the way toward owning Mission Muay Thai.
I am most proud of being able to teach and promote authentic Muay Thai in my hometown of Long Beach. Muay Thai was not well known in our city when I was growing up in the 80’s and 90’s. What makes our brand special is how authentic we strive to operate our academy through our Muay Thai curriculum & testing, traditional Thai music, team atmosphere, team discipline, respect, and love for our community. We are also very proud of our youth and teen programs, which grow daily. We now have a team of youth and adult competitors who travel to fight nationwide in high-level sanctioned events and tournaments.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In April 2020, the news and shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic shocked the world. Four weeks earlier, I opened my Muay Thai academy and had a successful grand opening. I invested a lot of my capital saved from my music career toward my martial arts business, and I felt like I was losing everything overnight. At that point, I kept telling myself to do whatever it would take to keep going – this was a consistent mantra every morning. I had to evolve quickly, and I constantly found ways to try and keep my business up and running by ways of teaching Muay Thai virtually, gathering small groups of people at the park, and even teaching classes in public parking lots – needless to say, it was challenging, but I never gave up. I believed in this vision, and I believed in myself, and as days, weeks, and months went by, I was able to build a following. I was all in; no matter what happened, I kept going without thinking of any negative possibilities that could create more barriers. The determined passion and belief in teaching Muay Thai to the Long Beach community helped keep my foot on the gas, and four years later, I expanded my facility into a 7,000-square-foot martial arts academy, and I am not looking back!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I was always concerned about what other people thought about me and what their views about me were. When I was younger, I wanted to please everybody around me and make everyone happy. In my culture, generosity and giving were inherent traits in my childhood, and I always got destroyed when I either failed others or didn’t meet expectations. As years went by, I realized I always had the power to choose how I acted and felt without worrying about what others thought about me. I learned to live authentically, and I never took anything personal anymore, especially if people didn’t like my actions or words. That power completely freed me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.missionmuaythai.com
- Instagram: @missionmuaythailb
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/missionmuaythai/
