We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jaime Mendez III. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jaime below.

Hi Jaime, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think it takes an unwavering belief in your values and lack of concern for failure to be successful. Success in business or anything else for that matter comes along with multiple bouts of failure and if the individual or individuals do not have a strong value system they will inevitably fall prey to doubt and fear. I have tried to live by the motto, “we do not operate from a position of fear”, for a very long time now. This practice has allowed me to look at issues that come about in business or my daily life from a logical standpoint. I know that when you run a business or multiple businesses, opportunities will constantly arise. I start my days knowing this and attempt to address them accordingly without feeling sorry for myself. Actually, I have conditioned myself to do the opposite. I am grateful for them because it is in the scope of our success that these challenges have presented themselves. Each opportunity gives me and our team the chance to get better and learn.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As I stated earlier, I have been involved in martial arts most of my life. However, my Jiu Jitsu journey did not start until 2011 when I was 40 years old. I began under Daniel Gracie, Nieman Gracie and John Eunaudi in Stamford, CT and NYC at the Renzo Gracie locations in those two cities. I quickly became enamored with the art and upon my return to LA I sought out the only Renzo affiliate which was owned by Shawn Williams. I trained under him from 2012 to 2019. I began teaching for Shawn in 2015 if I recall correctly. Soon after I began teaching I made the decision I wanted to eventually open an academy of my own. Professor Shawn was gracious enough to show me the ropes and when he decided to leave Los Angeles in 2019 he made me an offer I could not refuse. He gave me the opportunity to purchase Renzo Gracie Los Angeles from him and after recruiting a few of my fellow martial artists to join me, we purchased the school from him and embarked on our journey as owners.

At Renzo Gracie Los Angeles we offer Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai classes 7 days a week as well as fitness and Judo. For recovery, we have 2 ice baths and an infrared sauna. I think we help people do a few things. We assist them with their physical fitness, confidence, and problem solving. I like to think we help people find create social circles they might not otherwise find. In a big city like LA, I think that is important.

I would say I’m most proud of how we handled the pandemic. Our team and students remained loyal which enabled us to survive and eventually move into our current space in East Hollywood. The Sunset location gave us the space to expand and grow in ways we never could have in the old space. It truly ended up being a blessing in disguise. I think what I want potential new members to know is that at both of our locations they are going to receive some of the best martial arts instruction available. All of our instructors go through rigorous training and truly want to assist our students in becoming better martial artists but more importantly we are invested in them as people and want to see them happy. I think the proof is in the results. We have one of the largest academies in the city and our retention rate is high. You can only do that if you create the right culture and we work hard to do that.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I have had to pivot multiple times in my life both personally and in business. In my opinion, the ability to realize when it’s time to take a different course is what separates successful entrepreneurs/business owners from those who end up failing. Being a business owner is hard! I can’t overstate that enough. It takes resilience, courage, intelligence, sacrifice, strong will and the ability to make unpopular decisions others are unwilling to make. I would say the most recent pivot for me was when we made the decision to open our 2nd location while the pandemic was still ongoing. We had only recently saved and moved our initial location. However, with the loss of so many businesses like our own over the prior 2 years, I knew we had an opportunity to fill the vacuum and that’s what we did. It was not a popular decision initially among my partners but after a little convincing everyone was in support of the move. We opened the doors to Renzo Gracie East LA in October of 2022 and I have to say that location has exceeded my expectations to date. So much so that it has inspired me to find our 3rd location which we are very close to nailing down in the next few weeks. The reason I knew it was the right move is because everyone else was going in the direction of being conservative and waiting things out. All of my previous business experience allowed me to go against the grain and be aggressive in the situation and it has paid off so far.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Resilience has to be a part of any small business owner.’s DNA. The odds are against our success and you must become comfortable with failure. As a matter of fact, you must welcome it. Failure is the best teacher I have ever had in business. I have had 2 different businesses fail when I was a much younger entrepreneur. However, I am convinced it was those failures that gave me the tools to guide us out of the pandemic at both Renzo Gracie Los Angeles as well as in my other business in the merchant services industry, Ternion Merchant Services, Inc. In my younger years I was a landlord and owner of an audio visual rental company. Both of the businesses failed during the real estate crisis of 2008. I could have decided then to give up my entrepreneurial pursuits and go into something safer but my belief in myself kept me from going down that path. I vowed to learn from my mistakes and come back better and smarter in the future. I quickly pivoted into the credit card processing world and soon figured out there was a large opportunity to find success in this space. I knew very little about the industry in the beginning but immersed myself into learning all I could. Eventually I grew Ternion Merchant Services into the business that afforded me the opportunity to acquire Renzo Gracie Los Angeles without having to find traditional financing. I am very proud of that. My partners and I financed the entire purchase on our own. I am convinced none of that would have been possible had I not learned from my previous missteps in my other business ventures.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.renzogracielosangeles.com. Www.renzogracieeastla.com
• Instagram: @renzogracielosangeles. @renzogracieeastlosangeles
• Facebook: Jaime Mendez III. Ternion Merchant Services, Inc. Renzo Gracie Los Angeles. Renzo Gracie East LA
• Linkedin: Jaime Mendez III. Ternion Merchant Services, Inc