Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jess Buckland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jess, thanks for joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?

Best Investment: Our affiliation with The Jiu-Jitsu Company in Philly costs a little money but in truth it is priceless. Angela and Josh Vogel have been invaluable by giving us advice, support, and resources. They are kind, curious and always have time to talk about jiu-jitsu or merchandise sales hiccups or class structure or anything else a gym owner may need to explore. Jeremy, the other owner, has known Josh for a long time and when we moved to State College we decided we needed to freshen up and network outside our local scene. The JJC and the Vogels were a natural connection. Their mission and goals align with ours. We are all business owners who want to be successful and profitable but also deeply value offering a stellar, high-quality product that is meaningful to students. And it’s not just conversation and emails. The Vogels go above and beyond to celebrate us and to connect. They visited us for our first promotion day after our affiliation began, traveling 3+ hours via rented van with 20 of their students. That day is one of the highlights of my time as a Raptor owner so far. They invited us to participate in seminars at their school for free and offered many other helpful things. I am so grateful for them,

Worst investment: Radio ads. No one listens to the radio, and not anyone who is going to train jiu-jitsu in our target demographic. Not too much money spent there luckily.

Jess, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Jeremy Guillard (the other owner) states: Jiu-Jitsu stands at an intersection where physical culture, intellectual rigor, and artistic self-expression meet. This unique confluence is uniquely attractive to a diversity of persons who collaborate towards their better selves.

From kids to adults, we participate in a space that matures mindfully and athletically. Everyday, just a little bit better.

I’ve yet to find better fun.

At Raptor Academy of Martial Arts we are privileged to be a part of each member’s journey as they find jiu-jitsu for themselves.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Jeremy and I met at a jiu-jitsu gym. He had been training longer than I had, in Philly. I remember when he joined the gym, there were murmurs about the new blue belt with remarkable jiu-jitsu skill and seriousness. Quickly it was clear that he was someone to learn from, to work with as often as possible and to watch. Beyond that, he and I became friends. He is somewhat reserved but I could tell quickly that there was a warm, funny, smart-as-a-whip guy who was eager to share his depth of knowledge about jiu-jitsu but also so many other things ranging from Mongolian throat singing to stinky tofu and music (jazz, metal, synth wave and more). Jeremy would spend hours showing me the imanari roll, reverse dela riva, despite my clunky and dorky attempts and misadventures. He was patient and kind. He coached me at my first tournament. He role-modeled the importance of discipline and passion in a sport that is both extremely difficult and emotionally and physically trying. I became friends with his fiancee and now-wife, attended his wedding and got completely hammered, and have been lucky enough to know his bright and delightful daughters. Our work together at Raptor began when Jeff Rockwell, our original coach and black belt, needed to move from the area and gifted the gym to Jeremy. He needed a partner to help him in a range of things, especially paperwork/organization/staffing/systematic growth. I own my own private practice as a psychologist and also served in an elected government role so had experience with how to run a business and have many contacts in town.
So off we went. Originally he was owner on the LLC and I was a manager. Eventually I asked if I could join the LLC as part-owner and we entered a business agreement and co-signed a loan together. We continue to have a close relationship and I treasure him as a coach and friend. Sharing a gym and business is a bit like having a child or pet together; you share the stress, you manage conflict and celebrations, you confide and support. Many gyms are owned and run by husband and wife so our arrangement is a little unique but we both respect each others’ strengths and are able to own our weaknesses and trust the other to help fill in the gaps.

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

COVID! Everyone had to pivot and a grappling business was no exception. Unfortunately, you cannot train grappling effectively without direct physical contact and huffing and puffing and sweating in each others’ space. Both fortunately and unfortunately, Jeremy was still working in the local ER during the pandemic. I watched him move through this stress and trauma with aplomb and compassion while also keeping an eye on the science. He has always been a deeply educated guy and this was no different. He did scholarly research to understand the risks and adjustments that impact the fitness industry. So we did have to close when there were government orders (March 2020 to June 2020) and some of the winter of 2021. But, not only were we able to stay open for most of the time, we pivoted in terms of what we offered while we were actually closed.
1. We had gym zoom sessions in which we offered technique instruction. I recall recording a video in my garage with my husband. Jeremy offered a power point presentation on the mechanics of the heel hook (an excellent submission in our sport)
2. We had some social get togethers over zoom.
3. I hosted weekly HIIT sessions so we kept our fitness up.
4. Our head coaches offered match breakdowns where we met on Zoom and the coaches watched and commentated competition matches.
5. We offered a pandemic price special for those who wanted to support us but needed to decrease their spending and some people took us up on that!
6. We adjusted our class times from 90 to 45 minutes. We left the doors open and purchased and ran a very high end air purifier.

I am proud to share that we never had a covid outbreak in the gym force us to close. While some members did have COVID or spread it a little bit, it never ripped through and wrecked the population.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.raptorjiujitsu.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raptoracademyofmartialarts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RaptorBJJStateCollege
• Other: Link tree: https://linktr.ee/raptoracademy814?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabs1xnWdNv_LUKa4FgKNdJrSFewEmbPz2wy12k5uPG1_FZeZ9JB-w84bpo_aem_nfc2ywfJaVZ01NvaqkW2Eg

Image Credits

https://www.savitasittlerphotography.com/