We were lucky to catch up with Maajid Al-Kush recently and have shared our conversation below.

Maajid, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a customer success story with us?

I remember when this gentleman first walked through my business doors,he was slightly overweight and lacked confidence of his athletic abilities. After six months of training and mentoring he as lost all of the excess weight and have won Gold medals in two separate local tournaments from beginner level to intermediate and now he is looking forward to competing to win another Gold medal in the advanced division. Jiu-jitsu has changed his life and I’m just happy that he chose me to be his instructor and trusted me in guiding him to victory on and off the mats. He tells me all the time that walking through my dojo doors was one of the best choices he has made throughout his life. Anytime someone tells me that, it makes it all worthwhile and keeps me motivated to help others like him by sharing my style of jiu-jitsu and judo with them.

Maajid, 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?

My first love of combat sports is American Boxing, which I trained in for eight years. Unfortunately, I received a head injury, outside of the ring, that forced me to change my pursuit of becoming a champion boxer to becoming a champion in jiu-jitsu.

I have had the good fortune to be trained by legendary coaches and practiced with the most phenomenal athletes, in the sport of boxing, jiu-jitsu,and judo. There are very few people such as myself that has earned three Black Belts in the grappling arts of traditional Ju Jutsu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo.

Most people believe with all of my accomplishments in the martial arts world that my dojo would be bursting at the seams with students. But we are not, because of the one rule I strictly enforce to all my students both children and adults…nothing will be given, everything must be earned.

I believe in today’s society most people think if they put forth a little effort and just show up, they should be awarded. Not at Team Mongoose BJJ. We demand everyone give a hundred percent effort and push past whatever limits they or others have placed on them. In other words we don’t give out participation awards, you must earn your keep. If you are looking for a place where discipline, structure, and accountability are priority then visit and become a member of Team Mongoose BJJ.

I want to be absolutely clear, my goal when I was younger was to become a champion in martial arts. But now that I’m older, my goal is to create champions of society through martial arts.

Another thing that separates me from other martial arts instructors is I have extensive experience teaching children with autism and physical limitations. And I’m proud to say, every child with these challenges that have came to my dojo were successful in accomplishing their goals and surpassed the expectation of their parents. My motto in life is anything worth having is worth working hard for and if there is no struggle, there is no growth.

I would like to encourage all parents to learn is to accept and embrace their children temporary failing while trying to learn or do something new. It’s the failure that makes the accomplishments a success. If they learn at an early age to deal with disappointments, then they will be better at managing their feelings and resolving issues, of all degrees.

Finally I would like to turn your attention to our logo which is a Mongoose in a komono or gi. If you do a little research on the animal, you will find it’s not the biggest creature in the wild, but it has the reputation of never backing down from a challenge, no matter how great it may be and that is truly the spirit I hope to invoke in all of my students.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

I’m so thankful to have students that understand and appreciate the quality of service I provide for them and their family. When the covid shutdown happened, some of my associates who had a martial arts school had to permanently close their business. I was fearful I would probably have to do the same, at the time. But my students assured me they were not going anywhere, no matter how long it would take for us to reopen, because they valued what I was doing for them and their family. Needless to say, we reopened and continued to offer spectacular service to all of our loyal students that stayed with us.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

The best advice I can give on managing a team and keeping a high morale is to lead by example. I will never ask any one of my students to do something I haven’t done or unable to do. I try to lead by example and not be one of those instructors that just stands around shouting commands and reminiscenting about their younger years as a athlete. Human beings are very visual creatures. So for most people, if they can’t see it, then it’s hard for them to believe it. I take away any doubt of what can or can’t be achieved, by joining in on the activities and fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mongoosejiujitsu.com
• Instagram: teammongoosebjj
• Facebook: teammongoosebjj
• Youtube: teammongoosebjj