We were lucky to catch up with Mike Jones recently and have shared our conversation below.
Mike, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?
The question of what I hope my legacy will be has always been interesting for me to think about. I’ve never done things for awards or notoriety, my biggest thing has always been simply helping others. I was not only blessed with a talent for basketball but I was able to figure out how to take that talent and use it to help other people. In a direct sense, I hope my legacy is being a person that my family, my children and all the kids I’ve worked with, can be proud of. In a more general sense, I hope that my legacy is being a person who helped others for the right reasons and achieved my goals without compromising who I was in the process.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Mike Jones and I’m from Durham, North Carolina. I grew up with a love for basketball and once my college basketball career ended, I started working with children. I bounced around different recreation centers in the area and coached a few recreational and AAU basketball teams. I quickly realized my passion for both coaching and for kids. I accepted a coaching job at East Chapel Hill High School and I was also working with children one on one with basketball in my free time. I was blessed to become really, really popular in the area and earned the nickname “The Guru”. With my newfound nickname and popularity, I decided to open my own gym/youth center for kids called The Guru School. Something that started as simply a space for me to teach basketball has become so much more. Through our first 24 months, we have had several of our kids accept college basketball scholarships and contracts to play professionally, we donated close to 1,200 lbs. of canned foods at Thanksgiving, we partnered with the North Carolina Rescue Mission to donate toys at Christmas and we also partnered with Dove Youth International to have a shoe drive/basketball camp in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. We even did a little tutoring and virtual learning for kids during the pandemic. During that same time span, I personally have been featured in several local publications, was honored as a community hero by the local baseball team, the Durham Bulls and I also received the 2021 National Sub-Abover Award from Jersey Mike’s. I think what I am most proud of is the pride that all of our kids take in being involved with the Guru School and the fact that their love of basketball may have been what initially drew them in but now they have a love for helping others around the community as well. Our overall mission is to use basketball in any way we can to help the community around us.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I’ve always tried to be genuine to who I am and authentically me at all times. The biggest thing that helped build my reputation in my opinion is the fact that I’ve never looked at my kids like “clients” or customers. Yes, I’m here to teach kids basketball but at the same time, I try to invest in them as people and help make them not only better basketball players but better people. All of the success my kids have been having for years became the proof that what I’m doing seems to work.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source for new clients for me has and always will be word of mouth. Word of mouth is stronger than any advertising tool you could ever use. When you have people who know you and vouch for you and your business then it goes a long, long way in terms of earning new customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: theguruschoolnc.com
- Instagram: @mjbt_919 @theguruschool
- Facebook: @theguruschool
- Twitter: @theguruschoolnc
Image Credits
Matthew J. Lin