Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Trevor Hayes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Trevor, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
I had been working as a Martial Arts Coach for over 10 years in other people’s gyms. In the summer of 2021, I left a local gym without a backup plan. My time at the facility had come to an end and my (now) wife insisted that it was time to start my own gym. I had the following, the expertise, the reputation. We just didn’t have the capital or location to make it happen. We scoured our connections list and ended up convincing a local bar owner to let us run classes out of a makeshift mat room behind the bar. My wife, and her organizational superpowers, put together a small business plan, submitted the application for an LLC and as soon as it was approved we hit the ground running. I began teaching classes out of the mat room three days a week, and charging a small membership fee to those that decided to follow me and continue to train under me. After a few months in the mat room, and a mere 20 loyal members, we were introduced to the owner of a local CrossFit gym with an unused back corner full of punching bags. We began to sublease from him and moved our tiny, but mighty, operation to our own little corner of the universe (emphasis on the corner). We spent six months in our CrossFit corner, fine tuning our class structure, membership structure, payment processing, and all the other little aspects of running a small business. Our little corner may have been small, hidden, and sweaty (no AC!), but it was where Hometown Martial Arts was born, and thus it will always hold a special place in my heart. It is where I learned to bet on myself, my partner and my lifelong dream of owning my own school began to come to fruition. After six months, we began looking for a space of our own. With very little business experience, revenue history, or any sort of net worth, we didn’t exactly have landlords knocking down our door to rent to us. We crafted a passionate letter persuading, some might say begging, a landlord to take us on. A 1500 square foot unit just north of North Hills took the bait, and offered us a 1 year lease with the option to renew for another, should our business not implode within the year. Being as we were not exactly lucrative tenants, we had no buildout allowance or gifted rent. So we gathered our loyal tribe willing to help, and we built out the unit ourselves and opened our doors at 240 Newton Road Suite 109 within three weeks of signing the lease. With 40 members and just enough revenue to cover our monthly expenses, we held our breath and began our aggressive, foot led, advertising campaigns to fill our classes and pay our bills. This July of 2024 will mark the end of our two year lease as well as the grand opening of our shiny new 4,200 square foot location we are in the process of building out as we speak. Over the past two years, we have grown to over 100 consistent members and have convinced another trusting (crazy) landlord to lease us another, larger space. We may still be operating on a small margin, but we have run out of space in our current location. The community we have built at Hometown Martial Arts is the biggest motivator and proof that we can and will continue to grow. Every step of the way, we have had overwhelming support from members who continue to show up, even when there are 40 of them crammed onto our small mat space! Every day, somebody offers their help or guidance in their own areas of expertise towards the buildout of our new location. This is the kind of support you can see amongst our members on and off the mats. Newcomers are welcomed with smiling, encouraging faces. Fighters and avid trainers will take time out of their own sessions to hold pads for a new person or provide them with assistance. It is my greatest sense of pride, that my classes continue to bring together this amazing community. It’s in the name. Everyone has a home at Hometown Martial Arts.
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?
Hometown Martial Arts offers group classes, private lessons, and the free bonus of an amazing community. We teach Muay Thai, Boxing, MMA and grappling to adults and teens. We have added a few coaches who teach classes and private lessons alongside myself. I have been training in various martial arts since I was a little kid, and found my passion for helping teammates, and later on coaching, shortly after I realized fighting was not for me. I preferred to spend my time helping others get ready to hop in the ring, cage, or just put up a greater fight in life, no matter what their personal battles may be. What sets us apart will always be our community. There is no room for ego, selfishness, or bad attitudes under our roof. The only people who are not welcome here are those unwilling to support and boost up those around them. We have members ranging from 12 years old to 60 and beyond, all working together in the same classes with the same energy. We have competitors, athletes, and casual class participants who all get the same attention when they are in our gym. We are a team, a family, and a community.
Can you tell us the story of how you met your cofounder/business partner?
On December 28th, 2019, with my dog Chance and my coaching notebook in hand, I was walking down Fayetteville street in Downtown Raleigh towards a quiet spot to work on some notes for the week. I had just moved back from a failed venture in Florida and was hired to run a Muay Thai program at a gym in Raleigh. Lost in thought, I heard what sounded like a scream. Was someone in trouble? Am I being attacked? Were amongst the first thoughts in my head. I looked up and saw a 5 foot 2 woman with way too much energy yelling at me exclaiming “HEY! YOU! I recognize your face!” This woman boldly approached me yelling about how we had a mutual friend in the Comedy Scene (we both did local stand up comedy at the time) and she recognized me from his instagram. I remember immediately saying the cheesy line “I think this is how a romantic comedy would start”. Well, four years later we are married, with four dogs, a house, and are running an entire business together.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
An unfortunate, freak, accident over 12 years ago, landed me in the hospital with a Traumatic Brain Injury, including a brain bleed, fractured skull, and recurring seizures. My judgement in my 20’s wasn’t quite what I was known for, and I did not take care of myself and my injury the way that I should have. I am incredibly lucky to be here today and to be able to continue to do what I love. However, in the early stages of Hometown Martial Arts, I had a flare up of my TBI symptoms. Migraines, vertigo, right sided weakness, nausea, brain fog, and impaired executive functioning were amongst the debilitating symptoms that I was experiencing. However, I had finally decided to embark on my journey to owning my own gym, and was not going to let my brain keep me from it. With the help of my wife, I pushed through. I continued to teach classes, sometimes from a seated position with sunglasses, a hat and many deep breaths. We tried many treatments and regimens, the details of which I won’t go into here. After hours and hours of trial and error, we found some medications and routines that worked and I am feeling better than I have in years. Don’t get me wrong, I struggle daily with symptoms and new obstacles my brain decides to throw at me. But was born stubborn, and will never stop fighting back.
Contact Info:
- Website: Hometownmartialarts.com
- Instagram: @Hometown_martial_arts_raleigh
- Facebook: Hometown Martial Arts Raleigh
- Youtube: @hometownmartialarts