E151: Dan Uyemura - White Belt cover art

E151: Dan Uyemura - White Belt

E151: Dan Uyemura - White Belt

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Dan Uyemura joins the JIU JITSU LOU Podcast as the Founder and CEO of PushPress - and a White Belt training at 10th Planet Las Vegas.Dan has spent around 13 years building PushPress, but his journey began as an internet engineer working with startups, including MySpace. After being laid off, discovering CrossFit and opening his own gym, he quickly realised the software available to gym owners wasn't designed around the reality of running a gym.Coaches want to coach. Instead, gym owners find themselves handling payments, administration, customer service, marketing and everything else required to keep a business running. Dan saw an opportunity to use technology to make that easier, and PushPress was born.We talk about building businesses, creating space for talented people to develop their own ideas and the importance of iteration. Dan shares how PushPress's familiar Gi or No Gi content developed organically through someone on his team who simply kept practising, learning and getting better - something we understand very well from the mats.But despite being around Jiu Jitsu for decades and putting his own children into the sport, Dan didn't start training himself until around a year and a half ago. His reason? He couldn't get past the idea of rolling around with sweaty men.Once he finally stepped onto the mats, that fear disappeared almost immediately.As a White Belt, Dan brings a particularly valuable perspective to our conversation about growing Jiu Jitsu. We explore the beginner experience, creating connection and belonging, and why academies need to take care of their White Belts rather than expecting them to survive long enough to become part of the community.We also talk about play. Dan describes learning to switch off the need to remember every movement and allowing himself to explore instead - sometimes discovering that his body knows more than he thinks it does.And we explore the opportunity for academies to better support women. From creating safe training environments to understanding underserved communities, Dan believes making Jiu Jitsu genuinely accessible to more women isn't only good for the people walking through the doors - it makes sense for the future of our gyms too.Ultimately, Dan wishes somebody had encouraged him onto the mats 16 years earlier. His message to gym owners and the wider community is simple: take care of your White Belts, encourage the parents already sitting beside the mats to have a go, and help the friend who wants to start but is scared to take that first step.You never know whose Jiu Jitsu journey you might be starting.Topics:• PushPress• Building a business• Gym ownership• Technology• Iteration and consistency• Starting Jiu Jitsu• 10th Planet Las Vegas• White Belt• Beginner experience• Play and exploration• Community and belonging• White Belt retention• Women in Jiu Jitsu• Safe training environments• Growing academies• Parents in Jiu Jitsu• Getting more people onto the matsFOLLOW DANDan on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/danielsan/PushPress on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/pushpressCOMMUNITY SPOTLIGHTPushPress - Martial arts school softwarehttps://www.pushpress.com/bjjOFFICIAL PODCAST PARTNERSoulTaker Fightwear:https://www.instagram.com/soultakerfightwear/FOLLOW JIU JITSU LOUYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JiuJitsuLouInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jiu.jitsu.louTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jiu.jitsu.louJIU JITSU LOU is a UK BJJ Podcast hosted by Lou Temlett.PRODUCTIONProduced by Kerr Mathieson of Audio Outsourcehttps://www.audiooutsource.co.uk/MUSICMaleki Ram - Just A Little BoyLicensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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