Frank Cirillo teaches both Kyokushin Karate and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in a town of 26,000 people. Here's how he built 250 students and achieved financial freedom by combining traditional and modern martial arts.

IN THIS EPISODE:

1. How Frank started teaching BJJ as a white belt because no instructor was available
2. Why combining hard-style karate with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu created unstoppable programs
3. The pricing mindset that transformed Frank's business after 18 years
4. How small-town dynamics actually work in favor of premium martial arts programs
5. Why parents said "it's about time" when Frank finally valued his expertise properly
6. The business advantage of being a multi-disciplinary martial arts expert

TRANSCRIPTION

George: Hey, it's George Fourie.

Welcome to another Martial Arts Media™ Business Podcast.

So this episode is one of my favorite episodes to do, which is a bit of a blend of a case study, but then also a deep dive and getting to know some of our Partner members a bit better.

So, welcome to the call, Frank Cirillo.

How are you, Frank?

Frank: How are you, George?

Great to be here.

George: Awesome.

Cool.

So, I was just looking, we started working together back in October, and I wanted to bring you on.

You've had some great success and achieved some great milestones in your business, but I want to, I guess, have the conversation that we don't typically have on the calls and get to know the entire journey, how this all began and so forth.

So we can just kick it off right at the beginning.

Who is Frank Cirillo?

Frank: The deep question.

George: The deep one.

Frank: Well, mostly Frank is a family-orientated person.

Everything I do is for my family.

And now we've got a granddaughter in the mix who's a week old as well.

George: Congratulations.

Frank: Thank you.

Thank you.

That's a bit of a life changer right there.

When it comes to martial arts, I've been doing it.

I started kind of late because I started in my teens, and I've been doing it ever since: judo, karate, and then much, much later into my adult life, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

We are from an isolated area in country New South Wales.

So, it had its challenges as well.

The information that we sort of were taught from my past instructors was, I won't say limited, but it took a long time to get any updated information, which I was hell-bent on fixing when I took over; I was hell-bent on fixing that.

So lots and lots of travel and trying to work with some of the best in the country and overseas so I could bring, to become more well-rounded for myself and to be able to offer much better services, much better martial arts here in Griffith and surrounds.

And it's been a really long journey, but it's finally starting to pay dividends.

We didn't have any Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu anywhere near our area.

So that's a crazy story in itself.

Well, I don't know how many people out there, I'm sure there are, but there are instructors.

I went through two or three instructors till we found coach Anthony Perosh through a mutual...