- Gym World
- Posts
- This martial arts gym makes $200k/yr from events
This martial arts gym makes $200k/yr from events
& sells out hockey arenas in Canada...
John Franklin
August 30, 2024
What’s up Gym World?
Brendan Kalijundic is our first martial arts gym owner on the pod.
He opened Kalsamrit Martial Arts in 2011 without any experience running a gym. It’s located just outside of Toronto, Canada, and offers Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, MMA, boxing, wrestling, and kickboxing for adults and kids.
He went from running a 2,000 sq ft gym with 70 members on the brink of bankruptcy to managing a 10,000 sq ft facility with over 700 members. Plus, Brendan’s making an extra $200,000 a year from sold-out fight nights.
Here’s his story:
Building Kalsamrit Martial Arts 🥋
Brendan was introduced to martial arts in high school and used it as an outlet to overcome challenges. Before owning a gym, he was a professional fighter and trained under Nick Castiglia.
Stay tuned, Gym World—we’ll be hearing from Nick soon.
While working a restaurant job, Brendan dreamed of opening a martial arts gym. He saw that Nick had good:
Systems
Structure
Organization
Despite not knowing how to operate, Brendan quit his job and tried to replicate Nick’s gym back in his hometown.
Kalsamrit Martial Arts opened in 2011. The gym was 2,500 sq ft with 70 members, each paying $70 CAD ($52 USD) a month.
Brendan learned hard lessons early on and made costly mistakes:
He got taken advantage of.
He didn’t negotiate his lease and ended up paying for electrical, plumbing, and construction costs.
He gave away free memberships.
With the gym losing money, Brendan sold his house and car to keep it afloat and ended up moving into the gym.
A year after opening, Nick started mentoring Brendan. That’s when things began to turn around:
He found a bigger unit with cheaper rent and a better landlord
He doubled his prices to $140 CAD ($104 USD) a month
He attracted higher-quality clients
He hired a front desk person
He grew to 400 members
He became profitable
Brendan eventually opened a second location and grew it to 350 members. After running it for 5-6 years, he sold it and used the money to expand his first location.
Though the gym was profitable, Brendan says he was always grinding. He wanted to slow down, especially with a baby on the way. Mike Doehla has a similar story.
Kalsamrit Martial Arts now has over 700 members, much more than the average small gym.
Here’s what it looks like today:
👉 Space
The gym is 10,000 sq ft with three 2,000 sq ft rooms for:
Muay Thai
Jiu Jitsu
Boxing
Here’s the schedule that started July 2nd, 2024 for each room. It’s family-friendly, so parents and kids can do their own programs while spending time together.
The other 4,000 sq ft is dedicated to the:
Front desk and viewing area
After school program room
Wellness center
Mat room
👉 Packaging & pricing
His member base is 60% kids and 40% adults.
Brendan says parents bring their kids for discipline, and many join to relive their glory days.
Each martial art has a base price of $100 CAD ($74 USD) with the option to add other arts or services for $25 CAD ($18 USD) each.
The average revenue per member is $140 CAD ($104 USD) a month.
👉 Marketing & selling
Many of the best gym owners start by scratching and clawing for customers, and Brendan was no different. He:
Knocked on doors and handing out free class passes
Attended community events to raise awareness
Posted organic content on social media
You don’t need to act big and professional before you are.
Nowadays, he’s focused on making the gym’s Instagram look professional and family-friendly.
Every prospect gets a free class and a tour of the gym with a coach before signing up, but Brendan is considering charging for a trial class in the future.
We’ve seen The Fort guys and Mick Breuckner do paid trials.
👉 Staff
Brendan has a team of 20 staff:
Full-time coaches who can teach multiple martial arts
A front desk person
There are three rooms with classes running simultaneously, and each room has two coaches.
He pays his staff more than the average gym in the community and provides continuing education and a good work-life balance to support retention.
Brendan hires coaches from within because they understand the culture and vibes. He already knows their personality and people skills, so it’s easier to find the right fit.
Making $200,000 from fight nights 🥊
Brendan’s gym expanded its revenue stream by hosting in-house fight nights.
The first time he ran an event, they matched up students from the gym and made $1,000. As the competitions grew, Brendan started inviting other gyms to join.
Today, he rents out large venues for three Muay Thai shows and two Jiu-Jitsu tournaments each year. Registration is $100, and admission ranges from $10-$20.
These events usually draw around 1,000 people, and Brendan says he makes $20,000 per event.
Like SoCal Weightlifting Club, Brendan has been running events for 10 years and has built a solid reputation in the community. His fight nights have grown so much that he started a fight series company and now hosts a pro MMA show once a year that looks like a UFC pay-per-view.
He sells out hockey arenas with 4,000 people and generates between $50,000-$100,000.
Brendan makes everything exclusive and high-quality by:
Not offering a live stream
Having an MC and a DJ
Planning ahead
Choosing the right date and venue
As a result, these events add up to $200,000 to the gym’s annual revenue. 🤯
If your gym hosts events, Brendan strongly recommends putting together a good team to help you. Involving your members and community is a great first step.
TL;DR 📝
Brendan had no idea what he was doing when he first opened his gym. But with the help of a mentor, he went from living in the gym to growing a 10,000 sq ft facility with over 700 members by:
Negotiating his next lease
Raising prices
Establishing solid systems
Hiring quality staff
Now, he runs a successful martial arts gym and makes an extra $200,000 a year from epic fight night events.
adios,
j
📣 P.S. If you made it this far, tell a gym owner to subscribe to the Gym World newsletter.