Episode 861 - Closing a Martial Art School: The End of an Era
In this episode, Jeremy and Andrew talk with Greg Williams, owner of Kaze Dojo in northern NH about his decision to close his school.
Closing a Martial Art School: The End of an Era - Episode 861
Jeremy and Andrew chat with past guest of the show, Greg Williams about his decision to close his school in northern NH after many years. The decision wasn’t made lightly and this somewhat emotional ride is one that many have had to do. Join us as we talk about the easy as well as the difficult decisions that had to be made.
Show Transcript
Jeremy (00:01.617)
Hey, what's going on everybody? Welcome. This is Whistlekick martial arts radio. And on today's episode, Andrew and I are joined by Greg Williams, past guest of the show. As we talk about him closing his martial arts school, there's a subject that we don't get into very often and we'll go behind the scenes and, uh, chat about that.
If you're new to the show, remember whistlekick.com is the place to go for everything related to what we do. Whistlekickmarchwardsradio.com if you wanna go deeper into episodes, grab transcripts, all things like that. Greg, welcome, thanks for coming back.
Gregory Williams (00:40.259)
How you doing my friends? Jeremy, Andy, good to see you guys. Thanks for having me on.
Jeremy (00:44.049)
Great, great to have you. Yeah. Great to have you. Do you remember what episode he was on? Did we look that up? Had I been smart, I would have done that ahead of time. Well, I could have done it as well. I looked that up. Well, of course, Greg, you were on a couple years ago, right? Three years ago, and had a wonderful conversation. And you know, when you mentioned, you posted, I think I read about on Facebook, right? You posted on Facebook that you were gonna start winding down the school.
Gregory Williams (00:58.09)
Yeah.
Gregory Williams (01:14.078)
Yeah, yeah, I did. I made a post and just to let everybody know, I've talked about it in the community for a little while, but yeah, I made the Facebook official post.
Jeremy (01:25.017)
Andrew and I had a chat about, one, we both think very highly of you and kind of expressing some empathy and just, oh, this must be challenging. But then we also thought, because you know us and you know the show and you've been on the show, this is a subject that nobody talks about, right? We talk about the excitement of opening a school, we talk about growing a school.
We never talk about closing a school. It's this kind of deep, dark secret. And I think because of that, people, I could imagine, and because I've closed a school, there are often some negative and intense emotional feelings that go along with it. And I thought, you know, if we had a good conversation about it, it might provide some support, some acknowledgement to some of the folks out there who maybe...
Gregory Williams (01:58.082)
Yeah.
Jeremy (02:19.721)
are thinking about or have gone through the same thing.
Gregory Williams (02:23.73)
Yeah, and I don't know if there's no really deep dark thing about this, so that might not help everybody. I'm like, yeah, sure, sure. And the why is kind of it's I know we have some time, but it's kind of complicated and it's multi. It's a multi issue thing, right? Like so.
Jeremy (02:33.24)
Let's start with the live.
Jeremy (02:46.986)
Okay.
Gregory Williams (02:48.758)
First of all, a lot of people, some people know me, some people don't know me, but if you do know me and you know my everyday life, I have a tendency to say yes to everything. So I have a, yeah, right? So I've got 50 million things going on. Like you asked me about where I am right now. I'm at my home, you know, it's beautiful. Like today I had a...
Jeremy (03:00.553)
I have no idea what that's like.
Gregory Williams (03:15.098)
If my eyes just squinted, it's because I came out of my basement to do this, because my studio is in my basement. And I came up here and I'm like, the sun's killing me. I don't want to wear sunglasses on this and be like, I'm closing my school. It's dark. You can't see him cry. You know, if I cry, that's OK, but whatever.
Jeremy (03:32.782)
I was thinking more that it's early October and for the audience, Greg is also in northern New England and you know, it's about to get, it's going to be 80 degrees today. It's going to be, you know, probably going to have a frost in the next two weeks. So you know, we're holding on to every bit of warmth we can. And by the time the sepistar comes out, there might be snow on the ground. It's entirely possible.
Gregory Williams (03:39.206)
Yeah.
Gregory Williams (03:49.397)
Exactly.
Gregory Williams (03:53.882)
by the end of this interview, it might be snowing. It's New England. So yeah, so, you know, I do a lot of things. I have a full-time job in drug prevention, which to me is more than a full-time job. Like I don't work the normal nine to five. If I'm needed, I go, I say yes, I do whatever needs to be done. Drugs have ravaged our area in Northern New Hampshire, as well as all over the country. And...
Jeremy (03:56.749)
Hahaha!
Gregory Williams (04:22.854)
You know, that's really my passion is helping people and, you know, working on the opioid crisis and all the things surrounding it, right? Like keeping youth safe. So that's a big reason why I have my school and these two kind of morphed together, but it's a lot of work. So that my property, I have a, used to have two great Danes. I have one now, one passed away. Um, a wife, kids, and.
or even though they're kind of moved out, you know, I got a wedding to go to pretty soon for my oldest daughter. And, you know, life is pretty hectic. And I also am an artist and I love podcasting. I love doing this. So I do a lot of voice stuff and video work. I subcontract for a video, a media company and do some drone videos for them and do all sorts of stuff. I also stopped.
training MMA fighters and started commentating for a couple of local organizations. So I love to say yes to things and I love to stay busy. And you know, one of the reasons why is because now I'm 60. Right. And that's why I stopped training, training fighters because it was time consuming and I didn't want to shortchange anybody. And I kind of feel this is the same way with the school. Not that I'm shortchanging, you know.
You give wisdom, you're helping people, you're making their lives, enriching their lives, making it better. That's the sole reason for opening the school. And I probably could have gone another couple of years. In the past, I've tried to bring up some of my students to take it over and take on the responsibility. And I realized maybe it's me being kind of a megalomaniac and just trying to be everything for everybody.
you know, and controlling it all myself. That's the thing that was kind of, I think, hard for other people to step in and try to do what I do. Maybe it was me not giving up enough control or whatever, but never really had the person to step up and take over the school, buy it, run it, whatever. We've had a couple of...
Gregory Williams (06:45.134)
tries at it. One of them has actually opened up his own school town over in Whitefield and keeps me up on the showman in the top of the school picture of me, honoring that he's come from me and opened up his school. So a lot of my students have a place to go to. But I just felt like it's time for me to start winding some things down in my life and just
not be so chaotic as I turned 60. And I know it's long-winded, but a couple of years ago, I threw my back out pretty bad. I had an L5 disc, bulging disc. And that slowed me down a little bit. And I think fighters and even coaches and even martial arts school owners, you start to question, I know I can't...
Jeremy (07:25.238)
Mm.
Gregory Williams (07:42.222)
I mean, I don't have to prove anything to anybody. I've been doing this for 35 years. What do I have to prove? Do I have to get in the cage again and fight at 60 years old? Just to, you know, like, what do I really have to prove? My knowledge base and my, I would guess the knowledge and my perspective on things really is what's most valuable, not my physical. So I can deal with that, but it's also like, when is it time to quit? When's the time to give it up?
So I've been thinking about it for quite a while. I've been trying, I think it might've went another two years, I would say another year or two before I shut it down and decided to walk out. But ironically, my landlord called me up and I did a renovation in the building about eight years ago and I took over the other, the other half. So I was renting half and I took over the other half, put, put some money into it and I called them up and said, Hey, uh,
I'm putting a couple thousand dollars into this. If you go, it's your business, I've rented it. It's your building. I rent it. I don't own it. If you sell it out from under me, I mean, that's business. I understand it, that's okay. But just can I get a couple of, can I get some money back for, I just feel a little weird about putting money into somebody else's property and not having, we didn't have a contract, treats me really good. Rent was incredibly low. So it was just one of those things. And he said to me,
As long as you're there, you're never going to have to worry about us taking it over or us taking it back. So you're good to go. Don't worry about it. And then a couple of months ago, he called me up. His son actually called me up who's taken over his business said, Hey, I hate to do this. And now mind you, we have a great relationship. They treat me like gold. They're never around. I can do whatever I want. They never question anything. Oh.
Jeremy (09:36.705)
Those are the best ones. So rare, so nice. Yeah.
Gregory Williams (09:39.594)
The best landlords are never around and if you ask them, they say yes. And you know, and even when it comes to money, they would, they would shell out money, like I'd say, Hey, I need this. Don't worry about it. Here's the money. Do it, do it. So I always did a lot of stuff on my own because I didn't, you know, they're generous. So I was generous back. So we had this great relationship and a couple of months ago, he called and said, you know, I hate to do this, but we're going to take the building back. We're going to.
started business up there and I was almost like, oh, thank you. Now you can be the guy that tells all these kids that they can't come see Sensei Greg anymore. You can be the bad guy. Now I can be the good guy and sit back and go, hey, I had nothing to do with it. But that's the reality of it. I think it worked out. It's a retirement of that phase of my life, but-
Jeremy (10:11.426)
Mmm.
Jeremy (10:20.705)
not your fault.
Gregory Williams (10:32.238)
people around town say, what are you going to do now with all your free time? I'm like, I'm going to try and do the other three jobs that I do better. You know, because maybe I'll have more time for it and maybe be a better father, husband, dog owner, you know, be around a little bit more and stop stretching myself so thin. So this is not a bad thing. This is a good thing. And, you know, I think I think it's just time. I just think it's time. You know, when
When is, whenever is the time, you know?
Jeremy (11:05.857)
Well, what I'm hearing, and Andrew, I don't know if you've heard this too, at some point you ask the question. I feel like we're definitely in the decline here, and I don't necessarily mean decline in terms of students or money, but just this, I can feel the natural arc of this business starting to fade and every business has that.
Gregory Williams (11:31.959)
Yeah.
Jeremy (11:32.885)
But what I'm hearing is you kind of took whether, depending on one's beliefs, whether it's the universe or God or just coincidence, there was an opportunity. A lot of people, when presented with that challenge of, we're gonna take this physical space back, would say, okay, we're gonna move. We're gonna move into my basement. We're gonna move to this other spot. We're gonna do something. And you took it as, okay, it's time.
Gregory Williams (11:53.354)
Yeah.
Gregory Williams (12:02.922)
Yeah, because I've been trying to get out or trying to find somebody to carry it on for whatever reason. Like, I know it's a community asset. I know that. There's no doubt about it. You know, I hear it all the time. People are happy with it and it changes people's lives. And I don't want that to stop. But it just can't always be me. You know what I mean? Like, like, when is enough enough? And I'll tell you, I'll tell you something.
Jeremy (12:02.942)
It means death.
Gregory Williams (12:30.174)
When I started, when I was a yellow belt back in 1988, I met Wally J and he was 75 years old at the time and I watched him go until his death pretty much on the mats. Granted he was in his backyard in his dojo connected to his house, but still he was on the mats teaching and doing seminars up until like 94 I think.
I always thought I wanted to be like him, you know, like do this for life. And that was my kind of my model and my mantra was, I'm going to be a, I am a lifelong martial artist, 35 years, a lifelong school owner. That's something I've reconsidered recently. And it's, it also has to do with kind of, I'm not going to lie. It has something to do a little bit with the social climate, you know, like Wally
Jeremy (13:25.325)
Mm-hmm.
Gregory Williams (13:28.174)
for years and years and years in the 70s, 80s, and 90s was a different social climate than it is now, different challenges. And for me to say I wanna be a martial arts owner, school owner to the end of my life, I realized what challenges that's gonna be. Not just the kids, the parents, everything associated with it. Just...
In general, I didn't see, I was okay. And that was the toughest thing was I was okay with not being that for the rest of my life. That I'd set on that path, but now I'm I've reconsidered and I'm completely fine with that.
Jeremy (14:11.617)
So I have a question for you, Greg. I'm curious, so about a year or a year and a half ago, you gave up the decision, you came to the decision that you're gonna stop training MMA fighters, but you kept your school. I'm curious what it was like after you made that decision and how much of that helped you lead you to, you know what, maybe it's time for me to hang it up completely.
Gregory Williams (14:41.122)
That's a really, that's a great analysis, Andy. I'm very proud of you. No, but that is a great thing. Like that's awesome because again, it ties into, fighters take a lot of my time and I take it very personal. And I take, you know where we live, you know where I live in North country. I...
Jeremy (14:47.463)
Good job. Thank you.
Gregory Williams (15:10.038)
have to invest myself completely in if I want to make a fighter successful. It's not just that I have to immerse myself in it. If I want my school to be successful, I have to give, give to every one of my students as much as I can, as much as humanly possible. That's how I feel. That's how I do it. That's how I've become successful. Uh, the numbers weren't winding down for my gym.
They were, they weren't going up. I had almost 60 students, I think, up here. So Andy, you probably know what that's like to have, and you too, Jeremy, 60 students in a very rural area. And the turnover, I don't really drop that much. I keep getting phone calls and, um, leads keep coming into me without advertising. When I stopped training fighters, I felt the relief. I felt a relief and I felt like I had done enough. And.
I also weigh how much that took out of me and how much I have to give.
Jeremy (16:10.621)
Yeah. Say more about the relief. What did you feel relieved in no longer doing? Was it the, like, just say more about that, please.
Gregory Williams (16:19.99)
Ha!
Another one, I think that's a great question. The relief comes from my perspective. When I have a student, when I have a fighter, their hopes, their dreams, they come to me with their hopes and their dreams. And I'm the facilitator. I'm the one that's gotta make that happen. You know, if I have a kid up here and I have a lot of guys, girls that come up and they're like, I wanna be an MMA fighter. And in the past, we would work together, but they don't really
have other places to go. They rely on me specifically. Like, I'm it for them for a lot of them. Like, so the responsibility of their hopes, their dreams, their future, their health, to keep them protected and safe, a lot of that relies on me. And that's fine. I take on the responsibility, but I also take it very serious. So I think the degree
to which you take it serious, really determines how burned out you can get. So there's the word burnout. I think I was really getting burned out on fighters because I cared maybe too much or cared and took it too serious maybe.
Jeremy (17:30.28)
and
Jeremy (17:42.393)
One of the things that we've talked about on this show and it bends some people's nose the wrong way is the idea that our time reflects our priorities. And our priorities rarely stay the same. They're going to shift around. And what I'm hearing is there became a tension between where your time was and where your priorities were. And you made a correction. And so in that sense.
Gregory Williams (17:58.124)
Yeah.
Jeremy (18:10.489)
Makes sense, right? Would you agree?
Gregory Williams (18:11.826)
Yeah, yeah, I also have to. Yes. And it's, it might be a little bit selfish, but it's also, where am I going to be most effective? Where am I going to, how can I affect more people? Well, when I was, when I was a few years ago, like seven or eight years ago, I was a teacher at the charter academy. So I was teaching. And
Jeremy (18:27.554)
Right. I don't think that's selfish at all.
Gregory Williams (18:39.558)
I got an opportunity to become, to get into the job I'm doing now. So teaching had a, had a great impact on some students in a small classroom, it was 15 students a year say, but I had an opportunity to impact a larger community like Northern Grafton and Coloss County, like the, and, and I took on that responsibility and yeah, it's less direct impact, there's still some direct impact, but
it's looking at it like how can I be more effective in getting, in helping the situation, you know. So I think of it kind of the same way. I mean, I'm not stopping my passion of helping people. I'm just kind of moving it or moving it in a different direction, but a little bit less one-on-one, put it that way.
Jeremy (19:36.041)
Yeah. And I have maybe a little bit more insight when this initially happened, but because when you posted on Facebook a couple years ago that you were gonna knock trained fighters, I got on the phone like the next day and we spoke, maybe even been the same day and you and I spoke. And I know that decision was not easy for you. And I know it wasn't something you took lightly. And...
I have to imagine that this decision to close your school, even though you understand it's the right thing to do for you right now and it's the best, it wasn't easy. And you just recently, when was your last class Greg?
Gregory Williams (20:16.822)
Thursday and today's Tuesday. So it was less than a week ago. Yeah.
Jeremy (20:19.945)
Yeah.
Jeremy (20:23.73)
And I know that it wasn't anything that you took lightly it's been less than a week. How are you feeling today right now?
Gregory Williams (20:32.646)
I feel great because I think the decision, you're right, it wasn't taken lightly, but I think the decision was made a couple of years ago. Like if I could find a way to close up the school without hurting people's feelings too much or wait, as my wife would say, there'll be a sign. You'll know when it's time. And that phone call of, we're kicking you out of the building.
At 60 years old, we're thinking about retirement, trying to find a way to retire. And he says, we're going to take back the building. Then like Andrew said, like if there was a lot of, if I wasn't in that position or had that mindset or made that decision already, I would have said, all right, where are we going? But now it's like, that's the right decision that was made for me. So it wasn't that difficult. And I'm, I'm doing great today. You know, I, I cried a little bit the last day because I promoted.
A couple of young students who really showed me the spirit of martial arts in the last month as they were training and getting ready for their belt test. They really were just so, and I'm getting a little teared up now, but they just, you guys know what it's like when you have two students that nothing else really matters except the camaraderie and the love of the sport.
and the love of what they're doing and they get along and it's just happiness, joy and the possibilities are endless and I got to see that at the very end so that was great.
Jeremy (22:11.773)
One of the things that I'm hearing and I suspect some of you out there picked up on some of these words Andrew you kind of Drew a line between Greg and I that we're similar in the way that we both take on Everything yeah, right and you know Greg, I can't speak for you But I'm going to make a guess here that a lot of those yeses that you offer
or because you don't want to let people down, you don't want to leave people without lacking, you want to, if you have something you can provide to them, you want to provide it to them, is that fair to say? Okay, and so if we look at the things you've talked about that you do, that's a recurring theme there too, that you're offering up who you are to the betterment of those around you, and so that becomes a really challenging process, how do I let go of this? And it makes such complete sense to me.
Gregory Williams (22:42.738)
100%, yeah.
Jeremy (23:02.125)
that it took the removal of the decision from you, essentially, to catalyze this into happening, and I suspect also to make you okay with it.
Gregory Williams (23:08.596)
Yeah.
Gregory Williams (23:16.138)
Yeah, you're spot on. Spot on. I don't know if I don't know when I would have made that decision myself and it would have been a lot harder if it was two years from now.
Jeremy (23:25.793)
giving things up sucks, especially when you know there are people that you are, depending on how they look at it, you're letting them down. In fact, you even use that language a little bit, letting them down. I had a school for a couple of years right out of college and I still remember how painful it was to tell everyone, hey, next class is our last class. Now.
Gregory Williams (23:38.955)
Yeah.
Jeremy (23:51.957)
I'm older now, I would have given them a little more notice. It was just, I couldn't get out of my own emotions and it was all I could do to articulate that statement because I didn't wanna let people down. But what ultimately led me to make the choice was I knew I wasn't showing up at 100% and I felt like I was already letting them down. And I wanted to, in a sense, free them because there were other martial arts schools in the area. I want you to go train with somebody else who can give you 100% because I can't write.
Gregory Williams (23:51.99)
Yeah.
Gregory Williams (24:17.042)
Yeah, that's true. I feel like I've, I feel like I say yes to so many things. I wasn't maybe giving 100% in there. Keeping the facility open and just having people gather as a community is really, really an important part. But as far as martial arts goes, I think, you know, I feel like I probably, I could have been better. I could have been more immersed, but then other things would suffer too. You know, like...
the other 20 things that I do in my life would suffer. So yeah, I hear you're 100% right and you're dead on. This was, this is also, you know, a little bit of, it's not, it's a letdown for me a little bit financially. Like I've opened up a school in Whitefield in 2005 and since day one, I've always earned a profit in the North country. I've always turned a profit.
Jeremy (25:03.646)
Hmm
Gregory Williams (25:15.014)
every single month. Now, sometimes it wasn't much and sometimes it was, but I've gotten to the point where I was constantly, I was making decent money. And now that I'm getting older and a little more financially secure and smart, and I know I'm not going to be doing this the rest of my life, I'm prepared, and money's not, money wasn't a factor in this, you know.
Jeremy (25:40.957)
Interesting. Now, let's, you know, we talked a little bit about the, you know, the other martial arts schools in the area, which leads to kind of the future. You know, I know your school, I know the area pretty well, because I used to live there. I also know, unless things have changed since I left, there are not a lot of martial arts schools in the area. How actively are you pushing your students to go to certain places? Because like I said, I know there's only a handful.
Gregory Williams (26:09.866)
Yeah, well, there's really only this one that does what I do. The guy that came from my school, Tyler, opened up a school in Whitefield where I started.
Jeremy (26:15.754)
Yep.
Jeremy (26:19.757)
Is this a population of light fields, Greg?
Gregory Williams (26:22.11)
Population 1800.
Jeremy (26:24.897)
Okay, I felt those of you around the world might find that information relevant.
Gregory Williams (26:28.19)
Yeah, maybe 1500, which is like when I was in Whitefield, I had about 80 students. And I thought, wow, that's every, that's everybody. Yeah. And I thought if I was in Manhattan, I'd have 2 million students. I'd be, I'd be a million. I'm just in the wrong place. But there was.
Jeremy (26:37.325)
It's like everybody. It's like the whole town.
Jeremy (26:49.178)
But I mean I was outside of white. I mean the neck next you've got to go to like Bethlehem or you know, maybe as far as st. Jay, that's quite a ways but like there are other schools, you know within 25 miles Yeah, yeah
Gregory Williams (27:05.058)
Littleton has a couple of schools. Yeah. But they specify in BJJ. I mean, there's no Japanese Jiu-Jitsu per se. I mean, there's, I think Leon's still doing his thing. One of my guys, Chris Korea, is there pretty active with that group. That's a small group, I think, but they're still going. The karate school on Main Street in Lancaster shut down a year or two ago.
Jeremy (27:19.37)
Yep, yep.
Jeremy (27:25.078)
Yep.
Jeremy (27:34.189)
So even fewer options. So... And then, what's the future hold for you? Because you can't tell me that you're not gonna still be doing martial arts. You might not be teaching a class, but this is not the end for you. I'm glad you asked that, because I was a little nervous to ask this question.
Gregory Williams (27:34.462)
So, yeah, yeah.
Gregory Williams (27:55.094)
No, no, that's, I tell you, nothing's off the table here. Um, what's next for me? I, I love community. So I'll, as long as I can do commentating for MMA fights, I love that community. I love being around that community. I'm getting a little more involved with New England fights. Uh, I've been doing combat zone, Calvin cater's combat zone. I've been doing a New England fights. I've been commentating for both of those. And.
Maybe take a more active role in that because that community is so fun to me, and it's not very taxing. Like I show up every month or two months for a couple of days and that's it, in and out. I love that. As far as martial arts goes, I think I'm gonna take a little bit of time off and probably get in better shape. Stop running around so much, stop diluting myself.
and focus a little more on myself. Take this winter to kind of invest in myself a little bit more. And I don't know what's gonna happen after. I have a few students who have personal dojos at their own home. I don't know if I wanna be there in the winter, but maybe in the summer, go do some private lessons with them and keep active with it. But nothing really planned right now, nothing.
And I'm not really looking for any offers either. I need to like slow things down in my life and kind of reevaluate. I think maybe it has to do with turning 60. I think my father passed away at the age of 60, so now I've outlived his lifespan. And I really start thinking about like, how am I gonna wrap up the rest of my life? My job, they wanted to give me a promotion and give me some people to manage and I'm like.
Nah, I don't really want that. I think I want to stay boots on the ground for my job and be effective as best I can for the next couple of years because I'm not gonna be doing it for that much longer. So I don't want to like take on managing people to maybe know that I'm good at it or not good at it or whatever. I like what I'm doing. I love where I'm at. I want to continue to be effective at my regular job and we'll see. Yeah, we'll see.
Jeremy (30:20.561)
Right on. So let's imagine that a time machine shows up at your house and the date, the time, the location are preset and it's you going back to talk to you on day one of opening your school.
Gregory Williams (30:36.934)
Yeah, which, well I, I bet.
Jeremy (30:38.357)
What are you gonna say? What are you gonna say to past Greg?
Gregory Williams (30:42.954)
That's good. I love that question. So I've owned schools in California. And I've owned Kaze in the North country for 18 years. So are we talking about going back to the first school or are we talking about going back to first day of the first school? What would I tell myself? I would just tell myself, enjoy this, because you're going to see things that
Jeremy (30:58.381)
How about the first day of the first school?
Gregory Williams (31:10.694)
you're not even going to believe. You're going to have stories at the end of this that people can't even, people won't, you couldn't even write a book, people wouldn't even believe it was true. But enjoy every minute of it because it's, it's the best. It's the best. It's, I've been around some of the greatest people and seen some of the most amazing things.
Jeremy (31:32.909)
I got nothing else, that's good, Greg. It's so great to have you. Yeah, there's one more thing I wanna ask of you and that's the folks who might be out there watching or listening that are wondering themselves, is it time? Should I? What if, right? There are a thousand and one questions that we ask ourselves, especially when we're doing something that is effective, it works, right? It's not like you closed your school because it wasn't making money, you closed your school for other reasons.
Gregory Williams (32:01.279)
Right?
Jeremy (32:04.137)
So let's pretend that those reasons aren't really the ones on the table. Somebody's wondering, has the natural arc of my martial arts school come to an end? Do you have any thoughts or advice for those people?
Gregory Williams (32:18.538)
Yeah, yeah, I would say really, well, not to sound too zen-like, but meditate on it. Think about it. Don't rush into it. Don't say, oh, this isn't happening, so I'm going to shut down, or this is happening, and you know, now I've got 10 students, I'm all powerful again. And don't ride that wave, but seriously look at yourself and see, and ask yourself.
Is it time? Ask yourself many times that question, is it time? Don't go on a moment because if you give that question a little bit of breath and life, you'll know, you'll know. And I'm lucky to be somewhat self-aware. So I know I don't rush into things. I sit back, I evaluate.
you know, who I am, what I am, constantly reflecting on myself, my faults, my successes, everything. So sit back, ingest it, be open to a sign. And even if that sign is, hey, we're kicking you out, be open to any sign that might give you the clue to the answer. Just be thoughtful about it. Don't rush into closing. And I wouldn't even rush into opening a school.
I would really give it a lot of thought about what you're doing and what your goal is. If your goal is to make money, be thoughtful about that. If your goal is to bring together communities, be thoughtful about that. Be thoughtful about what impact it has when it ends also.
Jeremy (33:59.513)
Thank you. Anything else? All right. Greg, I appreciate you being here. Thank you. And, you know, maybe now you'll have the time we can see you at a whistle cake about. Maybe after the work.
Gregory Williams (34:09.69)
I know. And unfortunately, you know, it is a conflicting date or otherwise I'd be there. But yes, now that now that I know now that's fine. I love it, man. And I would I'll be there. I want I love being around the community. You guys are like my community. So I would like to be there. And Andy's Andy bugs me on a weekly basis to be there. And I know he's doing his job. But yeah, I will have
Jeremy (34:16.52)
I know, I know. 90% giving you a hard time, maybe 80%.
Jeremy (34:32.617)
Good, good, he's doing his job though.
Gregory Williams (34:39.578)
more time to be around those communities. So look for me, not at this one, but at the next one.
Jeremy (34:46.137)
I know, I know. Awesome, man. Hey, audience, thanks for being here. Thanks for checking out this conversation. Greg, are you still gonna have any public facing, anything that people could reach out to you?
Gregory Williams (35:00.274)
Yeah, I mean, people can always reach out to me on Facebook, Gregory Williams, uh, Instagram, Cosic. Oh my God. That's right. Yeah. There's another one.
Jeremy (35:05.941)
Make sure it's the right Gregory Williams.
Because we just had to the audience, we had a different Gregory Williams on, still from New Hampshire. This Gregory Williams we're speaking to now is episode 576. Okay.
Gregory Williams (35:17.919)
Yes.
Gregory Williams (35:22.882)
That's funny because I connected with that guy after we talked and I friended him. And he says, there's two of us in New Hampshire. And I'm like, yeah, that's great. He goes, which one's the evil twin? And I said, why can't it be both? Why can't we both be evil twins? But yeah, that's cool.
Jeremy (35:35.343)
Hahaha!
God help us if they get together. I'm gonna make it happen. If they're aligned. I'm gonna make it happen. That could be a whole session. If your name is Gregory Williams, you're presenting at this time in this room. We'll make it happen. Well, yeah. Thanks, and just audience, whistlekickmarshmarshradio.com if you wanna go deeper on this, so.
Gregory Williams (35:42.83)
Ha ha ha!
Oh my god.
Gregory Williams (35:51.973)
I'll be there, but thank you guys. Thank you very much.