Episode 986- Mr. Alex Reyes
In this episode, Jeremy chats with the creator of Point Fighter Live, Mr. Alex Reyes.
Mr. Alex Reyes - Episode 986
SUMMARY
In this conversation, Mr. Alex Reyes discusses the importance of maintaining a supportive environment in martial arts, the evolution of his catchphrase (Oss, Powerbaby!), and the impact of social media on the sport. The conversation also touches on the role of competition, the influence of family, and the significance of perseverance in martial arts training. Mr. Reyes shares his journey from a reluctant participant to a passionate advocate for martial arts, emphasizing the need for parents to support their children's martial arts journey while allowing them to enjoy the process. He explores the multifaceted world of martial arts, discussing the importance of resilience, the role of parenting in shaping future adults, and the various motivational techniques used in teaching. He delves into the evolution of martial arts, balancing tradition with modernity, and the need for creating heroes within the sport. He also shares his vision for building a brand and the challenges he has faced, emphasizing the significance of faith and discipline in overcoming adversity.
TAKEAWAYS
Competition can drive growth and improvement.
Social media plays a significant role in promoting martial arts.
Negative comments can be ignored for overall growth.
Views and engagement lead to financial opportunities in martial arts.
Family influence is crucial in a martial artist's journey.
Perseverance is key to achieving martial arts goals.
Parents should encourage their children without adding pressure.
The martial arts landscape is vast and interconnected.
Resilience is crucial in martial arts and life.
Parenting should focus on raising self-sufficient adults.
Different students require different motivational techniques.
Martial arts must evolve while respecting tradition.
Creating heroes in martial arts can elevate the sport.
Building a brand involves overcoming significant challenges.
Faith and discipline are key to overcoming adversity.
Failure is a stepping stone to success.
Inclusivity in martial arts can increase participation.
Hard work and discipline are essential for long-term success.
CHAPTERS
00:00 The Evolution of Alex's Catchphrase
3:05 The Impact of Social Media on Martial Arts
6:01 Navigating Negative Feedback in the Digital Age
9:11 The Growth of Martial Arts as a Sport
11:56 The Influence of Family in Martial Arts
15:03 The Importance of Perseverance in Martial Arts
18:01 The Role of Parents in Martial Arts Training
20:55 Conclusion and Future Aspirations
25:59 The Importance of Resilience in Martial Arts
28:02 Parenting and Martial Arts: Raising Adults
31:03 Motivating Students: Different Approaches in Teaching
33:04 The Evolution of Martial Arts: Tradition vs. Modernity
37:04 Creating Heroes in Martial Arts
40:01 Building a Brand: Vision and Challenges
44:00 Faith, Discipline, and Overcoming Adversity
To connect with Mr. Alex Reyes:
Youtube: Point Fighter Live
After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it.
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Show Transcript
Jeremy (12:08.408)
What's happening, everybody? Welcome. It's another episode of Whistlekick, martial arts radio today. I'm joined by Alex Reyes. Alex, so glad you're here, man. We look forward to talking to you for a long time. But for those of you out there who might be new, make sure you check out Whistlekick.com. It's where we have all the things that we do, all of our products, our events, our content, our books, all that stuff. And why do we do it all? To connect, educate and entertain.
the traditional martial artists of the world. Wherever you are, no matter what you train, we're here to support you. WhistlekickMarshallArtsRadio.com is where you want to go for this episode and every other episode. We're coming up on episode 1000 super fast. Transcripts, links, all that good stuff is over there. So make sure you check that out. But Alex, hey man, thanks for being here.
Alex Reyes (12:56.521)
Power baby, thanks man. You what I guys? Yes, you don't have to say it. You don't have to say it.
Jeremy (13:04.348)
I didn't want, I wanted to see if that's how you were gonna start, but I didn't wanna tell you, because I didn't wanna influence whether or not you did. And I'm so, I'm so excited that that's how you kicked us off. And for those of you who might not be familiar with Alex's content, that's how he starts every video. And I love it, I love it. It sets a tone when you're watching.
Alex Reyes (13:17.947)
That's just me, yeah. I am, yeah.
Jeremy (13:34.736)
When I'm watching, no matter what I'm watching, feel like there's a tone of respect that you have no matter what it is you're filming. It doesn't matter if it's the most advanced adult, you know, world record breaking attempt or a youth underbell doing a form that let's face it, you know, maybe they're not doing such a great job at it, but.
You show everybody that same respect. You kick off your videos in the same way. How did you end up?
Alex Reyes (14:09.097)
you know, man, that goes so far back, but I'm not going to give you the long story, but like I've always just a short story of it is I always have been into catchphrases because I was a big WWE fan, right? WWF and my brother coming up were kind of like that, you know, just catchphrases. So when I would fight, I had catchphrases too. And then, you know, the power, power started it back in 2013 when I, when I started my channel, my page and stuff. then.
Jeremy (14:18.408)
Mmm.
Jeremy (14:22.684)
Yeah.
Alex Reyes (14:38.641)
yeah, and then just, it just evolved to now power baby, because you know, the us like we're showing respect, like you see that all tournaments and everything. And then like power baby, that's just been, you know, my catchphrase was power. And then it turned into power baby. And then I just put the us in there and I think it's become an awesome thing. like, going back to what you said, like showing respect and appreciating everything. Like that's just how I am. You know, I'm a positive person.
Jeremy (15:05.49)
Hmm.
Alex Reyes (15:05.967)
And, you know, and I think that martial arts is for everybody. Anybody could do martial arts. That's the thing about this. You know, you can have world champions, UFC caliber fighters, and you can have, you know, anybody just that comes off the street that actually participate in this, in our, you know, in this sport and the art that it is. you know, and if anybody comes out there and competes, that takes a lot. Like just to get out there on the floor, you know, just from me, when I was competing and also my students that compete.
Jeremy (15:28.2)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Reyes (15:34.341)
It takes a lot, especially now in these days that it's a different culture to get up and compete. takes a lot to get up there and compete. So I show the respect there no matter what, you know what I'm saying? And, everybody learns a different way. And you know, martial arts is kind of like, almost like in many ways is similar to a religion too, right? Like religion in a way. So people are always saying, I'm right, you're wrong. So there's so many different interpretations of things.
Jeremy (15:55.24)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Reyes (16:02.651)
And like, so I could appreciate the way they learned it, you know, I'm not going to question them either. Like, so that's kind of like where that came from pretty much too. And just the us power baby came out, you know, that's pretty much, that had another part that had to do it. I'm being totally transparent is also, and this is a free tip to anybody out there. Listen, when you're doing videos, you know, and you want to be monetized, sound and sight need to be original. So, you know,
It's original having adding the voiceover makes everything 100 even more original. So that's a tip right there guys for you guys So I added because I suppose videos just do the performances and make the description that I started adding that In there just to make it even better to enhance the content, which you're always trying to build, know, make it better So but yeah, and it's just become a thing now and like i'm making shirts, you know people are asking me You know us power baby all like that. We have a lot of cool concepts like they're not like us
Power Baby, you know, they ain't like us, you know, so we're coming, it's starting to become like fun. People are coming up to me at tournaments and having me like do a cameo with them, say us Power Baby. it's, you know, it's crazy. I never thought it was going to get to that point, but it's just the growth of the sport and the page and everything. It's just, sometimes you just flow with it, you know?
Jeremy (17:21.48)
You know, you're being humble here, but I think it's more than that. You're showing up. You're showing up to these events. And at some point, I imagine early on, you were making negative dollars showing up at these events, but you were doing it because you loved it. And it is so clear that you love the competitive side of martial arts. And people can feel that.
Alex Reyes (17:40.285)
yeah, yeah, it's...
Jeremy (17:50.268)
Right? You watch these videos and, and, you know, I see your videos often and, I try not to look at the comments because it's the internet, right? And trolls and everything.
Alex Reyes (18:01.597)
Okay, that's what Joe Rogan said. Don't look at the comments.
Jeremy (18:04.732)
Don't look at the comments. But what comes through every time when you do this voiceover is you're genuinely supporting these people. You didn't just film it, because if it was just the filming, yeah, like you said, you can just throw that video up. But you're talking about people positively. I see videos that go up. Somebody that I've watched come up, I've known her for quite a few years, Katie McMillan.
Alex Reyes (18:33.716)
yeah, really, yeah.
Jeremy (18:34.556)
You know, I've known Katie since she was regional and just in watching someone like her who's come up and watching the way you watching, hearing you watching her, right? Like I can hear it in your voice. You're enjoying yourself. You dig watching what these people do. And for people who have not been in the competitive side of traditional martial arts and you know, especially not at the high levels.
Alex Reyes (18:37.161)
Wow, for real?
Jeremy (19:05.56)
you may not understand what it's like out there. It's a very interesting culture because it's both incredibly competitive, but also incredibly supportive at the same time.
Alex Reyes (19:17.085)
Yeah, it is. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. Yeah, you know, Katie, it's crazy you mentioned Katie, because I even sponsored her for tournaments too. And she was part of my team at the beginning with the team that never happened because a sponsor fell through. so and you know, and yeah, like I'm in there with these guys at tournaments. I'm there with them. They know me. We're friends. So I try to, you know, my passion, I'm supporting them, you know, and I do as far as going back into the comments thing, you know,
Right now, usually I kind of like, I disable comments for all the kids. you know, I disable comments for a lot of the women too. And then, you know, basically the men were guys, we could take it more than anything. So, you know, but I've had thoughts about disabling everything, but at the same time, you know, it's, cause it doesn't affect it too. Some people may think the more engagement, the better. If it's just a good video, it gets pushed. So the comments are like,
10 % of the growth of everything how I see it because if you look at the views the likes the shares right that that You know that all supersedes shadows Every the negative comments and I think that the people are going in there Sometimes the negative people are because they see how it's growing and they want to throw shade at it You know, they're haters. They're just being haters at whoever is there. So they're just putting like I put Ariel Torres
Jeremy (20:29.416)
Mmm.
Alex Reyes (20:44.741)
In there and he's, know, he's a lipid go melon. I'm not go up as he and they type saying he can't do karate. So it's like, it doesn't matter. Like the comments, like I said, don't look at the comments and also, you know, like Facebook, they recommend it to, they recommend it to when you're doing well, they recommend it to new people. So that's a good thing. That's how the page is growing. But at the same time, it shows it, it could show it to people that.
They know that Facebook likes engagement too. That's how they push things, right? They push it to people that are going to known for talking crap or whatever. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, it's almost like, cause it doesn't really happen as much as in TikTok and in YouTube. I noticed, but you know, they do that for, they do it for engagement. They put the people to go in there, but it's just a small percentage. And I think the overall growth shows a positivity of it. right. If this is a good thing that's happening and like more money's coming into the sport now.
Jeremy (21:18.92)
Yeah.
Alex Reyes (21:41.033)
There's a big tournament with $45,000, $31,000. I talked to some big guy. I can't name them because they have NDAs, but there's something big coming in the future. largely because we're putting eyes on this sport. Views equals money. Views brings in money for everybody. promoters, competitors to get sponsored, pages for all of us, even for people like us that are in the martial arts industry. just, we're putting...
Jeremy (21:41.223)
Yes.
Alex Reyes (22:09.673)
the spotlight are on the sport. And like you said, at the beginning, I started this in 2013, you know, and you know, it wasn't for money. was actually, you know how I started it, how it all started. I'm going to tell you real quick. it all started because me and my brother, you know, we were those WWE guys with the bad boys. Me and Manny were always the bad boys. you know, just villains in a way. And we liked it, right. We like being the villains.
But that came with a little bit of backlash. Like we would go to tournaments, win the overall grand team fighting. And I'm talking about battle of Atlanta, US opens, beat Paul Mitchell. And then there's no footage of it at all. So we're being blacklisted. You know what? I'm just going to say by sport martial arts. I don't care. Right. I said it right. Cause it's true. The reason why I started point fire live. One of the reasons was because
of that. We're not getting no love. We're being basically lackluster. I said, let me get a camera and start recording myself. Yeah.
Jeremy (23:09.864)
So they were, and I'm not gonna make you keep saying it, and my interest is not stirring the pot or anything, but I just wanna make sure I'm clearly understanding. That organization was just not, they were pretending you didn't exist. Okay.
Alex Reyes (23:15.709)
Yeah.
Alex Reyes (23:26.611)
Basically and going back even to promotion you know, my dad has a Pan American internationals and You know even the promotion side right even the promotion side my dad will pay them $2,500 for promotion and and you and you know, it's almost like they have favorites You know, you'll see WKU WKC Diamond Nationals and I'm like and I kept asking him is there another tier that we could pay for so make the same so was it so
Jeremy (23:35.35)
okay.
Alex Reyes (23:56.519)
That kind of made me be like, damn, it's not fair. And there were pretty much the only ones at that time. So then, you know, I get along with all of them too. Like I Mallory woods, Hunter, you know, everybody there, the only one I've had some issues with was Emily Cooper. you know, just, you know, we had issues and whatever from when competing and stuff, but I guess maybe that was the reason why. then, so then that's what it all kind of happened. And then also not, it's kind of a mix, you know,
Jeremy (24:23.048)
you
Alex Reyes (24:26.217)
a mixture of things because also in 2013, I was almost out of the sport too. I was kind of like going through a divorce and stuff. and like, so my, wasn't sparring to the team as much because of the money. So then ASG came, Jason Chen and said, I'm going to give you a team. that kind of put me back actively again on the circuit too. all that combination kind of in 13 was a perfect storm in November of 2013. Me and my, my friend Steve Hart were like,
Jeremy (24:34.536)
Hmm.
Alex Reyes (24:55.815)
Man, we always talk about karate stuff too, right? well, we would starting to post videos and stuff already. I was, and I told my friend, we always talk about karate matchups. Imagine if we do it like on a show and we did it with block talk radio over the phone and only listen on the phone, right? I don't know if you heard of that block talk radio and that we will have one listen, then five listens that dirty listens. And then before, you know, it started blowing up and then it started doing the lives. then, so yeah, I kind of like.
Jeremy (25:11.662)
Yeah, I remember that.
Alex Reyes (25:25.577)
like, you know, with all these things happening. But really at the beginning, was just from the beginning, just like anything, it's just passion. Like you said, I was just doing it to put the sport out there, to make sure my stuff is out there. And then I was like, let me start filming this person, not just make it about me, about that. And then eventually I made it to where, you know, I don't film anything about me now. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, I just would, you know, a lot of the...
behind it was because I just wanted footage of myself, you know, and then, and then just, it just evolved into this. And then I would, I went to a tournament and I said, let me, let me like work it like a tournament, like covering it. And I did it for free. then from there, from orders to say, can you do that for me for you? Do that for me. Now we have 150 tournaments that we promote. So yeah, that's pretty much the story on that. And as far as going back to.
Jeremy (25:56.443)
Get it.
Jeremy (26:15.144)
That's great.
Alex Reyes (26:19.561)
to sport martial arts, I'm cool. Me and Emily actually spoke this year and I like what they're doing. They're doing a great job. I'm not even a competition with them. If anything, I thank them for helping me be where I'm at, right? And now, and there's plenty of room for everybody. People ask me, this competition of yours, and I'm like, no, it's not competition. The more eyes that are on sport martial arts, open sport martial arts is better. So I'm glad now there's, Jackson has sport karate zone too.
I just focuses on that that you know, he was working with blackball magazine that was blackball magazine was actually covering sport car karate So that was great, you know, you know, and there's other black and blue videos been around for a long time So it's like it's great. We need more martial arts internet work I'm giving a shout out to them just to you know You guys are doing a great job And I think we actually need more for the sport to grow because that's how the money comes in. It'll a real sport, you know
Jeremy (27:03.548)
Yes.
Jeremy (27:09.64)
I agree, completely agree. Where does Burger King set up every restaurant? Right? Not as far away from a McDonald's as they can get, right across the street, right? And there's a whole, you know, and we see this in a lot of industries, but you know, we're talking about martial arts. And it's one of the things I'll always tell people is, look, if you've got another martial arts school across the street, across town, whatever, they're not competition.
Alex Reyes (27:17.161)
Next to the Donalds.
Alex Reyes (27:38.109)
Yeah.
Jeremy (27:38.578)
They're doing stuff, maybe it's even similar or maybe it's completely different. But what if you put your marketing dollars together? What if you turned your town into the martial arts town? And now you get more people coming in, right? Because rising tide lifts all ships, right? And I go back to that McDonald's Burger King thing. can't tell me, people can't tell me that Burger King and McDonald's franchising and corporate is so dumb.
that they don't know where to put their restaurants, right? Like these are global multi-billion dollar companies. They know what they're doing. They're doing it intentionally because everybody makes more money.
Alex Reyes (28:06.728)
Yeah.
That's crazy.
That's true. And you know what, going back to even, you know, even when it's all the same really in life, competition makes you better, right? You know, it keeps you, I don't want to be the only one either. You know, I want people to grow. makes it, it makes it made me being, being bigger and wanting to stay bigger has, I also did the magazine in point fire life magazine that we're doing. We're going to have one issue come out soon. We've had trading cards, you know,
Just different ideas to keep getting better. know, just like, just competing, right? Competing is good, but it's not really compete at the end of the day. It's like you said, like, like down here, if I had rivals like Murphy Gonzalez and all the people that we were rivals in Miami, and then we go out to the nationals and we're like, Hey, there's like four or five good teams from Miami. Wow. You know? And then when we're there, we're like brothers, we're like, we're cheering for each other. You know, we're competing against each other here.
And we're out there, we're supporting each other. like you just said, it makes it an awesome sport karate or martial arts town by having schools all over. That's a, that's a good point. Like you just said there. Yeah. Good. Yeah.
Jeremy (29:21.064)
Absolutely. I want to go back because you came up in competition. You mentioned your brother, you mentioned your father. Competition, martial arts competition is a family affair, if you will. So rewind tape, let's go way back. When did competition start for you?
Alex Reyes (29:28.445)
Yeah.
Alex Reyes (29:32.969)
Yes, man, my Okay, all right That is great. That's great. All right, okay I started competing at about 12 and I did it I didn't like karate before them. No, my dad my dad has a school since 1972 Right and he's a champion. He won the US Open before he also had the MAO team which fought Budweiser
In on the on ESPN or Sports Center, right? The Cuban-American team they had a set match and they fought against Budweiser So he was always like he was kind of like a top team guy always to and had sponsors and stuff and I didn't like it but then my brother I you know, I wouldn't want to even go to karate and they would tell me stay at home and Be in your bed and we'll know TV or go to karate, right? And sometimes I would skip karate. I'll say I'd rather take that right so but then what got me hooked
was my brother from Metro All-Stars, Hector Santiago. He had a Metro All-Star team that would always rival against Paul Mitchell. And he got a contract and a whole box, a package. He had his uniform, the sweats, the hats, multiple uniforms, gear, gear bag, jackets, hoodies, shirts, and a plane ticket, and just with a bonus already. And he's like,
I'm like, I remember that like it was yesterday. I'm sitting in my parents' house in the table and I could say I'm sitting across from him because he was, he was having my mom record them, like sign the contract and stuff, you know, and I was like, that got me hooked from there. I went to karate and I was behind because I was like a purple dot at that time. Right. Yeah. I saw him. Yeah. I saw him. He's going to travel and he's traveling. He's sponsored by a team.
Jeremy (31:19.026)
because you saw it could take you somewhere. You saw that there was a path.
Alex Reyes (31:28.091)
And like, I want to do that. I'm like that, that got my attention in the martial arts, the competitive side. Right. And then, and then, you know, and then I ended up teaching too. never thought I would fall in love with it that much, but that made me fall in love with martial arts where, where then I learned, I wanted to soak it all in and, know, and then competing, you know, I started fighting my brother. He will beat me up because the kids, my age were beating me. And then my brother was like, you want to get better than them? Fight me. And he would.
beat the hell out of me, right? And four years, four years. Yeah. So you're talking about 12. He's like, you know, 16, you know, around here. And, and, yeah. And he, he was a, and he was an adult fighter. He started fighting adults at like 15. So, you know, that's why he was on Metro. He was on Metro actually at 17 years old because he wasn't even yet when he was fighting and winning titles already. So just, he was that good. So.
Jeremy (31:59.24)
How much older is your brother? Four years.
Jeremy (32:05.318)
Yeah, it's a big difference though.
Alex Reyes (32:26.365)
He's, was like, but his mentality was like, fight better people. So by the time you get to there, you're going to be better. So he moved me up to black belt as well. Right. And he fought me. So, you know, that made me better, I think. And then when I started fighting kids, my own age, you know, after fighting him for a few months, they were easy, you know, so that got me better. And then from there, you know, I watched the teams aspect of it. My also in the back of my, I don't remember too much of my dad.
But I remember traveling and going there and that had to like subconsciously impact me because I ultimately became like my father. Exactly. Like I opened up a school, I had my own teams, since 2000. When did I start sponsoring teams? man. started sponsoring. I think it was like, I was like 20, whatever. Right. I started sponsoring teams and with my own money, right. When I would people.
will think this is crazy, but I spent $120,000 of my own money without having a house, without being financially successful. It's just, I was always a giver and I wanted to have a team. And that's how much the sport meant to me that I wanted to like be relevant and like win and have my own type of team. So that's kind of when I started with that, with the competition and building up champions. so, so yeah, I just, that's kind of a
A summary of it all, know, just the short version kind of of how it is. So yeah, my brother, my brother was the one that really got my attention to do it. Then once I got in there, I fell in love with it. Then I opened up my own school by the time I was 18. I had champions teams. I was a coach, you know, sponsor and everything. And then that led me up to, to point fighter life, you know? Yeah.
Jeremy (34:15.4)
That's quite the 180 to go from being 12 and disliking martial arts so much that you'd rather stay in bed and do nothing on at least some nights to just six years later, you're opening a school, you're investing in the industry.
Alex Reyes (34:18.459)
Yeah.
Alex Reyes (34:34.685)
Thank God my dad made me too. Thank God they made me kind of in a way. They say you have to do something. So thank God that it made me. not, if they wouldn't have kind of forced me in there, I wouldn't be where I'm at today. That's crazy, right? Yeah.
Jeremy (34:45.608)
Right. Yeah. And so let's talk about that for a minute because one of the things that we talk about as an industry right now is, you see these quotes pushed around in the school owners groups, kids don't quit karate, parents quit karate. Right? How do you feel about that? Should parents be pushing their kids to remain in martial arts more often?
Alex Reyes (35:02.482)
Exactly.
Alex Reyes (35:09.369)
I think that when it comes to parents with me, the first thing I tell a parent when they walk in is, Hey, watch, observe, and just, you know, tell them good job or whatever. Don't, don't tell them their mistakes. Hey, do this, put it at lower, try harder because then it takes away from the fun. It's you turning it into a job. So I tell them, don't tell them anything. And when they go home, that's the first thing I tell them. Say, how do you like it? What you learned today? Don't tell them anything of how they could improve.
Jeremy (35:23.72)
Hmm.
Alex Reyes (35:38.727)
So yeah, so then parent, you know, and then also going back to what we're talking now at the same time, you know, I could see a kid if they like it or not. Like I tell the parent, you know, a kid, when they start, they like it. And then they start to like go down. But at the beginning, when they're so pumped up, I even prepped the parents up. say, Hey, look, they love it now. You know, and Mark, part of martial arts to get into black belt is like a big life goal, right? In the future.
You could compare getting a black belt to getting a degree, being married, right? Having a good relationship, a good career, right? Because, because it's going to get hard. You like it. I tell my parents, they love it right now. So remember this proves that they do like it, right? They're coming here. They want to do it. They've been here, but once they start getting into the blues in the middle, I call it the blues, right? In the middle, intermediate, levels. That's when.
Jeremy (36:32.95)
you
Alex Reyes (36:37.085)
You start to be like maybe a little bit bored of it. It's taking too long. I'm not good enough. Those types of things start to ha I want to maybe do this or that. Right. So I told, I kind of set them up for the feelings that are going to come up with their kids in the future. And I go, and that's when it's the hardest marathon is the hardest in the middle. Right. The beginning you take off and at the end you see the finish line and you're like the hard parts in the middle. If you teach your kids to stay here in the middle,
Jeremy (36:57.168)
Hmm.
Alex Reyes (37:06.919)
when I go, they may love it all the way to block that happens, but most people in the middle are like, they start to have those feelings. And I go, and if you could teach them to make it through the middle, you're setting them up for success in the future. Like I tell them that at the beginning, you know? So it doesn't work all the time because people quit, but at least I feel good telling them that because I'm giving their parents a life lesson there too, you know?
Jeremy (37:30.758)
Yeah, yeah, it's something that I think the whole industry deals with. It's something I deal with at my school, this idea that, you know, kids, not just kids, people experience a little bit of adversity with, you know, maybe their schedule gets a little busier or they're tired or whatever. And this thing that they set out to do, arts, because they saw all the benefits and especially early on, right, they're seeing the positive changes it's making in their life.
Alex Reyes (37:35.325)
Yeah.
Jeremy (37:59.624)
And then they say, you know, I'm going to stop doing this thing that's great for me because it got a little more difficult. you know, they're teach what are they teaching themselves? Right. They're teaching themselves to quit when it gets hard. And that's that's the opposite of martial arts.
Alex Reyes (38:17.181)
Yes, man. Yeah, that's the they said but this is type if that it's a at time that we're in now, right? It's different times are different right now. So really now, you know Kids are more in control of their parents when at the end it comes from love in a way like in a way like my generation our generation in a way it's like At least for me, you know, my parents, you know, it's hard to even hug them or say I love you. I don't know
You know, because they didn't grow up that that way either. You know, I don't know if a lot of people are like that, but, but from down here, or maybe Hispanics down here are in a way, I'm not sure how the demographics work with that. But, but like, come from a generation where it's like. Hard to do that. So I would figure a lot of other people are like that too. So now this generation doesn't want to be like that generation. So they're giving so much love, you know, every, but they're just doing it with too much where the kids, you know, you can't have their hand now.
you know the whole way like there's kids coming to interview there's 18 year olds 19 year olds now Going to interviews and their parents are they're supporting them being there while they're while the business Owners interviewing the kids and i'm like, what the heck is this and i've seen business owners Tell me that too and say if I see a parent come in with a kid, don't hire them You know what? I mean, it's kind of like you know that society where it's at right now and I feel like
Jeremy (39:24.146)
Yeah. Yeah.
Alex Reyes (39:39.133)
This society now it's going to be a middle. There's got to be a balance. You know what I mean? We're not where there's love, but also, you know, a little bit of tough love where you, you teach them that they got to earn what they have. And that's now what's happening. They're not, it's not being kind of earned in a way, you know? Yeah.
Jeremy (39:43.314)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (39:55.762)
Right. You know, when we take a look at martial arts instruction, there are a lot of parallels with raising kids, right? And I don't have kids of my own, but there's something I heard from somebody once probably 10, 15 years ago, and it changed my perspective on my childhood, my upbringing, and how I engage with people when I train them. The job of a parent is not to raise a child, it's to raise an adult.
Alex Reyes (40:02.547)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Reyes (40:24.392)
Yes.
Jeremy (40:24.518)
Right? You're trying to get that kid to launch and be self-sufficient at some point. And that is ultimately, that should be our job as martial arts instructors, that at some point they're going to take their martial arts back out into the world and use it in a good way, whether that's because they opened their own school or because they're the CEO of a company and you know, their discipline and their respect and all the other soft skills that they have, or maybe because, know, heaven forbid they get into a confrontation.
Alex Reyes (40:28.435)
Thanks.
Alex Reyes (40:37.598)
Yeah.
Alex Reyes (40:50.312)
Yeah.
Jeremy (40:54.716)
and they're able to protect themselves or someone they love. And I think quite often, you know, what you're talking about, you're talking about parents that are so focused on love, they're forgetting their job. And I think there are plenty of martial arts instructors that forget their job, that they want those people to be students and only students forever.
Alex Reyes (41:05.843)
Yeah.
Yeah, know and our job is martial artists too, which it's you know, I think that martial arts instructors if you could do this like you know how they say if you can be here how that that song with the Sinatra right you can make it here you can make it anywhere I think that March cuz one work cuz you know when you go to a restaurant, know The foods the same the waiters, of course is a customer service that plays a role but with us
every, you know, there's different people, like there's different ways to motivate kids and you're teaching in a class. Cause let me break it down. There's a kid that can get motivated by saying, Hey, good job, Johnny, let's go keep it going. You know, even if they didn't do it as good, but you're like pumping them up. then there's a, but then there's kids that you tell them that and they're like, yeah, I know. And they kind of get like, I'm too good for this. Right. So, but they, they react good too. You can't do that.
You can do it. You let me see if you could do it. Let's see who's the best at this. Then that gets their attention and they want that. Right. And that, but then if you tell that other kid, the same thing, they may be like, I can't do it. You're right. You know what I'm saying? So some kids, so everybody needs a different type of motivation in a way. And it's our job as the instructor to figure it out and bring out the best of them. Right. If we want to be the best of ourselves, not just teach one way with everybody, but at, but we are doing it at the same time.
So that makes it even harder to be able to be like, you know, we're basically helping them in their way, you know, our way, right. And everybody's together. So I think that, you know, I think that that is a big thing with us that we make, you know, martial artists, all of us have to do that stuff. You know what I mean? There's no way that just teaches and says, this is my way. If you don't like it, get out of here. I think that that Cobra Kai thing doesn't really exist now in these days. You know, we're here to help.
Jeremy (43:03.304)
It's less common, it's still there. I'm sorry to say that I know some schools like that. But it's not the norm.
Alex Reyes (43:09.5)
So.
Yeah, it's not the norm. Yeah, but there are schools like that. You're right. Yeah, there are some schools like that.
Jeremy (43:17.426)
But the internet, right? And you're part of this, I'm part of this, this wave of internet martial arts exposure has meant that people can't get away with that anymore. When pre-internet, somehow a lot of people, over half of the martial artists ended up at schools that miraculously taught the most effective form of martial arts ever developed on the planet.
Alex Reyes (43:30.919)
Yeah, that's yeah, you're right. That's true.
Jeremy (43:47.964)
Right? How everybody lucked out into that, I'll never know, but that's not what I hear people saying anymore. Right? Now it's, and you see a lot more cross-training, a lot more incorporation of other principles. and, and, know, and, and I think that we're on the verge and tell me what you think of this. You know, we're, we're, roughly the same age. I think as our instructors generation, as they start to pass away, it's us.
Alex Reyes (43:54.823)
Amen.
Alex Reyes (43:59.507)
What?
Jeremy (44:16.078)
opening these schools and teaching these people with these more open-minded ideals. And what's going to happen to martial arts as styles and as competition and everything when everybody's going, how, how do we combine this? How do we put this together? How do we share these ideas?
Alex Reyes (44:34.865)
Well, I think it's good. think it's like evolution. It evolves, you know, and of course you want to keep that tradition in there, but even Ed Parker, which I'm Kenpo, you know, my dad, my dad was his first generation, first generation student of Ed Parker. And he was like, he said, that's why when he died, really, there was nobody that took over. He wanted it to evolve and let it go. He says that martial arts will always keep evolving, including his system. So he knew that in the future though, the Kenpo techniques would have,
Jeremy (44:38.76)
Yeah.
Jeremy (44:47.016)
Mmm.
Alex Reyes (45:04.561)
Maybe some jujitsu in it or whatever, you know what saying? So like he kind of said it like that on purpose in a way. So I think that, but of course you got to be careful with everything. Cause you will still want to keep the traditional stuff. You want to keep that traditional in there, the tradition in there. You know what I mean? And not, not water it down as well. So, you know, at the same time, it has to be a good evolution, you know, with the right. Yeah.
Jeremy (45:26.882)
You're a perfect person to ask about that then, right? Because a lot of people would look at maintaining that traditional aspect of whatever art you're training in and then see competition, which let's face it, certainly not everyone, but quite a bit of what goes on for a lot of people in competition is non-traditional. It's a bit counter, right?
And you love both. can see it in the way you're talking. How do you reconcile that? How do you make sure both can exist?
Alex Reyes (45:56.295)
Well, well, well, look, there's just more, more, right? More, more divisions. Like, look, NASCA now has, divisions. There's, there's a traditional division, but really you can make up a kind of that looks traditional, right? But it's made up, but people were complaining about that, but they listen and now they got the traditional challenge and there's a Korean challenge where you have to do the cop. have to
do a real kata in the, you know, in the, you know, the style. So that doing stuff like that keeps it in line with the traditional and there's traditional judges that know the forms, you know, that's how you kind of keep it in traditional and these open sport martial arts leagues. Right. So, cause then you see the other side could keep evolving with CMX and you know, creative extreme and just Hollywood style.
Jeremy (46:27.944)
Mmm.
Jeremy (46:48.616)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Reyes (46:51.953)
stuff, right? So I think that's cool. There's something for everybody. Literally. There's just more divisions that they're adding and more and more and more. So, so I, I really liked that, you know, and then also, you know, if you think about it, you know, we're called sport karate, but it's really should be, that's one thing that I like about sport martial arts, right? Emily, it's called, this is really sport martial arts is what we're doing. So, and I kind of like to call it, I changed it up a little open sport martial arts cause it's open.
So I've been actually, when I post and I'd say it, I've been saying it even more because it's not limited to just karate. that, cause I think that that has an effect on what people are seeing too. When I call it sport karate and they're like, that's not karate, right? But if you call it open sport martial arts, that's really what this is. It's open sport martial arts was this open to everybody and there's categories for everybody. Right? So I think that that's, that's, I think we need a name change in sports. It needs to be open for martial arts.
Jeremy (47:30.482)
Yeah.
Alex Reyes (47:50.291)
Cause then that gets people cause then also, cause look, there's tournaments. Look, if you want. Sure. Really get even more traditional go to WK. I consider this all one universe. Right. Cuma Tay is similar to point fighting, but it's not the same thing. Cuma Tay is limited to not limited, but it's karate. So it's only the karate techniques. Right. And, and then, but, but if you see that in, in our sport,
Jeremy (47:51.121)
I agree.
Alex Reyes (48:17.683)
There's it's open to everybody. So there's going to be taekwondo influence. So it's going to look different, right? That's what I tell people sometimes that comment they're like, that's not a car. What kind of karate is it? It's a, it's a universal system, you know, but people still have those options. If they don't like it, go to WKF tournaments, go to, you know, go to taekwondo, a you, whatever turn that there are, you know, if you just want to stick with one style and then that's where
Jeremy (48:35.986)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (48:40.2)
Hmm?
Alex Reyes (48:44.837)
If you really want it to be really traditional, go to those things and everybody there is doing what you're doing exactly. And that makes it less, you know, if you don't like what's going on in open sport martial arts world, you go to that and that's it. You know, I think that really, and I don't hate on it. And there's actually people that are doing both and they, they appreciate both. I appreciate it all, you know, pretty much with that. I like where it's evolving. I like the evolution of the, of the, of the other stuff that's happening. And I like.
Jeremy (49:04.22)
Yes.
Yeah.
Alex Reyes (49:13.725)
That the fact that there's still, I think there's really a lot of people that want to keep it traditional and there's options ready for everybody. So I say, what's wrong with having a lot of options, right? That's good.
Jeremy (49:24.456)
We're on the exact same page with that for sure. You bring up something that I, I'm hopeful a lot of people in the competitive space will watch this video because you're part of it. And I want to underscore something that you said because my view is that martial arts should be bigger. When we look at what we do and the benefits that it has, there should be more people participating. And what people may not realize is in the U.S.,
We have half the participation of global participation. We have fewer people in the U.S. And, you we're not limited as a company. We're not just in the U.S., but, you know, most of our audience is American. And one of the things that I think creates that is we will use generic terms or terms that we are using generically. We'll use sport karate when we really mean sport martial arts.
Alex Reyes (49:59.325)
Wow.
Alex Reyes (50:02.696)
Yeah.
All ready? Cool.
Jeremy (50:23.944)
How does the taekwondo practitioner feel when they're being told they're doing sport karate? How does somebody who's training in Filipino martial arts feel when we're using the term dojo generically, right? And so that's one of the things that I work really hard with our team to make sure that when we do anything at Whistlekick, we don't use karate dojo sensei as the generic terms. We will use English, you know.
Alex Reyes (50:36.072)
Yeah.
Jeremy (50:51.246)
It's a school, it's an instructor, it is martial arts, because then it's inclusive for everyone.
Alex Reyes (50:51.731)
Thanks.
Alex Reyes (50:57.617)
Yeah, there you go. That's it, man. Yeah, that's true. A hundred percent. That's, that's, that's the way it should be really. But we just get, we get used to just saying what we see and what we're told. Like that hit me this year. I've been, I've been doing this. I've been going to these tournaments for all these years and it never hit me till this year. I was like, it's really should be, cause I guess I was doing a voiceover and I'm like, it's Taekwondo Poomsae. And I'm like,
I'm like, up next, power baby up next. We have a taekwondo poomsae performance here at this sport karate tournament. I'm like, no, it's gotta be what that makes no sense, right? That makes no sense. So I'm that said, I open sport martial arts tournament and that's it. yeah, it should be. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to change it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeremy (51:40.616)
Well, we'll keep, we can both keep saying it and we'll get people to change, change how they're doing it. We can make it more inclusive and get more people doing. So what's your, what's your long-term vision for the brand? mentioned magazine, you know, you're, you do a bunch of things, but where, where do you want to take this? What's the goal?
Alex Reyes (51:54.951)
Yeah, wow. Man,
Alex Reyes (52:01.189)
Right now i'm 47 and I want to build this thing up as big as I can and And I just have a feeling that more I build it I know Well, I already had an offer from somebody To buy it already. All right, so but I want to build it even bigger because I know somebody's gonna come I know a tv network. somebody's gonna come. I know it I can feel it because
Jeremy (52:16.69)
Nice. Nice.
Alex Reyes (52:28.741)
Views the views and the followers and brings it brings the attention right? That's money. So so I have a feeling somebody's in a cup approach me one day and say hey I want to buy you out and then I'll have some deciding decisions to make I don't think I would ever want to do that Really? I would only way I would opt to doing something like that if I see it's gonna help grow the sport more Right, and if they bring me on and hire me as well
for at least a few years on it, you know, so I can help them grow it through there too. You know, I want to be part of it. so I want to build from the beginning. I want to put this sport on the map. That's what I've been saying since my first pod first podcast. You know, I want to put this sport on the map. want people to be household names. and I have a, I have a, you know, blueprint right now, right now, my next step is going to be to help, you know, I'm already doing very well.
Jeremy (52:56.648)
Uh-huh.
Jeremy (53:14.706)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Reyes (53:25.767)
with this, you know, we have the brand so and I'm helping people. love to help people going back to where I would sponsor a team and have barely no money for myself. Right. So and now my karate school, you know, I have people teaching for me. I'm only going there like once a week and I never felt that I never thought about how good it feel to do that for people, give opportunities to them. And like basically, you know, I make like
Thousand dollars of profit in my school. Basically the school is for them right now. So I love that I'm doing that and I just want to give more and You know, it's been a hard ride to get here too. This wasn't just let me start here. I've been Demonetized I've been hacked. They took $20,000 from my payout account my payout on Facebook I got the monetize and I had to start over if you notice there's two Facebook pages one with almost two million and one with almost eight hundred thousand
700 and something thousand because that page that happened and I to basically start over on Facebook there and that's when I Grew to YouTube. That's when I said I have all my hands in one basket. Let me go to YouTube take talk Instagram and now you know and now I build a new page up I Got you to going take talk. We're over a hundred thousand and all those things and and now actually two weeks ago God bless me with
Bringing that page back. So now I got that page back again. So it's like I take, you know, but, it's been such a hard road to get here. And I feel like. I think that, you know, I was never religious until last year, right? I don't want to throw this stuff too much on you guys, but my life changed ever since I started, you know, praying and believing reborn again. I'm a born again, basically Christian. And since that's happened, I feel like,
Jeremy (54:58.295)
nice.
Jeremy (55:09.064)
Mm.
Jeremy (55:20.207)
Nice.
Alex Reyes (55:25.533)
God doesn't talk to me, through me. I feel like I'm here to do a lot of good and you know, it takes money. And I feel like by building this brand up to where I want it to be is going to open up so much for me to help the world. Cause there's a lot of things going on in the world, with human trafficking and stuff like that. And like, I want to be part of that to help. That's my ultimate goal is when I be remembered, I want to be remembered as a good human.
not as somebody that built this karate thing, you know what I'm saying? But I, this is a tool that God's given me and it's taken me a long time to get here. you know, through trial and error and failing, right. But I feel like it's been done.
Jeremy (56:00.582)
I do.
Jeremy (56:10.44)
So what happens when you're doing something nobody's done before?
Alex Reyes (56:17.629)
though it's ran its course away. It's gone. Like for me, I wish I would have been here faster. And to go through where I was at where I'm making 30, 20 to 50,000 a month, you know, two years ago and then get hacked to just making money in karate. that was hard, right? But I did it again. And I feel like God did that to me almost to humble me. Cause I was maybe a little bit not, you know, that was new money. That new money was coming in. then before that I had no money in 2020.
I started posting videos, boom, boom, boom, boom. And you know, I bought a house, vacations, car, boom. You know, I was, I'm all that. Right. And then I feel like then this thing happened to me and it humbled me. Right. I still had money from going to tournaments because I covered tournaments too. So I didn't lose it all, but, it humbled me. Right. And I feel like I needed it. And that's when now all of a sudden this year it started blowing up like it.
Jeremy (56:59.976)
Hmm.
Alex Reyes (57:16.411)
It started actually blowing up in May for real, where I was starting to make back to being Alex that was in 2020. So, and in May of 2000, May of 2020, this year, 24, I would 15,000 in debt after having 50 grand in the bank saved two years ago. Right. I 15,000 in debt and I was almost like, you know what I I'm telling you, I, I was like,
I was telling my friend Ozzy that he's here, my cameraman. you know what, maybe this isn't for me. should just fall. Cause at this point I already, you know, I didn't get in it for the money, but at this point I made money and to lose the money and then just, want it, you know, once you have a taste of it, you want it. So, so I'm like, you know what? I even was like, maybe God's telling me. I just stick to teaching karate and building karate, school builds B that's who you are. And then do this outside for fun.
Jeremy (57:59.346)
Ready? Of course.
Alex Reyes (58:14.693)
I was actually accepting, basically that. then all of a sudden we go to Atlantic city, we had a tournament up there, a breaking tournament. And on the way back, this was days after I said that. Right. And, on the way back, I hit a viral on that new page. Cause I started that other page now that has 700,000 last October. So not only it may had 3000 followers.
Jeremy (58:39.464)
Mmm.
Alex Reyes (58:44.241)
Right. So from May to now it's gotten 700,000 followers. Take talk over 130,000 YouTube. We got the plaque and you know what? That week, you know, that week I read a Bible story, right? About, Peter, right? I'm not going to get too much into it. He was a man of God and he did everything he could. He was, he couldn't do it no more. And then that's when God said, okay,
You've done all you can. Let's go take the smallest boat and boom. And they come back and they come back with all this fish for everybody. Right? So I heard that it's crazy how it happened at the same time. You know, it's almost like, that's how God talks to me. He's like, here, you can no more. I got you. I'm going to hit you with abundance. Boom. And all of a sudden that week,
getting emotional sorry it's gonna be good for ratings power baby yes so so yeah so yeah so dude all of a sudden May 17 I'm 15,000 in debt
Jeremy (59:45.254)
Nah, take your time man, take your time.
You're you are not even close to the first person that's cried on this show man. I am I'm honored that you're being that open
Alex Reyes (01:00:09.289)
That's when I say I can't no more. read that about me, me 18 and I didn't realize what I read it. And I was like, just all right. And I saw it right. Cause I also see, my person, my pastor, Steven Furtick, right? He's a great pastor, that I listened to online. So all of a sudden in 10 days, I $20,000 in 10 days.
And then that video shows up for me again. And I'm like, that was for me. And that's it. And like, you know, I was empty and I couldn't no more. then boom. And I really feel like, yeah, God was working through me and that's it. Yeah.
Jeremy (01:00:55.88)
Yeah, the last thing I'm gonna do is discount the faithful component. But there's another component here that is martial arts and that's discipline, right? How many people, when they had doubt, would have just stopped, right? They would have canceled what they were doing. would have just, hard on the brakes. you kept going, even...
Alex Reyes (01:01:04.561)
Yeah. Yeah.
yeah.
Alex Reyes (01:01:19.145)
Jeremy,
Jeremy (01:01:23.844)
even though it was hard, even though you were unsure, because it's what you're like, I don't know, but I'm gonna keep doing this because this is the thing that I've been doing, right? And that's what discipline is, right? Discipline helps us get through these difficult parts where, you you can't see it's being in the middle of the ocean. I can't see where I started. I can't see where I'm going, but I need to trust that I'm gonna get there. And I think for a lot of people, myself included.
There's absolutely a component of faith in there. But even if you... There's nothing wrong with the martial arts side of it, right? There's nothing wrong with grinding it out and the discipline that comes from that. Yeah.
Alex Reyes (01:01:52.375)
Yeah. True.
Alex Reyes (01:02:02.397)
No, that's true. That giving up and never giving up part, you know, even my wife told me, you know, Hey, you, maybe you should give it up. This is bad for you. Cause I'm working at this point. I'm working from five to nine. You know, I'm also going to the school, you know, so I have to do everything before two o'clock. So it was, it took a toll on my body too. you know, I gained weight. I'm, I'm trying to lose it now. you know, so.
But I never, know, everybody around me, just my best friend that I started Point Fighter Radio with was like, bro, you've been saying you're going to get it back for two years. Nothing's happened. You know, like he would even make fun of me and just, I never gave up even when I said, like when I was just like accepting how I got, this is what you have for me. I'm going to, you know, that money's not going to come. It's okay. I accept it. And that's when it came, but I never was going to give up. Like I was still going to keep doing my thing. I wasn't just going to be like,
you know, so meaning that, you know, so, so, but yeah, true martial arts, it brought that, you know, they never give up. That's what I was telling my kids, you know, try hard, never give up, believing in yourself, right? And, and that's it. And have faith too and be positive, right? I say be positive when I'm in school, but to other people, I say have faith because that's what being positive is, being faithful, you know, having faith. So, so yeah, man, but.
Jeremy (01:03:28.392)
There's one more thing I want to point out because we may have some folks watching or listening and they heard the numbers, right? And I think it's really easy and as a business owner and as someone who pays attention to social media, we live in this time where people assume that financial success in business comes quickly and that if it doesn't come quickly, there's something wrong with you or your business or anything.
Alex Reyes (01:03:43.731)
Thanks.
Jeremy (01:03:56.788)
And what people forget is that the stories that are plastered all over the place as being, these, these quick hit successful businesses, those are the minority. And so what I'm hearing, I heard you, you started point fighter in 2013, but why were you able to start point fighter in 2013? Because how much time had you had in on the circuits meeting people, having connections, right? So this, this success that you're seeing, this is
20, 30, 35 years in the making, people forget that. It's a grind, it is hard work. And if you're willing to invest and stay disciplined, you can do things. And it's one of the things I think martial artists, we have over a lot of other people in the world is we're used to doing hard things. We know that the better we get, the harder it gets.
Alex Reyes (01:04:31.561)
to me.
this.
Alex Reyes (01:04:51.049)
true, man, that's so true. And yeah. And you know, doing something else in there, just thought about, was going to say my part of the next thing with point fighter life too, is I'm going to help now that I'm doing good again, right? I'm sponsoring teams now again, I'm sponsoring individuals, silent sponsoring. I'm giving back. I sponsor, I'm sponsoring breaking tournaments. I'm posting some breaking tournaments. My next thing next is going to be. Cause I want this all eyes on us.
If you think about every sport, their's sports center, ESPN, whatever that Fox sports, that's a platform, but then you have to have people brand names of people, household names. Right. That's my next thing. I'm, I'm, I'm working with certain individuals and I give them tips to blow up their channels. Right. I'm gonna, I'm kind of like doing a free coaching for them, right? Cause I thought about coaching.
Jeremy (01:05:23.816)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (01:05:47.037)
Nice.
Alex Reyes (01:05:49.397)
Charging for it, but I want to maybe in the future, but I want to first Do it for something else to get because if you see big tournaments big big pages like mine Big names that's when the ice start really seeing that, you know, I want corporate world America to be like Man, let's see this sport. Wow, they're getting millions of views here. Wow. Okay Whoa, Paul Mitchell sponsors a army sponsors it
Jeremy (01:05:55.4)
Hmm.
Alex Reyes (01:06:19.697)
Right. man, look, this is, Katie McMillan. Wow. She has a million followers. Wow. This is a real sport. People are watching this. I want in. So that's the next step that I think.
Jeremy (01:06:32.716)
You're talking about creating heroes. And it's the thing that we have fallen off doing, right? Who are the biggest names in martial arts? They're either dead or they're in the older generation. We're not doing a great job of lifting people up to a high level and individuals like yourself, know, I mean, we're trying to do some of that too, right? When I see someone, you know, and I'm not the only one who...
Alex Reyes (01:06:35.113)
creating heroes. And they can live off of it. And they can live. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Alex Reyes (01:06:51.272)
Saki.
Jeremy (01:07:02.586)
has input on who comes on the show. But when I see someone that I think, you're like, I like what they're doing. I like how they're trying to help martial arts or the world or whatever, you let's get them on the show. Let's let's give them a platform. Let's tell people about the great stuff that they're doing, you know, and I know you're the same way, you know, you and I have a lot more in common than than people may have realized prior to our conversation. But I knew that because I've been paying attention to what you do for a long time.
Alex Reyes (01:07:15.667)
Yeah.
Alex Reyes (01:07:28.723)
Thank you, thank you, yeah, for sure. No, awesome, man. This has been great. No, and congratulations to you guys. You guys are almost in 1,000, right? This is not easy what you're doing. What you're doing is not easy, you know? And you guys do it a great way, too. Everything's awesome and super professional. So congratulations for sure, you know, for sure. Will we push the... Yes. Shout out to the team, yes, to everybody. You guys are doing an awesome job.
Jeremy (01:07:37.48)
Yeah.
Yeah, that's not. I know you get it. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll shout out to the team because they make me look good.
Alex Reyes (01:07:57.321)
And I can't wait to even push this for real. You got a supporter here. I'm going to be watching all your shows.
Jeremy (01:08:00.178)
Thank you.
I appreciate that. So for people who've been watching or listening, how do they, I know we've talked about it, but let's make sure it's really clear for them. How do they find you? Websites, socials, all that stuff.
Alex Reyes (01:08:12.105)
Yeah, I guess just type in Point Fighter Live everywhere YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook two times Facebook right 1.9 million and 107 six thousand
Jeremy (01:08:26.973)
Should they go to the big one or the smaller one?
Alex Reyes (01:08:29.321)
both. Watch it all and, you know, don't skip the ads. No, I'm just kidding.
Jeremy (01:08:30.695)
Okay.
Jeremy (01:08:38.812)
We're gonna, you know what, we gotta drop an ad right there, right when you said that, we just...
Alex Reyes (01:08:42.281)
All right. it's power baby. There you go. Hit it.
Jeremy (01:08:47.432)
I love it. I love it. Well, Alex, I'm going to throw it back to you to close this up in just a moment, but to the audience, thanks for being here. This has been a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed it. If you're still watching, I'm sure that you did. But yeah, definitely check out what Alex is doing with Point Fighter because it is positive stuff and we need more of that. I'm so thankful that you do, Alex. Check us out, whistlekick.com, whistlekickmartialartsradio.com for everything about this episode, every other episode we've done. You can go watch all of them. They're all there.
We don't hide any of them from you. So if you're new to what we do, you've got the next few months or years of content ahead of you if you want to go check that out. Alex, how do you want to wrap today? What do you want to the audience with?
Alex Reyes (01:09:29.321)
I just want to wrap everything up with telling everybody, you know, to Just believe in yourself and it's okay to fail, right? Failing makes you who you are, who it's going to make you who you are once you get through it. So don't let nobody ever get into your head. And even in your head, don't believe it sometimes. Like Mike Tyson said, you know, your, your brain is not your friend. Right. So.
Your soul right believe in yourself and you could do it and failing take it in as an opportunity, right? Never give up and keep going and keep going till you get to your dreams right? Don't let nobody ever discourage you from it and just keep going and have passion And that's really what it's success about and be honest and that's it. Be honest Have passion never give up and don't forget to Oss power, baby
Whoo, yes. Thank you.