How Steemit Can Help BJJ Academies, Students, & Competitors Grow.

I'll be speaking in more detail on this whenever I release my official introduction post. But for now, I'd like to discuss a general overview of why I think Steemit is a great platform for martial arts schools, specifically bjj schools, and really any business. This is really just a simple post of ideas.

In the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, instructors and academies have it rough. Don't get me wrong, there are many out there that are very great at the business of bjj. But for every famous academy out there doing well, there are probably many more scraping by. When it comes to martial arts (and pro wrestling lol), you do it because you absolutely love it, not necessarily for the money. 

These businesses run with the boom-bust cycles of the economy. Currently, thanks to the UFC, and mma in general, bjj schools are flourishing, somewhat, because the popularity of the sport has taken off. But that is not always the case, and in many local economies around the world, bjj schools are subject to how much spending money the local area has. Jiu jitsu is not a necessity, and many adults and families simply cannot afford to pay for the expensive lessons, uniforms, gear, etc. Then when you factor in extras, such as seminars, private lessons, online subscriptions, competitions, and travel for competition or training, many just cannot swing those costs now days.

When you look at what most schools and instructors do to help promote their academies, you see that social media has played a huge role in the jiu jitsu economy. You cannot go a day without seeing a picture, article, or video in your feed that is not related to mma, bjj, or fighting anymore. It is mainstream pop culture.

The problem lies in the fact that only a certain percentage of free content put out in social media actually results in an actual sale of someone joining your academy, subscribing to your paid content, or leading to actual revenue from ads. There are some that do it, and do it well, on traditional social media, but most are never going to earn a living, or very much money at all for the content they put out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube. It's just the sad fact of those business models.

I commend and give props to the ones that are successful in the current paradigm. Not only do they have the talent and great instruction in most cases, but many are great at the business aspect. But there are also those out there that have just as much talent, just as much great content, and great business savvy, but the legacy model of ad-related revenue, and leads to revenue generated by content subscriptions, merch sales, and actual in person sign up at local academies, are still very cut-throat. The market is very saturated in some ways, and you see so many try and fail.

Steemit has the chance to offer something different. Academies, instructors, and online personalities in the bjj, and mma world, really can create additional revenue streams, just for posting content, and promoting their business on Steemit. We are not quite there yet in the case of bjj, or mma, but only because we do not have the audience that appreciates this content for the most part. However, we do see a growing number of posts in the bjj, mma, ufc, and jiu-jitsu tags. The main problem is, we are still a small minority on Steemit, and we also don't have a lot of original content for these tags.

So, one of the main things that the bjj and mma community on Steemit needs to focus on is outreach to those in the greater bjj and mma community on social media in general. I have a few ideas and plans for that, that will be laid out in the near future.

As far as a brief overview, if your academy were to take all, or most of the original content that they already produce for FB, Twitter, IG, and YouTube, and also simply just also share it on Steemit, they would begin to earn extra revenue for their business, especially as the community grows here on Steemit, and our voting power grows to support each others content. So, imagine that not only does your academy begin to post content to Steemit, but every student that comes through the door at the academy is also introduced to Steemit. 

Almost every student that comes to a bjj gym would love to be able to afford extra private lessons. They would also love to be able to afford to compete, or specially to travel and compete. Many would love to be able to afford more, or better gear, such as gis, shorts, rash guards, mouth guards, gloves, shin guards, etc. 

I also think there is great potential for Steemit sponsored events, competitions, fighters, grapplers, etc. I'm working out exactly how I will use steemitbjj.com and @jiujitus posts to sponsor some jiu jitsu competitors very soon. I will start small, and see how it works in the coming months.

Whether the consumer can afford it or not, if they realized the power that Steemit could provide them to be able to afford more of these things, simply by sharing their jiu jitsu lifestyle, like they already do on social media for free, they would probably jump all over it.

The problem lies in the promotion of the platform overall, the general understanding of digital currency, and also the ease of use. I think just as bitcoin and digital currency has grown and became easier for the mainstream consumer to use, Steemit and all of the Steem platforms will also follow suit. I mean, this is one of the first places in digital currency, that I have ever seen, that many come aboard and know nothing about bitcoin or digital currency when they get here. It's a great tool for the mainstream audience to learn about bitcoin and digital currency as a whole.

We must also remember though, that in order for us to grow, we have to put in the work and time to attract our audience. There are many topics and tags that do great, and people earn quite a bit of money on here. Just look at the travel, food, art, blog, bitcoin, and photography tags. Those are very general, mainstream topics that apply to most everyone. They are big earning tags. They are also very competitive. Most of the users posting and earning on these topics probably aren't all into UFC, mma, jiu jitsu, etc. And that's fine, but it shows you how much of a competitive uphill battle that we have for our interests.

I really want the people I know and follow on mainstream social media to have the ability to earn more for their content. I would love to see bjj academies and students using the Steemit platform to better their shcools, better their students, and better themselves, with the ability to earn on Steemit. What we have here is a great platform for sharing and growth, but not much of an audience yet for the topics that we love. But, we see how popular they already are on every single mainstream platform. The crossover potential is huge.

The major benefit that Steemit also offers is the built in payments system. The ability to sell your products, to sell your subscriptions, to really promote and earn from your business, is baked in. Now it's time to share this with the greater bjj and mma community.

It's not just a perfect fit for these businesses, but business as a whole. I've spent quite a bit of time talking with people from many different types of businesses, and it's very difficult to get them to try it. I feel like I have my work cut out for me, but I really think that in the end, my excitement for Steemit, and digital currency as a whole is worth sharing. I really believe it will change the world, and change how commerce happens online. We are at the forefront of the shift, and we are all in, or fans of an industry that is ripe for Steemit. Now it's just time to spread that message.

I'd love to hear your ideas on how Steemit can help grow the bjj community, and how we can grow the bjj community on Steemit.