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BJ Penn, a Real Martial Artist –and a (BUSINESS) Teacher Extraordinaire
Today (December 13, 2009) is BJ Penn’s birthday. He’s 31 years old. Last night he successfully defended his UFC lightweight title by soundly defeating opponent Diego Sanchez. 

BJ’s victory not only adds to the list of reasons he’s going to go down in martial arts history as one of the greatest martial arts fighters of all time, if not THE greatest, but it was a huge victory for “the business” of teaching the martial arts. 

BJ’s win was a win for martial arts teachers and school owners, because one of “The Prodigy’s” on-the-side projects (that is, besides training 6 hours a day, getting in the best shape of his life, managing one of the most viable athletic careers in any sport, being a new father, and owning his own apparel company and a martial arts academy in Hilo, Hawaii) is The Live Like a Champion Project.


The Live Like a Champion Project is a radically unique kind of school owner and martial arts teacher training program. It’s a personal development program that’s really a business development program that is cleverly disguised as a leadership program that actually has an almost-secret agenda; which is to completely redesign the methods used by martial arts instructors to promote their schools, format their curriculums, affect their communities, and make change in the world. 

More on The Live Like a Champion Project in a minute, first allow me to explain why I believe BJ is a “real” martial artist. Then I’ll follow that with why I believe he is making what will come to be recognized as the most important contributions to the “martial arts industry” in our recent history. 

First, The Man:

BJ is a real martial artist because he takes the physical and technical training as serious as any other martial artist in the world –and quite possibly as seriously as any other martial arts master in history. His knowledge of technique isn’t theoretical; it's field-tested. Like the famous samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi, BJ has challenged himself and his skills in the most extreme ways. 

But physical skill alone does not make a master teacher, and I’m not suggesting BJ is a great martial artist simply because his physical skills are nearly unparalleled in the world. 

Second, How He Has Taken it Off of The Mat and Out of The Ring

BJ Penn is a real martial artist because he’s applying what he is learning through his training to his life. He’s growing because of the way he challenges himself. 

The BJ Penn of 10 years ago, of 5 years ago, is not the Penn you see today. He is taking what he is learning as a fighter --and he's using it to become a better human being. 

Let me remind you of Master Funakoshi's famous quote about karate:

"The ultimate aim of the art of karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the characters of its participants."

It is this ability that separates a real martial artist from a person who simply has the ability to fight.

But even this is not why I call BJ a ‘real’ martial artist. 

Third: Leadership and Contribution

 The third element that makes someone a ‘real’ martial artist is his or her understanding of the value of contribution to the lives of others. 

The founder of judo new this; Jigaro Kano affected the lives of untold millions of people. He made his martial arts a part of the Japanese educational system, and then helped launch it as an Olympic Sport, and as a result judo became a cultural outreach program in almost every country in the world. 

Likewise, aikido’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba, known to his followers as ‘Great Teacher,’ with just a handful of students, spread his philosophy of non-violence around the globe. Today, 43 years after his death, Ueshiba’s aikido is still practiced by millions.

The greatest and most respected martial arts teachers, people like Kano, Ueshiba, Karate’s Gichen Funakoshi, taekwondo’s Jhoon Rhee and Ernie Reyes, jeet kune do’s Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s Carlos and Helio Gracie, they have all taken their practice of the martial arts far off of the mat, far out of the ring and the training hall and have, collectively, brought far more than kicks, punches, and chokes to the world. 

With The Live Like a Champion Project, BJ Penn is championing a kind of martial arts school teacher training (and thus, a kind of training for students) that transcends the ring or the dojo. In the ‘Live Project,’ the physical aspects of training are conjoined with acts of kindness, empathy training, meditation, dietary self-defense, philosophy, environmentalism, and community involvement. 

As simple as that may sound, it's a radical departure from the status quo in most martial arts schools and/or organizations. 

BJ Penn has a small team of people helping him, in the midst of a kind of fame and popularity that has millions of people visiting his website, reading about him, and watching him on video, that are working on bringing some very powerful ideas to the martial arts world –and through the martial arts world to The World. 

Why is this important to the martial arts business world?

Well, besides the fact that The Live Like a Champion Project brings all sorts of valuable services and concepts (marketable concepts) to school owners...

Did you see how BJ Penn prepared for and then executed his strategy to win over Diego Sanchez? Do you now how hard he worked to be the winner of this fight? He lived like a champion –and this is the best thing, the ONLY thing that any business consultant should push on his or her clients. 

WORK, struggle, persevere, stay the course, and live like a champion in your school –and in  our community. THAT is how you “become successful” in a martial arts school.

Talent will get you started, it might even bring you great return, but to stay a champion, you have to work at it every day. If you've followed BJ's career, you have seen him live this process.

BJ Penn is showing the martial arts world how to use the martial arts to become a champion in the ring, how to take those ideas out of the ring and put them to work in one’s life, and then how to take it all and make it MEAN SOMETHING in the world.

That’s why BJ is a real martial artist –and an extraordinary teacher for any martial arts school owner willing to pay attention.



BJ Penn's First training Partner and Teacher, Tom Callos
Tom Callos was BJ Penn's first martial arts teacher and training partner in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. 

The two met when Tom was preparing for his 5th degree black belt under Master Teacher Ernie Reyes, Sr. of San Jose, CA. Tom, at that time a 27 year veteran of martial arts training, had just moved to Hilo and was in need of some training partners for his test --which was still a year off (1995).

The day Tom and his wife moved into their rented house in Hilo, he posted a flier in a local health club. "Even before I'd unpacked our boxes," remembers Tom, "I put up some flyers looking for wrestlers and judoka, as I didn't want to miss a day of training. Within an hour of posting my fliers, I got a call from BJ Penn's father, JD Penn."
JD Penn, a black belt in judo himself, wanted his boys involved in something positive, and the martial arts was something he believed in. "I knew if you found a good teacher," recalls JD, "you would learn more than just the techniques of the martial arts. I wanted BJ and Reagan to get the lessons in discipline and focus that I had learned from the martial arts."
Tom, BJ Penn, Reagan Penn, and a small handful of their friends started training three days a week at a local recreation center. "Although I was a 4th degree black belt belt in Taekwondo at the time, I didn't know a lot of BJJ," says Callos, "but I told the boys that while I didn't know a lot of techniques, I knew how to train. So I taught them what I knew -and we worked it, hard."
"I thought I was pretty tough," said the then 17 year old BJ Penn, "but Tom was able to rip me up. Every time we trained I become more motivated to learn about how he was able to do it. That's when I fell in love with the whole process of learning and practicing the martial arts."
"I had no idea that BJ would become The Prodigy," laughs Callos. "I actually tried to talk him out of professional fighting, as lot of my friends had tried to become professional kick-boxers back in the days before the UFC. Most of them had taken a lot of punishment for very little money, and I didn't want to be the guy who'd ruined BJ's life. I told him to try out of for the Olympic Judo Team, as I knew the head coach; while their wasn't any money in judo either, at least there was some prestige in it. Who knew the UFC was going to do what it has?"
Tom introduced the Penn family to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and then he introduced BJ, who he recognized had a serious talent for the sport, to BJJ teacher Ralph Gracie; and the rest is history. BJ Penn has become one of the greatest martial arts fighters of modern history. And Tom? The man who was BJ's teacher has now become a student of The Prodigy. 
"I'm BJ's worst student," says the 50 year old Callos, "but I'm not letting him off the hook until I earn my black belt." Callos, currently a purple belt in BJJ and a 6th degree black belt under Ernie Reyes, Sr., is also one of the most respected martial arts school management experts and curriculum designers in the world. 

"The Live Like a Champion Project is a way to use our combined talents and resources," says Callos, "to bring something remarkable to martial arts teachers around the world. BJ Penn is the greatest fighter of all time --and I believe it's very likely that he could also become one of the world's most important and positive influences for martial arts schools and instructors."
Martial Arts School Management / Promotion & The Live Project

Hello, I’m Tom Callos –and my “job” in the martial arts world is to bring the best ideas to martial arts teachers; ideas about curriculum, business, management, philosophy, and anything else that pertains to improving the quality of instruction, and thus value, in the international martial arts community.

The Live Like a Champion Project, a collaboration with my friend, former student/training partner, and now BJJ Coach, BJ Penn, is for me, the perfect business tool for the serious school owner and/or instructor.

Why?

In part, Because it serves to reveal what instructors are made of; what they're doing for themselves, their students, in their communities, and in the world.

For the martial arts school owner and teacher, there is no better sales tool than authenticity.

When you live and work around BJ Penn, you come to understand that he is who you see on the screen. He opens up his life on www.BJPENN.COM to the world because he can --because he really “lives like a champion.” He’s training, he’s focused, he’s working and living with integrity –and in a way that untold numbers of fans (millions) watch.

And what does that make BJ Penn? 

It makes him a teacher; much like the teachers this program is designed to help.

When he trains, he teaches others about training. When he films his daily diet, he reminds tens-of-thousands of people about the importance of proper diet to a quality life. When he engages the community and works with his Penn Hawaii Youth Foundation, he’s showing his values. When you see BJ Penn in his almost daily communication to his fans, you see someone who has become an extraordinary teacher, someone who knows how to build rapport with his audience. 

You meet someone with no artifice or ulterior motives. 

This is what all martial arts teachers should and could be doing for their students –and the world; that is: living in a way that sets an example. What BJ Penn does as a teachers is he shows the world how he is working on himself. 

I learned a concept from the Aikido Master Gaku Homma, who said he learned the idea from a monk; it is: "My life is my dojo (school)." BJ Penn's life IS his dojo. It's where he learns, practices, and teaches. 

If you want your martial arts school to grow and prosper, with integrity, you need to make your life your dojo.

 In The Live Like a Champion Project we require a weekly blog or vlog (video diary) from all members. And frankly, we expect members to be living in a way that is well…worth watching.

A martial arts teacher should be a leader, an organizer, a philosopher, an athlete, an activist, and a perpetual student / teacher. If you don’t feel this way, you’re wasting your time reading about this project, as The Live Project is about “walking the talk” of the martial arts and martial arts mastery.

If you’re a school owner –or intend to be one, you should know that the martial arts “business” world is full of people giving business advice, that should NOT be giving advice. To be a champion, whether in the ring or in business or in life, there are no shortcuts; there’s no “schemes or strategies" that are worth the energy you waste on them. There is no replacement for authenticity and hard work.

People will tell you they have “the system,” they’ll try to convince you they know how to “double your gross,” and bring in a “flood of new students,” but the truth is this:

There is NO replacement for BEING a martial artist –and I mean a real, practicing student who looks deeply at his or her actions in the world, and lives with integrity. 

If you actually seek to live like a champion, on all levels, you are doing the best work you can do for your school and business.

Every aspect of The Live Like a Champion Project and The Ultimate Black Belt Test is about building your value as a person, first, by being on a mission to be your personal best. 

Second, The Project is about everyone in your “sphere of influence.” If your goals are all focused on what YOU want –and not designed to serve others, as a school owner (and, I believe, as a person), you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Third, all things are connected; the community a school resides in should be deeply affected by the work of the school. To be a martial art teacher of value, one has to transcend the walls of the school, the style, its country of origin, and anything that isolates or minimizes the school's potential to make positive change in its community -and in the world. 

If you’re trying to build a healthy and prosperous business, specifically, a martial arts school, then my advice is to go back to the roots of the martial arts and the philosophy that come with it. The gimmickry of the dance school and health club industry may sell memberships, but they don’t build genuine value.

Make “being” a master teacher and living as a champion (defined as: living in a way that brings out your best performance, that sustains and supports your abilities, talents, and potential) the WAY you run your business.  Don’t simply sell “courses” or physical instruction or “black belt programs,” sell the genuine and authentic pursuit of being a better martial artist –and more importantly, a better human being.

As a teacher, live the lifestyle and walk the talk.

As a school owner, make your business stand for something that transcends the profit and loss statement.

As a martial artist, make the martial arts MEAN SOMETHING more than a sport or a game. We’re in one of those very rare professions where it’s more than “a business;” for us, the martial arts is a way of life.

The Live Like a Champion Project is a community of people who will use their martial arts journey to build the value of their schools –and to bring about change, in themselves and others, through self-discipline, focus, awareness, and effort.

That’s what I call “good business.”

Live Like a Champion Video

Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM
How To Live Like a Champion

In the Live Like a Champion Project, we are asking martial arts teachers to set an example, with our team and for one solid year, of what it is to, that’s right: LIVE LIKE A CHAMPION.

Physically

One year from the start date, you basically pretend you’re going to fight the fight of your life! Maybe you imagine that you’re going into the ring to face someone like, oh say…BJ Penn. If fighting isn’t your thing, then let’s use your “black belt test” as a metaphor –or “The Olympics” –or whatever goal is big enough and motivating enough to get you to WAKE UP TO TODAY.

Your training, your diet, and your physical health need to be as perfect as you can make it. The way to do that is to focus on each day’s activates. You can’t procrastinate, you can’t delay it or ignore it or avoid what you do physically; not if you’re really a champion.

Everywhere around you people accept physical compromise and mediocrity. Obesity is a national epidemic. People consume junk food, chemicals disguised as food, and all sorts of goods detrimental to health. Not you. You train, eat, and live like a champion; not just for yourself, but to benefit your students --and humanity --by living as an example.  

Mentally

It there any question about the value and importance –in life –of focus, concentration, and mental clarity and toughness? Whether you’re seeking to be The Champion of the World, a black belt, a great mother, father or friend, a success in business, or an enlightened being, living like a champion, mentally, is directly connected to the quality of your performance and outcome.

The world is full of mental mediocrity, of excuses and unnecessary compromise, of anger, disillusionment, and other mental roadblocks to being healthy. To live like a champion you must look deeply at what it is you think, how you train yourself mentally, who you spend time with, and how you craft a perspective that empowers you.

In The Live Like a Champion Project, we’re asking martial arts teachers to open up the doors to their mental training. What are they doing to think like a champion? Who are their teachers? What issues are they dealing with? WHAT CAN WE LEARN from a team of people whose primary focus in on developing the mindset of a champion?

Spiritually

That which isn’t physical and isn’t your outlook, but that deals with your inner-fire, your mission, the intent you bring to the table, that’s what we want to add to our physical and mental focus and efforts. What is it for our participants?

The question is, based on each member’s own personal definition of spiritual growth and effort, what is it to live like a champion, spiritually?

Socially

The greatest champions in sports, science, education, activism, and LIFE, don’t simply focus on themselves; they contribute to the greater good. In The Live Like a Champion Project, one of the team’s goal is to accomplish, collectively, 1000 community-based projects in 12 months.

These projects can be in nearly any field; the only rule is that each one has to benefit someone or something in each member’s community.

Each Live Like a Champion member will be using the curriculum from Tom Callos’ Ultimate Black Belt Test as the foundation for a personalized approach to living like a champion in 2010.

For more information on The Live Like a Champion Project, visit http://www.bjpenntraining.com and http://www.ultimateblackbelttest.com. 

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