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Jun
6
The Jibyard
Filed Under Uncategorized
It’s not easy to get people to change their routine. It’s hard to get people to try something new. I’m on a mission to find out how to motivate people, on how to get them to change their routine and try something new.
For years I’ve been inviting, encouraging, and dragging people in to try jiu-jitsu—it’s hit or miss whether they come or not, but once people try a class, they usually love it. The hard part is getting them through the door.
Last week in down town Ogden, while running late for a high school teacher’s meeting, I noticed a simple little sign that said “The Jibyard: indoor snowboard and ski park.” Now, I don’t ski. 300 lbs+ 2 frictionless sticks + a downward slant with no brakes is an equation for disaster in my book. I’ve never actually even tried to ski; it’s like crack cocaine, some things you don’t have to try to know they’re bad for you.
So even though I don’t ski or snowboard I was curious to see what the place actually was. So even though I was late, I decided to check the place out. It was an ill-lit converted warehouse that smelled like my grandmother’s basement. Dim bulbs lit up graffiti on every wall and music blasted from invisible speakers. There was an old train car and barbed wire, and an abandoned van, and two sets of rollers to ski or snow board down that lead into a rail for tricks. The first thing I thought was, how did this place pass city inspection? The place was scary; it reminded me of some of the sketchy places I ran through when I was a kid. It was absolutely awesome!
After I left, the first thing I did was tell one of my colleagues about it. We decided to visit during lunch—he loved it as well. I went home and told my fifteen year old daughter about it. She wanted to check it out. My question is why was I telling everybody about this place? Why did I take someone there? I don’t even like skiing and snowboarding and yet I was excited about this new business.
I think I was excited for two reasons: one would be that it is a new business and two it is an unusual business. Their sign made me wonder what an indoor snowboard park looks like. As far as I know there are no indoor ski and snowboard parks in the area. I’ve never seen one, and I was curious. The Jib Yard basically gave me something to talk about, something different.
That’s what I have to remember about my jiu-jitsu school and Tap or Die. Things should be new, and different, then people will come see you. They will walk through your door even though they are late for their meeting, they will tell their friends and family about you and maybe even write about you in their blog.
