So you want to make a career in Jiu-Jitsu…
But how are you supposed to make money? And how much money is there, at all, in this martial art?

Craig Jones decided to answer that question and give a breakdown on how to earn (a lot of) cash in the sport.

Jones started by explaining that, if you want to teach BJJ, then you need to open up your own gym.
Even though running a business is super stressful:

There’s no future in your career unless you open your own gym, run your own business.

You will never be comfortable, make enough money to live in this sport, if you just work for someone else.
It works well in the short term because you can teach, you can make enough money to live. And you will not have to deal with all the stresses of being the boss and stuff.

Running a gym is horrible, dealing with new people is fu*king horrible.
Sometimes it might be better to take a pay cut and just teach classes.

Less stress involved, but again – you will never make any real money if you’re doing that.

Then comes teaching private classes.
Which isn’t that big of a money-maker either and often comes with a pay cut itself:

If you’re a nobody purple belt, you might make $50 a private.
And you might have to give 25% back to the gym owner to pay overheads.

The next step is teaching seminars.

Now, there is a lot of money to be made here. Even though you will probably have to start by being paid a flat rate (and you’ll have to be aware when you need to start charging a percentage, because for example – Jones now takes 90% of the total seminar earnings and forwards 10% to the gym owner):

Initially, when you start teaching seminars, it’s always gonna be a flat rate.

The gym owners are gonna say: “Hey, I’m gonna pay you X amount, no matter how many people come to the seminar.”
That’s how most people started, that’s how I started.

Then come the superfights, which have the potential of making athletes more money than the usual tournaments do.

However, Jones explains that your earning potential in this case depends on several factors – including how many new subscribers you can bring onto the streaming platform.
In other words: if you have something to offer, if you’re exciting to watch, you’ll sell:

FloGrappling, Fight Pass, these types of shows… They profit by selling new subscribers.

So, is your match gonna sell them any new subscribers? That sort of understanding is what dictates how much money you deserve to be paid.

That might mean that you deserve to be paid $0. If you bring no value to the show, if you bring no new subscribers to the show, no people are tuning in to watch you, then you really don’t deserve to be paid.

It’s your ability to sell the show.

Next come the sponsorships.
Which could work if you offer value with your advertising:

If I own a company and I want to get that company some exposure, I pick an athlete with a following.
I pick an athlete that at least creates content, you know what I mean?

I’m not gonna pick an athlete that I’m gonna send him a fu*king kimono and he’s gonna take a photo of it and post it on his story and be like: “Thanks Hyperfly!”

The ultimate way to make money in Jiu-Jitsu is through selling instructionals.
Craig Jones offers BJJ Fanatics as a reference point:

Now BJJ Fanatics, you could make fu*king no money or you could make incredible money.
This is the number one thing that’s taken guys into completely changing their life.

Before BJJ Fanatics, for me, I was doing seminars, seminars, seminars.
75 to 85 seminars a year, killing myself.

But obviously, like I said – now I can film for 2 days and that product can continue making me money forever.

However, you need to be crafty when it comes to making instructionals:

People buy instructionals to solve a problem.
So you need to think of a way to create a product that solves a problem.

It might be fundamentals, it might be a position that’s new that people aren’t familiar with, that you can sort of provide some cutting edge answers on.

Listen to more of Craig Jones money-making wisdom on the video below: