Real Boxing Only

Video Transcript:

“It’s not how hard you hit, it’s how hard you can get hit and keep going. I started taking boxing in 2015. I had no purpose, no drive. So I just decided, I think I’ll go and try this boxing class and that’s it. Within nine months, I had my first fight. Within a year and a half. I found an investor and opened real boxing only.

Every day that I did it, I saw so many changes about myself that I felt one. I want to do this every single day and to everyone else needs to know about this. That they could change their lives. And real boxing only was born off of that concept. Our community is what encourages more people to come. The members have created their own environment within and good energy attracts good energy.

The community is definitely the best part.

I found a place that I can call a second home for me. Definitely 100%. It’s just the community because you come here, you just meet the people, you train your heart out.

COVID surprised me. Most of the time I can see things coming. I did not see that coming. It really kind of threw me. And then we just went into straight decision mode. All of a sudden, I was responsible for everyone at a time when no one knew what was going on. Things started to shut down. They started becoming curfewed.

Everything was closing. It was a big hit for the team, for all of us. And if we didn’t start growing, I knew I’d have to close within a short space of time. Paying the staff was one of the hardest parts for me personally. They are the most dedicated group of people that you will ever meet.

They would cut their arm off for me if I asked them to, and I wasn’t able to pay them as much as they were supposed to earn during this time. It was really hard not to be able to fulfill my side of the deal, even though they were always there fulfilling their side. The amount of pressure I felt to keep the business was the hardest part.

I buckled down and just started sales training. Marketing, training. How to close clients, double the classes. There was not one minute of the day that I wasn’t constantly thinking of how I get people through the door safely. We just looked for how we could get people through the door. So July and August, we went through the roof.

September, October, and November was the biggest month I’ve ever had. A record-breaking month. We had record-breaking days and record-breaking active member numbers, we are busting out the seams. And it was just a result of that effort being consistent in what we were doing and not getting comfortable or accepting defeat. I think it’s the fighter and all of us.”

Watch more Student Productions

Sustainable Art

By Emily Kay Denny

Plastic Fashion: From bins to Shelves

By Emily Kay Denny

Real Boxing Only

By Zeina Saleh

Supper Club

By Rachel Lewis

Passing Down the Wing

By Rachel Lewis