William Safford

Every year around this time, I do the same thing: run a big paid ad campaign to the local market with a Black Friday promotion. It’s the playbook almost every gym runs. This year I’m doing something completely different, and the reasoning matters more than the tactic. Instead of running ads to cold local traffic, I’m focused on an internal promotion, or a campaign to my existing audience to collect a big chunk of cash before the holidays and New Year. Here’s the thinking. On Black Friday,...

I’ve been running BJJ Facebook and Instagram ads since 2016. Over the last decade I’ve managed millions of dollars in ad spend, and I’ve watched the platform change more times than I can count. Here’s the most important shift: it has never been more realistic for a gym owner to run their own ads than it is right now, thanks to AI. But there’s a right way and a wrong way, so let me give you the honest version. First, why do it yourself at all? Money. Most agencies charge $500 to $2,000 a month...

If you own a BJJ gym, there's a good chance you spent part of this week doing work a machine could have done for you. And it would have done it faster, more reliably, and without taking a single minute of your time. That's not a criticism. It's just what happens when you build something yourself. You got the gym off the ground by wearing every hat, so doing everything still feels normal, even responsible. But the tools have changed, and most gym owners haven't caught up. The result is that...