The Morning Formation (TMF) Podcast
In life, we all face battles—some are visible, and others are fought within. The Morning Formation Podcast dives into the journeys of those who have not only survived adversity but transformed it into strength, success, and purpose. Hosted by KP Phillips, a combat military veteran, Bronze Star recipient, law enforcement veteran, and leader with years of experience in tactical training, this podcast explores stories of resilience, survivability, and transformation.
From the frontlines of Mosul during Operation Iraqi Freedom to the heart of Southern California, KP knows what it means to adapt and thrive beyond struggle. With guests ranging from veterans to athletes, entrepreneurs to community leaders, each episode uncovers how hardship forged their paths and led them to rise above and inspire others.
Whether it’s about bouncing back from personal loss, rebuilding careers after setbacks, or finding new missions in life, The Morning Formation Podcast takes you beyond the struggle and into the heart of real-life triumphs. Tune in, and discover how you, too, can turn obstacles into opportunities, survive the toughest of battles, and emerge a hero of your own story.
Warriors, Fall-In! it’s time for formation.
The Morning Formation (TMF) Podcast
Creating a Legacy: Army Leader, JP Fights for Veterans
As he shares his experiences from Fort Drum, New York, JP opens up about the unique challenges he and his wife face adjusting to their new environment. We'll explore JP's ROTC background at the University of Alabama and delve into the financial motivations behind his decision to join the military, while also discussing his plans for the future, both in service and as a family man.
Step into the world of combat sports with JP as he recounts his journey from third-grade football to the adrenaline-fueled arenas of boxing and jiu-jitsu. Learn about the physical and mental resilience needed to progress through the jiu-jitsu belts, and why competing early on is so crucial. We'll discuss the complexities of weight cuts, the discipline instilled by high school wrestling, and the transformative power of martial arts. Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or just starting out, JP's insights offer valuable lessons on the determination required to excel in combat sports.
In a heartfelt segment, JP shares the poignant story that led to the creation of his jiu-jitsu gear company, aimed at veteran suicide prevention. Discover the hurdles he faced, from product issues to customer satisfaction, and how he turned a tragic event into a mission-driven business. We'll explore the importance of community support and the personal aspects of balancing entrepreneurship with family life. From the challenges of shipping costs to the joys of building customer loyalty, this episode provides a rich tapestry of stories and lessons for anyone interested in martial arts, military life, or starting a business.
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warriors fall in. It's time for formation. This is take two now, because I didn't hit record in the last podcast. Just going to be honest with everybody, um, I'm really energized today to have my guest that's on the show. Uh, his name is jp and he started military bjj geese, probably from the same passion that I came from when it came to the competitiveness behind brazilian jiu-jitsu. And anyone that knows me especially, for the last 14 years or so I've really been into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I've created a lot of friendships and a lot of really really great memories doing this hobby of mine. So, jp, welcome to the Morning Formation.
Speaker 2:Hello, it's nice to be here. I know that we've been exchanging DMs for a few weeks now, so I'm glad that we finally found a way to connect.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah, man, I know that you're a very busy man. I had no idea that you're an active duty soldier.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, unfortunately I am, but you know what? There's a lot of time in the day, so I find ways to make it all work at least, um, at least you're in a great place, right?
Speaker 1:oh yes, yes where? Where are you?
Speaker 2:we are uh currently in fort drum, new york yeah, that's you know.
Speaker 1:That's funny because when I interviewed my dad, who served 20 years in the military, was drafted in 71. Uh, the one place that he wanted to avoid the most was fort drum, new york. He heard about how it was up in the mountains and it was just terrible weather and everything else and he hated that yeah, so um, I remember when I was a lieutenant I said I will never go to fort drum, new york.
Speaker 2:And then I I met a few co-workers of mine that were stationed there. In the way though, when they told stories. I was a few co-workers of mine that were stationed there, and the way though when they told stories, I was like wait, that sounds kind of cool, like you know just all how they're on the st lawrence river and and whatnot's by canada. And I was like that sounds kind of cool, I'm gonna look into port drum. And I got to make a long story short. I got a job offer from them. I called my now wife and I said, hey, hey, would you want to go to Fort Drum, new York, for a few years? And she said, yeah, if that's what you want to do, she's really awesome.
Speaker 2:And so we got stationed here about a year ago. So we have two more to go, and I like it so far. It's really close to Canada, really close to, you know, new York city. Well, not too close, but close to Syracuse. Uh, there's some mountains near us about a few hours away. So I like it so far. We're I'm a big snowboarder, I'm trying to get her into it.
Speaker 1:So now have you so. Have you experienced any winters there yet?
Speaker 2:Yes, uh, the last winter was actually a pretty mild winter. What from mild winter? What from what all the locals have told us? But uh, it was pretty intense. Still it was. We had a few days that were pretty high of snow and lake effect, but it's not too bad, it's definitely bearable so you and you just recently got buried, right yes, sir, uh, two, two, two, four actually, and then we're doing this ceremony in five, two, five2525 congrats on that brother thank you, yeah that's awesome, you know it's.
Speaker 1:It's very um. Is she getting acclimated to the military lifestyle yet?
Speaker 2:oh, yeah, yes, she is. Um, I know it's not her favorite thing, for instance, I know she poor drum isn't her favorite place ever, and I think part of the reason is because she works. She works in banking, so she sees the worst of the worst of people. But yeah, she's, she's getting used to it, I think. I think she likes it.
Speaker 1:So if I were to ask you today, are you planning on staying in after the, after your four year commitment, or you think you're going to transition out to the civilian world?
Speaker 2:You know what, if you asked me a few weeks ago, I would probably have a different answer for you, but right now I'm going to make it till 10. I'm six years in now. I'll make it to another. I'll do another four years and then I'll see what's going on after that. Just because, to make a long story short, I don't want to, you know, dedicate my entire existence to the military. When you're a major, to make Lieutenant Colonel. You know I've I just heard some really big horror stories. You know, people work until 20 every night and someone I work with actually you know people work until 20 every night and someone I work with, actually I saw she sent me an email at 18 30, which is 6 30 pm, and I was like, wow, you sent me an email at 6 30 and she's like oh, that's an early night. She's like so she's a major. I don't know if I want to do that to my family. We'll see what happens, though it's hard to plan. Everyone I know that's in the military. They change their career paths every month.
Speaker 1:So Well, I'm going to tell you, man, the one thing you can't buy back ever is time. You know, you know it's always family first. But what is your so? What is your background? So you, you said that you joined ROTC. Which, which college were you out of?
Speaker 2:Which college were you out of? So I went to University of Alabama and when I was in high school my parents were saying, hey, college is really expensive. I don't know if we're going to be able to pay for a four-year out-of-state tuition. I remember being so mad about it. So I looked into joining the Army or joining ROTC, because that's always been a goal of mine is to join the military, and I knew that I wanted to join the military eventually. I just knew that I wanted to go to college first and get a degree, and so I looked into ROTC and I applied for the scholarship because I had a somewhat decent background with my grades and some of the things I've done, like Eagle Scout and wrestling, and I ended up winning the scholarship. But they gave me a three-year instead of a four-year. So I think the entire purpose of it was to basically test your mettle the first year, see how you are.
Speaker 1:and yeah, and I had, I had friends that went to the university of alabama and were heavily recruiting me, so it all worked out well yeah, man, I remember when I was a gold bar recruiter for my university, that was the thing we had several four-year scholarship cadets that kind of washed out after that first year. So then they switched it to the three years, kind of a prove it year, your freshman year, to show up to PT in the morning, make sure this is something you really want to do. And I, I, I, a lot of those, a lot of those cadets that came in for the three year actually made it. You know, a lot of them did make it all the way through and I'm sure with you they were on you as far as graduating on time weren't they Not too much?
Speaker 2:but I was definitely concerned about graduating on time. I think I was right on the cusp. But yeah, I made it out in four years. So knock on wood.
Speaker 1:I had a professor of military science. He was about six foot four big like barrel chested guy, infantry ranger, and he was our professor of military science and he was literally down our throat every day to make sure that we were staying on course every quarter, that we were going to graduate on time. And I did, but there were a few that slipped here and there. Your current, I guess, branch you are now serving as what?
Speaker 2:I guess branch you are now serving as as what?
Speaker 1:I'm an engineer officer right now, um, captain rank right now. So is there a difference between uh, this is kind of a dumb question, but, like the officer rank, is there a difference between the different types of engineers, like, uh, combat engineer versus, or are you just an engineer?
Speaker 2:yes, so I think my official title yeah, so I'm, I'm just general, so it's engineer officer and then combat engineer would be a 12 Bravo, that they specialize in mobility and counter mobility. And then you have things like 12 Novembers, which are horizontal engineers and they operate heavy equipment such as bulldozers and IHEMIs, things like that, things that you would see at a construction site.
Speaker 1:Okay, so they do separate the officers. Right With the, uh with the different, different types of engineers.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, Um, I would say that an officer has a lot of width but not a lot of depth, and soldiers have a lot of depth depth but not a lot of width, If that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because when I was in I was truly and it's probably changed because I got out in 2007 but when I was in um I was truly an ordinance officer. But I got I got switched over to transportation, which was weird because, like they, they said that command is command, so like we can put you in charge of anything in in combat service support. And then I had a buddy of mine. He was field artillery but he ended up in charge of an infantry platoon. So it's kind of interesting how they look at leadership and command time and your platoon leadership and your company command stuff and everything in between. So you're already in 03. So you've been in quite a few years. What have you? Have you taken command yet or no?
Speaker 2:No, that's uh, it's coming up in the next year or two. Uh. So right now we're going through this thing called R struck, so our unit is consolidating and we're getting smaller, unfortunately. So there's going to be a lot of, there's's gonna be a few less command opportunities for me. So we were hoping initially that it was going to be sometime this year, but now it looks like it's going to be sometime next year. So but that's, it's okay, I'm not in any rush to do command at all yeah, I know it's.
Speaker 1:It's a headache when you're actually having to sort of babysit, uh, you know a hundred or more soldiers, uh at a time and getting calls days and day, nights, weekends, holidays and everything in between. So talk to me about your overall journey, your Brazilian jujitsu journey, uh, when it started for you and um and, and how it's been so far and what it means to you.
Speaker 2:Okay. So when I was young I think I started in third grade I was doing football. I did football for three years and then, going into my fourth year of football, I think the weight cut was crazy. I weighed 120 pounds and they wanted me to be 100 pounds, if I recall correctly. And I remember my grandpa saying there's no way you're going to do that as a kid. That's super unhealthy. I think you should look at a new sport.
Speaker 2:And there was a boxing gym down the street and I told my mom I don't think I should play football anymore, I think that I should do a new sport. And I remember I always thought fight scenes and movies were super cool. I always wanted to learn how to fight. So in sixth grade I joined a boxing gym and then I I heard there was a class going on called jitsu or something like that, and the kid told me they taught him how to, you know, do a simple roll. And he's like, yeah, I learned how to do backflip. And looking back, it's so funny and I thought that sounded cool. So I went and I learned that you couldn't even strike and I was like what the hell is this? But for whatever reason, I stuck with it. I did that on and off until high school and then, um, I joined the wrestling team in high school. So I left jujitsu and all my other combat sports behind and but it never left me.
Speaker 2:I always, whenever I was, I kept watching ufc. I'd always, I'd stay up to date with, you know, uh, the jiu-jitsu community. I remember watching the john donahue podcast with joe rogan and in college still, and I remember saying I, when I get out of college, I'm gonna pursue jujitsu full-time and I'm going to become a black belt one day because I have a lot of experience and I love it. And once I started making my own money, I started jiu-jitsu. When I got home and I graduated and then when I went into my active duty time, I continued with it.
Speaker 2:There was a gym just off base I think most bases have a gym nearby Made some friends with the people in the combatives' house and there's been times where I've had to pause just due to workload in my career, but for the most part I've been pretty consistent for the past six years and I regret so bad If the past six years and, um, I regret so bad, you know if, if there's any white belts listening. Please take my advice and compete now, because I didn't compete as a white belt, and oh, I'm looking back and I'm kicking myself for it, but so what?
Speaker 1:belt. Are you now?
Speaker 2:I'm a blue belt, blue belt Okay yeah, I'm a blue belt, blue belt okay yeah. So I've done four tournaments. I won I guess you could say I won three of them. One of them was very competitive. I went two and two. I have another one coming up in September. I'm two stripes away from a purple belt. I'm super excited and, yeah, I have no plans of stopping anytime soon.
Speaker 1:You probably want those blue belts to have like an infinity battery that just doesn't quit, man. Um, I am now a brown belt and um, I can tell you that when I was a purple belt and I would walk into a new gym, it was like every single blue belt was dive, bombing me to see, like just to see what I was made of. And then I had to be like teflon and like try to fight them all off and stuff. And you know, it's like, it's cool, but then it's like, you know, like I need kind of a, like I want to relax a little bit, want to break a little bit. So I remember being in that phase as well.
Speaker 1:When I was a blue belt, I was always like trying to like guy, I don't want to get this guy, I want to get this guy, get this guy, and it's a great competitive nature. Um, you're right about what you said about competing as a white belt. That's the best time to compete man, like. Um, I remember I did uh uh naga, I did ibjjf and then even as a blue butt, I competed as well. But the higher you get, man, I feel like the pressure is on even more um to do those tournaments, man, and I can tell you right now, like the weight cut I mean, the older I get, the harder it is to cut weight Um, and it's that that's. I did one tournament. I don't know if you've done any tournaments yet without cutting weight. I did one tournament and I did not cut weight and I regretted it because everybody, everybody I faced was was huge. They were taller than me and bigger than me and it was like God, I should have cut weight, was huge.
Speaker 2:They were taller than me and bigger than me and it was like I should have cut weight. Okay, that's good to hear, cause I I'm a, I wrestled, so I I'm used to cutting weight and I've cut weight a lot and I went down. I will walk around. Right now I think I'm 175. And the last turn I did in April, I went to 155 and that was a super brutal experience. Everyone was worried about me, but I made it and I got double gold that day. So I was happy.
Speaker 1:Nice. Yeah, I wrestled as well in high school and I did one tournament where I cut down to 145. And right now I'm 185. But I just dropped 15 pounds a couple weeks ago and it's amazing.
Speaker 1:Because you being a high school wrestler, I think that that's really important Because mentally, even in high school, you've been places that most high school kids have never been when it comes to understanding hard work, discipline, eating habits, all those things. I actually had a buddy of mine whose kid was just starting high school four or five years ago and I told him I said wrestling is where it's at. There's no better sport out there where there's more pressure and adversity on just you. It's not really a team effort because when you're on the mat, it's just you and someone else. The lights are on you and everyone's watching you and you have to overcome that pressure. Um, because I remember when I, when I wrestled in high school, man, I, I, when I remember I lost one match one time and I actually had a parent walk up to me and tell me straight up they're like yeah, looks like you just quit oh god, that's terrible but I was just like okay, you know, and, but that's the type of like everyone's watching you, man.
Speaker 1:So wrestling is like my number one high school sport to recommend for anyone out there, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's funny you mention. I remember in high school it was the best team in our league and I was beating him and then he came back in the second or third quarter and tied it up and third quarter he ended up pinning me and I remember all the lights were off in the entire gymnasium except for on the mat mat and the lights were. So it's it's bright where we are, but you can see it's dark all around you. And I remember see uh him pinning me and I'm looking at all these parents upside down clapping in the dark and they're cheering because he just beat me. And I remember like, oh, so I definitely resonate with what that story you just said. You know all the pressures on you yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1:Um, with you being in the military, you're probably. If you stay in the military, you're going to have to move around and go to different gyms. Do you ever have any reservations about that, about walking into a new gym? Especially once you get that purple belt man and you walk into a gym the story I just told you right now you're going to get dive-bombed by every white belt and blue belt in there just to touch your metal man bomb by every white belt and blue boat in there just to test your metal man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that that's. See, that's. You're bringing back another memory now. So, yes, uh, every time you walk into a new gym, it's new faces and people that they now see you. You know, they see you as a piece of meat, basically, but, um, you know, like they're hungry lions and you're a piece of meat. But, uh, I remember the last gym I was actually at the team captain. He was a blue belt and I was a blue belt and he definitely saw me as a threat and I remember he was talking a lot of smack during warm-ups and the coach had everyone get around us and we went at it. So, yeah, I that's another story, but, yep, I've made a lot of connections. I think I've been at like six gyms now. It's hard to maintain build relationships with the coach because sometimes you get new coaches so often, but it is what it is. You got to make the most out of your time at your duty station.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the thing I love about the jiu-jitsu so much is I've actually created some really great lifetime friendships with people that have led me to other things, other opportunities out there, and that's the hardest part is you, you train with these guys, you, you bruise with these guys, you bleed with these guys and gals and um, you know it's kind of hard to say goodbye to them and over the years, yeah, I've moved around so much man it's but I have families all over the us, my training family, you know yeah, I mean, if I was going to talk to anybody, if a kid came up to me today and said, hey, I want to want to join the military, um, what should I know before I go in?
Speaker 2:I would. One of the first things I would say is, you know, you build these relationships with people that would probably last forever if you guys lived in the same area. And then a few months later, that person might be, you know, might be in Europe. Like, I have a friend right now. I'm going to invite him to the wedding. I invited him to my bachelor party. He's a good friend of mine but he lives in europe. So it's it's it's hard to, you know, maintain friendships that far, and one of my other friends he's, he lives here, he's my neighbor actually, but he's moving in october back home to denver, and that's another friendship that would probably last, you know, my whole life had we been in the same place. Of course, I'm gonna try my my absolute best to maintain relationships with these people, but it's always difficult long distance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. But you know what? You've always got a place, um that'll welcome you, no matter where you're at, like I know, when I started in Chicago, uh, cincinnati, New Jersey. Whenever I go back to those States, um, I always stop by and see those folks and maybe get a couple of rolls in, you know, and just see how much we've progressed or how much we haven't progressed, and it's a great time, man. So I understand your overall passion with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but talk to me like what led you to start Military BJJ Geese?
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, I love the story. So, unfortunately, when I was a cadet, uh, we had a suicide in one of our classrooms and the the person who died by suicide actually sat next to me in class and he was at 13 Bravo. For those of you don't know, that's an artillery men. So that was a. That was a little, that was a bummer, definitely. And then when I was in, then I had commissioned, did, started my time in active duty. And then, when I was PCSing from Fort Leonard wood to um, when it's PCSing from Fort Leonard wood to JBLM Washington, uh, I was stopping in Denver for the night with my mom and unfortunately I woke up to a Facebook notification that a service member that I went to cadet camp with unfortunately died by suicide while he was deployed. And that one definitely stung because it was someone who went to a college in my hometown and it was someone who was a super nice guy and if you look at old photos of us he looks like the class clown in the photos. So that was a bummer. And then, um, there's a, unfortunately, there's a third one. So when I was in processing jblm, I was with this guy who was wearing the same unit patch as me and he started talking and I was like, hey, you're going to, you know, my unit. Like what company are you going to? And he was going to the same company I was and I was like, oh, that's awesome, you know? Like, what are you going to do? He's like I'm going to be a platoon sergeant. I was like no way, I'm going to be a platoon leader, maybe we're going to be together. He's like yeah, I guess we'll see what happens. And we ended up not being together actually, but he was the platoon sergeant of my sister platoon. So we worked together quite a bit in the first four months and then, unfortunately, on Veterans Day of 2021, we came to morning formation and we got news that he unfortunately died by suicide.
Speaker 2:And you know, every time there's a suicide in the military, they take it very serious. But another thing, you see, are the everyone likes to do the pushup challenge, the 22 pushups for 22 days, and they record it on Facebook and they upload it, and I think that's great because it does raise a lot of awareness for military suicide. But I remember saying to my mom when this was happening, I said I wish that we did more for military suicide. But I remember saying to my mom when this was happening, I said I wish that we did more for military suicide than just doing pushups on Facebook. And she's like, well, you know, it raises awareness. And I was like, yeah, I know, but still I wish there was more. And going to my gym in Washington great gym. If you're in there, if you are stationed at JBL in Washington, definitely check out Alliance Academy. Uh, everyone likes to wear the tactical jujitsu. So I think Origin, uh, dd214 is another great company.
Speaker 2:And I thought you know, I think I could probably make these on my own. And I talked to a few different people. I talked my mom about it again and she said, well, you know, you could go on Alibaba and you can, you know, talk to a textile manufacturer and they could probably make it for you. And I was like, oh, you think. So I went on Alibaba, did a little bit of research and, ironically, this is a funny story. So I was just scrolling through Alibaba and I did this thing. I said request a quote. And someone dm'd me on instagram the next day and I was like how did you find me in there? Yeah, we saw that you requested a quote on alibaba. So we started like we searched your name and you know, I think we could work with you, like we can offer you a sample, we could offer you this, that and the other. And I was like, okay, we'll see what happens then.
Speaker 2:So I started talking to a few people and I said do you think that if I had a jujitsu company and I made military style jujitsu gis and rash guards, do you think that it would be profitable? You think it'd be a good idea? And I think I talked to probably five different people about it and they all said, yeah, that's a great idea. And even if you do it, I'll buy one from you. And I said, okay, perfect, that sounds great. And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna try this out. You know, I'm just gonna order five or ten geese and I'm gonna see how this works. And I had all the ideas set in my mind and I I made I've made a lot of good friends over the years with post office workers and tailors because sometimes I see them on a weekly basis so I received my first shipment of Jiu Jitsu gi I think I received five at that point and I took a photo of it and I put it on Facebook and I made an announcement that I was starting a jiu-jitsu company and I was going to donate the proceeds to Veterans Suicide.
Speaker 2:And so I put my phone I usually always have it next to my bed and I put it over a table adjacent to my bed and throughout the night I could hear my phone go buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz and when I was sleeping I remember thinking, okay, this, I think I'm getting a lot of traction. I woke up and I was sold out. So those five geese are already I already sold out. So I was already the next day ordering a new shipment of five geese and unfortunately, my uh. It's kind of ironic because one of the first people I talked to, who was a good friend of mine and we're not we don't affiliate with each other anymore but he was my first customer and he ended up not paying me for the geese. So I've learned a lot of lessons and I'd say the rest is history. But throughout the years I've made a lot of really good friendships with people who I've never even met before.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, I've I've designed entire you know uniforms for wrestling academies and jiu-jitsu academies. I have a photo of a jiu-jitsu academy in michigan and I think I'd say there's 25 people in the photo all wearing my gi and yeah. So it's a pretty awesome experience. I've sold merchandise to police. I've sold merchandise to veterans, active duty, just random supporters of the military. Yeah, it's been a wild journey so far. I definitely did not expect to make it this far and make this much money and raise this much amount of proceeds to all these companies.
Speaker 1:I think it's a great purpose, man, and bringing up a lot of great awareness. How many years have you been doing this?
Speaker 2:I think I've been doing this. I think I started in 2021, so this is my third year doing this.
Speaker 1:Those five years that you had? I mean, there's so many different sizes, how did you know which ones to put up there?
Speaker 2:you know it was uh, it was just a lot of luck. So I did have one buyer is the person who ripped me off, but I had one buyer and so I knew what he wanted and then I just kind, a2 is a pretty average size, I think I ordered maybe two more A2s and one A3 and ended up working out. And one thing I've learned is, even if you have sizes you know it's kind of like an art of the deal with Trump it takes years to sit on deals is what he says, what he is what he says, um, so one thing I've learned is, about all these sizes, that you have to just sit and wait and wait and wait and some one day someone will finally buy it.
Speaker 1:So I've yeah, I have stuff that I've probably had for over a year now and, yeah, by then it'll be in TJ Maxx in one of the sections or at Ross's. But, hey, man, I just want to acknowledge real quick man, I'm sorry to hear about the multiple suicides that you experienced while you were going through your training. I know that some of those folks that you probably knew pretty well and you probably would joke and smoke and have a few beers with, so you probably got really tight with those folks and I understand why you would do this to. You know, raise awareness, uh, for military suicide. And it's a really, it's a really tough thing, man, um, because I know of all the hardships that that we go through being in the military, um, and then we're, we're kind of forced to put on this persona or this outward like projection of hey, I'm a strong individual, I'm a strong officer, look at me, I'm a captain, you know, or I'm a Lieutenant, or I'm a staff Sergeant, or, and in reality, we have a lot of things going on in the background that we fail to take care of.
Speaker 1:Um, I can tell you this much man, jujitsu, whenever I'm at my lowest point, um, jujitsu has always been there for me, um, and I've always felt great afterwards, uh, whenever I was going through it. Um, I knew that I could go to my gym, get in a good hour long session and go home. Versus, the alternative is take myself out to the bar and drink myself into an oblivion. Um, it's. It's always been a positive thing for me to do jujitsu and that's why I I love it so much and it's so near and dear to my heart. There are a, a couple of uh you know, it's funny because I have one gi that is, um, it's kind of the old bdu pattern, oh, awesome, and I can't find it anywhere. And I was like, why does no one make the, the uh pattern, bjj geese from the old military uniforms, so like the old bdus? It'd be nice if they made like the desert ones that were patterned like from operation Iraqi freedom and operation during freedom, and then even the current ones like, have you?
Speaker 1:ever been to that at all yeah, uh.
Speaker 2:So I'm actually shipping two rash guards right now to a school in Olympia, washington, and those are going to be chocolate chip. I'm sure you're familiar with that pattern. Yeah, it's the old school desert storm pattern. I think that's the coolest camo we have. Yeah, that's what I wore. Yeah, I can basically do any design design. I just haven't done it for the geese. The geese, I like to do plain color, but I'm definitely not against. I'm definitely not against doing a camo pattern for the geese, but whatever you need I got you.
Speaker 1:Just let me know what you need I will, man, I'll shoot you a picture. So for anyone out there listening if they're interested in a specific type of gi. Do you do any kind of requests, or is it you do like mass orders?
Speaker 2:A mix of both. So usually how it works is I'll have a certain design and then people will order that from me. But additionally I have done mass orders for a few different academies. So that school in Michigan they actually ordered I think it was 26 from me, I think it was 26 from me but I could you know any, any type of design that you need. I could do any type of specification. So anyone that's listening, if you have any type of academy, you know, whatever it may be, if you are in a wrestling team or any, just any type of sports team, I can design any type of textile essentially, but I like to to do brazilian jiu-jitsu, of course, but doesn't have to be that okay, cool.
Speaker 1:So is this something you think you want to pursue when you get out of the military too?
Speaker 2:ah, that's funny. You say that because, um, I remember when I was stationed at jblm I would take so many packages to the post office and I remember one day that the post office worker was like, is this your business? Do you do this? On the side? And I said, yes, I do. And um, and then the next time I came he's like uh, how many are you shipping out today? And I had probably like five or whatever, and he's like are you?
Speaker 2:gonna get out of the military and just do your business full time. And I'm like, do your business full-time? And I'm like, oh no, I can't. I can't do that much. Uh, that's a lot of merchandise. But uh, I definitely will. I have no plans of stopping anytime soon. So when I'm out I will definitely continue military bgj geese. However I full-time, there's no way, but I've always had. I mean, we'll see where the future takes us, because I've definitely had aspirations of doing that. Of course, when you start, you're always, you always have the imagination that you're gonna be on Shark Tank one day.
Speaker 1:You know this is. This is a journey, man. I mean, if you asked me 20 years ago if I would be where I'm sitting right now, I would say no. I mean, podcasting wasn't even a thing back when I started my entire career, while I was in the military. No one knew what podcasting was, except for Joe Rogan. Pretty much he was doing it. So here I am today, man. So you just never know. Right, you got to keep your options open. You mentioned earlier about your business journey and you know you said you got to know the textile and the post office workers really well, and I would imagine that's not just from seeing them, but it's also from making mistakes right and having setbacks. Can you talk about some of those and what stopped you from stopping?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh. Well, so the first, first, like I said earlier, my first two geese I didn't get paid for. And the third one is my first. Uh, it took the guy like a year to pay me but, um, I eventually got the money. So it's obviously, you know, when you start off like that it's it's really rough.
Speaker 2:And I've, you know, and I remember the first shipment of rash guards. I got they. I sent one to a guy and it stained his gi and I remember wearing it myself and it, yeah, it stained my skin and I was like, oh god, like this is so bad and it was so hard to um, it was so hard to get your feet under you at first. But you know, like, like anything in life, you know when you first start off it's going to be rough and you're going to go through trial and error, trial and error. And I remember, you know my, yeah, and my wife, she showed me a way to ship things for, you know, ten dollars and I remember when I was first starting out I would go to the post office and I would say I need to ship these and it'd be 60 for just shipping a gi, but uh, yeah, but you know it's a lot of trial and error, trial and error and just last week actually I think this was maybe last week or the week before I was talking to one of the manufacturers and we had a giant miscommunication and I showed him a design and I said it I wanted it to be something like this, and he thought that that was the final design and I and so when I came back with my final design and I showed him, he said oh, I'm already done manufacturing this.
Speaker 2:And the person I was making this for is a very, very loyal customer and he was ordering probably 20 sets of these rash guards and shorts, and so I knew I wasn't going to give him the product he didn't ask for. So I just paid out of pocket and I said hey, man, you got a, you got a shipment of. You got a shipment of about 20 rash guards and shorts that you didn't want, but hey, just take it as a gift, do whatever you want with them and I'll get you your design. And you know I'll get you the design you wanted in about a week or so. So that was a $400 mistake out of my pocket, but you know what you just got to keep going and keep trying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Keep ducking and weaving, staying in the pocket right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, like I was talking about about earlier, when you have these big deals that go through and you're working with people and you're designing, you know, dozens of sets of of merchandise, you know, like rash garden short combos, you just have to remember that if you send them an incomplete product, they're not going to come back. They're going to say this oh, that guy sucks, he sent us the wrong, you know the wrong design. So it's better to just take the hit, you know, take the hit and then send them what they want and they'll come back and that $400 mistake you made is going to be. You know you're going to pay that off because of your loyalty to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, man, it's uh, it's definitely trial and error and frustrating and everything in between, but you know what? That's what separates the men from the boys in this kind of business, man. So you've been strong, going on strong for what? Three years now, right, yes, sir. So the goal is to build this up to to a black belt level business, as well as receiving your black belt as well and your man. God bless your journey. Dude, you're, you're a blue belt now, but hopefully the next time we talk you're a purple, and then, uh, you'll be moving right up the ranks, man, and, uh, one of the biggest challenges for me has been just the injuries, life moving, uh, everything in between. Once you have kids and everything else, man, your family will start to hate jujitsu because it takes too much time, so get in as many roles as you can now.
Speaker 1:That's my advice to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've made a deal with my wife. I said when we have kids I'm going to do two days a week and the other two days I'll do at home.
Speaker 1:You can compromise, man. Once they get old enough to walk and they get to around four years old, you can start taking them to jujitsu as well. I just took my four-year-old to jujitsu the other day, and then I've got a nine-year-old that's been doing it for a couple months now.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, I'm actually. I think I might go in tonight to do a kid's coaching and I've done in my last gym I was the kid, one of the kids coaches and it's super funny to coach the kids because you know they need some, need help on every single move and some, you know I have no idea what's going on.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I remember being that kid. I remember I, I would ask for help all the time as a kid too because I was terrible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're lucky man. You said at six years old. You're lucky, you started that young and your parents got you into it. Back in the day, my dad was like no, you don't need to know. Well, it was back in the 80s when I grew up, so we still believe that WWF was a real thing. We now know that it's not real. At any rate, man, before we jump off here, before we finish up the podcast, I got a couple of final questions for you. Are you a light weave or are you a heavy weave BJJ guy?
Speaker 2:I would say heavy weave. That's what we do for all of the geese that I order.
Speaker 1:What? Why is that?
Speaker 2:Uh, just, you know it's. It's better quality in my opinion, and it's a lot easier to put the designs and whatnot on there. And, um, you can always hide things with sublimination too, it's yeah. But you know when too? It's yeah. But you know when you have, when you especially when you keep adding things, you know the inside rash guard lining and with sublimination and you add designs on the inside or on the outside of it, you're going to add weight to it. So it's better to just do heavy weave.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, from a consumer side of it, uh, being the user that I am, I I see value to both, like, sometimes, when I travel, I like the lighter ones because they can roll up in my luggage easier, but then the heavy ones are kind of harder to grab, you know, for someone else. So I like, I like not giving people an advantage, but you know, there's pros and cons to all of it. But I definitely want to have a conversation with you because I am interested in some patterns. I am, I love wearing anything that's military related when I'm, when, especially when I'm rolling on the on the mats, uh, and doing jujitsu. Um, before we round things off here, man, is there anything else that you'd like to mention that I that I didn't uh talk about during this podcast?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, you know one thing I would say to anyone listening if you have an idea, whatever it is, you know, if it's whatever, it's a business idea, or you know just a new hobby, something you've always wanted to try and you haven't, you know, I just give it a shot and the worst thing that happens is you fail. You know, my wife, for instance, she bought all this material to make bracelets and whatnot, and, and you know she hasn't done it yet. And I keep saying like, hey, just just try it out, cause she wants to sell them eventually. And I'm like, hey, you remember military BJJ? Geez, like I didn't think I'd make it this far. You know, just just try it out. And so, whatever you know I say this to people in the military too is like the worst thing that happens is if you fail this course. That's the worst that's going to happen is you fail and then you embarrass yourself and you have a mistake. It's better than having a regret.
Speaker 1:I definitely agree with that man. When I started this whole podcast thing, I realized really quickly that Amazon doesn't sell motivation. I can buy all the mics, all the cameras, I want the mixers, everything, the whole nine yards, but at the end of the day, it's up to me, uh, to to make sure that that I make it happen. Um and JP, this has been. I think you've really, man. I mean, I've done a lot of different types of interviews over the years and I've interviewed MMA people who are military. I've interviewed I think this is the first time I've interviewed anyone that does an apparel or jujitsu and is also military, and I think that I've enjoyed this conversation more than I have any conversation in a really, really, really long time. So I appreciate you giving me your time being a and, by the way, let's not mention, today is the Army's birthday and that's why you're hooky.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, you're not working today, so happy birthday Army. Thank you very much. So for those of you listening, we have a $1,000 goal this year to raise for veteran suicide charities such as Mission 22 and Stop Soldier Suicide. We're at $338 this year and by December 31st I'd love for that to have at least four digits in there. So let's all get there together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, that's it. It's a great goal, it's a great cause, it's a great purpose and it's a great, it's a great reason. Man, I loved hearing your story about why you're doing what you're doing and I just really appreciate giving your time. Now I'm going to make sure that in the show notes that I put the links to your Instagram and if you're located on any other social medias out there my most hated one is probably Facebook, but I am on Facebook too, but I will put that on there as well. So just let me know and I can put all that in the show notes and for the folks listening out there.
Speaker 1:Make sure you connect with JP he's currently an active duty soldier stationed up in the middle of nowhere desert up in New York Mountain Division and support him and his cause Because, at the end of the day, soldier suicide is a big deal. It's more than just push-ups. Let's do a little bit, something more to really make a difference and make it more meaningful than what we have in the past. And I know that suicide has touched you directly and it's touched a lot of us, especially those of us in the military with all the hardships that we go through. So let's help him out with his goal. Jp, you got anything else for the audience?
Speaker 2:No, just check me out and feel free. Any questions you have. I respond very quickly. So let's see. If you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out. Thank you very much for your time today.
Speaker 1:All right, folks, and make sure you connect with JP. As for the Morning Formation podcast, as always I want you to stay tuned, stay focused and stay motivated. Warriors all out.