Meet Jalyn Rangel of Iron Dragon Martial Arts

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jalyn Rangel.

Hi Jalyn, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In December of 2019, the owner at Iron Dragon Martial Arts called me and let me know that she was looking to sell the business. I had been training there for years, and she knew that I had been interested in owning the business for a while so I was the first person she reached out to. My husband (who is also a martial artist and great instructor) and I jumped on the opportunity. We signed everything over on March 1st, 2020. Unfortunately, COVID hit right away and we ended up having to close on March 17th. We decided to take the time that we were closed and renovate. We spent the next month giving the studio a complete makeover.

We were able to re-open on May 1st but only had about ten students return. The next year was very slow but we made it through.

Now, we are a little over three years into the business and are continuously growing and adding students. It was a rough start, but I feel like we are finally gaining traction.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It absolutely hasn’t been smooth. As I mentioned, we hit a major roadblock only a couple of weeks in with COVID and having to close the business for a while.

Then once we were able to re-open and really start teaching we ran into a lot of pushback from current students and their parents. We took over an existing school, but we knew we wanted to teach and run things a lot differently than it had been. This caused many people to quit and a lot of people to question us. No one likes change and that was very evident within the first few years. We definitely realized that it would have been easier to start a brand new school than to take over an existing one.

A struggle that we knew that we would face was having a ton of competition in our area. The Marietta/East Cobb area has so many martial arts schools. Again, we knew this going into it so it’s not a surprise, just something we have to work around.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a Martial Arts school offering classes for ages four and up. We offer Taekwondo, Kickboxing, and Jiu-Jitsu classes.

We set ourselves apart from our competitors by holding our students to a high standard. At this point, many martial arts schools will give you a black belt in three years no matter what. We don’t agree with this concept. Every student has a different journey to the black belt and will take a different amount of time to reach that rank. One student might take four years when another might take 10. This depends on many factors, including age, maturity level, consistency, and ability.

When you earn your black belt at Iron Dragon, you will know that it was truly earned, never given. Nothing worth having in life comes easily, all great things require hard work and dedication.

What makes me the most proud is when we have parents thanking us for holding their child to a high standard. It’s a hard thing to do, especially as we grow. It would be easy to let some students fall through the cracks and get away with not giving their best, but we try very hard to make sure we are giving the attention needed to every student in order to bring out the best in them. Everyone has the ability for greatness and it is our job as instructors to try and help them tap into it.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I was very fortunate to have a great childhood, and I am very thankful for that. I have so many favorite memories to choose from, but I’ll stay on the topic of martial arts and say earning my first black belt.

I was 13 when I tested for my black belt. It was the hardest thing I had ever done at that point and was my first big achievement.

Pricing:

• Monthly Tuition (as of Sept 2023)
• $145 – 1st student
• $125 – Additional Students

Contact Info:

• Website: www.irondragonmartialarts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irondragonma
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/irondragonmartialarts
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1AFB8-qEMwAiuSybrmsbQ