Founding Progress Continues

The early week has been filled with polishing the website and online store (still with fairly coarse sandpaper), a positive financing decision from the bank, a visit to a potential Espoo dojo, and of course our own training – this isn't made any easier by the fact that my own nidan grading is looming in two weeks, approaching threateningly day by day. And of course, work should be done too.

A Challenge for Self-Development

I actually recommend starting a business and dojo without reservation to everyone who wants to stretch their comfort zone to the extreme, then shrug their shoulders and leave it. This is quite a comprehensive experience – everyone will surely find their own areas that need development.

You have to sell your own vision, be visible publicly and on social media, and then face that faceless social media audience at camps weekly (and your own club training partners daily). You have to challenge your technical skills with websites and other technical adjustments. You have to learn to sell and market – not just aikido as a sport but also yourself.

You have to be in contact with authorities, fill out forms, consider acceptable risk, spend time from one hour, day, and week to the next. Soon you have to pick up tools and paint rollers and start the renovation. The most important (and hardest) thing, however, is to believe in yourself – otherwise it's pointless to expect others to believe either.

Tampere Dojo

Aikido Unlimited's Tampere dojo is becoming reality: We'll probably get the lease signed for the Sumeliuksenkatu dojo next week and then we can start renovating.

The space has been a maze-like laboratory reception, so demolishing small reception rooms, smoothing and painting walls, preparing the tatami hall floor, renovating changing rooms/bathrooms, and creating a café will take a few more weeks.

But the dojo will be beautiful; we'll get a spacious and bright training space with a 150 m² tatami, nice changing rooms for women and men, and a cozy café. And we're getting a really good OmaDojo app to manage training and track progress.

Looking for Partners

As a new idea, we're looking for a physiotherapist, masseur, chiropractor, or other practitioner as a partner: We could offer a nice consultation room at reasonable price, good social facilities, plenty of aching aikido practitioners as customers – and of course nice entrepreneurs as partners.

Espoo Expansion

We've been in contact with martial arts gyms in Espoo and looking for training spaces. City facilities aren't an option because they're offered at reasonable prices only to Espoo-based associations (and tatami spaces are scarce).

We think that cooperation with other martial arts is an added value, practitioners can see new sports on both sides and view the martial arts/budo field from a broader perspective.

It looks like we'll find a tatami in Espoo too and hopefully we can start training in the spring. We'll target weekly training especially for adults and juniors starting aikido or returning to it (experienced aikidokas are also welcome!), but on Saturdays we intend to offer "more advanced aikido" and we hope for visitors from surrounding clubs.

Future Plans

What else? At least thoughts about organizing camps and that followers of different aikido teacher lines and orientations are welcome to run camps for us, and joint camps with martial arts are also in the plans. It's useful to keep your eyes open and learn from each other.

At Aikido Unlimited, we strive to follow Endo-sensei's students and especially Ariga-sensei's aikido. We hope for cooperation and support from domestic teachers.

-Sarita