Yes, We Are Open! 🍁

SuperKick Karate

Episode Summary

Episode 4, Season 2: SuperKick Karate Toronto, Ontario You’ll Get A Kick Out Of This One! This week Al is back in Toronto on the west border of Little Italy to speak with Vic Granic, Sensei and founder of SuperKick Karate. This is literally not your father’s Dojo. Superkick is focused on the young members of their community. Vic isn’t interested in teaching your kids how to fight, he wants to teach them self-confidence, leadership skills, and fitness. What happens when all that is taken away because of a pandemic? Listen to this episode to find out.

Episode Notes

You can learn more about SuperKick Karate at granicsensei.com.

Episode Transcription

Al Grego:                            Hello, everyone. I'm Al Grego. And this is the Yes, We Are Open! podcast.

                                             Today, I'm on the far west end of Toronto's Little Italy, my old stomping grounds from my college days. Little Italy is framed east to west by Bathurst Street and Ossington Avenue, and north to south by Harbord Street and Dundas Street West. I spent many nights enjoying the amazing live music venues along College Street, and many days sampling the amazing pizzerias, [pretorias], bakeries, cafes, and gelato shops. It's no wonder I gained so much weight in college.

                                             That was almost 25 years ago. Little Italy today is a lot more diverse, but no less vibrant. It's still one of Toronto's busier nightlife hotspots. I park a few blocks east of my final destination and walk west along College Street, taking it all in. Aside from the business names, not much has changed. It's a pleasant warm sunny day in April. Folks are out walking and biking. Patrons are standing out on the street to catch some of that warm sun. It's been gone too long this winter.

                                             Vic? How's it going?

Vic Granic:                         Hey, buddy. Shaking hands?

Al Grego:                            Sure.

                                             As I approach Ossington Avenue on the Northeast corner, I'm greeted by Vic who's sunning out in front of his business waiting for yours truly.

                                             [crosstalk]. You know what I mean.

Vic Granic:                         What's that? [inaudible]. We have another entrance where I just sit out in the sun.

Al Grego:                            Oh yeah. I don't blame you. Beautiful day.

Vic Granic:                         Yeah. [crosstalk].

Al Grego:                            After a warm greeting, Vic invites me down to his dojo, Superkick Karate.

Vic Granic:                         Part of the dojo. This my friend Al. Can you say, "Hi, Al"?

Group:                                 Hi, Al.

Vic Granic:                         He's doing a little bit of an interview [crosstalk]-

Al Grego:                            During my visit, I had the pleasure of witnessing Vic in action with his class. In this case, it's a group of elementary school age kids. Vic begins the class by getting them to recite a mantra.

Vic Granic:                         ... number two. Repeat after me. I will.

Group:                                 I will.

Vic Granic:                         Devout myself.

Group:                                 Devout myself.

Vic Granic:                         In a positive manner.

Group:                                 In a positive manner.

Vic Granic:                         And avoid anything.

Group:                                 And avoid anything.

Vic Granic:                         That will reduce.

Group:                                 That will reduce.

Vic Granic:                         My mental growth.

Group:                                 My mental growth.

Vic Granic:                         Or my physical health.

Group:                                 Or my physical health.

Vic Granic:                         I will.

Group:                                 I will.

Vic Granic:                         Develop self discipline.

Group:                                 Develop self discipline.

Vic Granic:                         In order to bring out the best.

Group:                                 In order to bring out the best.

Vic Granic:                         In myself.

Group:                                 In myself.

Vic Granic:                         And others.

Group:                                 And others.

Vic Granic:                         I will.

Group:                                 I will [crosstalk]-

Al Grego:                            I really enjoyed witnessing the class. I couldn't help picturing my own son and daughter in this environment and how beneficial it would be for them. After the class, I sat down with Vic for his interview.

Vic Granic:                         My name is Vic Granic and I'm the founder of Superkick Karate.

Al Grego:                            When did Superkick Karate start?

Vic Granic:                         I incubated in 2003 in the Toronto Business Development Centre on King Street West. So it was a really helpful project where they helped develop a business plan before you opened your business.

Al Grego:                            Mm-hmm (affirmative).

                                             Before you opened this, what was your background?

Vic Granic:                         Well, I was a jack of all trades. I wore construction as a young guy, and then I got into as a baker. And then I ended up at Tim Hortons and worked as a baker at nights; and trained in the evening, and started teaching karate in my 20s for my instructor, Don Warrener in Hamilton, Ontario. When I walked in the first day, I just kind of went, "Wow. This fits. I like this." And I just kept training and learning. And then I knew one day I wanted open up a school and I just knew it wasn't going to be in Hamilton. I didn't want to disappoint anybody by opening and closing. I want to commit to the community and that's what I've done. I moved to Toronto in 2001. My job changed, I quit, and then I just applied for a program for the self-employment assistance program.

                                             So you get unemployment insurance while you're developing your business plan in the first year of business. And I said, "I really need that," because I have moderate living. Actually, they denied me and I was like, "What? They denied me?" And I went to St. Clair and Yonge and I waited almost all day until he took me in. I said, "Listen. I don't understand why. Everybody thinks I have a really good business model." And I coerced them to getting me in this program and I started a couple weeks late. And I've been going ever since.

Al Grego:                            How was it when you first opened? What was the reception like?

Vic Granic:                         Well you start with one. Right?

Al Grego:                            Right.

Vic Granic:                         What I did was, when I was in the program, I offered everybody in my program... I think there was about 58 people doing the same thing, developing business plans. I said, "If anybody here wants to come and train, it's free for a month if you want to come and try it out. Just help me open my doors. Bring your kids; I'll teach them too." So a lot of people came and then a few of them stayed for years. Right? I spent three years in the King Street, five years on Atlantic, and then I went six or seven years in Liberty Market Building. And I found this place and it was a raw space actually. It's a new building.

                                             And I came in, negotiated with the landlord. He turned out to be like a mom and pop kind of team that have a few properties here. Really great family. And they kind of loved what we did with the kids and loved what I did with the place because I did it all myself.

Al Grego:                            Right.

Vic Granic:                         And so he's been really a blessing actually. He enjoys the program. He comes and watches the classes sometime. I met his parents. And so I was really happy with this place. It's been going ever since and it's been fun. It's like I don't work.

Al Grego:                            Right. Right.

Vic Granic:                         Because you do what you love, right?

Al Grego:                            Exactly. Never worked a day in your life. I love that. Yes.

Vic Granic:                         Yes. Yes.

                                             I was teaching adults the whole time. And then up until COVID hit, I was online. I was always researching. I'm always researching new curriculum and I get a feed going. And all of a sudden I'm getting these feeds where these guys are doing techniques that I teach at a jujitsu, karate on unsuspecting people and actually hurting them. And I could tell they're trained martial artists. And I'm thinking to myself, "I don't want those people around my students," because that's an influence. Right? You want to create a circle of influence that's positive, fostering good relationships, not somebody that's going to come and change a kid from being on the right path and taking them to the wrong side.

                                             And I said to myself, to my adults I said, "Those that are with me, you could stay, but I'm not going to have adult classes. It's going to be a family dojo." You know? And a lot of them were upset. And I said to them, "I'm sorry, but I'm doing what's best for me." And at the same time, I had a reset button going, "How do I want to run this again?"

Al Grego:                            Right.

Vic Granic:                         So then that's what I did. And then all of a sudden, now guys come up, "Hey, I want to learn how to fight." I'm like, "I don't teach people how to fight." They're like, "What?" I go, "I don't teach people how to fight. That's never been my thing here. That's not what a dojo does."

Al Grego:                            Would you say that what separates you from maybe other dojos then is your focus on family, on no adults, it's all just kids, but you're-

Vic Granic:                         Yeah. I think it does separate. I really care. These kids come up and I use my puppets to teach the little ones. I bring them in, right? These little puppets are so much fun. I teach life lessons, how to focus with the puppet. And I use the puppet and my mouth is moving. And they're like, "Sensei, your mouth is moving." I goes, "So what? I'm not talking. He's talking." And I just [inaudible]. And they're so engaged and I make these fun little videos with them.

Al Grego:                            All right. Can I get your name please?

Tasha:                                 My name is Tasha. I'm a senior brown belt.

Isaiah:                                 Isaiah. Senior brown.

Sasha:                                 My name is Sasha. I am a blue belt.

Kyler:                                   Kyler [Wright]. I'm a senior brown belt now.

Vic Granic:                         You know? We do a number of things in the camp. We do our Bully Proof program. I teach them jujitsu. We do a weapons program, traditional Kobudo. We do the fitness training. We do arts and crafts. We had made robots. You know? Yeah. Because my kids are so smart, I said. They actually taught me how to use a computer over the years. I never used a computer. The kids taught me. And then I was doing some videos and I said, "How do I splice this?" And [Natasha], "Sensei, you just do this and do that. And you take that piece and put it there." And I'm like, "Oh thanks, Natasha." It would've took me 10 years to figure that out, right? So the kids teach me more than I teach them. You know?

Al Grego:                            Yeah. That's great.

Vic Granic:                         And that's the best part.

Al Grego:                            How long have you been coming to SuperKick?

Tasha:                                 For 10 years now.

Al Grego:                            10 years. How old were you when you started?

Tasha:                                 I was four.

Al Grego:                            Four? Wow.

Tasha:                                 Yeah.

Isaiah:                                 10 years.

Sasha:                                 Nine or 10 years?

Kyler:                                   Probably about eight years now.

Al Grego:                            Eight years. How old were you when you started?

Kyler:                                   I think, I'm pretty sure six.

Al Grego:                            What's your favorite part about coming?

Tasha:                                 I think the community. I've learned a lot. Coming here, I've made a lot of friends. In terms of learning like leaderships, I coach a class before me. So I've learned how to help out, how to get kids interested, and make sure they pay attention, that kind of stuff. And I think that'll be very important for me in the future.

Isaiah:                                 I've learned a lot of stuff here. I've learned how to deal with bullies. I learned how to make friends. And I've learned a lot stuff here, important lesson.

Sasha:                                 Because I started when I was really young, it taught me discipline. You learn focus, you get concentrated. It's... Yeah.

Kyler:                                   Ever since I've started, I've made lots of friends coming here. And we learn a lot of stuff, not just karate here. We talk about current events and all sorts of things.

Al Grego:                            Do you have any employees?

Vic Granic:                         Well, these kids now, they... I used to have them, and they all grew up into the leadership team and then I pay them. They help clean the place and maintain the place and do all... But then we closed and it was just me. And then those ones had to move on and get jobs.

Al Grego:                            Sure.

Vic Granic:                         So these are the kids. All these kids here are actually coaches now.

Al Grego:                            These are kids who were students and now they've become coaches and working?

Vic Granic:                         They're going for their black belt in June. There's two of them going for black belt in June. The next year, there's a few more going for black belt. But all of them are the kids in the dojo. And I never had an employee. I'd rather do a mentorship program.

Al Grego:                            Right.

Vic Granic:                         And now the great thing about that is I had one on Saturday morning, one of the kids came home from university, UFT, and he's studying health and science. And he's doing research at SickKids.

Al Grego:                            Mm-hmm (affirmative). Oh?

Vic Granic:                         And I'm like, ["Nicola], that's incredible." And all these kids are all on the right path. And he comes back, he says, "You know, sensei? You taught us how to speak, how to be confident, how to look people in... You taught us all these things that nobody would've taught us." And that's what I bring to my program is I really want them to become upstanding human beings and make a change in the world. And that's my goal because I'm not happy with a lot of the things that go on.

Al Grego:                            Sure.

Vic Granic:                         Just etiquette in general. And so I thought that's my mission.

Al Grego:                            Up next, Vic's mission is to empower his students with the skills necessary to overcome adversity. Their biggest test and his was about to hit in the form of a pandemic. How did they fair? Stay tuned to find out.

                                             You're listening to Yes, We Are Open. After a rocky start that involved several moves around Toronto's west end, Superkick Karate seemed to find the perfect home in Little Italy. And owner Vic Granic was finally able to run the dojo he envisioned with a focus on helping neighborhood kids learn important life skills. Vic was about to encounter one more challenger, perhaps his biggest yet.

                                             So if I were to ask you about a time or an event of struggle that threatened to shut you down, what would you say that would be?

Vic Granic:                         Well, I think it's been a struggle since day one. You go into a business and you're thinking, "Five years, I'm going to be set." You know? "I will be okay. We'll financially be okay." But there's always something that came up. We had one good year in 2019 and then the pandemic hit in March and then it was like March break. And they said, "Oh, you're going to close for two weeks." And I was like, "I don't know." I was doing my research in China.

Al Grego:                            Yeah.

Vic Granic:                         And we closed almost all the way till September, like August.

Al Grego:                            Oh wow. Throughout the-

Vic Granic:                         Yeah, we were locked down. And then we came back in August, September, October, November. Then they closed us again all the way till July.

Al Grego:                            Yeah.

Vic Granic:                         And then we came back in July. And it's hard because my momentum is the school year, right?

Al Grego:                            Sure.

Vic Granic:                         And then we came back in again until December, and then they closed us again until just recently. February, right?

Al Grego:                            Right.

                                             How close did you get to calling it quits?

Vic Granic:                         I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I thought I had to close. I really did because I didn't know what... Because my experience with landlords, they're like, "We want my money." So I talked to my landlord. I said, "Listen. I don't got any money. I'm not making any money. And I don't know what the government's doing." You know?

Al Grego:                            Yeah.

Vic Granic:                         And with my landlord, I was like, I said, "You could take my stuff, or tell me, I'll take my stuff out." And he said, "No," because of what we experienced in the beginning of our lease. And like I say, he's a martial artist. He used to be a Taekwondo guy and he's into this stuff and what I do. And so I was grateful for that. I'm surrounded by such wonderful people.

                                             And just to give you an example, each the pandemic both times, we do school year terms and stuff like that. And I had about probably 25 to 30 parents come up and they would buy the school year term, and it was kind of consistent. And they were already with me for six, seven years. And when we opened, I said, "Don't buy the school year term. Just pay it by the month because I don't know what's going to happen." Right? And they're like, "Sensei, we're going to pay for the term because we want you here when you come out." And I've had people help me financially. Families come up and say, "Sensei, don't go get another job. We want to help you stay open. We're going to do whatever we can." And they just came to...

                                             Like, the kids were... Zoom was not fun for any kid, but we did a great workout every Zoom class. I incorporated high intensity interval training. I got them weights. I gave them all my old equipment. I said, "Come and pick up the bags and shields." I made them mini dojos at home. I got different things in here. It was about 35, 40 of us that were doing Zoom. That's when it hit me and I said, "I don't want to focus on adults anymore." I want to focus on families because it empowered me. Right? It made me like, "I want to even be better at it." Right? So that was the tipping point to not doing what everybody else is doing like a gym or a fight club or whatever.

Al Grego:                            Right.

                                             So during the lockdown, you got some help from your landlord. You struggled with the government, but you got some help from the government. At some point though you're going to be able to open your doors again. So I'm talking about that at the end of the first lockdown.

Vic Granic:                         Yes.

Al Grego:                            What measures did you put in place to [crosstalk]-

Vic Granic:                         Oh my God. I had to learn a whole new protocol. Right?

Al Grego:                            Right. Yeah.

Vic Granic:                         So we never used to have a gridded floor. So I started making... I moved all the heavy bags. I had all these bases. So I said, "Okay." When we came in, it was half capacity. We always start with half capacity.

Al Grego:                            Yeah.

Vic Granic:                         So I said, "Okay. We got the heavy bags. We got nine heavy bags. We've got 18 spots that we can use efficiently." And then I got the spray guns and cleaning. I was doing everything myself and then teaching too. Then there's some of the kids on the Zoom. So you're running that program as well. Then there's this... I used to have a software. I used to use that. I hosted my website during COVID. They kept billing me. And I won't to say their name because... But they're martial arts industry software. And I said, "What do you guys..." And it costs like 300 bucks a month.

Al Grego:                            Wow.

Vic Granic:                         Because they would do your CR... You could do online billing and all that stuff. And I'm like, "We're close and you're billing me? I don't want to work with you guys anymore. You guys should be compassionate about this." So they took my website. So I had to during COVID learn. I learned, I taught myself how to build a website, how to start upload stuff, and how to do online search engine optimization.

Al Grego:                            Wow.

Vic Granic:                         So it was like an education for me. So I took that as a positive. And then we came in here, and then cleaning all the time. And then we open up a little bit, close it again, open up. It's just so... It was frustrating, but at the same time, I understood because it was the right thing to do. Right?

Al Grego:                            Yeah. Yeah.

                                             During the lockdown, how did you feel when you couldn't come in?

Tasha:                                 It was really difficult. You know? Crowded. Also is like a place where you can kind of let out some of your frustration and stuff. And during online, we had Zoom calls, but it's still not like being in the actual place.

Al Grego:                            Yeah.

Tasha:                                 Yeah. So I missed that.

Al Grego:                            Yeah. All right.

Isaiah:                                 Well, I was pretty lazy. I didn't really want to come to karate a lot, but I still did because I needed to do something about my anger. And I come to karate and just be here.

Sasha:                                 Well, there was a lot going on. So my first I thought wasn't really karate. It was more school. But when I came back it was very nice.

Al Grego:                            Yeah. Were you participating in like the online classes and stuff?

Sasha:                                 I think we did that for a little while until online school classes started, and then we stopped because...

Kyler:                                   That was pretty difficult because in class we spar with each other and we grapple with each other. So it's very difficult without contact.

Al Grego:                            Yeah. You couldn't spar with your parents at home?

Kyler:                                   No, they weren't up to it.

Al Grego:                            No.

                                             How many students do you have?

Vic Granic:                         Now, we're about 65.

Al Grego:                            65?

Vic Granic:                         Yeah.

Al Grego:                            At your height, before the pandemic-

Vic Granic:                         We were at probably 140.

Al Grego:                            Wow.

Vic Granic:                         150. And with the class schedule that I was doing, I can manage that. Right? But we're still not at capacity. We're still not running all days because I'm the only instructor.

Al Grego:                            Right.

Vic Granic:                         I'm trying to get everybody back in the swing of things.

Al Grego:                            sure.

Vic Granic:                         And then we're just planning our summer camps and these kids are going to work. So I can't manage it myself. And I don't want to bring outsiders and I really trust those kids that grew up to nurture the younger children. Like in the classes, you'll see when they come in, they love them. The best part is they're all like 6'3", 6'4", they could be athletes, but they're all academic.

Al Grego:                            Wow. That's great.

Vic Granic:                         They're all A1 students. And I tell them, I go, "Yeah, you could play sports to get a really good education." And that's what happened 10 years prior.

                                             They were all athletes and they got really good educations. You know? They're traveling abroad in school, they're working health science or are doing research. They're doing something that will change the world for the better. And to hear like Nicola who came in today, we had a... SickKids is our charity. And I think we raised about $25,000 over the years for SickKids. And he grew up doing that. We did amazing race, five kilometer challenges. And now, he's like... I go, "Where are you going, Nicola," because he came to train with some of the kids going for black belt, and he says, "I'm going to SickKids. I'm going to do some research." And I'm like, "Oh my God." It hit. It works. You know? You can make a change. We want to change one child one black belt at a time.

                                             And he just became a black belt. And he was so excited to be here. He said,"Sensei, I'm so happy for you that you're still alive in the dojo and we're still going. I want to come back and train with you. Why aren't you teaching adults?" I said, "You can train with us. You'd be on the floor with me teaching and training." You know? And that's what I want to do. Those kids whenever they come home... I got [Zoe]. She's in Montreal and she's in university over there, McGill, and she's coming back Easter weekend to train, to get ready for the black belt grading because she missed out on it pre-pandemic.

Al Grego:                            Sure.

Vic Granic:                         So there's all these kids gone to university doing great things. And I said to myself, "That's it, man. That's what we're supposed to be doing." No matter what you go through in life, you're always going to face obstacles and you have to persevere and develop the attitude of focusing on what can I do to fix it, not cry about it. You could cry about it and not do anything, or you can start to focus on the things that you want to do. And when you focus on that, you're directing yourself into resolving the problem in life, whatever, relationships, business. And that's what it was. So I think everything that we go through prepares us for what we're going to go through. And that's the philosophy of karate, right? Developing your character through the martial arts.

Al Grego:                            Coming up after the break, we find out what the future holds for Superkick Karate.

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Al Grego:                            Welcome back to Yes, We Are Open. With multiple location changes followed multiple lockdowns, Vic Granic has never really been able to let his guard down since opening his dojo, Superkick Karate. But thanks to his own tenacity and some help from his landlord and his students' families, it looks as if Vic's business may actually survive. So what does the future look like for Superkick? We'll find out next.

                                             What does the future look like for Superkick Karate?

Vic Granic:                         Well, I'm focused. So I'm motivated. Everybody that's here really wants to get things back. Everybody wants to be back to full swing again. Potential is always there, be willing to work for it. But now I feel this will be my livelihood. I think this is what I'll do till I retire. Maybe even if I retire, I still want to teach two or three days a week. You know what I mean? And I think it's going to be just fine. You know? I believe in myself. We're in a good position. We had a lot of support. A lot of love came out. There's too many people pulling for me and pushing me forward for me to fall backwards. And my motivation's higher even than it was when I first started when I was like 34.

Al Grego:                            Any designs on growth? [crosstalk].

Vic Granic:                         Yeah. Developing my team, doing the online curriculum, maybe adding different programs I thought because it's a kid-focused place. I know people that are gymnasts and have gymnastic classes. I'd like to get a dance program, maybe a yoga for kids. I have a parents' partners program. So we can do our fit fighter program, fitness and conditioning with family. Right? So they can come in, they can hold a bag for one, one could do the band, we can do our agility drills. I could see this place being such a kid-focused friendly place and positive. Right?

                                             You know? I could see how could we make our educational system better. And these kids are the ones that are going to do it because they're going to be vocal about issues like that. They're going to be the ones to say, "Hey, don't call that person that name. That's not right. I'm not going to stand for that. I'm not going to tolerate it. I'm not afraid of you." I go, "When one person says something like that, another person's going to come and say, 'yeah, leave them alone or stop doing that.'" And I go, "There's strength in numbers. We don't have to be violent."

                                             I teach them jujitsu too. I says, "There's all sorts of holds you can do and hug them and say, "Now don't make me hurt you because I can subdue and control you. You're seeing it right now. And I can hurt you if you try hitting me." And you can negotiate a way out. And that's what these kids are all about, right?

Al Grego:                            In terms of your future with karate, do you think you'll continue it just as a hobby or do you have any kind of designs on being a sensei?

Tasha:                                 I don't think I'd ever become a sensei, but I'd definitely like to keep going after high school and after I graduate to pursue it as a passion, for sure.

Isaiah:                                 I don't think it would be my career path, but I would like to enjoy it as like a side job. And I would probably continue it even after I've achieved black belt or how far I go.

Sasha:                                 Yeah. Yeah. I kind of want to get to the black belt, and then I don't know where I'm going to go from there. But...

Kyler:                                   Well, now I'm coaching other classes.

Al Grego:                            Mm-hmm (affirmative). Okay.

Kyler:                                   So I'm learning how to do all that. And maybe one day I'll run my own dojo.

Al Grego:                            That'd be great.

Vic Granic:                         My eyes are open. I'm seeing all the potential for the programs that we've done and I feel I could change it for the better and I could change the way people perceive the martial arts in general. Because when I started, there's a lot of negativity associated to the martial arts.

Al Grego:                            Yeah.

Vic Granic:                         You know? And I heard it because people come in and tell me these stories. "I was at this place. I was at that place." But I feel sky's the limit. You know? As long as I have my health, we keep going. We'll make money, we'll pay our rent.

Al Grego:                            It's a blessing to see the fruits of your work.

Vic Granic:                         Yeah. You know? That's part of my faith too. And the love for man and to be able to make change in a positive way. And it's a fulfilling life. You know? Like I said, I come in, I get up in the morning. I never used an alarm clock again when I start this place.

Al Grego:                            Right.

Vic Granic:                         I get up every morning at the right time. I'm never late. I show up every day. I never used to go to work every day. You know? There's times like, "I'm going to take Friday off."

Al Grego:                            Yeah.

Vic Granic:                         I never not show up. I mean, I don't feel like I'm working at all. I just feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm in the right spot right now. And who knows what's going to happen in the future? I'm just going to have fun doing it. You know?

Al Grego:                            Very nice. Thank you so much, Vic.

Vic Granic:                         Oh my pleasure. Thanks for speaking with me.

Al Grego:                            So Vic, is SuperKick Karate open?

Vic Granic:                         We are definitely open and we will be open for a very long time.

Al Grego:                            That's awesome. Thank you so much.

Vic Granic:                         Thank you.

Al Grego:                            That's the story of Superkick Karate. The differences between a career and a calling can probably be boiled down to one thing: motivation. One you do for money and livelihood, the other you do because there's something intrinsic in you that propels you to that thing, or more aptly, the thing calls you. You would do for free because the motivation is the thing.

                                             Vic Granic has definitely found his calling. He has found the thing and the motivation for the thing. And guess what? It isn't karate. I mean, karate is a tool he uses to do the thing, but what it is is shaping young people's characters and minds and preparing them for future success. You can't argue with Vic's track record. It's hanging all over the walls of his dojo in pictures of past students. It's in those students who return to the dojo to help pay it forward by helping shape other young characters and minds. The thing has become a feedback loop for excellence and it all started with Vic Granic and his calling.

                                             Yes, We Are Open! is a Moneris podcast production. I'd like to thank Tasha Isaiah, Sasha, Kyler, and Vic for taking the time to share their story. You can learn more about Superkick Karate at granicsensei.com. Follow Vic on Facebook and Instagram @vicgranic. And on Twitter, he's @superkickkarate. For more information about this podcast, visit our site, yesweareopenpodcast.com. If you'd like to support us, rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a Canadian small business owner or know of one with an interesting story of perseverance to tell, I'd love to help tell it. You can contact me at podcast@moneris.com. Tune in next week for another story of small business struggle and survival on the Yes, We Are Open! podcast. I'm Al Grego. Thank you for listening.