How One Coach Built the Future of Athlete Performance

Summary

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Living Your Legacy – “How One Coach Built the Future of Athlete Performance”

Host: Jason Tyler | Guest: Brad Tatum, Founder of the Jump Lab

Date: July 14, 2026
Duration: ~24 min

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the remarkable journey of Brad Tatum, athletic performance coach and founder of the Jump Lab in Pasadena, California. The conversation centers around building an innovative sports performance business, the science behind athlete development (especially for young women athletes), injury prevention, and the resilience needed to sustain a mission-driven enterprise through adversity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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The Mission & Origins of the Jump Lab

[02:47–03:52]

• The Jump Lab began as a private training practice, specializing primarily in volleyball and basketball athletes, helping them achieve higher vertical jumps and overall explosiveness.
• Brad and his team acquired the business in 2024 from the founder, inheriting both a strong brand and significant local reputation.
• Recognizing a market gap in youth athletic performance training, especially for club sports in Southern California, the Jump Lab set out to offer data-driven results to families and athletes.

Notable Quote

“It was focused primarily on volleyball and basketball players when we took it over... but that is still a core thing. Most of the families come in because it doesn’t matter what sport you play—everyone’s trying to elevate their game.”
— Brad Tatum [03:58]

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Innovation: Implementing 3D Force Plate Technology

[05:13–06:58]

• The Jump Lab became the first facility on the West Coast (including pro and college levels) to introduce three-dimensional force plates.
  • These advanced platforms can assess not just vertical power but also explosive force forward, backward, and side-to-side, and it measures landing imbalances.
  • The technology allows for detailed, individualized assessments and measurable progress tracking.
• They conduct performance testing every six weeks, providing objective feedback to both athletes and parents.

Notable Quote

“A lot of facilities will have one-dimensional force plates—they can measure how high you can jump, but not your explosive power forward, backward, or left and right... but ours does.”
— Brad Tatum [05:18]

Memorable Moment

• In the first six weeks after deploying the tech, “every kid we’ve tested so far has gained an inch in their vertical from the last time” — a testament to data-driven improvement. [06:47]

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Injury Prevention and the Emphasis on Female Athletes

[08:22–12:35]

• Around half of Jump Lab athletes are girls, particularly from club volleyball—a group often overlooked by traditional sports performance facilities.
• Critical insights:
  • Girls volleyball players statistically face a higher rate of ACL tears than football players.
  • Female athletes are often told they don’t need the same strength training as boys, despite higher injury risk due to underdeveloped mechanics and insufficient muscle support.
  • Rotator cuff injuries are also prevalent in volleyball, comparable to pitchers in baseball.
• The Jump Lab’s methodology:
  • Every athlete begins with a detailed assessment using force plates.
  • Tailored programming includes prehab, strength training, and landing mechanics.
  • Recovery modalities offered: targeted cryotherapy, compression, massage, and flexibility work.
  • Education is critical—especially for parents and female athletes who fear “getting bulky.”

Notable Exchange

“Girls volleyball players have a higher percentage of ACL tears than football players do.”
— Brad Tatum [09:45]
“That’s actually my first time hearing that.”
— Jason Tyler [09:46]

Memorable Quote

“It’s a false idea that you don’t need to be strong in these sports... Even today, girls are always told you’re not going to be as strong or explosive as a guy in your sport.”
— Brad Tatum [09:23]

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Science vs. Conventional Wisdom in Coaching

[13:19–16:46]

• There’s a persistent myth that weight training leads to excessive bulk for women.
  • Both Brad and Jason dispel this, emphasizing the slow, deliberate process required to actually put on significant muscle.
• The Jump Lab focuses heavily on landing mechanics—not just in jumping higher, but in how to safely absorb force and prevent injury post-jump.
• Coaches often train athletes for explosive movement but neglect safe deceleration, causing overuse injuries or catastrophic knee injuries often seen in pro sports.

Notable Quote

“We work on explosive movement to get up there and then we don’t care what happens when you come down... Not enough coaches work on that.”
— Jason Tyler [13:25]

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Applying Sports Science in Volleyball – Mechanics & Mindset

[15:00–19:23]

• Each athlete comes with unique goals—e.g., “I want to increase my vertical”—but underlying motives often relate to role advancement within their teams.
• Differences in sport mechanics:
  • Vertical jump for basketball (fixed rim, forward motion) vs. volleyball (variable ball location, need for hang time and mid-air decision-making).
  • Volleyball jumpers must process rapidly changing game situations at the apex of their jump, akin to a running back reading and reacting to a defense.
• Brad shares his own learning journey in volleyball after acquiring Jump Lab, drawing parallels to his background in baseball and football.

Notable Quote

“There’s a lot going on up here while you’re also going up and then coming down."
— Brad Tatum [19:00]

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Building Endurance—Business and Athletic Parallels

[20:00–22:53]

• Brad describes early adversity: shortly after acquiring the business, the Eaton fires caused massive disruption. Many clients were displaced, and the future was in jeopardy.
• Key entrepreneurial lesson: resilience and grit (“anything worth doing is hard”).
  • Brad and team doubled down, expanded their geographical reach, hired marketing help, and stayed committed, driven by their core mission.
• Parallels between athletic and business endurance: the Marine Corps taught him to “just take one more step” when the journey seems impossible.

Notable Quote

“Anything worth doing is hard… you just got to believe that you can do it. I know I can take one more step and 15 miles later, you’re at the end.”
— Brad Tatum [20:00, 21:53]

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Inspirational Takeaways

• Data-driven performance: Leverage technology to individualize and track progress for every athlete.
• Strength for all athletes: Educate athletes and families, especially females, on the necessity of strength and mechanics to both boost performance and reduce injury risk.
• Growth from adversity: Facing business-threatening crises can catalyze ingenuity, provided the mission remains front and center.
• Resilience mindset: Success in both business and athletics means conquering the journey one small, persistent step at a time.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “It doesn't matter what sport you play... everyone’s trying to elevate their game.” — Brad Tatum [03:58]
• “We’re the first facility on the West Coast at any level… to have this [3D force plate] capability.” — Brad Tatum [05:14]
• “Every kid we’ve tested so far has gained an inch in their vertical from the last time.” — Brad Tatum [06:53]
• “Girls volleyball players have a higher percentage of ACL tears than football players do.” — Brad Tatum [09:45]
• “It’s a false idea that you don’t need to be strong in these sports.” — Brad Tatum [09:23]
• “I know I can take one more step... and 15 miles later, you’re at the end.” — Brad Tatum [21:53]

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Episode Timeline

• [00:00–02:10] Opening context, Brad’s background, and introduction to the Jump Lab
• [02:47–03:52] Jump Lab origins, market gap for youth athlete development
• [05:13–06:58] Launching advanced 3D force plate technology, measurable athlete improvement
• [08:22–12:35] Women’s injury risk, injury prevention protocols, overcoming bias in sports training
• [13:19–16:46] Debunking "bulking up" myths, vital focus on landing mechanics
• [15:00–19:23] Athlete motivations, volleyball’s unique athletic mechanics, Brad’s learning journey
• [20:00–22:53] Surviving catastrophe as a new business, lessons in resilience
• [22:53–24:06] Final reflections, where to follow the Jump Lab

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Where to Learn More

• Instagram: @thejumplab
• Facebook: The Jump Lab

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This episode delivers a blend of practical business wisdom, actionable coaching insights, and powerful real-life stories for athletes, parents, and entrepreneurs alike. Brad Tatum’s story is a testament to grit, faith in purpose, and the game-changing impact of science-based performance training.

Transcript

[Brad Tatum]

Girls volleyball players have a higher percentage of ACL tears than football players.

[Jason Tyler]

That's actually my first time hearing that.

[Brad Tatum]

That's incredible because they don't focus on strength and they don't focus on landing mechanics. I've kind of lived those, like recovering from those injuries myself. And it's a long road and it's not fun. Once they know that they've got that issue, then we can train it out. We can work with them on building that out. And one of the biggest things we have to do is.

[Narrator]

Brad Tatum is a passionate, specialized and results driven athletic performance coach and the founder of the Jump Lab. Channeling his expertise in sports mechanics, he helps aspiring athletes maximize their physical potential and elevate their game, building a foundation of elite athletic capability, unshakable confidence, and lifelong discipline.

[Brad Tatum]

We had just acquired the Jump Lab and then the Eaton fires happened. So we almost lost the business within a few months of being the owners of that business. And it was a really dark period. We, you know, we were genuinely afraid we were going to run out of cash and might have to shutter. Shutter the doors. Right before we really got started, we really believed in what, what we were doing, what we were doing for these kids and what the Jump Lab, the potential. The Jump Lab has to be able to help even more kids. And so we wanted to, we wanted to do it because we believed in it. There's no guarantee it was going to happen. There's no guarantee that, that all that money would have just gone right down the drain.

[Unidentified Speaker]

But we.

[Brad Tatum]

It spans the globe like a super high cold Internet El friend.

[Unidentified Speaker]

Today Apple is going to reinvent the farm. It's not over until I win the

[Brad Tatum]

Living your Legacy podcast. For those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary.

[Unidentified Speaker]

The impossible has been. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan, Open Chicago with the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.

[Jason Tyler]

Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Living youg Legacy Legacy podcast. I'm your host, Jason Tyler and I am joined today by Brad Tatum of the Jump Lab. Brad, welcome to the show.

[Brad Tatum]

Thank you. I appreciate you having me.

[Jason Tyler]

I appreciate you being here. So you just finished up your interview. First of all, how do you feel now on the other side of it?

[Brad Tatum]

Relieved a little bit. Didn't know what to expect. Was nerve nervous but getting into it. But it got very comfortable going throughout and like felt a lot more comfortable just telling my story throughout the journey.

[Jason Tyler]

That's what we aim for here. That's what we aim for. And you Were with Kofi. So Kofi is a great interviewer. I think he does a fantastic job. So for the audience that's out there, they haven't been introduced to you yet. Give me just a quick breakdown on what the Jump Lab is and how it got started.

[Brad Tatum]

Yeah. So the Jump Lab is a sports performance training facility in Pasadena, California. It was founded by another gentleman. He built it up as a private coach up through got very successful and kind of got beyond his capabilities. And he decided it was got to burnout and as a lot of founders do, decided he wanted to sell.

[Jason Tyler]

Flew a little too close to the sun.

[Brad Tatum]

Flew a little too close to the sun. And so we acquired the Jump Lab back in fall of 2024 from him. And so he, he had a good foundation for what it was built up a really good brand, a good local following and really identified the gap in the market for sports performance for youth and teens. In this area, there's a ton of clubs. Club sports are really intense in Southern California, especially girls volleyball. We have a ton of girl volleyball players. And so the Jump Lab, it was focused primarily on volleyball and basketball players when we took it over.

[Jason Tyler]

And we've elevating their vertical.

[Brad Tatum]

Yeah, gotcha.

[Jason Tyler]

I was going to ask too. I was like what does the jump in Jump Lab stand for? But that just makes sense exactly.

[Brad Tatum]

At elevating their game. Right. And so we've expanded it to be work with a lot other athletes, not just the volleyball and basketball players. But that is still like a core thing. Most of the families that come in because it doesn't matter what sport you play, even like soccer players, they got to jump up higher with headers. Football players, you know, gotta jump higher to go get the ball. Baseball players, a shortstop, trying to get those grounders. It doesn't matter what the sport is. Everyone's trying to like elevate their game.

[Jason Tyler]

Even if it's just a couple inches, just a couple notches, that's a world of difference. You know, I, my first client, when I got into doing video work, one of my first clients was pro train athletics and they did NFL combine prep for the 40 meter, so. Or 40 yard dash. I'm sorry. And so when I, when we were, when I was watching them train and filming their whole process, they were trying to shave off like tenths of a second.

[Brad Tatum]

Absolutely right.

[Jason Tyler]

Every little bit counts, especially when you're talking about, you know, multi directional athletes in terms of football. That, that little bit of edge gets you so much further. So talk to me a little bit about what are some of the differences that you're seeing in some of the athletes that come through the jump lab?

[Brad Tatum]

Yeah, so that's really exciting. We recently just bought these three dimensional force plates. So we're the first facility on the west coast of the United States at any level, professional, collegiate or private facility, to have this capability. And so a lot of facilities will have like, the one dimensional force plates. They can measure how high you can jump, but they can't measure your explosive power forward, backward or left and right, and whether or not you're landing with an imbalance as you're coming down. If I'm favoring one leg, if I'm kind of rolling onto that ankle, risking injury to a knee or something, it doesn't measure the output in those different planes, but ours does. So for us now we have a very big differentiator in the quality and the quantity of data that we can look at and how we train out error in the athlete's performance. And in fact, we're running performance testing. We do it every six weeks through our training cycles so we can measure progress. And so parents see that their kids are getting better through the training cycle. We're not asking them to believe us. We want to show it through measurement. And we're running performance testing this week. And this morning before we came in, we got a text from our coach from how last night went. He said, it's amazing since our January testing, which is the first time we ran like a large batch of testing where we collected data on a lot of athletes because we. We went. They went operational in December and then into January, first time we ran the testing. So now in the six weeks from then till now, we've seen a lot of these kids have put in, have gained over an inch in their vertical in six weeks.

[Jason Tyler]

An inch.

[Brad Tatum]

An inch. And so he said, he's like, I can't. Brad Santina, I can't believe it. With every kid we've tested so far has gained an inch in their vertical from the last time.

[Jason Tyler]

That's insane. Yeah, I have actually a really pretty big background in sports. Like, a lot of my video work has led to sports. I was, you know, I used to. I opened up a podcast studio last year with a buddy of mine, and we were doing podcasts for all of the Heat players. So we did Udonis Haslam and Mike Miller's podcast. We did Shaq, we had Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart in there. And I ended up becoming friends with Victor Oladipo, who famously, he blew out his knee playing for Indiana. And so I ended up executive producing his show. And one of the things that, one of the episodes we did was with his doctor that did his knee surgery. And so the science behind creating that explosive force. He gave a really good analogy. He was like, when I, when I saw Victor's knee for the first time, I realized that he was doing the 48 hours at Le Mans in a Toyota Camry essentially, or he was trying to push a Camry to the level of a Ferrari. When you talk about injury and injury prevention, what are some of the specifics that you guys do at the Jump Lab to make sure that. I think injury prevention is one of the most important things in sports. I think load management, a lot of that stuff gets overlooked, especially in the professional leagues. What are you guys doing to sort of manage injury at the Jump Lab?

[Brad Tatum]

So that's a fantastic question. So the, so again those, those, those three dimensional force plates are huge in our ability to, to train out error. So the landing mechanics is, is really important especially for our girls and our volleyball players. So fascinating fact about the Jump lab is about 50% of our athletes are girls. Right. So a lot of sports performance facilities focus on your baseball players or your base or your football players and things like that. Right. You've got the, the elite speed camps and the, the 40 yard dash and that attracts obviously big names, big dollars because that's where the money is in professional sports.

[Jason Tyler]

But it's all they care about at the combine.

[Brad Tatum]

That's all they care about.

[Jason Tyler]

What's your 40 times?

[Brad Tatum]

What's your 40 time? That's all they care about. Well, like for girls volleyball, like what they care about, they care about hitting power and they care about your vertical. Right. And so, but like what, what do girls, what are girls like always told, like you're not going to be even today.

[Jason Tyler]

You're not going to be as strong as or as explosive as a guy in your same sport.

[Brad Tatum]

Yes, exactly. That's part of it. And then it's also like the girls themselves. Like, you know, you're supposed to look pretty, look feminine. It's a non contact sport. You don't, you're not going to get hurt. I put you in a non contact sport so you don't get hurt. So it's a false idea that you don't need to be strong in the sports. But you know, like girls volleyball players have a higher percentage of ACL tears than football players do.

[Jason Tyler]

That's. And so that's actually my first time hearing that.

[Brad Tatum]

That's incredible because they don't focus on strength and they don't focus on landing mechanics and they, they in their shoulder they have a very high incidence of rotator cuff tears too. Like pitchers.

[Jason Tyler]

That is the worst I've had that happen to me. I tore my rotator cuff. It's not a fun injury at all.

[Brad Tatum]

It is not. I tore my labrum and it's not fun at all either. And I have a partially torn LCL in my, in my left knee from my first deployment. So not sports related but you know, high impact load on it. So you know, I've kind of lived those, like recovering from those injuries myself. And it's a long road and it's not fun. So for us what we do is like we, we start all of the athletes out on an assessment, see where they are today and we use the force plates to help us tell, tell where that story of where they are today. And then we, we build the progressions, their training plan based off of that. And everything we do, we build some prehab into what we do. And then we also have recovery services where we do with massage, massage balls, rollers, resistance bands, cups. So we'll do all of that. And we have a targeted cryotherapy system where we can, you know, just not a full cryopod but like, just like cool.

[Jason Tyler]

The one, the ones that go like on the legs, the. Is that the inflatable one?

[Unidentified Speaker]

No.

[Brad Tatum]

So we have those too. The compression therapy.

[Jason Tyler]

Compression therapy, that's what happens is it's

[Brad Tatum]

spraying cold CO2 just like you would in a cryo thing. But like imagine like a 20, 20 minute ice pack in about 90 seconds. So I'm going to cool your, I'm going to cool the joint down. That's causing pain to a very cold temperature in about 90 seconds is like the equivalent of a 20 minute ice treatment.

[Jason Tyler]

Got it.

[Brad Tatum]

And so we'll, we have those kind of things as well. And if you get into a good routine of both prehab and then rehab post session and then our sessions, we focus on training out the imbalances. So it's not just how much can you lift, it's not just how high can you jump, it's. We're going to work on the landing mechanics, we're going to work on the load absorption. So we'll do a lot of elevated platform jumps and then just absorbing the load as you come down and making sure that we're landing on both feet evenly so that you're not putting that extra load on one side. And then so we're trying to one make the athlete aware that this is what they're doing. And so, because it's like the GI Joe thing, right? Because now, you know, and knowing's half the battle. So once they know that they've got that, that issue, then we can train it out and we can work with them on building that out. And one of the biggest things we have to do is educate the parents, like, to educate the athletes, the girls. Like, I don't want to get bulky. It's like, well, like that's, that's not how it works. Like, you know, especially for girls and women, like, you have to really want to get bulky to put on the amount of muscle to get bulky.

[Jason Tyler]

People that say that, like, oh, I don't want to lift weights because I don't want to get big. I'm like, you have no earthly idea the amount of effort that it would take for you to get as big as you think that you're going to get from lifting weights. I've been lifting weights consistently for like four years now and like, getting big has never been on my radar. I just want to get stronger. A byproduct of that is I'll have more lean muscle mass, but I'm not going to be any materially larger.

[Brad Tatum]

Right.

[Jason Tyler]

You know what I mean? You have to try your hard. Ask anybody that's working in, that's doing, you know, bodybuilding, right? They'll tell you the amount of, the amount of food you got to eat, the amount of rest you got to get. Nobody's getting big just by osmosis.

[Brad Tatum]

Yeah, you don't, you don't, you don't do one, one set of lifts at the gym and then like you wake up the next day and you've bulk

[Jason Tyler]

and you're just not how that works. You feel like, you feel like that when you leave the gym, right? You feel like you leave with a pump. You're like, oh my God, my shirt is t lighter. Yeah, but that's just more blood flowing through your muscles. It's not necessarily an actual build up and expansion of that muscle mass. I, I, I, I like that you brought up landing mechanics because, you know, I've had conversations with Vic about this. I feel like not enough coaches work on, we, we work on explosive movement to get up there and then we don't care what happens when you come down. Yeah, you've seen it happen time and time again in the NBA and in the NFL where athletes are landing unilaterally and putting way too much load on one joint and then all of a sudden it's gone.

[Brad Tatum]

That's that fast.

[Jason Tyler]

And it's the worst thing that can happen to an athlete because it can be a career ender. I mean, you look at Derrick Rose, his career was never the same. Vic's career had to take a harsh, harsh left turn. He was, I mean, you're talking about a guy that took prime LeBron James to seven games damn near by himself to then go on to be playing in the G league in his 30s. Like, that's, that's a hard, that's a harsh reality. Talk to me a little bit about, you know, when an athlete comes into the Jump Lab, usually, what are, what's their immediate goal? What's the first thing that they're looking to, to do? And what, what are they, what are they misled about? Maybe through other coaching programs that you guys are coming in and kind of taking a science based approach and saying, hey, actually you should be doing this this way.

[Brad Tatum]

That was a great question. So again, the jump lab attracts a lot of jump sport athletes. We have a lot more athletes of different backgrounds now. We've got a couple fencers, we've got a figure skater, we got some competitive dancers. They all do some jumping and stuff. So it's sort of like jumping things that have attracted all, not all, but a lot of our athletes into the facility. So one of the primary goals we hear all the time is I want to increase my vertical. Okay, great. Why, what is it that you're like, what's the why behind that? It's like, oh, well, because, you know, the coach says I need to get higher if I want to be an outside hitter. You know, that's the kind of the, that's the quarterback or the star position at least on the, on a volleyball team. I know in volleyball, players will tell me, no, like, you know, that's not, that's not the quarterback. But it's, it is like that, that is the person that's getting all the spikes, right? Because they're the ones who are.

[Jason Tyler]

The volleyball player will tell you it's the setter that's the actual like quarterback.

[Brad Tatum]

Quarterback, the setter or the libero. Right? Because everyone who's like moving around the court and like giving the direction. Like, like, and, and so there's, and

[Jason Tyler]

saving them in situations. I'm a huge, I'm a huge fan of volleyball.

[Brad Tatum]

Okay.

[Jason Tyler]

Love volleyball to death. But the libero is the one that's like saving the day, Saving the day. He's on that back line, making sure, like, hey, nothing's going to make it past me. Make sure you guys handle it on offense. But, yeah, that's. That's another thing.

[Brad Tatum]

When you have highlight reels, are the spikes.

[Jason Tyler]

Yeah. The wings. So the wings are coming from either side, and they're taking these huge leaps. I've. I've always said this, watching a vertical on a spiker and watching a vertical on somebody who's like a professional, like, dunker. When you watch the mechanics of those jumps, it almost looks like two completely different things. What's the. What's the mechanics behind that?

[Brad Tatum]

Well, when you think about it, like, the basketball rim is at 10ft, right? And so, like, you're jumping to a fixed height. You know, you got to get over the rim to do that. And then you're also jumping more broad jump distance. Right. You think about, like, Michael Jordan jump, doing the dunks from the free throw.

[Jason Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brad Tatum]

Right. Which is still just, like, one of the most unbelievable feats of athleticism that I've ever seen. But it's forward and to a fixed height.

[Jason Tyler]

Yeah.

[Brad Tatum]

Right. And so. But volleyball, I mean, the nets at a fixed height, but you. You never know where the.

[Jason Tyler]

Where the ball is going to meet

[Brad Tatum]

your hand and the opponent on the other side of the net, where they're going to be, and where that ball is going to meet the net. Right. And so you have to be able to get up really high to either get over them or to get up so high that they can't get over you. And so there's. It's really a lot more of that exertion to transfer the force straight up and maybe a little bit directional, but really transfer your force.

[Unidentified Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jason Tyler]

Cause you also want a little bit of. You need a little bit of time up there.

[Brad Tatum]

That's right.

[Jason Tyler]

There's a split second while you're up there that you have a decision to make. Am I sending this broad across the net? Am I sending it straight to the back? Do I have two blockers in front of me? So now I have to adjust and maybe pivot my hit angle. So, like, there's so many different mechanics that go into it. You have a. You have a second up there. And I've heard volleyball players say that when you get up there and a set comes to you, it's almost like time slows down and you kind of see, like, all right, where do I want it? There?

[Brad Tatum]

Boom.

[Jason Tyler]

I just. Bringing out my. My volleyball nerd.

[Brad Tatum]

It's awesome that you know so much about it, because it's a lot of people don't. And so like I grew up playing baseball and football, so I've had a crash course in volleyball ever since we, we acquired the jump lab because so many of our athlet play volleyball and one of our coaches played D1 volleyball and coached competitive and he still plays competitive volleyball as well. And so I've learned a lot. But you're absolutely right. I mean it's the way the time slows down. It sort of associates to me is like a lot like the running back, like reading the defense and making the cut, seeing the hole and then exploding through it. So it slows down in that moment when you see all of the motion and you see where that one gap is and you take it, it's all happening that fast. But same thing for the volleyball player. You're up there, you're floating and then, yeah, like where is everybody? Where is the gap? How do I angle the ball to get just where I want it to be? As you know, there's a lot going on up here while you're also going up and then coming down.

[Jason Tyler]

If you don't have the height to give yourself the time to make that decision, then obviously you have less time to make that decision and you're just sometimes you end up forced into a position that you don't want to be and then now you're getting blocked.

[Brad Tatum]

That's right.

[Jason Tyler]

Right. I want to ask one more, one more question before we sort of wrap up here. You know, as a business owner, I'm sure any of the, any of our viewers out there that are watching this, they're all entrepreneurial minded, they're business owners. If you had one tip that you could give a business owner to get to a level, get to that next level of success, what would that tip be?

[Brad Tatum]

Anything worth doing is hard. Anything worth doing is going to cause a lot of pain and you're going to have a lot of peaks and valleys. So we had just acquired the jump lab and then the Eaton fires happen. So we almost lost the business within a few months of being the owners of that business. And we were carrying the debt even if the facility shut down because no one could come in or if the place had burned down. Fortunately, we were far enough south of the fires that the facility was never in a physical threat. But we lost a huge piece of our client base whose homes burned down and then even who didn't burn down, who were evacuated and their whole lives were turned upside down so they didn't have the money to spend they didn't have the time to come train with us, so we had to pivot. And it was a really dark period. We were genuinely afraid we were going to run out of cash. It might have to shutter, shutter the doors right before we really got started. And, you know, but we just believe that there's, there's a way through this. And we had the optimism that, no, this was the journey we wanted to embark on. Like, we're not going to give up. We got to find a way. And so we doubled down. We pulled even more out of savings. We hired a consultant, and then they helped us get in touch with a good marketing company to get, and get the word out. We had to go find athletes from a bigger radius than before to offset that physical gap where all those homes are now gone. But all of that was because we believed it was worth it to make another, to put even more skin in the game, because we really believed in what we were doing, what we were doing for these kids and the potential. The jump lab has to be able to help even more kids. We wanted to, we wanted to do it because we believed in it. There's no guarantee it was going to happen. There's no guarantee that all that money would have just gone right down the drain. But we believed. So you have to believe it's possible. You have to see the brightness through the darkness and then just feel like, I don't know if I can make it all the way to the end. Well, I don't know if I can make it all the way to the end. But you know what? I do. I know I can do that, and I know I can at least. And I only got one more step in me. And then once I make that step, I know I got one more step in me, and then I know I got one more step in me. And I mean, that's kind of on, on the days when I was going through officer candidate school as a Marine was like those like 15 mile hike in the middle of the night and you haven't eaten anything for days and you're. They kept you up all night on purpose. And then 24 hours later, now you're starting on the 15 mile hike, all right, you're exhausted, you're hungry, you're out of energy. Now I'm going to push you to your max. I don't know if I can make that, but I know I can take one more step. And so just telling yourself that whole time, I know I can take one more step and 15 miles later, you're at the end. So that the same kind of journey sometimes is. But you just got to believe that you can do it.

[Jason Tyler]

Yep. That's my. That's my same philosophy I take with the gym because, you know, I don't always want to go, but I always tell myself I got one more day in me, and four years later, one more day has compounded into. I've created this, you know, routine, this discipline with myself where, like, I don't even. When I get home from the. When I get home from working here and I'm done with the office, I get home, I don't even think, and suddenly I just appear at the gym.

[Brad Tatum]

Yeah.

[Jason Tyler]

Like, it's not even a. It's a foregone conclusion that I'm just there now. And so. So for those of you guys that are still watching at this point, I want to make sure that you go and check out Brad's episode, which will be dropping shortly after this podcast episode airs. Make sure you guys check that out for more of his story, more of, you know, a deeper dive into what he's done to make it to the place where he is today. Brad, this has been an incredible conversation. I've enjoyed it immensely. If the people out there want to follow along in your journey, where can they follow you?

[Brad Tatum]

Yeah. Thanks so much. So we're on Instagram at the Jump Lab, and we're on Facebook, also the Jump Lab. So we've got. We'll be expanding to some of the other socials, but right now everyone follows us on the. On Instagram at the Jump Lab.

[Jason Tyler]

Got it. Got it. Make sure you guys go out and check out the Jump Lab on Instagram again. This has been another episode of the Living youg Legacy podcast. I'm your host, Jason Tyler, and I'll catch you guys in the next one.