“It’s just kind of hitting me now,” Brown said. Running the show for 20 years took its toll. Now he wants to open his own graphic design business, Panda Services, providing private lessons and artwork for martial arts studios. He posted his work on Facebook and has sold drawings for $50, $100. He stopped drawing and picked it up again during the pandemic. He loved drawing Peanuts characters in school and says he was pretty good. His wife works two jobs and Brown admits, “It’s hard making ends meet.” He rented the space and did not sell the business. He’s 5-11, 280 pounds, 50 pounds heavier than he was while in peak form, when his stomach looked washboard strong.īrown said that he’s actually enjoying his freedom, the unlocking of the chains that come with owning a business. He accompanies Justis on house calls, guiding her during the private lessons. He recently had his right hip replaced, and he’s thinking about having his other hip replaced soon. He was slowed by a troubling case of Lyme disease. His daughter, Justis Brown, 22, teaches private classes now, because Matt can’t move like he once did. He countered and he remained disciplined, and when the writing was on the wall, he closed.īrown said he lost $17,000 in 2020. He tried to do that against the current worldwide bully. “We teach them to say (bullying) is not okay, then they talk to an authority figure, but they have to understand that they may then have to tackle the situation, may have to stand up for themselves.” And, if needed, counter any aggressive, offensive move that comes your way.Īfter six stops, he’d been in the strip mall adjacent to the Thirty Pines complex the past eight years.
#Bully ray how to
He bounced around, searching for his home, his business home, to teach young people the value of discipline and confidence, instruct them how to defuse a situation. He knew what he wanted to do and he did it, opening a martial arts studio in 2000. Then his grandmother died and left him money. He worked during the early days at the Steeplegate Mall, and later at Ames, where he caught a woman pushing a cart with an air conditioner and vacuum cleaner in it, neither paid for, into the parking lot, cracking the case of three individuals working together to disappear with expensive, big items.
He studied criminal justice at New Hampshire Technical Institute and worked in loss prevention through the 1990s. “I had been teaching over my parents’ garage,” Brown said. He learned the art in grade school and taught it while in high school at Merrimack Valley. Just dedicated clients, and they got us through.”īrown’s name means something in the Martial Arts orbit. We had virtual classes from June to September.
“Not a lot of profit, but as soon as COVID hit, we lost half our clientele. “Through 2019, we were growing and paying the bills,” Brown said. Eventually, the COVID bully dealt a fatal blow to his business. Overall, business and attendance were down. Brown had to cut down on classes to keep students socially distanced. There’s pre- and post-COVID life stamped onto our minds. “I could not have asked for a better space. “We had a very good location and a great landlord,” Brown said. No matter how hard you fight, some business owners have learned, this bully sticks around, jabbing and punching and making life miserable. The coronavirus won’t back down, thumping two longtime staples in Penacook on Halloween: Donatello’s Pizza and Brown’s studio, which were practically next door neighbors at Thirty Pines Plaza.
“Bullies don’t want to stand up to someone who stands up for themselves,” said Brown, a 10th-degree Black Belt and the former owner of the recently closed Penacook School Martial Arts. They left him alone once they realized he’d strike back. Matt Brown initially learned martial arts to push back against bullies in Penacook 40 years ago.