Today we’d like to introduce you to John Mayuga.
John, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started my journey of competitive cheerleading when I was a senior in high school. Before cheerleading, I did a various amount of sports such as Taekwondo, track and field, baseball, and wrestling. I didn’t have any gymnastics or tumbling training, however I came from a family of performers, my brothers were professional break dancers and my parents were professional musicians.
When I started doing cheerleading, I fell in love with it. I started out on my high school cheer squad at Guerin College Prep. After a couple of months, I decided I wanted to pursue cheer competitively. I researched to find the closest what you would call Allstar Cheerleading Gym. There were none in the northside of Chicago. I ended up competing and coaching with a program in Naperville over 90 minutes both ways from my house for 3 years.
After those 3 years, it was time for me to come back to Chicago. I worked with several gyms on the south side of Chicago and worked as head coach at a high school in Bridgeport. I quit those gyms due to payment issues and got fired from my first head coaching job. It was my first professional trial and error process in cheerleading. It was due to that, however, that I decided I would start my own company. Thus, Cheer Destiny was born in June 2011.
Cheer Destiny was first housed at the Valentine Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Chicago at 3400 S. Emerald. I had my 1st set of classes, and my 1st team there as well. My team program started with only 2 kids. I then established partnerships at MSA School of Circus Arts and the Menomonee Club in the Bucktown and Lincoln Park neighborhoods at the same time as the Boys’ and Girls’ Club. I also became the head coach for Walter Payton College Prep. This was my situation for 4 years until I acquired our current location in April 2015.
Before having the gym, I operated the company by myself with no knowledge of how to run a business. I also only had 25 kids or less at any given time, and was essentially partnering with other organizations to host my program. Now I am in my own facility that has 7 employees. We work with countless other programs and have over 200+ children who we work with on a monthly basis.
During my journey, it was a lot of trial and error. I spent thousands on business education, marketing, and conferences, to learn what I needed to learn to succeed and on top of that have made countless mistakes from which I learned many valuable lessons in my entrepreneurial journey. I survived the low times that almost made me want to give up. It is also thanks to the countless people in my life who have helped me during my hardest moments, who have helped me build this organization one child at a time, and who have helped me grow as a person, that I can be writing this for you today. Everything and everyone in the past 10 years is how I arrived here.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Some of the struggles that came through was the lack of resources, education, and social capital.
It was difficult to build the business initially because I didn’t know how to start one! I didn’t know how to market, how to generate leads, how to convert prospects properly etc. That was some of the hardest things to learn.
Having money is key when you’re building a business. My source of income outside of the business was not enough to push the business where it needed to be during the first four years. It was tough.
Not knowing enough people that were doing the same thing in my industry, which I would learn later on was a handicap. If I knew the people I knew today building the business initially would have been much easier.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We specialize in building the life potential of children. We are known for our approach in teaching the various specialties such as competitive cheerleading, parkour, circus, break dancing, in a way that makes it a positive experience whenever you leave our gym. I am most proud of the quality of both our instructors and our clients as we have a very happy community of people that are a part of our family.
What sets us apart from others is that we create an environment that is different from your typical cheer gym. The environment that we create fosters positive reinforcement, community, and a safe place for kids and adults to be.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was more of an introvert than I am now. Before I’d be very sensitive to things people would tell me and would not venture too far outside my comfort zone. I loved playing video games and being a homebody.
Pricing:
- $7 – $9 Open Gyms
- $49 for 4 Weeks of Unlimited Classes (Kids)
Contact Info:
- Address: 4321 N. Knox Ave
2nd Floor Building
Chicago, IL 60641 - Website: http://www.cheerdestiny.com/
- Phone: (773)930-3552
- Email: info@cheerdestiny.com
- Instagram: @cheerdestinyallstars
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cheerdestiny
- Twitter: @cheer_destiny
- Yelp: Cheer Destiny
Image Credit:
Icon3studios & Jayneelee Photography
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