Meet Allen & Jodi Troutt | Krav Maga/Self-Defense Instructors

We had the good fortune of connecting with Allen & Jodi Troutt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Allen & Jodi, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We started our own business after seeing a need in the community for a safe place for people from all different backgrounds to come together to learn self-defense. We definitely took a leap of faith. We both love teaching self-defense to people who need to be able to protect themselves and their loved ones. Seeing people unlock their potential to do things they never thought possible is one of our favorite things about teaching Krav Maga. We both felt very strongly that starting Fortis Self-Defense was a thing we needed to do. It felt like a calling.

When we came across the opportunity to open Fortis, it really caused us to do some soul-searching. It’s one thing to think about starting a business, but it’s completely different when you actually start digging into the nuts and bolts to do it. Running a business is challenging, and we knew it would be challenging going into it. We looked at all the pros and cons we could think of.

Fortis is our side gig right now. We both work full-time jobs and have all five years so far. We knew that this would take up our time. Was that worth it? Yes, and it still is. We knew it would be a slow build and a grind to get where we wanted.

We thought of funding, advertising, locations, and all the things that go into running a business, or so we thought. We got as many of those things as we could figured out, then just went for it. Neither of us has a business background, so we made it up as we went along. It’s been a learning experience all this time. Every day, something new pops up that we didn’t foresee. Taking the leap of faith and trusting that God will see us through has gotten us this far!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Fortis Self-Defense offers Krav Maga and Women’s Only Self-Defense classes for all skill levels. We also do private lessons, private group seminars, and on-site and off-site events. We pride ourselves on offering a safe place for anyone who wants to train to be able to do so without judgment. We just celebrated the fifth anniversary of Fortis Self-Defense in November 2023. We are so proud and excited to have made it this far! We just had our first bunch of students test for their black belts with Krav Maga Alliance this past fall. These are some of our long-time supporters and students, and we’re so excited for them. We are gaining new students and helping people to be safer!

Owning a small business has been challenging so far. There are many more challenges than anyone can prepare you for. But we are focused on providing the best training for our students, which helps keep us focused on the goals. We are constantly seeking to be better as business owners, instructors, and people to provide our students with the best.

We want the world to know that we care about our students as people. They aren’t just a body in class or a number on the computer. We care about your struggles and the things you deal with, and we’re here to help you in any way we can! Some of our best friends now started as training partners or our students. We strive to provide an environment of love and trust so that our students know they have a place to come filled with people who care about them.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Ha! We are the worst to ask this question. If we’re not in the gym, at work, or at church, we’re most likely hiding out at home. That being said, I’d take a visiting friend to almost any of the local BBQ spots, but Martin’s is one of my favorites. Catch a show at the Ryman or Schermerhorn, maybe a Titans’ or Pred’s game. There’s also lots of good hiking and sight-seeing nearby. If they were visiting us though, we’d probably make them come to the gym and train with us!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We dedicate this Shoutout series to all of our students through the years. They are the reason we started this and the reason we keep going. We have a core group of students who have stuck with us through 3 locations, COVID shutdowns, and waiting on me to get my black belt as we started. So, shoutout to my students: Danny, Patches, Matt, Chip, Robyn, Leah, Keith, Chris, Noel, and Tammy. These were our original group, and most are still with us. To all our newer members that are so supportive; we couldn’t do it without them.

Website: www.fortisselfdefense.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fortisselfdefense

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FortisSelfDefense