How One Entrepreneur Uses AI to Run Two Businesses and Raise Five Kids

Hi, and welcome back to another episode of Jam-Packed Business Made Easy with AI, and I'm Flora, your host. Today we have a really powerful conversation with entrepreneur Armando Duran from San Jose, California. Armando's story is one of the most inspiring transformations we've had on this podcast. At just 19 years old, he found himself in San Quentin State Prison, and it was there that he made the decision to completely change the direction of his life. Today, Armando runs multiple businesses, teaches jiu-jitsu several days a week, and raises 5 kids with his wife. And is actively using AI tools to streamline everything from marketing proposals to daily business reporting. In this episode, we talk about his journey from traditional sales to digital marketing, the discipline he found through martial arts, and how entrepreneurs like him are starting to use AI to save time and scale their businesses. If you're curious how real business owners are actually using AI in the wild, you're going to love this conversation. Let's jump in.

All right, Armando, thanks so much for being here with me from sunny but kind of cold San Jose. Um, go ahead and tell us a little bit about, about yourself.

Yeah, sure. So my name is Armando Duran. I'm from San Jose, California, and I do digital marketing and advertising, uh, for the, uh, Brazilian and Gracie jiu-jitsu community.

Oh, that's so niche. Yeah, tell us more.

Yeah, so, um, I got into— I've been wanting to train, uh, jiu-jitsu for part of the past 7 years because there's only one school that I wanted to train at, which is Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, because I love their whole programming and the way they teach. Because they don't teach sports jiu-jitsu, they teach self-defense jiu-jitsu, which is completely different. So I'm not into that competitive sports stuff, I'm into actual real-life self-defense type stuff, and that's why Yeah, and they're very beginner— yeah, exactly. So very beginner-friendly, and I love their messaging. And so I've been following them for many years online, but there was never a school nearby me that was convenient for me to join. I considered joining other jiu-jitsu schools, but they were more sports-focused, which I didn't like. So they finally opened one up in Saratoga about 2 years ago, and I joined that one. And I've been training there and been helping them with the marketing advertising. And now I'm at a stage where I'd I like to create, and that's where Club Jam and you guys' community helps with that because it gives me more confidence in building out this entire system for the entire organization. Because the organization's worldwide. Alone in California, in the United States, they have like 160 CTC certified training centers, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu owners. So, but they're all over the place worldwide., but I just want to create a system for them.

So, so I feel like we kind of jumped ahead. So, so you tell me about, you know, your interest in, in jiu-jitsu, um, but was your background in marketing prior to this?

Yeah, so, um, I've been in sales and marketing, like old school sales and marketing, since 2004, 2005. I started my first company back in 2004, a catalog distribution company. It's very young, 23, 24 years old. So kind of cut my teeth in entrepreneurship back in those times when it wasn't popular. The popular thing to do back in those times was get a safe, secure job and, and live off the retirement, right? So I went to college for about a year and I dropped out because I read a book called Rich Dad Poor Dad, and I realized that you don't actually need a degree to start a business. And not the whole time I was in college, I thought you needed a degree to start a business. So I didn't understand the difference between business ownership, nowadays called entrepreneurship, and employee. So I was like, oh cool, I don't need a degree, I'm out. So I just started my business, and from there I've been kind of like snowballing to different businesses throughout the years. But That's, that's okay.

Well, tell us about your other businesses.

So right now it's just two of them, which is, uh, takes most of my bandwidth. Uh, I know that's way out of the scope of what I shared with you, but I also have a security, uh, business, a small security company. All right. So I manage a security team and we do private security for the nightclub and bar industry. So I've been doing that for 20 years. Awesome. And so we do like big events and nightclubs and bars. So, um, so that's what I do as well. And on top of the marketing and advertising But I got into digital marketing in 2015. So from 2004 to 2015, I wasn't really into digital marketing. I kind of dabbled into social media marketing, but I read a book that changed my life was called DotCom Secrets by Russell Brunson. Are you familiar with him?

I'm not, but I'm writing it down right now.

Oh, that's when he first launched his book. It changed my life. I believe he was on the podcast for Don Lee Doomer. It's not much I remember. In fact, if you go, if you go to my inbox in Gmail, you search DotCom Secrets Amazon, you'll see me purchase his book in 2015, and it rocked my world because he's basically doing what I'm doing as an old school sales guy, the persuasion, overcoming objections. At the time I was working at Vitamix, you know, the Vitamix vending machine. So I was doing road shows for them and we did road shows at Costco. Yeah. Yeah. So that's like, that's high level salesmanship. You have to build a crowd, catch their interest, go through your presentation, a script, and ask for the close, right? Close them and sell machines. So we used to sell 10 a day. And so I was doing that over and over again, pitching, pitching, pitching off the script they, they trained us. And when I discovered Russell Brunson and DotCom Secrets, he was doing the same thing, but he only did it once and it was recorded and it reached thousands of people. And I made that connection with leverage. I was like, wow, he did it once, I'm doing it 100 times a day. He has way more leverage for influence and I'm like struggling with my bandwidth. I gotta learn what he's doing. And that's kind of set, set me off.

All right. So, so right off the bat, you tell me these two books that you've read. Just let, let's just close this gap here. Give me like 2 more books that have just kind of changed your life or that you're currently reading right now.

Well, the big one is the Bible. So when I, in 2004, I started really getting into reading the Bible and increasing my scriptural knowledge on that. And so outside of that, I know people are like, touchy with religion, but if it's going to be strictly in business, I would say Rich Dad Poor Dad changed my life in the beginning. As of nowadays, I'm so busy in execution with family, I don't know if I I mentioned, my wife and I have been married for 18 years. We have 5 kids together, 3 boys.

Yeah, awesome.

Yeah, so it keeps us busy. So the way I consume content now is through podcasts and audiobooks, and so I listen to them in the background. But another business book that changed my life was, uh, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, I think it is.

Yeah, we have that, we have that at home with us.

Yeah, so that changed my, my whole perspective on like persuasion and building relationships. So it was really, really cool.

All right, Armando, you have 5 kids. You have been married for 18 years. You have 2 businesses. I imagine you also participate in jiu-jitsu, like you also train, right?

Yeah, so I, I, uh, train and I also teach, um, more training than teaching, uh, about 4 to 5 days a week. And my kids are involved too as well. And we, and we're big on Bible studies. So my wife and I were Jehovah's Witnesses. We go twice, twice a week in the congregation. We have our own personal Bible Bible study. So, and obviously house maintenance is never-ending, dishes and laundry never ends. So you already know.

And then like also the 5 kids.

Yeah. So they got homework, they want to, and they, they fight with each other sometimes. I gotta have the bandwidth to teach them for our Bible courses. So it's pretty crazy. Like my bandwidth is the only thing that's really stopping me from growing as fast as I like, which I signed up for. I'm not complaining, but this is what I wanted when I was young. I wanted a family, man.

I don't hear you complaining at all. So how did you find Club Jam?

A score.

Cool. And how, how has it changed things for you? I mean, you know, it's, it's not everyone who listens to this is a member in Club Jam, so, so they, you know, this is not like a sales pitch for Club Jam at all, right? I'm connected to you through Club Jam and I'm grateful for that. And, you know, there are some people who sign up for Club Jam and they take it take it so seriously. They attend all of the trainings. It can kind of become this whole new, like, school, um, no pun intended there because we're also on the school community. But yeah, and then other people kind of just, like, touch base when they, when they, you know, can prioritize it. But where do you, where do you stand in that, you know, that balance? And talk to us a little bit about how your journey has been with, with Club Jam.

Uh, Club Jam, uh, I discovered through SCORE. Um, I've had it on my list to join some kind of community or training program that helps me with my business. And I knew AI was big. I was an early adopter with ChatGPT when it first came out, and it blew me away. And I was like, man, there's so many stuff going on, I just need help organizing all these resources. And, um, and when I discovered Club Jam through SCORE, because I was like reaching my hands on different organizations, I was considering Billy Jean's Marketing. They had an AI training, uh, thing. I don't know if you know who that is. Uh, Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi had this huge— yeah. And I, I considered joining those, and I seen Club Jam, and I love Club Jam because, uh, honestly, just the way, uh, Jam, uh, the way she kind of like teaches— she wasn't really salesy, but she was more practical. And I kind of just, uh, I like the smaller intimate group rather than a big old group like Tony Robbins. There's like a— I feel like there's not a lot of— I mean, I just don't feel like it's as authentic as it could be when you have a small group. And so I just— I, I— it just attracted me. And when I joined, I was blown away with all these different resources. And honestly, a long story— I mean, the the way it built confidence in me and what I can do in my business, it definitely was worth joining. And it's, I mean, it's a very small investment. So anybody considering, and I don't know how people could actually keep up with AI without a community that's supporting you. Like, it's unreal. You can't do this by yourself, you know?

I mean, I can't keep up with AI. I can't keep up with AI. That's, you know, that's why I'm so grateful to work alongside Jam. So, What are some of like the real world uses, you know, these real life uses of AI that you are incorporating? And I'm curious how you're incorporating them in both of your businesses.

So I use AI for my security business when I do these things called daily activity reports. So I timestamp different events throughout the shift with my team and during that day. And I put that into ChatGPT. I have a— a whole chat thread dedicated to that type of work and it spits out a report for me. And so I do less typing and it organizes and formats it. On the marketing side, obviously there's so many things like sales copywriting, strategy, proposals are my favorite. It used to take me like a week to write a proposal and I used to charge my clients for that because it took so much time. Now, you know, I don't have to charge them no more because it's just so easy, you know. So there's some examples there. You're just saving time. You're saving time. It's amazing.

Well, and you really need your time back. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, so what are you looking forward to next? Like, what is your next kind of thing that you are looking to grow in and achieve in? And, and, and, and I know you have, you know, so many aspects to your life. So right now we'll just kind of stick to the, you know, the professional, you know, aspect of it. Like, what, what are you looking to grow into in your business now? And, and maybe, maybe that involves AI, maybe it doesn't.

Oh, it definitely involves AI. It's inevitable. Without AI, you're going to be left in the dust. You have to be adaptable in this market nowadays. Just like how we went from horses to cars, you'll be left behind no matter how romantic you feel about horses. The majority is going to start driving cars, you know. So likewise with AI, we need to learn how to be adaptable. So for me, I really would just want to focus and hone down because I'm getting like so many ideas in my head because my mind with AI, but I gotta focus on just building this, uh, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu marketing a new scene and get some traction. I already have one paid case study that I'm working with, so the ball is rolling with that, and AI is helping a lot with that. Um, so that's, that's what basically what I'm doing. I do have another idea I want to use with AI that I actually want to document with the, the team to start from scratch and use AI to build it. Which is a lifestyle media platform around my interests. And the name of it is— I came up with it and AI helped me with it. And, you know, I'm so time-starved, right? So the way I use AI is when I'm driving, right? Because I have this headset and I talk to ChatGPT or Gemini while I'm driving and we spitball ideas, right? So the blog or the platform I want to create is called Coffee and Burpees because it's part of my superhero origin story, which is a long story, but Maybe one other day we could talk about it.

I think I get a snapshot.

We still have some time. So coffee and burpees. So, okay, so the condensed part of that, of that is because coffee, I love coffee. I drink Americanos, 4 shots of espresso at Starbucks. That's all. So it's pretty strong. Burpees and calisthenics. I've been doing calisthenics and burpees since I was in my early 20s. So I'm 43 now. So it's a big part of my belief system. I feel like functional training rather than like bodybuilding type training, it's more practical real life situations. So this is, this is going to be way out of left field, and most people don't expect this, but when I was young, I was a really bad kid. I ended up getting arrested when I was young, 13, 14 years old, all the way till I was 18 years old in high school. And in high school, I was still, I'm still in high school, I ended up getting charged for strong-arm robbery because I was living the gangster life, thug, right? I ended up going to prison for 3 years as an 18-year-old. I went to San Quentin State Prison in Susanville and old in 2004. I was like 23, 24 years old. And the coffee and burpee theme is, in prison, uh, in order for us to survive, we had to be physically strong. So the gang that I was a part of required us to work out every single day for an hour. And a big part of that workout was the thing called burpees, which I never knew until I went to prison. And in prison, uh, you have this thing called commissary. And there was this time where I wanted coffee, and I usually drink coffee with sugar and cream, but I didn't have enough money for sugar and cream, so I just bought the black coffee. And I drank it and it was nasty at first, but it grew on me. And ever since then I've been drinking black coffee. So that's kind of like where the superhero origin story came from.

Wow. And, and, you know, I have so many questions. And if, if you could tell, if you could talk to yourself back then, what would you tell yourself? You know, if you could talk to Armando going into prison at 18 years old about to do a, a 3-year sentence, is that what you said? You know, what would you tell yourself?

You couldn't tell me anything back then. The only way I would listen is through pain and suffering. And so back then when I decided to change my life is when I was in prison in San Quentin State Prison. San Quentin State Prison is one of the oldest prisons in California. If you research, it's right in there by San Francisco Bay and by the water. It looks like a castle. It's crazy. Uh, when I was in prison, there was this place, and there's a place called reception, uh, it's called reception. I was in this place called Alpine Section. It's a reception part where they decide where they're going to send you. I was there for 3 months, 23-hour lockdown. I was on the third tier, and I remember looking around, looking at all that they call them OGs, original gangsters. That means that elder gangsters, like the older gangsters have been in and out of the system. And then I looked at the other youngsters, like around my age, 20, 19, 23, and I just look at them and I just, I just looked at their eyes and there was no peace of mind, and I just didn't like the way they talked acted. And I remember—

the OGs or the younger ones?

Both of them. Both of them. Because like, man, that could be me and that's my future me. And so I just— at that time, again, I had this internal voice and I said to myself, and I remember I said that to myself, I'm way better than these losers. And that's when I made a decision to change my life internally. Obviously, that's not going to happen overnight, but I had to make a decision to go left or right. Because I seen, you know how when you take action, you can visualize the results at the end of the action with your, with your, the, the eye in your mind?

Well, it's all about visualizing those results.

Yeah. So I, I see myself like, if I'm really about this life, I have to make a left. And I, in my mind, I went to the end of that road and I seen a monster and it scared me. I remember getting butterflies in my stomach cuz I seen like just an evil person. I was like, I don't like that. So I came back to the start or where I was. I was like, I'm actually going to go right. And so I made it right mentally, and that's when I decided to change my life. Now mind you, 19 years old in San Quentin State Prison, I don't know what— I don't know who Tony Robbins is, I don't know personal development, I wasn't even reading the Bible. I literally decided. And I know it sounds hokey to most people, but Tony Robbins talks about that all the time, especially in his ads. Hey, you want to change your life? Make a decision. And that's, that's basically what it is. It's— that's the truth right there. I made a decision. Nobody talked me into it. I talked myself into it, and the rest is history.

Now I walk around with my shirt tucked So, so, you know, you said this was in kind of the first 3 months, right? So how did you stay true to that decision that you decided, you know, going into the rest of your sentence?

I did my best to try to stay out of the drama, but sometimes it's inevitable. So when you do good behavior, like if you are, if you have good behavior, you could actually get released early. And I didn't have good behavior. I actually, I actually got in trouble in prison. They maxed me out to 3 years, but it is what it is, you know. And I did my best. Yeah, I ended up getting out. And when I got out, I knew I wanted to change my environment. I knew my association needed to change. I knew I need to stop listening to gangster rap. I knew I need to stop hanging out in the hood and start going to Bible studies and the Kingdom Hall, started going to business meetings, started reading books, started going to college. Started the business. So, I mean, I was so illiterate when I came out of prison, I couldn't even read out loud. Bible study and reading the business books helped me with my vocabulary, you know?

That's how bad it was. Let's talk a little bit more about that business. So if someone's looking for someone to help them with digital advertising and marketing, I mean, do they reach out to you or are you very much in your niche and you're staying focused in that niche?

Dude, it's— I'm so old school with it. All of my business comes from word of mouth or like outreach. And I don't even have a website for my business for my service or marketing. So all my business comes from word of mouth, which is cool because it keeps me busy. But if I was in a position where I needed more leads, I'll definitely put that out there. But all these years I never really needed one. I remember I started building one out, but it took so much time. I had work that clients were paying me to do. I was like, why should I work on my website? That brings me zero income. I could just get paid right now. And it's been like that ever since.

How fun. How fun. So are you using AI in your client work as well?

Absolutely. Yeah. For proposals, for sales copywriting, for strategy, for clarification on different technology, for coding. Yeah, absolutely.

And that's in your business, but are you also, and you're also using those skills for your clients?

On all those I mentioned, I actually do it in their business.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Yeah, cool. What questions do you have right now about just kind of what AI will, will turn into? And I, I don't have the answers, but just like, what comes to mind when you're, you know, when you have that moment of quiet? And I know that moment of quiet is probably seldom for you, um, amongst your, your, your brainstorming with the AIs and your, your, your family and your clients. Um, and when you do have that moment of of, of silence. Like, what are the questions and maybe even the concerns that come up around AI for you?

Um, questions, really, it's not too much of like getting your hands dirty with AI. It's just the mindset of wrapping your head around AI, especially somebody who's struggling with it. Because for me, I'm all in, right? Obviously there's security issues. I mean, I just got off the call with Jam and Kevin, and they're doing the vibe coding with Claude, right? And there was a lot of security, uh, security questions, which is call it. And, you know, I mean, I do physical security, so cybersecurity is so much more— so important too, as well, right? So I think for me, it's just, you know, helping people understand that we have to be adaptable. Like, my question is, what's stopping other people to adapt AI? I mean, I'm not going to mention any names, but there's some people who are advanced in age in our community that's embracing AI, and it gives me hope and it inspires me. I was like, dude, if that person could adopt it, anybody can do it. And so we're just at this point in history with this technology that's bigger than the internet, and like, we have to be adaptable and adopt it. Like, um, yeah, so that's what it is. Like, my question is like helping people understand faster, you know, the AI technology, not gonna benefit them personally, not just with a business or your job, but they can actually benefit themselves personally. And I love the message that you and Jam like to put out there, which is getting more time to do what you what you want to do with your life. That's what AI is all about, right?

So I completely agree. And, you know, just life is absolutely what we make it, right? And, um, you know, going back to this idea of decisions, like, um, you know, my dad always— my dad always taught me life is all about decisions, right? And, you know, um, when our daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, it was kind of one of those things like, well, hey, we didn't decide this. Wait a minute, this isn't because our bad decisions, you know, and, but at, at the end of the day, it's just like, it's how you decide to handle what life, what life gives you and also what you've made life, right? So, I mean, you know, obviously a leukemia diagnosis and you making the decisions you made to end up in prison are completely different. However, we both have the same amount of control to make the right decision and, and either take that left or that right turn, right?

Yeah. Well, that must have been really challenging, challenging with your daughter and the chemo. How's your daughter doing now?

She's great. Yeah. Thanks for asking. No, and, and, you know, but my point is kind of, we all have, we all have this, this, these challenges in our life, right? And life is absolutely what we make of it. We are not victims of our own life. And, you know, to utilize the tools available to us to to better our lives, you know, professionally, personally, to, you know, create more time to spend with your kids, to create more time to explore your spiritual— spirituality and religion, you know, if that's a part of your life, you know, and to, to use these tools for good, right?

Yeah, absolutely. By the way, I was a big fan of hearing the podcast episode with your dad, U.S. Navy SEAL or something like that. Yeah. Uh, that dude's, that dude's a savage, man. I was like, oh, This podcast is amazing. I love his mindset. That's the mindset I like, you know, I love that mindset. I adopted, I'm a big, you know, David Goggins fan. And when I heard your dad and that podcast, I was like, oh, that's so dope to have a dad like that.

No, he is. He's like my little like inspirational speaker, just like on speed dial. It's, you know, he's not little by any means, you know? And Armando, you'll get this as a dad, you know, like, it's me. And he's got, you know, I've got his two granddaughters. And yeah, he might, he might seem rough and tough, but let me tell you, that man, he's a pretty soft heart, you know. And all the—

that's cool.

But, you know, he, he shared this idea of life is all about decisions when I was like probably in elementary school, you know. And it's, yeah, and it stuck with me. And, you know, I, I— what you were saying really resonated because is, you know, in the past I've shared that message with others just kind of like tongue-in-cheek, just kind of, you know, off the tip of my tongue. And people are like, well, you know, I didn't decide this, or, you know, and it's like, no, of course life isn't all about the decisions you make. However, it is all about the decisions you make based off of what you're given in life. And yeah, yeah, um, you know, and absolutely, you know, we talked to so many people that But luckily not so much, you know, and luckily that we're in this, this community with people who are really embracing AI. And, you know, but in the day, you know, there were, there were lots of conversations about fear around AI. And, you know, it's just, it's, it's like this tool is here now, you know, like let's, let's decide to do good with it and to use it to give us more time in our day. And like you said, to embrace, right?

We have to, and I'm glad you brought it up because I know you guys mentioned that in the past podcast. By the way, I'm almost done listening to every single podcast you guys put out, just FYI. But I love how you— and some of the past podcasts that you guys talked, uh, talk about how using AI for good, because there's people out there using AI for bad. I remember hearing a story where this guy used AI to mimic somebody's, uh, voice that was the son of these parents and convinced the parents to send them money, and they lost all their money. But it was the AI-generated, uh, of his son's voice So there's people using AI for bad, there's people using the internet for bad. We gotta, we have an obligation to use this technology for good 'cause this technology's inevitable, you know?

So totally. And, and I think, I think there's kind of this beautiful synchronicity here. I mean, you, you say, you know, you trained jiu-jitsu and, and more of this kind of, for what, what, what's the word? I don't wanna put my own words on it. Like you do it not for combat, but for—

Oh yes. Like sports and competitive aspects, like tournaments versus actual real life self-defense.

Self-defense. Yeah. So it's, you know, he— Practical. Yeah. Practical. There we go. And you've got that level and then you've got this level of security and they're both kind of this, you know, alignment of security and protection. Right. And I just thought that was really cool. And I think it's, it's really cool when you see these, you know, similarities in your life, when your life kind of keeps coming back to these similarities. Right. And it's like, you know, even, even the irony of you going to prison for armed robbery, like there's a level of like self-defense in that and the way you have moved it and moved past it. It's just, it's really cool to see. And I'm excited to continue following your journey and to see where you grow your companies and your personal life. And what you do with AI. And I hope you'll continue to share that in our school, in our school platform and with us. And thank you so much for your time, Armando.

Thank you. It was fun. Thank you so much for my pleasure.

Talk soon. Bye. Have a great day.

Bye.