Speed blogging. Start the clock: 6:44am

Good things take time, they say. Like a fine wine. But who has time these days? I love creative writing, always have, but these days I don’t have the time I desire to craft the content that might stand the test of time. I have always been a big fan of the spontaneous prose that Jack Kerouac famously employs in his epic novel, On the Road. 

These days it’s all about eye-catching one liners, headlines, social posts, dumbed down, abbreviated, digestible glimpses. And AI.

Ninja Valley recently celebrated it’s 2nd birthday and, for weeks, I was trying to formulate a readable blog post that appropriately captured the sentiment of a significant anniversary. The longer I am given to complete a task, the longer I will take - and it won’t necessarily be any better than something spontaneous, off the cuff and poorly thought out. I am even burning time, describing the fickleness of this speed blog.

Time Check: 6:47am

A second birthday for a business could be significant for a number of reasons. There is some sort of stat that 80% of all new businesses do not survive to their second birthday. So, that’s something, isn’t it? But it’s a low bar and not very exciting.

Instead, it occurs to me as I bash the keyboard that the much greater achievement is all the milestones that have occurred around us, or within the four walls of Ninja Valley Hamilton.

We have hosted just over 2,500 birthday parties since we opened. In attendance were approximately 47,500 guests to join in with the celebrations. I say approximately, because we had to estimate the number of non-wristbanded guests (the parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties and the parents of the other guests). We have also hosted venue-hire parties where 200 guests have attended as well as birthdays that have not taken party rooms. 

In any case, it’s a very big number and a massive quantity of milestones that were well celebrated amongst the love and excitement of family and friends and something that we should be very proud of. Does that make us the largest receptacle of birthday milestones in the country? 

Speaking of milestones, I often, recently consider the special moments that are occurring in the lives of our (mostly) young crew who join us at ages 16-21. At any one time, we have around 40 casual employees who are the lifeblood and secret to our success. They too are ticking over the “big moments” in their young lives and with 48% of them still with us after 2+ years, it has been a small pleasure watching them develop, mature and navigate the challenges of youth.

Achieving their drivers licence, buying their first car, completing high school, starting university in another city, leaving home, first flat, first love, first heartbreak, first ink, first piercing, changing hair colour and clothing and the evolving personality and character on their path to independence - is something that occurs at a glacial speed but is noticeable if you stand back and/or look at photos of these wonderful humans during our initial workshops in April 2022. These many, many mini milestones and checkpoints pile up to compile up rich and colourful tapestry of growth and change within the growth and evolution of our brand and it’s truly fascinating.

250,000 guests have entered the Ninja Arena for around 340,000 hours of good times but all these “other” connections, all these milestones, all these moments of emotion, energy, celebration and love may slip by unnoticeably on a daily basis as the sun rises, our doors open, the sun sets and our doors close each day. By taking a moment, to get present, appreciative and reflect upon the sum of all experiences over two years is somewhat overwhelming and amazing and something that me and Tom are incredibly grateful for and proud of.

Time check: 7:11am.

Three minutes to conclude. 

From Day 1, we knew that Ninja Valley was a community-centric business that needed to, and would, connect to our community - the Ninja Nation - in many ways on many days. The real milestones are not ours but the ones that we are so happy to be facilitating. It brings us great joy.

So, thank you for bringing your energy, your excitement, your important people to ninja Valley. We are just getting started. Let’s grow!

Time check: 7:14am. Pens down. Zero AI, two coffees and 30 minutes were consumed in the production of this mind dump.

Speed blogging. Yeah.

Happy birthday to all of us.

Grant "Ninja G" Beuzeval
Chief Ninja Officer & Co-Founder