Dyersburg, TN - January 14, 2025 - What started out as a side project in 2019 has grown into a full-time mission for Roan Grimm, founder of Grimm Realities in Henry County, TN. Although the business had already been set up legally as an LLC, it wasn’t until 2023 that Grimm made it his full-time focus.
“I was working as the director of training at a gun shop in Tucson, Arizona,” Grimm explained. “The new ownership decided that they had a better person for my position, and they let me go. So, what was going to be a side hustle turned into my fulltime job as a training academy teaching people how to keep themselves safe in unsafe times.”
Women’s self-defense quickly became one of Grimm Realities’ most sought-after programs. Grimm teaches women how to recognize the harsh realities they may face in unsafe situations while giving them the tools to protect themselves, covering everything from firearm safety and American combatants to situational awareness and legal preparedness.
“With some clients, understanding they had the ability to protect themselves really helped change the way they looked at their lives, in general, and was the beginning of a pretty significant self-improvement journey for them,” explained Grimm. “So, we have been toying with that as a dedicated program but always starting with the ability to take care of yourself, your family, and your loved ones first.”
Although Grimm has a military background, Grimm Realities isn’t modeled after elite tactical units. Instead, the focus is on civilian readiness.
“I think what really sets us apart is where our focus lies. A lot of these companies are founded by former special operations guys or former military or law enforcement. I’m former military but my focus is on the civilian. And the two biggest options that we offer at Grimm Realities that I don’t see in a lot of other companies that work in the same industry is we have a big focus on prevention and avoidance. If you have to use these skills, all other options have failed, your management, crisis management, de-escalation strategies, your avoidance strategies have failed at that point. You have been forced into that situation.”
That philosophy extends beyond physical protection, Grimm Realities also teaches clients how to safeguard themselves from the legal consequences that can follow a violent encounter.
“Face it, we live in the United States, not only do you have to protect yourself from violent encounter, but you have to protect yourself from the legal aftermath of that violent encounter,” said Grimm.
At its core, the mission of Grimm Realities is about more than survival—it’s about empowering everyday people to live stronger, safer lives.
“The mission of Grimm Realities is to take everyday people and make them good people,” Grimm shared. “I know it sounds strange, making good people through violence, but if you’ve ever listened to Jordan Peterson, he talks very specifically about you cannot be a good person unless you have the capability to hurt others and you choose not to. That’s what it’s all about. It’s not that we ever want anybody to hurt anyone else, we don’t want to be in a position to where we have to hurt someone, but if we are in that position and we can find a better way to solve that problem, de-escalation or avoidance, far better, but we always have that backup skill just in case things don’t go the way we are trying to get them to go. That’s our mission.”
Helping people move from fear to confidence is what Grimm finds most rewarding about his work.
“I think what gives me the most pride in being a small business owner is being able to teach other people how to feel more confident in their daily lives; not to fight back against the fear that seems to be out there right now, making people afraid, making people distrustful,” explained Grimm. “As a small business owner that specifically teaches this type of material, I think what gives me the most pride is that people are able to take a step back from that fear and replace it as a guiding force in their lives. They can be far more relaxed, far more positive in their outlook and far more friendly without the fear of being taken advantage of.”
When it comes to advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, Grimm keeps it simple.
“The piece of advice I would give to an aspiring new business owner and the piece of advice I struggle with the most is to just pull the trigger, pardon the pun. Shipping beats perfection. It’s never going to be the right time. You’re never going to have enough money in the bank. You’re never going to have a big enough client list. Your website is never going to be perfect. Get your product, get your services, get your business out there. You can refine as you go but it’s far more important to give people the opportunity to benefit from your services rather than be this great secret that no one knows about.”
Learn more about Grimm Realities LLC at https://www.grimmrealitiesacademy.com/.
About The Mill Workspace: The Mill Workspace, a DBA of Northwest Tennessee Entrepreneurship, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)3 entrepreneur center located in Dyersburg, TN and focused on serving entrepreneurs in the nine counties of Northwest Tennessee. They help businesses through one-on-one counseling, workshops, and multi-week programs all designed to help businesses in the region start up and grow.
Programs at The Mill are funded in part by a grant from LaunchTN.
