Wow, as I write this, the Election is winding to a head in the coming week.   Everywhere you turn is election coverage and headlines on the economy!

I notice that the headlines the other day were about Obama’s description of our economy being the worst since the great depression (ignoring for whatever reason the 6% unemployment rate vs. 25% then!) and, all of the commentators tell us about how bad things are looking.

You know it’s getting bad when just about everyone you talk to asks:  “Is this economy going to hurt your karate schools?”

To all of them I should be saying:  “Geez thanks for the little extra “negative programming” as if I couldn’t get enough by reading the newspaper, magazines, from the radio, or by turning on the television….gee I can’t even watch “Boston Legal” without both parties interrupting me to tell me how scared I should be about the economy!   In the mean time guess what?  The rich get richer… the poor get poorer.  Those who study and learn maintain their business while gaining market share, or skyrocket to the top.

In my case we just added regional developers for many areas including likely New Zealand, the UK, along with Miami, Salt Lake City and possibly Knoxville and Ft. Lauderdale!  We’re gearing up a Northern Virginia Mile High Karate training center and even talking to my instructor Jhoon Rhee about working with us in Mile High Karate.

My schools?   Well, record intro numbers.  Certainly some of the parents are “concerned” about losing their job or the effects of all of this “economy stuff.”  Frankly, most of our school owners and regional developers SHOULD be worried about the tax increase over $250,000 if Obama wins and, making sure it affects them!

On another front I noted that the media said not a word about the cost of a barrel of oil DROPPING to $63 a barrel or about OPEC being lead by IRAN worrying about cutting production due to falling demand in order to keep the price stable!   Wasn’t the crises dejour just recently about $150 a barrel oil and how that was going to kill us all?

Anyway, back to running martial arts schools in today’s economy.

Last month I gave you three things to focus on.  Remember what they were?

The First was:

Turn off the TV and stop listening to the Mediocre Majority.

Second was:

Create “Raging Thunder Lizard Evangelists” among your students.

Third was:

Do A LOT more marketing.    Spend more on advertising and marketing.  Invest time and energy focusing on lots of new students.

To move it to another level.  In an unstable economy you should focus on prospective students who’s income is most likely to be:  STABLE.   To run an effective business it’s important to find customers (students) who can afford a reasonable tuition rate.

I’m ready Dan Kennedy’s latest which is NO BS Marketing to the Affluent.   It’s right on target with what you must do in your school.

For year’s I’ve called this:

“Fishing in the right pond.”   What that means is IF you are continuing to raising your tuition and now hearing “I just can’t afford it.” Then one possible problem is that you are marketing to the wrong people.  There are plenty of people in most markets who can afford your tuition, market to them.

I was having a conversation a couple of days ago with Inner Circle Member Jonathan Metcalf about this.  In his case it was the opposite.  He was having blowback on:  “that’s a lot of money for martial arts lessons.”  Upon further exploration it turned out that a couple of things were happening.  First, a lot of the enrollments for kids were with only one parent.  In other words, mom brings “joey” down for classes, says dad doesn’t need to be here and then goes home to try to sell her husband.   That doesn’t work very well.

Next problem was that just about all of the enrollment conferences were being done on the first visit.  Now, if they are referrals or came in from birthday parties or something maybe that works fine.  However, if they have not been well introduced to your school then that can be a problem.  I’ve always preferred two lessons and the conference after the second lesson for kids.  And, always REQUIRE both parents at the conference and at the intro classes.

But, let me clarify.

Tom Hopkins distinguishes this way.  A Condition is something that you legitimately can’t change or “reframe.”  Ie. I can’t enroll through Black Belt because we are moving to another state in three months.  Not much you can do about that.   An objection is something that you can handle or answer and still “make the sale.’

When it comes to pricing a condition is:  I’d love to but I don’t have a job and we can’t afford bus fare to get to classes.  An objection is:  “that’s a lot of money for martial arts classes, we don’t think it’s worth that much.”

During your introductory process if you are getting much of the later… in other words many people are saying that it’s not “worth” what you are charging then you have a serious problem with the introductory class and process.  The reason for Mile High Karate that we’ve created such an elaborate introductory process along with videos that support the process, lots of parent testimonials, and an elaborate benefits based introductory process.

All the way along the process it’s very important to build value.  Done properly you should never have a student say the price is high.  Some will say they can’t afford it.  If you have many saying they can’t afford it then you are likely “fishing in the wrong pond” ie. Bringing prospective students who are unable to afford to take lessons in your school.

Now, none of this is a value statement.   You are welcome to create a scholarship program or find other ways to accommodate those who otherwise can’t afford your tuition.  However, in order to be truly charitable it’s useful to first turn your school into a properly running and highly profitable business.  Once you  make your school very profitable do then it’s possible to create scholarship programs (in Mile High Karate we aim for between 5 and 10% of students on scholarships of some sort, usually for special needs students in addition to those who have financial needs.

Failure Mindsets continue to wreck havoc on otherwise successful school owners:

I’ve encountered many counter productive mind-sets recently.

Many years ago in a fortune cookie I received a “fortune” that said:   “Expect no gratitude and you will never be disappointed.”   I kept that one taped in the front of my day planner for years (until I moved to my Palm Treo.)  From staff, students, and friends it’s proven accurate many times over the years.  Dan Kennedy describes it in horse racing terms as “They all go lame.”  As teachers we know that unfortunately most every student will drop out sooner or later, unfortunately most sooner not later.

In our circle I’ve seen several metaphorically pull out a pistol and with great concentration aim at their foot and blow off their big toe.  One recently started working with me and went from $14,000 a month to $37,000 a month and then decided they had “arrived” and with only a few months of new found success decided to stop working with me and become an “expert consultant.”   Another recently joined our master-mind group and decided that after a $100,000+ improvement in results  that they were “too smart” for the room and moved on.

Be very careful about deciding that you’ve arrived.  Start growing and continue to grow.

More feedback from Extreme Success Academy.

I continue to hear from raving  fans of the Extreme Success Academy.   It was an incredible event that exceeded all expectations.  Unfortunately some scheduled themselves too tightly and flew in a little late, or left on Saturday missing some of the best content on Sunday morning.  If you missed this event, you should be kicking yourself.  Some of the highlights will be seen in member materials, but the entire event other than edited highlights won’t be made available.

For all events, often the “hallway conversations” along with the small “round-table’ discussions are often the most valuable.  I know for a fact that MANY school owners are going to have a record fall, and a huge start in 2009 due to the new ideas and implementation plans that they put together from the event.

Your Quantum Leap
The next live event is coming up in March.  It’s completely different and, completely different from anything we’ve done.  A FREE Bonus for members only is “The Ultimate Martial Arts Marketing Bootcamp” which previously has been $2,750.   I’ve volunteered myself to have to work double time, this time covering Marketing A-Z and, covering the primary financial drivers for your school at the same time.  We’re still nailing down the speaker roster but clearly I’ll be put to work thoroughly.

What are your guaranteed to learn?

Well we’ll be covering sales and persuasion thoroughly.  We’ll be covering the new student introductory and enrollment process in depth:  Pricing, handling objections, building value,  moving prospective students through the process smoothly.  We’ll teach everything you want to know about upgrades and renewals.  Building value.  Using social proof and creating real value throughout your program.  And, ultimate strategies for student retention and creating a flood of Black Belts.

Of course, in the Marketing Bootcamp we’ll be covering everything you need to know in 2009 to fill your school with new students.  One day will focus on what’s working currently on the Internet.  How to generate on-line traffic, leads, and appointments.  Another day we’ll cover direct response marketing thoroughly with an emphasis on many different media but especially on using direct mail.  Finally, we’ll cover every known strategy for generating referrals, family add-ons and other internally generated students at little or no cost to you.

In the past participants in just the Marketing Bootcamp has universally left confident that they could add $100,000 or more to their school.  Follow-up on these showed that the universally EXCEEDED their expectations!   You’ll implement new strategies that will truly let you take a “Quantum Leap” in your financial results.

It’s scary out there?

We’re in the middle of a necessary and painful “thinning of the herd.”  As you’ve heard from me repeatedly the rich get richer and the poor struggle then fade away.  Why?  Habits and Actions.

Those who “take the bull by the horns” and really study, attend events, learn from other success stories, while setting goals, visualizing success, and focusing on achievement will go far.  Those who sit and wait for something to happen will run out of steam and fade away quickly in the current market.

Question is which will you be?

All populations sort themselves into the 80 – 20 rule.  80% mediocre or worse.  20% successful.  Actually it’s usually more like 5%, 15%, 80%.  5% like our Inner Circle and Mile High Karate regional developers wildly successful.  Implementing quickly.  Learning aggressively.  Focusing on success.  15% making great strides, learning and focusing.  The rest left in the dust.

Wow!

We just got back from the Extreme Success Academy and it FAR exceeded expectations!   If you were there you know.  If you missed it, well you really did miss out on a lot!

According to Joe Lewis (speaker, contributor, vendor)

I think it was great, it was great for the ICAT program that we’re putting together and also all the instructors at the NAPMA conference, Stephen Oliver, Master Jhoon Rhee, Paul Hartuonian, incredible, just absolutely incredible seminars. Everybody here was a great speaker. I think that everybody that has a martial arts studio that really wants to see their school go to the next level has to involved with NAPMA and I think it was well worth our time bringing our new ICAT program that we’ll be back again.

What I wanted to say is I went around and talked to the vendors that were here as well as the participants. There are participants that were here that were very familiar with the Mile High program and the NAPMA program that said well, we’ve heard this stuff before, but just the new information we picked up today will definitely increase our grosses. I’ve had people I talked to and said well, you’re paying this amount of money for the Inner Circle, and he said hey, we make 10 times over that just by the benefits of Mile High as well as the NAPMA program, especially the Inner Circle benefit me. I asked dozens of black belts, dozens of school owners, no one was disappointed and I was always looking for that one person that was disappointed and he did not exist. So we’re happy.

You don’t have to spend all that money trying to figure it out yourself. It’s a lot easier to go to NAPMA, they’re going to actually save you thousands of dollars with your NAPMA membership because they do all the hard work for you and you basically just implement their program.

Shawn Harvey Small Circle JuJutsu -  Bermuda.

Extreme Success Academy was an awesome experience. There was a ton of information that I know is going to enhance my school by at least 50% profit in 6 months, I know that for a fact. The publicity stuff was awesome. Paul Hartunian did a phenomenal program. Stephen Oliver’s stuff is awesome. I have all his marketing material and I’ve actually gone from, I’ve been in business for about 5 years, I went full time this year and we were looking at, I think $8k in January and right now we’re up to $18k, and that was in like 6 months. So this is phenomenal stuff. All used by what NAPMA has put out.

The format was phenomenal, I mean everyone sat around, everyone got to mingle, we had Peak Performers, the Maximum Impact people. Everyone was asking questions to find out what they were doing. It was phenomenal. It’s awesome stuff. Awesome.

Anyway,  there’s no way to recap the incredible content from the Thursday A-Z day or the Thursday Inner Circle/Peak Performers meeting.  Or, from the incredible event Friday through Sunday.

You had to be there.  There’s nothing like being there in person for the seminars and speakers, the exercises and drills, for the round tables, and for the networking.   Plan not for Quantum Leap in March 2009 and for next fall’s Extreme Success Academy – date and location to be determined.

Thriving in a Difficult Economy!

I talked about this extensively at the Extreme Success Academy and wrote about it in more depth in the latest “Mile High Maverick” in your Maximum Impact Package.

Whoever, I’ll reiterate here.

There are THREE things you must do in a market like we are currently in.  A couple of them are not intuitively obvious:

First.   CREATE “Raging Thunder Lizard Evangelists”  To learn more see Tom Peters references in his “Passion for Excellence” or “Thriving on Chaos” books.  Or, go to the source and see Guy Kawasaki from the Apple Macintosh developmental team.

Anyway.  The gist is your students must LOVE you.  LOVE your school.  You must become the focus of a “cult-like” devotion from your students.   For a more complete description of that see your notes from my Sunday presentation at Extreme Success Academy.

Second.   Appropriately INCREASE your marketing expenditures and effort.  Stupid business owners cut back on their advertising when times get tough.  You should get better at understanding marketing, advertising placement and structure.  Use the great stuff that NAPMA provides.  Mail more and get your message out more aggressively in more places.   At the same time DOUBLE – or, more your grassroots efforts.

Third.  Appropriately INCREASE your training budget and time expended to make all of your staff (and, yourself) better at leadership, sales, customer service and all of the operations of your business.   Put in a lot more time on these core functions.  Don’t focus as much on the physical.  Do focus A LOT more on service, rapport building, as well as learning more and more about sales, marketing, operations, and exciting teaching methodologies.

As I’m sure you know we’ve been AGGRESSIVELY trying to get members to share their “vote” and upgrades and evolutions for member materials.  There are lots of great ideas and you need to make sure your voice has been heard.  We’re finding that martial artists are finally coming into the digital age and will be expanding, upgrading, and enhancing the members only web sites. We’re seeing many martial arts schools hitting new all-time records.  More $1,000,000 a year schools than ever before and more 200 student schools grossing $50,000 or more consistently while providing excellent service and a long-term positive impact.  What I notice most is that it’s the first time in the history of martial arts where EVERY segment of the market has a “constituency” and can thrive.  There’s the “Little Ninja’s” group.  Supported by media like “Kung-Fu Panda,” there’s the children’s and teen market (supported by among others “The Forbidden Kingdom,) there’s the young adult market (supported in part by “Never Back Down” and “Red Belt” along with UFC and other MMA events,) and there’s the adult market and finally the “Boomer Market” with Tai Chi and other low impact styles.  Can be best of times for your school.

Member Questions answered:  How to Develop Staff.

Member questions.
Toby, Myself, Rob will all be endeavoring to answer member questions.   To submit yours complete the NAPMA member survey at:  www.NAPMA.com/survey   Those who’ve already submitted questionnaires watch for answers to your questions in upcoming issues of NAPMA Now or in Maximum Impact’s Mile High Maverick.

This months comes from Mark Mills, Columbia Martial Arts and Fitness who’s a  Maximum Impact Member.  He’s running a school that’s between 100-150 students.  Teaching a 4-6 year old class, a 7-14 year old class that’s a JKD/Karate blend, and is teaching adult Kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do, MMA, and Fillipino Martial Arts.

About Mark.

Sifu Mark Mills is a Certified Instructor in Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Martial Arts under Dan Inosanto, training partner and protege’ of Bruce Lee. He is a Certified Instructor in Wing Chun Kung Fu under  Sifu Francis Fong. Wing Chun is the only system that Bruce Lee formally studied. Sifu Mills is also a Certified Instructor in Muay Thai Kick Boxing under Ajarn Chai, president  of the Muay Thai Association of the US. He is an instructor in Erik Paulson’s Combat Submission  Wrestling system.  Sifu Mills holds Black Belts in Karate and Shinto-Yoshin Ryu Jiu-Jitsu. He holds Blue Belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Royce Gracie and Carlos Machado.  Mark’s passion for training and sharing the knowledge and  benefits of martial arts led him to start a small school in West Columbia in 1995. Four years later, the school grew and moved to  a 2500 square foot location. In 2007, the new Columbia Martial Arts & Fitness Center opened just outside of West Columbia. This is a 5000 square foot facility dedicated specifically to martial and fitness training.

His questions.   How to Develop a Rotating Curriculum for Kids program.   How to Develop Staff.  How to systematize your school and how to prioritize that systemization.     Obviously each of these questions could be a four hour dvd’s  or cd’s and a 1,000 page book.   Each will be addressed more thoroughly in coming Maximum Impact packages and the primary projects of Inner Circle and Peak Performers are a variety of systems development for each stage of a school.   I did a complete DVD on rotating curriculum recently for the Maximum Impact materials (you may buy past issues at www.NAPMA.com)

But here let’s address staff development and, while I’m at it I’m going to take the liberty of addressing it specifically in a situation like Mark’s as best I can determine from his survey and web site.

First by my count he five different “style” based programs taught across six different “classes” or types of students (4-6, 7-14 JKD/Karate,) Kickboxing, JKD, MMA, Fillipino Martial Arts.   The first issue I see is in having a 5,000 square foot facility with under 150 students trying to run six different programs.

We must all start thinking as educators and as business people.  You should be thinking of your program from a standpoint of “Market” and “Benefits” (Or, outcomes for your students) rather than from a perspective of specific “technical style”.   Who are you teaching and why do they come to you.  Then your objective is to simplify and provide a program that fits those needs.    It’s clearly possible to have a 300 to 500 person school doing $50,000 or more per month with any ONE of these.   Your objective as a school owner really needs to be:  Make things simple (and, your life easier), Improve your bottom line income, deeply impact your students and their community in a positive way.   To that end the more you streamline and simplify the better.  The more you accomplish that then the easier it is to, among other things, develop staff.   In other words in Mark’s case if he focused on, for instance a strong MMA program and a JKD/Karate blend kids/adults program he’s down from six things to two.  Can market strongly to the same markets that he’s attracting now.  Can incorporate bits of everything that he has mastered.  And, can create a consistent training process for all students.  His specific (style or technical orientation) can be used as either supplemental curriculum as a student renews or upgrades, or as progressively more advanced curriculum as a student stays in the program.  He then can systematize the curriculum, can put it into a rotating format, and can much more easily train staff who can replicate the results that he would have by personally teaching the classes having mastered many different things.

Now to the specific “Developing Staff” question.   I’ll answer it in “broad strokes” first.   You should be on the lookout and create “systemic” mechanisms to create staff in each of three areas:  First, volunteer and part-time teaching staff.  Second, full-time teaching and administrative staff.  Finally, administrative support (receptionists, etc.)   Clearly the third is easiest but most challenging since as a low skill and by necessity poorly paid position it’s easy to find “front desk” help but they tend to be under trained, selected poorly, and even the best trained and best paid tend to turn-over too quickly.

When it comes to staff I believe you need two things.  First you need to primarily look for and hire high quality, career oriented people.  I’d rather have one good full-time person than a bunch of part-timers.  I find that martial arts schools tend towards too much “head-count” and “under compensating” good people.  I always look for someone who I can pay well.  Give a strong incentive plan.  And, someone who may stay for 3, 5, 7 years.  Someone who may eventually buy the school, open their own school, or grow into management with me.    And, frankly I’d rather have someone very strong who a I train extremely well who leaves after a couple of years, than someone who’s weak who stays forever.

For all positions I recommend that you be ALWAYS on the lookout for quality staff.  Look internally at students.  Parents and siblings of students.  At people you meet anywhere you go.   And, you can post on job sites, in the newspaper, and at local colleges and Jr. Colleges that you are looking for staff.  You may go through a bunch of prospects before you find a “Gem.”   For teaching it’s always easier to develop staff from within, but there are a variety of methods that also work when you are growing quickly or “in a crunch.”

We’ve developed staff in a variety of ways.  I developed systems that allow “quick-start” accelerated training programs  to develop instructors and program directors quickly from non-students, low ranked students, or martial artists experienced in other arts (my experience with this morphed into “Kovar’s” staff training manual (MAC or Pro-MAC which stands for martial arts career training) and systems within EFC referred to as SATP – staff accelerated training program.)   That having been said the most important aspect of staff training is creating a student curriculum that both teaches the “skills” of teaching as well as cultivating an interest in teaching rather than just learning in the students as they progress in rank.  We call this our Leadership Program and through the program move students from a “dependent stage” of student-teacher, to and “inter-dependent stage” of team member with other students, to “team leader” then “group leader” teaching mentoring skills, speaking skills, and ultimately methodology for effective teaching as well as for understanding specific material.   That insures a steady stream of “volunteer” instructors but also grooms a smaller percentage of students to think about and possibly pursue a full-time career with you.

Hopefully, that makes a stab at answering Mark’s question and giving you some food for thought.  It’s a subject that will continue to be explored and expanded on through Maximum Impact, Peak Performers, and Inner Circle.  There will be support and content for all of these questions at the Extreme Success Academy event.  No one who’s serious about running a full-time school should miss this opportunity to rocket their school to the next level:  www.ExtremeSuccessAcademy.com

As a brief aside.  Buried in my approach to the above question is the transition that a martial artist must make to become a successful school owner.  They must move from athlete/student interested primarily in their own personal achievement and mastery to the next level, which is effective teacher/educator. Unfortunately many get stuck at this second step, insuring a small number of quality students but never securing a career for themselves in martial arts.  The third step is to becoming a business owner and administrator.  Just as any school needs a “Dean” and a “President”, or a Principal and an administration to support it’s operations.   Michael Gerber calls the typical process a “Technician having an Entrepreneurial Seizure.”  A successful school owner must move from doer to teacher, then to salesman, then to marketer, then to manager.   Your school has a variety of functions that must be performed and they include effective sales, marketing, accounting, financial administration, and ultimately staff recruitment, training, and supervision.    If you are really good at doing all of the functions of a school (teaching, sales, marketing, administration, accounting, etc.) and never move beyond that you will always be at the mercy of your own day to day achievements and effort.  In order to have a school function beyond your minute by minute involvement requires that you learn to develop and train people and that you have systems in place (automated and systems that individuals implement) to maintain consistency in your absence.

Are you’re a professional school owner, or thinking about becoming one?   If so, what level of income is possible and is it a smart move as a career?

When I started in martial arts – close to 40 years ago – or, even as I worked my way through Georgetown University I never would have imagined that martial arts instruction would become my profession rather than just my passionate hobby.  When I founded Mile High Karate in 1983 it was an alternative to using my degree in International Economics to land in Banking or work for a corporate giant such as Procter and Gamble or IBM.   Instead I moved from Washington, D.C. to Denver to open commercial Mile High Karate Schools.

My instructors and friends all thought I was crazy.

My key martial arts instructor gave me encouraging words that went something like this:  “well, you can play karate for a few years then get a real job!”  I’m sure you can imagine how satisfying it was to make them all “eat crow.”   As I moved to Denver I had compiled the 200 page business plan then “hit the ground running” by opening five schools in 18 months.  Founding my business with only $10,000 and growing a million dollar business with 1,500 students.   Most of my friends and family would have been surprised to learn that a professional career could be had through operating martial arts schools.  By the time I was 25 I was making a six figure income running schools.  More than most anyone who told me that I should get a “real job.”

In the year’s since it’s founding Mile High Karate has achieved a truly international reputation for combining student quality with financial success.   We’ve been the leading martial arts instruction organization in this region since inception.

At one time or another I’ve been featured in all of the industry’s trade publications and have been a sought after speaker and consultant throughout North America – and, the world.   More recently I’ve written several well received books on Mile High Karate School operations and teaching that have been well received throughout the United States, Canada, and as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Tokyo, UK, Germany, and even South Africa.

Honestly, when I pursued martial arts to a high level it was as an athlete – with intentions to follow in the path of my mentors (Jeff Smith, Pat Worley, and others) to become a professional fighter and competitor.   I was soon to grow out of that rather narcissistic focus and to realize the potential for true significance  through teaching.   I’m certain that I’ll never win another championship trophy in tournament competition – and, many of my friends would humiliate me in seconds in a grappling match – however, that’s not what I do as a career – or, frankly even as a hobby anymore.

My focus for Mile High Karate since the early 1980’s has been Elementary age children – and, their families.   Teaching character, values, self esteem, focus, and goal setting skills.   We’ve developed a program that greatly enhances a child’s achievement in school and contributions at home and in their community.   To further enhance that mission Mile High Karate students have contributed to Children’s Hospital, local Public and Private Schools, and Chuck Norris’ Kick Drugs Out of America.

Now, I do have to tell you that there are many types of professional martial arts schools.  Those who focus on kids and families, but also those who are bursting with the 50-65 year old “baby boomer” crowds.  Other’s teaching legitimate Brazilian Ju Jutsu or Mixed Martial Arts to 25 – 40 year olds.  Some who use Martial Arts in “Tae Bo Fashion” as a better, more fun, and more focused fitness program.  All are legitimate purposes that have great and productive outcomes for the students.

Honestly,  I can think of no other way to combine  financial growth and security – with true significant contributions to individuals, their families, and the local community.  Our direct impact on our students is huge – the ripple effect throughout our communities is immeasurable.

Many times in the past 25 years I have been criticized for being “too commercial,” “for being in martial arts ‘only for the money.’” Or, for running “a Belt Factory” – or, the McDonald’s of martial arts.  To those critics I answer – I am in business to make money – I am in the Martial Arts Business because it combines the ability for me to make an outstanding income with the ability to impact a huge portion of my community in a positive way.  Honestly, I have the capability to lots money in other industries as well – but, not enough more to encourage me to turn my back on what I love.

There’s even “communities” of crazies, morons, and “ground and pound” MMA fanatics who gather and throw stones at sincere martial artists who teach philosophy and not just fighting and violence.  One of these havens of nutcases is called “bullshido,” I’m sure you get the play on words.  I’m written a little about them before and they seem proud of the mention in a real magazine all the while curing my name to high heaven.  These types get together and do a “who’s is bigger” posturing that misses the point of Professional Martial Arts Instruction – and, of sincere professional “Master Teachers” who have moved beyond pure athletic achievement to mentorship and professional teaching and development.

Those idiots enjoy running their mouth and calling financially successful martial artists such as myself “sellouts” and calling family oriented or mulit-location schools “McDojos.”  The unfortunate reality is that they really don’t have the perspective or understanding of what the reality is of personal development.   And, frankly most would be afraid to earn an income in the top 5% or 1% of our population.  Personally, I want my 7 year old daughter to be able to defend herself if she ever has the need.  I’d like here to be able to fend of an adult and run if accosted now, and to put a date in his place if necessary a few short years from now.  That having been said I know she’ll benefit more from character development, confidence, and fitness on an hour by hour and day by day basis.  An emphasis on only the physical misses many great opportunities and frankly limits the opportunity for ultimate physical development.

Why would I want to work in a career that I was less passionate about in order to support my Mile High Karate School as a hobby?   Alternatively, my wealth from martial arts is only in proportion to the number of students I serve and the depth of their enthusiasm for my service.  Or, as Zig Ziglar is fond of saying:  “You can get everything that you want in life – if you help enough other people get what they want.  Would you like to join me in earning an excellent career in the Martial Arts?

Personally I believe that  the broader significance of a career as an educator far outweighs my own youthful enthusiasms for becoming a better fighter and high-end athlete.    The personal satisfaction that grows from watching a beginner grow into a Black Belt and  a shy and withdrawn child grow into a community leader makes all the difference in the world.  I cannot imagine having spent that last 20 years selling real estate, marketing fast food, or working in a corporate bureaucracy – I hope all martial artists will transition into this perspective.  I hope many instructors will join my mission to expand our influence and develop a career that combines financial rewards, team-work, family, and contribution.

Unfortunately for me there were no companies like the National Association of Professional Martial Artists in 1983.   I had strong help and mentors but now there are incredible resources available to help you grow your school very inexpensively.

About the Author:

Stephen Oliver began martial arts training in 1969 in Tulsa, Oklahoma at a branch school of the Jhoon Rhee Institute.   He opened his first school in 1975.   Later he moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the Jhoon Rhee Institute while earning an honor’s degree in Economics at Georgetown University.

In 1983 he moved to the Denver Metropolitan area and opened 5 schools in 18 months with only $10,000 in capital.   He went on to promote the Mile High Karate Classic NASKA World tour event and serve on NASKA’s Board of Directors from 1989 to 1999 and to serve on EFC’s Board of Director’s from Inception until 2002.  In 1992 he went earned his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Denver and went on to serve on their Venture and Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.  He has also written several other books including: “How to Market Your Mile High Karate School Using the Internet” and “Direct Response Marketing for Mile High Karate Schools.”

Now he’s CEO of the National Association of Professional Martial Artists (NAPMA) and Publisher of “Martial Arts Professional Magazine” (www.MartialArtsProfessional.com) which is the trade journal of the martial arts industry since 1994.   To learn more about how NAPMA can help your school grow professionally and financially visit www.NAPMAFreeOffer.com

I’d like to encourage you to participate in our
exciting upcoming Teleconference with:

Martial Arts Legends:

Jhoon Rhee (Father of American Tae Kwon Do)
And,
Stephen Hayes (legendary Ninjutsu Master.)

Along with myself and NAPMA Director of Sales
and Marketing Toby Milroy.

And,

9th Degree Black Belt Terry Bryan and now Millionaire
Business and Real Estate Coach.

And, Chris Hurn. Business Consultant on Real Estate
Investment Expert.
—————————————–
Call Time: Wednesday,

August, 27th

2:00pm Eastern, 1:00pm Central, 12:00pm Mountain, 11:00am Pacific.

Call In Number: 1-(212) 461-2515
—————————————————————————————–
There’s no charge or obligation to participate in this Teleconference.

Each of the participants will be appearing at the Extreme Success
Academy. http://www.ExtremeSuccessAcademy.com

Time’s running out to register for this event.

Stephen Oliver.

Interestingly  the thing that many get COMPLETELY wrong is a hesitance about increasing rates and asking for higher tuitions when the school is suffering.   The opposite is true.  Expand the value of your program AND increase your tuition.

What are you charging?

For new students coming in your door you should be at a  MINIMUM of $150 a month and $300 downpayment. If you are charging much under that they you are probably massively undervaluing your program and hurting your revenue.

Next, for your renewal (Or, upgrade) you should be able to charge a minimum of a 50% increase in the monthly payment (and, a minimum of $500 down payment.

If you are uncomfortable charging those rates I suggest that you do the following:

#1    Clean up your school.   Make sure it’s spotless.   Touch up the point, clean up the look.  Overall, professionalize (without investing a lot of money initially.)

#2.    Professionalize your staff.  Make sure they are a “Product of the Product.” That they look and act professional and are congruent with what you’re projecting to students.

#3.    Get REALLY good at communicating the VALUE of training in your school.   Use testimonials, stories, real examples to help new students “see through the eyes” of someone who’s just graduated to Black Belt

A Beautiful Sunday … surrounded by Democrats, Media and more than a few left and right wing “crazies”….…

As I write this, I’m sitting here in Downtown Denver at Starbucks in Larimer Square.  I’m directly across from the “Pepsi Center” on Sunday before the Democratic National Convention.   There’s incredible electricity in the air.  Security everywhere. Helicopters overhead.  A level of vigilence that I’ve seen in New York City, but never before in Denver (they did find anthrax in a local hotel last week and certainly are gearing up for the worst.   Today they have some “stop the occupation” group with a 1,000 or so protestors picketing the convention.  It includes that wack-job professor from right here in Colorado.  Cindy Sheehan, and the “green party” presidential candidate…I forget here name too.   Anyway there motto seems to be “recreate ‘68” which apparently refers to anti-war riots of 1968.  Add to that a protest march by “code pink” and others.  Next, comes the news that A man who tried to carry two hunting rifles and two pistols into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s downtown hotel during the weekend. Anyway.  Maybe a typical day in New York or even Washington, D.C.  More excitement that Denver’s seen in years.

For myself I took the Harley out today.   It’s a beautiful sunny day.  The streets are full of delegates, news media, the typical Denver crowd out on a nice Sunday afternoon and literally thousands of others in town or hanging around for the Convention.   I was talking to Jodi earlier in the week and said more to myself “I wonder how many people will be in town for the convention?”   She then said 40,000.   I said 40,000?  That’s a lot but I think it will probably be more than that.  No she said, the outreach workers are expecting 40,000 prostitutes to come in for the conventions (she’s working through a church-group outreach.)  Interesting.  Probably the same story next week for the Republicans.   Maybe typical for Vegas…definitely not for Denver.

I’m reflecting today over the media coverage of the economy and our world in general.  Watched Obama introduce Biden yesterday.  Geeez, if everything is as bad as they say it is I should just hang myself and get it over with.  Now, I know that everyone is playing to the image in the community but really you don’t believe it, do you?

On the Mile High Karate front Les Connard, Tim Sullivan and their partners are our newest Mile High Karate school – in Los Angeles and also regional developers for a portion of that VERY  BIG city.   They brought out 7 staff members for a week of training.  On Friday to celebrate the trip they took the gang to the Capital Grill Restaurant right next to where I’m at now.  I was lucky enough to join them.  Now, Capital Grill if you haven’t been there is $35-$45 Ala Carte Steaks and, $80-$100 a head for Dinner.   I’ve got to tell you I’m sure glad we had reservations!  To tell you the truth I’ve never been to that restaurant for lunch or dinner when it wasn’t packed.

The same evening there was a Bronco Game (Sold-Out - $125 & Up Tickets), a Colorado Rockies Game (full but not sold-out,) and preliminary set-up for the convention.   Everywhere I look it sure seems like a lot of money is moving through the economy.  In front of the Capital Grill a nice collection of Mercedes and BMW’s with the occasional Ferrari.
I also watched the August 16th discussion that Rick Warren had with Barack Obama and John McCain.   Obama made it clear that those of us who earn more than $250,000 in personal income a year need higher taxes.

The data that I’ve seen says that currently our federal budget comes from income earners in the following percentages.TOP 1%: 39.43%. TOP 5%: 59.82%, TOP 10%: 70.45%.  Okay, maybe there are right.   The top 10% is only paying 70% of the federal budget for things like roads, military, etc., etc.   What the studies show is that it’s hard for someone like Obama to get much traction among most American’s by promising to raise taxes on “the rich” since most of us aspire to be in that category.

How about a martial arts school owner?

Is $250,000 or more in personal income doable?   Well, the answer is absolutely.  I have several friends who make more than that (in some cases a multiple of that) running single or multiple schools.  Yes, it’s clearly possible.   I’m very convinced that everyone in our NAPMA “Inner Circle” and everyone of our Mile High Karate “\Regional Developers”  will be in that income range by the time our next president (whether it be Obama or McCain) takes office.    I’m also convince that several of our Mile High Karate franchisees (other than regional developers) and, several of our NAPMA “Peak Performers” will be in that range.

What’s the best I’ve seen a single school owner make directly from their school?  We’ll I’ve seen a number of BIG single school operators and several strong and highly profitable smaller single school operators who have done more than $250,000 a year.  Probably a personal best that I’ve personal VERIFIED is in the range of $50,000 a month Net Income.

Anyway I know for some a discussion of earning $250,000 a year or more in Net Income seems academic since they are struggling to stay afloat.

Whether you are moving from $100,000+ to get to $250.000 Net and beyond, or whether you are struggling the following is a good reminder of how to immediately move your school forward quickly.

Hello everyone. Just a quick note to let you know that the newly revised edition of my book, How to Build the Martial Arts School of Your Dreams, is now available in the member area of NAPMA.com. Simply log in and click on the banner. You can download the book, print it, or simply view it online. I hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear your feeback. Either post your comments here in the forum, or you may email me directly at robcolasanti@napma.com.

Hey there everyone. I just wanted to give the martial arts world a heads up on all the great content appearing on the NAPMA Innovations DVD this month. In case you didn’t know , I put together a DVD full of classroom curriculum, drills and skills that can help introduce unique and exciting elements into your classes and can really keep your class interesting and fun and keep students coming back.

This month on the NAPMA innovations DVD, We wrap up the No More Mister nice guy series as I Speak with Kathy “the punisher” Long about the specifics of teaching a kung first San soo class for self defense. We talk about, among other things, class planning, curriculum and teaching this rough and tumble system to average students. And while we talk you can do a visual review of the last 6 month’s worth of curriculum.

Then, in our Edge MMA segment, we bring you Bjj legend Carlos Machado.
This month he teaches you clever transitions that put you in position to submit your opponent. Learning and teaching these techniques will give your students solid skills they can turn to if they are ever taken to the ground on the cage or in the street.

Tournament Weapons champion Josh Quartin shares with you some of the extreme moves he executes with the sword. These techniques can help take your younger sword students to a new level of excitement using a traditional weapon. These moves help develop a level of agility and control with a bladed weapon that is sure to impress in demos and competition and these moves are also fun to work in class. This will be a great starting place you to introduce extreme sword techniques into your weapons classes.

Then, in our bonus segment we bring you a very well produced promotional video, which highlights average people experiencing extraordinary training and a life changing experience at the Peaceful Dragon Kung Fu academy.
It is used as a lead generation tool for NAPMA Inner circle member, Eric Sbarge’s Peaceful Dragon Kung Fu Academy in Charlotte North Carolina.
He uses very well shot images of ordinary people training in Kung Fu. He uses shots that make the people look good doing the art but, without being overly flashy and impressive. He shows ordinary students training at an attainable level of skill and athleticism.
But’ while the beauty of the kung looks great, the most powerful part of the video is the social proof. He uses testimonials from the people you see training. They effectively eliminate objections and highlight benefits in a very disarming style this makes the entire presentation extremely persuasive and effective as a marketing tool, not just a video calling card for the school.
Eric Sbarge will be attending the Extreme Success Academy in September, so if you have any questions about the video or any part of his very successful organization, you can connect with him there.
So you NAPMA members enjoy the Video and all that Maximum Impact has to offer.
For everyone teaching martial arts classes out there. Remember it is your energy and that of your staff, which is the fuel for your school. The students only have your energy you feed off of. You, and your staff, are the sole renewable energy resource for your school. Knowing that means you know you can never let your energy dip. You can’t leave them in the dark with out energy. Your students are counting on you. And I know I can count on you to be there for your students consistently and enthusiastically. I know you would never leave your student’s on the side of the road out of gas.

Mark Graden

A few brief thoughts about thriving in our current economy….and, why the Extreme Success Academy is essential for your success…
with Stephen Oliver and Dan Kennedy.

Stephen Oliver:      Hey, let me get you to address for our members a couple of things before we have to run.  We have as you know, our Extreme Success Academy, which you helped coin our name here for us and we have many people you know on the agenda, obviously myself, Rob Colasanti, Toby Milroy, but we have Lee Milteer here whose our Performance Coach for our “Peak Performers” and  and “Inner Circle Members,” Paul Hartunian, on  public relations and publicity, Chris Hurn, Terry Bryan on Real Estate and a whole line up of martial arts superstars (Jhoon Rhee, Jeff Smith, Joe Lewis, Stephen Hayes) that may not be in your realm.  What would you tell our members about the value of that type of training and specifically this type of line-up we have coming up.

Dan Kennedy:            Well, you’ve got some great speakers, of course.  Significantly, you have a mix of people from inside your industry and people from outside your industry and every industry, every field, every profession tends to drift toward intellectual incest.

The delusional belief that, you know, that the school business is different, that my business is different and our problems and needs and opportunities are unique and so everybody tends to sort of wind up in a circle looking at each other and no business or income breakthroughs ever occur in any business through that process.  At best you can get incremental improvement from looking at each other.

But, the breakthroughs come from turning in the opposite direction and looking outside at what others are doing in other fields that can be transferred and applied and so the exposure to leading experts in specialized areas of advertising, marketing, sales and management who have been brought in diverse experience with a number of different business categories, professional practices and so forth, like Lee Milteer, Paul Hartunian, Chris Hurn, Terry Bryan etc is extremely important.  So, the combination of that opportunity as well as the opportunity to hear from and network with stars and highly successful school owners and that is essentially is like two events in one so it’s pretty time efficient and money efficient, but it is absolutely the right mix.

STEPHEN OLIVER:                 You bet and we are excited to have all of our “Inner Circle” members.  We are going to have twenty school owners; anywhere from half a million up to about a million five and the individual school performance and they really are not the usual suspects.  They are the guys behind the scenes.  You may not have ever heard of them before, but they are really down in the trenches really doing it on a day to day basis, so I think that is going to be very useful as well.

DAN KENNEDY:            Well, you know, the timing is important.  We are in what I call the transition to the new economy and during that transition probably everybody has noticed that there is some adverse things going on and one is that people who have had their kids in five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten organized activities are going to be making choices.  I even noticed the other day, Michelle Obama talking about spending $10,000 a year on all of the organized activities that the two kids are in and you know, they are in ballet, they are in this, they are in that and people like her husband has no idea how much all of this costs.

STEPHEN OLIVER:            You bet.

DAN KENNEDY:            So, you know, it’s pretty important to make sure that yours is one of the chosen ones and so competition now is going to be a little different than competition has been a year ago or two years ago or three years ago and so, at being more adept than ever at making your case, at presenting this not as an interchangeable choice left to the child of what do you want to do this summer, what do you want to do, you know, do you want to swing a bat, do you want to shoot a ball, do you want to ride a skateboard, this is more important and significant than that, making the case that it is different, being able to do that, being able to do a better target marketing job, to briefly plug the other new book of mine that’s out, No BS Marketing to the Affluent, really speaks to that issue of doing business with those least and last affected by recession.

STEPHEN OLIVER:            Absolutely.

DAN KENNEDY:            At being able to better communicate with the students, parents of students, community leaders and other influencers, again so that what you do is viewed as having much greater significance and importance than a lot of other things.  Being able to manage your business, now more efficiently, more effectively, again, you really can’t afford now to have whoever’s at that front desk blowing a prospect, undoing a very good presentation that you just did though some casual off-hand remark or wondering off to reservation in one way, shape or form.  So all of these things now have heightened sensitivity and importance.  The game is going to require more intense performance in order to be successful and that’s all the more reason to get on a plane and come to the academy and sort of recharge batteries, review best practices and strengthen the game plan.