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.