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