Starting this month, NAPMA introduces “The Four Keys to your Future.” In an unprecedented, yearlong series of feature articles, you will learn how to benefit from the new era of the martial arts industry that is upon us.

During each quarter of the year, Martial Arts Professional will focus on one of the four key concepts that will guide you toward a future of amazing growth in enrollments, retention, renewals and student quality.

This month, the series begins with the first of the Four Keys: developing an exit strategy for your career and/or business. Quite simply, you must know where you’re going, if you expect to reach the finish line.

The other Four Keys to your Future are:
2.    Building equity in your business.
3.    Implementing total school systemization, without re-inventing the wheel.
4.    Utilizing economies-of-scale methods to operate at lower cost.

Think of each Key as your means to open another door to your future. It’s a progression of steps—from developing an end goal for your career/business—to building value in your business—to implementing systemization and economies-of-scale methods, to transform the average martial arts school into a highly desirable, marketable asset that will dramatically boost your personal wealth when you sell it.

For many years, and now as NAPMA CEO, Stephen Oliver has brought a sharper clarity to what the future of the martial arts industry will be, and what current instructors and school owners and those who will open schools must do to be a part of that future. His Mile High Karate franchise system is already bringing that future to an ever-growing group of school owners who want the best a martial arts business has to offer.

He has repeatedly stated that, first and foremost, you are faced with a fundamental decision: to hold fast to the school model of the past or join those who are already benefiting from the new model, and create a thriving martial arts business for yourself.

Although there will always be room for hobbyists and volunteer and part-time instructors (and they should be congratulated for what they do), cultural and economic forces are coming to a head. Industry leaders and more and more school owners are finally realizing that a martial arts school is an outstanding business opportunity—one that has been largely unnoticed for decades. This has led to the development of a serious business model that is increasingly becoming the norm.

The pioneers of the new era are those school owners who have already made the transition from part-time and/or mediocre-performing schools to high-grossing businesses. The much higher student quality they’ve achieved (as well as skyrocketing revenues) proves that the “selling out” concept is also old history. Many traditionalists (including this month’s Success Story, Charles Dudley, on page XX) have been able to develop synergistic business models that accommodate both the traditions of their arts and the highest goals of business.

As the martial arts industry transitions to this new era, there are no real impediments to move from where you are today to where you want to be—except, frankly, those in your head. That is why NAPMA has committed so many pages in Martial Arts Professional during the next year—to clear your head, change your mindset and focus your energies on your future, where the success you’ve always deserved is waiting for you.