Posted by Mike Massie on September 2, 2010
Fact: Most People Do Not Want To Learn Martial Arts!
Fitness has everything to do with your martial arts training... and your school's success.
I coach a lot of martial arts instructors on how to start and grow a successful school; some directly and many more via my websites and written resources.
And, I’ve found that one of the most difficult concepts to impart to many instructors is the fact that most people don’t want to learn martial arts.
This is, quite simply, a fact. Think about it – how many people (outside of where you train) do you know in your community that train in martial arts? Do you think it’s because they don’t know about it? Sorry to burst your bubble, but people who don’t train in martial arts choose not to because of disinterest, not ignorance.
Even so, people are often disinterested because they simply don’t know enough about the martial arts, or they are misinformed about what practice entails. And, many times once people try it they discover how much fun it is and stick with it. But the ages-old challenge of martial arts instructors is finding ways to get the disinterested to take a first look at their programs.
The Business Benefits Are Undeniable… So Why The Resistance?
I realized early on that teaching fitness classes was a great way to get the disinterested into my school. While only a very small percentage of the public are interested in martial arts, almost everyone wants to be in shape. By offering fitness classes, I was able to both increase my income and expose the general public to the martial arts, thus attracting a clientele I would never have had access to otherwise.
It’s a proven business tactic, and I’ve used it for years as an integral success component in my own schools. Yet, when I introduce instructors to this approach, they often are resistant (sometimes to the point of criticism) to the idea of teaching fitness programs.
“But I don’t want to run a fitness club; I just want to teach martial arts,” is a response I often get when I present this business tactic to martial arts instructors. And while I understand where these instructors are coming from, I also think that they are using flawed logic to justify not wanting to get out of their comfort zone – even to the point of being hypocritical and cheating their own students out of valuable training.
The Argument For Fitness Training Being An Integral Part Of Martial Arts Practice
Let me repeat what I said earlier in case you missed it the first time:
“Instructors who refuse to teach fitness classes are cheating their own students out of valuable training experiences…”
Granted, what goes on at the local big box gym has little to do with martial arts training when looked at in a specific context. But wait a second – isn’t fitness an integral part of martial arts training?
Fitness And Martial Arts In The Modern Era
You bet your black belt it is, and martial arts history will back that up. Of course we all know what a fanatic about fitness that Bruce Lee was. In fact, he set an example that would be followed and expanded upon by modern mixed martial artists, by emphasizing the need for physical attributes; or what he called “basic requirements.”
Virtually everyone who is a fan or practitioner of mixed martial arts or other contact fighting pursuits understands that physical conditioning is prerequisite to success in the ring or cage. Everyone from jiu jitsu competitors, to mixed martial arts fighters, to boxers, to wrestlers, to judoka, to full-contact karate fighters understands that fitness precedes victory in the ring. No lungs and legs, no fighter; every modern fight trainer and coach understands this.
Fitness And Martial Arts In Ancient Times
Yet, the influence of fitness training on martial arts goes back much, much further than that. Most recently in history, we can examine the karate practitioners of Okinawa for examples of martial artists using physical conditioning methods to enhance their martial arts skill. Practitioners of traditional Okinawan karate use various weighted strength and conditioning devices, including lifting jars of sand and stone, lifting and swinging weighted devices similar to Indian club bells, and lifting stone weights reminiscent of kettle bells.
And, should we look further to the Shaolin temple, we find similar fitness conditioning training being an integral component of the martial arts regime. With the revival of the modern temple, film documentarians have recorded modern examples of the rigorous physical training of the monks firsthand.
Not to mention that the first monks were supposedly introduced to martial arts practice via exercises designed to improve their stamina and physical fitness. Although a hotly contested (and some would say disproved) legend, the influence of fitness training on the early development of martial arts is a central concept to the history of many martial arts traditions.
A Moral Imperative To Include Fitness Training In Your School?
Knowing all this, how can we then exclude fitness training and instruction from our overall syllabus of martial arts instruction, simply because it is not “martial”? The answer is, we cannot – and should not, for that matter, especially in a modern era where people live mostly sedentary and soft lives. Let’s face it, the average martial arts student that walks in your front door is out of shape (and many times even to the point of being unhealthy).
In my own experience with teaching modern students, I can tell you that most students who begin martial arts become frustrated with the training initially, not because they are unable to learn it, but because they are unable to perform it. And, more often than not, their inability is not due to a lack of aptitude – they are simply just not fit enough to perform the movements.
Certainly, over time this problem will “self-correct” if the student simply sticks with it. But if the student is continually frustrated in training, will they? Chances are good they won’t, which contributes to the exceedingly high dropout rates among adult students in the martial arts.
I figured this out years ago, and started encouraging my adult students to attend my fitness classes as an adjunct to their training. In every single instance when the student attended fitness training in addition to their martial arts classes, their rate of learning and their skill performance skyrocketed within just a few weeks.
In particular, I can recall a recent instance where a student that was considered “wimpy” by the other students soon became a terror on the floor (other students started to jokingly complain about partnering with this student; “she hits too hard” was a frequent comment).
Would You Cheat Your Students… Those Both Current and Prospective?
When I first began my martial arts journey, all I wanted to learn was fighting skill. But, I soon discovered that my nerdy 12-year-old physique was not quite up to the task of performing many of the skills I was learning. Many of them required a flexibility, agility, and strength that I had not yet acquired.
So, I began to do workouts at the end of my martial arts practice, and the improvements I soon made in class helped me stick with martial arts training. In short, fitness training kept me in the martial arts.
Every one of your students can greatly benefit from taking fitness training; I think you’ll agree with me on that. But here’s the flip side of it… often, students who are taking fitness classes with me start off having no interest whatsoever in martial arts. Yet, a good number of them (some, not all) end up doing martial arts after all.
I can only attribute this to their developing a certain amount of trust with me as their fitness instructor, which eventually translates into an increased comfort level and curiosity with the martial arts I teach. And, I often think about how many students I would have missed out on teaching, had I not offered some sort of fitness program in my school.
Besides all that, I also get martial arts students from my fitness classes, who aren’t in my fitness classes. Yep… these are the spouses and children of my fitness students, who are exposed to my programs through their parent, husband, or wife.
And what’s more… I actually get paid to do something I should be doing anyway, which is doing conditioning drills and training to stay in shape.
So, let me ask you this question: “Would you cheat your students, your school, and yourself of all these benefits, just because you think teaching fitness isn’t ‘martial’?”
Only you can answer that question.
How To Start A Fitness Training Program In Your Martial Art School
If you’re curious about how to start a fitness program in your martial art school – one that will greatly improve your students’ abilities, and add to your bottom line – click this link:
Posted by Mike Massie on August 25, 2010
Quitting, or (L)earning the Power to Execute
The power to execute comes from practice.
“It didn’t work for me. So, I quit doing it.”
How many times have I heard that from martial art school owners? Let me just say, I’m not busting anyone’s chops in particular.
But, I hear this from school owners so often, I feel I need to make an important point about giving up easy in business.
Let’s think back to the first time you learned how to do a certain combination in sparring… maybe a set-up for a strike or submission. You learned it in class, drilled it, memorized the movements, and then you tried it out in sparring for the first time. How did it go?
That’s right, it failed… or, rather, YOU failed to execute it effectively. Let’s be honest – you’d seen your instructor and the senior students in the school pull it off a million times. Yet, it didn’t work for you the first time out.
So what did you do? Of course, you kept at it.
Then one day, BINGO! It clicked and you were able to pull it off. You scored, it felt good, and so you kept trying it. Maybe you didn’t score every time, but pretty soon you were succeeding more than failing, and you may have even developed a strategy around that technique… heck, it may even be one of your “go-to” techniques now.
So, knowing what you know now, how silly would it have been for you to have tried that move or technique once, and then said, “Well, it didn’t work for me, so I quit doing it.”
Yet, those are the exact words I hear from instructors, all the darned time. Typically, it’s with regards to some marketing method or another, but it could also be in relation to any number of common practices that successful schools use.
And the fact is, you’d never let a student give up like that. Ever.
So, why do we do it? And I do say “we” purposely, because I did the same thing many times when I was starting out, and to this day I still have to resist the initial urge to give up when I fail at something new.
I’ll tell you why – because, when you become an instructor, you get used to being “right” all the time. And, when you do something “wrong”, it busts your ego up something terrible.
I know. I’ve felt the sting of getting my ego bruised too. Yet, the winners’ circle only admits the persistent. It’s true in martial arts, it’s true in all manner of sports, it’s true in business, and it’s true in life.
Now, if you’re reading this and going, “Cripes, Mike is right. But how do I keep trying something when it’s not working?” The answer is so obvious, it’s painful. You don’t.
Because, if you do something that works for someone else and it doesn’t work for you, that means you did it wrong. So, instead of taking an ineffective action over and over again, you need to observe how the people who are getting results do that thing. Compare their methods with yours, eliminate the differences in execution, and then try again.
That’s what you did when you first learned martial arts… you watched the best people in your school, and copied them, repetition after repetition. Over time, you got good, maybe even better than the people you modeled your own practice after.
And that’s how you’re going to succeed in running your school as well.
Is it difficult? Obviously, but let me tell you – it’s a lot easier than figuring things out through sheer independent trial and error.
So…
LEARN -> IMPLEMENT -> EVALUATE -> REVISE -> REFINE…
Then IMPLEMENT better.
Rinse, repeat.
That’s the path to success.
Posted by Mike Massie on August 18, 2010
Using MartialArtsCards.com as the Ultimate Retention System
Everyone loves to get a card... especially your students.
Maybe you currently send good job notes and MIA (“missing in action”) notes to your students, or maybe you don’t. One thing I can tell you for a certainty – sending personal notes to your students consistently will contribute greatly to your retention and referrals.
Many successful businesspersons have been avid card and note senders; Tom Hopkins, Mary Kay Ash, Stephen Covey, Bob Burg, Joe Girard (especially Joe)… because they know that a simple thank you card can go a long way to building trust, loyalty, and commitment among your clients.
I experienced this in my first successful school. After speaking with many successful school owners and comparing the actions they attributed to their success, I found that sending notes and cards was one of the most common actions school owners took to increase their retention. After implementing it in my own school, I experience a dramatic increase in attendance, renewals, and referrals.
The only problem with doing this is it is a VERY time-intensive activity… Until now.
I’ve been using MartialArtsCards.com as the ULTIMATE time-saving retention tool for some time now. It’s a simple system that can have remarkable results on your retention.
Here’s how it works:
- You sign up for an account and enter all your contacts into the system (to speed this up I simply exported my student list from my school management software into an Excel spreadsheet and uploaded it in about five minutes),
- You then create custom cards and “campaigns” (sequences of your custom cards that get sent out at specific intervals) and assign your contacts to those campaigns,
- The system creates your custom cards, inserts any custom messages, pictures, logos, or other content you’ve created into the cards, prints them professionally so they look just like any store bought card, stamps them, and mails them to your students.
You can easily set a single card up as its own campaign (like a good job note), set it to go out immediately, then add a certain number of your students to that campaign and send one, a dozen, or all of your students a good job note in five minutes or less.
And, it costs less than cards or postcards you’d buy at the store. Yes, you can send post cards using this system (and another great use for it is marketing with postcard campaigns to small, targeted lists of hot prospects… but that’s another topic for another article).
A few more notes about this system:
- It allows you to professionally print your own photos inside or on the front cover of the card – this can be a school logo, the student’s picture, or a motivational martial arts related photo -
- It allows you to insert your own signature inside the card -
- It allows you to create your own handwriting font, to use your own handwriting in the cards you send -
Now, if you’re wondering how sending cards and notes can increase the number of referrals your business receives, go watch The Referral Movie. It’s a short video that was created by a marketing expert by the name of David Frey who is a firm believer in using this system. Believe me, it will open your eyes to the many ways you can use this system to increase your business.
When you’re ready to implement this system in your school, contact me and I’ll walk you through getting started and setting up your system. I also have many unique martial arts themed card designs I can send you once you have access to the system.
But, you have to sign-up at my site (MartialArtsCards.com) to get my custom martial arts card campaigns – no one else has them because they’re unique to the way I use this system.
Just email me if you need help getting signed-up or getting started using the system once you enroll.
Posted by Mike Massie on August 10, 2010
G.W., a Small Dojo Big Profits reader, recently emailed to ask me the following…
Q: We have slow months, in those months that we know are slow should we bump up our advertising or should we save our dollars and advertise in the busier times of the year ?
Should you ever cut back on your marketing during "slow times"? Not if you want your school to grow...
A: Just the opposite, in fact. Your marketing activity should remain at a minimum constant level throughout the year, but you should increase your activity just before those slow times in order to yield increased enrollments to carry you through the “slow times.”
The reason is because marketing works on momentum. You’ve heard the old saying that someone needs to see your ad a minimum of seven times before they buy? Well, that’s because a customer doesn’t typically have an immediate need for your service at the time they see your ad.
However, weeks or months later when they finally do develop a need or desire to take martial arts, the first business they are able to contact will likely be who they purchase from… So, if they were impressed by your previous marketing but don’t know how to contact you, then someone else is likely to get their business.
That’s why you need to keep advertising and marketing all the time to keep getting that business. You need to be seen over and over again by potential customers in your community, so you become THE business that comes to mind when they think about taking martial arts.
And, you need to be easy to find when they start looking for you… that means you need to have referral programs, internet marketing, direct marketing (mail or door-to-door), and a host of other marketing methods running 24/7/365 for your school.
Also, be aware that internet marketing is more effective and important in this day and age, but don’t discount other methods. As the poll we did just a few weeks ago indicated, plenty of school owners are getting good results with guest pass referral programs and door-to-door advertising.
If you want to get started on your internet marketing, but are confused as to where to begin, Facebook marketing is a good place to start. It’s low-cost, and when done right it can be a high-yield marketing activity.
Check out the new “Guide to Marketing on Facebook” I just released for a complete, step-by-step plan for marketing your school (or any small business) on Facebook.
Posted by Mike Massie on August 4, 2010
Many martial arts school owners would like to accept electronic payments so they can do their own martial arts billing at their school, but either don’t know how or think they have to hire a billing company to do it.
You can do a better job collecting your own tuition than a billing company, for a fraction of the cost, using the services listed in this article.
In fact, you DON’T need a billing company to accept electronic payments at your school… and you can even do your own monthly billing very easily (and save money on billing too) by using one or a combination of the following services.
There are several ways to do this… some methods are more “DIY” and require you to perform a few steps to set things up yourself. Others are more “hands off” and require a minimum of technical knowledge to set up.
I have listed various in-house billing solutions below from the “easiest” to the most technical, along with links to their sign-up pages.
Method #1: Getting a Merchant Credit Card Account for Electronic Billing In-House
Description: This method involves billing your clients directly through the credit card companies by using your own merchant credit card processing account and some sort of online payment gateway system. Online payment gateways work like a credit card processing machine, except that you enter the client’s information by hand through a secure online system. Typically, they allow you to process payments in a multitude of ways.
Ease of set-up: Relatively easy as the merchant credit card company will set you up and walk you through it.
Expense: Can be much lower than other methods listed below if you have good credit and ask for a “card present” account (that means you only run credit cards when the customer is in front of you with their credit card or debit card in hand).
Types of payments you can accept: Credit cards, debit cards, electronic checks (bill checking accounts).
Automated recurring billing available: Yes. What many school owners don’t realize is that, when you sign up with a martial arts billing company, they simply run your accounts through their own merchant account and then charge you a percentage on top of the discount rate they are getting from Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, and their own bank. Doing this yourself allows you to cut out the middle man and save a ton of money over the long haul.
Set-up fees: None.
Rate: As low as 1.26% and .05 cents a transaction for electronic checks. Definitely the lowest on the list overall.
Speed of Payment: Fast. Money is transferred to your checking account in 48-72 hours.
Drawbacks: If your credit rating is extremely poor, you may not be accepted, or you might have to pay a slightly higher rate. This is rare though, so don’t be afraid to apply.
Best for: Established business owners and those with a decent credit history who want the absolute best rates.
Link to Apply: Click here to apply
Method #2: Using Your Own Merchant Account In Conjunction With A Web-Based Billing Application
Description: This method involves using an online billing application in conjunction with a merchant credit card processing account or a third-party service like PayPal to manage, track, and process your payments.
Ease of set-up: Typically it’s fairly easy to set up your account. The whole concept of using web-based billing applications is to make it easier to setup, process, and track your billing accounts. With contemporary services like Freshbooks, user interfaces are much more intuitive and feature-rich than solutions provided by most payment processing companies.
Expense: Typically these services offer free trial accounts that allow you to test their service with a small number of clients (3 or less). You can then upgrade your account based on the number of client accounts you need to bill each month using the software. Rates start as low as $10 a month up to $80 a month for an unlimited number of client billing accounts. (Note: Some services may charge an additional fee for automatic recurring billing capabilities.)
Types of payments you can accept: Credit cards, debit cards, electronic checks (bill checking accounts), depending on your payment processor.
Automated recurring billing available: Yes. The most popular applications are actually designed to make it easy to schedule and process recurring billing payments for your clients. You can also bill your clients via email invoicing.
Set-up fees: None, just a monthly subscription fee.
Rate: Whatever your payment processor charges.
Speed of Payment: Depends on the payment processor.
Drawbacks: A monthly fee on top of your processing fees. However, for the ease of use and advanced bookkeeping and tracking advantages, it is worth it to be organized and to automate your billing and bookkeeping tasks each month.
Best for: Business owners who want convenience and don’t mind paying a little extra for it.
Links to Providers: Freshbooks – Invoicera
Method #3: Using A Third-Party Merchant Services Provider
Description: This method involves using a third party provider, such as PayPal or 2-Checkout, to process your payments.
Ease of set-up: Typically requires a bit more technical know-how, as you will need to navigate their account administration panel and set up various payment methods according to your needs and preferences. In addition, you may have to know some HTML and have basic web design skills, as you’ll need to place the code for payment buttons on your websites. (Note: PayPal now has a recurring billing function you can sign up for which allows you to enter and process your client’s payments online, but it requires a monthly fee for access.)
Expense: Higher than if you get your own merchant credit card account, with processing fees averaging about 3.5%. However, if you want to get up to speed quickly, or if you have spotty credit or don’t have a business bank account set up, this may be the best option for new instructors.
Types of payments you can accept: Credit cards, debit cards, electronic checks (bill checking accounts).
Automated recurring billing available: Yes. (Note: Automated recurring billing comes standard with a 2Checkout account, but with PayPal you have to apply for it).
Set-up fees: Between $15 and $50, depending on the service and plan you choose.
Rate: As low as 2.2% with a .30 cent per transaction fee for PayPal. 2Checkout charges 5.5% with a .45 cents per transaction fee.
Speed of Payment: Fast with PayPal – with the exception of e-checks, your money is transferred to your PayPal account immediately, and you can withdraw it by transferring it to your checking account which typically takes 48-72 hours. 2Checkout transfers money to their vendors weekly via electronic deposit of funds.
Drawbacks: Higher processing rates, and you’ll need someone with a little technical know-how to set it up. Also, 2Checkout requires that you have a website setup with all your purchase information online before you apply.
Best for: Someone who wants to get up and running fast with no hoops to jump through to qualify; the technically inclined; those with less than sterling credit; and, new instructors who are just starting out.
Links to Enroll: PayPal – 2Checkout
- Have questions or comments about doing your own martial arts billing? Post them below!
