Posted by Mike Massie on June 2, 2010
How To Get Small-Dojo-Big-Profits In Hard Copy At A Discount…
Real quick before I get into today’s article – I have a limited number of Small-Dojo-Big-Profits business system manuals in hard copy that I am selling at a discount. There is nothing wrong with these manuals, other than the printer messed up the shrink wrapping .
Normally hard copies of the manual go for $149. I’m selling these half-off at $77 + $5 for shipping.
I only have a few copies, once they’re gone, they’re gone…
Click here to order
Sorry, the books sold out quick. If you want to buy it at the regular price, check out the Small Dojo Big Profits website.
Now, on to today’s post:
The Dangers of Making Things Too Easy
What happens when you give students a black belt on a silver platter? All you have to do is look at our industry for the last 25 years to see..
Are you struggling with balancing retention versus quality in your school? I know I have in the past, and it makes things even harder when you’re worried about paying your bills and making rent each month.
But is there really any need to worry about this issue? For years, “experts” in the mainstream industry have told us that the reason why martial arts schools lose students is because they make things too hard and students don’t feel like they’re progressing.
Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the next century… we started seeing public interest in new trends in the martial arts… namely:
- Grappling
- Reality-Based Self Defense
- Mixed Martial Arts
At least based on the information I get from networking with school owners locally and across the nation, interest in these market niches is at an all-time high in our industry.
Yet, you don’t have to do much research to see that adults are flocking to grappling, MMA, and reality-based self defense programs by the droves… I think we can all agree on that.
But Here’s The Funny Thing…
Now, think about this for a second – there’s nothing easy about participating in those types of programs. Moreover, in arts that exist within these niches, rank is a secondary consideration to training and learning… exactly the way it should be in every martial art.
Case in point – Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Sure, every once in a while you hear about a BJ Penn or a Lloyd Irvin getting their black belt in three or four years. But those are extremely rare cases. For the most part, it takes the average student as long to get their first belt in BJJ as it does to get a black belt in the average tae kwon do school (not in my school, but we’re not the norm, either).
What gives? For more than 20 years, hasn’t the mainstream industry encouraged martial arts school owners to make the “black belt” the beat-all end-all goal in your school, in order to increase retention and to encourage students to stick around for the long haul?
If that’s the case, why is it that BJJ schools are seeing record enrollment numbers and interest among that most elusive of markets – the adult segment?
And, lest you blame this all on the UFC craze, let me draw your attention to all the Israeli martial arts schools and reality-based MMA and JKD schools that are doing extremely well in this economy. Once again, rank is secondary to training in those programs.
There Must Be An Explanation For This
Oh there is, believe me. You see, we are living in an information age, a time when the average person can go to Google and research anything they want… when anyone can go online and in just a few keystrokes find out what other people think about anything and everything.
The exchange of information is tremendous… and this has led to a consumer who is more educated than ever before.
That includes pubic opinion about which martial arts are best for self-defense, for children, for women… you get the picture. And, the result of 26 years of commercial karate and tae kwon do schools handing out belts like candy has resulted in a public perception that they are just for kids.
So How Did We Get Here?
Folks, it’s no coincidence that I’m writing this article just before the major motion picture release of The Karate Kid remake. Certainly, this movie will spark interest in traditional martial arts training among young people (or maybe just kung fu schools – who knows?)
However, the question we need to be asking ourselves is whether we want to continue to make the same mistakes that were made in our industry over the last three decades. You know… following the tremendous influx of children that entered martial arts schools after the release of The Karate Kid in 1984.
Money makes people in our industry do some stupid things, not the least of which is watering down a martial art for mass consumption in pursuit of profit.
So, How Do We Fix This Negative Perception?
Not that I’m saying you should change your kids curriculum so you’re teaching children like little adults…
However, I am suggesting that we place the emphasis in our schools on training and learning, instead of little pieces of cloth that don’t mean much without the skill to back them up.
And, let the public know that your school focuses on training, not selling belts. At the very least, maybe we can educate the public about how to know the difference between a “black belt factory” and a serious martial arts school.
Do you agree? Disagree?
Let’s hear it! Post your comments and opinions below – I’d like to know what you think.
Posted by Mike Massie on March 31, 2010
Should You Lower Your Standards In Order To Increase Retention?
“How long does it take to get a black belt?”
We usually hear this question from new and prospective students, but the following question was actually posted on my member site forums this week by an instructor:
“How long does it take your kids to reach black belt? I have been told by my instructor that I will have extremely poor retention if it takes longer than 2.5 years, but I just don’t feel like that is enough time for the students to achieve the level that I expect out of a black belt.”
When is a black belt just a piece of cloth? Why, when it's bought and not earned, of course...
Kudos to this instructor for wanting to keep their quality high, even though their instructor obviously isn’t so willing to sacrifice profit for quality (I’d argue that improving quality leads to greater profits overall, but more on that later).
There were some great comments from the other members in response to the question this instructor posed. So if you’re a member and you get a chance, log in today to see what the other members have said so far.
Why I Insist On Keeping My Standards High For Achieving Black Belt
As for my answer? I replied, “As long as it takes.”
I’ve been teaching professionally for years (two decades + teaching kids). And, let me tell you…
If you set the proper expectations FROM THE BEGINNING, you are going to retain a HIGHER QUALITY OF STUDENT than if you set your school up to be a black belt mill just to make a quick buck.
Let me tell you something – the public is NOT stupid. They know exactly what is going on in your school when you “bump” someone in rank just to keep them around.
If You Think Your Clients Don’t Realize What You’re Doing Then Most Certainly, You’re The Fool
Case in point:
Last week I had an interesting conversation with a salesperson who called on my office. Once she found out what I do for a living, she quickly told me about her daughter, who has been enrolled in martial arts for the last five years. Her daughter is close to earning her junior black belt, and the mother just went on and on about all the benefits of martial arts for kids.
Her only gripe? That the instructors would often promote students whose skills and knowledge were grossly inferior to their peers, out of an apparent profit motivation. She said it was obvious they “wanted to move the kids up so they could keep making money off them.”
*Sigh*
Trade A Legacy For A Lexus? Not Me…
In my schools (where we teach a curriculum that is old school martial arts combined with modern self-defense) the average time is 4.5 years to 1st dan black belt.
For kids, it can take longer depending on at what age they enrolled. Younger kids just move slower through the junior ranks. Older kids sometimes move faster. And, we don’t give kids black belts – they get a half-black “junior black belt” in my schools.
Of course, teens and adults can do it in three years, if they’re dedicated. It’s only happened once so far, though. And, I’ll be honest – I simply don’t turn out a whole lot of black belts.
That’s for good reason. You see, I have a philosophy that not everyone is meant to be a black belt. That doesn’t preclude anyone from achieving it in my schools – far from it. However, few people will stick around and pay the price for earning a Massie black belt, because my standards are so high.
Sure, I could lower my standards and probably make a lot more money. But it’s an integrity issue for me, because I’m not going to be the type of instructor who stands on the shoulders of giants, only to walk all over their legacy.
A Quick History Lesson
I have more training and rank in Korean systems than any of the other “traditional” systems I’ve studied, and I was fortunate enough to come from a line of really hard core Korean-style instructors. Also, I am very well read and knowledgeable regarding the history of martial arts in America.
Historically, the trend surrounding taking people to black belt rapidly started with a certain large chain of Korean martial art schools, who built an empire on selling instant gratification to their students.
No, they weren’t the only ones doing it…
However, they were perhaps the most successful. Due to their success, many other school owners (including those from other styles) started seeing how much money they were making by selling belts, and it caught on.
A Few Bad Apples… Can Look Like The Whole Bushel
The sad thing is, lots of Korean and Korean-style instructors kept their standards high and refused to follow the practice. But unfortunately, the practice became so widespread among Korean-style schools that it eventually damaged the reputation of the Korean martial arts overall.
What a crying shame. Personally, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to show people how serious I am about martial arts to get respect from them, simply because of my background in Korean martial arts.
Never mind the fact that plenty of great martial artists have backgrounds in Korean systems. But, let me assure you there are still quality instructors turning out quality black belts from Korean-style schools.
But I digress… I only brought this up so you’d know how the practice of lowering belt rank promotion standards came about, and to illustrate to you younger instructors that it wasn’t always as easy as it is today to get a black belt.
Getting Back To Promoting Kids To Black Belt
Now, it’s almost the norm in American martial art schools that teach sub-styles of karate (Korean and otherwise) to rank people very quickly and rush them to black belt for fear of losing students.
Again, what a crying shame…
By making this practice the status quo, the martial arts industry in America has succeeded in doing the following:
1. They’ve watered down the martial arts in America by turning out black belts who aren’t really prepared at all to teach… who then in turn start schools before they are ready and teach their own students their own bad habits and pass on their underdeveloped knowledge of technical execution -
2. They’ve conditioned much of the public into expecting to get things quickly and easily when they enter a martial arts school. Certainly, I can teach someone to defend themselves in two or three years of study (sometimes less, depending on the student). But it takes much longer to train a competent black belt who is capable of passing on what they know.
3. They’ve led the public and their students to believe that the only prerequisite for being a competent instructor is to hold a black belt… a belief that in turn has made it much easier for the public to be duped. Typically this is by marginally-qualified charlatans and con artists posing as legitimate instructors who are more than eager to fool the public into thinking they’re getting good martial arts instruction – all while charging them handsomely for sub-par training and instruction.
Since When Did Maintaining Quality Become A Hindrance To Doing Business?
You know, one of the fastest growing martial arts styles among kids and adults in America is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. And, as everyone knows, BJJ instructors are famous for being “stingy” with rank – or, at least that’s how they’re often categorized.
Me, I say they do it right. Eight to ten years on average for earning a black belt is just about right to me, when you’re talking about preparing someone to teach and pass on what they’ve learned.
Sure, a good four or five year purple belt is more than capable of leading a good class… But I’ve long believed (based on years of observation) that it takes about ten years for an instructor to really gain a sufficient depth of knowledge regarding the subtleties of their art to become an accomplished instructor. (Note: I don’t certify a black belt as a full instructor until they’re 3rd dan or higher – which takes about eight to ten years typically.)
But wait a minute… it takes about two years on average to get the first belt in BJJ. Yet, we’ve seen people turning out in droves to join Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools over the last decade.
Could it be that the public really wants something that is real? Something that is worthwhile and truly earned? Something not watered down, but that’s been kept pure and honest?
I say, the answer to all of the above is a resounding “YES!”
So, Here’s My Advice…
So, here’s my advice to you – instead of worrying about losing students because you aren’t lowering the quality of your programs enough…
Worry instead about retaining students by teaching the highest quality program you possibly can – trusting that your reputation and high standards will be your strongest retention tool.
Posted by Mike Massie on November 5, 2009
Know Thy Image
I fully expect some clown to start offering martial arts for pets or some such nonsense at some point - which would be an extreme case of trying to offer something for everyone... or every-pet, in this case.
Trying to be all things to all people is a sure-fire way to become nothing to no one. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t diversify into having multiple programs for multiple age demographics. Not at all… in fact, for most school owners and in most locations I think it’s a mistake to just go after a single demographic.
Know What Pays Thy Bills
However, I do think you need to know what pays the bills, and be practical about pursuing that demographic and making it the priority in your school. For example…
In my first school, I built the entire school on kids programs. That was my whole image, and even though I taught adult classes, fitness classes, and so on, my entire image was tied up in being a kid-friendly school.
But in my most recent school, I focused more on presenting the message that we had programs for the whole family. Still, I wanted to teach more adults, so I focused more on that.
The thing is, getting kids in your school is usually the easiest task. It’s the adults that are much harder to attract. That’s why I always go for the kid’s market first, then go after the adults once the kid’s programs are paying the bills.
Know Thy Demographic
What’s that have to do with image?
Well, all my ads are pretty much middle of the road as far as raciness goes. The raciest thing I’ve ever run was for my boot camp, and that’s because the model showed midriff and had a belly piercing (it looked good, though – the ads performed well).
Mostly, I’ve stuck with mom-friendly stuff, because in the areas I operated in most of my clients and decision-makers were moms.
Know Thy Target Market
Here’s something to consider, though…
Say you run a gym that’s MMA oriented, and your enrollment is mostly made up of the 20- and 30-something, tatted up, Affiliction-wearing guys.
Chances are good that your kids classes are going to be made up of kids from those households.
So, you’ll still get some “contact” enrollments just by virtue of farming your existing clientele – it’s just going to fall out that way.
But, that “bad boy” image isn’t going to go over well with families who just walk in off the street. Your average soccer mom is going to be turned off by it, and she’ll take her kids down the street to the plain-vanilla-typical-suburban-family-image school down the street.
This is just one example, and I think you can see the converse also applies. If your school is viewed as a “kiddie” school, chances are good that will work against you if you are marketing hard core MMA or adult self-defense programs.
Know Thy Image As It Applies To Thy Demographic
This is why it’s important to understand the demographics of your area… so you can make sure you don’t have an image disconnect between the image your marketing projects and your local market.
In more densely populated urban areas, it may be possible to pick and choose your ideal student by targeting a particular demographic. This is what you see advertisers doing in mass media marketing – the audience is broad enough to allow the advertiser’s to pick and choose their market to a certain extent.
However, your market reach is effectively only 5-10 miles from your location (ten being on the extreme edges of your market).
So, the demographic found in that geographical area absolutely dictates what your marketing image should be.
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Questions? Comments?
Let Mike know! Post your comments below…
Posted by Mike Massie on August 4, 2008
Gary wrote in last week to ask:
Q: “I currently earn $45,000 a year… So, at $99/month per student, I could replace my income and pay for my school expenses at about 45 students. Is this a reachable goal in, 1 year, two years?”
A: Yes, it is a very reasonable goal, but you aren’t going to be able to pay your expenses on a studio and pay yourself $45K a year with only 45 students.
That may cover your rent in an area where lease space is cheap, but you have to consider how much your utilities, advertising, and miscellaneous costs (supplies, cash flow to stock your Pro Shop, etc.) will be each month and factor that in as well.
I currently spend about $800 a month on advertising to generate approximately 20 leads a month, and we typically convert about half of those into memberships each month. (Update: We now spend only 25% of this amount on advertising and marketing due to stepping up our online marketing efforts. – MM)
Drop out rates are climbing due to the economy, so while we are still doing fine, we are planning to spend more money on our marketing this fall to make up for the students who have decided that their other luxuries are more important.
I suggest you use the worksheets in my business manual to determine realistically what your monthly expenses will be, and send those numbers to me so I can look them over. Then, you’ll know where you need to be, enrollment-wise, before you can quit your job.
The good news is, if you teach “X” martial arts you are offering a popular program that tends to do well with adults. However, I would advise you to look at teaching fitness classes as well, such as kick boxing bag classes.
Every “X” school I know makes over half their income marketing fitness martial arts and teaching fitness kick boxing. It’s a much broader audience to market to than self-defense, so be sure to include it in your class offerings.
