How Long Should It Take To Get A Black Belt?

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.

Staying Focused On Your #1 Job In Your Martial Arts Business

Posted by Mike Massie on April 8, 2009

This cat knows where its attention should be focused on - she knows where the payoff is at...

It’s so easy to lose focus and get distracted from your primary mission in your martial arts business – especially if you haven’t defined it yet.

One of the most basic things I teach my members at the SAMAS site is that, until you reach your ultimate enrollment goals, your primary job function as a school owner is NOT:

• Revising curriculum and class content;
• Customer service;
• Cleaning your school;
• Coaching students for tournaments;
• Taking students to tournaments;
• Winning tournaments;
• Getting new certifications;
• Getting more rank;
• Or learning how to use some new-fangled school management software.

Instead, until you hit your ultimate enrollment goals, your number one primary job function is recruiting new students…

Or, more specifically, building revenue.

That’s it. Anything you do that doesn’t directly impact your enrollment and income numbers is secondary or tertiary – and, should subsequently be way down on your list of “to-do’s”.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you just ignore all those things… but what it does mean is that you need to focus the majority of your time and energy on getting more students.

Why? It should be obvious, but for those of you who haven’t clued in yet -

It’s because without a sufficient, stable, and steady income… your school is sunk!

It doesn’t matter how many trophies you win, how cool and complete your curriculum is, how fancy your school is, how cool your uniforms are, how sharp your demo team is, how tough your black belts are, or how worshipped you are by your students…

If you don’t have enough students to pay the bills and pay yourself at the end of the month, none of that other stuff is worth a hill of beans.

...and the payoff is readily apparent.

So, while you’re in your growth phase – and until you hit your ultimate enrollment goal, you’re always in your growth phase – stay focused on:

• Marketing -
• Advertising -
• PR -
• And getting referrals -

Whether you like it or not, and whether you accept it or not, your first job title as a school owner is “Professional Marketer”.

Accept it, embrace it, and watch your school thrive.

On Teaching Martial Arts – What Sort of Legacy Will You Leave Your Students?

Posted by Mike Massie on January 27, 2009

What exactly will you leave behind when you are through teaching martial arts?

“Have you ever wondered what your legacy will be when you stop teaching or doing martial arts?”

That’s a close approximation of the question I posed to the students and instructors in attendance during a recent black belt test I helped preside over. When I presented this question to the students who were taking the examination, I was admittedly surprised that my question seemed to garner the attention of the entire room.

Obviously, this is something that gives people pause, when they are confronted with their ever-present but not necessarily imminent mortality.

The question has been on my mind for many reasons, and I’ve given it a lot of thought recently. My motivations for puzzling out my own answers on the subject have to do partly with the fact that I’m reaching a point in my martial arts career where it’s time to start passing the bulk of my teaching responsibilities on to the next generation, and also partly with the fact that I simply think it’s an important question to ask yourself as an instructor.

And, I have to wonder… what is it exactly that I’ll have passed on during my time on the mat?

Seasons Change, And So Does Our Focus In Teaching Martial Arts

What do you want to be remembered for as a martial arts instructor?

There are a number of reasons why your focus changes as a martial arts instructor as the years go by. You might grow old (gracefully, we hope, as did Ueshiba and Funakoshi), you may face physical challenges (God forbid, nothing serious or life threatening, but the very real possibility of such a thing is something the pragmatic in me accounts for), your life situation may change, or you may simply have an epiphany regarding what you really want to accomplish during the remainder of your career.

The fact is, our instruction is a reflection of ourselves… our ethics and moral shortcomings, our knowledge and ignorance, our nobility and prejudices, our inner world turned right-side out.

Martial arts instructors tend to be iconic personalities, presenting an image to the world of what a martial arts sensei, sifu, sabumnim, guro, or coach is supposed to be. How ironic that our souls are laid bare on a daily basis through the lessons we attempt to transmit on the mat.

That such a reflection of our lives should be made public through the lessons we pass on to our students is not a thing that should be taken lightly. Still, it’s often something we give little thought to, all the while trudging through our classes as either lackluster automatons reminiscent of instructors long past, or perhaps, if we’ve executed the responsibilities of our chosen profession ideally, even as the source of inspiration for a younger, better generation of martial arts teachers.

At least, we hope that the latter is a challenge we’ve risen to meet before our time on the mat is done.

—

Mike Massie is the author of Small Dojo Big Profits and runs a martial arts business coaching website for new instructors and small school owners, StartingAMartialArtSchool.com.

Teaching Martial Arts is a Business Based on Relationships

Posted by Mike Massie on March 10, 2008

Teaching martial arts by its very nature requires a great deal of interaction and trust

There was a time when I had more students than I could handle, and I was miserable.

Let me explain.

As my school grew larger, it was nearly impossible to provide individual attention to each and every student. Pretty soon, I found myself filling the role of a human resources manager more than a floor instructor.

Now, that may be fine for some martial arts school owners, and I know there are several who are happy teaching the occasional class or just their black belts and spending most of their time counting bills… and I’m not knocking it if it makes them happy.

However, for me personally, I enjoy knowing every student’s name, what they like to do, how their grades are, where they work, and so on. And, it’s my experience that when you do, your school has a “personal touch” that leads to greater student satisfaction and higher retention.

(Not to mention the lower overhead due to reduced payroll… but that’s a story for another post.)

Now, there are certain things you can do to add even more of a personal touch for your students, and that includes staying in touch with them when they aren’t in class. There was a time when you pretty much had to do this manually, and I have to admit that in the past I tended to avoid writing good job notes, birthday cards, and MIA letters.

At my old school I just passed it along to my assistants, but currently I don’t have that option.

Thankfully, there are now technologies and systems you can implement in your school, very inexpensively I might add, that will allow you to automate a lot of the work that goes into keeping in touch with your students.

I have started implementing just such a system in my school, and I love it. Even with the limited time I have, I can now keep up with the “high-touch”, relationship side of running my studio.

And, that’s really what it’s all about… if you want to have a strong school, you MUST build strong relationships with your students.

—

Mike Massie is the author of Small Dojo Big Profits and runs a martial arts business coaching website for new instructors and small school owners, StartingAMartialArtSchool.com.