Posted by Mike Massie on October 27, 2009
Have you ever experienced this?
You make a seemingly insignificant change in your martial art school operations… maybe it’s a small change in your schedule, or you change the fee structure, or you change your hours, or you hire a new instructor to help you out with the class load.
Regardless of what it is you’ve changed, you suddenly are on the receiving end of a ton of resistance from your students. All at once, it seems like everyone is complaining and your students on the verge of mutiny…
Resistance Is A Common Occurrence In Businesses Like Ours
Sometimes it may feel like you're getting resistance from out of nowhere, but you should view it as a positive thing.
I see this often with the people I provide online business coaching to on my member site. They start off following some of my advice, notice some growth in their school, and then they start implementing the ideas and advice they get from me left and right.
Before long their school is growing at a much more rapid pace. Out of necessity, they find themselves in the position of having to change some policies here and there to accommodate the growth. And that’s when it happens…
Suddenly, the grumblers and complainers show up. If you run a school, I’m sure you know the type. They are the first and loudest to complain about everything, no matter how good your overall customer service and actual classroom instruction may be at the time.
Now, there’s a reason why we’re more likely to hear this sort of grumbling and complaining directly. In businesses like ours (including martial arts schools, gymnastics centers, personal training facilities, boot camps, dance schools, and so on) we tend to develop our business relationships with our clients on a very personal level.
That’s not to say you should get personal with every single client; on the contrary, the more professional (yet friendly) you keep your business relationship, the less likely you are to be on the brunt of this type of abuse from your clients when you have to alter your policies.
Enter The High-Maintenance Client…
Even so, there is a certain type of client that seems to suck the life out of a school. These are what I call “high-maintenance students.” They’re sort of like driving an old British sports car – you do derive some benefit from the experience, but the frequent problems that constantly require your attention make it almost not worth the trouble.
They tend to be only a small percentage of your enrollment, but they can take up the bulk of your time and energy… if you allow it.
In previous articles I’ve discussed how these types are a cancer in your school, and how it may be your best policy to find a polite way to fire these types of clients (read The 4-Hour Work Week
by sometime MMA practitioner and full-time globe hopper Tim Ferriss for more on this topic).
However, what I’d like to discuss with you today is that when this happens, it is a good thing – a very good thing. Let me explain what I mean…
Here’s The Paradigm Shift: Resistance Is A Sign Of Good Things To Come!
That’s right… think about it a second and it’s not all that hard to reach that conclusion. Here’s the breakdown:
- Complaints are a result of Resistance
- Resistance comes from Fear
- Fear comes from Change
- Change is a (necessary) result of Growth
And, growth means your school is showing definite signs of health. This must mean that, when you meet with resistance, it’s a good thing – because good things are happening in your school!
Look, people are always going to complain and grumble when things change. It’s a fact of being in business, so get used to it. And, you know what I’ve found about this? When you simply reply with, “That’s our policy… now, is there something else I can help you with?” in a very matter-of-fact, unapologetic manner it tends to squash it in short order.
Sure, some of those people will leave; but then again, that’s the nature of the business, too. Students leave all the time for all sorts of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with being disgruntled. So, if a few grouchy students leave of their own accord – well, that just means the issue resolved itself, right?
And chances are good that those students will be replaced by others who don’t complain about every little policy change you make… which is yet another positive thing.
You see, resistance really is a good thing.
Posted by Mike Massie on August 12, 2009
“Sitting On Your _ _ _ Waiting For Students To Fall From The Sky…”
I posted this in my member’s forums a few weeks back, and thought some of you would get a kick out of it:
A very common thing I see when people join this site, is that they look through the articles, download the materials, lurk on the forums… And then they don’t do a darned thing with it (the material on the site).
Sitting on your _ _ _ waiting for students to pour down from the sky isn’t going to do you any good.
And, knowing all the business and marketing systems is only half of what it takes to make things happen.
You know the other half – you have to implement, implement, implement.
Heck, I know it takes work, I know it’s time-consuming, and I know it’s a risk… and I know that if you fail, people are going to laugh, say “I told you so”, and so on.
It happened to me, and more than once when I first started.
But people are going to say those things anyway.
And, you HAVE TO WORK SOMEWHERE, AT SOMETHING.
So…
YOU MAY AS WELL BE HARD AT WORK BUILDING YOUR OWN FUTURE!!!
Put this stuff to good use – it doesn’t work if you don’t use it – but time and again, our site members have proven the converse… that it does work if you use it!
The Stuff Works
The fact is, I know it works because I teach what worked for me in real life. And I know my methods have a nearly universal applicability, based on the feedback I get from school owners from all over the world who take my information and run with it.
Which is why it boggles my mind that some people will pay good money for my information and then not do a darned thing with it. (And I’ve also observed that when the advice is given for free, the “sit on it and do nothing” factor goes up exponentially… which is why I quit giving out free coaching, even to my friends.)
School Owners Come, And School Owners Go…
Dreaming about building a successful martial arts school and not taking action is about as futile as dreaming about being in the UFC and never training to fight...
Since I’ve been running my martial arts business coaching website, I’ve noticed that people come and people go…
But the ones who actually dig into the material, then go out and implement what is being provided – those people inevitably end up thanking me for helping them turn their schools around, launch successfully, etc.
At this point, I can almost always pick out the ones who are going to be successful… because they’re the ones that don’t wait for osmosis to overcome inertia.
Instead, they learn something new, implement it… learn something new, implement it… learn something new, implement it. Over and over and over again.
Are You An Implementer?
“Implementers”, as I like to call them, are the ones who make it in this business.
Well, this Friday through Sunday I am going to be sharing three days worth of incredibly innovative, mind-blowing material with a room full of Implementers who decided it was worth three days of their time to learn some things that will transform their schools.
The material I’ll be sharing this weekend is the sum total of all the research and development I’ve done over the last three years, developing new programs and business tactics to help school owners thrive in today’s ever-changing social and economic conditions.
Those people who attend are going to be inundated with concepts, ideas, and tactics that will make it so easy to implement the information, they won’t be able to help but succeed with it. For the handful of lucky school owners who get to pick my brain for an entire weekend, it will revolutionize their businesses.
And yes, I’ll be offering this training again – a portion of it via upcoming webinars, and all of it in other live seminars we have planned for later this year and into 2010. A shame that you couldn’t make it, though – because this is the only free seminar I’ll be having for a good long while…
So, You Couldn’t Make The Seminar…
It’s understandable – life happens. But in the meantime, you can get the next best thing. Right now (until Thursday Sunday at midnight) I am offering the entire package of my business and training materials for just under $200 bucks.
It’s all the martial arts business training material I’ve put out to date – over $300 (retail cost) of material, with a value (including the bonuses) of well over $1,000.00… And you can get it all for less than the cost of one-way airfare to Austin, Texas.
Click here for more information and to order…
But remember… all the business knowledge in the world won’t do you a darn bit of good if you don’t implement it.
Want To See Updates From The Seminar Over The Weekend?
If you’d like to see updates from the seminar over the weekend, be sure to sign up for our social networking site for martial arts instructors, http://www.masainetwork.com.
We’ll be posting photos and video clips from the seminar throughout the weekend on the site, so be sure to check it throughout the weekend to get a sneak peak at the material and training.
Until next time,
Michael D. Massie
Blog: http://martialartsbusinessdaily.com/
Social Network for Martial Arts Instructors: http://www.masainetwork.com/
Business Manual: http://www.small-dojo-big-profits.com/
Resources: http://www.starting-a-martial-arts-school.com/
Summer Camp Manual: http://startingasummerdaycamp.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MartialArtsBusinessDaily
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mabizdaily
Posted by Mike Massie on June 11, 2009
Remember how it felt the first time you gloved up? That's how it's going to feel the first time you face real adversity in your business - only much, much worse.
clutch:
n. A tense, critical situation.
Remember how it felt the first time you gloved up?
That’s the way it’s going to feel the first time you face adversity in your business.
But only magnified by a power of 10.
You have butterflies all the time, you fret instead of focusing, you can’t eat, can’t sleep, and you generally want to fall apart.
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
- Ernest Hemingway
But, you can’t. It’s simply not allowed. Because, all truly successful people know that Hemingway had it nailed… and that, my friends, is the key to finding success in the midst of adversity.
So, how will you act in the clutch?
Will you choke, or dig deep and pull out the best performance of your life?
Now, you might be an accomplished competitor and fighter, someone who is accustomed to calling on hidden resources and toughing it through during a hard match.
But, have you practiced putting that same intestinal fortitude to work in the games of business and life?
The truth is, many of our most accomplished athletes have choked in the ring and arena.
(And yours truly – in the ring and in business. Believe me, it happens to everyone if they stay in the martial arts or in the business arena long enough…)
But many more fall under the pressures of their daily lives. Yet, “in the clutch” is where real business success happens, when you gut it out under the most intimidating of circumstances and obstacles.
So, let me ask you again…
How will you act in the clutch?
Will you gut it out, or choke?
Ultimately, it’s your call.
—
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.
Click here to purchase Mike’s business manuals and materials.
Posted by Mike Massie on June 4, 2009
In this business, every kid (er... school owner) should have one
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
There are no “magic bullets” when it comes to marketing your school. The ‘one single best marketing method” is a marketing myth – it doesn’t exist.
People routinely ask me what the best method is for marketing a martial arts school.
My answer?
“All of them!”
Or, I might be inclined to say, “The ones that work!”
The thing is, you can’t just rely on a single method of marketing your school. Consumers these days are absolutely bombarded with marketing messages, and your hopes of catching their attention with a single method of marketing are slim to none.
How to Get Noticed By Potential Clients In Your Target Market
Instead, you need to make sure your potential new student sees your marketing message multiple times, over and over again so the chances that they’ll respond increase significantly.
There are dozens of methods of marketing your school (I list 37 ideas in my marketing manual, and every month the members of my dirt-cheap martial arts business coaching club receive a marketing plan with 10-12 actionable marketing ideas to implement the following month). Some ways work better than others, depending on the market, the quality of the execution, frequency, etc.
The only way to find out what works is to test multiple marketing methods, and stick with the ones that get results. And, don’t just try one method once then decide it doesn’t work – you should try multiple ways to use each marketing medium (print ads, web, direct mail, door-to-door, etc.) before discarding a method as useless. Often, poor ad performance can be chalked up to poor execution, not the method or channel.
Don’t Worry About Finding A Magic Bullet – Instead, Buy A Machine Gun
On a final note, stop looking for a single killer marketing method that you can use to the exclusion of all others. In most cases and with most markets, a single marketing approach may only bring in a few leads a week. That may not sound like much, and you may be tempted to discount a method that only results in one or two leads a week.
However, I’ll gladly use 10 or 12 different marketing ideas that “only” generate 1 or 2 leads a week… because if I use them all at once, they soon add up.
And, when all those different marketing and promotional methods are used simultaneously, it often results in marketing synergy, where the combined effect is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
So, stop searching for that single “magic marketing bullet”. Instead, resolve yourself to the fact that to get the desired result, you just need to use lots of bullets.
—
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. Click here to purchase Mike’s business manuals and materials.
Posted by Mike Massie on February 10, 2009
Inflation and your operating expenses go up every year and so should your tuition rates
Here’s a question for all you martial arts business owners out there…
When was the last time you raised your martial arts tuition rates?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the Consumer Price Index has risen on average about 3% every year for the last twenty years.
That means your costs and expenses for running your business also increased roughly 3% a year since 1989.
Have you raised the cost of your martial arts classes to match? Here’s some food for thought…
If you were charging $80 a month for martial arts lessons in 1989, and had raised your tuition to match consumer inflation accordingly, in 2007 you should have been charging $137.05 for monthly martial arts tuition, according to the DoL’s inflation calculator.
Now, just think… if you’re charging what the average school charges these days (around $100 a month), that means your expenses have increased 71% while your tuition has only increased by 25%.
So, you’re basically paying yourself 46% less than you were in 1989.
The bottom line? Start increasing your tuition on a yearly basis to keep your profits constant in relation to the economy.
—
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.
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