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.