For nearly all my adult life, I've taught martial arts professionally and operated full-time martial arts schools... so I know EXACTLY what challenges you face, day in and day out.
Yesterday, I told you that the only way to preserve traditional martial arts values in this industry is for like-minded instructors band together.
But before I tell you how we’re doing that, I feel it’s important to explain to you how I ended up launching this huge project (which has taken me the better part of a year to realize) and how exactly that can benefit you as a school owner.
“Oh No… Not Another Damn Consulting Company!”
Sorry for the strong language, but back when I was just running my schools, do you know how tired I got of people in the industry trying to get into my wallet?
Sure you do – because you probably feel the same way. And that’s why, ten years ago, I could have never, ever imagined myself doing what I do now… running a popular martial arts business blog, providing online coaching to hundreds of school owners, and helping new school owners find their way through a minefield of conflicting information and advice.
The thing is, I didn’t get in this for the money… in fact, I never meant to get in this thing at all. This all started out with me writing a martial arts business manual about doing business honestly and with common-sense fiscal values. But, it ended up with me becoming a weekly advice columnist for thousands of martial arts school owners and instructors.
Why The Martial Art School Alliance?
Not that I’m complaining… and to tell you the truth, I really don’t mind it at all. While I never intended to become a business coach, I have to say I enjoy helping school owners succeed.
But I never intended to do this full-time, even after it took off. So once I started getting a lot of requests for advice and business guidance, I knew I’d have to find a way to deliver information on a mass scale soon… else I’d be spending all my time working with individual clients and I’d never have a life.
Funny thing about that… did you know that there’s a lot more money in doing one-on-one consulting?
Sure, I could make a killing charging people for “consulting packages” (what I call prolonging your pain – consultants make a lot more money when they take a roundabout route to helping you solve your problems).
So, why don’t I do that?
Number one – and I’m being perfectly honest here – I don’t believe that it’s an efficient use of my time. Second, I value my time dearly, and quite frankly most school owners who need solid business advice can’t afford to pay my hourly rates.
So, I figure it’s better for both me and the school owners I help each month to deliver information on a mass scale at a very reasonable price. They get what is very nearly personalized coaching at a fraction of the cost, and I get to go hang out at the bookstore or with my wife any day and time of the week I please. It’s a win-win, all the way around.
So, now you can see why I created the MASAI site, and why I felt it was worth investing the last nine months of my life to realize.
Was It Worth It?
Heck yes. I’d have to say that this project has been as rewarding as promoting one of my students to black belt, if not more so.
And truthfully, I am darn proud of the results. As of today we have nearly 100 information-packed articles and dozens upon dozens of ad templates and resource documents on the site. In addition, I spend considerable time answering questions on our forums, and frequently respond with new content that specifically answers questions our members have posted on the boards.
The great thing is, our members are also more than willing to help each other out by sharing advice and information on the boards. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to answer a member’s request for advice only to find three or four of our members have beat me to the punch.
They’re a great group of people, and it just goes to show what a strong community we’re building through this organization.
One of the issues that’s been bothering me for the last few years is my concern with where the martial arts industry is headed. It seems like every year, we get further and further away from our traditional values, and move more and more toward becoming an industry without a soul or conscience.
“It seems like every year, we get further and further away from our traditional values, and move more and more toward becoming an industry without a soul or conscience.”
Well, I’m not okay with that – at all. And, after reading your responses from last week’s poll, I can’t just stand idly by without doing something about it.
That’s why I’m making it a point to make MASAI a haven for instructors who want to preserve their traditional values while still embracing the future.
You see, there’s just no way we can ignore the sweeping social, economic, and technological trends that are going on around us at breakneck speeds each day. To do that would kill the industry just as surely as abandoning our traditional values would.
Even so, I still strongly believe we need to preserve the heritage of traditional values in the martial arts. And, I believe that the best way to do that is to help like-minded martial arts instructors to be financially successful by providing the highest quality of martial arts business advice possible.
“The best way to do (preserve traditional martial arts values) is to help like-minded martial arts instructors to be financially successful by providing the highest quality of martial arts business advice possible.”
Don’t be mistaken, we’re not trying to “fight” MMA. In fact, I there’s a lot I like about it and I openly encourage MMA instructors to join MASAI. Besides, like it or not, MMA is here to stay.
Moreover, there are a lot of instructors out there who actually want to teach MMA with traditional values; if anything, I want to see more of that, and to support those instructors.
On the other hand, we’re not going to be abandoning our member’s core values just to make a buck; that’s because we’re here to serve our members and to help them preserve the integrity of the industry.
My ultimate goal is to run an organization that is progressive enough to stay ahead of trends, while still staying true to the martial arts industry’s traditional roots.
Of course, I don’t have any delusions about how big this thing can get… I believe that 400 or 500 members is all we’ll ever see as far as growth and membership is concerned.
However, 400 – 500 like-minded martial artists banded together can accomplish a great deal with regards to preserving a legacy for generations to come. That’s my vision, and if you’d like to be a part of it I invite you to join us to be a part of that vision.
Does it sound like something that you can get behind? I hope so, because with every school that joins we grow stronger, and better able to serve our members.
And in case you’re curious, I’m not asking for much with regards to membership fees (less than the cost of a cup of coffee from your local convenience store each day). And that’s despite the fact that I’ve been told over and over again to raise the membership fees to double, triple, or more that what we’re charging.
But, I want the site to be accessible to all martial arts instructors, even those who are just starting out. And let me be honest about this – we can still deliver quite a lot with regards to business guidance and information, marketing and advertising assistance, and ongoing daily support without charging an arm and a leg for membership.
The Bottom Line…
The bottom line is, this isn’t about me – it’s about you and what your values are. So, I hope you become involved, and also invite others to join in order to help us grow.
Because one thing is certain; if martial arts instructors don’t band together to preserve the traditional values of the martial arts, this industry is going to look entirely different in five or ten years…
…and I have a strong suspicion neither one of us will like how it looks.
One of the all-time biggest challenges instructors share with me is:
“Mike, how do I get more adult students?”
In recent years, the answer you’ve been hearing is, “Add MMA classes to your school.” Well, I agree – MMA classes will attract more adults in your school… mostly consisting of young, broke types who will gladly spend $80 on an Affliction t-shirt and then tell you they don’t have money for tuition this month.
Personally, I like MMA and I like working with young adults, too – so the pros sort of outweigh the cons in my mind with the MMA market. But, there’s another huge issue that no one has brought up when it comes to MMA filling the void in your adult enrollment…
The Real Truth About Filling Your School With MMA Students
While the FAN BASE of mixed martial arts is undeniably huge, the actual percentage of the population who is really interested in DOING MMA is not that large a slice of the population.
As I said above, they are mostly young (say, 16 – 34) and looking for a harder and more physical type of training. Despite what you may have been told – statistically, that’s not a whole lot of people.
(And I know there are some large MMA schools out there. But, those are generally going to fall into the category of gyms where pros train that are located in large, densely populated metropolitan areas… you aren’t going to find many large no-name gyms in small towns.)
Things I’ve Learned From Teaching MMA
Look, I try to test everything I can (within the bounds of ethics), because if someone says something works, then I want to know about it. So, I offered MMA in my school for over two years.
Here’s what I found:
The real market for MMA only accounts for a small percentage of the overall adult population. (If you think I’m off on this, ask yourself why Dana White isn’t rolling out MMA schools across the country.)
Most adults want to do some of the MMA training (and it’s fun to do when performed safely), but they don’t want to do hard contact sparring or high impact grappling all the time. (Fact: Women make up 50% of the population. Fact: Many women would like to learn practical self-defense skills. Fact: It is socially unacceptable for a woman to show up to work with a black eye and bruises up and down her arms. Fact: More guys than will admit feel the exact same way…)
The young guys who show up looking for MMA training DO want hard contact and high impact grappling (at least, the ones who stick around after the first week, right?).
So, what do you think happens when one of your young MMA students tees off on Sally Soccer Mom or Ted Executive? Yep, you lose them – for good!
But, softening up your MMA class is a disservice to your MMA students…
And, you know that you need to attract the MAJORITY of the adult market to have a really strong adult enrollment in your school…
So what are you supposed to do?
Here’s The Answer I Came Up With…
The answer is to offer what most adults really want when they walk into a martial arts school: Fitness and Reality Based Self-Defense.
In case you haven’t heard, at last weekend’s seminar in Austin we introduced and taught two new adult programs…
Both programs are based on research and field testing I did in my own school during the recent recession, and after three years of research and field testing, and a year of preparation, we’re launching these programs and making them available to martial arts school owners starting in early September.
But, you get to hear about them first on this blog – I’ll be posting more info on the Fighting Fit program next week, but today I’d like to focus on the SDBBP…
Here’s a “teaser” video to give you a peak at what we did at the seminar on August 14th – 16th in Austin:
The Big Question You May Be Asking
I know many of you will be asking, “Why a self-defense program? And, doesn’t this compete with what we already do?”
In answering this, first I’d like to point out that this program is designed to attract people into your school who would NEVER consider doing a regular martial arts program, for whatever reason.
Now, I’m not going to go into a long discussion about why most adults aren’t interested in what I call “culturally-influenced” martial arts…
But I will say that “culturally-influenced” arts are really only for a niche market – which is why the typical market penetration for martial arts schools is only around 1.5% of the local population.
People don’t call your school and say, “Yes, I’m calling because I’d like to be steeped in the martial traditions of a foreign culture.”
Uh-uh. They call and say, “I’d like to learn how to protect myself… I want to learn self-defense.”
The draw is learning self defense, which is why realistic self-defense programs have a widespread appeal with the majority of the adult population… not just a small segment. Everyone is a potential customer when you teach realistic self-defense. Everyone.
Protected Territories
Also, I’d like to mention the fact that we’re providing school owners with protected territories. The idea is to give you an edge over your competitors, by having something no one else in your area has.
Complements Your Existing Programs
Third, the program is designed to complement what you already do. At the first Instructor Seminar, we had instructors from every walk and background… and they all said that the program was brilliant in it’s simplicity and that it could easily be implemented in their schools.
There are several ways to implement this curriculum:
It can be taught as a stand-alone adult program.
It can be taught as a self-defense component to an existing program.
It can be taught in small group classes and private lessons.
It can be taught as an add-on program for your BBC, Leadership, and Master’s students.
Obviously, the most profitable way is teaching it as a stand-alone program. But, I understand that different schools have different needs… so I created it to be versatile.
Offers Fast Results – A Major Draw For Self Defense Students
Fourth, it allows you to offer a short-term solution for the every day citizen who wants to learn self-defense now. While the core program has 3 full years of material (laid out in easy to follow and implement weekly lesson plans for each level), the Level I curriculum can be learned in 3-4 months.
The Invisible Adult Market = The Ones Your Never Hear From
The fact is, there are many people who want to learn self defense, but they don’t want to spend a lot of time doing it.
So, the SDBBP allows you to attract that market… and hopefully you’ll also get many of them to stick around for a year or more. And, some of them may even decide to do your other programs as well.
That means you get students you’d never be able to attract with your current programs, and you can feed those students into your core programs as time goes on.
Besides that, the material is a blast… the instructors who saw and worked it were raving about it (check out these videos to hear it in their own words).
It’s Effective
And, finally, it works. When I first started working this material with my students, I had two adults on two separate occasions who had to use it… after only a few months of training and with no prior experience.
In both cases, they came out of their scrapes safe and sound. Now, I’m not saying this is some ultimate martial art – it’s not. But it is a darned solid martial-arts-based self-defense curriculum that is focused on what works for the majority of people.
Interested In Finding Out More?
Our next Instructor Certification Seminar will be held on October 17th and 18th in Tomball, Texas at Champions Combat Arts, 12034 Spring Cypress Rd., Tomball, TX 77379.
I’ll explain more about the fitness program in coming blog posts.
For now, suffice it to say that it will allow you to make karate camp money without the karate camp overhead, time commitment, or hassles… more on that next week.
“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.
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.
(Note: In keeping with the recent theme of providing my blog readers with actionable ideas each week, I decided to update and post an article I had previously published at Starting-A-Martial-Arts-School.com. If you haven’t yet read it, I believe you’ll find the ideas here beneficial…)
Why You Should Sell Short-term Summer Memberships
They're going to be hanging out somewhere this summer... so it may as well be at your school!
I’m a huge advocate for selling a six-week short-term membership during the summer, since it brings in a lot of extra income during those notoriously slow summer months.
Now, I’ve heard some of the “experts” out there tell people not to run short-term summer specials because (they claim) you are losing long-term business by doing so.
Well, that’s not necessarily true. Here’s why.
First off, the people telling you not to run short-term specials are usually associated with billing companies. Martial arts consulting and billing companies don’t like short-term specials because they don’t get paid when you sell one. They’d rather have you signing everyone up on long-term contracts (which I agree with, but I’ll get to that in a minute) so they get a slice of your pie.
Second, short-term specials bring in students you wouldn’t normally attract – what I call “transient” students. These are students that are only in town for the summer, maybe staying with a relative or friend. Or, they are students who simply don’t want to make a long commitment due to vacations or just plain fickleness. Those are the ones you really want, because some will decide to stay at the end of their short-term program.
Third, short-term specials represent money you wouldn’t be getting if you didn’t offer such an option. I guarantee you there are a ton of kids and teens in your town who are looking for something fun to do over the summer. They may not want to enroll on a 12-month program right now, but a six-week program is just the thing to peak their interest and you might just keep them once fall rolls around.
So, short-term programs are really worth you time and effort. If you don’t offer one right now, by all means start offering one ASAP!
How to Get Your Short-term Members to Stick Around
After we implemented the short-term summer special, we discovered that we were losing a lot of the students we enrolled on 6-week specials because we didn’t have an upgrade process in place.
So, we started offering to fully credit the student’s initial payment toward a one-year enrollment, if and only if they enrolled on a regular 12-month membership before their six week period ended. This helped us upgrade a ton of what we thought would be “transient students” into regular members.
Using the 6-Week Special to Pre-Qualify Your Customers
By the way, you should price your six-week special at a price point equal to your base monthly rate.
Why? Because it conditions the new students to accept that dollar amount, and it also acts to qualify them at that price point. Then, when it’s time to enroll and they ask how much your monthly tuition is, there’s no sticker shock.
They feel like they were getting a real bargain on the special, but in the back of their minds they’ve also already accepted that $XXX.00 is a fair price to pay for lessons. Cool, huh?
A Little Help top Get You Started
In case you’re interested, an example of the flier we use in our upgrade process is included in the members download archive at Starting-A-Martial-Arts-School.com. (And, although we already have some summer ads in the archive, we’ll have new ad templates for download later this month that you can use to advertise your summer classes.)
I recommend you give the upgrade flier to students as soon as they enroll on a six-week special, since they’re usually really pumped up about taking classes during their first week. It also helps to revisit this with students that haven’t upgraded during their fifth week in class – sometimes they change their mind and you can upgrade them right before they drop out.
Now that you understand the rationale and the process, all that’s left is to take action and do it!
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