maSuccess April 2019

APRIL 2019

APRIL 2019 • $5.99 US

MASUCCESS

www.MASUCCESS.com

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

ISSN 2380-561 7(PRINT ) 2469-6889(ONLINE ) Cover_APR_2019.indd 1

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CONTENTS FEATURES 30

THE ROLLER-COASTER LIFE AND TIMES OF SCHOOL OWNERS DAVID AND SUZANA CHACON BY

K E I T H

D.

BUILDING BLACK BELTS. . .

IN LIFE! BY

J OS HUA

PAG E

Taking your students and your academy to the next level is achieved by bridging the gap between the dojo and the outside world. By instituting simple ideas and concepts to dramatically increase your students’ success outside of class, you increase the value of the service you provide to your entire community.

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COMMUNITY CONNECTION LEADS TO BIG BUSINESS BY

HE RB

DEPARTMENTS

COLUMNS 42 BLACK BELT LEADERSHIP BY

NG UYEN

“ TOM”

04 FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

G RI G G S

“C” Is for Community

YAT E S

David Chacon has an up-and-down career in the martial arts in more ways than one.

He ran a school with his wife, Suzana, that hit bottom and nearly closed. He also gained so much weight at one time that he went on a crash MMA training program and lost over 100 pounds! Read this fascinating, two-pronged “before-andafter” story on what it took one couple to become successful school owners.

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APRIL 2019

B OR KL AN D

Derek Richardson’s successful Leadership Martial Arts in Charlotte, North Carolina, applies a myriad of strategies used by national industry leaders. But the two biggest recruitment tools for his around-300 active-student count are after-schoolenrichment programs and fundraisers for local academic schools.

46 IN THE CLASSROOM BY

DAV E

KOVAR

Retrain, Relocate, Replace. The Three R’s of Dealing with an Underperforming Team Member

18 MARTIAL ARTS NEWS

62 TURNING POINT BY

HERB

12 IN THE KNOW

B ORKL AND

Sonny Onoo: Being Born in Japan

66 YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT? BY

KATHY

21 PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

OLEV SKY

There Are So Many Ways to Save the Upcoming Summer!

86 CONSULTANT’S CORNER

24 THE MAIA REPORT

B Y M A I A C O N S U LTA N T JASON F L AME

Focus on What Matters Most

88 MASTERFUL RETENTION BY

C HRI STOPHER

26 MARKETING RESOURCE

RAPPOL D

The Three Kinds of Teachers.

Which One Are You at Your School?

90 THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING BY

B ETH

A .

MAXIM OF THE MONTH

B LOC K

Beware of the Work-Comp Police!

Come On, People! Protect Your Financial Interests by Using Common Sense!

“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.”

96 INSPIRATION OVATION

— JOHN MAXWELL, AMERICAN LEADERSHIP AUTHOR/SPEAKER

92 THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE BY

BY

PHI L I P

KAREN

E.

G OS S,

JR.,

ESQ.

EDEN

Learning From the Inside Out

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SK

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FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

Reaching for My Goal

BY FRANK SILVERMAN

MAIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“As exciting as it is to have Master Chuck Norris at this year’s event, his presence is only a fraction of what the MA-SuperShow has to offer.”

4

A

s we approach April, it’s hard to believe that the year is nearly 25% over! A quarter of 2019 is done and in the history books! But despite the jarring reminder that we cannot stop time, and that it does indeed fly, this is a great time of year. We are getting closer to summer and to the annual Martial Arts SuperShow, scheduled in late June and early July in Las Vegas.

Now is a good time to look back and see if your business plan is on track for 2019.

Goals come in different shapes and sizes. Maybe you set a goal for your school’s student count. Maybe you identified an income level to attain.

Perhaps your goals are less about the business of martial arts and more about training. For example, did you want to train more, compete in an event or earn a specific rank?

Maybe you set goals related to your business and passion, the martial arts, but are geared towards your personal life: for instance, being able to be at work less and spend more time at home with family. Achieving it could be as simple as enrolling more members.

Whatever your goals, now is the perfect time for a checkup.

If you are on track, that is super, but it’s fair to ask: are you on target from hard work or was the goal too easy?

If it’s the latter, then tighten it up a bit. If you’ve fallen short of your goals to date, now is the time to determine how to re-motivate and reinvigorate yourself.

There is nothing wrong if you are short on reaching your goals. What counts is the end game, and there is always time to tweak and reset your plan.

I’d like to share one of my goals for 2019. It is to have a 2019 Martial Arts SuperShow second to none! That’s a pretty tough goal, given that we have hosted some pretty great events in the last 17 years.

In years past, we have had some famous and elite speakers, such as Brian Tracy, Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth), Navy SEAL hero Marcus Luttrell, TV’s Shark Tank business investor Daymond John and life coach Tony Robbins.

Hollywood celebs, like Billy Jack’s Tom Laughlin and Kung Fu’s David Carradine, have also graced our stage.

That said, you may have heard the rumor that is not a rumor! Master Chuck Norris is attending this year’s event and will be the focus of the General Session. Or, better said with some pivots and a parry, this year’s opening evening is actually an “event kick-off.”

Many people have had a huge impact on the arts, and many have attended the show and received the Lifetime Achievement Award, as Master Norris has in the past.

Arguably, he has had as large an impact on this industry as anyone. Master Norris, as a competitor and a movie and television star, helped to change and grow the martial arts here in America and throughout the world.

He has had a positive impact on all facets of the martial arts world, including both traditional and non-traditional arts, the business of martial arts, and how we regard as safety and competition. His philanthropy has helped more at-risk youth than one can count.

It is truly an honor to have Master Norris not only attend, but participate in the Show. I’m confident that having him at the 2019 SuperShow will help me get a step closer to my goal. It is sure to make a difference. I’m also confident that meeting him and/or hearing him speak at an event is on many participants’ bucket lists.

Please keep in mind that as exciting as it is to have Master Chuck Norris at this year’s event, his presence is only a fraction of what the MASuperShow has to offer.

There is so much to learn, see and do. We’ll have seminars for business and for training, and seminars on how to teach, who to teach and what to teach. The sky is the limit at the annual SuperShow!

You can help me reach my goal by investing in your future as an attendee. Of course, numbers of participants alone doesn’t determine whether or not the event is a success, but it sure does help. So, as a goal, it would be great to have well over 2500 participants this year!

Register today to experience the education, training and fun at the 2019 MASuperShow. Sign up and join Master Norris and other industry experts at the best martial arts professional event of the year. Register online at www.masupershow.com or call (866) 626-6226. e m Contact Frank Silverman at teamcfck@aol.com.

Follow him on Twitter and Facebook @franksilverman.

MASUCCESS

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CORRECT KICKING

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www.CenturyMartialArts.com (800) 626-2787. “Century” is a registered trademark of Century, LLC. All rights reserved. © 2019 Century, LLC. #16286

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STAFF

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

F R A N K S I LV E R M A N I S T H E E X E C U T I V E

MELISSA TORRES IS THE DIVISION

Director of the Martial Arts Industry Association,

Manager of the Martial Arts Industry Association.

and the owner and operator of 11 martial arts

She is a practitioner of kung fu san soo, Cage

schools in Orlando, FL. He’s also the author of

Fitness and yoga. She is passionate about helping

Business Is Business: Passion and Profit in the

school owners succeed and achieve their goals.

Martial Arts Industry. Follow Frank on Twitter and Facebook @franksilverman. Contact him at

THE MAIA REPORT

She can be reached at mtorres@masuccess.com.

fsilverman@masuccess.com.

DAVE KOVAR OWNS AND OPERATES A chain of successful martial art schools. Additionally,

NGUYEN “TOM” GRIGGS, ED.D., IS

he operates Pro-Mac (Professional Martial Arts

a sensei in Japanese jujitsu at TNT Jujitsu under

College), dedicated to helping martial artists

Hanshi Torey Overstreet in Houston, TX. He’s the owner of Lead Connect Grow, LLC. Organizations

BLACK BELT LEADERSHIP

IN THE CLASSROOM

become professionals in Business Management, Mat Mastery, Sales Mastery, Wealth Management

hire him to develop black belt-level professionals

and Cutting-Edge Classroom Concepts. In 2010,

in the areas of Teams, Leadership and Conflict

he was the recipient of the Martial Arts Industry

Management. Feel free to email him at

Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Contact

tom@ntgriggs.com.

him at dave.kovar@kovars.com or check out his blog at kovarsblog.kovarsystems.com.

HERB BORKLAND WAS ONE OF

CHRISTOPHER RAPPOLD IS THE

Jhoon Rhee’s original white belts at America’s

founder of a successful martial arts organization,

first taekwondo school and, later, a closed-door

Personal Best Karate, headquartered in Norton,

student of Chinese “soft” styles pioneer Robert

MA. He’s a five-time world karate champion and

W. Smith. For three years, starting on ESPN, he

TURNING POINT

is currently the executive director of the world-

hosted the weekly Black Belts TV show. He did the screenplay for Cynthia Rothrock’s HBO-featured Honor and Glory and is an Inside Kung-Fu Hall of

MASTERFUL RETENTION

Fame martial arts writer. He can be reached at

sponsorship. Rappold is the author of the landmark reached at founder@personalbestkarate.com.

JASON FLAME IS A MARTIAL ARTS

BETH BLOCK, A 4TH-DEGREE BLACK

Industry Association International Consultant

belt in karate, is the president of Block Insurance

and is the owner of Tang Soo Do University

in Orlando, FL. Block has protected businesses

with three successful southern California

that serve children for the past 24 years. She is

locations. He can be reached at (805) 657-1775

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team supported by sport-karate’s longest-running MAIA program Retention Based Sparring. He can be

herbork@comcast.net.

CONSULTANT’S CORNER

renowned Team Paul Mitchell, a championship

or jflame@masuccess.com

THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING!

the writer of Martial Arts Minute, a weekly riskmanagement newsletter. You can reach her at (800) 225-0863 or beth@blockins.net.

MASUCCESS

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STAFF MASUCCESS IS PUBLISHED BY

SARAH LOBBAN IS THE ASSOCIATE Publications Editor for the Martial Arts Industry Association. She has trained and fought in MMA and

VOL. 20, NO. 04 // APRIL 2019

muay thai, and currently trains in jeet kune do. She

IN THE KNOW

can be reached at slobban@centurymartialarts.com.

MAIA LLC, 1000 Century Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73110;

MANAGING EDITOR

John Corcoran

(866) 626-6226.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Frank Silverman MAIA DIVISION MANAGER

Melissa Torres

KATHY OLEVSKY AND HER HUSBAND, Rob, own and operate Karate International in North Carolina. Kathy is the managing partner in their five-school operation. She’s an 8th-

YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

MAIA ASSOCIATE PUBLICATIONS EDITOR

Sarah Lobban

degree black belt with 32 full-time years of

M A I A I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N S U LTA N T S Adam Parman Antonio Fournier

teaching and operating martial arts schools. She

Kurt Klingenmeyer

can be reached for questions or comments at

Mike Metzger

Shane Tassoul

kathy.olevsky@raleighkarate.com.

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Jan Szijarto ART DIRECTOR

Todd Bane GRAPHIC DESIGN

PHILIP E. GOSS, JR., ESQ. IS A

JohnPaul Widener

member of the Florida and several other Federal Bar

COLUMNISTS & CONTRIBUTORS

Associations. Phil welcomes any e-mail comments

Beth A. Block Herb Borkland Bushiken Karate Charlotte Dojo CNN Karen Eden Jason Flame Antonio Fournier Philip E. Goss, Jr., Esq. Nguyen “Tom” Griggs Kurt Klingenmeyer Dave Kovar Sarah Lobban Macklenberg County Jail

or questions at PhilGosslaw@gmail.com and will

THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE

Bridgette Rabe Stacy Robertson

attempt to respond personally, time permitting.

KAREN EDEN IS A 6TH-DEGREE

Mike Metzger Kristin Miller Kathy Olevsky Joshua Page Christopher Rappold Melody Shuman Frank Silverman Shane Tassoul Melissa Torres Polyana Viana Dana White WSOC-TV Keith D. Yates

master of tang soo do. She’s a broadcast journalist

INSPIRATION OVATION

who has appeared nationally on CNN, FOX and

CORRESPONDENTS

Animal Planet as well as on local affiliates

Perry William Kelly (CANADA) Stefan Billen (GERMANY) Herb Borkland (VA) Andre Lima (CA) Karen Eden (CO) Terry L. Wilson (CA) Mark Junday (UNITED KINGDOM) Keith D. Yates (TX) Andrea F. Harkins (AZ)

for NBC and PBS. Karen is also a published book author and magazine columnist who has written for or been featured in every major martial arts magazine globally. Contact her at renedenherdman@gmail.com.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts and photographs submitted to MASUCCESS, if they are to be returned, and no responsibility can be assumed for unsolicited materials. All rights for letters submitted to this magazine will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and as subject to the editorial staff’s right to edit and to comment editorially.

MAIA, its owners, directors, officers, employees, subsidiaries, successors and assigns are not responsible in any manner for any injury that may occur by reading and/or following the instructions herein.

As publisher, MAIA makes no endorsements, representations, guarantees or warranties concerning the products and or services presented or advertised herein.

We expressly disclaim any and all liability arising from or relating to the manufacture, sale, distribution, use, misuse or other act of any party in regard to such products and/or services. MASUCCESS is a trademark of the MAIA. © 2019 MAIA LLC. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

The mission of MAIA is to grow, promote and protect the martial arts industry, and to provide benefits to its members to help them become more successful.

PUBLISHER

David Wahl APRIL 2019

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l a a

Th Ac ar an to Le le pr

Ou le Ga sy te la as Co w

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MASUCCESS

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lifetime achievement award guro Dan Inosanto This year, we are honored to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to two exceptional martial artists! Our first recipient is Guro Dan Inosanto, an original Bruce Lee student and one only a few to be named an official Jeet Kune Do instructor by Lee himself. Guro Inosanto carries on the modern legacy of Jeet Kune Do, and his teaching has had a profound impact on our industry.

Our second Lifetime Achievement Award goes to legendary Kali martial artist Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje, Jr. He was the first to bring the Pekiti-Tersia system of Kali to the United States and begin teaching it. He has also worked to train military, law enforcement and security personnel, as well as tens of thousands of students around the globe.

Congratulations and thank you to both of these world-changing martial artists.

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PRESENTED BY:

grand tuhon Leo T. Gaje, jr.

S P O N S O R E D B Y:

Š 2019 MAIA, LLC # 16313

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IN THE KNOW

BY SARAH LOBBAN

MAIA ASSOCIATE PUBLICATIONS EDITOR

WORDS OF WISDOM

“

NO IS A DECISION. YES IS A RESPONSIBILITY. — JAMES CLEAR,

”

AUTHOR

MARTIAL ARTS TRIVIA 1

Ed Parker appears in an episode of The Lucy Show, in which the lead actresses attempt to learn which martial art?

2

True or false? A 155-lb. person practicing kickboxing strikes on a heavy bag will burn approximately 250 calories in an hour.

3

True or false? Bruce Lee failed the basic military physical for the US Army Draft.

4

Which martial art did Jennifer Lopez learn for her role in the 2002 film Enough?

ANSWERS: 1) Judo

2) False – they’ll burn over 400!

3) True – he had terrible nearsightedness

4) Krav maga

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MASUCCESS

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YOU ASKED

IN THE KNOW

WHAT IS THE BEST THING YOU HAVE INVESTED IN FOR YOUR SCHOOL? STATS SPEAK

Talented team members, hands down, are the most important investment you can make.”

— M E L O D Y S H U M A N , S K I L L Z W O R L D W I D E , S T. P E T E R S B U R G , F L

THE MARKET SIZE OF THE MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOL INDUSTRY IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE BY

3.3% I believe the best thing I have invested in for my school has been MAIA Elite and becoming part of Championship Martial Arts. Education for myself and for my team is invaluable.

It’s always great to learn and network with the top people in the industry.”

IN 2019 SOURCE:

IBISWORLD.COM

— K R I S T I N M I L L E R , C H A M P I O N S H I P M A RT I A L A RT S , G L E N V I E W, I L

Ongoing education for staff.”

— D AV E K O VA R , K O VA R ’ S M A RT I A L A RT S , S A C R A M E N T O , C A

The absolute best investment we ever made was enrolling in the MAIA Elite consulting program. I was a client for several years before becoming a consultant and still believe it was the best decision we ever made.”

— J A S O N F L A M E , TA N G S O O D O U N I V E R S I T Y & M O O R PA R K K R AV M A G A , M O O R PA R K , C A

APRIL 2019

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PRESENTED BY:

S P O N S O R E D B Y:

© 2019 MAIA, LLC # 16278

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M A R T I A L A R T S N EWS M April 2019

MARTIAL ARTS SELF- D

School Owner Foils W

By MASuccess Managing Editor John Corcoran Charlotte, NC — As the new year unfolded, two extraordinary events took place that thrust the martial arts industry into the mainstream media spotlight in an especially positive way.

The first one took place on Thursday, January 3, 2019, in north Charlotte, North Carolina.

The incident happened to occur at 9:00 p.m. right outside Bushiken Karate Charlotte Dojo.

There, according to a local CNN-affiliate, WSOC-TV, report, a man tried to kidnap a woman by forcing her into his car. She broke free, and, as luck would have it, was able to flee inside the school for safety.

Once inside, according to WSOC, she pleaded for help from the head instructor Randall Ephraim. She was followed inside the school by the accused abductor. He could not have picked a worse spot!

Later, when the incident his the national media, Ephraim told CNN he was straightening up the school when the woman rushed inside the studio.

“There were still some kids in the dojo being picked up by parents and a couple of adult students cleaning up, when a young lady came through our doors and stated that someone was trying to harm her,” he told CNN. “Shortly afterward, a big male entered the building,” he said.

“Not knowing what he wanted, I assumed he was inquiring about classes.

“I asked how I could assist him and he stated that he was there for the lady. She insisted that she did not know him and that he had tried to kidnap her.”

He then tried to force himself further into the dojo, “aggressively pushing and swinging,” the instructor said Ephraim,

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Sensei Randall Ephraim, the hero of our story, with one of his students at a rank-graduation ceremony.

Image courtesy of Bushiken Karate Charlotte Dojo

MASUCCESS

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S M A R T I A L A R T S N EWS Vol: 19 No. 04

F- DEFENSE HEROISM #1

ls Would-Be Kidnapper!

The police were called. The suspect, who was later identified as 47-year-old August Williams, was carried away from the scene in a stretcher and ambulance. Despite that handicap, he had struggled with and tried to assault the officers upon their arrival at the scene.

Williams was reportedly taken to the hospital with multiple injuries. He was then transported to jail upon his release from the hospital.

The incident was almost immediately picked up by national news outlets like CNN and Yahoo, and brought enormous widespread attention to the hero of the story, Sensei Ephraim and his karate school.

“It’s a great thing the people in there were able to help defend her, extremely lucky that it was a karate studio. Usually, you don’t see a suspect act like this,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Capt. JD Thomas told CNN. The incident underscores the value in training for self-defense, according to the karate studio.

“By now, most people have heard about the dojo incident. Luckily for this lady that the doors were open at that time. The story could have had a very different outcome if the dojo was closed,” Capt.

Thomas said. who engaged with the interloper to forcibly remove him from the premises.

“He was just punching at everything from walls to cars, everything,” Ephraim told CNN. “He was very strong. He weighed at least 200 [pounds] and some change, and was under the influence [of something]. [He was a] very strong, powerful individual.

“I went into action, defending myself and got him out of the dojo. Once outside, he attempted to attack again and was dealt with accordingly.”

The school posted on its Facebook page the following Saturday morning: “How will you deal with adversity when the time comes?”

According to Mecklenburg County records, Williams was charged with first-degree attempted kidnapping, assault on a female, simple assault, resisting a police officer, injury to personal property and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Police said Williams was on high on drugs at the time of the alleged assault and had been arrested multiple times on drugrelated charges and assault.” e

APRIL 2019

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M A R T I A L A R T S N EWS M April 2019

MARTIAL ARTS SELF- D

Man Tries To Rob UFC’s Polyan

By MASuccess Managing Editor John Corcoran Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — Just two days after a heroic school owner in Charlotte, NC, saved a woman from a would-be kidnapper, a female Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter allegedly beat up a male would-be robber on Saturday night, January 5, 2019, around 8:00 p.m. The potential assailant threatened her and tried to steal her cellphone.

Like the Charlotte incident, Viana’s incident grabbed the mainstream media’s attention and, ultimately, went international.

Viana, 26, a UFC fighter (10-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC), told MMAjunkie.com the story the following day. While she was waiting outside her apartment complex for an Uber

The fake gun used by the man who allegedly tried to rob UFC fighter Polyana Viana.

Photo courtesy of Polyana Viana

driver to arrive, she says she was approached by a man, a stranger.

“When he saw I saw him, he sat next to me. He asked me the time, I said it, and [then] I saw he wasn’t going to leave.

So, I already moved to put my cell phone in my waist.”

Suddenly, the man demanded she give him her cellphone.

“He said, ‘Give me the phone! Don’t try to react, because I’m armed!’ Then he put his hand over [a gun].”

Making a split-second decision, Viana decided the “gun” he claimed to have was likely “too soft” to be an actual gun.

Viana leapt into action and landed two punches and a kick on the would-be robber!

“He was really close to me,” she said. “So, I thought, ‘If it’s a gun, he won’t have time to draw it.’ So, I stood up. I threw two punches and a kick. He fell, then I caught him in

18

“On the left is [Polyana Viana,] one of our UFC fighters,” wrote UFC Prez Dana White, “and on the right is the guy who tried to rob her.” White’s dual-image Instagram post quickly went viral, garnering over 18,600 comments and 545,000 likes.

Instagram Images Courtesy of Dana White

MASUCCESS

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S M A R T I A L A R T S N EWS Vol: 19 No. 04

F- DEFENSE HEROISM #2

lyana Viana, Pays Painful Price!

A photo of the alleged robber, looking beaten and bloodied, was posted by UFC president Dana White to Instagram and quickly went viral (see images accompanying this newspiece).

Later, Viana would find out her speculation was correct. The gun actually wasn’t a gun at all. It was a cutout in the shape of a handgun made out of cardboard paper (see the image in this newspiece).

According to Viana, they took the hapless would-be robber to an emergency-care facility to address his wounds and then to the station, where she filed a police report. Viana said she also learned at the station that the man had been arrested before and had only recently been released.

Viana says she was aware the area was dangerous, which is why she avoids wandering around alone. But she figured that, considering she was directly in front of the entrance of the building, close to the cabin where the doormen stayed, she’d be safe.

Viana is 1-1 in the Octagon and currently unbooked. She comes off a decision loss to J.J. Aldrich at UFC 227 last August, which snapped a five-fight streak of first-round finishes. Viana made an impression in her stellar UFC debut last February, with a rear-naked choke. Then I sat him down in the same place we

a rear-naked-choke that caught UFC President Dana White’s

were before and said, ‘Now, we’ll wait for the police.’”

eye.

According to Viana, he said, “Call the police, then,” because, she recalls, “He was scared I was going to beat him up more.”

Viana was alone, but asked for help from passers-by to call the police once the man was subdued. The fighter told the

Added Sherdog.com, another leading MMA website, “It’s 2019, and there’s no longer any denying that the world is full of women who are strong — both physically and emotionally. Viana is a case in point.” e

website she held him in that position until the cops arrived.

Viana also noted that she’s been targeted for burglaries in Brazil on two other occasions.

APRIL 2019

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UU OUR DOCUMENTATION AND EXTENSIVE VIDEO LIBRARY WILL WALK YOU THROUGH EACH EXERCISE AND WORKOUT SO YOU’LL ALWAYS FEEL CONFIDENT CONDUCTING A CLASS.

a Find out more at www.fightfit.com/success. FightFit Fitness | 3948 3rd St S., Suite 25 | Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250 | 904-636-0092 | info@fightfit.com

GAMENESS Century Martial Arts

www.CenturyMartialArts.com

2

Gameness is the oldest US-based company specializing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu gis, and remains one of the most-popular and best-respected brands to this day. Century Martial Arts is proud to announce a new partnership with Gameness! Top-quality Gameness products will now be available through Century, including: UUAdult gis for men and women UU Youth gis UU Competition gis UU Jiu-jitsu training gear, accessories and apparel

a For more information on this and many other great Century products, call a helpful Century Sales Representative at (800) 626-2787 or visit www.CenturyMartialArts.com.

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MASUCCESS

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

MAIA REGIONAL WORKSHOP IS COMING TO BOSTON! Martial Arts Industry Association

3

www.MAIAHub.com

Do you live in the Boston area? Are you looking to increase your numbers during summertime?

Because the Martial Arts Industry Association Executive Director, Frank Silverman is coming to Boston, MA for a special 4-hour live event to help you grow your school.

On May 4, 2019, learn how Mr. Silverman has used marketing to make summer one of the best seasons of the year in his schools. Learn how he generates over half a million dollars in each of his 9 locations every year.

During this private workshop, Frank will answer any questions or concerns you have about owning a martial arts business and you’ll walk away with a game plan specifically your school in your community. Space is limited so lock in your spot today.

YOU’LL LEARN: UU THE MOST COMMON MISTAKE SCHOOL OWNERS MAKE WITH MARKETING AND WHY IT STUNTS THEIR GROWTH.

UU THE 5 PROFIT CENTERS TO GENERATE MORE REVENUE IN YOUR SCHOOL AND GET NEW STUDENTS IN THE DOOR.

UU A REPEATABLE SYSTEM FOR MARKETING YOUR SERVICES (SO YOU HAVE A PROMOTIONAL GAME PLAN).

UU AND MUCH MORE!

Space is limited!

So if you want to increase your numbers, visit MAIAHub.com/p/events and reserve your seat today!

a To learn more, contact an expert MAIA Sales Representative at (866) 626-6226 or visit www.MAIAHub.com.

KicKING Century Martial Arts

www.CenturyMartialArts.com

4

The KicKing line was created by Mike Shintaku, owner of Exceed Martial Arts in Renton, Washington, to help young children quickly and easily develop correct kicking form! KicKing items are more than just targets – they feature outlined foot forms designed to guide young students to the right position for multiple kicks.

KICKING LINE INCLUDES:

BAG WRAP HOOK AND LOOP CLOSURE

UU OVAL SHIELD – FOAM CONSTRUCTION WITH DURABLE POLYURETHANE COVER

UU RECTANGLE SHIELD – FOAM CONSTRUCTION WITH DURABLE POLYURETHANE COVER

UU BAG WRAP – FITS ON VERSYS VS.1 FREESTANDING BAG

a To learn more, contact an expert MAIA Sales Representative at (866) 626-6226 or visit www.MAIAHub.com.

APRIL 2019

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THE MAIA REPORT

Want Some Help?

Let’s Chat in Boston!

BY MELISSA TORRES

MAIA DIVISION MANAGER

“We are heading to Boston this May for the MAIA Regional Workshop.

Learn how MAIA Executive Director Frank Silverman has used marketing in his schools to generate over $500,000 every year in each of his locations!”

24

At the Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA), we are truly committed to helping you, the martial arts school owner. We brainstorm different ways we can help you get where you want to go, whether that’s with consultations, programs, Facebook Live content, our four-week Launch webinar class, or in-person workshops.

We want to make it convenient for you to take the leap.

We understand that watching webinars or talking to someone on the phone may not be everyone’s best learning technique. Some need to talk face-to-face. No matter how you learn, we want you to be able to make a commitment to yourself, your family, and your staff that you will be successful.

Last year, we held the very first MAIA Mastermind in Orlando at the Championship Martial Arts headquarters. It was extremely successful and we got amazing feedback.

The participants had the chance to see a holiday event held live, walk through the behind-the-scenes setup and see the crowds coming in.

We have a second MAIA Mastermind scheduled for early March, just a few days after you receive this magazine.

So, in case you didn’t sign up for that event, or the flight and timing weren’t convenient for you, we have scheduled another live event to help you out.

We are heading to Boston this May for the MAIA Regional Workshop. And it couldn’t be any more convenient for those who do need to fly in – the hotel is at the airport!

MAIA Executive Director Frank Silverman is flying in for a special four-hour live event to help you grow your school.

On May 4, 2019, learn how Mr. Silverman has used marketing in his schools to generate over $500,000 every year in each of his locations!

It’s important to learn new strategies for marketing in your school. But even more importantly, you’ll get to talk shop about your martial arts school with your peers. This is your chance to hash out any questions or concerns you have about owning a martial arts business and learn how to tackle them. It’s a more private setting. Only a select number of school owners will get to attend.

You’ll learn some of the most common mistakes school owners make with marketing, and why it stunts their growth. If you’re a brand-new school just opening your doors, this is a huge opportunity to learn how to do it right the first time and avoid costly mistakes. If you have run a school for 20 years, it’s equally important to stay current with marketing trends.

Another topic covered will be the finer points of the essential “5 Profit Centers.” You may have heard a MAIA Consultant refer to the 5 Profit Centers on these pages or somewhere else before. But here’s your chance to dive in and learn exactly what they mean by “integrating sales” and other terminology. This will not only help to generate more revenue in your school, but will also get new students in the door.

MAIA is passionate about our systems. They have been proven time and time again. They will allow you to implement a repeatable system for marketing your services.

You will have a promotional game plan to make 2019 your best year yet.

If you are truly passionate about making martial arts your career — and finally being able to quit your day job! — this event is for you. If running a school is your full-time job, but you’re tired of struggling, this event is for you!

If you just want to touch more lives with the benefits of martial arts, this event is for you!

Four hours with Frank Silverman could change your entire trajectory. He’s been where you are. He’s already made — and corrected — the mistakes. He’s got the experience and credentials. Now’s your chance to learn directly from him.

If you’re ready to make a change, call us at 866-626-6226 and reserve your seat today. Space is limited and I don’t want you to miss this opportunity.

Hope to see you there! e

mM elissa Torres is the Martial Arts Industry Association Division Manager and can be reached at mtorres@masuccess.com.

MASUCCESS

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Sect

GET A COACH. GET RESULTS.

REAL SCHOOL OWNERS

R E A L R E S U LT S “We dove into the first year using MAIA Elite’s proven systems and in 10 months, we doubled our active student count and tripled our gross revenue.”

— George Sky, Sky Centers Martial Arts “In the past 3 years, we’ve doubled our membership base, and no longer stress to pay the expenses AND ourselves. We have more freedom in our schedules, and a well-trained team that has stepped up to handle a lot more.”

— Chris & Amanda Hamm, Hamm’s Martial Arts “The people of MAIA Elite are already successful and have been doing it a while. What better way to be successful than to find successful people and model your business after them.”

— Scott Mischke, Lantana Taekwondo “Every time I go to a conference, I realize that there is more to learn and that I can still grow and maximize my business. I go to work these days because I want to, not because I have to.”

— Michael Bank, Capital Karate “They have really connected the dots for us and really helped take our business to the next level.

— Kevin Nevels, Coppell Taekwondo

Schedule your free consultation today!

(866) 626- 6226 | MAIAHUB.COM

A HELPING HAND IN YOUR STORY

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©2018 MAIA, LLC. #15869

2/7/19 1/4/19 11:435:25 AMPM

MARKETING RESOURCE

You’re teaching the next generation of leaders.

PROMOTE THE NONPHYSICAL SKILLS YOUR MARTIAL ARTS TEACH, SUCH AS LEADERSHIP. ASK LOCAL ACADEMIC SCHOOLS AND LOCAL BUSINESSES THAT SERVE CHILDREN/FAMILIES TO DISPLAY THESE POSTERS, WITH YOUR INFORMATION.

School Info Here

26

To get your free customizable monthly Marketing Resource, visit MAIAHUB.com or get the download link from our Facebook page: fb.com/masuccess.

MASUCCESS

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David Chacon has had an up-anddown career in the martial arts in more ways than one. He ran a school with his wife, Suzana, that hit bottom and nearly closed. He also gained so much weight at one time that he went on a crash-course MMA training program and lost over 100 pounds! Read this fascinating, twopronged “before-and-after� story on what it took one couple to become successful school owners.

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Can you have a successful mixed martial arts (MMA) school geared towards children? Can you come back from looking insolvency square in the face? Can you overcome years of weight gain, even having reached the point where you’re considered morbidly obese?

The answers to these questions are yes, yes, and yes, if you are the resilient David and Suzana Chacon, owners of Dominion Martial Arts Institute of Mentorship in Oswego, Illinois!

David began his martial arts training at Gen-Ki Karate in Chicago as a child. He also spent a few years in a taekwondo school, earning only a red belt because his parents divorced and he had to stop training. In his early 20s, he developed an interest in ground fighting because, like many stand-up fighters, he felt insecure about what to do if he ever found himself on the ground in a real-life street situation. So, when he was 23, he looked around for a solution and found an MMA coach.

But David says it was about more than just wanting to learn how to move around on the mat.

“I had gained a lot of weight,” he admits. “It just crept up slowly over time, and I found myself, at six feet tall, weighing over 265 pounds.”

The sluggishness and self-image problems that go along with obesity were also evident in David’s life. This was in spite of the fact that he was doing well financially in the real-estate business.

His knees and back hurt because of the excess weight and, even though he had developed a certain degree of discipline from his earlier martial practice, it was hard to stay motivated to train. That’s the point where he says he had a “spiritual awakening” and turned away from much of his old life that he admits included drinking and even drugs.

“I realized that if I was going to turn my life around it had to include my physical health,” he says.

So, with a new diet and extreme MMA training, he began to see dramatic progress.

“Within eight months, I had lost 105 pounds and was recognized with a write-up in Men’s Fitness magazine,” states David.

He even added an MMA-style interval training set-up in his home basement to augment his routine. As the weight came off and he added solid muscle, he discovered his old strength and endurance coming back.

changing directions “Because of my previous martial arts background and my tenacity in training and losing weight, my coach said, ‘You really ought to think about making this a career,’” remembers David.

He had never before thought about that because he was so focused on his real-estate endeavors.

“Frankly,” he admits, “I didn’t know if I could accomplish my financial goals in the martial arts business.”

But the changes he had made in his life had so energized him that, just nine months after he started his MMA training, he was opening a school with a business partner. It was November of 2009. David was, as he calls it, “on the front lines,” coaching and working with the students while his partner ran the business.

Soon, however, his partner departed and David brought his wife, Suzana, into the business.

“Actually, we’ve always been partners,” he says of his wife whom he met when he was just 21 and she was 19. Suzana was an assistant manager for his old real-estate-investment partner and they married in 2007.

“I had gained a lot of weight,” he admits.

“It just crept up slowly over time, and I found myself, at six feet tall, weighing over 265 pounds. Within eight months [of MMA extreme training], I had lost 105 pounds and was recognized with a write-up in Men’s Fitness magazine.”

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The school started well.

“When we first opened,” Suzana recalls, “we had the passion to influence as many young people as possible.”

She says that David’s communication abilities honed from his years in the real estate business enabled them to grow and succeed.

But the pressures of running a full-time business and raising two young children took a toll on their physical and mental health.

“We were at the end,” says David. “Extracurricular activities for the kids weren’t even an option. Just paying the bills was hard enough.”

He took on a side job selling roofs just to try and make ends meet — and started to put some of that weight he had shed years before back on. On their worst days, they both thought about closing the school and returning to real estate.

“We seemed to be on a roller coaster,” he says. “You can imagine after years of pouring your heart and soul into something and not seeing the results you hope for. . .” he trails off. “I found myself in a depression. So, in 2016, against my wishes, my wife convinced me we should go to the Martial Arts SuperShow in Las Vegas. While I sat in the back of the room at the SuperShow, she vigorously took notes.”

When they got back, they began to immediately apply what they had learned and increased their monthly gross from $5,800 to $12,000. But the hard work still left David feeling a lot of pressure.

a turning point It was Suzana, again, who talked David into signing up for a oneyear commitment to the Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA), the world’s leading school-business consulting group. He says after talking to Mike Metzger, he became convinced that by following the established systems and procedures, and by staging a big holiday event, they could pay their entire consulting fees in just a few hours.

And they did! That was in October 2016 and it proved to be a turning point. In 2017, they averaged over $34,000 gross per month.

Before MAIA, David taught most all the classes by himself while Suzana did all the behind-the-scenes work.

“She was, and is, the backbone of the school,” he gushes. “I was doing all the ‘inside’ work and was in the school for hours every single day.”

“Before, we did everything ourselves as owner/operators have to do,” Suzana explains. “Our goal was to replace ourselves internally — completely — in two years so that we would become ‘owners’ and not ‘owner/operators.’ MAIA helped us with business systems, with hiring staff to work as program directors and coaches. Now, I focus on things like hitting our number goals, marketing and retention.”

Nowadays, David doesn’t teach the day-to-day classes and training sessions himself, but spends his time developing his coaching staff.

Suzana does go into the school in the evenings with her own two kids, ages 6 and 8, as they are in the program.

“This also gives me the opportunity to interact with the other parents,” she says.

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REACHING BEYONd THE SCHOOL WALLS The Chacons also do a substantial amount of outreach both in their local community and even globally.

“We’ve pulled our student body together to form a solid foundation for our academy to accomplish missions, whether it be feeding the homeless locally to raising tens of thousands of dollars for overseas orphanages and rescuing children from garbage dumps in the most dangerous parts of the world,” says David proudly.

“We take our student leaders out and train them to make a difference. That also reinforces our name in the community as to who we are and what we do,” adds Suzana. “David’s done a great job right from the beginning in sharing our vision from speaking in the public schools to community gatherings.”

From his days motivating his sales staff in the real-estate world, David learned the value of verbal communication. He uses that gift to influence kids not only in their school, but by speaking in public schools in their district.

“It was actually pretty easy to get into the public schools,” he says.

“We would give a motivational message at the end of class — not a scripted one but one from the heart. We’d have parents coming up and saying, ‘This needs to be in my child’s school.’”

After one of David’s successful speeches in 2010, he had seven other public schools almost immediately invite him to come to their campuses. He addresses areas such as bullying and self-confidence, of course, but he also stresses things like character and honesty.

When they go back into a public school, the school’s staff and parents know who they are and what they stand for.

Suzana says, “It was a process for sure, but the community now sees us as a resource. We’ve had teachers and even police officers refer children to us for discipline, self-confidence and character.”

David was eventually asked to be on the board of “Character Counts,” a character-development program for the entire school district. He has now traveled to several foreign countries carrying the same message of self-motivation and empowerment. The Chacons stress that they do these talks not because they are a funnel into their school, but because they’re committed to making a difference in young people’s lives.

“I can’t say enough about what MAIA has done for us,” David insists. “We were near rock-bottom and then, in the first year with MAIA, we had a 375% growth. They have a genuine passion and willingness to help us achieve our goals.”

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DEFEATING MORBID OBESITY “I was big,” David Chacon admits. “I was

conjectured that it would be unhealthy to do so.

considered morbidly obese. I couldn’t do the

But many studies over the years have proved that

things that other people could do.”

the Atkins diet is safe and effective.

Although he was just 23 years old, a significant

In the first four months, between dieting and

amount of weight had crept on over time. At

intense workouts, David lost 55 pounds. He then

6-feet tall, he weighed 265 pounds. So he set out

added 30 minutes of interval work before lifting,

to lose over 100 pounds!

and 60 seconds of jumping rope between sets.

He’d finished off with five sets of 10 burpees.

Chacon says he learned two key things in the beginning of his weight-loss-journey:

His MMA routine included pounding a tractor tire with a sledgehammer, slinging kettle bells and

“One, I just needed to move, and two, I had to

working two punching bags simultaneously.

understand the diet part of it. I’ll never forget what one of my coaches said. ‘You don’t get in

“The interval-style training that’s a part of MMA

shape to train, you train to get in shape,’” he

means you work really hard for 40 seconds and

remembers.

then catch your breath for 20. It simulates a reallife fight whether you’re on your feet or on the

For the first couple of months, he struggled to

ground,” Chacon says.

keep up and just did what he could. But soon, Chacon was working out twice a day to shed

After a while, he slowly added some carbs back

all his excess weight. He lifted weights for 90

into his diet, starting with oatmeal for breakfast.

minutes in the morning and followed that with

But these days, he is still very conscious of what

45-minute cardio sessions. He adjusted his diet to

he eats every day.

follow the Atkins plan with a daily carbohydrate intake of below 20 grams.

“For me, being fat was like disease comparable to alcoholism,” he explains. “If you stop for even

“I’d eat a lot of steak, chicken and eggs,” he says.

three or four days, it’s like going back and taking a sip.”

The Atkins diet was originally popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins’ 1972 book. It claims that by

In all, he lost 105 pounds in eight months. Chacon

avoiding high-carb foods, you can continue to

wouldn’t recommend the intensity of MMA

eat as much protein and fat as you want. At first,

training for the average person. But he insists

mainstream experts discounted the idea that

that a combination of diet and exercise is the only

you could continue to eat fat and lose weight, or

way to achieve a healthy and fit body — and life.

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MIXED MARTIAL ARTS AT THE CORE Even though their school in Oswego, Illinois, is called Dominion Martial Arts, its curriculum is strictly MMA. “We have that name because a lot of people imagine MMA as being cage-fighting, and that’s not who we are,” explains David.

Kevin Duffield’s son was in another martial arts school in the area and says they switched to Dominion.

“We went to one of their anti-bullying seminars and were convinced,” Duffield says. “My wife and I are so pleased with David’s school. Our expectations were not just met, but went through the roof.

They always have a great message for the kids and they certainly lead by example.”

A VERY SAFE AND CAREFUL CURRICULUM David says safety is always paramount.

“Our approach, at the beginner levels, is that there is no sparring, no submissions. Kids learn how to throw a jab, a cross, a hook, a roundhouse kick, all on their feet,” he says. “Then, on the ground, they’ll learn how to hold someone in a side-control position or in a mount position.”

He stresses that the students learn that, in any situation where there is a bigger bully — perhaps a larger or stronger opponent — the purpose is not to hurt them but to control them.

“We teach how you can engage someone bigger or stronger,” David says, “and still maintain control.”

He points out that by breaking that barrier of physical space — actually putting your hands on someone — you have major gains in self-confidence. After a period of time, the students are nominated to proceed into what they call the “Black Belt Program,” which has about 80 participants.

“That’s where they’re introduced into sparring in a very controlled environment,” says David, “They wear gear from head to toe, even though there are no head shots allowed.”

After learning to use stand-up strikes, they proceed to kneel on the mat to see how can get their partner into a side-control or mounted position. Then there are high-fives all around.

“Everything is still pretty basic,” he says. “It’s all about learning to take someone down with a single- or double-leg sweep, all the while enforcing the smiles and camaraderie of friendly competition.”

Students are still not allowed to try submissions or chokeholds, or arm or leg locks.

“They are learning to master the fundamentals of takedowns and controlling positions, number one,” Davis explains. “And number two, how to get out of those positions.

“So, when the kids are ready, when they see it is a sport, when they don’t take it personally and aren’t crying when they can’t get up,” David explains, “only then do they get nominated to move up to our Master’s Program.”

At this advanced level, the students can spar more intensely and are allowed to try submissions.

Section_2.indd 37

“This has proved to be a really great way to transition from the beginning to the advanced stages of MMA for kids,” he explains.

“People ask how can you be a successful mixed martial arts school with mostly kids in your classes. I tell them our ‘step-up’ process is a beautiful bridge to teach self-confidence. And I’ve never heard a single complaint from a parent that this is too ‘brutal,’ like you might think.”

Suzana adds that her six-year-old little girl is in class and that, as a parent, she would never condone something that is dangerous.

“In fact,” she adds, “my daughter demonstrates the balance we emphasize. She is so sweet, but she’s really strong!”

Although the school doesn’t emphasize tournaments, several of their students have competed in submission-grappling competitions (think jiu-jitsu-type matches) and have done well. Most of their coaches also have competition experience as well as being trained personally by David.

They run about 40 classes per week, including a coed fitness program which has long been conducted by one of the moms in the school. She had a fitness background and a desire for women’s health and fitness.

“We take our student leaders out and train them to make a difference.

That also reinforces our name in the community as to who we are and what we do,” says Suzana. “David’s done a great job right from the beginning in sharing our vision from speaking in the public schools to community gatherings.”

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FAST FACTS ABOUT DAVID & SUZANA CHACON NAME AND LOCATION OF YOUR SCHOOL? Dominion Martial Arts, Oswego, Illinois.

NUMBER OF YEARS IN BUSINESS?

FROM WHICH COMPANY DO YOU PURCHASE MOST OF YOUR PRO-SHOP SUPPLIES (INCLUDING UNIFORMS AND SPARRING GEAR)?

Century Martial Arts.

Almost 10 years, since November, 2009.

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS YOU OPERATE?

HOW MUCH DO YOU CHARGE FOR THE FIRST FAMILY MEMBER PER MONTH?

One.

$199 down, $149 per month.

SIZE OF YOUR SCHOOL IN SQUARE FOOTAGE?

DO YOU OFFER A FAMILY DISCOUNT AND, IF SO, HOW MUCH?

4,000.

The first two members pay regular price and everyone else in the same household is free.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES (BOTH FULLTIME AND PART-TIME)?

AMOUNT OF YEARLY TUITION?

Six.

$1,490 if paid in full, which is a 25% savings.

NUMBER OF ACTIVE STUDENTS?

MONTHLY GROSS?

285.

$46,500.

ARE YOUR CHILDREN AND ADULT CLASSES SEPARATE OR MIXED?

MONTHLY PRO-SHOP GROSS? $2,500.

Separate.

ARE YOU A MAIA MEMBER?

DO YOU CHARGE TESTING FEES AND, IF SO, HOW MUCH?

Yes.

$40 for every promotion and $150 for black belt.

NAME OF YOUR BILLING COMPANY?

DO YOU HAVE AN AFTER-SCHOOL PICKUP PROGRAM?

Rainmaker.

No.

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THE MAIA INFLUENCE The Chacons have adapted the MAIA concept of rotating curriculum.

“We have ‘A’ days and ‘B’ days as well as specialty days,” says David.

“Monday and Tuesdays are broken down into beginner, intermediate and advanced classes. Wednesdays and Thursdays are where they merge everyone together, with the Black Belt and Master’s Club members training separately.

“Our specialty classes are on Friday and Saturday, and we’ll have anything from sparring to jiu-jutsu escapes to striking.”

The school has a “Lion’s Cub” program, with belt ranks for the little kids. When they either age out or belt-out, they move into the regular 12-belt system. There, the rotating curriculum consists of techniques from kickboxing, jiu-jitsu and muay thai. There are no training forms or patterns as in a karate or taekwondo programs, and the students train wearing t-shirts and MMA shorts. In the two club programs, they can wear colorful rash guard shirts.

Something else the Chacons have picked up from MAIA are the “mass intros,” or free community events.

“That’s one way we grew the school so fast after we incorporated some of the MAIA concepts,” says David.

Of course, he was already experienced in speaking to students. But with the added emphasis on large-scale events, he addresses 400 to 500 kids in back-to-back school assemblies.

“I can’t say enough about what MAIA has done for us,” David insists.

“We were at near rock-bottom and then, in the first year with MAIA, we had a 375% growth. They have a genuine passion and willingness to help us achieve our goals.”

The beginner’s program starts at $199 down and $149 a month. The Black Belt Program is a 36-month commitment with $249 down and

Section_2.indd 39

$169 monthly. The Master’s Club comes in at $299 down and $189 a month. All of the programs offer a discount rate for prepays.

MENTORSHIP IS THE KEY David and Suzana both say that their best advice to someone wanting to start a school or to grow their existing school is to seek out those who are already highly successful.

“Whether it is weight loss or business principles, or even your personal life and marriage, why not hire those who can mentor you?”

David poses.

“Mentorship has definitely become a foundation for everything we do,” adds Suzana.

“When I started to put back on some of that weight, I hired a fitness accountability coach,” David says. “And we just got back from a highly intensive, week-long Tony Robbins seminar. We are so excited at the transformation that’s going to take place in our personal and professional lives.”

So, with the help of advisors and mentors, you can achieve your fitness goals, your financial goals and even your personal life goals.

David and Suzana Chacon can tell you so, and they are living proof that it’s true! m Besides being a prolific author, Dallas’ Keith D. Yates is the longest continually teaching martial arts instructor in the state of Texas. He can be reached through his website, www.akato.org.

To learn more about how hundreds of other successful school owners, both large and small, operate, visit the Martial Arts Industry Association’s website at www.maiahub.com. Through this constantlyenhanced website, members can access a massive amount of useful information on just about any topic from A to Z. e

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BLACK BELT LEADERSHIP

“C” is for Community

BY DR. NGUYEN “TOM” GRIGGS

“Being part of a community inherently implies that all involved parties can trust the other members to do their part, support each other and fulfill their respective roles. Trust matters for success and growth.”

40

F

or this column, I continue using acronyms to spell out the words BLACK BELT, as they relate to teams and leadership. This month, I’ll address “C,” which stands for community.

Originally, I considered using words like “courage” or “compassion.” But after our recent rank promotion ceremony at my school, TNT Jujitsu in Houston, I realized that community is what truly matters.

Community is essential because it is one of the key components of loyalty and retention. You can have a great facility and teach a dynamite curriculum. But if members don’t feel that they are part of a community, it’s easy for them to leave. This is especially true of your instructors and staff.

However, a wonderful community can help ensure that people will stay and even follow your organization and leaders.

Here’s an example that illustrates this point. My dad’s side of the family was mostly black sharecroppers that dealt with the racial evils of the Jim Crow era.

Churches were instrumental in helping people stay connected and hopeful. I remember one of my uncles telling me a story about a particular preacher who did an amazing job of creating a true sense of community for everyone. There was always high attendance at church services and events. The congregants were also very enthusiastic about trying to gain new members.

Eventually, this pastor took a position at another church because he wanted to help grow the greater community of believers. When he left, however, many people from his former church drove a longer distance just to continue being with him.

How did he inspire so much loyalty and trust that people were willing to take the leap and move with him? First and foremost, he was a great leader, and he used that leadership to create a great community. The components of such a community are universal, and apply to a modern school as much as they did in an old country church: Sense of belonging In “Why Perks No Longer Cut it for Workers,” Wall Street Journal senior writer Sue Shellenbarger writes, “What will distinguish the most profitable companies from the rest. . .will be whether leaders foster a workplace culture where employees feel a sense of belonging.”

Ms. Shellenbarger also stresses that employees expect to have great managers and want to see their future within the organization. She notes that companies are doing more to hire and promote from within, so a sense of belonging is quite valuable.

Identity Why do so many of us wear some type of identifying apparel? It’s because we all want to associate with some group, be it our favorite sports team or the fan group of our favorite superhero.

Identity helps other people know who we are and what we represent. But even if your people identify with the group or organization, it isn’t enough for members to truly flourish. It is essential that trust is present, too.

Trust Being part of a community inherently implies that all involved parties can trust the other members to do their part, support each other and fulfill their respective roles.

Leaders and followers succinctly understand and accept the fact that trust matters for success and growth.

Identity and trust are important in our connection with others.

Connection More than anything else, connection is important to having a community because it helps members feel safe. Connection is necessary for better relationships and growth, while providing members with a feeling of support.

Communication Great organizations and communities thrive on highquality communication. It is the proverbial glue that makes all of these previous elements work. Sharing information and having clarity in tasks helps every relationship thrive. The values and culture of a community must be continually communicated and reinforced.

While this list isn’t comprehensive, I hope that you can utilize these elements to build a successful community in and around your schools and organizations. If you have other aspects of community, please reach out to me and share. e m Nguyen “Tom” Griggs is a professional consultant/

speaker in the areas of Teams, Leadership and Conflict and can be reached at tom@ntgriggs.com.

MASUCCESS

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BRAVE TM YOUTH OPEN PALM GLOVES

YOUR JOURNEY BEGINS HERE L E A R N MOR E AT in f o . Cen t ur y Mar t ial A r t s . com/ Tr ainBr a v e

www.CenturyMartialArts.com (800) 626-2787. “Century” is a registered trademark of Century, LLC. All rights reserved. © 2019 Century, LLC. #16323

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IN THE CLASSROOM

Retrain, Relocate, Replace: The Three R’s of Dealing with an Underperforming Team Member

BY DAVE KOVAR

“Some people simply do some jobs better than they do others.

The more that you can fit the job to the person, the better the results you are going to get.”

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T

he first 10 years that I was in business, the concept of staff development was foreign to me. I did pretty much everything by myself, or got one of my advanced students to help out when necessary. That all changed in the late 80s when my older brother, Tim, came on as my business partner.

Out of the gate, the first thing he wanted us to do was to start grooming a team that could help us grow.

To me, it seemed like a waste of time. But I was excited to have a partner and wanted to stay open-minded and receptive to his input.

I quickly found out what a valuable use of time this was. By the early ‘90s, we had a core group of team members that were committed to our vision and to growing our schools. As a matter of fact, I am proud to say that many of those same people are still a part of our organization today.

Although we don’t have everything figured out, when it comes to the area of developing a rock-solid team, we have made amazing progress over the last 30 years. This month, I want to share with you a concept I’ve found to be incredibly helpful. It’s one you can apply when you have a team member who is not performing at the level that you would like. We call it “The 3 R’s of dealing with an underperforming team member.”

The first R is “Retrain” It has been my experience that often, someone is underperforming because he/she was not trained right in the first place. I believe this is always the best place to start.

Assume that you did not train this person correctly the first time and spend the time now retraining them in the areas in which they were underperforming. Often, that will solve the problem.

Keep this in mind: It is far more challenging to retrain someone than to simply train them right the first time, because they will have already developed a habit. The act of retraining a bad habit is difficult. We find that the

more time we spend in initial training, the less time that we have to spend retraining people.

The second R is “Relocate” If you feel like you have a good team member who’s conscientiously trying hard, but just can’t seem to perform to the level you need, perhaps you have him/ her in the wrong position.

For example, for years we used the position of program director as a stepping stone to becoming a head instructor. We never really looked for the unique talents that a program director needs to do their job; instead, we hired people that wanted to be head instructors. We had them perform program director duties until the head instructor position opened up.

What seems obvious now, but took us a long time to learn, is the fact that some people simply do some jobs better than they do others. The more that you can fit the job to the person, the better the results you are going to get.

The third R is “Replace” In my experience, this is hard to do for two primary reasons. First off, we tend to become emotionally attached to the people on our team. This is true in martial arts even more so than most businesses because, often, these people were our students for years before coming to work for us.

Secondly, we often don’t have someone on hand to fill his/her role. So we become beholden to this person, even when he/she is doing a substandard job. That’s why working on building your bench strength is so important.

So, the next time you find yourself dealing with a team member who’s performing below your accepted standard, try applying “the 3 R’s” to the situation. It is always a good place to start. e m You can contact Master Dave Kovar at dave.kovar@kovars.com.

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The Biggest E vent in the Industry is scheduled at the Bell agio Hotel.

Hotel Alert: You may be contacted by hotel discounters claiming to be association with the Martial Arts SuperShow, using high pressure tactics in offering accommodations. Many of these companies are known to engage in fraudulent behavior. To book accommodations at the Bellagio, we recommend using the reservation link on the MASuperShow website or call in your reservation at the number listed above using the Group Code: SMAR0619

9

PRESENTED BY:

GROUP CODE SMAR0619 S at ur day, June 2 9, $ 2 39.0 0* S unday, June 30 - T hur s day July 4 , $ 14 5 .0 0* *Plus resort fee and tax

S P O N S O R E D B Y:

Š 2019 MAIA, LLC # 16320

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DO YOU KNOW...

THE 7 STEPS FOR TEACHING A DRILL? THE COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT TEACHING CHILDREN? METHODS FOR TEACHING CHILDREN THAT WORKS BEST FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE?

MO S T S C HOOL S DO NO T H AV E T HE B A SIC UNDER S TA NDING OF C HIL D P S YCHOL OG Y A ND T HE PR OPER WAY OF T E A C HING 3 - T O 6 -Y E A R - OL D S .

T H A T ’ S W H Y C H I L D D E V E L O P M E N T E X P E R T, M E L O D Y S H U M A N DE V E L OP E D T HE ULT IM AT E C HIL DR E N ’ S C UR R IC UL UM .

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HEY GUYS! I want to personally invite you to attend my pre-conference event, “The Ultimate Instructor Development Workshop for Anyone Teaching 3- to 6-Year Olds”, at the 2019 Martial Arts SuperShow! Last year, we hit record attendance numbers and I don’t want you to miss out.

This workshop will break down how to teach your youngest students, using age-specific methods that will not just get them engaged for one class, but will start to lay the foundation for learning and retaining martial arts-applicable skills. Learn specific methods to teaching young children and creative drills you can take home and implement immediately! Even if you have never taught children, this can even become your favorite class!

Visit MASuperShow.com for more info. I hope to see you there!

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N

Melody Shuman

P.S. If you are already a PreSKILLZ member, you will get one ticket to my pre-con plus a bonus hour of behind-the-scenes training for free!

Tr an s f or m your clas s e s .

V isi t Pr e SK IL L Z .c om today. ©2019 MAIA, LLC. #16164

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BY

JOSHUA

PAGE

Taking your students and your academy to the next level is achieved by bridging the gap between the dojo and the outside world. By instituting simple ideas and concepts to dramatically increase your students’ success outside of class, you increase the value of the service you provide to your entire community.

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BUILDING BLACK BELTS

BEING A BLACK BELT INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL As instructors, we spend a great deal of time trying to develop our students into black belts. We equip them to deal with all types of dangerous situations and attacks. We arm them with kicks, punches, throws and submissions.

Even the mental side of self-defense is addressed, like how to keep calm under pressure and deal with overwhelming odds. All this takes place while developing humility and learning the importance of constant improvement. These lessons are powerful and life-changing, and prepare our students for adversity on the practice mat and in the arena of sport.

We spend thousands of hours refining techniques, perfecting forms, and forging the absolute best martial artists we can. The results can be truly amazing. The transformation from a day-one student to a black belt is, at times, awe-inspiring.

When you see those students on the mats training and teaching, they seem to have a certain air about them. They are leaders in every sense of the word, and embody all those black belt principles we’ve

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been trying so hard to pass down.

However, we see so many students mastering these lessons on the mat, yet having difficulty applying them to their lives outside of the school. In other words, the application of life skills is lacking. However challenging this is, it does give us the unique opportunity to figure out how to help our students become black belts in life, and how to strive for and achieve “Black Belt Excellence” in every endeavor.

Here’s how I approach it at my school, Hickory Academy of Martial Arts in Hickory, North Carolina.

WHAT IS A BLACK BELT IN LIFE? Let’s start with a clear definition. A black belt in life is a student who has been equipped to bridge the gap between the academy, dojo or gym, and is able to bring all those solid foundations with them into every aspect of his or her life. They are able to be leaders not just for those few hours each week that they are training, but in their day-to-day lives. They are able to apply the same focus they would use to, say, win first place at a tournament to make good grades; to

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“To make the biggest impact, be prepared. Know what life skill you want to talk about each day.

Closely review it and bring in a visual to help drive home the lesson.”

being respectful, courteous and kind at home; or to being an involved, positive leader in the community.

In other words, they are students that are able to benefit from their training 24/7 in all areas of their lives.

“IS THAT YOUR STUDENT I SAW ON TV?” I got an excited call from my instructor one day, who asked, “Are you watching the news?”

I quickly turned on the news to see a martial artist I had seen in the competition circuit for years and years. This individual was an amazing athlete, winning multiple events, grand championships and titles. He was a fierce and respected competitor.

But he didn’t just go to events to win. You could find him taking time to coach the other competitors on the team. He took the time to give advice to upcoming competitors, and just to talk and laugh and be a part of the travelling family that is the martial arts tournament scene.

Which is why it was so shocking to see him appear on the news for

such a terrible reason: he was accused of doing some very bad things and was being led by law enforcement in handcuffs to be detained.

The accused was apparently facing some major time behind bars.

The news report made a point of talking about his martial arts training, including the name of the school he trained at. The accused even had the school’s logo as a tattoo.

It was so sad to see this, especially on such a large public platform.

But, it does serve as a good reminder that we have the opportunity to do just the opposite: to help our students become the kind of people you would be happy to see on the news with your school t-shirt on!

Imagine the opposite of this story. Imagine seeing one of your students on the local or even national news being highlighted for some truly black belt-level impact outside of the dojo! Maybe they used what they learned from you on the mats to become a successful, driven leader. Perhaps they gained recognition as a person of positive influence and impact because of their martial arts training.

So, how do we accomplish this goal? How do we build black belts in life?

The answer, as my jiu-jitsu instructor, Master Pedro Sauer, is fond of saying, is, “Simple, but not easy.”

In this article, I’ll proceed, step by step, to explain the building APRIL 2019

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BUILDING BLACK BELTS “We already know that, statistically speaking, most students who walk through our academy’s doors will not achieve the rank of black belt. And that’s okay. We are nevertheless grateful for the time we do get with them to impart some solid foundations, basic selfdefense and, hopefully, the groundwork for success off the mat.”

blocks to accomplish this worthy goal. I’ll propose some simple ideas and concepts that will not only improve the lives of your students and families training with you, but enrich your life and your families’ lives as well.

SUCCESS OFF THE MAT WITH SOLID FOUNDATIONS We already know that, statistically speaking, most students who walk through our academy’s doors will not achieve the rank of black belt. And that’s okay. We are nevertheless grateful for the time we do get with them to impart some solid foundations, basic self-defense and, hopefully, the groundwork for success off the mat.

We can also help them build solid foundations on the mat during this time. Chances are that bowing on and off the mat — and using polite manners when speaking to instructors and classmates — are habits that are being reinforced in each and every class.

You can also use success charts for your young students to take home and use each day to help build solid foundations and habits for success outside of class: like making their bed, eating for health, and reading each day. Simple tasks have a way of making room for bigger successes down the road.

When students turn in their completed sheets, it leads to a great opportunity to highlight them in front of the class. This kind of public acknowledgement not only reinforces their best behavior, but inspires other students to start participating and benefiting from this project as well.

TAKING FIVE MINUTES TO “BRIDGE THE GAP” At my school, we spend the first 40 to 55 minutes of class training hard, sweating and smiling and working to become the best martial artists we can be. The last five minutes of each class are dedicated to “bridging the gap” between the dojo and the world outside. We talk about how to apply all those life skills we learned today to the “three things more important than martial arts:” family, education and faith.

Make sure parents are in on this conversation, too. Remind them that this last part of class is a great conversation they can continue with their child on the way home.

To make the biggest impact, be prepared. Know what life skill you want to talk about each day. Closely review it and bring in a visual to help drive home the lesson. Present technology makes it easy to have slides on your TV, iPad or other device to help out, too!

PROJECTS THAT BRIDGE THE GAP In addition to taking five at the end of every class, you can also encourage students to engage in projects that transport their skills, as Coach Tom Callos would say, “out of the dojo and into the world.”

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BUILDING BLACK BELTS The scope and purpose of the challenges you can choose are endless. Use your imagination to come up with projects that encourage your students and families to engage with their communities in a positive way, and let them practice all the life and leadership skills they are learning on the mats with you. This is, after all, what separates our industry from — if not elevates it above — other common sports and athletic activities.

Below is one of our projects, which has transformed the lives of our students, our community, and the culture and atmosphere at our dojo. Feel free to use it, or simply let it inspire you to come up with some ideas for your own project.

CHANGING LIVES WITH ACTS OF KINDNESS Our “Acts of Kindness Campaign” started with a sheet of notebook paper listing 50 random acts of kindness. It eventually developed into a program adopted by martial arts schools, churches, preschool fitness programs and daycares as far away as Canada and Ireland!

We estimate that we inspired well over 10,000 acts of kindness! In

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the process, we completely transformed the culture of our academy.

It redefined the focus of our students, and equipped them with the tools to do more than just defend against obstacles and challenges on the mat. It created networks, friendships and opportunities far beyond the walls of the dojo. It even helped me develop a few women and men who I wasn’t able to promote to karate black belt, but who I will proudly refer to as “black belts in life.”

same work that you’re asking them to do.

It seems obvious, but make sure you are still engaging in physical training, too. Keep pushing and developing your skills, so you can ask the same of your students. Your personal journey will speak louder than your words, and will inspire your team more than you know.

You’ll be amazed the effect it has not just on you, but to everyone in your vast sphere of influence!

TODAY IS THE DAY

m Joshua Page of Hickory, NC is a 7th-degree black belt in American Freestyle Karate, and a brown belt in Pedro Sauer Gracie Jiu-jitsu, with over 30 years of training and teaching experience. A former competitor and 2013 NBL Sparring Champion, Page loves training black belts on the mat, in the ring, and in life! He can be reached at hickorymartialarts@hotmail.com.

So, who will be your next black belt in life? What are you doing to lead the way and inspire our next generation of leaders?

Today is a great day to get started, if you haven’t already. Hopefully, you are dedicated to being a black belt in life, before you ask anyone else to do so. Get involved with your community. Find ways to be a part of the organizations making a difference in your hometown.

Volunteer as much as you can.

Complete the projects and challenges you have designed for your students. It’s far easier to inspire someone when you are working alongside them, and have made the same sacrifices and put in the

To read many more insider tips about becoming a better instructor and successful school owner, visit the Martial Arts Industry Association’s website at www.maiahub.com. Through this constantlyenhanced website, members can access a massive amount of useful information on just about any topic from A to Z.

APRIL 2019

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schedule-at-a-glance 2019 MARTIAL ARTS SUPERSHOW SUNDAY, JUNE 30 Pre-Conference Events

MONDAY, JULY 1 8:00am - 6:00pm

Registration Desk Open

8:30am - 9:30am

New Attendee Orientation

9:30am - 1:30pm

Martial Arts Business Forum

2:00pm - 6:30pm

Tradeshow Floor Open

3:00pm - 4:00pm

Workshop with Guro Dan Inosanto and Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje, Jr.

5:00pm - 6:30pm

Welcome Reception

7:00pm - 9:00pm

General Session

TUESDAY, JULY 2 7:00am - 6:00pm

Registration Desk Open

7:00am - 8:00am

Early Morning Workouts

8:00am - 6:00pm

Tradeshow Hours

9:00am - 4:30pm

Seminars Scheduled

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3 7:00am - 6:00pm

Registration Desk Open

7:00am - 8:00am

Early Morning Workouts

8:00am - 5:00pm

Tradeshow Hours

9:00am - 4:30pm

Seminars Scheduled

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PRESENTED BY:

S P O N S O R E D B Y:

© 2019 MAIA, LLC # 16312

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Pre-Conference Events Martial Arts Business Forum

Jeet Kune Do for Black Belts – A Master Class in Combat Tactics and Fighting Philosophy

Harinder Singh Date & Time: Sunday, June 30, 2pm-8pm

Cost: $199

Date & Time: Monday, July 1, 9:30am-1:30pm

Cost: 2 people for $99

The Legends of Kali II

Martial Fusion 6-Hour Power Workshop

Guillermo Gomez Date & Time: Sunday, June 30, 11am-6pm

Frank Silverman

Cost: $99

(Break from 2pm-3pm)

Bo Staff & Kama Instructor Training Workshop

Apolo Ladra, Dan Inosanto, & Leo T. Gaje, Jr. Dates & Times: Saturday, June 29, 3pm-8pm Sunday, June 30, 8am-1pm Sunday, June 30, 3pm-8pm

Cost: 2 Sessions - $299 3 Sessions - $350

The Ultimate Instructor Development Workshop for Anyone Teaching 3- to 6-Year-Olds

Melody Shuman

Mackensi Emory, Robby Beard, & jackson Rudolph Date & Time: Sunday, June 30, 2pm-6pm

Cost: $99

Date & Time: Sunday, June 30, 2pm-5pm

Cost: $99

(Bonus Hour for PreSKILLZ members 5pm-6pm)

BJJ Workshop Presented by Gameness

MAIA University Instructor College

Rafael “Formiga” Barbosa & Joao Gabriel Rocha Date & Time: Sunday, June 30, 2pm-5pm

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Cost: $99

Dave Kovar Date & Time: Sunday, June 30, 2pm-5pm

Cost: $129

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SPEAKERS

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S

KELLY MURRAY GRYS

MIKE DILLARD

HAKIM ISLER

CHRIS RAPPOLD

KINNICK MCDONALD

CRIS RODRIGUEZ

ROBYN SILVERMAN

TOM GRIGGS

MICHAEL SIROTA

BARRY VAN OVER

RICK RANDO

LAUREN AND DUANE SPIRES

KURT KLINGENMEYER

MIKE CHAT

ADAM PARMAN

CARLOS MACHADO

ERIC THE TRAINER

DAVE KOVAR

JOHN HACKLEMAN

ROBBY BEARD

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SPEAKERS

*Subject to change

BILL CLARK

DON GULLA

DAMON GILBERT

MIKE METZGER

MELODY SHUMAN

BENNY URQUIDEZ

BILL WALLACE

MACKENSI EMORY

JACKSON RUDOLPH

DAN INOSANTO

LEO T. GAJE, JR.

APOLO LADRA

SHANE TASSOUL

HARINDER SINGH

RAFAEL “FORMIGA” BARBOSA

JOAO GABRIEL ROCHA

TOM PATIRE

BILLY BLANKS

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© 2019 MAIA, LLC # 16312

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TURNING POINT

Sonny Onoo: Being Born in Japan

BY HERB BORKLAND

“In this inspiring monthly column, we examine the pivotal point in a prominent black belt’s career that took him or her onto major success in martial arts business, sports or films.”

B

orn in Japan, Kazuo “Sonny” Onoo trained in karate and judo in school clubs before immigrating to Fairbanks, Alaska, at age 11, where he practiced goju-ryu karate. After moving to southern Minnesota, Onoo trained under full-contact Professional Karate Association (PKA) Champion Gordon Franks and goju-ryu legend Chuck Merriman. Onoo competed in Europe as a member of Merriman’s Trans-World Oil team between 1975 and 1987, and the PKA named him the best bantamweight in the world.

In the 1990s, Onoo became a professional wrestling “character.” Acting as liaison between World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), the “villain agent” Onoo negotiated the talent exchange programs which allowed numerous Japanese performers to appear with WCW. Herb Borkland: How did you first hear about martial arts?

Sonny Onoo: As an immigrant from Japan, I was asked from day one, “Do you know karate?” I grew up in karate and judo clubs in school. As a young man, you want to challenge yourself, to see where you are in the world.

That’s just human nature for competitive people.

HB: Turning point?

SO: If you can make a living by turning your hobby into your vocation, you can be excited when you get up in the morning. You train yourself, and you train other people. Owning a few karate schools, with a wife who is an aerobics instructor and certified personal trainer, it’s like getting paid for eating! (laughter) I was fortunate. Gordon Franks trained me in kickboxing, and I was bantamweight world champion [in semi-contact] from 1975 to 1981 as a member of Chuck Merriman’s Trans-World Oil Team. Later, I became involved in pro-wrestling.

HB: How did that happen?

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SO: I met Eric Bischoff in the 1970’s. By 1994, Eric was the president of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He hired me as an off-camera international consultant. I did the liaison between WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) by negotiating talent-exchange programs. On December 27, 1995’s Starrcade, I led Team New Japan against Team WCW in a best-of-seven World Cup series.

I soon became this on-camera “villain:” an evil Japanese manager who spoke broken English and said I was “money-hungry, deceitful, conniving and violent.”

HB: Do you still train in martial arts?

SO: A funny thing happened a couple years ago. The Battle of Atlanta [martial arts tournament] said, “How about you and Eric get your pads on and do “60 and Older”? This would be a crossover-wrestling-fan promotion for the BOA. I was barely training after 28 years of not competing. Eric couldn’t come, but I went down there and beat the two-time defending champ and won the lightweight championship with a cartwheel kick. Even after 25-plus years, it’s like riding a bicycle. You never forget how.

HB: What does the future hold?

SO: Martial arts are always evolving because of the popularity of MMA. Pro-wrestling is one element of the entertainment spectrum. MMA promotes like pro-wrestling does. There are negatives, though. I like it when one pro competes against another and fights hard to dominate, but at the end of the day, there should be respect. Nowadays, things get too personal. I miss the part [where] martial arts are based on respect and honor.

Martial arts were never meant to be a competition.

Competing has nothing to do with studying martial arts.

You can be a champion within yourself by making yourself better than you were yesterday. e m Herb Borkland is a veteran black belt who can be contacted at herbork@comcast.com.

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YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

There Are So Many Ways to Save the Upcoming Summer!

BY KATHY OLEVSKY

“What many school owners forget is that your current students are the best source for gaining new students. Their happiness will bring you great referrals.”

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I

’ve been operating a martial arts school full time for 45 years. I think I may have made every mistake that can be made in this business. The reason I’m still in business, I believe, is because I asked for help. I learned quickly that others before me had already found solutions. In this reality-based column, I’ll point out key mistakes I made in my business career, which are common errors among school owners, both large and small, throughout our industry. Then I’ll share the solutions I applied to overcome them.

If you’re looking back on last summer and remembering that it was not a good business season, there is still time to make changes what will allow you to generate income during this upcoming summer season.

As school owners, we often look for new students and opportunities to find leads to those new students. In many schools, those leads dry up a bit over the course of the summer months. If this is the case for your school, then it’s imperative that you create a plan now for an exciting summer to help stimulate the interest of your current students.

What many school owners forget is that your current students are the best source for gaining new students.

Their happiness will bring you great referrals.

This is the one time of year when it may be more important to focus on what you have rather than what you don’t have. This is the time of year to keep your current students attending as much as possible, excited and making progress. In our program, we have a list of activities scheduled for June, July and August. We cater these activities to different age groups.

We host Summer Camps that are one week long for ages 6-12. We promote these camps as a way to learn new techniques and progress in their rank. Of course, we market to non-students as well, but our active students make up the core of this additional summer income.

These camps are seen as “babysitting” by some school owners. This is a sign that they haven’t planned activities well. Some schools are able to take field trips, while others don’t have the transportation or resources. Whatever your situation, just make each day is packed with a different activity every 45 minutes, so that your staff and students are never bored.

We have found that our teenage groups respond well to several half-day seminars throughout the summer. We host these on specific topics that are fun for them and hard to teach in a one-hour class.

These seminars are usually conducted from noon to 3:00 p.m. because we find the participants in a better humor later in the day. We fill those three hours with nonstop activity, so there’s no time for them to think about whether they would rather be at home playing video games.

Our adults also love to know that if they are not traveling during the summer months, we can offer them several three-hour crash seminars in martial arts topics that we don’t ordinarily cover in their one-hour classes. These seminars are designed to give them a foundation in something that is difficult to cover without many repetitions.

Weapons seminars are an excellent choice for the adult population.

In addition to the seminars and camps that we offer throughout the summer, we have a few events that are “feel-good” ones for our students.

At the beginning of summer, before all the academic schools are out, we host our annual “Picnic in a Park.”

We cook hotdogs and hamburgers and the students all bring some side dish to share. We have all kinds of games planned, but we also allow time for a hike around the park.

We do not teach martial arts our annual picnic because we find it to be a great time to bond with the families.

Similarly, at the end of the summer, we host an “End of Summer Party” for everyone. We provide drinks and pizza and socialize with about 150 people who will show up from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

We do use a portion of this time to have Nerf Gun Wars.

We have multiple divisions to make it fair for all ages, but the most popular is parents against kids. The second most popular is students against teachers.

These are just a few ideas to start planning for right now in order to get your summer in gear. It is not too late to plan it, but get busy and do it so you can let all your students know about it as soon as possible! e m Kathy Olevsky can be reached for questions or comments at kathy.olevsky@raleighkarate.com.

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Introducing Online Check-in Includes Member Self Check-in App Click and Drag into Scheduler Events Scan Barcodes with Member Mobile App

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Derek Richardson’s successful Leadership Martial Arts in Charlotte, North Carolina, applies a myriad of strategies used by national industry leaders. But the two biggest recruitment tools for his around-300 active-student count are after-school-enrichment programs and fundraisers for local academic schools.

BY HERB BORKLAND

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BIG BUSINESS

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ast-growing Charlotte, North Carolina, is a vibrant city to do business in, and Professor Derek “TC” Richardson’s Leadership Martial Arts (LMA) makes the most of these opportunities. He matches his sophisticated business education with a passion for teaching fighting styles and a robust interaction with his local community.

Richardson was born in Charlotte and took his first martial arts training there at age 13. But, as is true of every aspect of his highly successful school, he says he opened LMA only after a great deal of study, planning and research.

LOCATION IS EVERYTHING! Charlotte is the most populous city in North Carolina, boasting around 860,000 diverse citizens — 45.1% white, 35.0% black, 13.1% Hispanic and 5.0% Asian. It’s the third-fastest-growing major city in the United States and the nation’s second-largest banking center, housing the corporate headquarters of Bank of America and the east

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coast operations of Wells Fargo. The NFL’s Carolina Panthers, the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA, and a strong NASCAR All-Star Racing presence are among the local major sports attractions.

Why is all of this so important to a martial arts school owner?

Because location is everything.

“I began with demographic research on 64 markets in the United States,” explains Richardson, who has college degrees in Business and Marketing. “I bought reports on the most likely, then honed in on disposable income, concentrations of families, target markets, and available locations within an hour of where I lived, with the least competition.”

Sifting through all this business data also helped Richardson zero in on a name for his school which is both personally and professionally appropriate.

“In this area, people have a higher likelihood of being in a profession that involves management,” Richardson points out.

“That’s why we are called Leadership. I chose the name from my own strong skill set and from what my customers care about.”

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BIG BUSINESS

WHITE BELT MENTALITY A naturally inclined martial artist, Richardson began training in 1993. The dynamic atmosphere alive at LMA today comes directly from his own experiences choosing a first school.

“I went to sign up, and the first school terrified me,” he admits today. “Older kids were sparring and beating the snot out of each other. I never even stepped on the mat! Another school I checked out did a boring demo and offered a free year, but I never took a single class. At age 13, I finally discovered the perfect school — exciting, but not intimidating.”

Richardson has spent a quarter of a century traveling the world and training. His mixed martial arts 4th dan is from Master Robert Tucker; his judo 3rd dan comes through the United States Judo Association; and the Korean Hapkido Federation and Renzo Gracie account for his other two black belts.

Why so many styles? A painful discovery about the built-in vulnerabilities of one fighting art versus another inspired Richardson to diversify his own training. This, in turn, led to establishing his school’s boutique-business culture.

“I study four different arts because, as a black belt, a BJJ blue belt whipped me and my instructor both. Afterward, I thought I’d better put my white belt back on. This became my training philosophy.

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I try to find someone who’s going to humble me. I do this in studying business, too,” Richardson adds. “This is why I have a Gold Membership with Century and have attended multiple Martial Arts SuperShows: invaluable mentorship! Best place to go.”

LMA offers a classic Little Ninjas program for its very youngest members. But the core youth and adult martial arts curriculums expose students to a fluid, functional blend of kickboxing, judo, krav maga and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. BJJ is also taught as a stand-alone style, along with an energetic but only minimally impactful MMA. “Today,” Richardson points out, “we teach MMA. It’s exciting; [it’s] huge! But we teach it to families. Cage fighting is not us.”

The practical business advantage of offering a full range of styles comes into play after new students learn the solid traditional basics.

“My school offers the equivalent to a liberal-arts martial arts education. You get a black belt, and then it’s time to specialize in higher learning. Students will find an art or skill they enjoy and gravitate to it. They get to take a path that interests them.”

To continue training, students will, of course, need to put a white belt back on. Just as it is for their head instructor, this honest humility becomes a point of pride for all Richardson’s best students.

“At promotion ceremonies, I hand every new black belt a new uniform and a white belt,” he states.

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“I study four different arts because, as a black belt, a BJJ blue belt whipped me and my instructor both. Afterward, I thought I’d better put my white belt back on. I try to find someone who’s going to humble me. I do this in studying business, too, which is why I have a Gold Membership with Century and

NUTS AND BOLTS Also unusual, when it comes to rank promotions, is that LMA proudly makes a point of charging students nothing.

“At Leadership Martial Arts, belt promotions are not for sale,” school literature explains. “Most schools make money from promotions by charging between $50 to $150 for each rank test. By the time you earn your black belt, these costs can accumulate to several thousand dollars. At Leadership Martial Arts, you only cover the material cost of the belt and, if you do your best, we’ll tie the new belt around your waist for free.”

The school also requires no registration/sign-up fees, with the exception of After School and Summer Camp programs. What’s more, the literature explains, “because we are a family martial arts academy, we want to make training affordable so you can do it together. [That] is why all family members of adult, youth and Little Ninja students receive 25% off for the second family member and a 50% discount for each additional family member.”

have attended multiple Martial Arts SuperShows: invaluable mentorship! Best place to go.”

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BIG BUSINESS

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PROPERTY OWNERSHIP Leadership Martial Arts currently trains nearly 300 students in its 5,500 square-foot facility, which Richardson owns outright. Even putting aside the fact his business involves what he loves most, this ownership itself is a lifelong dream come true.

“Growing up, I always wanted to own my own business. As a boy, it was a toy store, of course,” Richardson laughs. “I grew up working full-time jobs, even in college, where I took a Business Administration degree from Queens University’s McColl School of Business.

“Twelve years ago, I dumped my life savings into LMA. The five-year lease terrified me. Eight years later, we had 300 active members, so I purchased land and built a 5,500 square-foot structure on a main drag where 46,000 cars a day drive by. The building I own is now valued at a million dollars.”

He also believes the key to real-estate success is a buy option.

“A lease-and-then-buy option on a new building allows you to grow business and then have the opportunity to cash in on the equity,” he explains. “Once established, the benefits of property ownership are amazing.”

Basically, Richardson sees two options available to school owners.

Either grow through horizontal integration — by renting new spaces – or through vertical integration, where you become supplier and landlord to yourself.

His staff consists of “three retired gentlemen after-school van drivers,” two full-time office staff, and a 35-member Leadership Team composed of advanced students who train monthly in professional skills. Three programs are offered for those students who are looking to grow into leaders. First is the Way of the Floor – how to run a class; second, the Way of the Office — “What I went to college for,” Richardson quips. “To be good at both class and office.”

Ultimately, these two courses lead to the third, a Head Instructor program.

“From their ranks,” Richardson predicts, “will come the top students who will open our second and third locations.”

Retention is one of Leadership Martial Arts’ most striking successes.

“One year, I averaged out retention, and I was double the national average. There are variables, of course. For example, a student who attends camp every summer, but doesn’t continue during the year.

How do you count them?”

Both an obvious indicator and likely major cause of this exceptional customer loyalty comes from urban demographics. LMA’s student body is a seamless blend of half children and half adults.

Richardson observes, “Diversity on my mat is almost as many women as men, and almost every age and race imaginable. Our beginners speak six different languages! Mats are the one place where people get along great. Our local pastor is a top area grappler, but, seeing him spar, you’d never realize who he was.”

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“One year, I averaged out retention, and I was double the national average. Diversity on my mat is almost as many women as men, and almost every age and race imaginable. Our beginners speak six different languages!

Mats are the one place where people get along great. Our local pastor is a top area grappler, but, seeing him spar, you’d never realize who he was.”

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BIG BUSINESS SERVE THE COMMUNITY THROUGH LOCAL SCHOOLS “I began with hundreds of pages of a business plan,” Richardson acknowledges. “Today, there are several manuals, including 78 systems for the office, marketing and ongoing instruction. A systems-based school is always being refined.”

With such a superbly thought-out operation in place, the big question is, what kind of marketing sustains it? Richardson has enjoyed record-setting achievements, such as signing up 56 new students in one month and 16 in a single day. How is this accomplished?

“I’ve found that the more I give back to the community, the more the community has supported us! Break into the [academic] school system.

The best method for getting in is making it not about me but about them . I ask them, ‘What do you need? How can I serve you?’”

Richardson is very clear in his answer: “My two biggest recruitment tools to hit those record numbers have been through community-service projects, in the form of afterschool enrichment programs and fundraisers I’ve done with the local schools,” he states. “I’ve found that the more I give back to the community, the more the community has supported us!”

The key to beginning to serve the community?

“Break into the [academic] school system,” Richardson says emphatically. “The best method for getting in is making it not about me but about them. I ask them, ‘What do you need? How can I serve you?’”

The answers are often unexpected. One principal complained that there was no money in their budget for snacks for teachers during meetings. So, Richardson spent $90 on snacks and was promptly invited back to do an enrichment program and a back-to-school session, because that’s what that school wanted.

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EIGHT WAYS TO HELP ACADEMIC SCHOOLS “Every one of these is different,” Richardson points out. “I have a list of my own suggestions as to what I can do for them.”

1. Classroom bully talks: A program which boasts a 70% reduction in school-wide bullying, and includes posters loaned to the school and a parent-education letter.

2. After-school enrichment programs: Fundraisers built upon a five-week after-school martial arts enrichment program at your school for $35. It includes a free martial arts belt, and 100% of the net proceeds go back to the academic school.

3. Staff appreciation days: These events provide a mini-buffet in the break room, a self-defense course, and a staff teambuilding day.

4. Fall and spring festivals, PTA days and other events: LMA good-humoredly assures academic schools that events “are always more exciting when people in pajamas are breaking boards!”

5. Student leadership awards: Given during a morning or afternoon school assembly. Students receive a framed award and get to break a board in front of their peers.

6. “PE Teacher for the Day”: An event which suggests schools “drop the dodgeball and give your Phys-Ed teacher a helping hand. It is a way to learn valuable martial arts life skills from a black belt and credentialed Charlotte-Mecklenburg School volunteer.”

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7. Free homework folders: These folders, which students take home, are provided with the school’s logo on the front and the LMA logo placed “as a proud sponsor/partner” on the inside of the folder.

8. Major fundraisers: LMA also raised $10,000 by offering a $99 Summer Special, including uniforms and all-summer training at school. Fifty-six newcomers signed up, and the students had so much fun that half of them went on to train during the school year for $119-per-month fee.

“Social media from students was powerful,” Richardson emphasizes.

“And how do you think it made me feel, delivering a check to a principal who broke down in tears because she was so grateful?”

Are these all original ideas?

“Many of these suggestions I make to schools come from other successful school owners,” Richardson acknowledges. “But, in my experience, ‘How can I serve you?’ is the most powerful [lead-in] question.”

LOVE IT TO GROW IT At the core of all LMA’s systems and strategies is a single emotionally powerful ambition which is explained at the school’s online site.

“You’ll forget your exercising as each class brings new and exciting challenges,” it reads. “Class curriculum and structure are built to capture your attention. The first step to learning the martial arts is

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learning to love it, which is why our average student retention rate is more than double the national average!”

If the first step to learning the martial arts is learning to love it, Richardson infectiously shares and spreads his passion. He has special events just for his own students. One of the perks for his top grapplers comes in the form of training once a year at Renzo Gracie’s New York school, which mixes his pupils in with real MMA fighters.

“We took 16 people last time,” Richardson brags, “and trained for a week. Some of us have gone eight and nine times.”

Expanding LMA to new locations depends on Professor Richardson developing the staff and putting resources in place. So, opening a new location just makes good business sense.

To explain, Richardson like to quote Woodrow Wilson: “I use not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.” e m Herb Borkland is a veteran black belt and freelance writer based in Front Royal, VA. He can be reached at herbork@comcast.net.

To read hundreds of articles and columns vital to your school business, visit the Martial Arts Industry Association’s website at www.maiahub.com. Through this constantlyenhanced website, members can access an enormous quantity of useful information on just about any topic from A to Z.

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CONSULTANT’S CORNER

Focus on What Matters Most

BY JASON FLAME MAIA CONSULTANT

“We got involved in this business because teaching martial arts is our passion, and changing people’s lives is our goal.”

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s school owners and professional martial artists, we often lose sight of why we got into this business and industry in the first place. It’s not the number of students we can enroll each month. It’s not how big our billing check is or how much we gross each month. And it’s not how big our school is.

We got involved in this business because teaching martial arts is our passion, and changing people’s lives is our goal. Now, of course, running a successful business may be about the numbers. But operating a successful martial arts school is about much more than that.

We know that if our students are getting great results, they’re going to talk about us to everyone they know, which may lead to more referrals. If the parents of our students truly value what we have to offer, they will stay longer. The bottom line is, we need to think much more about giving than receiving. If everything you do is about getting something back in return, you may never be satisfied or have a sense of fulfillment.

This month, let’s focus on what matters most.

1. Consider Each Student’s Goal(s) Every student who enters your school comes to you for a different reason. There are many benefits to martial arts training. So it’s essential that we help students to not only get what they need, but also what they are specifically looking for. Each student should be treated as an individual as well as a member of the team.

2. Concentrate on Individual Progress It’s important that we focus on the individual progress a student makes. Often, it is far too easy to compare them to a set standard or to other students.

Stay focused on where the student started and how far he/she has come as a gauge of their success.

3. Teach Quality Martial Arts Teach a solid curriculum which offers a well-balanced skill set that’s not only functional, but is realistic for your students. Much of what we teach can focus heavily

on tradition or on the way we were trained. Less is more; focus on high-quality technique and less quantity of curriculum.

4. Promote a Team Atmosphere Everyone in your school should feel like part of your team. Most of us have heard or read that Together Everyone Achieves More. This couldn’t be truer for an endeavor like martial arts. Although the martial arts are an individual activity, the support from the instructors, parents and other students is unlike other team sports.

5. Perpetuate Your Own Personal Growth Your example and focus on your own personal growth is a very important factor in the success of your school.

When you take the time to improve yourself, everyone involved in your school will benefit. Lead by example and continue to grow as an instructor, a mentor, a leader and as a student.

As much as we focus on our business and growing our school, we must focus, too, on what matters the most.

When you concentrate on the success of others—and on giving rather than receiving—you’ll find that you will be far more fulfilled.

Perhaps British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said it best: “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact me. e m J ason Flame can be reached at (805) 657-1775 or TSDUKarate@gmail.com.

MASUCCESS

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"The Flow System has aided me tremendously in my instructor training. I've been able to set my instructors in front of the program and know that they are going to know how to teach the bo staff fundamentally, all the way up to the more advanced techniques and combos.

We love The Flow!"

- Hollie Hamm, Resolute Martial Arts

THEFLOWSYSTEM.TV @2018, MAIA, LLC. #15867

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MASTERFUL RETENTION

The Three Kinds of Teachers.

Which One Are You at Your School?

BY CHRISTOPHER RAPPOLD

“The ‘remarkable teacher’ sees even more in the students than they do themselves. Then, he/she uses this vision to set a new standard for the student.”

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he successful retention of students in a martial arts school is of paramount importance. It saves the school money by cutting down on monthly advertising budgets and replacing them with free referrals. It increases the cash flow by creating happier students who stay and train for longer. And it enables staff members and owners to earn a higher pay for the great services they provide.

All around, everyone wins when retention is high and the quit rate is low. But if this makes so much sense, then why, for some, does it seem to be so hard to do?

One answer to this that I would like to explore is the quality of the teacher. As you may well know, if you replace a bad teacher with a good one, all of a sudden, a school that was limping along will start to grow.

Conversely, I have seen a great teacher replaced by a teacher who was only “good” and the exact opposite happened. Perhaps you have seen the same. So, what is it that makes the difference between one instructor and another? How can you quantify teaching quality?

I want to share with you three levels of growth that a teacher may or may not go through on his/her way to realizing their potential. I say, “may or may not” because, perhaps for some, even with the right desire, may not have the intangibles to excel.

The Good Teacher Being a “good teacher” is the first level. I start with this level since it seemed to me that if someone couldn’t reach this level at a minimum, he/she wouldn’t be teaching at all.

A “good teacher” delivers information. He or she knows the subject matter, has the ability to break down techniques, knows what to say and can create the structure and appearance of an organized class. When I think of this, I use it as a baseline qualification.

The Great Teacher Being a “great teacher,” to me, is one step above good.

A teacher who reaches this status has all the qualities of a good teacher. The difference is that he/she looks at teaching not just as a transfer of information but a transfer of energy.

You can have two classes side by side, both learning the same information, but the feel of the classes, depending on who is instructing, is totally different. The “great teacher” infuses energy into the lesson. Since energy comes in many different forms, this teacher matches his/ her personality to the correct kind of energy to have the greatest effect.

Even an introverted instructor can get a student to feel energy. But it will be conveyed very differently than it would be from the extraverted, excitable teacher.

Great teachers must remain authentic to who they are at the core. They must play the personality hand they were dealt or their career will be very short-lived.

The Remarkable Teacher The final level — and one that is just magical to watch — is the “remarkable teacher.”

The remarkable teacher has all the qualities of the first two. He/she knows the techniques and can organize a class. He is congruent, matching the style of energy to his personality. And he has an uncanny ability to combine all of this with the skill to meet the students where they are and grow their potential.

The “remarkable teacher” sees even more in the students than they do themselves. Then, he/she uses this vision to set a new standard for the student.

These three simple levels, often unrecognizable to the untrained eye, make all the difference in the world with the students and the success of the school.

Remember, “good teachers” deliver information.

“Great teachers” transfer energy. “Remarkable teachers” meet a student’s potential where it is. They then share information with the right amount of energy to grow the individual’s access to their full potential.

Which level are the teachers at your school? Think through each instructor and rate where they are. Help train them up to the next level. It will make a profound difference within your school.

Let’s all continue to be successful together! e

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m Chris Rappold can be reached for questions or comments at founder@personalbestkarate.com.

K p o A

MASUCCESS

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W in a y o a

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INSURANCE

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THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING

Beware of the Work-Comp Police!

BY BETH A. BLOCK

“Worse, the state workcomp officials showed up at the studio. They fined the school owner $2,500 and added a $1,000-a-day fine for every day the studio didn’t have work comp.”

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ecently, I watched a 32-year-old martial arts instructor teaching a full-rotation, head-level roundhouse kick. He was teaching this kick in the first class of the day. He had not yet worked out because he had been driving, picking up students at school and bringing them to the studio for the after-school program.

At 56, I know I need to warm up my muscles before straining them. When I don’t, I pay for it with pulls, strains and pain. Sometimes, I’ve paid for it with rips.

I also know it’s a good idea for students of any age to warm up their muscles before challenging them.

My chiropractor has explained the long-term effect of abusing my muscles. Even if I don’t feel the strain, my muscle gets a micro-tear. Over the years, those microtears result in knotty, scarred muscles. Owww!

At 32, the instructor was young enough to think he could still do the full-rotation kick cold. At 32, he was old enough that his hamstring tore. A hamstring tear can take one to three months to heal. He still has to pay rent and eat while it is healing.

In this instructor’s situation, he is now six weeks into the healing process and counting. He has medical bills. As soon as he told his doctor how the injury happened, the doctor had to lock him into the worker’s-compensation track. This is a state law here in Florida.

By law? How can this be true? The studio provided him with health insurance. He wanted to know why he couldn’t use that insurance.

As it turns out, any kind of injury that happens at work must be handled through work comp. There are a lot of insurance reasons for this law, but the fact remains, any time the injury is work-related, it must go through work comp.

This studio did not have work comp. They had several reasons for not having it.

First, the studio owner prioritized health insurance for the instructors. That was a benefit.

Second, work comp is hard to find for martial arts studios. Work-comp companies are quite scared of our industry. They think of the kind of head-banging gyms that were common in the 1970s. We do still have some of

those gyms. We also have many family-friendly fitness gyms. But the insurance companies are still focused on the 1970s-type of martial arts gym.

Third, work comp can be expensive. Many of us are still building our schools. Building any business means we have to carefully budget our money. As we’re budgeting, we don’t always realize there might be laws regulating the choices we make.

Every state in America has laws that spell out whether or not we have to buy work comp. In some states, the law requires coverage with as few as one employee. Unless we file to exempt ourselves, we are that one employee.

Part-time employees are included in the count. Texas is the only state to make work comp coverage optional.

If you don’t have coverage, even in Texas, you are responsible for your instructor’s torn hamstring. His medical coverage cannot pay for the medical bills. Nothing is going to replace his lost income. It’s all your cost.

To make it even worse, the state work comp officials showed up at the studio. They fined the school owner $2,500 and added a $1,000-a-day fine for every day the studio didn’t have work comp. The officials gave the owner seven days to get work comp or they were going to lock up the school.

The studio could not get comp because they were required to have it, but had never bought it before. I know – it doesn’t seem logical. But, if you needed the coverage and didn’t have it, insurance companies won’t take you until you’ve had the coverage for a few months. That means you have to start in your state fund.

Some state funds make it tough to buy coverage. In the state for the studio we’ve been talking about, it took eight days. The official was understanding, and saw they had been working hard to get coverage and did not shut them down.

Avoid this challenge in your studio. Check out your requirements today. If you want the state chart I’ve printed, send an email to beth@blockins.net. e m Beth Block can be reached at (800) 225-0863 or beth@blockins.net.

MASUCCESS

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THE LEGAL LANDSCAAPE

Come On, People! Protect Your Financial Interests by Using Common Sense!

BY PHILIP E. GOSS, JR., ESQ.

“Never pay the last installment unless and until the job has been inspected by you and you’re completely satisfied. Once the service provider is gone, he or she is gone forever.”

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n the law, there is something referred to as a “rebuttable presumption.” A rebuttable presumption is an assumption or inference that is accepted as true, unless rebutted by adverse evidence. Two common examples of rebuttable presumptions are that, in a criminal trial, a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty, or that a child born during a marriage is actually the progeny of the husband.

Each can be proven false, but the starting point is that each is true.

My mother wasn’t an attorney, but she taught me my first rebuttable presumption. As children are wont to do, I would frequently come home with some wild story told to me by another kid. Of course, these stories were usually false or greatly exaggerated.

My mother told me some 50-plus years ago to never believe what another kid told me until I could verify that it was true. This is a lesson adults need to remember, but with a twist: Never believe anything said by anyone who has a financial interest in getting you to part with your money or other resources, until you verify what is told to you.

Today, I spoke with a very smart person who typically exercises good judgment in her business and personal life.

However, for some reason, over a year ago she decided to commission a cabinetmaker to remodel her kitchen.

After months of promises and missed deadlines, the cabinetmaker is out of business and her several-thousanddollar-advance payment is long gone.

Of course, I asked the expected questions. No, she did not get a written contract. No, she did not check references.

No, she did not verify that the cabinetmaker was bonded, licensed or insured. And no, she failed to check if the corporation under which he operated and solicited her business was, in fact, in existence.

The sole “yes” that will be part of this story is the fact she has likely lost all the money she put into the remodeling endeavor.

Another client used one of these referral services that, for free, will match you to a business that does whatever home-related task that you require. That client was matched with a painter who took a $1,000 deposit and then dropped dead 10 days later.

Obviously, the painter’s unexpected death was not the referral service’s fault. But when my client tried to get a refund, he discovered that the painter was, in fact, delinquent in his corporate status for several years and had many civil judgments against him. Apparently, the background of the painter wasn’t as important to the service provider as was the fee it would receive for the referral.

Whether you live in South Florida (which, in my opinion, is the fraud capital of the world) or in Middle America where people are honest to a fault, you must protect yourself against anyone seeking to trade their goods or services for your hard-earned money. At a minimum, if you’re spending money on a good or service with someone with whom you have no past positive experience, do the following: • Get a written agreement as to what is being done, the time frame for completion, the fees to be paid, and on what schedule payments are due.

• If a warranty is part of the deal, get it in writing.

• Check references. I repeat, check references.

• If you’re dealing with a corporation that shields the service provider from personal liability (and therefore, limits your options for collection in the event of breach), ask for a personal guarantee in addition to a warranty.

• Never, and I mean never, pay a substantial part of the entire fee up front. If you do, you may never see the service provider again or, in the least and counterintuitively, he/she will not be responsive to you. Similarly, never pay the last installment unless and until the job has been inspected by you and you are completely satisfied. Do not fall into the trap where a promise is made to return and finish the final details. Once they are gone, they are gone, forever.

As Thomas Tusser once opined, “A fool and his money are soon parted.” Consider it to be a rebuttable presumption that, if you do not use your natural common sense and protect your financial interests, you will someday be “ripped off” by unscrupulous service providers. This I promise! e m Attorney Phil Goss, Jr. welcomes any email comments or questions at PhilGosslaw@gmail.com and will attempt to respond personally, time permitting.

MASUCCESS

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INSPIRATION OVATION

Learning From the Inside Out

BY KAREN EDEN

“Do we really know what the moves are for when we’re teaching them in forms, or are we just choreographing what was taught to us?”

96

W

e were having lunch with our good friend Tommy several years ago.

Tommy, a plumber by trade, is a good-hearted guy with a simple life.

We began discussing how quickly technology is changing, and how we are almost forced to keep up with all the changes that take place.

“I had a really hard time learning computers, but I eventually figured it out,” he told me.

“Figured it out?” I responded, quizzically.

I wondered how someone with no prior experience could just “figure out” how to initially operate a computer.

Tommy explained: after much frustration, one weekend he simply went out and bought a used computer.

He then shut the door to his workroom and tore the entire thing apart.

“If I can see how it works from the inside,” he told me, “then I can figure out how to operate it from the outside.”

I looked at Tommy and smiled from ear to ear.

People often stereotype plumbers as “not the sharpest knives in the drawer,” and Tommy’s laid-back demeanor doesn’t immediately dispel that impression. But my friend had torn an entire computer apart and put it back together, in order to teach himself how electronic technology works!

This conversation with Tommy made me think. As martial arts instructors, we, too, should make a greater effort to understand our martial art from the inside out. I mean, do we really know what the moves are for when we’re teaching them in forms, or are we just choreographing what was taught to us?

I remember once watching a martial arts forms competition on TV. The grand championship was narrowed down between two young men. The first finalist came out in a shiny uniform. He screamed until he was red in the face with every punch. He also added music, in which he would hold his kicks straight up and down at pre-planned riffs.

Then the next finalist came out. He was a Japanese competitor in a simple white uniform and black belt

tied around his waist. He didn’t do any Cirque du Soleil kicks, or scream bloody murder. He did execute his traditional form with such precision that, to this day, I’ve never seen one better. Well, he lost.

In my opinion, he lost in a performance-based competition. I can guarantee you that this young man knew his form inside and out. He knew the meaning behind every kick and punch he executed, and it showed. It didn’t show for the judges who didn’t know traditional martial arts themselves. But it did show for those of us who had trained and questioned the “why” behind the moves that have been executed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

I’ll be perfectly honest in telling you that I don’t know the practicality behind every single move in every single form that I know, either. But today, I do take the time to ask more questions, sometimes calling my own instructor from Pittsburgh just to seek those answers.

It’s one of those things important to our canon of knowledge. If we don’t get the answers now, the founding fathers who taught us in this country will no longer be around to help us. A significant number of them, from all arts and styles, have already passed away. So we should not take our ability to ask them for granted.

As for Tommy, today he can fix just about any computer out there. As a matter of fact, like most people who work with their hands, he can fix just about anything, period. I have discovered that some people aren’t book-learners, but that doesn’t mean they don’t learn.

Tommy says he figured himself out a long time ago.

And if he can just get his hands on something and spend a little time working it from the inside, he’s good to go. It’s a quality that this martial arts master finds most admirable. e m You can contact Master Karen Eden at renedenherdman@gmail.com.

MASUCCESS

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