December 2017

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION MASUCCESS DECEMBER 201 7

BUILDING A BIG BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH Lynchburg, Virginia’s

Lawrence Arthur

THE MANY REASONS YOUR STUDENTS SHOULD COMPETE ISSN 2380-561 7(PRINT ) 2469-6889(ONLINE )

HOW TO MAKE YOUR SCHOOL VETERAN-FRIENDLY RETENTION TIP TEACH THESE 5 FUNDAMENTALS FIRST • $5.99 US www.MASUCCESS.com

DECEMBER 2017

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CONTENTS

DECEMBER

2017

FEATURES BUILDING A BIG BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH! Lynchburg, Virginia’s Lawrence Arthur, a scrappy 1970s fighter, grew his business from a small Virginia location to an association with 20 storefront schools and 20 more satellite operations. A low-profile, behind-the-scenes powerhouse, Arthur promulgates an Americanized style he created that leans toward training instructors and building champions. Some of his competition-oriented students have won world titles. Here, he shares his wisdom about what it takes to succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

BY

HER B

B O R KL A N D

WHY SHOULD MY STUDENTS COMPETE? BY

JACKSON

RUDOLPH

Competing in tournaments is a productive activity for your business. It can teach your students how to set goals, develop their public-speaking and communication skills, and open up many opportunities for you to improve your school. If competition and the training required for it are handled properly, young students will be more inspired to practice martial arts than ever before.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR SCHOOL VETERAN-FRIENDLY BY

DR .

KIMB ERLY

HARRISON,

DPT

On November 11th, we celebrate Veteran’s Day in honor of the brave men and women who served in America’s military. In this timely and unique article, you’ll see how you can expand your prospect base by becoming a veteran-friendly school.

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CONTENTS

FEATURETTE A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR MAXIMIZING HOLIDAY SALES December can be one of your most profitable months of the calendar year if you hold a Holiday Sale at your school. Here’s a Quick Guide showing you how to do it right.

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COLUMNS 40

32

THE DIGITAL DOJO

BY STEPHEN REINSTEIN

Are Your Marketing Emails Too Impersonal to Be Effective?

46

IN THE CLASSROOM

86 88

BY HERB BORKLAND

90

Dr. John Painter: Quitting Show Business

62

DOCTOR’S ORDERS

BY JASON HAN

50 76

YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

BY KATHY OLEVSKY

BY CHRISTOPHER RAPPOLD

THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING!

BY BETH A. BLOCK

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

92

Strategically Dissecting Technique

66

MASTERFUL RETENTION Are You Teaching These Five Fundamentals First?

BY DAVE KOVAR

TURNING POINT

B Y M A I A C O N S U LT A N T A N T O N I O F O U R N I E R

Staffing Is Nothing to Laugh About

Are You Staying AGILE?, Part 1

58

CONSULTANT’S CORNER

THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE

Action Steps to Grow Your School

DON’T TELL ME THE SKY’S THE LIMIT WHEN THERE ARE FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON.”

BY PHILIP E. GOSS, JR., ESQ.

Hurricane Preparedness and New I mmigration Requirements

96

MAXIM OF THE MONTH

INSPIRATION OVATION

BY KAREN EDEN

Season Change

—PAUL BRANDT, CANADIAN COUNTRY MUSIC ARTIST

DEPARTMENTS 4

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK 22

12

IN THE KNOW

24

THE MAIA REPORT

16

MANEWS

26

MARKETING RESOURCE

20

HEAR FROM YOUR PEERS

68

SCHOOL SHOWCASE

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

DECEMBER 2017

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FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

MAKING THE MOST OF HOLIDAY RETAIL SALES

D

BY FRANK SILVERMAN

MAIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“MAKE SURE STUDENTS HAVE A WAY TO PROVIDE THEIR PARENTS WITH A LIST OF THEIR HOLIDAY WANTS. ALSO, YOU, AS THE INSTRUCTOR, SHOULD INFORM PARENTS OF WHAT THE STUDENT NEEDS.”

uring this holiday period, keep in mind that all members, students and parents in your school will spend dollars on holiday gift items. If they don’t buy from you, for an activity they participate in, those dollars will be spent elsewhere. So, it just makes sense to capture their spending dollars.

December is rapidly approaching. It represents the close of one year and the start of a new one. For most of us, December is the end of our annual business cycle. This should be an additional motivator since it not only closes the business for the month but for the entire year.

Over the years, you’ve heard me speak and have read my columns about creating banner sales in December and focusing on New Year’s goals. In this column, I’ll address the hosting of a great retail-product-related holiday sale.

As we have evolved as an industry, so has the holiday sale. It has turned from a simple, yet successful retail, event to an event that includes complex and highly profitable ways of integrating all profit centers in a school to generate record numbers. This is still the case.

It is a “must do” for all schools.

What’s in It for Me? First, to those school owners that ask “Why should I host a holiday sale?” I have three quick answers. Most importantly, as stated above, everyone connected to your school will be spending money on holiday gift items of all kinds. People naturally purchase items related to the hobbies and activities of their family and friends. You are thus a direct target of opportunity for those seeking the easiest way to buy martial arts-related gifts.

If you don’t accommodate them, someone else, somewhere else, will. It’s a simple supply-and-demand business concept. As active participants in your school, they’ll come to you first. Help them fulfill their needs and they’ll help you profit from it.

Next, when members purchase products and equipment from your school, it helps your retention. We all know that students who invest money in their training are less likely to quit.

Finally, when members buy retail products from you, it spurs further spending on all other revenue streams in your school. For example, buying a t-shirt is free advertising in your community. A new uniform may be part of an upgrade program. A XXL Wave Master for home practice may eventually get a parent more involved and lead a family member to sign-up.

Tricks of the Trade Sometimes, looking at the holiday sale in a different way is all we need to do to get motivated to host that event. Here are some basic review items for those who have hosted a sale before, and some basic tips for those who have not. I could write a whole book on how to host a successful holiday sale, but here are just a few tips specifically for retail items.

Offer “best pricing.” Meaning, if you hold a sale, make sure it is a sale. Discounts matter!

Have necessities on hand, such as uniforms and sparring gear. But also offer nonessential, fun items like picture frames, holiday ornaments and t-shirts. Consider making packages and gift baskets for parents who, like me, hate to wrap gifts. Also, coordinate events around sale items. For example, if you’re introducing a new uniform, launch it at the sale.

Also, promote and host future events that are available as part of a “sale package.” For example, if a member purchases sparring gear, he/ she can attend a 45-minute sparring seminar at the end of January.

If they purchase a Versaflex stretching machine, include a 15-minute private lesson on how to use it.

Additionally, there are key things you can do leading up to the sale to help guarantee success.

First, a Wish List is essential. Make sure students have a way to provide their parents with a list of their wants. Conversely, you, as the instructor, should inform parents of what the student needs. Do it with a simple phone call, a short chat during class, or a post card or email describing the necessity of certain curriculum items. Use products in class leading up to the sale and allow parents to “touch and feel” items they have seen used in classes.

Finally, start your plan now so everything is in place the day of the sale.

For more information on how to host a super holiday sale, call Century Martial Arts at (800) 626-2787 and ask about the Holiday Retail Kit. It is a free resource, and covers many of the topics I’ve cited here and so much more. e mC ontact Frank Silverman at fsilverman@masuccess.com.

Follow Frank on Twitter and Facebook @franksilverman.

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MASUCCESS

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THESE 8 SIMPLE WORDS GET NEW STUDENTS IN JUST HOURS...

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Don’t let dirt and germs chase your business away.

Getting new students and keeping the ones you have is always on the mind of a martial arts school owner.

Kenclean Plus Athletic Surface Disinfectant Cleaner kills germs with a fresh scent that will let your students know your school is clean.

Kenclean Plus is a concentrated “hospital use” disinfectant formulated to be used in more athletic sites than any other disinfectant product. It can be used to clean and disinfect mats, floors, walls, training tables, protective headgear and even athletic shoe soles. It’s effective for locker rooms, exercise rooms and equipment, bathrooms, whirlpools and much more.

In today’s environment of drug resistant bacteria, super staph, viruses and fungi, you have to do all you can to protect your athletes.

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COLUMNISTS

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

THE MAIA REPORT

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

KYLE YOUNG IS THE DIVISION

Director of the Martial Arts Industry Association,

manager of the Martial Arts Industry Association.

and the owner & operator of 11 martial arts

He is a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and

schools in Orlando, Florida. He’s also the author

is passionate about helping school owners

of Business Is Business: Passion and Profit in the

achieve their goals. He can be reached at

Martial Arts Industry. Follow Frank on Twitter

kyoung@masuccess.com.

and Facebook @franksilverman. Contact him at fsilverman@masuccess.com.

IN THE CLASSROOM THE DIGITAL DOJO STEPHEN REINSTEIN IS A DESIGN &

DAVE KOVAR OWNS AND OPERATES A chain of successful martial art schools. Additionally, he operates Pro-Mac (Professional Martial Arts

internet marketing professional with over 10

College), dedicated to helping martial artists

years of professional experience. As a karate

become professionals in Business Management,

student since age two, Stephen combined his

Mat Mastery, Sales Mastery, Wealth Management

two passions to create Market Muscles, a website

and Cutting-Edge Classroom Concepts. In 2010,

& internet marketing company for martial arts

he was the recipient of the Martial Arts Industry

schools. Stephen may be contacted directly at

Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Contact

(866) 259-0776 or stephen@marketmuscles.com.

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

DOCTOR’S ORDERS DR. JASON HAN IS A 7-TIME U.S. National Taekwondo Team Member, Sports Physical Therapist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach. As cofounder of The Juice Athlete Compound and President of HealthFit Physical Therapy & Chiropractic, he works with professional and Olympic athletes in addition to the weekend warrior. He loves movement and has a unique perspective on sports medicine after working with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers and Cirque du Soleil. Dr. Han lives in Pasadena, CA and can be reached directly at JasonHanDPT@gmail.com.

MASTERFUL RETENTION CHRISTOPHER RAPPOLD IS THE founder of a successful martial arts organization, Personal Best Karate, headquartered in Norton, MA. He’s a five-time world karate champion and is currently the executive director of the world-renowned Team Paul Mitchell, a championship team supported by sportkarate’s longest-running sponsorship. Rappold is the author of the landmark MAIA program, Retention-Based Sparring. He can be reached at founder@personalbestkarate.com.

CONSULTANT’S CORNER ANTONIO FOURNIER IS A MAIA ELITE

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THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING!

Consultant and Maine-based multi-school owner

BETH BLOCK, A 4TH-DEGREE BLACK

who brings a wealth of knowledge about owning

belt in karate, is the president of Block Insurance

and operating a martial arts business. He’s a

in Orlando, FL. Block has protected businesses

professional life coach and a certified teacher of

that serve children for the past 24 years. She is

the Law of Attraction. He continues his 43 years

the writer of Martial Arts Minute, a weekly risk-

of martial arts training and can be reached at

management newsletter. You can reach her at

tfournier@masuccess.com.

(800) 225-0863 or beth@blockins.net.

MASUCCESS

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STAFF IN THE KNOW TIFFANY ROSS IS THE ASSOCIATE Publications Editor for the Martial Arts Industry Association. She can be reached by email at tross@masuccess.com.

MASUCCESS IS PUBLISHED BY

VOL. 17, NO. 12 // DECEMBER 2017 MANAGING EDITOR

John Corcoran

TURNING POINT HERB BORKLAND WAS ONE OF Jhoon Rhee’s original white belts at America’s first taekwondo school and, later, a closed-door student of Chinese “soft” styles pioneer Robert W. Smith. For three years, starting on ESPN, he 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 Fame martial arts writer. He can be reached at herbork@comcast.net.

YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT? 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 8thdegree black belt with 32 full-time years of teaching and operating martial arts schools. She can be reached for questions or comments at kathy.olevsky@raleighkarate.com.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Frank Silverman MAIA DIVISION MANAGER

Kyle Young MAIA ASSOCIATE PUBLICATIONS EDITOR

Tiffany Ross 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

Tony Fournier Mike Metzger

Adam Parman Shane Tassoul

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Jan Szijarto ART DIRECTOR

Todd Bane GRAPHIC DESIGN

Brad Bilbrey Bridgette Rabe COLUMNISTS & CONTRIBUTORS

THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE PHILIP E. GOSS, JR., ESQ. IS A member of the Florida and several Federal Bar Associations. Phil welcomes any e-mail comments or questions at PhilGosslaw@gmail.com and will attempt to respond personally, time permitting.

INSPIRATION OVATION

Beth A. Block Herb Borkland Karen Eden Jason Flame Antonio Fournier Philip E. Goss, Jr., Esq. Dr. Kimberly Harrison, DPT Dr. Jason Han Kurt Klingenmeyer Dave Kovar Mike Metzger

Kristin Miller Kathy Olevsky Adam Parman Christopher Rappold Stephen Reinstein Tiffany Ross Jackson Rudolph Melody Shuman Frank Silverman Shane Tassoul Terry L. Wilson

KAREN EDEN IS A 6TH-DEGREE master of tang soo do. She’s a broadcast journalist who has appeared nationally on CNN, FOX and Animal Planet as well as on local affiliates for NBC and PBS. Karen is also a published book author and magazine columnist who has

MAIA LLC, 1000 Century Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73110; (866) 626-6226.

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. © 2017 MAIA LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

CORRESPONDENTS

Herb Borkland (VA) Karen Eden (CO) Mark Junday (UNITED KINGDOM) Andrea F. Harkins (FL)

written for or been featured in every major martial arts magazine globally. Contact her at

PUBLISHER

renedenherdman@gmail.com.

David Wahl

Perry William Kelly (CANADA) Andre Lima (CA) Terry L. Wilson (CA) Keith D. Yates (TX)

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.

DECEMBER 2017

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IN THE KNOW

WORDS OF WISDOM

BY TIFFANY ROSS

MAIA ASSOCIATE PUBLICATIONS EDITOR

“

THE WAY TO GET STARTED IS TO QUIT TALKING AND BEGIN DOING

”

— WALT DISNEY

MARTIAL ARTS TRIVIA 1

What is the national sport of Thailand?

2

The character Tommy Lee plays in the movie, Best of the Best, studies and teaches what martial art?

3

How many weight classes are there in Olympic taekwondo?

4

Actors Christian Bale and Robert Downey, Jr. are both trained in which martial art?

:

ANSWERS 1) Muay Thai. 2) Taekwondo. 3) Four for both sexes. 4) Wing chun, a popular style of kung-fu.

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MASUCCESS

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IN THE KNOW

YOU ASKED DO YOU OFFER DISCOUNTS FOR FAMILIES WITH MORE THAN ONE STUDENT ENROLLED? Yes. We offer a family discount. When you pay for the first two family members in full, the rest of the family is included.”

— 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

Yes. We offer a single-member rate and a family rate. After a second family member enrolls, anyone else in the family can train for free.”

— 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

STATS SPEAK

75% OF MALE INTERNET USERS ARE ON FACEBOOK, AS WELL AS

83% OF FEMALE INTERNET USERS.

S O U R C E : D IG ITA L IN F O R MAT IO N W O R L D

Absolutely. A family that kicks together, sticks together! The first two family members pay the regular price. Everyone else is free.”

— K U R T K L I N G E N M E Y E R B L A C K B E LT K A R A T E S T U D I O R A C I N E , W I & CHAMPIONSHIP MARTIAL ARTS, OAK CREEK, WI

Yes. After the first family member enrolls, we offer 20% off for the second family member, 30% off for the third, and so forth. I know many people no longer do so. But for me, I personally like to help families since the cost of living today is already a big burden on the average family.”

— 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

DECEMBER 2017

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MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

©2017 MAIA, LLC. #13221

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MARTIAL ARTS NEWS

KARATE PIONEER MORRIS MACK (1938 – 2017)

Yakima, WA — Karate pioneer Morris Mack passed away in his hometown on August 14, 2017 surrounded by family. He was 78.

Mack started training as a teenager in the 1950s with Shihan Walter Todd of Oakland, CA, in the shudokan karate system. Mack opened his first karate school in Yakima in 1961 and taught continuously in that city for the next 56 years.

During this time, Mack reportedly taught tens of thousands of students; one student estimated over 50,000. More than 25 of Mack’s black belts have opened their own schools around America and beyond, teaching the shudokan style of karate-do.

Two weeks before his unexpected passing, a delegation of 10th-degree black belts had traveled from Japan to Yakima to award Mack a 10-degree certificate for his lifetime contributions to the martial arts.

Mack never sought publicity or the limelight. Consequently, he was practically unknown to the martial arts media and never gained the widespread visibility a pioneer of his stature deserved.

However, many prominent karate champions knew him: Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace and Dan Anderson, to name a few. Within the first two weeks after Mack’s passing was announced on social media, over 11,000 posts and comments poured in from people whose lives he had touched.

One of his senior black belts, Randy Holeman, started training with Mack when he was 19. That was 46 years ago. Holeman says Mack changed his life forever.

“He shared with me his view of the world,” Holeman says. “A world where anything was possible if you worked hard and were smart enough. He taught me that all people had good in them if you looked for it, and not to prejudge people if you hadn’t walked in their shoes.”

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RANDY HOLEMAN (LEFT) WITH HIS MENTOR, THE LATE SHUDOKAN KARATE PIONEER MORRIS MACK. PHOTO COURTESY OF RANDY HOLEMAN

“He shaped me from a boy into a man who loved his mentor. That mentor will live on for generations to come, through the actions, deeds, thoughts and dreams of all the people and students he touched during his time on earth,” Holeman concludes.

Mack is survived by his wife, Kara, five daughters, two sons, 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. e

MASUCCESS

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MARTIAL ARTS NEWS

ICON DAN INOSANTO, Bruce Lee Protege Who Helped Cowboys Win Super Bowl, to Get Film Treatment

Hollywood, CA — According to an announcement in The Hollywood Reporter, submitted to the publication by the Inosanto family, the Mark Gordon Company is developing the story of Dan Inosanto, Bruce Lee’s protégé who has himself become a world-renowned martial arts master.

The Mark Gordon Company (MGC), the veteran production banner whose credits range from Saving Private Ryan to Steve Jobs, is developing the Inosanto story for theatrical release. The working title is Way of the Cowboy.

The story is based on a little-known, but remarkable, fact about Inosanto. He was a key background figure in a secret training program that led the Dallas Cowboys to win Super Bowl XII in 1976.

The script has already been written by Jeremy Gough (A Forest of Mirrors), a Texan and lifelong Cowboys fan. It was picked up by MGC, which also secured the rights to Inosanto’s life story.

MGC’s owner, Mark Gordon, and Matt Jackson will produce the film, along with Diana Lee Inosanto, Dan’s daughter and Bruce Lee’s goddaughter. Tarik Heitmann is also producing.

Sam Sleiman, Adam Goldworm and Diana Inosanto’s husband, Ron Balicki, will executive produce.

Dan Inosanto was Lee’s training partner and protégé who ran a school in Los Angeles and, through his teaching, carried forward Lee’s eclectic art of jeet kune do (JKD). He also has minor movie roles and, over the decades,

reportedly taught Hollywood notables such as Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker and Ricky Nelson.

In the mid-1970s, Dr. Bob Ward, the conditioning coach for the Dallas Cowboys, created a stealth program that involved then up-andcoming linesman Randy White. Ward, a JKD instructor, brought in Inosanto, his JKD mentor, as the key ingredient in the training.

It marked the first time martial arts principles were applied to professional football training in the NFL. That training led to the Cowboys winning the 1976 Super Bowl and also propelled White to an all-star career with the team and into the NFL Hall of Fame.

The shooting start date has yet to be announced. e

(AT LEFT) DAN INOSANTO. (AT RIGHT) WAY OF THE COWBOY’S PRODUCER DIANA INOSANTO AND EXEC PRODUCER RON BALICKI.

DECEMBER 2017

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MARTIAL ARTS NEWS

ENTERPRISING MARTIAL ARTS HISTORY MUSEUM LAUNCHES DVD TOUR, TALK SHOW Burbank, CA — The industrious founder/curator of America’s only Martial Arts History Museum, Michael Matsuda, never seems to run out of new — and clever — angles to promote his unique institution. He’s engineered movie nights, book signings by authors and honor days celebrating the careers of prominent black belts, among many other events.

While juggling those promotions, he most recently created a Museum Tour on DVD and an informative talk show.

Understanding that traveling long distances to visit the museum could be too expensive for many martial artists, Matsuda did the next best thing and brought it to them. The 60-minute, high-resolution DVD is a virtual tour that explores nearly every facet of the museum’s fascinating exhibits and artifacts, covering a wide array of martial arts from around the world. Matsuda is the DVD’s expert tour guide.

“Now, every martial artist can visit the museum, virtually”, Matsuda said. “You’ll get a close look at the history of our arts and at the Asian cultures where they originated. You’ll see how those Asian-based arts spread to America, and the milestones that led to their explosive growth and popularity.

“This DVD will play a huge role in spreading the word about the museum. But more importantly, it will help keep our martial arts history alive,” he said.

The Museum Tour DVD sells for $10.00 and can be purchased through amazon.com.

Weekly YouTube “Coffee” Show Coffee at the Museum is a new entertainment show recently launched by the Martial Arts History Museum. Hosted by museum curator Matsuda and former Black Belt magazine cover photographer Mario Prado, it’s a weekly 15-minute series dealing with martial arts

18

history, Asian culture and tradition, and health and fitness.

The show provides a perspective on the martial arts as seen through the eyes of the museum. Topics have included a historical look at martial arts magazines and a three-part series on the impact of Bruce Lee. Upcoming episodes will feature the history of martial

arts in films and an in-depth look at historical figures such as American kenpo founder Ed Parker, Sr. and the late superstar and black belt Elvis Presley.

Coffee at the Museum can be located on the Martial Arts History Museum’s website at www.mamuseum.com, or on the Martial Arts Museum’s YouTube Channel. e

THE NEW DVD TOUR OF THE MARTIAL ARTS HISTORY MUSEUM.

MASUCCESS

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE FOR GRANDMASTER JHOON RHEE HIGHLIGHTS UNVEILING OF 2017 WHO’S WHO

By Joe Corley and Keith D. Yates

Washington, DC — Many of the nation’s elite martial arts masters, instructors and champions assembled in the beautiful Gaylord National Convention Center to celebrate two simultaneous events: the publication of the 2017 Who’s Who in the Martial Arts Legends Edition and a ceremony honoring the illustrious career and achievements of Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, 85, the “Father of American Taekwondo.”

Who’s Who publisher Jessie Bowen said, “More than 200 masters and grandmasters grace the pages of this unique, historic compilation of martial talent. But all focus was on the man who had helped lay the groundwork for all of them to flourish, 10th-degree black belt Jhoon Rhee.”

A native of South Korea, Grandmaster Rhee introduced the art of taekwondo to the U.S. in June 1956, in San Marcos, TX. Two of his first black belts were Allen Steen and J. Pat Burleson. More than 100,000 black belts today trace their lineage back to Rhee, Steen and Burleson.

Rhee is also known as the “Father of Taekwondo in Russia,” where he has traveled extensively over the past decades since the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism in June 1990.

This comprehensive third edition of Who’s Who in the Martial Arts is available at centurymartialarts.com for $49.95.

MARTIAL ARTS NEWS

WE’RE SEEKING WRITERS MASUCCESS is looking for freelance writers to join our dynamic team of U.S. correspondents. We pay some of the best rates in the industry and all payments are upon acceptance.

Writers should have some knowledge of the martial arts school business.

When responding, please feel free to pitch your story ideas (no more than 4 paragraphs including the type of photos/images that you can supply to accompany your idea).

We prefer email responses. Do NOT send any completed manuscripts. We do NOT have time to read completed articles and they typically do not fit our standards or editorial format. Please email your reply or story pitch to John Corcoran, Managing Editor, at jcorcoran@masuccess.com

WE’RE SEEKING STORY LEADS MASUCCESS is seeking reader tips and leads to find successful school owners in the U.S. and Canada. If you know of a highly successful single- or multi-school owner who you believe can teach our readers the tricks of the trade, please submit his or her name, a brief description of his or her degree of success and his or her contact information.

We will follow up on all legitimate leads. Please email your leads to John Corcoran, Managing Editor, at jcorcoran@masuccess.com.

(LEFT TO RIGHT) DENNIS BROWN, TAYARI CASEL, LINDA DENLEY, WHO’S WHO PUBLISHER JESSIE BOWEN, PAT BURLESON, MICHAEL COLES, GRANDMASTER JHOON RHEE, JEFF SMITH AND JOE CORLEY.

DECEMBER 2017

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HEAR FROM YOUR PEERS

SURVEY SAYS...

DO YOU OFFER HEALTH INSURANCE TO EMPLOYEE?

YES 11% NO 89% 20

MASUCCESS

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32.38%

8.27%

10.17%

6.62%

6.86%

HEAR FROM YOUR PEERS

200+

WHAT IS YOUR AVERAGE ACTIVE MONTHLY ATTENDANCE?

13%

151-200

7%

126-150 7% 101-125 7% 81-100 10% 61-80

8%

41-60

15%

40

33%

LESS THAN

HOW DID MOST OF YOUR STUDENTS FIND YOU?

OTHER INTERNET SEARCH

10%

REFERRAL

15%

20%

FREE TRIAL 3% SOCIAL MEDIA 10%

WORD OF MOUTH 42% DECEMBER 2017

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How did most of your students find you?

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

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DECEMBER 2017

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THE MAIA REPORT

SELF WORTH VS. NETWORTH

I

BY KYLE YOUNG

MAIA DIVISION MANAGER

“NO DIFFERENT THAN EATING RIGHT AND EXERCISING FOR YOUR BODY’S LONGTERM HEALTH, WE SHOULD BE HONING OUR BUSINESS ACUMEN TO SECURE OUR LONG-TERM FINANCIAL HEALTH.”

recently read an editorial column from Forbes Magazine that shed some light on the millennial generation. It was an interesting read that can serve as a learning tool for us all. Contrary to popular opinion, millennials aren’t all entitled slackers. They are actually very successful; in fact, millennials represent 23% of the world’s millionaires.

Shocking? Not really.

This is the generation that has created Airbnb, Tinder, Dropbox, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Facebook, to name just a few. They’ve disrupted well-established business models and created new ones, and even new industries. And what’s the driving force behind their success?

Many millennial company founders point to a level of personal development and immense belief in themselves. Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky sites a quote by Wayne Gretzky, “Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it’s been,” as his personal motto, speaking of his drive to always move forward.

How does this relate to our world of martial arts? Studies on this kind of success story, from both anecdotal and psychology perspectives, agree that self-worth and self-esteem can be major influencer’s on one’s net worth. Those who believe they are worth more tend to get more. There is a very real connection to selfworth and net worth.

With that said, it seems people in all industries are prone to unhealthy relationships with money. However, there are three axioms that seem to hold true: • People who save often have a higher level of self-esteem.

• People who save above-average amounts are more likely to closely track their finances.

• People who save above-average amounts are more likely to push themselves out of their comfort zones.

Just as eating right and exercising is essential for your body’s longterm health, we should be honing our business acumen to secure our long-term financial health. Ultimately, you can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself. Take some time out of your busy schedule to think about yourself as a long-term investment. Do you place enough value on your martial arts services so that your clients do as well? By teaching martial arts, you are changing lives and, if you so choose, you can and should be compensated well for your services.

So why is it that so many school owners struggle to make martial arts a full-time career? There’s no one answer, but one young entrepreneur, Sydney Campos, takes a clear stand on the issue.

“We’ve been conditioned to listen to our first-presenting thought, which is usually rooted in a fear, a scarcity, a doubt, an old pattern, an old imprint,” Campos explains.

We often hear of martial artists resisting change and growth because of “tradition” or because that’s how it was done by their teacher. When we hear of a school closing, far too often it’s because the owner was stuck in his or her ways, and didn’t take the necessary steps to change with the times. But that’s why we exist here at MAIA, to help martial arts school owners grow and thrive. Growth requires change.

There are so many great phrases or quotes to call upon for inspiration.

A personal favorite of mine is from Alexander Graham Bell: “The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.” For the next couple of months, think about what small actions you can take to push yourself towards success. Ask more questions. Create a plan. Get a mentor. Do something to get out of your comfort zone.

As we move into the holiday season, I urge you to take calculated action. There are so many valuable (and often free) resources out there for you – on Facebook alone there is the Small Schools Forum, Century Martial Arts School Network and MAIA Hub groups. Join us there. If you haven’t already, check out the collaboration by Century and MAIA on the Holiday Kit. There are how-to videos, flyers, and many other planning tools to help you generate some great momentum to carry you into the holidays and through the new year.

As always, call us if you need help with a plan or just need a few tips on where to start. We exist for you and because of you. Make November a great month! e mK yle Young is the Martial Arts Industry Association Division Manager and can be reached at kyoung@masuccess.com.

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“

Often, when we discuss gratitude, we think of saying thank you to someone for something they have done for us. However, is true appreciation merely expressing thankfulness? Think of it this way: if someone gives you a gift and you say “thank you,” but after receiving it, you place it in storage somewhere and never use it or take the time to care for it, were you really appreciative of the gift? Gratitude is more than just speaking words. It requires us to live in a way that shows genuine gratefulness for the blessings we have received.

• What specific action can they take that will demonstrate their gratitude to someone?

• What are some actions of gratitude?

Ask your students: • Why is it important to do more than just say thank you?

~John F. Kennedy

”

L::@ ILD

• Challenge your students to find one person they can express gratitude to each week of November.

• Who can they express their gratitude towards?

• What are some of the things for which they are grateful?

• Why would Cicero say that gratitude is the parent of all other virtues?

Ask your students:

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

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November 2009

A few months ago, we discussed teamwork and how, even in the martial arts, it takes a team for anyone to be highly successful. Gratitude is the recognition of what others have contributed to our success, and our expression of appreciation for those contributions. Your students have much they can express gratitude for – family, friends, the martial arts, and many other things. Encourage them to think about the many blessings they have been given, and to take time to express their gratitude for those blessings.

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• What makes them feel appreciated?

• How can they regularly express their gratitude to others?

• How does their martial arts training help them understand the importance of gratitude?

Ask your students:

~William A. Ward

”

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• How can we make sure that those around us feel appreciated?

• Why do we develop a bad attitude when we feel unappreciated?

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

Those around us will not know how much we appreciate them until we take the time to express our gratitude. As we learned in week three, feeling appreciated can make an important difference in someone’s attitude. Be sure to take the time to express your gratitude to your students and (if applicable) their parents. Because they have chosen you to conduct their martial arts training, you have the opportunity to impact their lives in a very positive way. Be sure they know of your appreciation for this opportunity.

”

• How do they feel when others express appreciation for them?

Ask your students:

:MEG:HH>C< <G6I>IJ9: >H >BEDGI6CI

November 2009

When we are made to feel appreciated, both through words and actions, it makes a significant impact on our self-perceptions. We gain confidence, we have a more positive outlook, and we demonstrate greater kindness towards others. Unfortunately, the opposite also is true. When we do not feel appreciated, we tend to lack self-confidence, have a negative attitude, and become mean-spirited. This is why gratitude is highly valued in the martial arts. We know that expressing gratitude is an important part of character development.

<G6I>IJ9: >BE68IH DJG H:A;"8DC;>9:C8:

~Virginia Arcastle

When people are made to feel secure and important and appreciated, it will no longer be necessary for them to whittle down others in order to seem bigger by comparison.

SIMPLIFY THE WAY YOU

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“

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L::@ DC: November 2009

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What are your students thankful for?

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MASUCCESS

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FEATURED STORY

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BUILDING A BIG BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH Lynchburg, Virginiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lawrence Arthur, a scrappy 1970s fighter, grew his business from a small Virginia location to an association with 20 storefront schools and 20 more satellite operations. A low-profile, behind-the-scenes powerhouse, Arthur promulgates an Americanized style he created that leans toward training instructors and building champions. Some of his competition-oriented students have won world titles. Here, he shares his wisdom about what it takes to succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

By Herb Borkland

DECEMBER 2017

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;1976 was a banner year for the young instructor.

By then, Arthur had four years of daily practical experience in running a school and was constantly involved in tournament competition. He had also absorbed the then-current business strategies, marketing tools and management-services wisdom of some major movers and shakers.â&#x20AC;?

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FEATURED STORY One story that circulated about Lawrence Arthur happened in 1980. To publicize Chuck Norris’ ninja movie, The Octagon, Orion Pictures ran a “Chuck Norris Free for a Day” contest to be won by whatever American martial arts school enrolled the most new students in a single month. Arthur triumphed by signing up 108 fresh white belts. Here’s the kicker: when told the winning school was in Virginia, Norris reportedly said, “It’s got to be Lawrence Arthur!”

How did Arthur win? With every way he could think of! One of his students managed movie theaters, so Arthur printed bumper stickers announcing “Survive a Ninja Attack!” promotions.

Students who dressed up at night in ninja costumes became silhouettes creeping across shopping-center rooftops. As shoppers stopped to watch the spectacle, other students jumped out of the darkness, slapped Arthur school stickers worth two free movie tickets on their clothes and shouted, “You survived!”

VIP invitations were also sent out in a mail-marketing program, and a half-page ad in newspapers offering three years of training for only a $159 maintenance fee. Lead boxes to win free memberships were put out everywhere. Anybody who registered received a copy of the newspaper ad along with a letter stating, “You won!”

“Those were trial programs,” Arthur explains today, “and there were lots of dropouts later. But, that month, we had 108 new three-year contracts. Hosting a day with Chuck was a great pleasure. I even got him to sign all my magazines with him on the cover [laughter].”

These days, Lawrence Arthur, founder of the American Freestyle Karate Association (AFKA), has instructors in his system with schools grossing $100,000 a month. His association currently includes about 20 storefront schools in 15 cities and seven states and some 20 satellite operations.

Arthur’s satellites, which he calls “incubators,” are unlike anyone else’s in our industry. The three most recent storefront schools were begun in hotel ballrooms, upstairs above a thrift shop and even in the back room of a tattoo parlor!

According to Arthur, these unique sites make perfect business sense.

It allows an aspiring school owner to build a following with inexpensive overhead. Consequently, he says the minimum gross costs of moving into a commercial storefront can be paid before the new owners open their doors!

DECEMBER 2017

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FEATURED STORY

Humble Beginnings To better understand the origins of Arthur’s business model, it helps to revisit the late 1960s, when he began his own training. This was the era of drab, cut-rate, little schools known as “dungeon dojos.”

However, a streamlined modern approach to teaching traditional arts also began to assert itself.

Starting modestly in 1957 with Tracy’s Karate, whole chains of franchised martial arts centers started opening up across the country, including those of Jhoon Rhee in the mid-1960s and Chuck Norris in the late 1960s.

In 1968, 14-year-old Lawrence Arthur began his training in shorin-ryu the old-fashioned way — by getting knocked flat on his back!

One day, teenaged Arthur started messing around with a floor guard at the local skating rink, but the guard shrugged him off. “I beat guys like you with my hands behind my back,” the guard boasted. When challenged to prove it, the guard turned sideways and put his hands behind his back, and Arthur jumped at him.

“It was the first chest kick I ever saw. I was on the ground looking up, thinking, ‘What in the world just happened?’ He became my first instructor, a brown belt who taught me in my mom’s basement. My parents didn’t like it, but I fell in love with martial arts.”

In those days, if you cared as much about learning karate as Arthur did, learning new

techniques outweighed the formal niceties of styles and belt ranks. Training was catch-as-catch-can in Lynchburg. So, Arthur also began working out after school with a Chinese kung-fu adept at a local church.

“I studied everything I could from anybody I could find to teach me,” Arthur admits.

“Jimmy Horsley came up with me under Walter Chen, so sometimes we’d split the class and teach a little ourselves. Randy Williams, a protégé of Jerry Piddington’s, taught Horsley and me.

“Over the years, I’ve continued to study many styles, including kung-fu, taekwondo, aikido and American karate. It [sounds disorganized, but] it was a good lineage to Americanize.”

“[In 1976,] I was just married and opened the [Lynchburg] school for $300 a month rent. I told my wife, ‘If we can make that much a week, we can make it, honey.’ We charged [just] $28 dollars a month tuition.”

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FEATURED STORY

Keeping It Real Arthur never was some opportunistic entrepreneur dabbling in a then highly fashionable novelty. On the contrary, this tough young man wanted, as they said in the 1960s, to “keep it real.”

So, in 1969, as a more-or-less brown belt, Arthur competed in his first tournament.

The following year, he started full-contact training at a time when “going hard” made an important personal statement about both the competitor’s faith in himself and in his fighting art. Arthur went on to win a solid competitive reputation in 1970s East Coast forms, weapons and full-contact.

Arthur received his formal black belt from the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) in 1972 and immediately opened his

first school in Martinsville, Virginia. He was already teaching his own eclectic brand of competition-focused karate. He had limitless smarts and indomitable energy, but little or no experience running a school. So, just as he had done as a learning fighter, now he set out to get a business education.

“Early in the 1970s,” Arthur recalls, “the ATA’s Richard Reed ran a Black Belt magazine ad reading, ‘Earn $50,000 a year teaching martial arts!’ I was 18, so I called him up and was invited to come to Omaha to learn how. First, I was given a 13-page script to memorize. During the next week-anda-half, I studied with Grandmaster Haeng Ung Lee and Master Reed, who gave me a recommended black belt.”

“This was my first taste of what martial arts business is all about. Nowadays, [ATA Grandmaster] Bill Clark is my mentor. He taught me a lot about running a karate school.”

1976 was a banner year for the young instructor. By then, Arthur had four years of daily practical experience in running a school and was constantly involved in tournament competition. He had also absorbed the thencurrent business strategies, marketing tools and management-services wisdom of some major movers and shakers. Lessons learned, he closed the Martinsville school, moved back to Lynchburg to open his new American Taekwondo Academy and got married.

(Contuned on page 37) DECEMBER 2017

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FEATURED STORY

About American Freestyle Karate Lawrence Arthur announced the formation of his American Freestyle Karate (AFK) system in 1977.

Many factors led up to the creation of his own style. Among them was the flexibility of running a traditions-tinged new fighting system without having to answer to any national and international superiors. Arthur’s style was partially inspired by the highly attractive blend of ancient good manners and business innovations learned through his connection to the American Taekwondo Association.

Arthur states, “I took tough lessons from tournaments and fighting and got to study with a lot of different people. AFK is a documented selfdefense and personal-development system, with manuals and DVDs through 10th dan.”

What makes it American?

“Kicking is all central-chambered like in Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace’s style, and designed for competition. Hands combine Western boxing with aikido knife-defenses. Our footwork comes from kenpo and Joe Lewis’s angling attacks, never backing up. The principles are not the same as karate — more Americanized.”

How is it documented?

“I went on Lynchburg cable-TV in 1991 to produce a public-access show. I did 26 hours of Dynamics of American Freestyle Karate, which gave me a way to document the entire system. Each episode played once a week, the same one repeated for a month, and the show went on for years. We also published a manual covering the entire system.

“I documented my style so we can pass it on,” Arthur concludes. “I license it to my students directly so they can pass it down to their black belts.”

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FEATURED STORY

“[Of his Nautilus Center, Arthur explains,] I had a thousand-squarefeet, 12 machines and no parking, and my karate school was up the street a quartermile away. So, we took over an old A&P supermarket, combined both businesses, and ended up with 15,000 square feet! Huge spaces for every activity imaginable.”

from a Low-Rent Dojo to a Mega-Fitness Center “I was just married and opened the school for $300 a month rent. I told my wife, ‘If we can make that much a week, we can make it, honey.’ We charged [just] $28 dollars a month. ATA taught the sales incentive of stating the fee was normally $45 a month. But, if you enroll today, you got it for the $28 fee we actually charged.”

First schools are for what Arthur calls “starving artists.”

As to difficulties getting a new location started back in the 1970s, he’s candid.

“You worked full-time, but didn’t need a lot of income because of low overhead,” Arthur says. “You had to do demos.

You worked at the school all day long, looking for a better way. I’d do anything to promote my school, but there weren’t very many resources back then, so you just did what your buddies (other school owners) did.

“We went to tournaments and sold supplies and trophies there. We cleared $500 a weekend because nobody else was doing it,” he says. “I began competing in

forms, weapons and fighting every weekend somewhere on the East Coast.

Guys came to day class wondering if I won or not because, if I lost, I was [hard as] hell on them. [I was hard] because I was preparing myself for the next weekend’s tournament [laughter].”

That same year, Arthur won three out of four professional full-contact matches and began hosting the Top Ten Nationals Karate Championships.

“My lead mentor back then was Bill Marr, who managed two of Chuck Norris’ schools in Virginia Beach. He taught me, ‘Be as modern as you can be.’”

In those days, as all the owners quickly learned, that meant “Americanizing” the old ways of teaching. Students were now becoming younger and younger and more females started taking classes.

Just as dojos were changing with the times, old-fashioned gymnasiums were also undergoing a revolution with the first wave of exercise machines.

Arthur listened to a Chuck Norris black belt, photographer Dick Tirschel, who suggested that Arthur open a Nautilus Center.

This was an inspired and gutsy gamble only a master salesman could have pulled off. In those days, you had to pay for the machines before they were manufactured. Arthur consulted an Atlanta-based businessman and took away 13 pages of notes on how to do a presale, run ads and lease a building.

Amazingly, he presold 400 memberships!

“We sold them a dream,” Arthur recalls. “I had a thousand square-feet, 12 Nautilus machines and no parking, and my karate school was up the street a quarter-mile away. So, we took over an old A&P supermarket, combined both businesses, and ended up with 15,000 square feet! Huge! Spaces for every activity imaginable.”

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Steady Growth The pattern of hard work, constant study and enviable success was now normal, and Lawrence Arthur’s career became a year-byyear chronicle of moves upward.

In the early 1980s, Arthur founded the American Freestyle Karate Association (AFKA). He founded the AFKA Tournament Circuit and promoted the AFKA National Finals. He made the 1982 edition of Who’s Who in Martial Arts. In 1986, he established the Super Kicks Karate licensing program, to grow his style and protect its future. His first licensed Super Kicks was opened by James Perlini in Pawtucket, Rhode Island — and is still thriving there today.

Still a fierce competitor, in 1994 he became a member of the DKT Force One National Karate Team and, the following year, won the Heavyweight Fighting Division at the World Karate Organization’s World Championships in Trinidad, West Indies.

1998 saw Arthur founding and coaching the AFKA National Competition Team, many of whose members won world titles in National BlackBelt League (NBL) tournaments. In 2000, NBL named Arthur NBL “Arbitrator of the Year.”

The Super Kicks Academies grew to three and then four locations. Arthur founded the AFKA Hall of Fame and, ultimately, received the mantle of grandmaster.

“In 2000, I began to focus on growing Super Kicks Academy,” he explains. “I always wanted ten schools; now I’m shooting for a thousand. We opened the AFKA Hall of Fame banquet to recognize great leaders. I was a black belt by then for many decades, but I had to start rising in rank in order to give my students room for promotions.”

As the new century went on, a sixth and seventh academy location was opened, and, in 2004, Arthur was honored as a sport karate “Living Legend” by Professor Gary Lee of the Sport Karate Museum in Houston.

“Arthur’s satellites, which he calls ‘incubators,’ are unlike anyone else’s in our industry. The three most recent storefront schools were launched in hotel ballrooms, upstairs above a thrift shop and even in the back room of a tattoo parlor! He says it allows an aspiring school owner to build a following with inexpensive overhead. Consequently, the minimum gross costs of moving into a commercial storefront can be paid before the new owners open their doors!”

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Marketing Strategies Arthur cultivates his instructors and staff from within his association. AFKA’s staff receive 300 hours of training every year. There are two meetings a week, which typically last more than two hours.

“We run our schools by the numbers, and numbers don’t lie,” Arthur states.

Toward that end, the AFKA system believes in the “one-out-of-10” philosophy.

In order to sign up one new white belt every day, you need to make 10 appointments.

“We don’t have a landline phone, nor do we market in phonebooks — and newspapers are dead [today]. We don’t want to wait for prospects to look for us. We go after them every day,” Arthur says.

Recruiting involves inviting people to come to the school every day. For example, conduct clipboarding in parking lots or pizza places,

taking surveys to start conversations, then enticing prospects with an offer to join the school.

“Text new prospects immediately,” Arthur urges. “Build a relationship with them. Every staff member does that 10 times a day.”

Super Kicks also has enjoyed much success working leads from Virginia-area festivals.

They work with Big Brothers and Big Sisters, so they can be in booths outdoors, raising money for local charities and also adding: “Let me give you a free membership.” Every year in the Lynchburg area during the summer, there are typically at least 13 festivals.

“We have a handicapped employee who works from home,” Arthur says, “searching the net and other sources, because something is always going on somewhere.”

So, what’s his personal secret to success?

“Do you want to know the honest truth?”

Lawrence Arthur sits back, smiling, before making his final point. “The harder I worked, the luckier I got.” e m Herb Borkland of Front Royal, VA can be reached at herbork@comcast.net.

To learn more about how many other independent martial arts organizations operate, check out the Martial Arts Industry Association’s website at www.maiahub.com.

Through this constantly-enhanced website, members can access an enormous amount of useful information for school owners on just about any topic from A to Z.

DECEMBER 2017

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THE DIGITAL DOJO

Are Your Marketing Emails Too Impersonal to Be Effective?

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mail marketing is an effective way of staying in touch with both current students and prospects, if you do it right.

The mistake that I see a lot of martial arts schools make is sending out “impersonal” emails.

BY STEPHEN Martial arts instruction isn’t impersonREINSTEIN al. It’s a deeply meaningful experience for students — and they want to feel that it is for “WHEN YOU you, too.

EMAIL PEOPLE Now, of course, you don’t have time to sit DIRECTLY down and write a personalized email to every IN YOUR person on your list. That wouldn’t be cost-efNAME, THEY’LL fective or practical. But what you do have NOTICE IT AND time to do is to make a few simple changes.

RESPOND This way, your emails are aimed directly at TO IT.” your subscribers instead of at some faceless prospect.

Here are three tips that can help.

Tip #1: Send Emails from Your Account, Not Your School When you send out emails, do you send them from a school account? I understand why a lot of martial arts school owners do that, but it’s a mistake.

The average person gets a ton of marketing emails every day. Every time he/she makes a purchase or signs up for a list, they add another potential source of incoming email. It can all start to feel impersonal and overwhelming.

If one of your prospects or current students sees an email from the school, he/she might be tempted to ignore it. But, if they see an email from you — their trusted friend and sensei — they’ll pay attention.

This is a technique that was first used by politicians and has become widespread because of its effectiveness.

This is a simple switch to make. Yet, it can have a huge impact on the ROI (return on investment) of your marketing emails. When you email people directly in your name, they’ll notice it and respond to it.

Tip #2: Get Your Subscribers to Respond to Your Emails If you’re using autoresponder software to send your marketing emails, there’s a good chance that your recipients’ email providers are classifying them as “promotional” emails.

That might not sound like a bad thing. After all, they are promotional emails. But, it can make a difference in how visible they are in your subscribers’ inboxes.

You want your emails to be seen. If you can have them classified as “personal,” they’ll have a bigger impact than they do if they’re seen as promotional.

Fortunately, there’s a quick fix for this problem. If you can get your subscribers to respond to your emails just once, it will show Gmail (or whichever provider they’re using) that your emails aren’t just faceless promotions.

Here are some suggestions to help you get those responses: 1. Will I see you in class this week? (A good question for current students.)

2. Send me a quick reply (yes/no) if you’ve ever considered enrolling in a martial arts class! (A good question for prospects.)

With any luck, you’ll get a ton of responses that can help you connect with current students, enroll prospects, and change the way email providers classify your emails.

Tip #3: Keep Your Email Format Simple If you send out a monthly newsletter, you might be using an elaborate template for it. There’s nothing wrong with that.

For your regular marketing emails, though, it’s a good idea to keep things simple.

You want your emails to look the same way they would if you were sending a personal email to a friend. Marketing emails that are too hyped up, with fancy logos and social-following buttons, scream, “I’m selling something!”

A subtle appeal is often more effective than a hard-sales pitch. The low-key approach is what I prefer for marketing emails, because it underlines the personal nature of the email. You are selling to people, and your emails should reflect that.

While you’re at it, it’s also a good idea to keep the language of your emails free of hype. You can be enthusiastic and persuasive, but be yourself. Talk to your subscribers the same way you talk to students at your school.

Conclusion Email marketing should be simple. When a student or prospect gives you his/her email, they’re giving you access to them outside of the school. Implementing these three tips will show them that you respect their time and want to connect on a personal level. e

m Stephen Reinstein can be reached at stephen@marketmuscles.com or (866) 259-0776.

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AGUIDE

HOLIDAY FEATURETTE

STEP

BY

STEP

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FOR MAXIMIZING HOLIDAY SALES

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December can be one of your most profitable months if you hold a Holiday Sale at your school.

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a Quick Guide showing you how to do it right.

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Step 1 Decide when you’re going to hold your sale.

We recommend your sale be sometime in mid-November.

Remember, all custom orders must be placed to Century Martial Arts in Oklahoma City no later than December 1st in order to guarantee delivery by Christmas.

Saturday is the best day to hold your sale, and four hours is usually a good window. The best time to hold your sale is from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Step 3 Start promoting your event.

You’ve probably seen big stores with their holiday decorations up as early as October. Follow their lead. Start spreading the word about your sale now. Hang posters in your school, hand out flyers and send out reminder emails. (You’ll find free downloadable tools, like posters, on Century’s holiday kit website, www.CenturyMartialArts.com/ HolidayKit. Use them to help promote your sale.) Social media is also a good tool to spread the word. Facebook Live videos, stop-motion videos, pictures and flyers are a great way to capture attention.

The best thing you can do is to give each student or his/her parents a personalized phone call, and recommend a specific item you think will benefit their training. This does not mean to stretch the truth to sell products! It is expert advice to give them the chance to buy a beneficial item at a great price! Who doesn’t want that opportunity?

Step 2 Stock up!

Check Century’s Holiday Gift Guide for fun, new holiday items, in addition to classic best-sellers. It is recommended that you stock up on these products in particular: • Items with your school’s logo, like sport bags, freestanding bags, targets and shields • Items fundamental to your school, like uniforms, sparring gear, weapons you use, targets, etc.

• Big items like Wavemasters, BOBs, and Versys bags • Fun items like Nigel the Ninja, BOBbleheads, Photo Frame Ornaments, and Fidget Spinners Have a wide variety in size and price, so there is something for everybody.

Be sure to stock up but not over-order. The goal is to run out. You can always order more.

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Stocking stuffers are always a top-seller. They are affordable and parents love them. Display your stocking stuffers and smaller items together in a fun, creative way.

Step 4 The day before your sale, get the layout set up.

Make sure there’s plenty of open space. You don’t want crowding, and you want your employees to easily see what’s going on.

Be sure to use fun, festive décor to add to the experience and get shoppers in the holiday spirit. Christmas trees, stockings and wrapped presents are a nice touch.

Provide customers with visuals of gifts they could get their loved ones. Seeing a personalized example helps customers envision what they’ll be giving friends and family.

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Step 5 The day of the sale, black out your windows so no one can see what exactly is at the sale.

This builds suspense! Don’t let anyone into the sale early, either.

Your doors should open at exactly on the hour you schedule your sale to start, not a second sooner.

Step 6 Make sure you have enough people working on the floor and as cashiers.

Your staff should be readily available to answer shopper questions, and there shouldn’t be long checkout lines.

Bonus Tip: If you have enough people, you can even offer giftwrapping services!

Step 7 If you ran out of anything during the sale, don’t worry.

Write down any order you weren’t able to fill and place it with Century. (Remember to give your customer the sale price!)

For more information about Holiday Sales, call a helpful Century Sales Representative at (800) 626-2787 or visit www.CenturyMartialArts.com. e DECEMBER 2017

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COLUMN

IN THE CLASSROOM

Are You Staying AGILE? Part 1

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BY DAVE KOVAR

“AS THE SAYING GOES, ‘ENTHUSIASM ISN’T TAUGHT, IT IS CAUGHT.’ NOTHING IN MY MIND CAN BE MORE IMPORTANT TO LONG-TERM TRAINING THAN ENTHUSIASM.”

g’ile Adjective 1. Able to move quickly and easily: “Ruth was as agile as a monkey.” Able to think and understand quickly: “His vague manner concealed an agile mind.”

Synonyms: alert; sharp; acute; shrewd; astute; perceptive; quick-witted.

2. Relating to or denoting a method of project management, used especially for software development, characterized by the division of tasks into short phases of work and frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans.

I believe that being agile is an important and underrated concept for both martial artists and businesspeople. With that in mind, I’ll be using the acronym AGILE for two backto-back columns. Here in Part 1, I’ll share how the acronym AGILE applies to our martial arts training. Next month in Part 2, I’ll address how the acronym AGILE relates to our business.

Most of us have heard the old saying, “You are only young once.” This may be true, but there’s a lot that we can do to slow down the detrimental effects that aging can have on our martial arts skill.

Active — Most of us that have trained for any length of time have neglected some aspect of our skill set long enough that, when we went back to it, we felt rusty. Others may have found their skills had diminished.

This can be addressed simply by staying active. My experience has shown me that I don’t have to spend massive amounts of time to maintain my skills in a particular area.

For example, by simply sparring light for 15 minutes a week consistently, I feel like I’m keeping my skills pretty sharp and rust-free.

As my father always says, “a little of something is better than a lot of nothing.”

Game — This is another way of saying, “stay hungry.” Being game means you are up to the task. It means that you’re fighting apathy and mediocrity. It means that you’re willing to train when others might not be.

Whenever I’m not feeling “Game,” (which is frequently, by the way) I call upon a few quotes that have been valuable to me over the years.

Here they are: “Once you stop trying to be better, you quit being good.”

“In order to be a champion, you have to fight like a challenger.”

“The enemy of excellence is good enough.”

Introspective — Many people would consider this one of the most important qualities needed for improvement. Being introspective means that you are constantly analyzing your skills and training methods, looking for ways that you can improve. It also means that you try to stay open to feedback.

This usually is easy when you’re a beginner, but if you’re not careful, it can prove to be more difficult the longer you train. As the saying goes, “In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s, there are few.” That’s why it’s important to try to practice shoshin, or “beginner’s mind.”

Lean — Over time, if we are not careful, we could find ourselves carrying baggage that we don’t need. It might be extra pounds, limiting beliefs or trying to juggle too many areas of focus. Staying lean when we’re training not only refers to keeping fit, but also having a clear area of focus that will help keep us on track.

Enthusiastic — As the saying goes, “Enthusiasm isn’t taught, it is caught.” Nothing in my mind can be more important to long-term training than enthusiasm. It is the X Factor that makes it fun. It’s what inspires our teammates and training partners. Staying enthusiastic is what will keep us in the game longer.

Experience has shown me that even when I don’t feel naturally enthusiastic, if I act the part I can usually get there pretty quickly. Enthusiasm can’t be taught, but it can indeed be caught. That’s why we usually enjoy having highly motivated, excited training partners.

Applying the AGILE acronym to our training will definitely help us stay the path in martial arts, and it can also help us improve our business. Next month, I will discuss how. e mY ou can contact Master Dave Kovar at dave.kovar@kovars.com.

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WARNING: MANY Martial Arts Schools are SUFFERING from Low Enrollment!

Hello, my name is Dr. Robyn Silverman. As a Child and Adolescent Development Expert, it’s discouraging to see Martial Arts Schools suffering right now. You deserve better, don’t you? Your students deserve better too, don’t they?

Many of our Powerful Words clients are enjoying great success right now because they’ve learned exactly what parents are looking for from a great martial arts academy... a safe and fun place for their children to develop physical fitness and character. Parents have made one thing clear; the academy they choose must teach both.

I’d like to personally invite you to test drive our internationally-acclaimed Character Development System RIGHT NOW and watch your school’s success skyrocket. Visit our website at www.PowerfulWords.com and click on the GET STARTED NOW Button or give us a call at (877) 769-3799 now to find out how.

—Dr. Robyn

Dr. Robyn Silverman Martial Arts Industry’s Leading Child Development Expert

As seen on:

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Martial Arts Schools choose K&K for our understanding of the coverage needs that sports and recreation organizations require.

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www.asfpaymentsolutions.com Section_3.indd 49

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FEATURED STORY

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WHY SHOULD MY STUDENTS COMPETE? Competing in tournaments is a productive activity for your business. It can teach your students how to set goals, develop their public-speaking and communication skills, and open up many opportunities for you to improve your school. If competition and the training required for it are handled properly, young students will be more inspired to practice martial arts than ever before.

by Jackson Rudolph

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I’m widely considered the top bo staff competitor in the world today, based on my success in major sport karate tournaments.

I’ve performed championship-level bo staff routines at the U.S. Open on ESPN2 seven times, twice at the Martial Arts SuperShow in Las Vegas, and have appeared on ESPN’s SportsNation teaching host Michelle Beadle how to use a bo staff.

My success in competition gave me the widespread exposure to be hired to teach over 150 seminars around the world and become a member of the longest-sponsored team in martial arts, Team Paul Mitchell Karate. With that said, it is apparent how instrumental competing in tournaments has been to my personal success. But I want to show you how allowing and encouraging your students to compete can improve your students as practitioners and your business.

Many school owners in the past that have brought me in for an event or a seminar preface my visit with a “status” statement.

They say, “Well, our students don’t compete, but we wanted to host this event to gain some excitement in the school.”

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“Aside from the winning and losing that will inevitably be involved, your students can also learn some extremely valuable life skills by competing.

There are the obvious benefits of learning how to work hard and train towards a goal learning how to be humble in victory and respectful in defeat. These are great attributes, but there are a lot of hidden benefits that instructors typically miss.”

First, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. Hosting a seminar is an excellent way to increase excitement within your school. But, if your students were to compete, that excitement would have much more longevity than just during a single-weekend seminar. Sure, students can set their goals by working to master new techniques that they learn in regular classes or in seminars. But sometimes, that form of goal-setting is very difficult for students to grasp.

It’s human nature to want to strive to be better than your peers. Especially at a young age, we naturally want to excel in everything that we attempt. Adults realize that it’s simply not possible to be the best at everything, but kids are always going to try.

When handled improperly, this motivation can be a frustrating and confusing experience for many students. In this article, I’ll discuss the correct way to teach your students how to handle competition — to help them set goals as opposed to allowing it to be a negative experience.

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Hidden Benefits

Aside from the winning and losing that will inevitably be involved, your students can also learn some extremely valuable life skills by competing. There are the obvious benefits of learning how to work hard and train towards a goal learning how to be humble in victory and respectful in defeat.

These are great attributes, but there are a lot of hidden benefits that instructors typically miss. This article will give you the keys to using competition as a way to teach students performance and public-speaking skills, communication skills, boost their confidence, and how to learn simply by observing others.

Just as there are many hidden benefits for the students that a school owner can unlock, there are just as many that your business can take advantage of as well, if your students compete regularly. Students wearing your uniforms at tournaments is easy brand marketing. Having a competition team provides you with new upgrade programs and curriculum boosters. Hosting inter-school tournaments is an awesome way to excite your clientele and put some extra money in your pocket on a weekend. Merchandise and private-lesson sales can also boost your profits, when your students compete in tournaments.

So, there’s a litany of benefits that arise from encouraging competition among your students that may have never even crossed your mind. You might even already have a competition team and have been supporting tournaments for a long time. Nevertheless, perhaps you never recognized so many different ways to increase retention and revenue by using this valuable resource. Even small regional tournaments can have a huge impact on your students.

One of the defining moments of my martial arts career occurred when I was just an eight-year-old boy. I was attending a small tournament in Tennessee called “Rumble on the River.” Renowned traditional forms competitor E.J. Greer gave me his grand championship trophy! Back then, the grand championship round was open to any divisional winner that day of any rank and age. I chose to compete against him, even though I really had no chance to win.

Mr. Greer probably doesn’t even remember that tournament, let alone the trophy he gave me that day. But it was a magic moment for me! It inspired me to continue practicing and competing in the martial arts.

Competition will improve the quality of your students and lead them to longer careers in the martial arts if handled properly.

And it will certainly help you become a better business owner.

“It needs to be stressed repeatedly in competition classes — and in private lessons with students that are going to compete soon — that it is perfectly okay to lose. The typical rationale I give is that there will always be another karate tournament!”

Goal-Setting

It’s rather apparent what the overall concept for this first benefit is. If a student goes to a tournament and receives, say, third-place honors, then his or her next goal will be to finish in second or first place.

Despite the fact that the concept is pretty straightforward, the execution is not quite as simple.

For example, what happens when little Johnny places third and walks off the mat crying because he didn’t win first place?

What happens on Monday when his parents step into your office and want to talk about terminating their contract?

The answer is that you should never allow either of those scenarios to occur. I understand that this is more easily said than done, but bear with me. It needs to be stressed repeatedly in competition classes — and in private lessons with students that are going to compete soon — that it is perfectly okay to lose. The typical rationale I give is that there will always be another karate tournament!

Even if your student makes it to the finals of the biggest karate tournament in the world and loses by one one-hundredth of a point, that same tournament is still going to happen again next year!

This is obviously not a perfect solution.

There will always be students that simply cannot be content with that. I have young students that are world champions and ranked in the top two or three in the world for their age category. Yet, they still occasionally cry when they lose or make a mistake.

This is normal. They are kids, and no one likes to lose. The crying will disappear with age. But while they are young, the best way to handle that disappointment is to be there for them and don’t be afraid to give them a

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hug. Then, once they have calmed down, use the loss as a learning experience.

If anything, a loss shouldn’t be the reason to quit martial arts. It should be a source of inspiration to train harder and perform better at the next event. Sometimes, though, none of these tactics work. You wind up with upset parents in your office because little Johnny didn’t win and he doesn’t like karate anymore.

Fortunately, this isn’t the point of no return. The strategy that I have been a part of — and have found to be very effective many times — is to go to the person that student looks up to the most. Once every student goes to a large martial arts tournament or is even just shown some of the top competitor’s performances on YouTube, there will almost always be one champion that they look up to and relate to the most.

As one of these competitors, I can assure you that most of us are more than happy to talk to a student on the phone or even send him/her a video telling them we have their back and want them to keep training hard.

Keeping students happy when tournaments don’t go their way can be difficult. But, if handled correctly, competition can be extremely rewarding and will always supply new goals for your students to strive for and accomplish.

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“[Business-wise,] students will want to take advantage of being in a specially-selected [competition team] and will likely pay the additional monthly fee. A $10-$20 upgrade will add up quickly for, say, a 20-member competition team.

Second, it will inspire your lowerranked students to train harder so they can one day be a member of the team. The team will also provide marketing for your school.”

Valuable Skills

I hope you are starting to see a common theme in this article, in that the beginning levels of each topic are quite simple. By competing in tournaments, students will learn three key human values: humility, respect for their competitors, and important discipline training in the classes leading up to a tournament.

However, there are so many other important skills that come from competing.

School owners could miss these because they aren’t quite as obvious as the three aforementioned benefits. One of the most valuable skills that I learned through competing is public speaking.

Imagine if I had gone through all the same training and reached the same level of performance that I am at now, but never once competed in a tournament. Then, let’s say a school owner hears about me and brings me in for a seminar. In this scenario, I would have no idea how to demonstrate or explain techniques to a dojo full of people, because I’ve never been put under that pressure despite being a great martial artist!

This skill expands beyond martial arts.

Your young students will need to develop public-speaking skills as part of their lives.

It can play an instrumental role for a school project, a job interview, or when presenting a

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WHAT TOURNAMENT IS RIGHT FOR MY SCHOOL? It becomes increasingly apparent throughout the main article that encouraging your students to compete in tournaments is truly beneficial to the students and to your school. But where does one find tournaments? If you’re part of an association, there’s a good chance that it has some form of tournament circuit or at least one large annual tournament.

The American TaeKwonDo Association (ATA) is one of the world’s largest martial arts organizations. It conducts a massive competition circuit that’s split into regional, district, national and world levels. Other organizations, such as the United Fighting Arts Federation (UFAF) and Tiger-Rock, have large tournaments that are held annually.

Any form of competition hosted by your school’s organization is a great place to start.

But there is a downside. These tournaments are typically “closed” to outside styles and schools, so that only members of your organization can participate. An alternative would be to try “open” tournaments, where students from any organization or art/style can compete.

The next step up would be to find a regional circuit in your area. Regional circuits typically promote five to 10 open tournaments per year within a six-hour drive of your home, depending on where you live. For example, the northeastern U.S. has KRANE and the southeast has the PRO-MAC circuit.

Regional circuits provide an excellent opportunity for your students to learn from and compete alongside competitors from all over your region.

If your students are successful at regional events and want to further challenge themselves, ultimately you may want to introduce them to world-rated circuits. The North American Sport Karate Association (NASKA) has been the pinnacle of sport karate competition in America for as long as I have been alive. This is where all of the world’s best competitors test their skills.

The National Blackbelt League (NBL) is another world circuit based in the United States that features a lot of world-class talent.

There are several other international leagues that hold events in the U.S., such as the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO) and International Sport Karate Association (ISKA), which hosts the annual U.S. Open, the world’s largest martial arts tournament.

There are many different levels that your students can compete at. The type of competition that is best for your school depends on several factors. If you are not associated with a franchise or larger corporation, you may wish to jump straight to a regional circuit. If you have a successful competition team, world tournaments may be the way to go.

If you are completely lost, an Internet search for “karate tournaments near me” will generally give you some options. No matter what circuit or league you decide to have your students compete in, the tournament experience will provide many benefits for your school and students.

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business plan to coworkers later in life.

The best thing about learning public speaking from competition is that it comes together all by itself. The vast majority of tournaments expect competitors to enter the forms ring and introduce themselves before performing. All it takes is a student to learn how to properly present his/her introduction and they’re already starting to develop those public-speaking skills at a very young age.

The ability to communicate with adults is another key trait that students obtain in competition. This is another often overlooked skill.

Communication skills are especially important in today’s world of social media, where children don’t have to communicate face-to-face like they had to do in the past. At a tournament, the student has to communicate regularly with the judges and scorekeepers, who will often be complete strangers.

This setting can be intimidating at first for the “texting generation.” But once a student has competed at several events, he/she gets more and more comfortable speaking with adults in a professional manner.

Last, students can also learn a ton about the martial arts in general by attending tournaments. Tournaments are home to a wide variety of different styles of martial arts. Your students will see many exciting new traditional techniques and creative tricks.

Some of the most successful competitors are those who can take inspiration from other styles of the martial arts and implement it into their own performances.

Competition can teach your students so much more than what you may have thought initially. Attending tournaments will help them to become better martial artists and better professionals in the future.

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Competition as a Business Benefit

Now, here’s the aspect of competition that many of you probably skipped to when you saw the word “business” in the heading!

Making tournaments a part of your school’s culture can provide a wide array of profitable benefits.

Competition team. Many schools today have a specially selected “competition team.” You can treat this team as an upgrade program, which provides two distinct benefits for the school owner.

First, those students will want to take advantage of being in a specially selected group and will likely pay the additional monthly fee. A $10-$20 upgrade will add up quickly for, say, a 20-member competition team. Second, it will inspire your lowerranked students to train harder so they can one day be a member of the team.

Branding. The team will also provide marketing for your school. Order a set of special uniforms that only the competition team can purchase to compete in. When they attend tournaments, all the spectators see your logo on their back. These same members will no doubt also be a part of your school’s demo team. So, their uniforms will serve as a form of brand marketing in your public demonstrations.

Special competition classes. Even if you choose not to put together and run a competition team, you can still run a weekly competition class to boost your schedule and curriculum. Competition classes tend to be a student favorite, and are also one of the easiest classes to teach.

In the first month of the program, take the students through performance drills that can be found very easily on MADrills.com. Then, once the students have decided what their

competition forms are going to be, you can basically give them open mat for an hour or two per week. All the instructor has to do is supervise the session to make sure everyone is working and give technique tips here and there. He helps them figure out what their competition forms are going to be.

Private lessons. This can be another source of income for the school owner. It would be very difficult to give every student a unique form to do in a class setting. So, when a student comes to you wanting to compete in a “creative forms” event, you can offer him/her a private lesson to design a form just for them.

If you don’t know how to put together a creative performance, there are a multitude of resources for that as well on MADrills.com you could also always seek the help of a toplevel competitor.

Merchandise. Additional revenue can be found in merchandise sales. In order to travel to tournaments, the competition team will need to purchase weapons, carrying bags, customized jackets, and other equipment to properly represent your school. These are all things that Century Martial Arts in Oklahoma City can produce for you to sell to your team members.

Inter-school tournament. Aside from capitalizing on the opportunities that arise from attending tournaments, there are many opportunities for revenue if you decide to stage your own tournament. This doesn’t have to be a world-class event.

Promoting small inter-school tournaments are a great way to help your students gauge where they are in reference to their peers. They provide excitement within the school, since friends and family can come to spectate, and can also put a decent amount of cash in your pocket.

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All it takes is splitting your mat into two to four rings. Assign three of your black belts to judge at each ring. Order a box of 1st- to 3rd-place medals to present to the students.

Charging participants just $10 per event for forms, weapons and sparring can bring in a decent amount of profit on a Saturday.

Regional tournament. If you decide that you enjoy running a small event like that and all goes well, then you may consider going bigger. Rent out a high-school gym and invite other local schools to compete at a regional event. Exercise caution, though. This is much more work. But, it provides a greater revenue opportunity and advertises your school throughout your community.

There are a lot of reasonable ways to make money by putting together a competition team for regional events or even running an event of your own. The best strategy is to take it one step at a time and not rush through the process.

Announce the program and the members of the competition team. Run competition classes and teach private lessons for about three months before the first event. Put together an inter-school tournament as a practice run. Then let your students learn and compete at a larger event.

“Risks” Worth Taking

Many school owners don’t support their students competing because they see several risk factors in doing so. Some might worry that a student will be so discouraged by a loss that he/she won’t enjoy martial arts anymore.

Others have concerns that if their students compete at tournaments and become exposed to other styles, they might drop out to attend a different school.

In my opinion, these two most common concerns that school owners have about competition are not risks at all. Many school owners should be more concerned about their students leaving the school because they’re not allowed to compete in tournaments, because it prohibits their ability to express themselves as martial artists to their full potential.

Then there’s the students-beingdiscouraged factor. That can be handled in two ways. Train your students to use defeat as a motivator, as opposed to a setback.

Train them to handle the losses well when they do happen. In doing so, I believe you’ll never lose a student just because they lost at a tournament.

“Communication skills are especially important in today’s world of social media, where children don’t have to communicate face-to-face like they had to do in the past. At a tournament, the student has to communicate regularly with the judges and scorekeepers, who will often be complete strangers.”

Now, when it comes to leaving your school to train somewhere else at which better competitors train, it’s not that simple! Think about when a family commits to paying tuition to attend your martial arts school. In today’s social-media-driven world, it’s very likely that they have already done background research on the other schools in your area to determine which one was right for them.

Even if they didn’t check out other schools before making a final decision, their family has likely already made friends and developed relationships with the other students at your school. That makes it much more unlikely for them to leave.

Summary

If competition is handled in the way it’s been discussed throughout this article, then you should never lose a client over a tournament. Competing in tournaments can be used to help you and your students in many beneficial ways. It teaches them to set goals. It teaches them valuable skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. And finally, it gives you business opportunities for boosting curriculum, revenue and retention. e m Jackson Rudolph is a 54-time world champion in sport karate across three different circuits, and has taught over 150 seminars worldwide. He has been featured on the ESPN networks for each of the last seven years, with an appearance as a guest on SportsNation in 2014. Jackson is sponsored by the prestigious Team Paul Mitchell Karate, and Century Martial Arts. He has three instructional DVDs available from Hyper Martial Arts and the Jackson Rudolph Signature Series bo staffs available from Century. Contact him at superj001@yahoo.com; (270) 933-7727.

Interested in reading more how-to articles to make your school more profitable and professional? Check out the Martial Arts Industry Association’s website at www. maiahub.com. Members can access thousands of proven, field-tested tips and techniques on just about any martial arts instructional topic from A to Z.

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TURNING POINT

Dr. John Painter: Quitting Show Business Dr. John Painter is the chief instructor at the Gompa Center in Arlington, Texas, the state’s oldest Chinese martial arts school. Beginning in 1957 as a student of Sifu Long-dao Li, Dr. Painter, in 1969, was provided with a letter of lineage naming him the inheritor and head instructor of daoqiquan, the Li family system. He attended Texas Tech University with a double major in Theater and Psychology and specialized in Hypnotherapy. Painter holds a Ph.D. in Chinese Naturopathic medicine and has been teaching Chinese internal martial arts and qigong around the world for over 45 years.

BY HERB BORKLAND

Herb Borkland: Where did you grow up,

In my 20s, I thought I’d be a bodyguard, but was interested in theater and doing magic. So, I went into show business. I did a and what did your dad do? straight-jacket escape on The Merv Griffin Show and opened for IN THIS INSPIRING [famous band leader] Louis Prima. Hanging around nightclubs, I picked John Painter: East Texas. Dad was a lawyer MONTHLY COLUMN, WE up work as a bodyguard, sometimes for the Mafia. for an abstract and title company.

EXAMINE THE PIVOTAL If you advertise self-defense, you need to have defended yourself.

POINT IN A PROMINENT Ninety-eight percent of martial arts teachers never had a real street HB: How did you first hear about martial arts?

BLACK BELT’S CAREER fight. I know about bar and knife fights as well as carrying and using THAT TOOK HIM OR HER firearms.

JP: I was diagnosed with immune deficiency ON TO MAJOR SUCCESS One day at Six Flags Over Texas, doing a Western show, guys when I was 11, and my parents were told I IN MARTIAL ARTS started asking why I was moving like that, and I opened my first probably wouldn’t live to be 18. Late one BUSINESS, SPORTS school soon after. night, I looked out the window at a bluishOR FILMS. white apparition running in circles around a HB: Turning point? pine tree in our next-door neighbor’s yard. I was ill and seeing this “ghost” of a Chinese JP: A series of moments. I was still person scared me to death. acting. I played a bank robber in a hit Six months later, the next-door neighbor, Mr. Li, ended up babysitting me and my sister. film, Benji, and was choreographing movies. One day I decided, “I’m dividing I was 13 or 14. He came in, held my wrist and told me I needed to “practice” and get better. myself too much.” Dreaming of magic or doing a film was He made soup and did my pulses, looked taking away from my at my tongue — this barefoot doctor! I was ordered to lower my chi and eat certain foods, avocation: I am a teacher. I dissolve the mystical but avoid others. Next day, he showed me an exercise to help me get and get down to the better. He stood me beside a pine tree, with my arms curved out, and practical. told me to look at the tree. Was he crazy as a hoot owl?

He saw my doubts and said, “You don’t want to get better? Go home.” Next day, he had three building bricks stacked up with no spacers. He held his palm above the stack and asked me which one I liked. As usual, I had no idea what he meant, but I said, “The middle one.” He exhaled, slapped his hand and the middle one shattered.

While my mind was still reeling, he said, “I am very strong, and I can make you strong.”

HB: Future?

JP: Be true to yourself. Believe in yourself once you find your niche and your talent. Don’t let anyone persuade you to water down or change your beliefs or your goals. If they can, then perhaps you don’t believe in yourself enough yet, and you should find another avenue to express yourself. e m H erb Borkland can be reached at herbork@comcast.net.

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Strategically Dissecting Technique

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ne of the most common questions I get from coaches is, “How do I get my student’s body to perform this specific technique?”

This is a frustration among many caught in endless repetition and zero results. As instructors, we teach our students the

BY JASON HAN way we were taught. But what happens when this approach doesn’t work for a particular individual?

“WHEN Figuring out the reason why someone ASSESSING ANY TYPE OF can’t execute a specific technique is like MARTIAL ARTS a puzzle, and everyone is different. When TECHNIQUE, assessing any type of martial arts techI LOOK AT nique, I look at five major components: FIVE MAJOR mobility, correctives, core stability, strength COMPONENTS: and agility.

MOBILITY, Mobility is the range of motion at each of CORRECTIVES, your different joints. It includes motion at CORE STABILITY, the joint itself as well as all the ligaments, STRENGTH tendons and muscles that surround it.

AND AGILITY. With any dynamic motion, the execution of the technique depends on the relationship between all of the joints in the body.

Imagine trying to perform a turning technique if you are very stiff at the neck or hips. Or, how many of your students come “off axis” and lose their center of balance during a spinning move?

The first step is making sure they have the right amount of mobility at the neck, upper back and hips. Incorporate specific stretches to these areas as part of warm-up, so that your students can successfully perform these moves.

Correctives are exercises that activate specific muscles to prime yourself for dynamic activity. As a physical therapist, I use correctives a lot — mainly because my clients are usually recovering from injury and experiencing inflammation in their body. The chemical nature of inflammation tends to shut off the surrounding muscles as well as proprioception, or the body’s perception of movement in space — a critical element of any martial art.

Good examples of correctives include single-leg balancing for time and on unstable surfaces. These exercises are often overlooked during warm-up. To prepare the body and prevent injuries, activating the gluteal muscles for your hips and scapular muscles for your shoulders will create a solid base for all of those kicks and punches.

Core stability is your body’s ability to withstand force. It does no good to be able to throw your opponent if you can’t resist being thrown. Situps and leg lifts are great, but these particular exercises can create too much movement in the low back.

I prefer exercises such as deadugs and planks, because they teach our students how to strengthen a neutral spine posture. This is the best position to allow the rest of the muscles in our limbs to work in an optimal way.

Physical strength is the body’s ability to create forceful movement.

Some people run in order to get fit. I say the opposite: you need to get fit in order to run. The same goes for martial arts, especially for those who may not have the base strength to execute certain techniques.

If your student has a hard time breaking multiple boards at once or throwing a heavier opponent, take a look at his/her physical strength.

Squats, single-leg deadlifts, push-ups and pull-ups with a slow and steady technique are a good place to start.

Agility is taking strength as a base, then building speed and explosiveness on top of it. If my student has a difficult time getting out of the way when attacked, he/she needs to do exercises that will help them learn to move quickly in short spurts of time.

Exercises like explosive box jumps from a standstill position can mimic this type of muscle contraction and brain response. Power skips down the floor can help promote not only power through the floor but separation of the hips, which is essential to kicking.

Most programs like to fast forward to these agility exercises without addressing all of the previous components. Doing this without regard to the individual’s physical capabilities can result in various overuse injuries.

It’s important to remember that kids will be continually experiencing growth spurts. Looking at each of the five components carefully will ensure their safety as we progress their technique.

Above all, we need to understand that not all bodies are created equal.

And when you systematically break down each motion for each individual, then put the pieces back together, you’ll have a clear picture of what a student needs to work on and an overall strategy for success.e

m Dr. Jason Han can be reached directly at JasonHanDPT@gmail.com.

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YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

Action Steps to Grow Your School

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BY KATHY OLEVSKY

“IF YOU WANT TO FIND PROSPECTS AND TELL THEM ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL, PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY EVENTS IS THE RIGHT METHOD.”

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‘ve been operating a martial arts school full time for 38 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.

Last month, I wrote about creating a plan to grow your martial arts school with reasonable goals. This month, I’m providing some action steps to help everyone get started with finding new members every month.

As a result of many years of making the mistake of waiting for business to walk in the door, I invested in learning about proactive marketing. There are many marketing experts out there that can help with a plan to add new members to your dojo every month.

Social-media marketing, for example, is a great way to let people know about you and your services. However, I believe that social-medial marketing is more about developing your brand than it is about selling. Learning how to sell is a vital necessity and something every martial arts school owner should explore.

Selling in this industry is often done better in person or by word of mouth. So, that means either you have direct contact with your potential student or one of your current students convinces someone to come visit your school. Both are great methods of finding new members.

If you want to find prospects and tell them about your school, participation in community events is the right method. I usually recommend doing some online research about upcoming events in your area. Look for events that would bring in the type of person who would normally enroll in your school. Rather than participating in every event, find the ones that will bring you students in the right income bracket and distance from your school.

We like to partner with parent/teacher organizations in our area, as well as doing health fairs for businesses. Getting in with a PTA/PTO group is best accomplished through the parents in your dojo. There are many ways to partner with them. We have done fundraisers, contests and also simply requested a booth on an orientation night.

There are organizations that run health fairs for major companies, and you can apply to be a vendor for them. One such company that we have explored is Health Fair Connections, but there are many others.

Before you start the process of participating in health fairs or PTA events, you must get yourself organized to present the best image. We use a tablecloth with our logo and a raffle box with information that we change, based on the location of the fair. We have entry forms that the event attendees can complete for the raffle prize, pens and some giveaways.

Many martial arts schools have some interactive activities planned at their booth to attract people. This is more necessary for children than it is for an adult health fair. The key is to enlist the help of an individual who enjoys speaking with people and has a passion for the martial arts.

I’ve spoken with school owners who would dig a 5,000-mile tunnel with a toothpick, rather than stand at a table and solicit business. If this is true for you, find someone in your school who would be great at this. You should still attend the event, but let the other person be the “front man.” Sooner or later, in order for them to handle thisyou’ll have a trained team that you can pay a small fee to.

These are just a few action steps you can take to find new members.

The next step is to do what I suggested last month. Call four martial arts school owners and ask them for their best method for finding new members within the past three months. Now, in addition to a plan that you have formulated to grow, you have a method to put it in place.e m K athy Olevsky can be reached for questions or comments at kathy.olevsky@raleighkarate.com.

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Ross Conklin

December 2017

Ross Conklin SCHOOL OWNERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NAME

Senshi Karate Dojo SCHOOL NAME

Easley, South Carolina LOCATION

Isshinryu STYLE / DISCIPLINE

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Why did you begin teaching martial arts?

I wanted to share traditional karate with everyone I can. It’s my passion and I hope to instill that love in others as well.

How long have you been teaching?

About 15 years.

How long have you owned your school?

Nearly four years.

What is your school name and how did you choose it?

Senshi Karate Dojo, it means “Warrior Training Hall.” I chose it because I believe we all face battles in life and martial arts helps us to mentally and physically prepare for them.

What is your personal teaching philosophy?

Be open-minded. You can learn from anyone. Martial arts is a personal journey and, to an extent, there is no “right” or “wrong” way.

What is your school’s motto or student creed?

“All bottles are good.” It is a saying attributed to Isshinryu founder, Tatsuo Shimabuku. It is believed he was inferring that all styles have a purpose.

What do you find most rewarding about working in the martial arts?

Watching one of my students teach another student.

What is your favorite inspirational quote?

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” by pro-hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

Who or what inspires you?

My students inspire me more than anyone else. They have taught me more than they know.

What is something unique that your school or your student body does well?

We have a passion for the history of Okinawan Karate. I’m always impressed at how much my students know!

If you could give one bit of advice to fellow martial arts school owners, what would it be?

Start within your means. Don’t put yourself in debt to open. Start small and build it up.

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December 2017

Michael D. Smith SCHOOL OWNERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NAME

Sport Karate Academy SCHOOL NAME

Evansville, Indiana LOCATION

Shotokan Karate and Sport Karate STYLE / DISCIPLINE

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How long have you owned your school?

We opened our school with one homeschool class in August of 2016.

It has grown from the original 15 kids to over 65 today.

What is your school name and how did you choose it?

Sport Karate Academy. Honestly, we were looking for a school name that wasn’t already out there. We researched several options and this is the one we landed on. It also encompasses what we do.

What is your personal teaching philosophy?

Teach kids the “why” behind techniques, so they’re able to practice with the knowledge of what they are doing.

Why did you begin teaching martial arts?

I wanted to be able to make a living doing something that I love, and developing a love for martial arts in my students.

What is your school’s motto or student creed?

“Champions are not born, they’re made.”

What is something unique that your school or your student body does well?

I would say the most unique thing about our school is that it is primarily made up of homeschool students. We have evening classes and teen/adult classes as well, but about 75% of the school is comprised of homeschoolers.

Who or what inspires you?

The kids! I wake up every class day excited about what we will be doing that day.

What do you find most rewarding about working in the martial arts?

The affection I get from the kids. I meet the kids at the door when they’re leaving, high-five them and tell them what a great job they did in class. I love it when they spontaneously give me hugs on the way out the door. Just knowing that I have touched their life as much as they touch mine.

What is your favorite inspirational quote?

“The one who falls and gets up is so much stronger than the one who never fell.”

If you could give one bit of advice to fellow martial arts school owners, what would it be?

Love what you do or don’t do it. I see many people who are doing it for the money; I don’t think that’s the way to do it. I would also recommend having someone run the “business” side of things so you can dedicate your time to teaching.

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On November 11th, we celebrate Veteran’s Day in honor of our brave men and women who served in America’s military. In this timely and unique article, you learn how to expand your prospect base by becoming a veteran-friendly school.

By Dr. Kimberly Harrison, DPT

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Every student that you teach is a unique individual. However, we as a society put people into categories or molds that place expectations on them. In the case of veterans who are returning home from combat or other deployments, their category is what makes them unique — or different — from the rest of society. Veterans are unique in almost every environment they enter after they return home. They’re always outnumbered by civilians. As civilians, there’s a lot that we don’t understand about veterans. That’s okay, but, if you’re going to turn your school in to a veteran-friendly environment, you need to do some research.

Veterans are, first and foremost, people.

They are parents, siblings and children of loved ones. When vets return from combat, fitting in and interacting in a nonmilitary society can present a very real challenge.

Martial arts is structured in a way that’s familiar to veterans, making it a good starting point from which they can work back into the civilian world. A martial arts environment rewards and honors rank. Respect is given at all times, and loyalty is understood. These are all qualities of an environment that veterans are familiar with and can be comfortable in.

Assimilation into other environments they encounter may not be as easy for veterans.

One of the hardest things for veterans when they return home is reconnecting with their families. They have been strangers for their entire deployment and now have to re-form bonds. They also have to jump into a busy household that has been running without them. It can be easier to turn away and hide since that house has been running well while the veteran was deployed. So, they might think, “What do they need me for now?”

This can become a vicious cycle that continues to create bigger gaps in a veteran’s relationships with his or her family. As a veteran-friendly martial arts school and community, we need to encourage our vets and be a resource for them — not just another place that caters to civilians.

Being veteran-friendly is more than just offering a discount, although this can be a powerful tool to get them to recognize your school as a welcoming oasis. Holding classes

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for veterans only, or exclusively for vets and their children, are things that will make your school veteran-friendly and set you apart from your local competition.

Recognition is important to everyone, but it can seem hard to find for veterans reentering the civilian world. Here are some easy ways to recognize veterans within your school: • Recognize them with a special patch for their uniform.

• Award them a color-striped camo belt instead of your standard belt.

• Let them wear a patch from their branch of the military.

Veterans experience different than most other students in martial arts schools. You’ll need to overcome them to truly become a veteran-friendly school.

How to Know If Your School Is Veteran-Friendly While the structure of martial arts is basically familiar to vets, not all martial arts schools are veteran-friendly. To accomplish that, you have some work to do. Let’s start by taking a look at your training floor. Where is the entrance located relative to where your students are positioned on the floor? Do you have flags displayed within your school? What order do your students line up in?

These are just a few of the things to consider when turning your school in to a vet-friendly environment.

Veterans are used to being on guard. So, they won’t focus as well if there’s an entrance or exit located somewhere behind them. For some it can be a distraction; others may just feel uneasy. This uneasy feeling can lead to a lack of concentration, or even to them deciding that martial arts is not for them. They don’t always know why they have a certain feeling, but if it is there, they will act upon it.

It’s common within the martial arts to display the flag of the native country of your style’s origin. When working to have an inviting environment for veterans, you want to make sure that you also have the American flag displayed. If you have a tradition within your school about showing respect to the flag, it will be important to vets that you place the same amount of importance and respect on the American flag.

Most martial arts schools line up classes

with the highest-ranked student in the front right side of the classroom. As a new white belt within your school, this alignment will work well for veterans. It places them in a position in which they can see everyone within the room. However, as they progress, newer students will begin to line up behind them.

Remind your veteran students that part of your school’s culture is to have everyone look out for and protect each other. This will come naturally to them. By having an instructor in the front of the classroom, they will also have someone that is covering their back.

Having mirrors in the front of your classroom is another way to help with this positioning. As veterans adjust to their martial arts training, they begin to build trust with their classmates. However, the people behind them in class are the newest members and, therefore, those with whom the vets have not yet built trust with. Having mirrors in the front of the room will allow your students to see what/who is behind them without constantly looking back.

What Baggage Comes with Teaching Veterans?

Every new student comes with baggage — those things that are unique to them that require us to work around in order for them to have a good experience. There are a few common things that veterans tend to carry with them as baggage. Knowing what they are, and how to deescalate a situation should it occur, is important.

The most common injury affecting veterans returning from combat zones is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

PTSD is not unique to veterans, of course.

It’s common in victims of any traumatic event. Children or adults who have suffered from or witnessed abuse often display symptoms of PTSD. Exposure to a traumatic event that one has little to no control over, or the ability to get away from, often causes PTSD. PTSD symptoms can manifest themselves in many different ways. It can cause withdrawal from family and friends, outbursts of anger for no apparent reason, increased anxiety levels, hypervigilance and social isolation.

Before you can begin to help veterans succeed within your school, you’ll need to find

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out if any of those students suffer from PTSD and, if so, what their triggers are. Every person will have his/her own triggers. But knowing some common triggers can be helpful when talking with a veteran about their PTSD and how martial arts training may affect it.

We can’t control certain triggers, but we still need to be aware of them to help us better understand our vet students. Things that can be common triggers, but which are out of our control, include the time of day, month or year a traumatic event occurred. The anniversary of the traumatic event can also be a common trigger.

Many triggers can be controlled or avoided most of the time, but not always. Examples of triggers that veterans may often try to avoid include: • loud/busy environments • yelling (kiais) • smells like gun powder or burnt rubber • loud blasts (like a metal chair falling on the floor) • fireworks • even being told what to do As you can see, many of the things that veterans may try to avoid are things that can often occur in a martial arts school setting.

So, in general, martial arts schools can be very uncomfortable for veterans and, therefore, places they may try to avoid. Knowing what their triggers are is only part of the battle.

How Can You Control or Eliminate Triggers for Veterans?

Look at the layout of your school. Where is the loudest and busiest place? Is this area where students are expected to be sitting or waiting before their class begins? Do students have to go through this area to get to the training floor?

Although these seem like small details, they can increase a veteran’s anxiety level before class even starts. The higher someone’s anxiety level is, the harder it will be for him/ her to focus in class. They’ll have increased difficulty retaining information. If this is a severe trigger for a veteran, it could cause him/her to walk out before even making it on the floor.

If the only path to the training floor must go through a loud or busy area and you have

identified this as a vet trigger, make sure to tell him/her about this before they experience it the first time. Triggers can be difficult to manage, but it’s much easier if they are known about ahead of time.

Designate an area away from the noise and congestion that they can go to before class starts. A good option can always be the back of the classroom, to stretch while the previous class is ending.

Again, while we can’t eliminate all triggers from an environment, we can help decrease the anxiety level of veterans by letting them know what they will experience ahead of time.

Kiais or loud yelling can also represent a trigger. But, if the vet is aware that they will occur and knows when to expect them, the impact will be much weaker.

Many martial arts schools have metal folding chairs for parents and spectators to sit in while watching class. A metal chair that falls and hits the ground is a sound that will often trigger a “startle response” in most vets and may even invoke heightened anxiety.

If possible, get a different type of chair for your spectator-seating area. A wide variety of

ing your school. Feeling valued and important is something that everyone can appreciate.

Unfortunately for veterans, when they return to the civilian world feeling valued or important is something that’s hard to come by. That might be hard for you to believe, since the vast majority of black belts are patriotic. A large number of American instructors are even vets themselves. In fact, to a large degree it was American military veterans who pioneered the martial arts in the U.S. Having trained in Asia, many of them returned from active service in the 1950s and ‘60s as black belts and opened schools all over the country to teach their art.

However, veterans returning to civilian life often don’t have a job to return to. If they have a family they are returning to, their home typically has been run as a single-parent household while they were gone. Because the community and the home they left behind continued to move on while they were gone, it can feel like they have been erased.

Home life can be especially difficult. Both

office chairs is available.

children and the veteran’s partner are used to doing things on their own. While having a second parent around to help may seem like a

Obviously, there can be a lot to think about and consider to help veterans feel comfortable in your school. Now, let’s say you have an

good thing, the household has been running without that second parent present. Have you ever felt like you are just in the way and

environment that’s inviting and conducive to learning for veterans. What is different about how you teach them versus other students?

This will vary based on the reason the individual veteran has come to train.

slowing things down?

The household does not slow down when the veteran returns; things just keep flying by, leaving him/her standing on the sidelines.

This makes helping a veteran reconnect with his/her children even more important.

Making a Strong First Impression Making veterans feel comfortable with you and the school environment starts the moment they meet you. A first impression can be everything. A firm but welcoming handshake is important. A show of respect to everyone, young or old, makes an impression as well.

Martial arts schools overall are known, if not renowned, for their respectful etiquette.

We are considered a polite society. It’s part of our art/style’s tenets.

Do you use “Sir” and “Ma’am” as often as you ask of your students? Truly it should be even more often. Showing respect to those young and old can make an impact not only to veterans, but to any parent or student enter-

Martial Arts Helps Heal Families When it comes to helping veterans reconnect with their children, martial arts can be magical. If you don’t have a program where parents can train with their children, focusing on veterans may be the best place to start one. These classes are not about learning how to block and punch, but how to work as a team.

This is a place where, as a seasoned instructor, you can push and challenge yourself. Your job is not about creating a good black belt or martial artist, but about helping rebuild a relationship. The basis of relationships is trust.

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training partner? This is a great, fun way for veterans to reconnect with their kids.

The best thing about using martial arts to help veterans reconnect with their kids is that it can work with young kids, teens, or even children that are young adults. Regardless of the age of the child or the veteran, martial arts can be used to help reconnect a family.

I call our program “Kids Teaching Veterans.” This class or program doesn’t have to be exclusive to vets and their children. It can also be used to help any parent strengthen his/her bond with their child. This program is unlike your regular classes. Teamwork is not just encouraged but required.

In your regular curriculum, what happens if one student outworks the others? Typically, he/ she tests before many of their classmates and keeps moving forward at their more rapid pace.

In our Kids Teaching Veterans class, the child should only be able to test to the next belt if his/her parent (veteran) is ready to test as well.

This works both ways. But now, not only is teamwork in class important, it becomes even more important to work together at home to help each other get prepared for the next belt test.

Speaking of belt-testing, one small detail can be very impactful. When your students test for a new belt, instead of having an instructor tie the new belt for a child or letting an adult tie it themselves, have the child and parent tie each other’s new belts. This is the symbol of all of the hard work that they have put in together to earn this accomplishment.

When teaching classes with the purpose of helping parents reconnect with their children, you need to keep some things in mind. Make sure that the rules of respect are clear and that they are enforced in both directions. It’s equally important to help veterans see their child as a child and not a soldier, just as it is to teach the child to be respectful to the parent.

When you conduct any drills, games or activities in this class, have them mirror each other. In the beginning, when they both have trouble remembering which technique is which, you’ll see them smiling and laughing at each other’s mistakes. That’s perfectly fine. As they improve, this will turn into them helping each other correct their technique. There is no such thing as too many partner drills for kids and

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parents that are trying to reconnect.

As an instructor, you need to challenge yourself to not correct the person that has an error in his/her technique. Instead, ask their partner (parent or child) to fix the technique. As they gain experience, you can challenge them to see if they can find the same error that you see.

With time, this will become a working relationship between them, where they help each other and make corrections before you even see them.

This same concept of teaching also works well for helping veterans reconnect with their partners when they return home. What do you do if they have more than one child? Make it a family affair! Encourage the whole family to take the class and rotate every class on who partners with whom. Not only will you be helping the parent-child relationship, but you’ll also help the sibling relationship as well.

We’ve found the students that have been through the Kids Teaching Veterans program turn out to be our best assistants we’ve ever produced. This is just a small added bonus to knowing that you are helping a family become stronger and whole again. The joy you get when a student reaches black belt cannot compare to the joy you’ll feel when you see the reconnection of a veteran’s family. e

m Dr. Kimberly Harrison has trained at American Sport Karate Centers for 20 years and is a 5th-degree black belt. She earned her doctorate in physical therapy from Rockhurst University in 2007 and has been working for the Veterans Health Administration since then.

Currently, she works at the Eastern Kansas Veterans Administration Medical Center in Leavenworth, as the Physical Therapy Program Coordinator for Home-Based Primary Care.

Contact her at kim@askc.us.

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 constantly-enhanced website, members can access a massive amount of useful information on just about any topic from A to Z.

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CONSULTANT’S CORNER

Staffing Is Nothing to Laugh About

A

s a developing community leader, you will constantly need to train and retrain your staff. Without the proper training, they are going to fail, which correlates to you failing.

If you don’t have a training curriculum to

BY ANTONIO FOURNIER follow, start with these tips.

MAIA CONSULTANT Make sure they know how to greet and effectively communicate with new prospects. This includes front-counter walk-ins as well as taking “AS A phone calls. You’d think that with people on their DEVELOPING COMMUNITY phones all the time it would be easy, but it isn’t.

LEADER, Some people simply lack good communication YOU’LL skills. (Check some of my previous columns for CONSTANTLY communication skill-building advice.)

Give your staff a script to follow, and drill, NEED TO TRAIN AND RETRAIN rehearse, and roleplay it until it sounds unreYOUR STAFF. hearsed. If nothing else, give them these two WITHOUT lines to follow: THE PROPER “I’d be glad to answer that question. Can I TRAINING, have your name, please?”

THEY’RE GOING “What would be a good time for an instructor TO FAIL, WHICH to call, and what’s the best number to reach you?”

CORRELATES If you’d like to receive a copy of my phone TO YOU script, please email me. Then, listen in on a FAILING.” real call made to your school and see if it worked or if your script still needs polishing.

Next, you should train your staff on how to maintain a clean environment: how to sweep, wash and clean floors, mats and windows, how to clean the bathroom, when to remove trash and where to dispose of it, how to sanitize a blood spill, and how to properly handle cleaning chemicals. Many people have never been properly trained, so don’t assume your staff already knows how to do these things.

Your staff should know the class structure breakdown for a 30-minute, 45-minute and 60-minute class. For example, a 30-minute class encompasses four minutes for Student Creed and small warm-up. That leaves 26 minutes remaining.

Twenty-four of those minutes are spent teaching or drilling. Broken down, 24 minutes means four drills for six minutes each or six drills for four minutes each. That leaves two minutes for Mat Chat, announcements and bow out.

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Make sure your staff can stick to the allotted time and not run over. Train them on the “hows and whys” constantly. Train them how to read a class plan and how to change it if needed. Train them how to teach, identify and incorporate life skills into warm-ups, drills and curriculum. Train them to practice these life skills in their own lives.

You, as their coach, need to as well.

Teach them the finer points of your system. Let them in on the “secrets” and when it’s appropriate to teach them. Make sure they know how to keep on-the-floor training high-energy but safe and fun. Never mistake fun with funny.

Teach them to be friendly but not familiar. This is not their dating pool and it isn’t yours, either. Train them on sales and educate them on the specials you’re running.

You should learn to have a good eye for future staff. Always be on the lookout for potential new hires, both inside and outside of your school. Diamonds are everywhere. One caveat: make sure that, if and when they interview, they tell you what value they bring to your business.

Teach your staff after-class protocol: cleaning; putting pads and equipment away, removing trash and clutter from waiting or viewing areas, filling out good job notes for students, and informing you of any parent’s concerns that should be handled quickly.

Return phone calls before 8:00 p.m., no later. Answer email inquiries and any social media inquiries in a timely manner. Teach your staff the right way to clock in and out, and how to set the answering system and security system if they are closing. They need to know which lights to leave on, and how to lock the doors. If they’re teaching introductory lessons, have them make outgoing calls to confirm and send out text reminders.

Evaluate your staff and hold them accountable. You develop staff for your future and theirs. Do a check-up from the neck up, and one on yourself as well. Hold yourself to a higher standard. Get coaching and have someone hold you accountable.

You are a warrior. That means you seize the day. You take control — of your family, business, community, health, and wealth. Be the leader you were born to be. Seize the day, then seize all your tomorrows. See every day as a blessing. How? Don’t confuse your facts for a universal truth.

The fact might be your bank account has no money in it. But the truth is, you’re moving forward. That means you are not broke, you are growing! Carpe diem, brave warrior! e mM AIA Consultant Antonio Fournier can be reached at tfournier@ masuccess.com.

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MASTERFUL RETENTION

Are You Teaching These Five Fundamentals First?

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hether you’re looking to teach a game or build a business, there are certain truths that should be learned at the beginning. They will save you a lot of wasted time, effort and mental energy.

Imagine, for example, attempting to build

BY CHRISTOPHER a business without clearly understanding who RAPPOLD your product or service is for. What about learning the game of basketball without first “I RECOMMEND teaching someone how to dribble a ball? Most STUDENTS people would agree in either scenario that PRACTICE there is a natural rank order of learning that SPARRING will make advancing both enjoyable and, in SKILLS AT most cases, successful.

I believe that, no matter the martial art, as A PACE OF ABOUT 30% long as a student has an instructor who has a SPEED AND structured, progressive approach to teaching, POWER. THIS skills can be successfully learned.

ALLOWS With this in mind, I offer five fundamentals EVERYONE TO from the Retention Based Sparring Program. I TRAIN WITH believe they all should be learned at the very A PARTNER beginning of a student’s training. Additionally, IN A MINDFUL they should be relearned throughout his/her MANNER.” journey, so every student is able to work with training partners with the correct physical control and mental mindfulness.

1. Correct Posture. Whether teaching stand-up or ground skills, posture creates stability. Without stability, technique fails.

In most cases, posture means that the person’s spine is aligned straight. It also means that balance is distributed equally, so the student feels the natural strength and confidence that should come from a position. Break your partner’s posture and he/she is vulnerable.

As a teacher, recognize that omitting correct posture and jumping right into technique first puts your students at a huge disadvantage. It will impact how they perform and how they feel.

Take the time to teach and reteach perfect posture from every position.

2. Eyes Focused. In stand-up, an experienced student knows to keep his/her eyes fixed forward at the training partner’s body. This way they can easily see everything that is coming towards them. For grapplers, looking up when breaking a guard supports correct posture.

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It is so ingrained that, many times, coaches skip over this simple skill that needs to be learned first. Observe your students and see how many naturally focus their eyes correctly. Make sure that when you’re matching a student with a partner during class, they know where to focus their eyes.

3. Relaxation vs. Contraction. Unnecessary physical tension drains energy. Often, continual contraction is the body’s physical manifestation of fear. Unfortunately, many teachers do not recognize it for what it is.

For both energy preservation and optimum performance, students should learn to stay relaxed and contract only at the peak of the technique.

Master muay thai trainer Kru Mark Dellagrotte puts it this way: “We stay relaxed until its time to not be relaxed.” Understanding the difference of these two extremes is the sign of an experienced practitioner.

4. Defense First. In 1943, Abraham Maslow created a Hierarchy of Human Needs in the form of a pyramid. At the broad-based bottom of the pyramid, he listed the most obvious needs we all have as human beings. They are the need for food, water and rest.

Next on the list were the needs to feel safe and secure. So, this natural biological need comes right after food and water. I feel that, by teaching correct posture, positioning movement and distance control, we allow the student the feeling of being safe. This will then lead to a student’s enjoyment and steady progress.

5. Moving with Control. I recommend students practice sparring skills at a pace of about 30% speed and power. This allows everyone to train with a partner in a mindful manner.

Hitting the focus pads, kicking shields and Wavemasters is when a student should work on power generation and speed, not when they’re working with a training partner.

Too much discouragement and unnecessary injury occurs when the pace exceeds a student’s ability to control technique. Timing, distance control and reading an opponent’s energy can be learned quite effectively without putting a student’s wellbeing at risk.

Though these five fundamentals are basic, you should periodically evaluate your program to ensure your students are heavily covered in the beginning. Make sure they have formed correct habits. Then monitor them to ensure mindful training throughout a student’s progression.

It’s not enough for you to know the fundamentals yourself. For maximum long-term results, each one of your students needs to be aware and in command of them. e mC hris Rappold can be reached for questions or comments at founder@personalbestkarate.com.

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COLUMN

THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

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BY BETH A. BLOCK

“BE AWARE THAT YOU CAN BE HELD LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALLOWING SOMEONE TO TRAIN WHEN HE/ SHE IS NOT ABLE TO BECAUSE OF A MEDICAL CONDITION.”

am 11 days post-op after a total hip replacement (THR) surgery as I write this column. In the process, I have learned more about hip replacements than I ever imagined existed.

For instance, there are three different types of THR surgery: posterior, lateral and anterior. Each surgery requires involves different movement restrictions, for different lengths of time, to permit the new joint to safely heal.

I also learned that total knee replacement surgery is a much more difficult surgery, with a much greater likelihood of something going wrong and a much longer recuperation period.

I think what I have mostly learned is, although I knew people who have had a hip replacement, I didn’t really know much about it.

This has helped me reflect on how little I really know about any medical issue. Whether we’re talking about cancer, asthma, orthopedic trauma, orthopedic surgery, epilepsy or any other medical condition, the reality is that we are not experts.

So, using my hip as an example, I had the anterior hip-replacement surgery. I have to ve on guard for several “watch-outs” during my recovery. My biggest threat is infection. Until my incision is closed and fully healed, this is grave concern.

Even after the incision heals, this will be a lifelong concern, because artificial joints cannot protect themselves from infections.

Antibiotics will remain a quickly prescribed solution whenever I’m exposed to infection.

This raises the question: how clean is the

school in which I train?

The next risk with the anterior approach is dislocation. Although this can happen at any point, it’s most likely to happen in the first six months. For some, the complete settling of the joint is achieved in three months; for others, it takes up to six months. The movements that can cause dislocation for my type of surgery are pivoting and kicking my operative leg backwards.

The third issue is swelling. Swelling is a natural bodily response to surgery. The amount of swelling, cause of the swelling and what relieves the swelling are highly individualized.

So, we’ve discussed three factors, all of which are unique to the individual with that medical condition. Think about that in the context of all the different medical conditions that walk through your doors.

How can you possibly keep up with all of that?

The bottom line is, you can’t.

Nevertheless, be aware that you can be held legally responsible for allowing someone to train when he/she is not able to because of a medical condition. Yes, your waiver includes language that the individual student is certifying that he/she is medically able to participate. But there are two flaws with this language.

First, it covers the physical condition of the individual at the time he/she begins training, not their condition as it changes over time.

Second, the individual is not a doctor. He/she may not know or may be in denial about their condition. We’ve all met people with the “I’mtough, I can take it” mindset.

You truly need a medical professional to let you know the individual’s specific limitations.

For me, my doctor would today state that I cannot walk without the aid of a walker. I can’t extend my leg behind me and I can’t pivot on my right leg.

I always recommend using a general but comprehensive list of the physical movements involved in your art. Also, it’s a good idea to require a doctor to certify whether the individual is able to execute each movement.

Perhaps, it’s most expedient for your studio to only use such a form after a student has had a surgery or a new medical diagnosis.

Only you can decide how to weigh the risk of a family member holding you responsible for an additional injury to their loved one against the concern of overly complicating enrollment. However, as that scale balances for you, make sure your eyes are wide open. e

m Beth Block can be reached at (800) 225-0863 or beth@blockins.net.

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COLUMN

THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE

Hurricane Preparedness and New Immigration Requirements

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BY PHILIP E. GOSS, JR., ESQ.

“[IN YOUR LEASE RENEWAL,] TRY TO NEGOTIATE THAT ANY BREACH OF THE AGREEMENT DUE TO A NATURAL DISASTER OR OTHER UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD NOT CONSTITUTE A BREACH OF THE AGREEMENT.”

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’m drafting this column here in Florida just hours before Hurricane Irma is scheduled to come visit my back door. The outer bands are pelting the roof with rain and tropical-force winds, as I peck away at my keyboard. I have lost electricity four times since I started writing this column.

Over 80 man hours have been spent, a few even by me, in preparing our home for the potential of a Category 5 hurricane. In short order, I’ll be hunkering in a heavily-fortified hallway with three other adults. (I have no idea how to “hunker,” but the weather reports instruct us to do so.) One of the adults is my nervous wife, accompanied by our four dogs, one of which is a dachshund with a nervous stomach, and a very loud Mollucan Cockatoo.

We will survive the storm, I’m sure, if I can only get through the hunkering.

All kidding aside, Irma comes on the heels of our friends in Texas being battered by Hurricane Harvey. Such natural disasters have caused me to think of things that may lessen the sting of being in the path of a storm. Here are two ideas: First, in order to get up and running poststorm, you will need immediate access to your computer records. I’ve been told that this “cloud” storage allows me to have all my records available at the stroke of a key. News flash! I’m a 58-year-old guy, who can remember when calculators with four basic math functions cost hundreds of dollars. Thus, I need a relatively old-school solution.

Therefore, I suggest that, several days prior to a hurricane’s arrival, you make a complete copy of your computer records and fed-ex them to someone outside your zone of danger. For those of you that have no warning before a critical emergency, you should do this on a quarterly basis anyway.

Second, when the time comes for lease renewal, try to negotiate that any breach of the agreement due to a natural disaster or other unforeseen circumstances (force majeure in lawyer speak) would not constitute a breach of the agreement. You don’t want to trigger the personal guarantee you likely gave the landlord when you originally signed the lease.

I have already had contact from one Texas Martial Arts Industry Association member who stated that his landlord was demanding September payment for what is now an empty lot.

In non-storm related news, the Homeland Security-required I-9 citizenship form has once again been changed. All new hires on September 18, 2017 or later, must have the updated form in his or her employment file.

If you’re like me, it’s hard to keep up with these I-9 forms. For years, the same form was used, but now, in short order, it has been modified several times.

Use the form that has in its lower-left-hand corner the effective date of 07/17/17. This form replaces the old form with the designation date of 11/14/2017. The new form is slightly different, but is self-explanatory, using the attached directions.

Finally, on a very personal note, remember that your pets rely 100% upon you. Protect them as you would your most prized possessions. If you’re not willing to treat your animals as a member of your family, especially in times of danger, get a pet rock instead.

My heart goes out to the Texas members that suffered a loss and my Florida friends that will be affected by Irma. I will now quickly hone my hunkering skills and ride out the storm! e ttorney Phil Goss, Jr. welcomes any email comments or questions mA at PhilGosslaw@gmail.com and will attempt to respond personally, time permitting.

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COLUMN

INSPIRATION OVATION

Seasons Change

I

BY KAREN EDEN

“JUST AS THE SEASONS CHANGE, WE ARE CHANGING, TOO. OUR WHITE HAIR AND JOINT PAIN SHOULDN’T BE LOOKED UPON AS PHYSICAL FAILURE, BUT AS A GREAT CELEBRATION OF OUR DEDICATION AND HOW FAR WE HAVE COME.”

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’m a martial arts master who has spent the majority of her career as a TV reporter and weather anchor.

While I’ve always been a natural at being a broadcast journalist, being good in science is a totally different story.

Eventually, the day came when I had to make the upgrade from “weather girl” to “broadcast meteorologist.” That meant that I had to go back to school and take all of the necessary courses to get certified in meteorology. I was not looking forward to it!

It’s true when they say that “everything shows up on your stage to teach you a lesson.”

Meteorology, for me, was one of those things.

It seems the earth is constantly trying to balance out its temperature. It’s a goal that will never be reached, yet a process that sustains life as we know it today.

And the further our planet gets away from the sun, the greater the instinct for life around us to become colder and even dormant. It’s inevitable, seasons change. It’s not a choice, it’s a fact. Surely as the sun shines, the seasons must change.

Most of us instructors have been in martial arts for a long time. Some of the things we teach, we can no longer do ourselves. It’s like a slap in the face. We look at ourselves in the mirror and ask, “C’mon! What’s wrong with you?”

Actually, there’s nothing wrong with any of us, it’s just that the seasons are changing. This couldn’t be more evident to me, like when I see a master who once used to be in my children’s class. I still see these young teachers as kids in my mind. But the truth is, they are exactly what I was when I was their age — a prolific martial arts master.

Occasionally, I will meet up with a martial artist who is dead set against rank promotion.

I would have to disagree with this philosophy wholeheartedly. Just as the seasons change, we are changing, too.

As my instructor told me, white belts represent a clean slate. Green belts represent the newness of spring. Red belts represent the fire of summer. Black belts mean the end, or, in traditional tang soo do, the midnight blue belt means you never can know it all, so you’ll never reach the end.

I believe that our students should know when the seasons have changed in their training, and rank promotion is a great way to acknowledge it. Not just the students, either. Just as we celebrate our students’ next season, we, as instructors, should also celebrate our next season.

Our white hair and joint pain shouldn’t be looked upon as physical failure, but as a great celebration of our dedication and how far we have come.

Well, I did pass the tests necessary to become a certified meteorologist (though I honestly don’t know how.) I must admit that I still find any kind of “ology” intimidating. But the lessons about Mother Earth and her systems are some that I will never forget.

Karen Eden as the TV weather girl at Newscenter 6, in Johnstown, PA, just outside of Pittsburgh.

Seasons must change. As a martial arts instructor, that means that I’m personally responsible for passing my knowledge forward, so that others can continue to grow long after I’m gone. e

mY ou can contact Master Karen Eden at renedenherdman@gmail.com.

MASUCCESS

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