MASuccess by MASuccess

official publication of the martial arts industry association MA SUCCESS MARCH 2016

Fighting Childhood Obesity Through

KicknFit Kids

Los Angeles, California’s

Chris Casamassa

Humanitarian Learned Martial Arts

Under The Threat Of Death Keeping A Current Student Is seven ISSN 2380-5617(PRINT) 2469-6889(ONLINE)

Times Easier Than Finding A New One!

EQUIPMENT PURCHASES 101 How To Avoid Liability Issues

• $5.99 US www.MASUCCESS.com

MARCH 2016

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CONTENTS

MARCH

2016

FEATURES FIGHTING CHILDHOOD OBESITY THROUGH KICKNFIT KIDS After reading an article in USA Today on childhood obesity, martial arts celebrity Chris Casamassa was inspired to launch the KickNFit Kids program. Based on simplicity and fun for kids, this successful weight-loss workout is currently used in 150 locations worldwide and doubles as a very effective income generator for school owners. BY

Formula: Keep It Simple and Make It Fun “In 2004, I was reading an article in USA Today newspaper about childhood obesity. We at Red Dragon Karate had been experimenting with programs for kids for years on how to help them get fit using ma tial arts,” says Chris Casamassa. The story struck a nerve with Casamassa. It profiled kids wh , at the youthful ages of 10 and 11, were being diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure and stress-related illnesses, all problems normally associated with adults in their 60s and 70s. “That article motivated me to buckle down and put something together that was systemized, but easy for kids to follow,” he says. “I wanted them to have fun while incorporating the benefits of ma tial arts training without it being a hard-core, old-school type of workout.”

TER RY

L .

W IL SON

HUMANITARIAN LEARNED MARTIAL ARTS UNDER THE THREAT OF DEATH

“Casamassa streamlined his program to stimulate kids while BY PERRY WILLIAM KE LLY making it easy and fun learn. It’s 1973,to Enter the Dragon has just hit the silver screen, a worldwide martial arts boom is He focused on in full swing and you want to study the martial arts. But you can’t, because the oppressive what he thought was fun about regime that rules your country, Chile, has banned them. Imagine, just showing off a f ont the martial arts kick in public mean death! That didn’t stop a courageous Chilean native, Master Javier when hemight was learning them Duque, an American immigrant who today runs a humanitarian martial arts school in Ottawa, as a youngster Illinois. and created the premise for his KicknFit Kids program from those

HOW ADULT FITNESS SAVED MY SCHOOL memories.”

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HE RB

BORKL AND

12/22/15 6:55 AM

Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion and strength-conditioning guru Giulliano Gallupi of Oklahoma City offers his clients much more than mixed martial arts training. Along with his own worldclass athleticism, Gallupi holds a Master of Science and two other university degrees related to his passion for physical perfection. The combination has made him a highly sought-after personal trainer by all athletic types, regardless of goals or ability, in his adult fitness classes.

MASUCCESS

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CONTENTS

COLUMNS 42

BY BARRY VAN OVER

Five Great Reasons for Taking Action!

CONSULTANT’S CORNER

THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE BY PHILIP E. GOSS, JR., ESQ.

Two Old But Enduring Issues Ripe for Revisiting

BY KATHY OLEVSKY

THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING! Equipment Purchases 101: How to Avoid Liability Issues

BY HERB BORKLAND

Why Is Change So Difficult

BY CHRISTOPHER RAPPOLD

BY BETH A. BLOCK

TURNING POINT YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

MASTERFUL RETENTION Keeping a Current Student Is Seven Times Easier Than Finding a New One! Part 1

BY DAVE KOVAR

George Minshew: Training with Pat Burleson

IN THE CLASSROOM The 2016 School Improvement Plan: 16 Action Steps to Elevate Your School This Year. Part 2

MAXIM OF THE MONTH

GROWING YOUR SCHOOL

B Y M A I A C O N S U LTA N T A D A M PA R M A N

INSPIRATION OVATION BY KAREN EDEN

Pretty Flowers, Ugly Arrangement!

Connect with a Major Movie for a Marketing Bonanza!

“THE THI NGS THAT COM E TO THOSE W HO WAI T W I LL BE THE THI NGS LEFT BY THOSE W HO GOT THERE FI RST. ” — LACHLAN MC L A C H L A N , S C O T T I S H H U MO R I S T

DEPARTMENTS

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK 20

IN THE KNOW

THE MAIA REPORT

HEAR FROM YOUR PEERS

MARKETING RESOURCE

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

MARCH 2016

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FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

BY FRANK SILVERMAN

MAIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“I OFTEN THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH I GET ‘DONE’ OR, BETTER YET, HOW MUCH I GET ‘ACCOMPLISHED’ ONCE I REALLY FOCUS AND BLOCK OUT ALL THE EXTRA NOISE. IF WE ARE UNFOCUSED, WE HAVE TO WORK LONGER AND LATER AT THE SCHOOL.”

“THE ABILITY TO BLOCK OUT THE UNNECESSARY PUTS THE GOAL WITHIN REACH”

he title I’m using for this column is one of my all-time favorite quotes. I fi st discovered it randomly hanging on the office wall of one of our company’s graphic designers. The ability to “block out the unnecessary” requires laserlike focus. Focus is an acquired skill and is, of course, one that all of us are taught to develop from white belt upward. I often think about how much I get “done” or, better yet, how much I get “accomplished” once I really focus and block out all the extra noise. We all know this to be true: When at home, be at home — and not at work mentally. When at work, be at work — not thinking about the great night you had the previous day. If we all know that focus is the key to success, then why do we have such a hard time following through and applying this seemingly simple skill? Those of us reading this are school owners and black belts. Focus and dedication have been instilled in us from our years of training. And isn’t that one of the biggest benefits of our ma tial arts training — to take what we learn and apply it to everyday life?

The child learns to focus in martial arts and that skill carries over to other areas of his or her life. Using tactics and techniques picked up in class, he or she is now able to, for one example, get better grades in school. Adults, too, learn how to get in shape, stay fi , and they take that drive beyond the school and apply it at home. So, again, if we understand that focusing works on the mat, why do we not stay focused on our business? It will, without a doubt, pay dividends and help your school and your business grow. You already know how to focus when you’re training, but do you maintain it when you are off the mat? sk yourself the following four questions. If you stumble, shudder or answer anything other than “no,” you may not be totally focused. The good news is, you can make a change. 1. If I have a bad day at home, do I have a bad day at work and vice versa? 2. Do I get drawn into inter-company conflicts and drama,” even on an infrequent basis? 3. Am I a “focus remover” to other people? If so, then I am also not focused. 4. Am I distracted by today’s prevalent high technology, wasting too much time with texting or on social media (remember that “extra noise”)? I’ll add one more question — and this is a biggie! To be really focused, you need to answer this one with a resounding “Yes.” 5. Do I keep a regular schedule to make sure I get things finished? Most of us have to focus to accomplish a task. If we are unfocused, we have to work longer and later at the school. Consequently, at day’s end this makes focusing at home even harder. Naturally, there are instances when we have to overlap and/or blend work, home and training altogether. Such is life. But in the end, those that apply extreme focus in any area will see greater results. So, sharpen your focus on the elements that make a difference in your business by attending the Martial Arts SuperShow, July 5 – 7, 2016, at the beautiful MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Register online at www.masupershow.com or call a helpful Martial Arts Industry Association sales representative at (866) 626-6226. e m Contact Frank Silverman at fsilverman@masuccess.com.

MASUCCESS

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TRULY INTEGRATED

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COLUMNISTS

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

IN THE KNOW

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

ASHLEY LUGRAND IS THE MARKETING

Director of the Martial Arts Industry Association,

manager of the Martial Arts Industry Association,

and the owner & operator of 11 martial arts

based in Oklahoma City, OK. You can contact her at

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

alugrand@masuccess.com.

of Business Is Business: Passion and Profit in the Martial Arts Industry. Contact him at fsilverman@masuccess.com.

GROWING YOUR SCHOOL THE MAIA REPORT

BARRY VAN OVER IS PRESIDENT OF Premier Martial Arts International, one of the

KYLE YOUNG IS THE DIVISION

world’s largest licensing programs for martial

manager of the Martial Arts Industry Association.

art studios, and Premier Management Group,

He is a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and

a mentoring and consulting program. He can

is passionate about helping school owners

be reached at (877) 613-4900 or email him at

achieve their goals. He can be reached at

barry@premier4success.com.

kyoung@masuccess.com.

IN THE CLASSROOM DAVE KOVAR OWNS AND OPERATES A chain of successful martial art schools. Additionally, he operates Pro-Mac (Professional Martial Arts College), dedicated to helping martial artists become professionals in Business Management, Mat Mastery, Sales Mastery, Wealth Management and Cutting-Edge Classroom Concepts. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Martial Arts Industry Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Contact him at dave.kovar@kovars.com or check out his

TURNING POINT HERB BORKLAND WAS ONE OF Jhoon Rhee’s original white belts at America’s fi st 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.

blog at kovarsblog.kovarsystems.com.

YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

CONSULTANT’S CORNER

KATHY OLEVSKY AND HER HUSBAND,

ADAM PARMAN IS A MARTIAL ARTS

Rob, own and operate Karate International in

Industry Association (MAIA) consultant and

North Carolina. Kathy is the managing partner

owns two prosperous schools in Atlanta, GA.

in their fiv -school operation. She’s an 8th-

He’s had the distinct honor of working for some

degree black belt with 32 full-time years of

of the best professionals in the industry. He

teaching and operating martial arts schools. She

can be reached for questions or comments at

aparman@masuccess.com.

kathy.olevsky@raleighkarate.com.

MASUCCESS

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STAFF MASTERFUL RETENTION CHRISTOPHER RAPPOLD IS THE founder of a successful martial arts organization,

MASUCCESS IS PUBLISHED BY

VOL. 16, NO. 03 // MARCH 2016

Personal Best Karate, headquartered in Norton, MA. He’s a fiv -time world karate champion

MANAGING EDITOR

and is currently the executive director of

John Corcoran

the world-renowned Team Paul Mitchell, a championship team supported by sport-karate’s longest-running sponsorship. Rappold is the author of the new landmark MAIA program, Retention-Based Sparring. He can be reached at founder@personalbestkarate.com.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Frank Silverman MAIA DIVISION MANAGER

Kyle Young MAIA MARKETING MANAGER

Ashley Lugrand

THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING! BETH BLOCK, A 4TH-DEGREE BLACK belt in karate, is the president of Block Insurance in Orlando, FL. Block has protected businesses

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

Jason Flame Tony Founrnier Mike Metzger

Adam Parman Shane Tassoul

that serve children for the past 24 years. She is

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

the writer of Martial Arts Minute, a weekly

Jan Szijarto

risk-management newsletter. You can reach her at (800) 225-0863 or beth@blockinsurance.net.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Brad Bilbrey 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.

Herb Borkland Beth A. Block Karen Eden Jason Flame Antonio Fournier Philip E. Goss, Jr., Esq. Dave Kovar Perry William Kelly Kurt Klingenmeyer Ashley Lugrand

Mike Metzger Kristin Miller Kathy Olevsky Adam Parman Christopher Rappold Frank Silverman Shane Tassoul Barry Van Over Terry L. Wilson Kyle Young

INSPIRATION OVATION CORRESPONDENTS

KAREN EDEN IS A 5TH-DEGREE

Stefan Billen (GERMANY)

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

Herb Borkland (VA) Karen Eden (CO) Mark Junday (UNITED KINGDOM) Perry William Kelly

who has appeared nationally on CNN, FOX and Animal Planet as well as on local affili es for NBC and PBS. Karen is also a published book author and magazine columnist who has

(CANADA)

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

PUBLISHER

KarenEden@centurylink.net.

David Wahl

Andre Lima (CA) Scott Shaw (CA) Lee Wedlake (FL) Terry L. Wilson (CA) Keith D. Yates (TX)

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. © 2016 MAIA LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The mission of MAIA is to grow, promote and protect the martial arts industry, and to provide benefits to its members to help them become more successful.

MARCH 2016

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IN THE KNOW

“

WORDS OF WISDOM

A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF OPPOSITION

BY ASHLEY LUGRAND MAIA MARKETING MANAGER

IS A GREAT HELP TO A MAN. KITES RISE

AGAINST, NOT WITH, THE WIND.

”

—LEWIS MUMFORD

MARTIAL ARTS TRIVIA 1

True or False: Slapping techniques, such as repeatedly slapping an opponent in the face, are often seen in sumo wrestling matches.

The fi st notable use of Asian martial arts in Western literary fiction occur ed in a short story featuring what famous character?

True or False: Wing chun is a northern style of Chinese kungfu that emphasizes streamlined self-defense rudiments.

Nicknamed “The Queen of Mean,” which female martial arts competitor was Black Belt Magazine’s 1991 Woman of the Year? 1) True. 2) False. 3) Sherlock Holmes. 4) Kathy Long

MASUCCESS

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IN THE KNOW

YOU ASKED WHAT IS YOUR OPINION (OR PRACTICE) WHEN IT COMES TO ALLOWING STUDENTS TO COMPETE IN THE OPEN CIRCUIT? We allow it only for advanced students, but don’t encourage it.” — D A V E K O V A R , K O V A R ’ S F A M I LY M A R T I A L A R T S C E N T E R , S A C R A M E N T O , C A

We encourage students to compete in Open Tournaments, but only after they have gained some experience competing in several of our Inter-School Tournaments.” — 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

We are not a competition school, so we don’t have students currently competing in the open circuit. But I believe if you have a student that wants to do this, he or she should be allowed.”

STATS SPEAK

58% OF DADS SAY THEY USE FOUR OR MORE SOURCES OF INFORMATION TO HELP MAKE PURCHASE DECISIONS. THIS MEANS YOUR WEBSITE ALONE ISN’T ENOUGH; USE YOUR SOCIALMEDIA SITES TO SHARE THE BENEFITS OF MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING AT YOUR SCHOOL. SOURCE: E MA R K E T E R

— K R I S T I N M I L L E R , G L E N V I E W M A RT I A L A RT S & F I T N E S S , G L E N V I E W, I L

We allow students to compete, but we don’t promote it. We do have a competition team that makes up a small percentage of our student body that competes in Open Tournaments” — MIKE METZGER, CHAMPIONSHIP MARTIAL ARTS, ORLANDO, FL

MARCH 2016

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January 2016

“

– GEOFFREY F. ABERT –

The process of identifying something that you want to accomplish.

The martial arts belt system is one of the greatest systems created when it comes to setting and reaching goals. It teaches us to set goals, attain them and see the visual results of our achievements. Achieving a Black Belt in martial arts has significant meaning and is associated with excellence. We can understand our goals with the visual aid of the different color belt system. If you are a new student, there are many short terms goals to reach — white belt, yellow belt, etc. The long term goal is to become a Black Belt. If you want to earn your Black Belt, set that as your long-term

JANUARY 2016

”

goal and tal to your instructors about a time frame. It takes years of hard work and dedication to achieve that goal, so don’t lose focus or get discouraged. Learning to set goals is key to success.

A M2016

Jan 2016

3. Should you always have goals whether it be in martial arts, school or at home?

BE FOCUSED!

• M - Measurable. Some goals are easier to measure than others. School-related goals are measurable because you get grades in school, but goals related to keeping your room clean might have to be measured in terms of the number of times you vacuum or dust each week. This is the time of year when it is

“

of this article is not to help you

Specific: Your goal needs to be specific (include details) and be stated clearly. A specific goal has a much better chance of being accomplished than a general goal.

some simple steps that should help

• R – Relevant. Set goals that matter to you. You are martial so setting a goal you related Takeasome timeartist, to refocus yourself stay to focused once you decide getting your next stripe or belt would be a greatand way to motivate yourself. where your priorities lie during this reevaluate the things you are spending time on.

Measurable: How will you know when the goal is achieved? You need specific criteria to measure your progress. Keeping track of your progress gives incentive to keep going.

busy holiday season.

• T – Timely. If you set goals like “Shovel the sidewalk” without giving yourself a deadline, First, deciding what is important Below are four steps to you will probably have a harder time getting started and a harder completing that and determining whattime matters is an staying focused: task. Instead, give yourself a deadline and workinternal to accomplish the goalWe onall schedule, or decision process. have 1. Keep organized. people in our lives who influence that ahead of schedule. It seems obvious, but as the decision, but ultimately you are the

Attainable: Your goals should be realistic and achievable.

3. Manage your time. This goes hand in hand with making lists. Keep on track and don’t let others manage your time for you.

days pass by and events, special

determining factor. You thefor stage. Setting SMART goals helps you focus on the things you want and make a set plan how to getperformances, them. and the holidays You decide what is important and what is not.

themselves happen, remaining organized will help you stick to your goals.

4. Make time for breaks. At first this may sound counterintuitive, but breaks allow you to recharge and catch up internally. And remember, staying focused is the key to accomplishment.

2. Make a list. To-do lists are key to staying focused. They act as a road map to getting important things done.

WHAT ’S

INSIDE

If you asked others “What’s important and what should I focus on?” you’ll hear a spectrum of answers as diverse as the people you question: family, work, education, friends, the list goes on. The intention

– PABLO PICASSO –

week 3

DOWN ARE JUST WISHES.”

1. Flyers/Ad slicks – We must understand that flyers/ad slicks should be used to create enough interest in getting a prospect to pick up a phone and call your facility or to come into your facility. When doing external marketing WHEN you are not present (ads, flyers, mailers, ad cards etc.) we want the phones to be ringing and people walking in the door. The way to do this is to blanket your area with flyers, ad cards, mailers and posters. Get out as many flyers as possible so that when someone wants to do martial arts, they call you first.

”

Relevant: Make goals that matter to you. – FITZHUGH DODSON – When you identify goals that are important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true.

week 4

“ALLSet WHO HAVE ACCOMPLISHED Timely: time frames or blocks of time GREAT HAVE HAD your A GREAT when you THINGS plan to accomplish goal. AIM, HAVE FIXED THEIR GAZE ON A of A time-bound goal establishes a sense GOAL WHICH WAS HIGH, urgency and prevents goalsONE fromWHICH being SOMETIMES SEEMED pushed to the side from IMPOSSIBLE.” other daily activities. – ORISON SWETT MARDEN –

Ask Your Students: 1.

What is an example of a SMART goal?

2. Why is it important to create SMART goals? 3. Can we create one SMART goal for everyone in class today?

Dear parents and/or guardians... This month we will discuss goal setting and why it is important to have goals and write them down. Proper goal setting will help your children decide what they want to achieve in life. Their short-term goals will help keep them motivated and build self-confidence as they successfully achieve their long-term goals.

HOW CAN YOU HELP? • Help your children be S.M.A.R.T. about creating goals. Work with them on setting goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. • Have your children write down their goals including goals for school, home and in martial arts.

Be Focused! School Calendar Getting Your Vitamin D Nutrition In-Season

LE T T E R

WEEK TWO

“OUR GOALS CAN ONLY BE REACHED THROUGH A VEHICLE OF A PLAN, IN WHICH WE MUST FERVENTLY BELIEVE, AND UPON WHICH WE MUST OUR GOALS CAN ONLY BE REACHED THROUGH A VEHICLE OF A PLAN, VIGOROUSLY ACT. THERE IS NO IN WHICH WE MUST FERVENTLY BELIEVE, AND UPON WE OTHER ROUTE TOWHICH SUCCESS.” MUST VIGOROUSLY ACT. THERE IS NO OTHER ROUTE TO SUCCESS.

GOAL SETTING: Creating and achieving“GOALS goals — Be SMART. THAT ARE NOT WRITTEN

very easysetting to take a your eye the ball to determine • A – Attainable. If you haven’t learned to swim yet, then goal ofoff learning dive isn’t what should be important losegradually focus on the things that really (as the article mentioned before, this attainable right now. Set goals you can achieve,or and work your way up to more matter. As the holidays approach is an internal decision that can only difficult things. and the New Year rolls in, it is easy to be made by you), but we can offer forget where our priorities should lie.

week 2

We want to be smart when setting goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. We want to intelligently decide what our goals will be so we can actually accomplish them.

When running a martial arts school, we always have to be aware how to market properly and understand the main objective of what we do. There are times in our industry that we “miss the boat” or try to do too much when marketing our school. There is a time to “sell” and there is a time to market. I believe marketing has one purpose: to get your phone ringing or get people into your facility. Below are four bullet points, each presenting a different marketing idea and their so-called objective.

PARENT/GUARDIAN

week 1 – GEOFFREY F. ABERT – January 2016

ks ea br st

• S – Specific. While “Be better in school” might be an admirable goal, it isn’t specific enough. Decide what “better” means to you and focus on that.

MAIA ELITE CONSULTANT MIKE METZGER

What does goal setting mean to you?

2. Is goal setting important?

“THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT GOALS IS HAVING ONE.”

In your martial arts classes, we talk about goal setting quite a bit. This month, we are going to spend some time talking about setting “SMART” goals. This means setting goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. Let’s talk about what that means:

UNDERSTANDING MARKETING

Ask Your Students:

Goal Setting

ON YOUTUBE:

THE AVERAGE LENGTH OF THE TOP 50 YOUTUBE VIDEOS IS TWO MINUTES AND 54 SECONDS. KEEP YOUR VIDEOS UNDER THREE MINUTES.

• Allow your children to create a timeline including short-term and longterm goals.

• Help your children place a visual reminder in your home where they can see it every day to remind them to stay active in pursing their goals. • Discuss with your children why setting goals is important.

2. Offsite booths – Offsite booths are very powerful because it gets you in front of your prospects. Most times we will use the same flyers that we use for our normal marketing, but the difference is we can

Goal Setting GOAL SETTING IS THE PROCESS OF DECIDING WHAT YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH AND DEVISING A PLAN TO ACHIEVE THE RESULT YOU DESIRE.

2016

NEWSLETTER

GOAL SETTING:

G ROW TH

speak to our prospects and build more value in what we offer. We need to understand that there are a lot of people out there that don’t realize they have an interest in martial arts, but when you can talk about the benefits, it may create interest in people that otherwise wouldn’t think twice about joining a martial arts facility or noticing a martial arts flyer. When running an offsite booth, I like to advertise a trial special or a no-obligation special to come and try our program. I like to give an incentive to prospects at the booth to set an appointment NOW to come and try us out. I may advertise a fourweeks-for-$49 special at the booth but let people know that if they set an appointment NOW, I will give them half off the special price. This will create urgency.

JAN

KID KICK

FOCUS

WEEK ONE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT GOALS IS HAVING ONE.

dren your only goal is to get them excited about going to your school. We can’t create a lot of emotion by just giving them a free week pass. We create the emotion by inviting them to an “event”. An event is an easier “sell” than offering a free week. When you invite someone to try a week, they know that it’s to see if this is something they will want to eventually sign up for. When you invite someone to an event (bully buster seminar, goal setting seminar, etc.), it is more of a community service as opposed to a “trial”, but it gets a lot more people into your school.

4. Info Calls – When taking an info call, you should try to keep the call to under a minute. Often times when people are taking an info call, they try to sell themselves over the phone. We must remember that IF YOUR ACTIONS INSPIRE if someone is calling for informa3. School Talks/Daycare Talks – When OTHERS TO DREAM MORE, tion, they are already interested. we talk about school talks or LEARN MORE, DOThe MORE main objective when taking daycare talks, we need to underAND BECOME MORE, YOU an info call is to get them to set stand this can consist of talking ARE A LEADER. an appointment and come into to a group of kids about a certain the building. Once your prospect topic such as stranger danger, – JOHN QUINCY ADAMS – comes into your facility, then you goal setting or focus, or it can be Hopefully you have had a relaxing can sell your program. It is never teaching a mini class. The reason winter good to start answering all kindsbreak and are ready to we like getting into schools and go into the New Year. To get our of questions over the phone as this daycares is because our biggest MAIA can only create objections. Get members off to the right market (children) are all together the appointment and get start, the we are asking a very simple, in one spot. You must keep in mind yet important question: were you prospect in! that when you are in front of chilhappy with your 2015 financial results? If so, the next two tasks are to 1) Set your 2016 goals, and 2) A LEADER IS ONE WHO Write down all the things you did KNOWS THE WAY, GOES THE last year to accomplish your 2015 WAY, AND SHOWS THE WAY. goals and repeat them.

WELCOME TO JANUARY

– JOHN C. MAXWELL –

• Make sure your children understand that goals are part of teamwork and leadership not just individual accomplishments. • Have your children get a buddy that has a similar or same goal so they can help and support each other.

OUTSTANDING LEADERS GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO BOOST THE SELF-ESTEEM OF THEIR PERSONNEL. IF PEOPLE BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES, IT’S AMAZING WHAT THEY CAN ACCOMPLISH.

• Set family goals to help your children learn the importance of goal setting. • Be a role model — set a personal goal along with your children so they can watch you achieve. There is no better way to learn than by following an example.

• Decide as a family what the celebration will be upon reaching every shortterm goal.

If you didn’t do as well as you would have liked, then your two action items are a little different. 1) Make a list of where you fell short. Be brutally honest with yourself and, if you aren’t sure, consult with your staff. 2) Make a list of the things you believe you could have done better. No matter where you are, selfreflection is just as important as goal setting. It is important to

reflect on what you did, when you did it, how you reached the place you find yourself in and why you were or were not successful in your previous endeavors. For example, we have a goal for MAIA and for the MASuperShow. For 2016, we want to grow the event to over 3,000 members. This will take both reflection and planning. We will spend time identifying the things that worked for us in the past, and we will use that information to set a course for the future. So, let’s work on our goals together. Let MAIA continue to help you reach your 2016 goals. Sign up today and be part of the 15 year anniversary of the Martial Arts SuperShow. Call MAIA at 866-626-6226.

– SAM WALTON –

WE EXIST TO SERVE THE MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY. TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW MAIA CAN HELP YOU AND YOUR SCHOOL, CONTACT US AT INFO@MASUCCESS.COM OR CALL 866-626-6226. *Online SuccessKit only. New members only. ©2016 MAIA, LLC. #9845

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HEAR FROM YOUR PEERS

Do you offer fitness classes at your school?

Yes – 56.5%

No – 43.5%

What fitness classes do you offer? Cardio kickboxing – 60.4% Body weight training – 37.3% Other

(including Crossfit, kids boot camp, Cage fitness, pilates, etc.) – 35.4%

Weight Training – 28.1% Adult bootcamp – 22.3% Yoga – 17.7% 16

MASUCCESS

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HEAR FROM YOUR PEERS

Do you have a pro shop? Yes – 53.3% No – 46.7%

What social networks do you use?

Facebook 89.8%

YouTube 38.3% Twitter 25.8% None 7.8%

Instagram 14.4%

Other (including LinkedIn, Google+, etc.) 7.1% MARCH 2016

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The MASuperShow App launches soon! Look for our announcement and download it to your phone for FREE. Get all the latest updates and news about the 2016 MASuperShow.

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(866) 626-6226 | MASUPErSHOW.COM | JOIN MAIA & SAVE $50 OFF TICKET PRICES 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

Section 1.indd 18

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

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a Visit www.kennedyindustries.com for more information and a short video where you can see this product work.

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UU INTERNATIONALLY-RECOGNIZED SEMINAR SPEAKERS AND TRAINERS UU UNLIMITED NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES UU MEET AND BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH TOP EXHIBITORS AT THE TRADESHOW

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Join us for the 15th Annual Martial Arts SuperShow at the beautiful MGM Grand, July 5 – 8, 2016. For more information, call the Martial Arts Industry Association at (866) 626-6226 or visit www.masupershow.com.

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MARCH 2016

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

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a For more information on these and other Century products, call a helpful Century sales representative at (800) 626-2787 or visit www.CenturyMartialArts.com.

MASUCCESS

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

CENTURY® JACKSON RUDOLPH BO STAFFS Century®

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Jackson Rudolph is one of the biggest names in international sport karate competition today. He’s renowned for developing a performance style with quick manipulations and weapons releases. This line of bo staffs bearing Rudolph’s name was created with his personal style in mind.

The Jackson Rudolph Signature Bo Staff is the same bo he uses in ompetition. Made from solid wood and finished with mylar and a clear coat for durability, the bo is available in sizes from 48” to 72” and in three colors.

The Jackson Rudolph Professional Bo Staff eatures the same design as above, with additional illumination technology for a dazzling effect.

The Jackson Rudolph bo case can hold two bo staffs or straight weapons and is made of durable nylon and quilted linen with an adjustable tie closure.

a For more information on these and other Century products, call a helpful Century sales representative at (800) 626-2787 or visit www.CenturyMartialArts.com. MARCH 2016

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THE MAIA REPORT

WHERE WILL YOU BE JULY 5-7, 2016? BY KYLE YOUNG

MAIA DIVISION MANAGER

“COME BREATHE IN A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. REINVIGORATE YOURSELF AND YOUR STAFF. WITNESS THE POWER OF THIS UNPARALLELED NETWORKING EVENT. GATHER TOGETHER WITH THE PROFESSIONALS WHO ARE JUST LIKE YOU. LEARN FROM YOUR PEERS.”

his year marks The Martial Arts Industry Association’s 15th year of putting on the MASuperShow. Many of you reading this already know what the MASuperShow is because you’ve attended our life-changing event many times. Every year, our goal is to bring the best of the martial arts business world to our attendees. We work to build a schedule of classes, seminars, workouts and networking opportunities that is unrivaled in our community. With this being a milestone year, we’re aiming even higher. Each year, we pick a theme for the MASuperShow that we believe will inspire. For our 15th anniversary, we wanted a theme that would really resonate with the martial arts spirit. This year’s theme is Relentless Pursuit. Whether you’re pursuing a new discipline, a new rank, a second location, or are still trying to perfect your operational systems in your current location, we are confident many of you have been relentless in your pursuit of success, regardless of how you measure it. We have planned more than 30 professional learning opportunities with the truly elite thought leaders in the industry. There is no other place, no other conference, gathering, or show where you will be given the same opportunities. So how can you afford to stay home? If you do today what you did yesterday, how can you expect tomorrow to be any better than the day before? Don’t get caught up in the status quo!

Please don’t mistake this as a hard sell for the MASuperShow. I’m simply stating the facts. Every year, we see and hear from the industry’s top performers at the MASuperShow. We know that those who have attended in the past keep coming back because of the unparalleled learning, networking, and growth opportunities. We know that fi st year attendees rave about the changes, both big and small, they are able to make to their schools because of the tips, tricks, and game-changing ideas they pick up at our event. In fact, some industry leaders and school owners will celebrate their own personal 15th MASuperShow anniversary along with us this year. Why do the best schools in America consistently come back? Because for an unbelievably affordable ticket price, they know they will be able to see fi sthand what works in today’s martial arts culture, schools, and businesses. To those who say they can’t afford the trip, I’m telling you frankly that you can’t afford to miss it. Find a way to attend this year’s Show. I can tell you with certainty you will leave with enough to-do items to pay for your trip tenfold. Don’t believe me? Give us a call and I’ll get you a list of people to talk to about how it’s changed their business and their lives. I get it. You’ve been to these events before. You’ve heard it all. You might even be going to a different event this year. As the saying goes, “imitation is the greatest form of flat ery”. Sure, there are other tradeshows, but none are more poignant and tailored to what you do as a school owner. Maybe the MASuperShow is not for you, but I can tell you it is for those willing to put their egos aside and embrace this incredible learning opportunity. Why is this one of the best attended events in the industry, year after year? It’s because we’ve consistently delivered the vendors, products, services and most importantly the big ideas and action plans for you to execute. Come breathe in a breath of fresh air. Reinvigorate yourself and your staff. Witness the power of this unparalleled networking event. Gather together with the professionals who are just like you. Learn from your peers. And, most of all, have fun. You have the best job in the world and there’s no better place to hone your craft than among like-minded individuals who believe they change the world through their vocation. You can register for the MASuperShow at masupershow.com or by calling 866-626-6226. e yle Young is the Martial Arts Industry Association Division mK Manager and can be reached at kyoung@masuccess.com.

MASUCCESS

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D E S A NB

G N I R R A P S O I T N ETE

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moves by taking turns Learn and practice both offensive and defensive sparring partner. Clearly and openly communicate with your

g arrin o SpRETtE NTION! t e Gear up and keep coinmmind these importan parts of sparring BASED Wel by progressive Remember: Winning in sparring is determined improvement over time, not matches won.

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Let us show you how! masuccess.com | (866) 626-6226 Section 1.indd 25

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MARKETING RESOURCE

Expand your student base with marketing targeted at working adults.

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FEATURED STORY

MASUCCESS

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FEATURED STORY

Fighting Childhood

Obesity Through KickNFit Kids After reading an article in USA Today on childhood obesity, martial arts celebrity Chris Casamassa was inspired to launch the KickNFit Kids program. Based on simplicity and fun for kids, this successful weight-loss workout is currently used in 150 locations worldwide and doubles as a very effective income generator for school owners. By Terry L. Wilson

MARCH 2016

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FEATURED STORY

Formula: Keep It Simple and Make It Fun “In 2004, I was reading an article in USA Today about childhood obesity. We at Red Dragon Karate had been experimenting with programs for kids for years on how to help them get fit using ma tial arts,” says Chris Casamassa. The story struck a nerve with Casamassa. It profiled kids wh , at the youthful ages of 10 and 11, were being diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure and stress-related illnesses, all problems normally associated with adults in their sixties and seventies. “That article motivated me to buckle down and put something together that was systemized, but easy for kids to follow,” he says. “I wanted them to have fun while incorporating the benefits of ma tial arts training without it being a hard-core, old-school type of workout.”

“Casamassa streamlined his program to stimulate kids while making it easy and fun to learn. He focused on what he thought was fun about the martial arts when he was learning them as a youngster and created the premise for his KickNFit Kids program from those memories.”

MASUCCESS

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FEATURED STORY

Applying the “Keep It Simple” adage, Casamassa streamlined his program to stimulate kids while making it easy and fun to learn. Because he began training at a very early age, he was able to draw upon his childhood recollections to create the ultimate program for kids. Casamassa focused on what he thought was fun about the martial arts when he was a youngster and created the premise for his KickNFit Kids program from those memories. “We have 14 Red Dragon studios in California and, over the years, I have the experience of working with, teaching and training literally, thousands of kids,” Casamassa explains. “So, I know what they like and what makes it fun for them — and I’m able to translate that into our programs. One of the main things I’ve learned is that when it’s fun for them to learn, they stay longer. The longer they stay, the better they get, and the better they get, the greater their chance for success. “KickNFit Kids is a 10-week program where the students come in and work out three days a week for just 30 minutes a day. The classes are broken down into four easy segments, and each segment is completed in about six to seven minutes. The kids get a great workout and have fun doing it. The program is action-packed, fast-paced and they lose weight, so it’s not just a martial arts program.” The workout incorporates yoga for stretching, cardio routines, some kickboxing moves and strength training.

“When the student completes the program, we guarantee that he or she will lose 10 pounds or more, or we will give them their money back,” Casamassa says. “In the entire time that we’ve had this program, we’ve never had to refund anyone, because everyone that has completed the program has lost the weight.”

KickNFit Kids As a Student Generator Combining his passion for the KickNFit Kids program with his unique business savvy, Casamassa understands that a program is only effective if it can be of benefit o those training in that program. It must also generate a cash flow in o the school. With that in mind, he began to promote his 10-week program with amazing results. The success of his concept was evident as enrollment numbers increased for his karate schools. The 10-week course gives students and parents the time to bond with and get to know the Red Dragon staff. Then, when the students begin dropping inches off their aists, the parents see the results fi st-hand. This endears them to the program and the instructors and provides an incentive to sign up for regular karate classes.

MARCH 2016

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FEATURED STORY

In many schools, a prospective student may take an intro class that could last maybe a few days to a week. Normally, then, the owner or instructor approaches the student and attempts to sign him or her up for regular classes. The problem with that approach is that, in most cases, the school owner/instructor and prospective student haven’t shared much time together. Consequently, they have very little time to establish a bond like they would have had using the 10-week KickNFit Kids format. “KickNFit Kids is a great new-student generator for school owners who might be having trouble getting new students. With our 10-week program, they get to know their instructors better,” Casamassa points out. “And each week, the parents see the progress. At the end of the program, the students’ and the parents’ lives have changed — and that is priceless.” Casamassa reflects on the pride and emotion he has seen time and time again in the eyes of his KickNFit Kids parents. “The look on the parents’ faces says it all,” says Casamassa. “They are literally crying because they’re so happy. I had a parent with tears in her eyes. I asked her why she was crying and she said, ‘It’s because I have to buy my son new clothes, because he’s lost so much weight.’ That was a very powerful moment.” Let’s face it: This is especially great for the kids themselves. When a kid loses weight, it is often a major turning point in his or her life. They are no longer the target for “fat jokes” or getting teased about being overweight. Self-esteem is an important fact when it comes to a person’s desire to succeed in life. Dropping a handful of pounds can do wonders for a person’s ego at any age.

Losing weight is just one aspect of Casamassa’s unique program. The confidence level of his KickNFit students changes almost overnight, too. Parents have seen grades improve and personalities sparkle. A child who may have been shy or withdrawn (before taking the class) is suddenly alive with a newfound confiden e. “When parents see transformations like that in their child, you know that you’ve changed a whole family’s life,” says Casamassa. “Once that happens, both the student and the parent are bonded to you and are more likely to become full-time martial arts students.”

MASUCCESS

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16 JULY 5-7 AT THE MGM GRAND

THE BIGGEST EVENT FOr MArTIAL ArTS

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FEATURED STORY

“When the student completes the program, we guarantee that he or she will lose 10 pounds or more, or we will give them their money back. In the entire time that we’ve had this program, we’ve never had to refund anyone, because everyone that has completed the program has lost the weight.”

A Lifetime

Spent In The Martial Arts

“I started training when I was four years old, so I’ve literally been doing martial arts for more than four decades,” says Chris Casamassa. “I fell in love with the arts at an early age and had the good fortune to grow up in the martial arts. I have seen and experienced first-hand the changes and growth in our industry. “Growing up in the martial arts, I know all the benefits that it’s helped me with. Everything I’ve accomplished in my career is directly attributed to the things I’ve learned studying under my father and others.” Those accomplishments extend far and wide. In addition to earning his senior-master-level black belt rank and overseeing 14 Californiabased Red Dragon schools, Casamassa also rose to prominence as a tournament champion and actor. As a competitor in the North American Sport Karate Association pro tour, his record includes being a four time #1-ranked National Open Forms Champion, two time National Weapons Champion, and a top-10-rated middleweight fighter.

Sporting a martial arts resume as long as your arm and movie-star good looks, it was natural for Chris to transition to an entertainment career. His roles include Shoot Fighter, Blade, Mortal Kombat (as “Scorpion”) and Batman and Robin, where he was a stunt double for Batman-lead George Clooney. Currently, he can be seen on Black Belt TV, a 24-hour martial arts channel, hosting his show, The Fight Scene. Casamassa’s celebrity is also a big plus for his KickNFit Kids program. “The kids have fun working out with someone they’ve seen in the movies and on television,” Casamassa says. “Most of the kids know me as Scorpion from the Mortal Kombat films and TV show. Those things help hook the kids in and helps to inspire them to push themselves to the best of their ability.” “Through my association with great companies such as the Martial Arts Industry Association and Century, I’ve been able to grow as a martial arts school owner. And I’m proud to be part of a new movement that’s helping to shape future generations of school owners and leaders.”

MASUCCESS

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16 JULY 5-7 AT THE MGM GRAND

WHAT PEOPLE ArE SAYING “This was my first experience, but it won’t be my last! The show was simply amazing. I have gained so much knowledge that want to share with everyone. You’ve had a great influence on me and proved that martial arts should be in everyone’s soul and it will be around for a very long time.”

rutH PAtErson, Instructor WolFPAcK MArtiAl Arts

Once the license is purchased, the school owner or instructor doesn’t have to attend an instructional seminar to understand the format. They get all the camera-ready artwork and the advertising campaign, guidebook, instructor-training book and instructor-training tips. “I’ve designed KickNFit Kids to be an effective marketing tool right out of the box,” Casamassa explains. “Instructors can use it as a separate program in their schools or put it into an existing program. Some of our licensees use this as a ‘New Student Program.’” Learning how to teach the class is as simple as watching a video. Casamassa has filmed all 30 unique workouts that come with the program. On camera, Casamassa walks the viewer through every aspect of KickNFit Kids. All the instructor needs to do is watch the DVD. Afterwards, he or she can then turn it off and begin teaching the exact same class just viewed on the instructional video. In addition to the DVDs, the program also includes a written training manual with step-bystep instructions to guide them through the process. Notably, too, the class is economically friendly for the students. They don’t need to purchase expensive gear, weights or fancy workout equipment. “All anyone needs to run and operate a KickNFit Kids class is a few feet of space [per kid],” Casamassa says. “Instructors also have the option of having the kids hit the bags or pads they already have in their studio, and that will add even more weight loss to the workout.”

“Every year it is a challenge to see everything at the Martial Arts SuperShow. There are so many amazing speakers, vendors and people. The MASuperShow has truly become my annual ‘me’ vacation, because it is all about learning and development.”

DAn PArKEr, Instructor LEvEl 10 MArtiAl Arts CollEGE

80% oF OUr ANNUAL ATTENDEES rETUrN YEAr AFTEr YEAr.

FIND OUT WHY. (866) 626-6226 MASUPErSHOW.COM @MASuperShow

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FEATURED STORY

“Kids pay just $19 per week for the 10-week program. If you get only five kids in the program the first time you run it, you have tripled your initial investment! You show me a program that changes lives for the better and triples my investment the first time it’s used, then I’ll buy it from you!”

MASUCCESS

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16 JULY 5-7 AT THE MGM GRAND

NETWOrKING

OPPOrTUNITIES

95%

Partnership with MAIA/Century Boosts Sales “My association with MAIA [Martial Arts Industry Association] started about seven years ago, when I went to my fi st Martial Arts SuperShow,” Casamassa explains. “I approached Frank Silverman and Mike Metzger [MAIA’s Executive Director and MAIA’s Elite Consultant, respectively] about working together because I believed that Mike Dillard [Century founder and CEO] and his team at Century are very passionate about kids and kid’s fitness. “I thought that we would be a good fi , so I presented the KickNFit Kids program to them. I was right; they loved it and now we work together to get the word out about kid’s fitness all around the world.” The partnership has been a success from day one, making KickNFit Kids a winning combination for Century, MAIA and Casamassa. Currently, 150 locations around the world are using the program. “The license, which is sold through MAIA, is available to school owners worldwide” says Casamassa. “My goal is to help school owners get involved. To that end, I’ve made the program so easy to use that anyone who purchases a KickNFit Kids license can get it started in less than a week.” According to Casamassa, licensees can realize immediate profits, oo. “Kids pay just $19 per week for the 10-week program. If you get only five kids in the p ogram the fi st time you run it, you have tripled your initial investment!” he says. “You show me a program that changes lives for the better and triples my investment the fi st time it’s used, then I’ll buy it from you!” e m For more information about the KickNFit Kids program, call an expert MAIA Account Manager at 866-626-6226 or visit www.masuccess.com. Terry Wilson is a veteran freelance writer and master-level martial arts black belt based in San Diego. He can be reached at tleewilson@gmail.com.

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of attendees are School Owners Learn from practicing martial arts school owners Meet and exchange ideas with your peers & other professionals

Discover new products and services from over 70 Exhibitors

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youtube.com/MAIASuccess

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JA T K

3 B

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COLUMN

GROWING YOUR SCHOOL

Five Great Reasons for Taking Action!

BY BARRY VAN OVER

“PEOPLE WHO ARE GETTING RESULTS HAVE TWO THINGS IN COMMON: THE WILL TO SUCCEED AND THE DRIVE TO DO WHAT IT TAKES. THEY ARE NOT WORLDRENOWNED MARTIAL ARTISTS OR GREAT BUSINESS MINDS, BUT THEY ALL TAKE ACTION.”

y taking action, things in our schools can change very fast. I was speaking with a school owner recently who was having some staff challen es that were resulting in his being a little behind on his monthly goals. I spoke with him about the importance of outgoing phone calls, helped him handle his staff challen e, and discussed taking action even when things are tough. Since then, he has totally turned around his month. In three days, he set 26 power appointments, made outgoing calls and signed up ten new students. That’s taking action! The schools that are growing and prospering are the ones that take action. Too often, I see school owners doing the same thing week after week — nothing. No action at all. No one, the owner or the staff, is stepping up to take the action needed for the school to grow. For example, I asked a school owner last week, “What is the number one problem you see that’s keeping you from growing?” His answer was the same thing he had told me months before: No one at his school is doing any marketing! If I told you and your staff membe s that I would give each one of you $1,000 if you sign up one student today, could you do it? I’ll bet the overwhelming answer would be yes! Well, you school owners should understand that every time you sign someone up for lessons, you make more than $1,000. And staff me bers, that is what you’re getting paid to do in fi st place.

Here are five g eat facts about our industry that should motivate you to take action. 1. We can grow and prosper fast. It doesn’t take years for your school to bring in a high monthly gross-dollar amount. By putting certain systems in place, you can accomplish amazing gross-dollar growth, fast. 2. We see the results of our hard work immediately. When we take action, we see the results of that action right away in the number of new students, the growth of our billing check, the sales of merchandise, and in our monthly gross-dollar goals! 3. There’s nothing wrong with your school that taking action and signing up 20 new students cannot fi . Each month that we sign up a least 20 new students, we have 20 students for the next month that we can upgrade. We also have instant cash flow f om those 20 new students’ down payments and paid-in-fulls, and we have more students that can give us more referrals! 4. There are no superstars in our industry. People who are getting results have two things in common: The will to succeed and the drive to do what it takes. That’s it! They are not world-renowned martial artists or great business minds, but they all take action. Remember what the famous American football coach, Lou Holtz, said: “We never lost a game, sometimes we just ran out of time.” This means they never stopped trying, right up to the last second of the game. How many of you stop too soon? You try an idea, you get less-than-great results and you stop trying. Or, how many of you begin to market like crazy for a couple of weeks, get results, then fall back into your same old routine of no action? In this industry, average people can accomplish great things, if they never stop trying! 5. It is all up to you! In no other industry can you take the responsibility for your own success, work for yourself, be a business owner, and achieve a level of income that some people working on Wall Street don’t make! And, you can achieve it in a relatively short time, without a college degree, and empower your community all of the same time! My new favorite saying is, “Winners are simply willing to do what loser won’t!” But there’s another important aspect to it. Winners also recognize opportunities, they take action on those opportunities, and are then willing to do whatever actions it takes, especially the things that losers won’t. e

mB arry Van Over can be reached at (877) 613-4900 or email him at barry@premier4success.com.

MASUCCESS

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ORDER TODAY! CALL 1-866-626-6226

OR MASUCCESS.COM

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COLUMN

BY DAVE KOVAR

“THE OVERALL LOOK AND FEEL OF YOUR SCHOOL MAY EVEN BE JUDGED AS OLD OR OUTDATED SIMPLY BECAUSE SOME EQUIPMENT IN IT IS TATTERED OR TORN. SO, PLAN TO BUDGET FOR UPGRADES TO, AND REPAIRS OF, AGING EQUIPMENT.”

his month, I continue my detailed, 16-step, 2016 school-improvement plan with Steps #4-7. Step #4: Take a fresh look at your facility. Pick a few friends or relatives who have rarely, if ever, been to your school. You’re looking for people who are meticulous and detail-oriented. Pick people who will see everything. Ask them if they’d be willing to visit the school and share their opinions about its appearance with you. They will almost certainly hesitate, feeling that they are not qualified to do this. So, you’ll need to explain to them that what you’re seeking is someone who can look at the school through the eyes of a prospect coming in for the very fi st time. Have each person tour your school individually. Say you have three people do this. If all three point out something that could be improved, you can be sure that your prospects and students are seeing it, too. Tell them that you’ll want them to be very critical, because it’s far better for them to tell you than for you to lose students because you weren’t aware of a problem. As you walk with them, carry a clipboard with a pen and pad of paper so you can write down everything they point out. Have them start at the street, viewing your school as a prospect would when he or she pulls into your parking lot. Be sure they take a close look at how your school appears from your doorway, your reception area and your front desk.

Make sure, too, to include any office areas, your bathroom(s), etc. Invite them to walk around inside — looking at, and commenting on, everything. For your part, do not say or do anything that might cause them to hold back or fil er their comments. You may not like what you hear, but you want to hear everything. While the resulting list may be long, consider it a gift. Each one of the items you address will increase the likelihood that a prospect will enroll, and will decrease the likelihood that a student will quit. So, you’ll want to be aggressive in addressing as many issues as you can. Step #5: Update your equipment. Your equipment takes a pounding and, eventually, it wears out. As equipment ages, it can even become unsafe. Inspect every item of equipment you use in your school. If it’s just old, you can probably sell it to a student. But if it’s at the end of its usefulness, replace it with a new piece of equipment. The overall look and feel of your school may even be judged as old or outdated simply because some equipment in it is tattered or torn. So, budget for upgrades to, and repairs of, aging equipment. Yes, this comes at a cost. But it will make your school look better and your students will take pride in belonging to a school that takes care of its equipment. Step #6: Set the goal of conducting “Student/Parent Progress Checks” with every student and parent by the end of the fir t quarter. Committing to meet with every student and parent to review their progress and update their goals provides a huge boost to retention. Step #7: Do a performance review for every member of your staff. Meet with every member of your team individually to discuss how he or she is doing. Before the meeting, ask them to complete a short self-assessment revealing how well they feel they have done in their role at your school. Be sure that this form asks for their goals for the coming year, too. Read it over before meeting with them. Then, review their goals with them and discuss how you can work together to help them achieve those goals. Consider any opportunities to increase their responsibility and express your confiden e in their ability to perform these new tasks. Discuss opportunities for advancement in martial arts and, if appropriate, in their career. End on a positive note. Your goal is for them to walk away feeling more positive than ever about their role at your school. Next month: Steps #8 – 10. e

m You can contact Master Dave Kovar at dave.kovar@kovars.com.

MASUCCESS

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IN THE CLASSROOM

The 2016 School Improvement Plan: 16 Action Steps to Elevate Your School This Year, Part 2

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FEATURED STORY

Humanitarian Learned

Martial Arts Under The Threat of Death

MASUCCESS

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FEATURED STORY

It’s 1973, Enter the Dragon has just hit the silver screen, a worldwide martial arts boom is in full swing and you want to study the martial arts. But you can’t, because the oppressive regime that rules your country, Chile, has banned them. Imagine, just showing off a front kick in public might mean death! That didn’t stop a courageous Chilean native, Master Javier Duque, an American immigrant who today runs a humanitarian martial arts school in Ottawa, Illinois. By Perry William Kelly

MARCH 2016

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FEATURED STORY

“The ability to see the worst of humanity and let it bring out the best in you Is a life-skill lesson that all school owners operating in the free-enterprise democracy of America can learn from.”

MASUCCESS

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FEATURED STORY

It is a common enough story throughout the world: A powerful government group or a dictatorship in control of a country bans the practice of the martial arts. In general, there are two main reasons for the ban. The group or dictatorship does not understand the martial arts or, more commonly, has a fear, irrational or not, of the power they might give its civilian practitioners in a potential uprising against the oppressive government. History is filled with many xamples of this type of oppression brought to bear on the martial arts (see sidebar story: “Historic Timeline of Countries That Banned Martial Arts”). The example that most martial artists are aware of was of the Japanese banning the Okinawans from carrying weapons in the 1600s, which led to the practice of martial arts flourishing unde ground. But even here in America as recently as 2000, there were serious attempts by legislators to effectively ban mixed martial arts, which one politician famously called “human cockfightin ,” as a sport. Martial arts master, Javier Duque (pronounced, Haw-vee-air’ Doo-kay’), lived under such a ban and strict government oversight of martial arts in his native Chile, before immigrating to the United States to teach taekwondo, hapkido and kendo. Bravely, Master Duque

defied the p ohibition and, under the shadow of the state, managed to find ays to practice and excel at the martial arts underground. Today, he teaches that kind of courage to his students at the Duque Institute of Martial Arts in Ottawa, Illinois. How practicing martial arts secretly under the threat of potential death if discovered affected him, is quite an extraordinary story on its own. But how that background under the thumb of a brutal dictatorship turned Duque, paradoxically, into a humanitarian is just as unique. So, ask yourself, is your love of martial arts powerful enough to risk death to practice it? And if you survived that danger and moved to a free country, would you teach your martial arts classes with dictatorial authority, driving your students like a hard-hearted drill instructor? Or, like Master Duque, would you be so grateful for your new life that you’d pay it forward and create social programs at your school for underpriviledged and at-risk kids? The ability to see the worst of humanity and let it bring out the best in you is a life-skill lesson that school owners operating in the free-enterprise democracy of America can learn from.

MARCH 2016

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FEATURED STORY

Chile’s Chilling Dictatorship Takes Aim at Martial Arts In September 1973, the Chilean regime of Salvador Allende was overthrown by a coup d’état that took control of both the government and the military. The new regime, headed by a military junta under the control of General Augusto Pinochet, was a complete dictatorship where political opposition and the voices of dissidents were brutally crushed. Two hundred thousand Chileans were forced into exile and the regime’s violence led to the death or disappearance of an additional 3,000 people. Virtually every aspect of Chilean life was under some sort of control. In a move similar to those imposed by other such conquerors, the regime enacted laws requiring its people to hand over all of their weapons. In the United States, Constitutional amendments, the NRA and citizen uproar would prevent such a law from being enacted, but in countries like Chile, the dictator dictates. Moreover, any physical training related to martial arts was also banned because it was considered “revolutionary.” While Eastern martial arts activities were banned, the dictatorship, conversely, permitted the practice of Western boxing. Boxing was a popular sport in Chile and had a large governing federation, so it was given a pass by the military. This bureaucratic sleight-of-hand might be more familiar to North Americans, who have lived through the eras when kickboxing and MMA were banned, while boxing was left virtually untouched and unregulated in many U.S. states.

A group of politically-motivated students who began organizing marches against the government quickly realized that they would have to defend their political leaders lest they were arrested, tortured and killed. So, they developed self-defense units in their high schools to secretly teach martial arts techniques that students could use against special agents who were spying on the marches or against the Special Forces units attacking them. They prepared to defend themselves in any circumstances. Master Duque recalls that, at that time in the news, “You could see pictures of guys doing sidekicks and low kicks against the police officers.” Unfortunately, as with any totalitarian regime, the cost of dissent is often very high. Pinochet’s Secret Service was in charge of finding out who as involved in these self-defense activities and, consequently, Master Duque lost two very close high-school friends. They were caught practicing martial arts in secret, arrested and accused of being “terrorists.” To make the charges stick, the regime’s agents planted M16 rifles in their houses and the high school students were eventually executed. The martial arts ban was lifted in 1980. Ironically, martial arts practice was re-instituted so that the population could train itself to thwart the martial arts techniques being used by criminals to commit muggings and robberies. However, the arts were still controlled under highly-restrictive conditions, which reportedly continue to this day.

MASUCCESS

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FEATURED STORY

Historic Timeline of Countries That Banned Martial Arts 1477: Okinawa’s King Sho Shin bans the carrying of arms, which leads to the underground development of martial arts.

1609: Three thousand samurai under Japan’s reigning Satsuma Clan capture Okinawa, and the Clan bans

the ownership of weapons, leading to the secret practice of unarmed martial arts and the use of farm implements (nunchaku, tonfa, sai, bo and kama) as weapons.

1700s: Pencak silat is banned in Indonesia by Portuguese invaders, who kill anyone with martial arts

knowledge. The arts are practiced in remote villages or disguised as a dance. Dutch and British colonizers later adopt the ban.

1700s-1937: Capoeira is brought to Brazil by Angolan slaves, who disguise the practice of the art by making

it look like a dance. With emancipation in 1888, capoeira falls into the hands of criminals and is outlawed from 1892-1937.

1910-1945: Japan takes control of Korea and bans the practice of all martial arts. 1937: After having lived and trained in Japan in judo with founder Jigoro Kano, sambo pioneer Vasili Oshchepkov is accused by the Soviet Union of being a Japanese spy. He dies in prison.

1946-1950: U.S. Supreme Commander of Allied Powers, Gen Douglas MacArthur, issues a directive that

leads to the closing of the Dai Nippon Butokukai ("Greater Japan Martial Virtue Society") and the effective ban of martial arts for five years. The aim is to remove ultra-nationalist persons from public life and prevent the fostering of nationalistic spirit leading to the growth of militarism.

1975: Khymer Rouge, Cambodia’s communist party, bans the traditional martial art of pradal serey. Many boxers are executed or worked to death in labor camps and the art is almost destroyed.

1983-94: Ontario, Canada imposes a six-month moratorium banning kickboxing, due to pressure placed

on the provincial government by the boxing community that is losing fans to the new sport. The moratorium eventually lasts for over 20 years.

1984-1989: The Soviet government in Russia outlaws the practice of karate, but the art manages to survive in “underground” clubs until the ban was lifted after the fall of communism.

1996-2000: Senator John McCain, who heads a committee that impacts the granting of broadcast licenses, embarks on a fervent campaign to get mixed martial arts and its main sanctioning body, the UFC, banned across the U.S. His stance changes when athletic commissions in several states implement rules and weight classes in 2000.

2013: East Timor continues its ban of pencak silat, which, since 2011, has been responsible for the injuries of more than 200 practitioners in fights between rival clubs.

MARCH 2016

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FEATURED STORY

Enter the “Chilean Dragon” — Javier Duque Born in Santiago to a father who worked as a teacher for the Chilean public university’s science department and a mother who worked as a secretary, Master Duque proudly refers to himself as “working class.” He began his formal training in taekwondo and hapkido in 1982, at the age of 15 in Santiago, under a Korean teacher and illegal resident of Chile named Master Choi. Due to Choi’s lack of citizenship, this training was conducted in secret until 1984. Knowing the work of the brutal regime and that the authorities were hot on his heels, Choi disappeared soon after and returned to Korea via Brazil. Duque then fell under the tutelage of Master Man Soo Yoon, a man Duque considers his “second father.” Yoon had begun his training at the age of five in orea and was a regional title-winning boxer. Yoon also studied hapkido, and was lucky enough to meet that martial art’s founder, Yong-Sool Choi. Yoon’s prestige in the

Chilean martial arts community was raised greatly when he starred in the Chilean martial arts movie, Kiltro (translation, Street Dog). Chilean chop-socky flic s? How cool is that! Duque eventually earned master-level ranks in hapkido, taekwondo, and black belt rank in a hybrid full-contact art called “kyuok too ki.” Duque was also imbued with a strong work ethic early on. He was employed as a pharmaceutical rep for two national companies in Chile while teaching martial arts on the side and training for international competition. He competed at the national level in Chile and around South America, in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia. In 1995, he won the South American Martial Arts Open in Argentina. Unfortunately for Master Duque, despite his prowess he had no possible chance against one of his students: his future wife!

MASUCCESS

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America Beckons

Kathryn Gonzalo-Duque was an American working in a Chilean orphanage while enrolled in a social program based at the University of Notre Dame. She brought some of her children to Duque when she learned that he had social programs for underpriviledged and at-risk children. She began training with him, eventually rising to black belt rank in taekwondo. She also conquered his heart and they were married three years later. In 2003, Duque and his wife moved to Ottawa, Illinois, Kathryn’s hometown. In 1980, the Chilean government had become a democracy, but the military still occupied powerful positions in the new government and exercised ironclad authority that made it virtually impossible to teach martial arts due to incredibly restrictive guidelines (see sidebar story, “Sure, Opening a Martial Arts School in America Involves Government Red Tape, But Wait Till You Read This!”). Ottawa is a small city of 50,000 people about a two-hour drive from Chicago. It has farms surrounding it, a couple of nuclear plants, some industries and a very, very small Hispanic community (roughly 2%). For Duque, like many new immigrants, living in America was initially difficult because he ouldn’t speak a word of English. This barrier was quickly overcome when he found himself accepted by an American culture where people were so nice and polite and who respected your privacy. This latter trait, of course, is virtually unheard of when living under a dictatorial regime. In 2005, the couple took the professional plunge and opened their school, Duque Institute of Martial Arts in Ottawa (DIMA), full time. They both teach and run the operation and their three children train there, too. As a professional businessman in Chile, Duque was impressed by what he saw in the Martial Arts Industry Association programs and how they would help make his school a success. He quickly jumped on board. For the past ten years, the Duque Institute of Martial Arts has been teaching taekwondo, hapkido and kumdo (Korean kendo). Approximately 2,000 students have come through the school, with an average student body of about 250 students training weekly. The school offers a Tiny Tigers Program for kids three to four, Little Ninja for kids five o eight and taekwondo is taught to youngsters over the age of eight. Hapkido is open only to those over 15, and kumdo has 35 students enrolled at any given time. The success of his school has allowed Duque to also import to the United States his sense of community service and humanitarianism.

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FEATURED STORY

“Nothing Is More Important Than the Dreams of a Little Kid.”

Duque explains that growing up in Chile under the circumstances he had to endure taught him that nothing is more important than the dreams of a child. Especially when the state has the power to crush them. He says that coming from a country where people have no access to weapons, he was deeply affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, where 20 children were killed. He and Kathryn have been steadfast in a commitment to help kids succeed and be safe in their community. For instance, before DIMA students can be promoted to higher belts, they have to show Duque their grades in school. If there’s a lack of progress in their school grades they are not automatically promoted. But the matter doesn’t simply end there. DIMA links up with parents and the school to see if they can identify the problem and work together to solve it. DIMA also gives scholarships to kids of single-parent families who can’t afford their dues. Duque is laying out the groundwork to set up a nonprofit o ganization to help Ottawa-community kids that can’t afford to pay tuition. The organization will be working with local companies and others around the country and is aimed to help kids who are at risk for drugs, alcohol and prostitution. DIMA also teaches kids with autism and other disabilities. One girl with Asperger’s Syndrome recently was promoted to black belt after five ears of study. Her parents were overjoyed because she had not always been welcomed, due to her challenges, in other sports.

One child at DIMA is severely physically restricted, uses a wheelchair and communicates via computer, like theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. While the curriculum had to be adapted for him, his dedication (coming to class in winter and despite tornado warnings) impressed Duque, and the child was awarded a black belt after five ears of training. A sign posted in Javier and Kathryn Duque’s school best sums up their humanitarian commitment. It reads, “The fi st person to throw a punch is the fi st person to run out of ideas.” When asked about it, Javier said that his instructors taught him that martial arts was a lifestyle. While you learn to enhance yourself physically, the study of the arts should enhance your other values as well. For Duque, it is important that students learn how to solve problems without having to resort to violence. In Javier Duque’s case, learning martial arts to defend himself against the tyranny of a dictatorship could have turned him into a weapon. It has, however, forged him into a tool to create better people and a better community. e

“The Duque Institute gives scholarships to kids of single-parent families who can’t afford their dues. It also teaches kids with autism and other disabilities. One girl with Asperger’s Syndrome recently was promoted to black belt after five years of study. Her parents were overjoyed because she had not always been welcomed, due to her challenges, in other sports.

m Perry Kelly is a 5thdegree jiu-jitsu black belt, instructor in four other martial arts and a Federal Law Enforcement Training Centre-certified poli e-defensive tactics instructor-trainer. He’s the author of Dan Inosanto: The Man, the Teacher, the Artist, The Thinking Officer’s Guide to Police Defensive Tactics and ICEMAN: Kickboxing Legend Jean-Yves Theriault. Mr. Kelly may be contacted for seminars, interviews or copies of his books through his website, www. perrywkelly.com. To read hundreds of articles and columns vital to your school business, visit the Martial Arts Industry Association’s website at www.masuccess.com. Through this constantly-enhanced website, members can access an enormous quantity of useful information on just about any topic from A to Z.

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FEATURED STORY

Sure, Opening a Martial Arts School in America Involves Government Red Tape, But Wait Till You Read This! Chile lifted its ban on Eastern martial arts in 1980. The country’s new Constitution then gave its Minister of Defense total power and authority over any martial art. And this power has a long arm. If someone wants to teach martial arts in Chile, the multi-tiered bureaucratic hoops you have to jump through are incredible. Comparatively speaking, the odds might be better for a struggling actor to become a major movie star! First, you have to show your professional accreditation to the Minsitry of Defense, proving you are a master of the art you intend to teach. This includes a background investigation covering: the identity of your master, the number of years you have practiced, and why you want to open your school. Second, you are given a psychological interview and have to take a physical test displaying your prowess in the martial art. Third, you have to prove you are a Chilean citizen, have no criminal record, have completed military service, have graduated high school, and have an alternative source of income.

It is only after you pass all these tests that you are given the authorization/license to open your martial arts school. If these things are not done, your school is considered an “illegal institution.” In the 1980s, instructors were questioned on whether they had permission to teach and, if they did not, they were arrested on the spot. Penalties ranged from huge fines to jail time. American school owners reading this are probably sitting with their mouths agape at all these restrictions. If you thought that was bad, get ready to fall off your chair because there’s even more!

When a student comes into a martial arts school in Chile, he or she must first have obtained the permission of the Ministry of Defense to begin to study. Then, such permission has to be renewed yearly and the student must go to the Ministry in person to apply for the renewal. Chile’s Ministry of Defense also must pre-approve all martial arts tournaments promoted in the country. It must also approve any competitors seeking to participate in tryouts for the Olympic judo and taekwondo teams and, though it’s not an “official” sport of any kind, the same for the national karate team tryouts. The Ministry even sends inspectors to the tournaments to ensure that all students and instructors have the proper documentation. Consequently, full-time professional martial arts instructors are very rare in Chile. And so are students!

MARCH 2016

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COLUMN

TURNING POINT

George Minshew: Training with Pat Burleson George Minshew, Allen Steen, and Pat Burleson became the Iron Men of Texas “Blood-and-Guts Era” tournament fighting. A former national champion, Minshew not only opened Houston’s first karate school, he pioneered owning a chain of schools. He also created Houston’s oldest and biggest martial arts event, the Karate Olympics. Minshew’s currently involved in establishing an online martial arts university offering accredited college degrees.

Herb Borkland: Where did you grow up, and what did your dad do?

BY HERB BORKLAND IN THIS INSPIRING MONTHLY COLUMN, WE

George Minshew: I grew up in a small rural town in Texas. Dad was, for 35 years, a pipeline engineer for Texaco. I look back on it with fondness.

EXAMINE THE PIVOTAL POINT IN A PROMINENT

HB: How did you fi st hear about martial arts?

BLACK BELT’S CAREER THAT TOOK HIM OR HER ONTO MAJOR SUCCESS

GM: In the early sixties, I saw an ad in a

magazine for a Bruce Tegner book. He opened up the avenues. In those days, in fights, you BUSINESS, SPORTS never thought about kicking OR FILMS. I found a karate instructor in 1963, the only one around. I learned a lot of good basics from him. He left and, in 1967, I opened The Black Belt Academy. I drove 250 miles, from Houston to Ft. Worth, to train with Pat Burleson. Pat moved to California, but I had met Allen Steen. I was at his tournament in Dallas, I had a good day, and he approached me and said, “You need to test for black belt. I want to test you.” I asked Pat if it was okay, and he said it was. That far back, we had no solid structure, no history to rely on. I was the karate person in Houston when I was a brown belt and opened my academy, and I was the fi st black belt in town until I promoted my fi st two. Our culture was tournaments. We held our fi st Karate Olympics tournament in 1966. Now, there are literally a thousand schools in Houston. I did not franchise. I had nine schools: seven full-time commercial schools that I owned outright in Houston, and two others that were licensed, one in Houston and one in Tennessee. We had no business role models, so I studied what the dance schools and fitness clubs we e doing. They were in a service industry and ahead of their time. I wanted to be around visionaries. We needed to get past asking students, “Can you pay me five dolla s a month, if you come in at all?” If these other businesses had so many schools, I thought, why not me in the karate business? I built the largest, most successful schools in Texas, and I produced one of the most imitated tournaments. IN MARTIAL ARTS

HB: Turning point? GM: I think it was when I started training with Pat. When I was putting together the fi st school, I realized the potential I had with an infant industry. It got to a point, with my schools and my teaching and seminars, where I had what I thought were lofty goals. But, I exceeded every one of them beyond my imagination. How great to have the chance to develop so many world champions. No one ever had so many schools.

HB: Future? GM: Alex Hogan [famous online marketer] and I are building The Martial Arts University. Not a training camp, an ongoing online university, accredited, so you can earn a degree — true university experience in the art of your choice. We are not the bleeding edge, but the leading edge. [laughter] My mantra is, “Never stop learning!” Nothing is free in this world. I pay outrageous prices to attend elite business seminars. People need to know they must continue to learn, whatever the price. And the secret is accountability. If you are not held responsible, you won’t achieve. m Herb Borkland can be reached at herbork@comcast.net.

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COLUMN

YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

Change Is Not the Enemy! It Is the Necessity

BY KATHY OLEVSKY

“IN ORDER TO SUCCEED IN THE YEAR 2016, WE HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION TO OUR STANDARDS AND WHAT THE CONSUMER WANTS IN A MARTIAL ARTS PROGRAM. [THAT MEANS] WE MUST BE WILLING TO CHANGE THE THINGS THAT MAKE THE CONSUMER COME THROUGH OUR DOOR AND YET STILL KEEP OUR STANDARDS INTACT.”

’ve been operating a martial arts school full time for 41 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. In most martial arts schools, we do things the way we were taught to do them. Tradition is the foundation of our program. This thinking, however, creates a unique problem in our industry. How do we keep the traditional values and instruction intact and stay current enough to appeal to the next generation of martial artists? After all, if we don’t stay current, we will likely miss out on the opportunity to make this our career rather than our hobby. In business, there is something to be said for maintaining a great product. However, successful businessmen and women will tell you that you must find the blend of main aining a great product and also offering new features. In the martial arts, that can mean different things to different people. I was never one to accept new trends in the actual class curriculum, but I was interested in improving the delivery of our current curriculum. In other words, when bullying became recognized as more of a social problem in recent years, it was simple to add some anti-bullying lessons in our children’s classes.

If we had not paid attention to trends and what the consumer wanted, we would still be teaching in a warehouse building on concrete floo s. That is exactly what we did in 1980. Today’s consumer is more willing to pay for their child, or themselves, to participate in a martial arts program that makes them feel safe and comfortable. Our black belts of today are no different than the ones we produced in the 1980s. They are all amazing and there are more of them. In the early days, my instructor used to say that “One in one thousand will make it to black belt.” Looking back on that now, I realize that did not make it special at all. That made it apparent that the instructors were not willing to work hard to develop black belts. They were simply teaching the ones who had the natural talent and stamina to get it done. In order to succeed in the year 2016, we have to pay attention to our standards and what the consumer wants in a martial arts program. There is a way to achieve both goals. We must be willing to change things to make the consumer come through our door while still keeping our standards intact. For example, it is no longer appropriate to try to teach children or adults without using the proper safety equipment. There may be instructors out there still using the old methods of 1980 to teach, but most consumers would not pay $150-200 a month for those programs. In this case, change is not the enemy! It is the necessity. We have to learn to deliver the same skills that create great black belts, but do it with the advantages of current equipment, techniques and teaching methods. As with all change, education is going to be the key to making the successful transition. The martial arts school owners who seek help generally make the shift and, consequently, realize their goals. e m K athy Olevsky can be reached for questions or comments at kathy.olevsky@raleighkarate.com.

MASUCCESS

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Kids Curriculum

GROW YOUR STUDENT COUNT WITH MAIA’S KIDS CURRICULUM

Six Tasks KINDER

KICKS

Children’s Curriculum

We Are Human

Contact Us We exist to serve the martial arts industry. To find out mo e about how MAIA can help you and your school, please contact us at info@masuccess.com or call 866-626-6226. MASUCCESS.COM

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// 1000 CENTURY BLVD. OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73110

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4 80

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BULLYING PREVENTION AND AWARENESS CURRICULUM See the “We Are Human” music video at facebook.com/masuccess Share your story on twitter @masuccess #WeAreHuman Scan to watch the “We Are Human” music video.

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(866) 626-6226 | WWW.MASUCCCESS.COM

Delivering what matters! 1000 Century Blvd. Oklahoma City, OK 73110

Visit masuccess.com to learn more

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FEATURED STORY

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FEATURED STORY

How Adult

Fitness Saved

MY School Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion and strength-conditioning guru Giulliano Gallupi offers his clients much more than mixed martial arts training. Along with his own world-class athleticism, Gallupi holds a Master of Strength and Conditioning High Performance and two other university degrees related to his passion for exceptional physical and mental aptitude. The combination has made him a highly sought-after personal trainer by all athletic types, regardless of goals or ability, in his adult fitness classes. By Herb Borkland

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FEATURED STORY

Enter the Gaucho

Giulliano Gallupi currently owns and operates American Top Team OKC, a mixed martial arts gym in Oklahoma City. This elite licensing opportunity was personally offered to Gallupi by a fellow Brazilian he came to America with, the famed co-founder of American Top Team and jiu-jitsu world champion, Ricardo Liborio. An incredibly hard worker, Gallupi built the gym by himself, from sheet-rocking to cutting the flooring or an Octagonsize ring. Days, nights, weekends, and even many holidays, Giulliano is at the gym either training or keeping it open for a â&#x20AC;&#x153;special classâ&#x20AC;? for his dedicated students. Since 1997, Gallupi has been an active strength and conditioning coach. He began helping his Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) master in 2006 when he was a Brown Belt, after he received medals at national, South American and world competitions. Much more than a former BJJ champion-turned-instructor, humble, no-frills Gallupi has aggressively built up a thriving career as an in-demand coach in the crowded business of big-name fitness onditioning and combat training. His client list includes every variety of championship athlete including UFC figh ers, high-level fitness athle es and tri-athletes. But among his students, too, is a range of local moms and dads.

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FEATURED STORY

Competing Since the Age of Five

Gallupi took up martial arts at a young age. “When I was a kid, there weren’t as many BJJ schools as there are today. In Brazil at the time, kids around five ears old would go to judo schools to learn discipline,” Gallupi shares. “My grandfather was a judo black belt. He fought until he was 75 years old! My parents put me in judo and I trained for a couple of years.” Actually, Gallupi did more than just “train” in judo. From 1984 to 1986, he was a judo state champion. “I competed every weekend in Brazil since the age of fiv ,” he says. “I competed many times when I was a kid, but then I stopped judo and I started BJJ. Often times, if you are a judo black belt and go to BJJ, you start [out] on blue belt. After only one month training BJJ, I went to my fi st competition.” BJJ quickly became Gallupi’s passion. He won state, collegiate state, and then national jiu-jitsu championships between 1997 to 2008. He won the Nationals two times and the South American Championship once. In 2004 and 2006, he finished in the mon y, third place, in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu World Championships. “My parents wanted me to study,” he says. “I was always working and studying martial arts. In Brazil, you can’t teach BJJ if you are not [a] black belt and, as well, if you don’t have your own school. To make money with BJJ, you need to have your own school. If you help your master, normally, you don’t receive cash. BJJ is a legacy. We [are taught] that you are learning to teach who is coming after you; we don’t think about the money.” Gallupi graduated from Brazil’s Federal University of Espirito Santo with a degree in Economic Sciences, and his shrewd predictions about the future of the Brazilian economy would change his life. Then, at Salesiano College, he acquired a second degree in Physical Education/Sports Sciences. He immediately put that to work as well. Gallupi is also a Master of Science in “Strength and Conditioning High Performance,” as well as a specialist in “functional training” and “highperformance strength and conditioning for figh ers.” He was a member of both the regional and national Physical Education Council, a 2007 panelist at the Center of Physical Fitness Laboratory Studies, and is the creator of the Gallupi Diet. “In Brazil, I had a good strength-conditioning program,” he explains. “I trained a lot of people and made good money.” His holistic approach is what really sets him apart. Combining a strong background of competitive martial arts with a finely tuned understanding of anatomy and physiology, Gallupi is able to precisely tailor a program to the athlete’s needs both on the mat and in the kitchen.

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FEATURED STORY

Fitness Incorporated It stands to reason that the better shape you’re in, the better you’ll do in all your other athletic endeavors, martial arts included. Yet many – maybe even most – martial arts schools don’t offer a general physical fitness course. A few savvy school owners like Giulliano Gallupi have started doing so, and discovered that the small addition has big payoffs. Incorporating a fitness class is easier than you might think. A group exercise routine doesn’t need to rely on expensive machines or learning complicated pseudo-dance moves. Gallupi uses basic equipment, like Century’s kettlebells, ropes, and weighted medicine balls, with simple exercise moves. Of course, ‘simple’ doesn’t mean they don’t hurt like heck. The biggest challenge might be incorporating a variety of drills that are age and skill-level appropriate.

The moves Giulliano teaches are whole-body exercises, which require balance and agility, and focus heavily on core strength. Do those sound like familiar requirements? They should – all three are necessary for martial arts. The second reason to add physical fitness to the curriculum is that when you create a new class, you can charge for it. Even if the fitness class is only held one or two days a week, it can quickly draw people in. Your older students, for example, may find it easier to return to a familiar setting rather than to drag themselves to the gym. You could offer a discount to students who are already taking one or more classes from you. Of course, there will be some people who are only interested in fitness, and that’s fine – they just pay a higher rate. You may find

that the fitness class is a gateway for bringing some of them into the martial arts fold. The third reason to add a fitness class is publicity. Let’s face it, unless your students are actively out fighting and competing and receiving recognition, it can be hard to put the spotlight on your school through martial arts alone. Fitness, however, shows. When your student’s friends or coworkers note that they’re looking more toned, or ask, ‘How did you lose weight?’ your student can tell them it was from your classes.

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FEATURED STORY

Coming to America

“I came to the United States to help Liborio with a seminar at Century Martial Arts headquarters in Oklahoma City,” Gallupi explains. “It was then that he offered me an American Top Team location in Colorado, Kansas or Oklahoma. Oklahoma was good because of the strong wrestling pedigree for the state. The UFC was here the same week I arrived. I stayed around to check out the area. I was ready [to relocate from Brazil because] the Brazilian government is a mess. I was sure in a few years the economy was going to break down. So, I went to the USA to have my own gym and work with different people and cultures. And I was correct about Brazil.” Other economic challenges, however, Gallupi was not able to anticipate. “We came to Oklahoma expecting to open [my gym] in about two months,” he says. “[But] before we started the construction, a partner stole my money so I couldn’t open. So, here I am. Now, I have a big [training] space and a partner who stole my money, and now I have none. I worked construction and landscaping for eleven months and built the 10,000-square-foot gym by hand.” Growing the gym quickly became a business imperative; and his luck got better. When Gallupi arrived in Oklahoma, he was one of only a couple of BJJ black belts in the state (Lovato and Lovato Jr). The famous American Top Team brand name immediately drew students. He put up a page on FaceBook, sent out fl ers, and ran radio ads about the gym. “Early marketing was easy,” Gallupi said. “I did not make big promotions because I didn’t have much money to spend. We worked from referrals and still have many of the students who started here in the fi st few months.” The ongoing problem of how to maximize Gallupi’s hard-won investment also caused changes to his original business plan. “When I fi st came to Oklahoma, I only thought about martial arts, MMA and strength conditioning for figh ers,” he shares. “But, in Brazil, I worked with figh ers and tri-athletes, body builders and bikini competitors. I saw a big chance to grow by opening the gym for fitness ompetitors. It was not only for more money but to promote us in the Oklahoma fitness ommunity. They needed to know about my knowledge of fitness ”

Moving Toward Fitness

After about a year in business, the early buzz of the gym had begun to wear off. Friends of friends and referrals were starting to slow. Even with a phenomenal retention rate, Gallupi was faced with a couple of familiar questions many gyms face: “Now what?” and “Where do we go from here?” Drawing on his experiences in Brazil and more importantly his Master’s Degree in Strength and Conditioning and High Performance, Gallupi decided it was time to regenerate his fitness business. He knew creating a workout routine that focused on functional exercises designed to reinforce the muscle memory of martial arts movements would help his students. Working with his training partner, Gallupi quickly devised a plan. He would offer a two Saturday workouts, one at 8:00 a.m. and one at 10:00 a.m. The early class would be a full-body circuit workout concentrating on functional martial art movements and cardio training. The second would be a ladies-only “Brazilian Booty Camp”. Sticking to some basic marketing tactics, Gallupi limited the number of spots available and offered the program to his current students as an upgrade to their existing membership. A session was held every Saturday of the month, so some months you got four classes, some you got fiv . The $50 price point was easy for students to swallow and low enough for those who were new to Gallupi’s gym to take a chance on the class. In addition to talking to his current students, Gallupi got the word out on Facebook and Instagram. He started filming himself doing the xercises and began to generate some major buzz from the difficu y level and amazing form he exhibited in his videos. In addition, he posts a before and after picture of the class, which many see as a badge of honor earned only by completing the entire hour. It only took a couple of months for the classes to be perpetually sold out. Now, as soon as a new opportunity is offered, he gets his group signed up and closed within a matter of hours. The best part of the fitness addition has been the mar eting and referral system it has created. Fitness attracts a much wider audience than his gym initially catered to and the results of great training are easily evidenced in their post-workout photos. People who see results tell their friends and word spreads quickly of the fi st-class training people get at his gym. Today, in addition to the Saturday morning classes, Gallupi has built a large portfolio of personal training clients. He trains athletes from all walks of life: figh ers, triathletes, physique and bikini competitors, as well as moms and dads who simply want to be in better shape to raise their families.

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FEATURED STORY

Fitness as a Marketing Tool

Today, Gallupi provides services to a wide range of customers. He teaches BJJ at least five days a week. And when he’s not teaching BJJ, he works with professional figh ers, fitness athle es and offers strength and conditioning programs to tri-athletes and subscribers to his online program, which has subscribers in nine countries. “People ask me, ‘Can you make me fit as a ompetitor, an MMA figh er?’ I can,” says Gallupi. “I normally train people who are already athletes. I am a strength conditioning coach. If a tri-athlete had to give up on an Iron Man event, I help them stay in condition to complete the run. Six years ago, I started working with Claudia Gadelha on a strength and conditioning program. Gadelha is now a top contender in UFC as a Women’s Strawweight division figh er.” Gallupi has found that holding a fitness class on Saturday mornings as an additional workout for his BJJ students could pay major dividends. “I created a circuit training workout that I was sure my BJJ students would join,” he says. “It could be an extra source of income and then I realized that it was a great recruiting tool for people outside of the gym.” Gallupi offers these special workouts as a means to further hone his students for competitions. During the one-hour sessions, the athletes work through a rigorous, ever-changing workout circuit for 60 minutes. The circuit training pushes people hard using different equipment and sequences that are often outside of their typical workout routine. “The standard gym machines are not part of the classes and so it’s a ‘weapon’ to bring people in to train that hate a regular gym’s workout,” Gallupi explains. It has become a substantial secondary income and great source of referrals. The guys and gals who complete the grueling Saturday morning workout are always proud to use social media to show off the ha d work they did while their peers were sleeping!

Guillano Gallupi and Ricardo Liborio

Andre Bispo, student of Gallupi

Jennifer McCrary, student of Gallupi

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FEATURED STORY

More than Mat Time

What athletes eat is as important to Gallupi as how they exercise. “Athletes need energy that won’t come from protein, like some guys think. Energy comes from carbs [carbohydrates]. The questions are: what time of day to eat and quantity. I make diets for each person. I make calculations based on how many times a day you work out, how many calories you burn a day and how many you need to recover.” Gallupi’s diets are different because he makes all calculations based on an in-depth body analysis to personalize it for each person. His fi st consideration is his student’s goals.

Profit enters and Fitness Classes One of the first things new clients of the Martial Arts Industry Association’s Elite program learn are the benefits of the five profit centers. Each school measurably increases their success when they begin focusing on these five areas as they create their weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals. Fitness classes are no different. Focusing on ways to address each of the five profit centers will ensure your fitness classes are a financial success. Retention: One of the best ways to focus on retention in your fitness classes is to offer classes that are engaging, diverse, and effective. If students are able to avoid boredom and monotony while achieving great results, they will keep coming back.

Fitness classes are also a great retention tool for your martial arts classes. The more time your students spend in your school, the more connected they will feel. Giving your martial arts students a time to focus on strength training and cardio can only make them better, more committed martial artists. Retail: Retail is likely one of the easiest profit centers to incorporate into your fitness classes. Offer students the opportunity to purchase grip balls, weights, kettle bells, or other equipment you use in class, so they can work out at home. Special Events: Day-long boot camps or fitness seminars are incredibly popular these days. Schedule a lively, active boot camp once a month and encourage your students to bring friends or family who might want to try out your classes.

New Students: Referral programs are one of the best ways to encourage existing students to bring friends to class. If you charge by the class, offer students $5 off when they bring a friend. Also, don’t forget about your martial arts students. Teach the benefits of strength conditioning and cardio health and offer your fitness classes to them at a discounted rate. Upgrades: The first step in determining an upgrade program is deciding how you will sell your classes. If you sell “packages,” offer discounts on bigger bundles of classes. You may also consider offering discounted fitness class to your upgraded martial arts students.

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FEATURED STORY

Building School Success

Preparing athletes for specific ontests takes Gallupi from twelve to sixteen weeks. “It’s a process [achieving peak fitnes ]. No champ happens in one month. If a guy hasn’t got any patience for the process, it’s not good for me. I am not magic. Sometimes a miracle happens, but I am not magic.” Gallupi offers training plans and his diet to clients locally and online. He makes body-fat tests, and checks body mass. “I check everything to know exactly what I need.” What is the difference between training Americans and Brazilians in BJJ? “Americans are very different from Brazilians. Brazilians are born to take martial arts. The boys are ready to train at an early age. American guys are more powerful and don’t rely as much on technique, but have a can-do sentiment. Brazilians like to fight but not as much to train. Americans like training.” All-in-all, how does Gallupi feel about being a businessman? “The key is don’t lie to people. I don’t agree with a lot of strength conditioning methods. I believe one helps the other: work hard and work correctly. I’ve had some staff p oblems because I believe in everybody. That is my problem. But business is business. You can’t be a good guy all the time because people use you. I only try to [do] what I love and studied. My entire life works in the track of my passion. I work hard in everything I put my hands trying to make the best I can.”

A Look Ahead

Once you then ma

What does the future hold? Gallupi has recently relocated his gym to a new location. The new location is appropriately nestled right next to a traditional workout gym. Gallupi plans on leveraging his knowledge of strength and conditioning with a captive audience next door to do some cross promotion. He has worked out a deal with the gym to offer deals to his students, and likewise for their members. “The new place is better,” Gallupi says. “The space is between 8,000 and 9,000 sq. ft. but is rectangular, so it looks bigger than the old space. There is still plenty of space to do our circuit training and have space for our BJJ classes. “I’m excited about the move. When everything is new, everybody enjoys that, and at the same time, the website is getting ready to grow fast. We do a lot of promotion through Instagram and are working on upgrading our strength and conditioning website.” At the new gym, Gallupi will continue to offer his rough-andtumble cross-functional workout – all martial arts strengthening exercises done to develop grip strength, core strength, legs, and all sport-specifi .

W y

Sp m

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There is also his Saturday morning “Brazilian Booty Camp,” which includes nutritional advice by way of “suggested diets,” and attracts a bevy of bikini competitors who flock o Gallupi because of his positive word-of-mouth reputation. The outstanding record of titles the women who have trained with him earn is yet another gain for his reputation of success. The same huge buzz has also attracted a big online following of physique competitors. Gallupi’s results speak for themselves. So what is the bottom line? The success of quiet, humble Giulliano Gallupi comes because of his hard-earned reputation. To work at the highest level, as he does, clients do not see your fl er around town and show up out of curiosity. Instead, ambitious high-end athletes present themselves because of referrals.

Losers do not interest winners. Champions want to be trained only by other champions. e m Herb Borkland is a veteran black belt and writer living in Front Royal, Virginia. He can be contacted at herbork@comcast.net. To learn more about many other independent and/or small schools and how to operate them successfully, visit the Martial Arts Industry Association’s website at www.masuccess.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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Educational Funding Company offers full-service billing, liberating you from the hassle of collecting payments. It provides awesome Account Management through a team of Billing Specialists, who take care of your finances, and experienced Client Success Specialists, who coach owners and managers of schools, helping them achieve their financial goals. EFC’s full-service billing also includes free software for qualified clients from its partner, InFocus Technologies. EFC’s new logo indicates our dynamic, growth-oriented outlook. (The swish in the middle represents a growth curve.)

InFocus technologies offerings include: • InFocus 2.0 software, which will allow you to manage your school with a never-before efficiency. • Upd8mysite.com, allowing you to purchase a custom designed, search engine-optimized website. • Search engine optimization (SEO) for your web site enabling it to generate leads. • Social media expertise through inbound marketing to generate leads. The new bull’s eye logo for InFocus represents your school’s next target.

Under this new logo, MPower International Association will be expanding its offerings to include: • A brand new marketplace, with a network of experienced Industry Coaches, who will provide consultancy to clients and help them increase their income. • A stream of marketing content (articles, audio interviews, videos) on a weekly basis, focusing on ideas to help your school grow. • Networking opportunities. MPIA will organize meets and conferences regularly, allowing members to learn and network. The new logo is bright and clean, representing our exciting mantra of creativity and growth.

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COLUMN

CONSULTANT’S CORNER

Connect with a Major Movie for a Marketing Bonanza!

Step #2: Make your booth interactive. Give people a reason to check out your table. While many school owners prefer to use a prize wheel at their booth, I find a pho o opportunity works best. It doesn’t leave me an obligation to give away anything. Dress a mannequin in a costume based on the movie’s wardrobe or use a photo backdrop as the perfect stage to get people to visit your booth. Explain to those passing by about your movie-themed workshop and let them sign up to attend on a clipboard, iPad or tablet. Step #3: Promote your workshop beyond the movie theater. I’ve found social media to be a great way to get additional leads to commit to coming to the workshop. Create a social-media ad that links to a landing page where people can register for the movie-themed workshop. To create the landing page, contact your website company or use one of the free online form-makers available to small businesses. Step #4: Confirmation is the ey. You must learn to follow-up with your leads to get the desired results. I suggest emailing everyone that registers for the workshop immediately with event details, including directions to your school, date and time. Additionally, call to confirm at endance at least two days prior to the event. On the day of the workshop, send out a second email and text message to all the prospect’s phones to remind them about the event. This will help ensure you generate maximum attendance for the event. Step #5: Make your workshop generate enrollments. To get the most out of your marketing, you must learn to convert leads into enrollments. Use your movie-themed workshop to showcase your martial arts, while also selling the parents and spectators on the benefits of your p ogram. After the workshop ends, announce a group-enrollment offer as a call-to-action. Explain that because this is a special group rate, the offer is only good if they sign up today. Make sure the presentation is clean and simple. The biggest mistake any school owner can make is offering a lot of options during that enrollment announcement. This confuses the buyer, leaving them the desire to “think it over” and leaving you without an immediate enrollment. Now that you know the steps to making the most out of your movie-theater promotions, get out there and take advantage of any upcoming blockbusters featuring martial arts action. When one hits theaters, flood your school with new membe s! e mR each Adam Parman for questions or comments at aparman@masuccess.com.

MASUCCESS

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earning how to properly market your martial arts school can often be confusing, expensive and frustrating. As small business owners, we are consistently being approached about new advertising opportunities that promise results but without any proven track record. While nothing in life is guaranteed, I’ve BY ADAM PARMAN found there are some basic steps to marketMAIA CONSULTANT ing Hollywood movies that can help align your school’s name with larger national brands like “THESE MOVIE major movie franchises and movie theaters. TIE-INS ARE These movie tie-ins are low-cost, potentially LOW-COST, high-profit oppo tunities. POTENTIALLY Follow these easy steps to avoid common HIGH-PROFIT mistakes and generate new students for OPPORTUNITIES.” your school. Step #1: Get a booth. While doing demonstrations in the front lobby of a theater might create an inquiry or two, it doesn’t guarantee the success of an enrollment. For best results, you must have the opportunity to collect lead information. You need a booth in the lobby of the theater showing the movie, so you can invite patrons to register to attend a “movie-themed” workshop at your martial arts school the following weekend. To get permission, speak with the manager of the theater and ask what you can do to get approval. Offer to promote the movie to your students in exchange for letting you have a booth during the movie’s opening weekend. Make it clear to the manager that you plan to pack the show in exchange for the booth. Then, plan a day with your interested students to see the film during a matinee. If it’s a national-brand theater chain, you may need to pay for the opportunity to have a booth. Keep in mind, to get the best results you sometimes have to be willing to spend the money. Larger, national-brand theaters use a company named National CineMedia for all on-screen advertising and weekend-marketing booths. Prices for the weekend booths vary depending on the movie, date and location. Make sure to negotiate that you’ll be the only martial arts school present for that date and location. Additionally, if you negotiate multiple-booth weekends at the same time, you can often get a better rate.

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COLUMN

MASTERFUL RETENTION

Keeping a Current Student Is Seven Times Easier Than Finding a New One! Part 1

here’s an old business adage that reads, “It costs seven times more to acquire a new customer than it does to sell to an existing customer.” And when it comes to operating a martial arts school, it has never been more true. BY CHRISTOPHER Think about it. What does it cost you in RAPPOLD actual dollars to get a new student? Even if your school has great systems for spending time, effort and energy doing low- or no-cost “MOST marketing, you would have to admit it is still SCHOOLS labor intensive. ARE FOREVER Now, contrast that with ensuring your FOCUSING students are making progress and moving ON THE LACK OF NEW towards their goals. When you compare actual STUDENTS AS time and money spent keeping students on OPPOSED TO track with their goals, versus the effort and IMPLEMENTING money it takes to add a student, it may make A RENEWAL you take a second look at how you prioritize SYSTEM AND your time. REPAIRING Try some quick math. Take a look at all the THEIR memberships you have in your school. How DROPOUT many of these students are on their fi st RATE.” program and what is the total monthly revenue in dollars this represents? Now, add up how many students are on a renewal or upgrade program. How many students does this account for, and what’s the total monthly dollar amount this represents? If your school is past its initial opening stages, I’d be willing to bet that 60-90 percent of the revenue on a monthly basis comes from students who are on at least their second membership (renewals and upgrades). Based on this number, I would suggest the number-one, most important responsibility for instructors, program directors, assistants and counter help is to retain students. In the words of business billionaire and founder of Paul Mitchell Systems and Patron Tequila, John Paul DeJoria, “We set out to create an outstanding product because we recognize that we are not in the selling business. We are in the reorder business.” I think martial arts schools have a lot more in common with shampoo and tequila than most would think. I can hear some of my marketing friends getting very upset. They may be saying, “If you can’t get a student, you won’t have a student to keep.”

They are correct. I absolutely concede that every school, depending on its size, needs an adequate flow of new students o realize its goals. However, it’s been my observation that most schools are forever focusing on the lack of new students as opposed to implementing a renewal system and repairing their dropout rate. Let’s focus on your renewal system and offer a way for you to assess where you are. To take this from concept to calculation, evaluate the health and predictability of your current renewal or upgrade system this month. Here’s how you do it: Imagine 10 white belts started your program this month and their fi st membership was for six months. If all of your systems are working properly, determine how many students will renew into a longer-term program or second membership from now through the end of month six. Some owners calculate in terms of months, while others in terms of belt promotions. However you choose to do it, you want to create a norm that you can measure against and immerse all your team members in. While I strongly believe that a criterion of attitude, performance and attendance is what allows the student the privilege to upgrade, it’s nice to benchmark the percentage and see where you are. I know some high-performing schools that look to have 90+ precent upgraded by the second month, while others are looking for that percentage by month four. Regardless of approach, both would caution against waiting for the membership to expire prior to establishing a new goal and upgrading. As an easy starting point, lay out your attendance cards and count by belt rank how many from each color are already upgraded onto a second membership. What percentage from each belt does this represent? This becomes your starting point. With this in place, you can work to improve the percentages. Remember the saying, “What gets measured gets managed.” If everyone on the team knows what the percentages are, then, with a little thinking and strategy, each player on your team should be asking the following: “Who are my target students to get ready? What do I need to do to help them get ready? What kind of interactions will be positive and cause them to want to create a long-term relationship with our school?” The largest revenue comes via student retention. e

mC hristopher Rappold can be reached for questions or comments at founder@personalbestkarate.com. Find out more about his Retention Based Sparring System at masuccess.com.

MASUCCESS

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COLUMN

THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING

Equipment Purchases 101: How to Avoid Liability Issues

BY BETH A. BLOCK

“YOU NEED TO BE AWARE THAT YOU’RE OPENING THE DOOR TO LIABILITY WHEN YOU PERMIT STUDENTS TO CHOOSE AND BUY THEIR OWN EQUIPMENT OUTSIDE OF YOUR SCHOOL. REGARDLESS OF YOUR REASONS FOR PERMITTING THIS PRACTICE, YOU SHOULD STOP DOING IT.”

any of us permit our students to use equipment that is not purchased through our studio. I can’t imagine why we might allow this practice. Perhaps you don’t want to carry equipment inventory. Perhaps you have given in to pressure from your students. Perhaps you do not have the space to store the equipment. You need to be aware that you’re opening the door to liability when you permit students to choose and buy their own equipment outside of your school. Regardless of your reasons for permitting this practice, you should stop doing it. I have, in previous columns, discussed concussion liability. I’ve addressed the need for formal, posted lists of protective equipment. This month, we will look at the claim made against one of our owners by a student that bought his own gear online. Then he sued the studio when the gear failed to protect him. Yes. You read that right. The student chose his own gear and blamed the school owner when it didn’t protect him. It seems that the student was very price-conscious. He took the list of required gear and went shopping online. Apparently, the student’s sole concern about what to buy was, “What is least expensive?” As it turned out, what was least expensive was gear manufactured in China and distributed by a Chinese company. The headgear had not gone through the standard American testing and certification process. It did not meet the standards as published by the United States Consumer Product Safety Council. Inferior materials were used.

When the student received a hook kick to the head during class, he was knocked out. A trip to the emergency room led to a diagnosis of traumatic brain-injury. Initially, the student’s family filed suit a ainst the Chinese distributor from which he had purchased the equipment. They rapidly learned that China does not operate in the same way as the U.S does, and they knew that legal avenue was closed. So, their next step was to sue the studio. The theory of liability in this case was that the studio owed a duty to the student to ensure the gear would provide protection. You might be asking yourself, “How in the world can you do that?” Well, there are a few steps you can take. First, you must stop students from selecting their own equipment. If you have issues with carrying inventory, perhaps you can make an arrangement with a supplier to buy equipment on an as-needed basis. Second, you must select a supplier that has had its gear safety tested. The tests must be performed by independent, credible testing bodies. These safety tests, too, must be documented and available because they become key to any lawsuit. Third, you must have your instructors visually inspect all gear before students are permitted to participate in sparring or contact drills. The gear might be certified and sa ety-tested. But it’s not going to protect a student if it’s held together with duct tape. (Admit it, you’ve seen this before.) Fourth, select suppliers that have their corporate headquarters in the United States. These suppliers are subject to the same civil laws as your studio. This means that if the case truly revolves around a product defect, the supplier should be fi st in line in a liability case. If the supplier is headquartered outside the U.S., you, the school owner, will then be fi st in line. Last but certainly not least, document. Make sure your Student Handbook makes it plain. Students must purchase their equipment from you or your approved supplier. Equipment must be replaced due to wear and tear. And, equipment must be replaced due to fit issues Make sure your Employee Handbook makes this plain, too. Instructors are responsible for visual inspection of gear during class. Instructors may not permit students to participate in sparring or contact drills without full gear. Instructors may not permit students to participate in sparring or contact drills wearing gear purchased outside of your studio. e

mB eth Block can be reached at (800) 225-0863 or beth@blockinsurance.net..

MASUCCESS

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COLUMN

THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE

Two Old But Enduring Issues Ripe for Revisiting

his month, I’ll discuss two issues covered in these pages over the years. One is an underlying theme discussed frequently: Trusting and utilizing your professionals in a big-picture manner. The second is what appears to be a now-settled area of BY PHILIP E. the law. It involves all written agreements you GOSS, JR., ESQ. enter from this point forward. While it always sounds self-serving, I have consistently espoused a savvy rule “THE LESSON IS of thumb. Unless you’re a trained lawyer DECEPTIVELY or accountant, major decisions in these soSIMPLE. NO ONE phisticated areas must be reviewed by PERSON KNOWS EVERYTHING. an experienced professional. Case in point: A long-term, although very SO, STOP BELIEVING thrifty and short-sighted, client just called me THAT YOU KNOW with the news that he received a great offer MORE THAN to purchase his small business. The bad news A TRAINED was that he just signed a new long-term lease PROFESSIONAL.” on the business premises and now needed to terminate that lease. The prospective buyers may or may not want to remain in the present location. But, unless this is the fi st business deal they have negotiated, they will keep that information to themselves and use it against my client. Had I been given the opportunity to review the lease, I would have helped negotiate early termination protections. That would have saved him a great deal of money from all sides. His failure to involve me has clearly cost him a considerable sum of money, before we even start! The lesson is deceptively simple. No one person knows everything. So, stop believing that you know more than a trained professional. Further, never make a decision not to use a professional based upon finan es. If the deciding factor is whether you have the financial esources to make that call, you still should not make it yourself! If my sound logic here is inconsistent with your business mindset, perhaps you should consider transitioning back to an employee position. You might not be suitably equipped as the business owner of a martial arts school.

Are my words harsh? No doubt! But making a mistake like my client did above is a much harsher lesson. Am I angry that he didn’t consult me earlier? Yes, because I abhor inefficie y, and this situation was a gross waste of resources. It does not make me a bit happy that my final invoi e will be far greater than what it should have been. Now, moving on to the other enduring issue: contract arbitration. In the event of a dispute, most people think that the courthouse is the sole avenue of impartial relief. As we know, litigation is expensive, time-consuming and fraught with uncertainty. In previous columns, I have outlined how most consumer agreements you execute now require engagement in the arbitration process in the event of a dispute. Such notice is always deeply buried in the small-print, multi-page legal disclaimers. Arbitration is a less formal proceeding where parties agree to a neutral third party determining the outcome of the dispute. Unless the arbitration clause is considered “unconscionable” by the court, it will be upheld, as will the decision by the arbitrator(s). (Hint: Arbitration clauses are almost never determined to be legally unconscionable). In former columns, I’ve given you my opinion that arbitration is a possibility in your employment agreements and student contracts. Sharp-eyed readers know I have always stopped short of suggesting that you uniformly change agreements and rely solely with arbitration. This is true whether you’re seeking relief against an attack or prosecuting a claim against another party. Admittedly, arbitration is quicker and less expensive, typically without the issue of the dispute being part of the public record. However, discovery tools and certain rules of evidence, all vital arrows in every lawyer’s quiver, are severely limited. That’s like you wanting to spar without the use of your favorite kicking leg! Courts have for many years given approval to appropriate arbitration clauses. A recent Supreme Court case has advanced that line of cases even further to protect class-action suits. In my opinion, the arbitration train, while having left the station many years ago, now has no brakes on future unbridled use in commercial and private contracts in the United States. What if you and your legal counsel believe arbitration clauses are appropriate as conditions of the agreements you prepare for third-party signatures? It is now my opinion to go for it without looking back. e m A ttorney Phil Goss, Jr. welcomes any email comments or questions at PhilGosslaw@gmail.com and will attempt to respond personally, time permitting.

MASUCCESS

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WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 s andards or edito-

rial format. Please email your reply or story pitch to John Corcoran, Managing Editor, at jcorcoran@masuccess.com

WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE SEEKING STORY LEADS MASUCCESS is seeking reader tips and leads to find suc essful school owners in the U.S. and Canada. If you know of a highly successful single- or multi-school owner who you

Section 4.indd 94

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.

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INSPIRATION OVATION

Pretty Flowers, Ugly Arrangement!

BY KAREN EDEN

“YOU CAN GET AS ‘CROUCHING TIGER AND HIDDEN DRAGON’ AS YOU WANT. BUT, IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE BASICS DOWN FIRST, YOU DON’T HAVE REAL MARTIAL ARTS.”

s a TV reporter, I was once given the assignment of doing someone else’s job for a day. I did everything from cleaning high-rise windows to working at a military chemical brigade. I loved that assignment. It ended up being a series piece for almost three years. One assignment entailed working as a florist o deliver flowe s for the day. I wasn’t thinking that this was going to be one of my most exciting stories, but I ended up learning a very simple lesson that has stuck with me to this day. “Let’s start by having you make an arrangement to be delivered to the hospital,” my supervisor told me. I thought this would be a piece of cake. For about 20 minutes, I picked out the prettiest flowe s I could find, and pla ed them in a vase. I couldn’t quite put my fin er on it, but I could never seem to make the arrangement look presentable. After about 45 minutes of still fiddling with one arrangement, the supervisor came back and told me that I was spending too much time on just one arrangement. “I have picked out the most beautiful and expensive flowe s, but I can’t figu e out why this arrangement still doesn’t look right,” I told her. She took once glance and recognized my error right away. “It’s because you forgot to start with the greens,” she said. With that, she took my whole masterpiece apart and placed these simple little green leaves in the vase. “But that’s the stuff you th ow away.” I commented.

“No,” she replied, “that’s the stuff that ma es the beautiful flowe s a beautiful arrangement.” Evidently, as simple as those stems of green leaves appeared to be, they were the key to creating balance and causing the flowe s to “pop” in the arrangement. She was right. The more greens in the vase, the prettier the flowe s seemed to look. As a karate instructor, I often share the lesson I learned working as a florist with my students. The e are days that class may seem repetitive and mundane. You’re repeating the same basic kicks and punches and doing the same basic forms that some of us have been doing for decades now. With every new generation, I see the willingness to patiently focus on the basics losing ground to the desire to go do something fun in class. And as school owners, we often feel the pressure to succumb to all the flair and stun work that will help keep our students entertained. “All those pretty moves mean nothing without the basics,” I often remind my students. You can get as ‘crouching tiger and hidden dragon’ as you want. But, if you don’t have the basics down fi st, you don’t have real martial arts. What you do have is a vase filled with a lot of pretty flowe s that don’t seem quite right, no matter how you try to arrange them. I was once in a discussion with other martial arts instructors when the question of whether we feel black belts should know how to fight ome up. Being a traditionalist, I was stunned at that question. I was even more stunned at one of my cohort’s response. “No. We don’t require our black belts to figh ,” he replied. Then it was my turn to answer. “Well,” I responded, “I don’t think you need to be Bruce Lee, but yeah. How can you say you’re a black belt and you don’t at least have the basics of fighting down ” “We have found that business is better if we don’t teach students how to figh ,” the other instructor added. “Okay, call me ‘Master Dinosaur.’ My black belts may not be the prettiest figh ers, but they know how to get on the floor and fig . And if you don’t want to know how to figh , go to his school,” I concluded. I understand that I may not be pulling in the big bucks because I’m teaching real fighting skills. But I m a real martial arts instructor who stands in her truth. And my truth is, you have to start with the greens. e

m You can contact Master Karen Eden at Kareneden@centurylink.net.

MASUCCESS

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Defining the Industry

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