February 8, 2012 By 1 Comment

8 Essential Qualities of Growing Your Martial Arts School Quickly in a Crowded Town

Every martial arts school owner I know wants their martial arts business to succeed—myself included.

As more and more martial arts schools spring up, it becomes increasingly difficult to grow quickly and get ahead. Every day there seems to be a new martial arts option in town. Krav Maga, BJJ or MMA gyms seem to be popping up in strip malls all over the valley everywhere I look. Successful martial arts schools are expanding or opening new locations.

Competition is getting incredibly fierce.

What prompted me to write this post was that a martial arts training facility is expanding into my area from the next valley over. And, they are paying through the nose to enter into the market and get noticed in paid search ads on Google. They’re #1 right now on a lot of terms and have bumped my ads down because they are willing to spend the money. It caught my attention and made me think about next steps.

So, here are some tips to help you persevere and grow you martial arts school in a crowded town. I’ve used many of these ideas for years and has helped me grow each and every year since I started. And, I’ll be using these same ideas to help me grow when I have more competition than ever. Maybe they’ll help you, too.

1. Find Your Hustle

If you’re sitting back and waiting for business coming to you, you’re already doomed. Deep down you know you need to get up off your chair, stop watching reruns of Steven Seagal: Lawman and take action. Every single day you should doing at least one thing to move your martial arts school forward. Just do something. Plan events. Brainstorm promotions. Make your classes better. Raise your energy. Be relentless. I have some competitors that seem to be every where. They clearly have hustle. However, so do I. And then some.

2. Never Give Up

It’s easy to push marketing your business when you just got a crop of new students. Just as when you spar, don’t drop your guard. In fact, that’s one of the best times to double your efforts and leverage your momentum. You have to keep pushing to be successful and can’t stop just because times are good today. Tomorrow, you may have 5 people quit or move out of town. I know of so many martial arts school owners who have just stopped trying because it can be draining and difficult. They gave up and are on autopilot as their martial arts dream dies a slow and horrible death. Being a small business is hard. We all know this. There are no easy ways to make it. However, you didn’t give up on getting your black belt. You can’t give up on making your business grow. We all know it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s just easy to forget when the phones aren’t ringing. You must persevere.

3. Stretch Yourself

Stretching is something every martial artists is familiar with and an important part of our training. The same thing applies in business. Stretching what you know, who you know, and how to do things are three great ways to stretch yourself. Obviously, you want to avoid stretching yourself too thin (that’s where tip #4 comes in). I try and learn one new thing a day. Sometimes two. I try and meet a new business owner every week. I visit martial arts website’s all over the world. Same with Facebook fan pages. I get so many ideas from doing this. I visit related (and none related) businesses and pick up ideas all of the time. I am constantly learning. More importantly, I’m always trying to grow and actively seek it out. For example, I never thought of myself much of a salesmen. So, I started reading books. I started applying what I learned. I got better. So can you.

“You must do the things you think you cannot do.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

4. Get Some Help

Are you a control freak? You can get more done faster and easier with other people helping you. You know this. But how many of us really leverage OPT? Some use this to mean “other people’s talents” while other’s see this as leveraging “other people’s time.” Either way, it works. All you have to do is ask and you’d be amazed at how many people want to help you. Let them. I am so much farther ahead now than ever because I just asked for help. You can quickly get ahead, too. Just ask.

5. Be Bold

You can’t be boring in business and expect to stand out. I once saw a martial arts school in town teach outside near the sidewalk during rush hour. Believe me, they got noticed. What are you doing to stand out and get noticed?

6. Say Yes More

Saying no can be good for business. However, it can also hurt it. Once I started saying yes to things more often, I quickly realized I could help more people if I just loosened up a bit. And you know what, it worked. Years ago I had a student ask me if I could start doing automated payments. I was reluctant because it meant I had to research things, invest time in calling around, weighing options, learning a new system, etc. But you know what? I’m glad I did and it changed my business. Had I said no, I’d still be chasing down someone’s monthly payment and hating every second of it. What a drain! Are you saying no when you should be saying yes? If so, rent Jim Carey’s “Yes Man” this weekend. It will not only make you laugh but also put this into better perspective. Who knows, it might even inspire you?

7. Become Remarkable

This one is easier than it sounds. One of the best way to grow is be remarkable enough to get people excited to talk about what they learned in your classes. Getting started with this idea isn’t hard. Just look at a few key areas. For example, how are you teaching your classes? Are you energetic or dull? Are they fun or predictable? Do they push people or can everyone slide? Are you constantly introducing new ideas or are you having everyone do the same old? You’d be surprised at how much people love you challenging them, giving them new ideas and making them think.

Push your paying clients in new ways and they’ll in turn help push your business to new levels.

So, I’d really like to know how are you standing out in crowded market. How do you do it?

Popularity: 14%

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: attitude, google, ppc
August 27, 2011 By 3 Comments

You Can’t Polish a Turd

Marketing can’t fix a bad service any more than you can polish a turd.

Are You Trying to Polish a Turd?

A fundamental mistake for many business owners is focusing on marketing when really they should be focused on improving their service.

Many think that printing a new flyer… publishing a website… or running a deal on Groupon will solve ALL of their problems in attracting students.

Unfortunately, marketing can’t cure a horrible service.

You might be able to trick people into coming to your place with that deal of the day offer you made.

However, once they discover your service is bad, it won’t take long for them to filter out like water through a sieve.

When you have a good service, it’s that much easier for word of mouth to happen and start generating more believable marketing with the use of social proof (reviews, testimonials, etc.)

When you have a great service, your marketing almost writes itself and your referrals practically take care of themselves.

Therefore, you must start with your service and then and only then should you concentrate on your marketing.

Don’t start with marketing.

I realize that might sound odd coming from a marketing guy who’s who site is really dedicated to marketing, but it’s the truth.

If your current students aren’t inspired or happy, attracting more students in won’t solve that problem.

Sooner or later, like all your previous students, they’ll catch on and you’ll be starting over again.

That’s not a good long term way to run your business and expect to keep your doors open.

Something needs to change and it’s not your marketing’s fault.

It’s your service.

Popularity: 8%

Filed Under: Business
July 29, 2011 By 14 Comments

PAY YOUR CLASS DUES!!!

I literally just saw this on a public martial arts school’s Facebook Fan Page:

Is this how you would handle this?

How would you handle it differently?

Popularity: 9%

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: tuition
May 2, 2011 By 1 Comment

Bruce Lee’s Goal Setting Techniques Exposed

Do you ever set goals for yourself?

I came across this letter that Bruce Lee wrote to himself dated January 1969. He used it to guide his career and was written four years before  the release of “Enter the Dragon.” At the time, he had been “Kato” on the Television show “Green Hornet” and had yet to become a movie star.

Have you ever done this for yourself? For your martial arts school? Maybe you should consider it.

Here’s what Mr. Lee wrote to himself:

“I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental super star in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performance and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970, I will achieve world fame and from then onwards till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.” –Bruce Lee, Jan 1969

I love this because he did everything you should when setting goals.

Goal Setting Tips

  • Be precise.
  • Set priorities.
  • Write your goals down.
  • Set performance goals, not just outcome goals.

Before you set any goal, be sure to answer the question “Why do I want to achieve this goal?” The more reasons you have motivating yourself besides “I just want it” the better you be to keep motivated and on track.

Further, a commonly adopted approach to goal setting, known as the S.M.A.R.T. method, is as follows:

  1. Specific – Goals must be specific.
  2. Measurable – They must be quantifiable.
  3. Attainable – Set goals that push you but are achievable.
  4. Realistic – This means do-able, not necessarily easy.
  5. Time-Bound – With no deadline, it is easy to put things off.

It’s amazing how setting the right goals and achieving them leads to increased self-confidence and feeling better about yourself. I am reminded of this every time I reach a new goal I’ve set for myself.

If you haven’t set a goal in your martial arts training, I challenge you to set, define then crush your goals!

Do you think Bruce Lee was setting realistic or attainable goals for himself when he wrote this letter?

Popularity: 8%

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: bruce lee, goal setting, goals
January 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Martial Arts Business Success in 2011

Hopefully your martial arts business saw an increase in 2010. I know for many martial arts schools it was a year of opportunity with the release of the remake of the Karate Kid and signs that the economy was getting better. However, I also saw at least three schools shut down in my city so I know things weren’t smooth sailing for everyone.

To help give you some ideas for your martial arts school to start things out right in 2011, here are ten things to consider investigating in the New Year:

  1. Make it easy to do business with you. Accept credit cards at your school, add a paypal button to your site, set up EFT, add the ability to schedule appointments on your website, add a shipping cart to your site, etc. I talk to martial arts school owners all the time who it a virtual gauntlet to do business with them. If that describes your business, this is the year to make some big changes. I’ll be talking more about how to set these all up soon.
  2. Build a community. Invest in your students and show them you care. Get to know them and take the best possible care you can of them. Hold special events for your students, consider making at least one free. I do this on my anniversary and hold a free student appreciation seminar. They love it and helps reinforce I care.
  3. Make your website a lead generation machine. I’ve said this in years past, but have you done this yet? This is a HUGE business transformation tool and not one you want to postpone or ignore.
  4. Develop a killer upgrade program. One of the most direct ways to increase the revenue of your martial arts school and create greater financial freedom is to get more from those who are already there. Most school owners focus on chasing new money instead of getting more from those who already know, like and trust them.
  5. Build a promotional calendar. When you schedule promotions, it helps you build your marketing calendar for years to come. Keep what works. Try something else if it doesn’t. Having your promotions determined in advance allows you to properly plan for them so they aren’t last minute hack jobs. To maximize any promotion, you need to have a plan, execute the plan and follow up to determine it’s effectiveness.
  6. Get your deal on. Groupon.com, CityDeals.com, LivingSocial.com and more all came to the forefront in 2010 and I’ve seen a ton of offers from martial arts schools. Have you considered offering a deal on these kinds of sites yet? See a deal in action here.
  7. Add exciting new special events. A great way to lift your bottom this year is to do special events like seminars, workshops or clinics. You can set these up monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or do a series for 8 saturday’s in a row.
  8. Enhance your proshop. Time for some schwag! Have T-Shirts made for your school, put logos on your sparring gear, uniforms, and more. Some martial arts instructors make certain equipment required at different levels and add special packages. This will help you develop a whole new revenue stream if you aren’t currently doing this.
  9. Develop a referral system worth having. Again, this is key to any business who wants to be in business long term. If your current students are happy, they will naturally refer you. However, it never hurts to give them a little incentive.
  10. Master local search. 2010 marked the year of local search being fully integrated into the search results. If you don’t have a site yet or want to supplement how many references you have in the search results, it’s time to investigate. Chances are, you already have several local pages to claim that the search engines and directory sites have created for you.

What would you add to this list?

Popularity: 10%

Filed Under: Business, Online Marketing, Retention
September 21, 2010 By 3 Comments

How EFT Helped Change My Martial Arts Business

I don’t know about you but I got into teaching martial arts because I loved teaching… I didn’t get into it to become an accountant or collection agency.

And, I was thrilled when I finally pulled the trigger on electronic funds transfer (EFT) aka an audit debit system because I no longer had to be a bill collector.

It’s safe to say that EFT helped make my martial arts business more successful and a hell of a lot more stable.

Why I decided to switch to EFT

For about eight years I used a manual process to collection tuition.

At the first class of every month, tuition was due.

Sometimes that was on the first of the month. Sometimes it was the 6th (or later) of the month.

At the time, I only accepted either cash or check.

When I remembered to tell the students that tuition was due the next class, I would (probably 25% of the time I would remember).

For those members that remembered to bring money that day, I collected their tuition and entered it into my Google Doc spreadsheet.

For the majority of students that forget to bring their payment, I would try to remind them at the end of class.

That worked with varying levels of success.

However, I felt it was a negative experience because now money was getting in the way of their training in a very obvious manner.

Things shifted from me caring about them to appearing as if I cared about the money; which wasn’t the case.

And, by having them physically pay each month, I was asking them to validate it was still worth paying for each month they wrote their check.

It’s definitely a fine line to walk.

My monthly income was also completely unpredictable and I never knew how much I was going to make each month.

And, I was always floating the rent each month; paying for it before I had collected all the monthly tuition.

Having the money before writing the check is just good business.

For long term success, I knew I couldn’t continue to use that process.

Especially considering my school was growing.

I had to make a change.

Not just for my own sanity but for the long term success of my martial arts school.

It was costing me time, money, trust and stress by using my old antiquated tuition collection process.

That’s when I made the move to using EFT to right the ship.

How EFT helps my members:

  • They no longer have to remember to bring their check books on the 1st lesson.
  • Convenience — They can use credit cards, debit cards, savings or checking accounts.
  • They know precisely when payment will be withdrawn each month.
  • They can focus on their training instead of the money.
  • They see me as their instructor, not a bill collector (which also definitely helps me, too!).
  • They know they’re current and don’t have to worry about me stalking them.

How EFT helps my martial arts school:

  • I know how much I’m going to make each month.
  • I’m no longer a bill collector having to track down late payments.
  • Students automatically pay me on the 1st of the month whether they’re in class or not.
  • I know when that money will be deposited into my account each month.
  • I sign up my members once and no one has to think about the money aspect again.
  • I now have all of my money before I make my lease payment.
  • If a student is late, they are reminded by my EFT company, I don’t have to stalk them to get it.

Personally, I don’t think you can start too early using this process — I did when I had about 20 students.

Now, it’s just part of my process of signing up students.

And, I’ve never had anyone tell me they don’t want to use it.

In fact, most are relieved I use EFT to make it easier.

The question isn’t “how much does using an EFT service cost” it’s “how much are you losing by not using EFT?”

So, what’s holding you back from using EFT to help your martial arts school become more successful?

Popularity: 7%

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: auto debit, eft
September 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Do One Profitable Thing a Day

I was given some advice several years ago that I took to heart and it has helped me to grow my martial arts school.

It’s so simple yet so powerful.

The advice?

Do (at least) one thing a day that will help you add more profit to your business.

It’s easy to let this slip.

Don’t let it.

It’s far too important.

This could be adding calls to action to your website…asking for referrals… managing your expenses… delegating low return tasks… raising your prices… building a lead generation website… etc.

Here are 50 profitable things to work on to help get you started.

Thinking like this each day will help you to stay focused.

And, in the long run, increase your profitability.

In good times and in bad, this little piece of advice can help you start charting your course to a more profitable future.

What kinds of things do you do each day that adds to your martial arts school’s profitability?

Popularity: 7%

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: cta, lead generation, pricing, referral, referral marketing, success, website
August 12, 2010 By 5 Comments

10 Red Flags Your Martial Arts School is in Trouble

Are you having doubts if you’re going to be able to keep the doors open at your martial arts school much longer?

Do you invest your time and energy into your martial arts school and pour everything you’ve got into it but you’re still not making much, if any, money teaching martial arts?

While there is no magic formula to determine whether you’re going to make a living off of martial arts or if you’re going to have to shut your doors, there are certain things you can look at to tell you the overall health of your martial arts business.

Here are 10 warning signs that your martial arts school might be in trouble:

  1. You’re unprofitable.
    Having money come in isn’t the same thing as turning a profit. In other words, what you bill each month isn’t as important as how much you make over and above your expenses each month. Many say a successful business is a profitable business. While profitability is only one measure of a business, it is certainly an important one.
  2. You dread going in to teach.
    If you aren’t motivated and genuinely excited to show up each day, Houston we have a problem. If you’re not motivated, believe me, your students know it. And, if you’re not excited, they aren’t going to be and your chances of losing them as student increases. It’s just that simple.
  3. You can’t take negative feedback.
    When a member or a prospect gives you some constructive feedback, what is your reaction? Do you freak out or think they’re stupid? Take a moment a listen and take their feedback to heart. Believe me, they’re telling you important things you need to address in your business. In short, you have to be open to change to make a change.
  4. You don’t get many, if any, referrals.
    Wow. This is a big one. If your students aren’t excited enough to tell their friends, they probably have notice your lack of enthusiasm during class. Your classes need to be exciting and fun. You need to get people so pumped up that and feel they learned so much that they can’t help but tell their friends. Break up your routine! I know this is easier said than done. However, without making your classes worth talking about, you’re not likely to improve your lack of referrals. Another thing to increase the likelihood of referrals is to have a referral marketing system in place. Just remember, your classes first need to be worth referring for those to work.
  5. You are the cheapest in town.
    This is the easiest way to go out of business. By being cheap, you’re not getting rewarded for the value you truly offer. Many martial artists struggle with asking for money let alone enough to be profitable. If you struggle with charging what you’re worth, you probably shouldn’t open up a martial arts school in the first place. Remember, the less you charge, the more students you need to make a profit. That’s a long, hard road to travel and most don’t make it with this approach (unless you have low overhead).
  6. You hate to delegate.
    If you insist on doing everything yourself, you’re further behind than you realize. I know it may be hard to believe, but other people can do the job just as well as you can, if not better. Find out what your students do for a living and see if you can work out a trade or discounted service in return for their help. You might be surprised how many good resources you already have in your school you can use to help get your martial arts business back on track.
  7. You don’t have the right systems in place.
    Having systems in place takes a lot of work. However, it will pay you back ten-fold. You should consider several different systems for your including operations, marketing, accounting, teaching, retention, prospecting, student intake and more. The more systems you have in place, the more efficient your operation becomes.
  8. You’re not using EFT.
    I transformed my martial arts school the day I started using electronic funds transfer.  I no longer had to be a bill collector or the bad guy when someone didn’t pay. Now every month, the money is in my account and I don’t have to worry about it. And, you don’t have to be a large school to start using EFT. Every business no matter how big or small can benefit from it. If you’re still letting people pay you manually, you really should reconsider.
  9. You’re the only one teaching.
    Having your students teach or assist is actually a great retention device and will also help free up your time to be on your business instead of in it. Start having your intermediate students help assist in your next class. You can have them run the stretching and warmups just to get them started. This allows you to be more attentive to your students and gives you a different perspective you don’t get from leading the entire class all the time. Once I started doing this,  I had more help than I knew what to do with.
  10. You lose more students than you get each month.
    What is your retention rate? Do you even know? Keep your eye on the back door as that is as important for long term success as how many students are coming in the front door. The reasons for people leaving can likely be traced to one of the 9 things listed above. Whenever possible, see if you can find out the real reason why someone left. That can help you button things up even tighter.

Take a good look and see if your martial arts school is suffering from any of these red flags. Then set out to change them, one by one, as fast as you can.

What other red flags would you add to this list? Share you thoughts in the form of a comment!

Popularity: 8%

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: eft, pricing, profit
May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Martial Arts Business Fundamentals You Dare Not Ignore

I don’t care how much marketing you do…how much you spend…or how many martial arts marketing associations you belong to, at the end of the day, you still have to have offer great service, have incredible passion and contagious enthusiasm to build a school that people want to be around.

Not only that, but you also need to demonstrate great kindness and sincere appreciation to your students so they know you truly care about them.

This helps with not only recruitment but with retention.

When you do these things, your business will begin to change.

It will begin to transform itself into a place that people desperately want to be a part of and one they can’t wait to tell their friends about.

I remind myself of these things each and every day and gets me in the proper mindset to build a great martial arts business.

It is all easier said than done, I realize.

However, without doubt, it ALL has to be genuine.

You can’t fake any one of these things or your prospects and students will know.

If your business is struggling, you might want to consider the reasons as to why.

Perhaps one or more of these fundamentals might be the missing piece to the puzzle.

What other martial arts business fundamentals would you add and why?

Popularity: 6%

Filed Under: Business
December 30, 2009 By 2 Comments

Martial Arts Business Success in 2010

2009 was a brutal year for many martial arts school owners. To help you spring into 2010 with a little more juice, here is my top 10 list of martial arts business and marketing tips to help your martial arts school become even more successful in the New Year.

  1. If you haven’t already done so, implement everything I talked about in Make Your Martial Arts School More Successful in 2009.
  2. Start doing online videos. You can do martial arts commercials, demonstrations, interviews..whatever. Host them on YouTube.com for free then pipe them into your website.
  3. Create a Facebook Fan Page. In the age of social media, it’s time to set up a Facebook Fan page. This is a great tool for retention as as well as prospecting. I get interaction from my students on virtually every post I make.
  4. Test Twitter. You’ll definitely want to experiment with this one. It might work for you and it might not. I don’t personally have a lot of students interacting on Twitter but still use it to get out information pertaining to my martial arts school. As this becomes even more mainstream, you will be ahead of the curve if you start using this now as you build your legion of faithful followers.
  5. Test paid search. Paid search is the sponsored advertising you see in the search engines like Google. You pay for clicks on a keyword basis.  The more you’re willing to pay, the higher up in the ads you are. I highly recommend you start with Google. It’s the easiest and most effective system there is where you can send targeted prospects to your martial arts schools website in a relatively cost effective manner.
  6. Create a member’s area on your website. This is a great tool for retention. Some say you shouldn’t restrict this area (it can help with recruitment) while other’s say make it password protected (makes it more exclusive). I personally have mine behind a password protected area as it is a competitive advantage. Whichever way you choose, you can house a private forum… how to videos… curriculum downloads… training tips… and more. The important thing is to make it worth visiting often and that it becomes a valuable supplement to your students training.
  7. Build a list. This is one of the best things you can do for your martial arts school. Segment your students vs. prospects and send them different messages.
  8. Show your students you care. Don’t just do this once and think you’re covered. It’s something you need to do often in conjunction with offering remarkable classes in order to maximize retention.
  9. Create irresistible offers. This will help you to attract and sign up new students.  Learn How to Create an Irresistible Offer Your Prospects Can’t Refuse and 10 Types of Irresistible Offers You Can Make to Prospects.
  10. Ask yourself 10 essential martial arts business questions for 2010.

I hope this helps and wish you great success in 2010! I look forward to hearing how you’re doing to build and grow your school.

Popularity: 8%

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: facebook, offer, ppc, profit, retention, success, twitter, youtube