Martial Arts World News Magazine - Volume 20 | Issue 4

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The #1 Business Resource for the Martial Arts Industry

VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 2

Chief Master

Kirk Pelt

How an Organization Found Success in Crisis - With Virtual Learning Day Camps AMAA

Chuck Norris

Martial Arts Masters & Pioneers 2nd Edition Release

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Biden or Trump

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CONTENTS

FEATURES 26

28 34

44

AMAA Chuck Norris Martial Arts Masters & Pioneers 2nd Edition Release Rescheduled to December 5th

COLUMNS 6 Editorial

Make the Comeback FAR Greater than the Setback!

Master Toby Milroy

How Will the Next President Affect Your Martial Arts School?

8

Martial Arts World News Faculty

Chief Master Kirk Pelt How an Organization Found Success in Crisis - With Virtual Learning Day Camps

Special COVID-19 Section

12 Teamwork

54

Bullying is No Longer Just Taking Your Milk Money Hanshi Dave Kovar

The Warrior Way

Managing the Krav Maga Curriculum, Part 2 Grandmaster Bill Clark

99 FREE Tool of the Month

56

DEPARTMENTS

Change Your Mind, Change Your Bottom Line Shihan Allie Alberigo

58

Growth Hacks

14

Industry Insights

15 Birthdays 18

Social 411

20

Industry Innovations

50

School Profile

61

Classified Ads

97

Advertiser Index

YOUR INPUT

60

Next Level Strategy

Get An Edge In Marketing Mr. Sean Lee

Ninja Business Tactics

First Impressions An-Shu Stephen Hayes

64

Pillars of Success

68

The Way of the Samurai

70

The Three Rs of Combative Weaponry, Part 3 Shihan Dana Abbott

Extraordinary Marketing

13

Tell Us Your Story

Don’t Confuse Activity with Accomplishment, Part 1 Grandmaster Stephen Oliver

74

Feature Your School, Organization, Accomplishment, or Event

72

After School Excellence

4 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

Create Physical Success, Part 1 Supreme Grandmaster Y. K. Kim

Teaching the Rules: Build Respect & Reputation Chief Master Mike Bugg

STAFF 76

78

Tactical Self-Defense

My Top 12 Child Safety Tips Grandmaster Tom Patire

Complete Martial Arts Concepts

Kung-Fu Curriculum Development, Part 2 Professor Willie “the Bam” Johnson

80

The Millionaire Smarts Coach

84

86

88

Be in Charge of Your Destiny, Part 1 Lee Milteer

Budo Philosophy A Gaseous World Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci

Pro Shop Power

You Can Save More Than You Think With Re-Breakable Boards Sun Kang

Mind Mastery

The Keys to a Successful Mindset in Business, Part 2 Grandmaster Jessie Bowen

90

Master the Basics

92

94

96

Integrity: The Most Important Ingredient of Leadership Master Tina Bane

Instructional Excellence

Stay Ahead of Your Competition Grandmaster Tim McCarthy

Tools & Tactics

How to Talk to Parents Lee Peele

Martial Arts Philosophy

American Samurai, Part 2 Sensei Gary Lee

VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 PUBLISHER Master Toby Milroy EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sean Lee MANAGING EDITOR Sandra Mirocha ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Jeff Reulbach ART DIRECTOR Frank Meyer GRAPHIC DESIGNER Amen Blue WEB DEVELOPERS Erin Pham Manuel Huerta COLUMNISTS & CONTRIBUTORS Hanshi Dave Kovar Grandmaster Bill Clark Sean Lee Shihan Allie Alberigo Supreme Grandmaster Y. K. Kim Grandmaster Tim McCarthy Chief Master Kirk Pelt Grandmaster Stephen Oliver Chief Master Mike Bugg Professor Willie Johnson Lee Peele Master Tina Bane Sun Kang Grandmaster Jessie Bowen Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci An-Shu Stephen Hayes Lee Milteer Sensei Gary Lee Grandmaster Tom Patire Shihan Dana Abbott The mission of Martial Arts World News Magazine is to be the definitive source for information, news, education, ethical business practices, product reviews and innovative developments in the world of martial arts business.

Martial Arts World News does not accept any responsibility for unsolicited submissions.

Our preferred method of submission is by emailing the editor at editor@ martialartsworldnews. com. Paper manuscripts and photos will only be returned if a self-addressed, postage-paid envelope is provided. All rights for letters submitted to the magazine will be accepted as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes, with the stipulation that editorial staff has the right to edit and comment.

Martial Arts World News Magazine, its owners, directors, officers, employees, subsidiaries, successors, and assigns are not responsible in any way for any injury that may occur by reading or following the recommendations herein. As publisher, Martial Arts World News makes no endorsements, representations, warranties, or guarantees concerning any products or services advertised or otherwise provided herein, and 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 said products or services.

This magazine is a copyrighted product of Martial Arts World News. All rights reserves. Reproduction in whole or in part is expressly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 5

Editorial

Make the Comeback FAR Greater than the Setback!

MASTER TOBY MILROY is a 5th degree black belt. Known as “The Master Systemizer,” Master Toby Milroy has positively influenced more martial arts schools than anyone in our industry. He has built a successful multi-school organization, lead the national trade association for the martial arts industry, and coached some of the most successful martial arts school operators in the world.

➽Like a fighter, we’ve been tagged on the chin seized and some of the largest companies in the world teeby a right-side round kick (COVID-19) that we tered on the edge of the financial abyss, we saw an intense never saw coming. So, JUST LIKE a fighter, we economic contraction, the likes of which we’ve not seen had to scramble to find our footing, shake out since The Great Depression. I personally lost hundreds of the cobwebs, and get back into the fight. thousands of dollars in real estate holdings, and nearly I’ve been both encouraged by how well some of my every sector of the economy had to scramble for survival. colleagues in the industry have handled the situation and And now, the coronavirus. mortified at how poorly some have responded.

While we are still feeling the acute sting of the largesFor some school owners, this has been a call to arms, a cale shutdowns, and the fear and constricted consumer threat to our survival that inspired us to STEP UP, pivot, behavior as a result, there is now some more and more adapt, and overcome. Sadly, others found the situation so intense light at the end of the tunnel. overwhelming that they felt the only option was to surrender.

MANY schools are coming back now STRONGER than Certainly, this situation is ever. How, you might ask? unprecedented. Never in my As we’ve all had to adjust our aplife have I seen essentially evproaches in our schools, we’ve seen our ery business shut down simul“market” spending more and more time taneously. Never have I seen online. This gives us an even greater opdraconian lockdown orders portunity to attract new students to our slammed in place so harshly programs through digital channels. and broadly that entire indusIn today’s market you MUST have: tries, like restaurants, movie Strong Digital Marketing SYSTEMS theaters, bars, and more have The ability to DRIVE traffic to a wellbeen shaken to their core. crafted, effective “lead funnel” website More than 150 FREE Tools to Help However, I have lived using lead magnets, organic social media Your School in these Difficult Times through some previous crises content, paid social media ads, effective www.AtlasMartialArtsSoftware.com/covid19 that share some similar atSEO, Google ads, and others, all combined tributes. I remember some of the impact of the 1981 reces- with effective and beautiful online (and offline) lead CONsion. Although I was only about 8 years old, I remember VERSION systems. the deep economic impact it had on my family. I rememStrong Student and Prospect Communication SYSTEMS ber getting “government cheese” and my mother taking The ability to communicate with your students and me with her (for lack of child care and a car) to the local un- prospects in a meaningful way with impactful content on employment office. We saw double-digit unemployment a regular, even daily basis. for months, sky-high interest rates, and small businesses Strong Online Program Support SYSTEMS dissolving into dust.

Whether you’re delivering your programs online, in Then, the S&L crisis in 1989 followed by the recession person, or some hybrid thereof, you HAVE to have effecof 1990 crushed some major industries, including one tive systems for engaging your students in their training, of the largest employers in my small hometown. When even when they are not in physically in your school. hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center and I’ve had my team prepare a HUGE toolbox of some of the Pentagon on 9-11-2001, we all wondered if the world these types of systems for all of our Martial Arts World would ever return to normal. The Great recession of 2008 News readers, completely free of charge! put a huge dent in the economy, and in the lives of nearly To request these FREE resources, visit: everyone who lived through it. As the financial system AtlasMartialArtsSoftware.com/covid19

6 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

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OUR EXPERT FACULTY 6

Master Toby Milroy

58

Sean Lee

Is a 5th degree Black Belt, the CEO and Publisher of Martial Arts World News Magazine, and the Executive Vice President for AMS. In addition to building a successful multi-school organization, Master Milroy has positively influenced more martial arts schools than virtually anyone in our industry.

12

Hanshi Dave Kovar

is the Executive Director of Sales and Marketing for hundreds of martial arts schools and specializes in online and social media marketing using his extensive professional experience in sports and martial arts marketing, contract negotiation, and investment.

60

An-Shu Stephen Hayes

is an 8th degree black belt and recognized as the “Trainer of Trainers.� Hanshi Kovar is an internationally acclaimed instructor with black belt degrees in ten different martial arts styles. His systems have been implemented in hundreds of schools around the US.

has authored 20 books, worked as a bodyguard for the Dalai Lama, supervised over 30 school locations worldwide, and was named, "One of the 10 Most Influential Living Martial Artists in the World" by Black Belt Magazine.

64

54

Grandmaster Bill Clark

Grandmaster Y. K. Kim is the most successful martial arts business leader in the US, having written over 30 books on martial arts, business, leadership, and success. He has won numerous public service awards and is the founder of the leading martial arts marketing and management company in the US.

is a 9th degree black belt and a former PKA Fighter of the year. He is widely considered one of the top experts in martial arts business with over 30 years of leadership and innovation, having been inducted into almost every Hall of Fame in the industry. He is one of the largest multi-school owners in the world.

68

56

Shihan Allie Alberigo is a 7th degree black belt, the founder of the L.I. Ninjutsu Centers, one of the largest Ninjutsu schools on the planet, the author of 4 books, and an entrepreneur with one of the first online coaching companies (TakingItToTheNextLevel.com).

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Shihan Dana Abbott Is a 7th degree black belt in Kenjutsu, starting his 14-year education in Tokyo.

He has published five books and designed a US Patent. Abbott has also conducted seminars in over 30 countries and obtained his black belt at the Hombu dojo in Yokohama. He currently offers online classes on LearntheSword.com, his unique swordsmanship academy.

OUR EXPERT FACULTY 70

Grandmaster Stephen Oliver

80

Lee Milteer

is a 9th degree black belt and is the founder and CEO of Mile High Karate schools, and founder of the Martial Arts Wealth Mastery Program.

72

Master Mike Bugg

is an Intuitive Business Coach, awardwinning professional speaker, and TV personality who has counseled and trained over a million people throughout her career. Lee is Stephen Oliver’s Martial Arts Wealth Mastery’s Millionaire Smarts Coach and is also a best-selling author of educational resources.

84

Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci

is an 8th degree black belt and the owner of a 1.5 million-per-year location, with one of the largest after school and summer camp programs in the country.

76

Grandmaster Tom Patire

is the CEO and General Manager of the Budo International Publishing Company, a leading publisher in the martial arts with over 35 years in the industry. He is also author of several books: The Immaterial Dimension, The Way of the Warrior, and The Spirit. He currently lives in Valencia, Spain.

86

Mr. Sun Kang

is known as “America’s Leading Personal Safety Expert” and has appeared on Good Morning America, The CBS Morning Show, The Colbert Report, Montel, plus in mainstream publications such as Family Circle, Redbook, Fortune Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

78

Professor Willie “The BAM” Johnson is a 7th degree black belt and seven-time sport karate and Kung-Fu world champion. He has appeared in four movies, 16 plays, and 11 television shows. He is also the national spokesperson for the Stronger than Drugs Foundation and the Champions Against Drugs.

is the President of Vision Martial Arts Supply, Los Angeles Branch, who helps school owners all over the US maximize their retail sales and drive more revenue into their schools.

88

Grandmaster Jessie Bowen is President of Karate International of Durham, Inc., a member of the American Martial Arts Association Sport Karate League and Hall of Fame, and has been a member of the Duke University PE Staff for over 25 years. He is the author of Zen Mind-Body Mindfulness Meditation and Zen Mind-Body Mindfulness Meditation for Martial Arts.

MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 9

OUR EXPERT FACULTY 90

94

Master Tina Bane

Lee Peele

is a 6th degree master instructor and owner of a Top Ten martial arts school with successful after school and summer camp programs.

92

Grandmaster Tim McCarthy is a 9th degree black belt and is a martial arts educator with a master’s degree in education. He has been instrumental in developing two industry-changing programs, and has directed and been featured in hundreds of martial arts videos and webinars.

is a martial arts business development consultant with a background in online and social media marketing.

96

Sensei Gary Lee the American Samurai, is a 9th Dan black belt, a USA Karate Federation gold medalist, winner of five Super Grand National Titles, a featured actor in the movie Sidekicks, and is the founder of the National Sport Karate Museum.

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Teamwork

Bullying is No Longer Just Taking Your Milk Money ➽One morning on YouTube,

HANSHI DAVE KOVAR is an 8th degree black belt and recognized as the “Trainer of Trainers.”

Hanshi Dave Kovar is an internationally acclaimed instructor with black belt degrees in ten different martial arts styles. His systems have been implemented in hundreds of schools around the US.

I came across a video of a martial arts demonstration performed by a less-than-athletic but well intentioned martial artist.

While I admit it wasn’t the most skilled presentation I’ve seen, it appeared that they were sincerely trying their hardest and putting themselves on the line for everyone to see. Probably none of the people in this video would ever be world champions, but that wasn’t the point; they had some skills and certainly were benefiting from their martial arts training.

Now, my issue was not with the video itself. My sincere concern was with the comments below the video. And to my dismay, I saw several comments like, “Try that in the UFC,” “Look at those losers,” and “Take a break and go have a cupcake”—one bullying and discouraging comment after another.

I wanted to say, “C’mon, friends! If you do this kind of thing, it’s time to knock it off!”

Were these commenters not aware that this was a clear example of cyberbullying, and worse, that these comments were obviously not just posted by kids who might not know better?

This is exactly what we, as martial arts instructors, are working hard to stop with our teaching. Bullying comes in all shapes, sizes, and platforms. Not to say that these comments were from martial artists themselves, but I wish to have witnessed our community rise above the negativity and dissolve it with overall support for those who were sincerely putting themselves into their video. We should always communicate the message that while constructive feedback is one thing, blatant disrespect towards others is yet another and should not be tolerated. Trying to look

12 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

good by making others look bad is not a good way to live your life. Be wary of the negativity that so easily exists in the online world and instead embrace and empower positive attitudes that will lend motivation to those bold enough to share their hopes.

If you’re interested in learning more about martial arts and bullying, please visit the organization Martial Artists Against Bullying at DonewithBullying.com and stand against all types of bullying. Bullying continues to be a major issue, despite the fact that awareness of the problem is at an all-time high. I founded Martial Artists Against Bullying (MAAB) because I believe that no other industry is in a better position to do something about bullying than the martial arts industry.

“As individual marital artists, we make a difference in our community, but as a united movement, we can change the world..”

Photograph by stefanamer

BE RECOGNIZED in future editions of Martial Arts World News Magazine.

Our goal at Martial Arts World News Magazine is to support our industry and help you grow your martial arts school. It’s incredibly useful for our readers to hear

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• Winning an Award • Building a Retention System that Works Well • Tournament Results • Anything else that our readers might find valuable!

MartialArtsWorldNews.com/Ureport Or send your story ideas to Editor@MartialArtsWorldNews.com

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

MAWNews Magazine Brings in the Big Guns to Help Schools Recover from the Pandemic Martial Arts World News Magazine and it’s team have been honored to contribute to the Martial Arts industry for more than 40 years.

In these unprecedented times, we’re even more deeply committed to our industry, community, colleagues, supporters, sponsors and readers than ever before!

So we’ve collaborated with some of the most successful school owners in the world, and asked them to ‘pitch in’ and share their best strategies for ‘what’s working’ TODAY in this powerful series of video interviews, facilitated by our own CEO and Publisher Master Toby Milroy.

Get FREE Access to these insightful interviews at: MartialArtsWorldNews.com/covid

Can Your School Earn a Six–Seven-Figure Income Without “Selling Out”?

US Open ISKA World Championships Rescheduled for July 2021

Shihan Allie Alberigo is offering a six-week online course to help martial arts school owners take their schools to the next level without losing your integrity. His program aims to help school owners organize and systemize their school for more efficiency, develop a social media marketing campaign on a budget without needing to be tech savvy, learn how to retain more students, learn how to have a high-income retail shop, and much more! If you’re interested in taking your brand to the next level while developing an amazing staff and team, enroll now!

To learn more, visit SchoolOwnerAccelerator.com/Order.

ISKA has rescheduled the 2020 US Open for July 1–3, 2020 at Walt Disney World in Orlando. The US Open World Championships will also be broadcast live on the ESPN Networks.

To register, book your hotel room, and buy tickets, visit usopen-karate.com.

14 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

Photo by MarenWischnewski (top left)

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Martial Arts Celebrity Birthdays October

David Bradley. . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 2 Michael Dudikoff. . . . . . . . Oct. 8 Kane Kosugi. . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 11 Jean-Claude Van Damme. . Oct. 18 Yayan Ruhian. . . . . . . . . . Oct. 19 Toshishiro Obata. . . . . . Oct. 20 Larnell Stovall . . . . . . . . Oct. 22 Simon Rhee . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 28 Jon Foo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 30

November

Dolph Lundgren. . . . . . . . Nov. 3 Jeff Speakman . . . . . . . . Nov. 8 Steven Lopez. . . . . . . . . . Nov. 9 Michael Jai White & Matt Mullins . . . . . . . . Nov. 10 Karen Sheperd. . . . . . . . Nov. 12 Rickson Gracie. . . . . . . . Nov. 21 Lateef Crowder. . . . . . . Nov. 23 Bruce Lee . . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 27

December:

Bill Wallace. . . . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 1 David Carradine. . . . . . . . Dec. 8 Hwang Jang Lee . . . . . . Dec. 21

MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 15

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS Super Fighter Virtual Weekend Netflix’s “The Old Guard” Brings Raises Money for Beloved Master Martial Arts Fantasy to the Masses On June 12th and 13th this past summer, Willie “The BAM” Johnson Enterprises and the World Federation of Elite Martial Arts organized a virtual event inviting all entrepreneurs, teacher, and students to participate, featuring talks from martial arts industry leaders like Kameren Dawson, Apolo Ladra, and Kevin Kearns.

The two-day Super Fighter Virtual Weekend, which cost a $99 donation to attend, was held in support of the Kimber Johnson Cancer Fund. Master Kimber Johnson, who is going through breast cancer treatment for the second time, has contributed greatly to improving the martial arts industry, and devoted much of her life, along with husband Willie “the Bam” Johnson, to teaching the martial arts, and have impacted many people’s lives through their martial arts schools. The family is facing medical bills upwards of $250,000 and is still accepting donations.

If you’d like to donate to the Kimber Johnson Cancer Fund, please visit https://gf.me/u/y3cyp7

Based on the comic book of the same name, the film stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Harry Melling, Van Veronica Ngo, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and follows a team of immortal mercenaries on a revenge mission. The film released on July 10, 2020 on Netflix and became the top-streamed item on the site over its first weekend, ranking second and fourth the following two weekends. After just a week on Netflix, the company reported that the film was on pace to be viewed by 72 million households over its first four weeks, placing it among the top ten most successful original launches in the platform’s history.

If you haven’t seen the action-packed adventure yet, you can find it exclusively on Netflix.

Stephen Hayes Publishes His Latest Martial Arts Authors Month Book, Ninja Fighting Techniques Kicks Off AMAA Event Honoring Stephen K. Hayes, the world’s leading expert on NinLegend Chuck Norris jutsu techniques, has published Ninja Fighting Techniques, in which he presents the Ninja “Five Elements” system to explain fundamental aspects of self-defense. According to Japanese Buddhist belief, human nature is connected to the natural world and the five elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Void). Ninja Fighting Techniques explains how the five elements can become automatic, unconscious responses for fighters who train the Ninja way. Through study and practice they become instinctive, effectively employed precisely when you need them without thinking.

With over 300 full-color photographs and detailed step-by-step instructions, this book shows you how the ancient self-defense techniques developed by the Ninja are still unsurpassed today!

Copies can be purchased on TuttlePublishing.com.

16 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

The American Martial Arts Alliance Institute, founded by Jessie Bowen, has declared November Martial Arts Authors Month.

The event promotes martial arts authors and features their books to a wider audience, and drives traffic to the authors website.

Martial Arts Authors Month starts the countdown to the AMAAF virtual celebration of the release of AMAA Chuck Norris Martial Arts Masters & Pioneers 2nd Edition on December 5th, 2020.

To preorder your copy of the book, and to sign up to attend the virtual event, visit Whoswhointhemartialarts.com

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SOCIAL 411

Facebook Limiting Ads

Facebook has announced that, starting February 16, 2021, the site would limit the number of ads a Page can run, stating that “the ad limits will impact just a small percentage of advertisers.” Their reasoning for the dramatic change is their belief that “very high ad volume can hinder an advertiser’s performance. With too many ads running at the same time, fewer ads exit the learning phase and more budget is spent before the delivery system can optimize an ad’s performance.” In other words, according to Facebook, running too many ads will cause decreased ad performance overall. Fortunately, it’s unlikely that martial arts school owners will see any changes on their side, but it’s worth keeping an eye on your Facebook ad performance.

Make a Story Successful on Instagram

In a 2019 Facebook webinar, the company revealed their findings as to what makes a Story go viral. Be sure to keep these qualities in mind as you create content for the rest of 2020: • Be efficient. Get users’ attention from the very first frame and maintain it throughout.

• Use sound. Eighty percent of Stories with sound saw better results than those without.

• Text-minimal is key. Don’t overload your frames with text or you risk distracting the viewer.

• Creativity. Creative ad stories were 56 percent more successful than ads that weren’t.

• Branding is essential. Top-performing ads use key messages and branding right away.

• Call to action. Tell the viewer what you want them to do (“DM for more info”).

• Static and motion. Ads that use a mix of static imagery and animation are 86 percent more successful.

No ‘Swipe-Up’? No Problem The “Swipe Up” Story feature on Instagram, which allows viewers to access a website with the swipe of a finger, is available only to verified (i.e. blue checkmarked) profiles—users with a minimum of ten thousand followers.

Dhariana Lozano of Social Media Today offers four tricks to drive traffic to your website from Instagram Stories, even without swiping up.

1. Post an IGTV post with a link to your school’s site.

Pasting a link makes it clickable, so viewers only need to tap the link to go to your site. For this to work, you need to add an IGTV video to your story.

2. Ask users to direct message you for a link to your site. Consider enticing viewers with a special offer by asking them to DM you for a link to the offer.

3. Use a Poll sticker. Make an Instagram Story post and add a poll to your post using the corresponding sticker.

You’ll be able to direct message respondents.

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4. Use a Join Chat sticker. One of the newer additions to Instagram Story stickers allows up to 32 users to join in on a group chat with you.

Illustration by Roman Bykhalets (top)

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24 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

Visit the Online Training Portal Illustration by Varijanta

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AMAA Chuck Norris Martial Arts Masters & Pioneers 2nd Edition Release Rescheduled to December 5th The American Martial Arts Alliance Foundation (AMAAF) has rescheduled its Who’s Who in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame Award Ceremony and Leadership Conference for December 5th, 2020 as a virtual event.

This year’s event is a special tribute to the legendary Chuck Norris, featuring the unveiling of the Chuck Norris edition of Martial Arts Masters & Pioneers, which is published annually to induct martial artists into the Who’s Who Hall of Fame. You can preorder the special edition of Martial Arts Masters & Pioneers at whoswhointhemartialarts.com.

The live event also includes the AMAAF Emerging Leadership Online Conference, hosted this year by Laura Silva Quesada.

Quesada’s father Jose Silva founded the Silva Method, which is the original and most imitated meditation program in the US. The Silva Method teaches students specialized guided imagery techniques to rewire their subconscious and negative programming, tap into their true potential, and achieve their goals.

The conference features many illustrious guest speakers such as Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, Cynthia Rothrock, Michael Jai White, John Chung, and more.

To nominate your Martial Arts Hero to be featured in Emerging Leaders in the Martial Arts, honoring the men and women of the martial arts for their dedication and commitment to preserving the martial arts business, please visit whoswhointhemartialarts.com.

The AMAAF event is open only to members.

To sign up for a membership, please visit whoswhointhemartialarts.com/amaf-membership. Inductees do not need a membership to attend the event.

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November 10th December 8th

Events

How Will the Next President Affect Your Martial Arts School?

Whether your mind’s already made up or you’re still unsure—or even if you’ve already voted—we’re breaking down how a Biden presidency and a new term for President Trump would affect your school.

With everything going on in the world right now, you’re likely worried about many things. One of those things is probably how your martial arts school will fare in the next one to four years. If

you voted for Trump in the last election and plan to vote for him again, we’re also outlining some new changes to his plan for the economy that you may not be aware of.

Joe Biden Taxes The following are policy ideas that are said to come from the prospective of the candidate and not our opinion or bias. Of course, we recommend that you check out things for yourself to make your own decision as this is just a brief overview.

One thing that Biden and Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris have emphasized is that he will not raise taxes for either individuals or businesses earning under $400,000 annually. Furthermore, only individuals who belong to the highest-earning income brackets will have their taxes raised.

Biden has said that there would be no new taxes for small businesses or individuals who earn $400,000 or less.

Small Business Help During the Pandemic Biden has promised a federal response to the pandemic. Instead of a state-by-state approach to the pandemic, the federal government would oversee mandates such as closing and reopening of businesses, mask policies, and employee safety.

He’s also introduced a comprehensive plan for the economy and businesses affected by the pandemic, which he calls his “restart package.” Here’s how his plan might affect your martial arts school, according to Biden’s website (to read his full plan, visit Joebiden.com/reopening). He will: • Direct the federal government to provide COVID-19 testing for every worker called back on the job for the duration of the pandemic.

• Ensure workers and unions have a voice in reopening plans, and that

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Photograph by Michael Stokes

Events

•

•

•

•

•

reopening decisions by tribal governments are respected.

Ensure paid leave for all workers who get sick with COVID-19 for as long as they need to recover and complete quarantine.

Guarantee federally funded paid leave for workers caring for family members or other loved ones sick with COVID-19 that is broader, stronger, and longer than the plan enacted by Congress, and is in addition to existing paid leave provided by a business’s existing policies, including collectivelybargained leave.

Task the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) with setting and enforcing a rigorous emergency temporary standard for worker protection so employers follow a clear set of rules to keep workers safe from COVID-19 exposure.

Ensure that the OSHA standard includes requirements for exposure identification and control, including social distancing, improved ventilation, and other workplace design measures; adequate personal protective equipment, targeted sanitation procedures, and training, notification, and communication requirements for handling cases at work.

Require employers to tailor work

Photograph by Gage Skidmore

arrangements for anyone who’s in a high-risk group or has a highrisk individual in their home. If arrangements cannot be made, individuals would be allowed to continue drawing unemployment benefits and be protected from job loss for the duration of the pandemic.

• Direct the federal government to create an easy-to-read Nationwide Pandemic Dashboard that Americans can check in real-time to help them gauge whether local transmission is actively occurring in their zip codes and understand what level of precaution to take.

• Create a “Safer for Shoppers” Program, which will provide state, tribal, and local governments with funding for their public health departments to certify a business as compliant with testing procedures and other best practices for reducing transmission and to conduct spot-checks as necessary. Compliant businesses would receive a “Safer for Shoppers” sign to display so consumers would know that the businesses have done what they can to minimize the risk of exposure.

• Provide a “restart package” that provides small business owners support for retaining and rehiring workers, as

well as for fixed costs as long as they’re bringing back workers.

• Support work sharing so that small businesses can bring back all of their workers, even if they’re not operating at full capacity, with the federal government making up the difference.

• Provide grants for businesses to cover the costs of reopening during the pandemic, including for supplies like personal protective equipment (PPE) and plexiglass.

• End racial inequity in small business support by ensuring that minority-owned businesses get effective access to all of these tools so that they’re not shut out of federal aid programs.

Additionally, Biden has expressed desire for stricter oversight of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to ensure that small businesses are receiving funds, and avoid allowing funds to be diverted to larger companies again. Instead, he’s proposing reserving half of all future PPP funds for small businesses with 50 employees or fewer. He’s also proposing increased oversight to ensure that no company receives more aid than they lost due to the pandemic, and that industries (mainly in the finance sector) and executives making over $500,000 should get special scrutiny for aid.

MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 29

Events Other Financial Programs Biden also has plans in place that would be permanent, taking place both during and after the pandemic is over.

Under Biden’s presidency, employment costs will potentially continue rising. Biden supports a $15 per hour national minimum wage, mandated paid time off, more union negotiating power, and eliminating noncompete agreements, no-poaching policies, and mandatory arbitration clauses.

However, Biden supports reducing licensing regulations for some occupations and immigration reform for “dreamers.”

He also wants to continue funding local and regional organizations that support entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Donald Trump Taxes Here’s how Trump’s updated tax plans has may impact small business owners.

Many of these policies are currently in effect and are subject to change.

Small businesses not structured as C-corps might benefit with the 20% passthrough deduction.

Many martial arts schools are incorporated as subchapter S corporations or LLCs, which are earnings pass-through entities (as well as sole proprietors). A business’ profit can “pass” to the individual owner and be taxed at the individual tax rate, rather than being taxed at the C corporation tax rate, and again being taxed at the individual rate for the owner.

Under Trump’s tax plan, small businesses filing as pass-throughs can take a 20% business income deduction. Last year, to qualify for the deduction, business owners had to have a taxable income of below $160,700 if single, or $321,400 if married and filing jointly.

One provision of Trump’s tax plan allows businesses to write off more large equipment purchases up front instead of depreciating them over a number of years, which is a tax-saving strategy called “bonus depreciation.” For schools opening a new location or making significant equipment purchases (new mats, mirrors, computer equipment, etc.), this could be a benefit.

Under the plan, you can deduct up to $1

million in equipment purchases, and the full cost of an asset the year you buy it, whereas before, you could only take 50% of the value.

Trump’s tax plan also allows companies to take advantage of the cash method of accounting, rather than the accrual method.

In the cash method of accounting, revenue is recorded as soon as cash is received from customers, while expenses are recorded as soon as they’re paid to suppliers and employees.

In the accrual method, revenue is recorded when it’s earned and expenses are only recorded when consumed.

In January 2021, Trump plans to replace the seven-bracket system with a simpler three-bracket system. According to his website, the new tax brackets (for married-joint filers) will be arranged as follows: <$75,000: 12% $75,000-$225,000: 25% >$225,000: 33% Brackets for single filers are half of the amounts listed.

Small Business Help During the Pandemic The Trump administration plans to continue a more targeted, state-by-state, region-by-region approach to managing the coronavirus response with federal financial support and guidance. The administration states that different areas require different solutions, and that the governors of each state have a better perspective on the unique circumstances in their specific states and local communities.

The Trump administration has called for Congress to release $135bn in unspent (PPP) aid to small business and has publicly supported another large stimulus bill. At the time of this writing, the White House and House Democrats have not yet come to an agreement on a broader stimulus package, and there is questionable support for a large bill in the Senate, nor has Congress moved forward with releasing the unspent PPP funds.

Other Economic Plans The Trump administration plans to rebuild the economy using many of the same pro-growth strategies it deployed before the COVID-19 pandemic (according to the administration website).

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According to the campaign website, in the first term, the administration accomplished and proclaims to expand on: • Providing tax relief for 82% of middleclass families • Doubling the Child Tax Credit, providing an additional $1,000 per child in tax relief for working parents • Nearly doubling the standard deduction, a change that simplified the tax filing process for millions of Americans • Cutting taxes for small business by 20%, providing $415bn in tax relief for small business owners • Alleviating the tax burden on over 500 companies that used those savings to fund bonuses and wage increases for 4.8 million workers • Spurring new investments into the American economy; after it was passed, businesses invested $482bn into new American projects • Repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate • Making US companies compete on the world stage, lowering the corporate tax rate from one of the highest in the industrialized world (35%) to 21% With a (prior to COVID) 50-year low unemployment rate, historically low Hispanic, Asian, and African-American unemployment rates, and GDP growing at its fastest rate since the “Great Recession,” the administration believes it can get the nation back to significant growth with similar policies that it considers to be pro-growth and pro-jobs.

The website also describes a focus on economic expansion and jobs expansion by continuing to bring manufacturing jobs back to the country in part through renegotiated trade deals, expanding domestic energy production, reducing what the administration considers “overly burdensome” regulations, and continuing to expand workplace apprenticeship programs and worker education programs to prepare them for new economy jobs.

As always, it’s crucial that you do your research when deciding which candidate to support. Each side offers many pros and cons, but it’s ultimately up to you which candidate will help your martial arts school grow and prosper in.

Think Tank

MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 31

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34 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

Cover Story

Chief Master

Kirk Pelt

How an Organization Found Success in Crisis -

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Day Camps Senior Master Kirk Pelt of the Martial Arts World organization operates more than 15 locations in the US. He recently spoke with MAWN about how he leveraged COVID-19 to transform his successful after school program into a lucrative virtual learning day camp.

MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 35

Cover Story

Chief Master Kirk Pelt runs one of the most successful After School Martial Arts Programs in the Country.

MAWN: We wanted to discuss some of the pivots that you’ve made in your organization, and also the world as we see it nowadays.

KP: Hey, thank you for having me here.

MAWN: It’s really useful for school owners to hear what’s working in different parts of the country, and with different strategies and tactics they’ve had to use. When COVID first happened, just like in any battle, there were two fundamental human responses.

One is you that you ‘turtle up,’ huddle in the fetal position in the corner, and hope the world doesn’t hurt you. The other is the right response: take it on the chin and figure out the plan. You’re working with all of the school operators in your organization, and all the instructors and staff. What have you been working on? What do you think is important?

KP: I would say stop making excuses; start focusing. Now, more than ever, our students need our motivation, our confidence, our leadership. We’re such a valuable resource

to our students. We have to stop saying, “I can’t,” and start asking, “How can I?” There are several steps to take in order to do that. I think that’s been the biggest thing for us, as we’ve been able to not only manage this, but we’re coming out of it very well. While continuing to enroll during this pandemic, the number one thing is communication. We have to communicate to our students, continually send emails, texts. And don’t forget picking up the phone and hearing a voice, through social media too. This gives us the ability to interact with them as they’re getting a plethora of negativity. Then we have children sitting at home that are overhearing this stuff, and they’re not able to get out and be a kid like they normally have, so our interaction as their instructors is huge with them. This gives us the opportunity to not let them forget they’re a student; reinforce that with them through their instructional classes, whether you did a Zoom class or video classes or you’re back now, that communication gives us the ability to hold them accountable.

So, we’ve been probably double, maybe triple, busier than we were before, trying

36 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

to answer the question “how can I?” In asking that question, we’ve done some pretty unique things to get on a good path for our current members, as well as new members.

MAWN: If your beliefs are screwed up, the rest of it really doesn’t matter because you’re not going to approach the problem the right way. You’re going to limit yourself.

You guys renegotiated some of your schools’ leases. How Did you accomplish that?

KP: We’re in it for the long haul, so let your landlord know you’re in it for the long haul, and you don’t plan on going anywhere.

We’re just getting through this together and it’s true: they’re more than willing to understand your circumstance. We have locations that still aren’t paying rent and the landlord absolutely understands that. We have a projection with them to start paying some rent around October, depending on our situation, and they’re totally willing and understanding with that. What I found with us dealing with the landlords is they’re very willing, because they’re human beings and they’ve gone through the same thing. And

Cover Story

they’re not getting any money anyway. We don’t want to use that to our advantage, but at the same time, we don’t want it to be used to our disadvantage.

MAWN: Going into those conversations, even with your students as you described, patience is such a critical component right now. Now that we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, some states are still slammed shut, so there’s a little bit of a dichotomy there with the operational changes you’re looking at.

KP: I’m going to break down for everybody two programs. We have our traditional classes, where parents or adults come and do their training. And then we have our after school/summer camp program. We do both programs within our organization. When the government didn’t let us do classes inside the training area inside the school, we did classes outside. We threw mats on the ground and had a mini-makeshift training area every evening. And, at that point, we had a unique schedule: “You get Tuesday and Thursday at 6:00.”

But we made that transition so that we could be in control of maintaining the guidelines of the CDC, with sanitation and everything, and keep it spread out. I believe the biggest factor with the traditional classes is that parents understood we were scheduling and communicating properly. For example, 4:00 to 4:40 was one class. The next class didn’t start till 5:00, until 5:40, 6:40, 7:40. It gave our members time to learn and for the next class to come in. And we were keeping a minimal allotted amount of members at that time, according to those guidelines, so classes would never run over that.

That made a world of difference when they said, “OK, you guys can do classes.”

Ninety-three percent of our traditional members came back. They did not hesitate.

They came back, and I believe that it was because of that communication; that we laid out the schedule and communicated to them, and what we had done during that time period when we were closed, where we had classes going on, Zoom classes, and a plethora of other things. Let’s move forward to the after school/summer camp program. We’re in Orange County, Florida.

August 10 was the first day parents had the option of their children going face to face at elementary school. Middle and high school, the children were doing Launch Ed, which is at home on your computer, just like if they were in class at school with ten-minute breaks every 45 minutes or so. Or students go in and have their lesson plan on the site and work at their own pace. We had three different options that parents could choose from, so that gave us the ability to do our after school program. One week only, like, 40 percent chose to go back to school face to face, so that limited our after school program by half. We decided that we’d offer an all-day camp with virtual learning, where we’d take the children’s tables, set up towers on the tables, children would put their earphones in, log into their computers, and do their classroom instruction. It was great, and it worked beautifully. There were a lot of parents that worked but weren’t confident enough to send kids to do face to face. They weren’t comfortable, so they chose us to put their children in our program, and that way, they didn’t need their kids, for example, to continued on page 42

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Cover Story continued from page 39

be at the elementary school and then to go to another after school program.

MAWN: So, 7:00 to 3:00 they’re in the learning system. Then, from 3:00 to the pick-up time, 5:00, 6:00, is the after school program, so that’s another tuition element.

KP: I’m glad you said it. Let’s say, for example, we get $95 a week for the after school program, and that’s from 3:00 to 6:00, and we have students enrolled for that. And we’re still enrolling students for the after school program. But then the virtual learning is all day; it’s like a summer camp day without a field trip. We’re getting basically summer camp funding of $160 a week for the full-day program for members who need a place for the children to do their classes.

MAWN: You’ve got the folks who want to do e-learning of one type or another.

They can come and do that with you. And you guys have the kids who’re e-learning at home. They don’t need your services for that

necessarily, but they’re still huge missing social interaction and physical education dynamics. Walk us through how you guys are servicing that market.

KP: There are three different levels that I’ll explain. I’ll talk to you from our current member profile; the students who’ve decided they’re not comfortable with coming to our door, our school, and doing classes face to face. We set up a system where we recorded over 90 videos—over 90 classes. We’ve got them in a social media group and we just relaunch those videos, those modules, each week. They’re following the students who aren’t coming back; but they continue instruction, and at the same time, we interact with those students at least twice a week. It would be a Zoom meeting/class/accountability/pretesting/making sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. The third aspect is we also produced and filmed a series of introductory classes for both children and adults. Our children’s classes were focused around PE class. We reached out to all of the school board and principals that were in the

areas of our local schools. We offered that as a community service, as our appreciation for them to share it on their Facebook page, and to drive them to our website through an email. So, they send those videos, which go out to the students who chose virtual learning at their elementary school, and that way, they have an assignment to take a physical education class from Martial Arts World.

They were overjoyed they had something they could give them; there’s nothing like it that I’ve heard of, and that’s coming from them. And 90 percent accepted it. I think the other ones didn’t answer my email because they didn’t see it. But they’re so, so thankful we’ve done that for them. We’re giving back. We’re doing what we say. It’s a community service that took a lot of time, energy, and effort, but it’s also a huge promotion for our program now, and certainly in the future. The parents that see those videos from home, when they feel confident enough, can come and bring their child to our traditional classes. We can enroll them because, on our videos we’re putting out our web address and phone number

The Martial Arts World After School Program Boasts an Amazing Retention Rate 40 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

Cover Story your relationship with schools. expensive. They’re going to see improved behavior at home, and they’re going to get And we actually sometimes a more confident and fit child. The student start our relationships over obviously wins because this might be a with some schools because program that they may not be able to take of their management or advantage of otherwise, but while they have leadership. We do that fairly the opportunity to do the program, they consistently every year with may also choose to continue their training a couple of our locations. But with us at the school. the mindset you have to have That helps schools build their program is how can I solve this issue? and able to provide services like this to the When I have a meeting with a community for the next few decades. But principal, I want to introduce you’ve got to be the first to mention it and myself.

I want to say, “Hey, we’re a point out the pink elephant in the room. The elephant wins in your case, because some martial arts school, but we’re small percentage of students may continue about children improving their lives. We know you guys training with you. It’s not about being deceptive, it’s about being transparent, right? have one hell of a job in tryKP: Yes, absolutely, 1,000 percent. That’s ing to meet your standards of the bottom line: “What can we do for you?” education. I’m dealing with If we work together, the next level is some behavioral problems doing things that are out of the ordinary: and character development staying in connection with them, meeting issues. That’s what we’re on pretty much a weekly basis, whether that great at. I’m just here to ask, Virtual Learning Day Camp Students Enjoy a Safe, Socially Distant means a face to face or an email to the princiPrincipal Milroy, what can Learning Environment we do for you? Just give me three pal, maybe every two weeks, going, “Hey, I’m just checking in with you. If there’s anything things we can do for you.” you need, we noticed that you have this, And I just shut up, and I wait and listen. and they know who we are. We’re in all the this, and this coming up, could we donate Whatever it is, if it’s in my power to do it, school Facebook groups, so they’re going to anything?”

I’ll make it happen.

Whatever it is, if it’s in be posting them on their Facebook pages.

“Oh, sure. You could donate $100 dollars my financial power—if it’s not too much of That’s greatly duplicated our exposure and worth of pizza.” an investment.

If it makes sense to serve the promotion of our schools within our area, student and the school, we’ll start our these beginner’s classes and allowing them relationship. to be put out on a weekly basis.

That way they understand we’re not just looking at it as like, “Hey, I’ve MAWN: Almost all products that are targot 1,400 flyers I want to hand out geted to kids’ fitness and elementary schools about our after school program. Can are targeted at physical education teachers. you hand 1,400 flyers out?”

What you guys are doing is kind of cutting That’s not building a long-lastout the middleman. ing, meaningful relationship with the school to where it’s a win-win KP: We’re delivering directly direct to for them, and most of all, for the consumer. students.

MAWN: It really is the very defiMAWN: The last three weeks of the nition of a win-win-win. The school school year, parents were up to here and wins because you’re conducting didn’t know what was going on. A lot of this activity as a fundraiser for the these solutions stare you in the face pretty elementary school, donating 100 perquickly. But in working with the public cent of the proceeds back, and paying education system, you’ve done a lot; you for all the expenses. There’s also a guys have done lots of work directly with positive ripple effect of improved administration and above. How was that behavior that you’re going to notice. experience? How did you drill into those The parents win because this is a relationships?

Working Parents NEED a Solution for Their Children Who Are program they can put their children in that’s very accessible and isn’t very Attending School Virtually KP: Let’s pretend you were just starting MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 41

Cover Story That intensifies that relationship. And, of course, we’ve had many of our principals attend our events because we’ve built that relationship with them, because we do care about them. And we care about the students.

MAWN: Let’s talk about traffic a bit. You guys have been doing a lot of work on social media, generating content and moving people through your funnels. What should I be thinking about if I’m a school operator and want to accelerate progress? Maybe my state’s opening bit by bit—where should I be focused, and what seems to be working well?

KP: Put it out there. People have to know what you’re offering. Let them know you’re going to do an after school pick-up program.

And then, at the same time, do a traditional program for families and adults. You have to present that separately, and you have to be consistent and persistent with it via social media.

The Virtual Learning Camps Have Been a God Send Sure, you could go for Busy Parents in the Community out there and hand some brochures to somebody, but you also certainly better be finding social ways to get your message out there in today’s world. You have to present these programs separately so that the other parts won’t repel the market that’ll be attracted to it. You also have to make sure this is believable.

The biggest problem right now is why aren’t parents comfortable sending their kids back? Why aren’t they comfortable with them doing these types of activities? There’s a trust gap. They don’t believe it may be safe. There’s only one way to solve that: the only way for them to feel comfortable is with credible content; credible stories they can consume that they believe.

MAWN: You’re dealing with relatively large staff, and in multilocations, you’ve got an awful lot of people. If you were talking to school operators who may have a few staff members, and they’re all sort of in the same mindset, what do you think has been important for those guys to keep their head straight?

KP: Training, training, training. When this whole thing started, organizationally, we had a Zoom meeting every day. It was about technique and what our business focus was, but it was more about their belief systems, and encouraging and motivating them, answering questions that needed answering. We were continuing to lead our staff during that major part of the crisis; we still do it twice a week.

42 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

Students Benefit from the Focused and Disciplined Culture of the Martial Arts School

We do another training for up-and-coming CEOs. We do three Zoom meetings a week with staff and potential staff at each location. We have individual staff meetings, maybe 30 minutes, at least two times a week. Like I said before, the students need our hope. They need our leadership more than ever right now. That also goes for our staff. If you feel motivated, they’ll feel motivated. I think this is something I learned a long time ago from Grandmaster Y.K. Kim. We were in a staff meeting.

He goes, “Who’s more important, your student or your staff?”

Some people answered students, some answered staff, but it was clear. Your staff is the most important, because your staff, of course, is going to influence the students. Setting goals right now is the perfect time for everybody. You can’t speculate. What’s going to happen in the next six or four months? You can certainly have a decent idea, what’s going to happen a year or nine months from now when hopefully this thing is all over. When it is, if you’re ready, you can take advantage of it.

MAWN: Thank you for your time and your insights.

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COVID-19

SBA Announces Simpler PPP Forgiveness for Loans $50,000 or Less The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced on April 9 that the PPP loan program had depleted its allotted funds, shut down its application process, and ceased enrolling new lenders.

In early October, the SBA issued a press release stating that they’ve implemented a simpler PPP loan forgiveness program for loans of $50,000 or less.

Chris Hurn, CEO of Fountainhead—a national, non-bank, direct commercial lender that has worked with the martial arts school industry for years, and specializes in helping owners of small to midsize businesses finance their growth and create wealth—says that this move “allows for the smallest businesses of the nation to focus on operations rather than paperwork to get their loans forgiven.

There is likely to be additional legislation to further simplify the forgiveness process for those who borrowed more than the said amount, as well as continuing to ease the burden of PPP lenders.”

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This also means that the SBA will forgive almost 70% of all of the loans that it gave out. There’s also a new caveat that businesses with no employees, or businesses where the owner is the only employee, can now have most or their entire loan forgiven. The new plan also relaxes the requirements on lenders to review documentation from small businesses proving how the money was spent. Business owners who received loans of $50,000 or less simply have to fill out a onepage document and have their lender process it.

The press release from the US Treasury states, “This action streamlines the PPP forgiveness process to provide financial and administrative relief to America’s smallest businesses while also ensuring sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”

Photograph by Ivan Martynov

COVID-19

In a White House press conference, Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said, “We are committed to making the PPP forgiveness process as simple as possible while also protecting against fraud and misuse of funds. We continue to favor additional legislation to further simplify the forgiveness process.”

Administrator Jovita Carranza added, “Nothing will stop the Trump Administration from supporting great American businesses and our great American workers. The Paycheck Protection Program has been an overwhelming success and served as a historic lifeline to America’s hurting small businesses and tens of millions of workers.

The new form introduced today demonstrates our relentless commitment to using every tool in our tool belt to help small businesses and the banks that have participated in this program. We are continuing to ensure that small businesses are supported as they recover.”

In essence, the SBA and the Treasury have “eased the burden on PPP lenders, allowing lenders to process forgiveness applications more swiftly.”

The SBA began approving PPP forgiveness applications and remitting forgiveness payments to lenders for borrowers on October 2, 2020, and will continue processing all PPP forgiveness applications “in an expeditious manner.”

Part of the reason for the simpler plan is due to mass confusion about the deadline for forgiveness applications. On October 13, the SBA confirmed that PPP loan forgiveness applications are not due on Oct. 31, despite the forgiveness application forms (3508, 3508EZ, and 3508S) showing an expiration date of “10/31/2020” in the upperPhotograph by Ivan AndreyPopov

right corner. The SBA stated that “borrowers may submit a loan forgiveness application any time before the maturity date of the loan, which is either two or five years from the loan’s origination, depending on the borrower’s agreement.” Be aware, though, that borrowers’ loan payments are deferred only until 10 months after the last day of each borrower’s loan forgiveness covered period. For example, a borrower with a covered period that ends October 30, 2020 has until August 30, 2021 to apply for forgiveness before repayment begins.

According to The Journal of Accountancy, the SBA placed the expiration date on the PPP loan forgiveness application forms to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act. The date represents the temporary expiration date for approved use of the forms. Once a new expiration date is approved, it will be posted on the forms.

The SBA also points out that they’re still pushing for continued support from Congress in the next stimulus bill, as well as the ability to extend the new guidance to loan $150,000 or less.

To download the simpler forgiveness application, visit https://rb.gy/vd5utr Fountainhead has been processing SBA loans for martial arts schools all over the country. For more information about the PPP loan program and how Fountainhead can assist your school, visit fountainheadcc.com/ppp.

Chris Hurn Founder/CEO

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COVID-19

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COVID-19

AMS’ Unique Approach Helps Hundreds of MA Schools Stay in Business During the Pandemic Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, many martial arts school owners aren’t just surviving— they’re thriving. This is due to, in part, their ingenuity and willingness to adapt and overcome in an unprecedented crisis, and also to AMS’ systems for handling student agreements, student relationships communication, and tuition management processes.

In just the past few months, AMS Billing has helped literally hundreds of martial arts schools avoid bankruptcy. Not just that, but many are also bringing in more income to martial arts schools than schools not using AMS’ systems and strategies.

How? AMS Billing’s skillfully trained and highly experienced Account Specialists have been working with thousands of students from all over North America, successfully managing delicate, important conversations about how their school is dealing with the pandemic, and how students can benefit now more than ever from their training.

Whether your school offers credit for time missed during the shutdown or your virtual classes, students often have questions about their membership options. If those questions are handled professionally, you can foster even deeper student relationships. And that’s what AMS Billing has been doing for HUNDREDS of schools. AMS has helped school owners retain thousands of students who may be unaware of their options and would have canceled their agreements, placed them on hold, or chosen to drop out altogether.

Between conducting socially distanced classes and complying with CDC guidelines, school owners simply don’t have the time to chase down payments, nor do they want to discuss payments with students that may be struggling financially. AMS handles all of your tuition billing headaches so that you can invest 100 percent of your time in reengaging with your students. It just makes sense to keep these tuition billing headaches, negotiating with students, and the logistics of managing these financial accounts separate from instruction. School owners should focus their attention on helping students improve their lives, not on being bill collectors. Students with financial challenges should speak to a financial counselor, not Photograph by Maridav

their trusted and deeply respected Master Instructor.

Some schools assign a member of the school staff to take on the role of bill collection to insulate the school owner; however, this situation can create an adversarial relationship between the student and the school. It’s much better to have a third-party middleman that’s trained to maintain a positive relationship between the student and the school, and to be the “bad guy” for you when—and ONLY when— necessary. This gives the school owner not only a powerful buffer to maintain great relationships with students, but also gives you control over how you want difficult situations handled.

AMS can help your martial arts school achieve your professional goals with less effort. We’ve helped thousands of schools over 40 years with marketing, management, and instruction tips that empowered them to realize their personal and professional dreams.

Think about it: if you took the time you spend dealing with problematic memberships and turned that into time reengaging with your students, how much more income would you make? Now throw in programs and promotions that are proven effective to add ten or more new students and thousands of dollars in income every month, and you have a service that doesn’t COST you money, it MAKES you money—especially in challenging circumstances, like the one we’re all living through right now.

AMS Billing can be your advocate and trusted student relationship specialists during these difficult times.

Invest just five minutes in a phone call at (1-800) 275-1600 to find out more or visit OurAMS.com!

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ATLAS Martial Supports the Industry Thr Cover Story

Whether it’s by helping you promote your martial arts school’s virtual classes, giving you the rich communication tools you need to keep your students engaged in your school, or keeping you plugged into the latest strategies for growing your school under today’s challenging circumstances, ATLAS Martial Arts Software is there for martial arts school owners.

AMS prides itself on its deep roots in the martial arts with its more than 40 years in the industry. Whether it’s supporting its clients and community in boom times or tough times. So, as the COVID-19 crisis began to threaten the martial arts industry, ATLAS sprang into action to support it’s clients and it’s industry!

The ATLAS Martial Arts Software team has been working around the clock to create a huge toolbox of totally free resources to help martial arts school owners pivot, promote their online programs and profit in these difficult times, no strings attached.

These resources include marketing campaigns to help you promote your virtual classes, social media-formatted videos, post graphics, ad graphics, promotions for your local elementary school Facebook groups, online fitness programs, letters and emails for current students, former students, prospects, and much, much more!

In addition to these free tools and services, ATLAS is also still providing resources for schools that aren’t equipped with the infrastructure to deal with the current economic downturn.

To view ATLAS’ completely FREE tools, please visit

AtlasMartialArtsSoftware.com/fight-COVID-19

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Arts Software rough the COVID-19 Crisis Cover Story

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MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 49

School Profile

My Keys For Successful Martial Arts School Longevity Sensei Bob Nuttall has seen and learned much related to running a successful martial arts school over the 50 years he has been in business. During this time he has been a champion fighter, tournament director, bodyguard, and owns a thriving martial arts school with 250 students. He shares some of the keys to his success that have kept his school growing for so long.

MAWN: What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced in growing your school?

BN: The challenges have been a stand for what’s best for martial arts. Some people perceive that if it’s not the old-style kicking and punching, that we’re not going to influence people, and to me it’s totally the opposite. You’re not going to have that many fighters walk out as professional martial artists, but you’re going to have everyone walk out of martial arts taking the values and the inner core teachings that we do and use them for the rest of their lives.

MAWN: What has been your biggest breakthroughs over the years that has helped your school grow?

BN: It would probably be not having the 1960s Karate studio kicking and punching, and teaching more life skills.

MAWN: I guess you’ve seen that make the art a little bit more accessible to a broader market?

BN: It certainly has. I mean if you look at boxing, it’s a spectator sport, but there aren’t a lot of people that want to get involved with boxing because of the brutality of it, and the martial arts used to have that same type of mentality. How many people want to put their six-year-old child into getting hit and hurt now? We can teach them good techniques, but at the same time have a very safe environment for them.

MAWN: What has been a key to your success that may not have been the case in the beginning?

BN: Now we have a lot of tasks automated, so we don’t have many things that we need to go back and do day to day. This kind of organization and automation has allowed for us to focus more on people rather than office tasks MAWN: Could you explain what has triggered the automation of your school?

BN: Atlas Martial Arts Software has helped us in some many ways. You don’t really realize how limited you are until you get ATLAS. It just opens the door to so many realms that you never even thought of. It’s very intimidating at first because there is so much information there that you just have to slice it up and take it piece by piece. It continues to help you better communicate with people and be part of their lives. The automation is just tremendous.

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MAWN: Is there another key to your success that maybe you could not do without these days?

BN: Having support for the business side of things is really important because there is so much to keep up with. Even though I’ve been in business since ‘72, I get professional advice to stay on track because as you start implementing Nutall credits automation as the key to his school’s success. more and more things it can be a challenge.

MAWN: What is an example of the support you have received that has helped?

BN: I do have a website that AMS takes care of, and it’s helped so much, because when people go to that website and want information, it contacts me immediately so we’re able to contact that person back.

It’s so professionally put together and enables me to get back to a person as quickly as possible. Without a doubt, it’s a huge thing.

MAWN: What have been your most successful marketing systems, promotions, or strategies over the last few years?

BN: Things like ‘Bring a Buddy, Break a Board,’ ‘Bring a Buddy, Get a Free Uniform,’ but it’s mostly from the years that we’ve worked within the community. It’s become referrals and word-of-mouth as our biggest thing.

MAWN: Nothing like having that good reputation. What are your goals in the next few years?

BN: To expose martial arts to as many people as possible.

That means making speeches out where people are getting together, at fairs and things like that; just getting out and showing people what the martial arts are really about, because there are still people that don’t understand the martial arts, and the more I can educate people, the more people I believe will be involved with martial arts. It’s not a matter of money; it’s a matter of helping people.

School Profile

The Steps I’m Taking to Achieve My Martial Arts School Goals Grandmaster Jin Kwon has been in the martial arts industry running his schools for 40 years. He owns 3 thriving schools and teaches over 450 loyal students. His leadership is recognized in the industry as he is the USTGS Secretary General. He shares how he has accomplished his school success.

MAWN: What have been the keys to your success?

JK: I love martial arts, I love my students, I love my family. They are the resource of my success journey. I can’t say that I am successful now; I know I have a long way to go. I am dedicated to what I’m doing. I want to improve to the next level. I keep fighting myself to grow and improve to be more successful. I’ve never been satisfied with my achievements in my life; I’m always hungry to grow. I don’t know when I will be satisfied. I need more, I will have more, and I want more!

MAWN: What are the biggest successes and breakthroughs you’ve had in growing your school?

JK: In my case we are very slow during summer and winter, but last summer I had my best enrollment numbers. In one month I had over 40 appointments and over 30 enrollments; it was fun to sign up left and right, sometimes six contracts a day. I never tire of teaching class, my students are growing, and my dojang has lots of energy now.

MAWN: What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your school?

JK: In my case it’s staff. I need to learn how to keep staff, knowing what they need, what they want. I need to somehow learn more and realize more, because I’ve never been on the other side or point of view in that situation. I need to learn more how to make staff successful.

MAWN: What has been the driving force behind your 40 years of success?

JK: I’ve been using AMS for over 20 years now; they’ve helped my dojang business operations. AMS gives lots of ideas and support, especially any time we have questions. The service team helps so kindly. I don’t know what to do without AMS. MAWN: What specifically has made your school operations become easier?

JK: The ATLAS program has helped me overall with operation, enrollment, info calls, appointments, tuition, and attendance. The 52 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

text messages to all the students and parents are especially helpful. It is so easy to see my most important statistics and where I stand with my dojang operations on the Dashboard.

MAWN: How difficult has it been to run your after school program?

JK: My son is the after school director. He looks at the website, gets ideas for lesson plans, sets the schedule, and gets materials for class. It’s easy for him to conduct all the staff and children, and it’s less stress for him because he has guidance and an advisor from AMS. It helps us sign up new students and maintain current members.

MAWN: What can you tell us about the management of your school website?

JK: My school website is managed and designed by AMS, so I don’t have to worry about managing it, having it get hacked, and all those other problems. I used to manage and make my websites from scratch, so it was hard for us to maintain and secure it from hacking. Now I have peace of mind: the website has never been down, and it’s always been good since AMS started managing my website.

MAWN: What have been your most successful marketing systems, promotions, or strategies over the last year?

JK: As you know, many prospects lead to new appointments; appointments lead to evaluation, evaluation leads to enrollments.

Since I started using advertisements for Facebook, I’ve gotten lots of students since 2018. It’s been a rush to my door, and now I have some classes overflowing with students—I’m almost thinking about having a waiting list.

MAWN: What are your developmental goals for the next 5 years?

JK: I want to develop a leadership program so my students can learn leadership and help their lives and our school. My goal is to have 1,000 active students and pay off half of the mortgage, set better teaching curriculums, and remain a fundamental dojang operation.

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The Warrior Way

Managing the Krav Maga Curriculum, Part 2

GRANDMASTER BILL CLARK is a 9th degree black belt and a former PKA Fighter of the Year. He is widely considered one of the top experts in martial arts business with over 30 years of leadership and innovation, having been inducted into almost every Hall of Fame in the industry. He is one of the largest multischool owners in the world.

➽I don’t want anyone to think I’m the only one that organized the ATA curriculum, because the ATA is a founding group of people, from Grandmaster H.U. Lee to Master Allemier, to Master Reid, that were constantly organizing the curriculum to where it could be delivered like you take medicine: you don’t pour a gallon of medicine down your throat, you take it teaspoon by teaspoon and spread out over a long period of time.

In the ATA, we have a curriculum from white belt all the way to ninth degree black belt, and that gives us very high retention in our black belts because, as Grandmaster Lee said, “There’s always more to learn.”

If you’re not learning, you’re not an instructor, because instructors are learning all the time.

That’s why I like Krav. It’s kind of like, “Here’s all the stuff you need in six weeks to go in the street and a war.”

But my school’s got to be open for more than six weeks— it needs to at least be open five to ten years—so I need to teach it in an efficient way without watering down any of the technique, while making it so that everybody can do it. Instructors don’t have to be a fifth degree black belt, and it’s organized in such a way that if you come to my weekend seminar, you can teach it Monday when you get back to your school.

I had a group of folks come to Santa Clarita, California on May 3rd, 4th, and 5th of 2019.

Most people who come

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to my seminar already have a curriculum because they’re Krav instructors. There are many great Krav organizations, so it’s mainly people from them that want to learn how to teach better or have an organized way to test, or an organized way to do Krav as a business, not just because they love Krav Maga. Krav already stripped it down to the essentials of self-defense—I love that.

So many guys have created curricula around it; none of it with the business of martial arts in mind like I did, because mine is made so that a guy with some basic skills in martial arts can learn in three days to be fairly efficient sounding and deliver the product. The layout is just so unique. I hate to give it away here, but if you come to a seminar you’ll know everything.

There are three certifications. Somebody once made a smart-ass remark on Facebook: “I don’t know how anybody can learn to be an instructor in three days.”

I don’t know either, but they used to do it in seven, and it wasn’t organized at all; it’s just very well laid-out. The “Evolution” part gives you something in your school that no other Krav school has, because theirs is like boom, boom, boom, run away. I can go on YouTube and Facebook right now, and see very few one-on-one fights. People are attacking in groups and gangs, acting like, I’m focused on you, and a guy from over here hits me, and it’s all over before I know what’s going on. The Evolution of Krav addresses that every time there is any altercation.

And that’s what’s so unique about it that I’m amazed myself.

Illustration by OSTILL

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Next Level Strategy

Change Your Mind, Change Your Bottom Line

SHIHAN ALLIE ALBERIGO is a 7th degree black belt, the founder of the L.I. Ninjutsu Centers, one of the largest Ninjutsu schools on the planet, the author of 4 books, and an entrepreneur with one of the first online coaching companies (TakingItToTheNextLevel. com).

➽Immediately after a test I once did, I reached out through text message, because it seems like emails will get to them eventually but they’re going to open up a text message within seconds. I sent a real, genuine text about how happy I was to have the students involved, and all of them really seemed very happy to hear from me.

I think school owners sometimes feel like they’re being invasive. I have a few people I coach that say, “I’ve sent out three or four emails and one of the people said to me, ‘I get so many emails from you!’”

I said, “Listen, don’t let that person change how you think about everyone else. They’re just one person that’s annoyed by your emails, so tell them to opt out. But the 50, 60, 80, or 100 other people love hearing from you.”

They don’t have to listen; they can always hit delete or read the message and not respond. It’s not like you’re bombarding them in the middle of the night at 2 a.m., waking them up and annoying the crap out of them. If people feel you’re genuine and it’s for their benefit, they’re willing to listen. But when you’re doing social media posts, it shouldn’t end with, “$14.99 special, here’s my number.”

It should just be a post about what you do, who you are,

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and what makes you special. If they’re interested, they’re going to reach out to you; they’re going to click on your website and find you. You don’t have to end every message by making it sound like a sale, because if it does, it becomes disingenuous and people don’t believe the message is real. You gave them the message just to sell them a bright, shiny object. People can see through that. They know it. You have to be genuine about the messaging and show true care, not so that you can eventually just upsell them.

It’ll happen, but that’s not why you’re doing it.

Incidentally, I’ve shifted my sales process, too, over the past year and things are booming. Around my area, in Florida, we’re very condensed with martial arts schools. A guy opened up a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school 800 feet from my school. I’d been there for 28 years, and all of the sudden he pops up.

That’s how our competition is, but the one thing I love is that I don’t sell people.

I say, “Hey, if you like it, join! If not, do our back-toschool special: it’s four weeks with a uniform for $69.99.”

Then, while they’re doing that, I treat them just like I would if they were paying $179 a month. Then, when it’s time for it to end, it’s not like, “Well, I’m selling it now!

Last call!” Instead, I say, “Hey, listen, it’s up to you. I’d love to see your kid continue because he’s been doing so amazing,” but I honestly don’t even care if they join—I mean, I do, but I’m not saying, “Oh, my God, I need this sale.” I just want them to train.

I have really connected with that family and I see that kid and what I could do with them. People tell me, “Sign me up!” or, “You didn’t sign me up! I’m expired! I need to be signed up!” They’re begging for it!

I think that’s what happens when we have real, true concern for who the student is and what they’re doing.

People love it, and I love it, because I feel much more connected to the family at that point.

Illustration by Vladimir Sukhachev

Growth Hacks

Get An Edge Over the Competition SEAN LEE is the Executive Director of Sales and Marketing for hundreds of martial arts schools and specializes in online and social media marketing using his extensive professional experience in sports and martial arts marketing, contract negotiation, and investment.

➽Everyone in a competition looks for an edge

to gain the victory. Make no mistake about it, running a martial arts school is a competitive business so you must compete well to succeed. You must gain the advantage over other schools in your town as well as other exerciserelated industry providers—but are you up to the challenge?

One of the most important keys to your success is having effective marketing strategies. Of course, you probably don’t have a background in marketing, so gaining any edge in this area of the competition may seem like a lost cause to you.

Even though you might be limited in marketing, you can easily double your income with AMS’ profitable strategies.

Why? AMS has been providing effective marketing strategies to martial arts school owners for nearly four decades. Let our experience help you avoid the time it takes to reinvent the wheel, because we have proven strategies that work with little expense or effort.

Gain the edge to increase enrollment every month with AMS support materials. These marketing strategies have helped Kung Fu, Karate, Taekwondo, Hapkido, and many other styles of school owners go from rags to

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riches. Whether you run a traditional school, after school program, or a mixed martial arts location, you’ll have a marketing edge when you incorporate our income-generating marketing strategies.

The support materials from AMS are second to none.

You get eye-catching posters, flyers, ads, and social media posts each month, proven to attract new prospects. Use our online marketing campaigns like social media events, attractive emails, and a professional website to promote your school globally. All you have to do is just input your school’s information in the new professional ads each month, and put them in high-visibility locations for success.

With AMS, you gain a team of full-time marketing professionals developing strategies for success with you in mind. Marketing strategies are planned out months in advance, taking into account seasons, holidays, students, and current marketing and economic trends so that you and your staff can be prepared.

Remember, your marketing strategies are key to your success, so you must have an edge on the competition to go to the next level.

Call (1-800) 275-1600 or go to MABizAcademy.com to find out more about getting the edge in marketing strategies that will profit your school!

Photograph by Ljupco

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Ninja Business Tactics

First Impressions

AN-SHU STEPHEN HAYES has authored 20 books, served as the personal security attaché for the Dali Lama, is responsible for over 30 school locations worldwide, and was named “A legend; one of the 10 most influential living martial artists in the world”

by Black Belt Magazine

➽Decor is a crucial element to your lobby. If you’re aiming at upper-income people who go to a country club, the dentist office they go to is beautiful, where they work may be nice—and then they come to your martial arts school and it’s just an empty room with a couple of mats, white walls, and a couple of slogans painted on the walls, they might think, “Whoa! This is not what I’m used to!” It can set up a disconnect with the person.

At my school, our training hall is very colorful; we have it painted in maroon and a deep gold, with green walls in certain areas, and lots of wood. And by all means, get rid of the folding chairs! Oh, you had folding chairs in your school when you were learning? Yeah, but you learned in a crummy little basement from a hobbyist! Get rid of the folding chairs.

It doesn’t cost that much more money to buy nice, padded chairs. Get rid of the droopy American and Korean flags. If you have to have a flag, put it on a pole in the corner. That flag business started back in the ’60s when the Japanese started their schools, and the ’70s when the Koreans came in. They had an exotic Asian thing here in good ole America, so they said, “No, I’m American! I put a big American flag up to counterbalance that!”

Most of the people reading this aren’t Asian and they’re already American, so you don’t need that. Put up other inspiring things . . . but that’s just my opinion.

Many of us are familiar with our martial art, and if we have an Asian background, we’re familiar with that Asian background and the language.

When a new person comes in, they know nothing, so they can be intimidated by all of that. We wear different clothes, students are bowing before they go onto the mat,

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using strange words—they don’t know what that means, but everybody else seems to know. People can shrink back from that in an Asian-oriented martial art. I think there are many Americans much younger than me running schools as an American operation: they use English, they might have a suit that they wear, they might have certain practices, but I think they need two things. Number one, have real people make real greetings to individuals when they come in to be more accessible. In our schools, we borrowed from some of the more liberal fundamentalist churches in our area: they recruit people from the church to be greeters. They do it for three months and even wear a little pin; a real person looking around and just greeting everybody that comes in. So, that’s one way to start: a warm, cheerful person greeting you.

There are going to be two people who come in: somebody who’s coming in with somebody and to whom we can say, “Are you with somebody here?”

They’ll say, “Yeah, I brought Becky in, she’s my granddaughter.”

The greeter will start a conversation like that, or it’ll be a totally new person who says, “No, I just came in for some information.”

The greeter says, “Oh, wonderful!”

You’ve found out right away who they are, and you’ve gotten over that awkward feeling.

The second thing is that people are doing martial arts for all kinds of reasons these days.

Obviously there’s a fitness crowd who thinks, “Hey, I’m bored at the gym, and I just want to lose some weight.”

We don’t really deal with that a lot in our school. We’ve tried fitness programs with very personable instructors, and our people are interested in something a little deeper. If you want to go lose weight, go to the gym. And even self-defense, as obvious as that is, with all the laws these days regarding self-defense and getting into fights, just carry a little shocker thing and you’ve got self-defense handled.

So, we ask them, “Why are you really here?”

Photograph by Ljupco

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Pillars of Success

Create Physical Success, Part 1

GRANDMASTER Y. K. KIM is the most successful martial arts business leader in the US, having written over 30 books on martial arts, business, leadership, and success. He has won numerous public service awards and is the founder of the leading martial arts marketing and management company in the US.

➽What is the most important thing in your life: Money, Fame, Power, Love, Freedom, Health, or Family?

When you lose your money, fame, power, love, or freedom, it is agonizing, painful, miserable, but it is not the end of your life. You can build your money, fame, power, love, or freedom again. When you lose your health, you die. It is the end of your life because you cannot replace your body like you can replace money, fame, power, love, or freedom. Therefore, the most important thing in your life is your health, which is part of physical fitness.

Many people feel that family is the most important thing in their lives. If you truly love, respect, and care about your family, your health will be the most important thing in your life. If you are weak or get sick all the time, you will hurt your family instead of supporting them. That’s why health is the top priority in your life. Physical fitness (health) is the most important thing in your life because no matter how much wealth, fame, love, or power you have, you cannot enjoy it without being physically fit. Let me share my shameful and painful experience, and how I rebuilt my physical fitness. I hope it helps you in building a healthier lifestyle.

“Why am I going to the emergency room again?” I asked myself as the ambulance sped towards the hospital.

I lay on a gurney as the paramedics watched over me, making sure I wasn’t going to shift and bang on the insides of the ambulance. I had done this six times before for the same reason: every muscle in my body screamed in agony.

Stress coiled around my body, choking the life out of it.

“But why should I be worried?” I thought to myself.

“This is nothing new, and this can be fixed again. The doctor will x-ray me, tell me there’s nothing wrong inside my body but suggest I need a few days of rest; he’ll give me some painkillers, and he’ll send me home, just like that.

I’ll be in the hospital three to five hours tops. Nothing to worry about here.”

Once we got to the hospital, I was rushed to the x-ray room. I could hear the squeak of the wheels on the hospital floor and smell the disinfectant rising from the floor tiles.

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The sounds and the smells made me very uncomfortable; I didn’t like being there. When we finally got to the x-ray room, the orderlies tried lifting my body off the gurney, but it was hopeless. With each tiny movement I howled, frightening everyone around me. I was in sheer agony when just an inch of my body was moved because my neck, upper body, and lower back were stiffer than a rock.

More nurses and orderlies had to help lift my body off the gurney and onto the x-ray table because I couldn’t stop screaming. Finally, I got my x-rays done and was taken to a quiet room afterwards by one of the nurses.

The doctor came in shortly after and informed me that even though the x-rays showed nothing was wrong, my condition was still very serious. He said that he could offer muscle relaxants but at the same time told me the best way to recover from this was just to relax. The doctor also said that if I didn’t recover properly, my condition eventually would become irreversibly crippling. He gave me the prescription and I was released again. When I got home, I took the muscle relaxants prescribed to me and was ready to get back to work. I tried moving. Nothing except excruciating pain coursed through my body.

“Why isn’t this working?” I angrily asked myself. “This worked the last six times. Why isn’t it working now?”

I was getting so frustrated. I had so much to do and couldn’t do it because my body chained me to this bed. to be continued next issue Photograph by SLB

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The Way of the Samurai

The Three Rs of Combative Weaponry, Part 3 ➽Retail, Retention, and Renewal

SHIHAN DANNA ABBOTT Is a 7th degree black belt in Kenjutsu, starting his 14-year education in Tokyo.

He has published five books and designed a US Patent. Abbott has also conducted seminars in over 30 countries and obtained his black belt at the Hombu dojo in Yokohama.

He currently offers online classes on LearntheSword. com, his unique swordsmanship academy.

Demonstrations in your school No marketing campaign ever works without the staff’s and students’ complete understanding of the product or program.

To effectively have your students and potential students participate in the ultimate game of physical chess, they must see, feel, and touch the system and products before they can correctly grasp the dragon by the tail.

Pursue a strong demonstration presence during the first three months of your marketing campaign, and your students will naturally want to play more. Two, four, or six combatants and more can easily participate in demonstrations. When in doubt, go to your padded weapon information center and ask questions. Take our advice and use your own judgment to determine what’s best for you and your style.

And remember: keep it simple.

Advertisement in your school Attract new students with a padded weapons sparring ad campaign. Place ads in your local newspaper, distribute neighborhood flyers or door hangers, and give out guest passes.

Advertise special classes and camps all year ’round. Winter,

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spring, or summer camp planning for padded weaponry also offers an exciting way to conduct classes for fun and profit. You’ll notice that many who’ve never wanted to practice martial arts will be in your school practicing toe-to-toe with others, promoting student enrollment and purchases.

Training in your school A trained staff is one of the most important assets a school owner has. Our full-contact padded weaponry package is stuffed full of tools and programs designed to enhance the staff’s education and training comprehension. Through comprehensive intensive courses and the simplicity of weaponry and weaponry forms, martial training becomes safe and easy while students are having fun. Remember, if the students see a strong school and staff, they will want to duplicate the same in themselves.

These programs contain skill-building information on everything from the first five-stroke form to how to run a tournament.

Distribute written text and videotape to your student base and staff. Add these tools to every phase of your school’s curriculum. It’s simple to understand, simple to use, and an excellent avenue to polish your students’ rhythm, balance, speed and power. To get the most out of the materials, we suggest sharing them with your staff. They are your work force that can promote the three Rs of retail, retention, and renewal to today and tomorrow’s students.

Helpful hints to get started on time: 1) Don’t wait to plan, do it today.

2) Read and view all padded weaponry programs and information.

3) Go to your information center.

Photograph by Gerville

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Don’t Confuse Activity with Accomplishment, Part 1 ➽After talking to a bunch of highly performing school owners once, several things came to mind. First, I find many school owners are missing the little things they need to simplify their systems and organize or automate their lives. For example: GRANDMASTER STEPHEN OLIVER, is a 9th degree black belt and is the founder and CEO of Mile High Karate schools, and founder of the Martial Arts Wealth Mastery Program.

Billing You have to farm out and automate this 100 percent. Make sure you don’t over-complicate your life. Another small distinction that makes a difference is putting EVERYONE on the same billing date. I prefer the first or 25th of the month. Batch everything you can on one day or in as small a time frame as possible. Then, you can follow up on getting accounts changed or bad credit cards fixed so that it all comes in for the current month. Spreading things out just creates more complication and more opportunity for follow-up to fall through the cracks.

Paying your bills and accounting Honestly, you should only spend a couple of hours once a month on billing, accounting, payroll, and payables.

Again, if you set all of your billing on the first (or 25th), then pay everything electronically on the first (or fifth), you’ll maximize your focus on things that count and minimize wasting time. I’ve seen school owners run payroll weekly or every two weeks. I’ve seen school owners write checks each week for various things. Set whatever you can to auto bill or use a credit or debit card and reconcile once per month. Really, you should: 1. Have your monthly billing receipts be enough to pay all of your bills 2. Pay everything once a month 3. Bill everyone on the same day and pay the bills from those collections The basic management principles at work here are pretty simple: 1. You’ve got to “inspect what you expect; that’s the way you get respect.”

2. You should spend 99.9 percent of your time on ONLY

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three things: a. Getting new students b. Keeping them for life c. Renewals and upgrades Messing around with paying bills, filling out forms for three or four layers of government bureaucrats, and following up on student billing issues all have to be done.

None should take much time.

A final principle is that it’s always more efficient to spend time once a month, or once a quarter, or once a year on something than to mess around with it every day or every week. Some things are ongoing. Taking care of your students, marketing, and renewals are all ongoing (although you could certainly batch all of these and do the same thing at the same time of the month here also).

OK, I’ll add one more. You only have a certain amount of bandwidth—in other words, time and attention. If you get bogged down on stuff that doesn’t create revenue, then you’re taking your eye off the ball. The big, successful operators wake up each day with a blank legal pad and start with, “What else can I do to promote the school?” They start with creativity focused each morning on that—and ONLY THAT. Once classes are running, it’s, “What can I do to make sure everyone in this class is thrilled and committed?” That may mean renewal prep or it may be service recovery. At other times it’s just ensuring that there’s great rapport between your staff and the student (and their family).

Photograph by Chainarong Prasertthai

After School Excellence

Teaching the Rules: Build Respect and Retention

CHIEF MASTER MIKE BUGG is an 8th degree black belt and the owner of a $1.52 millionper-year location, with one of the largest after school and summer camp programs in the country.

➽There’s no doubt about it: kids need rules to follow. With rules and positive discipline, children have the chance to really shine. Sometimes we forget that parents send their kids to our program to learn rules and discipline.

Remember, parents love when their kids follow the rules. They love when other peoples’ kids follow the rules. Parents know that well-disciplined children make for a safe environment.

Here are some tips to help your A+ students follow the rules all the time.

1. Make the rules for the students simple, short, and have no more than seven.

2. Teach the kids that they’re expected to follow the rules. Teach your students that breaking the rules has consequences like the loss of privileges. Let them know what the consequences are for rules so that they know what to expect. Enforce the consequences or they will become meaningless.

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3. Let parents know about the rules and let them know you enforce the rules. Parents will respect and appreciate your fairness and honesty.

4. Display the rules on a wall where the kids can see them and be reminded of them.

5. Write the rules in a positive voice. This tells your students what they should do and emphasizes the expected behavior. For example, “No yelling” is better if it’s stated as, “Speak quietly.”

6. Praise and reward the kids who follow the rules. Your students will learn that following the rules gets them recognition. It will also inspire some of the students who may not always follow the rules to act more properly more often.

Remember, you’re setting the foundation to live a life of success by following the rules. Also, don’t forget that parents will be pleased with your orderly and safe environment. When parents know that their children are safe, they want them to remain there. Now that’s easy retention!

Photograph by dusanpetkovic

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We here at Martial Arts World News Magazine are on an unstoppable mission to help our industry grow, and one of the best ways to do that is by sharing “what’s working” and what’s not.

So, we want to feature schools, school owners, instructors, organizations, students, and industry contributors that might have a story our readers would find valuable!

No story is too small or too big for consideration so long as there is value to our readers.

• One of your students overcame great obstacles to achieve their black belt? Awesome!

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• Your martial arts association just set a new record? Great!

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Tactical Self-Defense

My Top Child Safety Tips

GRANDMASTER TOM PATIRE, is known as “America’s Leading Personal Safety Expert” and has appeared on Good Morning America, The CBS Morning Show, The Colbert Report, Montel, plus in mainstream publications such as Family Circle, Redbook, Fortune Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

He has written several books and has personal safety programs that can be incorporated into your martial arts school, available at TomPatire.com.

➽As responsible parents and guardians, we must

never take anything for granted, especially when it comes to the safety of our children. Here are my top child safety tips to help you or parents of your child students in your journey to keep your children safe.

1.) Teaching your child to be safe must be done when they can understand what being safe means.

It’s important to educate your child on safety in a caring, non-scary manner. What you say and how you say it could save their lives or prevent them from being harmed.

2.) Your child is ALWAYS safer in a group.

Encourage your child to use a buddy system (when old enough) and stick together with friends that act responsibly. There’s increased safety in numbers, so whether your child is heading to school, the park, the movies, or anywhere else, he or she should always go with friends.

Get to know his buddies to make sure they act safely and responsibly.

3.) Identify for your child who he or she can trust as “safe people,” like a police officer, security person, store personnel, a mom with children, or a pregnant woman. Tell her that if she gets lost or separated from you, she should go to a trustworthy adult. Tell your child to trust her own internal alarm and if she senses trouble or is nervous about a so-called friendly stranger, she should hurry to the nearest public or populated place, put herself in the spotlight, and look for help from a trustworthy adult.

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4.) Explain the difference between a “good touch” and a “bad touch.” Tell your child that no one should touch him in his private areas (parts covered by a bathing suit). If anyone does, he should shout, “Help! Stop it, don’t touch me there!”And be sure to tell you or another trusted adult about it—immediately!

5.) Dangerous situations develop because kids like to help out adults, since doing so makes them feel more like an adult. An abductor will often exploit that by asking for help finding a lost pet or object. Teach your child never to aid an adult without your permission.

And if someone has asked them for help, explain to your child that she should tell you about it immediately.

6.) Have a plan in place in case you and your child ever get separated. Realize that a child will fall prey to instinct and panic. Make sure you talk about all the different types of places you frequent with your child, such as malls, sporting events, carnivals, amusement parks, etc., as frequently as possible. Go over your plan just before entering so it’s fresh in their minds.

7.) A missing child is a frightening situation.

Fear can lead to the parent or guardian wasting valuable time taking the wrong action. Call the police immediately! In the event that child abduction takes place, swift action is critical and time is of the essence. Make sure you always have a current photo (within six months) and key identification handy, including DNA samples, dental bite impressions, and fingerprints.

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Kung-Fu Curriculum Development, Part 2

PROFESSOR WILLIE “THE BAM” JOHNSON is a 7th degree black belt and seven-time sport karate and Kung-Fu world champion. He has appeared in four movies, 16 plays, and 11 television shows. He is also the national spokesperson for the Stronger than Drugs Foundation and the Champions Against Drugs.

➽Business development concepts are a must. Many artists and their families suffered financially while growing up, so many artists feel this is selling out when, instead, the greatest blessing is to be selfsupported through your art, as it allows you to help grow it more and affect more people.

Being broke and poor doesn’t inspire people, especially teenagers, and as a matter of fact, people still criticize others who choose the martial arts as a career. It’s just that many of them haven’t been exposed to the financially successful people in this industry; and don’t get me wrong, true wealth is from the inside out—but if you don’t find a way to steer your blessing towards external success, then you have failed, because poverty only increases poverty. Learning the successful, pioneering approach of an industry billing company has allowed myself, as well as many others, to live comfortably and look past the emerging and unified well-thought-out ideas and concepts that have contributed to martial arts millionaires.

It all starts with the very basic system of business blueprints, the phone answering technique, turning a student’s first class into a second, and then to the six-month program to Black Belt Club and beyond. Not to forget systematizing dress codes and quarterly belt testings on the students’ side, and a curriculum that doesn’t change but is available through handout letters, websites, videos, and so on. The lifelong benefits of how martial arts will improve that individual student’s needs should be more important

78 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4

than account tradition and who’s better. These students’ needs should be discovered from the first time they call or walk into your school and maneuver throughout their time with you. When our selfless approach is inverted beyond our egos and accomplishments with proven business practices specifically designed for the martial arts industry, you’re on the path to success.

I am often reminded that there are no bad students, only bad teachers. So, if they fail, you fail. Just like you never stop enhancing your art, you never stop enhancing your business skills. You improve through books, tapes, and videos, and you network outside of your own industry as well.

Photograph by Tuned_In

The Millionaire Smarts Coach

Be in Charge of Your Destiny, Part 1

LEE MILTEER is an Intuitive Business Coach, award-winning professional speaker, and TV personality who has counseled and trained over a million people throughout her career. Lee is Stephen Oliver’s Martial Arts Wealth Mastery’s Millionaire Smarts Coach and is also a best-selling author of educational resources.

➽Remember when you were a kid and you used to dream about a time when you’d be in charge of your destiny, and nothing could stop you from being exactly what you wanted to be?

Now, as an adult, you have the authority you wished for as a child, but things aren’t going the way you’d planned. Does your life seem to be all work and no play? Do you feel uneasy about your future? Do you ever doubt yourself? Do you get stuck wanting to move ahead in life, but aren’t sure if now is the right time or exactly how to proceed? Have you been waiting for the right time to achieve your goals and are now realizing there’s never a perfect time?

From childhood, we’re taught to do what authority figures tell us to do. We’ve been programmed that other people are smarter, wiser, and have more experience. We’ve been warned about the disastrous results that might happen if the rules aren’t followed. The bottom line is that we’ve been taught to give our power away, and to not trust our own judgment or truly believe in ourselves. Perhaps you’ve forgotten your power to listen to the deepest part of yourself—your real needs, desires, gut instincts—and begun to make choices that are no longer satisfying. The good news is that your point of power is this minute in time. It’s the decisions you make and act on from this day forward that’ll determine your destiny. In order to take back your true power, engage in habit busting, and start believing

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in yourself and abilities again, one of the first things you must do is start being aware of how YOU are programming your future. How are you labeling yourself? Are you programming yourself to fail and allowing past habits and events to rule your future?

The way you label and think about yourself with self-talk will determine how you make good decisions about critical issues in business. We all have unproductive behaviors or habits that keep us from using our potential effectively. If your self-talk reinforces those unproductive behaviors or habits, you’re actually programming those unproductive behaviors to be more powerful and harder to get rid of in your life and self-image.

Think of it like this: giving yourself negative labels only makes unproductive behaviors stronger. For example, anything negative about yourself within your thoughts is like having someone else sit on your shoulder and whisper bad things in your ears about your ability to be successful. Some people label themselves with things like: I’m fat; I’m a smoker; I’m a nervous person; I have a bad temper; I’m always late; I’m not a risk taker; I’m not good at public speaking; I’m not good at marketing; I’m a bad speller; I’m lazy; I’m unorganized; I’m not good at hiring people.

I am not good at _________ (Now you fill in the blank with how you are programming yourself to fail).

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Budo Philosophy

A Gaseous World

SHIDOSHI ALFREDO TUCCI is the CEO and General Manager of the Budo International Publishing Company, a leading publisher in the martial arts with over 35 years in the industry.

He is also author of several books: The Immaterial Dimension, The Way of the Warrior, and The Spirit. He currently lives in Valencia, Spain.

➽For sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman, our time is characterized by liquefying institutions, our relationships, and the sense of what we are. Bauman says that we live in a “liquid world,” an allegory that’s echoed amongst the thinkers of this century. But if we give it a little thought, it’s somewhat inadequate, and if you ask me, I would dare say it has fallen short, even as a metaphor.

If, as everything seems to indicate (through heating, acceleration, volatility), we’re in a predominantly fire stage, liquid seems to be a totally inadequate simile to describe the present moment. Fire and water are opposites that do not complement each other— they’d actually cancel each other out. It would be much more precise to affirm that we’re in a gaseous world where everything is suspended, intangible, virtual, and fleeting.

The structural has lost value in the pursuit of the functional, and the fundamental has surrendered to the superfluous. Everything is impermanent, perishable, fleeting, and transitory. Everything has a programmed obsolescence; everything is “throwaway” and consumed like fire, quickly and ostensibly, vanishing immediately into volutes of smoke and ashes that, in the end, litter everything.

Fluidity, one of the most outstanding features of liquids, only exists when fire acts, decanting in pyroclastic flows and generating cascades of devastating events in a chain, like the subprime crisis and its consequences. Meanwhile, everything floats in the suspension of constant uncertainty, a state of affairs to which, incredible as it might seem, we all seem to be getting used to.

I was arguing the other day with a Master of martial arts about the diminished value of the given word.

Nowadays, everything’s adapted to conveniences, and it’s justified under premises of pure utility, as if the reason of the practical could justify any change of direction in our commitments.

“Look,” I said, “the most valuable things are the scarcest, but with constant demand. It has always been like that and it will always be like that. In times of financial uncertainties, gold rises precisely because of it. Today, the scarcest good, the gold of our times in this gaseous world, are the certainties, and their last refuge is the given word.”

I added, “And it takes more than simply transmitting an image of certainty…an image is a gaseous concept; it is

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necessary to being firm in what is essential. Nothing will replace the value of obtaining a success that is projected over time and possesses entity, durability, and solvency.”

For, nowadays, everything is like a typical Galician’s answer: “Maybe…maybe not” or “Maybe, who knows?”

In such a volatile environment, the sage of Syracuse gives us the solution: “Give me a firm place to stand, and I shall move the world.”

When someone says something, and that someone has credibility, it will never fall completely apart because there will always be someone willing to reach out. Life is full of twists and turns; we cannot take shelter in convenience to change what was agreed, much less do it without expecting that we must pay the bill—that is, lose our word. Our word, like our honor, depends only on us and nobody else. It’s the last refuge before uncertainty; it’s the firm rock, the mountain surrounded by the clouds of this gaseous world.

Certainly, you cannot swim against the current, but if the sage is able to see further, the advantages inherent to the disadvantages, and disadvantages within each advantage, he will understand that there must be a firm starting point to project the arrow.

The strength of character to honor the given word is even convenient, if we want to look at it that way. In a world full of uncertainties, every leader must anchor himself within his own depths in order to withstand the turbulence of the environment. And no, we’re not in a liquid world, but in the midst of a firestorm, consumed in the bonfire of banalities, with the cart before the oxen, simply looking to be lucky! Bad business…

Photograph by ClaudioVentrella

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SUN KANG is the President of Vision Martial Arts Supply, Los Angeles Branch, who helps school owners all over the US maximize their retail sales and drive more revenue into their schools.

➽ Breaking is used to strengthen students physically, mentally, and emotionally in many of the martial arts. Rebreakable boards can do all of this while also improving your retention, helping you gain new students, and expanding your business, all while saving you time and money, as well as the environment.

The Facts The fact that rebreakable boards are reusable in and of itself is what makes them good for the environment while being cost effective for the martial arts school owner.

Think about it, you take time out of your busy day to run to the lumber store just to restock your supply of real wooden boards. Fortunately, rebreakable boards can be used hundreds, even thousands, of times over before they need to be replaced. Real boards can cost $17.95 for 26 boards, but rebreakable boards cost only $19.99 for one.

You can see that you’ll save more money and trees in the long run if you invest in rebreakable boards. Decreasing the use of real boards means fewer trees are cut down to supply your school with boards. Like any good investment, they can be used in many different ways: • When you hold exhibitions and special events, your

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students have to have the proper technique before they actually perform, so you’d want them to practice on rebreakable boards • Tip testing, learning how to hold a board, and conditioning are other ways to utilize these boards. The students gain confidence knowing they have the skills to break a board and can practice numerous times • Being able to hold a board is an under appreciated skill. So, using rebreakable boards are perfect for teaching the proper technique to hold a board. They’ll know what to expect when the time comes to hold a real board, and have the opportunity to correct themselves by practicing • All of the accumulated practice will make your students excellent breakers and even better martial artists Covering all of these areas of the practical uses for rebreakable boards will empower you to practice for and hold successful exhibitions and special events. By investing in your school, you’re investing in the quality of your students.

If you would like to purchase Vision rebreakable boards, call (1-800) 424-5425. You can also view our catalog at MyKick.com.

Photograph by

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MIND MASTERY

The Keys to a Successful Mindset in Business, Part 2 have a thriving and successful program is threatened by a poverty mindset. This is where having a business coach, mentor, or mastermind group with other successful individuals is an asset. A statement I find is true is, “If you want to know how you’re doing in life, look at your five closest friends.”

Here are some keys to achieving and maintaining a successful business mindset.

GRANDMASTER JESSIE BOWEN

Think Like an Entrepreneur If you’re starting your own business, it won’t work to think like an employee—you need to think like your own boss! This means having the freedom and responsibilities that come with being the head of a business.

is president of Karate International of Durham, Inc., a member of the American Martial Arts Association Sport Karate League and Hall of Fame, and has been a member of the Duke University PE Staff for over 25 years. He is the author of Zen MindBody Mindfulness Meditation and Zen Mind-Body Mindfulness Meditation for Martial Arts, as well as several other books, programs, and audio CDs on meditation and success training.

➽Welcome to my third lesson on the Success-

ful Mindset. In this lesson, I’ll be talking about the keys to a successful mindset in business.

These principles apply to any business, whether it’s a martial arts school or a shoe store. In this article, I’m going to discuss focus, self-assessment, thinking like an entrepreneur, believing in your products or service, avoiding an “I’ll try” attitude, and the importance of having total commitment towards your business. Before you read the article, I recommend having a pen and paper handy so that you can write down any thoughts, ideas, or personal strategies.

When it comes to having success in business, your mindset has more to do with your success or failure than you realize. You may also have a negative mindset and not even be aware of it. In working with many business owners and managers, I’ve found that they’re influenced by their past experiences. For example, for a martial artist that goes on to open their own school, success will be influenced through money based on the prior belief of their teacher. If their mindset is that it’s wrong to charge for martial arts lessons, the likelihood the instructor will

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Believe in Your Product or Service Whether you’re selling something for a company or of your own creation, you need to really love and believe in the product to succeed. If you’re offering a service, you need to believe that you’re offering something unique and excellent. Keep the mindset that says your product or service is absolutely worth it.

No “I’ll Try” If someone asked you if you plan to succeed in the martial arts business, would you say, “I’ll try”? If so, you have a negative mindset! You need to think more along the lines of “I will” or “I can.” Thinking “I’ll try” is a noncommittal mindset that isn’t conducive to success.

Total Commitment Total commitment to your business is having a true passion for what you do, and having a fierce desire to better yourself each and every day you show up for work.

A great way to establish commitment and continuous improvement is to set daily goals for yourself.

Now it’s time to go to work. Use this lesson to commit to your success!

Illustration by Artur

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Master the Basics

Integrity: The Most Important Ingredient of Leadership ➽What you say and what you do must be one and the same.

It has been said, “integrity is the key ingredient of strong leadership.” Your level of integrity is what creates honest employees; after all, they will follow your example. If you show integrity, sticking to your word and setting a good example, your staff will do the same. Here are some examples where showing integrity by doing what you say will pay off:

MASTER TINA BANE

STATEMENT

ACTION

RESULT

I say to my staff, “Be on time to work.”

I arrive at work on time.

They will arrive on time.

I say to my staff, “Be positive.”

I am positive.

They will be positive.

I say to my staff, “Put the customer first.”

I put the customer first.

They will put the customer first.

I say to my staff, “Eat healthily.”

I eat healthily.

They will eat healthily.

I say to my staff, “Dress professionally and neatly for work.”

I dress professionally and neatly for work.

They will dress professionally and neatly for work.

I say to my staff, “Train martial arts daily.”

I train daily.

They will train daily.

is a 6th degree master instructor and owner of a Top Ten martial arts school with successful after school and summer camp programs.

Inversely, if you don’t do what you say you will, your results will be inconsistent at best.

Here are some examples: STATEMENT

ACTION

RESULT

I say to my staff, “Be on time to work.”

I consistently arrive to work late.

Some will be on time and others won’t.

I say to my staff, “Be positive.”

I show a negative attitude.

Some will be positive and others won’t.

And so on, just like the first list, but in the negative.

The bottom line is that your staff will follow your lead, and thus, your level of integrity. If they see you following the rules and meeting expectations, they will do the same. When your staff knows that you have a high level of integrity, it will make them more loyal. It’s easy to show that you have strong integrity, but it’s also absolutely vital. Your character determines the character of your organization. Live up to your word and set an example of achievement to have a stronger, more loyal staff.

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Instructional Excellence

Stay Ahead of Your Competition

GRANDMASTER TIM MCCARTHY is a 9th degree black belt and is a martial arts educator with a master’s degree in education. He has been instrumental in developing two industry-changing programs, plus has directed and been featured in hundreds of martial arts videos and webinars.

➽The future of martial arts is less violent and more practical for everyday living. Think about it . . . how many physical fights have you gotten into over the last five years?

How many verbal confrontations have you gotten into in the last month? Most people have more verbal confrontations in a month (a week? a day?) than physical confrontations in five years.

It’s just a benefit of living in a civilized society.

If we want to survive as an industry, we must adapt traditional martial arts principles to 21st century needs. For example, one of the hottest issues of the year has been health care. While politicians argue about who pays how much for what kind of care, martial arts instructors have the opportunity to help our students prevent problems by staying healthy. We can teach physical fitness not only from an exercise standpoint, but also through healthy eating, proper breathing, and stress management. If we emphasize these added values in our classes, we become less of a hobby and more of a necessity with tangible, even financial, benefits.

Traditionally, the stock and trade of martial arts instruction has been self-defense. Whether you teach kicks and punches, wristlocks, or takedowns and chokes, the end result is that your student learns to handle a physical confrontation. However, most of us teach our students that physical self-defense is a last resort; instead, we should first defuse the situation or just walk away. Now, why should our students continue training in the martial arts when we teach them not to use the skills we practice?

We are actually encouraging them to quit. Why not teach them skills they can use every day? We can expand our self-defense curriculum to teach physical self-defense from things like bad eating habits and laziness. Students

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will face these temptations every day, and practicing at your school gives them the discipline to resist temptation.

Why not add verbal self-defense to your curriculum for students to defend themselves from verbal assaults from classmates, coworkers, and even family? Why not practice moral self-defense to give them practice defending against self-attacks like self-doubt, fear, and anxiety? These skills require practice, which requires continued attendance.

I am not recommending that you throw out your traditional self-defense curriculum. It is fun to practice, and more importantly, it provides the framework to teach these other skills. I am recommending you distinguish yourself from your competition by expanding the principles behind your self-defense curriculum to incorporate the kinds of challenges your students face on a daily basis.

If your competitor’s school teaches violence and your school teaches how to stay healthy and successfully handle situations they face every day, which school do you think they will choose? Which school will they stay with?

Don’t wait for your competitors to make their move.

Beat them to the punch by acting instead of reacting. Keep your school on the cutting edge of martial arts instruction by teaching the skills your 21st century students need today, tomorrow, and in the future.

Photograph by ra2studio

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Tools & Tactics

How to Talk to Parents

Lee Peele is a martial arts business development consultant with a background in online and social media marketing.

➽Martial arts can protect you from a variety of physical attacks, but how do you deal with angry parents? Every child in your after school program has parents who are investing in their children’s futures by participating in your program.

When they don’t feel like things are going the way they should, they’ll complain. How you deal with angry parents can mean the difference between having an ally who’ll refer new students to your school and losing a student forever. Here are six effective steps for resolving conflict with parents: 1.) Meet in private. When a parent approaches you after class with a concern, go into your office to talk. This has two benefits: your students won’t witness your conversation, and you begin the conversation with a gesture that shows the parent that you’re willing to dedicate your undivided attention to their concerns.

2.) Get the right perspective. According to the classic book on negotiation, Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury, it’s extremely important that you separate the person from the problem. Don’t take the parent’s anger personally, and try to focus on the child’s needs.

Taking some time to get this perspective will help calm you down and give you the focus you need to resolve the problem professionally and efficiently.

3.) Listen and let them talk. Allow the parent to fully express their concerns before you speak. If you interject while they’re speaking, you may only add fuel to the fire.

Also, by letting the parent talk it out, they may calm themselves down. If the parent knows you’re listening, they’ll be more willing to listen to your response.

4.) Make your case. Keep your file of student progress and concerns handy. Always have evidence to back up your interactions with parents. Keeping detailed notes shows your attentiveness and covers you in the event that what the parent says today is different from the conversation you had the day before. If you have a business partner handling things when you’re away, notes keep your executive staff informed about behavioral or instructional concerns.

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5.) Be courteous. Whether you agree with the parent or not, always thank them for sharing their concerns. You don’t have to apologize for an error if you didn’t do anything wrong, but always apologize for the inconvenience or the stress the parent may be feeling: “I’m sorry you feel that way, Mrs. Wagner,” or “I’m sorry if that’s caused you any inconvenience.” Once you’ve apologized, you can begin calmly explaining your rationale for the actions or events in question.

6.) Extend an olive branch. Always end the meeting by offering to do something for the parent to solve the problem. You always want parents to feel like you go above and beyond standard procedure for them. You don’t have to compromise your school’s rules or principles, but by simply offering to look into the issue and making a point to get back to them personally, you show your willingness to go the extra mile for your students and school.

Of course, if the conversation is financial in nature, like an issue with billing, for example, that can feel awkward and uncomfortable while also potentially damaging your relationship with that parent. Luckily, AMS can handle all of your billing problems so that you only concern yourself with doing what you love most: instruction and maintaining those close relationships with your school family.

To find out what AMS Billing can do for you, please give my Billing Specialist colleagues a call at (1-800) 275-1600.

Photograph by fizkes

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Martial Arts Philosophy

American Samurai, Part 2 ➽This story begins generations earlier, when

SENSEI GARY LEE, the American Samurai, is a 9th Dan black belt, a USA Karate Federation gold medalist, winner of five Super Grand National Titles, a featured actor in the movie Sidekicks, and is the founder of the National Sport Karate Museum.

the Great Uzaimon Katana had discovered a piece of fallen heaven. This find was metal so powerful it emitted an eerie black glow. He captured its energy by forging this ethereal metal into a special blade. After each and every pounded fold was given for strength and power, Uzaimon thrust the red-hot length of this otherworldly metal into the cold water to quench and set it. Upon cooling, carbon crust magically appeared. He then collected these particles of crust and sprinkled these bits onto his daily rice, which he ate with great gusto.

He sincerely believed that in ingesting these bits he would become an extension of this magical blade, and as powerful.

Every day as he consumed his rice laced with the collected particles, he felt himself become stronger and more powerful, both mentally and physically.

To completely understand how he could use his newly acquired powers by using his forged blade, Uzaimon ventured out into the bamboo jungle and began cutting each and every stalk of bamboo. He returned in 30 days, totally morphed into a herculean samurai. His eyes had become like burning pieces of dark, black coal. This newly instilled power instantly gave him an advantage over a man. He lived to be 114 years old, still retaining his powerful legacy by way of written lore and many duels to the death. As tales became history, there was an ancient rumor that a male was born with those special boring, black eyes immediately after Uzaimon’s death. During that time, the Em-

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peror had become knowledgeable and probably frightened of the Katana clan, as he knew how powerful they had been and could be in the future. The Emperor, in his wisest and self-serving moments, had the entire Katana clan removed from Japan and sent to the outer reaches of the realm.

This mysterious young offspring of the great Uzaimon had sailed with the Katana clan to a remote, uninhabited island. Within a few months, a camp was set up, and eventually, a port established. As the years rolled by, the young boy became a man and pursued the constant study of the way of the sword. He was rumored to have the strength of ten and the mindset of twenty.

He was the leader until his death, when a new, muscular baby boy with those same coalblack eyes entered this island paradise. The generations to follow repeated this pattern, and have to this present day. When the last patriarch dies, the next one in line inherits both his physical and mental knowledge.

Tadashi Katana is the last living descendant of the great leader and samurai warrior Uzaimon Katana, whose ancestors first landed on this island hundreds of years earlier.

Tadashi spent his youth practicing the traditional ways of his ancestors and ancient warrior ways where the jungles and the beaches met. One side of the field was white sand, and the other side of the field was a dense green jungle in which he became the master of his surroundings, with or without a blade. Tadashi also inherited special DNA, which was passed down to only him. When Tadashi came of age, he lived and studied abroad, and learned to speak several languages, able to discuss any topic or discipline, and excelled in any sport or endeavor. Considered by all to be a man of the ages, he was comfortable dealing with people from all walks of life, which prepared him for his biggest challenge, and that was…to move to Texas.

Photograph by Zeferli

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MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 4 97

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