HOW INCOURAGE & MYSTUDIO CREATED A NEW BUSINESS MODEL BY MEGAN BAKER InCourage Martial Arts, the parent company of MyStudio, is a highly successful martial arts chain located in Northern Virginia. Back in 2017, InCourage’s two locations made $1.7 million in revenue while impacting the lives of close to 1,000 students. This revenue was generated via martial arts memberships, an afterschool program, award-winning summer camps, birthday parties, “parents night out” events and more. Managing and selling all those programs required several seasoned staff members who could handle multiple registration appointments, repetitive follow-ups and the constant daily stress of managing a long line of customers waiting at the front desk. On November 30, 2017 — the last day of its summer camp preregistration sale — the lobby of the Springfield InCourage studio was packed. The crowd was composed not just of students try-
ing to squeeze in and take class, but also of parents who had lined up out the door while waiting for the three front-desk team members to help with camp and membership registrations. While they made nearly $80,000 that day, the leadership team at InCourage knew that many opportunities had been missed. This realization raised numerous questions about the registration process as a whole and the challenges it presented. One question, however, stood out: What if these customers could register themselves? This one question sparked an idea that would become a game changer, an idea that would shake up the martial arts industry as a whole and completely shift the standard business model to one that said, Let’s sell martial arts from anywhere and everywhere!
TOUGH QUESTIONS WHY DOES THE PROCESS HAVE TO BE SO PAINFUL AND TIME CONSUMING? HOW COULD THE STAFF REGISTER EVEN MORE STUDENTS? DO THEY NEED TO HIRE ADDITIONAL MEMBERS? HOW MANY REGISTRATIONS, MEMBERSHIPS AND STUDENTS WERE LOST? WHO WASN’T ABLE TO SET UP A REGISTRATION APPOINTMENT OR MISSED THEIR APPOINTMENT? WHAT IF ALL THOSE CUSTOMERS JUST COULD HAVE REGISTERED THEMSELVES? 24 MASUCCESS