MASuccess Magazine

by Melissa Torres, MAIA Division Manager

Well, we made it to the end of 2020. It was a tough year for everyone, whether you had to pivot and learn a new virtual technology or were forced to make difficult decisions like laying off staff or even closing your doors. But the end is finally here. We are closing the doors on 2020 — once and for all!

As happy as I am to see the last of 2020, the practical side of me knows that just because we turned over a new page in our calendars doesn’t mean that everything will automatically return to normal. No one knows when our lives will be normal again — or what that “normal” will look like. (Hopefully, it will be a nicer, better normal.)

It’s more important than ever to be prepared and plan for the unexpected. While no one saw the pandemic coming, I hope you were able to switch to virtual classes quickly or at least continue to keep in touch with your students.

It’s vital to keep yourself and your instructors current when it comes to new tec...

by Mike Metzger

If you want to maximize the odds that you’ll be successful — in anything — you need to set goals. No matter what you do in life, you should have a clear destination in mind, and when you think about it, a goal is a destination.

Assessing your needs, setting goals that will get you there and, when necessary, reevaluating those goals are crucial elements in the process, and the beginning of the year is a great time to address them. On a personal level, your goals might pertain to having better relationships, earning a college degree, acquiring a bigger house or even becoming a better person. However, because MASuccess is about the martial arts business, I will assume that you’re reading this article because you want to set and then achieve goals related to your business.

There are many goals you can set for your business, and most of them likely relate to some type of growth. Therefore, to achieve them, you must understand what mechanisms impact a school’s growth an...

While 2020 wasn’t the year we asked for, we have to lean in on the positives that came out of it.

I can think of 5 really great things that came out of 2020 that I’d like to share with you.

First, as an Industry, we became more tech savvy.

Prior to COVID shutting down our schools, many school owners weren’t the most “tech savvy” individuals.

Having our brick and mortar businesses shut down forced us to think outside of the box and learn new skills.

Most schools pivoted to online classes which required them to learn new technologies such as Zoom.

We had to figure out what types of web cams, mics, and lighting would help us best offer our services.

And I look at those items as an investment - because without them, many of us
would have had to permanently close our doors.

Second, we all became better instructors.

As a whole, as Instructors, most of us prefer to teach our students on the mats in
our academies. But COVID changed that.

Teaching martial arts via Zoom forced Instructor...

by MAIA Division Manager Melissa Torres

It was difficult to sit down to write this column because I knew that no matter what topic I chose to cover, I would have to mention COVID-19 in some capacity. Unfortunately, the pandemic is still part of our daily lives, and it continues to affect martial arts schools in countless ways. Our curriculums, instructor training, marketing and best retention practices all hinge on what happens with regard to the pandemic.

Since no one can predict when we finally will be out of the COVID woods, it’s essential to continue to adjust and “roll with the punches.” Recall Bruce Lee’s well-known quote: “Be like water, my friend.” We must be adaptable in these uncertain times in order to get to the other side. We’ve got to keep pressing forward!

No doubt you all have had time to take a step back to reevaluate your businesses and plan your next move. Well, MAIA has done the same. After the SuperShow Virtual Summit, we realized that there’s a huge need in ...

by Frank Silverman

As I write this column, I reflect on the past year: where we started, where we came from and where we are now. For most of us, the year began second to none. Business was booming, and the future looked bright. Then the world stopped turning. In March, we witnessed the fragility of the world’s economy, not to mention life itself, as the pandemic took hold and forced a shutdown the likes of which we have never seen.

Today, we’re looking better than we did at the onset of COVID-19 — at least, things are looking that way as I write this column. (Who knows what tomorrow will bring?) However, we are by no means out of the woods. Many schools are still struggling, and business is nowhere close to where it was at the beginning of the year. And then there are the casualties: the schools that closed their doors for a final time.

I don’t want this column to be a message of doom and gloom. I’ve said it before and it’s worth repeating: We are a strong industry. We are re...

by Michael A. Perri Jr.

This year has been one for the ages, with the wildfires, hurricanes, riots, a polarized country and, of course, the global pandemic. Many businesses have been so severely impacted that they’ve been forced to shut their doors for good. This includes some of our fellow martial arts professionals, people who were making a career out of sharing their passion. Although we’ve suffered setbacks, our industry still boasts people who are not only surviving but thriving. Schools that had the systems in place have managed to pull out record months financially regardless of the trials and tribulations they faced.

I’m talking about schools like Caleb and Heidi Collier’s Championship Martial Arts in Kaysville, Utah, where they took the systems and strategies of CMA’s Holiday Event and applied it to their “Christmas in July Sale.” It transformed what was regarded as a slow time of year into one of their most profitable months ever —in the middle of a pandemic!

You may be...

by Perry William Kelly

The pandemic has hit the world’s economy like a side kick that knocks the wind out of a white belt in his first tournament. It would have been simple enough if our industry had could have followed the example of other small businesses that shifted gears to stay afloat — for example, distilleries that started making hand sanitizer and clothing companies that began fabricating facemasks. This option, however, was not available to us. Our end product — martial arts instruction — simply cannot morph into something else.

To help school owners cope with the fallout of the pandemic and the shutdowns, MASuccess organized a virtual roundtable with professionals from across the country who agreed to speak about how they weathered the crisis. All are small-business owners not unlike you, and they were able to not only navigate the COVID chaos but also beat the odds that the pandemic had stacked against them.

Our Experts: the COVID Kickers

• Denisse Ramos is a four
...

by Adam Parman

As American states begin allowing businesses to reopen, many martial arts school owners are finding themselves in a strange new world filled with challenges, financial pressures, fears and, in many cases, far fewer students than they once had. This has made their lives anything but easy. Their minds are filled with self-doubt and apprehension.

As a martial artist, you know what it’s like to be pummeled in a fight — and what it takes to come back and win. But do you have the fortitude and the know-how to do the same with your business? No doubt you’ve heard about martial art schools across the country closing their doors for the last time, and you’ve vowed that even though it’s apparent that not every business will survive, you won’t be one of the victims. But that may not be enough. Chances are you also can benefit from a few pointers.

I’m based in Atlanta, Georgia, which means I live in one of the first states to reopen. That means I’ve already begun navigating th...