MASuccess Magazine

You may be familiar with Team Paul Mitchell Karate, but you may not know much about the face behind the group.

John Paul DeJoria is a self-made billionaire. He went from homeless to ranking on Forbes “List of Richest Americans,” and he did it all with hard work and dedication.

DeJoria was born the son of poor, divorced immigrants. He once worked as a janitor and door to door encyclopedia salesman. He was fired numerous times and faced many challenges that would have destroyed a lesser man. Today, DeJoria runs an empire of about a dozen thriving companies in a variety of industries.

In the martial arts world, DeJoria is known as the financial shogun and longtime sponsor of Team Paul Mitchell Karate (TPMK). The team is named after DeJoria’s hair care company, the industry giant, John Paul Mitchell Systems. DeJoria has been the backing behind TPMK for 30 years and is the longest-running known sponsorship in the martial arts throughout the world.

DeJoria’s...

By Adam Parman

Recently, I was speaking to a client and he asked what it takes to make your martial arts business thrive. I explained that, in business, it simply isn’t good enough to “get by.” You have to implement the systems that ensure success. Here are the six strategies I shared with him:

Strategy #1: Create more value.
Elevate your school by looking for ways you can provide more value to your customers. Recently, I’ve developed a renewed focus on providing more value while driving our school’s brand. We implemented an audio-teaching system and a teaching series that features weekly handouts. Systems like these create value while making the training experience memorable for your students. That’s a winning combination.

Strategy #2: Inspect what you expect.
It’s not enough to know what needs to be done, you have to do it. Likewise, it’s not enough to just tell your staff what to do — you must also hold them accountable for...