by Megan Baker

InCourage Martial Arts, the parent company of MyStudio, is a successful martial arts chain located in Northern Virginia. Back in 2017, InCourage’s two locations made about $1.7 million 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 pre-registration sale — the lobby of the Springfield InCourage studio was packed. The crowd was composed not just of students trying to squeeze in and take class, but also of parents who had lined up out the door while waiting for...

With everything going on with the second round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), I wanted to cover the 3 basic tips you need to know before submitting your application.

In our business, we are always pushing the importance of building and nurturing relationships. We all know the importance of building relationships with our students, their families, and our community.

On the business side, we have to be committed to building relationships with the people that can potentially help us accomplish our goals as well.

It’s imperative that you nurture specific relationships with people like your CPA, your lawyer, and in this case, your bank.

Which brings me to Tip #1 — You’ve got to establish a relationship with a smaller bank.

Many school owners experienced a painful first round of PPP where their “large” bank was unable to get them a distribution. This is why developing a relationship with a small bank is an absolute must.

They are much more personal,...

by Kurt Klingenmeyer, MAIA Elite Consultant

Teaching martial arts is an honor. We instructors have the opportunity to instill confidence, focus and self-discipline in kids of all ages. Furthermore, we help adults learn how to protect themselves and, in the process, foster a sense of empowerment that will aid them in all areas of life. No other profession makes an equivalent impact on the community.

As fulfilling as making a positive impact is, a martial arts school is still a business. That means tasks need to be done, people need to be employed and bills need to be paid. In other words, you need to guarantee your revenue stream and ideally grow it. Perhaps the most efficient way to do that is to focus on the hours of the day when you’re not teaching your regular classes.

Think about what happens at your school during non-class hours. Yes, there are lesson plans to be written, cleaning to be done and miss-you calls to be made — all the normal duties that come with...

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...

Let’s face it: winter is never the “busy season” for our martial arts schools. This year more than ever, all of our schools could benefit from a little extra revenue. Our students, too, would benefit from having gear and equipment for at-home training. Pandemic aside, weather conditions and holiday travel plans can make it difficult for students to come to class as regularly as they’d like, but having gear at home will keep them up to speed.

Want to create a win-win scenario where your students can train and you can make money? It’s not a sugarplum-induced holiday fantasy: Invest just 30 minutes of your time, and you can make up to $10,000 for your school while stocking your students up on equipment. Here’s how:

1) First, set up a Century Direct account.

Once you see the benefits, you’ll be surprised you didn’t do it sooner! We’re living in the age of online shopping. If you don’t offer that option,...

Walk into Wal-Mart, Target, or Home Depot, and the Holiday decorations are front and center (and have been for weeks).

So what does this mean for you and your academy?

It means it’s time to put together your Holiday Specials — specifically your Black Friday special.

Black Friday may look business-driven, but it’s the consumers who actually started
this shopping event. It was first observed in Philadelphia where there was always
high traffic the day after Thanksgiving.

SaleCycle reported that in 2019, Black Friday online sales surpassed all previous
records, reaching $7.4 billion, up by $1.2 billion from 2018’s $6.2 billion record.

That’s huge!

This is a serious holiday that every merchant with an online or brick and mortar
store should observe.

Our holiday tips will help you to get a cut of the Black Friday sales so you can
settle in for a prosperous holiday season.

Step 1 - Choose Your Offer(s)

Black Friday is really a great time to be selling ...

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...

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...