MASuccess Magazine

What if I told you that there was a system that you could implement in your school to generate tens of thousands of dollars in sales in only four hours on a weekend? What if I also said that some schools have used this system and made over $100,000 in those four hours? These results are not an anomaly. The Championship Martial Arts system of holiday sales has helped many schools turn a slow season into the year’s most profitable month!

By Michael A. Perri Jr.

There is a common belief among martial arts school owners that there are two times during the year when your school has to brace for a struggle. The first is during the middle of the summer. The second is during the holiday season in December.

For the latter, the winter’s cold and holiday parties, coupled with the excitement of boys and girls unwrapping their gifts, all play a part in creating a challenging — albeit festive — month for school owners. School owners have found it hard to stand out amongst all the season had...

By Andries Pruim

Separate Philosophies

When you begin your martial arts training at a young age, it is nearly impossible not to incorporate their traditional philosophies into your daily life.

For the most part, this is a good thing! The life lessons taken from martial arts have created many upstanding, well-respected members of society. However, some of the philosophies can restrict a modern martial artist from becoming financially independent – and, ultimately, even curtail the number of people they are able to help.

There is a common misconception that teaching martial arts is a worthy cause, and, therefore, is its own reward – with or without adequate financial compensation. This has resulted in many talented martial arts instructors having to maintain a separate career outside of teaching in order to pay bills, raise a family, and (hopefully) own a home.

            This practice of asking for less than what they’re worth is prevalent among today’s instructors. They feel ...

By Beth A. Block

I’ve talked to many studio owners about security cameras. When we begin, the owner sees all the positives. I see the positives, too. I also see the negatives.

            One of the first positives is the security. One of my clients was robbed. The robber wasn’t the brightest criminal. He looked straight into the camera before shooting it. The local police caught him within hours.

            In another case, the studio owner found the cameras were a great training tool. She could not understand why new students were leaving so her school quickly. A review of 30 days of film showed she had an instructor using old-school discipline on her students.

            She spent a couple of weeks working closely with this instructor to improve his methods. Now, he gets more positive feedback on social media than any of her other team members. Her time training staff is now spent effectively.

            In a third situation, the studio owner had installed cameras at the ...

By Philip E. Goss, Jr., Esq.

There is a very interesting and useful Internet tool that I recently became acquainted with: the Wayback Machine. Obviously, this tool is not something related to actual time travel. However, it allows a look back into the vast world of the Internet. This tool, maintained by a not-for-profit public entity, is basically an Internet archival service. Should you require something that was previously published on the Internet, this tool can take you there.

I recently used this tool to prove that someone partially pilfered my client’s Internet web content. Simply amending or deleting the content of web pages does not erase what was a part of the Internet in days gone by. 

Many times in our business and personal lives, an incorrect filing can be remedied. Who among us has not filed an amended tax form or corrective deed to remedy an innocent mistake? Amended filings are very common.

However, there are several documents that, once filed, cannot be walked ba...

By Philip E. Goss, Jr., Esq.

In the law, there is something referred to as a “rebuttable presumption.” A rebuttable presumption is an assumption or inference that is accepted as true, unless rebutted by adverse evidence. Two common examples of rebuttable presumptions are that, in a criminal trial, a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty, or that a child born during a marriage is actually the progeny of the husband.

Each can be proven false, but the starting point is that each is true.

My mother wasn’t an attorney, but she taught me my first rebuttable presumption. As children are wont to do, I would frequently come home with some wild story told to me by another kid. Of course, these stories were usually false or greatly exaggerated.

My mother told me some 50-plus years ago to never believe what another kid told me until I could verify that it was true. This is a lesson adults need to remember, but with a twist:

Never believe anything said by anyone who has a finan...

By Philip E. Goss, Jr., Esq.

In a follow-up to last month’s What Your Attorney Doesn’t Want You to Know, here’s part 2:

6. Your Attorney Likely Bills You for Travel Time

Many attorneys will bill you their full hourly rate for travel time to and from events related to your case. I do understand the argument that every minute spent toward your case is appropriately billed. However, I don’t agree that all circumstances support that theory.

Every time I attend court in downtown Miami, I leave my home office two hours before the appointed time. I drive to public transportation and then ride the Metrorail to the court’s doorstep. If my client chose to retain a lawyer with a downtown office, her travel time could be as little as five minutes.

What is fair in this situation? For this reason, I do not charge for my travel time.

This is not to say someone who charges for travel is unethical or necessarily wrong. I’m just saying that this is an issue that should be addressed ...

By Beth A. Block

Your studio is the biggest billboard you have. When your potential new students walk in the front door, they learn a lot about the kind of martial arts you teach just by looking around. When the public drives by, they see your signage. They can also look through your front windows and see classes going on at night. When your students walk into your studio, they see how seriously you take the art.

When you look for a place to open, you’re thinking more about the marketing benefits of your location than problems that might come up in a year. This is normal and, actually, savvy. You have to study the demographics of the territory. You have to consider location and the amount of rent for the space. Can you afford it?

Presumably, you are not thinking about what might go wrong if you’ve found a great location. But there’s good reason to consider that, too.

Recently, a studio owner found herself in a bad spot because the owner of the building wasn’t respons...

By MAIA Executive Director Frank Silverman

As we begin to approach the 2019 Martial Arts SuperShow, the world’s biggest martial arts business convention, this summer, I want to address the six groups of schools we market to that attend the show. They are:

• schools not yet open
• small schools
• medium schools (I call them potential “break-outs”)
• large schools
• super-large schools
• multi-school operations

Of the group, we tend to get the highest participation among the middle three: small, medium and large. That said, in any given year there can to be more of one than another, with no rhyme or reason as to why.

First, let me address the idea among some school owners about attending the event. They believe their school is too small, or that it’s too big, or that they are not a success, or that they are too successful to benefit from the Show. This last statement is not true and, in fact, is exactly the opposite.

Whether you are ready to open your doors for the first ti...

By Terry L. Wilson

Rocket Scientists do Exist! You Just Don’t Meet Them Often

Wassim Khechen’s (pronounced, wa-sim’ catch’en) exceptional aptitude for science and his keen mind, among other great scientists, helped launch America’s probe of outer space in the 1990s. However, much to his parents’ chagrin, Khechen’s passion for martial arts would eventually take him down a path less traveled by his academic peers, leaving him to explore a world of his own creation.

Originally from Venezuela, Khechen moved to the United States in 1981, landing in Buffalo, New York under protest. A top-rated fighter in his own country, Khechen was poised to test his skills against the best fighters in world. That was, until his father threw in the towel and took him out of the dojang and into a university far away from his taekwondo school in Venezuela.

“I was supposed to be fighting on the Venezuelan Olympic Team, but my father insisted that I focus on my studies instead of martial arts,” Khechen e...

By Mike Metzger

Now that we’re entering the new year, we should reflect on our business and ask how we can do things better. We should look to see how we can be better on the floor and on the business.

A frequent question that I get from school owners, specifically during this time of year, is how they can get more adults on their floor.

Most martial art facilities today have many more kids training than adults. Having more kids training is not a problem at all, but it’s always good to have adults training for several reasons.

Below are a three reasons why having more adults on your floor can be beneficial to your school.

1. Referrals. Adults will bring in more referrals than kids will. Adults like training with friends and/or family members. Adults also enjoy sharing their experiences with others and, therefore, are more than happy to invite prospects to try a class with them.

2. Easier to teach. Adults, for the most part, are easier to teach, for a few reasons
...