MASuccess Magazine

By: Kurt Klingenmeyer

With the arrival of spring each year comes the opportunity to celebrate the moms in our life with Mother’s Day.  As martial artists and school owners, we know all too well the dedication of each and every “Karate Mom” in our school.  This year, why not give them the opportunity to train with their kids?   

As each holiday approaches, prepare and hand out invitations for your students to take home to their parents inviting them to an extra special Mother’s Day Class.  And because we all know that sometimes information doesn’t quite make it home from our students, be sure to make phone calls and extend the invitation personally! 

Prior to each event, be sure to preorder special belts for your guests of honor! Century’s PINK belts are great for the moms.  Be sure to order enough for everyone and any...

by Adam Parman

As martial arts school owners look for opportunities to generate much needed revenue while mediating risk of COVID in order to ensure customers feel safe, hosting an outdoor spring break camp can be great option.  Working parents need trusted solutions for their children where they know their child will be safe and have fun.  Often, these parents look to businesses that provide camps where they have already developed a relationship with the staff – like your martial arts school.  Offering camp services allows school owners the opportunity to diversify their business while providing additional revenue streams.  Many schools in our industry found summer camps and digital learning camps essential to their survival when opening back-up after months of being shut down.  Whether it’s a single day camp or a week-long camp, here’s a few steps to ensure...

by Kathy Olevsky

In the martial arts industry, we constantly have to reinvent ourselves to stay relevant. For example, many years ago, my husband and I ran a very traditional karate school. In the mid-1980s, the two of us moved into cross-training in other styles, but we kept it a secret from most students. We didn’t want to muddy our message, which was that we were a regular karate school.

What we learned is that offering multiple styles in one dojo can be a game-changer. That happened when we transitioned from teaching karate exclusively to offering instruction in karate, kendo, iaido, judo, jujitsu and a variety of weapons. Instead of it becoming confusing to the general public, it became enticing. Students liked the fact that we offered them more choices.

Similarly, we never could have predicted what happened to our world with the COVID-19 pandemic. All of a sudden, we had to transition from physical entities to online businesses. Not surprisingly, the martial arts...

by Cris Rodrigues

In March 2020, our industry was shaken to the core. COVID-19 hit us like a ton of bricks, leaving many school owners feeling helpless. For some, switching to online classes was pretty simple; for others, it probably felt like preparing for a quantum physics exam.

Resources that my team and I put out, like the Virtual Martial Arts Blueprint and the Ultimate Facebook Ads Workshop, flew off the shelves as school owners searched for digital tools to help them survive. Many schools, however, took a hard hit. Freeze requests poured in. Cancellation emails and phone calls happened daily. School owners watched as their tuition billing declined.

When a mass exodus of clients happens with any business, often the owner will have a knee-jerk reaction to eliminate expenses. Unfortunately, said owner frequently eliminates the one expense that actually can bring in more revenue, and that’s marketing.

With many of the traditional forms of marketing thrown out the...