After 50 years of running and operating a martial arts business, I decided to help other small schools and instructors become successful. As you probably know, I have always dreamed of running my school since I was 16. I really started my business at a time when the martial arts business was in its infancy. I've seen all the changes to business models, curriculum, marketing, and more. Dice in and learn more.

When I opened my first school, it was a franchise under my teacher at the time, who was using the Tracy business model. Let’s say my first experience with a franchise, even under my teacher at the time, was not pleasant.

I later broke away from my teacher and the franchise. I used what I had learned in my next school. I made a few modifications to the curriculum, but still taught the privates and again charged everyone a weekly fee. Yes! I said a weekly price. That was part of the original model. At the time, no one considered charging a monthly fee.

QUICK NOTE: Yes. I’m Cindy Rothrock’s ex-husband and teacher.

During that period, I learned about advertising (including yellow pages and newspapers), marketing, and refining the various processes involved in running a martial arts school. I attended multiple business workshops and eventually went to a monthly payment model and PIFs. Later, I added the BBC and the Master’s Club.

I went through recessions. One so bad that I had to sell two of my schools to keep the third afloat. I learned a lot over the years from having member schools to managing and training staff. I’ve opened about 10 schools and helped other students open their schools.

So why am I doing this? I’ve attended several business workshops and seminars over the years. Everyone gives you teasers, but never the meat that would help you as a school owner. What they all try to do is upsell you to their $ 20,000-a-year program. Nothing wrong with that, but they promise more than they can deliver.

One of the Business Workshops I attended promised a fantastic website that would draw 50-60 paid intros a month. Wow! Many people took part. I looked at the website. It was nice, but nothing super impressive. I thought you’d have to drive a lot of traffic to the site, which this person did with Facebook and Google. He was using an exercise model for Kickboxing, which gave it a wider audience than traditional martial arts.

I thought that this really wouldn’t work for a regular martial arts school. My staff started hounding me to send the $1000 or so to have the website built. I was reluctant because I was not convinced that it would be effective for martial arts.

Here's Why.

I had other website businesses that convinced me they could build me a super website and that I would get lots of prospects. They assured me the site would rank highly in search results. The first design was awful. I had to write to them multiple times about changes I wanted to make.

The last straw was YouTube videos. 

They placed some of my YouTube videos on the website. After the video played, several other videos would appear on the video screen. I’m sure you’ve seen this. Some were related to martial arts, and some were not. What was bad about this? It took prospects away from my website. When I asked them to fix this, they said the website engineer could not do it. What! I sent them the HTML code to use so that the YouTube videos would not display other content.

So, here’s the other annoying thing about these companies: you can only make changes once a year. As you know, business moves at lightning speed, and you must be able to change quickly. You cannot wait a year to make changes, such as adjusting schedules or enrolling in special classes.

I decided to cancel my agreement with the website development company. They said I couldn’t. I stated that they were not providing the service I wanted nor fulfilling the promises they made. I went to my lawyer to resolve the issue.

Well, back to my encounter with the previous company offering fantastic websites. As I recall, I was reluctant because any site needs to be promoted. You cannot simply post it on the internet and expect things to work like magic. Well, the complaints started rolling in. People were not getting the contacts as promised from the website. Do you know what they were told? You guessed it. They had to promote the site using flyers, postcards, Facebook ads, and newspapers, among other methods.

Although I had some experience building websites, that’s what motivated me to delve deeper into them and learn more. I was tired of relying on other people and companies. I’m sure you've had experiences like this before.

Today, a website is the lifeblood of your business. Years ago, it was the yellow pages. Those days are gone. Postcards, flyers, newspapers, and magazines are still helpful. However, the only purpose of these other marketing tools is to drive people to your website.

I once spent $ 5,000 to attend a martial arts marketing workshop. They were supposed to have all the secrets. I got sucked in and went. Three days later, I discovered I knew as much as they did and maybe a little more. I also met some of the other attendees, who were paying the $20,000 a year. They knew little about running a martial arts school, so the promise of a magic bullet mesmerized them.

At one point, we broke into groups to develop a marketing plan. I don't remember exactly what the goal was, but the bottom line was that they wanted to spend as little as possible on just one medium. I pointed out that it wouldn't work because it wasn't cohesive, and suggested they should use a shotgun approach. I got blank stares. Let's say that the plan sucked.

The bottom line is that they didn't know the difference between marketing and advertising.

The only magic bullet is to implement and work hard. There is no magic bullet. The magic bullet for any business is to offer something that people need, want, or desire. To have a successful martial arts school requires only three things: attracting new members, retaining the members you have, and offering them higher-value-added programs.

I also conducted a few private seminars, outlining how to execute an entire operation from A to Z. The feedback I received afterward was great, but it was way over most attendees' heads.

What I learned was to start small and educate in small bites. I also learned that 90% of school leaders have little business knowledge beyond a desire to teach. I also learned that many of these same teachers desire to be successful, but always have excuses for why they are not.

I am looking for smaller schools that want to succeed with the business side of running a martial arts school, not large conglomerates. It is not about changing your curriculum or style. It's about making small changes that can have a significant impact on your school’s success.

Three different ways to get started. Each plan is billed monthly until you cancel. Not sure where to start? Start with the Novice Plan. As your school grows, then you upgrade to the Black Belt and the SMS Software.

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Charged monthly

Package available for a limited time

Charged monthly

Package available for a limited time

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