When I was coming up as a school owner, learning the craft of school management from my seniors (consultants in the "industry"), there were business people who taught a model for doing business that went something like this:

1. Get leads, sign leads on membership contracts that outlined the details of promised services and promised payments between the school and the student. Collect that money. 

There's nothing wrong about that idea, right? That's just the business of spelling out what the school's going to do and what the student is obligating him/herself to. 

But then, there were things we were taught that we wouldn't ever "share" with the potential student, like:

2. Your income resides in the money promised to you in those membership contracts; that's YOUR money; the student has promised to pay it --so come hell or high water, it's yours and you're going to get it. 

The billing services we used back then, in my case EFC, were designed to get the contracts you sold, then to get that money to the best of their ability, whether the student was attending or not. Our position was, "Hey, you read the contract, we're doing OUR part, so pay the tuition (or we'll take you to court, ruin your credit, etc.). 

So we had any number of people, including myself for a period of time, collecting money from people who were coming and enjoying the services provided, then some money being collected from people who weren't coming, but intended to, and then some money being collected from people who'd quit, didn't want to pay, but whose feet were being held to the collection fire. 

Some school owners would get downright nasty and pushy about the situation --and some would take their collection process all the way to court. I've had owners brag to me, recently even, about how they've taken XX number of contract signers (also called "former students") to court --and never failed to get some money out of the deal. 

Well, in hindsight, that's one screwed up system.

First off, a lot of instructors, myself included, often failed to live up to the specific and/or inferred promises of service we'd originally sold our lessons on. Truth be told, we made very few ultra-specific promises of service, other than we were skilled, knew exactly what we were doing,  --and that we would show up for classes. On the other hand, we made students promise to pay for untaught lessons, whether they ever took those lessons or not (Again, our attitude, the entire industry's attitude was, "Hey, WE ARE DOING WHAT WE PROMISED, now it's your turn to pony up." We weren't, actually, always doing that great of a job, truthfully; but if a student sought to discontinue their relationship with us, BOOM, we had 'em!). 

It's just a bad business practice to go about chasing people for services you've not delivered and that, for whatever reasons, they are not happy with or using. It's especially bad business for the self-professed "martial arts professional" to do it; as this is the business owner who isn't really an expert and an authority, 9 times out of 10, in 50% of more of what he or she professes (or infers) to teach (self-defense, fitness, philosophy, etc.). There are exceptions of course, but there are more unqualified and hardly-trained teachers in the martial arts community as there are in any other unregulated sales-based industry in the world. 

Here's the correct policy:

You do not chase people for money. You just don't. Collect what you can from the people who use your services --and get your income from willing and able members --and leave the rest of them alone. Send them off with a smile. Wish them well. Let them remember you as someone who did the uncommon, who operated with a level of integrity worth noting, even if the people around you didn't. 

Don't build any part of your business, your plan to make money, on the strategy of collecting money from unhappy people. Unhappy people spread bad news about your business, they hold grudges, they tell other people --and there's nothing good for you in any of that. 

If you can't KEEP your students, then you don't get to charge them, period. Start your business with that policy --and you won't have to deal with collecting money from people under stress, people who didn't think you really delivered on the big promises of your advertising; and you'll never have to do what I did --the thing that finally made me wake up to the stupidity and selfishness of collecting on the contracts, written heavily in my favor, that I had made my students sign:

I had a family who'd joined my school, signed a $4000 contract to have all of their family in classes, then somewhere in their first month or two of lessons, quit. They also stopped paying for lessons --and weren't returning my phone calls or requests to pay; so I sent their contract to a collection agency. Eventually they were taken to court and I collected some small percentage, less than 50% as I recall, of their remaining balance. HA! I WON!

Then, some time later, I was sitting in a restaurant with my wife, and in walked this family. The kids were dressed poorly, the parents didn't look all that well off, and the father was helping his mother into the restaurant (it was Mother's Day) --and the poor woman was very ill and probably near death. The whole scene just hit me in the face, as I hadn't once considered what the world was like for these people. I wore the finest clothes, I drove a BMW 735 and a Porsche 911 Targa, I was in perfect health, had just returned home from a month holiday in Europe, and in fact, I had more resources than I had sense. 

It hit me. I had never considered how it felt to this father and mother to have 3 children and an ill relative. I didn't think about anything but the contract I'd got them to sign. Under any other circumstances I would have jumped all over the opportunity to help these people, but instead, when they looked at me I wasn't "Tom Callos the martial arts master teacher," I was that guy who'd signed them up to a contract, then collected the money despite their family's situation.

That was not the person I wanted to be. I was better than that. I didn't need anyone's money THAT bad. 

Neither do you. 

Build your business on tuition you earn from students you can keep in your school --and let people who choose not to attend go. Consider it a part of your own spiritual training. Consider that these people aren't flakes or liars or people who simply didn't read the small print. Remember that they're people who have hopes and dreams; they're people who might have hit a bump in the road; and consider that you've not given them anything, really --and that collecting on untaught lessons is just bad business, whether you use a contract that justifies it or not.

But guess what? Some school owners lie, cheat, AND steal from their students and from the parents of their students. 

There's are or have been a number of sales organizations working in the martial arts community that have promoted various degrees of dishonesty (although they'd never confess to it). They're after your money, in cash and up front; they're going to get your name on a legal and binding contract --and my friends, if you default on that agreement, they're coming after you with heavy-handed collection tactics. 

If you were unlucky enough to sit in one of their sales-coaching events, you might hear one of their "top" salespeople bragging about how their school TARGETS clients that are current and active in military and law enforcement, because these people can't let their credit go bad, so THEY ALWAYS PAY. Can you believe that?

They lie about their expeirence, they market themselves as far, far more than they actually are, and when the rubber meets the road, YOU are a mark for these people, a way for them to build their own wealth. 

I was told by and insider in one organization, that sales people were studying the famous sales huckster John Brinkley; you can read about his dishonest exploits in the book Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster. Some of the organizations study cult psychology sales concepts, mind manipulation, and it's all about getting "prospects" (you) in exactly the right place to say, "Yes." As odd as it sounds, it's 100% true. 

It's also disgusting. These folks hide behind their exaggerated claims, behind their slick and carefully thought out marketing hype. Most of them are, I fear, full blown sociopaths. Beware. 

If you're ever worried that the school you're thinking about joining or the association that's giving you advice might be one of these kinds of outfits, call me. I'll help you understand what to watch for and avoid. 

And, while I'm here talking about them, let me add: SHAME ON THEM.

We could spend 1000 days talking about how to reach the people of your community with marketing that inspires them to respond and makes them want to buy what you sell. 

In fact, we will talk about these things --and:

Staff training.

Student retention.

Pay scales, money management, taxes, and investments.

How to teach kids. How to teach teens. How to teach adults. How to capture the women's market.

How to offer self-defense classes, how to keep and understand business stats, and how to do everything and anything under the martial arts business sun. We'll talk, at length and repeatedly about anything you want to talk about. All you have to do is ask --and we'll make it a topic of discussion. 

And do you know what I think all of this is?

It's us sitting around and talking about what we wear, how we like to tie our shoes, how we like to look when we see ourselves in the mirror, what foot we put through our pants first when we get dressed, what colors we think are most flattering on us, what soap we use to wash our hands after we've flushed the toilet. 

The endless marketing talk, always about the same trivial marketing concepts, the same old do-this and do-that, well...it's "important," but it isn't what we LIVE FOR. 

What is noble?

What is honorable? 

What is it that is so rare, so heroic, so grand and great and made of the best of what a man or woman can be?

Where is injustice? Who is victimizing and/or exploiting others for their own gain, with little or no regard for humanity or decency?

Who are the people molesting our children, raping women, bullying, hurting, and killing ---and where is the place that teaches potential victims how NOT to become vicitms? Where are we teaching our young men not to vicitmize?

Are you a hero? For real? 

Are you a consumer? Are you simply a resident of your community? Are you one of the many who do little or nothing for others?

Are you apathetic? Is the daughter bullied, molested, raped, or murdered not YOUR daughter --which accounts for your lack of involvement or interest? Is the young man who is picked on, overweight, preyed upon by slick and clever marketing firms out to sell, that is at risk for drug abuse, misogyny, teen suicide, or who might be preyed upon by our world's ever-present opportunists and predators, not YOUR SON, so not your son in fact that their pain is hardly a blip on your "daily radar" and list of concerns? 

What business are we in martial arts teachers, you "Masters" of the martial arts?

You get to define that, as there isn't anybody holding you accountable to anything but, in most cases, showing up to teach, paying your rent, and keeping current on your taxes. 

It's my hope, as your friend, maybe one of your teachers, a peer, and/or your student, that you STAND FOR SOMETHING. Something worth standing for ---and, honestly, I think that is, in the end, 1/2 of the most important BUSINESS ADVICE I will even try to give you.

The other 1/2 is in HOW you manifest, how WELL you manifest, your actions on behalf of the things you give a damn about. 

My friends, you aren't a "Master" because you've managed to organize a profitable business; because you've managed to defeat other people in physical contests; because the people you're politically affiliated with have decided to tell you you're now a XX degree of "black belt:" or because you've been ranked in 20 different styles and been a martial artist for 100 years. 

You're a Master --or as close to it as you and I might ever get --when you have enough awareness and compassion to care about your fellow human beings enough to DO SOMETHING to reduce their suffering and bring more light, joy, and love into the world. 

My business advice? My God people, stand for something worth taking a stand for. 

Now, what do YOU stand for? And how well and how often do you communicate it? In which mediums? And how well does anyone else (or everyone else) on your team do the same? Oh, and what does every member of your team stand for? And...

A Discussion of How and What You Might Teach Your Young Students

(Note: This is an example of 1 "report" punlished on the 100's member's website).

FITNESS

First, your curriculum is designed to teach young people how to make daily exercise a habit, how to do it 1000 different ways, and your work is designed to get young people to an optimum, useful, and healthy level of fitness ---and then teach them how to continue the work for a lifetime. 

You're going to teach them HOW to exercise, WHY to exercise, what happens when you DON'T exercise, and you're going to encourage, praise, reward, and glorify their exercise habits as you help them develop them. You're going to teach them HOW to exercise properly, how to avoid over-training, and what an injury is --and how to avoid them. 

Your curriculum is designed to make the process of getting very fit (which is found in functional movement), very fun. The kicks, the rolling, the floor work, the jumping, the obstacle courses, the sparring, the lifts, the pushing, everything ---it's not about fighting or defense, alone, it's done for the purpose of developing wonderful, productive, useful fitness. 

Let me ask you:

At what belt level can your students, of all ages, tell me (or anyone), the benefits of regular, consistent, and  vigorous exercise? Do you teach this with flash cards? With written text and tests? With daily verbal coaching? With story books, with video, with 1000 examples? 

"John, please stand up and share with us the benefits of regular exercise. What does it mean to "be in shape?" And, Sally, when he's thru, stand up and give us the 30 second coaching on what happens to a body when it doesn't have regular exercise."

Is this missing from your curriculum?

SCENARIO BASED TRAINING

If you are unfamiliar with the work of Peyton Quinn and/or Bill Kipp, then you are unfamiliar (I'm guessing) with the concepts of Scenario-Based Training. May I suggest you find your way to their training, somehow, some way, as soon as humanly possible...

In scenario based training, the teacher sets up a scenario, usually a self-defense scenario (This guy will be the bad-guy, you're out on a date and in a bar, he confronts you with verbal aggression, which escalates, while you're sitting at a table; what do you do? Let's act it out.).

Well, there are many, many scenarios you could create in your classroom that simulate real life situations a young person might/will face in their life, that could use some rehearsal (so as to do the right thing). 

How to defuse a verbal conflict.

How to say no, when peer pressure is making you feel like you have to say yes. 

How to stand up for a friend who is being bullied (mild to wild).

How to hear a complaint, listen carefully, repeat the complaint back to the complainer, empathize with the complainer, apologize with grace and respect, then how to create viable win-win solutions.

How to treat people perceived as lesser-than, as equals.

How to cool down when anger bites.

How to decline unhealthy food or graciously accept food you might not normally eat --when you're a guest of someone.

How to introduce one person to another.

How to answer a phone graciously, without being too revealing.

How NOT to behave at a dinner, with one's electronics.

How to say, THANK YOU (in 100 different ways).

How to be an active listener.

How to offer your seat to someone who might need it more than you.

Problem-Solving 101.

How to make healthy snacks.

How to stand up for someone who needs help.

How to walk thru a room or a shop or a classroom or any place, leaving a trail of kind acts behind you (without looking like a geek).

How to ask for help --when you need it.

How to act like a good friend, even to people who don't yet know you're their friend. 

How to get out of a bad situation, fast. 

How to make a teacher feel like a really, REALLY good teacher. 

I think your classroom should be full of vigorous exercise. I think you should have a curriculum of physical techniques relevant to the martial arts skills you intend to develop in your students. I think your kids should be learning and executing increasingly complex physical skills that promote coordination and brain function. 

Your curriculum, however, ought to, in my opinion, be made up of far more than techniques 1 to 10, this block or move and that move. You have an opportunity to use the dynamic in your classroom and the power of your influence to prepare your young students to act like champions and smart people when less than perfect and/or stressful situations present themselves. 

Do you have this in mind?

Are you creating ANY tools to help give these lessons?

Is any of this shaping how you write and talk about your program? 

Is any of this the "end" you're beginning with ("begin with the end in mind")?

---------------------------------------------------------

When I ask you what is beyond the techniques you list in your curriculum, THESE are the kind of things I'm looking for. This sort of thing is the elephant in the room that we're pretending isn't there ---it's the character education aspect of our work that, currently, in most schools, is so underdeveloped that it's almost non-existant. 

This is the work of the highly evolved master teacher. 

1. OF COURSE your students have to get and stay in righteous shape. It's a given that you're going to work them up to a lifestyle of optimum fitness and health (without addressing DIET? I don't THINK SO!).

2. OF COURSE your students are going to be able to kick ass. They're going to block faster and more effectively than their potential opponent. They're going to kick and punch with a level of power and authority that reflects your ability to teach this sort of stuff. They're going to, eventually, wrestle like champions.

(Don't get me wrong) It's a lot to (HELP) get kids healthy and fit --and it's a lot to teach them how to do the art you teach --and to do those things well. But, honestly, between you and me, it's what I expect from a competent martial arts teacher. That SO MANY instructors make the two things above almost ALL of their focus --and that so many of them don't even do these 2 things very well? Well...it's a shame. 

However, YOU? You, my friend, can do these things with your damned eyes closed; asleep; while in a coma; while driving. You eat these things for breakfast, while reading the newspaper. 

What sets you and yours apart is all of the other things you have the talent to impart. It's found in how the little men and women who are in your influence become little problem solvers, little thinkers and doers, how they have better manners, how they're better friends, how they always seem to find the bright side, when everyone else seems to be sitting in the dark. How they PARTICIPATE instead of disconnect. How they know when it's time to put down their phone and engage. When it's time to stand up and be counted. When it's time to stand up for someone who needs help. 

Now show me THAT aspect of your curriculum.

Show me what tools you're developing to teach these sort of life-skills.

Show us how you're holding your STAFF accountable to this kind of living and teaching.

Show and tell us how these ideas are being translated into text, images, and video used to teach, coach, and promote your BEST work. 

That's what I want to see when I see your curriculum. 

That's me, Tom Callos, on the left. I'm the bald guy wearing the Hawaiian work boots (slippers) and talking to a group of my students and friends about teaching the martial arts. I do this sort of thing just about 24/7 --and have been for the last 25 (plus) years. 

I teach instructors how to sell their services using their own personal mission and their quest to improve the quality of their own education, as opposed to adopting clever marketing strategies and formulaic selling gimmicks (as in "your ad should be this size, have these colors in it, and say these things").

A Funny "Industry"

The martial arts "industry" is a funny one, as we claim to teach self-defense, but there are but a handful of teachers I've met in my 25 years teaching teachers and 40 years training who genuinely address self-defense training at a level that makes sense or is, in my opinion, relevant to today. 

When I talk about self-defense I talk about it conceptually, as I don't have a self-defense program to sell my audience, I don't offer a course, nor do I claim to teach the ultimate self-defense system. I talk about anger and anger management as a subject of self-defense. I talk about diet --and beyond diet, I talk about food production, as in my eyes these are subjects as relevant to self-defense as blocking a punch to the nose. I talk about violence and non-violence, about hyper-masculinity, about girl-on-girl violence, and about prejudice. I talk about being a member of a community --and about taking the martial arts out of the dojo and into the world. I talk about the top 10 killers of men, women, and children in today's world (and note, "kicking, punching, and grappling" are not on the list). 

The martial arts "industry" is a funny one, as we claim to teach/promote fitness, but you'd be shocked at just how little fitness training, as in real educational material, is offered to instructors through the leading organizations in the martial arts community. We claim to have a "philosophy" that has some considerable value, but if you interviewed 100 martial arts teachers I would wager that 99 of them haven't had one term paper's worth of training in anything "philosophical." Emerson? Lao Tzu? Buddhism? Christian philosophy? Well, if you looked over the class schedules of the last decade's worth of conventions and seminars in "the industry," you'd have innumerable hours of training in how to upgrade memberships, write ad copy, and give birthday parties, but philosophy wouldn't be found on any of the course descriptions. 

Problem --or Opportunity?

I've come to realize that what's missing in "the martial arts industry" isn't a problem, it's an opportunity for me, my friends, and quite possibly for you too. "The industry" can only do so much --and it has to sell things to you (and me) to survive. What you and I have to do is raise our own standards. We have to self-educate. We have to form a community dedicated to educational improvement, to noble intention, to filling the gap between tireless promotion, non-stop marketing, and "paying the bills," and the quest to make the practice and teaching of the martial arts something beautiful, important, and valuable. Oh, and let's add relevant to today's world to that list as well. 

In my project, The 100., I'm seeking to bring together 100 pretty-damn-proactive martial arts teachers for the purpose of setting an example for our industry; for the purpose of conducting experiments; for the purpose of talking the talk --and walking the walk --of the modern "Master" of the martial arts. The question is: What does that mean? 

That's why I'm talking in the picture, above --and that's why I'm sitting at my desk writing this to you. I'm sort of a "man on a mission." Is all my talk doing anything? I think it is. I think it can be measured in the projects members of The 100. are thinking up and executing; projects involving environmental issues, community improvement, suicide prevention, anger management training, feeding the hungry, dietary programs, growing food and sustainable living, truth in media, girl's self-image issues, hyper-masculinity, and all sorts of subjects that aren't being covered in our trade magazines, at the conventions, or in our industry's seminars. 

I think it can be measured in the activites of instructors who are NOT members of The 100., but who are, nevertheless, being affected by our members; being influenced to try new things and to embrace some of the ideas we're championing. 

It's my opinion that our industry, infatuated, if not obsessed, with marketing, sales, and the pursuit of wealth, has lost its way. I believe it is education and activism that will drive students to our schools in the future --and keep them there. When instructors of the martial arts are more than just athletes and/or salespeople, when we are educated teachers of subjects with relevance to today's world, subjects of substance, we won't have to resort to tricky sales letters, cleverly worded membership contracts, implementing auto-responder e-mails that "lead to the close," or most all of today's car-sales-strategies that promise "floods" of new students and seven-figure incomes. 

That's what I'm talking about. 

The100 provides a blueprint to success. One that I've followed for the last 7 years to much success. (and wil plan on following for the next 7 years)

Watching the current presidential election and the promises made, I wanted to outline a few of the promises that were made by Tom  (indirectly - and made up by myself) and the100 and the results that I've seen from those promises. 

1. "We Promise New Student Acquisition" - does the100 live up to this promise that EVERY consultant and association promises? Last month we enrolled 19 new students as a result of getting out in our community, working directly with our parents, local businesses and  schools, and making our school about making a difference, not about making money.
2. "We Promise Student Retention" - Tom and the100 has provided several projects and ideas that help you ground your school's student retention. When you make the mission of your school about something far more than how much tuition they pay, you offer scholarships and classes for those that can't afford classes, you treat people with dignity and respect, and you make sure you spend time with each student, even if for a minute before or after class and help them meet their needs, you will find better retention. Tom has talked a hundred times about 10, 3, 1 and 1. This is the single most important retention and business tool that we use in our school. 
3. "We Promise Financial Stability and Growth For You and Your Family" - Listen, if you take action and apply some of the principals here, 1 and 2 will make #3 happen. We are a small school in a small town. 150 active students in a town of 4000. We have seen financial growth EVERY year over the 7 years of running our school. I have done nothing but listen to the advice and teachings of Tom and the100 during that time. One year helped us increase our business by 60k in 12 months. 
4. "We Promise That Your School Can Become a Educational Institution and Move Past A Place To Learn Kicking and Punching" - rooted in the foundations of the martial arts, the100 provides a blueprint to follow to not only teach your students great martial arts, which you would do anyway, but to instead add programs and projects that enhance your students education both academically and service based/leadership based education. The100 provides a framework for you to work WITH the schools in providing programs and trainings that the schools may not offer or may not have the ability or resources to offer. You can help fill that gap and your school can become recognized by your community as a place for higher learning and leadership training. You'll need to be a student yourself and make sure that your own training is about more than kicking and punching, then through action and results, show that you have the ability to teach more and provide more for your students and community. Our local schools have accepted us an un-official partner in education as they consistently ask us to come back in for trainings.
5. "We Promise In-Depth Curriculum Development" - This is an interesting promise. What do you need to develop your curriculum for? You may have curriculum that has been passed down for centuries. Well we live in a different world. Your curriculum should serve to retain students by keeping them excited and growing, bring in new students by making the students testing about others and making an impact in your community through their testing, and making sure that your curriculum meets the needs and standards of your school's mission to help and improve society through martial arts training. The Ultimate Black Belt test is all you'll ever need to understand how important curriculum is to the persons growth and development in your program. The curriculum IS what your school is about. Post it online, share it often, and make it about how you promote your school and engage your students for Black Belt Excellence. 

Thank you Tom Callos and the100 for everything that you've given me and my school. You have my vote as this is the association I hang out with, and for good reason. It's about the money, it's about something much more. As a result, we've experienced a very rewarding business and though we are doing well financially, our success in our community is much deeper and richer because we've spent time here with the100. 

It represents a quality of thinking --and school owner / master teacher training, which, at this time, doesn't exist (or is rarely, if ever, brought to light) in the international martial arts community. 

From the "industry," you can expect the sales pitch, the e-book containing "the secrets" to becoming a successful school owner, the ready-made flyer for your upcoming student referral program, disguised as the pizza or birthday party, and/or the pitch for the new MMA or fitness curriculum that, if bought and implemented, is going to transform your school with floods of new enrollments and staggering cash flow. 

You may also be invited to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the "millionaires Inner Circle" of business training, where you can learn the guaranteed success skills of other "school owner millionaires," -- for $60,000. 

So, without further ado, allow me to give you some help/advice, guidance, that has no strings attached --and seeks only to make your work more authentic, powerful, and rewarding:

What is the Language of Your Practice?

Old adage: "A picture is worth a thousand words." 

Master Jhoon Rhee's brilliant twist on it: "If a picture is, indeed, worth a thousand words, then an action is worth one thousand pictures."

The language of your practice reveals itself in your spoken and written word, in the images you take and/or use to represent your work, and the "moving pictures" you record on your video camera, depicting what you're doing, who you're doing the work with, and where it's happening. 

The language of your practice tells people (current students, potential students, your community) what you're doing and why. It explains your actions. It reveals your intent, your mission, and your purpose for doing the work you do. 

I Contend That You Do Not, Yet, Know How to Speak the Language of Your Practice

I follow (read about, observe) a LOT of martial arts teachers, many of them my clients and friends. At present time, it's very rare to see them write or video things that speak of their mastery of the language of what they're doing and why. 

Many of the words used by teachers are words canned, packaged, and distributed to "the industry," en masse. The "Tenents of Taekwondo" being some of the most common: Courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit. These are the most commonly used words in the industry, but oft repeated without thought; they stand as a Hollywood-like facade --and behind the words stands the hollow echo of ideas without understanding, without concrete evidence, without substance. 

So, I ask you:

Why do you practice what you practice?

Physically, what does your practice consist of?

Nutritionally?

Educationally?

What is your practice of community engagement and involvement? How is that done, in your world?

What do you do, why do you do it, who do you do it for, and what is the intent behind your work? Is your UNDERSTANDING revealed in your writing, in your speech, in your images, and/or in your actions?

I Contend the Language of Your Practice is the Foundation of Your School's Marketing and Presence

You come from an educational background, maybe, promoted and perpetuated by "the industry." And that education does not (has not, yet) promoted the independent, articulate, engaged MASTER teacher. It has spent 20 years promoting the systemization of methods, of giving you the words, the ads, the language, and the methods needed to fill your school and make ends meet. 

Even today, with the genuine miracles of modern technology and what it can do for the communicative, smart martial arts teacher, the industry is still packaging and promoting things meant to "make easy" and "automate" or "simplify," your marketing and curriculum, when we should be doing the exact opposite. 

If I wanted to participate in your preparation for the world championships, the training would involve intense, focused, and rigorous almost-daily practice. Likewise, for you to fully develop your PRODUCT, the things you sell, the things you STAND FOR, you must (I believe) engage in an almost-daily and rigorous PRACTICE of those things that make you a champion of teaching, leadership, and the brand of EDUCATION you represent. 

How to Engage in The Practice (Where to Begin)

You have a magazine (your blog), of which you are the Senior Editor. Produce original, brilliant writing in it. Talk about your work, the results your students demonstrate, the work of your legion of wise and proactive mentors and peers, and what drives your mission, what inspires you.

You're not "writing ad copy," my GOD, NO, you're polishing your approach, clarifying your thinking, and forcing your brain to focus on the most important aspects of your life's work. 

Invest the $500 to $1000 you need for a high end digital camera and start taking pictures, chronicling your work in a way that clearly SHOWS what you and your work is about. Not a single one of those images need to show YOU, but what's happening in your work. OR, go cheap and use Instagram on your phone's camera. DOCUMENT --and let your pictures tell your story. 

Buy a cheap, High Def. video camera (or a more expensive one), and start documenting the life and times of a real MASTER TEACHER and his/her STUDENTS and the people and things in HIS/HER COMMUNITY that reflect the awareness, the consciousness, the vision of the work you live for. 

Or, Do Little or None of the Above

If you don't have the wherewithal to do better than copy the words and images of others --and if you think your language, where ever you put/post it, truly represents the best and most valuable aspects of your work, then stay the course. 

I'd like to warn you, however, that there is, I think, a COST for embracing the pre-made, the easy-to-do, and the canned. It is boredom. It's loss of focus. And it's a waste of the art and effort you've put your life into. That's my opinion; that's my experience. 

Tom Callos, an Advocate for Sustainable Business Practices in the Martial Arts Community

There are martial arts schools out there, entire organizations in fact, that are out to get your money, up-front --and with every intention of seeing you leave the school before you've received the lessons and benefits you pay for. 

They're going to be looking to sell you lesson contracts that will cost you between $1,000 and $10,000. These contracts are written in a way that make them all for the business --and they're designed with the idea that you WILL be dropping out, in fact, the very business model of the school is built around many enrollments, many "membership upgrades," but very little student retention. 

Now trust me, these school owners and their associations will lie right to your face: WE DON'T DO THAT!; they will deny it, but I know for a fact that far too many of them are not being truthful. That's the very reason they want your money, NOW and upfront; they don't think you're going to stay --and on top of that, they've gotten used to spending more money than they can earn, in any given month, so they're desperate for your cash.

There are, of course, MANY fine and honest martial arts teachers in the world. Most schools make payment plans and cash-up-front payments available --and have no intention of ripping you off. This note isn't about good teachers with honest intentions. This piece is about the opportunists, the misinformed, and the school owners who think that contracts are a way to get you to pay for untaught lessons, whether YOU think those lessons are fulfilling the promises the owner made --or not. 

Here's what you can do to protect yourself: 

1. REFUSE to sign a contract for membership. If the teacher won't respect your wishes and refuses to serve you, go to a school where the teacher WANTS your business and is willing to prove they can earn it. 

2. NEVER pay large amounts of cash, up front, for lessons, unless you REALLY know the teacher and the school. If the teacher runs a tight ship with great value, you'll know it within 6 months to a year.

3. If a teacher proposes you sign a contract, call me personally and I'll discuss your options with you (Tom Callos, 530-903-0286). 

4. Offer the school owner a few more dollars a month to pay month to month, until you know you can trust the school. If they balk at that, take your money elsewhere. 

5. ALWAYS check the Web and the Better Business Bureau / Yelp for complaints.

6. Demand that the school owner write in additional contract verbiage that allows you to drop out, with no penalties, when ever you want and/or that you will get a full refund on all lessons you've paid for but haven't used, upon demand. 

When the public starts refusing to play the contract game, the industry will be forced to live within its means --and to craft fair and equitable money-relationships with the people who pay their rent. 

A Note to School Owners:

You may have "grown-up" with the contracts and methods you use today. Making paid-in-full requests and offers might be something your instructor has been doing for years, however --the practice is corrupt and it erodes the general public's confidence in our integrity. It's a health club and dance studio practice from the 1960's to present and it's caused no small amount of both financial and trust problems for school owners and students. 

Schools MUST learn to to live on the money they earn each month, instead of paying the bills on tomorrow's lessons. 

If we continue to sell programs that are ALL about sales, then service-in-the-long run doesn't pay. Many schools have literally destroyed themselves by cashing out students and then suffering due to poor cash flow. 

Need alternatives to this negative, one-sided, and destructive process? Call me, I'll help. 

The martial arts "business industry" in fat-full of cheap, easy, brainless promotions for martial arts schools. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking every kind of cheap, easy, and brainless kind of marketing effort, as there's probably a time when that kind of marketing is just what's needed (then again, is it?). I'm simply tired of the endless repetition of the dumbed-down approach. Enough already! 

What I do is prepare martial arts school owners for tomorrow; a brighter, smarter, better groomed tomorrow. Take for example the 5 (or so) suggestions below.

These suggestions represent an idea I call "Pick your Battles Carefully." Like a parent with his/her children, if you fought these battles FIRST, there would be a lot of other battles you wouldn't have to fight later.

School Owner / Instructor Marketing and School Management Essentials for Those Who Are Fed Up with the Cheap and Easy:

No. 1   Level 10 explanation of:

1  What do you sell?

2.  What is your work?

3.  What is your mission?

Intrigue me? Level 4. 

Give me goose bumps? Level 7.

Make me cry? Level 10. 

School owners, ask yourself, and ask your staff too: "What do we sell?" I think you'll be surprised at just how rough the answers are. We can't have that! Practice your "pitch" about the benefits of your school until everyone on your team can evoke a level 7 or better response from your average listener. 

No. 2   Do 10 acts of Marketing, 20 Working Days a Month, 12 months a year.

This one, alone, would change the the course of history (your career's history --and profitability). 

No. 3   Do a “Weekly Card Count,” solving all retention issues before they happen, 52 weeks a year. 

For your information, calling student who aren't attending IS NOT working on student retention. 

No. 4   Record what you eat, in video, for a year; keep a daily training blog. Record what you read and classes you attend too. 

This would FORCE you and your team to reveal how you live, which in turn would cause you and your team to look deeply at HOW you're living. When the team is on their game, the school transforms too. 

No. 5   Put 1 Term Paper’s worth of work into the following subjects:

1. 1 paper each for the top 10 killers of men and women in the Western World.
2. Bully prevention, anger management, hyper-masculinity, girl’s self-esteem / self-image issues, peace education. 

Most instructors / school owners haven't put a single term paper's worth of energy into their curriculum development, nor are they studying self-defense for today's world. Doing this exercise would transform the teacher --which then has a "trickle-down" affect on the students.  

The 100. helps school owners, teachers, and their staff members "get their game on," big-time. We work on your behalf for a measely $10 a day. We don't use contracts, we don't have to fill a magazine with hyperbole, and we don't have anything to "upsell." We help martial arts teachers; that's what we do. If you're a school owner or will be one soon, here's a pass for a week's visit to our on-line school: http://the100.me/?xgi=5YHew4Oyrkh0ya

And yes, I know. We have an entire branch of "our industry" where giving black belts to kids (or just about anyone who wants to buy one) is essential to the schools business model. We have 1000's of school owners who can't imagine how they would stay in business if they didn't sell "black belt club" memberships. 

So, as a result, we have a situation where things like this happen:

I walked into the taekwondo school with my son Keenan, who is at the moment recognized as being the best competing purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the entire world, and on the mat is what looks like a 15-year-old 3rd-degree black belt. Keenan makes a comment about it, something like, "Dad, how can that kid be a 3rd-degree black belt? Why are the standards for black belt so different in taekwondo than in jiu-jistu?"

After more than 40 years in the martial arts, I don't know exactly what to tell him. Should I tell him how stuck the industry is with a set of standards that makes the rank of black belt a joke, compared to the requirements of even mediocre BJJ schools? Should I explain how the dance-school industry affected our sales process in the martial arts world, from about 1960 on, and that it has resulted in the selling of black belt courses that, more or less, guarantee the student a black belt if they simply pay enough money and hang around long enough? Or do I explain to him how a large number of my "business associates" believe that if they stop selling black belt club courses, they'll go out of business?"

I don't answer him, as we both know the answer already. I simply shrug my shoulders and we silently aknowledge the marked difference between the phllosophy the Brazilian's have brought back to the martial arts, versus the standards and practices of much of the "commercial martial arts industry" as it is today. While Keenan doesn't have my experience in the martial arts world, he doesn't need to be a historian to recognize that a black belt doesn't hardly mean anything when it's given to people who don't have the maturity, the talent, the experience, the wisdom, or the physical skills required to even be a purple belt in the art he practices. 

We silently acknowledge that when it comes to "belts" and talent, BJJ is at an entirely different place than karate and taekwondo. We accept the fact that this 3rd degree black belt, in all likelihood, couldn't successfully out-fight a blue or purple belt in BJJ with half (or less) of his experience and time-in-training. In fact, he probably wouldn't last 30 seconds with a blue belt of the same age. 

Different standards? A different measuring stick? Yes, I guess that's what it is.

As for me, I see the lesson the Gracie's have so clearly set on the table. I offer a deep bow of respect to what they've created, the path they've taken, and the standards they've brought with them. In contrast to what I thought was "OK" before I "met" BJJ, I would like to openly confess that I was wrong; that we are wrong. We should hold ourselves to higher standards. It won't result in the decline or destruction of the martial arts industry as we know it, instead it might actually bring something noble and brilliant BACK to the martial arts.

I think the standards the Brazilians have attached to the earning of a black belt are far superior to what they've become in North America and in the many schools abroad affected by the sales strategies of one billing service after another, one slick and eager salesman after another.

I think there's a model for doing business that doesn't have anything to do with awarding 10-year-olds 1st, 2nd, and/or 3rd degree black belts. I don't think people, in general, would quit training, I think that they would start respecting us, again, for making the rank MEAN something. I think we'd get creative about how we offer praise to our students, without giving them levels of rank that make it all so much sales crap and hype. 

All in all, the decline of the standards for black belt in most stand up arts have made the rank of black belt a joke. It's made kids like my son, who believes in the martial arts, who loves the training, and who is firmly invested that the journey is a long, slow, and noble one, look at 15-year-old 3rd degree black belts and chuckle, knowing that that kids skills and ability to apply the techniques he knows won't hold a candle to the average beginner at his own school. My son, like many people in "the industry," just accept the fact that a black belt in BJJ is a black belt of a completely different type than what can be found in 99% of karate-influenced schools. 

And I am left trying to make excuses for why "we," the leaders in the martial arts world, seem to happily embrace, without any shame, that our black belts can't hold a candle to theirs. I'm left with trying to figure out when I decided it was smart to award pre-teens and teens with a level of rank that is shamefully beyond their ability to represent it in almost any way I now feel comfortable with. 

If ever there was a reason to reform our idea of what a black belt is --and/or isn't, the time is now. The Brazilians have shamed us, thankfully. I think we deserved it --and we needed it.

My Opinions About Martial Arts School Marketing

Too many martial arts schools only plant marketing crops meant to grow as fast as possible, so that they may be harvested and consumed immediately. They do that, most of the time, because they're starving for cash flow --and when you're starving, you need food RIGHT NOW.

When a schools starving for cash flow, it wil eat just about anything put in front of it --and so junk marketing, like junk food, which is cheap and easy and abundant, becomes the schools main source of "food." Junk marketing is cheap to produce; it doesn't take much money, time, thought, creativity, and/or effort. Pass out fliers (quality be damned), do birthday parties ("They're so easy, anyone can do them!"), host yet another Buddy-Day, hell, go wave signs in front of the local elementary school as the kids are getting out, and do it all like yesterday, because we need to "get the gross up!"

The thing about junk marketing, like junk food, is that the stuff will fill your immediate needs. Your belly will get full on junk food --and you might fill your school up with junk marketing, but in the long run, junk food deprives the person who consumes it of his/her vitality and heath. Likewise, junk marketing eventually steals a schools vitality, creative spirit, ingenuity, and reputation. 

Junk marketing has, literally, laid waste to the martial arts industry. We now have an entire generation of school owners and teachers who think that junk marketing is just about the only way to do the work. Instead of taking the time to create marketing programs of substance, of genuine hard-earned value, programs that don't "sell," but actually inspire, far too many schools go right to the lowest rung on the marketing food chain. They resort to cheap, degrading, and common "marketing" strategies that diminish the schools reputation, its marketability, and most of all, its ability to think up, create, and execute marketing campaigns with soul, with genius, with meaning, mission, and purpose. 

Listening to the marketing methods of many martial arts school owners is just about like listening to the manager of a Popeyes Chicken franchise or an Everything's Just $1 store or the local Big Al's Tire Shop. These aren't educators selling their wares, these aren't MASTER TEACHERS full of wisdom and experience, these folks sell fried chicken, $1 spatulas, and Dunlops. 

The right way for a MASTER TEACHER of a kind of art full of wisdom and life lessons, rich with mentoring and leadership experiences, something that transcends the obvious and becomes a life changing experience, times 10, is to market with a sense of mission. To teach, to affect, to solve problems, to become an integral part of the community. To market is to be in the meetings, to go after the people who need the most help, to see that bullying, for example, is a REAL problem --and instead of giving it the old superficial one-two, going into your community armed, prepared, and ready to work the issue until it is no longer an issue.

The way to market in the coming year is to take your martial arts off of the mat, our of your dojo, out of the box you teach in, and into your community ---and in way that only someone who doesn't take NO for an answer could do. Someone with tenacity, someone with guts, someone who won't quit until they win ---someone on a mission. 

Leave the crap-marketing for the dumb and blind. Let all the other schools fight over who's flier was left on which windshield in which strip-mall parking lot. Let all the other schools jockey for the best place at the flea market. Your marketing has to be smart. It ought to be as complex and rich as your intellect will accommodate. There are problems, right here in River City, right in your own town. Solve them --or at least become a more integral part of the village that's seeking to solve them. People need help, they don't need to be pitched, they need help. Can you supply it?

I think you can, but to do it, you're going to have to delay some of your need for instant gratification --and start putting your energy into marketing strategies that the 24 year old subscriber to our industry's illustrious trade magazines can't easily replicate. You need to initiate strategies that can't be bought or delivered in a box. And if you run into one of your competitors in the same parking lot as you, passing out fliers, see it as a sign that you're playing checkers in a world that only really respects chess. 

OK, understand that I'm not chewing on you, I'm trying like all hell to INSPIRE you to action --and if you're already taking "action," I'm trying to inspire you to MORE action, smarter, more pointed action, the action that has a measurable RETURN for you. If little or none of what I'm about to write applies to you, then please, don't take offense. 

Tom

---------------------

In the video, above, the fricking PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES speaks out against bullying and promotes bully education. 

DO I need to remind you that you / we should OWN this topic?

DO I need to point out that with nearly the entire WESTERN WORLD up in arms over the subject, that YOU (as in YOU, YOU, YOU!) should be THE NUMBER ONE Bully Prevention Activist in your community.

WHY? 

It's self-defense. It's something CLEARLY under the umbrella of "the martial arts," and it could MAKE YOU someone very, very, VERY important and useful in your community, which --somewhere down the road, would translate into two things:

1. Student in your school (money in your account); and

2. The actual reduction of suffering and pain to people who need to reduce both --and as a direct result of your life's work. 

Do you OWN The subject?

Have you spent anywhere even NEAR  10 minutes a day over the last year studying, teaching others, writing, promoting, and brainstorming ways to be THE SOURCE for bully prevention info, classes, help, guidance, and assistance in YOUR COMMUNITY?

I doubt it. 

Have you done anything but the most minimal steps to OWN the subject, to be a real, concrete, proactive, powerful resource for your community? Have you take 10 steps, mobilized 10 other teachers, made connection with 10 other activists, taught 10 classes....20, 50, 100? Have you sat in 10 meetings with local community leaders representing the subject. 

I hope you can say yes to one of the questions above, but I doubt you can.

I'm AMAZED at how little most teachers I've talked to have done on this subject. I'm shocked at how much I hear about passes, flyer distribution, birthday parties, boxed-fitness-program purchases, conventions attended, and blah, blah, blah -------while bully prevention sits in the back room waiting and waiting and waiting. 

Wonder why the Mayor hasn't called you? The principle? 20 teachers? 500 parents? 

Wonder why you're not invited to the meetings?

Wonder why the paper's not asking you to write a column?

Wonder why you've not drafted a SINGLE request to corporate sponsors in your community to help finance a program to combat the problem?

Because you're letting the opportunity to BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION, to be a THOUGHT LEADER, to be a LEADER at all ---pass you by.

You're on Facebook though!

You're doing this --and you're doing that, but what you, apparently,  WON'T BE DOING in the next year is initiating a MASTER PLAN to reach every man, woman, and child in your community, to form meaningful and constructive unions with counselors and other activists, and to be THE source far all of the help needed, desperately needed, in your community. 

You'll sit in your office. You'll put on your uniform. You'll walk your students thru forms, and pad drills, and grappling sessions. You'll perpetuate the ignorance of the industry, as you'll gauge yourself, measure yourself, NOT against the brightest, the most proactive, the real DOERS, but by the lame-brains in the  "martial arts industry" who don't hardly DO jack-shit about anything that doesn't get an immediate financial return. Who treat every subject like they can't be bothered to do the homework, but they're happy to adopt the marketing ideas. 

It disappoints me to no end --and, as you can tell, it pretty much pisses me off too. Right here, staring you in the face, is the opportunity of a lifetime. And do you know what most school owners are doing? They put a banner on their website, teach a few classes on the subject, with little planning by the way, and then look on Facebook for some new school "marketing" ideas. 

The purpose of this rant? To get you to step up. There's so much to do, there's a real potential for return on your investment in the work, but there's such a glut in real, smart, proactive LEADERSHIP in the industry on the subject we could and should be MOST engaged in, there's such a bullshit, superficial treatment, overall (with exceptions, of course) of the subject matter, that it makes us look like the clowns we are, when we slide into the path of least work and of least resistance.

While the President pleads, we stand by and do so little, so very little, that it's simply embarrassing --and VERY telling of why we, as an industry, seem to suck up to every birthday party health club sales nonsense that floods the trade mags.

Thank you for contacting my martial arts school, The Dojo.

Marketing 101

This last week I reviewed a video of a martial arts business teacher, a friend of mine, teaching a group of school owners about how to market their schools. In the short video my friend stood at a white board and asked the group about the “kinds of marketing they could do.”

Well...out came the usual litany of methods, which included lead boxes, birthday parties, VIP passes, flier distribution, etc.

Now, while there’s nothing criminally wrong with that, it simply and painfully reflects just how far we have not come in the last 20 years, as this is, for all accounts and purposes, the same meeting, with the same content, we were having back in the mid 1980’s.

My thoughts?

My friends, STOP showing up for kindergarten for crying out loud --you’re in COLLEGE! No, in fact, you’ve graduated college and you’re supposed to be changing the fricking world! It’s “your time” --and it shouldn’t be wasted talking about lead boxes, ice-cream socials, pizza parties, referral contests, door hangers, sleep-overs, “ninja-nights,” summer camps, after-school child care, and two-for-one guest passes.

THOSE things are a given. They’re ever-present. They’re the brushing your teeth, washing your clothes, putting on your socks and undies, and putting your keys in the car’s ignition of the martial arts teacher’s life.

Everyone has to tie their shoes, but note: WE DON'T LIVE TO TIE OUR SHOES. We live, (to borrow from Walt Whitman) to sing the body electric.

The basics have to be on automatic. They're made of the things you do, that don't require a lot of thought, they're just a part of your practice. Talking about them, now, today, at this time in your career is, well...a bit of an embarrassment. It’s kind of an insult to your intelligence and, frankly, I think it can’t be making it any easier to focus on the things you could --and should --be focusing on.

The Solution to This Problem

Take a piece of lined paper. Get a plastic sleeve for your day-planner. Sit down one afternoon with your paper and start writing down all (as in ALL) of the things you can think of to promote your school. You know, all the tools under the sun. Here are a few to get you started:

Fliers
Lead-boxes (if you must)
Door hangers
Business cards
Postcard guest passes
Posters
School educational seminars / talks
A-frame signs
T-shirts
Referral contests
Groupon
Websites
Blogs
Youtube videos
and blah, blah, blah...

You will find this list isn’t infinite, but “finite.” Start the list and add to it whenever you hear about or think of another way, another tool to use, to market and promote your school. Keep the list in your plastic sleeve, at the very front of your dayplanner.

Now, that being done, you will NEVER, EVER have to pay to sit in another meeting where someone has to ask you --or remind you of --the ABC’s of how to market your school.

I’m reminding / telling you about this as I want you to take your marketing and promotion plan to a whole new level. I want you to think like a master teacher, like a chess player, like an educator, like a Nobel Prize winning genius. I want you to cultivate programs to promote your school that bring people to tears, that solve social problems, that tackle health issues, that reduce suffering, that inspire and lift, and that reflect a level of thinking, of understanding, and of clarity that is supposed to come with 10, 20, 30, and 40 years + of martial arts training.

If you show up to learn how to manage a school, as a senior, master-level, martial arts educator --and we have to remind you to brush your teeth and tie your shoelaces, we’re in deep fricking kim-chee.

Instructors, school owners, your position in the world is a (potentially) sacred one. You have the opportunity to play a role in the world, an immensely important one --OR, you can be the kind of teacher, the kind of manager and organizer that goes to seminars to be reminded of the most rudimentary, brain-dead aspects of school management.

To market your school in a way that distinguishes you, that’s dignified and intelligent, you need to cultivate your skills as a problem solver, not a flier distributor or party host. To market your school in a way that sets you apart from the tire store, the Curves, the health club, the Popeye’s Chicken, and the 22-year old who’s opening his first karate school, you need to cultivate your ability to pull off organized, multiple-step projects that involve planning, the forming of new relationships, that USE your experience and wisdom, and that transcend the lead box and the VIP pass.

Really, I’m not trying to insult you; I’m trying to direct you to a kind of work that gives credit to your life’s work. There’s a kind of marketing and promotion you can do that causes your brain to light up, that inspires, that builds esteem for our profession and that, in the long run, is far, far more profitable that picking the low lying fruit of basic, tired, formulaic marketing (empty of spirit, empty of meaning, purpose, and vision).

You needn’t forgot all the old tools, as many of them can still serve you, but recognize and rise to the idea that there are other things you can do to promote your work that can cause people to stop, look, and listen in a way that is indicative of the kind of mastery that brought you to the martial art world in the first place.

When you’re ready (as in “When the student is ready..."), reach out to me. I’m a teacher for school owners who are ready to engage in (and/or already doing) master-level work. Don't just promote, promote ingeniously.

You tie your shoe laces while you think about where your shoes are going to take you.

Tom Callos
530-903-0286