Martial Arts World News Magazine - Volume 20 | Issue 2
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<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong><strong>World</strong><strong>News</strong>.com<br />
The #1 Business Resource for the <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Industry<br />
VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Grandmaster<br />
Jessie Bowen<br />
The POWER of<br />
Creating a Personal<br />
BRAND<br />
Why Even<br />
Bother Making<br />
Social Media Videos?
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WORK<br />
HARDer<br />
><br />
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• ENGAGING SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS • PROVEN-SUCCESSFUL<br />
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CONTENTS<br />
FEATURES<br />
26 Why Even Bother Making Social<br />
Media Videos?<br />
30 How One School Owner Used the<br />
‘Force’ to Find Success<br />
40 The Power of Creating a Personal<br />
Brand<br />
99 FREE Tool of the Month<br />
DEPARTMENTS<br />
14 Industry Insights<br />
17 Birthdays<br />
<strong>20</strong> Social 411<br />
22 Industry Innovations<br />
50 School Profile<br />
61 Classified Ads<br />
97 Advertiser Index<br />
YOUR INPUT<br />
13 Share Your Story<br />
76 Feature Your School,<br />
Organization, Accomplishment,<br />
or Event<br />
COLUMNS<br />
6 Editorial<br />
Filling the Emotional Bank Account:<br />
The Keys to Ironclad Student Retention, Part 2<br />
Master Toby Milroy<br />
8 <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>News</strong> Faculty<br />
12 Teamwork<br />
Ten Thoughts on Parenting as a <strong>Martial</strong> Artist<br />
Hanshi Dave Kovar<br />
54 The Warrior Way<br />
Managing the Krav Maga Curriculum, Part 1<br />
Grandmaster Bill Clark<br />
56 Next Level Strategy<br />
Put Some Magic into Your Retail Strategies, Part 2<br />
Shihan Allie Alberigo<br />
58 Growth Hacks<br />
Your Ads Must Have Speed, Power, and<br />
Accuracy<br />
Mr. Sean Lee<br />
60 Ninja Business Tactics<br />
Teaching Child Students in <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong><br />
An-Shu Stephen Hayes<br />
64 Pillars of Success<br />
Is the UFC Helping <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Schools?<br />
Grandmaster Y. K. Kim<br />
68 Management Excellence<br />
Do You Spend or Invest Your Time?<br />
Chief Master Kirk Pelt<br />
72 Extraordinary Marketing<br />
The 10 Things You MUST Do to Thrive, Part 3<br />
Grandmaster Stephen Oliver<br />
74 After School Excellence<br />
Start Your Summer Camp Now (Yes, Now)!<br />
Chief Master Mike Bugg<br />
4 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
STAFF<br />
76 Tactical Self-Defense<br />
Press The Points<br />
Grandmaster Tom Patire<br />
78 Complete <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Concepts<br />
Kung-Fu Curriculum Development, Part 1<br />
Professor Willie “the Bam” Johnson<br />
80 The Millionaire Smarts Coach<br />
Prescriptive Behavior<br />
Educational Contributor Ms. Lee Milteer<br />
84 Budo Philosophy<br />
The Reverse Side of Intelligence Is<br />
Arrogance<br />
Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci<br />
86 Pro Shop Power<br />
Build Retention Through Innovation & Safety<br />
Mr. Brandon Kim<br />
88 The Way of the Samurai<br />
The Three Rs of Combative Weaponry, Part 2<br />
Shihan Dana Abbott<br />
90 Master the Basics<br />
Three Secrets to a Great Beginner’s Class<br />
Master Tina Bane<br />
92 Instructional Excellence<br />
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly<br />
Grandmaster Tim McCarthy<br />
94 Tools & Tactics<br />
The Secret to Success<br />
Ms. Mandy Andrade<br />
96 <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Philosophy<br />
American Samurai, Part 1<br />
Sensei Gary Lee<br />
VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
PUBLISHER<br />
Master Toby Milroy<br />
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF<br />
Sean Lee<br />
MANAGING EDITOR<br />
Sandra Mirocha<br />
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR<br />
Jeff Reulbach<br />
ART DIRECTOR<br />
Frank Meyer<br />
GRAPHIC DESIGNER<br />
Amen Blue<br />
WEB DEVELOPERS<br />
Erin Pham<br />
Manuel Huerta<br />
COLUMNISTS & CONTRIBUTORS<br />
Hanshi Dave Kovar<br />
Mr.Sean Lee<br />
Shihan Allie Alberigo<br />
Supreme Grandmaster Y. K. Kim<br />
Chief Master Kirk Pelt<br />
Grandmaster Stephen Oliver<br />
Chief Master Mike Bugg<br />
Professor Willie Johnson<br />
Ms. Mandy Andrade<br />
Master Tina Bane<br />
Mr. Brandon Kim<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen<br />
Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci<br />
An-Shu Stephen Hayes<br />
Ms. Lee Milteer<br />
Sensei Gary Lee<br />
Grandmaster Tom Patire<br />
Shihan Dana Abbott<br />
The mission of <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong><br />
<strong>News</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> is to be the definitive<br />
source for information, news, education,<br />
ethical business practices,<br />
product reviews and innovative<br />
developments in the world of martial<br />
arts business.<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong><br />
<strong>News</strong> does not accept<br />
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comment.<br />
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<strong>News</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, its<br />
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This magazine is a<br />
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<strong>News</strong>. All rights<br />
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publisher.<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 5
Editorial<br />
Filling the Emotional<br />
Bank Account<br />
The Keys to Ironclad Student Retention, Part 2<br />
MASTER<br />
TOBY MILROY<br />
is a 5th degree<br />
black belt. Known<br />
as “The Master<br />
Systemizer,”<br />
Master Toby Milroy<br />
has positively<br />
influenced more<br />
martial arts schools<br />
than anyone in our<br />
industry. He has<br />
built a successful<br />
multi-school<br />
organization,<br />
lead the national<br />
trade association<br />
for the martial<br />
arts industry, and<br />
coached some of<br />
the most successful<br />
martial arts school<br />
operators in the<br />
world.<br />
➽Last time, we talked about<br />
building our relationship with<br />
our clients and creating more<br />
value in our program than we<br />
“sold” in the initial enrollment.<br />
This time, we will discuss some<br />
powerful, proven strategies for<br />
making deposits in a student’s<br />
(or parent’s) emotional bank<br />
account.<br />
As a quick recap, the essential<br />
keys to “locking the back door” for<br />
long-term student retention are:<br />
1. Over-delivering on the expectations<br />
of customers at every turn<br />
2. Clearly communicating the benefits of ongoing training<br />
your school—not only to the student, but to the<br />
entire family unit<br />
3. Creating a positive community within your school<br />
4. Exciting, valuable, productive classes that the client<br />
perceives to be valuable<br />
#1.) Over-delivering on the expectations of the<br />
customer:<br />
The “Emotional Bank Account”<br />
The balance in the “Emotional Bank Account” is the<br />
level of relationship you have with your customers. This<br />
is something that is very hard to measure, but it’s VERY<br />
easy to see in a client and in a school. Are your customers<br />
annoyed when they come into your school, knowing that<br />
something will go wrong? Or are they excited to see you,<br />
and enthusiastic to help out in any way that they can?<br />
Are they reticent to come into your school because they<br />
know they are going to be sold something, do they feel<br />
like they are ignored in the lobby, do they feel uncomfortable<br />
in the facility, are they put off by the smell, are they<br />
annoyed with the undisciplined behavior they see in the<br />
classes?<br />
Or are they an evangelist of your program, telling everyone<br />
they meet about the amazing, positive<br />
impact you’ve had on their children?<br />
Now, of course, there will always be that<br />
ten percent who will NOT be happy, no<br />
matter WHAT you do, and the ten percent<br />
who would live in the school if you’d let<br />
them, and frankly, there isn’t much you<br />
can do about either group. But, what does<br />
the “average” client relationship “feel”<br />
like?<br />
The key is to always be making many,<br />
many more deposits into this “Emotional<br />
Bank Account” than withdrawals. When<br />
your client “bought” your services, when<br />
they enrolled in your school, you made<br />
them a promise. You told them that in exchange for X,<br />
you’d provide Y. The VERY MINIMUM you absolutely<br />
MUST do is fulfilling Y. Any and every time you fail to accomplish<br />
that in the perception of the client, you damage<br />
the relationship. (Keep in mind that what you perceive to<br />
be adequate service, your customer may not.)<br />
I believe in the 5-to-1 Principle. I believe we need to be<br />
delivering five dollars in value for every one dollar in tuition<br />
we charge—at MINIMUM. In my schools, we charge<br />
between $197 and $359 a month for different programs,<br />
so I have to be confident that we’re delivering AT LEAST<br />
between $1,000 and $1,800 a month in value. Frankly,<br />
I believe I’m delivering MUCH, MUCH more and our<br />
students agree.<br />
EVERY time you end a class 15 minutes late, little<br />
Johnny is overlooked in class, you ask your customers for<br />
money, or in some way violate the trust that the client puts<br />
in you, you make a small withdrawal from that account.<br />
(Now, I’m not suggesting that you can never ask your clients<br />
for money, but you must always be delivering MUCH<br />
more value than they are paying for; no one likes to be<br />
nickeled and dimed to death.)<br />
Next month, we’ll tackle making deposits in the account<br />
and more!<br />
6 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by yannp
Check out our new<br />
MARTIAL ARTS BUSINESS<br />
DISCUSSION GROUP<br />
No Egos – No Politics – No Trolls<br />
Just <strong>News</strong>, Tips, Strategies, and Tools to Help You Grow Your School!<br />
facebook.com/groups/<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong><strong>World</strong><strong>News</strong>
OUR EXPERT FACULTY<br />
6<br />
Master Toby Milroy<br />
is a 5th degree Black Belt, the CEO and<br />
Publisher of <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
<strong>Magazine</strong>, and the Executive Vice<br />
President for AMS. In addition to building<br />
a successful multi-school organization,<br />
Master Milroy has positively influenced<br />
more martial arts schools than virtually<br />
anyone in our industry.<br />
12<br />
Hanshi Dave Kovar<br />
is an 8th degree black belt and recognized<br />
as the “Trainer of Trainers.” Hanshi<br />
Kovar is an internationally acclaimed<br />
instructor with black belt degrees in ten<br />
different martial arts styles. His systems<br />
have been implemented in hundreds of<br />
schools around the US.<br />
58<br />
Mr. Sean Lee<br />
is the Executive Director of Sales and<br />
Marketing for hundreds of martial arts<br />
schools and specializes in online and social<br />
media marketing using his extensive<br />
professional experience in sports and<br />
martial arts marketing, contract negotiation,<br />
and investment.<br />
60<br />
An-Shu Stephen Hayes<br />
has authored <strong>20</strong> books, worked as a<br />
bodyguard for the Dalai Lama, supervised<br />
over 30 school locations worldwide,<br />
and was named, "One of the 10<br />
Most Influential Living <strong>Martial</strong> Artists in<br />
the <strong>World</strong>" by Black Belt <strong>Magazine</strong>.<br />
54<br />
Grandmaster Bill Clark<br />
is a 9th degree black belt and a former<br />
PKA Fighter of the year. He is widely considered<br />
one of the top experts in martial<br />
arts business with over 30 years of<br />
leadership and innovation, having been<br />
inducted into almost every Hall of Fame<br />
in the industry. He is one of the largest<br />
multi-school owners in the world.<br />
56<br />
Shihan Allie Alberigo<br />
is a 7th degree black belt, the founder<br />
of the L.I. Ninjutsu Centers, one of the<br />
largest Ninjutsu schools on the planet,<br />
the author of 4 books, and an entrepreneur<br />
with one of the first online coaching<br />
companies (TakingItToTheNextLevel.com).<br />
64<br />
Grandmaster Y. K. Kim<br />
is the most successful martial arts business<br />
leader in the US, having written<br />
over 30 books on martial arts, business,<br />
leadership, and success. He has won<br />
numerous public service awards and is<br />
the founder of the leading martial arts<br />
marketing and management company in<br />
the US.<br />
68<br />
Chief Master Kirk Pelt<br />
is an 8th degree black belt and is the<br />
President of a multimillion-dollar, multischool<br />
organization, has a 30-year track<br />
record of success, and is currently on the<br />
leading edge of martial arts curriculum<br />
and business innovation.<br />
8 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
OUR EXPERT FACULTY<br />
70<br />
Grandmaster Stephen Oliver<br />
is a 9th degree black belt and is the<br />
founder and CEO of Mile High Karate<br />
schools, and founder of the <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong><br />
Wealth Mastery Program.<br />
72<br />
Master Mike Bugg<br />
is an 8th degree black belt and the<br />
owner of a 1.5 million-per-year location,<br />
with one of the largest after school and<br />
summer camp programs in the country.<br />
76<br />
Grandmaster Tom Patire<br />
is known as “America’s Leading Personal<br />
Safety Expert” and has appeared on<br />
Good Morning America, The CBS Morning<br />
Show, The Colbert Report, Montel,<br />
plus in mainstream publications such as<br />
Family Circle, Redbook, Fortune <strong>Magazine</strong>,<br />
and The Wall Street Journal.<br />
80<br />
Educational Contributor Lee Milteer<br />
is an Intuitive Business Coach, awardwinning<br />
professional speaker, and TV<br />
personality who has counseled and<br />
trained over a million people throughout<br />
her career. Lee is Stephen Oliver’s<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Wealth Mastery’s Millionaire<br />
Smarts Coach and is also a best-selling<br />
author of educational resources.<br />
84<br />
Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci<br />
is the CEO and General Manager of the<br />
Budo International Publishing Company,<br />
a leading publisher in the martial arts<br />
with over 35 years in the industry. He<br />
is also author of several books: The<br />
Immaterial Dimension, The Way of the<br />
Warrior, and The Spirit. He currently lives<br />
in Valencia, Spain.<br />
86<br />
Mr. Brandon Kim<br />
is the President of Vision <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong><br />
Supply, Los Angeles Branch, who helps<br />
school owners all over the US maximize<br />
their retail sales and drive more revenue<br />
into their schools.<br />
78<br />
Professor Willie “The BAM” Johnson<br />
is a 7th degree black belt and seven-time<br />
sport karate and Kung-Fu world champion.<br />
He has appeared in four movies,<br />
16 plays, and 11 television shows. He is<br />
also the national spokesperson for the<br />
Stronger than Drugs Foundation and the<br />
Champions Against Drugs.<br />
88<br />
Shihan Dana Abbott<br />
Is a 7th degree black belt in Kenjutsu,<br />
starting his 14-year education in Tokyo. He<br />
has published five books. Abbott has also<br />
conducted seminars in over 30 countries<br />
and obtained his black belt at the Hombu<br />
dojo in Yokohama. He currently offers<br />
online classes on LearntheSword.com, his<br />
unique swordsmanship academy.<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 9
OUR EXPERT FACULTY<br />
90<br />
Master Tina Bane<br />
is a 6th degree master instructor and<br />
owner of a Top Ten martial arts school<br />
with successful after school and summer<br />
camp programs.<br />
94<br />
Ms. Mandy Andrade<br />
is a martial arts business development<br />
consultant with a background in online<br />
and social media marketing.<br />
92<br />
Grandmaster Tim McCarthy<br />
is a 9th degree black belt and is a martial<br />
arts educator with a master’s degree in<br />
education. He has been instrumental<br />
in developing two industry-changing<br />
programs, and has directed and been<br />
featured in hundreds of martial arts videos<br />
and webinars.<br />
96<br />
Sensei Gary Lee<br />
the American Samurai, is a 9th Dan black<br />
belt, a USA Karate Federation gold medalist,<br />
winner of five Super Grand National<br />
Titles, a featured actor in the movie Sidekicks,<br />
and is the founder of the National<br />
Sport Karate Museum.<br />
Thousands<br />
Of <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> School Owners And Instructors<br />
Could See Your Ad Right Here!<br />
10 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
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Teamwork<br />
Ten Thoughts on Parenting<br />
as a <strong>Martial</strong> Artist<br />
HANSHI<br />
DAVE KOVAR<br />
is an 8th degree<br />
black belt and<br />
recognized as the<br />
“Trainer of Trainers.”<br />
Hanshi Dave Kovar<br />
is an internationally<br />
acclaimed instructor<br />
with black belt<br />
degrees in ten<br />
different martial<br />
arts styles. His<br />
systems have been<br />
implemented in<br />
hundreds of schools<br />
around the US. Visit<br />
KovarSystems.com<br />
➽Raising kids today is arguably harder than<br />
ever before, but there are some ways to help<br />
ease the stress and strain of raising your little<br />
ones and prevent behavior problems through<br />
good parenting.<br />
Here is a list of things any parent can do to raise their<br />
children to be confident, successful individuals:<br />
1) Establish “together time.”<br />
Establish a regular weekly routine for doing something<br />
special with your child,<br />
even if it’s just going out<br />
for ice cream.<br />
2) Don’t be afraid to<br />
ask where your kids<br />
are going and whom<br />
they’ll be with.<br />
Get to know your kid’s<br />
friends—and their<br />
parents—so that you’re<br />
familiar with their<br />
activities.<br />
3) Be a better listener.<br />
Ask and encourage<br />
questions. Ask for your<br />
kid’s input about family<br />
decisions. Showing your<br />
willingness to listen<br />
will make your child<br />
feel more comfortable<br />
opening up to you.<br />
4) Be a living, day-to-day<br />
example of your value<br />
system.<br />
Show the compassion,<br />
honesty, generosity, and<br />
openness you want your<br />
child to have.<br />
5) Reward good behavior<br />
consistently and<br />
immediately.<br />
Expressions of love, appreciation,<br />
and thanks<br />
go a long way—even for kids who think themselves too<br />
old for hugs.<br />
6) Accentuate the positive.<br />
Emphasize what your kid does right. Restrain the urge<br />
to be critical. Affection and respect will reinforce good<br />
(and change bad) behavior. Embarrassment or uneasiness<br />
won’t.<br />
7) Create rules.<br />
Discuss in advance the consequences of breaking them.<br />
Don’t make empty threats<br />
or let the rule-breaker<br />
off easy. Don’t impose<br />
harsh or unexpected new<br />
punishments.<br />
8) Get involved in your<br />
child’s school, your<br />
neighborhood, and<br />
your community.<br />
You, not the teachers<br />
and other authority<br />
figures in your child’s<br />
life, are responsible for<br />
parenting your child.<br />
9) Set clear rules and<br />
limits for your children.<br />
Be flexible and adjust<br />
the rules and limits as<br />
they grow and are able to<br />
set them for themselves.<br />
10) Be a guide for your<br />
children.<br />
Offer to help with<br />
homework, in social<br />
situations, and with<br />
concerns about the<br />
future. Be there to<br />
help them direct and<br />
redirect their energy<br />
and to understand<br />
and express their<br />
feelings.<br />
12 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
BE RECOGNIZED in future editions of<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>News</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>.<br />
Our goal at <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>News</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> is to<br />
support our industry and help you grow your martial<br />
arts school. It’s incredibly useful for our readers to hear<br />
about YOUR specific experiences and results.<br />
You are part of a wonderful industry and community with<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>News</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, and now, you’ll be<br />
able to share and contribute to that community in a more<br />
rich and meaningful way than ever before!<br />
You could Share Stories About:<br />
• Achieving a New Rank<br />
• Opening a New Location<br />
• Winning an Award<br />
• Discovering a Successful Marketing Strategy<br />
• Building a Retention System that Works Well<br />
• Tournament Results<br />
• Anything else that our readers might find valuable!<br />
<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong><strong>World</strong><strong>News</strong>.com/Ureport<br />
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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS<br />
Who is Kukkiwon’s New President<br />
Chi Young-Ryul?<br />
Last October, Grandmaster Choi Young-Ryul was sworn in as the newest Kukkiwon President. He was appointed<br />
by the President Election Committee, which is comprised of several Korean Taekwondo<br />
groups and organizations. The Board Recommendation Committee elects board<br />
members.<br />
Young-Ryul is the youngest representative of the national Korean Taekwondo team and<br />
a professor of Taekwondo at Kyunghee University, and served as the dean of the College<br />
of Physical Education at Kyunghee in <strong>20</strong>09.<br />
At the beginning of <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong>, he published a letter addressed to members of the organization.<br />
In the letter, Young-Ryul admitted, “Kukkiwon was plagued by various<br />
issues over the last few years, which inevitably scathed Kukkiwon’s stature,”<br />
and that he would like to “put the highest priority in rebuilding the status of<br />
Kukkiwon by reforming it into the <strong>World</strong> Taekwondo Headquarter that would<br />
lead the future of Taekwondo.” He further urged that in the new year, “all<br />
efforts will be put into stabilizing the internal system of Kukkiwon and<br />
establish the foundation for Kukkiwon’s reformation.”<br />
Young-Ryul later made the promise that “every member of Kukkiwon<br />
will put in ceaseless efforts to make Kukkiwon a trustworthy and shining<br />
organization. I will listen to the voice of the Taekwondo Family with the<br />
humblest mind, and work tirelessly for the bright future of Kukkiwon.”<br />
<strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong> will be an interesting year for Kukkiwon, to be sure.<br />
USTC’s Newest President, GM Doug<br />
Fuechsel, Addresses Members in New<br />
Year’s Letter<br />
Former Executive Director of the US Open Taekwondo<br />
Hanmadang, Grandmaster Doug Fuechsel, has been elected<br />
president of the US Taekwondo Committee. In a letter<br />
addressed to members on December 23, <strong>20</strong>19, Fuechsel<br />
thanked members for their unwavering love of Taekwondo.<br />
In regards to the USTC’s future in <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong>, Fuechsel asserted<br />
that “we have a responsibility to continue to uphold<br />
the honor of Taekwondo,” and that “our goal is to honor<br />
and respect [Taekwondo] as the treasure it is and care for<br />
its future,” before going on to thank Hanmadang supporters<br />
for their contributions.<br />
In closing, Fuechsel said he looks “forward to <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong> and<br />
beyond,” and “together we will do great things.”<br />
14 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS<br />
AMAA’s Who’s Who in the <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong><br />
Legends Awards Banquet to be Held<br />
June 26 in Las Vegas<br />
This year’s annual American <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Alliance Who’s<br />
Who in the <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Legends Awards Banquet will be<br />
held June 26–27 at the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino in Las<br />
Vegas. Co-founder Grandmaster Jessie Bowen, who has<br />
proclaimed June “Proud to be a <strong>Martial</strong> Artist” month, will<br />
also be releasing the latest edition of the Who’s Who in the<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> book at a release party. The awards banquet<br />
is a dinner honoring inductees and nominees of the <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong><br />
edition of Who’s Who, and includes a tribute to Grandmaster<br />
Chuck Norris, who will be celebrating his 80th birthday<br />
this year.<br />
To register, nominate someone, or purchase a book,<br />
please visit WhosWhointhe<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong>.com.<br />
You can be included in the new edition honoring Chuck Norris.<br />
Visit WhosWhointhe<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong>.com!<br />
16 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong><br />
Celebrity Birthdays<br />
Russell Wong .................March 1<br />
Joe Lewis (D. <strong>20</strong>12) ............March 7<br />
Cynthia Rothrock .............March 8<br />
Chuck Norris .................March 10<br />
Kurata Yasuaki ...............March <strong>20</strong><br />
Jee Ja Yanin ..................March 31<br />
Wu Jing .....................April 3<br />
Jackie Chan ..................April 7<br />
Steven Seagal ................April 10<br />
Gina Carano .................April 16<br />
Jet Li .......................April 26<br />
Ron Smoorenburg .............April 30<br />
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 17
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS<br />
The <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> History Museum<br />
Launches First Children’s Book<br />
The <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> History Museum in Burbank, CA is proud to release its first of a series<br />
of children’s books to stimulate interest in the history, art, culture, and physical benefits<br />
of the martial arts. Entitled The Adventures of Ichi & His Friends, this unique storybook,<br />
designed for kids 8–12, is a fun way to learn about life’s lessons in connection with the<br />
martial arts.<br />
Since the 1980s release of the Karate Kid films, a whole<br />
new door of opportunity opened for the martial arts community<br />
as young people found martial arts an alternative to<br />
outdoor sports. The term “soccer<br />
moms” slowly became “karate<br />
moms” as more and more children<br />
discovered they could have fun<br />
while learning to defend themselves.<br />
In a martial arts nationwide<br />
survey, it noted that two out of<br />
every three children have enrolled<br />
in a martial arts program or knew<br />
someone who had.<br />
The Adventures of Ichi is a 160-<br />
page storybook that follows the<br />
journey of the <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> History<br />
Museum’s primary characters. They<br />
include Ichi, Kekoa, Shinji, Lalo,<br />
and Sifu as they face different life<br />
experiences, and by depending upon each other, they are<br />
able to overcome many of life’s obstacles.<br />
“There aren’t a lot of martial arts books for children on<br />
the market, and with so many of our young kids learning<br />
the arts, I thought it would be nice to have something<br />
they could read that they would be able to relate to,”<br />
notes museum president and author of the book, Michael<br />
Matsuda. “I have written over a dozen books, but this is my<br />
first children’s book. One of the most impressive series I<br />
ever saw was the TV show, ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender.’ It<br />
provided a number of wonderful messages, and I felt that<br />
was important, especially for our children. With this book, I<br />
hope to reopen that door into learning.”<br />
Although set in a different world, The Adventures of Ichi<br />
has many similarities to a variety of Asian countries and<br />
traditions.<br />
“I also wanted the book to focus on culture, but I didn’t<br />
want to focus on a particular country, but to develop an appreciation<br />
of different cultures and traditions,” adds Matsuda.<br />
This is the first of a series of books focusing on the<br />
museum’s characters. Subtitled, “The Journey to Mountain<br />
Temple,” this book follows the children as they journey<br />
from their home to their final destination, Mountain<br />
Temple. Children will learn about each character and<br />
the exciting encounters they will have along the way.<br />
“Like Disney has Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck,<br />
and so many more wonderful representatives of<br />
the Disney world,” notes Matsuda, a former Disney<br />
graphic artist, “I wanted our characters to represent<br />
the <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> History Museum. This book will introduce<br />
the world to their story.”<br />
The official release was held on Dec. 14 at the<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> History Museum, with free entry. The<br />
book is also available for purchase on Amazon.<br />
“This book is not limited to just children. It is my<br />
hope that all who come to the <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> History<br />
Museum will have a copy of this book so that they<br />
can learn the backstory of the role the characters<br />
play in the Museum,” adds Matsuda. “I originally drew each<br />
of the characters and hired my friend, a terrific artist, Eleazar<br />
Del Rosario, to add his<br />
amazing touch and [make]<br />
them come to life.”<br />
Because the goal is to<br />
make the book a long-term<br />
venture, an index of the<br />
villages, relatives, and how<br />
each character connects to<br />
each other is listed in the<br />
Grandmaster<br />
Michael Matsuda<br />
back. A page at the end of<br />
the book has a number of<br />
interesting questions for<br />
book reports.<br />
For information about the<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> History Museum, visit their website at<br />
MAmuseum.com or visit them at 2319 W. Magnolia Blvd.,<br />
Burbank, CA 91506 or call (818) 478-1722.<br />
18 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
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SOCIAL 411<br />
The Best Times to<br />
Post on Facebook &<br />
Instagram<br />
Have you ever wondered whether it’s worth writing that<br />
Facebook post during your morning coffee or tea? It turns out<br />
that you can probably wait until lunchtime.<br />
Social media firm Sprout Social has found that for<br />
Facebook, Wednesday is the best day of the week for post<br />
engagement, particularly between the hours of 11 a.m. and<br />
1 p.m. (Eastern time). Facebook sees the least amount of<br />
engagement before 7 a.m. and after 5 p.m., with Sunday being<br />
the least popular day of the week to engage.<br />
Wednesday is also the most popular day of<br />
the week on Instagram, although you can<br />
confidently post any weekday between<br />
9 a.m. and 11 a.m., according to online<br />
publication Later. For Wednesday, peak<br />
times are 5 a.m., 11 a.m., and 3 p.m.<br />
However, posting any time between<br />
9 a.m. and 5 p.m. is also a safe bet to<br />
post on Instagram.<br />
Your School Could<br />
Soon be a Pokéstop<br />
Niantic, the mobile gaming company<br />
that helms Pokémon GO, has opened<br />
their platform to small businesses who<br />
want to become “sponsored locations.”<br />
A sponsored location is a spot<br />
officially recognized in game as a place<br />
where players can catch Pokémon or duel,<br />
driving foot traffic. In the past, mega-corporations like Mc-<br />
Donald’s and Starbucks turned their stores into sponsored<br />
locations during the heyday of Pokémon GO back in <strong>20</strong>16.<br />
Now, Niantic is allowing small and medium-sized business<br />
to have a turn. Businesses interested in being a sponsored<br />
location need simply submit an application to Niantic and<br />
wait, as the company has been rolling out their beta program<br />
on a regional basis. The perks of being a sponsored<br />
location include exclusive bonuses for players, and for a<br />
business to schedule “raids” and competitions while offering<br />
special deals for players, which could be a boon for<br />
business during slow hours. $30 per month will get you one<br />
Pokéstop, while $60 will get you a “gym.” Small businesses<br />
can have one stop or gym per 30 physical locations.<br />
The Most Popular Way to Interact<br />
Digitally is Texting<br />
A study by Pew Research Center has revealed that<br />
sending text messages is the most popular activity for<br />
smartphone users. The study spanned several continents<br />
and the result was the same across the board: The majority<br />
of people use their phones to text, as opposed to other<br />
activities like taking photos or posting on social media.<br />
So, what does this mean for the martial arts school owner?<br />
CRM software for martial arts schools that allows for automated<br />
texting (like Atlas <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Software) will be your<br />
best bet when it comes to answering prospects’ questions<br />
or following up on leads and receiving responses (read our<br />
interview with Grandmaster Troy Dorsey on page 50 if you<br />
don’t believe us!).<br />
Furthermore, with the rise of anti-robocalling measures<br />
such as iPhones blocking unknown numbers, and with<br />
people being just plain busy, there’s a better chance of<br />
receiving a response from a prospect when they can see<br />
who is contacting them and the reason why, and when<br />
they can read an inquiry on their own time.<br />
Another marketing strategy to consider implementing<br />
would be a tool like a chatbot, which can be enabled on<br />
your school’s Facebook page. The chatbot will automatically<br />
respond to inquiries, even after school hours. Many<br />
martial arts site-building services also offer a chatbot, such<br />
as Amazing <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Websites.<br />
<strong>20</strong> MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by Prykhodov (bottom)
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Rock Steady Defies Parkinson’s Research<br />
Jeff and Renee Battenberg’s Kingwood, Texas school<br />
is seeing astonishing results with their martial arts school’s<br />
program, Rock Steady. Designed for patients diagnosed with<br />
Parkinson’s disease, students see improvements in their motor<br />
skills and balance immediately.<br />
“Our goal is [for] everybody [to] realize that you can stave<br />
off the progression of Parkinson’s through forced, intense<br />
exercise, and the biggest hurdle we have is somebody<br />
thinking that they can’t do it,” Jeff explains. “For somebody<br />
with Parkinson’s, it’s a matter of explaining to them to just<br />
come to one class. You don’t think that they can experience<br />
anything in one class because it’s just one class, but when<br />
they get to that class and they feel the synergy of the class…<br />
and we tell them ‘bring your knees high,’ all of a sudden they<br />
stand up taller and march; by just saying the word ‘march,’ or<br />
thinking of ‘march’ instead of telling somebody ‘you’re leaning<br />
over,’ it triggers a different response and they walk better<br />
in five seconds—the change is almost instant.”<br />
If you’re interested in being a Rock Steady school, visit<br />
RockSteadyBoxing.org.<br />
22 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
INDUSTRY INNOVATIONS<br />
AMSkids Has Everything You Need For<br />
a Smashing After School Program &<br />
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It’s no secret in the martial arts school industry that an<br />
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Luckily, AMSkids provides everything the school owner<br />
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MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 23
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Marketing<br />
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26 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Illustration by axel<strong>20</strong>01
Marketing<br />
g Social Media Videos?<br />
By Sandra Mirocha<br />
You’re missing out on<br />
reaching billions of internet<br />
users if you’re not posting<br />
videos on your social<br />
media pages. If you aren’t<br />
posting videos, you need<br />
to start—yesterday.<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 27
Marketing<br />
Why Video Posts Are So Successful<br />
Studies show that viewers retain 95 percent more information<br />
from video content, compared to a measly ten percent when just<br />
reading text. Studies have also shown that brands (and you should be<br />
thinking of your martial arts school as a brand) using video marketing<br />
see a 49 percent faster growth of their yearly revenue. It’s estimated<br />
that this year videos will account for a whopping 82 percent of<br />
internet traffic, so you’ll risk missing out on a huge swath of internet<br />
users by not using video marketing. As if that’s not enough, video<br />
content sees 1,<strong>20</strong>0 percent more shares than text and images combined.<br />
Furthermore, 75 percent of users visit a company’s website<br />
after viewing a video they posted, with 64 percent of users saying<br />
they’re more likely to purchase a product or service after watching a<br />
video. Adults are also more likely than other demographics to interact<br />
with video ads than any other type of marketing, which means<br />
that video ads are a great way to reach prospective adult students.<br />
Finally convinced? Here are the most popular video formats on<br />
social media:<br />
Vertical Videos<br />
Because 60 percent of online<br />
video plays are through mobile<br />
devices, it’s essential<br />
to use vertical video as<br />
phone users hold their<br />
phones vertically 94<br />
percent of the time. By<br />
using vertical videos,<br />
your videos will appeal<br />
to 4.8 billion people<br />
using mobile internet. A<br />
Facebook study reported<br />
that 65 percent of users<br />
find brands using vertical<br />
videos more innovative,<br />
while 79 percent said<br />
they found the format<br />
more engaging<br />
than horizontal<br />
videos.<br />
Live Stream Videos<br />
“Live social video offers a real-time perspective of your business,<br />
which viewers connect with. This unedited format builds trust and<br />
gives your audience a chance to engage with you directly, ask questions,<br />
and react to your video as it’s filmed so you can see how it’s<br />
landing,” social media strategist Maxwell Gollin says.<br />
Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms also give live videos the<br />
most weight on a newsfeed, meaning that your video will reach<br />
many of your followers. While live stream videos are a great way<br />
to engage with users in a sincere, meaningful way, you’ll still want<br />
to plan ahead for your video to be as effective as possible. Let your<br />
followers know ahead of time that you’ll be going live so that they<br />
can join you when you start. Keep an outline of what you would like<br />
to discuss with viewers so you don’t forget anything vital like an<br />
upcoming event. Address users by name as they enter the chat and<br />
interact with you.<br />
Facebook recommends streaming for a minimum of ten minutes.<br />
You can also save the video when you’re finished and add it to your<br />
Story so that everyone can watch it.<br />
Story Videos<br />
Speaking of Stories, this is another video avenue you’ll want to<br />
explore. It’s reported that 400 million Instagram users watch Stories,<br />
so you’d be remiss not to take advantage. If you’re unfamiliar, Story<br />
videos disappear after just 24 hours, but Instagram users can save<br />
them and add them as a “highlight” to their profile. Users view<br />
stories as more organic and genuine content compared to a more<br />
impersonal photo ad post. Story videos are highly customizable,<br />
allowing users to add music, text, geotags, stickers, GIFs, filters, and<br />
more, so you can really make them your own. There are also question<br />
stickers, with which viewers can send you their questions, as well as<br />
poll stickers and quiz stickers so that you can truly interact with your<br />
followers in a fun, memorable way.<br />
Nona Blackman of Envato<br />
recommends these tips for making<br />
your videos as effective<br />
as possible:<br />
Have a goal in mind<br />
for your video. Accomplish<br />
this by figuring<br />
out what you want<br />
the video to do for your<br />
school. Do you want to<br />
increase brand awareness?<br />
Inform prospective<br />
students? Interact<br />
with current students?<br />
Determine your<br />
target audience.<br />
Tailor your video<br />
formats and social<br />
media platforms to<br />
that audience. Younger<br />
people favor Instagram, while older users hang out on Facebook. If<br />
you’re unsure of what to do, scope out your biggest competitor and<br />
see what they post.<br />
Determine the type of video you want to create. Blackman suggests<br />
that “if you want to increase brand awareness, you might want<br />
to create a short demonstration video…but if you want to increase<br />
sales revenue, you many want to create a product video with an irresistible<br />
offer. The important thing is to think about what you want<br />
your audience to feel, think, or do after they’ve watched your video<br />
and let that guide you.”<br />
Know the specifications for the social media site. Instagram,<br />
Facebook, and YouTube are the most popular sites for viewing video<br />
content. Each site has its own video specs to keep in mind when posting.<br />
Make sure to research the permitted file formats, minimum and<br />
maximum video lengths, and aspect ratios of each site.<br />
Statistics from Platform Solutions Resources and Envato.<br />
28 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Illustration by SiberianArt
March 10th<br />
April 14th<br />
May 12th
Exclusive Interview<br />
30 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
Exclusive Interview<br />
How One School Owner Used<br />
the ‘Force’ to Find Success<br />
Sifu Edward Armstrong of Virginia Beach, VA, operates Saberation, a unique light<br />
sword martial arts curriculum that’s showing amazing results.<br />
MAWN: Tell us a little bit about your background with<br />
regard to the martial arts.<br />
EA: I have received Eskrima training, as well as other training,<br />
through Nathan Young, who has basically been my personal mentor<br />
and instructor in other<br />
various martial arts such<br />
as Kempo, western style,<br />
and Tang Soo Do as well.<br />
So, that’s where all of this<br />
started in regards to honing<br />
the sports element<br />
of light sword into more<br />
of a martial art. So, some<br />
stick fighting, as well as<br />
some sword-related kind<br />
of stuff as well.<br />
MAWN: What does<br />
it feel like having had<br />
Saberation operating<br />
for almost two years<br />
now?<br />
EA: Having Saberation<br />
operational for a<br />
little over two years<br />
has been amazing. We<br />
have experienced a lot<br />
of results that were<br />
unexpected with it, and<br />
that’s with regard to how<br />
efficiently our students<br />
Saberation Founder and CEO Sifu Edward<br />
Armstrong and MAWN’s own Sean Lee<br />
show off a Saberation light saber<br />
are reaching their personal fitness goals, as well as the benefits that<br />
we are observing with social interaction skills. We tend to have quite<br />
a number of students who are known as introverts, and when they<br />
come into our academies, and they start studying and becoming<br />
students of light sword martial arts, we quickly find them within a<br />
matter of weeks—if not a couple of months—leading the charge and<br />
becoming the leaders of the group, and becoming very outgoing,<br />
expressing themselves in various manners. Just being able to observe<br />
that has been a blessing, and seeing the confidence levels increase in<br />
all of our students.<br />
We teach students from ages as young as eight to, I believe, our<br />
oldest student is 66-years-old now. So, we’ve seen it through the<br />
development stages, all the way through the teens, to the early <strong>20</strong>s,<br />
and 30s, and so on. We’ve also seen increased cognitive awareness,<br />
fitness goals, and confidence levels. This is another surprising aspect:<br />
We’ve even seen benefits present themselves within the autistic<br />
community in dealing with<br />
Asperger’s and things of<br />
that nature. It’s just been<br />
absolutely amazing. We<br />
continue to learn new things<br />
about this, and the positive<br />
effects of martial arts and<br />
Saberation every day.<br />
MAWN: How has the<br />
light sword training<br />
helped you personally?<br />
EA: Personally, I’ve<br />
found myself becoming<br />
more physically active than<br />
normally. Prior to Saberation<br />
and really focusing all<br />
of my attention and efforts<br />
into the martial arts, I was<br />
really pinned down to the<br />
desk a lot; a lot of computer<br />
work. Sometimes, I would<br />
have, unfortunately, 14-,<br />
16-, 18-hour days in front<br />
of a computer, so physically<br />
that was not very beneficial<br />
to me. The more I became<br />
involved in light sword training and martial arts, the more active I<br />
personally became physically. I find myself losing weight, having<br />
more energy. I even did a 30-day challenge and I broadcast it as a<br />
video on Facebook. Within 30 days I had actually lost over 28 pounds<br />
just by doing light sword fitness exercise routines daily, and also a<br />
little bit of dietary changes as well—almost 30 pounds in 30 days! We<br />
recorded everything on video and I’m very proud of that example.<br />
Shortly thereafter, I was like, ‘What was I thinking?’<br />
But, I wanted to, for lack of a better term, become a poster child<br />
for the fitness and health benefits that we’ve been able to prove, time<br />
and time again, are a result of doing light sword martial arts.<br />
MAWN: How did you manage to get four schools using<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 31
Exclusive Interview<br />
the light sword martial arts curriculum?<br />
EA: Well, before we started Saberation, we were part of a previous<br />
franchise that dealt with light swords more along the lines of a sport,<br />
and as we participated in light sword, we started seeing things that<br />
we would personally like to see improved<br />
upon.<br />
So, when we created Saberation, we<br />
looked at our experience and said, ‘If we<br />
were to create an instructor, or if we were<br />
to go out and train other people to teach<br />
light sword martial arts, what are some of<br />
the things that we would want to have to<br />
help us and assist us in being successful in<br />
that endeavor?’<br />
So we created a training and certification<br />
system that allows martial art academies<br />
to incorporate light sword martial<br />
arts into their existing curriculum as an<br />
add-on module, and that would allow us<br />
to add additional revenue to their bottom<br />
line while also providing something new<br />
and exciting to their students that would,<br />
in turn, still be able to provide the additional benefits often associated<br />
with martial arts.<br />
Basically, we created our online training system, which is a<br />
hybrid between online and offline certifications, then we picked<br />
up the phone and started calling our local martial art academies,<br />
and we invited the masters and their instructors to come out to our<br />
academy and take a class so that they could experience it firsthand to<br />
see if it was something that they felt would be compatible with their<br />
school. And that’s where it started, and it<br />
kind of took off from there.<br />
MAWN: What can Saberation<br />
do for a school owner as far as their<br />
enrollment, retention, income, and<br />
profits?<br />
EA: The beautiful thing about the enrollment<br />
part is that the light swords kind of<br />
sell themselves. I’ve had several meetings,<br />
not only with the military, but also with<br />
municipalities, different city officials,<br />
where we’ve offered this. For example, during<br />
our initial meeting with the city of Virginia<br />
Beach, I had these spreadsheets and<br />
A couple of Sifu Ed Armstrong’s<br />
students train at his VA Beach dojo<br />
the PowerPoint presentation ready to go,<br />
and I was prepared to stand at this podium<br />
and give this big presentation, and what it<br />
really boiled down to was that all I really<br />
had to do was turn the light sword on and put it in their hands. That<br />
was it. The experience of seeing people hold that light sword in their<br />
hand, you can see their eyes light up and a smile go across their face,<br />
and they are instantly finding themselves living that experience that<br />
32 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
Exclusive Interview<br />
they’ve so often seen in the Star Wars movies.<br />
That, and being able to show them that<br />
you don’t have to just aimlessly wave this<br />
thing around—we can train you to actually<br />
use this and learn it as a form of martial arts,<br />
both inside and outside the arena. So, with<br />
regards to enrollments, having them hold it<br />
is a big part of it.<br />
Being able to deal with other alliances, I<br />
call it ‘Operation Plug-In,’ where you actually<br />
find other entities or organizations that<br />
have a similar base to what you’re looking<br />
for in regards to your ideal clients, and you<br />
offer to provide the service to them, and it<br />
becomes a win-win situation because they<br />
can help provide you with the bodies and<br />
you’re providing them with a new service.<br />
Training in how to do the enrollments is offered<br />
through the MA Biz Academy, which<br />
is part of our system now, thanks to our<br />
alliance with AMS. As far as when it comes<br />
to the different types of activities that you can do to increase your<br />
enrollment, or even to start your enrollment process, that would<br />
be offered in the back office of the alliance that we have with AMS<br />
through the MA Biz system. With regard to retention, again, this<br />
is also included in our back office on different programs you can<br />
implement to get your students involved with bringing in not only<br />
more associates, but also other types of classes.<br />
Sifu Ed Armstrong and ???<br />
their clientele, we’re not asking for a piece of that. We’re not asking<br />
for royalties—you now have ten, 15, <strong>20</strong> more students; we want five<br />
percent or ten percent of each new student that you bring in—mentality<br />
like that, which is often common in a franchise-type situation.<br />
We train and help instructors increase their number of enrollments<br />
and retention, which often rolls over into great profitability, and we<br />
also have different programs they can offer that normally wouldn’t<br />
be offered in a standard martial art setting. Just by changing the<br />
rules a little bit and being able to increase the amount of services that<br />
you can provide to the community, and the amount of things that<br />
you participate in to get your academy more well-known, these are<br />
some of the benefits that we try and teach in the back office of the<br />
light sword martial arts.<br />
If you are interested in becoming a Saberation school,<br />
visit Saberation.com or call (757) 689-7963.<br />
Sifu Ed Armstrong and ???<br />
We have the martial arts, but we also have the fitness aspect of it.<br />
And then, from the martial art and fitness side, you build on that and<br />
offer different levels of accomplishments, which is also part of the<br />
reason we have the belt ranking system: Because people are always<br />
going to want to continue, go, grow, and achieve the next level of<br />
mastery. With profitability, we only focus on when it comes to training<br />
new instructors and helping the masters incorporate this into<br />
their existing curriculum. There’s also a licensing fee that we receive<br />
in exchange. When it comes to coaches and instructors increasing<br />
???<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 33
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36 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
Cover Story<br />
The Power of<br />
Creating a Personal<br />
BRAND<br />
The great Grandmaster<br />
Jessie Bowen chats<br />
with us about branding,<br />
Who’s Who in the <strong>Martial</strong><br />
<strong>Arts</strong>, and the Who’s Who<br />
event in June.<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 37
Cover Story<br />
MAWN: You’ve built an approach to<br />
personal brand marketing that’s really<br />
unique in our industry. The advent<br />
of social media and proliferation of<br />
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have<br />
given us platforms where we can build<br />
a real brand around ourselves and our<br />
schools, and you have some unique approaches<br />
to that. The first place to start<br />
is your background and martial arts<br />
lineage. You started training in 1975<br />
in North Carolina, and you’ve been in<br />
North Carolina for a fair amount of<br />
your martial arts career. And it sounds<br />
to me from our discussions before that<br />
martial arts were more of a survival<br />
mechanism for you than anything<br />
else. Can you walk us through the<br />
beginning of your martial arts career,<br />
why you decided to train, and what<br />
your motives were at the time?<br />
JB: I got involved in the martial arts<br />
because I grew up as an only child and was<br />
picked on, and in my day it was called being<br />
a ‘coward.’ So if you couldn’t defend yourself<br />
and you didn’t fight back, you were the<br />
coward. I went through elementary, middle,<br />
and high school picked on and beat up. My<br />
senior year in high school I had a gun pulled<br />
on me and had to run for my life. It wasn’t<br />
that I couldn’t fight back. As I was approaching<br />
21 I decided I needed to be a man. A guy<br />
at my job started something called ‘Taekwondo.’<br />
I had no idea<br />
what Taekwondo was<br />
and Karate was really<br />
new. After I left eastern<br />
North Carolina and<br />
moved into the Raleigh<br />
area, I would drive by and<br />
see a Karate school every<br />
day and never thought<br />
about it until the night<br />
this guy wanted to beat<br />
me up. I remember I<br />
had gone to see Enter<br />
the Dragon when it first<br />
came out. I knew what<br />
Bruce Lee did to all of<br />
these guys, he never lost<br />
a match, he was throwing<br />
around a ton of guys,<br />
and I just envisioned this<br />
guy throwing me around<br />
and beating me up, and it<br />
looked so painful that the<br />
next morning I started<br />
calling every Karate<br />
school I could find in the<br />
telephone book. There<br />
was only one school that<br />
answered the telephone<br />
and that was Karate International<br />
Raleigh. You<br />
have to realize this was 45 or more years<br />
ago that this happened, and as a business<br />
owner, the importance of answering the<br />
telephone really<br />
stuck in my mind. No<br />
matter who answered<br />
the telephone I was<br />
willing to take their<br />
classes. Fortunately,<br />
there was only one<br />
school that answered<br />
the telephone and that<br />
was my lifeline to help<br />
me improve my life<br />
and start on this path.<br />
When I started the<br />
martial arts, becoming<br />
a master, grandmaster,<br />
owning a school,<br />
none of these things<br />
were things that I was<br />
thinking about. I only<br />
wanted to learn how to<br />
defend myself.<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen and the<br />
Honorable An-Shu Stephen Hayes<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen<br />
and kickboxing champion<br />
Bill “Superfoot” Wallace<br />
MAWN: I can’t tell you how many<br />
stories at AMS, with Atlas <strong>Martial</strong><br />
<strong>Arts</strong> Software and websites, and all<br />
these other things they do to help<br />
school operators, it’s still shocking<br />
how few phones get answered to this<br />
day. If you’re in the family market<br />
most parents have time to ‘shop’<br />
between 9 to 11 a.m., then from about<br />
2 to 4 p.m., and it’s almost impossible<br />
to catch martial arts schools owners<br />
at their schools during those hours.<br />
I think what was true in the ’70s and<br />
’80s might still unfortunately be true<br />
for our businesses today.<br />
JB: If you think about it as a business<br />
owner—I didn’t say ‘martial artist’—what is<br />
the value of every time the phone rings? If<br />
you look at the value and if your school is<br />
run on a value basis, then you have to realize<br />
that that’s important. I had my truck<br />
wrapped so that became my big billboard.<br />
38 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
Cover Story<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen presenting<br />
world karate and boxing champion Daisy<br />
Lang with the Who’s Who Legend Award<br />
People would be riding behind me and calling<br />
the school number—and I’m not at the<br />
school, I’m driving down the street having a<br />
conversation— and they say, ‘Well, I’m looking<br />
at your truck,’ and I’m like, ‘Where are<br />
you?’ But the ability to answer the telephone<br />
is truly the lifeline to any martial arts school.<br />
MAWN: The value of a student,<br />
certainly there’s a financial value to<br />
the school and what they can contribute<br />
in tuition and to the business of<br />
the school, but this is another human<br />
being. How many Grandmaster Jessie<br />
Bowens might be calling around their<br />
area right now, ready to start martial<br />
arts, looking for something like this;<br />
but if you’re not the guy who answers<br />
the phone and the next guy does, what<br />
does that do for that human being?<br />
Not just in financial terms, but in life<br />
terms?<br />
So, you’ve written over 18 books:<br />
Mind-Body Personal Development<br />
Training, Zen Bowling,<br />
The Psychology<br />
of Better Bowling,<br />
The New You Self<br />
Discovery System,<br />
Zen Mind-Body<br />
Mindfulness Meditation<br />
Training and<br />
many others. This<br />
led you into this<br />
realm of taking concepts,<br />
training, and<br />
putting it into print<br />
or on CD, creating<br />
a product so that<br />
other people could<br />
acquire these skills<br />
without having to<br />
go through all the<br />
pain and suffering it<br />
takes to do it directly.<br />
Can you describe<br />
how you found that<br />
transition and what<br />
were your goals in<br />
publishing these<br />
types of books?<br />
JB: Well, it all<br />
started with the Blog<br />
Radio. I started Blog<br />
Radio in 1989, or some place along the early<br />
part of the ’90s, and I was enjoying that<br />
so much. I then started writing, putting<br />
some things together. I just started reading,<br />
studying, and putting<br />
things together. The<br />
Who’s Who book was<br />
not designed to be<br />
the blessing that it is.<br />
I wrote that book in<br />
<strong>20</strong>15 only to show my<br />
teacher gratitude. His<br />
partner passed away.<br />
They actually wrote<br />
one of the first Who’s<br />
Who books in the<br />
early ’80s; it was<br />
called Who’s Who<br />
in American Karate.<br />
They published that<br />
for about four or five<br />
years. So, I was doing<br />
that to say thank<br />
you. Then, I got with<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen<br />
honors Tuhon Apolo Ladra<br />
several other people, and they thought it was<br />
a great idea.<br />
They said, ‘Why don’t we try this in<br />
<strong>20</strong>16?’ and that was Grandmaster Joe Lewis,<br />
and Grandmaster Jeff Smith, and I said, ‘OK,<br />
let’s try it.’<br />
At their black belt testing we had black<br />
belts from all over the country that had not<br />
seen each other in 15, <strong>20</strong> years. Bringing<br />
that much positive energy into the room was<br />
incredible. So, we decided to do the book in<br />
<strong>20</strong>16 and bring all these people together in<br />
Charlotte at the AMAA Nationals and the<br />
AMA Hall of Fame. I started doing the Halls<br />
of Fame in <strong>20</strong>04; that was the first event<br />
that I did, it turned out to be great, and then<br />
in <strong>20</strong>17 we decided to do it. We honored<br />
Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, the year after that<br />
we honored Grandmaster Pat Johnson, and<br />
last year we honored Grandmaster Stephen<br />
Hayes in Vegas. Notice what I’m saying<br />
is that we’re honoring these people; they<br />
deserve to be honored. We have so many unsung<br />
heroes in the martial arts that we really<br />
don’t know of, so that was the spinoff of the<br />
books to where we are now.<br />
MAWN: So you got into publishing—let’s<br />
call it ‘self-help,’ probably<br />
an overgeneralization and not<br />
a great moniker—but let’s say if you<br />
were going to put it in a category in<br />
a bookstore that’s probably where it<br />
would live.<br />
Continued on page 42<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 39
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Cover Story<br />
Bill “Superfoot” Wallace gets inducted<br />
into the Who’s Who Hall of Honors<br />
Continued from page 39<br />
JB: That’s what we wanted. This is the<br />
place it needs to be and this is why we are<br />
really working hard. It’s about a story, not<br />
about a martial arts champion. We were<br />
writing about the martial arts champions<br />
for three years, giving great honor, and<br />
we still do, but the direction of the book,<br />
for it to have value, is to solve problems. If<br />
the book can now solve a problem, it can<br />
now have value, so that’s why we began to<br />
emphasize that it’s a story about individuals<br />
that got involved in the martial arts<br />
because they want the martial arts to solve<br />
a problem. For me, it was about self-defense<br />
and confidence. For someone else, it could<br />
be that ‘our family was involved and I got<br />
involved,’ but to solve their problem it was<br />
to make sure that you were protected. Everyone<br />
has a reason and they grow their<br />
experience from that reason.<br />
MAWN: With Who’s Who in the<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong>, you’re trying help folks<br />
who haven’t had their story told, now<br />
have the opportunity and ability to<br />
be next to their martial arts heroes,<br />
nominate their martial arts heroes<br />
for recognition they might not have<br />
received otherwise, and this could be<br />
a great public relations tool for them.<br />
If I’m running a martial arts school in<br />
Kentucky and I’ve never had the opportunity<br />
to train with Bill Wallace,<br />
I now have the opportunity to be a coauthor<br />
or be featured<br />
with Bill Wallace;<br />
and that can’t do<br />
anything but help<br />
my level of credibility<br />
in my community,<br />
right? You’ve got<br />
this concept of being<br />
included in the book<br />
by being nominated<br />
by your peers. How<br />
does that process<br />
work and what does<br />
that look like behind<br />
the scenes?<br />
JB: What we tried to<br />
really build is a nomination<br />
process, then it’s an<br />
evaluation process, and<br />
then an approval process. Someone would<br />
ask whether anyone could be in the book.<br />
Yes. Anyone can be in the book. This book<br />
is about a story. I’m not challenging your<br />
credibility; I am challenging your story. I<br />
try to look at every bio that comes in, and<br />
I can look at the truth in it because I know<br />
that I may be on the top end of achievers, so<br />
as I read your story I begin to see that. But,<br />
in many cases, individuals are not aware<br />
they have a story. The most powerful part<br />
of moving you from where you are in this<br />
speaking business to the publishing business<br />
is that ability to realize you have a story. The<br />
people who are in mega places because of<br />
their story would surprise you, and the way<br />
they were able to cultivate their story and<br />
create success from that self-made person.<br />
The thing that we’re trying to focus on is<br />
being proud to be a martial artist. Are you<br />
proud to be a martial artist? Do you feel that<br />
the martial arts have impacted your life?<br />
Well, how do you tell someone else? Because<br />
in growing a successful school, of course<br />
it’s about marketing. If I’m a great teacher<br />
and I’ve got a story becoming a certified<br />
life coach, I don’t just look at my martial<br />
arts business as a Karate school. I look at my<br />
school as a leadership and self-improvement<br />
institution. So, I had to go out and take<br />
other courses: Courses in meditation, NLP<br />
[neuro-linguistic programming], hypnosis,<br />
life coach certification. I had to gather all of<br />
these things, because why be just a speaker<br />
when you can be a life coach? It goes as a<br />
part of your marketing and branding. It’s<br />
the same thing with the book; if you truly<br />
feel that your purpose as a martial artist is<br />
to help individuals, then the question is how<br />
do I get them to know about me, that I’m<br />
here available to help them? How do I let the<br />
parent know that, as a martial artist, I have<br />
experienced what your son or daughter has<br />
experienced, and if you come and train in<br />
Grandmaster Mark Glazer recieves the Who’s Who Legends Award<br />
from Grandmaster Jessie Bowen and Grandmaster Jeff Smith<br />
42 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
Cover Story<br />
Literally the Who’s Who Grandmaster Joe Corley,<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen, and Grandmaster Jeff Smith<br />
my martial arts school, I can help support<br />
them to become stronger?<br />
But how are they going to know that? Are<br />
they going to pick up the telephone? They’re<br />
not going to the Yellow Pages. Well, I’m not<br />
a real big technology person; I don’t have my<br />
Facebook page up to date, I don’t understand<br />
marketing, but if someone reads about you<br />
in a doctor’s office, that’s what we’re trying<br />
to do. I don’t know if martial artists are into<br />
buying this book or not. I want the non-martial<br />
artists to read my book. I want them to<br />
read the stories because that’s going to cause<br />
them to look at martial arts schools. If I have<br />
someone, let’s say, in Raleigh that’s featured<br />
in that book, and this book is now available<br />
in the library, dental office, doctor’s office,<br />
car dealership, all these places, people pick<br />
them up and begin to read it, and I’m in that<br />
book as the instructor and I put in there,<br />
‘Thank you for reading my bio, come to my<br />
martial arts school and I’m going to give you<br />
a free week of martial arts,’ in many cases<br />
that may be the trigger to get that person to<br />
seriously look at martial arts. You have now<br />
become prequalified because the average<br />
person calls three to four schools before<br />
actually making a decision on going to that<br />
school. They also read the reviews on that<br />
martial arts school. We have a lot of smart<br />
people that are making good decisions on<br />
where they’re going to take their students,<br />
and the book is one of those tools to help the<br />
martial artist tell their stories, show their capabilities,<br />
their qualifications, why someone<br />
should bring their child, or why they should<br />
go and take their martial arts program.<br />
MAWN: Being<br />
positioned next to<br />
some of the people<br />
folks might recognize<br />
from movies or<br />
television, it’s a huge<br />
deal. I had the honor<br />
to interview Chuck<br />
Norris a decade or so<br />
ago and he told this<br />
story that I thought<br />
was interesting and<br />
sounds exactly like<br />
what we’re describing.<br />
He told this<br />
story about when<br />
he was running his<br />
school, and every time he would go<br />
compete in a tournament and win he’d<br />
have a lot more students. Many people<br />
would seek him out because they saw<br />
him win this tournament and they<br />
wanted to learn from the best. One<br />
of the things he said that was very<br />
insightful, especially for that era, was<br />
that he identified it wasn’t that he was<br />
winning the tournament that made<br />
the big difference, it was that he was<br />
building a brand. He was building<br />
this culture of excellence around him<br />
and his school, and he was just getting<br />
exposure. He was getting peoples’<br />
eyeballs on what he does. It didn’t have<br />
much to do with the event itself; it was<br />
the media exposure.<br />
He was building<br />
that personal<br />
brand. How would<br />
you define your<br />
personal brand,<br />
and how would<br />
a school owner<br />
best benefit from<br />
executing that?<br />
JB: You have to<br />
look at your personal<br />
brand. You have to<br />
look at what you<br />
have of value and<br />
how to build that. If<br />
you’re going to have<br />
someone come in<br />
and market you, you<br />
“Dr. Bob” Robert Goldman inducted<br />
into the Who’s Who Hall of Honors<br />
have to look at what you have that is marketable.<br />
That’s a very difficult job because<br />
we have been taught that we should not even<br />
talk about ourselves. But as a consumer who<br />
is trying to define or find you, you have to<br />
let them know who you are as the martial<br />
artist. Now, if there’s a chain of schools and<br />
those schools have a good reputation, a great<br />
brand, then you go there expecting the same<br />
thing. You may not know the instructor<br />
but you know the brand of that martial arts<br />
school and what they’ve done. But you can<br />
probably go back and find the founder of<br />
that school, and that founder is the core of<br />
the brand of his martial arts program. He’s<br />
going to show up for the testing and all of<br />
that. So, when you’re thinking about your<br />
personal brand, you have to start by asking,<br />
‘What makes me that person of value?’<br />
I do corporate coaching and it all<br />
stemmed from my martial arts. I coached<br />
for Corporate Education, which is rated as<br />
the number one custom corporate training<br />
program in the world, so I get shipped all over<br />
the place. But my brand is that I’m a tenth<br />
degree black belt, world Karate champion<br />
and so my presentation is always in my<br />
Karate uniform. I’m standing in front of a<br />
blackboard talking to everyone, and what<br />
they’re seeing is Jessie Bowen the Grandmaster,<br />
so we better sit still and be quiet. But I<br />
created my brand ‘as I am the Grandmaster,’<br />
but I’m also a life coach and that’s what got<br />
me the job. I wasn’t just a Karate guy, but I’ve<br />
also written books, and my books are my big<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 43
Cover Story<br />
Grandmaster Bowen and Grandmaster Pat Burleson honor the late Great Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee<br />
business cards that open the door; all of that,<br />
again, to brand me as a smart martial artist<br />
they could bring in. I could have a conversation;<br />
I had that ability to motivate. If you’re<br />
going to be involved in the martial arts<br />
business, one of the attributes you must have<br />
is that you are a good motivator. If you’re<br />
not a good motivator, then your students<br />
are not going to stay with you anyway. So, I<br />
took a whole lot of years to build what I could<br />
offer through the radio and everything else.<br />
Building your personal brand is about your<br />
achievements, the things that you do, the<br />
knowledge that you have, so there’s a lot of<br />
things that really will go into you. The book is<br />
to help you sit down and think about it; you’ll<br />
be surprised at the number of martial artists<br />
that thank me for being in the book that<br />
never had that opportunity to sit down and<br />
think about what they had to offer. They had<br />
not thought about their martial arts life, had<br />
not thought about their martial arts career,<br />
and when they began to write about themselves,<br />
they realized all the things they have<br />
of value through their own life experience.<br />
MAWN: If you’re not out there<br />
promoting yourself, if you’re not the<br />
biggest advocate for your program, the<br />
mouthpiece, who is? Certainly your students<br />
are going to help you, but you’ve<br />
got to be a product of the product. If<br />
you could walk me through some logistics,<br />
if I go to WhosWhointhe<strong>Martial</strong>-<br />
<strong>Arts</strong>.com, this is where you’re describing<br />
how the nomination process works,<br />
how you can nominate your martial<br />
arts hero, or how your students or colleagues<br />
can nominate you for inclusion<br />
in the book.<br />
JB: Right. That’s where the process<br />
starts. Just go in there and put that person’s<br />
name in, we ask you several questions<br />
about them, then, once you submit, it’s an<br />
automatic process that the person receives<br />
a nomination letter and you also receive<br />
a thank you letter for nominating that<br />
particular person. Once they are nominated<br />
they are taken to a questionnaire form.<br />
We designed it to help the person and take<br />
away all of the ‘I don’t know how to do this,’<br />
and all they have to do is just answer the<br />
questions on the form. The form is only two<br />
key things that I really want to know for the<br />
story, then everything else. The first one is<br />
why did you get involved in the martial arts?<br />
That is the first part of the story right there.<br />
The second part of the story is how have the<br />
martial arts impacted your life? That’s part<br />
number two. That’s difficult, and I’ve actually<br />
sent bios back to people because they<br />
44 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
Cover Story<br />
couldn’t answer them and they decided not<br />
to resubmit. But you really have to be able to<br />
answer those. That’s important to you. Why<br />
did you get into martial arts, how have the<br />
martial arts impacted your life, and what<br />
does that actually mean? Well, impact in<br />
your life—if I wasn’t doing martial arts, what<br />
would I be doing now? What would I actually<br />
be doing? I know from my perspective as a<br />
business owner, I have no idea what I would<br />
have been doing in my life if I had not been<br />
a great teacher. I say this also, not meant<br />
to be negative, but martial arts don’t really<br />
do anything for you. It’s really the martial<br />
artist, that teacher, is the one that represents<br />
that organization, represents their styles. It’s<br />
the teachers and their knowledge and skill.<br />
When someone comes in and asks, ‘Do you<br />
teach taekwondo?’<br />
‘Sure, I do.’<br />
‘Do you teach Kung Fu?’<br />
‘Sure, I do.’ I realize that they don’t really<br />
know what they’re asking for. They’ve been<br />
given a brand or name, depending on who<br />
was what. They don’t know me, the teacher,<br />
but if I can get you to come in to demonstrate<br />
what it is we do and how, they’d see my<br />
school was not a Karate school, it was a leadership<br />
academy. We’re helping people. Over<br />
on the right-hand side is a little telephone;<br />
they can actually call in when they have<br />
issues, just click that button and make a call<br />
to me. I answer that phone. We started off<br />
with that story; my cell phone always stays<br />
with me. Now, my voicemail is a little poor,<br />
I’ve got to work on that. I’m always trying to<br />
answer the telephone.<br />
MAWN: So the process is pretty<br />
simple. The concept is this: You are<br />
Shihan Dana Abbott inducted<br />
into the Legends Hall of Honors<br />
either nominating a martial arts hero<br />
of yours, perhaps your instructor, a<br />
fellow competitor, somebody you feel<br />
could deserve some recognition they<br />
haven’t received yet, or someone can<br />
do that for you as well. Then, you’re<br />
presented with a survey form; it’s very<br />
easy to fill out, answer a few questions,<br />
type in a paragraph or two about your<br />
individual story, and that’s all vetted<br />
and analyzed for inclusion in the book.<br />
And if you and your team feel like this<br />
is a story that’s compelling and worth<br />
telling, and it helps to further the<br />
objectives of you in your martial arts<br />
schools, then you could be included in<br />
the book. This positions you next to<br />
some of the greatest martial artists in<br />
history and their stories. Imagine the<br />
power of that type of promotional tool.<br />
The <strong>20</strong>19 Legends Banquet was certainly the “Who’s Who.” Will you be there in <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong>?<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 45
Cover Story<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bown and actor,<br />
producer, and director Art Commacho<br />
Again, some of the greatest martial<br />
artists that we’ve ever seen tell a story<br />
about how it impacted their lives, and<br />
now this is a tool that you can use to<br />
promote your school.<br />
JB: That’s exactly what it’s about: Being<br />
proud to be martial artists. June is ‘Proud to<br />
Be a <strong>Martial</strong> Artist Month.’ We’re going to<br />
be doing a lot of promotions for people who<br />
are trying to connect with that. What does<br />
that actually mean, ‘Proud to be a martial<br />
artist’? The AMAA Legends Awards Banquet<br />
is going to be at the Gold Coast. This year<br />
we’re going to be honoring our first year<br />
of people coming into the book, but we’re<br />
also going to honor past inductees who have<br />
continued to grow and thrive in the martial<br />
arts. These are our martial arts ambassadors.<br />
We have an honor roll section in the book;<br />
we are also going to be honoring our 50-year<br />
achievers. Again, for our inductees, we really<br />
don’t want them to pay to come to the<br />
event. A lot of times we hear, ‘Well, I don’t<br />
want to buy an award.’<br />
We’re not selling an award; we’re claiming<br />
ourselves to be an awards formulation.<br />
But the book is our marketing tool to help<br />
people grow their schools. In fact, when<br />
people sign up, we give you books for your<br />
students to purchase to sponsor you to come<br />
to the banquet. We’re not asking to let us<br />
into your pocket<br />
and you pay money,<br />
nope. Think about<br />
this for a second:<br />
Let’s say you are an<br />
inductee and we’ve<br />
given you 6 to <strong>20</strong><br />
books for being a<br />
part of the program.<br />
You walk in front<br />
of your classroom<br />
and say to your<br />
students, ‘Well,<br />
guys, I’m going to<br />
be featured in the<br />
Who’s Who <strong>Martial</strong><br />
<strong>Arts</strong> Masters & Pioneers<br />
book. They’ve<br />
actually given me<br />
only six books for<br />
my book signing<br />
and the books are<br />
$49.95. Who would<br />
like to have a copy?’<br />
They want to get a copy of the book their<br />
teacher is featured in. One of the key things<br />
we talk about in humility is that if you do<br />
not want to talk about yourself then do a<br />
better job getting your students and parents<br />
to talk about you. You want to talk about<br />
yourself, because if your parents<br />
are telling every parent in the<br />
carpool that my son goes to Mr.<br />
Johnson’s school, the greatest<br />
school in the world, then that’s<br />
what you want to do. When<br />
your students can now tell their<br />
friends, ‘My teacher is featured in<br />
the book, and I want to invite you<br />
to come in and try our introductory<br />
program, and if you join our<br />
school my teacher is going to give<br />
you a free uniform, and when he<br />
does his book signing we both can<br />
go to the pizza party.’<br />
You host your own book<br />
signing. We have created the narrative<br />
that ‘this book is not about<br />
me’—it’s about every person<br />
that’s in the book. And so that<br />
person joins your school and, let’s<br />
say, your fees are 1,<strong>20</strong>0 dollars a<br />
year. You’ve got ten books out,<br />
do the math: You have ten people<br />
that come in because they read<br />
your bio in the book, that’s 12 thousand<br />
dollars worth of revenue that came into your<br />
school through this marketing tool. Because<br />
you published your bio in the book, they<br />
had a chance to get firsthand knowledge of<br />
you as they read about your story. So, that’s<br />
pretty powerful when it comes down to<br />
someone making a decision as to whether<br />
or not they want you to be their martial arts<br />
instructor.<br />
MAWN: It’s a brilliant credibility<br />
tool. There’s just nothing better in<br />
media today. There’s still such gravitas<br />
and respect for authors and people who<br />
are featured in books. Let’s walk through<br />
the logistics again one final time here.<br />
So, WhosWhointhe<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong>.com,<br />
and if you go to the Legends Award<br />
Banquet, there’s the information about<br />
that evening. Those included in the<br />
book, and those who are nominated<br />
are included as well, are invited to this<br />
event. This event is in the evening on<br />
Saturday, June 26-27 in Las Vegas at<br />
the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino. It’s a<br />
lovely event. In addition to that, AMS<br />
is sponsoring a business seminar that<br />
morning and afternoon. So, you can fly<br />
in on Friday the 26th and on Saturday<br />
Sensei Gary Lee and<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen<br />
46 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
Cover Story<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> icon Cynthia Rothrock<br />
recieves the Legends Award<br />
morning we’ll spend four or five hours<br />
together working on some fundamental<br />
business processes in your martial arts<br />
school—some marketing, online and<br />
social marketing tactics, community<br />
marketing tactics, and many more, and<br />
then, that evening, you can stay for the<br />
banquet as well. The great news about<br />
our business seminar is that because of<br />
Grandmaster Bowen and the generosity<br />
of the sponsors of this event, you can<br />
come to our event absolutely tuitionfree.<br />
It’s all paid for. What a fantastic<br />
model to follow and, again, being<br />
included in a book like this is really<br />
unparalleled in its ability to create credibility<br />
in the marketplace. And, by the<br />
way, this thing is like 328 pages, hardbound.<br />
If somebody picked this up at a<br />
bookstore or your book signing at your<br />
school, it’s really something that’s going<br />
to look great on the bookshelf; it’s a<br />
very high-perceived value, it’s not like<br />
a thin paperback that’s <strong>20</strong> pages—this is<br />
a legitimate thing, and I think it really<br />
does a great job telling the story of the<br />
value of the martial arts. Certainly for<br />
your students to anchor them into what<br />
you’re doing, but I think a really good<br />
tool for prospects to get them thinking<br />
about the martial arts, and about you<br />
and your school specifically.<br />
JB: Anyone can feel free<br />
to give me a call and ask me<br />
any questions. The other<br />
thing is that our organization<br />
is trying to help you<br />
get better. We’re actually<br />
offering coaching, looking<br />
forward to working with<br />
your organization. We<br />
have several other coaches<br />
we are bringing in, not<br />
only about the business,<br />
but we discovered some<br />
of the problems in the<br />
martial arts really stem<br />
from when a student leaves<br />
their instructor and don’t<br />
have any place to go. So<br />
they’re working out on<br />
their own, making it up,<br />
they’re thinking about it,<br />
creating something totally<br />
different. We’re actually going to have technical<br />
coaches you can go to that can help you<br />
continue your development, like a Karate<br />
systems style or Taekwondo systems style.<br />
We have online training from Dana Abbott,<br />
Grandmaster Hayes, for MMA classes; it’s<br />
pretty huge. But what I talk a lot about is<br />
the mental aspect, so we’re also going to be<br />
releasing my mindfulness course. I’m doing<br />
some articles for you guys because before<br />
you can begin to fix someone, they have<br />
to be ready to be fixed. We<br />
now integrate mindfulness<br />
meditation into the martial<br />
arts program—not just having<br />
to do meditation, but a course<br />
with an outcome to it. We<br />
already have Zen Mind-Body<br />
Mindfulness Meditation,<br />
so the new book is called<br />
Zen Mind-Body Meditation<br />
for <strong>Martial</strong> Artists and this<br />
program is for your students<br />
to learn how to do meditation.<br />
Your students can do<br />
it by themselves or they can<br />
come into your program. This<br />
can now be another standalone<br />
program in your martial<br />
arts schools and another<br />
way to keep parents coming<br />
into your classes. I’ve found that in many<br />
cases, kids don’t quit—parents quit. So, not<br />
only are you trying to keep the kids motivated,<br />
but you also have to do things to keep<br />
the parents motivated to continue coming in<br />
and spending money. That’s our big push in<br />
<strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong>, the mindfulness part of education.<br />
MAWN: Grandmaster Bowen, thank you<br />
so much for your time today. WhosWhointhe<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong>.com<br />
is the URL for information<br />
about the book, how to be included, the<br />
nomination process, all of that stuff, and<br />
also the awards ceremony that evening. And<br />
then MAManagementSummit.com is the<br />
business event we’re doing in the daytime<br />
before Grandmaster Bowen’s dinner and<br />
event. There are two things I’d mention: One<br />
is something we mentioned earlier, which<br />
is surrounding yourself with the best of<br />
the best. This is the type of event here—I<br />
mean Bill Wallace, Steve Hayes, Jeff Smith,<br />
yourself, Cindy Rothrock, some of the most<br />
successful martial arts competitors in the<br />
world are going to be there; how can you not<br />
want to be in that room? How can you not<br />
want to be surrounded by some of the best<br />
people in your field? The second piece would<br />
be that there is no greater credibility tool<br />
we can use in anything we do than a glowing<br />
testimonial in a book. Not because we have<br />
such a good sales pitch, but because our story<br />
is so compelling.<br />
JB: Thank you.<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen honored with the<br />
Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior Award<br />
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 47
Cover Story<br />
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen is the author of dozens of<br />
martial arts and self-help books, and programs.<br />
48 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
American <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Alliance Foundation<br />
<strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong> AMAA Legends Weekend<br />
Become a part of martial arts history as we pay<br />
tribute to Grandmaster Chuck Norris!<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Masters & Pioneers<br />
Book Release<br />
June 26th – 27th, <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong><br />
Gold Coast Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV<br />
A Special Tribute to Chuck Norris<br />
GIVING BACK FOR A LIFETIME<br />
You can be<br />
featured in the<br />
book with Chuck!<br />
AMAA Alumni Ring<br />
Returning Ambassadors<br />
FREE Ring<br />
AMAA Legends Ring<br />
1st-time Inductees<br />
Make your Black Belt Nomination to be published in the <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong> AMAA<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Masters Biography Book at<br />
WhosWhoInThe<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong>.com.<br />
Additional FREE Bonus!<br />
Attend the MA Management Summit to Grow Your School!<br />
Saturday, June 27th @ 9:00 A.M.<br />
<strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong> AMAA Legends Awards Banquet: A Tribute To<br />
Grandmaster Chuck Norris & Benny Urquidez<br />
<strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong><br />
MARTIAL ARTS<br />
MANAGEMENT
School Profile<br />
How I Turned Leads Into Students<br />
Grandmaster Troy Dorsey, whose Mansfield, TX martial arts school has been<br />
operating for 37 years, describes his powerful follow-up system<br />
MAWN: You’ve had a great record<br />
over the last year of getting people taking<br />
advantage of an offer online and<br />
following up with them in a way that<br />
gets them in for their appointment, and<br />
then their appointment goes well and<br />
they enroll. What might you say to a<br />
school struggling with that? What do<br />
your systems look like and how seriously<br />
do you take new opt-ins, leads, and appointments?<br />
TD: That’s exactly how we have to keep our<br />
schools open. We’ve tried locking the back<br />
door many times but it just keeps swinging<br />
open somehow. You’ve got to follow up on<br />
those. I’m with you all for one reason: Hillary<br />
Sandoval. He recommended you to us about a<br />
year ago, and we’ve been with you a year now.<br />
He talked to me about communicating with<br />
prospects. I would try to call these people, but after a day or two of<br />
that Hillary told me, ‘You just have to text them.’<br />
So, we were texting these people until they came in, pretty much.<br />
We don’t speak with them a lot. The people coming in off the Atlas<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Software system are by texting. It’s kind of amazing to<br />
me. It seems like they would want to speak to somebody, but obviously<br />
they don’t. I want to encourage anybody out there using the<br />
system to make a call first.<br />
MAWN: I’d like our readers to please understand we’re<br />
deeply invested in our students and people. When a new<br />
student walks into the front door, Troy does not just see<br />
dollar signs. This is a human being whose life we can positively<br />
change. You’ve created some very successful children,<br />
families, adults; that’s why you’ve been doing this for 37<br />
years. You don’t have a 37-year track record of success if all<br />
you’re trying to do is cash everybody out and not care about<br />
service.<br />
TD: They’re going to feel that really quickly if you’re in it for the<br />
money. I have to make money, so I don’t want anybody to get the<br />
message wrong because, yeah, we have to make money, but if that’s<br />
what you’re doing it for, you have to take a step back and know that<br />
you’re trying to help these people. And there are a lot of people out<br />
there that need help. The martial arts—what a tool it is to help people.<br />
MAWN: What you’re saying is right. It’s about this<br />
multistep, multimedia follow-up that’s so important. Some<br />
people are never going to answer the phone, or open up a<br />
piece of mail, or respond to a text, or check Facebook. But<br />
Texting is an essential marketing tactic<br />
for GM Dorsey’s hugely successful school<br />
if I do them all, most people are going to do at least one of<br />
those things. When you were eight-time world champion,<br />
did you ever walk into the ring with just one technique?<br />
TD: Oh, no, Sir. It was a lot of preparation.<br />
MAWN: Exactly, it’s never the same attack in the same<br />
direction, the same way every time. This is a human being<br />
whose life we can change forever, wouldn’t you do anything<br />
you can to get a hold of them? If their financial contribution<br />
to the life of the school is four to six thousand dollars,<br />
that’s worth a little effort, right? Any last words that you<br />
might leave our readers with? If you were them and you were<br />
struggling, or haven’t been in business for 37 years and have<br />
deep roots dug into the community like you have, what<br />
might be the best pieces of advice you might leave them<br />
with?<br />
TD: Make sure you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing.<br />
You’re not just teaching people how to kick and punch, you’re<br />
teaching people how to lead better lives, learn about respect and<br />
confidence. We’re going to help people get the confidence they need<br />
to survive at their job. Everybody is going through something—everybody.<br />
Maybe not today, but in the next day or three everybody is<br />
going to go through something, so if you can, try to pour into their<br />
lives kindness, not try to reach into their pocket. We have to make<br />
money but if that’s the main drive of what you want to do, people can<br />
sense that pretty quickly. I would say, also, be more of a giver because<br />
we have nuggets of gold we can give our students throughout their<br />
martial arts program.<br />
50 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
School Profile<br />
How to Gain A New Student Every Day<br />
With Facebook<br />
Grandmaster Felix Ayensu, who runs Milton’s <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> in Ontario, Canada, talks to us<br />
about how he relies on Atlas <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Software to drive up his enrollment numbers<br />
MAWN: What is the size<br />
of your latest school?<br />
FA: The school is about eight<br />
thousand square feet. My goal<br />
here is to produce anywhere<br />
between 350 to 450 active students<br />
in the evening martial arts<br />
program, and probably also about<br />
1<strong>20</strong> to 130 in the after school<br />
program and increase my summer<br />
camps. I used to do about<br />
$100 thousand in summer camp<br />
in my old school. I think the<br />
population here is bigger than my<br />
old school so I can do very well.<br />
MAWN: How many active<br />
students do you have at that<br />
location?<br />
FA: About 150 in the evening program and about 60 in the after<br />
school program.<br />
MAWN: Tell us a little bit about your experience with<br />
the Atlas Software.<br />
FA: I have experience with a few industry management programs.<br />
I’ve been with PerfectMind, I used to be with MAST (<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong><br />
Success Team). I was with EFC (Educational Funding Company) in<br />
the United States in the ’90s. Atlas is very unique. They are not hard<br />
on my clients. If you are delinquent or a little bit behind they are<br />
flexible. The online support in Atlas, financially, is a lot better—others<br />
are all money, money, money. I don’t see Atlas like that. I see<br />
Atlas like, oh, maybe he’s tight, he’ll make it up; just like all of us,<br />
some of my parents sometimes are tight, but I’m not going to tell<br />
them because they’re going to give it to me anyway.<br />
I see Atlas as very flexible and really, really wanting to help everybody<br />
to make money. The Atlas software is amazing. Their marketing<br />
tools are very amazing and the education is amazing. It doesn’t<br />
matter who you are; we share, we gather information, and Atlas is not<br />
selfish at all. I’m talking from experience. I’m very grateful to Atlas;<br />
the staff is amazing. Sean and Mandy are very accommodating and<br />
very patient, too. I think Atlas has a human touch. Of course it’s about<br />
money, but they are helping. When you are tight I can tell Atlas;<br />
they’re not nickel and diming you. When you don’t have the money<br />
they’re cool with it, when you have it, you pay—they are flexible.<br />
MAWN: Do you, through Atlas, make use of the <strong>Martial</strong><br />
GM Ayensu values Atlas’ flexibility in running Milton’s <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong><br />
<strong>Arts</strong> Biz Academy, the student newsletters, and staff newsletters?<br />
FA: Yes, yes, yes.<br />
MAWN: How have they benefited you?<br />
FA: Very well because it makes it easier for me. Everything is<br />
created already. Just copy and paste. So the blueprint is done already.<br />
It’s good.<br />
MAWN: With regard to website and lead generation, do<br />
you have an Amazing <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Website from the Atlas<br />
program?<br />
FA: Yes, but I think recently, not too long ago, they launched another<br />
style of website. Probably I would like to go that way and take<br />
the old website down and do the new one. And I’d also like to add the<br />
before-and-after program; I don’t only do the after school program,<br />
but also the before-and-after school program, meaning parents who<br />
are going to work can drop their kids off here and I drive them to<br />
school and pick them up. So, there are a few additions I would like to<br />
request to the website. I haven’t done that yet, but I’ll make notes on<br />
that and I want to do that.<br />
MAWN: What have been some of your best breakthroughs<br />
in growing your schools over the years?<br />
FA: With AMS I can strictly say Atlas <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Software and<br />
the Facebook ads. It looks like with Facebook every single day I get<br />
at least one person. So, in martial arts schools, if every single day you<br />
get one person, that’s 30 people in a month. That’s amazing.<br />
52 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
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The Warrior Way<br />
Managing the Krav Maga<br />
Curriculum, Part 1<br />
GRANDMASTER<br />
BILL CLARK is a<br />
9th degree black<br />
belt and a former<br />
PKA Fighter of<br />
the Year. He is<br />
widely considered<br />
one of the top<br />
experts in martial<br />
arts business with<br />
over 30 years of<br />
leadership and<br />
innovation, having<br />
been inducted<br />
into almost every<br />
Hall of Fame in the<br />
industry. He is one<br />
of the largest multischool<br />
owners in<br />
the world.<br />
➽In order to create the curriculum for the<br />
Evolution of Krav Maga program, I had my<br />
instructors study Krav Maga.<br />
We had our first seminar in Jacksonville on<br />
September 11th when the big blow-up happened in<br />
New York. We had great people in from across the<br />
world and we got a big book filled with all the Krav<br />
Maga techniques in it, but it wasn’t organized like I<br />
was used to with Taekwondo. You also had to teach<br />
it as quickly as possible, almost like the students<br />
were in boot camp. My average student was 35- to<br />
65-years-old and I couldn’t teach them like they<br />
were 18-year-old military combatants.<br />
So, I had to stretch the program out and put it in<br />
a format that I could easily explain and teach to the<br />
civilian population without it being dangerous; and<br />
we’ve managed to do that in a way that’s easy for<br />
anybody to teach and learn, because if it’s not easy<br />
to teach and easy to learn, you can’t build.<br />
We’ve taken all the traditional techniques in Krav and<br />
we’ve evolved them with DefenceLab from Europe, and<br />
it is the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen. It’s something<br />
every martial artist out there might have heard a little<br />
inkling about it, but they don’t know what it is.<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> arts are very visual. It’s easy to learn online if<br />
you have an interest, so we developed a product such that<br />
every Krav school in the world, without changing their affiliation,<br />
gets many lessons that will dramatically change<br />
their classes; stuff you’ve never seen before, especially in<br />
Krav, or traditional martial arts, or even in Jiu-Jitsu. Our<br />
ground stuff with the Evolution of Krav is something no<br />
Jiu-Jitsu instructor has ever seen but would like to learn.<br />
My experience with my adult students has been this:<br />
Obviously, Krav is very high impact. I use a lot of target<br />
training, pad training, and a lot of bag training. My Taekwondo<br />
training, since Kickboxing in the ’70s, was already<br />
going in that direction. I don’t teach classes that aren’t 30<br />
percent to 40 percent impact training. That’s where I get<br />
my feedback. If I want my traditional forms to be better, I<br />
make sure people can really hit pads and hit a bag, because<br />
you get instant feedback every time you strike the pads: Is<br />
my body right? Is my posture right?<br />
When I want my forms to be better for my students,<br />
I use impact training and it translates very well, so the<br />
Krav gives us a way to organize it for self-defense. But I<br />
really believe in impact training; if it’s not 25 percent to<br />
30 percent of your class, it’s not fun, it’s not exciting, and<br />
students don’t learn to hit. And they can’t hit in sparring<br />
or really beat each other up—I mean it doesn’t make sense.<br />
If you look at the greatest fighters in the world, which<br />
I think are Muay Thai fighters, and you watch them train,<br />
they never spar with impact. They don’t get hurt training.<br />
They strike with impact on bags and pads, and maybe<br />
baseball bats and banana trees, but when they spar each<br />
other, they’re very careful to move in a manner that’s very<br />
deliberate, target-centric, and they don’t beat each other<br />
up like we do in traditional martial arts or Kickboxing,<br />
where they have to really fight before the fight.<br />
None of that makes sense. Impact training should be<br />
where you get your contact, and you should be training<br />
your eyes, your techniques, hitting everything right.<br />
So, that’s how my Taekwondo is. That’s also how my<br />
Krav is. My Krav is different than other Krav because of<br />
the language skills my instructors develop, and also because<br />
of the way it’s organized over a certain period of time<br />
so that everybody can get it, not just the young athletes.<br />
Visit TheEvolutionOfKrav.com<br />
54 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Illustration by amenic181
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Next Level Strategy<br />
Put Some Magic in Your<br />
Retail Strategies, Part 2<br />
SHIHAN<br />
ALLIE ALBERIGO<br />
is a 7th degree<br />
black belt, the<br />
founder of the L.I.<br />
Ninjutsu Centers,<br />
one of the largest<br />
Ninjutsu schools<br />
on the planet, the<br />
author of 4 books,<br />
and an entrepreneur<br />
with one of the<br />
first online coaching<br />
companies.<br />
➽I was once on a martial arts business Facebook<br />
group thread and saw all these people talking<br />
about retail, so I said, “Show me your retail.”<br />
Some people with gorgeous schools had, like, two or<br />
three different varieties of t-shirts with a hat and a hoodie,<br />
and that was their entire retail! That was it! I wondered,<br />
Why are we so afraid of retail? Why are we afraid to actually<br />
go out and do it? Why are we afraid to add in some<br />
items for Christmas, or do some special order items on a<br />
regular basis?<br />
We have to change our mindset in regards to retail<br />
when it comes to what retail is all about.<br />
For example, in my Little Warrior curriculum, we<br />
have the sticker reward systems and all this other really<br />
cool stuff, and it’s connected to a concept I came up with—<br />
little character. We have Eagle, Bear, Wolf, Owl, Fox, and<br />
Cheetah. The Little Warriors are Eagle, Bear, and Wolf:<br />
Eyes of an eagle, ears of a wolf, and heart of a bear. I have<br />
a little plush toy of each and they have jackets and other<br />
accessories. I even wrote a fictional book for the parents to<br />
read to their kids.<br />
I had all this stuff sitting on shelves and not many<br />
people were buying it, so over the last year and a half,<br />
when someone joins, I decided that I would send them a<br />
series of two-, four-, six-, eight-, and ten-week emails that<br />
talk about the product and why it’s important for parents<br />
to actually get them—because they tie in with the lessons.<br />
It’s almost like a kid who plays little league baseball with<br />
a dad who is a baseball fan. He’ll take him to the game,<br />
he’ll buy him a jacket, he’ll buy him a hat, he’ll buy him a<br />
glove, they’ll watch it on TV. Why are we not getting that<br />
same buy-in from our martial arts students, and why<br />
don’t we have product to support their enthusiasm?<br />
And then we wonder why retention is so low—it’s because<br />
we don’t have enough to put into their lives to keep<br />
them involved! They go to the dojo, and they come home.<br />
They train, they do their kickboxing or whatever it is, and<br />
they go home. Why not tie it in and really build a lifestyle<br />
around that brand?<br />
A good friend of mine, Dawn Barnes, runs very successful<br />
schools in Los Angeles. When I went out to California<br />
and visited her, I ended up spending $140 in products for<br />
my daughter. She had these cool little egg toys; they had a<br />
chisel and a hammer and inside were dinosaur bones, and<br />
you’d brush off the thing. You’re discovering a dinosaur!<br />
So I bought it and my daughter and I did it together. And I<br />
was happy to spend $45 or $50 on these little items because<br />
they were good for my kid.<br />
So why are we not thinking like that as school owners?<br />
Why are we always thinking retail is a pain in the butt?<br />
Why do we bother?<br />
Visit TakingItToTheNextLevel.com<br />
56 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Illustration by RomoloTavani
Growth Hacks<br />
Your Ads Must Have Speed,<br />
Power, and Accuracy<br />
MR. SEAN LEE<br />
is the Executive<br />
Director of Sales<br />
and Marketing<br />
for hundreds of<br />
martial arts schools<br />
and specializes in<br />
online and social<br />
media marketing<br />
using his extensive<br />
professional<br />
experience<br />
in sports and<br />
martial arts<br />
marketing, contract<br />
negotiation, and<br />
investment.<br />
➽You realize the importance of speed, power,<br />
and accuracy when attacking an adversary.<br />
The principles are second nature to you when you are<br />
sparring, but did you know that speed, power, and accuracy<br />
are just as important in advertising and promotion<br />
to attack your town’s market successfully? If you want<br />
to enroll 25 to 50 new students every month, you need<br />
to understand how to advertise and promote properly.<br />
As in the martial arts, great skill comes through great<br />
effort; to be great at advertising and promotion, much<br />
training is required. Do you have the time to focus all<br />
your energy while operating your school on learning<br />
advertising and promotion? If you answered “yes,” are you<br />
planning on making a career change? The correct answer is<br />
“no” to both questions, but you still have to advertise and<br />
promote your school effectively.<br />
So, what’s the solution to gaining the speed, power,<br />
and accuracy needed to reach more prospects than you<br />
thought possible without getting a degree in marketing?<br />
The answer is found in the professional products and<br />
services that AMS develops for martial arts school owners<br />
just like you. Every month, well-trained experts prepare<br />
the kind of speed, power, and accuracy in advertising and<br />
promotions designed to deliver a knockout.<br />
Speed<br />
From an advertising and promotional standpoint,<br />
speed primarily has to do with hitting the target market at<br />
the right time. Experience leads to good timing, and AMS<br />
has been providing school owners with marketing solutions<br />
for close to 30 years. Each month, tools like posters,<br />
flyers, tent cards, door hangers, and emails are designed<br />
with advertising speed in mind.<br />
Power<br />
The idea of power with regard to advertising and promotion<br />
means having impact. One key to powerful ads is<br />
eye-catching designs with images and a layout that appeals<br />
to prospective students. Another key is the use of words<br />
that capture attention and move the reader to act. AMS<br />
has a team of expert graphic designers and writers eager<br />
to provide you with powerful ads sure to increase your<br />
enrollment each month.<br />
Accuracy<br />
Getting your advertising and promotions to the right<br />
people is what is meant by accuracy. Targeting the child,<br />
teen, adult, or even the senior market requires the appropriate<br />
kinds of ads and promotions for each individual<br />
market. AMS marketing solutions, through AMSnews,<br />
AMSkids, Leaders EDGE, and AMSonline will hit the<br />
bull’s-eye in your city.<br />
To do your best in every way sometimes requires<br />
help. You want your advertising and promotion to have<br />
the speed, power, and accuracy for great impact, so call<br />
(800) 275-1600 or visitd OurAMS.com and find out<br />
how AMS can help you take your school to the next<br />
level for skyrocketing enrollment each month!<br />
58 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by Inside Creative House
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➽If you’re teaching the type of curriculum<br />
that’s much more applicable on the street,<br />
how do you translate that to the much younger<br />
audience?<br />
Well, that is a very awkward question. Where my Dayton/Centerville,<br />
Ohio school is located, it is middle class<br />
and upper-middle class, and nobody gets in fights! Kids in<br />
general don’t get into fights. <strong>Martial</strong> arts are all abstract to<br />
them, and yet it’s a very pragmatic self-defense system.<br />
How do we approach youth?<br />
Sometimes my wife will comment,<br />
“Oh gosh, I wish we were teaching<br />
Tang Soo Do, it would be easier! ‘This<br />
is upper-block, this is the punch.’”<br />
But what we have done is created<br />
exercises where we have to be so careful.<br />
With a nine-year-old, you don’t<br />
want to scare them, but you do know<br />
more than they do, and that they’re<br />
going to be driving in a couple of<br />
years, and they’re going to be out on their own in a couple<br />
of years, and they could be victimized—they could go<br />
away to college, go to a party, and be victimized—so we’re<br />
really training the way the person thinks. Because when a<br />
young woman goes to her first fraternity party, she thinks<br />
she’s all grown up; she’s 19, she’s probably not going to<br />
get into a fist fight with some guy; but things are going to<br />
be offered, let’s say, and for her to be confident enough in<br />
herself and know that, “No, this is of more benefit to you<br />
than it is to me; no thank you,” is a major thing. So, we can<br />
emphasize that kind of thinking.<br />
At our school we have a series of four elements—earth,<br />
water, fire, and wind—that come from the ninja tradition.<br />
Earth is holding your ground. And some people<br />
are just naturally that way if they get into a conflict or<br />
confrontation; they just hold their ground. Then there’s<br />
water, which is being overwhelmed, so I tactically position<br />
myself because the person will come in and I can’t hold my<br />
ground. So, we say, “If you had to fight a shark in the ocean,<br />
would you punch him in the teeth or would you sneak over<br />
here and hit him in the gills?” Tactically positioning.<br />
Then there’s fire, which is interrupting, and wind,<br />
which is evading.<br />
We’re constantly emphasizing to kids, “Hey, you’re<br />
little! What if a big kid comes around and pushes you<br />
around, or somebody tries to grab you?” We use these<br />
principles from age six or seven on. We have a very different<br />
program for four-, five-, and six-year-olds. There,<br />
we use a lot of obstacle courses and brightly colored pool<br />
noodles so they don’t look threatening, but we use them<br />
like swords, and kids have to get out of the way as we try to<br />
wrap that around their head and they<br />
get away. It’s a lot of fun and a lot of<br />
giggling, but every now and then we’ll<br />
tell them get in line; little, teeny kids<br />
is a different program than the youth.<br />
I’ll be honest, I’m looking for<br />
more ways to relate to kids with what<br />
we have. It’s so pragmatic and yet<br />
kids don’t see violence in the school;<br />
where they do run into violence is<br />
keyboard stuff—cyberbullying is a<br />
big deal. A little kid is forming their identity and they’re<br />
cheerfully reaching out to their friends and getting that<br />
kind of feedback and Mom tells them she loves them; well,<br />
that’s just Mom. Dad says he’s proud of you, Oh, that’s just<br />
Dad. I want positive feedback from my friends at school,<br />
and then it goes haywire.<br />
We teach them the technique, but secretly, the technique<br />
transmits a state of mind. We have to teach these<br />
kids who they are, the value they provide, the gift they<br />
are, so that when they come up against this inevitable<br />
onslaught, they can believe in themselves, that they have<br />
a value, and we have to teach them some tricks and ways<br />
of dealing with that. I call them “tricks,” but you could call<br />
them “techniques” or “methods.”<br />
They’ll think, “I learned this at the martial arts school!<br />
I did this, it got the response from the person that my<br />
teacher told me they would! They’ll be so stunned, they’ll<br />
laugh and try to call you a name, or something like that,<br />
but no, that means you got under their skin. You won,<br />
you won!” We need to work on developing some of those<br />
aspects as we go into the future.<br />
Visit NinjaSelfDefense.com<br />
60 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by selcebu
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MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 61
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Pillars of Success<br />
Is the UFC Helping<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Schools?<br />
GRANDMASTER<br />
Y. K. KIM is the<br />
most successful<br />
martial arts<br />
business leader<br />
in the US, having<br />
written over 30<br />
books on martial<br />
arts, business,<br />
leadership, and<br />
success. He has<br />
won numerous<br />
public service<br />
awards and is the<br />
founder of the<br />
leading martial<br />
arts marketing<br />
and management<br />
company in the US.<br />
➽Professionally, the UFC<br />
is doing great. It makes a<br />
lot of money for the owners,<br />
and millions of people<br />
watch the spectacle. It does<br />
promote the martial arts<br />
because it generates a lot<br />
of interest.<br />
However, the promotion does<br />
not help martial arts schools<br />
because it does not encourage<br />
people to join. You see, nobody<br />
wants to get hurt. It used to be<br />
that only certain professions were<br />
worried that hurting their hands<br />
would impair their performance<br />
at work—people like surgeons and<br />
secretaries. Nowadays, everybody needs dexterity in their<br />
hands because everybody has a smart phone. Nobody can<br />
afford a hand injury, so nobody wants to participate in<br />
UFC-style training. Maybe 0.01 percent likes it.<br />
Plus, the population in the US is changing. There are<br />
now more seniors than people in any other age group.<br />
These elders can no longer jump, and if they participate in<br />
a contact sport, they risk breaking bones due to osteoporosis.<br />
That is why yoga schools have been popping up everywhere<br />
while martial arts schools have been closing down.<br />
For the martial arts to see a brighter future, we need to<br />
change our tournament system, and change our classroom<br />
procedures to appeal to this changing market.<br />
Traditional martial arts tournaments are great for<br />
young athletes. Competition provides a relatively safe<br />
outlet for aggressive urges. But lately, more and more of<br />
the population avoid these competitions for fear of injury.<br />
Parents do not want to see their children injured with a<br />
kick to the head, and adults cannot afford to be injured<br />
and left unable to work. We need to redesign our tournament<br />
system to eliminate injury as much as possible.<br />
What would a modern tournament look like?<br />
The Hanmadang is a step in the right direction, where<br />
students of all ages can compete safely. We could also<br />
include sparring in a modern tournament if we change<br />
the focus from individuals to teams. Two students from<br />
the same school would cooperate with each other as a team<br />
to put on the most exciting action movie-style show of<br />
sparring skills. Their competitors would be a team from<br />
another school, who also put on a cooperative show of skill.<br />
The judges would decide which team puts on the best show<br />
based on technique and entertainment value.<br />
These matches would actually be more exciting to the<br />
audience, increase the skill level of our students, promote<br />
cooperation over violence, and—most importantly of all—<br />
would prevent injuries. Students could continue participating<br />
in the martial arts at any age. We would not lose students<br />
as they get older and we would not lose students to yoga.<br />
Once they join our schools, they would stay with us forever.<br />
We also need to modernize our classrooms. Instead<br />
of pitting two students against each other in a fight, we<br />
should be teaching them a more valuable skill for our<br />
civilized society: Cooperation. In class, they can learn to<br />
cooperate by alternate sparring. In alternate sparring,<br />
students take turns practicing their techniques on a live<br />
target, with the discipline of self-control that prevents<br />
contact. We can reduce the risk of injury to almost zero in<br />
the classroom and in tournaments.<br />
Visit YKKim.com<br />
64 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by Eugene_Onischenko
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➽Motivational speaker Brian Tracy is fond of<br />
citing the Pareto Principle, which is basically<br />
the 80-<strong>20</strong> rule. In a martial arts school, the rule<br />
can be applied to tuition billing in that <strong>20</strong> percent<br />
of your students will take up 80 percent of<br />
your time with billing problems.<br />
In any group, there is always that bottom <strong>20</strong> percent<br />
who cause trouble—some may actually be troublemakers,<br />
but most are suffering from an accident or bad circumstance.<br />
Regardless of the reason, they have problems, and<br />
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What if I told you that you could change the 80-<strong>20</strong> rule<br />
and reduce that <strong>20</strong> percent to zero? With AMS Billing,<br />
you can.<br />
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promotion of your school.<br />
It just makes sense to separate tuition billing from<br />
instruction. The master should focus his attention on<br />
helping students improve, not on being a bill collector.<br />
Students who have a financial problem should speak to a<br />
financial counselor, not their master instructor.<br />
Many schools assign a member<br />
of the school staff to take on the<br />
role of bill collection to insulate the<br />
master. However, this situation still<br />
creates an adversarial relationship<br />
between the student and the school.<br />
It is far better to have a middleman<br />
absorb the abuse and keep a positive<br />
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the school.<br />
Now, some people will say that<br />
hiring a middleman is too expensive.<br />
In reality, hiring a professional saves<br />
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Even more important is the fact that AMS is not just<br />
a tuition billing company. They are also a marketing and<br />
management company, helping you enroll more students<br />
and keep them longer, and manage your school better.<br />
Think about it—if you took the time you and your staff<br />
spend dealing with those problem accounts and turned<br />
that into time spent recruiting new students, how much<br />
more income would you make?<br />
Now, add to that programs and promotions that have<br />
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68 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by mokee81
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The 10 Things You MUST Do<br />
to Thrive, Part 3<br />
GRANDMASTER<br />
STEPHEN OLIVER,<br />
is a 9th degree<br />
black belt and is<br />
the founder and<br />
CEO of Mile High<br />
Karate schools,<br />
and founder of the<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Wealth<br />
Mastery Program.<br />
9. Separate your hobby from your business<br />
The vast majority of school owners confuse their<br />
interests as a “hobbyist” with their role as a professional<br />
educator. You must not forget that your interests and<br />
needs as a black belt are different than the interests and<br />
needs of most of those who are interested in taking lessons<br />
from you.<br />
While you should never lose your zest for personal<br />
training, you must structure an appropriate curriculum<br />
for your target audience. Once that’s done, you basically<br />
teach the same thing over and over to a constantly<br />
changing group of students (i.e. new students coming in all<br />
the time). Beginners turning into intermediates, intermediates<br />
turning into advanced students, and advanced<br />
students turning into black belts.<br />
10. Eliminate self-defeating thinking and elevate<br />
your expectations<br />
Just like in the bestselling book The Secret, ultimately<br />
you get what you expect and attract what you focus on<br />
intently. It’s important to look for references supporting<br />
your goals and objectives and to ignore the naysayers.<br />
Be very careful that you pay attention to the top 10<br />
percent of our industry and ignore the opinions, pricing,<br />
and results of the rest. You must be careful to surround<br />
yourself with people who have achieved what you want<br />
to achieve.<br />
The great sales trainer Tom Hopkins put it this way:<br />
“Never take advice from someone more screwed up than<br />
you are.”<br />
If you watch the news, you will know that in the United<br />
States, a very small percentage of the population earns<br />
most of the income. One statistic I found shows that about<br />
5.4 percent of the population earns over $100 thousand a<br />
year, and about 1.5 percent earns more than $250 thousand<br />
a year.<br />
So, looking at that number alone, you know that if you<br />
want to earn over $100 thousand a year, then 95 percent<br />
of the people (and probably a higher percentage in the<br />
martial arts business) are doing the wrong things and have<br />
opinions that are not useful to you. If you want to earn<br />
$250 thousand or more, then 98.5 percent of everyone is<br />
wrong about how to get there.<br />
I’ve been in the top one percent in our industry for over<br />
31 years. Most of the “experts” really haven’t grossed more<br />
than $300 thousand per year, and much fewer had net<br />
profit of that much or more consistently.<br />
Visit <strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong>Wealth.com<br />
70 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by Ghing
After School Excellence<br />
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CHIEF MASTER<br />
MIKE BUGG is an<br />
8th degree black<br />
belt and the owner<br />
of a $1.52 millionper-year<br />
location,<br />
with one of the<br />
largest after school<br />
and summer camp<br />
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➽That’s right! A profitable summer camp with<br />
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Well, so are the many school owners who get excited<br />
about running an exceptional summer camp and begin in<br />
March or April, only to be disappointed in June and July.<br />
On the other hand, schools that begin summer camp now<br />
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Great Competition<br />
Why should your summer camp start now? Just go and<br />
take a look at your local newspaper’s upcoming events<br />
or social section and you’ll find out why the beginning<br />
of spring is the time to begin your summer camp. You’re<br />
bound to see a whole bunch of competition: The YMCA,<br />
sports camps, music camps, traditional camps, and of<br />
course, other martial arts summer camps. If you think<br />
you can wait until the spring to start your summer camp,<br />
you’ll be giving an edge to all of your competition and they<br />
will take advantage. The saying “the early bird catches the<br />
worm” is true with regard to running a successful summer<br />
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Maybe you’re not quite so sure how to begin a summer<br />
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There are lots of secrets within the AMS Summer Camp<br />
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72 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
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Have Your School, Organization,<br />
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<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>News</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>!<br />
As professional martial arts school owners and instructors,<br />
it’s important that we stay up to date with the latest tools,<br />
tactics, and strategies for operating a successful martial arts<br />
school or organization.<br />
We here at <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>News</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> are on an<br />
unstoppable mission to help our industry grow, and one of<br />
the best ways to do that is by sharing “what’s working” and<br />
what’s not.<br />
So, we want to feature schools, school owners, instructors,<br />
organizations, students, and industry contributors that might<br />
have a story our readers would find valuable!<br />
No story is too small or too big for consideration so long as<br />
there is value to our readers.<br />
• One of your students overcame<br />
great obstacles to achieve<br />
their black belt? Awesome!<br />
• You’ve opened a new location?<br />
We’d love to hear about it!<br />
• Your martial arts association<br />
just set a new record? Great!<br />
Send us some information!<br />
<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong><strong>World</strong><strong>News</strong>.com/Ureport<br />
Send your Story Idea to us Email Editor@<strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong><strong>World</strong><strong>News</strong>.com<br />
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Press The Points<br />
GRANDMASTER<br />
TOM PATIRE,<br />
is known as<br />
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Personal Safety<br />
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➽In the past I’ve talked about control tactics<br />
and how they are a necessity in the world of professional<br />
bodyguarding. Facts being facts—you<br />
hope to avoid confrontations most of the time,<br />
but if you do get into a physical confrontation,<br />
the use of force in many cases will be low-level or<br />
what many of us call “soft-handed force.” A reader<br />
asked me via email what I personally thought<br />
of pressure points or pressure point-based<br />
techniques. As I’ve stated before, all aspects of<br />
training have their place and time in certain situations<br />
that you may or may not run across while<br />
working as a private protector. Pressure points<br />
are definetly something that fit the bill in fullcircle<br />
training regarding the EP profession.<br />
Now, pressure point-type techniques are a debatable<br />
topic among many in the security and law enforcement<br />
professions. Some swear by them, while others swear<br />
against them. As in anything, it depends not only on the<br />
situation that you are dealing with, but it also depends on<br />
how you apply the technique and the state of the person<br />
you are applying it on. With that being, said let’s look at a<br />
few variables:<br />
Situations<br />
When you talk situation-based scenarios you need to<br />
address what type of force is needed. In this case, since we<br />
are addressing pressure points, let’s look at specific situations<br />
or attacks on the principal that would warrant the<br />
use of a pressure point technique. Scenarios that involve<br />
restraining an aggressor that could or would do harm to<br />
not only your client, but to you and your team as well,<br />
would be a common one. Situations like overaggressive<br />
fans that grab or attempt to grab your client, like at a rock<br />
concert or autograph session; or when protesters lock onto<br />
stationary objects like doors, each other, or vehicles, and<br />
you, as the on-premise agent, need to remove them quickly<br />
so the client can get through. These scenarios and many<br />
others like them give you the option of using a soft-handed<br />
technique like a pressure point. And yes, when done<br />
right, they do work (I have used them).<br />
Application<br />
Like in all training, applying the right technique at the<br />
right time is the key to success. Also, applying it in realworld<br />
conditions is what makes you invaluable to your<br />
client, as well<br />
as your team. What I have found<br />
in my training is that many people that<br />
fail at pressure point techniques fail not because<br />
of the technique itself, but because of the missed application.<br />
See, a pressure point has to be “cleared” before you<br />
apply it. For example, you attempt to apply a point to, let’s<br />
say, in the region of the clavicle, where there are numerous,<br />
very effective points that can immobilize an aggressor<br />
in seconds. Where this point, and many like them, goes<br />
wrong is when the applicator tries to apply it directly<br />
through the clothing. When that happens, the clothing<br />
jams the point and creates a buffer so that the aggressor<br />
never feels the full effect of the point, allowing him to<br />
resist or, in some cases, break out of the technique. Some<br />
helpful advice when applying a point to the clavicle region<br />
is to slide your finger down along the neck so that it goes<br />
under the shirt or jacket, and once directly on the targeted<br />
point, use another finger to activate the pressure point.<br />
This technique is called “clearing” and works most of the<br />
time in most situations.<br />
Body Types<br />
Body type often dictates the effect of a pressure point.<br />
For example, a person with less body density (fat and/or<br />
muscle), in most cases, is easiest to apply. That does not<br />
mean that the other body types can’t be targets with pressure<br />
points. What it means is that you need to read a body<br />
and apply the best point that shows itself during the altercation/situation.<br />
In a situation where a person is irate and<br />
swinging his hands violently, many seasoned professionals<br />
I work with like to target facial points or points that lie<br />
in the arms like the radial nerve. If a person is on the attack<br />
and an agent enters from his rear, many favor points in<br />
the neck, back, or lower legs. What it really comes down<br />
to is what is accessible at the time. In many cases, you take<br />
what is given to you instead of trying to go after a point<br />
that may not be accessible at the time.<br />
At the end of the day, the training you choose is your<br />
choice, but the law dictates what we can do and what we<br />
can’t. Make sure you are skilled in all aspects of use of<br />
force, and when you have the choice, make sure you use<br />
less force instead of more. Less means fewer problems and<br />
fewer headaches, especially if it involves any type of civil<br />
and criminal repercussions.<br />
Visit TomPatire.com<br />
76 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by Indysystem
Complete <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Concepts<br />
Kung-Fu Curriculum<br />
Development, Part 1<br />
PROFESSOR<br />
WILLIE “THE<br />
BAM” JOHNSON<br />
is a 7th degree<br />
black belt and<br />
seven-time<br />
sport karate and<br />
Kung-Fu world<br />
champion. He has<br />
appeared in four<br />
movies, 16 plays,<br />
and 11 television<br />
shows. He is<br />
also the national<br />
spokesperson for<br />
the Stronger than<br />
Drugs Foundation<br />
and the Champions<br />
Against Drugs.<br />
➽This is the production, vehicle, and style<br />
used to empower others by teaching. Kung<br />
Fu is like painting a beautiful portrait. It is one<br />
of the only completed art forms that realize<br />
its effective execution as the small details<br />
lead with the big picture. But this can destroy<br />
students’ self-worth and add stress to their<br />
lives and force them to quit. Remember, these<br />
students have a life, jobs, and so many other<br />
things. Only a very small percentage of people<br />
want the whole cultural experience forced on<br />
them; instead, they want to be free to use what<br />
enhances their lives.<br />
When the curriculum is taught in this manner, you<br />
develop students for life and more balanced human beings;<br />
and, as a matter of fact, this approach is congruent<br />
with everything else in their life. Lessons should be about<br />
working smarter by using one’s time wisely by focusing<br />
on their strengths, and use a guiding curriculum that<br />
will eventually enhance their weaknesses the longer they<br />
stay around. This is the reason for introducing students<br />
to a more simplified curriculum for the first one to four<br />
years and set the goal of attaining their black belt. There<br />
must be a goal, and a black belt signifies a strong basic<br />
foundation in society. It is the stage that the real martial<br />
arts training begins because, before then, they were just<br />
remembering a curriculum.<br />
Over the next three to four years<br />
they will be evaluated as black belts,<br />
and then as an artist over the next five<br />
to ten, eventually developing into black<br />
belts for life as their Kung Fu training<br />
is now a way of life. At my schools, to<br />
protect the art, it takes three to four<br />
years to achieve a first level black belt,<br />
and if you stay around, in another<br />
three to four years you qualify for<br />
first-degree black belt, which is the real<br />
black belt.<br />
This process works well in teaching<br />
the complete art of Kung Fu, with<br />
a curriculum best broken down by<br />
age group for comprehension. For example, at the Kung<br />
Phooey level, it’s all disguised as nursery rhymes, ABCs,<br />
counting, life skills, and personal safety.<br />
There is also the additional program called “Magnificent”<br />
that enhances the complete Kung Fu program, and<br />
helps the students progress faster. We have classes like<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> Fusion, Kids Fu Fit, Combat Fitness, Street Combat,<br />
Tai Chi, grappling, Street Calisthenics, and more.<br />
We also offer summer camps, workshops, and events<br />
that expose the students to other hot styles, sports, and so<br />
on, which will enhance their curriculum development.<br />
Then there is the SWAT competition team and demo<br />
team that they qualify for if they are in the Black Belt<br />
Club and Masters Club, which are just long-term commitment<br />
programs that reinforce goal setting and accomplishments.<br />
There are additional classes and curriculums<br />
that go along with all of this that include weapons<br />
training, fighting sets, full contact, MMA, and anything<br />
that we know will help develop top-quality Kung Fu artists<br />
over time. Also, these programs inspire students to<br />
commit more time to their training which, as now there’s<br />
no wasted time in any class because every second is accounted<br />
for.<br />
What goes with all of this is to improve competition,<br />
the entertainment industry, the fitness industry, academics<br />
and more. It is a win-win all around.<br />
Visit PointMMA.com<br />
78 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by Tuned_In
The Millionaire Smarts Coach<br />
Prescriptive Behavior<br />
EDUCATIONAL<br />
CONTRIBUTOR<br />
MS. LEE MILTEER<br />
is an Intuitive<br />
Business Coach,<br />
award-winning<br />
professional<br />
speaker, and TV<br />
personality who<br />
has counseled<br />
and trained over<br />
a million people<br />
throughout her<br />
career. Lee is<br />
Stephen Oliver’s<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong><br />
Wealth Mastery’s<br />
Millionaire Smarts<br />
Coach and is also a<br />
best-selling author<br />
of educational<br />
resources.<br />
➽It is better to be over-rehearsed than<br />
ambushed!<br />
You must have visionary thinking when it comes to<br />
your future. I call this, “flying into the future with your<br />
mind,” so you can acknowledge the possible changes happening<br />
in your world.<br />
When you know something might come your way,<br />
prepare yourself so you aren’t caught off-guard. You must<br />
arm yourself with information that keeps you balanced<br />
and conscious to prevent stress and panic, regardless of<br />
whatever little mess you find yourself in. No one makes<br />
good decisions when they’re trapped in a non-resourceful<br />
state of mind or caught off-guard. In fact, most of us can<br />
trace bad decisions back to when we reacted to a situation<br />
instead of acting in a manner that served us.<br />
I want to remind you of the importance of prescriptive<br />
behavior, or arming yourself with the tools and information<br />
that will help you deal with whatever changes come<br />
your way so you can achieve your goals.<br />
When you decide to choose your response to circumstances,<br />
you powerfully affect the outcome. By taking<br />
responsibility of the decisions in your life and business,<br />
you change the circumstances and the outcome. When you<br />
focus on the highest and best outcome possible, you don’t<br />
allow challenges to make you a victim. You go from being a<br />
victim to being powerful. When you give yourself permission<br />
to let go of what doesn’t work and make a decision on<br />
what you want, you clearly start taking control of your life<br />
and future.<br />
Instead of dreading change, reframe your life. Think<br />
about the possibility of new, exciting opportunities for operating<br />
your business so you can be happy instead of being<br />
afraid and dreading what might happen. Remember, you’re<br />
always a self-fulfilling prophecy. You design your future<br />
with your thoughts, expectations, behaviors, and actions.<br />
If something has not worked well for you in the past, it’s<br />
TIME TO CHANGE IT. Shift your mind to get new results.<br />
The old saying, “Success in life is 80 percent attitude and<br />
<strong>20</strong> percent aptitude,” is true. You can learn anything you’re<br />
willing to spend the time and energy to learn. It’s your attitude<br />
that will make the difference if you are open to change.<br />
So, ask yourself what your attitude is toward change.<br />
No matter what kind of business you run, there are<br />
going to be days that are filled with problems. The news<br />
is negative, employees let you down, and competition is<br />
beating you up. You feel exhausted from making decisions<br />
and challenging things constantly happen. In the end, the<br />
people who thrive and prosper are the ones who have the<br />
prescriptive attitude. The people who succeed are the ones<br />
who take charge of the caliber of information that reaches<br />
their brain.<br />
In other words, a habit of the wealthy is having the skill<br />
of awareness to stop negative self-talk and keep from having<br />
a negative view of life that will impact your future and<br />
keep you from reaching greatness.<br />
You get in life what you focus on. If you dwell on limitations,<br />
you will reach them. You will have a better life in<br />
every way if you make the least of the worst while making<br />
the most of the best.<br />
Visit Milteer.com<br />
80 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by NirutiStock
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Budo Philosophy<br />
The Reverse Side of<br />
Intelligence Is Arrogance<br />
SHIDOSHI<br />
ALFREDO TUCCI<br />
is the CEO and<br />
General Manager<br />
of the Budo<br />
International<br />
Publishing<br />
Company, a<br />
leading publisher<br />
in the martial arts<br />
with over 35 years<br />
in the industry.<br />
He is also author<br />
of several books:<br />
The Immaterial<br />
Dimension, The<br />
Way of the Warrior,<br />
and The Spirit. He<br />
currently lives in<br />
Valencia, Spain.<br />
➽There is a mechanism that is intrinsic to<br />
the human being and to the way his thinking<br />
is organized, to the way his brain works,<br />
which is analogy. With great success analogy<br />
has led us to succeed as a species even<br />
though we are not really a paragon of virtue<br />
or physical talents.<br />
With analogy, starting from something known, we<br />
infer from similar conclusions as we respond to the unknown.<br />
Then, we apply reasoning to verify the discovery<br />
and pass it to the next generation; a great system, no<br />
doubt. However, this positive aspect of our peculiar way<br />
of being thinking animals bears hidden on the bottom of<br />
itself a terrible reverse side, which is the root of arrogance.<br />
Forced by need, the aforementioned process of trying<br />
to know what we ignore by means of comparison,<br />
which forces us to position ourselves before the unknown<br />
through challenges, carries in it implicitly a terrible trend<br />
of believing that we are the exclusive possessors of the<br />
truth, and definitively the owners of a throne that doesn’t<br />
fit us, because it will always be more what we don’t know<br />
than what we do know.<br />
As the real challenges are less than the imaginary ones,<br />
it’s easy to reverse the positive of that procedure and fall<br />
into its dark counterpart. That’s why the most protected<br />
generations, less contrasted with difficulties, accuse much<br />
more this defect. And that is also why certainties and<br />
security in personal history are frequently strong points of<br />
a temper in which arrogance has installed itself.<br />
Only the one who has fallen knows about his limits,<br />
measures his smallness; although there is no better antidote<br />
to arrogance than defeat, learning from it is quite<br />
another thing.<br />
Those of us who have a tendency towards arrogance<br />
perceive the change when years mature us because we become<br />
temperate (not lukewarm), and we look at the world<br />
and our reactions with perspective. Tolerance is a first<br />
symptom, understanding is one even better, and compassion<br />
is the final one. These are the unmistakable signs that<br />
something has changed and modulated our nature, but<br />
without forgetting that we are what we are.<br />
At the end, a goat will always be drawn to the mountain<br />
or, as they say, a leopard never changes its spots.<br />
Visit BudoInternational.com<br />
84 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by Khosrork
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Visit <strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong><strong>World</strong><strong>News</strong>.com/Sponsors<br />
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Pro Shop Power<br />
Build Retention Through<br />
Innovation & Safety<br />
MR. BRANDON KIM<br />
is the President<br />
of Vision <strong>Martial</strong><br />
<strong>Arts</strong> Supply, Los<br />
Angeles Branch,<br />
who helps school<br />
owners all over the<br />
US maximize their<br />
retail sales and<br />
drive more revenue<br />
into their schools.<br />
➽There was a time when many<br />
styles of the martial arts were limited<br />
almost solely to punches and kicks.<br />
If a person could not perform big<br />
kicks, then they usually weren’t considered<br />
a well-rounded martial artist.<br />
Many schools didn’t teach grappling<br />
because it wasn’t a part of their traditional<br />
style.<br />
Now, thanks to puzzle mats, martial arts school<br />
owners can provide students with cushioned surfaces<br />
that not only allow for sure-footed support for stepping<br />
and kicking drills, but are also great shock absorbers for<br />
jumping and falling drills, as well. Puzzle mats also have a<br />
non-slip surface that increases safety for your students, no<br />
matter which drill they’re performing.<br />
When you use puzzle mats, you can teach grappling<br />
and throwing techniques. By adding new techniques and<br />
practices into your martial arts training, you offer more<br />
for your students. Adding the variation of grappling into<br />
your curriculum can even boost your retention. Those<br />
students who don’t feel as confident in their kicking<br />
techniques might feel much stronger with grappling.<br />
Even those students who are strong in kicking<br />
techniques should learn<br />
the usefulness of grappling.<br />
By knowing more<br />
techniques, the student<br />
becomes a more knowledgeable<br />
martial artist.<br />
Puzzle mats can also lead to<br />
more enrollments, too. Grappling<br />
and throwing techniques are things that<br />
people look for when they are searching for a<br />
school specifically for self-defense purposes. On top<br />
of that, when someone is looking for a martial arts school,<br />
they want to know that they (or their child) will be safe.<br />
Puzzle mats will show them that you are concerned for<br />
your students’ safety.<br />
Grappling involves students hitting the floor more<br />
often. With puzzle mats, students will be safe when they<br />
fall. Puzzle mats also provide a safe surface for a student<br />
who<br />
missteps<br />
and falls<br />
during any drill. An added bonus of the puzzle mats is<br />
less fatigue on the body. Standing on a firm yet cushioned<br />
surface puts less stress on the bones and joints. That means<br />
that your students can train longer and more safely!<br />
Puzzle mats are a reasonably inexpensive way to boost<br />
your retention and vary your curriculum. Puzzle mats are<br />
worth the investment compared to the gains that your<br />
school will make.<br />
If you’d like to get an idea of how much a puzzle mat<br />
floor would cost in your school, simply divide<br />
your total square feet by 11.09. This will<br />
give you the total number of mats<br />
your school will need. Then, you<br />
simply multiply that number by<br />
the cost of each mat.<br />
At MyKick.com/mat, Vision can<br />
provide you with a free quote. We also offer<br />
several different price points for puzzle<br />
mats. We offer Platinum and Deluxe puzzle<br />
mats, as well as a “high profile” surface or a “low<br />
profile surface,” in addition to a variety of colors<br />
(long gone are the days of the bright red, blue, yellow, and<br />
green puzzle mats!). Vision even offers a <strong>World</strong> Taekwondo<br />
Federation-approved TUSAH puzzle mat that is<br />
odorless and made with high density EVA foam.<br />
For your free quote and to peruse our numerous options,<br />
visit MyKick.com/mat today!<br />
86 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2
Learn the Sword<br />
with Shihan Dana Abbott<br />
Learn Samurai swordsmanship online with Shihan Dana Abbott!<br />
For $1 a day, you can take advantage<br />
of Danna Abbott’s expertise in<br />
Kenjutsu, known as Japanese<br />
Swordsmanship, where he<br />
holds the rank of Shihan 7th<br />
Degree Black Belt.<br />
Abbot has shared his expertise<br />
from the Hombu Dojo in<br />
Yokohama with thousands of<br />
instructors worldwide – and<br />
now he’d like to share it with you.<br />
Samurai Program Online Training<br />
You’ll get unlimited access to videos and tutorials<br />
detailing sword techniques and covering wood,<br />
bamboo, synthetics, and steel for long sword!<br />
Individual Courses & Self Study<br />
Instruction is based on tried-and-true methods<br />
taught in Japan for generations. Experience oneon-one<br />
instruction with a simple, step-by-step,<br />
methodical approach to mastering the sword.<br />
Instructor Courses & Certification<br />
Traditional and combative courses allow<br />
students to grasp the basic dynamics of<br />
traditional & combative sword techniques<br />
and mindsets, making learning and achieving<br />
certification easier!<br />
For more information, head to LearnTheSword.com
The Way of the Samurai<br />
The Three Rs of Combative<br />
Weaponry, Part 2<br />
SHIHAN DANNA<br />
ABBOTT Is a<br />
7th degree black<br />
belt in Kenjutsu,<br />
starting his 14-year<br />
education in Tokyo.<br />
He has published<br />
five books and<br />
designed a US<br />
Patent. Abbott has<br />
also conducted<br />
seminars in over<br />
30 countries and<br />
obtained his black<br />
belt at the Hombu<br />
dojo in Yokohama.<br />
➽Retail, Retention, and Renewal<br />
Weaponry programs in the past were only practiced by<br />
the higher ranks and the focused, especially since injury<br />
was a main concern among school owners.<br />
Now, with new approaches in marketing traditional<br />
practices, ActionFlex has designed a turnkey weapons program,<br />
which is easy to set up and manage while bringing<br />
new retail profits into your establishment.<br />
Padded weaponry programs and polishing<br />
tools were not created yesterday. These<br />
are all tried and true methods<br />
with decades of<br />
results. Recognized<br />
by<br />
the Japanese<br />
Department of<br />
Education and Recreation,<br />
these programs<br />
are geared towards children,<br />
youth, and adults.<br />
What was originally created for the elite few<br />
decades ago are now being taught safely to the<br />
masses in over <strong>20</strong> countries. Incorporating<br />
a padded weapons program in your school<br />
is easier than you think. You just need<br />
to understand the how-tos of padded<br />
weaponry programs and how they can be applied to your<br />
school, system, and style. The following suggestions are all<br />
you need to make an informed decision.<br />
Programs and curriculums in your school<br />
Short and long sword and mixed weaponry programs<br />
provide excitement among young and adult martial artists.<br />
Students can’t get enough and they want more. Read<br />
and view as much information as possible. Go on the internet,<br />
where you will find hours of useful written and visual<br />
information, then call and ask questions. Brainstorm with<br />
your staff and students. Knock around what works best<br />
today and how to improve for tomorrow. Decide which<br />
programs work for your school, style, and system. You<br />
might elect to incorporate an upgrade program for your<br />
little ninjas. Or teach a sword and staff class utilizing a core<br />
program. No matter what avenue you use, these programs<br />
and training tools are jam-packed with drills and marketing<br />
information; the key to success making an educated<br />
and informed decision, which costs nothing but your time.<br />
Equipment in your school<br />
Instructors who use full contact padded weaponry and<br />
programs in their schools already know the possibilities.<br />
Instead of using a pipe taped with rags to construct<br />
a staff or other weapon, which is a dangerous<br />
gamble at best, consider this: If you can put a<br />
man on the moon, shouldn’t you<br />
be able to have full contact<br />
weaponry that<br />
is safe? Correctly designed<br />
and long-lasting<br />
equipment is a<br />
key factor. Test them<br />
out in school with<br />
the students and staff.<br />
Again, ask questions and<br />
understand the how-tos<br />
of padded weapons and<br />
what works best in<br />
your school.<br />
Incorporate in your school<br />
Have one or all of your instructors and staff members<br />
take a class or intensive course on full contact padded<br />
weaponry. Have your leadership team or staff assist<br />
with the various sword, staff, stick, and mixed weaponry<br />
programs. Incorporate these programs in your school by<br />
introducing them slowly, but with conviction. Allow all of<br />
your students to practice with the weaponry in one aspect<br />
or another, not just the higher-ranking students or black<br />
belts. Easy-to-find information on classes and courses are<br />
just a click of the button away. Concerned about a program<br />
in your school? Talk to another school owner. Chances are<br />
they already have classes in their school that promote a<br />
great workout with no fear of injury.<br />
Online classses available at LearnTheSword.com, his<br />
unique swordmanship academy.<br />
88 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by master1305
Master the Basics<br />
Three Secrets to a Great<br />
Beginner’s Class<br />
MASTER<br />
TINA BANE<br />
is a 6th degree<br />
master instructor<br />
and owner of a<br />
Top Ten martial<br />
arts school with<br />
successful after<br />
school and summer<br />
camp programs.<br />
➽The beginner’s class is the most important<br />
class in martial arts training. If you don’t have<br />
a great beginner’s class, it won’t matter how<br />
good your other classes are because students<br />
will quit before they ever get to move up in<br />
rank.<br />
For this reason, I strongly recommend teaching a separate<br />
beginner’s class. When you just throw your beginners<br />
into your regular class, it can be very frustrating to all the<br />
students. Beginners have very different needs from more<br />
advanced students. When you put them both in the same<br />
class, one or the other will get frustrated, and your retention<br />
will suffer.<br />
All your classes must be educational, motivational, and<br />
practical. Here are three secrets I have discovered over the<br />
years for my beginners’ classes:<br />
First, take the time to teach your basics properly<br />
Beginner’s class lays the foundation of the martial arts<br />
for these students. The basics we teach provide the foundation<br />
of every technique the students will learn, even the<br />
most advanced skills. Just as you cannot build a skyscraper<br />
on a foundation of sand, you cannot build powerful martial<br />
arts technique on sloppy basics. The quality of your<br />
black belts begins here.<br />
Take the extra time to explain the<br />
basics, allow the students to practice, and<br />
then help them improve. I like the PIR<br />
method of correction, which stands for<br />
Praise, Improvement, and Result. You<br />
praise the student for what he is doing<br />
well, suggest an area of improvement, and<br />
then tell him the result of following your<br />
advice. For example, “Good! I like the way<br />
you snap your kick out and back. If you<br />
point your knee a little higher, you will be<br />
able to kick higher.”<br />
Second, help students set shortterm,<br />
mid-term, and long-term<br />
goals<br />
Students with goals have a reason to<br />
overcome the inevitable frustrations that come when they<br />
are pushing their limits. Help them learn to turn obstacles<br />
into stepping-stones to achieve higher levels of mastery.<br />
A short-term goal for a beginner is to pass her yellow belt<br />
test. A mid-term goal would be to receive her black belt.<br />
A long-term goal would be to become an instructor and<br />
share what she has learned with others.<br />
Third, make sure they get a good physical<br />
sweat and a good mental sweat each class<br />
The more immediate the benefits they receive, the<br />
more necessary your classes will become in their lives.<br />
Physical sweat is a sign that they are getting into better<br />
shape. They are improving their strength, flexibility, and<br />
health while reducing stress. At the end of every class you<br />
can measure your success in gallons of sweat. Mental sweat<br />
comes from understanding the principles behind the<br />
basics, which give us direction in our lives. Be sure to point<br />
out the practical applications of martial arts principles in<br />
everyday living. For example, we teach verbal self-defense<br />
alongside of physical self-defense. Chances are your<br />
students will use verbal self-defense in the next day or so,<br />
whereas they probably won’t use physical self-defense for<br />
weeks, months, or even years. When they see immediate<br />
benefits, they have to come back for more.<br />
90 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by uladzimir_likman
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Instructional Excellence<br />
The Good, the Bad,<br />
and the Ugly<br />
GRANDMASTER<br />
TIM MCCARTHY<br />
is a 9th degree<br />
black belt and<br />
is a martial arts<br />
educator with a<br />
master’s degree in<br />
education. He has<br />
been instrumental<br />
in developing two<br />
industry-changing<br />
programs, plus<br />
has directed and<br />
been featured in<br />
hundreds of martial<br />
arts videos and<br />
webinars.<br />
➽Over the past 50 years or so, you may<br />
have noticed some good, some bad, and<br />
some ugly trends in the martial arts industry.<br />
Back in the 1960s, all martial arts were mysterious,<br />
but gaining exposure in the movies<br />
and TV as exotic super-fighting methods.<br />
When James Bond did a few chops and some simple<br />
throws, people were amazed. It’s almost comical to look<br />
back on those original scenes and see how poorly executed<br />
those techniques were. Then Enter the Dragon<br />
was released, showing some truly exciting martial arts<br />
action to a hungry new audience. The TV series Kung-<br />
Fu cemented in our minds the image of the wise master<br />
who seemed to have otherworldly knowledge and abilities.<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> arts schools enjoyed a great reputation as a new<br />
influx of adult students sought Eastern philosophy and<br />
esoteric abilities.<br />
In the 1980s The Karate Kid created a whole new marketing<br />
vehicle for children in the martial arts. Millions of<br />
parents wanted their children to be taught by someone<br />
like Mr. Miyagi, and martial arts schools enjoyed another<br />
decade of a positive image and financial success.<br />
In the late 1990s, Billy Blanks’ Tae Bo created a separate<br />
marketing frenzy for aerobic self-defense. Existing<br />
martial arts schools were getting 50 calls a week asking<br />
if they taught Tae Bo. Official Tae Bo certification was<br />
hard to come by, but other programs like Cardio Karate<br />
and Aerobic Self-Defense were readily available, and<br />
many schools rode the wave to financial success—but the<br />
philosophy of the martial arts was not a strong component<br />
and the popularity did not last.<br />
In this century, the UFC seems to be the martial arts<br />
marketing bonanza. The franchise is currently valued<br />
at $4 billion due to its pay-per-view events, nightly and<br />
weekly television shows, video games, action figures, and<br />
clothing. Related clothing like Tap Out is also riding their<br />
wave of success.<br />
The UFC has definitely affected the martial arts industry<br />
as more schools offer a wider variety of techniques<br />
in their classes. Even traditional Taekwondo schools now<br />
offer some form of joint locks and grappling in their curriculum.<br />
The American public truly believes that there is<br />
more to fighting than kicking and punching.<br />
However, isn’t there more to martial arts than fighting?<br />
Are we just martial, or aren’t we also an art?<br />
The Mixed <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> have gone a long way to strip<br />
away the image of discipline and respect long associated<br />
with the martial arts. The problem is that millions of<br />
people watch MMA action, but no one who has a decent job<br />
wants to get grounded and pounded and then show up to<br />
work the next day with cuts and bruises. Nor do they want<br />
to see their children get grounded and pounded. MMA<br />
has become an ugly blood sport. UFC-style competition<br />
is the modern day equivalent of Roman gladiators in the<br />
Coliseum—everyone wants to watch, but no one wants to<br />
participate.<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> arts training, to be practical for modern<br />
society, needs practical philosophy. People want to learn<br />
physical self-defense, but they also need to learn mental<br />
self-defense. Most of the bullies we face use verbal or<br />
economic threats, rather than physical attacks, and that’s<br />
where we need to learn to defend ourselves most often.<br />
<strong>Martial</strong> arts training without modern philosophy is<br />
just highly skilled street fighting. It is really no different<br />
than gangbanging in the streets of New York, LA, or any<br />
other urban area.<br />
If you want your martial arts school to profit from the<br />
MMA craze, don’t add UFC-style fighting to your classes.<br />
Instead, differentiate yourself by emphasizing how your<br />
classes teach students to become Life Champions, not<br />
octagon champions. Emphasize how your modern philosophy<br />
can improve their lives on a daily basis.<br />
92 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by master1305
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Tools & Tactics<br />
The Secret to Success<br />
Ms. Mandy<br />
Andrade<br />
is a martial<br />
arts business<br />
development<br />
consultant with<br />
a background in<br />
online and social<br />
media marketing.<br />
➽Most of the martial arts masters I speak with<br />
on a daily basis became professional instructors<br />
because they wanted to share with others<br />
the benefits they had received from practicing<br />
the martial arts.<br />
They remember the close bond they had with their own<br />
master, and the impact he had on their lives. They hope<br />
they can earn that kind of respect from their own students<br />
and have a similar effect on their lives.<br />
They did not open a martial arts school so that they<br />
could chase after people for money. That just wasn’t part<br />
of the game plan.<br />
Unfortunately, things happen. The primary source<br />
of income for a martial arts school is the tuition students<br />
pay for instruction, and that tuition is usually paid over<br />
time in monthly payments. Not everyone will remember<br />
to pay on time. Some people will have accidents and other<br />
unforeseen expenses, and will not want to pay for a month<br />
or two. At that point, what can you do?<br />
Here’s a little secret: The right answer is not to become<br />
the bill collector and ask the students for the money they owe<br />
you. The right answer is also not to ask your wife or a staff<br />
member to ask the student for money. Both of these solutions<br />
create more problems than they solve because they set up an<br />
adversarial relationship between the student and the school.<br />
Fortunately, the right answer also takes just one easy<br />
step: Hiring a professional tuition billing service from the<br />
beginning to take all those headaches away. You can then<br />
take all the time you and your staff currently spends on<br />
sending late notices, calling students on the phone, and<br />
dealing with frustrated parents in person, and use that<br />
time to recruit new students instead.<br />
Every hour you spend collecting current tuition could<br />
be invested into recruiting new students who are worth<br />
thousands in additional income. When you try handling<br />
your billing in-house, you save a nickel and miss out on<br />
making dollars.<br />
It’s just not worth it.<br />
Professional companies also provide additional professional<br />
services, like accounting. Whenever you want to<br />
know who has paid and who is late, you can get up-to-date<br />
reports online anytime. Additionally, the best companies<br />
offer other valuable services like marketing materials,<br />
management assistance, and consulting.<br />
If you or any member of your staff is wasting time<br />
and ruining your reputation by chasing after students for<br />
money, I recommend that you trade in your headaches for<br />
extra time to enroll new students, and earn new income.<br />
Call the professionals at AMS at (800) 275-1600 or visit<br />
OurAMS.com to preserve your dignity and the reputation<br />
of your school.<br />
AMS is your one-stop-shop for martial arts school owners.<br />
We do it all, so you don’t have to.<br />
94 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by Olivier Le Moal
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<strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Philosophy<br />
American Samurai, Part 1<br />
SENSEI<br />
GARY LEE,<br />
the American<br />
Samurai, is a 9th<br />
Dan black belt,<br />
a USA Karate<br />
Federation gold<br />
medalist, winner<br />
of five Super<br />
Grand National<br />
Titles, a featured<br />
actor in the movie<br />
Sidekicks, and<br />
is the founder of<br />
the National Sport<br />
Karate Museum.<br />
➽It was a<br />
clear, crisp morning at<br />
the docks in the bustling<br />
port city known<br />
as Shinbashi. As the<br />
boats and sailing ships<br />
began to depart Edo<br />
Bay, winding their way<br />
up and down the coast<br />
of Japan, a mediumsized<br />
sailing ship known<br />
as the Maru Mari was<br />
also traveling the same<br />
route. There was nothing<br />
special about this<br />
vessel. It consisted of<br />
a twelve-man crew,<br />
plus 29 passengers.<br />
Little did they know that<br />
this was the last time<br />
they would ever again<br />
see the shores of Edo.<br />
Japan is known for its<br />
many island chains. Their<br />
destination was to be one of those islands: Hahajima,<br />
located about 800 nautical miles off the coast of Japan.<br />
The 29 passengers had been sent by a direct edict of the<br />
Emperor to colonize Japan’s outer frontier. Select samurai<br />
families from various clans were occasionally sent to the<br />
outer frontiers to establish new colonies and posts. The<br />
samurai clan on this particular ship was traveling east<br />
towards the rising sun.<br />
The Emperor’s aim was to colonize a small outpost on<br />
Hahajima, which takes about ten days when sailing by<br />
light sailing craft. Unfortunately, as they were getting<br />
closer to their destination, an ominous storm warning<br />
appeared on the horizon. When it hit, the storm took them<br />
off of their designated course for six days. When the hurricane<br />
winds had exhausted their strength and visibility<br />
returned they spotted what they believed to be Hahajima.<br />
Upon debarking the vessel and wading through the last<br />
few feet of water, they heard not a sound or any activity. For<br />
weeks they toured, examined, and searched for each and every<br />
sign of sustainability. The passengers finally realized they<br />
had landed on the wrong island, but began colonizing and<br />
preparing it for more samurai to come in the next two years.<br />
Five years went by and no one had appeared; then, ten<br />
years, and still no sign of anyone or any help. Meanwhile,<br />
these stranded samurai and the ship’s tradesmen began<br />
building a port city for the coming Japanese reinforcements<br />
that never materialized.<br />
Although, a few generations later, merchant ships that<br />
were off course saw their beacon and headed toward the<br />
light began showing up at their outpost port. When these<br />
merchants returned to their homeports, bringing home<br />
exciting stories about the fierce-looking samurai warriors<br />
they encountered on the island, ship captains and their<br />
pilots added this island and port to their current nautical<br />
maps. Thus, the island’s commerce began.<br />
On the maps and charts, they named the island Katana,<br />
referring to the fact that everyone there wore a Katana<br />
sword. What was originally thought to be Hahajima actually<br />
became the newly charted island of Katana, located off<br />
the farthest northwestern tip of the Hawaii, and which the<br />
United States of America annexed. Thus, the inhabitants<br />
on the island became known as American Samurai.<br />
Visit SportKarateMuseumArchives.com<br />
96 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2<br />
Photograph by boggy22
57<br />
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83 Kids Point MMA<br />
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53 Kovar Systems<br />
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98<br />
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87 Learn the Sword<br />
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81 Action Mega Weekend<br />
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11 Amazing <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> Websites<br />
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77, 85, <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
91, 95 <strong>Martial</strong><strong>Arts</strong><strong>World</strong><strong>News</strong>.com<br />
19, 66, AMS Billing<br />
100 OurAMS.com<br />
59, 73 AMSkids<br />
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24 Black Belt Principles<br />
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75 Break Like a Champ<br />
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79 Budo International <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
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71 Extraordinary Marketing<br />
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17 Karen Eden<br />
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89 Lee Milteer<br />
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51, 99 MA Biz Academy<br />
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95 <strong>Martial</strong> <strong>Arts</strong> History Museum<br />
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82 Otomix<br />
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98 Sport Karate Museum<br />
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35 Stephen K. Hayes - To-Shin Do<br />
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69 Tom Patire<br />
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15 Warrior Defence Lab<br />
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34, 65 Grandmaster Y. K. Kim<br />
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MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME <strong>20</strong> | ISSUE 2 97
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