Business Building Blog

With Summer approaching, it becomes increasingly important to keep your members fully engaged and committed to their training.

You’re not just competing with other sports now — you’re up against Summer vacations, schedule changes and the nice warm weather!

Here are four quick ways to engage your members and keep member retention solid.

An excerpt from “The Martial Arts Business Bible”

Most highly successful Martial Arts instructors made their giant leap forward because they eventually got one single thing right …They changed their PARADIGMS!

Paradigms are your mindsets. They are like the software programs that make your brain work the way it does when it comes to making decisions or forming opinions. Your paradigms develop over the course of your lifetime, or throughout your career and they cause you to see the world as you do. They influence your thoughts and help create your results, both good and bad.

The Lemonade Shirts

I once had a wonderful experience at a Marriott Hotel — they lost 2 of my shirts. The overall experience was so positive that I found myself telling the story in a tough sales meeting.

I was visiting a dissatisfied customer, trying to retain the business. The supplier I represented had not paid attention to this customer's needs, leading to service and quality problems. The customer had lined up an alternative source of supply; it was the 11th hour and our top management had decided to try to save the business. They flew in the VP of marketing and the manager of plants. We faced an extremely difficult selling situation.

When starting a business, one critical decision you will make is what form your business will take. Should you be a sole proprietorship, enter into a partnership with others, or should you form a corporation?  If a corporation, what type of corporation best suits your needs? 

The choice directly impacts your businesses’ profitability and sustainability and, significantly, your potential liability. It is a decision that should be made carefully, in conjunction with your legal counsel and accountant, to ensure that you choose and maintain the form that’s right for you.

This article covers the most common business entity forms and how each may affect your business.

Question: I'm thinking of opening another location. What are the most important considerations to keep in mind before taking this big step?

In my previous post, I recommended taking a long hard look at your business ― well before taking the plunge to open a second business location.

After your self-assessment, if you can honestly answer that your business is built on systems ― that your business would function efficiently and effectively without you being there — then, in my opinion, you are ready to seriously consider opening a second business place. In this post, I’ll cover some of the must-have elements to successful expansion and the benefits of running a multi-location business.

Are you considering buying an existing Martial Arts School or fitness facility? It’s essential that you cross all your T’s and dot your I’s prior to pulling the trigger. 

Here are eight tips for you to consider so you can hit the ground running.

Member Solutions has been in business for over two decades. During that time, we’ve become expert at member account servicing and have revealed dozens of best practices to positively impact member payment behaviors.

Clients that complete and implement our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), which include these best practices, end up saving time, resources and money — and realize greater collections and lower delinquency rates. 

"Daniel: No offense, Mr. Miyaji, but I don't think you understand my problem...
Miyagi: [interrupting] Mi... ya... *gi* understand problem perfect."

As Martial Arts school owners, it is really easy to get off track in the service we deliver. Sometimes we can get confused as to what business we are in and spend a lot of time trying to deliver our idea of what our students need instead of delivering what they want — even when they are very clearly communicating their needs. To keep students long term, we have to keep them happy and feeling like they are receiving a value greater than the tuition they pay us.

Question: I'm thinking of opening another location. What are the most important considerations to keep in mind before taking this big step?

Before taking this step, Martial Arts business owners must take a very serious look at their operations. They must ask themselves if the first location is built around them or if it’s built around systems. If the answer is that it is built around them, then I would suggest making some changes before opening another location … otherwise the level of stress and burden does not simply double, it goes up exponentially. Additionally, if the business is built around "you", it is kind of difficult to be in two places at once and you will either end up with one location failing or possibly both!  

In order for Martial Arts school owners to make the jump from one to multiple locations, everything must function as a business … and a “successful location” does not mean it functions as a “business.”  Let’s look at this a bit further …

Congratulations! If you have been following the details of the Premier Success Formula, you have learned how to, or are ready to experience your transformation … whatever the goal of your transformation happens to be. If you look up the word transformation in the dictionary, the first three definitions you get will be: 1. The act or process of transforming. 2. The state of being transformed. 3. Change in form, appearance, nature, or character.

The words used in these definitions - ACT, PROCESS, STATE, and CHANGE - really unveil the secret to not just your transformation, but to the entire Premier Success Formula. The secret is that …