Martial Arts World News Magazine - Volume 22 | Issue 3
The #1 Business Resource for the Martial Arts Industry
The #1 Business Resource for the Martial Arts Industry
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MartialArtsWorldNews.com
VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
The #1 Business Resource for the Martial Arts Industry
CHIEF MASTER
MIKE
BUGG
FROM OFFICER IN THE
DEATH CHAMBER
TO MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOL OWNER
LIFE CHANGER
Samuel L. Jackson
Paws of Fury:
Legend of the Hank
Chuck Norris
Boots & Black Belts Gala
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CONTENTS
FEATURES
24 AFKA Martial Arts Retreat
28 Anouncing: The Official Martial
Arts World News Magazine App
34 Chief Master Mike Bugg: From
Officer in the Death Chamber to
Martial Arts School Owner Life
Changer
103 FREE Tool of the Month
DEPARTMENTS
14 Industry Insights
15 Birthdays
16 Industry Innovations
20 Social 411
52 School Profiles
63 Classified Ads
99 Advertiser Index
YOUR INPUT
48 Tell Us Your Story
57 Feature Your School,
Organization, Accomplishment,
or Event
COLUMNS
6 Editorial
Summer Student Retention Strategies
Master Toby Milroy
8 Martial Arts World News Faculty
12 Ninja Business Tactics
Moving Like a Ninja
An-Shu Stephen Hayes
58 Mind Mastery
The Power of Self-Belief
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen
60 Growth Hacks
Use 3 Martial Arts Priniciples for Effective Advertising
Mr. Sean Lee
62 Next Level Strategy
Contract or No Contract? That is the Question, Part 2
Shihan Allie Alberigo
66 Pillars of Success
What is a healthy lifestyle? (Part 1)
Grandmaster Y. K. Kim
70 The Way of the Samurai
Children and the Art of the Sword, Part 3
Shihan Dana Abbott
72 Extraordinary Marketing
Don’t You Dare Miss an Opportunity!
Grandmaster Stephen Oliver
74 Mastering Modern BJJ
Add ‘Value’ to Your School
Master Carlos Machado
78 Tactical Self-Defense
Press the Points, Part 2
Grandmaster Tom Patire
80 Complete Martial Arts Concepts
Teaching the Complex Art of Kung Fu, Part 2
Professor Willie “the Bam” Johnson
4 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
STAFF
82 The Millionaire Smarts Coach
4 Sure-Fire Tips to Take Pressure Off Yourself
Ms. Lee Milteer
86 Budo Philosophy
A Particular Vision, Part 2
Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci
88 Pro Shop Power
You Can Boost Your Income By $12,000 to $24,000 a
Year with Strategic Pro Shop Sales
Mr. Sun Kang
90 Master the Basics
Funding Your Exhibition and Tournament Teams
Master Tina Bane
92 Instructional Excellence
The Value of Stretching
Grandmaster Tim McCarthy
94 Business Buzz
The Top Ten Negative Habits That Keep You From
Achieving Your Goals, Part 2
Grandmaster Lawrence Arthur
96 Martial Arts Philosophy
A Diary of a Black Belt, Part 5
Sensei Gary Lee
98 Management Excellence
Are You Still Doing Too Many Tasks For Your Martial
Arts School?
Chief Master Kirk Pelt
100 The Warrior Way
The Persistence Factor, Part 1
Grandmaster Bill Clark
102 Staff Development
Mining for Instructors: Planting the Seed, Part 1
Master Zulfi Ahmed
104 Tools & Tactics
Lean On AMS for Your Success
Ms. Chris Lee
VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
PUBLISHER
Master Toby Milroy
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Mr. Sean Lee
MANAGING EDITOR
Mr. Jeff Reulbach
ART DIRECTOR
Mr. Frank Meyer
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Mr. Amen Blue
WEB DEVELOPER
Ms. Erin Pham
COLUMNISTS & CONTRIBUTORS
Hanshi Dave Kovar
Grandmaster Bill Clark
Mr. Sean Lee
Shihan Allie Alberigo
Grandmaster Y. K. Kim
Grandmaster Tim McCarthy
Chief Master Kirk Pelt
Grandmaster Stephen Oliver
Chief Master Mike Bugg
Professor Willie Johnson
Grandmaster Zulfi Ahmed
Ms. Chris Lee
Grandmaster Lawrence Arthur
Master Tina Bane
Mr. Sun Kang
Master Carlos Machado
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen
Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci
An-Shu Stephen Hayes
Ms. Lee Milteer
Sensei Gary Lee
Grandmaster Tom Patire
Shihan Dana Abbott
COVER ATTRIBUTION
Samuel L. Jackson photo:
© Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com
The mission of Martial Arts World
News Magazine is to be the definitive
source for information, news, education,
ethical business practices,
product reviews and innovative
developments in the world of martial
arts business.
Martial Arts World
News does not accept
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Our preferred method of
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MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3 5
EDITORIAL
Summer Student
Retention Strategies
by Master Toby Milroy
I’ve been tremendously “lucky” in my career in the Martial Arts. Early on, in fact, even
before opening a school, I learned all the “Dogma”; the current ‘Beliefs’ about how the
Martial Arts Business was supposed to “be”.
I learned that Summertime always sucked.
I learned that most elementary schools wouldn’t allow Martial
Arts schools to do ‘anything’ with them.
I learned that as long as you have good quality classes, marketing
will take care of itself.
I learned that your ‘area’ determines how much you can
charge, and how financially stable your school will be.
I learned that if you really love what you do,
people will simply ‘feel’ your passion, and will just
enroll because they like you so much.
I learned that people are ‘too busy’ to commit to
a regular class schedule of 2 or 3 times a week.
I learned that people won’t sign agreements/
contracts for Martial Arts.
I learned that certain ‘styles’ of Martial Arts made
the school more or less ‘successful’.
Then, after months of struggling,
I was LUCKY enough to learn
that ALL OF THESE Beliefs Were
TOTAL “BS”. Please forgive my
language, and directness, but for
me, this realization was a GAME
CHANGER for my business,
career, and personal life!
ALL the “Dogma”, the
limiting beliefs I’d heard,
preached as ‘gospel’, and
simply ‘how things are’, were
simply WRONG. After that ‘lesson’,
I was finally able to BREAK
these limiting beliefs and start building REAL, SUBSTANTIAL businesses
but ONLY AFTER I reset the way I ‘thought’ about them.
After PROVING this, year after year, with (literally) many HUN-
DREDS of schools all across the world;
I’m often asked:
Why do some school owners fear the dreaded “Summer Slowdown”,
while others see virtually NO DISRUPTION, NO Additional
Cancellations, NO Vacation “Holds”, and actually generate MORE
Revenue and MORE Leads than most other months of the year?
Well, it’s tough for me to condense all that in the 500ish
words that will fit in this column, but here are some IMPOR-
TANT components:
First: You have to ‘dig in’ and ‘work the problem’. You do NOT
have to suffer in the summer. You do NOT have to have high drop
outs, you do NOT have to have a loss in recurring revenue because
students are on ‘hold’. ALL these problems ARE solvable.
Next: Your “membership” structure is critical. If your programs
are ‘month to month’, or have no real ‘goal’ focused programming,
you’re setting yourself up for a difficult summer season.
Using solid ‘outcome’ based ‘programs’ in your school helps
set appropriate expectations and behaviors for your students.
People don’t ‘expect’ to put their mortgage on ‘hold’ when they
go on vacation for 2 months, and if your program is structured
properly, they won’t expect, nor WANT to put their Martial Arts
program on ‘hold’ either.
We just conducted about an hour-long webinar on this topic a
few days ago, filled with strategies and tactics to help you transform
the summer slowdown into a summer jump start!
I’d be happy to give you ABSOLUTELY FREE access to it - simply
visit: TryAtlasSoftware.com/summer
MASTER TOBY MILROY is a 5th degree black belt. Known as “The Master Systemizer,” Master Toby Milroy
has positively influenced more martial arts schools than anyone in our industry. He has built a successful multi-school
organization, led the national trade association for the martial arts industry, and coached some of the most successful
martial arts school operators in the world.
6 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
CHECK OUT OUR
MARTIAL ARTS
BUSINESS
DISCUSSION GROUP
No Egos – No Politics – No Trolls
Just News, Tips, Strategies, and Tools to Help You Grow Your School!
facebook.com/groups/MartialArtsWorldNews
OUR EXPERT FACULTY
6
Master Toby Milroy
is a 5th degree Black Belt, the CEO and
Publisher of Martial Arts World News
Magazine, and the Executive Vice
President for AMS. In addition to building
a successful multi-school organization,
Master Milroy has positively influenced
more martial arts schools than virtually
anyone in our industry.
58
Grandmaster Jessie Bowen
is President of Karate International of Durham,
Inc., a member of the American Martial
Arts Association Sport Karate League
and Hall of Fame, and has been a member
of the Duke University PE Staff for over 25
years. He is the author of Zen Mind-Body
Mindfulness Meditation and Zen Mind-Body
Mindfulness Meditation for Martial Arts.
12
An-Shu Stephen Hayes
has authored more than 20 books,
worked as a bodyguard for the Dalai
Lama, supervised over 30 school locations
worldwide, and was named, “One
of the 10 Most Influential Living Martial
Artists in the World” by Black Belt Magazine.
60
Mr. Sean Lee
is the Executive Director of Sales and
Marketing for hundreds of martial arts
schools and specializes in online and social
media marketing using his extensive
professional experience in sports and
martial arts marketing, contract negotiation,
and investment.
62
Shihan Allie Alberigo
is a 7th degree black belt, the founder
of the L.I. Ninjutsu Centers, one of the
largest Ninjutsu schools on the planet,
the author of 4 books, and an entrepreneur
with one of the first online coaching
companies (TakingItToTheNextLevel.com).
66
Grandmaster Y. K. Kim
is the most successful martial arts business
leader in the US, having written
over 30 books on martial arts, business,
leadership, and success. He has won
numerous public service awards and is
the founder of the leading martial arts
marketing and management company in
the US.
70
Shihan Dana Abbott
is a 7th degree black belt in Kenjutsu,
starting his 14-year education in Tokyo.
He has published five books and designed
a US Patent. Abbott has also
conducted seminars in over 30 countries
and obtained his black belt at the Hombu
dojo in Yokohama. He currently offers
online classes on LearntheSword.com.
72
Grandmaster Stephen Oliver
is a 9th degree black belt and is the
founder and CEO of Mile High Karate
schools, and founder of the Martial Arts
Wealth Mastery Program.
8 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
OUR EXPERT FACULTY
74
Master Carlos Machado
is one of the pioneers of Brazilian Jiu
Jitsu in the United States of America.
Currently a Coral Belt, and promoted
to Black Belt by Carlos Gracie Junior,
Carlos Machado came to the USA in the
early 1990’s with his brothers where they
formed the RCJ Machado Jiu Jitsu Association,
one of the strongest & growing
BJJ organizations in the world today.
78
Grandmaster Tom Patire
is known as “America’s Leading Personal
Safety Expert” and has appeared on
Good Morning America, The CBS Morning
Show, The Colbert Report, Montel,
plus in mainstream publications such as
Family Circle, Redbook, Fortune Magazine,
and The Wall Street Journal.
80
Professor Willie “The BAM” Johnson
is a 7th degree black belt and seven-time
sport karate and Kung-Fu world champion.
He has appeared in four movies,
16 plays, and 11 television shows. He is
also the national spokesperson for the
Stronger than Drugs Foundation and the
Champions Against Drugs.
86
Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci
is the CEO and General Manager of the
Budo International Publishing Company,
a leading publisher in the martial arts
with over 35 years in the industry. He
is also author of several books: The
Immaterial Dimension, The Way of the
Warrior, and The Spirit. He currently lives
in Valencia, Spain.
88
Mr. Sun Kang
is the President of Vision Martial Arts
Supply who helps school owners all over
the US maximize their retail sales and
drive more revenue into their schools.
90
Master Tina Bane
is a 6th degree master instructor and
owner of a Top Ten martial arts school
with successful after school and summer
camp programs.
82
Ms. Lee Milteer
is an Intuitive Business Coach, awardwinning
professional speaker, and TV
personality who has counseled and
trained over a million people throughout
her career. Lee is Stephen Oliver’s
Martial Arts Wealth Mastery’s Millionaire
Smarts Coach and is also a best-selling
author of educational resources.
92
Grandmaster Tim McCarthy
is a 9th degree black belt and is a martial
arts educator with a master’s degree in
education. He has been instrumental
in developing two industry-changing
programs, and has directed and been
featured in hundreds of martial arts videos
and webinars.
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3 9
OUR EXPERT FACULTY
94
Grandmaster Lawrence Arthur
is a martial artist specializing in Karate,
Kung Fu, Kenpo, Shoto-kan, and Gojurue,
with 40 Super Kick Karate locations,
and founder of AFKA. World champion
Lawrence also runs the Black Belt Success
Systems consulting firm, training
martial arts instructors on proper business
practices in schools all over the country.
96
Sensei Gary Lee
the American Samurai, is a 9th Dan black
belt, a USA Karate Federation gold medalist,
winner of five Super Grand National
Titles, a featured actor in the movie Sidekicks,
and is the founder of the National
Sport Karate Museum.
98
Chief Master Kirk Pelt
is an 8th degree black belt and is the
President of a multimillion-dollar, multischool
organization, has a 30-year track
record of success, and is currently on the
leading edge of martial arts curriculum
and business innovation.
100
Grandmaster Bill Clark
is a 9th degree black belt and a former
PKA Fighter of the year. He is widely considered
one of the top experts in martial
arts business with over 40 years of
leadership and innovation, having been
inducted into almost every Hall of Fame
in the industry. He is one of the largest
multi-school owners in the world.
102
Grandmaster Zulfi Ahmed
has amassed acclaim as a world-class
competitor, martial arts educator, and is
most notably founder and designer of
the internationally renowned style, Bushi
Ban. With over 45 years of martial arts
experience and over 300 martial arts
awards, his schools include ten locations
across Texas.
104
Ms. Chris Lee
is a martial arts business development
consultant with a background in online
and social media marketing.
WE’RE SEEKING CONTRIBUTORS!
Do you have something to share? We’d love to hear about it!
CONTACT US:
407-895-1996 Editor@MartialArtsWorldNews.com MartialArtsWorldNews.com/Ureport
10 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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NINJA BUSINESS TACTICS
Moving Like A Ninja
The martial art of To-Shin Do is an up-dating of the ancient art of Japan’s ninja.
1500s Japan had its own distinct culture, legal system, social
formation, ways of moving, and codes of morality – all quite different
from those of 2020s America. I took the practice forms and
guiding principles of historical ninja taijutsu and adapted them to
better fit the 21st century in the West.
Modern attackers use a distinctive approach to causing trouble.
They have a predictable verbal lead-up. They move quickly
and erratically, throwing looping punches and ducking in for full
body takedowns. Street scrappers are likely armed with a knife, if
not a handgun.
The goals, form, and appearance of high level To-Shin Do do
not differ from classical ninja taijutsu. We grow beyond reliance
on speed when we learn to apply timing. We advance beyond
crude power when we learn to utilize leverage. We no longer rely
on complex techniques once we grasp perceiving what
our attacker is trying to do and going with it to
defeat him.
The original Togakure ninja were intelligence
gatherers. Their goal was to find out
what an enemy was planning, and then get
their findings back to their superiors. As an
intelligence gatherer, the last thing a ninja
would want is to have their cover blown
and then have to fight with those who made
the discovery. To defeat an adversary would
draw everyone’s attention to the fact that a
spy had gotten into their midsts.
Today, To-Shin Do training purpose and
methods are very different from
most other martial arts that emphasize
willing competition
to defeat an adversary.
We aim to get out and
away with the least
amount of effort.
In the beginning
stages of
training, however,
we do allow students
to believe in speed, power, and technique. One, this is what
most people expect when studying a martial art. And two, this is all
that most people are capable of in the beginning.
After a few years of practice, students gradually come to appreciate
the sneaky subtleness of timing over speed, leverage over
power, and responsiveness over set techniques. They recognize
how much more effective smart fighting is over crude struggling.
They then have more experience allowing them to move with the
more advanced approach.
After even more years of practice, To-Shin Do students see
themselves as “above, looking down” on the fight as a whole. They
know what a conventional fighter is likely to do, and they are able
to fit in in such a way that their attacker gives them the means
to defeat them. At this stage, the To-Shin Do student needs less
energy, and yet the results are definitive.
Decades into the training, students are able to embody the
Togakure Ryu Soto Tonko no Kata approach to fights, amusingly
translated as “escaping rat method”. At this extreme level of skill,
the student is able to feel the attacker’s movements at such a
subtle level that he or she can effortlessly blend and actually lead
the attacker to defeat through knowing exactly what they are trying
to make happen.
So, in the beginning, we allow students to use their muscles
and some tension to get things done. It is what they are capable
of, it makes sense to them, and they really are incapable of the
more advanced movements anyway. Fitting what they expect is
a good idea in the beginning. Eventually they move on to higher
skill levels.
By the time the student reaches older age through decades of
training, skills have progressed to where the little-effort ways just
naturally mirror the reduced energy of older age, and yet provide
an increasingly amazing ability to handle violence.
Contrast this skill and age parallel progression with more
athletic martial arts, such as judo or kickboxing. In those arts,
skill levels definitely give way to age, and most retire from active
cutting edge performance by early middle age. With the unusual
To-Shin Do system, based on the ancient ninja combat method,
age is no barrier. Indeed, the older one grows, the more effective
he or she becomes.
AN-SHU STEPHEN HAYES has authored more than 20 books, worked as a bodyguard for the Dali
Lama, supervised over 30 school locations worldwide, and was named “A legend; one of the 10 most influential
living martial artists in the world” by Black Belt Magazine
12 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
You Don’t Need a Degree in
Education to Teach Children
all you need is one book!
Raising 4 Dimensional Children in a 2
Dimensional World is an informationpacked
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of experience. It takes the latest research
in developmental child psychology and
makes it easy to understand, explaining
how a child’s brain develops, year by
year. Even the youngest members of your
staff will understand which activities are
appropriate for which age groups, which
activities are not, and why.
Take advantage of Grandmaster Tim McCarthy’s research and experience, organized for you
with over 400 age-appropriate activities. It will be the best $5.00 you ever spent.
Order a copy today at 4d-2d.com and share it with your entire staff!
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Martial Arts Training the Farlek Way
Of course, martial arts uses explosiveness in techniques, but
every aspect of training is not carried out in this way. With that
in mind, you not only have to train muscle for anaerobic activity,
but also for the aerobic system in the body. Sometimes situations
require fast-twitch explosion and others rely more on slow-twitch
endurance, so differing kinds of training are often needed to bring
the intended results.
Enter Fartlek training which is a mix of interval and continuous
training. Basically it mixes from the least explosive activity to the
most: walking, jogging,
and sprinting.
Because of this combination
the Fartlek
method trains all of
your different muscle
fibers. An example
could be jogging for
a couple of minutes,
followed by 10 to 15
seconds of sprints with
several intervals, then
a return to the jogging
pace combining all the
activity in a continuous
fashion.
Martial arts training
can use the Fartlek
method in the following
way. Begin with continuous
slow and low intensity
form movements
like Tai Chi for two minutes. Next perform 5 to 10 second intervals
of explosive intensity kicking like front snap kicks or side kicks.
Finally, return to moving around at the lower intensity form pattern
training for a few minutes.
Many different styles of martial arts use this kind of training so
it is not stylistically confining, it is really up to your imagination, but
can add some flavor to an already great curriculum.
Paws of Fury
On July 15, 2022 Samuel L Jackson teams up with a star studded
crew in voice for the upcoming animation martial arts
movies: Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank. The plot is about a
down and out-on-his-luck hound dog who finds himself in a town
full of cats that need a hero to defend them from a ruthless villain’s
evil plot to wipe their village off the map. Through the help from a
reluctant trainer (Jackson), the underdog must assume the role of
heroic samurai and team up with the cats to save the day. Check
out the trailer: https://youtu.be/A_hkjvjx2ek
Chuck Norris Holds the 29th
Annual Boots and Black Belts Gala
On April 9, 2022, Chuck and Gina Norris along with Keith and
Alice Mosing celebrated the Kickstart Kids 29th Annual Boots
and Black Belt Gala in Houston Texas. This year’s event featured
an exciting Kickstart Kids Martial Arts Demonstration and a concert
by Country Music performer Pat Green.
Every year the Gala recognizes individuals that embody the values
of the martial arts organization in the everyday curriculum as
well as their long-term commitment and support of Kickstart Kids.
Those traits include honesty, loyalty, courage, discipline, respect,
dedication, kindness, and responsibility. Recipients are chosen for
their positive impact on the communities they serve.
This year the Character Award recipient was Squire Patton
Boggs, LLP and the Founder’s Vision Award recipient was Dr.
Charles Dupre. Check out these video clips:
Character Award: https://youtu.be/hvg2yjZqyu4
Founder’s Award: https://youtu.be/iPyCTEuBWkg
14 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photographs by Ulza (top left), JackF (top right)
Martial Arts
Celebrity Birthdays
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
May
May 5 ..............................Jim Kelly*
May 12 ..........................Jerry Trimble
May 21 ...........................Dave Kovar
June
June 17 .........................Scott Adkins
June 17 .......................... Sho-Kosugi
June 20 ......................Benny Urquidez
May 25 ..............................Cung Le
*Deceased
“Did We Miss Someone?
Is There a Someone Who’s Been Influential in the Martial
Arts that isn’t Listed? Send in the Information for Consideration!
Email: Editor@MartialArtsWorldNews.com
Or Visit: MartialArtsWorldNews.com/uReport
They Call Me Master
They Call Me Master is martial
arts writer Karen Eden’s latest
book release.
Known for her long-standing
inspirational writings, Master
Eden does not disappoint with
her 4th book release.
Available through
Century Martial Arts,
centurymartialarts.com
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3 15
INDUSTRY INNOVATIONS
Take Advantage of ATLAS Martial Arts
Software Automation
The automation platform provided by the ATLAS Martial Arts
software will make you more productive, save your valuable
time, and make sure things don’t ‘slip through the cracks’.
ATLAS Automation will work for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, 365 days a year. It’s like having an entire staff working for
you, without a day off, or a lunch break!
Here are a few examples:
Missed Class Automation
It’s not uncommon for students to miss class from time to time
for one reason or another. With this tool, you will be able to create
follow-up messages for students whose attendance has declined
and they will be sent automatically, which is very convenient. You
can also set up ‘reminders’ for your staff to follow up with these
students, to keep your retention high, and your students more
engaged.
Automatic Referral and Parent Add-On Reminders
This tool will allow you to set up referral and parent add-on
campaigns where your students will receive engaging messages
that inspire them to share their martial arts journey with their
friends and family, and can even be rewarded for it!
This feature alone makes the ATLAS Martial Arts software
worth many, many times its investment.
Upgrade/Renewal Automation
Some schools have an incredibly high upgrade rate, while
others struggle to fill their higher level programs. With the ATLAS
Automation platform, you’ll be able to educate your students
about your higher level programs, and inspire them to qualify, on
autopilot!
You can deliver sequential multi-media messages when a student
earns a new rank, as their agreement approaches its expiration
date, and much more. This can be a massive breakthrough for
your upgrade programs and your school.
Report Automation
The most successful school owners alway ‘know their numbers’!
Imagine having the key performance indicators for your school
not only at your fingertips, but automatically sent to you inbox
when you want them most.
Get your A, B, C, MIA Student lists every Monday, get your revenue
reports every evening, or get a list of all the agreements that
will expire this month on the 1st. It’s all up to you!
Student Reactivation Campaign
If you haven’t had communication with former students in
a while, it may be time to reach out! The student reactivation
campaign can automatically send useful and valuable content to
communicate with former students and open the door to a return
through the doors of your school.
These are only a few of the automation options ATLAS Mar tial
Arts software provides. There’s also social media automation,
which will save you a ton of time, follow-up automation so students
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16 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by anyaberkut
Our Goal is to Help Young Minds
GROW Stronger and EMPOWER
them through Stories that will:
• Inspire Their Imagination
• Develop Their Moral Compass
• Set Positive Examples Both Visually and Verbally
• Prepare Them for Life’s Challenges
Sarah B. Tucker, Author of
The Adventures of Harry & Friends
Book Series
AdventuresOfHarryAndFriends.com
INDUSTRY INNOVATIONS
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Vision MA: For ALL You Martial Arts
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It’s just part of the martial arts business to need a good supply
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18 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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SOCIAL 411
The Core Components of a Strong SEO
Strategy: Technical Setup
strong SEO strategy is defined by three core components—
A technical setup, content, and links. When you focus on these
areas, your martial arts marketing will become more and more
effective. Today, we are starting a series of articles where we will
explore each core component individually. So, continue reading
and don’t miss the next two articles!
An Introduction to Technical Setup
Three things need to happen for your website to rank on
Google. The search engine needs to be able to
find your pages so it can scan them (this is
called ‘crawling’ and ‘indexing’ your site)
to identify what your site is ‘about’ and
add the site (using keywords and
other content) to the index. From
there, the algorithm will consider
displaying your website when a
relevant search is done. This is
how SEO works.
It sounds easy enough,
but there’s a catch. No matter
how carefully you design the
look and feel of your page(s),
the search engine can only see
your text, links and other content
if you structure it appropriately.
Enter technical setup, also known
as on-site optimization! This is what
ensures that search engines can scan
your website so the pages can be indexed
successfully. Of course, there are lots of factors
that Google takes into consideration. In fact, more
than 200 factors are evaluated to determine how your site should
rank. We’ll discuss some of the key factors below.
Some Key Ranking Factors
1. The Content
As we’ll discuss in more detail in this series, the content of the
pages is a critical ranking factor. Google is essentially ‘reading’
your pages. If the page is ‘about’ Kids Martial Arts Lessons, then
the page should have those words, and words like it in the content
(likely in several places) and should have other words and phrases
that reinforce them. You don’t want to un-naturally ‘stuff’ your
target keywords all over your page(s), but you need to make sure
that Google, and human visitors can easily understand what your
page is all about, and that it matches what human visitors are likely
to search for.
2. Website Navigation and Links
Search engines crawl sites by following their links because
that’s how they find the pages and content they need to analyze.
Using meaningful link anchor text helps Google understand
what your links are ‘about’. For example, “Click Here”
doesn’t really tell Google much, but “Kids Martial Arts Classes”
is far more meaningful.
“Backlinks”, or links “to” your site from other sites with a high
relevance and reputation will give Google even more confidence
in your site.
3. URL Structure
If there’s one thing search engines don’t like is to
read through lengthy and complex URL structure.
That’s why it’s important to keep your
URLs short and sweet, so make sure they
don’t include much beyond the main
keyword that you used to optimize
your page.
4. Page Speed
Search engines will measure
load time so they take page
speed into account and it’s
a relevant ranking factor you
shouldn’t neglect. Load time is
a big indicator of quality for the
algorithm. The faster your website
is, the better. Many elements
can affect page speed, so we
recommend you check out Google’s
tool, Page Speed Insights, to learn to
improve load time.
5. Dead Links or Broken Redirects
Dead links send people to nonexistent pages
while broken redirects lead to resources that no longer
exist. As you can imagine, both of these things affect user experience
and they are a big no-no for search engines. If they are present
on your website, your pages won’t rank.
6. Sitemap and Robots.txt Files
Sitemaps are files that list all the links available on your website,
which is what search engines use to choose which pages
to crawl and index. Robots.txt files tell the search engine what to
ignore, which speeds up the crawling and indexing process.
7. Repeated Content
Last but not least, search engines notice repeated content
and it makes it very difficult to identify what to index. This is a
negative factor and the search engine will choose not to display
any of the pages.
If you are a martial arts school owner and you want your online
marketing to succeed, you need to hit these three SEO hotspots.
Don’t miss the next two articles, where we will explore the other
core components for a strong SEO strategy.
20 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Image by Mohamad Faizal Bin Ramli
The Latest Guide
All Martial Arts School Owners
NEED TO READ
Grandmaster Zulfi Ahmed’s
newest book, “The Science & Secrets
of Becoming a Master Martial Arts
Instructor,” is the latest must-have
industry guide for martial arts school
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The world of martial arts is a very
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on your mindset, discipline, and skills.
“The Science & Secrets of Becoming
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Featuring contributions from
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Secrets of Becoming a Master Martial
Arts Instructor” will no doubt help you
take your career to the next level!
To get your copy today for $29.95,
simply go to Lulu.com and search by author.
SOCIAL 411
To Get More Emails Opened Use Human
Instinct Subject Lines (Part 2)
Once again, it shows wisdom
when a martial arts school
owner can attract new students
through email marketing by utilizing
human instinct to get recipients to
open your marketing emails. As
mentioned previously, our instincts
are powerful and make us react in
conscious and even subconscious
ways because of how we are wired
as humans. If you can wisely trigger
instinct with your email subject
lines, you can bring out the desired behavior of opening your email
and have prospects responding to offers for martial arts training.
Here are 2 more instinctive ideas for subject lines that are
proven to increase email open rates:
We All Enjoy Laughing
If you can create subject lines that make people laugh, then
they can’t stop themselves from
opening an email because it puts
them in a good mood.
Ex. Lose Weight And Get In
Shape The Fun Way While Learning
Martial Arts.
Anybody Can Be Vain
Subject lines that promise something
that makes a person look
better to peers, or invokes the fear
of being shamed by others tend to
get open at high rates.
Ex. Martial Arts Training Will Give Your The Body And Skills That
Turn Heads
To bring martial arts school growth from your email marketing,
you have to consider people’s instincts because they can’t resist
what innately moves them to respond! Check out our next issue for
a few more attention grabbing headline ideas.
Instagram Has Expanded Its Reels
Now that Instagram has extended its reels length limit from 30
seconds to 60 seconds for users, it is great news for martial
arts school owners. This will allow you to provide more information
in one Reel, connect with followers through their creative content
and see a spike in conversion.
This is quite interesting for Instagram as all its other components
do allow longer video uploads. Videos that appear in the
regular feed can be up to 60 seconds long, but you also can
upload 15 seconds videos to Stories, and 60 minutes clips to
IGTV if you are uploading from the web. Now Reels clips are also
becoming popular in other Instagram functions, which could make
it become a less unique option within the overall IG experience.
Whatever it may be, one thing is certain, this option will provide
users with more freedom to create longer clips or upload the same
Tik Tok clip or Youtube Shorts to Instagram as well. With this new
development, Instagram is likely signaling that they are open for
more cross-posting, which will boost the amount of Reel content
shared on the platform but probably also increase the repetitive
experience across apps.
(Note: Make sure that your short video clips do not have watermarks
when cross-posting because Instagram will penalize your
reach for that).
While this expansion is a great thing, all these options are starting
to look the same. The question then arises; why do you need
different video upload processes for every option? Why not allow
users to just upload their clips, edit them how they want and finally
organize them all together?
By doing so, Instagram would have more content to show
within Reels, which in turn could increase the engagement on the
site and also assist in boosting views within the different components
of the app, instead of separating the different video types.
Perhaps that is the new route as Instagram is now testing a
new TikTok-like display format for exploring that puts all content
in one format. This is a good thing as it could help the content get
seen more easily while giving Instagram’s algorithms more video
inventory and further streamlining the user experience instead of
making each element single.
Martial arts school owners should consider trying out longer
Reels as it can be an improved way to promote your school.
22 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photographs by sdecoret (top) and Hamster3d (bottom)
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LAWRENCE ARTHUR
FOUNDER & GRAND MASTER
It gives me great pleasure to invite you to the AFKA Martial Arts
Retreat. We are hosting this retreat to give our students, instructors
and colleagues the opportunity to train together in a friendly,
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memories.
106 Pheasant Ridge Rd.
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434-665-2497
Afkalawrence.arthur@
gmail.com
This retreat will have something for everyone to take your skills to the
next level. We have assembled the very best Master Instructors to
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on Sport Karate, Self Defense and iKali, you will be able to earn your
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Natural Bridge is a great vacation location in the Blue Ridge Mountains
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to a beautiful newly renovated Hotel and Convention Center to
accommodate our event. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to
meet new friends, expand your knowledge, and have fun with your
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Be sure to get registered by June 15th. There will be no registration
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Your presence will contribute to the success and prestige of
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Best regards,
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FROM OFFICER IN THE
DEATH CHAMBER
TO
MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOL OWNER
LIFE CHANGER
For almost 3 decades Chief Master Mike Bugg has
been the undisputed champion and king of martial
arts after school and summer camp programs. He is
the leading authority on children’s programs and is sought
out regularly for his understanding, methods, and advice
on them. In this interview, Chief Master Bugg explains what
were the driving forces that lead to him becoming one of
the leading mentors and role models for children in these
kinds of programs in the U.S. From humble beginnings, his
school has become the blueprint for achieving financial
freedom with after school and summer camps that truly
prepares tomorrow’s leaders to become life champions.
COVER STORY
Chief Master Bugg works extensively in his community, growing deep roots in the local school systems and businesses.
MAWN: You have a law enforcement and corrections background
prior to getting into the martial arts industry. Can you tell us
what led to you changing careers and deciding to open a martial
arts school?
MB: I grew up in a small town in Virginia and I spent 13 years in
law enforcement and corrections. I was really happy in my career,
even though my passion was to do martial arts full-time. I wanted
to have a martial arts school because in my career I saw a lot of
troubled kids and I personally thought I could change a lot of
people’s lives through a martial arts program.
I had a pivotal moment while I was working on death row. I met
this kid who was soon to be executed and we had a conversation
about why he got involved in crime, and how he got locked up? He
told me he wished there was a program that would have put him
on the right path when he was in elementary school. He wished
that he would have had some positive mentors and role models
that could have changed his life around middle school, so he could
have been a better citizen.
He told me that he grew up with his single mother. His father
was randomly in and out of his life. His mother married another
man, who was a present stepfather, but he really didn’t understand
him or guide him in the right direction. The youngster would
frequently lash out violently at the family and others, seemingly
unable to control his anger.
He further explained that he now realized that he didn’t understand
fundamental values and principles. As a result, one night
he fell into a fit of rage because he was not allowed to go to his
girlfriend’s house, and ultimately killed his mom and stepfather.
This conversation had a deep impact on me, and afterwards, I
really became more certain that I could change a lot of lives, with
the right kind of program, and perhaps prevent some of these
senseless tragedies in the future. At the time I was still processing
inmates to go to the death chamber, so this realization really hit
me hard. I had this kid that was going to be executed in 30 days,
and maybe, just maybe I could make a positive impact on kids just
like him in the future. I then realized that this profession wasn’t my
passion anymore.
MAWN: Wow, that must have a very challenging type of career.
So how did you transition from the death chamber to a life changing
Martial Arts School?
MB: I was now certain that my passion was the Martial Arts, so I
quit the corrections career path and started down the road of running
a Martial Arts School. My first experience was to take over a
small school in Chester, Virginia. I really struggled with that opera-
36 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
COVER STORY
“…you have to realize that
just because you’re a black
belt in the martial arts,
doesn’t mean that you’re a
black belt in business…”
tion and truthfully, I thought I made a huge mistake. The school did
not do well financially, and I didn’t have the skills, or attitude at that
time to rescue it. I lost my house, my car, and my family. It pretty
much destroyed my marriage and everything.
After so much trauma, I was to the point of quitting and giving up
on my dreams, but I had a wonderful mentor, Grandmaster Y.K. Kim.
He helped me to set my goals and focus on all the little details that
really make a school work well. He said, “If you stick with and focus
on your goal, then you will overcome all these obstacles!” So I literally
lived in the school, built a new operation from the ground up
and started an afterschool program. I initially resisted doing an after
school program, because I was already struggling and I felt like
now I was being asked to “babysit all day”. But I took on the challenge
because Grandmaster Y.K. Kim was my mentor, my coach,
and essentially the father figure I never had growing up. I decided
to suspend my skepticism, did exactly what he told me to do, stuck
by it every day, set my goals, followed, believed, and just went for it.
Chief Master Bugg Receives Award for Service to His Community.
That was the beginning of a massive transformation for me.
MAWN: So you got into a location that was already operating,
but was really tanking. What were some of the lessons that you
had to learn and things you had to implement to get that school to
be successful?
MB: The most important thing you have to realize is that just
because you’re a black belt in the martial arts, doesn’t mean that
you’re a black belt in business, and that’s the hardest thing I had
to learn. Having a mentor telling me what to do was very crucial.
I’ve talked to a lot of school owners and the hardest thing you have
to do is look at the business part, because you may be a great
instructor, but we’re often not great business people. So, we need
a coach in the area of business. Once I got the coaching in that
continued on page 40
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3 37
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COVER STORY
“The after school Martial Arts program
pretty much saved my school”
continued frorm page 37
area, I started to have the right goals, set plans, and learned to
execute the plans on a daily basis.
At the start, it’s hard work. You have to promote every single
day, do exhibitions, work with local businesses, create relationships
with elementary schools and more. Sometimes, you get very
few prospects, maybe one that’s interested, or at best two to three.
That can be discouraging and stressful, and I took those feelings
home. I really had to take care of the business side of things which
is different from teaching, but with a coach and a good plan, I started
doing things that bring in more leads and then I learned how to
sign people up. I spent tons of hours in the community, passing out
flyers, and performing lots of exhibitions. It’s a lot of hard work.
MAWN: So how did you take that single first location from
essentially zero to having the kind of success you’re experiencing
these days?
MB: The after school Martial Arts program pretty much saved
my school, but my adult programs were not flourishing to the same
level. My career change and faith in what my mentor was directing
me to do was paying off in a big way.
MAWN: How did you eventually end up overcoming
the struggle that you were having with the
adult programs growth in your school?
MB: Around 2017, we began using a system
that had a radically different approach in marketing
to the adult market. Since so many of our schools
have been losing the adult market to other pro-
Chief Master Mike Bugg receives the Outstanding Financial Speaker Hall of Fame Award presented by Y. K. Kim at the 2006 Martial Arts Leaders Summit.
40 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
COVER STORY
Chief Master Bugg has literally built his school from the ground up, building and all.
“Our after school program took us
to grossing $800,000 a year. We
were up to $1.5 million a year and
still growing.”
grams like Yoga, we really needed to change our method to find
a system that was designed to attract the adult market. We knew
that adults were seeking fitness and mind body solutions as we
saw the Yoga industry swell from 9 million to more than 28 million
practitioners.
The ATLAS Software and iEnroll Marketing Systems provided
the answers I was looking for. It provided an easy way for us to
specifically market to and enroll more adult students. It was very
unique in that it combined ‘done for us’ marketing on social platforms
and brought leads to my school through a lead generating
website. It was almost like I didn’t have to do anything and I was
getting qualified adult prospects and we were enrolling them and
growing our adult programs.
MAWN: What were the results like for your school with a thriving
after school martial arts program and the growth in your adult
programs?
MB: Ok, we started out with zero and struggling.
Then our school saving after school program took us
to grossing $800,000 a year. Then with a growing
adult program added to an already successful after
school program we were grossing $80,000 a month
and got up to $1.5 million a year and it was still growing.
I was not satisfied seeing the gaps in our markets
and martial arts school, then recognized the opportunity
to grow big and basically doubled income. In
addition, I went from just one location to sponsoring
With a tight regulatory environment in Virginia, Chief Master Bugg adapts.
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3 41
COVER STORY
Chief Master Bugg is Not Only an Inspirational Leader, but Also a Talented Martial Artist
five locations in Virginia.
MAWN: So you’re a multi-school operator as a result of the new
approach of social marketing and online marketing. What were
the mental and logistical shifts you had to make to get this all to
happen?
MB: A lot went to the planning, teamwork, and how we were
going to do our promoting and enrollment process. Of course, we
also discussed what the goals were going to be for maximizing our
after school program and the adult program as well. Every week
we meet to go over what we’re doing? How many leads do we
have this week? How many appointments do we have this week?
And how to follow up. Not only did we work with our team here,
but we also worked with our business consultant team at AMS to
make sure that we were on track for success.
MAWN: After school Martial Arts has been a godsend for many
schools, but it also can have its own challenges. You’re in one of
the tougher areas in the nation to make all this happen so what are
some of the big lessons and big obstacles you had to overcome to
find success?
MB: Sure there are a lot of obstacles to get into the schools be-
42 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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COVER STORY
“I went from just one location
to sponsoring five locations in
Virginia.”
cause our program is Martial Arts. Some schools are of the mindset
that “We don’t want that in our school”, so sometimes just getting
past the front door is difficult. Whatever it is, I’ve been there, done
that, and have found ways to work with the school systems.
You have to find ways you can contribute to what they are
doing in their school, and learn to communicate with the staff well
to find a way to get into the system. Now Chesterfield County is
one of the toughest in the state to get into, but there’s not a school
that I cannot walk into right now without an ID or with anything.
That’s how it is for all our locations around the Richmond area, we
can get into the schools with no problems. It’s all about building a
win-win relationship.
Simply put, you first have to make up your mind that you are
going to be a partner in education. We are going to be partners
with elementary schools. We explain what we are going to do, how
we’re going to do it and what the benefits are for the school, the
students, the teachers and the families of the students. Right. Really,
it’s all about showing them what’s in it for them.
MAWN: You had been so focused on the transported after
Full Classes are a Ton of Fun at This “Super School”
school martial arts program for children, but you saw a need and a
gap in the adult market, right. Why did you then feel it was time to
refocus on adults and what are the results like?
MB: Well, most of the time inbound phone calls were for the
children’s program. We might have had 10 adults in class. We’d
lose a few, then we’d get three or four more and have the same
cycle happen over and over. We saw a need to really have a focus
on the adult market. With the social media marketing strategies
with ATLAS Software and the iEnroll System, it uses pinpointed
marketing to reach the right people. The marketing campaigns use
the right marketing messages that are attractive to adults, which
“…we can get into the [public/
private] schools with no
problems. It’s all about building
a win-win relationship.”
Treating Your Staff Well is Something Woven Into the Culture of This School
was something that I struggled with. Most people might think, just
focus on children, but now we’re packed with adults. It’s unbelievable
and we’re still getting new leads daily. So this was the right
marketing strategy to help our location with the adults.
MAWN: Operating multiple schools can be challenging. One of
the challenges multi school operators face is recruiting and developing
staff members.
MB: The instructor recruiting process is doing really well now
because we are constantly getting more and more adult students.
With children it can take many years before they are able to be
competent instructors and staff members, but adults can get there
much faster.
This is due to very high quality prospects coming into our
school who have already set an appointment to come in and see
44 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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COVER STORY
you. They are excited about the lesson and in many cases,
they bring a friend or family member to train with them from
the start. We’re really excited about this because we’ve
expanded to more locations, expanded our instructor base,
and didn’t have to wait for children to grow up.
MAWN: What do you see as the major benefits from the
iEnroll way of marketing in contrast with some of the previous
kinds of traditional marketing that you used to use?
MB: It has actually saved me a lot of money as opposed
to the old style of marketing. In relation to some of our
other marketing tactics, it’s actually very cost effective. For
example: we have a team that goes out Tuesdays and Thursdays
to promote four or five hours a day. So you’re paying each person
$12 an hour. I have an event planner who goes out on a weekend
to promote and I have to pay her. They’re not paid solely commission
on all those things, they need motivation, and still have
to come in to teach class. I also spend close to $800 a month on
marketing materials.
Now we have appointments in the morning and the money
that used to be spent, I used to give my staff a raise. Also, we use
that money to have a staff meeting once a week and they all go
to lunch. So now my instructors are motivated, I never really knew
“School owners need to figure out how
to move themselves into the CEO role
rather than just the head instructor,
marketer, manager, janitor, etc.”
“…we’ve expanded to more
locations, expanded our
instructor base, and didn’t have
to wait for children to grow up.”
how much they hated going out there to promote.
MAWN: You have kind of touched on it, but how has your role
in the organization changed?
MB: Well I’ve been elevated to a position of CEO in my organization
from being a frontline operator of a Martial Arts School
who did everything including the janitorial tasks. Now I can
focus on enrollments, renewals, retention, and quality. Before
I had to spend too much time on
tasks that are being done for me
even while I’m sleeping or on vacation.
With automated marketing, we
get better results and my staff is
not burnt out. School owners need
to figure out how to move themselves
into the CEO role rather than
just the head instructor, marketer,
manager, janitor, etc.
MAWN: When you’re a part of
a team that’s growing, that’s pretty
exciting. Do you have any advice to
give school owners that might be
sputtering, but really want to be on a
growth curve?
MB: First, you have got to ask
yourself, “Am I a black belt in business?”
If you’re not, you have to get
on the right path and get with a mentor,
somebody that’s going to help
you focus on growing. This will help
you grow. You also want to work on retention within your school,
and focus on motivating your team, because if your instructors are
not motivated, the back door is wide open in your school. It doesn’t
matter if you get one or two enrollments coming in each day,
they’re going to go right back out.
I noticed that once we leveraged all these
lead generation and marketing systems, the
instructors could focus more on classes. Now
the classes are more fun and beneficial as well.
Daily we have 4 to 5 new appointments, so we’ll
keep on growing. We are still growing so much
that we went from a 10,000 sq. ft. to a 20,000
sq. ft. building.
MAWN: Thank you for sharing these great experiences,
ideas, and strategies for our readers.
46 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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SCHOOL PROFILE
Master Renard Beaty
All Roads Lead to Black Belt at
Kick Start Martial Arts
Master Renard Beaty is the owner of Kick Start Martial Arts which has been in business
for 12 years serving the community of Atlanta, Georgia. For the first 8 years the school
operated as a traditional brick and mortar type of business, but experienced growth that
currently has produced an active student enrollment of more than 220 happy students.
MAWN: What would you say is the major contribution that your
school is bringing to its community?
RB: We are conscientious about developing civic minded,
accountable, leadership skills in students so they can be productive
in society and to our community. I use a 2 year management
training program I used to administer when I worked at a former
corporation to aid in the process.
MAWN: What are the best producing marketing strategies you
use and what are the lead numbers like per month?
RB: I use a digital media vendor and social media platforms
(website, Facebook, Instagram, Google Business, Yelp) to get the
word out about our school. Those platforms are thriving for us and
give us about 100 leads every month. The average conversion
the leads produces 16 new student enrollments a month. We have
good growth and quality control which gives our current students
a good experience.
MAWN: What are your most significant programs you provide
and their benefits to participants?
RB: My school has two 12 month programs; the Little Ninja and
Basic program. I also have three 24 month programs; the S.W.A.T.,
Master, and Black Belt training. Here is a general overview:
Little Ninja: has students ages 5-7 and develops foundation
skills like developing the body, emotional, social, and critical thinking
skills. It’s 2 classes a week and includes sight teaching.
Basic program: the students are ages 8 years and older. Also
develops the body, emotional, social, and critical thinking skills. It’s
2 classes a week and helps students to learn standard requirements
for Tang Soo Do to earn a black belt to complete it.
S.W.A.T. Club: For students who want to take part in my leadership
development program. They learn how to teach in order to
support the school. Get two extra classes a week (weapons and
sparring) along with a special uniform. Learn 4 extra forms. The
goal is to continue training as black belts. An invitation is given
based on the student drive.
Master Club: is for students that completed S.W.A.T. and want to
learn sword. They can continue to take part in S.W.A.T.
Black Belt Training: I found, in the past, that when I wanted every
student to do S.W.A.T., some quit. They did not want the pressure.
They just wanted to get a black belt and move on to another
activity. So I offer two paths of enjoyment.
MAWN: Do you have a lead generating website and what
about it has been most productive regarding leads?
RB: All my websites have a lead capture component. I get some
leads from them and I recently updated one to have a better SEO
experience. My leads come from many sources, including word
of mouth. I am located in a major metropolitan area with only one
competitor. We have two very different business models. For
example, I am full time, they are part-time. I am for profit. They are
not for profit.
MAWN: Do you use management software and what features
are providing the best benefits for running your school more efficiently?
RB: I use AMS for school management. This is helpful for transfering
my student body’s financial payment to another vendor so I
don’t have any issues with payments.
MAWN: Thanks for your example.
52 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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SCHOOL PROFILE
Universal Warrior Mixed Martial
Arts: An Eclectic System of
Traditional Martial Arts
Grandmaster Austin Wright’s Universal Warrior Mixed Martial Arts has been in business
since 1985. It was started with the United States Air Force Martial Arts Club at Seymour
Johnson Air Force Space, located in North Carolina. It continues to spread traditional
martial arts to kids and adults of all ages with more than 200 students!
MAWN: What is the major contribution(s) that your school is
bringing to its community?
AW: Through our teachings of traditional Okinawan and Isshin-
Ryu style karate, American Kickboxing, Kung Fu, and Japanese
Judo Jujitsu combative arts, we provide a safe place for people
of all ages. We help at risk kids, veterans and adults build confidence,
lose weight and feel great! Our goal is to help our students
evolve themselves spiritually, mentally, and physically!
MAWN: What are the best producing marketing strategies you
use and what are the lead numbers like per month?
AW: ATLAS! Through AMS I have discovered new and innovative
marketing tools that have helped us increase our revenues
astronomically within less than 6 months with anywhere from 15
to 30 leads per month! And with the help of ATLAS I opened up
international dojos in Kishanganj, India, Sicily, Italy, and La Vega,
Dominican Republic. Thanks to ATLAS I can not only spread
traditional martial arts in the United States, but in various 3rd world
countries world-wide!
MAWN: What are your most significant programs you provide
and their benefits to participants?
AW: Within our Mixed Martial Arts Dojo Academy we provide
self defense, mixed martial arts fitness, and traditional mixed martial
arts programs, through which we have been able to produce
two generations of champions and grand champions winning
students. Aside from teaching our students how to strive and
achieve greatness on a competitive level, through these programs
we are also able to teach our students Japanese terminology, build
self defense and confidence, get fit and strong, build a growth
mindset, learn how to focus, build social skills, and most importantly
have fun!
MAWN: Do you have a lead generating website and what
about it has been most productive regarding leads?
AW: ATLAS gives us a huge lead generating website that
provides multitudes of leads. Aside from our walk-ins and word of
mouth leads, the website is a great way to boost leads and spread
the word.
MAWN: Do you use
management software
and what features are
providing the best benefits
for running your
school more efficiently?
AW: ATLAS works
wonders with their
various administrative
and financial management
features. Features
such as the attendance
taker, billing organizer,
and welcome feature
allow me to easily keep
track of my students’
attendance as well as
Grandmaster Austin Wright
progress and tuition dues.
Alongside providing me with management organizational features,
AMS provides me with other fun innovative, creative strategies to
help maintain and increase student retention! “And you can take
that to the Bank!”
MAWN: What advice do you have for other martial arts school
owners for having success in business?
AW: Success is built through student retention and solid
marketing, which is why I use and highly recommend the usage of
ATLAS! With their multitude of resources ranging from account billing,
marketing, and fun and innovative strategies, student retention
has never been better! With AMS online’s amazing organizational
features, I have been given more time to spend with my family as
well as being a life coach to these kids and adults who struggle
with anxiety and low self esteem to help build a more spiritually,
mentally, physically and more confident version of themselves. At
the end of the day, ATLAS allows me time to achieve our ultimate
goal of taking the ordinary student and creating an extraordinary
student through our martial arts studies!
54 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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Martial Arts World News Magazine is the definitive source
for information, news, education, ethical business
practices, product reviews and innovative developments in
the world of martial arts business.
We are always on the lookout for notable, engaging and
valuable stories for our readers!
If you, your school, organization, event, product, or service
has a story that might be of value to our readers, we’d love to
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MartialArtsWorldNews.com/Ureport
Contact us at: 407-895-1996
or Email Editor@MartialArtsWorldNews.com
MIND MASTERY
The Power of Self-Belief
By Grandmaster Jesse Bowen
Now in approaching the “Power of Success”, the power of self-belief is that if you
don’t believe you can, then you won’t. Remember, you should note or highlight any
ideas or strategies to implement your success plan.
If you believe in yourself, there
is little to stop you in whatever you
want to accomplish. It gives you
the power to push forward and to
defy the odds. You will be able to
handle any roadblocks that come
your way. You will also brush off
the naysayers. It gives you peace
of mind when you stick to your
self-belief.
To keep that self-belief strong,
you need to define your goals. You
wouldn’t expect a general to fight
a war without a map.
You, too, need a
map to guide you on how to proceed. Too many
people skip this step and wonder why they aren’t
getting anywhere.
Goals are your guides, but carrying through
with them is only done when you believe that it’s
possible. Belief is the energy you need to take
action. It helps you to focus on getting
your tasks completed.
You will also build confidence
when you have selfbelief.
It’s a powerful tool,
as others will be attracted
to that confidence. They
will follow your lead
and you will help show
them what is possible.
When you run into any
stumbling blocks (and you will),
that confidence will help you
see them through. You will know
how to take alternative action
when necessary. The people
following you will respect that
as well.
Several forces will try to beat
you down. You may even find
yourself letting it happen. You
need to get centered on why
you started your journey in the
first place. Use affirmations to
reinforce your message. Be consistent
with your affirmations.
Unfortunately, many of the negative forces are going to be
from your family and friends. They will see it as helping you avoid
mistakes. Many people will succumb to this negative pressure and
give up. One way to prevent this is to join groups of like minded
individuals. It can be related to your business, or it can be groups
that focus on self-help. These organizations exist to try and push
the negative forces out. It’s great to go to meetings and get encouragement
from the group.
Attending these groups can sometimes lead to friendships with
people where you can extend the encouragement of each other.
You may even form business partnerships from these friendships.
It’s good to know that you have the support of these people when
these relationships form. They understand when everyone else
around you doesn’t. Your self-belief will strengthen considerably
from this arrangement.
Okay, it’s time to go to work! I believe the power of self-belief is
the key to rapid success.
GRANDMASTER JESSIE BOWEN is president of Karate International of Durham, Inc., a member of the
American Martial Arts Association Sport Karate League and Hall of Fame, and has been a member of the Duke University
PE Staff for over 25 years. He is the author of Zen Mind-Body Mindfulness Meditation and Zen Mind-Body Mindfulness
Meditation for Martial Arts, as well as several other books, programs, and audio CDs on meditation and success training.
58 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by BrianAJackson
All books are available on www.Atouchofzen.com
or to place your order over the phone.
GROWTH HACKS
Use 3 Martial Arts Principles for
Effective Advertising
by Mr. Sean Lee
You realize the importance of speed, power, and accuracy
when attacking an adversary. The principles are second nature to
you when you are sparring, but did you know that speed, power,
and accuracy are just as important in advertising and promotion
to attack your town’s market successfully? If you want to enroll
25 to 50 new students every month you must understand how to
advertise properly on social media or with a traditional method.
As in the martial arts great skill comes through great effort, to
be great at advertising and promotion much training is required.
Do you have the time to focus all your energy while operating
your school on learning advertising and promotion? If you answered,
“Yes” are you planning on making a career
change? The correct answer is “No” to both questions,
but you still have to advertise and promote
your school effectively.
So what’s the solution to gaining the
speed, power, and accuracy needed to
reach more prospects than you thought possible
without getting a degree in advertising?
The answer is found in the professional
products and services that AMS develops for
martial arts school owners just like you. Every
month well trained experts prepare the kind
of speed, power, and accuracy in advertising
and promotions
designed to deliver a knockout.
1. Speed – From an advertising
and promotional standpoint,
speed primarily has
to do with hitting the target
market at the right time.
Experience leads to good
timing and AMS has been
providing school owners
with marketing solutions
for close
to forty years. Each month tools like posters, flyers, tent cards,
door hangers, emails, social media posts, etc. are designed with
this kind of advertising speed in mind.
2. Power - The idea of power with regard to advertising and
promotion means to have impact. One key to powerful ads is
eye-catching designs with images and a layout that appeals to
prospective students. Another key is the use of words that capture
the attention and move the reader to act. AMS has a team of
expert graphic designers and writers eager to provide you with
penetrating ads sure to increase your enrollment each month.
3. Accuracy - Getting your advertising and promotions to the
right people is what is meant by accuracy.
Targeting the children, teen, adult, or even the senior market
requires the appropriate kind of ads and
promotions for each individual market. Many of these kinds of
impactful tools can be found in the MA Biz Academy from AMS to
hit the bull’s-eye in your city.
To do your best in every way sometimes requires help
along the way. You need your advertising and promotion to
have the speed, power, and accuracy for great impact, so visit
MaBizAcademy.com
and find out how it can aid you in taking your school to the
next level for skyrocketing enrollment each month.
SEAN LEE is the Executive Director of Sales and Marketing for hundreds of martial arts schools
and specializes in online and social media marketing using his extensive professional experience in
sports and martial arts marketing, contract negotiation, and investment.
60 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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NEXT LEVEL STRATEGY
Contract or No Contract? That is
the Question, Part 2
By Shihan Allie Alberigo
Of course, if I need more justification, I simply talk about colleges. No college allows
month-to-month payments with an open-ended agreement. If they did, they would
also be out of business.
I end the conversation with example after example
of people who joined these “no contract” schools only
to later on find one day that they’re out of business.
Sadly, this has happened to 99% of my competition.
She knew nothing of what an agreement
represented, and my competitor
had used the very fact that he
didn’t have them as a selling
tool.
At Long Island Ninjutsu,
we do exactly the opposite,
and it’s quite obvious that in most cases
it worked to Long Island Ninjutsu’s benefit
and not his. We use yearly agreements as
a selling tool, and it has indeed
helped me take my studios
from 50 to well over 1,000
students in less than a
decade!
Remember,
an agreement
outlines the
student-parent
commitment
As in any
school, at Long
Island Ninjutsu
Centers, there have
been students that have contemplated
dropping out for one
reason or another at some time. Having a membership
agreement helps this situation. By directing the student
to the martial arts billing company, where they’ll be
told that, regardless of attendance, the payments must
continue, you have an added tool for motivation. The
school owner is able to reinforce the idea of continued
commitment to training to the parent/student. Aside
from that, what parent wants to pay for something they
aren’t utilizing? Even if the parent/student ultimately
decides not to continue with their training, or needs to
take an extended period of time from training, having a
membership agreement helps maintain steady cash flow.
During the summer, many people take vacations or are involved
with other activities. The buyer will justify that if they’re taking off
two weeks for vacation, they may as well take the entire month
off. We realize that breaks can demotivate students, causing them
to never return to class at all. With an agreement in place, you’re
allowing the payments to continue even if the student or their child
isn’t actually training. An extension of time added to the end of the
agreement will allow the parent to not feel as though they’re losing
out on time that they’re paying for!
Having an agreement guarantees growth and a stable income
for your martial arts business
If I have 200 students on yearly agreements, then I know
that 200 people are paying for their tuition. This stable income
allows me to focus my energy on building onto that 200. Schools
that boast of not having agreements will experience moderate
to extreme fluctuations during summer, holidays, and inclement
weather. Steady cash flow guarantees you the time, focus, and
revenue to increase enrollment and other areas of your business.
SHIHAN ALLIE ALBERIGO is a 7th degree black belt, the founder of the L.I. Ninjutsu
Centers, one of the largest Ninjutsu schools on the planet, the author of 4 books, and an entrepreneur
with one of the first online coaching companies.
62 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Illustration by Oleksandr Hruts
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MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3 63
We teach Character through Karate
Kickstart Kids is an award winning in-school
character development program that uses
karate to teach life-changing values to middle
school and high school students. The non-profit
organization was founded in 1990 by martial
artist, actor, and philanthropist Chuck Norris.
For employment opportunities or to find out
how you can help support this great cause, visit
kickstartkids.org
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PILLARS OF SUCCESS
What is a healthy lifestyle? Pt. 1
by Grandmaster Y. K. Kim
E.E.R.T: The four wheels of physical fitness:
Eat and drink wisely: Healthy food brings a healthy body.
Exercise daily: Release stress and get in shape.
Rest properly: Recharge your energy.
Think positively: A positive mind creates a positive body.
In my experience, physical fitness depends on the kind of
lifestyle you lead:
When you have an unhealthy lifestyle, you become weak,
tired, overweight, and more vulnerable to illness. When you
lead a healthy lifestyle, it is easy to control your weight and
get in shape, and live a stronger and more energetic life. Put
E.E.R.T. into action to build a healthier life.
Your body is the best medicine for your body, which
means that if you have a strong body, you
have a strong immune system. Build
physical fitness with E.E.R.T.
The E.E.R.T. habits are like the
four wheels of a car: Without all four
wheels working in harmony, the car will
crash. If you don’t discipline yourself
to develop all four habits simultaneously,
you will crash as well. Therefore,
balance is the key to achieving great
physical fitness.
Only you have the power to put E.E.R.T.
into action to change your life.
E.E.R.T. Leads to Harmony and
Balance
1) Eat and drink wisely:
The healthier your diet, the
healthier you will be. Eating
and drinking properly is
critically important in
building physical fitness.
2) Exercise daily:
The best way to get in
shape, build physical
muscle, and burn physical
fat while releasing toxins, stress, and tension is to work up a
sweat. Exercise is a very important part of physical fitness.
3) Rest properly: Recharge your energy through proper sleep
and rest. Properly recharging your body is critical to achieving and
maintaining good physical fitness.
4) Think positively: The body and the mind are intimately connected.
The body follows the mind, because the mind controls
the body. They exist in harmony as a part of you. If this harmony is
interrupted, you become unbalanced. As a result, positive thinking
is the key to eating and drinking wisely, exercising daily, and recharging
energy properly. It allows you to create good habits while
eliminating bad ones.
Without positive thinking, you cannot maintain physical fitness
because negative thinking blocks your ability to keep up a diet
and exercise routine as well as interferes with your ability to get
enough sleep. Negative thinking also breeds stress, which is
the stem of sickness. Without the power of positive thinking you
cannot set or accomplish goals. As a result, to truly build physical
fitness you need to think positively in order to get rid of mental fat
and build mental muscles. Positive thinking is the key to building
physical fitness.
GRANDMASTER Y. K. KIM is the most successful martial arts business leader in the US, having written
over 30 books on martial arts, business, leadership, and success. He has won numerous public service
awards and is the founder of the leading martial arts marketing and management company in the US.
66 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by natasaadzic
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THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI
Children and the Art of the
Sword, Part 3
By Shihan Dana Abbott
Ages 7 to 9
Ages 7 to 9 are still best kept to the short sword. These students
have better muscle control than the 3 to 6 year olds, but can
still be prone to forgetting to be careful about accidentally hitting
someone. They still need to stay aware that someone might be
standing beside or in back of them while they are swinging the
sword. These children’s wrists, from a strength perspective, may
still be a concern.
The ability of the individual student must be taken into account.
The Chanbara bo staff may be introduced, especially for the
students that have studied the bo outside of sword class. If longer
weaponry or nunchaku are allowed, caution
the students to temper the strength
they use in their strikes. The 7 to 9 year
olds don’t always realize how hard they
are hitting one
another.
Because 7 to
9 year olds are
able to stay more
conscious about
safety, the reward
system will need to
change. For example,
rewards can be tickets or
points that can be saved
up and turned in for
prizes.
This age group
can improve on
the basic techniques
(head, wrist,
body and leg strikes)
by adding diagonal
strikes. For the head
this would mean strikes to just
above the temple area (obviously
while wearing a helmet).
For the body, the strikes would
be from just under the arm across
the body and down to the waist.
Simple blocking techniques can also
begin to be taught. The 7 to 9 year
old has good reactions and teaching
blocking will help
to improve their
reaction time.
A simple game
for this age group is
“capture the flag”. Place
a red flag on one side of
the deck. Place a white flag on
the other side of the deck. Divide
the kids into two teams of equal
size and ability. The white team
must protect the red flag from
capture while trying to obtain
their white flag from the red
team. Conversely, the red team
must protect the white flag from being
captured while trying to obtain their red flag from the white team.
Each student has one sword each. if struck in the arm, they must
put that arm behind their back. If struck in the leg, they must drop
down onto that leg (and, thus, can’t move around the deck). If they
are struck in the head or body, they are “dead” and need to get off
to one side. The first team to get their team’s flag is the winner.
Adapted from Lin Conklin
Samurai Sports, Inc.
Children’s Curriculum development
SHIHAN DANA ABBOTT Is a 7th degree black belt in Kenjutsu, starting his 14-year education
in Tokyo. He has published five books and designed a US Patent. Abbott has also conducted seminars in
over 30 countries and obtained his black belt at the Hombu dojo in Yokohama. He currently offers online
classes on LearntheSword.com, his unique swordsmanship academy.
70 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by IJdema
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EXTRAORDINARY MARKETING
Don’t You Dare Miss an Opportunity!
by Grandmaster Stephen Oliver
“It’s not what you don’t know that kills you, it’s what you know for sure that ain’t true.”
― Mark Twain
They used this quote in the excellent movie “The Big Short.”
If you are in any way interested in how the Mortgage market
collapsed the economy, it’s a great way to learn more about how
things really worked. It’s not the full story but it’s a pretty good
chunk of the “untold story,” behind what really happened.
The Mark Twain quote also very much applies in my mind to
how most of our industry is absolutely sure about wrong ideas.
How the majority of school owners including those selling them
“stuff” – ideas, software, websites, etc. Get it wrong so much of
the time.
There’s another great quote by Earl Nightingale
I believe, that’s something to the effect of if
you don’t know what to do, just look around
at what everyone else is doing and do the
opposite. Look at how most schools (by
definition the broke guys) are running
their school and do the opposite. This is
why I have a tendency to yell at clients
who tell me what everyone else in town is
charging, by the way.
Opportunity lost… makes
me physically ill…
seriously.
You may or may not
know, but one of the ways
that Jeff Smith influenced
my life is he got me
hooked on Movies while
I was in college and a
branch manager and he
was VP/Head Instructor for
the Jhoon Rhee Institute.
He and I used to hit two
movies on Friday night.
I’ve since passed this
on to my kids and, now especially my 7-year-old son, Chase
must see everything the moment it’s released, Thursday night.
Over the holiday’s we saw 3 movies in three different theaters.
In each of the lines we’re outside the door. Showings were
sold-out. The Theaters were “beat-up”, out of concessions, and
overwhelmed. That weekend broke EVERY standing record.
Guess how many Martial Arts Schools or other similar businesses
were in the lobby marketing to that crowd?
Right. None.
VERY close to two of these theaters is a former Franchisee of
mine who was constantly complaining of having difficulty getting
enough students. Guess what, no sign of him. And, this is
someone who I personally taught how to do it, stood by his side,
showed him how to make appointments, guided him on how to set
up and organize the booth.
Then I ended up in Tulsa for 8 days. The Big AMC Theater
there was packed – all showings sold-out. The coke machines
were sold-out, concessions overwhelmed, theater PACKED with
people. Not far from there is one of the wan-a-be “industry guru’s”
who was with me a few years ago for about a month. He had
about 90 students in Tulsa last I knew but sounds really enthusiastic
pitching his latest sales and marketing ideas to school
owners. He’s always bragging about how he’s mastered email and
Facebook marketing.
Think he had anyone at that Theater (or, any in town?) No.
How about a kiosk at the local shopping mall? Nope. How about
rack cards, bandit signs and other “gorilla marketing” around the
area, nope.
Opportunity lost forever.
I’m sure he’s having a holiday camp and charging $20 a day for
it. Thinks he’s rich. Doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Well, the
cost of living is pretty low in Tulsa.
Don’t complain about your active count and miss opportunities
like these. There’s opportunity EVERYWHERE. Go talk and take
advantage of that opportunity.
GRANDMASTER STEPHEN OLIVER, is a 9th degree black belt and is the founder and CEO of
Mile High Karate schools, and founder of the Martial Arts Wealth Mastery Program.
72 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by chaiyon021
www.ExtraOrdinaryMarketing.com
MASTERING MODERN BJJ
Add ‘Value’ to Your School
By Master Carlos Machado
In regards to systems, the whole thing is a job is never done; it’s always a work in
progress. Like when you bought a laptop two years ago, and then you go to the same
shop two years later, you look at yours saying, “Man, this thing is crap now. I need to
add more memory,” and this and that.
The same applies to business, but I think there are certain
things at the core. Whether you’re tracking your students or being
engaged with the customer service aspect, you have to give more
than what’s expected of you. Often staff have a problem with following
a sales script. They worry about the price. They almost challenge
their students. And I have issues with staff at different points
in time because they come from different backgrounds.
Many people have what I call the “poor man mentality” because
they had bad experiences in their upbringing. They
never grew out of it. No matter what system you
have in place, they can’t really integrate themselves
with it because they have that bias;
that self-limiting thought process that came a
long way back.
Digital makes a difference in the quality
of your school. There’s no question about
price when the value is clear; the decision
is easy. I quote Dan Pena on that.
If I do an intro class and price
becomes an issue after the introduction,
I didn’t do my job
because what I want is that
when a guy has an intro
class, I want him to just
look at my staff on the
desk and say, “I want
to join right now.”
He’s not going to ask
how much it is. That’s
out of the question.
This is the part that, in my opinion, people miss out on: you can
decorate all the sales scripts. You can make all the promises. But
if what we deliver is not beyond somebody else’s expectations,
price is going to always be an issue.
They’ll say, “I’m not sure, I’m going to ask my wife,” or “I’m going
to go and check what the market says.”
And I don’t want that client. I want a client that says, “Oh, my
gosh, I’m ready!”
I have to do my part if I don’t add value. Part of the system is
your posture, being clean with your gear, being presented well,
having your nails trimmed, and a nice haircut.
MASTER CARLOS MACHADO is one of the pioneers of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the United
States of America. Currently a Coral Belt, and promoted to Black Belt by Carlos Gracie Junior, Carlos
Machado came to the USA in the early 1990’s with his brothers where they formed the RCJ Machado
Jiu Jitsu Association, one of the strongest & growing BJJ organizations in the world today.
74 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by designer491
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Have Your School, Organization,
Accomplishment, or Event Featured in
As professional martial arts school
owners and instructors, it’s important
that we stay up to date with the
latest tools, tactics, and strategies
for operating a successful martial
arts school or organization.
We here at Martial Arts World News
Magazine are on an unstoppable
mission to help our industry grow,
and one of the best ways to do that
is by sharing “what’s working” and
what’s not.
So, we want to feature schools,
school owners, instructors,
organizations, students, and industry
contributors that might have a story
our readers would find valuable!
No story is too small or too big for
consideration so long as there is
value to our readers.
MartialArtsWorldNews.com/Ureport
Send your Story Idea to us.
Email Editor@MartialArtsWorldNews.com
Or Contact us at: 407-895-1996
• One of your students
overcame great obstacles
to achieve their black belt?
Awesome!
• You’ve opened a new
location? We’d love to hear
about it!
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association just set a new
record? Great! Send us
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the
like a champ
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C H I P T O W N S E N D
14x ISKA World Champion, Multiple World Record Holder
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BLAC has made such a huge difference in our school! In a few
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tremendous value to any school!"
-Chance Burleson, owner Chance Legends Dojo
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-Justin Cuellar, Owner of Atalla County Martial Arts
TACTICAL SELF-DEFENSE
Press the Points, Part 2
By Grandmaster Tom Patire
Application
Like in all training, applying the right technique at the right time
is the key to success. Also, applying it in real-world conditions is
what makes you invaluable to your client, as well as your team.
What I have found in my training is that many people that fail at
pressure point techniques fail not because of the technique itself,
but because of the missed application. See, a pressure point has to
be “cleared” before you apply it. For example, you attempt to apply
a point to, let’s say, in the region of the clavicle, where
there are numerous, very effective points that can
immobilize an aggressor in seconds. Where this
point, and many like them, goes wrong is when
the applicator tries to apply it directly through
the clothing. When that happens, the clothing
jams the point and creates a buffer so that
the aggressor never feels the full effect of the
point, allowing him to resist or, in some cases,
break out of the technique. Some helpful advice
when applying a point to the clavicle region is to
slide your finger down along the neck so that it
goes under the shirt or jacket, and once
directly on the targeted point,
use another finger to activate
the pressure point.
This technique is called
“clearing” and works
most of the time in most
situations.
Body Types
Body type often
dictates the effect of
a pressure point. For
example, a person
with less body
density (fat and/or
muscle), in most cases,
is easiest to apply.
That does not mean that the other body types can’t be targets with
pressure points. What it means is that you need to read a body and
apply the best point that shows itself during the altercation/situation.
In a situation where a person is irate and swinging his hands
violently, many seasoned professionals I work with like to target
facial points or points that lie in the arms like the radial nerve. If a
person is on the attack and an agent enters from his rear, many
favor points in the neck, back, or lower legs. What it really comes
down to is what is accessible at the time. In many cases, you take
what is given to you instead of trying to go after a point that may
not be accessible at the time.
At the end of the day, the training you choose is your choice,
but the law dictates what we can do and what we can’t. Make
sure you are skilled in all aspects of use of force, and when you
have the choice, make sure you use less force instead of more.
Less means fewer problems and fewer headaches, especially if it
involves any type of civil and criminal repercussions.
GRANDMASTER TOM PATIRE, is known as “America’s Leading Personal Safety Expert” and has appeared
on Good Morning America, The CBS Morning Show, The Colbert Report, Montel, plus in mainstream publications such as
Family Circle, Redbook, Fortune Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. He has written several books and has personal
safety programs that can be incorporated into your martial arts school, available at TomPatire.com.
78 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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COMPLETE MARTIAL ARTS CONCEPTS
Teaching The Complex Art Of
Kung Fu, Part 2
by Professor Willie “The Bam” Johnson
Each class must be taught with a teaching plan that must be
organized before each class. I mean everything must be written
down in detail. It is your map for progress; it helps your instructor
not to lose the point of what is important for the student. The
“class agenda” as we call them should be made up based on the
student’s struggle in and outside of class. You see class is not just
about the physical skills needed, but life skills and philosophy as
well. It covers individual basics such as strikes, footwork, stances,
kicks and sweeps and then blocks on trapping skill at least three
days a week. Then there are the forms, two person fighting
sets, weapons, sparring grappling and self-defense
for the next three days.
Also warm ups, cardio, strength, and flexibility
are a part of every class. The tempo of
each class varies from high intensity to medium
intensity all the way down to slow. Each of
these levels of class serve a purpose. For
example the high intensity is to exhaust them to
a point where they can’t think about the
next move, but just flow at a
medium pace. One, it allows
them to work hard and
think in the present, while
the slow pace allows the
student to correct their
skill and work on the
small details.
Detail notes on each
student should be kept
along with good job
cards that should be
mailed daily along with
the student’s attendance.
Compliments on
a student’s progress in activities
in and outside the school, showing them how they complement
one another is important to a student’s longevity.
These things make Kung Fu a way of life and it can not be
taught any other way. Constant calls and regular private lessons
along with group ones are key to help the student feel confident
about the learning process of this complex art. The key to helping
the students’ learning process remain enjoyable is keeping them
in the now, helping them to not let their minds wonder what could
be or what is going to happen, only on what is going on at that
moment. They have to think about nothing, so therefore the mind
must be empty and allow that present moment to fill it up.
You see, the true secret of teaching Kung Fu is having all
the things needed for class but not at the expense of losing the
freedom of creative expression. This is what makes class fun, your
ability to be open to the new as a teacher in order to experience
what the students are presenting you with. It is like a dance and
you follow their steps and lead them to the goal in a harmonious
manner.
Through this method of teaching we promote the growth
process of true human potential and through their every effort
and action inner strength is gained. As teachers we must recognize
that the student’s emotions that are expressed through the
technique, is about reading their body language, facial expression
and eyes. You see, Kung fu can not be learned or taught in a lazy
manner or with a closed mind because then everything becomes
rigid and stiff. Kung Fu is free flowing and must flow to bring forth
the students’ great spirit from within. A spirit that is greater than
ambition, confidence, determination, vision, etc. Everything is transcended
by it. It is the chi of life, a true expression of one’s inner
self expressed outwardly.
As teachers we must remember that we are only guided by
and to inner truth and are never the giver. So as a catalyst we
must continue to strive for the true expression of this complex art.
And what is art; an expression of life that transcends both time
and space.
PROFESSOR WILLIE “THE BAM” JOHNSON is a 7th degree black belt and seventime
sport karate and Kung-Fu world champion. He has appeared in four movies, 16 plays, and 11 television
shows. He is also the national spokesperson for the Stronger than Drugs Foundation and the Champions
Against Drugs.
80 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
www.budointernational.com
THE MILLIONAIRE SMARTS COACH
4 Sure-Fire Tips to Take Pressure
Off Yourself
By Lee Milteer, Performance & Productivity Coach
WE live in an unprecedented time for sure, where people seem
to be beyond stressed and easily offended. How often do you put
unnecessary pressure on yourself by trying to do and say the right
thing? Most likely this occurs daily. Fortunately, you can avoid this
kind of stress.
Give yourself PERMISSION to plan what you’ll say when future
stressful situations pop up. Here are four jewel statements I
personally use that always work for me. I hope you will add them
to your tool bag of coping strategies for dealing with the endlessly
changing reality we live in. Try them, I promise they work!
Learn to Say These Four Phrases at the Appropriate
Time to Help You Lighten Up and Stop Putting Pressure
on Yourself.
1. I Don’t Know.
Many times, you won’t say, “I don’t know,”
because you’re afraid others will think you’re
incompetent. Hey, you’re just human and
can’t possibly know everything – and
that’s okay, no one does. And you can
always say, “I can find out and let you
know later.” Sometimes you can say,
“I don’t know” when dealing with
people who are highly combustible
and just looking for trouble. In that
kind of situation, being neutral
prevents conflict that you
cannot win anyway.
2. I need help.
Everyone needs
help from time to time.
Unfortunately, you’re
going to burn out without
a support system.
Saying, “I need help”
must be done at the appropriate
time. Most of us
really strong-minded folks often take on too many responsibilities
and fear we will look weak if we ask for help. As a business owner,
I have learned it’s important to ask for help, to keep myself from
burning out.
There is one place I recommend that you rephrase “I need help”
and that is at home. When you ask for help with the housework or
yard work, you’re implying that it’s your entire job. Since we teach
people how to treat us, be careful not to set yourself up for taking
on more responsibility than necessary. Instead, try saying, “I need
you to share responsibility for the housework or yard work.”
3. I Was Wrong.
When you’re wrong, admit it. If you don’t, someone else will be
pointing their finger and saying it for you. I recommend that you
only apologize once, then take your energy and go right into problem
solving. Ask, “What can we do to fix this situation?”
4. Learn to Say “NO” at the appropriate time.
How many times have you overbooked yourself? Gotten involved
with a project that you didn’t have time for and didn’t want to
do in the first place? Here’s a time management tip: go through your
calendar and write “BOOKED” on your weekends and free time.
Now when people ask you to do things and you’re not sure if you really
have time or want to get involved, you tell them, “I have to check
my calendar, I might be booked, I’ll get back to you.” This strategy
allows you to choose what activities you really want to become
involved with instead of being a reactor and overbooking yourself.
It’s hard saying “NO” to people because you want them to like
you. You end up giving too much of yourself because you don’t
want to disappoint anyone. Better to suffer the sixty seconds it
takes to decline with kindness such requests of your time than suffer
way much longer doing things you don’t have time for.
So LIGHTEN up folks! Allow yourself to have more of a sense of
Humor in life and give yourself a break. After all, you are HUMAN –
a work in progress!!!
BEST,
Lee Milteer
Performance and Productivity Coach
Millionaire Smarts Coach
MS. LEE MILTEER is an Intuitive Business Coach, award-winning professional speaker, and TV personality
who has counseled and trained over a million people throughout her career. Lee is Stephen Oliver’s Martial Arts
Wealth Mastery’s Millionaire Smarts Coach and is also a best-selling author of educational resources.
82 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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BUDO PHILOSOPHY
A Particular Vision, Part 2
By Shidoshi Alfredo Tucci
Paniagua was a Master in directing the group energy flows, based on his idea of
cycles of rupture, expansion, stillness. People came out refreshed from classes. Even
today, the idea of training in combat for an hour and a half, and then finishing the class
doing Yoga and meditation is an absolute transgression.
Another surprising finding was his way of teaching kicks
from the ground, taking out the need to maintain balance, but
generating enough muscle memory and tone so that once the
basics were mastered, they could be performed standing up.
Divide and rule! Therefore, people with lesser motor
skills learned much faster this way than in
any other gym.
His perception of some learning problems,
such as “the dizzy duck complex,” and the
problems of transference and countertransference
in the Master student relationship,
were just some of his revolutionary observations,
in an activity that rarely had a bigger
judgment than that of “repeating what another
had taught you”, because it had always
been done like that.
For José Luis Paniagua, Martial Arts
were a vehicle, a tool of balance, health
and adaptation to the environment,
which he knew how to adapt to his
own needs, which, on the other
hand, were those of the overwhelmed
urban dwellers of a
modern age, in which alienation,
lack of mind-body balance,
were beginning to point out
intensely, and which today are
a widespread and pathological
reality.
The essential thesis of
Paniagua was that from
the moment in which man gave up his natural activities in the
environment as hunter-gatherer, his psychophysical balance was
compromised in formulas, which resulted in instability affecting
several poles, mind and emotion, body and spirit, which always interact
with each other. Martial Arts, when well oriented, were the
necessary medicine to rediscover this balance. Our bodies were
made to move, and the “couch surfing”, the apathy and inactivity,
were only the entrance door for self-destructive behavior of every
kind.
For almost a decade, I participated actively in that experiment,
even as a non-profit teacher. I made great friends, such as
Lorenzo Castro and Tomás de Santiago, who to this day they remain
so. In addition to all this, Paniagua’s vision allowed me later
to develop my work as editor of books and Budo International
Magazine, and do it in an inclusive way, without ever judging the
diversity of styles and Arts, to which I had to give fair space on
our pages. An inclusive vision that went beyond the details and
that gave me the intelligence, the intuition and the insight of a
teacher and a friend, who will always remain in memory, feeling
gratefulness.
Of him still remain his books, some I published them myself,
others my brother, also editor; his children and his widow María
González Garzón, who still teaches Tai Chi; but above all, he left us
an imprint that touched intensely those who, like me, frequented
the Pyrenees Street, in the best of environments, in order to sweat,
clean and balance our lives.
It’s still modern. Very modern! Watch out! If you are in the
Martial Arts thing, no matter what your style, his books can be an
extraordinary additional contribution. José Luis went out of the
path, to help us get back to it.
Thank you, Master.
SHIDOSHI ALFREDO TUCCI is the CEO and General Manager of the Budo International Publishing
Company, a leading publisher in the martial arts with over 35 years in the industry. He is also author of several
books: The Immaterial Dimension, The Way of the Warrior, and The Spirit. He currently lives in Valencia, Spain.
86 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Reach THOUSANDS of
Martial Arts Professionals in
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Every school owner is looking to increase their income for
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There are two huge reasons that sales from your pro shop can
deliver a rise in your annual income with the impact of getting
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Students need uniforms, sparring gear, shoes, etc. Why should
they go any place beyond your school for these kinds of purchases?
The answer is they shouldn’t because buying from your pro
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2. Create Monthly Sales Promotions
One mistake many school owners make is having a pro shop
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88 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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MASTER THE BASICS
Funding Your Exhibition and
Tournament Teams
by Master Tina Bane
One of the secrets to long-term
student retention is forming teams.
Your regular classes have to be
designed for all your students, of all
ages and ability levels. Teams allow
students with outstanding ability to
focus on their area of interest and
develop their fullest potential. Two
teams no school should do without
are the Exhibition Team and the
Championship Team.
The Exhibition Team,
which is sometimes called your Demo Team,
practices exciting techniques to use during
exhibitions. We call ours the Dream Team, and
we dedicate one special class a week to them.
They prepare exhibitions for our belt tests, plus
any other exhibition opportunities we get during
the year to promote our school. We give them
special training in higher level techniques,
exciting breaking, crowd-pleasing falls
and throws, and exceptional team
coordination.
To give our team a sense of
being special, we buy special
exhibition uniforms
that make their show
more exciting. We
invest in music and
special props for their
exhibitions and help
with travel expenses
and entry fees for competitions.
We also provide some team
identity items like equipment bags,
t-shirts, and warm-up suits.
The students, both adults and
children, are proud to be members
of our Dream Team, and the
parents are extremely supportive.
They feel like they have ownership
in a special part of our school,
and when they feel ownership,
they naturally give more time and
receive more satisfaction.
At this point, you are probably
asking, “Where do we get the
funds for all those expenses?”
Our major fundraiser is our annual
Breaka-thon. It works great because we use the money we raise
to pay for the expenses of the event, and then divide the profits
equally between the ICG, an international charity, and our student
teams. We have raised $10,000 before, so our Exhibition Team
budget was really good. We are looking forward to raising more in
the future, because the students and parents work harder to raise
money when they know that a large percentage of the money is for
their own team.
Our Championship team works the same way. In our tournament
system we have championship tag-team matches, which – if
you’ve ever seen them – are unbelievably exciting. Our competitive
athletes train hard, and spend many extra hours focusing on
sparring. We just can’t do that much sparring in our regular classes,
so we created a special class that provides a great outlet for
students who really love to spar. Plus, they get to compete on our
Championship Team, win trophies and medals, and receive travel
subsidies from our fundraising efforts.
I highly recommend you develop your own Exhibition Team and
Championship Team, and fund them with a Break-athon. You can
get all the materials and guidance you need setting up a Breakathon
included for AMS marketing consultants as with your other
martial arts school needs.
Schedule a Breaka- thon this year, so your teams will be better
equipped, and your students and parents will be more loyal
than ever!
MASTER TINA BANE is a 6th degree master instructor and owner of a Top Ten martial arts school
with successful after school and summer camp programs.
90 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by SerhiiBobyk
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INSTRUCTIONAL EXCELLENCE
The Value of Stretching
by Grandmaster Tim McCarthy
Do you have your students stretch at the beginning of classes?
Perhaps you have a warm-up routine for the beginning of each
class. If you don’t, you might consider adding one.
There are many values to a good warm-up. First of all, you
literally warm-up your students’ bodies. They go from a state of
calm to a state ready for action. You increase their blood flow,
heart rate, and body temperature to prepare them for the strenuous
activities in class. Without a warm-up you risk unnecessary
injury. The warm-up is also a good time for some basic conditioning
like push-ups, sit-ups, etc. to develop body strength. Most
beginners need some conditioning, and more advanced students
can benefit from advanced conditioning. Finally, stretching
can be included to prevent injury and, if done properly, to
increase flexibility.
Stretching is also a great way to develop confidence
because it develops bravery. Now, I want
to distinguish right here the difference between
stretching and loosening-up. I have known
some very flexible people who never stretch.
They plop down into a front split or a side split,
then stand up and begin to do amazing kicks.
To me, that’s not stretching; that’s loosening-up.
Both are good, but there is a difference.
Stretching hurts. Loosening-up doesn’t hurt.
Stretching involves extending your muscle
to its limit, where it hurts. At that point,
your natural tendency is to back off.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to
know that if something hurts, you
stop. A martial artist knows that
sometimes pain is the price of
progress, and stretching is an
easy way to not only learn, but
practice that principle. Pain is
an important component.
As you lead your students
through a stretching
session, first make sure
they have warmed-up
sufficiently. Cold muscles do not stretch easily nor do they
stretch as far as warm muscles. When stretching to develop
bravery, I recommend showing your students proper form and
then encouraging them to stretch to the point where the muscle
hurts. Some simple guidelines to use are (1) light muscle pain is
OK, but intense muscle pain is not. Don’t be stupid and pull a
muscle to show how brave you are. (2) Light muscle pain means
you are stretching the muscle, but joint pain usually means you
are damaging the joint. Avoid joint pain. (3) Don’t bounce. Move
slowly and deliberately.
As you are at the point where the muscle hurts, simply stay
there for about 30 seconds or so. You will probably notice that
if you don’t back away from the pain, the pain backs away from
you. Your muscles will stretch a little and hurt less. When your
muscle no longer hurts, chase the pain by stretching a little
deeper until you find that point of light pain again, and then wait.
If the pain backs away again, chase it again. When you reach the
point that the pain no longer backs away, simply stay there and
endure the pain for about 30 seconds at your maximum stretch,
and then relax. Of course, follow the same routine for your other
leg or on your other side.
The process of not only enduring the pain but chasing the
pain is what creates bravery. People who react emotionally will
want to flee from the pain. By intentionally staying at the pain
point, you help your student move out of their emotional mind
and into their rational mind. You help them learn how not to
react instinctively (emotionally) but react rationally. You teach
them bravery and self-control that goes a long way in conflict
management. A student who can control her instinct to avoid
pain can more easily control her anger or jealousy, and take a
few seconds to respond rationally to insults, accidents, or even
physical threats.
Some people want to measure martial arts by their effectiveness
in the ring. I choose to measure my teaching by its
effectiveness in everyday life. Full splits may not help you win
the UFC, but stretching with a goal in mind can help you learn to
be brave, control your emotions, and delay gratification toward
longer-term goals. I will choose those lessons for my students
any day of the week.
GRANDMASTER TIM MCCARTHY is a 9th degree black belt and is a martial arts educator
with a master’s degree in education. He has been instrumental in developing two industry-changing
programs, plus has directed and been featured in hundreds of martial arts videos and webinars.
92 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by NeilLockhart
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BUSINESS BUZZ
The Top Ten Negative Habits
That Keep You From Achieving
Your Goals, Part 2
by Grandmaster Lawrence Arthur
…and what to do about them.
It might seem like the most successful schools are just lucky,
or in the right location, or were born under the right zodiac sign,
or whatever other excuse you can come up with to keep from
looking at what YOU are doing, or not doing, to build a successful
school. I have the opportunity to coach many schools
in all types of demographics, from small-town,
part-time clubs to big-city, full-time operations
with hundreds of active students, and I’ve
identified several key components that the
most successful schools are willing to do
that the unsuccessful schools don’t do. Take
a close look at this list and ask yourself how
you can improve your school by taking action
in each area. Here are the last 5 habits that are
deterrents to achieving your goals.
5. You’re not training to be a better
salesman.
Our business is sales and
marketing! There are lots
of resources for sales
scripts and formulas to
follow to enroll students
and upgrade them.
Find and study them
to improve your
closing ratios and
professionalism.
Stop prejudging
everyone
and everything like you think you know their financial ability. Lower
your expectations and raise your effort to communicate the value
of your program. Be focused on collecting money. Make a daily
plan on who you’re going to enroll, upgrade, or ask for a bigger
commitment from. You only get paid just after you ask for it.
6. You don’t look professional.
Don’t follow trends, don’t try to look cool with earrings, tattoos,
spiked hair, etc. You’re setting an example of what it’s like
to become a black belt leader in your school. Parents want their
children to emulate success and conservative values. Wear a polished,
clean uniform with a new belt instead of your old tattered
belt that you’re so proud of.
7. You think great classes will make you successful.
Don’t get me wrong: great classes are very important; however,
they only represent a third of your business. Marketing and sales is
another third, and operations and paperwork is another third.
8. You’re over sensitive to comments from others.
Don’t accept what they think of you. It’s their thoughts, not
yours, and it’s really none of your business what they think. Have
tenacity and create your own future based on your personal goals.
9. You bring your personal life into the academy or post it on
Facebook.
Your students should not know about your personal life. Your
academy should be a sanctuary of positive energy and encouragement.
There’s no room for gossip or any negative comments from
or about anyone.
10. You break your promises.
Your word is who you are. You show what you are made of when
you keep your promises, agreements, schedule, and appointments.
GRANDMASTER LAWRENCE ARTHUR has been a martial artist, specializing
in Karate, Kung Fu, Kenpo, Shotokan, and Goju Ryu, since 1968. He owns 40 Super Kick Karate
locations and is founder of the American Freestyle Karate Association (AFKA). A world champion
and hall of famer, Lawrence also runs the Black Belt Success Systems consulting firm, which trains
martial arts instructors on proper business practices and is used by schools all over the country.
94 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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MARTIAL ARTS PHILOSOPHY
A Diary of a Black Belt, Part 5
By Sensei Gary Lee
21 months later
4th Purple Belt
This was the hardest test I have ever been a part of because of
the bunkai. All bunkai had to be performed for all Pinan,Teki, and
Heian Kata, and then applied. You would start your kata, the board
would stop you, you’d be asked to perform bunkai, and then go on.
I did five rounds of Bull in the Ring and was a Uki for all the black
belts going for higher dan ranks. I believe I was more spent before
my basics than I’ve ever been before, because I had to do all the
bunkai and Bull in the Ring with the black belts. Five bad, bad
dudes beat me up pretty good. Love the pain! The fighting was
normal except that, with this test, the Board seemed to emphasize
that this group needs to know strong, strong BASICS. There were
nine of us going for purple, four going for third brown, and five
black belts testing. I believe the word Kihon, meaning “basic,” was
thrown at us hard, and the other new word is Kime, focusing my
technique with precision as the standard.
Also, after this test, a couple of the black belts came up to me
and said I did good. I was really humbled; after all, I’ve come a long
way in my training, but especially in my attitude.
Sensei came up to me and pulled me to the
side. He was always so polite, but mysterious
at the same time.
He said, “Purple belt is like being at the
ocean’s edge: you’re to venture out into the
water, deep water, full of danger and life.
These are the brown belt years, purple will
prepare you for that encounter, and I hope
you are prepared well, for most brown
belts quit because they just cannot
take the pain!” Oss.
Two years later
3rd Brown
Reaching brown belt was impressive. Basics, basics, basics,
and more basics: Konk Ku Dai, Seisan Kata, advanced Teki Kata, all
Kata Bunkai applications; black belt attackers only. Bull in the Ring
and one on one, two on one, three on one, four on one, five on one
Kumite, no rest between rounds, no water, no excuses, no quitting,
and well, I’ve graduated from cleaning the toilets to sweeping the
front of the matted area every day before the black belt class. Sensei
says he did this so all the black belts can see me all the time
and see I have good technique in sweeping.
I said, with much respect, “They see me enough when they
beat the crap out of me, Sir!” Oss.
SENSEI GARY LEE, the American Samurai, is a 9th Dan black belt, a USA Karate
Federation gold medalist, winner of five Super Grand National Titles, a featured actor in
the movie Sidekicks, and is the founder of the National Sport Karate Museum.
96 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by Michael Burrell
ActionHeroPhotos.com
MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE
Are You Still Doing Too Many Tasks
For Your Martial Arts School?
by Chief Master Kirk Pelt
Wouldn’t you like to have more time in your life and double or even triple the amount
of money you earn?
You can do exactly that with the ATLAS system. It is designed
to do things for you even while you sleep! Much like an avatar,
ATLAS can engage your influence and information to increase
your enrollment, income and retention. This management software
can do virtually everything! You will have more time to teach more
classes to more students and spend less time on the computer,
doing accounting, trying to think of ways to market your
school, and figuring out when your next students are
due for belt testing and which color, etc.? Are you
beginning to get the picture? AMSonline can do all
of that for you!
ATLAS software has an amazing accounting
system that keeps track of your students’ tuition
and your money spent. The financial data can be
exported to QuickBooks software program for
easy compatibility. There is even an HQ application
to monitor multiple schools from your main Headquarters
or main office school.
Are you having difficulties thinking of new
ways to market your school and create
ads for print or social media and to
make them look professional and
customized to your school? AT-
LAS is connected to a resource
that has many ads to choose
from. You can customize each
ad with your school’s information.
Every month ATLAS has
different martial arts ads for
you to use in many different
ways along with promotions
for each month! No
more worrying about what to do next to bring in new students!
These marketing promotions and ad campaigns can be done easily
and at no cost in many cases!
The system is so smart that it can even take attendance! How,
you might ask? The state-of-the-art fingerprint scanner that is
available takes attendance of every student upon entry. The
attendance tracker is linked up with the automated emailer. So
if someone is out, the system will automatically send an email to
them stating, “We missed you!” The feature also includes 2-4-6
week, birthday, holidays, and so many more automated emails. Not
only automated emails, but customized automated emails are sent
out on your behalf! This makes it seem like you are doing so much
when in actuality you have cut your work time in half! This is what
some instructors and school owners say is the secret to retention;
follow-up, follow-up, follow-up!
The FREE lead generating website you will receive when you
sign up with ATLAS will give you an optimum web presence specific
to your market with great SEO and attract more lends for your
school. You will have more prospects than ever and start getting
more enrollments at your school because of the special offers and
the greater ability for exceptional follow-up!
You can have an online Pro-Shop of your own to make more
money 24/7! Students or anyone will be able to purchase items
online from you with your online Pro-Shop. You won’t have to do
anything but set up your free website with ATLAS and you will
begin to make money around the clock!
The ATLAS system will make your life so smooth and easy, you
will not know how you got along without it. You will have so much
more time to do what you love, teaching martial arts to so many
more students! More students means more tuition and that means
more money. ATLAS will handle the rest, you just do what you love
best. To learn more visit TryAtlasSoftware.com.
CHIEF MASTER KIRK PELT is an 8th degree black belt and is the President of a
multi-million dollar, multi-school organization, has a 30-year track record of success, and is
currently on the leading edge of martial arts curriculum and business innovation.
98 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by Ratana21
59
A Touch of Zen
ATouchofZen.com
ADVERTISER INDEX
85 Kids Point MMA
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55 Kovar Systems
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97
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89 Learn the Sword
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17 Adventures of Harry & Friends
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11, 79 Amazing Martial Arts Websites
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107 American Martial Arts Alliance
WhosWhoInTheMartialArts.com
19, 68, AMS Billing
108 OurAMS.com
61, 75 AMSkids
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49 The Art of Publishing a Book
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26 Black Belt Principles
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77 Break Like a Champ
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81 Budo International Magazine
BudoInternational.com
73 Extraordinary Marketing
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15 Karen Eden
CenturyMartialArts.com
62 Kick Start Kids
KickStartKids.org
91 Lee Milteer
Milteer.com
53, 101 MA Biz Academy
MABizAcademy.com
43, 105 Martial Arts Business Institute
MaBusinessInstitute.com
95 Martial Arts History Museum
MAMuseum.com
84 Otomix
Otomix.com
97 Sport Karate Museum
SportKarateMuseumArchives.com
31, 45 Stephen K. Hayes
NinjaSelfDefense.com, tuttlepublishing.com
32 Tom Patire
TomPatire.com
3 Vision
VisionMA.com
30 Warrior Defence Lab
TheEvolutionOfKrav.com
56, 67 Grandmaster Y. K. Kim
YkKim.com
21 Grandmaster Zulfi Ahmed
Lulu.com
MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3 99
THE WARRIOR WAY
The Persistence Factor PT. 1
by Grandmaster Bill Clark
Reaching your goals, raising children, learning martial arts, running a business, running
your life… is not really easy. It comes with long hours, road blocks, unplanned events, and
a seemingly never-ending roller coaster ride of emotional and financial highs and lows.
Just about every rider has hit the dirt, more than once. Broken
or bruised their bodies, bones and egos but kept going and
found a better way. Just about every parent struggles with raising
their child and making decisions that didn’t turn out well.
Almost every business struggles for survival at some point in
its life. In fact, the average self-made millionaire has been broke,
bankrupt, or financially destitute 3.7 times before becoming a
financial success.
Most people give up easily when things don’t work
right away, or they get frustrated, mad and upset.
So, in my Martial Arts program we have a
couple of sayings to help you think beyond the
emotional problem. It goes like this:
1. Passive persistence in the proper
position.
2. Stay with it! I’ve never seen it take longer
than two days.
Most people lose patience in
a matter of seconds. When
something doesn’t work,
they get more forceful,
irritated, mad… or they
give up. You often see
that with students
and their lessons!
In fact, that used to
be me too.
Persistence
is probably one
of the weakest
human traits, so
it needs constant
nurturing. You have to persist at persistence! One of my teachers,
Robert Kiyosaki, during a life-changing course I took with him in
the mid 1980s, said: The only failure is the failure to participate.
That’s a really powerful statement because it means you have to
keep showing up in order for something to work.
The only guarantee for failure is to stop trying.
Most success stories are filled with examples of how people
persisted no matter what obstacles were thrown in front of them.
They found a way to get over, through or around it. They got
stronger instead of weaker.
It is truly amazing how many turning points come down to
the same decision: Should we try again, or should we throw in
the towel and settle down to a more normal, “safe” and predictable
life?
There is no better long-term solution to personal or business
success than single-minded determination.
You will need to make changes to deal with fluctuating circumstances
but, even if you have to change strategy, the long-term
goals remain the same.
GRANDMASTER BILL CLARK is a 9th degree black belt and a former PKA Fighter of
the Year. He is widely considered one of the top experts in martial arts business with over 50 years
of leadership and innovation, having been inducted into almost every Hall of Fame in the industry. He
is one of the largest multi-school owners in the world.
100 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
Photograph by phototechno
EVERYTHING You’ll EVER Need
to Market Your Martial Arts School!
ONLINE AND OFFLINE
MaBizAcademy.com
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Mining for Instructors:
Planting the Seed, Part 1
I believe everyone reading this column can agree that one of the most frustrating and
challenging aspects of running a successful martial arts school is locating, acquiring,
and retaining extraordinary staff at all levels of your business. But the one staff
member who can ultimately make or break a martial arts school is its instructor.
It is a fact that most, if not all, success depends on how well
your floor is operating and the quality of students you are producing.
The development of new and future instructors and the
retention of high-quality instructors has always been a challenge
throughout our industry. I’ll help you gain a better understanding of
the process of obtaining the top 1% of instructors in
your martial arts school.
Start with the mindset that everyone who
walks through your doors is a potential future
instructor. One of the biggest mistakes most
school owners make is waiting too long to
begin looking for someone to fill an instructor
role. The higher the position, the harder
it becomes, and the longer it takes to fill the
position. Only when they are faced with losing
or the loss of an instructor, or if and when they
are motivated to grow their business, do they
begin their search. The instructor development
training and retention process
should always be in effect in your
school. Future instructor and leadership
classes and curriculum should
be yet another ongoing program
or feature that is available to every
student as a normal and required
part of their training.
At Bushi Ban, the seeds of
becoming a future instructor
are planted even as early as their first trial lesson. This mindset is
intrinsically woven into our training culture. Our students routinely
talk about teaching and one day becoming a master instructor.
Beginning with our friendly receptionist staff and continuing all the
way up to our Grand Master, our students and staff are always talking
about teaching and its many rewarding aspects. The students
and parents are constantly being exposed to the thought that one
day they or their child might become an instructor, allowing that
goal to guide their training and reinvigorate their motivation to set
and accomplish their goals while helping to generate a renewed
commitment to their training, your school, and their personal journey
in the martial arts. The culture of higher aspiration and future
instructorship positions is created and displayed throughout the
school in the form of posters, pictures, and other visual elements
as well. This helps further promote and propagate the culture
within our schools.
GRANDMASTER ZULFI AHMED has amassed acclaim as a world-class competitor, martial
arts educator, and is most notably founder and designer of the internationally renowned style, Bushi Ban.
With over 45 years of martial arts experience and over 300 martial arts awards, his schools include ten
locations across Texas.
102 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
TOOL
OF THE MONTH
Buddy Passes
Buddy Passes are an effective
yet low-cost way to improve
your enrollment numbers. Simply
print the passes at your local
print shop and give them to your
star students. They’ll be able to
invite their buddy to free classes
to try out the martial arts for
themselves!
Get this FREE sample of the
creative events MA Biz Academy
members enjoy every month to
lock in student retention and
bring dozens of new students
into your school! Members
also receive a fully developed
promotion outline and other
support materials.
To receive this Special Gift, visit
MaBizAcademy.com/Gift
Tools & Tactics
Lean On AMS for Your Success
by Ms. Chris Lee
Face it, there are numerous threats trying to rob you of success as a martial arts
school owner.
You’ve felt the choke hold of the negative perception MMA can
bring to the martial arts. You’ve been impacted by the blows of
tough economic times and their effect on the martial arts industry.
If you’re almost out of breath and losing consciousness professionally,
there still is hope.
Consider the following adapted lyrics from a well known song,
“Lean on AMS, when you’re not strong. And AMS will be your
friend. AMS will help you carry on.” It’s not a sign of weakness, but
rather a mark of wisdom to seek a helping hand when it’s needed.
Regain consciousness and breathe easy by leaning
on AMS for your success like hundreds of
other successful school owners.
The industry has gone through many
trends plus economic highs and lows during
the forty years AMS has been helping
school owners. AMS can’t control trends
or the economy, but they have successfully
helped many martial arts professionals
maintain their own distinctiveness
while realizing their dreams of
financial freedom. You’re probably
wondering, “How?”
First, many school owners
get a lot of headaches and
heartaches by struggling to handle
their own billing for student
tuition. It can be a draining task
doing the accounting on student
contracts and it steals the
energy you need to teach great
classes. Also doing collection
on student contracts can hurt
retention by giving the perception
you’re a bill collector
rather than a teacher.
When you lean on AMS,
you get reliable, accurate, on-time, and professional billing service
that eliminates the headache and heartache so you can focus on
what you love, teaching the martial arts! You can have peace of
mind that your student contracts are being handled with great care
and professionalism in order for you to get the highest income on
your student tuition.
Next, how can leaning on AMS help with the negative perception
of the martial arts and a down economy? Receive highly
effective, totally customizable, new, relevant, and eye-catching ads
each month that can help you enroll 25 to 30 new students each
month. Get ideas for family oriented promos and instruction where
you still maintain the integrity of your style.
AMS has been innovative in creating the most profitable after
school martial arts program that can increase your income by
$100,000 or more a year in any economy. In addition, AMS has
the most technologically advanced school management software
in the martial arts industry that aids you in achieving high level
retention through its VIP promotion and automated emails.
Leaning on AMS helps your school succeed through higher
professionalism and advice with proven results to bring financial
success in any economy. The famous song adapted would
say, “AMS’ll share your load, If you just call AMS.” So just call
1.800.275.1600 or visit ourams.com and begin leaning on AMS for
your success now!
MS. CHRIS LEE is a martial arts business development consultant with a background in online and
social media marketing.
104 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 3
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