Martial Arts Professional Magazine

Hi Rob,

Greetings From Scotland!

I joined NAPMA in April 2006, when my organisation’s billing company: NEST Management, became the NAPMA UK representative. As you no doubt know, unlike the U.S., the vast majority of martial arts schools in the UK are in sports and community centres. Again, unlike the U.S., there are few professional (self-employed) martial arts instructors in the UK; sadly, many martial artists don’t agree with making a living from martial arts. This attitude stems from the martial arts “amateur club” mentality. I am proof, however, that it’s possible to run a successful martial arts business, especially in the remotely populated Highlands of Scotland. It wasn’t easy in the early days, since I had to change our organisation from an amateur club and make many other syllabus, structure, and billing changes, such as having students pay a small fee per class to a much larger monthly fee via direct debit (EFT).

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank NAPMA and NEST Management for their assistance to enable me to make a living from teaching martial arts! Keep up the great work, Rob - I thoroughly enjoy my monthly NAPMA business boosts!

Kyoshi Neil Hourston

Scottish Kempo Academy

Tain, Scotland

www.kempo.co.uk