I’ve recently been reflecting on the impact my programming has had on people and the difference between what I hear my students say today as opposed to when I taught only a traditional martial arts program. In the past, the compliments were mostly about how a child improved in school or how much more confident [...]
In last month’s column, I addressed the importance of teaching a kickboxing introductory class and why the introductory instructor should focus on three primary objectives: safety, building rapport and making sure students have fun. These three objectives are most important, but don’t treat your fitness kickboxing student like second-class martial arts students. Take the time [...]
Which do you think more adults are looking for, shedding unwanted pounds or after-school programming for their children? The fact that many adults don’t have after-school age children is one clue that fitness is a much bigger market. There has never been more interest in fitness and weight loss than there is today. Everybody wants [...]
One of the marketing techniques I borrowed from the fitness industry is the 5-for-1-referral theory. The theory is that each new student you enroll in your fitness program will tell at least five other people about it. You probably have heard similar ideas in martial arts marketing, but I think it works especially well in [...]
When someone calls and inquires about your martial art fitness programming, how do you handle the call? I’ve found that this is probably the biggest challenge most school owners face, when selling their fitness programming. They’ll run an ad to make the phone ring, but have no idea what to say when they have a [...]
In my past articles, I’ve consistently stated that for you to have a successful martial arts fitness program you need to have proven results. The general public will not perceive your program as a high value program without them. By just having a kickboxing class, no matter how good you think it is, wont’ grab [...]
I have found that, on average, a traditional martial arts instructor doesn’t necessarily make a good martial arts (MA) fitness instructor. The reason for this is because traditional martial arts and MA fitness are two completely different animals. Teaching traditional martial arts has very little to do with teaching martial arts fitness. The elements that [...]
When martial arts school owners inquire about offering my Ultimate Bodyshaping Courses (UBC) at their schools, they’re usually focused on the added tuition the UBC can generate. This, of course, is where the majority of money is made, with many school owners doubling, or even tripling, their tuition revenue. What most school owners don’t realize [...]
How you introduce Fitness Kickboxing to your new students will have the single biggest impact on the success or failure of your program. You can have the best “butt-kicking” Fitness Kickboxing class in town, but if you don’t develop a systematic approach to introduce kickboxing to your new students, then you’ll always have a small, [...]
How many hours a day is your school busy generating revenue? Is it four hours, or maybe six, if you offer an after-school program? Fitness kickboxing can add hours of revenue-generating time to your facility without having to cut or move any of your conventional martial arts classes. Martial arts schools have a limited amount [...]
The biggest misconception about martial arts fitness programming is that it’s not possible to retain students or to upgrade them to higher priced programs. The reason is that students’ needs are not being served-and those needs are very different than a martial arts student’s. You must convince fitness students that your program provides many long-term [...]
Creating a long-term fitness program in your martial arts school is not as hard as you think. Most likely, you already have one in your conventional martial arts program. All you must do is sell it differently to the adult fitness market than you would to typical prospects looking for conventional martial arts. Fitness students [...]
1) Make sure that everyone who enters your fitness classes is properly screened to ensure that they are physically capable of handling the class. 2) Students need to be brought slowly into the program with some type of introductory class, so the instructor can get to know students and evaluate their fitness level. This is [...]
Why I Love Martial Arts Fitness
I’ve recently been reflecting on the impact my programming has had on people and the difference between what I hear my students say today as opposed to when I taught only a traditional martial arts program. In the past, the compliments were mostly about how a child improved in school or how much more confident [...]
Protect your Assets with the Right Business Entity, Part 1
As I wrote in my August/September column, the best way to keep what you have is not to have anything in your name. To implement that strategy, you must choose the right business entity (or entities) to limit exposure of your assets to (successful) lawsuits and separate your asset ownership. This month, I’ll explain Sole [...]
When I served my three tours of military duty in Southeast Asia, we used multiple layers of defensive methods, or multiple redundancy defenses, to protect an installation. For example, my job as a dog handler was to be the first level of defense, encountering the enemy outside the perimeter of the installation. We were also [...]
