I can pretty much judge the success of a school within about five minutes during “prime time” by observing its pulse. What do I mean by the pulse of a school? Well, let me share a story to illustrate. In the mid 1980’s I traveled to New York to visit a school run by a good friend, Steve LaVallee. Steve had a 1,800-square-foot school in Liverpool, a suburb of Syracuse, on the second floor. His rent was about $600 per month that accommodated 500 or more active students as it was spinning off wheel barrels full of money. It’s possibly the school with the lowest overhead and highest percentage net profit that I had seen before — or since.
A couple of my key staff members and I drove to the school, which was in a dingy area with no convenient place to park. We had to search to find the school. We walked up to the school and found a strange, heavy steel door with an embossed dragon that Steve loved! Before we opened the door from the narrow staircase I turned to one of my staff members and said, “I really don’t need to see anything else. I already know why this school is so successful.”
You could feel the energy. The windows were fogged and the noise level was deafening. Parents were sandwiched between students stretching out in preparation for the upcoming class. The class was divided into four pods. One fourth of the class at any time was working on a section of a kenpo form, while the rest of the class was standing in a horse stance around the perimeter counting and doing a blocking drill with very little room for their minimal movement. During our evening at the school, Steve’s program director was in enrollment or renewal conferences for four hours straight with no let-up. Their receptionist stayed busy the whole time confirming appointments and following up with anyone who had missed a class.
The personality of the school and the energy in the environment was unmistakable. The positive outlook shared by the instructors and the perpetual movement was incredible. All night, parents and students brought their friends to witness the incredible energy and excitement of the school. To top it off, wherever we rented a car, stopped for lunch, or went out for dinner, EVERYONE knew of Steve LaVallee’s incredible school or someone attending the school, had trained there. The walls were covered with mirror tiles. You couldn’t possibly watch yourself do anything in the mirrors because of all the wacky angles. I decided to tease Steve a little. I said, “Gee, Steve, with the barrels of money you are hauling out of this school, seems like you could afford real mirrors.” He smirked and said, “No, you don’t understand,” as he led me to a closet filled with several boxes of mirror tiles. ”We have so many people crammed in here we break several every night. These are much easier to replace than a 6-foot plate glass.”
He then piled several thousand dollars into a gym bag and tossed the bag in his convertible before setting a new land speed record on the way home.
