Celebrating Your Studio’s Anniversary: 5 Proven Ways to Strengthen Your Community and Grow Your Membership

Every anniversary is a milestone worth celebrating, whether it’s your 5th, 10th, or 25th year in business. Beyond just a moment to reflect, anniversaries are powerful opportunities to engage your community, showcase your studio’s values, and attract new members. Here are five impactful ways to make your celebration unforgettable—and profitable.

1. Host an Anniversary Event or Open House

Invite your students, their families, and the wider community to a celebration that highlights the magic of your studio. Offer free classes, demonstrations, or even a fun “intro to martial arts” workshop for first-timers. You can include raffles, photo booths, and live sparring exhibitions to create a dynamic and engaging environment.

Pro Tip: Incorporate an exclusive “Anniversary Special” offer for attendees. For example, offer discounted trial memberships or “sign up today and get a free u...

In these uncertain times, where even the retail sector feels the impact of pre-election jitters, martial arts studio owners have a unique opportunity to shine. Just as the broader economic environment influences spending habits and investment decisions, your ability to offer outstanding class experiences and stellar customer service can set your studio apart and stabilize your business.

Navigating Uncertainty with Superior Service:
Recent trends indicate a significant slowdown in consumer spending due to economic uncertainties, such as those observed during tight election races. This nervousness can undoubtedly extend to memberships and class enrollments in martial arts studios. Now, more than ever, it's crucial that you make your studio an oasis of stability and positive engagement.

Focus on What You Can Control - Experience and Engagement:
While macroeconomic factors are out of our control, providing an exceptional experience isn't. Every class should be an escape from the outside wo...

Introduction:

In the dynamic world of martial arts, the journey of a studio owner is unique and challenging. It’s not just about teaching martial arts; it’s about building a successful business and leading a fulfilling life. In this post, we’ll delve into three critical aspects that every martial arts studio owner should focus on: Money, Meaning, and Self-Mastery.

1. The Role of Money in Your Dojo’s Success

Money is often seen as a controversial topic, yet its significance cannot be understated. For a martial arts studio owner, financial stability is not just about personal gain. It enables you to provide a better life for your family, invest in your dojo, and contribute to your community.

But how do you attract financial success? The key lies in action. Money is drawn to those who are decisive and proactive. Indecision and procrastination, on the other hand, are major deterrents. Your choices today directly influence your financial health tomorrow. Embrace this mindset, and wat...

I’ve gotten this question so many times and it really makes my blood boil. Not so much at the question itself, but at the underlying psychology behind it.

And the question is: Should I raise my rates?

My answer: YES! Stop over thinking it. Stop it. Just raise your rates.

Here's why. You are worth more. In fact, 95% of you reading this right now are UNDERCHARGING!

The first digit in your monthly tuition price should be a 2. As in $200+ per month.

You owe NO ONE an explanation... (unless your plan is to raise current active paying member rates-which I'll discuss below)

As you already know, everything else in our world increases in price every year, heck, some things even increase every month. Yet, too many martial art school owners don't increase their rates.

Seriously, think about it, gas, milk, electricity, dry cleaning, beer, wine. water, airline prices, gymnastic lessons, health insurance, college tuition, gym memberships, rent, mortgage, payroll, internet, cell phones, Netfli...

Last week in one of our coaching groups I came across a question from an owner about some push back that he was experiencing from his staff about some forward changes he wanted to implement in his business.

Far too many of us struggle with this same issue of trying to keep everyone on our team happy while we trying to keep our business successful, so I felt it was important to share this with all of you.

As the leader of your martial art business there are some hard realities you have to learn to accept.

Reality #1. You will NEVER please everyone. You make decisions for your business based on the best information that you have and that you feel are in the best interest of YOUR business. The most successful people in the world today were once though of as "crazy" and got resistance at every turn. (ELON, JEFF, STEVE, BILL,)...The difference is, they BELIEVED in what they were doing and they KNEW that their idea would be for the better in the long term.

Reality #2- Humans are creature...

Implement these 5 things into your business this week and watch how different your results can be.

Doing things differently is going to be one of the secrets to improving your results for this year. Try and make your business the  go-to weekly thing for your members. Read on for our “in use” best practices on scaling your business, so you can build a lasting brand. 

Have a PLAN for referrals!  

There are two things we know that studio owners crave: a dedicated network of students and pro shop merchandise sales. With our new student referral program feature, there’s now an opportunity for your existing students to refer their friends to your school. If you need more details on this reply back to this email and we will send it to you FREE.  Now, owners of any size school can take advantage of student referrals immediately. This will  increase your revenue improve your sales and expand your student retention.

Product Updates 

Got a pro shop item that is new? Or maybe one that is good...

Being OPEN......Now, this sounds like a no brainer.

But we have talked to so many martial arts business owners and asked them about their hours of operation and far too many just decide to go in “when they feel like it,” or maybe it's an hour before classes start.

There's a big problem with that.

There's no other professional business in the country that I can think of. That does that, except martial artists, this is something that needs to stop.

Here's a quick story about  a young martial arts school owner,

I owned my first martial art studio when I was 21. And I had two problems.

I was 21.

and

It was my first business.

And.

Because I was, young and (business) dumb, I would come in whenever I felt like. I would go out and party and have a great time on the weekends (and ok on the weekdays too). Did I mention that I was 21?…

But what I did know was that I wasn't being as successful as I thought I could be.

Fortunately for me, my dad, who's the founder of our style and at...

When you see my videos you can watch them on YouTube, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter, you might see them on Reels, Tik Tok, Snapchat or LinkedIn. The point is, you can see and consume our content almost anywhere. Your potential customers are no different than you, they have a preferred platform that they consume content on.

As a business owner of any kind, it is in your best interest to make sure that your customers can find you where they are, not where you want to be. And this is the flip that we continue to help business owners change their mindset on so that their business can continue to grow and prosper. And of course we want to do the same thing for you.

Its also very important to understand that, love it or hate it,  Social media is not going away anytime soon. You can romanticize about the past and be like, well, we used to do it this way. We used to do it that way. But eventually when you spend time dwelling on the past and how “it used to be” instead fo focusing o...

Kombat Attraction- Level 2

In this short video we show you a little of segment 2 of the best LOW COST/ HIGH IMPACT ways you can gain new members without spending any extra money.