3 Ways To Relaunch Your School

Two years ago, we sat in a room with two of the most well known consultants/business mentors in the country. We paid $5,000 just for the seats and a couple of complementary protein bars.. 

This wasn’t our first high level business event.. But they were definitely the most expensive tickets we’d ever bought. We were expecting some elusive, high level tips & fancy techniques that we’d never heard before.. But what we got instead was a lightning bolt between the eyebrows that made us realize that the key to success in ANY business, at ANY time, at ANY level is asking the right questions to the right people, then listening & implementing their successful & proven strategies.

The ‘right people,’ aren’t our peers or even our friends at home who’ve shown us support over the years.. The ‘right people,’ are industry experts who can see things in your business that you can’t.  And while it may seem like an ‘outsider’ could never know your business as well as you do, it’s precisely due to the fact that they are NOT sitting in your shoes every day, surrounded by the same ‘hurricane’ of realities & distractions that you are, that they can see, with a sniper’s focus, exactly what needs to be done to cut through all of the overwhelming crap that weighs you down.. and create an executable ‘action plan’ to fast-track your road to success

In 2020, the martial arts industry was dealt a severe, collective blow. But the time has come for all of us to turn a corner & focus on the successful relaunch of your academy. So, even if you’re not 100% ready, even if you’re still overwhelmed, & especially if you’re not sure how to take the next step, our team at Combat Business Success is here to help & give you the keys to your own successful academy relaunch in 2021. Let’s go!

Almost every martial arts school owner in the industry has had to make cutbacks to survive 2020… So what’s the solution to relaunching in 2021? Cut back MORE! 

But this time around, do it strategically.. With a purpose & a plan.  

EDITING is the key to a successful 2021 & beyond. 

Whatever your academy looked like in 2019 & the first few months of 2020, there’s no rule that says it has to look exactly the same this year. In fact, I’ll double down & say that if your academy looks exactly the same today, as it did in March of 2020, then you are missing a HUGE opportunity to launch your academy into it’s most optimized, efficient, & profitable form. 

Before you jump back into rebuilding exactly what you had before.. I want to challenge you to ask yourself 3 questions.. 

1. What does your DREAM Academy look like?
2. What are your FAVORITES? 
3. What do you do in your academy that completely SUCKS THE LIFE OUT OF YOU?

1. Describe your DREAM Academy? 

Have you ever thought about what your PERFECT academy would look like? If you haven’t before, now is the time to grab a piece of paper, take 5-10 minutes, and start describing your Dream Academy scenario.

• What are you doing every day?
• Who and/or are you teaching? Are you teaching at all?
• How is your academy running?
• Who works there? 
• How much money are you making? 
• Do you have free time to enjoy yourself when you’re not working?
• WRITE IT ALL DOWN

Once you have written all of that down, take that piece of paper, snap a picture of it on your phone so that you never have to worry about losing it, and then pin that piece of paper up somewhere where you can see it every day. 

Reference that piece of paper often.. Revise it as necessary.. But ultimately, use it as a guide, like a navigation instrument. Every brainstorming session you have should be in reference to that piece of paper & the aspirations you described on it. 

If you start getting distracted by a ‘shiny object’ marketing plan, or starting a side hustle, use that piece of paper to ‘check you’ back into your lane. Use it to fortify you & your ability to say, ‘no,’ to ideas that will distract you from your ultimate goal. Every plan you create or decision you choose to implement from this day forward should be a choice that is moving you toward your ‘Dream Academy.’ 

2. Identify your FAVORITES..

• Who are your FAVORITE people to work with? 
• Which classes do you love? 
• If you could only run ONE program in your academy, which one would it be?
• Which classes, clients, or activities in your academy leave you MORE energized AFTER you do them than you were before? 

YOU should LOVE your job. You created the academy.. You created your position.. If you don’t like it, there’s only one person to blame.. 

And lucky for you, the person who shoulders that blame, is the same person who can solve the problem. YOU!

No matter your style, no matter your experience, you didn’t start your martial arts academy to spend your time filing paperwork, taking out the trash, cleaning toilets, or fighting with software systems.. And yet, that’s exactly what many school owners end up doing every single day.. 

Before long, those same school owners end up resenting their academies & forgetting the heart of what got them into the business in the first place. You DESERVE to enjoy what you do everyday.  But, before you accuse me of being overly ‘sentimental’ or ‘soft’ for saying so, there are multiple financial reasons why you should focus on doing the things that you love & creating a working culture that you actually enjoy. 

First, people typically like doing things that we are naturally good at. Sounds obvious, this can be a really good indicator for strengths and weaknesses of your academy, and help you determine an effective way to handle them. 

If you like doing something, like teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes, then that’s more likely to be one of your academy’s high points.. If you don’t like doing something, it’s probably an area where your business is a little weaker. Now, if one of your weaker/’dislike’ areas happens to be a ‘business essential,’ like bookkeeping, answering the phones, signing up new clients, or keeping the bills paid, then you need to hire someone to do those ‘non-negotiables’ for you. 

When you focus on doing the things that you’re good at & enjoy, and delegate out the rest, you become a highly trained, efficient, specialist.. a tactician.. an EXPERT.. And experts & specialists always make more money than a mediocre, jack of all trades. 

Plus, people can’t help but be drawn to passion. Passion is insanely magnetic. ALL people want to feel passion for something in our lives, and when we see someone who has that, we can’t help but gravitate towards them. 

Look at the Olympics, for example. We all crowd around the TV every 2 years watching athletes we don’t know, playing sports we don’t care about, simply because their passion, dedication, & commitment is so much stronger than our own that it compels us to keep watching. 

Recently on Netflix, a new show called ‘The Queen’s Gambit,’ was the number one series on the entire platform.. This is a show about people playing chess.. Millions of people binge watched actors play fake chess on TV for hours at a time.. It’s not the game they're watching.. It’s not even the people.. It’s the passion that the people have that keeps us coming back for more, to live vicariously through them, so we can get a glimpse of that for ourselves. 

People throughout their lives will continue trying new things over and over in an effort to find their ‘thing,’ to find their passion.. And YOU, you lucky martial arts business owner.. You are one of those rare people in the world that has already found it. And you’ve gone out and made it your career! You get to spend every day doing something that you love. You are living a dream that others would kill for.. Even if you might have forgotten about that or even lost a little bit of that passion along the way. 

By focusing your time & energy on doing things that you LOVE in your business, not only will you simply like your job & enjoy your days a little more.. But you will also rediscover the passion that you’ve lost & reignite the fire that made you take the leap and start your martial arts business in the first place. And that will pay huge dividends.. (especially if you take it & apply the techniques that my business partners, Paul Halme & Alan Belcher lay out for you in the next sections..) 

• People will follow what you’re doing online, get inspired, & become raving fans.
• Prospects will search you out because they won’t be willing to settle for a run of the mill academy or mediocre instructors when they know that YOUR academy is filled with exceptional people who have a passion for what they do and a lifetime commitment to help people be their very best.
• And Clients will be willing to pay you over and over again to help them discover for themselves the kind of passion that exudes from you every single day as you live the ‘martial arts lifestyle.’

3. What Sucks the LIFE of You?

...And WHY are you doing it?

• Which classes, programs, or even clients drain you of your time & resources while bringing you very little enjoyment OR financial return? 

To someone who has never owned a martial arts business before, this question may seem ridiculous. They might wonder how you would ever allow something that you hate to creep into the very fiber of the business you love. But the truth is, almost EVERY martial arts school owner has allowed classes to form to appease the half-hearted request of a couple of former students, or even entire programs that ‘seemed’ like a good idea at the time, like they were the crest of some huge, social media or popular culture wave that was going to single handedly launch your academy into the next level.. 

Maybe you even have attracted some clients to join your academy that don’t fit your culture & cause you problems.. Initially, your desire to sign up EVERYONE, your need for higher monthly billing hid the fact that this student was a bad fit, and made you forget that the headaches from one bad trouble student can cause you hours worth of pain & difficulty as well as potentially causing the loss of your better students! Every martial arts owner has SOME remnant of these well intentioned, but poorly thought out ideas.. And NOW is the time to get rid of them… ALL of them. 

First off.. Let those problem students go.. TODAY. You owe it to yourself, and to your other clients, to rid your academy of ‘Karens,’ ‘Carls,’ or cancer students who kill the vibe that you’re trying to build. I know you might be worried about their tuition, but I promise you, you’ll make up the money from their tuition by cutting them and focusing your time & energy on other, good students who would have quit because of them.. This is a non negotiable. Only work with people who fit your culture & appreciate what you do. Starting now.

Next, cut the classes that aren’t profitable.. If the same 3-5 people are training at 11:00am on a weekday, do the math & find out if it’s actually COSTING you money to keep running that class.. 

If it’s barely breaking even or losing money.. Kill it. Then go spend that time doing something else to grow your business & making more money.

Third, kill the ‘trendy’ programs that take away from your core, money making programs. Maybe women’s self defense seemed like a great idea.. Masters jiu jitsu ‘could’ have brought in a new clientele.. Yoga felt like it would be a great supplement to your BJJ or combat training.. But really, none of them has ever moved the needle in your business.. Cut it. 

Focus on your bread and butter, your core programs.. The programs and classes you teach at 6:00pm.. 7:00pm.. The ones that you give your ‘prime real estate’ on your class schedule. Those programs are your money makers and your most popular. 

Focus on your strengths. Cut the weak performers & focus all of your resources, your time, energy, & money, on amplifying your strongest assets, your greatest classes.. Focus on building & scaling the absolute BEST part of your academy.. The thing that makes you better than every other academy out there.. And let the rest go, with no regrets.

 To relaunch this year, you need to be seen everywhere.

You need to do this organically and with paid traffic (ads).

There are 3 platforms to focus on.

1. Facebook
2. YouTube
3. Instagram

You want your prospective students to see you on all of these platforms. To do this you need to post everyday.  If you need content, make sure to check out our legendary MAPA program to get all your monthly content.  It’s what we do in our schools.

Facebook has been the king for a long time but Instagram and YouTube are closing the gap.  Especially Instagram stories for your school, make sure to tag your city in the stories so you get even more eyes on your content.

YouTube is great because it's the #2 search engine and the videos will show up on Google also so you get even more exposure.  To really crush it this year, start running YouTube pre-roll videos.  The best part is you only pay if they click on the ad or watch 30 seconds of the video since they can skip your ad.  Pro Tip:  They have to watch it for 5 seconds before they can skip it so you need your best content in the first 5 seconds.  It’s free exposure to your school.

In 2021 Awareness is Everything!  Think of it like you are running a commercial on TV for your school.  Social Media gives us the ability to do this for pennies on the dollar.  If you think Social Media Ads are expensive, call and ask how much it is to run a 30 second commercial in your area....

You want your schools commercial to be shown on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube in your area around your school everyday.  This puts your brand in front of your local community.

Pro-Tip:  Create Video View Audiences so you can retarget your Video Views with OFFERS.  This is a warm audience and more likely to convert into a lead.

Now go post everyday and create converting ads. 

Let your competitors sit around and do nothing while you build the momentum that you need to grow your business.  Put in the work to make this an amazing year for your school.

All right! It's finally time to put it all together.. 

So, you've edited out the shit you don't like & don't need in your academy. You're going to focus on what you're passionate about. You know what makes you unique in your town & what makes you different and better than everybody else.. 

You know that you need to 'Be Seen Everywhere' on social media.. Facebook, Instagram, Youtube. But what are you actually SAYING to these people? and How are you using social media to grow your business?

The answer is 'Community' & 'Conversion.'

The Number ONE goal of social media for business is to build a powerful community of raving fans who believes in what you do, engages in what you post, & actively shares your message to other people to increase your reach.

The absolute best way to build this type of engaged community in 2021 is in a Facebook group. Despite people claiming to abandon the platform, Facebook is still the number one, most widely used social media platform in the US.. by far. And, until it gets passed up by the next thing, this is where you need to put your effort to build your following & grow your group. 

When you're thinking about what to post & how to attract 'your' people into the group, think about the kinds of content, the messages that you engage with & share on your own social media pages.. You don't comment on anything that's boring or generic. It's gotta stand out. It has to show who you are. Your message has to be specific and make people feel like you're speaking directly to them. When something 'hits home,' they share it.  The more its shared, the more likely you're going to find like minded people who identify your content & would make good members of your community. 

The Number TWO goal for social media in business is 'Conversion.' Converting people who like your content into group members & converting group members into paying clients. 

The best strategies right now to convert followers into group members are Facebook ads to join the group and giveaways promising some valuable content or a course that is already created & waiting for them in the Facebook group. When you create something that's really good, they will join the group to get it. 

When they join the group, you have a method to continue engaging with them & building a connection that lasts much longer than it would if you captured their info in a traditional Facebook ad and provides much more active engagement than your typical email list subscriber from your website. 

Once they're in your group, focus on building a Community you build will foster a connection to other users & to you, EVEN if they've never actually met you in person. Through interacting with your group content, members will find friendship, camaraderie, validation, connection with other members, & identity within the group, and YOU become a leader, a mentor, someone they trust & listen to for advice. 

The whole time you're sharing your core value messages that people are connecting with, you're also including the benefits of martial arts.. because that's how you developed your core value messages. People in your group start to want those same benefits that you describe.. and then ultimately, people who might never have been interested in martial arts before, start to look at trying it for the first time, because YOU, the person they've been listening to on so many other topics, the person they feel like they know & trust, recommended it. 

Jocko Willink is one of the best examples of someone building a huge community of followers who has ultimately had a huge impact on the martial arts community as well. Jocko Willink is an ex Navy Seal who helps people with personal development and mindset through his experiences in the military. He also trains Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 

For many of his regular listeners, they will never have the experiences that he had in the Navy Seals that helped him to develop his mindset. But they still want some of the benefits that he talks about.. so, when they hear him talk about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, even if they've never heard about it before, or never considered trying a martial art before, they start looking up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academies in their area to see if they can start training. No other 'influencer' has had a direct impact on BJJ enrollments like Jocko.

But you don't have to be Jocko to make this work in your local community.. You don't need millions of followers. You just need to become a leader in your local community.. and it's not that hard to do, because I bet NOBODY else in your local community is doing this right.

• Start a free, local group that provides REAL value in your community.
• Establish yourself as a leader with good content & by sharing messages that speak to people.
• Do NOT spam your group with ads & make it all about YOU.
• Focus on building the community & encouraging others to post as much as they can. The more the group talks to each other and NOT you, the better. Let it take on a life of its own. 
• In your messaging, make sure that much of the value & many the solutions you're providing show a link back to your martial arts academy in a GENUINE way. You can't fake this one.. it's gotta be real.. You've gotta be a living example. Half-assed won't work.
• Continue to nurture the group, as you use contests, giveaways, webinars, free trainings, events, DM's, & calls to convert your group members into paying clients. 
• Then, continue to expand your reach & grow your group so that you always have a new flow of members joining your group

People in your local community are looking for strong, competent leaders that can show them how to turn the corner & get back to our normal lives again. You've got the skills to do it, it's time to get your messages out there & build a community around you, so everybody know who you are & what you can do.

 Are you ready to push towards goals that you wouldn’t normally have the guts to create for yourself? Then, let us help you relaunch your academy this year. Get a free 15 min consulting call to set YOUR action plan in motion. 

Click HERE to book your call.