Business

Some basic information on how to build your martial arts business. Most important is that your develop the mindset for it. When you focus on the business aspect, make sure you do it from that perspective, okay? Most people that I’ve seen fail when they believe that if they have the skills of a martial artist, that they will have a successful business. That could be further from the truth.

The fact is this, in order to run a business, you’ve got to think like a business person. In order to run a successful business, you’ve got to think like a marketer. I’m not talking about putting up ads either. Marketing can be stated like this, “Marketing is the finding, growing, keeping & maintaining of a customer by educating them on your unique selling proposition.” In other words, what is it that makes you unique that offers a benefit to each person.

Now that we’ve gotten past that part. It’s important that you have some kind of plan to start with. That plan should be based on a worthy goal for your martial arts business. For example, where do you see your business in 5 years; 10 years…. Are you starting out as a sole proprietorship and maybe change into a corporation or limited liability company? Are you going to sell it? Are you going to expand? More locations? Focus on doing events, workshops, seminars? Are you going to create products? The choices are unlimited.

Make sure when you have your plan that you also have a market to focus on. You may want to specialize too. That means some of you may want to target women. Others may go after the military/police. There’s a need for senior citizen training. Or you may want to generalize. Whatever you are passionate about, do it. Create a business plan that shows your finances, what additional financing you’ll need, your marketing plan, your operational plan, and so forth. Remember, this is an entrepreneurial venture for you.

You can get some great information by going to FastTrac.org, http://www.kauffman.org/ and http://www.entrepreneurship.org. All are under the banner of the Kauffman Foundation and offer great information on entrepreneurship. I was certified many years ago as FastTrac Facilitator/Administrator. Also, the Small Business Administration has an organization under it’s wing called Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE). This organization has volunteer counselors who offer their time to help each small business person become successful. Go to http://www.score.org for more information and to find a location nearest to your location.

Finally, read all you can about business and especially in the area of direct response marketing, copywriting, and creating business plans. Have fun with this, okay?

Bob Choat
President SSJKD

P.S.: Guru Barela had a good suggestion that learning about business related taxes as it pertains to a home-based business versus a storefront location. Each will be different as is the structure of the business itself. You should see a tax attorney/accountant regarding these matters and/or see a SCORE counselor. In a home-based business, there are certain parts you can write off and only for a percentage of the use.