The Final Word

First, protect yourself and your staff from the influence of media and of the “Mediocre Majority.” Either filter this crap well or turn off the TV until it’s over. You’ll be told we’re coming into the next great Depression. In reality, it seems like the economy bottomed out almost a year ago, and has been ...

  As a school operator, you will eventually begin to add staff and, as your school grows, that will likely not only involve hiring administrative support, but also adding assistant instructors and possibly even head instructors. As a single school expands beyond 200 active students, or as you branch out into a second, third or ...

In the July and August NAPMA Resources Kits, all NAPMA members received parts 1 and 2 of an interview by Rob Colasanti with my instructor Jhoon Rhee. Jeff Smith and I have been associated with Jhoon Rhee for 45 and coming up on 40 years, respectively. If you are not a NAPMA member, then you ...

This is a brief excerpt of my in-depth Inter-view with Dan Kennedy. You can read the entire interview and participate in a live call, with Dan Kennedy and me, on July 15. Visit NAPMA.com/DanKennedy to register.Stephen Oliver: Let’s start with the so-called elephant in the room: the economy and the dreaded “R” word. Economists recession ...

In the last column I explained that most school owners who want to do multiple schools probably shouldn’t. I gave you a few questions to ask yourself prior to considering a second location: Why do I want a second location? Am I capable of managing multiple locations? Is my existing staff focused on our growth ...

I’ve just been listening to the audiotapes from my boot camp, “The Summit of Martial Arts Millionaires.” As I sit here listening to over 22 hours of tapes, I am blown away by the incredible content. As I facilitated this discussion of how to most effectively run multiple locations, one theme surfaced early: Most school ...

Do I recommend that you open five schools in 18 months as I did when I was 23? No way! However, these lessons working for opening one school or dramatically growing your existing school. Prior to opening, get extensive training on business operations. Do extensive market research to locate a good market with adequate income ...