Martial Arts business mentors - do you need one?

In recent years, we have seen the emergence of a new profession – the martial arts business mentor or coach.

Choosing the right business mentor will help you grow your martial arts school and transition it from a club to a professional school if this is the path you want to take. Even if you decide to keep your school as a club, a business mentor can help you grow your membership and streamline many of your processes to free up more of your time so you can focus more on training and teaching.

When I, Callum, obtained my 1st Dan Black Belt, it was assumed that this somehow also gave you the ability to teach martial arts and go off and successfully run your own school – which, at the time, we were encouraged to do.

Unfortunately, earning a black belt doesn’t necessarily translate into becoming a successful school owner.

If you want to succeed and grow your school, there is a crucial factor to consider: it has to be treated as a business (even though it may only be a sports club). But you didn’t gain business skills automatically. So, you may need to look to somebody else for advice and guidance. There are now many martial arts business consultants across Australia and New Zealand. The challenge is finding the right one for you and your school.

Here are the three questions you must ask when choosing a martial arts business consultant:

1. Do they have a background and deep understanding of the martial arts?

Some ideas sound great and might be effective, but do they consider the complete picture of martial arts? A true martial arts consultant understands that you provide more than an hour-long workout. Suppose you speak to a consultant who tells you to lower your grading standards or spend a fortune on social media advertisements to help bring in more new students and focus solely on growing your revenue. In that case, you should look somewhere else.

2. What track record and character do they have in business success?

Do some in-depth research on any consultant before parting with your money. Look into their background, find some successful businesses they have worked with, and ask questions about how they work. You wouldn’t want to train under a fake black belt instructor, so make sure that you also don’t engage a consultant whose credentials and claims don’t match up.

3. Do they teach the business skills and processes to succeed, or do they offer a product that will “solve all of your problems”?

Some consultants focus solely on one business area or a product that delivers a high volume of leads and new students. However, this part is relatively easy. The hard part is retaining them while helping you develop the processes that allow you to run your school and deliver quality training effectively. A good consultant covers all aspects of running a school, providing hands-on coaching and support so that you can eventually succeed on your own.

Our school has an external business mentor. He helped us transform an already reasonably successful amateur school with about 80 members into a more professionally run school with 200 members that still has potential for further, controlled, and sustainable growth.  

So, having the right business mentor as part of your team, regardless of your aspirations, is worth serious consideration.