Visit the website for the Asian Arts Center Taekwondo School in Dayton, Ohio. We now use a virtual spokesperson for our site in an effort to increase conversion. Let me know what you think by commenting on this post.
Self Defense And Security
Author: Matt Pasquinilli
Life is Interesting to Interesting People.
If you want friends, you have to be friendly. If you are bored, then do something in a focused and enthusiastic way. You get what you give, and when you give out energy, happiness, excitement, and fun, then you get all of it back in great abundance. When life is tough, get tough. Then pray and move your feet, or your hands…
Martial Arts School Management – Value Added Services
In their fantastic book, “The Go Giver”, by Bob Burg and John David Mann, the authors define your worth in the world of work with this question, “How much more can you give in value than you can take in payment?” Answer this question well, and you will be on your way to operating a highly successful martial arts school.
Value added services are complimentary offerings that add to the core value of your programs. Teaching great classes in a clean and modern facility is a great start, but if you want to increase the value you represent to your students, then you are going to have to come up with some extras that don’t necessarily cost you money, and more importantly, leverage the relationship you already have with your students.
Here is a list of questions you can ask yourself to get started on some value added service ideas. While you go over this list, remember the platinum rule, “Treat your customers the way they want to be treated.”
- What media can I create that will help my students learn faster or encourage them to practice at home.
- What media can I put on my website that my students could access when they can’t get in to see me in the school?
- How can I leverage my website and email to increase communication with my students.
- What other types of communication can I use to help my students feel like I am listening to their needs and wants?
- Are there any extra classes that I can offer to increase the skill and knowledge, or interest of my students?
- What guest speakers from the community can I invite to talk to students or their families on a topic they might be interested in?
- What additional training can I offer my employees (my most valuable customers) that would help them feel more confident and excited about their relationship with my school?
There are countless questions that you can ask. Asking is the starting point, and if you don’t look for value added services that you can offer to your members for free and that are of great interest to them, then your school will never be as good as it can be. After the questions are answered, get to work immediately on creating something and implementing it in through your operating plan.
Here are some examples of value added services that we have created and use with great success. It is only a starting point, and you should always be asking these questions and adding or refreshing your list of offerings
- Student handbook
- Belt tying video on our website, and one page belt tying instructions hanging in every hallway and classroom, and available from an instructor or the front desk.
- Instructional DVDs
- Member’s only website
- Instructional videos on our member’s only website
- Testing procedure guidelines for Black Belts
- Black Belt testing journals
- Simple, index card size promotion reports for students to receive feedback from their instructor
There are a lot more and many are proprietary. The best ones are those that you will come up with on your own after talking to your parents and thinking about what they need and want. Grab a pencil and a piece of paper and take a few minutes to work on your business.
Matt Pasquinilli is the Executive Director of the non-profit Asian Arts Center Taekwondo School in Dayton, Ohio. www.aacdayton.com
Learn more about “The Go-Giver” here: www.thegogiver.com
Happy New Year!
2011 is all but over. 2012 is hours away. I spend this day writing thank you cards to all the people in my life, new and old, who have given me much to be thankful for. That’s a lot of ink and a lot of cards. Writing these thank you notes helps me to stay focused on who and what add value to my life and to seek more of it in the coming year.
I firmly believe that you get what you give, and more importantly, you get more of what you think about. If you are living in fear and anger, and you spend most of your time complaining or worrying, you don’t have to guess as to what your life will be filled with. Want something better, something more than moaning and groaning and self-pity? Then you are going to have to spend more time giving thanks for all that you have and let go of your limiting and self-defeating thoughts of lack and poverty. Seeing everything you have makes you very wealthy. Seeing all the things you don’t have, can only make you feel poor and needy. No one likes a needy whiner, so take a deep breath, look around, and acknowledge all the things you do have. Still can’t see anything to be thankful for? Try taking a visit to a homeless shelter or the cancer ward of a children’s hospital and then make your list.
Happy New Year!
Matt Pasquinilli is the Executive Director of the non-profit Asian Arts Center Taekwondo School, in Dayton, Ohio. Matt is also the author of “The Child Whisperer” and co-author of “Behavior Coaching” with Dr. Scott Hall.
JustWorld International – Together For A Just World
JustWorld International raises money and changes lives around the world. It’s impressive work, but most impressive is the way in which JustWorld founder, Jessica Newman, enlists the caring and support of young people and their families from the international equestrian community. Take a look at this short video and visit http://www.justworldinternational.org to learn more. Oh yeah, you don’t have to ride a horse to give, so consider an end-of-year donation or a gift to start 2012 with a powerful intention. You get what you give.
Resilience
Pray and move your feet. This is one of the most inspirational sayings I have ever come across. The Quakers are credited with this great concept and I have become truly convinced that it is one of the key ideas that will lift you out of a funk faster than anything else.
Failing is not the problem. In fact, failure is a great opportunity to grow and learn. Failing often leads to great success and enlightenment. The problem that we sometimes have, is that we don’t get back up after we fall. I’m not really talking about grieving a loss here though, that is a natural process and requires its own timeline. But grieving too can turn into a negative thing when we get stuck and refuse to let go of negative emotion and live in fear and sorrow. Resilience becomes a way of thinking about loss and failure that accepts that we are designed to fall in order to learn how to get back up onto our feet and get going again.
Having a sense of purpose, a reason for being, allows you to fall and get up again over and over. Pray and move your feet means that you are in touch with your purpose and that you let go of your own ego and attitude and let a higher power to keep you moving in the direction of your meaningful life. What are you here to do? What excites and fulfills you? Are you following your dreams, or have you resigned to a safe, but boring life? Find your sense of purpose and commit to it. Don’t worry about how others feel about your dreams, it’s your life, not theirs. They won’t want to see you change, not because they don’t want to see you succeed, but because they don’t want to have to adjust to your change. That is not a good enough reason for you to settle for an unfulfilled life.
Focus on your purpose and define what your life will look like when you are living your purpose. Identify the daily actions that you have to take to live your purpose and then get to work. Start small but dream big. Don’t put a limit on your purpose, but be willing to start from where you are in move in the direction of your fulfilled life. Expect to fail and to fail often and sometimes in big ways. Your commitment to this purpose will be the first step in becoming resilient. Everything after is just plain work. Fall on your face, see your self living in purpose, pray for strength and wisdom, get up and move your feet!
One final thought, we all have an inner dialogue. It was put there before we were even born, and while some of it might be positive and supportive, some of it can be so negative that it will stop us in our tracks and convince us that we can never have the life we want. You need to hear that voice and accept that it is a part of who you are, and then turn the volume on it down. Replace it with positive affirmations that occur to you or that you pick up from reading and listening to empowering self-help books and programs. Control your thoughts because your thoughts control your words and actions. Emotions are energy and can’t be controlled. That emotional energy is just energy and you choose how to think about it. Allow yourself to feel and then choose how you think about it.
Pray and move your feet!
Matt Pasquinilli is the Executive Director of the non-profit Asian Arts Center Taekwondo School and author of “The Child Whisperer” and co-author of “Behavior Coaching” with Dr. Scott Hall.
Tough Mudder
I finished another Tough Mudder run this past weekend. It is my third this year and they are getting easier. They are in no way easy, but definitely easier. It is a great challenge and the event is populated by happy, positive people. Finding ways to move the body and spend time with good and happy people is a sure way to live a better life.
