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February 1, 2022 28 mins

Join Gordon as he interviews the owner of Banks' Martial Arts Academy with over 600 members, Thomas Banks. Together they discuss what it takes to start, grow and scale a martial arts business, how systems and operations can help to build your business and why focusing on your own vision and providing your members with world-class service is essential to success.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • It becomes easier to sell and gain more members when you have a packed timetable of popular classes and you can diversify the types of classes later on, you need to smell what sells and teach the popular classes in the beginning to build your school.
  • People don’t care about titles or achievements, they only care about the service you’re providing them. Focus on changing their life through world-class service and you will grow your martial arts school.
  • To become a much bigger school you need systems and operations. Building a world-class martial arts brand with excellent service is great but you need systems to scale. Members need to be able to book onto classes online, owners need a CRM to track customers, revenue and successfully community with students.
  • You need to have a vision and a purpose because when you’re clear on that you have the reason you need to create your own reality and drive your business forward which is essential to motivating your staff to bring in more revenue and produce an excellent service to your members.
  • Always focus on yourself and what you're giving back to your students rather than what everyone else is doing. Aim to look at others that are doing well and add to your school to improve and grow.

BEST MOMENTS

“If you build it, people will come.”

“I decided to switch my method of teaching and sales picked up, I was selling more and more.

“You need to smell what sells, teach what’s popular and add on the other stuff later.”

“When people have graduated to black belts we’ve then put them into other programmes and now they’re all teaching”

“Not having systems in your school from the start is a massive blocker when it comes to growth”

“Too often martial arts can be a secluded world where you feel alone.”

“Money is to have the freedom to spend as much time as you want with your family.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Business of Martial Arts by Gordon Burcham

ABOUT THE HOST

Gordon Burcham is a best-selling author, 3 x World martial arts champion, and award-winning Martial arts school owner. He has helped 1000s of Martial arts schools grow and has over 20 years of experience running martial arts schools.

Gordon has been training, teaching, and working in the Martial Arts industry for nearly twenty-five years. After earning his first black belt, he went on to win three consecutive World Titles against guys half his age. In 1998, in the midst of his competitive career, he launched his own dojo which still runs today. After retiring from the competitions, he decided to focus more on helping others in the MA business while still running his club.

Burcham has trained with industry giants like Alfie Lewis and developed his street-smart business attitude working with top business coaches. He is now considered one of the foremost authorities on peak performance in the business side of the MA industry. He has proven his techniques work through the transformation in his own personal life, athletic career, and business as well as those of his coaching clients. Burcham teaches that success is the result of forming good habits and moving forward.

He is a real-life success story going from bullied school kid to earning multiple world titles, and his MA school is currently one of the most successful in the UK. Gordon loves self-development and helping others, enjoys travel and family time. He is now learning how to fly planes and pursuing a speaking career!

Learn How to Become Black belt in Business.

Learn -Develop - grow and you will succeed.

CONTACT METHOD

G Force Martial Arts

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