September 16, 2025 • 30 mins
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What would a parent pay for their child to become more confident, disciplined, and positioned for lifetime success? According to Master Chan, a hundred thousand dollars might actually be a bargain when considering the transformative power of martial arts training.
Master Chan opens with a powerful thought experiment: Imagine promising parents that their child will develop unshakable confidence, iron discipline, and leadership skills that guarantee acceptance to elite universities and lucrative careers. Would $100,000 be too much to pay? Not when many parents already spend more on conventional sports for far less comprehensive development.
The hosts compare conventional sports costs ($14,000+ annually for soccer, more for lacrosse or swimming) to martial arts programs that typically run about $2,400 per year. The return on investment becomes clear through student success stories—like the black belt who scored a remarkable 35 on his ACT by applying martial arts discipline, or former students who became medical professionals and researchers at prestigious institutions.
Ready to learn how to communicate this extraordinary value to potential students? Join Masters Jimmy Hong and Chan Lee at the American Sabanim Association meeting in Las Vegas on October 3-4. Register at theblackbeltbanter.com and be part of a community dedicated to changing lives through martial arts excellence.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this week's episode we'll discuss our topic.
Would a parent pay $100,000 fora martial arts program?
Welcome to Black Belt Banter,the best podcast to help your
martial arts school increase inprofits and generate substantial
revenue.
I'm Jimmy Hong and my co-hostis Master Chan Lee.
(00:20):
Master Chan has over 2,100active students with multiple
locations.
He is well-renowned and highlyrespected by his fellow peers
for his business acumen inoperating martial arts schools.
Master Chan, welcome.
And would a parent pay $100,000for a martial arts program?
It seems outrageous.
(00:41):
What say you?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
This is a hypothetical, okay, so I don't
want everybody going man, he'scharging $100,000.
But I want you to.
That's what I really believe amartial art membership is worth.
And let me just preface to saythis If your child came to me
and I happened to be some guruand whatever, it wasn't martial
arts, just anything.
So if I promised a parent and Isaid, listen, I'm a life coach
(01:05):
or whatever I'm going to bedoing and I train your child to
be a lot more confident, and inany social situation he's going
to be the leader and he'll looksomeone right in the eye.
He'll be able to like, takecharge of a situation.
Later on, when your childinterviews for a job, it's
almost guaranteed he'll be theone that's picked because of
just how confident he is.
In addition, he's going to havethis rock solid discipline.
(01:29):
You tell him to read this bookand it's got to be done within
three days.
He'll just sit down and justread it.
He'll have that type ofdiscipline to just implement.
And if you say, hey, listen,you need to learn this computer
program and you know how to codelike a rock star, you will do
this because your son just willhave this discipline to innately
(01:49):
learn and be the best at it andso forth, and he'll always be
in shape because he's alwaysworking out, because he's that
disciplined and so forth.
And with these skills I canguarantee that your child is
going to get into Harvard, andin fact he won't just get into
Harvard, he'll get a fullscholarship.
So your return on investmentfor that $100,000 will come back
(02:12):
in a $400,000 investment intuition and in addition to that
he's going to have a lucrativecareer that pays him a half
million dollars a year, but forthe local cost of $100,000, pays
them a half million dollars ayear, but for the local cost of
$100,000, is it worth it to aparent?
100%?
That's like they wouldn't eventhink twice about that.
And the reason I bring thishypothetical up is I really
(02:35):
believe that's what martial artsdoes that if it's done right
and if you teach it correctly,these skills are going to be
what parents are going to see.
You know what I mean.
And so I charge $189 a monthand I really believe it's a
severe discount of what they'regetting and I really give my all
in making sure our kids aredoing their best and so forth.
(02:58):
And what I want to do is how doyou expound these benefits?
How do you teach these benefitsto parents and to your kids
that learn underneath you?
So they're learning?
And if you just teach kickingand punching and they're
learning how to do a form or akick and a punch and so forth,
and you don't go beyond that andyou're not able to kind of
(03:22):
teach that paradigm to people,then I really don't think that
parents are going to get theright type of what you're
actually doing.
So let me give you an example.
Let's just start with key ops,right, screaming power, scream
the key eye, whatever you guyswant to call it.
And we've all taught this Okay,ready, okay, guarding stance,
(03:43):
and you have this like lowenergy class.
Of course you're going to havethese naturally shy kids that
that come in and then you yellat them louder.
I said louder, right, and theygo, right, and maybe they get a
little bit better.
So you threaten them I willtake your belts if you don't go.
Yet, if you're not going to golouder, you're like okay, so
they're, they're, they'reyapping or screaming loudly in
(04:07):
fear.
And and someone said this to meand it's one of my mentors, a
guy named Gary Klugwitz.
Gary Klugwitz is probably oneof the greatest police trainers
in the country.
He created the red man suit.
He wrote the defense and arresttactics manual in the state of
Wisconsin in 1977.
He was a Kyokushin fighter, oneof the first non-Japanese
(04:28):
people to go to Japan and fight,along with Danny Tiger Schulman
and Dolph Lundgren.
They were like that first groupof people that fought Kyokushin
karate.
Anyway, this guy's a legend andhe said something to me once
when we were training and hesaid learning theory.
Said something to me once whenwe were training and he said
(04:48):
learning theory.
If people know why they dothings, then they have a
tendency to never forget and doit right more often.
And I said that's, that's true.
So I tell people why you shouldscream loud.
So I tell everybody when I havea class and they're like oh,
low energy.
I go okay, everybody sit down.
Okay, let me know who won.
(05:11):
And I have a kid come right infront of me.
I said we're going to have akey up contest, so let's see
who's louder, you or me Right,and I purposely lose.
So the kid goes and I go.
Everybody's like why did MasterLee kiaop like that?
I said who won, him or me?
And they're like he did, allright.
(05:31):
So if I go, how do I sound?
I sound weak, right, soundtired.
And if I sound weak, then whatdo other people think I am?
Then they think I'm what?
And they could say weak, allright.
So let me just tell you, whenyou guys came out before, that
was very low.
Was that strong or weak, weak?
(05:52):
And are you guys weak andthey're like no, we're not weak,
then we should sound strong.
So let's do it again.
I'm like great, that's superimportant that you got to be
loud.
When I ask you to be loud, it'snot because I want you to be
loud, I don't want you to soundweak, all right.
(06:12):
So let me ask you a question.
Bullies, they're kind of likesharks.
When sharks smell blood, whatdo they do?
They attack?
When bullies smell and seeweakness, what do they do?
They attack.
That is the law of the universe.
So I want to make sure mystudents don't look like they're
(06:36):
bully magnets.
I need you to sound strong,okay, ready, okay.
So that's one version of makingsure that parents understand.
I want your kids to soundstrong and I want them to sound
confident.
So if you're teaching Taekwondoclass and you don't have like
(06:56):
intense kiapping and they're notkicking hard and they're not
loud.
It doesn't matter what youteach, it has to be done at that
level and you as a teacher haveto demand that from your
students.
Right, and when they seepromoting tests, it's sir, ah,
it looks militaristic, and theysee that this is the type of
(07:19):
confidence.
And then you ask them to shakeyour hand and look you in the
eye and be loud.
And I think these little thingsare not always taught at all
martial arts schools that peopleare always too focused on the
poomsae or the form or the kickand whatever, and the intensity
level that goes behind it is notalways there.
Okay, I teach adults andsometimes, when I'm teaching
(07:42):
adult class, I do the same thing.
The adults are shy about youknow, they're odd.
They don't even say anything.
I tell adults and this is myparadigm for adults I tell them
I said listen, what's incrediblyimportant is that this is your
fight voice.
Someone's going to attack you.
You're not going to go, you'regoing to be.
You're going to do it like niceand intense, and not only that,
(08:06):
you're also going to use thatvoice to like back off, get on
the ground, get away from my kid.
You wouldn't be like can youget away from my kid, can you
back off from me?
You would do it with a certainlevel of intensity.
So you're developing your fightvoice.
This is the voice you'll usewhen you defend yourself, and
that's incredibly important thatyou develop that fight voice as
(08:29):
you are training in martialarts.
So when I ask you to be loudmoms and dads or adults that are
in class, it's the level ofintensity that you bring inside
what you do and, in addition,it's the level of intensity when
you throw a kick or a techniquethat you're giving yourself 10
to 15% more power.
And, once again, this, to me,is what's important.
(08:52):
This is the world of martialarts, this is the understanding
of the why.
And if you can explain thatcoherently and I'm giving it to
you If you want to use mine,that's great Then your students
are more apt to do that, okay.
So that's confidence to me.
Do things with confidence, andthe ultimate thing that we do in
(09:13):
martial art class is we deliverconfidence.
Under pressure, just like afight, someone says I don't like
you, I'm going to beat the snotout of you.
You're not going to be like I'mshy, I'm nervous, you don't say
stuff that Jimmy Hong would say.
You would be like what it's on,this is what we're doing Really
.
You want to bring this, youwant a piece of this.
I mean, you would bring thatlevel of intensity, you wouldn't
(09:36):
cower like a scared cat likeJimmy, you would be confident.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
You.
You had something to say.
Well, I'm too scared to say itnow.
Master Chod, you know parentsappreciate the life skills being
taught.
I mean, everybody knows it's afact.
But I've met parents that spenttens of thousands of dollars of
therapy on their kids and,honestly, a hundred thousand
(10:11):
dollars is not a hypotheticalmasterly, because when you when
you not only say, and youactually do it listen.
Your kid had to go through howmany years of therapy because
they weren't confident enoughand and they scared to go to
school from day one to the endof the summer school.
(10:32):
And then they go through ourmartial arts training program
and in just a matter of monthsand years their shoulders are
out, their chest is up, they'refaking it until they make it.
They're shouting loud, they'reanswering, they're projecting
confidence.
That type is invaluable.
(10:52):
Parents will pay unlimitedamount to transform their child
and behavior to be able to befit and achieve success in their
community and society.
I'm a soccer dad.
Do you know how much I pay ayear?
Not the life of my 12-year-oldson soccer One year.
(11:17):
I'm paying $14,000 a year.
You just add a couple of years,that's going to be $100,
dollars before they graduatehigh school.
It's not unheard of paying thismuch?
And soccer is it?
Where I'm at, southerncalifornia, is one of the lower
costs of sports.
When they're doing golf, tennis, swimming, volleyball, it costs
(11:39):
way more than soccer.
So honestly, master ch, masterChan, $100,000 for a membership
is not that unheard of.
If you add it up and parentswith, who will spend unlimited
amount of resources to improvetheir child's life, to prepare
them for adulthood and thefuture in college, they will pay
(12:01):
that money, absolutely theywill.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
If you can deliver A hundred percent, and that's
that's the whole point is thatif you're not developed
developing kids, that you go,sir, stand up, demonstrate the
form in front of everybody, andthe kid doesn't do it with
confidence.
Sir, you have a seven-year-oldand mom and dad have a dinner
party and they have people comeover and that kid can't come up
to the other parents and go hey,how you doing, mrs Jones, thank
(12:25):
you for coming to our house orwhatever.
These are the things, the softskills of life, that parents are
just going.
Okay, this is what I'm payingfor.
Yes, I want my kids to know howto defend themselves.
Yes, they need to throw aproper sidekick to break a board
and all that.
But more importantly is makingsure that we're delivering the
(12:47):
confidence to take on life, andstatistically, most of our kids
will never get into a fight.
But them asking for a raise atwork, them doing an interview to
get into a good college, themdoing a job interview, those are
all things that are going toeventually come down the
pipeline and we want to makesure our students and our kids
will have the type of skills totake those on as they are
(13:11):
growing.
And so that, to me, is thebiggest point, is that deliver
those skills, you know.
The other thing that I want,which I'm going to share with
you, is developing discipline inyour students, having control.
I want kids to have fun, butwhen I say line up, they snap to
attention and they're standingstill.
If I go, hey, this is blackbelt test, and everybody stands
(13:35):
straight and they're not likemoving around or can't.
If they can't do that, thenthey're not ready to test.
And that, to me, is anincredibly important part of
being able to have goodself-control and being
disciplined.
And I tell our students, like,if you want to kick high, you
got to stretch every day.
If you want to punch hard, yougot to do your pushups, you got
(13:56):
to develop your self-disciplineto make that part of your habits
.
I can't help you kick high, youneed to help yourself kick high
.
Show me your disciplines thatyou can do that you want to do
well in your tournament or forms.
Forms is a level of disciplineto me.
So if I give you direction andyou practice it and I come back
(14:16):
and I see that you've madeimprovements, then show me your
discipline and that to me isimportant.
Then you transfer thatdiscipline to other parts.
So I think I shared this inother podcasts that we have a
sheet of paper.
All the kids have to write downall the things that they've done
disciplined, brushing yourteeth every night, so your
parents don't have to tell youIf you're in martial arts.
Be more disciplined.
(14:36):
Being able to do your homeworkwithout your parents telling you
, that's all showing discipline.
So just being able to showadditional strength and helping
the kids having a disciplinedlifestyle is a very important
part of doing it.
The other thing I tell kids, too, is that listening is a sign of
respect.
So if I ask you to do a kickand you don't do it and I say,
(14:59):
hey, can you do the kick, andthen the third time you're not
really paying attention and thenyou do the kick.
I don't like to teach where Ihave to repeat myself two or
three times.
I should just tell you once andyou just do it.
That's being a good listener.
However, listening to yourparents is more important than
listening to me.
So if your parents tell you todo something, you should do it
(15:20):
right away.
So if they tell you to put theiPad down, go brush your teeth
for bed right, read a book, getready in the morning.
These are types of skills weshould start recording and
reward the kids for beingdisciplined at home.
So we have a discipline sheetthat they have to fill out.
So I want my students todisplay discipline not only on
the floor and looking straightand not moving and practicing,
(15:44):
but I really want them tounderstand that they should
display these life skillsoutside of the dojang as well.
And the more I can translatethat and the more that I see
that right, then these are likegreat stories.
I have a great story.
I have a student too.
Student got a 34 on the ACT.
He's one of my juniorinstructor black belts.
(16:07):
And I said hey, you are asenior and you're going to a
good college, tell the rest ofthe kids how you did it.
And he goes sir, what I did isa sophomore year, or my freshman
to sophomore year.
I got a book called the ACTBlack Book.
I studied it all summer.
I studied an hour a day andthat's how I got my score Okay.
(16:31):
And I said all right, guys,write this down, go get the ACT
Black Book, study it.
And all you got to do is followRahul's formula yes, sir, okay,
good, fast forward.
Two years later I have this kidcome up to me and he goes sir,
I did Rahul's strategy.
I took the ACT as a sophomore.
I got a 32.
(16:51):
I said, dang, that's reallygood he goes, I can do better.
This kid ended up getting a 35his junior year and he said, sir
, all it took was discipline.
How much is that worth to thatparent?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
A hundred, that's worth a hundred thousand dollars
.
Right there, A 35 on that testis worth a hundred thousand.
Parents bribe universities.
Over a hundred thousand dollars.
To get into that university toget a score on that test is over
a hundred thousand dollars.
To get into that university toget a score on that test is over
a hundred thousand dollars so,absolutely, I think that's the
(17:26):
level of influence that you haveto look at.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Influence for good, I mean um and, and that, to me,
is like the stories I tell ourstudents because I want them to
grow into these amazing youngindividuals.
You know what I mean.
You know, master, jimmy, I havewas it a year ago?
Last summer, I was inWashington DC with my daughters
(17:50):
and we're on this lacrossejourney and we're going to
different.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
By the way, you said lacrosse journey On average.
How much do you pay forlacrosse?
I don't want to it's more, it's.
It's more than your soccer isit more than my 14 000 or less
than my level?
We're a little bit more becauseof the fact that we do a lot
more travel, right but my pointis is that if you pay more than
(18:16):
14 000 and we're charging $200 amonth for a martial arts school
, that's $2,400 a year we're notcharging that much.
I understand and our audienceand our listeners.
We're not charging at all.
$200 a month is peanutscompared to other sports that
(18:37):
parents pay much more for andwhy?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
For the possibility to get into a good school or the
possibility to get somescholarship money for your
child's education.
So you invest in these things.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I have actually looked into the probability and
the percentage.
The percentage of high schoolathletes playing, athlete
playing in college is is sevenpercent.
It's from like two, two toseven percent.
If you're talking in all sport,not just once.
We're baseball, football,soccer, lacrosse, you name.
(19:15):
Basketball, you name hey, somajority of these kids are not.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Did I show you my four hundred thousand dollar cup
?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
400,000.
No, can we see it, master Chan,our listeners don't know that
your oldest daughter justrecently got into Northwestern.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
She's already there, she just finished her freshman
year at Northwestern, that'sright.
So the four years I'll bringyou down.
This is what I got, like a nice$400,000 cup.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
You seem like you're enjoying the drink, whatever
drink you have.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Let me just tell you but why.
She could have gone to a stateschool.
I would have paid a lot lessmoney, but this school had the
major she needed.
She's in neuroscience.
They've invented some Alzheimerdrugs there.
That's a passion of hers.
She's been working at labs incollege and or in high school.
(20:15):
That kind of piqued herinterest and so she wants to get
into brain sciences.
So so what am I paying for?
I I'm helping her fund a dreamof possibly getting a good
career in something that sheenjoys doing.
That's that that there's no,there's no price tag on that for
for parents.
And if you can do it, you tryto do the best you can in terms
of doing that.
(20:36):
And and and I say that is,we're blessed If we're in the
martial art industry.
We're totally blessed, and I'mblessed that I have my power, my
superpower, my gift as my giftas a martial art teacher is the
ability to influence my students, to want to be better for
themselves, and my tool andvehicle is the martial arts.
But I have to connect thatbridge of education and I have
(21:00):
to really constantly tell themthis is what we're learning.
So when you learn this, this iswhat we're doing, that we're
learning.
We're not just stretching,you're just showing.
You're showing me howdisciplined you are about it.
When you show off your form infront of everybody or you spar
in front of or you even test infront of everybody, you're
working on your confidence.
These are all the additionalancillary skills that you've got
to always constantly remindparents and the kids that
(21:22):
they're developing themselves tobe the best version of
themselves later on, when theygo on in life.
That's what parents are payingfor, right?
And the vehicle that delivers.
That happens in the martialarts and here's my last
tearjerker, great talk.
I do, and I really believe this, and I tell kids this.
It's super important Every daythis is true because I believe
(21:43):
this is what I do with my ownkids is that every day, a parent
wakes up in the morning andthey hope that their kids are
happier than them.
They hope that someday in thefuture right, and I do this I
have kids sit down and go.
Everybody.
Look at your moms and dads.
Mom and dads, tell me if thisis true.
Every day you wake up, you hopeyour kids are happier than you,
(22:05):
right?
In fact, you hope that youeventually have your kids become
smarter than you.
Eventually, you want your kidsto be more successful than you,
right?
And parents, is this true?
You want your kids to livingbetter than you.
Maybe they have a bigger houseand making more money.
Would you like all that?
You all go?
Yes, sir, okay.
(22:26):
So, everyday kids, your parentswish that you win in life.
They want you to be the best.
That's what they want you to do, and so your job is to listen.
Your parents never do this.
Hey, let's go play in themiddle of the road.
It's look safe.
Hey, eat this.
It's terrible for you.
Play in the middle of the road,it looks safe.
(22:48):
Hey, eat this.
It's terrible for you.
You know what?
Why don't you guys smoke thiscigarette?
Your parents only tell you goodthings.
Hey, turn off the iPad.
Time to go to bed.
It's time to rest that brain ofyours so you can take on the
day tomorrow.
Go read a book.
They only tell you good thingsbecause they want you to win,
right.
So I'm going to tell you asecret.
Kids Know that your parentswant the best for you, and next
(23:09):
time they tell you to dosomething, I want you to say yes
mom, yes dad, and then saythank you for reminding me we
need to sound different than theother kids.
While the other kids arecomplaining to their moms and
dads about turning off the iPador turning off the video games
and whatever, the secret tosuccess, who wants to be
successful in here?
Yes, sir, I'll tell you what Isometimes look.
(23:32):
I have like parents crying inthe lobby and I'm telling you
that's what we do, this is whatwe do.
We're helping these kids be thebest they can.
And as I'm saying this to you,you interrupted me on my
lacrosse story.
I met like three of my bestblack belts.
We're in DC, they're living inDC, they're doing some really
cool stuff.
(23:52):
So I said, hey, I'm in town fora little bit, can we meet for
lunch?
So we meet at like 1130 forlunch and one of my black belts
works at the National Instituteof Health and he is.
He worked on the COVID vaccineunder Dr Fauci and he's doing
the effects of long-term COVIDand the effects of the vaccine
long-term right, graduated fromPrinceton University and then a
(24:17):
graduate program at Universityof Chicago.
I have another girl who's atthe National Institute of Health
for Cancer Research.
She is working on cancereducation or like helping
through cancer is essentiallywhat she's doing.
And I had a third girl who usedto be my assistant instructor,
one of my closest instructorsthat I work with.
She is at Georgetown MedicalSchool second year and yeah.
(24:43):
I created a couple nationalchampions in Taekwondo, but that
, to me, is the champions ofwhat we do.
Those kids still credit, youknow, the hard discipline, the
ideas of putting them in frontof others I don't want to say
embarrassing them, but puttingthem on the spot for martial
arts and they shaped me.
My student, who works at theNational Institute of Health,
said he predicted thatcoronavirus would happen and he
(25:05):
was telling me that in Novemberhe had to do a briefing in front
of the Pentagon on exactly whatthis is and how to protect the
soldiers.
And he remembers the talk thatI did about less than, greater
than, or don't look weak,project your voice, and all this
stuff.
And I was just shocked and I'mflexing here and I just want to
let everybody know how amazingof a teacher I am.
So just keep that to heart, I'mjust kidding.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
But are you though?
Are you master John?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
The real reason I'm telling you this is that I know
for a fact every one of you outthere is doing the exact same
thing.
You've affected a life and andthey you've changed them forever
for the better, and because ofyour level of influence.
Why don't we do more of that?
Why don't we teach more kids?
(25:54):
Why aren't we in every publicschool in the country and
teaching kids smart arts andmaking them the best they can be
?
We can really fix a lot of theills of what's going on with
children right now, especiallypast COVID and mental health and
so forth.
But parents, they don't knowwhat we do.
They don't really understandthat this is one of the greatest
tools.
I mean and this is not a dig onJoe Rogan I like BJJ.
(26:20):
Joe Rogan was a Taekwondoperson, but now he's pushing BJJ
.
I think traditional martialarts are great Taekwondo, karate
, kung fu, they're all great.
But it's important.
It's important that we educate,that we go beyond the kicking
and punching, that we're goingto really be helping these
people with the life skillslong-term.
(26:40):
But anyway, everybody, thankyou for hearing my rambles about
how valuable martial artsschools are and so forth, and
people are paying an immenseamount of money on a lot of
different things for theirchildren to be the best they can
be.
I just want to remind everybodyon this podcast that Master
Jimmy Hong and I will be in LasVegas October 3rd and 4th and
(27:01):
we'll be at the American SabanimAssociation or American School
Owners Association meeting, andwe would love to see you there.
It's a great way for us tonetwork, learn from one another.
I don't want to profess, to sayI'm a guru.
I'm sure a lot of you are doingsome amazing things.
It would be great to see youguys there so we can all see
(27:22):
what you guys are up to andnetwork together and so forth.
And if you go to our website,asammartialartscom, we'd love to
see you there.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Meet Master Chan personally.
Meet Master Tony Chungpersonally, meet myself.
Let's network, let's learn andlet's grow our business, our
martial arts school, to the nextlevel.
Come to the ASA Summit.
We would love to see you guysthere.
Find out more information orregister at our website,
theblackbeltbantercom.
(27:54):
We'll have it in the show notesbelow or in the comments below
as well.
And there you have it, folks.
The $100,000 is not ahypothetical.
$100,000 is not a hypothetical.
Your martial arts program isworth $100,000 to change the
course of their parents' kids'life.
We will see you on our nextepisode.
(28:16):
Have a great week, everybody.
In this week's episode we'll discuss our topic.
Would a parent pay $100,000 fora martial arts program?
Welcome to Black Belt Banter,the best podcast to help your
martial arts school increase inprofits and generate substantial
revenue.
I'm Jimmy Hong and my co-hostis Master Chan Lee.
(00:20):
Master Chan has over 2,100active students with multiple
locations.
He is well-renowned and highlyrespected by his fellow peers
for his business acumen inoperating martial arts schools.
Master Chan, welcome.
And would a parent pay $100,000for a martial arts program?
It seems outrageous.
(00:41):
What say you?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
This is a hypothetical, okay, so I don't
want everybody going man, he'scharging $100,000.
But I want you to.
That's what I really believe amartial art membership is worth.
And let me just preface to saythis If your child came to me
and I happened to be some guruand whatever, it wasn't martial
arts, just anything.
So if I promised a parent and Isaid, listen, I'm a life coach
(01:05):
or whatever I'm going to bedoing and I train your child to
be a lot more confident, and inany social situation he's going
to be the leader and he'll looksomeone right in the eye.
He'll be able to like, takecharge of a situation.
Later on, when your childinterviews for a job, it's
almost guaranteed he'll be theone that's picked because of
just how confident he is.
In addition, he's going to havethis rock solid discipline.
(01:29):
You tell him to read this bookand it's got to be done within
three days.
He'll just sit down and justread it.
He'll have that type ofdiscipline to just implement.
And if you say, hey, listen,you need to learn this computer
program and you know how to codelike a rock star, you will do
this because your son just willhave this discipline to innately
(01:49):
learn and be the best at it andso forth, and he'll always be
in shape because he's alwaysworking out, because he's that
disciplined and so forth.
And with these skills I canguarantee that your child is
going to get into Harvard, andin fact he won't just get into
Harvard, he'll get a fullscholarship.
So your return on investmentfor that $100,000 will come back
(02:12):
in a $400,000 investment intuition and in addition to that
he's going to have a lucrativecareer that pays him a half
million dollars a year, but forthe local cost of $100,000, pays
them a half million dollars ayear, but for the local cost of
$100,000, is it worth it to aparent?
100%?
That's like they wouldn't eventhink twice about that.
And the reason I bring thishypothetical up is I really
(02:35):
believe that's what martial artsdoes that if it's done right
and if you teach it correctly,these skills are going to be
what parents are going to see.
You know what I mean.
And so I charge $189 a monthand I really believe it's a
severe discount of what they'regetting and I really give my all
in making sure our kids aredoing their best and so forth.
(02:58):
And what I want to do is how doyou expound these benefits?
How do you teach these benefitsto parents and to your kids
that learn underneath you?
So they're learning?
And if you just teach kickingand punching and they're
learning how to do a form or akick and a punch and so forth,
and you don't go beyond that andyou're not able to kind of
(03:22):
teach that paradigm to people,then I really don't think that
parents are going to get theright type of what you're
actually doing.
So let me give you an example.
Let's just start with key ops,right, screaming power, scream
the key eye, whatever you guyswant to call it.
And we've all taught this Okay,ready, okay, guarding stance,
(03:43):
and you have this like lowenergy class.
Of course you're going to havethese naturally shy kids that
that come in and then you yellat them louder.
I said louder, right, and theygo, right, and maybe they get a
little bit better.
So you threaten them I willtake your belts if you don't go.
Yet, if you're not going to golouder, you're like okay, so
they're, they're, they'reyapping or screaming loudly in
(04:07):
fear.
And and someone said this to meand it's one of my mentors, a
guy named Gary Klugwitz.
Gary Klugwitz is probably oneof the greatest police trainers
in the country.
He created the red man suit.
He wrote the defense and arresttactics manual in the state of
Wisconsin in 1977.
He was a Kyokushin fighter, oneof the first non-Japanese
(04:28):
people to go to Japan and fight,along with Danny Tiger Schulman
and Dolph Lundgren.
They were like that first groupof people that fought Kyokushin
karate.
Anyway, this guy's a legend andhe said something to me once
when we were training and hesaid learning theory.
Said something to me once whenwe were training and he said
(04:48):
learning theory.
If people know why they dothings, then they have a
tendency to never forget and doit right more often.
And I said that's, that's true.
So I tell people why you shouldscream loud.
So I tell everybody when I havea class and they're like oh,
low energy.
I go okay, everybody sit down.
Okay, let me know who won.
(05:11):
And I have a kid come right infront of me.
I said we're going to have akey up contest, so let's see
who's louder, you or me Right,and I purposely lose.
So the kid goes and I go.
Everybody's like why did MasterLee kiaop like that?
I said who won, him or me?
And they're like he did, allright.
(05:31):
So if I go, how do I sound?
I sound weak, right, soundtired.
And if I sound weak, then whatdo other people think I am?
Then they think I'm what?
And they could say weak, allright.
So let me just tell you, whenyou guys came out before, that
was very low.
Was that strong or weak, weak?
(05:52):
And are you guys weak andthey're like no, we're not weak,
then we should sound strong.
So let's do it again.
I'm like great, that's superimportant that you got to be
loud.
When I ask you to be loud, it'snot because I want you to be
loud, I don't want you to soundweak, all right.
(06:12):
So let me ask you a question.
Bullies, they're kind of likesharks.
When sharks smell blood, whatdo they do?
They attack?
When bullies smell and seeweakness, what do they do?
They attack.
That is the law of the universe.
So I want to make sure mystudents don't look like they're
(06:36):
bully magnets.
I need you to sound strong,okay, ready, okay.
So that's one version of makingsure that parents understand.
I want your kids to soundstrong and I want them to sound
confident.
So if you're teaching Taekwondoclass and you don't have like
(06:56):
intense kiapping and they're notkicking hard and they're not
loud.
It doesn't matter what youteach, it has to be done at that
level and you as a teacher haveto demand that from your
students.
Right, and when they seepromoting tests, it's sir, ah,
it looks militaristic, and theysee that this is the type of
(07:19):
confidence.
And then you ask them to shakeyour hand and look you in the
eye and be loud.
And I think these little thingsare not always taught at all
martial arts schools that peopleare always too focused on the
poomsae or the form or the kickand whatever, and the intensity
level that goes behind it is notalways there.
Okay, I teach adults andsometimes, when I'm teaching
(07:42):
adult class, I do the same thing.
The adults are shy about youknow, they're odd.
They don't even say anything.
I tell adults and this is myparadigm for adults I tell them
I said listen, what's incrediblyimportant is that this is your
fight voice.
Someone's going to attack you.
You're not going to go, you'regoing to be.
You're going to do it like niceand intense, and not only that,
(08:06):
you're also going to use thatvoice to like back off, get on
the ground, get away from my kid.
You wouldn't be like can youget away from my kid, can you
back off from me?
You would do it with a certainlevel of intensity.
So you're developing your fightvoice.
This is the voice you'll usewhen you defend yourself, and
that's incredibly important thatyou develop that fight voice as
(08:29):
you are training in martialarts.
So when I ask you to be loudmoms and dads or adults that are
in class, it's the level ofintensity that you bring inside
what you do and, in addition,it's the level of intensity when
you throw a kick or a techniquethat you're giving yourself 10
to 15% more power.
And, once again, this, to me,is what's important.
(08:52):
This is the world of martialarts, this is the understanding
of the why.
And if you can explain thatcoherently and I'm giving it to
you If you want to use mine,that's great Then your students
are more apt to do that, okay.
So that's confidence to me.
Do things with confidence, andthe ultimate thing that we do in
(09:13):
martial art class is we deliverconfidence.
Under pressure, just like afight, someone says I don't like
you, I'm going to beat the snotout of you.
You're not going to be like I'mshy, I'm nervous, you don't say
stuff that Jimmy Hong would say.
You would be like what it's on,this is what we're doing Really
.
You want to bring this, youwant a piece of this.
I mean, you would bring thatlevel of intensity, you wouldn't
(09:36):
cower like a scared cat likeJimmy, you would be confident.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
You.
You had something to say.
Well, I'm too scared to say itnow.
Master Chod, you know parentsappreciate the life skills being
taught.
I mean, everybody knows it's afact.
But I've met parents that spenttens of thousands of dollars of
therapy on their kids and,honestly, a hundred thousand
(10:11):
dollars is not a hypotheticalmasterly, because when you when
you not only say, and youactually do it listen.
Your kid had to go through howmany years of therapy because
they weren't confident enoughand and they scared to go to
school from day one to the endof the summer school.
(10:32):
And then they go through ourmartial arts training program
and in just a matter of monthsand years their shoulders are
out, their chest is up, they'refaking it until they make it.
They're shouting loud, they'reanswering, they're projecting
confidence.
That type is invaluable.
(10:52):
Parents will pay unlimitedamount to transform their child
and behavior to be able to befit and achieve success in their
community and society.
I'm a soccer dad.
Do you know how much I pay ayear?
Not the life of my 12-year-oldson soccer One year.
(11:17):
I'm paying $14,000 a year.
You just add a couple of years,that's going to be $100,
dollars before they graduatehigh school.
It's not unheard of paying thismuch?
And soccer is it?
Where I'm at, southerncalifornia, is one of the lower
costs of sports.
When they're doing golf, tennis, swimming, volleyball, it costs
(11:39):
way more than soccer.
So honestly, master ch, masterChan, $100,000 for a membership
is not that unheard of.
If you add it up and parentswith, who will spend unlimited
amount of resources to improvetheir child's life, to prepare
them for adulthood and thefuture in college, they will pay
(12:01):
that money, absolutely theywill.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
If you can deliver A hundred percent, and that's
that's the whole point is thatif you're not developed
developing kids, that you go,sir, stand up, demonstrate the
form in front of everybody, andthe kid doesn't do it with
confidence.
Sir, you have a seven-year-oldand mom and dad have a dinner
party and they have people comeover and that kid can't come up
to the other parents and go hey,how you doing, mrs Jones, thank
(12:25):
you for coming to our house orwhatever.
These are the things, the softskills of life, that parents are
just going.
Okay, this is what I'm payingfor.
Yes, I want my kids to know howto defend themselves.
Yes, they need to throw aproper sidekick to break a board
and all that.
But more importantly is makingsure that we're delivering the
(12:47):
confidence to take on life, andstatistically, most of our kids
will never get into a fight.
But them asking for a raise atwork, them doing an interview to
get into a good college, themdoing a job interview, those are
all things that are going toeventually come down the
pipeline and we want to makesure our students and our kids
will have the type of skills totake those on as they are
(13:11):
growing.
And so that, to me, is thebiggest point, is that deliver
those skills, you know.
The other thing that I want,which I'm going to share with
you, is developing discipline inyour students, having control.
I want kids to have fun, butwhen I say line up, they snap to
attention and they're standingstill.
If I go, hey, this is blackbelt test, and everybody stands
(13:35):
straight and they're not likemoving around or can't.
If they can't do that, thenthey're not ready to test.
And that, to me, is anincredibly important part of
being able to have goodself-control and being
disciplined.
And I tell our students, like,if you want to kick high, you
got to stretch every day.
If you want to punch hard, yougot to do your pushups, you got
(13:56):
to develop your self-disciplineto make that part of your habits
.
I can't help you kick high, youneed to help yourself kick high
.
Show me your disciplines thatyou can do that you want to do
well in your tournament or forms.
Forms is a level of disciplineto me.
So if I give you direction andyou practice it and I come back
(14:16):
and I see that you've madeimprovements, then show me your
discipline and that to me isimportant.
Then you transfer thatdiscipline to other parts.
So I think I shared this inother podcasts that we have a
sheet of paper.
All the kids have to write downall the things that they've done
disciplined, brushing yourteeth every night, so your
parents don't have to tell youIf you're in martial arts.
Be more disciplined.
(14:36):
Being able to do your homeworkwithout your parents telling you
, that's all showing discipline.
So just being able to showadditional strength and helping
the kids having a disciplinedlifestyle is a very important
part of doing it.
The other thing I tell kids, too, is that listening is a sign of
respect.
So if I ask you to do a kickand you don't do it and I say,
(14:59):
hey, can you do the kick, andthen the third time you're not
really paying attention and thenyou do the kick.
I don't like to teach where Ihave to repeat myself two or
three times.
I should just tell you once andyou just do it.
That's being a good listener.
However, listening to yourparents is more important than
listening to me.
So if your parents tell you todo something, you should do it
(15:20):
right away.
So if they tell you to put theiPad down, go brush your teeth
for bed right, read a book, getready in the morning.
These are types of skills weshould start recording and
reward the kids for beingdisciplined at home.
So we have a discipline sheetthat they have to fill out.
So I want my students todisplay discipline not only on
the floor and looking straightand not moving and practicing,
(15:44):
but I really want them tounderstand that they should
display these life skillsoutside of the dojang as well.
And the more I can translatethat and the more that I see
that right, then these are likegreat stories.
I have a great story.
I have a student too.
Student got a 34 on the ACT.
He's one of my juniorinstructor black belts.
(16:07):
And I said hey, you are asenior and you're going to a
good college, tell the rest ofthe kids how you did it.
And he goes sir, what I did isa sophomore year, or my freshman
to sophomore year.
I got a book called the ACTBlack Book.
I studied it all summer.
I studied an hour a day andthat's how I got my score Okay.
(16:31):
And I said all right, guys,write this down, go get the ACT
Black Book, study it.
And all you got to do is followRahul's formula yes, sir, okay,
good, fast forward.
Two years later I have this kidcome up to me and he goes sir,
I did Rahul's strategy.
I took the ACT as a sophomore.
I got a 32.
(16:51):
I said, dang, that's reallygood he goes, I can do better.
This kid ended up getting a 35his junior year and he said, sir
, all it took was discipline.
How much is that worth to thatparent?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
A hundred, that's worth a hundred thousand dollars
.
Right there, A 35 on that testis worth a hundred thousand.
Parents bribe universities.
Over a hundred thousand dollars.
To get into that university toget a score on that test is over
a hundred thousand dollars.
To get into that university toget a score on that test is over
a hundred thousand dollars so,absolutely, I think that's the
(17:26):
level of influence that you haveto look at.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Influence for good, I mean um and, and that, to me,
is like the stories I tell ourstudents because I want them to
grow into these amazing youngindividuals.
You know what I mean.
You know, master, jimmy, I havewas it a year ago?
Last summer, I was inWashington DC with my daughters
(17:50):
and we're on this lacrossejourney and we're going to
different.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
By the way, you said lacrosse journey On average.
How much do you pay forlacrosse?
I don't want to it's more, it's.
It's more than your soccer isit more than my 14 000 or less
than my level?
We're a little bit more becauseof the fact that we do a lot
more travel, right but my pointis is that if you pay more than
(18:16):
14 000 and we're charging $200 amonth for a martial arts school
, that's $2,400 a year we're notcharging that much.
I understand and our audienceand our listeners.
We're not charging at all.
$200 a month is peanutscompared to other sports that
(18:37):
parents pay much more for andwhy?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
For the possibility to get into a good school or the
possibility to get somescholarship money for your
child's education.
So you invest in these things.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I have actually looked into the probability and
the percentage.
The percentage of high schoolathletes playing, athlete
playing in college is is sevenpercent.
It's from like two, two toseven percent.
If you're talking in all sport,not just once.
We're baseball, football,soccer, lacrosse, you name.
(19:15):
Basketball, you name hey, somajority of these kids are not.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Did I show you my four hundred thousand dollar cup
?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
400,000.
No, can we see it, master Chan,our listeners don't know that
your oldest daughter justrecently got into Northwestern.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
She's already there, she just finished her freshman
year at Northwestern, that'sright.
So the four years I'll bringyou down.
This is what I got, like a nice$400,000 cup.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
You seem like you're enjoying the drink, whatever
drink you have.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Let me just tell you but why.
She could have gone to a stateschool.
I would have paid a lot lessmoney, but this school had the
major she needed.
She's in neuroscience.
They've invented some Alzheimerdrugs there.
That's a passion of hers.
She's been working at labs incollege and or in high school.
(20:15):
That kind of piqued herinterest and so she wants to get
into brain sciences.
So so what am I paying for?
I I'm helping her fund a dreamof possibly getting a good
career in something that sheenjoys doing.
That's that that there's no,there's no price tag on that for
for parents.
And if you can do it, you tryto do the best you can in terms
of doing that.
(20:36):
And and and I say that is,we're blessed If we're in the
martial art industry.
We're totally blessed, and I'mblessed that I have my power, my
superpower, my gift as my giftas a martial art teacher is the
ability to influence my students, to want to be better for
themselves, and my tool andvehicle is the martial arts.
But I have to connect thatbridge of education and I have
(21:00):
to really constantly tell themthis is what we're learning.
So when you learn this, this iswhat we're doing, that we're
learning.
We're not just stretching,you're just showing.
You're showing me howdisciplined you are about it.
When you show off your form infront of everybody or you spar
in front of or you even test infront of everybody, you're
working on your confidence.
These are all the additionalancillary skills that you've got
to always constantly remindparents and the kids that
(21:22):
they're developing themselves tobe the best version of
themselves later on, when theygo on in life.
That's what parents are payingfor, right?
And the vehicle that delivers.
That happens in the martialarts and here's my last
tearjerker, great talk.
I do, and I really believe this, and I tell kids this.
It's super important Every daythis is true because I believe
(21:43):
this is what I do with my ownkids is that every day, a parent
wakes up in the morning andthey hope that their kids are
happier than them.
They hope that someday in thefuture right, and I do this I
have kids sit down and go.
Everybody.
Look at your moms and dads.
Mom and dads, tell me if thisis true.
Every day you wake up, you hopeyour kids are happier than you,
(22:05):
right?
In fact, you hope that youeventually have your kids become
smarter than you.
Eventually, you want your kidsto be more successful than you,
right?
And parents, is this true?
You want your kids to livingbetter than you.
Maybe they have a bigger houseand making more money.
Would you like all that?
You all go?
Yes, sir, okay.
(22:26):
So, everyday kids, your parentswish that you win in life.
They want you to be the best.
That's what they want you to do, and so your job is to listen.
Your parents never do this.
Hey, let's go play in themiddle of the road.
It's look safe.
Hey, eat this.
It's terrible for you.
Play in the middle of the road,it looks safe.
(22:48):
Hey, eat this.
It's terrible for you.
You know what?
Why don't you guys smoke thiscigarette?
Your parents only tell you goodthings.
Hey, turn off the iPad.
Time to go to bed.
It's time to rest that brain ofyours so you can take on the
day tomorrow.
Go read a book.
They only tell you good thingsbecause they want you to win,
right.
So I'm going to tell you asecret.
Kids Know that your parentswant the best for you, and next
(23:09):
time they tell you to dosomething, I want you to say yes
mom, yes dad, and then saythank you for reminding me we
need to sound different than theother kids.
While the other kids arecomplaining to their moms and
dads about turning off the iPador turning off the video games
and whatever, the secret tosuccess, who wants to be
successful in here?
Yes, sir, I'll tell you what Isometimes look.
(23:32):
I have like parents crying inthe lobby and I'm telling you
that's what we do, this is whatwe do.
We're helping these kids be thebest they can.
And as I'm saying this to you,you interrupted me on my
lacrosse story.
I met like three of my bestblack belts.
We're in DC, they're living inDC, they're doing some really
cool stuff.
(23:52):
So I said, hey, I'm in town fora little bit, can we meet for
lunch?
So we meet at like 1130 forlunch and one of my black belts
works at the National Instituteof Health and he is.
He worked on the COVID vaccineunder Dr Fauci and he's doing
the effects of long-term COVIDand the effects of the vaccine
long-term right, graduated fromPrinceton University and then a
(24:17):
graduate program at Universityof Chicago.
I have another girl who's atthe National Institute of Health
for Cancer Research.
She is working on cancereducation or like helping
through cancer is essentiallywhat she's doing.
And I had a third girl who usedto be my assistant instructor,
one of my closest instructorsthat I work with.
She is at Georgetown MedicalSchool second year and yeah.
(24:43):
I created a couple nationalchampions in Taekwondo, but that
, to me, is the champions ofwhat we do.
Those kids still credit, youknow, the hard discipline, the
ideas of putting them in frontof others I don't want to say
embarrassing them, but puttingthem on the spot for martial
arts and they shaped me.
My student, who works at theNational Institute of Health,
said he predicted thatcoronavirus would happen and he
(25:05):
was telling me that in Novemberhe had to do a briefing in front
of the Pentagon on exactly whatthis is and how to protect the
soldiers.
And he remembers the talk thatI did about less than, greater
than, or don't look weak,project your voice, and all this
stuff.
And I was just shocked and I'mflexing here and I just want to
let everybody know how amazingof a teacher I am.
So just keep that to heart, I'mjust kidding.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
But are you though?
Are you master John?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
The real reason I'm telling you this is that I know
for a fact every one of you outthere is doing the exact same
thing.
You've affected a life and andthey you've changed them forever
for the better, and because ofyour level of influence.
Why don't we do more of that?
Why don't we teach more kids?
(25:54):
Why aren't we in every publicschool in the country and
teaching kids smart arts andmaking them the best they can be
?
We can really fix a lot of theills of what's going on with
children right now, especiallypast COVID and mental health and
so forth.
But parents, they don't knowwhat we do.
They don't really understandthat this is one of the greatest
tools.
I mean and this is not a dig onJoe Rogan I like BJJ.
(26:20):
Joe Rogan was a Taekwondoperson, but now he's pushing BJJ
.
I think traditional martialarts are great Taekwondo, karate
, kung fu, they're all great.
But it's important.
It's important that we educate,that we go beyond the kicking
and punching, that we're goingto really be helping these
people with the life skillslong-term.
(26:40):
But anyway, everybody, thankyou for hearing my rambles about
how valuable martial artsschools are and so forth, and
people are paying an immenseamount of money on a lot of
different things for theirchildren to be the best they can
be.
I just want to remind everybodyon this podcast that Master
Jimmy Hong and I will be in LasVegas October 3rd and 4th and
(27:01):
we'll be at the American SabanimAssociation or American School
Owners Association meeting, andwe would love to see you there.
It's a great way for us tonetwork, learn from one another.
I don't want to profess, to sayI'm a guru.
I'm sure a lot of you are doingsome amazing things.
It would be great to see youguys there so we can all see
(27:22):
what you guys are up to andnetwork together and so forth.
And if you go to our website,asammartialartscom, we'd love to
see you there.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Meet Master Chan personally.
Meet Master Tony Chungpersonally, meet myself.
Let's network, let's learn andlet's grow our business, our
martial arts school, to the nextlevel.
Come to the ASA Summit.
We would love to see you guysthere.
Find out more information orregister at our website,
theblackbeltbantercom.
(27:54):
We'll have it in the show notesbelow or in the comments below
as well.
And there you have it, folks.
The $100,000 is not ahypothetical.
$100,000 is not a hypothetical.
Your martial arts program isworth $100,000 to change the
course of their parents' kids'life.
We will see you on our nextepisode.
(28:16):
Have a great week, everybody.
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