#17 | Fighting with AI: The Future of Martial Arts Studio Owners - Black Belt Banter: Martial Arts Business Podcast

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (01:11):
In this week's episode, we'll discuss the topic
Empowering Taekwondo SchoolsThrough Innovation, a talk with
World Taekwondo Lab.
Welcome to Black Belt Banter,the best podcast to help your
martial arts school increaseprofits and generate substantial
revenue.
I'm Jimmy Hong, and my co-hostis Master Tony Chung.

(01:35):
We are joined by our premierpartner, World Taekwondo Lab's
Chief Marketing Officer, MasterNikki Kwan.
Here at Black Belt Banter, we'revery selective about who we
collaborate with.
We always put our audience, theschool owners, instructors, and
martial art professionals first.
We only work with organizationsthat truly add value to your

(01:58):
journey.
And World Taekwondo Lab doesexactly that.
They build a powerful platform,a game-changing tool designed to
help Taekwondo schools operatemore efficiently, attract more
students, and simplifyday-to-day management.
Master Tony Chang, Master NikkiKuan, welcome to the show.
Let's dive right in.

(02:19):
Master Kwan, starting with you,could you start by sharing with
our audience what Taekwondo Labis all about and more
importantly, how it can helpmartial arts school owners run
their dojongs more effectively?

SPEAKER_00 (02:31):
Thank you so much for having me.
This is super exciting.
This is actually the firstpodcast I've ever been on
outside of my own littledojongs, fun little social media
clips that we make.
So a little intimidating to bewith you guys because I'm a big
fan of the podcast.
I love what it's all about.
And this was my first yearattending ASA also since its

(02:52):
inception.
Before it was called ASA, therewere many other things, and
there were many other seminargroups and stuff.
So to be among the giants isvery kind of full circle.
Because I remember being acoming up instructor, and my
grandmaster would send me tothese things to go learn more,
see what's out there.
And I was just that quiet kid inthe corner, just kind of taking
notes with my little pad andstuff, and expected to go back

(03:14):
and make millions of dollars.
But we we grow up in theindustry, the industry treats us
really well.
We we feel a lot of the ups anddowns.
Every little thing that happens,I feel like it we're kind of
like the barometer for societyas Taekwondo instructors, small
business owners.
So yeah, what coming fastforward to now being at World
Take Wonder Labs is really allabout people just like us who

(03:37):
are in the same industry as us,collaborating together, just
like how ASA functions toimprove and uplift.
You you said it perfectly, givemore value back to everybody
involved, school owners,eventually the students and
everything.
But World Take Mondo Labspecifically is focused on
technology and how to usetechnological innovation and use

(04:00):
all those new tools that areavailable to.
It seems like every company outthere is using it.
You got your Amazons, you gotyour Teslas, you got Google
owning everything.
Why not the martial artsindustry?
Because we're some of thefastest minds, the fastest at
agile, agility.
We we can move, we can shake,but to be honest, we can't
program really well.
We and we don't push buttons anddo ones and zeros really well.

(04:22):
And we shouldn't.
We're that's not what ourpassion was, and that's not what
we trained all our lives to do.
So with AI and technology all onthe cusp, um, the founder Kim
Deung knew that he couldn't doit himself.
And he's actually even less techsavvy than I am.
But the two of us together makeone really non-technological

(04:43):
dude.
So he set out because he hadthis vision of, oh no, I want, I
want basically technology to runmy schools, and that way I can
just be.
I don't know if you've ever methim, he's a very hyperactive,
very energetic, charismatic man,great teacher, great coach.
And he just really, because ofthat, that that mindset that he

(05:05):
has, he really deep dives intostuff.
And then when he was deep divinginto technology and stuff, he
realized there is actually aspot where I can't do this, and
I need to go find the bestpeople.
I'm the best at Taekwondo, but Ineed to find the best people at
at technology.
And then once collaborating withthem, they're with all the the
technology that I say Amazon,Tesla, all of them have, the

(05:28):
technology required forTaekwondo business is not that
much.
So when you talk to people whoare used to making rocket chips
and you're telling them this iswhat my school needs to be
successful, I've been doing itmanually and with a large staff
training system in place for thelast 10, 20 years, then they
look at you and they're like, wecan do that.
Yeah, AI could totally do that.

(05:49):
And then and that's kind ofwhere it started.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (05:51):
And Dead Young is so awesome.
We had we had been in NorthCarolina when I was there.
It was a big world summit formartial arts, specifically
Taekwondo.
They had people from Koreathere, and then that's where I
reconnected with you, Nikki, andwe we got a deeper conversation.
And Ted Young, you know, everytime we get together, there's so
many national champions orKorean team members.

(06:12):
And Ted Young is so nice, youknow, Master Kim.
And he's the badass.
He's like Sam's some former proteam member.
It's like he was at but you guystrained together and you guys
were in young at Young Intogether, correct?
I believe that's correct.
Yeah.
I mean, kind of bring us back.
So these aren't obviously yoursuccessful school learners.

(06:33):
I think Master Master Kwan, youhave a a third location that you
just opened up recently.

SPEAKER_00 (06:37):
Yeah, yeah, we have three schools.
I'm the head of 10 locations.

SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
Holy moly.

SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
So, I mean, I I started to take one to much like
a lot of people I feel in theindustry.
I was a six-year-old kid.
I've been with my grandmasterthe whole time.
So it's coming up on almost 40something years now.
That's so scary to think about.
And then uh of all theinstructors who came up with him
and worked together with him,they're all my seniors, and they
all left open schools.
My grandmaster wanted to keep melonger.

(07:03):
So he sent me to school, sent meto conventions, he paid for my
college, said, you know what,you go do Taekwondo business.
This is what you're this is whatyou're gonna do.
And he's basically groomed me todo this.
One of my sounds sounds like ourfather's.
No, exactly, right?
My grandmaster is not my actualfather, but definitely he is
that same, since we have thesame vibes for sure.

SPEAKER_02 (07:23):
So and I was talking to you, I was like, Is is it
quan like KWOM?
I'm actually ethnic Chinese,yeah.
No, you but you're more Koreanthan I am.
You lived in Korea, trained inKorea.
Wait, right, right.
When I saw him, I'm like, is heKorean?

SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
Wait, did you did you say Chinese?
Because I thought Kwan was uhVietnamese.
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (07:41):
So so funny story.
So I am this international superspy.
So my parents were ethnicChinese living in Vietnam.
War happened, they were both,they were actually both people,
they were refugees.
I came to America, I was born ayear later.
We we grew up in Camero, whichis a very back, especially back
then was like it's a cowboytown, it's agricultural.
It's uh you may be familiar withVentura County, sir.

(08:02):
But you know, Grandmaster Shinwas literally one of the first,
was the first uh Taekwondoschool, but but one of the first
Taekwondo masters in California.

SPEAKER_01 (08:10):
So wait, your your grandmaster's grandmaster's
yeah, grandmaster Yung Xin.
Yeah, yeah, I think my fatherand and grandma's Shin are are
very good friends.
Right, right.
Oh, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 (08:22):
No, totally, absolutely, absolutely.
So, I mean, and that's kind ofthe other thing where I was I I
call it a legacy school.
Like you so our school is 45years old.
I was one of the the first kidsthere before there was kids'
classes.
I went to adult classes becausethat's what there was.
And uh, all the instructorsended up opening other schools,
other branch locations.
And then Master Shin sent me toschool to learn how to run the

(08:44):
business better.
And then we opened six schoolstogether.
And then when he retired, heretired off those locations to
those the those masters thatwere running them.
And then I went and opened mylocations after that.
And so we're all still under thesame uh Grandmaster Shin, and
he's you know not in the pictureanymore because he's enjoying
fishing and golfing.

(09:04):
Um, I'm sure you can relate.
But uh, and now I've been setwith the charge of carrying us
into the next 40 years, whichwe're not gonna be able to do
with our hands and our feet onlyanymore.

SPEAKER_01 (09:15):
So hence that's a that's a small world because I
met Grandmaster Shin so manytimes, and my father are friends
with him, and I didn't evenrealize that you were with
Grandmaster Shepherd.

SPEAKER_00 (09:26):
He's kept me under wraps for a while.
But and then part of the part ofthe part of the process too was
sending me to Korea.
So I right after high school, Iwas very competitive and really
enjoyed California as acompetition scene, and we had
national team being up withGrandmaster Shin and being
around the US national team alot.
There was always a lot ofinspiration, a lot of
opportunity there.
So I knew early on that if I'mgonna do this for real, I need

(09:48):
to go do this for real.
And uh, he sent me to Jong-inand I got an opportunity to go,
and that was right out of highschool.
So incoming freshmen, me and KimDer Young were roommates.

SPEAKER_02 (09:58):
Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 (09:58):
Yeah, how is that?
And I didn't know at that timethat he was literally the GOAT
and arguably of that of ourgeneration, the greatest
competitor athlete.
So I learned a lot about thewhole the Korean competitive
system, the Korean collegiatesystem, and it it's wild how
robust and just it's amazing howfar the world has come catching

(10:19):
up competitively to Korea,considering how amazing their
setup is.
But yeah, no, if growingtraining with him over there, I
mean I'm gonna be honest withyou, we weren't friends in the
beginning.
If anything, he was annoyed ashell by but this American kid
that he was forced to take careof.
Take him around, show him stuff,don't let the seniors pick on
him too much.

(10:40):
But then little they know he'spicking on me.

SPEAKER_02 (10:42):
But uh can you quit?
I'm so sorry.
Can you tell that story realquick of when you when that
other university visited and youguys were fighting?
And he's like, Hold my glasses.
Such a badass moment.
Because Daniel won't tell you.
Daniel is so humble and quiet,but everyone that knows he's a
badass.

SPEAKER_00 (10:59):
Right, right, right.
No, for sure.
There, so going to Korea, I Iwasn't a slouch either.
I was pretty good.
I I won states, one blah blahblah.
And I thought I was, I thought Iwas good.
And then you go there and it'simmediately humbling, like day
one.
The first run in the morning.
I'm holy crap, they run a lot.
And I'm behind the girls' team.
Right.
I'm the last guy.

(11:19):
Coach is following and like inhis car, just driving by, and
he's about to like, is he gonnahit me?
Is he gonna run me over?
He wouldn't run me.
Oh my god, he's really gonna runme over.
It's it's and it's hell for thefirst couple of weeks.
I'm just trying to just surviveand and keep my stomach
together.
And then then you go to sparringpractice, and and that's ex-your
expect- I that's it.

(11:39):
I I had no delusion that I wasgonna spar really well with
everybody.
So I'm getting beat up byeverybody, especially the girls.
They're all beating me up.
And but I'm just I'm going therewith the attitude of I just, I'm
just gonna stick with it, I'mgonna earn everybody's respect,
I'm gonna get beat up, take mylicks.
And uh, and then one day, in inin university, uh a lot of teams
come all the time.
It's the sparring partners, alot of people, little city

(12:01):
teams, professional teams, uh,other colleges, they scrimmage a
lot.
And one day this this team camein, and I didn't I can't I
didn't I can't tell thedifference between what who
who's who or whatever, and we'rejust sparring around, but
they're all just ruthless andjust trying to kill me and
pretty much doing it.
I'm I'm and I'm I'm like I'm afreshman in college, I'm not

(12:22):
gonna cry, but I'm like reallygood, I haven't been beat up in
years.
And so I'm like, I can't takeit, I can't take it anymore.
I sit on the side, I just got mymy my stuff kicked in, and he
was just sitting there on theside kind of watching me.
And we're talking about him, butI in case people don't know,
he's a flyweight, so he's nottall, he's not big, he wore

(12:42):
glasses that were pretty thick,very unassuming dude.
And then he he watches thiswhole thing happen, and and he
walks over to me and he he takesoff his glasses and he says,
Hold this.
Oh, the other reason why theystick us together is because he
could speak a little English.
He was he was studying Englishin in school, so he really
wanted to practice.
So they're like, Okay, you yougo with Nikki, he's from

(13:02):
America, have a good time.
And uh so he hands me hisglasses.
I take his glasses, and I'mlike, all right.
And up until this time, I feellike he's just been kind of cold
shouldering me ever since I gotto Korea.
But then he takes the guy thatwas just sparred with me, he
calls him, was like, hey, let'sgo.
And then just literally in thematter of 30 seconds, does
everything that guy did to meand he smashed him so hard, and

(13:24):
he's shorter than he then was upto here on me.
And he smashed him so hard, andthat guy was just basically all
done, beat up.
And then he took not even asweat.
He just turns around and looksat me, and he goes this to take
his glasses back.
So I give him back his glasses,and he just and he puts him back
on, and then he just walks away.
He's he's he's bad boy.

SPEAKER_02 (13:44):
I love about Ted Young.
Ted Young is very he's he's agreat martial artist, obviously
super humble, but then he'llkind of surprise you.
So when I had met him in NorthCarolina, we were doing some
kind of a Cobra Kai stuntseminar kind of stunt session
with the black belts at theWorld Summit.
And that's where I reconnectedwith you, Nikki.
And then he was, how much do youbought AI?

(14:06):
And I was like, Oh, well, what'simpacting film?
It's something I've been usingChat GPT and and this and that.
And then he kind of told me alittle bit about what you guys
were doing at World TKD Lab.
And that uh and then when hekind of went into it, I was
like, whoa, this is this isactually, you know, I'm an
analog person.
I don't want to to memorize newthings.

(14:26):
And he is a very is he runssuccessful programs, he knows
what he's doing.
He's a he's a competitivemartial artist, a traditional
martial artist, and he's found alot of success here in the US,
as you have.
And then he just knows how tobring people together.
So it just I had a very similarmoment, but I just um there's
two different types of people.
There's the kind of people thatas you get to know who they are,

(14:46):
it's a little bit of a letdown,and then that's the majority.
And then there's the other typethat they surprise you.
And yeah, I just I just wantedyou to kind of touch into that
because we we hear about expertstalking about this and that, and
they're software-based orAI-based or some kind of machine
learning or data, this or that.
They don't know our industry andthey're not martial artists or
fighters.
You you don't even have to be afighter, but just just to

(15:08):
understand the day, the the inand out part of the day of how
it works.
But that's what I love aboutwhat you all are doing at TKD
Lab.
I don't know enough about it,but it's it's just making
everything from running theschool in Thojiang easier, even
staff development, marketingstuff, of course, or to running
a tournament.
It has a little bit ofeverything.
So if you could just touch onthat.

SPEAKER_00 (15:29):
So, yeah.
What what what does it do?
So I think it's it's superimportant.
How Master Chung just said it.
We even though we were fromdifferent sides of the globe, we
still share the same stories,just like just like we do, even
though we're both we're all inAmerica, our stories are very
similar, even though ourprograms could be vastly
different.

(15:49):
And the the whole reason whylike seminar networking is a
good thing is because we shareall the same experiences, but we
have different insights aboutbest approaches for it.
And a little bit from you and alittle bit from you, and a
little bit from me makessomething really well.
So that's the analog version ofWorld Taekwondo Lab.
World Taekwondo Lab is basicallythat same thing with technology

(16:13):
for the purpose of networkingall of Taekwondo schools
together and to make the if weeverybody, if there was possible
to have one brain for allTaekwondo industry that
everybody could pull from, thena lot of the guesswork is done.
And a lot of that, that's thething that keeps up the studio
owners or school owners up lateat night trying to think about

(16:35):
what's a better way to market,what's the how am I gonna get
into the schools?
How am I gonna get into stuff?
It's already in the cloud.
It's already it's already inthere.
So rather than Grandmaster Shinasking me, hey Nikki, I need you
to come up with 10 new ideas toincrease enrollment or an
improvement for tension, right?
Now we're gonna have we have alittle avatar guy we call
Mugungi.

(16:55):
And we're still working on thename because I think Moo Gung E
is too hard for American peopleto say, but but I like Moo.
Moo's cool, but he's adorable.
I don't know if you saw him atAwsa, but the little avatar guy
is cool.
He sits on your screen just likeavatars do, and then you just
say, Hey Moo, what do I gotta dotoday?
Or hey Moo, how many peoplesigned up last week?
Hey Moo, like I want to do aparents' night out ad, pump it

(18:12):
out.

SPEAKER_02 (18:12):
And it's yeah, the way the way I'm so sorry to
error, but the way he wasdescribing it and the way I see
see it work, it's very similarto Siri.
You know what I mean?
I don't I don't want to activateSiri on my phone, but when you
start asking questions, itbecomes a personal assistant.
It's not the Google searchengine, it's not another thing
to do and another thing to type.
I don't know about you, but alot of people that I know that
have schools, they if we were tobe categorized, we we're almost

(18:34):
ADHD.
So we'll be in the middle ofsomething and I'll have a
thought, and I'll be like, oh, Ineed to remember this, and I'll
I'll use Siri to make notes oryou you you but that's what that
Moogly that interaction is like.
It's it's this personal AIassistant.

SPEAKER_00 (18:48):
Yeah, and that's exactly what Master Kim is.
Darungi is like so ADD.
He's so he's the was the he'sthe fastest fighter I've ever
been with.
And it that applies to everyaspect of his life.
His brain moves super fast.
If you ever talk to him aboutanything, it's too fast.
You have to kind of slow himdown.
And uh, he runs the schools thatkind of the same way.
He does everything, he's so highenergy.

(19:10):
I'm sure he's in Korea rightnow, and that's why I'm here
instead of him.
And I don't know what time it isin Korea right now, but he does,
and I'm sure he's awake.
They never sleep.
Oh, your your volume just cutout.

SPEAKER_02 (19:20):
Oh, if you haven't seen him fight, YouTube, dead
young Kim Tekwondo.
You can watch a couple of hismatches.
You can instantly tell when hefought, he didn't just whoop
them, he schooled them.
He's kind of like an and one,like back in the day, like
Harlem Globetrotter.
He's just breaking ankles andjust he's he's morally defeating

(19:41):
the coach through the fighter.
It's just awesome to watch.
But that's how he runs theschools.
He he's very thoughtful.
Like even we had it's a it's ait's a sidebar, but it's I I do
work in film, and everybody inAmerica is is in is in enchanted
by Korean film because the waythey do it, they're so
intentional, and the thoughtprocess of storytelling and the

(20:02):
fights have meaning.
They're not just action-packed,uh, but Koreans this is how I
heard it, because TKD Labs is isis is is is also part of it's
based out of Korea.
So the whole concept is Koreanshas they have such great film,
they have such great design, andeven the technology, it's
because Koreans complain themost.

(20:24):
They're and they they're notquiet complainers, they will
scream, right?
So so I love that TKD Labs isjust it's birthed out of a
generation, um, generations ofpeople that they will tell you
if it sucks.
What I mean.
So TKD Lab is that's why it'scalled TKD Lab because it's a
constant experiment.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (20:45):
Wait, oh I'm sorry, so it's voice activated.
You're you're speaking, it'syes, you you you can instruct it
in voice, you don't have to typeit in.

SPEAKER_00 (20:52):
The same way that you can talk to or Tony Stark
talks to Jarvis, that's how Ithink about it.
And the same way on ChatGPT forme, I I do the voice talk one.
I don't type stuff in, it's justeasier, and I just like that
that interaction a little biteasier.
But also the thing is it can domultiple languages.
So the if you're if you'reKorean from Korea, and
originally I was thinking aboutI always refer back to my

(21:15):
grandmaster because I rememberwhen CRMs went to the internet,
process computer processing.
We used to, I remember sittingin the office and and printing
out statements and then foldingthem and mailing them out to get
everybody to pay their tuitionfee.
And I hated it.
There's gotta be a better way.
And then it was, oh, we could doACH or we could do credit cards,
whatever.
And my master said, No, for allthe reasons I'm sure you guys

(21:37):
know why they've never wanted todo that.
But then, no, it it's it's it'llbe faster, better, we'll build
more, we'll collect more, it'llbalance out.
I promise, right?
Talked him into that, and it wasgreat.
And then the internet happened,and we're like, okay, we're
gonna do everything online.
He's like, no, what happens ifthe power goes out?
And so there's all theseobstacles that are legitimate in

(21:57):
their mind, but look where weare now.
So originally when he waspitching it to me, I was like,
uh yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 (22:03):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt.
So, what are some ofinstructions that you could give
it, voice or or type in thatschool owners right now could
that will be the most popularfeature that you're telling it
to.

SPEAKER_00 (22:13):
I mean, the most popular features are honestly
gonna be the features thatpeople already are familiar
with.
Anything that you do on on I useKickSite, Spark, all those,
anything that those things aredoing, that's gonna be the most
popular because that's whatpeople are familiar with.
That's what they already know.
What's my class attendance?
What's my receivables thismonth, what are who's past due?
Those kind of things.
Those are gonna be the thingsthat people are gonna use right
away because they are alreadyplug and play.

(22:35):
But but I think the things thatthey're gonna get excited about
is gonna be front desk admin,because that's what I'm excited
about.
Because I remember when I wentoff and opened my own school, it
was so exciting.
And you got that first studentor that first 10 students on the
floor.
Oh, I'm doing it, I'm doing it.
And then somebody walks in witha with a stroller and a kid, and
they just want to watch class,and you're in the middle of it,

(22:57):
and you're just like, I'll beright with you.
And then hopefully they stickaround long enough and so you
can go talk to them and get themto enroll.
But now, I mean, the same thingwhen you walk into a fast food
restaurant or or anywhere, youhave the kiosk.
Oh, if somebody comes in, youhave to put your order in on the
kiosk, and then there you go.
I know you used to call wheneveryou call a credit card company

(23:19):
or whatever, it's a call centerand then this and that.
But now it's literally a chatbox.
So those things already existtoo, and we know the benefits of
them, but this is a little morepersonalized because it's AI
driven.
Our little avatar guy is gonnatalk to the student, our little
avatar guy is going to build adossier around their needs, get
to know them, and then set thatappointment for you, and then

(23:40):
follow that student's progressthroughout their journey.
On your end, they will reportback to you.
These parents came in, their kidis five years old, they're
really looking for discipline.
I went ahead and got them anappointment for next Friday.
They're coming in for theirintro class.
You're you have six, sevenuniforms in stock.
They're they're a size zero.
I've I've deducted one frominventory.

SPEAKER_01 (24:00):
Wait, how how are they going to talk to the
avatar?

SPEAKER_00 (24:04):
The the parent, the student?

SPEAKER_01 (24:06):
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (24:06):
So when they come in to your school, you'll have a
little kiosk, little iPad kindof thing.
Yeah.
So and then sort of seven, soyou go, oh, I'm teaching class.
Somebody walks in, and thenyou're like, oh, could you go
ahead and just go to that kioskand put your info in there?
And I'll get right, I'll I'll bewith you in a moment teaching
class right now.
Sort of.

SPEAKER_02 (24:25):
Yeah, what I like about it in my understanding is
that again, I'm not an expert.
I just I'm a multiple schoolowner.
So I I'm always you're alwayslooking for ways to create
efficiencies.
You want to stay personal, but II'll be honest with you, I don't
like a whole bunch of AI, but Iuse it nonstop.
I'll use ChatGPT, I'll useAlexa, what I mean, and your
Google assistants and stuff.

(24:46):
But the bottom line is with AI,specifically for martial arts,
um, how my understanding is fromlearning and talking with the
group at World TKD Lab is youhave this knowledge base of how
to run a martial arts school,just generally speaking.
And then that knowledge basebasically, once you have that,
you have this agent or you havea group of agents that you

(25:08):
deploy that you stress test.
So imagine you have this groupof schools in America, group of
schools in Korea, and there's aknowledge base that they
generally use as a group.
And then specifically they starttraining these agents.
And then obviously Moogly, thatthat is some level of an agent.
But then my understanding isthat you can customize it.

(25:29):
So what time is your what whatage do you start little ninjas?
Do you guys teach adults?
Those are things that are morespecific to the location that
you can further enhance theknowledge base.
So that assistant not only istapped into the life knowledge
base of all of the schools onthe platform, so you kind of
know, hey, I'm gonna call itMooGo, I'm sorry.

(25:49):
Hey, Moo, how how wereenrollments across all of the
schools last month, across theknowledge base, not just for my
five schools or Master Nikki'sthree schools, or the hundreds
and thousands of schools acrossthe US and in Korea?
It could give you a level ofpredictions based off of market
trends, you know what I mean?
And this will will give you tonsof data that is pertinent to

(26:10):
your specific business.
So I personally don't have thetime, energy, and resources to
go out there and train my ownagent.
I I would like to take an agentand customize it for my specific
schedule and and productoffering.
And then more importantly, haveit help me with a walk-in, even
if it buys me three minutes,even if it buys me five minutes

(26:31):
before my staff member getsthere, or if I'm a call over the
weekend or getting a lead overthe weekend to interact with
them within that first fewminutes and not somebody
overseas that is learning ascript or you know what I mean,
something that is a little morespecific and it's more robust,
and it's not a part of somethingthat has to work with another
part of my business.

(26:51):
It's it's an all-in-one system,is my understanding.
From running tournaments forhigh-level competitors at my
school all the way to a newtrial or a new walk-in and
everything in between.
It's and then as I use it moreand as other people use it more,
the knowledge base increases andit becomes more customizable for
my particular need.

SPEAKER_00 (27:11):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You hit it right on the head.
Right.
And um, that was that was thatwas awesome.
So thanks for that.
I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 (27:18):
I own no interest in this company.
I just, you know, I'm excited touse it.
You know, I just wait to get it.

SPEAKER_00 (27:22):
And actually, because we're still in we
finished round one of beta,which my my school was a part
of, and we're going into roundtwo.
But just to speak to you whatyou just talked about, that's
exactly what just happened to mein the beginning, too, where I
had it's all inclusive.
So it starts from the website.
You have your website in theleads and all that stuff that
comes in.
It it starts communicating withthem, and this is all benown to

(27:45):
me.
I don't know what's happening,and then I get reported back to.
So I get, oh, these people hadquestionnaire fill out, we had
this conversation.
It has a conversation script,and you can read through it.
So it says, Oh, I can help you.
And then it's oh, I wantlessons.
I'm an adult and I have someexperience or whatever.
And then it responds like an AIwould respond based on that
knowledge base that it alreadyhas from the industry as a

(28:07):
whole.
And you're reading it, and andthere were some things that it
said that were great, exactlyhow I would have answered.
And then there were some thingsthat weren't really matching my
actual school.
I my I'd have 13-year-olds go tothe adult class right away
because it's you're a teenager,go train with adults.
I don't need you in the kids'class anymore, nor do the kids
want to be.
But that's just my demographicout here.
They're very mature, they'rethey all kind of hang out.

(28:28):
I have more teens than actualadults in in there.
But the the answer the AI gavewas a little bit off as far as
time schedule to age group.
So then I I I talked to Moo Gooand I was like, hey, that's
actually not right.
The class time is this.
And then it it says, okay,adjustment made.
And then from now on and forevershall be until I change it

(28:49):
again.
That's how it's going to answerfrom now on.
At another situation where itwas, it asked me, the the person
was, I have a five-year-old, howmuch are classes?
And I don't know why.
Remember, I'm beta, but it saidclasses are$50 a month.
And I was like, whoa, guys, stopthat.
Why why are you telling themit's$50 a month?
Who told you that?
And I'm I'm arguing with Makunow.

(29:09):
But then I realized it's arobot.
So I just told it, don't answerwith the price right away, get
more information, set thatappointment.
After that appointment comes in,then we'll talk to them after
they've done a trial, and thetrial is free.
So really emphasize the trial'sfree.
Next thing I know, I haveanother little dragon, it and it
responds that way.
So you can imagine trying totrain your 16-year-old staffer

(29:31):
and you're and you're trying togroom this person.
And hey, this is the script,this is how you talk to people,
this is how you sell, this ishow how, unless that person's a
talent out the gate, how longdoes that take to get them to be
confidently?
I'm gonna leave you in thedojong by yourself.
I'm gonna go to Asa convention,I'll be back.
Let me know how many studentsyou sign up, versus look you
have the AI just do it all foryou and and give you money.

(29:52):
So okay.

SPEAKER_01 (29:53):
Well, I feel I always have so many questions,
Master Tony.
Whenever we have these awesomeguests, I'm just I've got so
many questions.
Because okay, you're so you'renot typing in, hey, don't do
this.
You're just telling them byvoice, hey, don't the the class
schedule is this or the price isthis.
So is that is that correct?

(30:15):
Is that the correct assumption?

SPEAKER_00 (30:17):
The same way the the the easiest way to describe it
if you haven't seen it yet,because obviously nobody's seen
it yet, is how Chat GPT is justlike blank screen and with a
whole thing.
Yeah, what do you want to dotoday?
So it's yeah, and then I knowwhat your your current dojong's
management system looks too, andno matter how good they are and
better they get, they're allcumbersome.
All of them, my my grandmasterlooks at and like you do it.

(30:39):
And that that's always how itis.
So so with that in mind, theyset it up to be it's just that
little screen, a little littleavatar, little, little moo
there.
And uh and yeah, there's there'sobviously menus and pages you
can go to to look at specificthings, Google Analytics,
YouTube, your classdescriptions.
You can do all that.
You can look at your website.
Yeah, there's you can click intoconfusion if you want to,

(31:00):
because some people still needthat.
There's that definitely, I Ialways say there's two people
that are gonna really benefitfrom this.
The people who who are totallygood at letting go,
relinquishing control anddelegating, they're gonna love
it because it's like AI, do allthese things for me.
And the control freak, the otherend.
The the control freak is gonnalove this too because they're
gonna be able to customize itand and have it act exactly the

(31:21):
way they want it.
It's gonna take more timebecause they're gonna be so
precise with everything and nottrust it to do its thing.
But at the same time, those twopeople are successful for
different reasons.
The delegator is verysuccessful.
The the control freak's alsovery successful if they
recognize when they get to apoint where they need to let go
a little bit.
But yeah, the screen's justgonna be blank with a little

(31:42):
avatar guide, and then you canclick a button to talk or you
can type.
But again, if you're from Koreaand English isn't that good, you
can put it in Korean mode andyou can just speak Korean,
Spanish, Chinese.
It's uh every language that's inthe current AI realm, which is
almost all of them, but thereare I have run into a couple
that aren't available yet.
Kozak is not in there yet, butthere's Russian and all that

(32:04):
stuff too.
So it'll be it'll be Definitelyfor the world to be able to
function on the same level aseverybody else who's who may
already have an advantage bybeing native here.

unknown (32:16):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (32:16):
Well, a lot of our audience is our I mean our
Koreans because we're rightTaekwondo based.
I think it's would you sayMaster Tony?
English is there first, but I Ido know several who's more more
comfortable with Koreans.
So that would definitely behelpful with that.
But going back to I'm sorry,going back to the speaking with
a customer, how are they is thecustomer calling and then the

(32:41):
avatar is answering the call?

SPEAKER_00 (32:43):
So that that's another module that'll happen in
the future.
To totally honest, we're notthere yet with that part, the
the MoGu specifically answeringyour phone.
But Mugu does answer emails,MooGu does answer, what is it?
Oh, like uh lead capture,gotcha.
Yeah, that stuff.
So so the response will comethrough them and then of course
report back to you on the adminend.

(33:04):
The going back to the front deskadmin, it's it's the same thing.
You're at a kiosk, you're gonnatype in your info, it'll be how
old are you?
And you just give it an answer.
What are you looking for?
It's just text messaging, and itwill and it will text directly
with with the the person.
And that's where I'd said it'sit's unique because there are
chat bots, obviously, and kioskand those things all exist.
But I think having oh, like withchat, you can have an ongoing

(33:27):
conversation and you can go backto it and pick it up where it
left off, kind of a thing.
Same thing with if you weregetting a text message from the
studio from your school, or Idon't think any of us should are
having text messages with ourstudents regularly, all the
parents and stuff, but there wasprobably a time when you did.
There was probably a time whenwhen you were closing people via
text, or oh, I'll meet I'll seeyou guys on Friday, or how's

(33:48):
Jimmy doing?
That's our game.
We want to do that black beltprogram or not.
There was a time when thatpractice, and it wasn't bad, we
just knew it was problematic.
It was okay and it got the jobdone, but there was a slippery
slope of other problems thatcould happen.
So now you have this AI agent,we call the the A the step AI
manager or MooGoop, and they cando that, and they can totally

(34:09):
have an up-to-date relationshipwith the student the same way
you would, because he talks justlike you.
He acts just like you, he sayswhat you want to say.
He has your personality if givenenough interaction with you.

SPEAKER_02 (34:22):
As long as he doesn't destroy your business.
Because he's I don't like theway you talk to me, Master
Chung.
I'm always like super abusive tolike uh Chat GPT.
I'm like, if you don't give methe proper answer, I'm gonna
freaking go to I'm gonna go toGemini or Perplexity, and
they're gonna destroy you.
Nobody can how can you not getthis chat GPT?
And then yeah, as long as TADLabs doesn't like partner with

(34:44):
Tesla or another one of thoserobotics like Boston Dynamics,
because they'll come in and opena school across the street and
shut me down.

SPEAKER_00 (34:52):
And that's also the reason why I got involved or or
I believe in it, because I I'mnot I'm not a tech guy, like we
said, and but I believe in Ibelieve in Master Kim, I believe
in the team that he put togetherover there, I believe in the
mission.
And I I do believe that nomatter what, whether whether
it's with with lab or withsomeone else, if we don't do it
for the Taekwondo world, thenAmazon's gonna make something or

(35:13):
or Tesla's gonna make somethingthat we're gonna have to
purchase.
And we're gonna have to run it,we're gonna have to run their
stuff.
And when we run their stuff,it'll it'll be good.
Of course, it's gonna be good.
That's that that's what they do,but it's gonna be cookie cutter
and it's gonna marginalize us.
We're just gonna be some kind ofniche of something that they do.
So it's not gonna bepersonalized, it's not really

(35:34):
gonna be, I'm not gonna find outabout what Master Chang is
doing, I'm not gonna find outwhat Master Hong is doing.
It's not gonna be comparative,it's just gonna be general.
And it's and that you probablynotice it with using chat
anyway.
How many times do you ask it todo something specific for your
school and it gives you somegeneral uh answer that's not
special at all?
So doing it with Taekwondoschools, doing it for Taekwondo

(35:55):
schools just makes it that muchmore useful and and that much
more valuable to it.
Because yeah, this is not gonnabe something that the the the
jujitsu guys have.

SPEAKER_01 (36:05):
You know what I mean?
So but are they gonna be yourmarket in the future?
Are you gonna go or are you isthis specifically for the
taekwondo market?
Or or are you trying yeahbecause did did this launch in
Korea first?
Yeah, or are you launching it?

SPEAKER_00 (36:19):
It's it's a so this is a US project, yeah.
Uh it's with the Korean company.
Yeah.
For for the main reason beingthat our market is just so so
much bigger than the Korean one,even though there's tons of
practitioners, the actualeconomics of the US martial arts
market, you guys know.
Make it big here, you make itbig everywhere else afterwards.

(36:39):
Then then we can go into Europe,then we can go into Asia.
And but but for now, US is thetarget because I think US is
going to be the first adopter ofstuff.
So but this is a a studentmanagement.
Student management is a moduleof it, it's actually uh uh
school management.
Yeah, the for the in for theentire school.

(37:01):
So it's like we were saying itstarts with the students, of
course, but then you have yourevents, your your tournaments
and stuff because the thesmaller school is unable to do
that.
You need a lot of know-how andand data entry, and you got to
be able to do a lot of things tomake a successful tournament
runner.
And I'm just using tournament asone example, but there's tons of
take one to events that happen.
And a lot of guys need,especially out the game.

(37:23):
I'm talking I'm really talkingabout your young staff or that
guy who who was the worldchampion and says, I want to
coach people for a living.
And then he realizes real fastthat, oh man, you can't just
know how to coach people for aliving and kick and punch while
to run a business.
And so taking a lot of thatlegwork out and a lot of not
even the legwork, but the studytime, the time involved in

(37:45):
learning how to do stuff.
I'm still trying to figure outproperty taxes, man.
It's it's it's rough.
And I wish I wish there was away.
And I actually did ask chat, howcan I make this easier?
Just doing my taxes is hardenough.
And so imagine the guy that justgraduated from Korean University
that came here on internship andis I love America, I want to
open a school, but without acompetent manager to do it with

(38:07):
him, there's there's no way.
So the scalability for bigschools that have large staff is
huge because now you you do havethat one competent guy that can
go out with this AI agent andand manage and run a school if
he can teach well, instead oftrying to make pairs of people
or whatnot.

SPEAKER_02 (38:26):
Yeah, if I could, if I could figure out how to train
this uh AI bot to to speak on mybehalf or on the school's behalf
for retention items or forattendance items, or but some
you always have those studentswho ask you about stretching
routines or how testing works orwhat with some specific thing.
That way I could get back to mycore just delivering classes and

(38:48):
all of the staff just spendingthe majority of our time
teaching uh ideally greatclasses, even if it just reduces
the amount of emails and andphone calls and just connect
connection communication points.
Those are those are huge.
And you know, I think that wouldbe great.
And then is is there uh is therea launch date that you guys have
in mind and a price point?

SPEAKER_00 (39:08):
No, totally.
Ironically, the the thing iswith using more technology, what
our goal is is to try to getmore of that human interaction
back to Taekwondo.
Because without the technologyright now, the masters, you're
the guys who opened the schoolsand had the dream, the
entrepreneurs, have actuallyless and less human face-to-face
interaction with each and everystudent.

(39:28):
Like you everything getsdelegated, everything gets down,
I got to go work in the office.
You guys go do class with mystudent who has now become my
instructor.
But if I didn't have to do anyof that office stuff, just like
you said, if I could get allthose hours back from all my
retention work and paying thebills stuff, I'm a teacher.
I'm a teacher.
And that's and that's what I do.
And and how much better willyour students become because

(39:51):
you're the teacher?
And at the end of the day, howmuch more are you gonna be able
to charge because people aregetting grandmaster's attention
all the time?
You're you're you're on thefloor all the time.
You're you're teaching, nobodysells it better than you, nobody
teaches it better than you.
That's why you're the boss.
But your staff will see that.
Your staff will just get betterbecause you're spending even
more time with them, and yourgrowth up to you at that point.

(40:12):
Or if you want to bemulti-school, if you want to
just have a really rock solidteam, that's what it's for.
The January is the launch datefor STIP AI manager, which is
the first module, like we said,which is how it starts.
And then other modules are goingto be attached onto it, like you
equipment supply, inventorycontrol, event management.
I we do, I'm doing a uh we do atournament every year in

(40:34):
California.
It's in February, and we areadding, we're beta testing that
module.
So, so this is the first yearthat World Take Wonder Lab is
going to present the the TR Cup,which is the underday Mar
tournament.
It's our 44th month.
So hopefully that all goes wellin testing.
In November, so end of thismonth, and this is the Pastor

(40:54):
Kim called me.
I don't know what time it was.
It was 1 a.m.
over here.
So Marho, when you talk to them,make sure you let them know.
So the second round beta testingis gonna be specifically pulled
from Awesome members.
So he's so they're gonna send,they're gonna send a uh uh Wait,
we're we're Awesome members.
Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (41:14):
Yeah.
Audience for the for theaudience I don't know, ASA is an
American School OwnersAssociation.
It's a organization that MasterTony Chung, Master Chan Li, and
I are board members with with afew of other other people are
board members on, and and it's agoverning body nationally in the
US to network and and work withschool owners.

(41:35):
But I'm sorry, go ahead, Mr.

SPEAKER_00 (41:36):
Thank you, sir.
Yeah, and then there was a greatevent in Vegas last this month
or last month.
Well, time escapes me.
But and it was really good.
That's where we basically firstgave the drop the seed of Take
10 Lab coming onto the scene,and we're looking for
second-round beta testers,mainly because with the and we
didn't even talk about itreally, but the the other thing

(41:56):
that AI is doing besidesmanaging your school is it's
marketing your school and youronline channels at the same
time, too.
So so your YouTube, yourwebsite, your your Instagram,
your Facebook, all that stuff,it is it is running around the
internet and and doing ads anddoing all the online marketing
for you.
So you don't have to figure itout.

SPEAKER_01 (42:17):
So you just tell it, hey, run a foot Facebook ad of
my school.
How does how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 (42:22):
I don't know.
I don't know.
Yeah, but but but it doesbecause also, yeah, because
because I will say because I'mI'm just first round beta, and
and so they they've they chosethem geographically so that way
they because it's different.
LA demographics and how YouTubeworks is very different than
Michigan's, is very differentthan North Carolina's.

(42:43):
So I think I want to say it was10 schools that that there that
was round one beta, and and andand again, I didn't do anything
other than give thempermissions, open up the
permissions for for MooGu to dohis thing, and and then you
start getting inquiries like ohyeah, and I and I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 (42:59):
Do your ads have six-finger knife hints?

SPEAKER_00 (43:05):
I was gonna talk about that earlier too, whereas
I watched this reel the otherday, uh, two days ago, and it it
was the evolution of of AI uh tonow, right?
It was like the last like fiveyears or something.
And and five years ago, it wasman-eating spaghetti, and it was
it was jacked up, it was ugly.
And then it was like four yearsago, it was a little better,
three years ago, whatever,whatever.
And I came to today and itlooked real.
It looks a real, a real thing.

(43:27):
It's kind of scary, but at thesame time, that's how fast it's
moving.
So everything we're talkingabout right now, what World Take
ED Lab aims to do, and justknowing Master Kim and the team,
there's no doubt in my mind thatthis time next year, I don't
know what this conversation isgonna look like, but I know it's
gonna be really different, andwe're all gonna be like, this is
amazing.
This is amazing.
If people understand it and useit.

(43:47):
I think the thing about AI toois the more we use it, the
better it gets.
So if we can get Taekwondopeople to understand the
necessity to get it involved inour industry and start using it
more, because even even Chat GPTis better than it was before
when you ask it specificquestions.
So yeah, I think the inNovember, an email is gonna go
out to all the ASA members withan invitation link.

(44:09):
And it then we're not gonna doeverybody, obviously, because
the ASA is huge, butgeographically they're gonna
choose schools of differentsizes, schools that are small,
100 people, because they want tosee how what the benefit of
MooGoo is for a small school.
And then those for those megadojons, we that we're gonna pick
one of those two because it canit handle the size and and and

(44:29):
everything that a mega schoolhas to offer to.
And then, of course,geographical locations for their
let's call Google Analyticsbecause that's what I know, but
whatever their their onlinechannels are and online
marketing needs are, and seeingif it's if it's capable of doing
all that.
So that'll be what yeah.
What is this gonna cost forschool?
So right now, and again, wemight edit this, you know, he

(44:53):
was totally wrong, but right nowit's supposed to it the goal is
obviously to make it way cheaperthan a staff member.
And and also because it's newand we're the first of the
industry, it also has to be kindof a no-brainer, too.
So we're looking at like 200 to250 price point per month.

SPEAKER_02 (45:09):
That's great.

SPEAKER_00 (45:10):
Yeah, that's that's what average uh student
basically.
Totally.
But what's your average staffprice?
Staff member.
I I listened to your podcast,sir, and you're seven thousand a
month.

SPEAKER_02 (45:21):
Seven thousand a month.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (45:23):
You're you're you're more than the rent.
Rich, no, but but it's butthat's great.
But at the same time, too, I'mnot saying I love my staff.

SPEAKER_02 (45:30):
My staff will enable me to pay the staff member
better and then and then to getto get rid of the number twos
and the number threes and makemore primary teachers.
What I mean, that's that that'sthe goal.

SPEAKER_00 (45:40):
Yeah, and I I heard you say it in your podcast where
I love my staff a lot andthey're they work really hard,
and I want to train them to begreat better than me, even.
And but if I had to choosebetween making them great
business people or great martialartists, I think having them be
great martial artists, greatteachers would serve them
better.
And ultimately the school.

(46:01):
The school would be better ifeverybody were if I had 10 Bruce
Lee's out there versus 10 ElonMusks.
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (46:06):
Arguable, but when you and when you have a staff
meeting or staff training,you're training.

SPEAKER_00 (46:11):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (46:11):
Exactly.
Yeah, I love it.
Plus, having 10 Elon Musk,you're gonna get a lot of
headache because 100%.

SPEAKER_00 (46:17):
Right?
Yeah, totally, totally.
I would be in better shape too.
So it would be good.
So yeah, that's that's that'swhat we're trying to do so.
Hopefully, a lot of peoplerespond positively to it, try to
be beta second round testers.
The faster that we we fill thosespots, the faster MoGu will get
smarter and grow.
How do they find you?

SPEAKER_02 (46:36):
How do they how do they become a beta tester?

SPEAKER_00 (46:38):
Or so if they went to the ASA seminar, they have
contact info that MooGoo hascaptured.

SPEAKER_01 (46:47):
That you that you'll contact them.
Okay.
So and then what we'll do iswe're gonna obviously put your
information, World Tech WindowLabs, on our information and
links on our show notes andYouTube description as well.
But but let's let's conclude.
I mean, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 (47:08):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (47:09):
I didn't know that.
Yeah, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 (47:11):
That forward thinking and and uh and desires,
there's there's room foreverybody.
We want to grow this board too,because right now, Master Kim,
me, we're the Taekwondo guys,we're that we have the the
relationship that is unique inthat I have no loyalty to Korea.
He has no loyalty to USA,Taekwondo, or anything.
There's no governing body for usother than our friendship that

(47:33):
was birthed through competition.
We were athletes, competitors,fought with each other, fought
for each other.
But that that I think is a veryinteresting relationship that
Taekwondo people have.
You two gentlemen are Taekwondomasters, and I'm anytime you
guys want to do another one ofthese, I will be here back and
call.
We have actual synergisticrelationship because of our way

(47:56):
of life.
And I know Master Kim'spersonality so well as an
innovator, because again, if hecame up to anybody and was, I
want to do a tech company, itmakes no sense whatsoever.
But for some reason, because Iknow him and I know his
accomplishments, I know hispersonality, I know how he is so
driven and stuff.

(48:16):
And he is a guy that can changethe way things move.
He can take us into the futurewith innovation and technology
too.
Because it's they're doing a I'mnot gonna discredit all the hard
work that they're doing in Koreaon that front.
The our technol our technologywing of Take One of Labs is
amazing.
They're so smart, and notbecause they know how to program
stuff, they know how to explainstuff to me, to be like I

(48:39):
understand it.
They can tell to me like I'mfive.
They they are really good at atmaking you not feel dumb, even
though I know nothing about thespace.
Um, and uh and so they're doinghard work and everything like
that, but I really think it'sit's getting the the taekwondo
community educated on it andtrusting it.
Just like my I had I had toconvince my grandmaster to be

(49:00):
okay with the internet, right?
And and having online billingand stuff like that.
And and look, here we're herenow.
So now this is just the next thenext step, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (49:09):
And this this great this podcast is I was imagining
this podcast was like, oh, whatis Taekwondo Lab?
But uh the backstory of of youand every it I think it got very
interesting, and I'm kind ofglad that our conversation went
went this way.
But let's let's conclude here.
Again, like I said, that was anincredible conversation.

(49:30):
A big thank you to Master TonyChung and Master Nikki Kwan from
World Take Wonder Lab forjoining us today and sharing
such like valuable insights.
It's it's always inspiring tosee leaders in our industry
pushing the boundaries andhelping school owners grow
through innovation andtechnology.
If you'd like to learn moreabout World Take Wonder Lab and
how their platform can supportyour tojong, visit

(49:53):
world-takewonderlab.com.
Um, we can all I'm also going toput it put that information and
links in our show notes orYouTube description as well.
As always, thank you for turningin, tuning in to Black Belt
Banter.
Don't forget to subscribe, sharethis episode with a fellow
instructor, and stay connectedwith us for more conversations
that will elevate your schooland your mindset.

(50:15):
Until next time, keep traininghard, keep leading strong, and
we'll see you in the nextepisode.

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#17 | Fighting with AI: The Future of Martial Arts Studio Owners

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#17 | Fighting with AI: The Future of Martial Arts Studio Owners