August 15, 2025 • 22 mins
This episode presents an insightful exploration of the intersection between martial arts and technology, featuring a distinguished interview with Master Bowman, an ATA master and entrepreneur who has successfully melded his martial arts expertise with his background in information technology. He articulates his journey from a corporate career to establishing his martial arts school, where he now provides invaluable support to fellow martial arts school owners through innovative software solutions designed to enhance operational efficiency. The discussion further delves into his passion for Tai Chi and his commitment to fostering a community among ATA practitioners. Additionally, we highlight an inspiring athlete of the week, Kenzie Stacy, who shares her journey in martial arts and her aspirations for future competitions. Through their narratives, the episode underscores the importance of dedication and the continuous pursuit of excellence in both martial arts and personal development.
Takeaways:
- The podcast features discussions with athletes and software developers involved in martial arts.
- Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to the podcast on various platforms to enhance reach.
- Master Bowman shares his journey from corporate America to establishing a martial arts school.
- The episode highlights the importance of persistence and consistency in both martial arts and business.
- Kenzie Stacy, a young martial artist, discusses her passion for extreme weapons and training.
- The podcast emphasizes the significance of setting realistic goals in martial arts competitions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
We've got athletes andsoftware developers.
Let's get.
Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.
At A Nation.
Welcome back to episode 163 ofthe Ata Nation podcast.
(00:22):
We are thrilled to have youwith us.
I've got two action items foryou to make sure that you do.
Before you go any further, youcan click pause.
Right now, you got to go over.
Hit the subscribe button on YouTube.
Go over and hit the subscribebutton on your favorite podcast player.
We want to make sure this getsout to as many ATA martial arts and
future ATA martial arts as possible.
(00:43):
One of our last athletes ofthe week was talking about how they
heard about martial arts from YouTube.
So we want to reach outmental, make sure everybody gets
the news.
Help us with that.
That would be really awesome.
Now, today's episode, we havetwo great interviews.
We've got our interview withan ATA master who has also built
(01:06):
this business, and we want totalk to him about his history and
then just kind of how he gotinto different things.
Really cool.
And then we'll betransitioning over to our athlete
of the week.
Make sure you stick out to thevery end.
So we've got some other newsfor you guys there.
Let's get started with ourfirst interview.
(01:26):
ATA Nation.
We have with us today, Master Bowman.
How are you, sir?
I'm doing great.
Senior Master Hayden.
How are you?
I am wonderful.
I wanted to talk to you alittle bit about just a lot of the
things that you're doing tohelp martial arts school owners.
But before that, we wanted to.
We always like to hit.
How'd you get into.
Involved with martial arts?
(01:46):
I'm sure, like, a lot ofpeople that are in our age bracket,
you know, I loved watching VanDamme movies like Kickboxer, Bloodsports,
the Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles, things like that kind of
coupled with, you know, alittle bit of not excessive but probably
minor bullying in.
In junior, what we would calljunior high school, middle school
(02:07):
now.
So I'd actually startedmartial arts when I was about 6,
and when I got to yellow belt,this was an itf.
My mother said it was tooviolent when we got the sparring.
Of course, no gear.
And then when I was about 13,I started in an ATA school outside
of Pittsburgh in Cranberry, Pennsylvania.
(02:28):
And the rest is history 35years later.
Wow, that's.
That's cool.
That's so a little at 6, got that.
And, you know, how many people.
How many people do you run into?
That's the.
That's their.
The end of their story.
They don't it's like I got myyellow belt, you know, and then they
don't do anything else.
But you were back at it, youknow, master instructor, and you
(02:50):
have like, you're not just a,you have a school, you, you don't
have just a school, you've gotthis whole other thing and you have
a background in kind oftechnology and stuff, right?
Yes sir, that is correct.
So I have actually a master'sdegree in information technology
and I worked in corporateAmerica for a little over 20 years.
(03:11):
Been like the director of ITat Fortune 500 companies and all
sorts of different thingsrelated to it.
So when I turned 40, Iactually decided to leave corporate
America because I wanted togive back more and have a more direct
impact from my perspective onpeople's lives.
So I opened up my school inMequon, which is outside of Milwaukee,
(03:33):
Wisconsin, just almost 10years ago.
Very cool.
Excellent.
And not only are you givingback by training your students and
actually, hold on, I want todo a side, a side thing real quick.
You've got a big, a Tai chiprogram, is that right?
You big in the tai chi, isthat right?
I do, yeah.
Good, good research.
(03:54):
Yes, I, I do have a Tai chiprogram and I started actually I
did Kung fu as well.
So when I was 4th degree blackbelt probably about 15ish years ago,
I started learning Kung fu.
And what you may not know is Ihave, I've had a couple hip operations,
sometimes hard to know.
But during my second hipoperation in my 30s, my kung fu instructor
(04:19):
said, you should startlearning Tai chi.
I said, well, I don't want todo that.
Who wants to do Tai chi?
That's like the, the oldladies in the park or something like
that.
But I started and just kind offell in love with it.
And we offer it originally aslike a side offering, but our Tai
chi program has, has beenpretty robust with, I mean, for Tai
chi, you know, we have about15 dedicated students that have trained
(04:46):
for years with me just in Tai chi.
That's cool.
I.
It's always neat to seemartial artists, you know, ata guys
and, and ladies out there thatare, you know, they branch out, they
do some other things.
They, you know, you see somebjj, you see some other stuff.
Really neat.
You know, we've done a little,you know, at the pro tech camps,
I've done a little Tai chi,but nothing real big.
So that's, that's cool.
(05:06):
But you do, I mean, I don'taround here you get calls from, you
know, usually the oldergeneration who are like, hey, do
you, do you offer any tai chi?
And I'm like, yeah, sorry, Idon't have any tai chi.
Just travel, just travel to Milwaukee.
We'll take care of them.
There you go.
Send them over your way.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, now with your ITbackground and stuff, you started
(05:28):
helping martial arts school owners.
And I know, I don't know whereit started.
Was it the social media firstand then the websites?
How, how did this kind ofevolve into helping school owners
in kind of that digital world?
So what, what I did when I,when I opened the school, in the
back of my mind, I always hadthis idea for manage my dojo where
(05:51):
we would, as I was opening theschool, I'd think, well, I need this.
Okay, well of course you needa website.
Well, it takes time to dosocial media every day.
Okay, well it takes time tomake these posters for parents night
out.
It takes time to do a women'sself defense seminar, whatever these
things are.
I just thought, well, it wouldbe great if I need them, other people
(06:13):
need them, so why not makesystems that for what I need for
my school to be successful,allow other schools to come on.
So it started with socialmedia and then websites and we did
that for probably a year.
And everyone kept asking me,can you do Facebook ads?
Can you do Facebook ads?
And I kept saying no, no, no,no, because it takes a lot of time.
(06:37):
So we originally started doingsome, some different things around
AI.
Before AI was like a buzzwordand that was quasi successful.
But now we've obviously evolved.
We have a full dedicated teamthat does, you know, nothing but
Facebook ads where we can talkmore about our software, school management
stuff.
But yeah, so to answer yourquestion, if I need it, I'm going
(07:01):
to make this and we're goingto try to have a really great value
and top tier things for, you know.
Sorry, with just ATA schoolsbeing, being the primary target for
this.
Yeah.
And I, one of the things Ialways like is being able to, to
do business and to besupportive or even just partner with
(07:21):
ATA people just because theyknow what we're doing.
Not that all, you know,martial arts industry people are
very similar, but ATA has itsspecific, you know, things that,
that it's nice to talk to anATA person when it comes to a website
or, or whatnot that way.
And so what, what like foryou, if you think about like the
(07:42):
things that you've learnedthrough martial arts, how have you
had to use that as you'veworked towards building this whole
other business?
And I know you worked on this,a new software product for school
owners.
That has been quite the endeavor.
How have you had to like,maybe use some of those martial arts
skills?
Maybe not kicking thecomputers or anything that way, but
(08:04):
hopefully the more mental side.
I think I've told severalpeople that, you know, going through
this process of making thesoftware has been a master's class
in persistence.
And if they could make a movieabout it, I think maybe, maybe that
would be my life story.
(08:25):
The making of a movie ofmaking of the software would be quite
a thing.
But persistence andconsistency, right?
Just, just getting through it,trying to work with developers.
I don't think people understand.
I even try to.
My parents ask me, my, mybrother asked me, my girlfriend asked
me, like, you know, why, whycan't you're just making stuff to
(08:46):
run a karate school?
Why, why does this take yearsand years to get done?
So it.
People would understand, Ithink the level of the detail and
people involved in somethinglike this.
And it's, I mean, you know, managing.
You have a, like quite a giantteam now between doing, you know,
websites and social and youknow, the ads and now the software.
(09:10):
What's it like managing a team?
I'm guessing it's probablysomewhat like managing, you know,
a taekwondo team or whatnot.
It is, it's obviously a fulltime job.
So we've been as high as 15,actually 18 now.
I think employees that betweenlike software development, managing
the ads and, and websites.
(09:32):
But the thing that you saidearlier, Master Hayden, was like,
you like dealing with ATApeople, people still, you know, they
personally text me, they'll,they'll call me, they'll, they'll
hit me on messenger slack, allthese different channels, right.
And I really go out of my wayto try to at least within five minutes,
usually just to either sayanswer the question or tell them,
(09:54):
hey, I'm on a call withsomebody, we'll get back to you right
away.
As opposed to like customerservice that goes to like an abyss
that you can't, you can't geta hold of somebody.
I always strive to let peopleknow, like you can get a hold of
me.
I am a member of the ata, of course.
And I think people really like that.
Yeah.
Now, yeah, I know I, I havesent you about a billion messages
(10:16):
over the last year or so.
And I always feel bad because,you know, as martial arts people
we have weird hours and solike we'll get home and you know,
see something like message andthen I think, oh dang it, it's like
9:30, 10 o'.
Clock.
I don't need to be sendinglike, I don't need them to read this
right now.
I need to just send it rightnow because this is, it's.
(10:38):
I'm thinking about it and I'malways like, oh man, I need to stop
bothering these people.
But it is nice.
I mean, I was just.
Yesterday we had a, an oldsoftware that we, we stopped using
and I needed to get some salestax data off it because you gotta,
you know, report sales, allthese kind of stuff.
And yes, they turned it back on.
(10:59):
I could go and get it and thenthey turned off the wrong one then.
And then my active, it wasjust a mess.
And I'm like, guys, can't you.
Anyways, so it's, it's nice todeal with an ATA guy.
I, I mean, and as you grow, I,I'm sure just like, as we grow as,
as school owners, I can'talways answer every message, every
(11:19):
text, every time.
You know, I, I got, my wife isgoing to help or a staff, staff members
are going to help and whatever.
And I'm sure you'll get thatplace when you're, you know, got
a, all these, these people.
But it's still the, the ideabehind it, knowing the, the people
in charge is nice.
So, um, what's it like runninga taekwondo school and another business?
(11:40):
You know, a lot of people outthere think they can only do one
thing.
You've got two things going,you know, I know right now it's probably
a little extra because of thesoftware work, but what's it like,
you know, balancing those things?
Sure.
It's been, it's.
It's difficult at times.
Right.
So everyone here on thepodcast here knows what it's like
running a school.
So it obviously demands a lotof time at night, which is.
(12:04):
Allows some free time duringthe day, but during the day we should
be doing those marketingactivities and outreach and things
like that.
So at times, you know, mypersonal school had a little bit
of a, you know, it kind ofebbs and flows because where your
intention goes, right, that'swhere things flow.
And, you know, I'm not goingto lie, right.
(12:26):
If you spend a little bit moretime on the school, then the software
company goes down a little bit.
And if you spend a little bitmore time on the software, then the
school goes down a little bit.
But I had been blessed withsome good staff, Right.
I have a really great programdirector at the school and great
instructors as well.
So I've had a lot of help atthe school.
That allowed me to do thesekinds of things.
(12:47):
Nice.
Well, and some of the stuffyou're working on makes the school
work better than too.
You know, you get thesewebsite, software, ads, all that
kind of stuff.
It's, it's, you know, builtfor yourself as well.
I mean we're the, we're thenumber one user.
I feel like though it's, it'ssometimes the saying of the carpenter's
house is never done.
We always end up helpingpeople like you.
We help all our clients firstbefore we help ourselves.
(13:10):
But yes, of course we use our,all of our, our tools and ads and
you know, it helps our schoolgrow and stay, stay financially viable.
Excellent.
Well, we are going to record avideo just kind of after this specifically
about the software, you know,that people can check out and whatnot.
But if, if people areinterested in any of your services
(13:30):
that you have, where wouldthey need to go to check that out?
So they can just go tomanagemydojo.com and there should
be information there.
There's, there's videos theycan watch.
You can check out our newSensei, which is our AI branded tool,
which is really going to begroundbreaking as well.
But yeah, you can check outall the services there and you know,
we appreciate you guys goingto check those things out.
(13:53):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much, sir.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Really cool stuff from masterBowman there ata nation.
We have with us an awesomeathlete of the week.
Can you introduce yourself foreverybody, ma'?
(14:15):
Am?
Yes, I'm Kenzie Stacy.
Hi Kenzie.
Now welcome.
We are so excited to haveanother athlete that the junior baron
ambassador have been highlighting.
Can you tell us where youtrain and where you're from?
From Canfield, Ohio, but Itrained in Mercer, Pennsylvania at
the Valor Combat Academy at Valor.
Excellent.
(14:35):
Very good.
And what rank are you?
I'm a second degree black belt recommended.
Very good.
When do you plan to test forsecondary decided?
I'm not sure yet.
I still have to complete a fewmidterms, but in the next six months.
Gotcha.
Awesome.
You're looking forward to anew form?
Yes, I am.
I've done first degree for so long.
That'S usually by the timepeople test for a second they're
(14:58):
like, I am so done with Shimjun.
Yes.
Yeah, for sure.
Okay.
So what, what got you involvedin martial arts?
Well, when I was little I justturned 6 years old and I love to
watch the Karate Kid moviesand I used to watch them all the
time and one day I turnedaround and I was like I want to do
(15:18):
Taekwondo.
It just sounded so amazing.
And I used to do gymnasticswhen I was little and I wanted to
give something else a try, andI've stuck with Taekwondo ever since.
That's fantastic.
Awesome.
So you started around sixyears old?
Yes.
And I forgot to ask, how oldare you now?
I'm 12.
I'll be 13 in August.
Okay, so you've been doing itmore than half your life.
How exciting.
(15:39):
So the competition season,what's your like go to?
You're like, I love to competein this event.
My favorite event is Extreme Weapons.
I just love it so much andespecially since I use the sword.
I love to do a lot of strikesand tricks with the sword and do
like butterfly kicks and Wooshoes and cartwheels.
(16:00):
Nice.
So I'm guessing some of thatgymnastics training you had before
four has come in useful withyour extreme?
They die.
Very good.
Okay.
What if you had to pick anevent that was like, maybe not your
favorite?
Which one would that be?
I would say traditional forms, honestly.
Really?
Yes.
Very interesting.
(16:20):
You think that'll change alittle bit when you get to do a new
form?
I think so, because it dependswhat form it is and what moves.
And sometimes I am more funwith it than others.
Yes.
No, that's very true.
And you find that differentforms, like, they just fit you better.
Yes.
And you have some forms thatyou're like this one I just don't
feel comfortable in, so.
(16:40):
Very cool.
So you said you do Extreme Weapons.
Is your.
Is your favorite?
That's.
You use the sword then as well?
Yes, I do.
Do you do.
Wait, here's a question.
Song choice.
Do you have, I assume you havemusic playing during your extreme?
Yes.
How do you go about, like,picking a good song choice?
What's your process?
Or what do you use?
(17:02):
So for Extreme Weapons, I use.
It's not exactly a remix, butit's like a customized song.
It's like a samurai song to gowith the sword.
But my process for pickingsongs, I usually just think about
the songs that are just rightfor the form and what moves.
And sometimes they're remixesor it's just any song really that
(17:22):
sounds great with like a hightempo and beat.
I will definitely.
Do you think that having asong that works for you is this.
Does it like amp up the energylevel that you're doing in your.
In your extreme form then?
Yes, definitely.
Since all my songs have a veryfast beat to them and it really gives
me a lot of energy andpowerful yells.
(17:45):
I love it.
So you.
We've we finished the regular season.
How did the regular season gofor you?
How did districts go?
It went very well.
I placed in a lot oftournaments and I had some goals
set for districts and I didachieve some.
I got three district titles.
Nice.
Congratulations.
What, what titles did you get?
(18:05):
I got district Champion andCreative Forms, Creative Weapons,
and my favorite event, Extreme Weapons.
Nice.
Congratulations.
So off to compete in the toc.
What are you, what are yourgoals there for the toc?
Really, it's just to have funand get better.
I know it's a very hardtournament, but if I had to pick
a goal, maybe just to getthird place on the podium, but I'm
(18:29):
really there just to have funand just show off my skills.
I love that.
I think it is, you know, wewant to set smart goals.
The junior ambassadors havetalked about this in past.
You know, a lot of ourinstructors out there are teaching
smart goals and someone someof the time that we set these goals
and we want, you know, likemost competitors want to be a world
(18:49):
champion.
Yeah.
But they know that sometimes,like this year, that probably isn't
the most realistic goal for meto pick world champion this year,
but getting on the podium,getting, you know, so I love that
you are setting some goalsthat, that are, you know, a lot of
the times we see everybody settheir goal for world champ.
Right.
And it's nice sometimes, Ithink to see some people set their
(19:12):
goals for.
Not that I don't want peopleto set their goals for world Champ.
Obviously we want you to be aworld champ.
We want everybody to be aworld champ.
But sometimes, you know, thatmight not be like this year I want
to get on the podium, youknow, the next year I'm going to
push for this, or next yearI'm going to push for that.
So I love that.
So awesome.
What a good leader you are.
Thank you.
And then I assume, have youbeen in the TOC before?
(19:33):
Yes, I have.
This is either my third orfourth time going to Worlds.
Excellent.
Very good.
So have you walked away with aworld title before?
Are you continuing that journey?
What's it like the world titlebefore or been on the podium?
But the more I go to theworld, the more I see my competition
and things that think ofthings I could get better at.
(19:53):
Definitely.
What a great way to frame that.
Making sure you're kind oflooking at those competitors and
seeing how I can continue to work.
You're setting that long termgoal, so you're learning as you go.
What a great example.
So World championships notonly the toc, but we've got all the
other stuff going on there.
What do you.
What else are you lookingforward to at Worlds?
Really?
(20:13):
Just to see everybody that.
I don't usually get to see it,like regional tournaments, because
everybody comes, meet some new people.
Definitely.
And hang out.
Of course.
Yes.
It's like a big.
It's a big family reunion.
Yes.
Okay.
So, Kenzie, what does it meanfor you to be a black belt, a champion
that's going beyond the belt?
(20:35):
I'd say an athlete that goesbeyond the belt.
It means someone who's hardworking, works very hard to achieve
their goals.
That's something I reallythink is important and inspires others.
I love to inspire otherpeople, especially when they say
they look up to me.
It makes me feel.
Feel amazing.
Isn't that so great?
What a great leader.
I am impressed.
(20:55):
What kind of goals do you have?
You know, you.
You're inspiring others, even,you know, by being one of these athletes
of the week.
What kind of goals are yousetting for your future martial arts
training?
Maybe it's tournament, maybeit's other things in martial arts.
What, what are you looking to achieve?
Say, especially since I'mgoing up in a new age bracket, the
(21:15):
13 to 14 ring, I would say tostay very consistent with my training
because the compet only gets harder.
So I need to level up, maybeadd some more harder tricks to my
forms.
And I don't know, really,that's just.
It's really just to stayconsistent in my training.
I love that consistency.
I mean, that's, you know, somany people, they get really hard
(21:37):
training and then they relaxand just, you know, goof off for
a while and they go, consistency.
That is a great goal.
I love that.
What do they say?
Inch by inch, it's a cinch.
That's just little by little,keep consistent.
So I love it, ma'.
Am.
You are a great leader out there.
Thank you for inspiring others.
(21:58):
Thank you for your hard work,being a champion, going beyond the
belt, and good luck with allyour competitions.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for having me.
ATA Nation podcast.
Be sure to subscribe and sharewith your ATA family.
We've got athletes andsoftware developers.
Let's get.
Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.
At A Nation.
Welcome back to episode 163 ofthe Ata Nation podcast.
(00:22):
We are thrilled to have youwith us.
I've got two action items foryou to make sure that you do.
Before you go any further, youcan click pause.
Right now, you got to go over.
Hit the subscribe button on YouTube.
Go over and hit the subscribebutton on your favorite podcast player.
We want to make sure this getsout to as many ATA martial arts and
future ATA martial arts as possible.
(00:43):
One of our last athletes ofthe week was talking about how they
heard about martial arts from YouTube.
So we want to reach outmental, make sure everybody gets
the news.
Help us with that.
That would be really awesome.
Now, today's episode, we havetwo great interviews.
We've got our interview withan ATA master who has also built
(01:06):
this business, and we want totalk to him about his history and
then just kind of how he gotinto different things.
Really cool.
And then we'll betransitioning over to our athlete
of the week.
Make sure you stick out to thevery end.
So we've got some other newsfor you guys there.
Let's get started with ourfirst interview.
(01:26):
ATA Nation.
We have with us today, Master Bowman.
How are you, sir?
I'm doing great.
Senior Master Hayden.
How are you?
I am wonderful.
I wanted to talk to you alittle bit about just a lot of the
things that you're doing tohelp martial arts school owners.
But before that, we wanted to.
We always like to hit.
How'd you get into.
Involved with martial arts?
(01:46):
I'm sure, like, a lot ofpeople that are in our age bracket,
you know, I loved watching VanDamme movies like Kickboxer, Bloodsports,
the Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles, things like that kind of
coupled with, you know, alittle bit of not excessive but probably
minor bullying in.
In junior, what we would calljunior high school, middle school
(02:07):
now.
So I'd actually startedmartial arts when I was about 6,
and when I got to yellow belt,this was an itf.
My mother said it was tooviolent when we got the sparring.
Of course, no gear.
And then when I was about 13,I started in an ATA school outside
of Pittsburgh in Cranberry, Pennsylvania.
(02:28):
And the rest is history 35years later.
Wow, that's.
That's cool.
That's so a little at 6, got that.
And, you know, how many people.
How many people do you run into?
That's the.
That's their.
The end of their story.
They don't it's like I got myyellow belt, you know, and then they
don't do anything else.
But you were back at it, youknow, master instructor, and you
(02:50):
have like, you're not just a,you have a school, you, you don't
have just a school, you've gotthis whole other thing and you have
a background in kind oftechnology and stuff, right?
Yes sir, that is correct.
So I have actually a master'sdegree in information technology
and I worked in corporateAmerica for a little over 20 years.
(03:11):
Been like the director of ITat Fortune 500 companies and all
sorts of different thingsrelated to it.
So when I turned 40, Iactually decided to leave corporate
America because I wanted togive back more and have a more direct
impact from my perspective onpeople's lives.
So I opened up my school inMequon, which is outside of Milwaukee,
(03:33):
Wisconsin, just almost 10years ago.
Very cool.
Excellent.
And not only are you givingback by training your students and
actually, hold on, I want todo a side, a side thing real quick.
You've got a big, a Tai chiprogram, is that right?
You big in the tai chi, isthat right?
I do, yeah.
Good, good research.
(03:54):
Yes, I, I do have a Tai chiprogram and I started actually I
did Kung fu as well.
So when I was 4th degree blackbelt probably about 15ish years ago,
I started learning Kung fu.
And what you may not know is Ihave, I've had a couple hip operations,
sometimes hard to know.
But during my second hipoperation in my 30s, my kung fu instructor
(04:19):
said, you should startlearning Tai chi.
I said, well, I don't want todo that.
Who wants to do Tai chi?
That's like the, the oldladies in the park or something like
that.
But I started and just kind offell in love with it.
And we offer it originally aslike a side offering, but our Tai
chi program has, has beenpretty robust with, I mean, for Tai
chi, you know, we have about15 dedicated students that have trained
(04:46):
for years with me just in Tai chi.
That's cool.
I.
It's always neat to seemartial artists, you know, ata guys
and, and ladies out there thatare, you know, they branch out, they
do some other things.
They, you know, you see somebjj, you see some other stuff.
Really neat.
You know, we've done a little,you know, at the pro tech camps,
I've done a little Tai chi,but nothing real big.
So that's, that's cool.
(05:06):
But you do, I mean, I don'taround here you get calls from, you
know, usually the oldergeneration who are like, hey, do
you, do you offer any tai chi?
And I'm like, yeah, sorry, Idon't have any tai chi.
Just travel, just travel to Milwaukee.
We'll take care of them.
There you go.
Send them over your way.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, now with your ITbackground and stuff, you started
(05:28):
helping martial arts school owners.
And I know, I don't know whereit started.
Was it the social media firstand then the websites?
How, how did this kind ofevolve into helping school owners
in kind of that digital world?
So what, what I did when I,when I opened the school, in the
back of my mind, I always hadthis idea for manage my dojo where
(05:51):
we would, as I was opening theschool, I'd think, well, I need this.
Okay, well of course you needa website.
Well, it takes time to dosocial media every day.
Okay, well it takes time tomake these posters for parents night
out.
It takes time to do a women'sself defense seminar, whatever these
things are.
I just thought, well, it wouldbe great if I need them, other people
(06:13):
need them, so why not makesystems that for what I need for
my school to be successful,allow other schools to come on.
So it started with socialmedia and then websites and we did
that for probably a year.
And everyone kept asking me,can you do Facebook ads?
Can you do Facebook ads?
And I kept saying no, no, no,no, because it takes a lot of time.
(06:37):
So we originally started doingsome, some different things around
AI.
Before AI was like a buzzwordand that was quasi successful.
But now we've obviously evolved.
We have a full dedicated teamthat does, you know, nothing but
Facebook ads where we can talkmore about our software, school management
stuff.
But yeah, so to answer yourquestion, if I need it, I'm going
(07:01):
to make this and we're goingto try to have a really great value
and top tier things for, you know.
Sorry, with just ATA schoolsbeing, being the primary target for
this.
Yeah.
And I, one of the things Ialways like is being able to, to
do business and to besupportive or even just partner with
(07:21):
ATA people just because theyknow what we're doing.
Not that all, you know,martial arts industry people are
very similar, but ATA has itsspecific, you know, things that,
that it's nice to talk to anATA person when it comes to a website
or, or whatnot that way.
And so what, what like foryou, if you think about like the
(07:42):
things that you've learnedthrough martial arts, how have you
had to use that as you'veworked towards building this whole
other business?
And I know you worked on this,a new software product for school
owners.
That has been quite the endeavor.
How have you had to like,maybe use some of those martial arts
skills?
Maybe not kicking thecomputers or anything that way, but
(08:04):
hopefully the more mental side.
I think I've told severalpeople that, you know, going through
this process of making thesoftware has been a master's class
in persistence.
And if they could make a movieabout it, I think maybe, maybe that
would be my life story.
(08:25):
The making of a movie ofmaking of the software would be quite
a thing.
But persistence andconsistency, right?
Just, just getting through it,trying to work with developers.
I don't think people understand.
I even try to.
My parents ask me, my, mybrother asked me, my girlfriend asked
me, like, you know, why, whycan't you're just making stuff to
(08:46):
run a karate school?
Why, why does this take yearsand years to get done?
So it.
People would understand, Ithink the level of the detail and
people involved in somethinglike this.
And it's, I mean, you know, managing.
You have a, like quite a giantteam now between doing, you know,
websites and social and youknow, the ads and now the software.
(09:10):
What's it like managing a team?
I'm guessing it's probablysomewhat like managing, you know,
a taekwondo team or whatnot.
It is, it's obviously a fulltime job.
So we've been as high as 15,actually 18 now.
I think employees that betweenlike software development, managing
the ads and, and websites.
(09:32):
But the thing that you saidearlier, Master Hayden, was like,
you like dealing with ATApeople, people still, you know, they
personally text me, they'll,they'll call me, they'll, they'll
hit me on messenger slack, allthese different channels, right.
And I really go out of my wayto try to at least within five minutes,
usually just to either sayanswer the question or tell them,
(09:54):
hey, I'm on a call withsomebody, we'll get back to you right
away.
As opposed to like customerservice that goes to like an abyss
that you can't, you can't geta hold of somebody.
I always strive to let peopleknow, like you can get a hold of
me.
I am a member of the ata, of course.
And I think people really like that.
Yeah.
Now, yeah, I know I, I havesent you about a billion messages
(10:16):
over the last year or so.
And I always feel bad because,you know, as martial arts people
we have weird hours and solike we'll get home and you know,
see something like message andthen I think, oh dang it, it's like
9:30, 10 o'.
Clock.
I don't need to be sendinglike, I don't need them to read this
right now.
I need to just send it rightnow because this is, it's.
(10:38):
I'm thinking about it and I'malways like, oh man, I need to stop
bothering these people.
But it is nice.
I mean, I was just.
Yesterday we had a, an oldsoftware that we, we stopped using
and I needed to get some salestax data off it because you gotta,
you know, report sales, allthese kind of stuff.
And yes, they turned it back on.
(10:59):
I could go and get it and thenthey turned off the wrong one then.
And then my active, it wasjust a mess.
And I'm like, guys, can't you.
Anyways, so it's, it's nice todeal with an ATA guy.
I, I mean, and as you grow, I,I'm sure just like, as we grow as,
as school owners, I can'talways answer every message, every
(11:19):
text, every time.
You know, I, I got, my wife isgoing to help or a staff, staff members
are going to help and whatever.
And I'm sure you'll get thatplace when you're, you know, got
a, all these, these people.
But it's still the, the ideabehind it, knowing the, the people
in charge is nice.
So, um, what's it like runninga taekwondo school and another business?
(11:40):
You know, a lot of people outthere think they can only do one
thing.
You've got two things going,you know, I know right now it's probably
a little extra because of thesoftware work, but what's it like,
you know, balancing those things?
Sure.
It's been, it's.
It's difficult at times.
Right.
So everyone here on thepodcast here knows what it's like
running a school.
So it obviously demands a lotof time at night, which is.
(12:04):
Allows some free time duringthe day, but during the day we should
be doing those marketingactivities and outreach and things
like that.
So at times, you know, mypersonal school had a little bit
of a, you know, it kind ofebbs and flows because where your
intention goes, right, that'swhere things flow.
And, you know, I'm not goingto lie, right.
(12:26):
If you spend a little bit moretime on the school, then the software
company goes down a little bit.
And if you spend a little bitmore time on the software, then the
school goes down a little bit.
But I had been blessed withsome good staff, Right.
I have a really great programdirector at the school and great
instructors as well.
So I've had a lot of help atthe school.
That allowed me to do thesekinds of things.
(12:47):
Nice.
Well, and some of the stuffyou're working on makes the school
work better than too.
You know, you get thesewebsite, software, ads, all that
kind of stuff.
It's, it's, you know, builtfor yourself as well.
I mean we're the, we're thenumber one user.
I feel like though it's, it'ssometimes the saying of the carpenter's
house is never done.
We always end up helpingpeople like you.
We help all our clients firstbefore we help ourselves.
(13:10):
But yes, of course we use our,all of our, our tools and ads and
you know, it helps our schoolgrow and stay, stay financially viable.
Excellent.
Well, we are going to record avideo just kind of after this specifically
about the software, you know,that people can check out and whatnot.
But if, if people areinterested in any of your services
(13:30):
that you have, where wouldthey need to go to check that out?
So they can just go tomanagemydojo.com and there should
be information there.
There's, there's videos theycan watch.
You can check out our newSensei, which is our AI branded tool,
which is really going to begroundbreaking as well.
But yeah, you can check outall the services there and you know,
we appreciate you guys goingto check those things out.
(13:53):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much, sir.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Really cool stuff from masterBowman there ata nation.
We have with us an awesomeathlete of the week.
Can you introduce yourself foreverybody, ma'?
(14:15):
Am?
Yes, I'm Kenzie Stacy.
Hi Kenzie.
Now welcome.
We are so excited to haveanother athlete that the junior baron
ambassador have been highlighting.
Can you tell us where youtrain and where you're from?
From Canfield, Ohio, but Itrained in Mercer, Pennsylvania at
the Valor Combat Academy at Valor.
Excellent.
(14:35):
Very good.
And what rank are you?
I'm a second degree black belt recommended.
Very good.
When do you plan to test forsecondary decided?
I'm not sure yet.
I still have to complete a fewmidterms, but in the next six months.
Gotcha.
Awesome.
You're looking forward to anew form?
Yes, I am.
I've done first degree for so long.
That'S usually by the timepeople test for a second they're
(14:58):
like, I am so done with Shimjun.
Yes.
Yeah, for sure.
Okay.
So what, what got you involvedin martial arts?
Well, when I was little I justturned 6 years old and I love to
watch the Karate Kid moviesand I used to watch them all the
time and one day I turnedaround and I was like I want to do
(15:18):
Taekwondo.
It just sounded so amazing.
And I used to do gymnasticswhen I was little and I wanted to
give something else a try, andI've stuck with Taekwondo ever since.
That's fantastic.
Awesome.
So you started around sixyears old?
Yes.
And I forgot to ask, how oldare you now?
I'm 12.
I'll be 13 in August.
Okay, so you've been doing itmore than half your life.
How exciting.
(15:39):
So the competition season,what's your like go to?
You're like, I love to competein this event.
My favorite event is Extreme Weapons.
I just love it so much andespecially since I use the sword.
I love to do a lot of strikesand tricks with the sword and do
like butterfly kicks and Wooshoes and cartwheels.
(16:00):
Nice.
So I'm guessing some of thatgymnastics training you had before
four has come in useful withyour extreme?
They die.
Very good.
Okay.
What if you had to pick anevent that was like, maybe not your
favorite?
Which one would that be?
I would say traditional forms, honestly.
Really?
Yes.
Very interesting.
(16:20):
You think that'll change alittle bit when you get to do a new
form?
I think so, because it dependswhat form it is and what moves.
And sometimes I am more funwith it than others.
Yes.
No, that's very true.
And you find that differentforms, like, they just fit you better.
Yes.
And you have some forms thatyou're like this one I just don't
feel comfortable in, so.
(16:40):
Very cool.
So you said you do Extreme Weapons.
Is your.
Is your favorite?
That's.
You use the sword then as well?
Yes, I do.
Do you do.
Wait, here's a question.
Song choice.
Do you have, I assume you havemusic playing during your extreme?
Yes.
How do you go about, like,picking a good song choice?
What's your process?
Or what do you use?
(17:02):
So for Extreme Weapons, I use.
It's not exactly a remix, butit's like a customized song.
It's like a samurai song to gowith the sword.
But my process for pickingsongs, I usually just think about
the songs that are just rightfor the form and what moves.
And sometimes they're remixesor it's just any song really that
(17:22):
sounds great with like a hightempo and beat.
I will definitely.
Do you think that having asong that works for you is this.
Does it like amp up the energylevel that you're doing in your.
In your extreme form then?
Yes, definitely.
Since all my songs have a veryfast beat to them and it really gives
me a lot of energy andpowerful yells.
(17:45):
I love it.
So you.
We've we finished the regular season.
How did the regular season gofor you?
How did districts go?
It went very well.
I placed in a lot oftournaments and I had some goals
set for districts and I didachieve some.
I got three district titles.
Nice.
Congratulations.
What, what titles did you get?
(18:05):
I got district Champion andCreative Forms, Creative Weapons,
and my favorite event, Extreme Weapons.
Nice.
Congratulations.
So off to compete in the toc.
What are you, what are yourgoals there for the toc?
Really, it's just to have funand get better.
I know it's a very hardtournament, but if I had to pick
a goal, maybe just to getthird place on the podium, but I'm
(18:29):
really there just to have funand just show off my skills.
I love that.
I think it is, you know, wewant to set smart goals.
The junior ambassadors havetalked about this in past.
You know, a lot of ourinstructors out there are teaching
smart goals and someone someof the time that we set these goals
and we want, you know, likemost competitors want to be a world
(18:49):
champion.
Yeah.
But they know that sometimes,like this year, that probably isn't
the most realistic goal for meto pick world champion this year,
but getting on the podium,getting, you know, so I love that
you are setting some goalsthat, that are, you know, a lot of
the times we see everybody settheir goal for world champ.
Right.
And it's nice sometimes, Ithink to see some people set their
(19:12):
goals for.
Not that I don't want peopleto set their goals for world Champ.
Obviously we want you to be aworld champ.
We want everybody to be aworld champ.
But sometimes, you know, thatmight not be like this year I want
to get on the podium, youknow, the next year I'm going to
push for this, or next yearI'm going to push for that.
So I love that.
So awesome.
What a good leader you are.
Thank you.
And then I assume, have youbeen in the TOC before?
(19:33):
Yes, I have.
This is either my third orfourth time going to Worlds.
Excellent.
Very good.
So have you walked away with aworld title before?
Are you continuing that journey?
What's it like the world titlebefore or been on the podium?
But the more I go to theworld, the more I see my competition
and things that think ofthings I could get better at.
(19:53):
Definitely.
What a great way to frame that.
Making sure you're kind oflooking at those competitors and
seeing how I can continue to work.
You're setting that long termgoal, so you're learning as you go.
What a great example.
So World championships notonly the toc, but we've got all the
other stuff going on there.
What do you.
What else are you lookingforward to at Worlds?
Really?
(20:13):
Just to see everybody that.
I don't usually get to see it,like regional tournaments, because
everybody comes, meet some new people.
Definitely.
And hang out.
Of course.
Yes.
It's like a big.
It's a big family reunion.
Yes.
Okay.
So, Kenzie, what does it meanfor you to be a black belt, a champion
that's going beyond the belt?
(20:35):
I'd say an athlete that goesbeyond the belt.
It means someone who's hardworking, works very hard to achieve
their goals.
That's something I reallythink is important and inspires others.
I love to inspire otherpeople, especially when they say
they look up to me.
It makes me feel.
Feel amazing.
Isn't that so great?
What a great leader.
I am impressed.
(20:55):
What kind of goals do you have?
You know, you.
You're inspiring others, even,you know, by being one of these athletes
of the week.
What kind of goals are yousetting for your future martial arts
training?
Maybe it's tournament, maybeit's other things in martial arts.
What, what are you looking to achieve?
Say, especially since I'mgoing up in a new age bracket, the
(21:15):
13 to 14 ring, I would say tostay very consistent with my training
because the compet only gets harder.
So I need to level up, maybeadd some more harder tricks to my
forms.
And I don't know, really,that's just.
It's really just to stayconsistent in my training.
I love that consistency.
I mean, that's, you know, somany people, they get really hard
(21:37):
training and then they relaxand just, you know, goof off for
a while and they go, consistency.
That is a great goal.
I love that.
What do they say?
Inch by inch, it's a cinch.
That's just little by little,keep consistent.
So I love it, ma'.
Am.
You are a great leader out there.
Thank you for inspiring others.
(21:58):
Thank you for your hard work,being a champion, going beyond the
belt, and good luck with allyour competitions.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for having me.
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