If what you are “doing” IS “working,” then this report isn’t for you. If you think there’s some “room for improvement” in your efforts, then feel free to read my ideas on the subject —and take from it what you will.

What’s Wrong?

You don’t use a Franklin Covey Day-Planner, which means your staff doesn’t either. If you’re not organizing and studying what little time you DO have to accomplish exactly what you want to accomplish, you can work and work and work and work and work —and work yourself right into an epic struggle. 

How can you manage the smart-effort of others if they don’t know how to manage and track their work and time? 

Whatever excuse you have for not using day-planners and training your entire help-team to do the same (except for, “I’m so bloody rich I don’t have to!”), is part of your own lack of knowledge and self-dicipline that keeps you from the success you think you deserve. 

On the other side, you’re busy as all get-go, but you’ve made the same mistake that 90-perent of us make 99-percent of the time: Mistaking ACTIVITY for ACCOMPLISHMENT. 

You spend too much money on stuff that drags you down. 

That $5 you blow off every day on (name your small vice here)_______, is costing you $150 a month and $1800 a year. Add to that the way-too-expensive cars you drive around to prove that you are special, the TIVO, the house that’s more than you need or can afford, the school rent that’s way too much of your gross income, the meals out, the clothes, and all the other junk you’ve been trained to feel represents “the good life” —-and you’re bleeding your freedom, your education, and the pleasure right out of running your school. 

DECREASE your expenses, get your overhead down —and increase your income. Need help with this? You probably do, as it’s not “an action,” it’s an ongoing process. Call me, I’ll help you look at all the options (Tom Callos, 530-903-0286). 

You’re not “Managing” —or really TRAINING others to help you accomplish the work. Oh yeah, your knowledge is VAST, but I have to tell you, the people underneath you aren’t THERE yet —and you’re not doing a whole hell of a lot to get them there. 

Your brain says, “Well WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?” And the answer is: “A lot smarter work with others, organizing their time, teaching them, and guiding them into helping the school (thus, themselves) to the best of THEIR ability.” Most instructors I know, on a scale from 1 to 10, with “10” being the best, aren’t even training their staff members at level 4. 

You’re not studying your numbers, as in what you’ve done, what you do, and what you need to do. Talk about flying the plane blind! Not studying your stats and knowing how to affect them is a career and business disaster of monumental proportions. You don’t even know —as if you did, I wouldn’t have to tell you.

You market your school like an amateur. 

I’ve seen how FAR TOO MANY schools “market” their wares —and my God is it a pitiful example of the craft. First off, if you’re still listening to “the industry,” you’re not doing your very best work. Second, everything you need to market your school today is FREE —and it’s not about YOU doing it, it’s about you organizing and orchestrating it. Every day you waste not doing this work, not paying attention, is another potential nail in the coffin of the energy and attitude that could get you out of the place you’re in. 

You’re not Talking About Your Future and How to Change.

When’s the last time you sat down with people you respect and really laid it on the line? When’s the last time you studied where you’re going —under the spotlight of people who might help you? Far too many instructors I know wait until they are in CRISIS MODE —and by that time it’s so painful and hard to turn the wheel that the owner may become her own worst enemy. 

Talk it out, endlessly (as it’s ever-changing), and with people smarter and/or more experienced than you are (if anyone like that exists in this dimension). 

Imagine a martial arts association that your students could go to, see what was being said —and watch the videos…AND YOU WOULDN’T BE EMBARRASSED!

No talk about “upgrades” —no talk about “holding back curriculum —no talk about standing in front of elementary schools, in uniform, and waving big signs —no talk about students only lasting 18 months —no talks about how you run an “event” as a smokescreen for aggressive sales —and no talk about your wealth, your cars, his cars, his watch, or how many millionaires are in “the club.”

No inner-circle nonsense, no Dan Kennedy sales tactics, and, well…nothing but honesty. Imagine if your students were actually inspired by what they found; imagine if they thought more of you when they left the site. That’s the work being done at www.the100.us

Running a martial arts school business is both simple and painfully complex. Raising children is both simple and painfully complex. Maintaining healthy relationships is both simple and painfully complex. Living is both simple and painfully complex.
 
Simple
I rise every morning (so far), I show love and respect to everyone around me, I eat sparsely, simply, and for health, I practice good hygiene, I exercise my body with physical work and with the practice of the martial arts, I exercise my mind through reading, listening, discussing, and contemplating that which inspires me to think/learn, I exercise my spirit by turning what I consider to be spiritual practice into tangible action (compassionate thinking, words, and acts), I seek to do good for others; SIMPLE.
 
Complex
What am I here to do? Who can I help? What is the greatest thing (or things) I can tackle and/or engage in? How can I contribute to the work of others in a way that is the perfect use of whatever it is that I have inside of me —and/or within my reach —that could connect with the Divine?

What do I need to learn, do, and put into action that will cause me to transcend the limitations I carry in my own mind? How do I become a Master in the true sense of the word —and what is that supposed to mean for the people in my sphere of influence —and for the world? Am I living in the moment? Complex.

What I Think this Means for the Martial Arts Teacher (as I Exercise / Practice my self-appointed role as Teacher)

Understand that your school’s success (how that is measured is contingent upon your maturity / ambitions / experience / consciousness) is built upon very simple practices —and at exactly the same time, matching perfectly each simple issue —is a vastly (and perhaps “painfully”) complex counter-issue. This isn’t, in my opinion, a “problem,” but a wonderful crayon-box of potential for mental / spiritual / emotional growth and play-time.

And depending on where you choose (and ideally, we “choose” instead of being hooked into) to put your focus, “things” can look and be as simple as Steps 1, 2, and 3, and/or so beautifully complex, rich, and deep that you have to stop and stand still, while the tears roll down your face, in awe, in wonder, and connected to something that you just can’t find the words to express.

Martial arts school management is what it is. It is what you want to make it. It’s a “business” separate from “the martial arts,” or it isn’t. It is a place you make money or magic or both or none-of-the-above. It is your school (as in where YOU learn) —or it isn’t.

In my work, my only real job is to stay awake and aware of the simplicity and complexity of what I am doing and the potential of what I might/can do —AND, my intent is to cultivate the same kind of awareness / action in my students (my teachers).

Martial Arts Business, that’s my thing. However, it’s not business as usual —I’m in the business of taking the martial arts out of the dojo and into the world. I teach martial arts school owners how to bring authenticity, honor, and dignity to their chosen profession (after almost three decades of dance-school and health club sales strategies). See my work at www.the100.us

A Letter to a Martial Arts School Owner: An Introduction to the work of The 100.
 
You own a martial arts school, a club, teach a class, or plan on doing something along this line in the future. I’m here to introduce you to my work, as it relates to your work.
 
My name is Tom Callos; I took my first martial arts lesson in 1969, when a judo teacher invited me on the mat. I started studying Taekwondo at age 11 —and for the last 40 years I’ve made it a point to try and find the best ideas, the best methods, and associate myself (learn from) the smartest people I could find.
 
I have failed miserably. I’ve succeeded wonderfully. I’ve failed to inspire, to profit, to lead, to succeed, and to pay attention when I should have —on more occasions than I can possibly remember. I have also managed to succeed at a healthy number of things —and the losing and winning, failing and succeeding, being arrogant, abrasive, and downright stupid, as well as being open-minded, willing to change, and coming from a place where I was truly “thinking clearly,” make my advice and council something that you might find worthwhile.
 
That being said, I can’t teach you. I can’t teach you if you don’t respect me. I can’t teach you if you’re so full of what you already know that there isn’t room for something new. I can’t teach you if you’re full of fear or suffer from some kind of crippling ego issue or if you have a belief system that says you’re too busy, too old, too young, or that you come from a “traditional” style that doesn’t make room for things learned from people outside of your “system.”

 
I call my group The 100. —and the idea comes from a letter that Ms. Rosa Parks once sent me (in 1993). The short story is that her letter made me wonder if 100 martial arts MASTERS could, collectively, equal the power to influence, serve justice, and to make change in the world like the diminutive 42-year-old seamstress who, that historic day, simply refused to give up her seat on the bus in order to perpetuate racial discrimination.

The 100. is like a college, in that it provides general education to the beginner —and then gradually asks the student to narrow his or her focus based on personal interests and passions. As a 100. member moves through his/her career, the idea is to begin to work on advanced concepts, like a master, that allows a martial arts teacher/leader to do the work that speaks to her sense of purpose and mission-in-the-world.

My personal mission (in-the-world) is to use my skills, experience, and chutzpah to re-define the role of the martial arts teacher and the martial arts school in today’s world. To do that we must redefine the meaning and definition of “self-defense.” We must design non-partisan educational programs that enhance our understanding of issues such as healthy eating, dietary health issues (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.), hyper-masculine behavior, gender discrimination, violence, non-violent conflict resolution, leadership, bullying, and a number of other topics that would make us smarter, more relevant, better leaders and teachers, and more important members of “the village” it takes to make better, higher-functioning, more participative citizens.

I’m looking for very smart, very proactive people, preferably martial arts teachers who have trained hard enough and smart enough to distinguish what’s dysfunctional in the martial arts community —and what we have the potential to create (and do) in the world. However, I often accept people into The 100. who are not “masters” of any particular art, but who just don’t subscribe to the paradigm supported by the “martial arts industry.”

Here’s what you get if and when you join The 100. You get to be around someone who doesn’t believe you’ve reached even 1/10th of your potential. You get to be around someone (a group of us really) that believes we’re here for something more than the limited definition currently promoted in the martial arts world.

You get to be around a group of people who are looking to elevate the work, the sense of mission, purpose, and intent of it all. We’re here to change the way the general public looks at the “Sensei” (or whatever you choose to call yourself) —and the actual way the martial arts teacher works in, contributes to, and influences his or her community.

We call this “good business” —and “our business.”

I help school owners with their schools and careers. I help school owners recognize what is bullshit and what is genius, what’s worth perpetuating and what should probably be discarded, and what works and what is probably not healthy. I connect smart people. I invent programs designed to scream “WE ARE WHO WE SAY WE ARE.” I’m here to subvert the dominant paradigm of the “martial arts industry,” as it’s failing, miserably, to organize itself in a way that is indicative of the “mastery” we claim the study of the martial arts instills.



If you can’t see why you would ever be involved in something like this —or to put yourself in a place where you might listen to someone like me —don’t worry, I understand. There are a 1000 people in my world I should listen to, but don’t. I recognize that I can’t hear much from people I don’t know and respect, that I don’t learn much when my head isn’t in the right place, and that sometimes, no matter how smart someone is, they simply are not, ever, going to be “your teacher.”

I blame all of the above on my teacher, Master Ernie Reyes, Sr., who, when I was young and in exactly the right place to learn some life-lessons, taught me about what it takes to be a champion, a father, a leader, an athlete, a student, a teacher, and a centered, participative human being.

The 100. represents the things I’ve learned, the things I hope to learn, and the kind of association and community I’d like to be a part of.

Tom Callos

You make your work important —or trivial —by where your mind is focused. 

This is important to “business” —as things that are trivial generally have much less value than things that are important. Ideally, we want to cultivate a product that has recognizable, great, and long-lasting value. 

Your staff / your team must also be students of recognizable, great, and long-lasting value.

What is recognizable value?

What is great value?

What is long lasting value?

Philosophy has all of the above. Simplicity has all of the above. Love has all of the above. Right action, community involvement, care for the elderly, reading, meditation, the cultivation of clear and compassionate thinking, and conscious consumption, art and literature and music, are all of the above. 

Staff Training has less to do with what you cover in meetings —and far more to do with what is read, what is listened to, who is listened to, what is done, and a clear definition of mission and intent.

Some Suggestions for Action

• Throw your TV away. If it must be on, let it be on for no more than 1 hour a day (1 hour too long). I encourage you to eliminate TV from your life —for at least a year.

• Cut your use of disposable plastics by 50 to 90 percent.

• Limit your cell phone use to 1/2 the day —then put it away. 

• Double your book and magazine reading time.

• Write 1 blog entry very day —and always make it a chapter in the book of how aware you are.

Why This is Important for Sales and Business

• You don’t “sell” lessons, you serve others by striving to be an evolved and high functioning human being.

• If you wake up every day seeking clarity of thinking and purity of intent/spirit/purpose, you increase your value as a teacher by 99.9%.

• What you’re doing when you’re not teaching —teaches more than what you impart in your classes. 

Teaching People The Martial Arts: Two Pieces of Advice
 
I’ve been studying and practicing the martial arts for 40 years and helping to teach and/or leading my own classes for more than 30 of those. At 51 years of age, I believe I still have much to learn, about life, about teaching, and about how to make the time I have invested in the martial arts something more than just a narcissistic fascination with the subject.
 
While I acknowledge that I still have a long way to go, the following thoughts / observations represent some things I have learned about the martial arts (practicing, teaching) thus far. I reserve the right to change my opinion about anything I write, but as of today, I believe these things to be true (and if not “true” then simply the version of truth that I operate from at the present):
 
 

Fitness 
When designing a martial arts school’s curriculum (and a school’s curriculum should, always, be in a state of perpetual redesign, as it must evolve as the teacher’s awareness evolves — or, in other words, the curriculum grows up as the teacher grows up), fitness should be the primary goal of the first year’s worth of training.

But I’m not referring to just physical fitness, but to dietary habits, the understanding and execution of how and why to set long term goals, attitudinal fitness (will anything else hurt us as much as our attitude about things, circumstances, people, etc.?), fitness of relationships, the health of one’s role as a member of the community, and mental health.
 
In addressing “fitness,” we are actually addressing self-defense at the highest level, as habits and attitudes about food, wealth, health, anger, simplicity, family, relationships, tolerance, contribution, and the habit of regular exercise (of the body, mind, and spirit), are more relevant to self-defense in today’s world than are any set of techniques, blocks, arm-bars, or kicks.



Instructor Education
Every instructor worth his/her weight in gold comes from a background of long-term and intense physical training and practice. Of course, “intense practice” is a relative term, as the standards for training, fitness, and practice in the martial arts community are all over the board. Some people earn their black belts showing up for 1-hour classes 2 or 3 times a week, while others prepare for their tests like they were getting ready to compete in the Olympics.

So let’s acknowledge that intense physical training —and an immersion in all things physical with regard to the practice of the martial arts —is a given for the teacher. But, if we are to elevate the martial arts to something more than just “good exercise” and the execution of techniques, we need a kind of instructor education that far exceeds what is currently available —and/or emphasized in the martial arts community.

We need teacher training that deals with anger, gender and racial discrimination, all forms of violence, food and the production of food, and health issues like those represented by the top killers of adults in today’s world (like heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [lung diseases], diabetes, and kidney disease).

Well, we don’t HAVE to have —or emphasize —this kind of instructor training in the martial arts community, as we can very easily define our role as teachers of hand-to-hand combat, vigorous exercise, sport fighting, and “traditional” arts, but if we did embrace higher education as teachers, we could, quite literally, change our role in today’s world.

By changing our role, we would change our value to our communities and the world.

Instructors, I don’t think we should allow “the martial arts industry,” as it is today, to define our role and the services we can or will provide. As it in now, if you open the trade magazines for the martial arts, it’s a mix of hucksterism and commerce that for me —and a lot of other martial artists (not to mention the general public) —is simply a reflection of some real base thinking. We could and should be aiming a LOT higher.

In much the same way as we have learned the intricacies of our various arts, we could educate ourselves in any number of relevant-to-self-defense topics, like those mentioned above.

Your/our curriculum, in the future, should (must) include a more comprehensive approach to “self-defense,” than that which is offered in most schools today. The Internet makes this idea much easier to implement, but it’s our attitude and beliefs about what the role of the martial arts teacher is —and/or should be —in today’s world, that will most dramatically affect our value in the future.

About The Author

Tom Callos oversees www.The100.us, the “alternative radio station” of martial arts associations and teacher training programs in today’s international martial arts community.

Fast Overview of Our Benefits:
 
1. Veteran martial arts teacher Tom Callos runs this association —and what that means is 100. members get an overwhelmingly honest, creative, and intelligent approach to business and marketing.  Tom doesn’t distribute, endorse, or encourage stupid marketing or management tricks. He’s known and well respected for producing material and curriculum that makes careers, makes money, and makes sense.
 
2. The Smartest Work in the Martial Arts Industry. While the martial arts industry repeatedly promotes marketing concepts such as birthday parties, VIP passes, sleep-overs, text message spamming, and standing in the lobby of theaters to solicit patrons before and after martial arts films, Tom Callos teaches 100 members about anger management and environmental self-defense programs, community activism and film-making, and on-line digital campuses to enhance curriculum.
 
The martial arts industry is stuck in the freshman year of school owner development, endlessly repeating the same ideas. The 100. is a school and a classroom for masters who have moved beyond the basics and are tackling advanced concepts for dominating their markets and building programs of value.
 
3. Get Help With Your Work and Your School. You’re not like everyone else, are you? You have a certain overhead, specific goals, experiences, and skills (weaknesses too) that make you and your situation unique.

Maybe your specialty is MMA? Maybe it’s self-defense? Capoeira or Taekwondo or traditional Karate or Aikido? You might have 3 children or own your own building or have a rent of $1000 a month or live in a town of 50,000 people, whatever your situation is, it needs to be considered when developing a plan.
 
The 100. doesn’t force you to embrace the status quo, The 100. is about developing your strengths, analyzing and overcoming your weaknesses, and working on your own unique vision of your career —even as you change.

There is no better form of help for the school owner and/or master teacher.

4. The 100. is a think tank —and the best ideas, hands down, in school marketing, management, and curriculum design are coming from this organization, period.

5. The 100. is a networking center, a community of like minded people who aren’t going to follow the pack that has already lead the martial arts industry into its most embarrassing and impotent period in history.

To see where the talk turns into action, visit The 100.s revolutionary on-line campus. School owners and managers may have a one week trial, click here to begin.

This post and the following ideas are completely and totally brought to you on behalf of The 100. I am actively looking for martial arts school owners and instructors who are ready to shed the nonsense and trivial pursuits of the status quo in the “martial arts industry” (birthday parties, VIP passes, sleep-overs, self-defense courses that don’t teach self-defense, and the endless pursuit of more, more, more, while creating less value than ever before, etc.). 

Someone has to step up for change —and a change of direction for the martial arts. If the following piece speaks to you, you are invited to a 1 week trial of our on-line campus, think tank, and center for change and improvement in the international martial arts community; click here: http://thenewwaynetwork.ning.com/?xgi=1NL7sCCyS8aka0

—Tom Callos

In 1 Year’s Time

In 1 year’s time you could:

• Get in the best shape of your life —-and bring 100 people with you.

• Learn enough about food and the food industry to add a legitimate “dietary self-defense” component to your curriculum.

• Produce 365 (minimum) videos depicting why you are a teacher / person worth studying with.

• Write 365 blog posts explaining what it is that makes you and yours any different from them and theirs.

• Teach 10 others how to blog and film about their own martial arts journeys —and in doing so produce 10-times the content on the web, explaining to people what it is that makes you and yours worth the time and energy.

• Completely ingratiate yourself with your local public school system.

• Produce THE most comprehensive bully-prevention website in your community’s history.

• Record 100 “Bully Stories” to accompany the site.

• Increase your student count by at least 100 students.

• Design and implement a system for listening to —and communicating with —your students and the people in their sphere of influence, in a way that decreased your student drop-outs by at least 50%.

• You and 40 others could log 100,000 acts of kindness, which would represent a community PR and promotion campaign worth $100,000.

• Create and populate an on-line campus that supports and enhances what you teach on the floor (and in a way that NOBODY in your community has ever done —or will do for some years to come).

• Create a full and realistic plan for financial freedom and any sort of retirement you dream of (more of less).

• Save 1 child’s life.

• Learn about and embrace domestic violence education, rape issues, gender discrimination, environmental self-defense, diabetes awareness, hyper-masculinity and violence education, and 10 or so other subjects that would make you a teacher who has taken his/her self-defense study to a new and relevant level.

• Own “Self-Defense (Your Community)” —and teach real self-defense, relevant to today’s world, better than anyone has or does within a 100 mile radius of you.

• Be almost exactly where you are today, 12 months from now. Same amount of students, nothing new learned or implemented, and searching the martial arts billing services and “consulting” firms for “new” ideas about how to get and keep new students.

I’m Tom Callos and I run The 100. , which might best be described as the “alternative radio station” of the martial arts business and management world. I don’t play the oldies, those tired classics (Free Bird!), or those songs that the other stations keep playing over and over, despite the fact they weren’t that great when they first came out (like Ebony and Ivory).  

The 100. thinks wrong (thank you John Bielenberg). It stands as the alternative to everything the status quo churns out like so many strip malls, chain stores, and franchises. We’re against the grain, against the formulaic, and against old and tired traditions, methods, and practices that just don’t make sense any more.
 
With that in mind, here are 3 business concepts we do, indeed, stand for and promote:
 
1. Your Self-Defense is Bullshit
 
I really wanted to state that differently, but after several attempts I realized there was just no other way to write it that would express my viewpoint with more clarity. The approach to teaching “self-defense” taken by 99.9% of the martial arts industry, in general, is as dumb as dirt, outdated, tired, and so inadequate it’s a joke.
 
The list of the top 10 killers of men, women, and children in the world don’t have “down block,” or “palm strike” on it. The kind of hand-to-hand self-defense training most martial arts schools pass off as self-defense instruction is about as relevant to self-defense in today’s world as the stone tablet is to the IPad2.
 
Change your idea and understanding of “self-defense” and “self-defense instruction,” and you stand a good chance of changing your own life —and the lives of many others.

The environment, one’s attitude, diet and where food comes from, diabetes, heart disease, relationship issues, hyper-masculine behavior, patriarchy, and other relevant-to-today issues that swirl around these subjects have 1000 times more to do with actual self-defense in today’s world than the stone-age self-defense most instructors promote today.

Of course, tackling self-defense instruction intelligently means the “industry” would have to get off of it’s gimmicky, high-pressure-sales bandwagon and embrace authentic, meaningful instructor education. Don’t hold your breath. It’s coming, but  if recent history is any indicator, it’s going to take the powers that be a long, long time to get up to speed.

That’s why I started The 100. 

2. Your Business is Your Path to Personal Mastery

Unlike a lot of other businesses (like, for example, locksmithing, laundry services, dog grooming, and selling tires), the business of martial arts is something that has the potential to be about achieving some kind of clarity-about-life, which might also be called “enlightenment.”

I mean, after all, the overcoming of fear, the practice of self-discipline, the embracing of philosophies that deal with empowerment, and the mental focus required to practice and teach the martial arts “like a master,” are not the kind of subjects that  9 out of 10 other business people have to think much about.

Of course, owning and operating a martial arts school can be as black and white as owning a Curves or a Popeye’s Chicken franchise. You can turn a profit by going by the numbers. You can systematize the business of running a school until you can actually sell your system to people who don’t have the wherewithal or patience to figure it out themselves.

OR, you can look at the business of running a school as the business of becoming a true and genuine Master. You can be Colonel Sanders or Thich Nhat Hanh. You can model Donald Trump or Martin Luther King. You can play the game of collecting the most things —or you can take the path of a Bodhisattva.

You get to define the role you are going to play —and the role your school will play in your community. If you choose to make the running of your business about the kind of spiritual mastery of, Oh say __________ (add the name of your favorite Master here), I personally think it deals with a whole lot of worthwhile issues in one fell swoop.
If the purpose of running your business is to become a Master, then you stand to, truly, change your own life —and serve as one heck of a role model for a lot of other people.


3. You’re Not a Great Teacher Until You Transcend The Subject

I think my mission is to transcend the subject matter; to take my martial arts out of my dojo —and put it to work in the world. I think you’re a good teacher when you teach the best martial arts you can, but I think you become a great teacher when you break out of the confines of conventional martial arts instruction (“your subject”) and start teaching about life.

What good is the block and the counter if not applied to one’s state of mind? What value does sparring have if not applied to management or relationships or education?

Well? A block is valuable when it keeps your nose from getting broken and sparring is fun and good exercise, yes? But for things that really matter, in the world, in the long run, for the things that bring peace of mind and happiness, it’s a great thing to be a great teacher, one who transcends the obvious  (and not so obvious) limitations and artificially constructed barriers of the subject at hand.

If and when you become a teacher of the art of life, you take a quantum leap in skill —and value —than does the teacher who teaches some less-useful or comprehensive subject.  In other words, don’t help me with my taekwondo, help me be a better person, someone with more clarity of thought, and someone who values contribution over kata, simplicity over system.

On a scale between 1 and 10.

A “1” teacher is unprepared, lacks the skills, and shouldn’t be leading a class, nevertheless, he or she is, indeed, “leading the class.” You’ve seen them, yes? At one time you might have been a “1” teacher —I know I was.

A level “10” teacher is someone who doesn’t just give you a workout, doesn’t just teach you excellent, effective, valuable technique —-a “10” teacher reaches you with something more than words.

As a result of his or her class / influence / teachings / reminders / example, you walk a little taller, your heart is bigger and more open, you see more clearly, you are inspired to be more, you are open to growth and change and improvement, and some-how, some-way, a teacher like this resets your mind and spirit.

You might not at first recognize it happening, but when you’ve been around this kind of teacher, open and ready to learn, it’s as if you are given something that is now yours —-and because of this person’s influence you are a better, bigger, simpler, smarter, more compassionate human being. 

A “1” is like a bad smell; you can endure it, but if at all possible it’s something to avoid. 

A “10” teacher is like a visit from someone you love deeply, someone you treasure, respect, and admire. A “1” experience is quickly put behind you. A “10” experience is something you hold dearly, like a child, like a magic stone, like a rare book, like the finest of your memories. 

A level 5 teacher has a good grasp on what makes a masterful class; it’s a knowledge he or she has, but is not living. A level 5 teacher tries very hard, but because the lessons are in the head —and not (yet) in something owned through long-term, disciplined, spiritual practice, the level 5 teacher is not a master teacher.

A “5” can look like a master teacher. A “5” can move like a master teacher. A “5” might think he/she is a master teacher. A “5” might even talk like a master teacher, but knowing something and living the practice are two very, very different places.

To move beyond a “5” (and good businesses can be —and are most often —run by level “5” teachers, I know —as I was a “5” for many years), you must be educated and possibly a bit weathered. For sure, you have to study your own ego —and get a grasp on how it can cripple/color your awareness and viewpoint/outlook. 

A level “6” and up teacher doesn’t have to be famous. He/she doesn’t have to be well known in the world of martial arts. But a teacher moving towards “10” both embraces the tools of the kitchen, the make up of the food, the care in its preparation, the particulars of its presentation, the environment it is served in, the people who eat it, and what it means beyond the necessity of feeding one’s body.

A level 10 might be compared to the saying that the Iroquois based their most important decisions upon: 

What it Takes

I think to be a “10” you might be born with it, like Mozart was born with music, like Bobby Fischer was born with chess. But if not born as a prodigy of mastery and connection to the great awareness, you might be awakened to it by a great teacher or teachers, you might have 1 or more epiphanies caused by the birth or death of loved ones, by illness, by something you read or see or experience.

I really don’t know exactly what it takes —-but I do know that the path to mastery ought to be intentionally pursued (by people like us). The question of what mastery is —and how to make it the fuel that drives your machine (your love, your business, your diet, your training, your reading, your writing, the way you deal with the inevitable conflict in your life, with your children, your loved ones, the problems of others, and your martial arts journey) is the question that ought to be asked at the beginning of each of our actions —maybe at the beginning of each breath. 

If we had a “10” awareness and intent at the beginning of every endeavor, well…I can’t at this time in my life imagine anything more indicative of the kind of mastery I think of when I ask myself, “What is mastery?”

As you may know, I am a “business consultant.”

But I ask myself, “How important is business? How complete is the person who achieves a culturally acknowledged level of ‘success?’ Is there something more valuable to everyone involved, than ‘business?’ And so, as a result, I can’t define myself as a “business” consultant, as that title just doesn’t fit the scope and scale of the work I admire the most, from the people I consider to be “10’s.”

This is why, in part, that The 100. is what it is, looks like what it looks like, and sounds like all that it sounds like. The 100. in the longterm, may not be important to the martial arts industry —or the world. Nevertheless, I have to behave and think and be what it I would be if it was important. I don’t see any other way. What is mastery is what is 10.

I can’t make it simpler than this: Measure your management (and especially your marketing) in quantities of 100.

That is:
 
100 acts of marketing
or
100 posts discussing a topic you intend to dominate or own in your community
or
100 daily efforts in defining and re-defining your school’ curriculum or marketing campaign or black belt testing program or whatever it is that you do that requires more than the occasional effort.

Now note this: I suggest 100 to you, but it should be known that my personal number is 1000. If I really, really want something, I tell myself I will make 1000 attempts. If I am unwilling to give it a 1000 tries, then I have to accept that it is (whatever “it” is) not that important to me.

This is a rule I embrace in my teaching, learning, parenting, marketing, relationship, training, and business development.

Note this too: If and when you ever come to me with failure upon your lips, if you haven’t earnestly tried 100 times, first ——that is, 100 efforts worthy of a high ranking black belt, then you can expect me to be semi-sympathetic, but know that I would also be looking at you and thinking “someone, somewhere along your martial arts path, has failed to teach you what commitment is.”

I believe that most people give up after 3 to 10 whole-hearted, earnest, pedal-to-the-metal attempts. The person who is willing to go at something with a level of commitment that stipulates 100 (intelligent) attempts, rarely (or never) fails to succeed.

If you will measure your marketing effort 100 “acts” at a time, then reassess and begin again, you will start to see results you aren’t currently getting.

The same goes with:

TRAINING STAFF MEMBERS. 100 training sessions.
PENETRATING THE COMMUNITY WHEEL. 100 meetings and involvements.
SERVICE PROJECT. 100 community service projects.

Etc.

This is the best advice you will ever get from me —and, I estimate, worth $100,000 or more over the life of your career.

Tom Callos

www.the100.us