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

“There are Any Number of Reasons NOT to Join The One Hundred —-and for some unknown reason, some character flaw in me, I feel compelled to list some of them here.”

—Tom Callos

DO NOT JOIN THE 100 if: 

• You consider yourself too busy to read the posts here, regardless of their number (If you don’t come here to practice, what’s the use of joining the school?).

• You won’t get your own team involved, so you’re the only conduit into your school for ideas/methods explored here (Your staff get to join for free. If you don’t get them involved, your chances of successfully implementing a lot of the ideas here goes down, Oh, I’d guess about 50%).  

• When you read or watch the work here, you don’t understand you are in-training, that this is the equivalent of a master-level of study, that you can’t get these ideas, at the depth they are delivered here, or in the frequency, anywhere else in the martial arts community (If you don’t get how valuable and special the work is here, go join _______ [name your favorite purveyor of yesterdays ideas and methods here]). 

• Furthermore, you don’t realize that this work is creating an entirely new field of practice and purpose in the industry —and for serious teachers of martial arts. 

• You don’t respect me enough to pay attention —and in that case, my e-mails, the coaching, the messages, and the seemingly un-ending stream of material that comes to you through my effort is an annoyance, an intrusion, something you “can’t keep up with” (Don’t sweat it, I’m just not your teacher. My suggestion: Go find someone you DO respect enough to listen to). 

• You aren’t a person of action. You read a lot, you join, you have every intent of improving your lot, but at the end of each week your “action list” doesn’t reflect the level of involvement that brings about the change you are looking for (You can read 1000 posts here, but if you can’t DO, you’re wasting my time and your money). 

• You play on-line video games, but you don’t have the time to go to a Chamber of Commerce Meeting. You buy coffee at Starbucks, but when you see our tuition price you think you’re over-spending. You make posts on Facebook, but you won’t take 10 minutes to post something that might help others here in the association (I want people who do the work here, not people “paying dues”). 

• You don’t keep (or are unwilling to keep) stats for your business (Which means you will almost never get to the core reasons you’re not making enough income in your school). 

• You’re looking for quick money, a quick “fix,” an easier path, or something that’s “cunningly clever.” This work takes work, it takes intelligence, management skills, and foresight. If you lack self-discipline, you’re going to hate me, so don’t join in the first place.

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.

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.

www.the100.us

I was in a Facebook debate this week about, well, you know how Facebook is; it started one way and went out in various directions after that, but in general, it was a little about students and instructors —and various challenges we all face in doing what we set out to do, excellently and/or effectively.
 
As I was ripping out my incredibly witty and poignant answers to all the various issues, it donned on me that I had failed to tell the people I was engaged with about the philosophy that guides most —if not all —of my decisions about school management and student service:

My guiding principle? It’s not their fault, it’s ours (or, make that “mine.”).

Yes, that’s my foundation for making decisions, for my viewpoint, and for how I go about problem-solving. Students don’t drop out of my classes because they’re lazy, dumb, short-sighted, or unappreciative —-they leave because of my shortcomings, not theirs.

For me, this is the attitude that makes me feel empowered. You see, if you blame people or things that are completely out of your control, then you’re powerless to change them. But if you take blame for the situation, take responsibility for it, then you can change the results you get by taking different action.

Martial arts teachers, like me, have been known for saying things like, “They (students) don’t want to practice ‘real’ martial arts,” which may indeed be the truth. But for me, when I am “thinking clearly, I prefer to feel like there was something I could have done —or could do in the future to change the outcome. I like to think that I could communicate better, be more aware of the warning signs, and/or point out the benefits of long term training better, more thoroughly.

So I almost (when thinking clearly) never blame a student or their parents for dropping out —or blame anything outside of my own actions for a decline in business (short of a tsunami, tornado, or earthquake), I like to think there’s something I can change about myself or my approach. In that way I take responsibility for what happens in my life —rather than giving the power to some person or thing outside of my own control.

The truth is that sometimes people are lazy, but in my own private Idaho, I prefer to carry the weight on my own shoulders.

My painter / artist friend Robert Phelps did this little sketch of me, thank you Robert. He also did this fine portrait of BJ Penn. 

I have some business advice for you (so what’s new?). It’s about your life. 

I’ve come to a place where I now say (and practice the idea that), “My life is my dojo.” It’s a simple concept, yes? 

Well, on that note: “My life is my black belt test.” Which is my way of saying, “Your life is your black belt test.”

Now for your next black belt test, if you were testing “under” me, these would be some of your requirements (let’s say this is for 5th dan or higher). 

You would have to be a practicing martial artist —with a high degree of skill. The physical skills you show would be contingent upon your age, your injuries, and what I would see as your potential. In other words, I’d look at you —and trust me, I would know if you were not really training; and of course, I’d expect you to. 

For example, I’m a 51 year old man, with two hip replacements, a repaired torn Achilles tendon, a lower back equal to the aforementioned injuries, and a list of small injuries, aches, and pains that you don’t really care to hear about (we don’t have the time). Nevertheless, if and when required, I still hit the floor at a fairly high level, considering. I expect you to be able to do the same if you’re younger than I am, and to demonstrate the effect of hard training and very disciplined practice if you’re older.

Anyway, If you’re not really training, you where it around like a jacket.

You should come to your test in the best shape of your life (or something close to it). If you come in overweight due to lack of the self-discipline it requires, you should lose one level of rank rather than gain one. Ouch.

That’s my /your business advice. 

And I would like to suggest that if you became a man or woman on a mission, that intensifying your practice and living the black belt testing lifestyle, 24-7, would have a fairly dramatic affect on your school. I think it would light up your school’s energy. Your students would be invigorated by your quest. Your journey could also fuel your marketing and community involvement. 

If you’re not testing, then you are either forcing it upon someone else or your trying to figure out what kind of marketing plan would get you the most bang for your buck. And do you know what else you’d be doing?

You would be letting your life slip away without fulfilling your potential as a master teacher. Days, weeks, months would go by —and you’ wouldn’t be “testing,” and so there’s no reason to skip that sweet or hit that extra workout or read that book or go to that event. Why? 

Making your life your black belt test means you’re planning on being ready, all the time.  This is what I designed The Ultimate Black Belt Test to represent. My test is my life, my life is my dojo —and I am a martial artist seeking to represent the best ideas that stands for. 

In doing this I help myself, as training and conscientious living is good for me. 

I help my family, as I serve as a role model to them —and when I am healthy, a door opens for them to be healthier too. 

I do it for my students, as if I don’t show them the way of martial arts, who will —and what am I passing down to them?

I do it for my community, to show them what a real Sensei is. 

I do it for the international martial arts community, as it need help. I do it out of respect for the men and woman from the past who have stepped up to show me how it might be done. 

I do it for the world, as it is my duty. 

Now THAT, my friends, is what should be driving your “business” machine. 

Step number 1 of marketing for a martial arts school is to forget anything related to marketing from, Oh say, 1970 to 2010. 

Ok, now you’re 100 light years ahead of the pack.

Step number 2 of marketing is to have a curriculum, a mission, a passion (or series of passions), and an INTENTION that replaces anything we used to call “marketing” (wait, you’ve already forgot that you used to market).

Now you’re 200 light years ahead. 

Now get this: Your job is to show your community what you teach on your mat, by showing them what you’re capable of creating off of the mat. 

Oh, and this: It’s not about you or what YOU can do.

Shoot, and this too: Your primary form of marketing is story telling. 

The only thing you will have left, in the end, are your stories. Your stories are your marketing. 

What are your stories? Where are the stories of your students?

Our story begins here: www.The100.us

Hide Behind Your Billing Service?
 
Should a martial arts teacher lie to or mislead his/her students?
 
A friend of mine wrote me this morning that he’s on his way to some business training sessions, a “boot camp,” hosted by his tuition billing / collection service. He said that there was to be a debate about whether martial arts schools should hide behind their billing service when students come to them asking for help with —or changes in —their tuition rate, or even cancellation of their financial obligation (after signing an agreement [contract] that they would pay for some predetermined period of time).
 
In other words, the debate is about whether a school owner, someone who has a relationship with a student (a customer), should tell the student that he or she cannot adjust the tuition or “let them out of their agreement,” as it’s out of their hands. This requires the school owner to tell the student that the billing service handles all student agreements and tuition issues.

Or, in even simpler language, the debate is about whether a school owner should look right in the eyes of a student and lie.

Should a martial arts master teacher tell a student that the billing is handled by a third party —and so he/she can’t do anything about any change in tuition —or deal with the cancellation of a contract? One prominent martial arts “business” association leader, last year, told a large audience of school owners that to avoid having to cater to students that need financial help with tuition, they should tell the student that their billing service might be able to help them. Then, in the same breath, the speaker told the audience that they should tell their billing service not to negotiate with students, but to collect!

That, my friends, is dishonesty at its finest.

My advice:

NEVER lie to a student. Help your students, as they are your friends, your neighbors, and your brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts.

They’re your “customers” if you value business above compassion and kindness.

Never lie to a student, instead help your students. Help them in any way you can. Trust me, when you lie to people, when you’re hard and inflexible, it comes back to bite you in the behind. When you use love, honesty, compassion, and understanding with your students, especially when they’re struggling, it will serve you for years to come.

There’s no debate in this issue. We are here to set an example for our communities. You CAN run a business and be a master, you just have to act like one.

My apologies, as a representative of the leadership in the international martial arts community, for everyone who sat in that meeting and to every student who has ever had to deal with a billing service or teacher with questionable scruples. We, as an industry, are moving away from the dishonesty and misleading practices of the dance school / health club industries —and moving towards fair, equitable, and sustainable business practices.

To the consumer: Sir, Mam, the owner of a martial arts school has complete authority over all monetary issues pertaining to the school. Most owners are very good people, but if you ever come across a school owner who isn’t straight up with you, write me through www.TomCallos.com.

My colleagues and I are documenting and writing about best practices in the martial arts business world —and your story may help us guide other school owners to embrace better and smarter methods.

Tom Callos

You know what a black belt test is, yes? You’ve had one —or many. You understand that on that day (your black belt test) you are going to be tested —and that your test is going to challenge you.

 
If you do well, you will “pass” to a new level of rank.
 
You know what anger and misunderstanding is, yes? You know what hatred, bitterness, accusation, sarcasm, and cynicism is too, yes?
 
Whenever you have conflict with another human being, right or wrong, you are being tested. It’s not the kind of test that comes every few years; no, it’s a gift given to you often, sometimes every day.
 
In this test, someone behaves poorly. Someone insults you. Someone takes liberties with your sense of self-importance, values, objectives, and/or property.

Someone hurts you in some way.  

In this kind of test, you have chance to tap into a kind of wisdom, emotional maturity, insight, and awareness that represents the clearest of thinking, the most evolved of spirits.

 
Or, you have the opportunity to fail.

To fail is to degrade, to blame, to attack, to demean, to ridicule, to dehumanize, to objectify, to dismiss, to invalidate, to be mean and ugly and angry and bitter and resentful and hateful.

Do you think self-defense is simply the block of the punch, the kick, and the escape from the grab? It is not, although all of that is one small slice of the pie that is self-defense. The most valuable, useful, and relevant kind of self-defense is the kind you get to apply, sometimes every day, to the test of your clarity, your wisdom, your viewpoint, your character, and your education about what mastery is —or is not.

Do not fail to recognize how much more important it is to deal with conflict as a master, than it is to wear the belt that says, “Master.”