What would it take to change the face of your school? What you be required to make you proper in this bad economy? Keep reading I have some good news for you.

I was recently talking with a local martial art school owner. He is new to the business, but has been in the art most of his life. He is becoming very frustrated with the way things are. He is paying a lot of money out each month for his lease, and business is as of yet, just not covering the costs.We talked at length for about 1/2 hour. Here are some of the errors he is committing right now...

• He is too cheap! If you prices are low, you attract people with low incomes, those with the least stable job situations.
• Bad marketing. He is going for FLASH not content.
• No internal marketing.
• Does not know the area his school is in (Demographic, Psychographics etc)
• Trying to be everything to everyone.
• Is now subleasing to help pay the bills.

The first thing that we talked about was what he needed numbers wise to go over the top. In an area with 30,000 people in it, even in a bad economy about 9000-10000 still qualify for your program! This is low balling too. Would 50 new students change your business. You better believe it, especially if you increase your price.

Here is how he can fix the problems he has.

• Raise the rates. You will lose some, but those who stay will be paying more, which will offset the ones who leave. You will likely be ahead on cash, with fewer students to worry about.
• Stop the image marketing. Put out black and white fliers with lots of content. If you can't afford to have them delivered do it yourself, or have students help. 
• Market to your current members. Hold events that students can bring friends too. Look for family add-ons.
• Learn everything you can about the neighborhood you are in! Attend local events, charities etc. Know who your market is!
• Focus in one area. If you want to teach kids, focus your marketing on that! (read The Path)
• If you can't afford the building you are in try to get out! Don't bring other martial arts schools in. You will end up in trouble in the long run!

Keep positive and focused and you will not only survive these BAD times, but prosper also!

Can we Learn From History?

If you look at the economic troubles our country and world is facing, then look back in history you will see that it is the same thing, over and over and over again. Do we ever learn from history? 

If you watch CNN you will hear economist and experts talk about the panic in the market that has caused the great collapse of 2008. Is this what has really happened, or is it just another attempt to get better ratings by the media once again. So what has really happened? It is not a panic, it is simple that the post war generation or "baby boomers' have stopped consuming on the scale they once did. Why? Because they are growing old and retiring, simple enough. Should the economists and 'experts' seen this coming? YES, I did!! and I am no expert!

Since the problem was obvious and we should have seen it coming (seems to happen really bad every 80 years, but minor blips every 10 or so) it would have been simple to solve.  Quit doing things that don't work! Always keep track of WHO your target market is and how it is CHANGING. (Someone tell Wagner this eh!)

So, how do you save your business from disaster? First keep track of who your market is, and how it is changing! (I said this twice for a reason) Remember that the population around your school gets older every day! Then market to this TARGET audience, and stop marketing to those who are no longer your profile customer.Is this hard? No harder than suffering from business failure and poverty?

Remember Albert Einstein's definition of INSANITY - Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Let's LEARN from History for a change....