If you are looking at this website I would be assuming you are running a commercial martial arts school, or thinking about running one. So what am I going to ask you to think about is what are you teaching? Now I know my comment here are going to raise the hair on the back of some necks, but I encourage you to read on with an open mind.

Do you remember the kick boxing craze of the late 90's? How about Yoga? When these crazes hit, many school owner jumped on the bandwagon and made some money, in the short term. When the craze died most ended up losing and some lost everything. Does everyone recall the big Grace Jujitsu BOOM...? Many school owner changed what they were doing and went to ground fighting because of the amazing success of the Gracie's (Brilliant marketers by the way). Many, many, many lost all or most of their students and eventually their schools, homes etc. They jumped on the Gracie Band wagon. (Read on I am not knocking Gracie Jujitsu).

The current buzzword in the martial arts is MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and school owners are jumping on this band wagon believing that fortune and prosperity lie around the corner. I guess we don't learn from our mistakes.

Now lets talk again about the Gracie's. Do you think that they ever held TaeBo classes in their school to make a few bucks? No, they believed in what they taught, knew who their market was and went for it! Today Gracie Jujitsu is an established empire. Only the true Gracie people survived with any success, because they knew what they needed to do.

So I ask again, what are you teaching? To be successful you must know. It does not matter what you call it, what style it is, only that your vision of it is clear. My primary root are is Hapkido. I have studied about 4 other arts as well. What I teach is a combination of these styles. If someone asks me what I teach I say Hapkido (Prospective Students), most people never ask and I don't tell them.

My advice and purpose of this article? If you are one of those people (and I was one once) who promotes and advertises teaching 'this, that and the other thing', STOP RIGHT NOW.  Focus on your students, teaching what you know without really talking about it (remember managed disclosure). Call it something if you want (martial arts, karate, kung fu) but leave the details for your long time STUDENTS, not your prospects.

Now for a moment let's look at MMA. Many people will make a lot of money with MMA, most are going to lose their butts, especially if you are not a seasoned RING fighter. If you are qualified MMA, makes something good for the side, for interested long time students. If you are teaching Goju and decide to add MMA to your curriculum you will find yourself in trouble at some point. FOCUS on what you do, and do it better than anyone else in your area. Mixed Martial Arts is not a marketing widget.

I have talked with friends about MMA for kids, my advice is stay clear! The reason for getting kids into martial arts is for discipline, not combat. Leave MMA for the adults who want to channel their energy into combative sports.

Focus for 2009 and you will prosper!