The Way of The Typewriter

Evolve or Die?

Businesses and industries change. There’s nothing earth-shattering about that statement. However, sometimes the world changes around businesses, and unless they adapt to the changing business climate, they can easily go the way of the typewriter.

Once hailed as the most revolutionary technological innovation to come along since the Gutenberg press, you’d be hard-pressed to find one in any retail store outside of an antiques shop or junk store these days. IBM, at one time counted among the largest manufacturers of typewriters, finally sold it’s typewriter division to Lexmark in 1990 (and what the heck they wanted with it is anyone’s guess).

Yet, even though the typewriter itself has gone the way of the dodo bird, you can still see the evolution of typewriter technology in virtually every home and office these days. QWERTY keyboards are still used as a primary user interface device for most desktop and many hand held computing devices, thanks in large part to the technology being popularized by the typewriter.

The Obvious Correlation to the Martial Arts…

So, what’s that have to do with the martial arts industry?

Even though IBM seems to have weathered the changes in in their industry rather well, many other companies who were heavily invested in the typewriter industry failed to survive the technological revolution brought on by the personal computer.

Over the last decade or so we’ve seen a similar technological revolution taking place in the world of communication… and another sweeping change that’s hit in the last three years in the world of finance and banking. These changes are having a direct and dramatic effect not just on the way that martial arts schools are doing business, but on the entire small business industry as a whole.

In light of this, it’s imperative that school owners are able to recognize and track social and economic trends in order to navigate the sweeping changes that will take place in the coming months and years.

Now, before some of you fly off the handle and go haywire, I am NOT saying that teaching martial arts (traditional, modern, or otherwise) is an outdated service. What I AM saying is that the majority of martial arts schools are stuck in the 80’s and early 90’s when it comes to their business and marketing strategies.

And, while some business and marketing strategies will remain viable and relevant in these changing times, others will, necessarily, go the way of the typewriter (and soon, perhaps the way of the print newspaper as well).

Those businesses who continue to cling to these outdated strategies and pine for the glory days of the last century will fade away into decline (a.k.a. “shut down”, “go out of business”, “close their doors”, “enter extinction” – am I making myself clear here?).

An Opportunity For You to Learn How To Adapt and Thrive in Changing Times

On August 14th, 15th, and 16th I’ll be holding a seminar for 20 martial arts instructors in Austin, Texas that will address exactly these topics. We’ll be examining trends that are affecting martial arts schools, evaluating the impact of each, and then I’ll be providing the attendees with specific marketing tools and add-on systems designed to deal with these challenges that can be immediately implemented upon their return home from the seminar.

While I necessarily will not go into specific detail on the exact nature of the material I will cover, I will tell you that the 20 lucky instructors who attend the seminar will receive complete and integrated business systems and curriculum to follow. This information will allow them to adapt to changing economic conditions by focusing their businesses on activities and markets that offer the highest return on time and money invested.

This will be the first of several of these training seminars I will hold; however, this particular seminar date will be the only one I will be offering absolutely free of charge for certain of my past and current customers.

The only requirement for attending is that you are either a current Starting-A-Martial-Arts-School.com member, or that you have purchased and read my Small Dojo Big Profits manual (Note: Proof of purchase will be required). However, there are only 20 seats available for this seminar.

What You Need To Do To Attend

So far, I’ve only allowed my coaching site members to register, in order to provide them with the first opportunity to attend. But, on Thursday morning (June 25th) at 8:00 AM central time I’ll be opening registration up to my other customers to fill whatever spots remain for the seminar.

If you’d like to get a spot, keep your eyes peeled on Thursday morning at 8 AM central time on the home page of this site. Once you hit the page, refresh your browser and look at the navigation bar at the top of the page. You’ll see a link at that time that says “Event Registration” – click it and you’ll be taken to the page where you can register and reserve a seat for the seminar.

Once I hit capacity, the link will be removed from the site and no more free seats will be made available for this training, ever.

Good luck, and I hope to see you in Austin on August 14-16.

– Mike Massie