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Every school owner has seen it. A sharp, competitive black belt steps in front of the class, and the kids lose focus while the beginners get lost. Being great at martial arts and being great at teaching it are two different skills.

In this episode, Master Jimmy Hong sits down with Master Tony Chung and Master Philip Jeung to break down what actually makes a great instructor, and how to build one.

What you’ll learn:

• Why curriculum is rarely the problem, and delivery is
• The “eye test” for instructors: character first, skills second, athleticism third
• Why athleticism can be trained, and why it’s on the owner if it isn’t
• How emotional intelligence and John Maxwell’s first three levels of leadership make students stay
• A simple “bridge” communication method for training teen leaders
• How to develop staff without undermining them (and without hiding weaker instructors in the kids’ class)
• A real story of turning a shy, timid instructor into a confident leader parents rave about
  
  

Most martial arts school owners don’t have a marketing problem.

They have an execution problem.

You listen to podcasts. You get inspired. You hear great ideas…
Then Monday hits… you’re back teaching classes, answering messages… and nothing actually changes.

That’s why most schools stay stuck.

Black Belt Banter gives you the thinking.
How to see your school like a real business.
How to identify what’s actually holding you back.
How to stop operating in survival mode.

But thinking alone doesn’t grow your school.

You need the how.

That’s where ASA Live comes in.

ASA Live gives you the exact playbook—
What to say.
What to run.
What numbers to track.
And how to execute step-by-step so you actually get more students and increase revenue.

Black Belt Banter shows you the direction.
ASA Live shows you the path.

And the school owners who use both?

They’re the ones finally breaking through.

Just $97/month to finally execute and grow.

Register at https://asamartialarts.com/live/

Send us Fan Mail

Most school owners think a feeder program exists for one reason: pull those kids into your main location as fast as possible. Master Daniel Osorio built 28 of them and does the opposite.

In this episode, Master Jimmy Hong and Master Tony Chung sit down with Master Daniel Osorio.

Master Daniel runs four martial arts schools and 28 mobile locations across daycares, charter schools, and learning centers in the Miami area. He breaks down exactly how that model works, and why it's grown for years without him ever "stealing" a student.

What you'll learn:

• How Daniel turned one weekly class at a daycare into 28 feeder locations
• Why he refuses to pull feeder program students into his main school, and what that discipline has done for his reputation and instructor relationships
• How feeder programs fund brand new locations for his instructors, so they can open their own school without putting up their own capital
• Why mobile programs act as a buffer that keeps competing franchises from taking over his market
• The number one mistake school owners make when they try to scale a satellite program
• What his headquarters and smaller locations actually look like: square footage, student caps, and staffing

If you're running a single school and wondering how to expand without overextending yourself, this episode gives you a full blueprint.

Check out Daniel's books:

• The Five Tenets of Business: https://www.amazon.com/dp/969499263X
• Different Together: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9LBYKZZ

Want help implementing this in your school? Join us monthly inside ASA Live at asamartialarts.com/live/.

If you got value from this episode, subscribe and leave us a review.

Most martial arts school owners don’t have a marketing problem.

They have an execution problem.

You listen to podcasts. You get inspired. You hear great ideas…
Then Monday hits… you’re back teaching classes, answering messages… and nothing actually changes.

That’s why most schools stay stuck.

Black Belt Banter gives you the thinking.
How to see your school like a real business.
How to identify what’s actually holding you back.
How to stop operating in survival mode.

But thinking alone doesn’t grow your school.

You need the how.

That’s where ASA Live comes in.

ASA Live gives you the exact playbook—
What to say.
What to run.
What numbers to track.
And how to execute step-by-step so you actually get more students and increase revenue.

Black Belt Banter shows you the direction.
ASA Live shows you the path.

And the school owners who use both?

They’re the ones finally breaking through.

Just $97/month to finally execute and grow.

Register at https://asamartialarts.com/live/

Send us Fan Mail

For the first time, real buyers are calling martial arts school owners. Ten years ago this conversation didn't exist. You built your school, you ran it until you couldn't, and that was the whole plan.

Jimmy Hong and Master Chan Lee sit down with the team behind Growth Studios: Guy Amini, Master Ali Ghafour, and Master Tony Kook. Guy spent nearly a decade helping build Dental Corp from 30 clinics to more than 600, taking it public. Now he's applying that same consolidation playbook to martial arts, alongside two operators who have been on the floor for decades.

This one gets specific about what your school is actually worth, why profitable doesn't automatically mean sellable, and what a real succession plan looks like when your kids don't want the school and your head instructor can't afford to buy it.

What we cover:

• Why private equity is suddenly interested in martial arts, and what it actually wants (growth, not just profit)
• How a partnership deal is structured: upfront capital, retained profit share, and a staged exit instead of handing over the keys
• The uncomfortable truth about most schools: they're a job that ends when you stop showing up, not a business someone can buy
• What buyers take over (bookkeeping, payroll, digital marketing) and what stays yours (name, curriculum, staff, local community work)
• Why martial arts schools grow 2 to 3 times faster than dental clinics, and why that makes the industry attractive despite lower multiples
• The fair criticism of private equity, and the questions to ask before you sign with anyone
• How to prepare now, even if you're years away from selling

Guest Bio:

Guy Amini is CEO of Growth Studios and former president of Dental Corp, Canada's largest dental network. Master Tony Kook teaches taekwondo and jujitsu across Vancouver and Toronto with over 2,100 active students and serves as president of the BC Taekwondo Federation. Master Ali Ghafour is a strategic advisor at Growth Studios, a school owner, former Canadian national team member, and founder of 2020 Armor.

Contact Growth Studios:

Website: https://www.growthstudiosgroup.com/
Guy Amini: guy@growthstudiosgroup.com
Master Tony Kook: tony@growthstudiosgroup.com
Master Ali Ghafour: ali@growthstudiosgroup.com

Growth Studios will be at ASA Summit 2026 in person. If you want to have this conversation face to face, that's the place.

Resources Mentioned:

ASA Live — asamartialarts.com/live
ASA Summit 2026 — October 1–3, Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas — asamartialarts.com/summit

You don't have to sell. But you should know what your school is worth.

If you got value from this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another school owner who's never asked the question.

Most martial arts school owners don’t have a marketing problem.

They have an execution problem.

You listen to podcasts. You get inspired. You hear great ideas…
Then Monday hits… you’re back teaching classes, answering messages… and nothing actually changes.

That’s why most schools stay stuck.

Black Belt Banter gives you the thinking.
How to see your school like a real business.
How to identify what’s actually holding you back.
How to stop operating in survival mode.

But thinking alone doesn’t grow your school.

You need the how.

That’s where ASA Live comes in.

ASA Live gives you the exact playbook—
What to say.
What to run.
What numbers to track.
And how to execute step-by-step so you actually get more students and increase revenue.

Black Belt Banter shows you the direction.
ASA Live shows you the path.

And the school owners who use both?

They’re the ones finally breaking through.

Just $97/month to finally execute and grow.

Register at https://asamartialarts.com/live/

Send us Fan Mail

Most schools try to fix retention after a student is already halfway out the door. Sensei Solomon Brenner does it 90 days in advance — with an in-house tournament.

Solomon runs 36 Action Karate locations and hosts two in-house tournaments a year: 1,100 to 1,400 competitors, 19 rings, start to finish in one day. But the real lesson isn't the size. It's that the event drives retention, marketing, and revenue at the same time — and it works just as well with 30 students in your own school.

Jimmy Hong and Master Tony Chung dig into how it actually runs.

What we cover:

• Why your tournament should be built for the 95%, not the 5% who compete on the circuit
• Standardized divisions and why every student runs the same kata
• Assigned ring times so families aren't sitting there all day
• How to train judges and parents so nobody walks out with a bad experience
• Turning tournament season into your curriculum instead of a separate track
• The T-shirt, the medal, the hand stamp — how the day becomes part of a student's identity
• Why "Did you have fun?" beats "How did you do?"
• Running it with two rings and 40 students in your own building

Guest: Sensei Solomon Brenner, founder of Action Karate — 36 locations, 30 years, 50,000+ families served. Speaking at the ASA Summit in Las Vegas, October 1–3.

Resources:
Compete123 — Solomon's tournament software, built for parents and judges instead of points and rankings: www.compete123.com

ASA Summit, October 1–3, Las Vegas: https://asamartialarts.com/summit/

If this gave you something to run at your school, share it with another owner. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

Most martial arts school owners don’t have a marketing problem.

They have an execution problem.

You listen to podcasts. You get inspired. You hear great ideas…
Then Monday hits… you’re back teaching classes, answering messages… and nothing actually changes.

That’s why most schools stay stuck.

Black Belt Banter gives you the thinking.
How to see your school like a real business.
How to identify what’s actually holding you back.
How to stop operating in survival mode.

But thinking alone doesn’t grow your school.

You need the how.

That’s where ASA Live comes in.

ASA Live gives you the exact playbook—
What to say.
What to run.
What numbers to track.
And how to execute step-by-step so you actually get more students and increase revenue.

Black Belt Banter shows you the direction.
ASA Live shows you the path.

And the school owners who use both?

They’re the ones finally breaking through.

Just $97/month to finally execute and grow.

Register at https://asamartialarts.com/live/

Send us Fan Mail

The schools growing the fastest aren't doing anything you couldn't do. They're just surrounded by people who already figured it out.

In this episode, we get into why your network is the single biggest predictor of how fast your school grows — and why so many owners stay stuck trying to figure it out alone. We cover how to find people actually worth learning from, why the same owners show up at seminars year after year and never change, and what it really costs you to stop learning.

In this episode:

• Why your circle sets the ceiling on your growth
• How to tell who's worth learning from and who's just repeating what they read
• The gap between attending seminars and actually implementing
• How to approach owners operating above your level without wasting their time
• Building a network when there are no schools near you
• What isolation actually costs over five years

If your circle hasn't changed in five years, that's your answer on why your school hasn't either.

Want to build that network in one weekend? Come to ASA Summit 2026.

October 1–3, 2026 · Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas · $449 Early AccessThis is the final ASA Summit in Las Vegas.

Three days with operators who actually run successful schools — Clinton Oh on scaling to 75 schools, Sensei Solomon Brenner on the team system behind 36 schools, Master Chan Lee on the 450-member dojang that runs itself, Master Tony Chung on going 0 to 300 members in six months. Plus certifications, breakout sessions, the golf tournament, and the networking that makes the whole thing worth it.

Details and registration: https://asamartialarts.com/summit/

Most martial arts school owners don’t have a marketing problem.

They have an execution problem.

You listen to podcasts. You get inspired. You hear great ideas…
Then Monday hits… you’re back teaching classes, answering messages… and nothing actually changes.

That’s why most schools stay stuck.

Black Belt Banter gives you the thinking.
How to see your school like a real business.
How to identify what’s actually holding you back.
How to stop operating in survival mode.

But thinking alone doesn’t grow your school.

You need the how.

That’s where ASA Live comes in.

ASA Live gives you the exact playbook—
What to say.
What to run.
What numbers to track.
And how to execute step-by-step so you actually get more students and increase revenue.

Black Belt Banter shows you the direction.
ASA Live shows you the path.

And the school owners who use both?

They’re the ones finally breaking through.

Just $97/month to finally execute and grow.

Register at https://asamartialarts.com/live/

Send us Fan Mail

Staff Development: The Key to Creating the Life and Dojang You Want

Episode Summary:
Master Pamela Sroka, co-owner of World Class Taekwondo in San Jose (two locations, 1,100+ students), breaks down how she built a leadership pipeline that runs her schools without her doing everything herself. If you've ever felt like your school can't run without you, this one will change that.

Key Takeaways:

• Spot leadership potential at white belt, not black belt — instructors track attitude and personality from day one.
• The pipeline: junior leader (11–12) → volunteer instructor → paid instructor at 14, with weekly paid staff meetings.
• Run on "high expectations, high support" — accountability and care at the same time.
• Culture fit beats outside hires. Candidates should already be 80–90% aligned with your values before you hire.
• Simpler wins: dropping long-term contracts for month-to-month didn't hurt retention — and freed staff to build relationships instead of chasing renewals.

Guest Bio:
Pamela Sroka is co-owner of World Class Taekwondo in San Jose, CA. She started training under Grandmaster Chong at age eight and has built a two-location school that runs on the leadership team she's developed, not on her being there every day.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

https://asamartialarts.com/summit/

ASA Summit — Oct 1–3, Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood. Master Sroka is a speaker on this exact topic.

Most martial arts school owners don’t have a marketing problem.

They have an execution problem.

You listen to podcasts. You get inspired. You hear great ideas…
Then Monday hits… you’re back teaching classes, answering messages… and nothing actually changes.

That’s why most schools stay stuck.

Black Belt Banter gives you the thinking.
How to see your school like a real business.
How to identify what’s actually holding you back.
How to stop operating in survival mode.

But thinking alone doesn’t grow your school.

You need the how.

That’s where ASA Live comes in.

ASA Live gives you the exact playbook—
What to say.
What to run.
What numbers to track.
And how to execute step-by-step so you actually get more students and increase revenue.

Black Belt Banter shows you the direction.
ASA Live shows you the path.

And the school owners who use both?

They’re the ones finally breaking through.

Just $97/month to finally execute and grow.

Register at https://asamartialarts.com/live/

Send us Fan Mail

Master Jimmy Hong and Master Chan Lee sit down with Master Clinton Oh — founder of My Manager and the man behind a 75-school taekwondo empire — to break down why most school management software falls short and what a true all-in-one system actually looks like. This episode also marks the announcement of ASA Martial Arts' exclusive partnership with My Manager.

Key Takeaways:

• Scaling to 75 locations came down to building simple, flexible curriculum paired with automated systems that enforce consistency without micromanaging instructors
• Most school management platforms are "antiquated" — owners end up stacking a CRM, a lead pipeline tool, and a student management system just to cover the basics
• My Manager consolidates software, payment processing, and hardware (POS terminals, kiosks) into one system, so schools stop paying for five different tools
• Processing fees are often quietly inflated over time — get your statement analyzed rather than assuming your rate is fair
• Built-in AI pipelines (leads, birthday parties, follow-ups) automate the exact tasks that fall through the cracks when front desk staff get busy
• Pricing runs $199–$499/month depending on features, and most schools recover the cost through processing fee savings alone
• Onboarding is fast — core data transfers in a couple of days, with AI handling much of the migration

Guest Bio:
Master Clinton Oh is the founder of Champions Taekwondo (75 schools), My Manager, and Next Level Media. A growth architect and business consultant, he's built over 100 strategic partnerships and led multiple successful exits. He also runs Operation Child Rescue, a nonprofit partnering with Tony Robbins on a worldwide "breakathon" to fight child hunger.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

• My Manager — https://asa.mymanager.com/register
• ASA Live — https://asamartialarts.com/live/
• ASA Summit registration — https://asamartialarts.com/summit/

If you're stuck with clunky software, missed follow-ups, or manual processes that should be automated — this is your sign to make one last switch. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with a school owner who's still juggling five different tools.

Most martial arts school owners don’t have a marketing problem.

They have an execution problem.

You listen to podcasts. You get inspired. You hear great ideas…
Then Monday hits… you’re back teaching classes, answering messages… and nothing actually changes.

That’s why most schools stay stuck.

Black Belt Banter gives you the thinking.
How to see your school like a real business.
How to identify what’s actually holding you back.
How to stop operating in survival mode.

But thinking alone doesn’t grow your school.

You need the how.

That’s where ASA Live comes in.

ASA Live gives you the exact playbook—
What to say.
What to run.
What numbers to track.
And how to execute step-by-step so you actually get more students and increase revenue.

Black Belt Banter shows you the direction.
ASA Live shows you the path.

And the school owners who use both?

They’re the ones finally breaking through.

Just $97/month to finally execute and grow.

Register at https://asamartialarts.com/live/

Send us Fan Mail

Most martial arts school owners are leaving thousands of dollars on the table every single month — not because they're spending wrong, but because they're not getting anything back for what they're already spending.

In this episode, Jimmy Hong and Master Jay Lee sit down with Pat Morgan — entrepreneur, restaurateur, commercial real estate investor, and ASA founding member — for a deep dive into credit card rewards strategy built specifically for business owners.

Pat has taken zero-cost vacations for 25 years. Business class to Japan. Hotels, flights, car rentals — all on points. And the system he uses isn't complicated. It just requires intentionality.

In this episode:

• Why a debit card is the worst financial tool in your wallet
• The difference between booking through a travel portal vs. transferring to airline partners (and why it matters — a lot)
• How to earn 100,000+ points just from expenses you're already making
• The Chase 5/24 rule and how to work around it
• Southwest companion pass strategy — how to fly your spouse free for two years
• Cell phone protection and rental car insurance you're probably already paying for twice
• Cash back vs. travel rewards — which one wins for school owners
• The two cards every martial arts school owner should open first

If your school spends $10,000 to $30,000 a month on operations, this episode will change how you look at every single purchase.

Want personalized guidance? Pat Morgan helps people build a game plan based on their specific spending habits and travel goals. If you want to know which cards make the most sense for your school, reach out to him directly at pjmmail23@yahoo.com. He genuinely enjoys helping people get started.

If you're ready to apply for the two cards Pat recommends most for school owners, use his referral links below:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred: https://www.referyourchasecard.com/19w/LKVP9NZPPK
• Chase Ink Business Preferred: https://www.referyourchasecard.com/21f/PGLMWFPBYU

Most martial arts school owners don’t have a marketing problem.

They have an execution problem.

You listen to podcasts. You get inspired. You hear great ideas…
Then Monday hits… you’re back teaching classes, answering messages… and nothing actually changes.

That’s why most schools stay stuck.

Black Belt Banter gives you the thinking.
How to see your school like a real business.
How to identify what’s actually holding you back.
How to stop operating in survival mode.

But thinking alone doesn’t grow your school.

You need the how.

That’s where ASA Live comes in.

ASA Live gives you the exact playbook—
What to say.
What to run.
What numbers to track.
And how to execute step-by-step so you actually get more students and increase revenue.

Black Belt Banter shows you the direction.
ASA Live shows you the path.

And the school owners who use both?

They’re the ones finally breaking through.

Just $97/month to finally execute and grow.

Register at https://asamartialarts.com/live/