We Made This $𝟭.𝟰 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲

“Someone broke in and robbed the school!”
​
​
That’s the call we got early one Monday morning from our head instructor. 
​
​
​
He was coming in to prepare for classes during the week, and was shocked by what he saw.. 
​
​
​
𝗜𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗼 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. 
​
​
​
​
On the training mat, you should see 2 panes of mirrors were broken, and there was a human sized hole in the wall that led into the other business next door. 
​
​
​
When the police came, the investigator stood with his boots crunching the glass beneath his feet. 
​
​
​
“Was the door unlocked?” he asked the instructor.
​
​
​
“No, it was locked, I had to use the key to get in.”
​
​
​
𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗼𝘁, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀… 
​
​
​
“So how do you think they got in?”
​
​
​
The instructor, blank faced, pointed to the hole in the wall. “Uhmm I’d assume through there.”
​
​
​
The business next door had been vacant for a while, so it was pretty obvious they broke in through that empty unit, and then decided to break through the shared wall. 
​
​
​
This was over a decade ago before we had reliable cameras. 
​
​
​
𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟮 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄… 
​
​
​
1) Why would they break into a martial arts school? 
2) What the hell does this have to do with student retention? 
​
​
​
Well what the robbers knew was that we had 15 pounds of solid gold bars that were made from melting down championship trophies and medals that we had won over the last 20 years. 
​
​
​
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 $𝟭.𝟰 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀, 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸. 
​
​
​
You’re probably thinking… was this an inside job?
​
​
​
No, it’s just a fake story. Well the gold bars part is fake, because anyone that’s gone to a martial arts tournament ​ knows that those aren’t made of solid gold. 
​
​
​
You’re lucky if it’s even real plastic. So if you tried to melt those down, the only thing you would get is black lungs. 
​
​
But the rest of the story is true. 
​
​
​
So what did they steal? 
​
​
​
Honestly, nothing. 
​
​
​
There’s nothing valuable to steal at a martial arts school…
​
​
​
unless you think selling foam swords or t-shirts with our logo on the black market has some high resale value. 
​
​
​
Spoiler alert, they don’t. 
​
​
​
It just created a mess and a couple grand to fix it up.
​
​
​
But now on to question #2, what the HECK does this have to do with retention?
​
​
​
Well, if you get new students every month, and your school isn’t growing every year, then you clearly have a student retention problem. It’s obvious. 
​
​
​
So how do you identify your “hole in the wall” where students are escaping? 
​
​
​
Just like that investigator, the answer is obvious but somehow it’s easy to overlook. 
​
​
​
All you have to do is track quits by belt level. Instead of putting them all in the same bucket as “quits,” instead track by how many months they’ve been training, or which belt level they usually fall off. 
​
​
​
If you see any patterns, THAT is your “hole in the wall,” and that gives you the information you need to fix it. 
​
​
​
Are your students quitting after one year? Maybe the intermediate curriculum is boring, and they need a challenge. 
​
​
​
Are your students quitting after 3 months? Maybe they aren’t getting enough attention or seeing enough progress in the beginning. 
​
​
​
If you figure out where your hole is, you’ll be able to not only help more students achieve black belt, but you’ll also stop stressing so much every month about where your next students are coming from. 
​
​
​
…And you’ll collect more gold bars in your safe. 
​
​
​
𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝗼 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁. 
​