Black Belt Business Newsletter

3 Min Black Belt Business Newsletter

Do you run a martial arts school of any style? Get insights from the top 1% of martial arts biz owners that you can use to get more students, keep more students, and grow your team to create your dream business. 3 days a week, 3 min read, no fluff, all strategy.

Tags: team building

Showing 12 results:

What’s Better, Hiring From Inside vs Outside?

“Should I promote a student... or hire from the outside?” This is a question I get from almost every school owner when they start building their team. We’ve done both in our schools. And here’s how I like to think about it: 👉 Hiring from the inside is like training a homegrown patriotic sol...

by Matthew Brenner — Jun 13, 2025 hiring team building

Stop Just “Correcting” Students, Try This Instead..

If you read last week’s newsletter, we talked about PCP (praise challenge praise). It’s like the Golden Rule of instructor feedback, Praise the effort, give a correction, praise again. But today I want to introduce you to a new version I like even more. If Praise-Correct-Praise is a fli...

by Matthew Brenner — May 09, 2025 staff training team building

This 5-Second Instructor Hack Makes Students Actually Listen

Let’s talk about PCP... No, not the drug that was popular in the 80’s. I’m talking about the Praise–Correct–Praise method. It’s one of the simplest, most effective communication strategies you can teach your instructors, whether they’re working with white belts or black belts… or just strug...

by Matthew Brenner — May 02, 2025 team building

The 10-Second Rule That Turns Awkward Instructors Into All-Stars

Ever see one of your assistant instructors just… standing there? Like they’re trying to solve the meaning of life while a student next to them is doing a side kick that looks more like they are trying to relieve a gi pant wedgie? Meanwhile, you look at the student’s parent, and their arms are...

by matthew brenner — Apr 25, 2025 team building team training

How To Train A Team Of Instructors That Are BETTER Than You

Do you want a team of instructors that can teach just as well, if not better, than you? Here’s what I’ve learned working in a top 1% martial arts organization that develops over 200 instructors across multiple locations every year. I’ve seen school owners run instructor training programs w...

by Matthew Brenner — Apr 11, 2025 team building team training

How Much Money Should Martial Arts Schools Make? 💰

I know it can feel taboo to talk about numbers when it comes to martial arts schools, and I know there is going to be a bunch of “McDojo” comments, but this is important. If you want to teach martial arts solely for the love of it, without making a cereer out of it, you can stop reading here. Thi...

Mar 21, 2025 money revenue team building

Why treating your employees "like family" can hurt your business

Success leaves clues, and one of the most successful companies today is Netflix, worth an estimated $400B. I don’t know about you, but my martial arts schools aren’t worth that. So I look for people who are WAY ahead of me to see what I can learn from them. If you’ve ever read No Rules Rules...

Mar 21, 2025 culture netflix team building

How One DM Turned Into 108K Views + 47 Adult Student Leads

Ever heard of the Law of the Lid? It’s a simple but powerful concept from leadership expert John Maxwell. The idea? Your team will never grow past your own level of leadership. If you’re a level 7 leader, your team will cap out at a 7. If you raise your leadership to a 9, suddenly, your team h...

Feb 28, 2025 news stephan strategicpartnership team building

The Silent Killer of Martial Arts Schools 💀

If you don’t want your school to die a slow, painful death, listen up. Six months ago, I was on the phone with a school owner who was struggling financially. She was venting: 📌 “The leads are so flaky these days.”📌 “Parents let their kids quit too easily.”📌 “My instructors just can’t do it lik...

Feb 21, 2025 energy silent killer team building

We Got Sued For $40,000… Here’s What Happened and How You Can Protect Your School

If you don’t train your team on this, you could end up in court. Here’s a tough story that taught us a hard lesson. Samantha had only been training for a couple of months.“I play competitive soccer—I’ll be fine,” she said confidently as she lined up to try a flying side kick. The instructo...

Feb 07, 2025 incident report legal team building

How To Run Your Martial Arts School Like The NFL

Do you ever catch your assigning tasks haphazardly to your team, not sure who should do what? This newsletter is here to give you clarity! And we’re going to learn from a MUCH bigger industry, the NFL. When you think about the best teams in the NFL (yes, I’m talking about the Philadelp...

Jan 31, 2025 head instructor nfl program director team building

Why Your Instructors Keep Leaving

Have you ever heard of Howard Hill?He was a legendary archer in the 1930s, known as the “World’s Greatest Archer.”Not only could he hit a bullseye nearly every time, but he could also split an arrow he'd already shot. That’s how skilled he was. But I bet you could beat Howard in a competition. ...

Jan 24, 2025 goal setting staff development team building

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