MA Business Success 7: 5-Star Solutions in Everyday Business

https://soundcloud.com/tima-38/martial-arts-business-success-7-5-star-solutions-in-everyday-business

Alex: Today we're going to be talking about their five-star principles in everyday business. Sounds like we could all do with a bit of this. Phil, kick it off for me. Phil: Well, look, when we first got into the martial arts business, we identified some areas that we needed to improve on. And this is really how I suppose TIMA came all about as well was, what were the pain points that we needed to fix in order to be a successful business? So to break that down, we have, you know, what is your vision? Because I think what most people do, they get into business and they get caught in the grind. They lose sight of the endgame. And they forget about, what is it going to be like? What's their life going to be like? And they get caught in that grind of the business. Therefore, 10 years down the track, they're still actually in the grind. We also work on our presence, which just helps you to stand out in the marketplace, which is important. We talk about how to have great charisma, both on and off the floor within your business. So that way, we're producing raving fans. We're also talking about the systems that every single business needs to have. And it's important. And one of the benefits that we get out of having a systemized school is giving Graham and myself the ability to step outside of our business, work on it rather than work in it. And last but not least, is that lead. Being able to lead your business. And our analogy is being the captain in the ship, steering it. Being able to foresee the obstacles ahead and then letting your crew know how to handle that. So they really are the five elements of TIMA and the five elements that we feel are so important in business this day and age. Alex: Absolutely. So let's break those down then, Graham. Graham: Yeah, sure. Look, for me personally...especially when we talk about that vision, and when we created and came up with these five key areas...it really helped us identify those, I guess, pain points for us. But also trying to find a solution around that. And again reviewing your vision constantly. Because when you first start your business, you have this grand picture. And as you progress and as you move forward, yeah, you may be accomplishing quite a few goals that you may have set. Or starting to get that vision coming to the foreground. But we really encourage you to always re-challenge yourself. So never just settle for, hey, look, guess what? I got there. Or if you get close to getting there, set a bigger picture. Or review that and see that it actually still serves you. Because initially if you think back to when you were 20, the way you think is very different to when you're 30. And again, when you're 40 and so on and so forth. Same with business. The first year, you're going to have a vision in certain ways than if you're 5 years into it versus 10. So always revisit, especially when it comes to down to setting that goal and what you're looking for in your life. That's really important. Alex: It's very difficult, isn't it, not to get caught up in the grind? Graham: Oh, yes. And people are very, I guess, reactive to a point. They're just day-by-day, week-by-week. Alex: Yeah, firefighting. Graham: Exactly. Exactly. They're spot-checking those issues that may arise. So having that vision will help you stay clear with where you're heading and also not sweat the small stuff. Because at the end of the day, if you lose sight of that vision or you don't review and re-focus, you will be just reacting. Alex: Chasing your tail. Graham: Indeed. Indeed. Phil: What I find also really important...and Graham, we do this regularly...because your vision has to be something, sort of like golfing, I suppose. You have to do it regularly. Because if you leave it too late, then yeah, you get led down a certain road that you don't want to be down. So using your vision, finding out where you want to be. Begin with the end in mind. But also revisiting that, giving yourself that feedback. Are we on path? Are we on track to where we want to be? Maybe it's different and that's okay. But as long as we've got those checkpoints. And it has to be a minimum of every 12 months. You revisit your vision. Find out where your passion is. Where you're driving your ship. Graham: Now Phil sort of mentioned before, the next one in line's that presence. And realistically you've always got to continue to review your vision, yes? But also review your standpoint, what you are in your community. So are you standing out from the crowd? Again, what was three years ago and your presence then may not necessarily be as effective now. So you may need to find different strategies and ways to obviously have your brand very much in the forefront of people's minds. So when they associate a martial arts school or a great place to be, straightaway they're thinking of you and not other people. Alex: You can't afford to stand still in that state, though, can you? Phil: That's right. Graham: Definitely not. Alex: ...diffrent lot coming up behind all the time. Graham: There's always people who are hungry and want to take your business. Because unfortunately it's not that you lose business, someone else will just come in and take it from you. So that's why it's always important to stay current, stay fresh, and make sure that you're not just getting complacent thinking, hey, it worked for me a while ago. Because that's not what's going to happen. Alex: So what kind of things are you implementing to make sure that you're standing out? Phil: I think what you've got to remember is try not to be everything for everyone. What's your niche? Who are you? What's your colors? What's your tagline? What are you about? That really speaks to the clients that you want coming through your door. And I think that's where most businesses in general probably fail. They think, I want all these clients to come through my door. Wehile in actual fact, you're losing clients because you're not specific enough on targeting your actual client base. So important about having that presence is making sure that you're...if you think about it, having five ads of similar businesses right in front of you, which one's going to jump out at you? That's how you stand out. And as I said, you can't be everything to everyone. But if I'm targeting children and parents, then I want a parent to look at my ad and go, "Wow. I love that. I love the tagline, I love the terminology. That's for me." And they just gravitate to that. That for me is what presence's all about, is that gravitational pull towards your business. Alex: Absolutely. Okay, so charisma. That's got to be part of it as well, doesn't it? Graham: Definitely. And it's the underlying energy. It's a challenging one to think, how do I teach charisma? How do I teach that energy, that spark? And there's so many different factors that do that, from the way that the staff will interact when a new person comes through the doors. It's making sure your brand is aligned with the communication that you're obviously presenting. For us at our business, we have a great tagline, Confidence for Life. And we make sure that everything we do is about giving the clients, the students exactly that. And also have really motivated people around you. Because if you've got staff who are not fulfilled in their job role or again, they're tired, they're not really going to be excitable to be around. So it's important to make sure that you have all people in your business singing the same phrases, the same words. They're really trying to be motivated, heading in that same direction. That's really important. Alex: You can't really teach charisma, though, can you? It's something that, you know, somebody's going to walk in your door that you're going to want to employ. Or not want to employ. Graham: Exactly, exactly. Phil: Graham has a great one. And I believe it, but I also think there's a bit of a clause to it as well. So enthusiasm is caught not taught. Well, I believe we have worked out a way to teach it as well. Yeah, but the person who's teaching it still has to have that charisma. So yes, it can be caught, and yes, it's important to be that. But there are steps on how to teach that. And I've just given the example of you, Alex. So let's see, you walked into one of our schools and didn't even know you did. Alex: I know. Exactly. Phil: And the first thing you said is, "Wow. That guy was just like you guys." So we taught him how to be that way. How to really give off the appeal that obviously he's really interested in changing kids' lives. His thing about making a difference in the community is real. And how he presents that, that's the stepping stones that we've been able to teach him to do. Graham: Well, Phil touched on it now, but the next stage in this puzzle is the systems. And that's being able to scale your business so it's not personality-driven by, example for us, the two head guys. If we were trying to do everything, it just wouldn't work. But we've figured out a way to be able to create consistency, but also have standards met. And you can scale those processes. So Phil was great with that. Yes, it's all about attitude and having the right person, but you can also teach them to be able to communicate and obviously share that same passion and vision as what the owners would do. So all about having good systems locked down. Alex: And systems are, as you say, they're scalable, aren't they? Phil: Absolutely. And I think one of the hard thing is for a lot of business owners, especially in martial arts, because they are generally the solo guy in there. They're in there doing the grind, they're teaching day in, day out. They've got to meet the clients, sign them up. They've got to do the marketing. They've got to do everything. Systems generally get left a lot later than they should. And that's why we did what we did and created TIMA, where some of the members that get on board at our Gold Level membership, we pretty much give you access to all our intellectual property on all our systems. Because we know it takes time and it's hard work. So you can pretty much copy and paste all our systems that run our successful three schools and pretty much utilize them in your business straightaway. Alex: And those are systems for what? Give me some examples. Phil: How to take calls, call inquiries. Introductory procedures. Lesson plans, curriculum. You name it about our business, we've put it online for these guys to get access to. Graham: Yeah, the old saying is, "I wish I could clone myself." Well, what we've done is we've managed to take everything that's in our head to do with our business and put them in a digestible format for not only our staff, but also other people who may like to have that one foot up the ladder and not have to do it all themselves. Which is always exciting. Alex: So you've made it easy for them. Graham: Easier, yeah. Yeah. Alex: He's talking about the hard grind. Phil: Yeah, yeah. Graham: Oh, yes. Alex: So the last one. So we're number five. Graham: Sharpen the saw or lead. To be a good owner, manager, you know, and I guess, leader in your industry, you've always got to update and upskill yourself. And it was something I was chatting with Phil about over the weekend is, the best investment you can possibly make and get the best reserve of returns is to invest in yourself. So educating yourself, finding different ways to challenge you, therefore, that'll translate to your business and obviously staff and what not. So constantly sharpen the saw and that's one of the key factors. Alex: What have you done, for example, recently that's sharpened your saw? Phil: Well, you know, we're just consistently updating our skills. And it was even just this weekend that's gone, myself and Graham put together a two-day event called Master Your Destiny. And we had people of all walks of life and in different levels of business, both owners, employees wanting to start a business or just down-and-out in life. And it's just about going into an environment where you can learn and update your skills. And really push past all the fear and limitations that seem to hold people back, you know? Alex: Yes. Phil: Probably what we've found and what we talk about a lot is a lot of the time in life, we get told that we can't, we shouldn't, we won't. And that has a very negative effect on us personally and professionally as well. We try and remove that so that we give the other school owner or the person, whatever it is, the belief that they can do whatever they want. They can be whoever they want in this industry and that field, they just need to believe it. So there's definitely processes and ways that we can bring that out in a person. And for us, we are always going to seminars, we're always updating our skills. We're either on stage teaching it or in the audience listening to it. And it doesn't matter how many of these you can go to. We're always going to pick one thing that we can implement in our business or our life that will make a massive difference. Graham: There's one quick win that I've started to implement. Myself and Phil have always listened to podcasts and always listened to different things in your car. But I've just recently been able to get onto Amazon, get an Amazon account. And there's lots of books that you can actually have that are now put into audiobooks. So Robert Kiyosaki's, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." Things like this that it would take you a while to sit down and read. Some people are like that and they enjoy reading. Personally me, I find it challenging to sit still. [laughter] So if I'm in a car where I have to sit still and I'm driving for 30 minutes, I can continually upskill myself that way. So there's just great ways where you can utilize your time more effectively. And as an owner and as a business owner and manager, or whatever else, leader, it's constantly doing that. So maximize the time you have. Phil: Rolling university. Alex: Absolutely. And actually all those five tips are transferable to so many different businesses, industries, etc. Graham: Really that was the whole idea, is they're the secrets to having a successful business regardless of what industry you're in. Alex: Phil, Graham, sound advice, as always. Thank you very much indeed. Graham: Thank you. Phil: Thank you. Man: You've been listening to the Martial Arts Business Success Podcast. For more information, please visit our website at tima.com.au. Listen to the podcast here: https://soundcloud.com/tima-38/martial-arts-business-success-7-5-star-solutions-in-everyday-business

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