The Next Revolution In Martial Arts Schools!

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WALMART

STORES

By Scott Shaw

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M

artial arts schools have enjoyed much of their studentenrollment explosions from the

widespread

visibility

we get from movies and TV

shows. Apart from these spikes in interest, you have to market hard and consistently to keep the phones ringin’ and the doors swingin’. But what if your front door was just ten feet away from the checkout lines of the world’s biggest retailer, with thousands of potential students flowing past your school every single day? Led by Cody Pepper and his businesssavvy partners, Frank Silverman and Michael Metzger, a new franchise has been created to bring martial arts training

to

more

people than most school owners ever thought

possible.

Where? Inside WalMart Superstores!!!

Cody Pepper, an owner of four successful martial arts schools in Oklahoma, was at his local Wal-Mart one night a few years ago at 3:00 a.m. His son was sick and he needed to get some medicine. As he stood in line looking around, he noticed that, even at this hour of the night, the store had numerous customers. At that very instant, he had an epiphany — a Eureka moment. With its massive number of customers and propensity for drawing people from all walks of life, Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in America, would be the perfect place to locate a martial art studio. After 18 months of dedicated work, the dream became a reality. Enter, The Center Martial Art Academy in El Reno, Oklahoma, the first Wal-Mart location in our industry’s history. When he opened in El Reno, there was no guarantee of success with just one location, Pepper says. So, following its launch, Pepper sought out partners who could take the concept to the next level. Enter Frank Silverman and Mike Metzger, successful school owners in Orlando, Florida. These partners, combined with a $500,000 the backing of financial investors Avalon Park Group, were able to take the concept into the major leagues.

The Big-Business Model Every commercial school owner can immediately see how schools located inside the walls of the local Wal-Mart are a perfect way to introduce martial arts to the masses like never before. Pepper and

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his partners’ big-picture business plan is now a franchise blueprint for huge future expansion of the martial arts in America. It’s backed up with an astute set of marketing statistics and a precise curriculum designed to make every qualified franchisee’s goal of owning a successful martial arts school a reality. Using statistics and seasoned martial arts business knowledge, The Center Martial Arts team understood that only a very small percent of the U.S. population actively studies the martial arts. They also knew that martial arts school owners fiercely compete against each other to get as many of those two to three percent of people as possible. “If what you’re doing is opening up multiple schools just to keep fighting for that two to three percent, that is not The Center’s objective,” Pepper explains. “Our objective is not to get rich. The objective, when we got into this Wal-Mart arrangement, was to change the world! I know how martial arts can impact people and I wanted to get this knowledge out there to as many people as possible.” As Pepper’s partner, Mike Metzger explains his interest in the Wal-Mart model. He starts with the fact that 98% of the American population is not training in the martial arts right now. So he asked himself, “How can we reach this 98% of the market?” He also pondered the three primary things that keep people from training in the martial arts: 1. It costs too much. 2. It isn’t convenient.

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3. They have bad information, causing them to think they don’t want to train. “With this in mind,” Metzger says, “the goal became, ‘How can we provide a service that’s affordable and at a location that’s convenient? And finally, how can we educate them in a way that makes them realize martial arts is something that’s really good for you?’” Together, Pepper and his partners created a system that not only would be an extremely profitable business model, but would also be about 50% less than the normal startup costs for a regular martial arts school.

Taking Martial Arts to the Masses Opening a martial arts school at the massive retail chain was an extraordinarily difficult task. It not only took dedicated work and meticulous proposals to open the first local Wal-Mart store, but numerous trips to the retailer’s national headquarters as well. It is not like you just call up Wal-Mart and ask to open up a school in a store. The Center team first had to sell WalMart on martial arts and that such a concept would drive traffic to the stores. To do this, they created what they consider the best-of-the-best of the modern martial arts. They put together a program that would, first of all, satisfy Wal-Mart’s stringent criteria. Secondly, it would meet the needs of the potential masses of American students that would sign up

With its massive amount of customers and propensity for drawing people from all walks of life, Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in America, would be the perfect place to locate a martial arts studio. After 18 months of dedicated work, the dream became a reality. Enter, The Center Martial Art Academy in El Reno, Oklahoma, the first Wal-Mart location in our industry’s history.

”

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for classes. Finally, it would provide franchisees with a complete commercial system for setting up a Wal-Martbased school. They hit on all cylinders after opening the original store location. The team was able to demonstrate that the program was viable and that the corporate leadership was strong, both financially and businesswise. Then, they worked for months on a Master Lease with Wal-Mart. Since that time, they have opened seven locations in various states. Through the Master Lease, they have the right to franchise the concept in

other Wal-Marts throughout the country. In fact, as a sign of Wal-Mart’s affinity for the concept, The Center team has been presented with the opportunity to roll out hundreds of other locations.

The Fine Details THE INSTRUCTOR.

The Center Martial Art Academy is a franchise-based organization. The instructor base will be made up of martial arts professionals who wish to become a part of the expanding Center organization. “We really want to pull instructors from the same city or town where the store is located,” Pepper explains. “Even though we are a franchise-based organization, we want them to be local businesses. We want community members helping their community. “The best way to do that is to find someone who is already a member of the community,” he says. “That way, he or she possesses an understanding of the ins and outs of that area. From this, they truly understand their student body and can provide them with the type of training they need and deserve.

THE SYSTEM.

The Center’s curriculum is based on a very refined system of martial arts training. Pepper and his partners did not want any of the schools to be based upon the personality of the school owner or any single system of traditional martial arts. Instead, they want their instructors (to teach the students the best of what the martial arts has to offer. All of the instructors are black belts. Early on, Pepper admits, they

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experimented with having a non-black belt lead the classes. But now, they’ve learned that, as with any school, martial arts experience is key. “Our schools can’t be about one person; ours have to be about an idea,” Pepper explains. “So we developed a curriculum, but not with just one style of martial arts. We went to people like [retired world kickboxing champion] Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace and he developed our kickboxing curriculum. We went to [prominent MMA trainer] Ricardo Liborio and he created our grappling instruction. Then we went to [Sideswipe performance team founder] Matt Mullins and he developed our martial arts performance curriculum. “We went to, arguably, the best instructors in their field and they developed, as a partner with us, the curriculum to be taught in these centers,” says Pepper. “We did this so that the program wasn’t [limited exclusively to] a style. With this, it stops being about the individual and starts being about the idea in particular and the martial arts in general.”

THE LOCATION. The Center Martial Art Academies are located near the front of the Wal-Mart stores. “When you’re at the checkout counter and you’re looking at the bank or nail salon at the front of the store, that’s where we are,” explains Pepper. “This way, every single person who shops at Wal-Mart sees us.”

THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE. The median size of the existing seven Wal-Mart-based schools is 850 square feet.

Together, Pepper and his partners created a system that not only would be an extremely profitable business model, but would also be about 50% less than the normal startup costs for a regular martial arts school.

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DON ’T CO M E TO MY TOWN!

By Cody Pepper

“Don’t come to my town” is the typical initial response

and, in a small town, there aren’t many ways of getting

I get from other martial arts school owners when I tell

the population all together to effectively communicate

them about setting up schools in Wal-Mart Superstores.

one’s message.

The name Wal-Mart typically invokes an instinctive fear

Our location in the Wal-Mart allowed us to see over

in people, causing them to think that we’re going to try

95% of the local population on a monthly basis. We were

to squeeze out the local schools when, actually, it is just

able to communicate to them some of the major benefits

the opposite.

of training in martial arts. And by doing this, some new

Just recently, I was at a martial arts event where this

students wanted to train with us, while others wanted a

exact statement was made to me. In response, I decided

more traditional setting. This allowed all martial arts in

to share the following story with the school owner who

our area to grow.

made the statement.

Second, I believe we applied the right amount of pres-

We [The Center Martial Art Academy] opened our first

sure on the other dojo in a way that was motivational.

school in a Wal-Mart store in El Reno, Oklahoma. This

According to Newton’s First Law, “An object at rest stays

is a town of just over 15,000 that had just one karate

at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the

school in it. I was told by some students in this town that

same speed and in the same direction, unless acted upon

the school had been at the 30- to 40-student range for

by an unbalanced force.” In this case, we served as the

a couple years. In just five weeks after opening our Wal-

unbalanced force. I believe we motivated the existing

Mart-based school, we had 200 active students.

school owner — through either fear or fondness, which

We received several visits from the owner and his

one I do not know — to behave differently than he had

instructors from the local dojo “checking us out.” I under-

previously. In other words, we elevated him from a

stand why, too. The fear of the unknown is a very powerful

place of complacency to a position of action. Now, my

thing. Uncertainty can cause so much stress. When we

assessment is purely speculative, but I believe it is fairly

came into this small town, we created uncertainty for

sound nonetheless.

that local school. What actually happened, though, was amazing.

As soon as I tell this little story about our first location, the second statement from a critic is usually, “How can

Within the first six months, that local dojo had grown

I get one?” The change of heart is not because people are

by more than double, according to students and former

so easily swayed, but rather that a little education goes a

instructors. What caused this? I believe two things were

long way. Just like a student who, at first, doesn’t want to

the cause of this sudden and uncharacteristic growth.

have anything to do with martial arts, but eventually joins

First, I believe we had a major hand in creating martial

and becomes your most staunch supporter.

arts awareness in the community. Our goal is to build the

Our company has the primary objective to improve

industry, not just one school or one company. Marketing is

the communities we are a part of through black belt

one of the hardest things to do effectively in our industry

training, not just at our schools but through the industry as a whole.

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“We figured out how to open studios as small as 570 square feet,” Pepper points out. “495 square feet is the typical size of other Wal-Martbased businesses.” The smaller size certainly isn’t a disadvantage when you consider the incredible flow of traffic flowing past their schools. Only a glass wall separates The Center’s classes from Wal-Mart customers, which means that all passersby can clearly see the type of training that’s taking place and may become drawn to it without a word ever being spoken. “We have a fully open policy,” says Pepper. “We try not to even have doors in most of our stores, because we want people to know that we have nothing to hide. We don’t have an office either, because we don’t want to do sales in an office. We want everyone to hear and see what we do. We are fully transparent. We are there for the students.”

THE PRICE. “The price to train at The Center Martial Art Academies is set at $70 a month and up,” Pepper states. “This fee can be month-to-month, but we also offer a contract-based system. We have a price that’s affordable and so honest that we don’t have to do any negotiations.”

THE HOURS. The stores are required to be open from 12:00 to 9:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. “We can be open 24 hours, if we like,” adds Metzger. “Some stores open at 6:00 a.m. and do a ‘Boot Camp’ [for Wal-Mart employees]. We have also had some talk about a ‘Third Shift’ — offering a class at one [o’clock] in the morning for people who get off of work at that hour. As a matter of fact, one of our schools, in Kissimmee, Florida, opened on Thanksgiving day at 10 p.m. [and stayed open] until the next morning. According to Ed Ynaty, the franchisee, he signed up 26 members overnight!”

THE FRANCHISE. The partners behind The Center Martial Art Academy have worked hard on the deal with Wal-Mart to set up franchised schools in its stores throughout the United States. The franchise is designed to be an ideal turnkey operation for both the established martial arts instructor and for the new black belt who wants to bring the benefits of the martial arts to as many people as possible.

Summary There it is, the mass-market breakthrough with the capacity to reach untold

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Through the Master Lease, they have the right to franchise the concept in other Wal-Marts throughout the country. In fact, as a sign of Wal-Mart’s affinity for the concept, The Center team has been presented with the opportunity to roll out hundreds of other locations.

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millions of future students. Never before has a martial arts school been so visible to so many prospective students as are The Center Martial Arts Academies. A new revolution in the martial arts market has been launched and it seems destined to impact thousands of lives with the benefits of martial arts. For information about The Center Martial Arts Academy franchise opportunity, contact Paul Day at (888) 869-0001 or visit www.thecentermma.com.

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Scott Shaw of Palos Verdes Peninsula, California is a veteran martial art author and journalist. To learn more about how hundreds of other successful school owners, both large and small, operate, visit the Martial Arts Industry Association’s website at www. masuccess.com. Through this constantlyenhanced website, members can access a massive amount of useful information on just about any topic from A to Z.

The Center Martial Art Academies are located near the front of the Wal-Mart stores. “When you’re at the checkout counter and you’re looking at the bank or nail salon at the front of the store, that’s where we are,” explains Pepper. “This way, every single person who shops at Wal-Mart sees us.

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