Here’s something for all you BJJ academy owners or managers out there. As one myself (both owner/manager) I can tell you what the main issues are. They have nothing to do with organizing classes, keeping people happy, or bringing in big-name professors for seminars. The issues are mostly in the things nobody sees – bills, taxes, laws, federation memberships, etc. In other words, the business side of things is where most of a BJJ academy owner’s energy goes (unfortunately). Well, you can now relax, as there is professional assistance in that area, thanks to Academy Kings.
Do you know why BJJ instructors are so good at BJJ? It is because of BJJ, yes, but not just in a technical sense. Running a BJJ academy offers just as many, if not more, challenges than a roll or a match does. It takes the same skills as in training to keep a martial arts school afloat and growing. You need to make decisions on the fly, adjust and adapt, get out of bad spots and remain calm even when it seems you’re about to tap. To that extent, training Jiu-Jitsu helps get skills to run an academy, but running an academy improves your BJJ even more. And it can be a pleasant and positive experience if you follow the amazing martial arts school growth formula by Academy Kings.
Running A Successful Martial Arts Academy
Doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the highlight of the day for most people. It represents a beautiful form of therapy, where you can forget about everything else, from a job to bills and family stuff, and focus on trying to simulate murder with other similarly dressed and like-minded people. Now imagine how fun it would be if all you had to do all day, every day was BJJ. Well, it is not quite all roses and butterflies, let me tell you that.
I’m not saying that owning an academy and teaching BJJ full-time is not fun or fulfilling. However, it does come with everything else that every other job brings, if not more. You get all the bills, challenges, stress, etc. that you would with any business. Because, as romantic as we want to be, let’s face the truth – running a BJJ academy is, first and foremost, a business. And, there’s no business model that is universally applicable to running a martial arts school at any given spot around the globe. Every spot in the world brings its own challenges about, and solving them requires some grit, Throw in the Covid-19 craziness and every academy owner faces a real struggle to figure things out.
While there’s no one model that can help people successfully run BJJ academies, just like there’s no one guard pass technique that can help you pass all guards, there are principles and concepts that can really help guide you to success. In fact, there’s a whole group of professionals that are dedicated to helping you achieve immense success in the business aspect of things. In other words, consulting with Academy Kings will allow you to really live life like the dream you expected teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and owning an academy would be.
A Different Approach To Running A BJJ Academy: The Academy Kings Framework
So, what exactly do Academy Kings offer? They have a so-called framework, consisting of 5 main pillars that they claim will help your BJJ academy grow fast, and beyond your expectations,. Only, as you’ll see later on from all the testimonials, these are not just claims. AS you’ll see further on, the main pillars of their framework not only make sense, but they are also widely applicable to any martial arts school. Moreover, it doesn’t take a bunch of different business consultants to figure out a model or strategy which will guide you in running and eventually, expanding your school. These business consultants know a lot about business, but rarely about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or martial arts. Unlike them, Academy Kings specialize in promoting martial arts schools and increasing their revenues based on very logical and simple parameters.
What I personally really enjoy about their approach is that they have a lot of free stuff to get you going and they do offer different types of assistance. For example, they ask you which area of running a martial arts academy is a sticking point for you, with several of the most common ones being available for quick selection. Not just that but they offer a ton of other benefits before you even get going, most of which I’ll cover after we take a look at their Fab 5 growth pillars.
Exploring The 5-part Framework
The approach by Academy Kings offers a very specific and sensible structure upon which you can expand the reach and revenue of your BJJ academy. Their system targets key areas in terms of student acquisition and retention systems. The main goal of the business is to give you a roadmap of predictability that you need to follow in order to grow. The 5 frameworks they provide help you set up that predictability, that you can use to further your academy’s reach.
1. The 5 Fab Pillars
The first framework of the Academy Kings system is the fab 5 pillars of growth. They are quite simple and refer to acquiring students, helping them settle in, retaining them, and allowing them to grow and develop as martial artists. The Academy Kings use a fishing analogy in describing their 5 pillars which do sound appropriate.
The first pillar is called the bait, which is more than clear, giving the fishing references. The second is attracting new students, or better put, reeling them in. Landing them is part three (the actual sales), which then leads to getting the fish to the plate (delivering on everything you promised students). The final part is elevating people, or in the fish analogy, making sure you use the leftovers to get another meal out of it.
2. Old vs. New
A really smart framework that addresses something we do take for granted as BJJ academy owners. The usual practice for most owners/managers is to provide something free for students that sign up, whether it is an intro class, a free week, or whatever. This is the “old” model that is meant to hook people with the free stuff and then transition them to some kind of a monthly subscription membership plan. Usually, this happens through social media or e-mail.
The new Academy Kings model would instead have owners, direct people, through social media to a landing page, where thy need to leave their information in order to book an appointment and commit to talking. There is no free class, but there is a 15-20 minute conversation in the format of a consolation meeting. This would lead to signing them up for a short term (6 weeks, for example) program to test their interest. It also means they pay for it upfront, earning you a fee even before new students ever step on the mats. Only after that program ends would you transition them into the monthly fee system you have for existing students. This part of the framework has a few more steps, which you can check out via the Academy Kings materials whenever you wish. More on where to access them later in this article.
3. Three Ways To Increase Academy Revenue
This part of the framework addresses a purely business-oriented model, that actually will work, as long as you deliver on your promise son the mats. For most BJJ academy owners out there, this is not an issue as they do really invest all they have in their classes. With that in mind, the 3 part system that increases revenue goes like this:
First, you increase the amount of traffic that comes through the door. There are several Academy Kings strategies available to you in order to achieve this goal and everything is 100% customizable to your needs. Next, you need to sell higher-priced memberships (like the example of the 6-week intro course) in addition to your monthly subscriptions, and especially with new coming students. The final part of the system is to keep providing value in exchange for revenue. This refers to additional stuff like providing seminars, organizing camps, offering BJJ equipment and/or supplements, etc.
4. “Land ‘em”
The fourth framework is actually the one that will help you get people through the door. It is a 5 step process that has you answer people’s inquiries, gauge their interest, provide them with a “hook” to get them even more interested, close the deal and guide them to overcome any possible objections.
5. The Kings A.I. Model
This is a brand new approach based on research and direct experiences that have made plenty of BJJ academy owners achieve extreme success with their martial arts schools. It takes an entire class to explain how the model works, but luckily, Academy Kings have seen fit to release the class in full for free, so that you can gain a complete understanding of their innovative and groundbreaking model.
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Bonus: Social Media Advice
Finally, there’s even a bonus framework included, that will be of immense befit to literally every BJJ academy owner. It has to do with social media marketing and how you can make the most out of all your accounts. Once again, Academy Kings have proven and simple formula, this time organized in 4 steps. They focus on high-covering video ads buy helping you solve who, what, why, and CTA (Call To Action).
Getting Started With Academy Kings
How do you get started with the Academy Kings frameworks? You have a very good guide available online, offering you a direct insight into what they’re providing. Moreover, they provide a ton of free content that will help you achieve success even before you dive deeper into their complete framework.
Some of the things you can get, just by taking a look into what Academy Kings offer include a free call, which you can schedule with just a couple of clicks. It will tell you everything you need to know about how they operate and how they can help you as an individual, or as an affiliation to attract more interest.
They also have a huge list of software recommendations that will help make your life as a BJJ academy owner a lot simpler. In fact, they don’t stop there but actually provide you with a really cool starts pack, dubbed “the relaunch kit’. The idea behind it is that it will help you relaunch your academy into new heights, which is actually a promise Academy Kings are more than able to deliver on. They also have a Facebook group you can join where you can get further info on what they’re all about.
Testimonials
Finally, it is always prudent to read a testimonial or two from folks that have had experiences with the Academy Kings framework. Of course, you could just take our word for it, but if you need further reasons to sign up for a consult with them, these should be more than enough to confirm it is a legitimate option for any MMA or BJJ academy owner.
Final Words
Academy Kings have truly done something wonderful with their framework system. They’ve gone past the business models people try to employ and have actually considered what students want, and how you, as an MMA or BJJ academy owner can increase your revenue, while providing them with the very thing they want. Everyone wins in this framework, and your academy will definitely thrive, even in COVID-stricken times like these!
