Summertime of Marketing

Wow, I am super busy and finding the time to journal is difficult. Most karate schools resolve themselves to the fact that summers at a Martial Arts Schools are slow. I have a totally different attitude.

Every summer, I don’t accept the whole slow theory. I see it as an opportunity to hit the pavement running and I spend my time marketing my school. Yes, that’s right. If you’re a school owner, don’t fret the summer – get busy now and you’ll have the busiest fall season of your life.

I feel the difference between success and failure is that…

The successful people always focus on tasks that will combat worries

Whenever I am worried about my student enrollments, the only way for me to elevate them is to perform tasks that will solve the problem –MARKETING. Instead of becoming a victim to my “poor-me” thoughts, I do everything in my power to fight back. I feel relieved when I write an e-mail campaign. Passing out flyers comforts me. Hanging posters reassures my soul.

What worries do you have? Focus on the activities that will produce the results that you desire and cast off the worries. Comfort yourself with the right activities and enjoy a worry-free summer.

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Wealth Secret – Money moves towards…

I use to believe that money moves towards work. In other words, the harder I work the more money I make. This idea is self-limiting because we only have some much time available.

Later, as my tenure as a customer service manager, I realized that…

MONEY MOVES TOWARDS VALUE

This concept is true whether you are a business owner or an employee. The greater the value, the more money flows towards it. The concept is so simple and effective. The object is to add value to your business or job every day.

Adding Value for the Employee

• Think like an owner – One of the biggest complains from business owners is that their employees don’t think like an owner
• Create Measurable Results – The measurable results should involve a money impact. This could be creating a system that saves time (Non-value time saved), it could be increase in sales, etc.
• No overtime – I found that people typically do overtime because of poor time management. Use the 80/20 rule (80% of the results flow from 20% of the activities) to determine the activities you focus on. Your 20% should be the activities that produce measurable results.

Adding Value for the Entrepreneur

• Constantly look to add value – Improve every aspect of your business to add value for your customers. This includes the sales systems, marketing systems, cleanliness, service, etc.
• Charge more for the extra value - Most of value is perceive by price. For example, two shops down from me is a bagel shop with coffee. The coffee costs $1.00 while around the corner Dunkin Donuts charges $1.70. I like her coffee (Green Mountain Blend) better than the Dunkin Donuts. I have heard her complain about the amount of income she’s earning. I always think to myself that she should raise the price of her coffee but I don’t say anything because I feel the price is great. If she raised the price to $1.70, I’d still purchase her coffee because I like it better, in fact, I would think that she got smart.
• Don’t forget the importance of perceived value – Most people have a perception of value. Think about cars – if I talk about the Yugo, you think one thing and if I say Mercedes, you think differently.

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