Are You Just Putting a Band-Aid On It?

Running your own business can be incredibly rewarding. But when problems arise — and as a small business owner myself, I know they do! — you’re responsible for solving them.

So, whether you’re working on the financial success of your martial arts studio or improving the health of your students, it’s important to apply the same principle: Always address the underlying cause.

For example, if your business’s gross revenue is less than stellar this month, it’s easy to say that you simply need more students. So, you decide to focus on

marketing. But what if the real problem is retention? You aren’t able to retain your students because the instructors are not aligned with your program. To target the underlying cause, you may need to focus more on staff training and development.

The same thing happens when you see a spike in injuries within the bulk of your students. If you’re seeing a lot of hamstring injuries, an easy fix would be to add more stretching and ice after practice. That may help in the short term, but definitely does nothing for the longevity of your students.

When dealing with injuries, you can either adopt a reactive or proactive strategy to rectify the situation.

With “reactive” strategies, you are simply putting out fires. If it hurts, rest. If it’s sore, apply ice. If you feel they are not progressing, just do more.

In essence, these solutions are very easy to administer and, frankly, do not take much time or effort. Unfortunately, though, these actions will just lead to a revolving door of short-term students that have entered your program.

With “proactive” strategies, you must be willing to take the time to dissect the situation. You must be able to give yourself constructive criticism and have the well-being of your students at heart.

Dissect the situation. Ask yourself why your students are having this particular issue. Is it that you did too much on one day? Is it that they did too much over several days? Or was it simply a lack of care and preparation?

These are all critical questions you must ask in order to figure out what is going on. Instead of blaming others, we should intrinsically take responsibility for the results that come about in our schools.

Accept constructive criticism. You be able to self-reflect on what happened, but also to ask advice from those who may have other insights. Through the years, martial arts instructors and gym owners have come to me seeking help on particular issues. Take the advice from others that you trust and implement strategies to keep your students healthy. And don’t wait until it’s too late! You want to be able to make changes before too much damage is done.

Focus on the well-being of your students. When was the last time you asked yourself, “Why do I have a martial arts school?” We something get wrapped up in the business aspect of our respective professions — and yes, that’s important. But, as martial artists at heart, we started our discipline because we were intrigued. We continued practicing because we had passion for it. We ultimately went on to teach others because we loved sharing our gift to improve their lives.

Let’s all take this opportunity to realize again that the health of our students should be our priority.

Take the time to reflect and ask yourself if a Band-Aid fix will solve the problem. A majority of the time, the answer is no, it won’t. Digging deep and executing a thoughtful plan will help your program thrive

Dr. Jason Han can be reached directly at [email protected].