Do “Good”

Tom Callos repost

Having spent 30 years (or so) of effort in trying to help the international martial arts community define and embrace what good teaching is, what ethical business practices are, and how to effectively and efficiently operate martial arts schools --that matter...

...and now being in a position, having stepped away, to look at the big(ger) picture of it all, it sort of comes to this:

Do Good.

Many of the things endlessly debated about "business" in the martial arts business community, are actually common-sense housekeeping and organizational issues. It's as if we need to discuss, again, how to get dressed in nice, clean, color-coordinated clothes --- how to carry some money in our wallets, how to brush our teeth and comb our hair(s), how to greet people, how to tie our shoes, how not to spend more money than we have  ----you know, things we should have on automatic.

What we must continue discussing is not the common fundamentals of getting dressed and being a functional human being, but in what we DO once our shoes are tied and we look presentable.

We should focus on the opposite of DOING BAD...which is DOING GOOD, yes?

Good for ourselves, good for others, good for our neighbors, our friends, the community we live in, and things that we can do a little of, for the world, that when done by millions of other people, make a difference on a global scale.

Your school "marketing" could (and should) be about how you carry out this mission, thru the efforts of the people you have influence with.

How much you charge (it isn't much), how many classes someone can take, how much YOU know and how many medals you've won and how great you are --take a giant backseat to the action, the GOOD action, you inspire in your community, through your students. Those are the stories to tell.

TEST: look back on all your community communication (marketing) you've done in the last 100 days --and total the amount of "ads" that communicate your mission to contribute thru the efforts of those you influence.

Then, pledge to start adjusting your efforts to reflect how the work you do is taken out of your dojo and put to work in the world.

100 days from now could you have told 50 stories of how your work manifests itself in the world --to the benefit of other people, places, and things?

I'd say that the quality of that effort reflects your intelligence, your objectives, and the way your community values you and the work you seek to do.