Patrick

Hey all, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. Some members may recall that Brian and I met in person at Podcamp Topeka in November of 2010. The organizer of that unconference, David Lee King is a friend of mine and he has just released a new book, "Face2Face: Using Facebook, Twitter, and Other Social Media Tools to Create Great Customer Connections. The reason that I am telling you this is because David decided to include the meeting between and Brian and I in the book and, as such, we are mentioned, as is KarateForums.com. If you'd like to see the page in the book, click here and you'll be taken to Amazon's "Look Inside" feature for the book. There is a text box on the left side of the screen under "Search Inside This Book." Type in KarateForums.com and then hit the "Go" button. Page 58 and 59 should then appear as clickable results and you can then click each one to read that excerpt. Thank you to David for including us. I had a chance to read an earlier draft of his book and provided advance praise for the work. It definitely offers a lot of value. Thanks, Patrick Disclaimer: through our use of Skimlinks, I will receive a small percentage of any sales generated through the Amazon links in this post.

I went ahead and gave this its own thread. Welcome harper2933. Patrick

Haha. My pleasure, Bob. You should check it out, Doctor Qui. Patrick

I'll be thinking of you, Justice. I have a friend who lives in New Orleans and they are fine. Hope you are, as well! Patrick

TAKE THIS AS YOUR SPOILER ALERT! Anyone else watching this show? Thanks to Amazon Instant Video, I managed to watch all 53 episodes over the last couple of months. Looking forward to the season premiere! Patrick

I'm surprised no one has made any "Mama Said Knock You Out!" jokes yet. Every other section of the internet appears to already have them! Heh. Seriously, though, I'm a fan of LL. Glad he's alright! Patrick

Good news.

Thank you, madtanker. That is nice of you to say. Patrick

Hey Adam_XKT. Welcome back! Thanks for reintroducing yourself. Patrick

Hey shinka. Glad to have you. Patrick

Welcome aboard, madtanker. Patrick

Hey all, I appreciate you starting this thread, Bob. There is a good and important discussion that can be had here and is already being had. As a reminder, for this discussion to remain productive and in line with the KarateForums.com User Guidelines, it must adhere to certain principles. Namely, the discussion should center around the martial arts, martial arts instruction and how it affects training. It should not veer off into general political or religious discussion. In other words, it should preserve Bob's original direction. For example, KarateForums.com is not the place to discuss these things: - If homosexuality or heterosexuality or any sexual orientation is OK, not OK, hurts people, doesn't hurt people, is right, is wrong, is a choice, is not a choice, etc. - If marijuana use or the use of any drug is OK, not OK, hurts people, doesn't hurt people, is right, is wrong, etc. There are plenty of places where one can discuss these issues, but KarateForums.com is not it. It is definitely possible to have a serious discussion without these generic topics entering it and, as evidence of that, all of the posts above this one have done so. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via private message or email (patrick@ifroggy.com). In the interest of keeping this thread on topic, please do not post those questions on this thread. Thank you for your time and understanding. Sincerely, Patrick

That is insane! Such a great story. Congrats. I'm so happy for you. Patrick

Good luck, darksoul.

My pleasure, Kevin. Thank you. Patrick

Thanks for the replies, all. Patrick

Hello and welcome, Charlies. Glad to have you. Patrick

Cool. You could share it in the Karate forum. Thanks. Patrick

Welcome to KF, sacramentotaichi. Patrick

Welcome aboard, pirate333. Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. The August 2012 selection is... darksoul. Congratulations! Thank you for all of your great contributions to our community. Sincerely, Patrick

Happy Birthday, Danielle! Thank you for all of the great contributions that you have made to this community. Sincerely, Patrick

Not at all. As long as it is kept in the proper context and done through quality posts, which your posts have been, it's a cool thing. Congrats. Patrick

Welcome aboard, Christine. Thank you for the kind words about our community. Sincerely, Patrick

Hey Dobbersky, I can't really speak about martial arts schools specifically, but there are providers of varying quality no matter what field you are in. I wouldn't suggest that you poach someone's students as far as directly inviting them, etc. That's like when someone joins KF and spams their new martial arts forum. They quickly disappear, their posts removed and, based on how far they went in spamming people, their site might be blocked from mention here ever again. I didn't build KF that way and I believe that is an unethical practice. Instead, if my goal was to gain students, I would simply make myself known in the local community as much as I possibly could. Good signage and location, encourage your current students to bring people in through word of mouth (maybe incentivize them for doing so), advertise locally, participate in charitable efforts, etc. I think your efforts to raise funds fall into those categories. You could also do some very hyper targeted advertising online on Google (targeting relevant search queries) and Facebook (targeting people in town and/or the area that are interested in martial arts, fitness, certain arts, etc.) that probably wouldn't cost you too much. I think Justice makes a great point, which is to understand your audience and your niche. Your services are not for everyone, they are for a certain type of martial artist. Too many people try to cater to "everyone." When you do that, you aren't going to build a deep relationship with anyone. Numbers come and go (being #1 is fun, but it changes a lot, too), but you can always win at culture when you cater to your core audience. The flip side of that, of course, is that if you are too rigid, you restrict who will be interested in what you are offering. Which is fine - it's just something you have to accept. If full contact is what makes you unique, then that might be something to run with and emphasize wherever you are, as Justice said. Be careful not to come across as smug or condescending when you do so. "We're tough guys... unlike that McDojo down the street!" You can explain the benefits of training with you without putting down the other schools in town, which can be a turn off to some people, Finally, continue to show great appreciation for your current students. No matter how many you have, it's important not to get so preoccupied with growth that you forget to appreciate what you have now. I hope that this helps in some way. Thanks, Patrick