Dear
Master Oliver,
A
quick note of thanks for another excellent Boot
Camp. You provided the most impressive representation
of Martial Arts success I have ever seen in one
place. I counted eight individuals who represented
more than 60 locations. I toyed with trying to
estimate their collective net worth but clearly
each one of them had easily exceeded the million
dollar mark.
I
originally attended your Boot Camp because you
are one of the rare individuals who has experienced
the fortunes and pitfalls of being a multiple school
operator.
Now,
thanks to this years Boot Camp I was privileged
in hearing, meeting, and conversing with many more.
Thanks again for a truly invaluable experience.
Sincerely,
Master David Shirley
7th Degree Black Belt
Villari’s Martial Arts Centers
Top
Stephen
Oliver is without a doubt one of the most educated
martial arts businessmen in America, but that's
not the reason I endorse his seminar. What makes
Stephen Oliver's marketing seminar the best I've
seen is his ability to identify and simplify the
critical success factors involved in running a
martial arts school, and to teach average school
owners who don't have an MBA, or even a college
degree, how to do exactly what he and other millionaire
school owners have done to become rich. Stephen
Oliver knows how to make a lot of money teaching
martial arts, and school owners can make a fortune
doing what he says.
Rick
Bell
Author, Speaker, and
President of EasyPay Automated Billing
One of the largest martial arts billing companies in America
Top
Master
Oliver,
I want to share with you a few thoughts regarding the Extraordinary Marketing
Bootcamp last week.
As
I told you, last year I was literally blown away
with the tried-and-true information you shared
with us to increase our student base, our gross,
our net and our market share.
Because
of last years Bootcamp, my company had a major
jump in quality, gross and net from last year.
This year's Bootcamp was even better.
I
loved the way you brought in THE MASTERS of this
industry so they could share their wisdom and understanding
of the industry.
I
also appreciated your insight in spliting the groups
into Marketing and Management. So the strong schools
could get stronger and the owners who wanted to
have multiple schools could learn from those who
have 10 to 20 successful schools. Brilliant.
Also
I wanted to thank you for inviting me to your Black
Belt Extravaganza in December. That gave me a completely
different view of you. The only Master Oliver I
knew was the one that was extraordinary in Marketing.
The Black Belt Extravaganza showed me a completely
different Master Oliver.
One
who was truly interested in his students, his Black
Belts and their success as Martial Artists. Not
only do you give out great business information
that has high levels of success, you are the "real
deal" with your students. That's important
to me, because I am in the classroom with my students
as well, and I want to learn from those who can
relate to me.
This
industry has grown so slow and has been fragmented
for so long. I believe it is because most Black
Belts in Martial Arts are White Belts in business.
I
am glad you are sharing this information with those
who really want to advance their Martial Arts business.
Ever
since I returned, I have spoken to several school
owners who want the low down on what the seminar
was about. Are you offering the full seminar on
audio and/or video format?
If
so, should they call you or can they purchase it
from your website? I also want to purchase a set.
My
staff will greatly benefit.
Yours
sincerely,
Terry W. Brumley
President Taekwondo University
Masterbrumley@taekwondouniversity.com
Top
Attention
Martial Artist
"Discover
How To Double, Triple or even quadruple your INCOME
with One Simple Program that could make you a Martial
Arts Millionaire"
I've
read headlines like this all of the time from people
promising to teach the secrets to making lots of
money and how to get tons of students into your
martial arts school.
Well
after researching most of them, none of them where
what they said they were, except one.
Master
Oliver, let me say that this is my headline in
describing your "Extraordinary Marketing Course".
As you know I discovered this course while on travel
in Brazil almost two years ago and the
rest is history.
I
could talk for days about how your program has
changed my business. But let me talk about this
last event that I attended. Just when I thought
I had an idea what was going on, I came to this
Bootcamp and the information that I received was
priceless.
At
the bootcamp I felt like was in some type of secret
organization that is revealing the secrets of success
only to a chosen few. I mean I literally sat at
a table with 5-7 Martial Artist that had been running
schools for twenty to thirty years and were all
Millionaires.
They
openly talked about what it takes to make millions
with a Martial Arts School, how to do it, what
to do and basically laid everything out for you
to do. Where on earth are you going to get that?
Yeah,
anyone can go to these conventions and hear speakers
talk for their 30-60 minute slot, then go to another
room and hear a different speaker talk.
There
isn't a platform that I know of in the Martial
Arts Industry that is open to the public that allows
the type of up close and personal networking that
the Extraordinary Bootcamp offers and I thank you
for that. Twenty plus hours of "up in your
face" proven systems and training.
There
are only two reasons I think a person shouldn't
attend the Bootcamp: one... You are already making
millions of dollars with your Martial Arts School
and you think you know everything and two... You
are getting ready to get out of the Martial Arts
Business.
Other
than that, everyone needs to be continuously learning
and networking with us. Yes I've achieved GREAT
success with your course, Yes I want everyone to
attend your course, Yes I will support EVERYTHING
you do but that is only because what you are
doing works. If it wasn't working, I would be off to the next guy claiming
to have the secrets and would've asked for a refund two years ago.
Many
people say they can't afford it. Like I told my
friend Joe Priole "If you can't afford to
go, you can't afford not to go". Well after
a year of trying to get him to go, he finally went
and is already sign up for the next one.
I
have another Friend named Melinga Scott who told
me he couldn't afford it and I actually begged
him to go. I told him that if he needed to get
a loan, have a fundraiser at his school or stand
at the gas station and pump gas for money he needed
to be at the
Bootcamp, to just do it.
I'm
not kidding. Just like many others he didn't listen
and after sharing some more things I learned at
this past bootcamp, he now regrets it.
I
just got a call from him the other day and he said
no matter what, he would be at the next one.
The
price is a drop in the bucket compared to the value
you get from the course. If you didn't cover any
of the material and only set this up as a chance
for us to network with the top minds in the industry
it would be well worth it.
I
have a saying that "If you hang around nine
broke business owners your bound to be the tenth".
I used to have round table discussions regularly
with school owners that weren't successful yet
and we used to talk about what we thought would
work and what wouldn't
work.
No
more, I was out of my mind. Now it's funny because
the exact same thing they told me wouldn't work
in my area, now is. What you have put together
with this program is simply amazing and I would
be willing to say that if anyone would just try
it and implement the concepts, there is no way
you wouldn't succeed. Thanks and I look forward
to the next one.
Master
Lloyd Irvin Jr.
Lloyd Irvin's Martial Arts Academy
301-449-5425
www.lloydirvin.com
Top
Master
Oliver,
I
just wanted to drop you another note regarding
your bootcamp.
I
thought you put on a fantastic event. Not only
was in educational and motivating, it was truly
inspiring having such a successful group of individuals
in the same room.
I
appreciate the opportunity to have been a speaker
for MAIA. As for the school owner in me (five schools
as you know) the knowledge was priceless.
Frank
Silverman
MIAI and MA Success
Top
Master
Oliver,
I
wanted to take sometime to thank you for the Bootcamp
in Boulder.
When
my schedule became open for the weekend of the
Bootcamp and I first decided to go I had already
booked a trip to Brazil two days after the Bootcamp.
Initially, I had thought this would be a bad combo
but it has become a blessing, somewhat of a gestation
period.
If
we were to try to implement all the things we learned
and make the changes we needed at our school two
days after we would never have been able to accomplish
it. I took the time to map out everything I need
to fix and have setup meetings with all of my staff.
I have a map now and can clearly see the path and
I want to thank you and the others speakers for
that.
"I
often hear people say wow you own your own business
that's awesome!" It is for sure "awesome," but
there is a huge amount of responsibility that comes
with it making every single decision can become
taxing. Your Bootcamp offered a group of mentors
that had been there and done it, more importantly
with great success.
I
want to hear ideas and concepts that others are
using and are having success with and your Bootcamp
more than provided us with that. All of the speakers
seemed eager to push and motivate us to greater
success and I again want to thank you for that.
I
have a lot more work to do, so in closing, I would
like to say what I heard that really persuaded
me to go. When I heard the cost of the seminar
I said I cant afford to go to that, then Lloyd
said if you can't afford to go, you can't afford
not to go.
Well,
the day before the Bootcamp started, I visited
two of your schools and you staff was helpful enough
to give me ideas that have paid for the seminar
already and I am still in Brazil!
If
you get one student because of the Bootcamp it
pays for itself! If my calculations are correct
we will make somewhere in the neighborhood of 50
times the cost of the Bootcamp as a direct result
of the Bootcamp before the next one in October!
Thanks
again see you in September,
Joe
Priole
Champion Martial Arts Center
www.TeamChampion.net
856-482-9555
Joe@Teamchampion.net
Top
Dear
Steve,
I
want to thank you for a wonderful weekend. I got
some great ideas and it was a real treat to meet
so many special people all at the same venue. I
have purchased a lot of materials over the years
from Master Clark, Jeff Smith, Tim Kovar, Tommy
Lee, NAPMA, MAIA etc. It was fun to get to actually
meet some of the folks that have contributed to
my success. Thank you for bringing them all together
in one place!
I
also just wanted to let you know how welcome I
felt and appreciated the fact that you were so
open with information. It has been a long time
since we have spent time together, but you really
made me feel welcome. As you have said to me a
couple of times, "we need to figure out some
ways we can work together". I am very interested
in how we might do this. This past weekend was
a great start to rekindling an old friendship.
May
I also take this opportunity to share a heart felt
thank you. For years I have wanted to express my
appreciation to you for helping me to get started
in this industry and to have a big vision in terms
of my martial arts career. From that short time
I worked for you and from watching your success
over the years, I was inspired to see what was
possible.
With
the new business information I received from this
weekend I have even more to offer my hosts in addition
to my martial arts seminars. With all this added
information, I am looking forward to more growth
in my various businesses and the opportunity to
make a difference in even more people's lives.
It
was that short time in your employment and the
encouragement of a few special people along the
way that gave me this vision and got me out of
the recreation centers and eventually into not
only owning schools, an international organization,
but also now real estate as well.
So
although we have had little contact over the last
18 years as you can see you have had a huge influence
on my life. The boot camp was a neat time to see
how you are continuing to grow and the wonderful
circle of quality people you have surrounded yourself
with.
May
you continue to realize great success and to inspire
others as you have inspired me. I look forward
to building our friendship. "As iron sharpens
iron, so one man sharpens another." Thanks
for some sharpening!
Let's
try and get together soon.
Sincerely,
Robert
Austin
International Black Belt Academy
United Martial Arts Alliance
Top
Dear
Stephen:
I
attended your last bootcamp somewhat skeptical
but willing to learn. I came away with a whole
new understanding on upgrading students into bigger,
better more profitable programs.
Bill
Clark, Joe Corley and Jeff Smith seem to have put
together and are working a system that seems incredibly
simple and productive. They shinned a new light
on rotating curriculum as well.
I'd
hear this theory presented years ago but no one
I knew was doing it successfully. At the bootcamp
there were at least 5 owners operating over 35
schools that had implemented a rotating curriculum
with overwhelming success.
I'm
always interested in what Tim and Dave Kovar are
doing with their children's classes. Ever since
they introduced the "Concepts of the Belt" years
ago they've been leaps and bounds ahead of the
pack in children's curriculum.
Then
there was the networking.
This
was awesome!
So
many ideas, new technologies, new systems it boggles
the mind. I took 16 pages of notes on my laptop,
and when you made us circle for Bill Clark's presentation
I took another 5 pages on my PDA.
There
are many consulting and billing companies that
have great information for new martial arts school
owners or for smaller schools.
There
are very few that offer that information and legitimate,
working programs and systems for larger schools
and/or older schools that have been employing the
basics and other martial arts business practices
they've picked up throughout the years.
I
got much more in than I expected.
I
feel it was well worth the time, effort and expense.
I've
already registered for the next bootcamp and am
looking forward to the growth I'll be experiencing
between now and then.
William "Scott" Kifer
8th Degree Black Belt
President of USA Karate, Inc.
511 S. Schmale Road, Carol Stream, IL 60187
Phone: 630/665-8322 Fax: 630/665-6831
E-mail: kwanjanim@aol.com
Top
Master
Oliver,
This
weekends bootcamp, Jan 30th - Feb 2nd 2003, was
awesome.
The
line up of speakers you had present were not only
some of the top operators in the country, they
were very informative and explained their expertise
without holding anything back.....
Please
personally thank each one of them for me the next
time you speak with them. I also want you to know
that I was honored to be among the list of speakers
and was impressed with the quality of attendees
at this boot-camp.
I advise anyone thinking about attending one of these boot-camps to definitely
do so. Think about the top school operators speaking, and attending.
If
operators like the above attend these events it
should be a no-brainer for the average school owner
to attend. Personally, the highlight of this boot-camp
for me was two areas.
1)
Networking with some of the Top School Operators
in the country.
2)
The knowledge of Upgrading Memberships.
I
found the Upgrading Memberships section of the
boot-camp to be some of the best, if not the BEST,
information I have learned in the last 5 years.
Each
speaker contributed to this area in their own way.
I
personally don't need help on asking for money
and closing people on upgrading memberships, but
the material on making the upgrades worth $5,000
and $7,000 on the same 3 year membership was mind-boggling.
These ideas alone will double my gross next year.
Probably the most important thing also covered
was why and how each operator could ask for the
$5,000 and $8,000.
I
know that I need to create the foundation of legendary
service, make sure we do even a better job giving
what we promise and develop a ITP (instructor training
program) that is second to none.
Once
I do this, I will implement the new pricing structure.
Once again I want to point out that the above Master Instructors gave all
their secretes unselfishly so school owners would be able to improve their
program and better their bottom line.
I
would personally recommend this boot-camp to anyone
and everyone interested. I'm so impressed with
your program that you may give out my number if
anyone needs a testimonial to make them come to
your next event. My number is 443-871-2724.
Tommy Lee
East Coast Martial Arts
SBSS Success Systems
Top
Inside
Stephen Oliver's Martial Arts Marketing Bootcamp
By Hersh Sandhoo, Webmation President and CEO
I
recently spoke on the topic of using the Internet
to increase a school's revenue at Stephen Oliver's
Martial Arts Marketing Bootcamp in Boulder, CO.
Being actively involved in the martial arts for
over 13 years, running a school for my master while
in
college, and interacting with school owners on a daily basis, I can say with
sincerity that it is a must attend event for any serious school owner.
While
all the speakers were great, Master Bill Clark's
renewal and upsell overview was an eye opener,
showing you step by step how to gross over $40,000.00
a month from just 150-200 students. On a side note:
one of my clients, who follows Master Clark's concept
was telling me how they used to have 450 students
and now with 190 students they gross twice as much
as they used to each month (now over $50,000!)
doing half the work. He is busy preparing to build
his second location.
The
rest of the bootcamp was just as informative with
topics including staff development, psychology
of selling (especially in regards to people's temperament),
marketing tips, upsells, cash outs, tuition billing,
afterschool programs, and much more. On both Friday
and Saturday the discussions ran from 10:00 A.M.
until 2 A.M.!
Master
Oliver's bootcamp was also very personal in nature
and attendees were able to network with some of
the most successful school owners and business
leaders in the industry. For example, school owners
with small one location schools were able to interact
and get advice from those with as many as 15 locations.
What
also struck me was Stephen's desire to truly help
the school owners who attended. He went the extra
step to help people formulate clear action steps
to take on their return home and to focus on what
was most important for their particular school.
If you haven't attended at least once you are missing
out on a wealth of information.
He
is planning to have another bootcamp this October
24th & 25th in Breckenridge, Colorado. I highly
recommend that you try to attend. You can obtain
more information on his web site: http://www.martialartsbootcamp.com/
Top
Stephen: And
Stephen Oliver. I can’t tell you how exciting
it is to have a brain trust like this. Let’s
take a look at this for a second. We have a $5-million
operation in Jacksonville, Florida, $4-million
operation in Orlando. We have Master Jeff Smith,
who’s been running one of the highest-grossing
schools in the country for over 25 years, consistently,
every month, every year, ad nauseum. Such high
numbers so consistently, it gets tiring to hear
about them.
So
forever, we have just incredible talent that’s
been shared with us so far. And I know the challenge
with that is this: there’s so much good stuff
that’s been thrown at you, and I think it
links pretty tightly. But my mission for the two
or three hours is to pull it all together and make
sure that you have a step one, step two, step three
action plan, that’s actionable in the daytime
or by tomorrow morning and implemented, if not
tomorrow by cell phone, Monday morning in actual
implementation. Because if you don’t do something
Monday, you’re not ever going to do anything
anytime.
Does
that make sense?
Now,
I brought these gentlemen up here because they
have each been at two of our events; in Frisco,
in Frisco, in Frisco, in Frisco, in Breckenridge,
in Breckinridge, in Breckinridge and in Breckinridge.
I
want to expand on something. And, again, I complemented
Lloyd and Terry Brumley quite a bit, but Lloyd
is the most aggressive, immediate implementer that
I have yet to come across. What I feel like emotionally
is that I keep coming up with what I think are
pretty damned good ideas, and then Lloyd goes and
makes money on them before we implement them in
our schools. Or implements them even more effectively
and more aggressively than we’ve done in-house.
And I’d like Lloyd to speak to: one, what
he does that’s unique, so that you can have
the 300,000 improvement in the next 12 months that
he had in the last 12 months. Would you give them
some ideas on how to do that?
Lloyd:
It’s about who you’re circling yourself
around. Every martial arts school owner that I
was around was not successful. So all the ideas
that we were talking about together in our own
inner circle were no good. If you hang around nine
broke people, you’re bound to be the tenth.
Stephen:
Networking with people who don’t have a clue.
A bad thing.
Lloyd:
These were people I looked up to, because they
had martial arts schools for five, ten, 20 years
and I’m just starting in the game. Everyone
month, seeing how people’s monthly checks
were horrible. The worst I ever heard was Master
Oliver say, “Any idiot could make $20,000
a month in his martial arts school, but to take
it to the next level, to go $20,000, $30,000, $40,000,
$50,000, $60,000.” At first, those numbers
were completely foreign to me. I didn’t think
they could be really done until I started doing
them.
Stephen:
Did I say, “Any idiot?”
Lloyd:
Any idiot. It was reality. It made me just sick
and tired of being sick and tired, of having that
on my books and reading, “That’s a
good idea,” set it to the side. The next
one, that one was gone, “That’s a good
idea.” And over and over and over, for almost
two years in my business I did that. And then the
next thing you know, I have stacks of ___ books,
I’m watching this video. They’re all
good ideas, but I’m not hitting with any
of them. And when I got sick and tired of being
sick and tired, I said, “Listen, it’s
time to start implementing some of these techniques,
just like I do in my martial arts.
I
received my black belt in jujitsu in three and
a half years. Only like two people in the country
have ever had a black belt that quick. So I’m
like, “How could I get this good at martial
arts this fast? It takes ten years to get a black
belt.”
I loved jujitsu, and I was doing jujitsu. I was
doing some of it. I was practicing every day. Now
it’s time to put that energy into my business.
If you treat your business like a hobby, it will
pay like a hobby. If you treat
your business like a business, it will pay like a business.
After
that, I just got Extraordinary Marketing, ___ Brazil,
training for the world championship. I sat there
and read it. I stopped training. I was getting
ready to beat the world champion. I stopped training.
I was reading them. I was like, “Man, the
things I wished I did when I was 22 smacked me
in my face. Smacked me in my face.
Even
at this time, I was still making $20,000 or $30,000
a month. But that was just from luck, getting after-school
programs, martial arts programs and stuff. So it
smacked me in my face.
After
that, when I got home from Brazil, I started calling
people in Brazil and saying, “Listen, we
need to go from $69 to $99.” They’re
like, “Lloyd, we’re not going to do
this! It’s this and it’s that.” I’m
like, “$99.” My martial arts program
went from $85 up to $119.
Then,
when I got back, I went up to $139. I had it on
my side to start taking action. My first action
plan was to get the perceived value. I went to
the shop and started shooting videos and making
videos, so I could do an interview process. When
kids come in, my instructors role-play with my
employees. The kid comes in, and within 10 seconds
come up and give him a high-five, know people’s
names who are coming in. We have balloons, now,
people can take home. For the kids at martial arts
schools, in their bedroom, that night when they
leave, we take pictures.
We’re
implementing the systems, putting systems in place.
I’m just obsessed with it, just like I worked
on getting my black belt in Brazilian jujitsu.
I said, “Listen, how come people make $50,000,
$60,000, $100,000 a month and I’m sitting
here failing?”
So
from that point on, I’m not going to read
anything and think it’s a good idea and not
dive into it.
I
dive into it. I had my first, second and third
play, and I don’t move until the fourth,
fifth, or until I knock this off my task, then
I go to the next one. Every day, I’ve gotten
really organized, two hours a day, two-hour blocks,
two hours I’m going to work on my lead generation
ads, two hours I’m going to work on direct
mail, copy, stuff that may take six months. But
I have to do two hours a day.
Where before, I’d think about it for a whole
day, every day, but never put one single thing
in place.
So,
for me, like I said, they call me a master implementer
because that’s all I’m doing. Everyone
knows what ideas are good. You think you want to
start an after-school program, just do it. You
think you want to write a lead generation ad, you
need to learn how to write copy, learn about headlines
and copy and start testing things.
Everyone can’t jump, take 100 steps. But
like I was saying earlier, at the top of the hill
is your goal. You either move towards your goal
or
you move away from your goal. And each and every day, you have to try and
improve by a minimum of 1% each and every day. As long as you do a minimum
of 1%, you move towards your goal.
If
you come in and one day don’t improve some
area of your life, your relationship, ___, something
with a minimum of 1%, you’re going away.
And every day before I got hit in the head, I was
sliding back. I was practicing jujitsu everyday,
but I was sliding back. All my jujitsu friends
said, “Oh, you’re good, but you’re
broke.” They tell me to go work for them.
I’ve never had a job before. I decided to
go into the martial arts business, something I
love to death. I would do it whether I’m
paying somebody else to do it or I’m doing
it myself. I figured I would rather do it myself,
make the money for it, because it can provide a
living and you can still train in something that
you love.
For
me, it’s about implementing. Like today,
I called my staff. I already have things that are
being put into place as we speak. I’ve been
typing, I’ve been working with lead generation
ads and things from Master Clark, Mr. Von Schmelling.
My head’s spinning and I can’t wait
until I get home and just dive into this stuff.
I
know for a fact that some of the stuff I’m
going to put in place, the income can be unlimited.
I want to make $5-million from this huddle. Anybody
can do it, but you have to be dead serious, have
a crystal clear goal to begin with the end in mind,
and make your dream come true.
Stephen:
One more question. You did a $300,000 improvement
in revenue this last year, which is just phenomenal.
Now, why would you come back to Colorado again and go through all this craziness
again?
Lloyd:
Because, to tell you the truth, when I purchased
the Extraordinary Marketing course, when I was
in Brazil two years ago…
Stephen: About 18 months.
Lloyd:
About 18 months ago, I’m still learning stuff
from that course. He said this will take me about
three years to learn how to write copy. So probably
18 months now.
Stephen:
I wasn’t counting on it being you.
Lloyd:
I’m very pleased. A quick story. With my
summer camp, I wrote a direct response letter that
generated $80,000 of pre-sale in the first 30 days,
for my summer camp. I sent it to Master Brumley.
Master Brumley used the letter and he’s like, “Damn,
this is great. I attached one of those dollars
to it as an attention-getter, and it worked!” I
was ecstatic.
And it wasn’t even a good letter, to tell
you the truth. But I had everything just work and
study and study and study and study.
Attendee:
That was a good letter. I sent out 2,000 copies
of that.
Stephen:
It worked? Good, bad, and everything worked.
Attendee:
I changed the headline. I said, “When is
a penny worth $25?”
Stephen:
Yeah. That’s something you need to get new
dollar bills. The one I got had been crumbled up,
that had been in his pocket for 1,000 days.
Lloyd:
For me, it’s just about getting the knowledge.
Like I said, hang around nine people, you’re
bound to be the tenth. You’ve got people
around here that are millionaires. So if you can
get 10% or 5% of that, you’re going to move
1% towards your goal.
Stephen:
I, personally, have been going to four or five,
and even six or seven things like this, if I can
find them. There’s three or four in the martial
arts industry, so I have to look outside the industry.
But
how valuable has it been for me to hang out and
have dinner with Master Smith, Master ___, Master
Von Schmelling, and all of the other great people
that we have here. I’ve gotten a heck of
a lot more out of the weekend than probably any
of the participants just by the association. You
oftentimes learn more over iced tea and appetizers
than any other place.
So
it’s creating those networking relationships.
Fantastic.
Hand
the mike to Mr. Brumley, if you don’t mind.
Mr.
Brumley: The very first boot camp we
had, Lloyd said probably three words the whole
time, the whole weekend. I was just assured ___.
Gave him a big back section of the corner and
he never said a word. He wrote, he kind of distanced
himself from everybody.
The
dedication that he had, we had a conference call
with Mile High Karate, who advised us to do it.
And Lloyd got in on the call, which doesn’t
seem like a big deal except Lloyd was in the hospital
when that call was going on. And in the hospital
bed, he’s going through the call.
Stephen:
Writing copy.
Mr.
Brumley: Yeah, I’m sure. So the
dedication that this guy has, and in the last
three boot camps, if you would have done this,
got up in front of and talked to everybody at
the first boot camp, I would have been shocked.
It’s just amazing how you’ve come
out of that and ___.
Stephen:
Thank you. Thank you.
Mr.
Brumley: I’m a type-A personality,
which means I’ll die two days after I retire.
So I just keep working. I like to work and I
like to push myself, and I like to set goals.
I like to move in different directions and like
to have a little supplemental income. I was burned
out.
Last
December, early December, I was building an infomercial.
The second day of filming, Scott Smith looked at
me and he said, “It ain’t there.” He
said, “Man, where’s the spark? Where
are you at?” I said, “I don’t
know.” I just got burned out.
He said, “I’ve got an idea. I’m going to call Stephen Oliver
and let you go to his Extraordinary Marketing seminar.” I said, “No,
I’m going to figure out some stuff and then I’ll ___.” He
said, “No, I’m telling him. He’s on the phone.”
Stephen:
He called me right there.
Mr.
Brumley: Yeah, in the car. We’re
driving on the road heading to lunch, and he’s
talking to me. So I booked a flight and I came.
I wrote in that first testimonial back to you
that it just relit me. It just gave me that passion
that I had. We all have that passion we start
with. “I’m going to be the greatest
and I’m going to be the best in this town.
I’m going to be the best at something.
I’m going to do the best of something.
And I’m going to accomplish something for
these people, and I’m going to make some
money doing it. I’m going to make a nice
living and I’m going to support my family.”
So
I had that fire. I was doing well. And I didn’t
even know I was burned out. Then I came and you
just relit that fire. You kept going and going
and going and people said, “Oh, he’s
going to let us go at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning.”
I
did like Lloyd, I just went home and I just touched
stuff for a while and just kind of sorted my own
mind. In fact, on Sunday and Monday. Excuse me,
Monday and Tuesday, because there was skiing. So
after a couple of days, Tuesday, when I went back
to my staff, I said, “You all need to be
here. As soon as I get off the plane, be at the
office. We’re going to have a meeting.”
And
I got to the meeting and I said, “First,
let me just clear my head.” One of my managers,
he said, “You okay?” I said, “Why
do you ask?” He said, “I don’t
like the look in your eye.” I said, “Wait
until you hear what I’ve got to say.”
Within
two days, we went to the new curriculum and they
said, “That will work.” I said, “It
doesn’t matter if it will work or not, we’re
going to do it. You just follow my lead and let’s
go.” And in three days, we changed our process.
In a week, our whole business. We started making
some improvements and changes and everything got
fun again. The passion came back. It wasn’t
that I was tired, I was bored. I was dying inside.
Man, I had to have something, and you just kind
of relit it. I really appreciate you doing that.
Stephen:
Oh, you’re quite welcome.
Mr.
Brumley: I would have come back in the
summer, but it’s kind of like ___. I had
all this stuff and all these ideas, and I wasn’t
sure if it was going to throw me into overwhelm.
So I didn’t know if I could even handle
another dose of it.
Stephen: You’ve been here three times now.
Mr.
Brumley: Well, I did come back. I felt
guilty about not coming back in the summer, so
I came back about two months later and spent
a couple days with you. I went to see Lloyd this
summer and I liked the idea of let’s go
to four or five of these. And, again, that’s
what I’m doing.
Stephen:
What kind of financial impact has it had in the
last 12 months?
Mr.
Brumley: I’ve increased about
$180,000 since the last dress-up.
Stephen:
An average of $15,000 a month. Yeah, $180,000.
Guys, let’s clarify. Remember, the economy
is horrible and everybody’s getting laid
off, and all the big companies don’t know
what’s going on, and the airplanes crashed
into the towers, United Airlines is bankrupt, AOL
just lost $99-million.
But
they chose not to play with the downturn, right?
They chose not to participate. So therefore, a
$300,000 improvement and a $180,000 improvement
in the worst economy in the last 12 years. Right?
I look at statistics. 1992 was the last time. In
fact, the irony is one of our peak record years
for Mile High Karate was 1992. At the time, it
was comparable to what it is right now. We chose
not to play.
Fantastic.
Let’s hand off to James Schroeder.
James,
you have nine schools and have been in the industry
for how many years?
James:
About 20 years now.
Stephen:
About 20 years. Why would you venture out here
twice and what did you get from the last year?
James:
The first time I came, I got about 2,000 e-mails
from you, bribing me. I said, “I’ve
got to find out what this guy knows.” I had
been pretty successful within my organization and
I didn’t really have anybody to turn to that
had multiple locations. So I said, “Okay,
let’s go see what this guy has to say.”
I
learned things that I did not expect to learn.
The most simplest, of course, was that I wasn’t
charging enough money. And we immediately raised
our rates. That’s one of the reasons we were
up about 20% this year.
Stephen:
Yeah? Let’s say it again, 20%?
James:
20% overall.
Stephen:
What kind of revenue did that turn?
James:
It’s about a quarter of a million. It’s
not as much as Lloyd. But I’ll take it.
So I went out and bought a boat and I took the summer off. And then, I came
back and we started and I was happy.
Then
we came back and said, “Okay, what else can
we do?” We were really intrigued by the after-school
program that Mr. Louis was talking about. One of
my partners here, Mr. Gray, we worked hard on implementing
that – not for one location, but for the
entire chain that we had. And bam, bam, bam, we’re
signing up people all over the place. I’m
thinking to myself, “My God, I’ve been
in this business, I’ve tried this, that,
this, that, I’ve never seen response like
this.”
So
now comes time to come back this year and I’m
thinking, “I’ve got to go. I don’t
know what I’m going to find out.” I
had no clue there were going to be such unbelievable
individuals, and so humble. The amount of business
that they’ve done, the history of all of
it blows my mind. I just can’t wait. I already
know what to do. I’ve got a good idea, but
I’m not quite sure. The implementation process
at my locations is a little bit more difficult
than just one location. But I’m like Master
Von Schmelling. I want that watch. I want that
success.
And
another thing that was alluded to is as you grow
older… When you’ve begun you don’t
really appreciate it. But as you grow older, there
is that realization that there’s a lot left
to do with the limited time that we have on the
earth. I don’t want to waste it. I don’t
want to squander it. I just got shot forward by
Joe and the heater. I expected so much return for
my investment and I can’t tell you what it
will do for me, but I know it will be good.
I
want to thank all of the speakers that came here,
and I want to thank you, Master Oliver, for this
opportunity. And I’m going to be eating so
many lunches with people, and we’ll see what
happens.
Stephen:
Thank you. You were here at our Breckenridge Summit,
which was like the most beautiful facility ever
in the world. This is nice. Does everybody like
this setting? It’s nice, but tell them about
Breckenridge.
James:
First of all, you almost killed me when I met ___.
It’s basically pretty simple. We were kind of at this point where we
were like, “Something’s wrong. We’re doing everything and
we just get stuck, we get stuck, we get stuck.” Sometimes, you know
things about the industry that are true, but you don’t want to accept
it because you start to feel like everything that I’m working for has
been a lie.
So
when I came up here, I said, “I just need
to know one truth.” I said, “First,
I have to go up there because when I was competing,
you were smiling all the time.” It’s
like, “This guy Stephen is always smiling.
He must know something that I don’t.” Yeah,
he knew that I was making $400 and he was making
$40,000 running a school.
So
I said, “Okay, let me focus on this part.” And
he just did something that was kind of like a card
on a shirt. I was like, “Aha,” and
you did the funnel. And I was sitting there, because
I’m looking at my school and you always get
this illusion that you’re going to get 300
students and they’re going to stay forever
and you’re going to live off that 300. It
doesn’t happen like that. You get that 300,
you go to sleep, it’s 280. You’re like, “What
happened?” You didn’t realize, you
know what? This is a race. This is something that’s
going to be going on for the next 20 years. I’m
going to get so far ahead of it that I’m
going to be happy, or I’m going to be so
far behind that I’m going to be miserable.
You
don’t want to get to the point where you’re
so old that you don’t have the energy even
to go forward anymore.
So
once you did the paradigm and you said, “This
is where all the students are at,” I said, “I
always knew that.”
So
I just attacked the paradigm. I just attacked the
funnel. And once I understood that, I’ve
been cashing out, increased the tuition. The first
thing I said, you said raise tuition, I went home,
called my wife. It was about $95. I said, “Listen,
you’re going to jump $10 every 20 students.
So every time you enroll 20, get the system built
up, we went to $105, $110, $115, $120. Next thing
you know, we’re like, “How far can
we push this?” So we said, “$125.” We
kind of plateaued at $125. So I said, “Okay,
let’s keep it there for a little while.” And
then, again, we got stuck at a certain number.
So from – when was Breckenridge, July?
Stephen:
June.
James:
Six months ago? So from July to now, we increased
about $200,000.
Stephen:
In six months? Wait a minute! $200,000?
James:
I was going to call my friend Joe in. Some of you
guys that are here for the first time, just forget
today. You’re just going to get a headache.
You’re not going to understand any of this
stuff. Just get one thing and run with that, and
you’ll do it. Stick to this and just stay
with that. And when you come back, build on that
confidence to be able to go a little bit further.
So
once we came back, me and my friend Joe, it was
just a belief system that we had, that we could
get these numbers, that we could believe we can
accomplish that goal. At that time, we just didn’t
have the formula to do it. But we knew that that
was something that could be done. Once we understood
where we needed focus, we put our focus there,
and that’s how I got the results.
Stephen:
Fantastic. What would be the first recommendation
for everybody here to do immediately on Monday,
to do $200,000 in three to six months. I’ve
got to say this, $200,000 increase in business.
Does that sound good?
James:
Well, just watch people in the matrix. Just get
out the matrix. Get out of the mental matrix that
you’re in right now – that’s
not you – and see who you want to be. And
that’s it. And believe it and it will happen.
But
a lot of times, what will also help you is, when
I talked to Master Mertz at ___’s seminar,
he said, “You are the business.” He
said, “You are the business. The reason why
you are where you’re at is because you’re
showing to people that that’s where you’re
at.”
It
was one of those situations where my old instructor
said, “James, if you was a girl, would you
want her to want you, if you were ___?” I
said, “No, I wouldn’t.” So he
said, “How do you expect her to want you?”
As
an instructor, we want our students to be instructors
and role models and all these great people, but
we look like bums.
As
soon as we came home, I called my wife and said, “Listen,
go get the car. We’re getting a new car.
You’re getting new clothes. I’m going
to Dave’s van, I’m getting new shoes.” Everything
changed. But I always knew that’s what I
had to do, but I was trying to fight this. And
maybe I could go three more years with a sweat
suit and come to the school.
It
just can happen. So as soon as I spoke to Master
Mertz and he said do this, as soon as I went home
I just did that. And then I applied a few of the
principles you did, hit the funnel and that was
it.
Stephen:
Fantastic. How do you follow all that?
Attendee:
I can tell you what happened to me. The last two
years, I’ve been totally doing everything
different, looking at everything we’ve done
over the last 25 years. It’s a process. It’s
still continuing. But I like what’s happened.
Last
January, I was sitting at my computer and I was
reading your newsletter. And you said we need to
raise the prices and we ought to charge $159 a
month. And I sat back in my chair and I thought
for about a half an hour. And the whole thing that
I was thinking, it was like one of those things
that hits you right in the face, that you were
thinking, “Why was I so stupid over all of
these years, not to realize that I should have
been raising my prices?”
I
got to thinking just exactly what Master Clark
was saying. I thought the exact same thing. What
did I pay for a car in 1972, and what was I paying
for karate classes in 1972, and what does that
represent in today’s dollars? And I said, “Somehow,
I have to figure out how to justify raising prices.”
So
I spent a lot of time thinking and I came to the
June program. My wife was with me. I said, “I’m
convinced, but I’ve not convinced anybody
in my organization.” I said, “I want
to raise them. I want you to go back and just raise
the prices. The next five people who walk in, I
don’t care if you don’t sign any of
them up, just ask for $119. Just do it.”
She
started gettin it. But when it was all said and
done, we launched our new program. The rotating
curriculum was the other thing.
I
liked the debate that we had. It was a very lively
debate last time. And it was interesting. And that’s
why it’s not a problem for you not to understand
something.
See, the rotating curriculum I came up with is
really different from what you guys are doing,
from what Master Clark is doing, but it fits me.
It is
a true rotating curriculum. It’s probably closer to what Master Smith
would like, just hearing him talk. It fits better with what I do.
I
had to get those things all squared away. We launched
in August. My oldest son – I had two of my
sons in the business – he said, “I
want to open a school.” So he opened this
in January. It’s doing quite well. He’s
had a great month and we’re real pleased.
For the first time, we were signing people up for
$8,000 contracts. We’d never done that before.
In fact, I signed up one of my junior black… Well,
he’s now a senior. He turned 16, took the
belt test, continuing on now. And I signed him
up for one year. And I looked at the check and
I thought, “That’s almost what I used
to charge for a black belt program that took three
years. His mom was ecstatic to write the check.
He was ecstatic. Everybody’s happy. That’s
what we went to.
Remember,
it’s a business. I didn’t do like him.
I didn’t go to business school. I don’t
do that mom-and-pop thing. I didn’t have
that education, and it’s good to be around
people who are going through everything absolutely
the hard way. And it’s good to hear guys
who did that, as well as guys who are coming from
a business-educated background, and to compare
all that and make intelligent decisions and move
your business forward. I find it very profitable.
Stephen:
Financial impact?
Attendee:
The only change, as I said, there at the end of
August, we only had a few months, we still were
up 15%.
Stephen:
15%? That’s excellent.
Attendee:
I just wanted to say a couple words. The reason
I wanted to do this right afterwards is because
I really, sincerely wanted everybody to understand
my position.
Last
year, the reason I came to the camp, the boot camp,
first of all, I wanted to network with some people
that I admired. Master Oliver. And this year, even
more people came that I admire. Everybody already
knows everybody who’s here; Master Clark,
Master Smith, Master Corley and the others.
But
the first time I came to the camp, I came because
I wanted my staff to learn more about sales, telephone
answering, all the things that I sell in my program.
But why? I can sell and I can teach probably as
well as anybody else can. But you know what? Sometimes
your staff doesn’t listen to you as well
and/or when I sit down and listen to the things
that I already sell and I can already do, I listen
to other things that I can add and things that
I forgot and things that I can reinforce.
So,
like Master Oliver said, I try to do as many things
as I can, whether it’s something that I’m
very good at or not, because I can continually
increase my skills. And I learn from a white belt
or from a new school owner as much as I can learn
from other school owners because they have a different
perception of what’s going on.
But
the main reason I came to the first camp was so
my staff could get exposed and learn other things,
and maybe fill in some holes that I didn’t
get.
This
year, I came because I wanted to do the same thing
with my staff. However, when I did come I learned
more about renewals. I could already renew; but
how to renew and make more money.
I
learned the marketing that we talked about, the
remnants ads and things of that nature. And this
time when I came, I got more of what I wanted and
it was different but the same. We had more speakers
this time, about the same type of thing with different
views, so we can pick different pieces.
Every
successful school is successful because they’ve
done it a certain way, because it fits them. I
might not be able to do it any of those ways. But
if I take two or three ways from each one that
fit me the best, then I can be successful.
I
would suggest that everybody do come back as much
as you can. Because even if some of it’s
the same information, there’s no way that
even I’m going to retain most of this information
that I have now, because I’m not going to
be able to implement it all at one time.
So
what you have to do at this time is take one or
two pieces, implement it now, come back and get
the other two pieces, implement it again. But you
have to do what Lloyd did. You’ve got to
do it. So I would recommend everybody come back
to the camp.
Attendee:
If you missed this boot camp, you’re in big
trouble. The people here spent a small fraction
investment, $2,000, for a return of $200,000, some
people even $300,000 in just one year.
So
how much value can you put on an investment of
$2,000? Tell me where you can turn $2,000 into
$200,000 in a year. And because of what you learned,
you can use that year after year. So how many years
does it take to turn that $2,000 into a million
dollars? Anybody else that can find where they
can turn $2,000 into a million, please call me.
Thank you.
Attendee:
Hi, I’m Dave Shirley. I’m with Volaré Martial
Arts Centers. I just wanted to let you know that
I’ve been in this business for 20 years and
I’ve had some success. I’ve done pretty
well. It’s easy, and I’m sure a lot
of you could share this with me, you get to think
that you’re pretty good at what you do. You’ve
got your systems, they’re making some money,
you’re doing pretty well.
But
the thing I got the most out of this is how much
more I can do and how much there is that I don’t
know. The information that’s available from
some of these people are just blowing my mind.
It gives me a vision, a renewed vision of what
I can do with this opportunity, this business that
I have in this wonderful industry that is just
getting going.
So
I encourage you to take advantage of this great
information that’s out there. Good luck to
you.
Attendee:
Hi, my name’s Robert Austin, with International
Black Belt Academy. I just wanted to speak about
Master Oliver and the boot camp.
My
good friend, Master Tommy Lee, has been working
with me a little bit, helping our academies here
in Colorado to grow. He had attended the boot camp
and had shared with me how I would benefit by coming
to Master Oliver’s camp.
The fact that Master Oliver and I both are in the same market, I was a little
bit hesitant as to whether he would really be open to share with me.
What
I’d like to share with you is that I’ve
just been amazed at Master Oliver’s willingness
to sit down with me, openly share everything about
his program. Everything that was accessible at
the boot camp was available for me. I would just
highly recommend this camp to anybody who wants
to take it to the next level, and know that Master
Oliver will do anything he can to help you to be
the greatest success you can be. Thank you.
Attendee:
Last year, coming to the boot camp, we went home
just mind-boggled. Master Oliver is such a brainiac
and he brought so much information to us.
I not only increased my revenue quite a bit, as
I shared earlier, but one of the greatest benefits
I forgot to mention is my staff is so much happier.
They were reluctant, at first, to increase the prices and offer all the new
programs. But they’re so much happier because all of them are making
more money, increasing their standard of living.
And
I was glad and appreciative to Master Oliver for
not only helping me, but also helping my staff.
Thank you, Master Oliver.
Attendee:
The amount of talent at the camp was just amazing
and opening my eyes to how much I can grow my school
and skyrocket. I look at it as a challenge to see
how much I can increase my gross in just the six
months before the next boot camp I’m already
booked in at, and to implement all the new ideas
they’ve sent me.
I’m
usually not a note-taker. I went through two pads
of paper in two days. I couldn’t stop taking
notes. I already have a three-page action plan
for what I’m going to implement the first
day we get back in the classes. I just can’t
wait to get back.
Attendee:
Hi, my name’s Mark McCumber. I used to work
with Stephen Oliver about seven years ago, running
one of his schools. I got the opportunity to come
back out here again and work with some of the old
staff.
I
think this weekend was probably one of the best
weekends I’ve had in almost any seminar that
I’ve ever been in. I’ve gone to a lot
of the big, national conventions and things like
that. This is probably the best packed weekend
of information that you could possibly get. You’ve
got the elite, the top echelon of school owners
out here giving you this information in a two-day
weekend. I think it’s probably the best thing
you could ever do. So definitely, come out here
when you can.
Attendee:
If you treat your business like a hobby, it’s
going to pay like a hobby. If you treat your business
like a business, it will pay like a business. The
martial arts industry is a business. And with the
Extraordinary Marketing boot camp, Master Oliver
has put together an extraordinary program. I’m
just super-excited. Maybe you’ve seen my
testimonials on his website before. I’m tired,
it’s late, it’s almost 3:00 AM in the
morning. I’m just excited.
If
you just come to the program, implement the things
that are being taught, don’t try to take
everything but one or two things, definitely to
do but to see. Like I say, I’m super-excited.
Everything I’ve been doing over the last
18 months has come from Master Oliver. If it wasn’t
for Master Oliver, I’m not sure where my
business would be. I’m just super-excited.
You
need to get to the boot camp. If you miss the boot
camp, you’re making a big mistake.
Attendee:
I’d like to thank Master Oliver for putting
on this seminar today. With the recommendation
of Master Lloyd Irvin, I wouldn’t be here.
It’s been very useful and I hope to implement
a lot of what I’ve learned in the coming
months. Thank you.
Attendee: I’d like to thank Master Oliver and Master Lloyd Irvin for
turning me on to the seminars. I first got the Boot-Camp-In-A-Box and Extraordinary
Marketing, and they were great. I wanted to come to the seminar, and I won’t
miss another one. A lot of guys say they can’t afford to come. You
really can’t afford not to come. That’s the truth.
Attendee:
I want to thank Master Stephen Oliver for an awesome
seminar. I’m excited about getting back to
my school on Monday and implementing the programs.
I know that with the stuff I learned this weekend,
I’ll probably go back and make an extra $200,000
or $300,000 from it.
Attendee:
I’d like to thank Stephen Oliver, Master
Lloyd Irvin and ___ Moshards for bringing me to
this seminar. I learned a lot. And hopefully, over
the next year, we’ll be able to come back
and have one of those Rolex’s.
Attendee:
Hi. My name is Tim Covar and I’d like to
highly encourage you to come to Stephen Oliver’s
boot camp. No matter where you are, if your school
is relatively small or if you’ve got a monster
school, he does a great job of sort of developing,
sort of taking where you are and encouraging you
to go to the next level.
I learned a tremendous amount. I know that a lot
of the other big operators learned a tremendous
amount this weekend. And, if nothing else, it sparked
old ideas that I’ve heard before and I’ve been meaning to get
around to doing. Now I’ve got them at the top of my list, ready to
go again.
So
I would highly encourage you to come on up to Denver
and have a great time, mastermind with some of
the best minds in the industry, and be challenged
to take yourself and your school to the next level.
By
the way, you might just also end up becoming a
millionaire.
Click
here to register!
