| Friend,
One night I was bored and flipping through the cable TV offerings, and I came across this crazy show...
It's called, "Naked and Afraid".
The show is a survival show, and it's EXACTLY what you're thinking.
At first, I thought the premise was offensive (still do). Here's the gist of the show...
Two naked people, complete strangers, one male and one female (oh, that's not intended to make it uncomfortable at all) get dumped off in the middle of nowhere. Each gets to take only one item with them (usually they choose a knife or machete).
And they have to survive for 21 days.
Now, set aside the titillation factor for a moment, and it's a pretty interesting concept. Two people have to survive with pretty much nothing in the wild for three weeks.
If you know your survival rule of threes (three hours of hypothermia, three days without water, or three weeks without food will kill you) then you know why they decided on 21 days.
And you also know it's a pretty serious thing to attempt.
I won't get into all the gory details about the challenges of surviving in the wild with nothing to cover your most vital equipment. Needless to say, that seemed to caused the most discomfort for the contestants.
But, what I will point out is that most of the people who attempt the challenge complete it. That's three weeks, out in the wild, with nothing but a knife and a strong breeze to help you survive.
It's amazing how people can get by with so little for so long.
Now, think about the flipside of that equation: a camper or backpacker gets lost in the woods carrying a crap-ton of equipment on them - knife, backpack, food, water, tent, sleeping bag, change of clothes...
And yet they still end up dead by the time rescue finds them.
What makes the difference? How can one person go out to the boonies with nothing more than a sharp machete and their God-given talents and survive for weeks, while another is carrying tons of equipment and dies?
The difference is a combination of knowledge and focusing on what's really important.
Let me say that again...
The DIFFERENCE is a combination of KNOWLEDGE and FOCUSING ON WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT.
In fact, in some cases hanging on to a bunch of stuff you don't need in a survival situation could actually kill you. It takes a lot of energy and vital resources to lug around a 70-lb pack.
Once you run out of food or water, carrying all that gear could work against you. You burn up all your energy, become dehydrated, and then get a little delirious and make just one wrong choice...
BOOM. You're dead.
Well, I'm here to tell you that marketing your martial art school is no different. Often, I see school owners and instructors weighing their businesses down with unnecessary and worthless marketing and expenditures...
...instead of focusing on the vital essentials that are most important for getting students in your school.
So, they waste precious resources and capital, hoping that the money they're spending will bring them students.
Before you know it, they're broke and have no idea which way to turn or what to do to survive the challenges they are facing.
Tomorrow I'm going to explain how you can determine whether your marketing is a waste of time and money, or whether it's what you need to be focusing on to save your skin.
So, stay tuned for that.
Until next time,
Mike Massie MartialArtsBusinessDaily.com
P.S. - The crazy thing about "Naked and Afraid" is that the producers could have easily sent the guys out in a buckskin loin cloth and the ladies in a leather bikini, Jane and Tarzan style. But then again, no one would have watched the show. What a sad statement on our society.
P.S.S. - Keep an eye out for tomorrow's email. I'm about to share some really useful information with you that'll help you make good marketing choices for your school. | 