| Friend,
I moved to Austin, Texas in early 2004 driving an old beat-up car with $50 bucks in my pocket and all my worldly possessions in the back seat. My goal at the time was to teach and do martial arts full-time.
It took me roughly two years of trial and error to really get a successful school off the ground so I could do exactly that. And, my first effort at starting a school failed miserably.
(Not incidentally, I'd also failed twice previously, long before I moved to Austin. So, I had plenty of experience failing in business before I moved to the city.)
Looking back, it wasn't so much that I didn't know what to do to get a school off the ground the first time... it's that I lacked a grand vision for my martial art school.
Let me rephrase that so there's no misunderstanding about what I'm saying.
What I really mean is, I didn't yet have a higher, inspiring purpose when I first tried to start a school here in Austin.
Nope. It was all about me back then. I wanted to train, I wanted to teach, I wanted to do martial arts full-time...
Me. Me. Me.
And in the end, that really hurt me. In fact, I believe my self-centered attitude was the one factor that was chiefly responsible for my failure.
So what changed between the first school I tried to start after I moved to Austin, and the second?
One major thing: I developed and nurtured a mission for my dojo that transcended my own personal needs.
In other words, I found a "reason why" that was bigger than just paying the bills, having fun doing something I'd always enjoyed, and making enough extra money to go out on the weekends.
This "reason why" gave me the inspiration to develop a grand vision for my martial art school. It wasn't just about me anymore - it was about me helping other people.
And by defining my mission, not only did I find the inspiration to do something extraordinary...
...I also found that my new-found enthusiasm about helping others through martial arts was enough to inspire other people to assist me and follow me as well.
Unsurprisingly, that made all the difference in my second attempt to start a martial art school in the "big city" of Austin, where I hardly knew a soul.
As you might have guessed, finding a higher mission for your dojo is the topic I'm going to explore in this week's email series.
While you may be tempted to scoff and write it off as touchy-feely B.S., I encourage you to pay close attention to these emails.
I assure you, the information I'm going to share with you will make a huge impact on your business and life over the next 12 months.
So stay tuned for my next email tomorrow - it'll be worth your while.
Until next time,
Mike Massie MartialArtsBusinessDaily.com
P.S. - Sure, I learned a lot from my previous mistakes. But it wasn't until I found a "reason why" and a higher purpose that I was really inspired to change and grow as an instructor and a businessman. And as I said, that made all the difference.
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