Alright, so if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm going to do a sort of "12 Days of Christmas" thing in the newsletter over the next two weeks...

But instead of giving away stuff, or doing a daily discount (sorry, next sale won't be until Black Friday next year), I'm going to be giving you short, simple tips every day for the next two weeks.

These tips will be designed to help you make the most of the remaining days of the Christmas season, to salvage things if they've gone sideways on you, and to help you get a head start on 2016 (which is where you should really be focused at this time - not that you can't make some money between now and December 25th).

Now, if you're of that camp who thinks all is lost, all is lost in the days between Thanksgiving and January 1st, I'm here to tell you that folks in my coaching group are enrolling students and seeing decent profits this month, just like in any other month.

Also, I've been getting plenty of leads and inquiries over the last two weeks, and pretty much without any effort on my part since I get pretty lazy this time of year (this is all due to marketing that I put in place months ago, by the way - hint, hint).

So, do yourself a favor and take these tips to heart - and then act on them. If for no other reason, do it so you'll have a good idea of what to do next year around this time to make your holiday season a bit more lively and profitable at your dojo.

But enough blather - time for tip #1:

On The First Day Of Christmas At The Dojo:

We decorated. Yeah, I know, whoop-dee-do! But seriously, if you want to take advantage of the spending tendencies that people typically display at this time of the year, then you need to get them into the spirit.

And, that means decorating your dojo according to the season. Honestly, this doesn't take much effort (or money), and you can even get your students involved to make it easier on you.

At my first studio, we had a dollar store right next door. So, each year on Black Friday I'd walk over there, pick up a bunch of cheesy decorations, and spend an hour or so making the school look festive.

It didn't take a lot of money or time, but it sure helped set us up for success in hitting our sales goals for the season. And a big part of it was tying in the decorations with a nice Christmas sale display (more on that tomorrow).

Now, if you think this is a waste of time, I want you to picture the following:

Mom walks in to drop her kid off at his martial arts class, and she has a million things running through her mind. #1, because she's a mom, #2, because it's Christmas, and #3, because she is hosting the family for a holiday meal this year, and so on...

She's behind on her Christmas shopping, she has no idea what she's going to wear to that holiday party at the office, and she has a big end of year report that she needs to get done before she takes time off for the holidays to boot.

Then she walks in your dojo, looks at all the decorations, and then she sees your holiday sale display, and she thinks, "Well heck, I'm here anyway - maybe I'll knock out some gift shopping while Tommy is distracted with the warm-ups."

Boom - you just made an extra $20, $30, $40, $50, $100 profit. Sure, that's not going to send you to Maui this year, but multiply that by a few dozen students and it starts to get exciting.

Now, I know that because of shipping constraints it may be almost too late to have a holiday sale, but tomorrow I'm going to give you some ideas about things you can still sell even if it's too late to get items shipped in from your equipment suppliers.

But for today, just go spend a few bucks at the local Wal-Mart or dollar store on some light and tinsel, and spend a half-hour or so today making your place look a bit more festive before your first class of the day.