Black Belt Banter: Martial Arts Business Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Most school owners think a feeder program exists for one reason: pull those kids into your main location as fast as possible. Master Daniel Osorio built 28 of them and does the opposite. In this episode, Master Jimmy Hong and Master Tony Chung sit down with Master Daniel Osorio. Master Daniel runs four martial arts schools and 28 mobile locations across daycares, charter schools,...

Send us Fan Mail For the first time, real buyers are calling martial arts school owners. Ten years ago this conversation didn't exist. You built your school, you ran it until you couldn't, and that was the whole plan. Jimmy Hong and Master Chan Lee sit down with the team behind Growth Studios: Guy Amini, Master Ali Ghafour, and Master Tony Kook. Guy spent nearly a decade helping build De...

Send us Fan Mail Most schools try to fix retention after a student is already halfway out the door. Sensei Solomon Brenner does it 90 days in advance — with an in-house tournament. Solomon runs 36 Action Karate locations and hosts two in-house tournaments a year: 1,100 to 1,400 competitors, 19 rings, start to finish in one day. But the real lesson isn't the size. It's that the event driv...

Send us Fan Mail The schools growing the fastest aren't doing anything you couldn't do. They're just surrounded by people who already figured it out. In this episode, we get into why your network is the single biggest predictor of how fast your school grows — and why so many owners stay stuck trying to figure it out alone. We cover how to find people actually worth learning from, wh...

Send us Fan Mail Staff Development: The Key to Creating the Life and Dojang You Want Episode Summary: Master Pamela Sroka, co-owner of World Class Taekwondo in San Jose (two locations, 1,100+ students), breaks down how she built a leadership pipeline that runs her schools without her doing everything herself. If you've ever felt like your school can't run without you, this one will chang...

Send us Fan Mail Master Jimmy Hong and Master Chan Lee sit down with Master Clinton Oh — founder of My Manager and the man behind a 75-school taekwondo empire — to break down why most school management software falls short and what a true all-in-one system actually looks like. This episode also marks the announcement of ASA Martial Arts' exclusive partnership with My Manager. Key Takeaways: S...

Send us Fan Mail Most martial arts school owners are leaving thousands of dollars on the table every single month — not because they're spending wrong, but because they're not getting anything back for what they're already spending. In this episode, Jimmy Hong and Master Jay Lee sit down with Pat Morgan — entrepreneur, restaurateur, commercial real estate investor, and ASA founding...

Send us Fan Mail Most martial arts school owners don't have a student problem — they have a time problem. Not enough time to follow up with leads, create content, or stay consistent with marketing. That's exactly what AI can fix. In this episode, recorded live at the ASA Martial Arts Summit in Las Vegas, we're joined by Josh Lannan — marketing strategist and AI specialist with 15 ye...

Send us Fan Mail What if charging MORE actually helped your school? In this episode, we sit down with Master Bronson Ko — second-generation martial artist, 3-location school owner, and author of The Mentor Method — to break down the exact playbook for raising tuition without losing students. Master Ko went from $159 to $299/month (with invite-only programs at $499), and in this conversation he sha...

Send us Fan Mail From School Owner to Wealth Builder: Turning Martial Arts Revenue into Real Wealth  On Black Belt Banter, host Jimmy Hong and co-host Master Chan Lee interview Sensei Solomon Brenner, founder of Action Karate, about why many martial arts school owners can earn revenue for years yet build no wealth. Brenner stresses financial discipline and delayed gratification, starting small wit...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary: Marketing veteran Nick Dougherty joins Jimmy and Master Chan Lee to break down why most martial arts schools are invisible on social media — and the shift from SEO to AEO that's changing how schools get discovered in 2026. Key Takeaways: Fire any social media manager posting offers and discounts on your organic feed — it flags you as an advertiser and kills y...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Title: Your Class Schedule Is Costing You Money Episode Summary: Your class schedule is one of the most overlooked drivers of profit, retention, and staff sanity in your martial arts school. In this episode, Jimmy Hong sits down with Master Tony Chung, Master Jay Lee, and Master Philip Jeung to break down how a profit-driven schedule shapes customer experience, staffing, a...

Send us Fan Mail Host Jimmy Hong sits down with Master Chan and Master Jay to break down why most schools don’t have a marketing problem—they have a retention problem. They share how to align training with student and parent goals, keep classes engaging, and create clear milestones that keep students committed. You’ll learn practical retention strategies like mastering the first 21 days, tracking...

Send us Fan Mail Is martial arts really better than other sports for kids? In this episode of Black Belt Banter, Master Chan, Master Tony Kook, and Master Jimmy Hong break down why martial arts provides greater long-term benefits for children compared to traditional sports like soccer, tennis, or lacrosse. All three hosts have kids competing in other sports at a high level, giving them a unique pe...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Black Belt Banter, we dive deep into one of the most important decisions every school owner must make: choosing the most effective introductory offer — free trials, paid trials, or no trial at all. Industry leaders Master Chan, Master Tony Chung, and Master Jay share their real-world strategies and experiences: Master Chan explains why charging a meaningful upfr...

Send us Fan Mail Never Boring Kicking Drills: How to Keep Students Fired Up (with Alex Wong) In this episode of Black Belt Banter, host Master Jimmy Hong and resident expert Master Tony Chung welcome special guest Alex Wong — a third-degree TaeKwonDo black belt, instructor, content creator, and YouTuber with over 150,000 subscribers. Together, they dive into what really keeps students engaged on t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Black Belt Banter, hosts Jimmy Hong and Master Lee sit down with Sensei Solomon Brenner, founder of Action Karate, to discuss what it really takes to scale a martial arts school. With over 30 years of experience and 36 locations, Brenner shares practical insights on leadership, systems, partnerships, and maintaining core values while growing. A must-listen for s...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Black Belt Banter , Master Jimmy Hong joins Master Lee and Master Jeung to break down the debate of monthly tuition versus paid-in-full programs. They discuss cash flow, stability, lessons from COVID, and how to balance both models for sustainable growth. A must-listen for school owners looking to align their billing strategy with long-term success.  Most martia...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Black Belt Banter, hosts Master Jimmy Hong and Master Lee discuss effective face-to-face marketing strategies for increasing enrollment in martial arts schools. Master Chan shares insights from his experience running multiple successful locations with over 2,100 active students. He emphasizes the importance of direct interactions at community events, birthday pa...

Send us Fan Mail What if the habits that create Olympians could also build a school that runs on rhythm instead of adrenaline? We sit down with Coach Tim Thackeray—seven-time U.S. national team member, Pan Am Games gold medalist, and USA Taekwondo’s Director of Education—to map elite performance onto everyday school ownership. Coach Tim shows how to turn competitive fire into a repeatable operatin...

Send us Fan Mail The Big Debate: Do MMA Skills Belong in Traditional Martial Arts? In this episode of Black Belt Banter , we tackle one of the most controversial questions in today’s martial arts world: Should MMA techniques be part of traditional martial arts training? We break down the benefits, risks, and misconceptions behind integrating modern combat skills into classical systems. And we disc...

Send us Fan Mail If your classes feel scattered the moment “curriculum time” starts, you’re not alone. We dig into the rotating curriculum—why it ignites class energy, simplifies coaching at scale, and can actually protect belt integrity when designed with care. With Master Philip Jeung, a second‑generation martial artist and Fordham MBA, we get tactical about growth. Rotation makes it possible fo...

Send us Fan Mail World TKD Lab https://www.world-tkdlab.com/saas-platform Master Nickie Quan: Quanscience@gmail.com Stop losing precious teaching time to front-desk chaos. We sit down with World Taekwondo Lab to unpack a practical way forward: a voice-driven AI assistant designed by lifelong martial artists to manage leads, message parents, schedule intros, and even update inventory while you stay...

Send us Fan Mail Want a tournament that builds leaders, delights parents, and actually runs on time? We sit down with Master Jay Lee—tournament director for the U.S. Open Taekwondo Hanmadang and CEO of U.S. Taekwondo Center—to show how school owners can turn competition into a retention engine and a reliable revenue stream without sacrificing safety or sanity. We break down why starting in-house p...

Send us Fan Mail From Zero to 120: How a Young Martial Artist Built a Thriving Taekwondo School In this episode of Black Belt Banter, hosts Jimmy Hong and Master Tony Chung converse with Master Liam Guttmacher, a 24-year-old martial artist who rapidly grew his Taekwondo school to 120 students in under a year. Liam discusses his journey, starting from his early karate days to his focus on acrobatic...