I was fortunate that my instructors—Hank Farrah, Walt Bone, and Joe Lewis—never took advantage of my loyalty. Instead, they took me under their wings and made me a protégé.
However, as the head of the world’s largest martial arts professional association (NAPMA), I’ve heard countless horror stories of master instructors abusing the loyalty of their top students.
And guess who usually becomes those top students? People like you and me.
Who Are We?
We are often the only students from our white belt class who actually made it to black belt.
On my first night in karate class, Mr. Bone explained that less than four percent of us would reach brown belt, and less than two percent would make it to black belt. I understood he was challenging us to beat the odds.
Like him, I believe that earning a black belt shouldn’t be easy, and that pain is a part of the training process. I don’t dispute that.
What intrigues me more is why we persevered while others dropped out. What connection does our endurance have with running a martial arts school as a business?
We Have Similar Backgrounds
Regardless of our martial arts style or where we began training, we martial arts school owners share similar backgrounds and motivations.
I’ve discussed this with hundreds of black belts and several psychologists, leading to the development of the Core Dynamics.
Why did we first join a martial arts school?
Chuck Norris once shared that his father’s alcoholism was a major motivator for him to pursue martial arts, and I believe most career black belts have experienced something similar.
Many of us joined a martial arts school because we had been bullied, beaten, or in some way intimidated or made to feel powerless, typically during our youth.
This shared experience has a profound effect on our industry, not necessarily from a marketing perspective, but from a causation standpoint.
An industry led by individuals who have risen from oppressive, intimidating situations to become “masters of the martial arts” is unique and complex.
While this journey from powerlessness to empowerment is personally beneficial, it often brings with it a new set of challenges.
The Impact of Our Past on the Present
Many of us got into martial arts because we were personally bullied, beaten, intimidated, or mistreated, or we grew up in an environment of tension, violence, or abuse—particularly as children. Interestingly, a common thread among successful people is some form of mental or physical hardship or abuse during childhood. For instance, Bill Clinton’s father was a raging alcoholic, and Ted Turner’s father tragically took his own life in a way that would leave a lasting impact on his son.
Maybe your dad hit your mom, your brother bullied you, or you were targeted by school bullies.
Whatever the situation, the end result was that you found yourself in a threatening environment for an extended period. It wasn’t your fault—you were just a kid.
According to the doctors I’ve spoken with, this creates a feeling of powerlessness because the scary things happening to you are beyond your control.
When you’re in such a situation for a long time, martial arts offer an escape—a way to gain power and respect.
Martial Arts as an Escape and a Path to Respect
If you joined a martial arts school in the 1970s like I did, your school was likely a "dungeon dojo"—a smelly place where students were “tortured” in the name of discipline.
In these schools, we discovered a world where beatings occurred, but with a kind of perverse logic.
There were clear rules and boundaries. Martial arts are all about control, in contrast to the lack of control many of us experienced in our earlier lives.
If you took the beatings, followed the rules, and practiced your techniques, you would rise in rank within the organization.
Each step up the rank ladder brought you closer to the inner circle of the school, and with that came the big R word: Respect.
Respect is the cornerstone of martial arts. For a kid who received little of it, especially in a harsh environment, respect is incredibly attractive.
One of the first lessons you’re taught in martial arts school is respect, and it’s clear that respect is tied to rank.
This natural and necessary hierarchy in martial arts is particularly appealing to someone who has been beaten down, physically or emotionally.