In 1995, I was 24 years old and I had the opportunity to buy a martial arts school from the Master I was originally training with. The school was a year old when I took it over, and at the time the monthly revenue was about the same as the rent so I quickly realized that I needed to institute some things that would keep us afloat. For many years I ran it as a one-man operation. I was the teacher, the one enrolling the students, answering phones, cleaning … all of the technical roles of the business.
By 2003, things had improved and the business had expanded. We’d opened another location, which my wife was running. Although they were only a few miles apart, and each location was relatively successful, they were running differently, from how we enrolled to how we graduated students to how we taught class. I had the opportunity to sell the second location outright in 2004 and I went for it.
It was then that I really started evaluating systems. I recognized that I needed a scalable and transferable business model. I’d cleaned my slate so I had only one business to work on. I had plans to expand but I wanted to focus on my business. I wanted to work on the business from the outside; and I became intrigued with the idea of the franchise prototype. That’s what led me to EMyth.
By March of 2005 I’d removed myself from some of the technical roles. I was not teaching but I was still working full-time at the school and I decided to attend an EMyth Leadership Intensive seminar. On the way back from the seminar, I found out my wife was pregnant with our first child. It suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t want to be working at a Martial Arts school until 10:00 at night though I wanted to continue to provide my family a financially stable lifestyle. I needed to figure out how to design my life and then design my business around my life.
It wasn’t until I started business coaching that I realized how many hats I was wearing in my business. It helped me understand what it really takes to design a business, and approach all the functional areas from a business perspective. It really defined systems for me and gave me a solid understanding of the structure and backbone of business. And although I’d been to a lot of seminars and events, the program was my first experience working with a business coach. Having that accountability, having somebody to check in with was really good for me.
When you commit to working on your business, it makes you realize how much more work there is to do. By embracing the EMyth approach, you end up discovering where you are and where you want to be… and the steps you need to take to get there. It’s not an overnight process; it’s a journey.
Learn More about John Cassidy, TopKick and their multiple locations in Virginia
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