In 2003 I started my first club “Urban Martial Arts’. My Instructor at the time was already using NEST and I had seen the support that they offered to small clubs and the industry.
So after a year of running my club like an amateur I decided that the club needed a push. This is when I first met Gerard, who took the time to come to Leicester and see what we were doing.
Gerard talked about the industry in such depth (trends, marketing, retentions, atrophy, billing, designs) that I knew NEST was exactly what my business needed.
NEST has offered me the confidence to run my club and concentrate on the delivery of classes, marketing etc whilst they maintain the business element. I never have to worry if students have paid for a session or if their licence or insurance has expired. NEST provides you with a complete system of support so you can analyze trends such as which are your busiest classes, who’s training regularly etc…and all this info is available at the click of a button.
In 2009 we started to get some students up to an Instructor level, all of whom wanted to potentially turn their hobby into a business. NEST helped me create a franchise package where my students (now Instructors) could teach for Urban Martial Arts but in their own locations. This has proved to be very successful and we now have schools throughout Leicestershire (Aylestone, Blaby, Whetstone, Melton Mowbray) as well as in London and Wolverhampton. There are several new franchises opening later this year too.
NEST Management has been an integral part of Urban Martial Arts over the past 5 years helping with our marketing, billing and providing a support system like no other. Gerard and Joy have shown true friendship and an unquestionable loyalty and always have time to discuss business and more importantly personal matters. The staff are all very friendly and approachable and many have become friends. Since starting MAF-UK and now TMAS Live they have advised and supported the shows and play a very important role in it’s design and feel.
