The Big Idea

Our civilisation has evolved through the development of ideas and ideals which have guided innovation, best practice and all human endeavours throughout history. The word ‘idea’ stems from the Greek for ‘form’ or ‘the look of things’ rather than the reality, and while we may see this as an intangible thought which could be unique and inspiring it is always something which, when developed, should have a tangible form or an outcome delivered by a specific process or action.

In our industry there will be many people to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for their ideas, developed over many centuries, about the use of body mechanics, training and fitness as well as the reasons for developing the skill set in the first place and the strong character traits shown as a feature of Bushido Code, Wu De, the Tenets of Taekwondo and European Chivalry. In particular, those ideas around the character of a martial artist have been invaluable in modern times and it is those ideas that have allowed us to take character education for children as a serious proposition in the benefits of training. It is all these things that are at the root of the arts that we have come to love so much today.

In more recent times martial arts business pioneers like Jhoon Rhee, in the USA, have developed the business side of martial arts through fulltime locations and innovative marketing; indeed many of his students have carried his ideas forward into multi location schools and franchise operations. In the UK the idea of multi-location schools and business processes have also developed significantly, we now see schools of significant size in single academies and also in multi locations. In the UK we are all privileged to be on the leading edge of an “emerging industry” of great professional worth to children and adults alike.

Here in NEST we started with a big idea which stemmed from a firm conviction that what martial arts instructors do for their students is really important and adds value to every community. That big idea was to develop ways to help the community at large including the business community to view martial arts schools as professional businesses run by the professional school owners and their instructors.

To bring this to life we continue to build systems that support this ideal by giving instructors and their teams technical solutions to enable them to run, manage and develop their business as well as look after their students by tracking progress and attendance as well as enabling communications to all students in a single location or as a group, association or franchise.

Our latest contribution to the pool of ideas that are helping martial arts to become a serious industry in the minds of consumers is “Get into Martial Arts” – a web site enabling prospects to see your school and book on line with ease. Releasing in September of this site will give you the opportunity to display your school and all its benefits both locally and nationally.

Together we will continue to create ideas which we will all benefit from, and this we promote to an industry and profession that we are proud to be involved in and contribute towards.

Martial Arts Management Tip - Leadership

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