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Freedom in Five Minutes


Jun 19, 2019

In the business of martial arts, you aren't just teaching people how to defend themselves...  you are providing an experience that makes customers want to come back day after day.  However, it's not as easy as just getting a facility, buying a mat, and offering free trials.  A great martial arts school requires great systems that allow for maximum students with maximum experience.

In this episode, you'll hear how sensei Rudy Carrillo has created systems that give his students an amazing and fun experience while also allowing scalability.

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Automated Transcript Below:

 

 

Dean Soto 0:00
Hey, this is Dean Soto with freedom in five minutes.com. And we're here again, with another freedom in five minutes episode. Today's topic is this. martial arts can be a pretty systematic business, that and more coming up. Alright, cool. So I'm here in beautiful San Diego at my jujitsu tournament, which you've heard about probably for the last few weeks. But we're actually here, I'm not going to tell you the results until after this podcast because I actually already did one.

One

match already, and I did get the results. And you will have to hear that in a later podcast. But I'm here with my coach and mentor, the person who gave me the ability to even be here in the first place. Mr. Rudy Korea. Everybody say hi,

Rudy Carrillo 1:01
how you guys doing excited to be here. Nice San Diego, beautiful, beautiful sunny skies right now just finishing up the day with some strong matches.

Dean Soto 1:09
Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to bring Rudy, how can I usually call him coach or sensei or whatever? If I'm gonna call you, Rudy. Now? Is that right? Yes. Oh, I wanted to bring him on the podcast, because one of the things that really struck me as completely just unique about his particular company, his particular martial arts studios, is that they are extremely systematic, like extremely systematic, to the point where I was just absolutely in awe. anyone listening to this knows how much I love systems, and the audience loves systems, and so on. And so when I saw what you were doing, and my kids actually are part of his system, just how smoothly things run and how many kids you're able to just go back to back to back to back in your system, it just totally was something that that blew me away. And so I wanted to share that with you guys. And how how, even with a martial arts view, you can have a system that is just just super well oiled something that that brings in more revenue than if if there were no system, which I've seen a lot of other martial arts studios just kind of looks like almost like they're winging it, and they're not able to push that many students through with also quality instruction. So all that being said, Mr. Korea, what, like what got you into martial arts? So Well, first off, tell tell people a little bit about yourself your business and then get asked you how you got into this in the first place.

Rudy Carrillo 2:45
So myself, I'm a third degree black belt in jujitsu, I started teaching when I was 12 years old, I just love the art. I started martial arts when I was nine, maybe going on 10. And my mom put me in martial just because I was getting bullied in school, I low confidence. And then you know, I just really believe in myself. So we started martial arts program, hoping for just a, you know, more confident, better outcome, being able to defend myself. And there's nothing like self defense confidence. So once I got in the man, I was able to just spar, roll to all these amazing things, and then, you know, really build myself up, she changed my life forever. So when I was 12, I decided to start helping teach. So red bells, I was helping out with my instructors classes, every Saturday, I would do for free, no matter what, I'll just be there just eager to learn. And then by the time I was 15, I got my black when I was 14, when I was 15, I was able to teach my T bone classes, I was able to get my first job. And then I developed myself as an instructor from there. And now it was scary. I mean, you're you're young, you're telling these people to listen to you to take you seriously. And then the presence, you have to have just the confidence in order to build people up and to make them become exactly what they want to be. It's just fulfilling and I was so blessed and eager to help others. And then I just knew that with a right kind of system in place that I can have a life who have achieved more results. If you go inside of this martial art school, and there's your randomly teaching things you people are not able to fill a lot of their goals, but with the right systems and you building them up step by step day by day, class by class, we saw different kinds of results and our students over the long run help me both company.

Dean Soto 4:33
I love it. I love it. And so you are so you own ultimate martial arts in Fresno. Correct.

Rudy Carrillo 4:38
Right. Oh, Fresno ultimate martial arts, we've been open since 2008. We started in a park, we had I literally opened up the school on a like three $400 credit card. It got too hot. Students were about to quit a month in because we were in the sun in Fresno, if you don't know us to 100 degrees, if not more, in the summer, and you're asking kid to put on a whole pajama outfit go out there, practicing the heat. And right away, we had a problem, we were blessed to have one of our clients at the time, work at a bowling alley. And she said, you know, you come by our, our facility, and maybe you can rent out a room and have any money, I had nothing, I literally had nothing. And they give us opportunity to pay just 50 bucks a month in order to rent on a room and, and start building our company. And at the time, you know, you you, you have no idea really where to start. But you just have to start. And then as you start, you want to simplify it just for the simplest person coming into have a positive experience. Because if you're not clear on what you're wanting, then imagine how the person is coming to your facility, their loss as well. And if you're lost their loss, and then no one's ever happy. That's great.

Dean Soto 5:47
50 bucks a month. I wish I could play in that arena. That's awesome. Thank you. So so. So like I had mentioned before one of the that actually struck me. So I I actually came to your to your martial arts studio because I was in warrior I needed to, to my target was to do a tournament for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is what we're doing right now. And I called you up one thing that actually struck me when I when I once I did call you the way that I ended up calling you was you you were using, I can see that you were using Click Funnels, you were using different types of funnels, I don't think it was just Click Funnels, but you already had a system for generating leads. That was pretty different than most martial arts folks, I in fact, we were just looking at different martial arts studios to to do some open mat last night and I literally could not find a website force for at least two of them. And so like that, tell me about that system that you have and like, and then how you how you to kind of developed some of the things that you're doing right now from a marketing perspective.

Rudy Carrillo 6:54
So So with the system we have in place, our website, you know, very few people go to a website now and decide to scroll through it. When they go to a website, they want immediate answer. And in few seconds, if there's too many clicks, they're just going to leave. So I knew that there were there has to be some kind of better system like a landing page. So if someone searches on Google, they type in kids martial arts, they need to be directed to a kid's martial arts page. And although they have options on where they want to pursue, you can easily just read our, you know, whatever is on our page, and quickly say, you know, this is the direction I want to go into give you more information. And the information that they're going to give us is simply a name and number. But the biggest thing I saw from having a website that stirs and directs me to the right direction is that follow up process? Because once we, once they see you know what I like what I see you answered, because there's a lot of questions can be asked in their head mentally. And what it says on that lane pages has to be short in key for size, it's going to let them know if they're going to buy or not. And then when they go to that next step, the follow up process has to be on point because soon after that they can be contacting other facilities, they can change their mind things change in life. So you want to get them when it's hot. You want them to ask a question, get more information. And then within a few hours, within 24 hours, we have a follow up email that automatically goes out to them it is asked them information, what makes you want to do martial arts? Have you had any experience? What made you decide on our facility? When are you available? Here's the program you asked for here's the tiles available. And it's automatic, because most people, at least in our industry, they have common questions. And so we developed an email based system that automatically response to them to get those questions answered, that help us better help them by the time to get into our facility on the mat.

Dean Soto 8:44
Oh, I love that, that that is that is something is something that is very rare in this industry like completely, very hard to find that type of, of really specific marketing. And then utilizing, you know, a good landing page, utilizing email, utilizing pre framing, things like that, even answering questions ahead of time. So by the time they're even in there, they've already you're not having a hard sell them con like because they it's really just kind of tipping them over to right right to be a an actual client, which is great. And then what struck me as amazing, was after I joined, I got to see what you're doing with the kids. And just when it actually not just kids, kids to adults and so on, is you developed kind of a system where where almost on the hour, every hour, it you have one class go right into the next into the next and the next and the next the next where it's a chain of things, it doesn't feel like like you're in a fast food restaurant where where you're just being like, you know, cattle push through, there's there's a lot of personal attention that comes in through it. But how did you develop that system? What were some of the kind of the challenges that you've been led to that?

Rudy Carrillo 10:09
So So our classes are 4040 minutes, what I realized we had a longer time, at one point 60 minute classes, when I realized that with the parents, especially in today, they have so many things to do at nighttime, if you get off work at five, you got to take your child's have a martial arts class six to seven, and then it shouldn't choose to be in bed by eight, you literally have zero time now. So we cut our classes back as much as we could. But our goal is okay, if we have this much time, 40 minutes, what is our outcome we want? And then I'm in a structured class, how can I get to that outcome. And so every class, we have a detail to every 10 minutes, 10 minute warm up 10 minute drill for skill, 10 minute lesson. And that's going to be for the curriculum based. And then the last 10 minutes will be probably game and then also a life lesson. And it has in that manner just because well first off every every class builds on itself a second, you're systematically putting him through to make them better, without them ever knowing that they're getting better. But there's progression slow but steady progression that's in anything you do. You might not see the result right away. But definitely it's there, especially for the time and effort and over a long period of time. And that just took a little bit of me understanding that the right curriculum, and especially what we call it, we call it rotating curriculum, that you're not winging it, you have a set skill you're developing every six weeks for us is every six weeks. And then every year that same curriculum repeats itself to build upon foundation.

Dean Soto 11:43
Yeah, that is that is something that I could see with my son Soren in your class he went from he went from being completely awkward in the in within the first week to saying Hey, Dad, can we practice brawling? Can we do this, can we do that, and I you know, I would go for his leg and boom, he'd sprawled is like, boom, like, like that. And by the end of the few weeks, and and it was great, because you you can tell he was it wasn't like this, this, you know, hard practice, you need to learn, you need to learn all this right now. It was fun, it was engaging, right? And it was little by little. And you do that even with the adults. Right? Right? We

Rudy Carrillo 12:26
do with the adults. We all need to have a game but you don't go to college and someone doesn't say okay, we're gonna win you for four years. And then we're gonna give you a degree, you know, you go to a class, there's chapters, you have to read pages, you have the right or really essence you have to write and then there's, of course, midterms and tests. And you systematically get through that class and have the end result whether you like the results based on your effort during the class, of course. But I mean, you don't just dropped it what other sport or really what why should any sport ever just not have a precise outcome what they want when people want precise results? It doesn't make sense.

Dean Soto 13:00
Yeah. I love it. I love it. Yeah, cuz. So from personal experience, seeing that particular system, every every time we start a new curriculum, I'm like, I can't do this. This is so hard. I don't know what I'm doing. And there and by the end of the month, or end of the six weeks, I'm like, Oh, I got this. This is easy. This is awesome. Like the last one that we did. We did several different arm bars. We did all these different passes and all this. And I was telling, I was telling Nick, when we were rolling, who's another one another one of his students. I was telling Nick, that, man, this sequence we learned we learned so much. And it was it was amazing. And I didn't even realize I was actually learning at the time. Right? So that's that's just fantastic system,

Rudy Carrillo 13:50
you know that that's the aha moments when you able to have that aha moment, like, Oh, my gosh, I just, I just like multiplied my game. It's just, you know, there's nothing like that, that feeling that going to keep you coming back? because now you're so engaged learning even more? Yeah. And that's what we love about it. Yeah. I love it.

Dean Soto 14:06
So speaking of aha moments, one of the things we do on this podcast is find that five minute change of mindset, that five minute decision that you made, that really changed the way that you do business really changed the way that you played the game, you play the game. And so what's one thing that it was just a quick mindset shift, and you said, You know what, I have to do this and figure out a way to do it, that that really changed the game for you when it came to your martial arts studio.

Rudy Carrillo 14:38
You know, the biggest change that I had to do, and I'm sure it's our most business owners is just trusting in your people, and letting go, if you did the proper job of training them, and getting them in the right mindset of being in doing their job to its full capacity. Someone told me once time that if they can do 80%, of what you do, you need to let it go, because then you can invest that 80% or even your hundred percent of your time and another area in your company, which really needs to be monitored. So letting go of the things that I knew that it was hard that I could let go of, and trusting my team has really helped me develop not only as a business owner as a person, because my gosh, as I get older, and as my staff improves, it's important that we build each other and create a really dynamic company that wouldn't be able to be done without them. I love

Dean Soto 15:38
that is so awesome. That's awesome. So how many so with your staff, and so on? What do they what do they do right now? What do you How does that work with your with your staffing and with what you've delegated, and so on.

Rudy Carrillo 15:52
So establishing we're a team. I don't like anyone being below each other. So as a team, we clean we, we clean the mats were there we go over curriculum structures, they provide feedback on what we should be teaching how we can adjust. And then we also have them assistant teaching classes. So we have multiple instructors that are school, and some are incredibly talented at teaching the inner children. Some are incredibly talented teaching the adults and we delegate them to where they're best at. And then they're able to with our curriculum and what we teach, they're able to follow our system and go with the system and be able to do what I've been doing for so many years. That's also I love this, I love this.

Dean Soto 16:34
Well, I'm in I'm in all of your systems and what you've built. It's it's something that that like I said, is very, very, very rare to see. And it honestly is like for anyone who loves system loves systems and processes like you have to check out and see how he does what he does. It's it's absolutely amazing. So with that being said, How can people see you reach you? How can people join your classes, things like that.

Rudy Carrillo 17:01
Oh, of course, we're Fresno ultimate martial arts and Fresno, California. You can always contact your school 559 to 612805 you have any questions, but also feel free to email us at Udacity martial arts at gmail. com. We're an open book, we love to help anyone we understand that this is a game we're all playing together, whether it be martial arts industry, produce industry, whatever industry might be, and there's a lot of similarities where everyone can help.

Dean Soto 17:28
I love it. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Coach Rudy, I appreciate you and we're actually good in a wet like one or two hours. We're gonna head back in and actually I have my ghee match.

Rudy Carrillo 17:39
This last few matches here. We were ready. We're super excited. We had a great morning and we have a better afternoon right now.

Dean Soto 17:47
So yeah, it's gonna be great. And so we're gonna after that we're gonna head back home. But until then, this has been another episode of the freedom in five minutes podcast and we will check you out in the next episode.