Don’t sell the stone when you really have the gold!

By Darren A. Gaitan

Just recently I was watching a program about people who sell items on Ebay and make a lot of money doing so. They showed certain items that they had bought for pennies and turned around and sold it for hundreds. One person explained how he would find valuable items at garage sales and flee markets for a couple of dollars and sold many them on Ebay for much more. I started to wonder how a person could consciously sell an item for dollars when it was worth hundreds. This story also reminded me of a story I once heard about Steve Wozniak and Hewlett Packard (I believe). When he invented apples first personal computer in his garage, as per his contract with HP, he had to give them the first opportunity at his revolutionary invention. When he presented it to them their response was, “What would regular people want with computers?” Talk about a trillion dollar mistake.

I wondered how such obvious decisions became historic blunders. Well I figured it out; these people did not realize what they had in their hands. If they only knew, how different their lives would have turned out. Thus is the same with the MAS winter release. I know of school owners who have MAS in their school and had expressed to me that they don’t like it. They purchase different software and sometime down the road kick themselves for getting rid of it. It’s the same type of concept; they didn’t realize what they had in their hands. If they only knew at the time they would have saved money and more importantly, TIME! Remember, time is limited and we can never get it back so don’t waste it.

Last year at the Super Show I had the opportunity to meet with a lot of you and address some of your concerns about the current version of MAS. Every concern was noted and considered when improvements were made to the new version. My point is that when you express your concerns to ChampionsWay, it is one of the few software companies in the world that will actually listen and address the problems based on your personal concerns. I seriously doubt that Microsoft has reached this level yet.

I feel the best improvement in the new version has to be the export to QuickBooks and Outlook function. Now, you can use the store for all of your pro shop needs and it will not give your accountant gray hair at the same time. Just export your data to QuickBooks and both systems are now in sync. The export to Outlook is also a great feature because MAS now integrated the industry standard of emailing and scheduling into its software. Sure, other software’s might boost the same capabilities but it will sub-standard to MAS. Many companies offer the same product, but the difference is in the quality of the product. Which soft drink do you prefer, Coke or Safeway’s generic? I rest my case.

Another concern I hear from different colleagues is that they would rather buy the software out right and don’t like the fact that they have to pay monthly. I would agree with them if I felt MAS was just software, but it’s not. In actuality, it’s an automated business system solution. Basically, it's an entity that solves the difficult task of running a martial arts school on a daily basis. In simpler terms, it’s a working brain for your business. This is why it is not sold out right because the system would not be affordable to those who need it most. My hat is off to ChampionsWay for making this groundbreaking system affordable to everyone. So consider this and I’m sure that you will never have reservations about paying a monthly fee again.

I have used every comparable software in the industry I will say that MAS is the leader of the pack. That is why I personally endorse it. Some might say that running a school is not rocket science, but I’ll tell you that it’s not child’s play either. Rocket science can be real easy if you get something to do all of the thinking for you. Making money in the martial arts business is about keeping the most at the end of the day, and not necessarily grossing the most. It might surprise that I know of school owners who make about $25,000.00 a month and they are actually more financially set then the person making $80,000.00. The difference is how efficiently each school is run. I don’t care how much I make all I care about is how much I keep. You should feel the same way.

These points are important to consider and sometimes they need to be stated in order for us to keep them in mind. Please be sure to check your email for next weeks article that will cover revenue ideas for the month of April. Remember, help is only an email away darren@championsway.com .



Darren A. Gaiten
Associate Consultant
ChampionsWay Inc.
877.774.5425
darren@championsway.com