Craig Harmer discusses operating multiple martial arts programs in a small town while balancing a full-time law enforcement career and competing at world championship level.

• How to successfully operate Taekwondo, Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, and 4 other programs simultaneously
• From 50 struggling members to 150+ profitable students
• Why world championship success matters for small-town business credibility
• The challenge of competing with rugby, cricket, soccer, and every other local sport
• How law enforcement skills create better martial arts instruction
• Doubling revenue without doubling membership — the exact strategy

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TRANSCRIPTION

George: Hey, it's George Fourie.

Welcome to another Martial Arts Media™ Business Podcast.

So today I'm with Craig Harmer and I almost want to say you're probably the busiest guy on the planet, right?

Craig: It seems like it sometimes.

As we were talking offline, I went to the world championships recently and some of the competitors were talking about how busy they were.

One of the other coaches said, busy?

You don't know what busy is.

Talk to this guy.

So I went through my timetable during the week and they were like, yeah, I'm going to shut up now.

So everyone's busy.

Everyone's got stuff to do.

Just get it done.

George: A hundred percent.

So let's, well, let's dive into that, right?

You're a lifelong martial artist.

You are still running a full-time job.

Craig: Yes.

George: And you're running a super successful dojo.

Do you refer to it as a dojo, school, academy?

Craig: We call it, because I guess we have a number of different programs, I like to call it an academy.

George: Academy, cool.

Craig: I stole that from our head coach, John Will, as well.

It's a place of learning.

It was designed to be called Goulburn Martial Arts Academy.

I want it to be ownership for everyone that walks through the academy.

I didn't want it just to be Craig Harmer's or whatever.

I want everyone that walks in to feel as though it's their place to be able to come and learn.

So yeah, it's an academy, I guess.

George: Cool.

And I'm surprised I said dojo because it's a word I rarely use.

Just, I don't know.

When I say dojo, it feels like I'm talking about one or two martial arts.

Craig: Yeah.

Look, I don't really differentiate.

Some people call it dojo.

I guess there's jujitsu, but being Taekwondo, they call it dojang, which is the Korean terminology for it.

Dojo is very, I guess, Japanese, karate stylistically, but jujitsu comes from that Japanese background.

So, but ultimately gym, academy, whatever people want to call it, I could care less as long as they come in.

George: So let's talk about your place, right?

Goulburn Martial Arts Academy.

What do you guys offer?

Cause you've got multiple styles.

You do a lot of things.

And multiple programs too.

Craig: We've got our, I guess our first one that we started back in the nineties was Taekwondo.

So it's ITF style Taekwondo.

For those that don't know, it was like the precursor to what WT is today.

And we've maintained that style.

Well, we haven't changed that.

It started in Goulburn mid-nineties and we've been running ever since.

I work in law enforcement.

Later on, I saw a need to, just because I guess the change of what was happening on the ground, we needed to learn grappling.

So I engaged John Will and we started doing what he used to run, what was called a DCAT sort of seminar, which is defence control arrest seminars.

So I started linking in with John and that's when our sort of Jiu-Jitsu program kicked off.

So I started linking with Danny Weir, who's a coach at Canberra and he's probably one of the most, I guess, known coaches in the Canberra area, for the Canberra region.

Not too many people within the Canberra region can't say that their Jiu-Jitsu have crossed paths with Danny at one stage or another.

So there's plenty of guys that run their own gyms now and black belts and probably have their own black belts of their own that may have started with Danny.

So that's sort of how we kicked off our Jiu-Jitsu.

And then we were doing MMA as well, because people want to have fights and stuff like that.

So we've got Taekwondo, Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, and then we have youth programs within that and some women's kickboxing as well.

George: Cause I recall when we set up your website, goulburnmartialartsacademy.com, you had, it was like seven different programs, right?

Craig: Yeah.

So we've got kids programs from four years of age for Taekwondo.

And then we got, so that's right from four to three to seven, and then go eight to 12 for the next age group, and we've got teens and adults.

And we've got kids Jiu-Jitsu and obviously our adult programs.

We've got fundamentals programs for Jiu-Jitsu that we've recently started.

And then our all levels, I guess, we've got youth MMA, our adults, teens MMA and women's kickboxing.

So we've got a fair bit going.

George: So we'll dive deep into the club, how that's going.

Take us back.

Where did the whole martial arts journey kick off for you?

Craig: Okay.

So I guess my interest started when I was about four, five years of age.

So I remember my brother coming home with some movies.

So I'm from a rural town called Cootamundra.

So in New South Wales, it's Southwest New South Wales.

For those that might know, I guess the larger city, it's a little bit closer to Wagga Wagga.

So it's about, I think 5,000 people, not much to do on rainy days.

So we used to go down to Video Ezy and get 10 movies for the weekend and they'd all be martial art movies.

So I think the first martial arts exposure I ever had was a movie called Shaolin vs Ninja.

And I thought it was the best thing ever.

So that sort of piqued my interest, but I never really started till I was about 13, 14 years of age.

One of my friends was going for his black belt.

So he wanted someone to hold pads for him, boards.

And that's how I started.

So I come from a background playing rugby league as a kid and just, I guess year seven, year eight, high school.

And that's when I started.

George: So Taekwondo was the first.

Craig: Taekwondo was the first one.

Yeah.

George: All right.

And then that evolved.

You said jujitsu evolved when you started law enforcement or before that?

Craig: So I've been in law enforcement since I was 21 years of age.

And I guess the move towards more control style techniques as opposed to striking techniques for law enforcement, for one safety liability, it's much more safe for everyone to be able to use grappling as a restraint, as opposed to, I guess, blunt force trauma.

And it's, for me, a lot safer.

It was, I guess, the golden nugget to be able to, if you have the ability to be able to control someone like that and you and your colleagues don't get hurt and they don't get injured, that's the best case scenario.

So it was a huge area that I guess that I'd been taught from Taekwondo, we didn't have, so I wanted to fill that pocket for myself.

So originally it was just for a professional point of view.

And then I thought, well, to get some real time on the mats, a selfish indulgence was, well, I've got to start a class, I'll have training partners.

George: Is your martial arts, jujitsu, probably more jujitsu just with control and in the law enforcement.

How often do you need to step in and actually use martial arts on a day-to-day basis?

Meaning like how many times do incidents occur is probably where I'm getting.

Craig: Look, I guess on my former role, so my former role was like defensive tactics instructor.

I was engaged in what we call immediate action teams.

So my day-to-day role, it was almost daily.

Other law enforcement officers, not so much for our background because I work in corrections.

But for me, that was our prominent role.

So it's to, I guess, deescalate.

So already there's fights happening, assaults.

So for us, it's pretty immediate.

Hence why they call it an immediate action team.

So it was happening anywhere from daily through four times a week.

So it's a fairly common occurrence and grappling.

It's, from a law enforcement point of view, I couldn't encourage anyone to do any other sport first.

But this has to be their primary function because it's what you should be using.

George: Does that change just, I guess, the emphasis and how you train knowing that day-to-day your life is in danger, pretty much?

Craig: For me, which is why I started grappling because I was like, wow, this is a huge hole, we need to fix it.

And then I would engage, I guess, my work colleagues.

All right, so we've got to start doing this.

So the emphasis on a day-to-day basis at work was very much, you know, we train every day, but outside of work, you know, it was still a sporting context for the majority of it.

In the experience that I've had, I guess, anyone that's good at the sports context, to be able to control someone, take someone down, to be able to control their limbs, there's not a lot of striking.

As soon as you get the takedown and you get a, whether it's a head and arm control or a knee ride.

And we're working in teams, so there's another guy on the legs, there's someone else controlling the arm.

It's pretty either, I would say anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute.

So if we're doing a job right, that's hopefully neutralized pretty quick.

George: Can you walk us through, and just for my own curiosity, I'm sure everybody else is interested in this too, but what's sort of the go-to de-escalation process that you work through?

Craig: So the biggest thing is finding out what the issue is.

So I've had issues previously where guys don't want to go on a transfer to another location.

You've got to talk to people like they're human beings.

That's the biggest thing, communication skills.

If you have the ability to communicate and find out what the issue is, a lot of the time that can be resolved without having to use force.

So I've had one issue where a guy didn't want to move locations because he had to take some legal papers.

The other staff were saying he couldn't.

And as soon as we got there, said, yeah, you're most welcome to take your legal papers.

Yeah, okay, no worries, happy to go.

You know, so it's just really being able to communicate with people.

It's when people, I guess, become over-authoritarian and no, you're going to do this because I said so.

Well, that doesn't work with your five-year-old kid or 15-year-old teenager, let alone an adult who has a propensity for violence anyway.

George: Remind and conquer.

Craig: Yeah.

So if you have the ability to, I guess, to engage them and let them know that you're on their side to a certain degree, then you've got more chances for them to be cooperative.

So being a good communicator first and foremost at their level is important because if you are trying to help someone, it's very hard to argue with them.

You know, so I guess to be able to communicate is the best part of de-escalating.

There are always going to be times where it doesn't matter how good you are at communicating, they just want to go on with it and there's tactical options for that.

George: All right, let's change gears here.

So you recently went to Puerto Rico.

Fill us in.

Craig: So yeah, so that was our Taekwondo world championships.

I was the Australian head coach for that.

And obviously that was the world championships, but we had been preparing for it for 12 months leading up to this.

So we had a team 12 months ago, we were engaging in other events previously.

And I really wanted the team to be aware that I want a process, not to be goal orientated for those.

So I really wanted them to just get on the mat, get some experience.

Because we had some people coming back to compete from COVID.

So there were some veterans such as myself that hadn't competed since 2019.

So I wanted them to be realistic with what they want to achieve for these other events.

So we had state titles and regional titles.

So I've made sure that they were getting some mat time.

So just so they weren't so nervous getting on the mats at all championships so they could just deal with that again.

And then hitting on over 12 months later, everyone was really well prepped and where I would bring home a little medal.

George: So congratulations.

Craig: Thank you.

George: All right.

Anything else on that?

Craig: Yeah.

So we've got four world champions on the shelf, and picked up a gold medal in sparring.

So that was good.

Good experience.

I think that's my fifth world title in Taekwondo now.

I've been competing since the nineties.

So long period of time in combat sports.

Being Taekwondo, contact, light contact, full contact and Jiu-Jitsu primarily.

Sort of a major shift in Jiu-Jitsu over, I guess, the last 10 years.

So probably competing more so in Jiu-Jitsu than Taekwondo.

But it's always nice to get back and get back on the mats.

And in particular, after watching the other guys, cause I'm open weight sort of thing, is how Taekwondo works on what they call hyperweight, which is the heaviest weight division.

And I'm not super heavy.

I'm 90 kilos, but in Taekwondo that's a fairly heavy division these days.

So all the other guys competed.

I was able to watch them get amped up and get on the mats myself and bring home a gold medal.

So it was pretty nice.

George: Very cool.

Congratulations, man.

Craig: Thank you.

George: That's epic.

All right.

I want to talk a bit about the club and where things are at.

I did notice though, that you're also the first official black belt in Goulburn, 2023, correct?

Craig: Where are we now?

I've got my first degree now.

So three, four years ago, four years ago now, I guess.

George: Yep.

Craig: So where are we now?

A while ago, we were the first Jiu-Jitsu club and currently still the only Jiu-Jitsu club in Goulburn.

We've got plenty going up.

Mittagong, Moss Vale and there's a plethora in Canberra, but we're the only one in Goulburn.

It's a small country town, 23,000 people.

But yeah, it was nice to be able to start the first Jiu-Jitsu program and be the first black belt.

George: Let's jump into your, wanted to talk more about your club and where things are at.

I did a quick scan through our emails and I saw that we first crossed paths in 2017.

Craig: Wow.

Yeah.

George: And you purchased, you joined what was called our academy program, which is interesting to see how far that goes back.

I still put together that course after we were doing all the ads and all the things.

And I thought, hang on, I just need a way to brain dump everything that we've done with martial arts schools.

Yeah.

And that was the first time we connected.

And then a couple of years ago, you also joined Partners.

Can you recall, like what were the big things you were trying to improve on then?

Craig: So I think 2017, if I can recall, I think we had just gone back to a local PCYC.

I tried a number of different sorts of avenues.

And I think we were probably around about the 50 membership mark at that stage.

And the PCYC was great.

It was super awesome.

Great training place, you know, but it was small in the area.

So we were probably training on a five by seven metre space and we probably had 30 to 40 Taekwondo guys at one time.

And at this stage, probably about 15 Jiu-Jitsu guys.

So in that small area for Taekwondo, it was just unmanageable.

So it was really trying to then, how do we transition from this space to a larger space and in turn, get the membership to be able to pay for it.

So that's where we were at that stage in 2017.

George: And then at the start of joining Partners, where you'd probably walked on quite far in the journey by then.

And I know you're still running the full-time job.

Can you recall where you were?

Craig: So we were, so that was post-COVID, I think, and we were in about 90 odd memberships at this stage.

Before COVID, I'd signed a new lease to a new building and all that sort of business.

So we were, I guess, financially to a point where we were breaking even and maybe not even.

So it was to the point where I was propping it up with my own finances from work and that's not sustainable long term.

So it was, we got to get this back up and running to where we needed to be.

And I think since then, we've gone from, as I said, 90 floating to around 140 at the moment, give or take, plus or minus 10, 15 in any month.

But I think financially we've been able to double our revenue as well.

So that's gotten me from the point where this is not viable anymore to now it's definitely viable.

And I've got employees and I've got a traineeship, someone that my daughter's actually doing.

She's been bred for her through school.

So yeah, since joining Partners, that has been like double income and I didn't have to double the membership to do it, but I've been able to put on employees, which for me, I've had kids from five years of age gone through our Little Ninja program who now are running their own classes themselves and mentoring other people.

So that for me has been super pleasing to be able to see and be able to help other people.

So yeah, it's been super successful for us.

George: That's amazing.

I remember you sending me that message and saying, Hey, we just actually doubled our income.

And I mean, you mentioned, you know, you've been able to do employees and so forth, but how has that helped you in just peace of mind and obviously knowing that you've got the business running, you've got work, you've got family.

How's that helped?

Craig: I guess from personal life, like it's, we don't have to be overly concerned anymore because basically we've got dual incomes, which is super nice.

And my wife's an accountant.

So life's good in that respect.

You know, I'm able to assist my daughter.

She's off at uni at the moment, so I don't have to be overly, I guess, concerned about if she needs something, I have the ability to assist her.

It's given us that, I guess, support for her and just that financial peace of mind.

So it's what we used to say, a little bit of cream on top, but now it's its own business in its own right.

And it's quite successful with that.

I guess long-term, if when I'm like, Oh, I've got four kids, maybe later down the line, it might be something I can do full-time, but currently with four kids at the moment, my wife, who loves numbers, she's not, nope, nope, we're doing this.

So, but who knows, down the future, it might be certainly something that's viable and give me more time to be able to develop in the business as well.

So at the moment, sometimes I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels and we're not getting traction in the business, but the day-to-day classes, part being that they're doing what they need to do.

But sometimes on the back end, I feel, Oh, I guess it's something I need to improve on that part.

George: Is that the ultimate goal?

Like I know you've got, so you've got a lot on your plate for kids.

Is the goal to, I want to let go of the law enforcement and go full-time?

Craig: Not sure.

It's the one thing about having that, that job is the security of it.

And since COVID has happened, you know, obviously it's a bit of a scare, I guess, if it was just me and my wife, you know, transitioning to another job's not such a big deal, it'll be something we'll reassess once our kids finish school.

I think obviously it'd be nice to be able to do something that you're passionate about and to be able to assist others and then have the additional time to develop.

Cause I think, I think on one hand, sometimes having a full-time job it sort of hamstrings you to be able to develop the business a little bit, but it also provides security pros and cons to both.

And I certainly understand why people jump two feet in to be able to go for the business, but also understand why people still maintain their, their day-to-day job, I guess, as well.

George: Yeah.

Craig: It's a balance.

Yeah.

It's hard to get sometimes.

George: It's twofold, right?

And I, and I get the pressure, right?

Goulburn, small town, what did you say?

25,000 people.

Craig: Yeah.

George: So like letting go of that career is like, there's no falling back on that.

Really?

Like when it's gone, it's gone.

Craig: It may not take me back either after 26, 27 years.

Then I might say, good riddance.

George: So, I mean, you've got, you've got that, that pressure, but then, I guess the flip side is, you know, you've got 140 students and yep, you can go compared to a club of 200, 300, and how long has the club been open, you mentioned?

Craig: So I think I started teaching around about 97.

I was like, I was a teenager.

Literally my coach, he worked in the corrective services, New South Wales as well.

So he got moved to another location.

So I was like, I'm Craig, you're it.

Okay. So it was by proxy for this to continue, you're on.

So I've been running, so it's been going for that long period of time.

And obviously we're doing something right to be still in the community.

From a small country town, the good and bad part is that we share all of our members with a lot of other sports.

So, you know, I'm, I'm a trainer at the local rugby league for adults and juniors.

And I share that a lot of my members play rugby league, soccer, cricket, hockey, you name it, they do it.

So sometimes it's also, I guess, and not traditionally, traditionally you, you join up martial arts and you're there until you're sort of, I've played it out.

Now I'm done, or I've got my black belt, or it seems to be timeline markers for a lot of people.

The trend that I'm seeing at the moment is that it's almost seasonal with some students.

If they play more summer sports, it's more of their winter sport that they do with me or vice versa.

So it's become a bit more of a seasonal thing.

Whereas, and then some might just come one or two times a week during winter.

And then when summer kicks back up, because they've been playing football, summer comes along and they're not playing football, then they're in there four times a week.

So again, that, I guess, bit of the thought structure that, well, it's not as it used to be, whereas you join in and you'd be there until you get your black belt.

Whereas that's not always the case these days.

George: Yeah, for sure.

I think it could definitely help if you have a culture of, it's not and, well, it's and, it's not or.

You've got, you've got your rugby league.

You like, got your cricket.

And I know a lot, a few clubs, although for the most part, most of our members get rid of the one class per week.

For some areas where, and I know there's a few, few schools where they are just in sporting towns and rugby is big or footy is big, or they just have that.

And having a membership that sort of supports that on a lower scale, just to keep them in and to keep the, keep people training with, with the other sport.

Craig: Yeah.

I'm not sure how that'd work in Goulburn.

It'd be interesting.

I had a police officer ask me that yesterday, actually.

I said, what do you think about this?

I said, well, currently with our membership, and you know what it's like doing jujitsu one day a week.

It's a struggle to try and remember and learn and develop.

And you go in one week and you're getting smashed and, you know, to try to be motivated to go in when you feel like you're not getting any traction, sometimes I guess can be unmotivating.

So I'm not sure it'd be interesting.

I probably need to reach out to some clubs that offer that one session a week.

But yeah, it'd be interesting to see how it works here.

George: Yeah.

And, and definitely not a replacement.

The danger I see the most with the once per week is when school owners keep it as part of their offering.

And it's like, you can train three times a week or once a week.

And then the novice just looks at it as well.

Oh, well, I'll just go to the bottom of the scale.

I'll just try it.

Craig: Yeah.

And I guess it's also a filtering system as well for those that are more motivated.

Because currently we just, it's your membership and you can come twice a week or four times a week, that's the cost, so that allows people flexibility of times and not having to have a booking system that, okay, this is the only two days that you can come.

Whereas some guys, well, I can't come tonight, so I'll just go tomorrow.

So that seems to work a little bit better for the region, for Goulburn because we've got shift workers and, and things like that.

And I'm pretty nice with my guys.

There's probably about 10 keys to the gym.

They just go in and use it whenever they want outside of time cycles.

Once someone's a member, they can do, open that some, whatever outside, whenever they like.

That helps with guys that struggle for time.

So they, there's not a structured class, but like yesterday, guys went into the gym yesterday, there was one black belt and three white belts.

So those three white belts had a good opportunity to get some, almost like a semi-private and it's free.

Like there was no cost to it.

All they do have to be is a member.

So there's that availability for a lot of guys.

And that happens at lunchtime, midweek, weekends, evenings, the, the spot for choice when it comes to, I guess, the open mats.

George: Yeah.

That's epic.

Awesome.

So just, just a couple of, a couple of more questions.

What's the, we spoke about, all right, potential future of going full time.

What's the next milestone for you?

Craig: Look, I think the small milestone of, and it's just, I don't even know why I have it.

Like, I guess it's just a numbers thing.

Sometimes we like to say, oh, we've got so many numbers in our class.

Ultimately, I just want my guys to be successful and happy in what they do.

Sometimes you need more people on the mats to be able to facilitate that.

So if guys don't want to compete, you've got to have more competitors.

So we've got a number of mixtures between guys that don't want to compete and that's cool.

Then the guys that do want to compete want to have those extra, I guess, around sometimes, not just with guys and girls or the recreations.

The numbers for me would be 150.

That'd be the first milestone.

And then the bigger milestone would be to try and get a 200.

So if I was to get the class to 200, then that would mean all the classes that I have are sort of like topping out at where I would want them to be.

And then I'd have another issue as in, oh, I now need to have to expand my timetable that, which is a good problem to have, which means I can develop more coaches, which means I can get to be able to pay, you know, juniors and other coaches more pocket money, which means I could get to earn on something that they're passionate about.

That for me would be, I guess, the next goal from, , I guess our club point of view, and then I have other goals for students and, and things, but I guess from a club point of view, that's, that's where we sort of want to head.

George: All right.

Awesome. Craig.

Who would you recommend partners to and why?

Craig: I guess any martial arts gym that wants to increase their financial independence, I guess that's like me.

So I was teaching out of school halls, PCYCs, and then moved to a premises and then it was like, this has to work, you know, like this, this can't falter.

So for that security and support, and about two months ago, we lost our Facebook page and you're a huge help.

Cause I had no idea.

That's, that's not what I do.

It's not my expertise, to be able to manage that and that backend support to be able to get that up and running again was for me, I was like, God, I don't know what to do here.

For me to be able to have that back support for advertising, using our Facebook ads, we've had our website that's been developed and that works in with a whole, you know, MAM.Pro System, which is super awesome.

And to the point where I've got to now sit down and find time to chase leads because it's bringing so many in, but that's who I'd suggest it to for any gym that wants to increase their membership.

So we've gone from, as I said, about 90 through about 150 since joining.

So that's a huge increase and that's a stable number now.

Like that's, up and down, I guess, 10% month to month, which is, I think, pretty normal.

Any academy gym, doesn't matter what style, but the support that partners have, it's going to be up to them to how much they want to delve into it because there's so much support and information there for it.

George: Cool.

Thanks for that, Craig.

We've got to talk about some of the automation follow-ups that we've now done, because I feel we can definitely reduce that workload with the AI follow-ups.

I know we've sort of tampered with it, but yeah, there's definitely a great opportunity to simplify the offer and just, just get that follow-up working.

The last session we did a couple of weeks ago, we mapped out The Automated Student Conversion System, which is from within the first 10 minutes of a lead coming in, and that could be through your website or through the Facebook ads, would be email, voicemail drop, an SMS, and the chatbot starts the conversation.

So you could be at work or on the mats and the conversation has started.

The goal, obviously, is to do that automated.

And I know some of the other guys like Dave, they, the first time they are talking to the lead is when they call to just confirm the appointment.

And so they booked in and were ready to go.

Yeah, it's quite exciting where, how it's all evolving.

We've been slowly just chipping at it just to make sure we keep it authentic.

And it's not, I know some people install chatbots and it's just weird, or they install chatbots that pretend that they are human, and I think that's weird.

And these chatbots go off on a tangent and then your credibility is ruined.

So just keeping it authentic and that people know that they're talking to a chatbot, but they get the answers that they want right away.

Craig: Yeah.

I had a look at one yesterday.

So through LeadConnector and I've been able to see like the trial that's, that's gone through like, Hey, it's Goulburn Martial Arts Academy.

You've already been booked in.

This is a waiver and then it'll come back.

And then sometimes I ask some additional questions and you can see, you can follow that path.

And then anyone's has sort of gone a bit quiet.

Sometimes I'll jump in.

“Hey, it's Craig.

I just want to see what we need to get you started.”

And then they've been quite responsive as well.

So, the chatbot is doing its thing.

And then sometimes I'll just try to jump on them.

I guess some of them have gone a little bit cold on me, because sometimes that happens.

Everyone's busy in particular this time of year.

I think it's the busiest time of year for parents.

They've got school presentations, end of year functions, their own thing that they've got to try and get to, let alone sign up kids to, to martial arts.

George: A hundred percent.

As long as there's the now and the not now, and people put their hand up, it's common.

And we're recording this for, depending when, when you're listening to this, December, 2025.

It's very common for people to raise their hand and they're like, they're interested, but they're thinking January.

And so having a good offer now, I mean, we still got to, I mean, we're 8th of December, we've got one or two offers that still work, Join Now, Train Free.

We've got a Christmas offer depending on the capacity that could still work, that will roll out in the next couple of days.

Craig: Yeah.

Like I had, I think five new members last week, I was a family of four and I think two new members and three other trial bookings, so it was about eight or nine and it's like the second week of December.

Like I thought I'd be done for membership prior to Christmas.

And I thought, well, yeah, we've got only a couple of weeks left anyway, and then we'll be taking a break.

I thought, well, there won't be much coming in.

I guess eight trials slash bookings, membership joining up in four to five days is pretty impressive really.

George: Very interesting.

And obviously everyone's at capacity, right?

Like, I mean, your school owner's going hard all year, 11 months, you get to December and there's all the year end functions, the gradings and everything else, so it's easy to take your foot off the gas, but it just shows that if you've got the offers out this time of year, the business is still there.

Yeah, it's definitely still there.

Craig: Yeah, absolutely.

And in particular, sometimes this is the best time because you need a Christmas gift, something different, I don't know what, kids have been talking about this.

All right, now's the time to act, we'll get them to join up and so maybe get a uniform for Christmas or something, or that's part of their Christmas gift package for parents, like I know some parents, I know one family that members, they're taking their kids to Bali, that's their Christmas.

So sometimes it's not just about gifts, it's events and or life skills.

And in the business position to be able to offer that.

George: Well, awesome, Craig, good to finally catch up.

Craig: Thank you, George.

Eight years in the making.

George: Yes.

And thanks for making the time, because I know your schedule is tight as we've been up.

Two things, accountability, I've been chatting to a few Partner members, this episode 166, so if anybody wants to get the transcript and all the show notes and a couple of photos and things, martialartsmedia.com/166.

Just want to set some accountability.

Let's have you on, on the 200 benchmark.

How's that?

Craig: Okay.

Done.

George: And, and, and we regroup and have a chat.

Craig: Well, hopefully in six weeks time.

George: Cool.

Craig: Nice.

It'd be nice to hit that, I guess, 150 mark, ideally before halfway through next year.

George: Yeah.

You know, January is coming up, I think.

Craig: You know, so it'd be nice to hit that and then I'll be able to, I guess, see where we're tracking for the 200 after that, whether it's six months or 12 months, but it'd be nice to be able to hit 150 as the first one and then longer goals, the 200.

George: Epic.

Awesome, Craig.

Thanks, George.

George: I'll speak to you soon.

Craig: Thanks, mate.

Cheers.

George: Cheers.

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