Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ginny Tyler. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Ginny thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
My mission for DMD Tae Kwon Do has always been to utilize the martial arts and the many lessons we can glean from the discipline and physical training to help our students and families grow in their walk with Christ. We aim to prepare everyone who comes through our doors for the inevitable spiritual battles to come. We focus on a mind, body, and spirit balance that strengthens our students in a way that will not only help them in our classes, but in all aspects of life.
This desire for our school came from a very hard season of loss for my husband and I just as we were on the precipice of transitioning to an official school that was open to the public. I realized just how much I was struggling, and I felt the Holy Spirit was leading me to a place where I not only understood the depth to which others needed the hope found in Christ for their own struggles, but that they also needed a way to build a firm foundation upon which they, too, could learn how to engage the enemy effectively.
On the surface, our school appears much like other martial arts schools, but my desire for our efforts has always been to build up our students and strengthen them spiritually. Physical altercations may or may not happen, but it’s those internal, unseen battles that are guaranteed to arise. By building our students up in this way, it is my hope and prayer that they all are equipped to overcome a world that could so easily tear them down.
Ginny, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a follower of Christ, a wife, and a mother to four amazing children.
Growing up, I came from a broken, dysfunctional family, and as hard as that was when I was younger, it made me the tenacious, fiercely independent person that I am today. I was also mature to a fault and much preferred the company of my teachers in school to the other children in my classes. Trusting and connecting with others in a meaningful way was always a struggle of mine, but that season of life gave me insight into how to become responsible, disciplined, and a self-motivator. This perspective also enabled me to look past myself, grow in empathy, and pour into others and their needs. I took care of my siblings, focused on my school studies, and became a very creative and hard-working person through it all. It is these traits that have helped me not only juggle the different responsibilities of owning my own business, but they have also helped me to have a broader perspective for the myriad of personalities that come through my doors.
When I was a teenager, I began my martial arts training in 1996, and I loved the discipline and self-control aspects. After receiving my black belt in Nam Seo Kwan Tae Kwon Do in 1999, I also began training in Japanese Shotokan, Wing Chun, and Kobudo over the years. Through this journey, I have gained more self-confidence than I had ever had before. I don’t take this realization lightly, and it has always been my intention to positively build up my students as well. I see each class I teach as an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our students, and I don’t do that half-heartedly.
In addition to our physical training, I have also integrated an optional program for our students to participate in that incentivizes memorization of various aspects of the Bible. We also reserve the end of our classes for a short time of reflection, in which I tie the many truths learned in physical training to God’s Word to make a lasting impact that will extend outside our walls. Additionally, I routinely offer extracurricular ministry events outside of our school, community service events, and special challenges for our students including Bible reading goals, themed writing contests, and more. My husband and I amusingly refer to DMD Tae Kwon Do as “a ministry disguised as a karate school”, but joking aside, I don’t think it could be said better.
For the students I cannot reach, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I have written a children’s book series called Kingdom Kicks. These books teach the various character traits found in the martial arts and interweave them with stories found in the Bible, all of which is done in a martial arts story setting. The Kingdom Kicks series has been such a great resource for parents wanting to reinforce their children’s martial training, or even just to teach and discuss what these traits truly look like in action. For other instructors wanting to integrate the same principles we teach in our classes, I have published the Mat Time series, which include just over a year’s worth of key Bible verses along with an applicable devotion for each week. I have had so many instructors ask “how we do what we do”, and I truly believe these books are an answer to those questions. I see both series as an extension of our ministry efforts, and I am incredibly humbled and grateful to help others to understand how to integrate the same structure into their classes and even homes to reach similar goals.
Lastly, through a desire to extend our reach of impact, our school has been an active supporter of Compassion International, and we have sponsored children in developing countries since becoming a school. Our students get to read and respond to the letters we receive, and through this interaction, it is my desire that they understand the impact we are making and choose to do the same one day.
Through this incredible journey of almost 30 years now, I have had so many people reach out and say what our ministry means to them, their homes, and their martial arts schools, but in truth, I don’t feel I am doing anything particularly special. I simply said, “Yes” to the Lord and obeyed His call. This is something we can all do with our own spiritual gifts, and my encouragement to all of your readers is to remember that all it takes is faith and obedience. Neither of these is impossible to any of us.
Thus far, we have utilized church spaces for our classes, preferring to support the church’s financial needs over other options, but we are praying as a school that the Lord will provide us with a permanent space that will meet our growing school’s needs, as well as provide a location that we can continue to grow our ministry events, community outreach, and more. We highly covet prayers for our ministry!
For more information on DMD Tae Kwon Do, our mission, and news, please visit www.dmdtaekwondo.com. We are also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dmdtaekwondo. The Kingdom Kicks series, Mat Time series, and independent title, Under the Door, are all available on Amazon.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
That’s a very interesting question, for I don’t think I have ever seen what we do as a “side hustle” by any means. I actually had been teaching seminars and private lessons on and off for the community over the years, and I even helped a friend get her martial arts school off the ground in 2012 as well. The hours poured into these efforts were purely out of a passion for the martial arts, and I enjoyed volunteering my time for something I loved so much. At the end of the day though, I didn’t just want to teach the martial arts, and I knew that even then. I had a passion for the potential good we could do utilizing the martial arts for something so much bigger, and I felt the Lord pulling me in a more concise direction.
In 2013, I began dedicating my time to teaching Tae Kwon Do for the homeschool co-op my children attended, and that was definitely our beginning point as a school. Soon after beginning my teaching years for the co-op, I had students asking if they could continue to train in between semesters, and I agreed. It was during this time that we would hold weekly classes in my backyard for those students, and when it got too hot in the summer, we moved into a small dojo we put together in my garage.
Not long after, these students began asking if they could bring other homeschoolers to train with them. Again, I agreed, but I began worrying about space. It was when the same students began saying, “I have friends in public school that want to train too, Will you teach them?” that my husband and I realized we were at a crossroads, and that change was inevitable.
As I mentioned before, this decision was made during a time of duress, as I was pregnant and had just experienced the loss of our baby. Looking back, however, this time of sorrow only fueled my desire to become a school, integrate Biblical character training, and prepare our students for their own hardships in life. Looking back, I am incredibly grateful that we chose the path we did. Not only have we been able to positively influence our students, but it solidified my own faith as I saw God move through our efforts to glorify Him. When my husband and I experienced a second-trimester loss again in 2018, it was the hardest thing I had ever worked my way through, but I felt the presence of God in an undeniable way. I feel that through this experience, my faith was solidified in a way that it may not have been otherwise. These experiences have helped me to pour into my children and students and show them that they, too, will never be alone through the hard times, and that with God, we can overcome even the darkest seasons.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
My husband and I have participated in many marketing efforts for our school over the years. We have tried billboard ads, Facebook advertising, participation in city events, and chamber of commerce partnerships, but none of these avenues proved particularly fruitful. Our best source of new students has come from word-of-mouth referrals of our existing students. Nearly every new student that has come to us has has been from the recommendation of one of our existing DMD families, and this has been an incredible realization to me that we are being trusted with something so much bigger than martial arts training. I never take lightly the fact that our mission is not only much-needed, but greatly wanted.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dmdtaekwondo.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dmdtaekwondo
