We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ian Karpinski a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ian thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Immigrated from South Africa in 2007. I was an entrepreneur in South Africa so it was practical to continue as one when my wife, son and I, landed in Canada. We were sponsored by an affluent business owner (Don Munro) which made the immigration process quite easy and fast. He has remained a good friend since. I purchased a Midas garage and the recession started a year later. It was difficult during that period.
My brother-in-law, who immigrated into Canada a few years prior to me, was looking to go on his own and we partnered up to purchase more Midas stores. However, my wife read from scripture about not putting all your investments in one ship so we decided not to purchase multiple Midas’s but Bushido Martial Arts Supply. When doing the due-diligence we found the business was poorly managed and neglected and going towards bankruptcy. We managed to negotiate a fair price, managed to raise the funds, and took over the business.
The first weeks were scary but we soon learnt very fast of not how to do things. Immediately we implemented changes and improvements especially for our colleagues and customers. Coming from an operational background (Shell) I implemented systems and procedures that allowed us to manage the business. After a few years, my partner decided to move his family back to South Africa where I purchased his shares from him and became sole owner of Bushido. Prior to that I managed to sell my Midas so that I could concentrate on the Bushido business. When my partner left I had sole responsible and implemented new ideas, ERP systems, products and brands.
Starting a business in a foreign country is scary and risky. One doesn’t have any family or friends support especially if you have just immigrated into a foreign land. However, life is too short to be staring scared stiff at the headlights coming at you. You have to have confidence in yourself and for me, faith in your God. Just do what you are good at and employ others who are good at the things you are not.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As a teenager I practiced in multiple martial arts. I started with karate and then after seeing the movie “Best of the Best” I tried taekwondo. I then followed Bruce Lee’s footsteps and practiced Wing Chun. After doing my military in South Africa, I practiced Kyokushin Karate and moved into kick boxing. Now at 58, I am taking private lessons in boxing. I always had passion for the martial arts so by purchasing Bushido means I don’t go to work ever. Being passionate about your business and utmost respect for the discipline and perseverance for marital art practitioners and business owners, is easy to give that exceptional and personal service to all your customers. However, you have to ensure your business can offer the quality products and brands the customer wants, and that you can deliver on your promises. That is personal service, respect and gratitude and that your systems and procedures favour your customers and not just your business.
The thing I am most proud of is that I don’t micro manage and allow my colleagues to develop themselves and the business. The key for me are the employees (my colleagues). If you place your employees 1st, at the top of the pyramid, and then your customers 2nd (yes 2nd) and your business 3rd, at the bottom, guess what happens? Your employees deliver the exceptional service which then our customers are happy, which then means the business is fruitful. Your product has to back up your service and delivery. It’s no use selling great service and delivery and your product doesn’t match all the hard work you have put in. That is why, if something goes wrong, fix it and fix it fast. Don’t be full of excuses. Be honest and take responsibility and correct the problem.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

As Drako Sports is a separate business and brand from Bushido and one wears a different hat, it is the brand that Bushido sells most. This allows the owner and his research & development team (even though I, the owner, own Bushido and Drako Sports independently) to develop a product that suits the level of customers expertise. Whether you are beginner, intermediate, advanced or professional, there is a product that is available in that type and price range. Drako was born in South Africa and the brand name came from the Drakensberg Mountains on the South African east coast. We also have an array of professional martial art’s customers who can test our prototypes and provide us invaluable feedback to keep developing and improving our products.

It is imperative that you form good relationships with your factories and that you take time to visit the factories and owners. We also insist on ISO standards as well as certification where no child or forced labour is in practice.
Challenges are always the weak Canadian dollar, shipping costs and global freight delays and governmental red tape, systems and delays. One has to fork out a sizeable deposit, pay the balance before shipping, wait for the product to land and store the inventory, before you can make your money work for you. So one has to have a strong cashflow basis in this industry. If you don’t have strong cashflow, this industry is not for you. It can be 6-9 months from your 1st payment and 3-4 months from your balance payment before you can start selling. During the pandemic it was a complete circus with delays of over 12 months.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

How about the pandemic? Being a martial arts supply business and no one was allowed to train together, we felt the brunt of the pandemic restrictions and shutdowns. We are a cash intensive business that holds a large inventory. We had the business interruptions back in 2020/2021 and it was daunting as it had a financial strain on our business. During the pandemic, we closed down our retail outlet and had to cut back on staff and operations. We even closed our doors for a while but continued to do online sales. We did concentrate on products suitable for home gyms. I was looking at my 11,000 sq ft warehosue stocked with inventory that was not moving and wondered how we would manage to stay in business. Luckily, by incurring more loans and being a financially secure business we could weather the storm for a while but time was running out. Eventually, when things started opening up, there was a global shortage of product and supplies along with fourfold delays. Everyone was scrambling for product in all industries. We had a warehouse full of inventory where we could supply all of Canada including some to the USA. Even the obsolete items sold. This was a blessing in disguise. Where once I felt we might have to close our doors with a warehouse full of inventory that we could not sell, turned into a cash stream that got us through the worst of the pandemic restrictions and shutdowns. We will never recover. What is lost, is lost. But we will can and did continue.

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