We recently connected with Johnathan Best and have shared our conversation below.

Johnathan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Often the greatest growth and the biggest wins come right after a defeat. Other times the failure serves as a lesson that’s helpful later in your journey. We’d appreciate if you could open up about a time you’ve failed.

“What is failure?” I chose this topic because I have definitely had times where I felt as though I had failed in my business. Looking back, it seems that I actually didn’t “fail” because my business continued and I grew to where I am now. The fact that I didn’t hang up the gloves and step away from my business shows that deep down, I knew that failure wasn’t an option.

I open Best’s Academy of Martial Arts in December of 2016. I spent months preparing for my first night open. I put flyers all over town, I took out a loan and spent money on advertising, I had interviews with newspapers, and when the big night finally came, I opened my doors to…one student. I was very grateful for the one person who showed up, but internally I was devastated. I felt like I had done something wrong. Over the next few months, I slowly grew my student base from a single person to hovering around 5 per night. However, it was not nearly enough to counteract the debt I had accrued from advertising, the overhead of getting my business started, or the month to month expenses of rent and membership fees. The location I was renting from eventually had enough and kicked me out.

I had failed, but I didn’t quit. I began teaching lessons at a local public park to anyone who would care to learn. I cannot tell you how much I hated having to tell interested potential students “meet me under the bridge at the park and I’ll teach you karate.” I felt like a troll, but I persisted.

I decided to change my approached when in came to opening my school. In my first attempt, I put the cart before the horse. In my excitement of achieving my dream of owning my own Martial Arts School, I promised more than I could deliver, and signed contracts that I had no business signing. This time, I was going to build my student base before I jumped in to any financial obligations.

I reached out to a local university and they allowed me to teach classes in their aerobics room on campus for a very reasonable fee, and would often substitute and self-defense class offered to their student base for a monthly payment. With four walls and a roof above my head, my numbers began to grow. A year later, a local rec center reached out to me and offered me the chance to teach at their facilities as long as they took a percentage of my student’s fees. This was a wonderful model for me, because that meant that I would never be in a situation where I owed them money.

After two years teaching classes in two different locations (one on Mondays and Wednesdays, one on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with a combined class on Saturday mornings) I consolidated them by moving into a building in my local downtown. We have currently been there for a little over a year, but thanks to the foot traffic and great placement of being downtown, we get new sign ups on a regular basis.

This is a very condensed version of the story of Best’s Academy of Martial Arts, leaving out anecdotes like hosting training sessions in a patron’s shed to escape the cold outdoors in the winter, or how we sent out training sessions through drop box during covid. But I wanted to share my story of how even though it feels like failure, if you persist forwards, it can turn into something great. I wish every reader the best in achieving their own dreams.
As we say at Best’s Academy, “BE YOUR BEST!”

Johnathan, 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?

My name is Johnathan Best. I started training Martial Arts at the age of 12 in Amory, MS at a place called East Mississippi Tang Soo Do. As the name suggests, the Martial Art that I have trained in for over the last 30 years is Tang Soo Do, a Korean Martial Art that many suggest is a blend of Shotokan and Tae Kwon Do.

We have had several members come and go since we started in 2016. Over all of that time, we have yet to produce our first Black Belt, but we have several students who are getting very close.

I had a rough upbringing and my Martial Arts classes every week gave me a since of community and continuity that I couldn’t find at home at that point in my life. My goal with Best’s Academy of Martial Art is to give others that same since of community and support that I received in my life.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I have found that there is no need to spend a lot of money to advertise on social media if you don’t have the funds to. Anytime you post from your business account on Facebook, share it to local groups like “What’s happening [CITY]” or “What’s Going on in [CITY]”.

Sometimes these groups can have strict policies about self promotion, but if that the case, make a post about your business without it being a strict advertisement. I post video and picture from my classes all the time, but I don’t frame it as an advertisement. Just showing people “What’s Happening” in the city.

Sometimes these groups can have days and times that they allow self promotion. (i.e. Self-promotion Sundays) If this is the case, be sure to take advantage of it.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I teach classes for all ages starting at 4 years old. It is crucial that I can communicate with all of my clients/clients’ parents at any given time. That’s why when I get a new sign up, I immediately add them to an e-mailing list on mailchimp and add them to a GroupMe channel for my business. Posting updates to our FB page and hoping everyone sees it just isn’t good enough. I send out a monthly newsletter going over all upcoming events, and for day to day updates and emergency cancelations, I reach out through GroupMe.

In terms of fostering brand loyalty, I host several events outside of our regular Martial Arts classes, These include but are not limited to: Parents’ Night Out, Kung Fu Theater, Halloween Parties, Christmas Parties, Nerf Nights, etc. These are great opportunities for our students to connect with one another and it makes our studio feel more like a community. They are also a value source of additional revenue.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bestsacademy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bestsacademy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bestsacademy

Image Credits

Pic 7 is from Kick Pics LLC.