We recently connected with Maria Baird and have shared our conversation below.

Maria, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We love heartwarming stories – do you have a heartwarming story from your career to share?

The difficult thing about being an instructor is that a student may train with you for years and then, just up and move or leave the school and you never hear from them again. Then you question did they get anything out of the school, were you able to help them at all? That brings me to when I was in Las Vegas with my husband checking in to our hotel and this lady kept staring at us and whispering to her friend. Finally she came up to us and said “are you the owners of the martial arts school in Burbank? We responded yes, At that point she broke down crying and explained how our school saved her son’s life. She said he was on a road of destruction and suicidal until he came to train with us. The school, the teachers, and the training gave him the confidence he needed to get his life together. Since then he has graduated, gone to college and is now going to Law school. I learned then that we may not always know how we affect one another, so regardless if we ever get feedback, just keep on giving.

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?

I have two older brothers who loved martial arts, so as a young girl I got dragged out to all the Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris films of the time. So when one of my brother’s took me to a school to “check it out” I signed up too. That was back in 1986 and funny thing is, both brothers stopped training years ago but I kept on going.
I would have never guessed in those early years that I would be teaching, never mind own martial arts schools. Both my brothers and myself met our spouses at that school, my husband being the owner and grandmaster.
Our schools teach Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Police Defensive Tactics, we’ve been around since the 1960’s. I love that there is something for everyone, from 5 to 100, if you’re breathing, we have something for you.
We teach self defense, and it is definitely needed today, but we go way beyond that. Our idea is, not only to kick and punch but to expand and grow. Our principals are life lessons.
While a lot of schools focus on tournaments, and while there is nothing wrong with that, we emphasize personal development and inner strength. Our school motto being, “Train only to master yourself.”
Back on the west coast, a Burbank police officer asked if I would assist him with a women’s self defense class and that was an eye opener for me. I heard a lot of stories from women who were attacked and abused; I quickly realized just how important these classes are. In fact, in a few weeks I’m heading up to the mountains to teach at a retreat for “Called to Peace Ministries.” Their ministry helps severely abused women; I’m honored to be a part of it.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

First of course, you have to have a good product but I believe how you treat people is one of the most effective strategies for growing your business.
Word of mouth can easily make or break a business. You can do all the advertising you want but when you treat a client poorly you’ll loose them right away. People are under a ton of stress these days, and they don’t need anything to add to it.

I remember I had a student whose parent was extremely difficult. She would find a way to criticize almost everything until one day she said she was going to look for another school. Instead of getting defensive or angry I helped her to find a school that would match what she was looking for. After I did that, she never left! Her son ended up training at our school for years.
The old motto “customer is king” still rings true.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I think it’s important that your team enjoys coming to work. Even though you may be the owner, manager, or head instructor caring for your employees is critical. This means having the mindset of a servant instead of the king. It means taking the time to listen to employees ideas or complaints. Perhaps one day show up unexpectedly with lunch for everyone. It means not talking negatively about anyone, ever. I’m sad to say, I learned that the hard way years ago. People want to know they matter, so put time into your employees, let your them know you care and how much they are needed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kungfukarate.com

Image Credits

Don Baird, Joshua Liberman