We were lucky to catch up with Nick Dreiling recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nick, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Our goal is to serve our community by instilling leadership qualities and values in the students we have the pleasure of working with. Changing lives in a positive atmosphere with positive influences is how we set our students up to become leaders within their own community, to also be able to positively change lives down the road. Consider it a ripple effect!

We help in fostering these leadership qualities in our young leaders via martial arts classes and other guided activities, such as ninja tricks, team sports, and even board games. Yes, board games are a great way to get the mind thinking critically, but in a FUN way!

As kids in our program progress through our systems, they have the opportunity to become leaders amongst their peers. With this method, others are able to see how hard work and dedication can pay off and improve their own lives (kids LOVE to be leaders in their groups). As they get older, they will see the value and importance of being a positive leader and example within their communities, whether the choose to just be that within their family, their neighborhood, classroom, church, etc.

It starts with one child at a time and we believe that making a positive impact now will create the ripple effect of positive impacts within the communities we serve.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

We are…. the best! Hard work…. pays off!
We are…. Leveled Up!

This is our chant that we teach to our amazing students because we believe it and want our children to also believe it!

We are an after school and summer camp program currently serving Goose Creek and looking to expand into the great Charleston, SC area. We’ve been in business for approximately 15 years in the area and are looking to serve our community for many more years to come.
We began our program years ago as an evening martial arts program. We have loved the impact it has made on our students and our families! One day, we had the thought that if we are able to make such a positive impact on people in just an hour or so each week, how much MORE impactful could we be if we were able to hang out with the AWESOME students of Goose Creek for 2 hours or more 5 days per week. This prompted us to begin the journey of an after school program and summer camp.
Our goal is to positively change the lives of every student we come across, whether they are with us for only 1 program, or for 7 years. We are constantly undergoing more training for ourselves and for our team members so that we can continue to be the best in our area/industry and so that we can provide the most exclusive service to every child that walks through our doors.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

2020 made a huge impact on us and how we chose to run our business and serve our community. The government shutdown during covid was a scary time for all of us and really caused us to put things into perspective. At that time, we had a small after school program, but our main directive was our evening martial arts program. With the shutdown, and so may layoffs, we realized that if we did not do a business module shift, then our opportunity to make an impact in our community would not last much longer. We had to shift our focus from a want-based business to a need-based business, meaning that people did martial arts because they WANTED to and had expendable income set aside for such things, but what our community NEEDED was child care. By shifting things around, we were able to re-establish ourselves as an after school and summer camp program and open our facility to a larger count/group of children since we were no longer focusing on the lone martial arts classes. In the program, we are still able to provide martial arts to our clientele during the course of their days with us in a needed environment.

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

We keep a constant social media presence with regular updates of how the children are doing in our program. This allows parents a sneak peak into their kids’ afternoons with us. We also send out regular communications via email and text message to our clients about upcoming events to keep them in the loop. We have also worked hard to distinguish ourselves with a certain color theme that flows throughout our facility, to our buses, to our apparel, to our merchandise and advertisements so that we will be recognizable anywhere.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.goosecreekafterschool.com https://www.goosecreeksummercamp.com https://www.goosecreekmartialarts.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeveledUpChildDevelopment