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

Alright, Todd thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I started martial arts at just five years old, and it was something I instantly fell in love with. I began teaching as an assistant instructor between the ages of 13-16 and quickly realized how much I loved helping others reach their fitness and self-defense goals. There was something special about seeing a quiet and timid student become a loud and confident individual. It was being part of the transformation process that made me realize my true passion, of not just training martial arts, but rather teaching martial arts. I continued to work part-time after school, every day until me senior year of high school, where I got offered a position as a head instructor and program director of the school I was working for. What was even better is that both of my parents trained with me at the same school so we got to spend a lot of time together as a family.

Although I loved training martial arts, I was growing weary of sticking to just one particular style, Tae Kwon-Do. Although it was a very dynamic martial art, I felt that other martial arts like Muay Thai Kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu had more practical and modern applications of self-defense. It was at this time, that I started exploring how other martial arts could be blended together with my background in Tae Kwon-Do, to help me become a more well-rounded martial artist. After training in mixed martial arts for nearly three years I got hit with some devastating news that my mother, Emma Patterson, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

I quickly changed my focus to being a full time caregiver for my mother after her diagnosis. She suffered for nearly two years until she passed in June of 2009. After the heartbreak and stress of losing my mother, I found myself searching for a way to create balance in my life through the martial arts. I also wanted to find away to bring awareness to others in my community about ALS and its effects on not only the individuals who are diagnosed but those who are caregivers. It was these driving factors that led me to opening Pride Martial Arts Academy; a school built on modern self-defense with a focus on giving back to the community.

Pride Martial Arts Academy, opened in February of 2010, just nearly 8 months after the passing of my mother. I honestly just went in to overdrive and dedicated all of my time to creating and establishing Pride Martial Arts. I think for me, it was my way of distracting myself and coping with the loss of my mother. I was tired of how local schools in the area only focused on one art and wanted to create something different, something unique. It was this drive and change that I wanted to see in the martial arts that led to my vision for what Pride Martial Arts would become.

At Pride Martial Arts Academy it is our mission to to coach, motivate, and inspire those who have chosen mixed martial arts as a way of positively transforming their lives. Pride Martial Arts quickly became a local community center in Clarence, New York where students of all ages could come to lean self-defense, learn important topics on character development, and become sort of a safe-space for training martial arts. For me though it was not enough. I needed to find a way to honor my mother and her battle with ALS.

It was then that my program director, Nancy Universal, and I, came up with the idea to host an annual Kick-A-Thon to support the Upstate New York Chapter of the ALS Association. Our student body came together to host an annual event to raise proceeds for the ALS Association and bring awareness to the devastating disease. 15 years later, we have raised over $100,000.00 to benefit the ALS Association. It has been a dream come true to run a mixed martial arts school that is community minded, while honoring the legacy my mother left behind. Each day I open the studio doors, I am reminded of, why I do, what I do. Her picture and black belt, which are framed in our front foyer is the first thing you see when you walk through our doors. I hope my students and I continue to make her proud. I will always continue to honor her legacy and continue to create a safer community, one black belt at a time!

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?

Pride Martial Arts Academy is a mixed martial arts school that blends traditional Tae Kwon-Do, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. We offer programs for ages 4 and up, that focus on teaching modern and practical self-defense as well as important character development. We have quickly become a community leader providing self-defense training not only to our student body, but also to our community through regular self-defense seminars and after school programs.

I think what sets us a part from others is our ability to blend styles to create an overall more well-rounded martial artist through our unique mixed martial arts program.

Overall, I want people to know that Pride Martial Arts is more than just a martial arts studio, but rather a community center that brings students and families closer together through the martial arts. For some students, Pride Martial Arts has become their second home, their safe space, their change for positively transforming themselves into their best version. I am proud that our community thinks of us, as the experts in our industry and our community. Pride Martial Arts is not only focused on growth and scaling, but rather on how we can positively impact the daily lives of our members and our community. We want to create a safer community, one family at a time!

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Our most effective strategy for growing our clientele has been in our unique after school programs and our self-defense workshops that we offer to businesses through corporate events.

Pride Martial Arts Academy has set up a unique self-defense program for schools that focuses on the hot button issue of bullying. We offer a two week self-defense program, where we go into our schools and teach classes that bring awareness to bullying, help students build confidence through the martial arts, and help students identify bullying. These classes are $20 for the two week program. However, Pride Martial Arts Academy has always donated 100% of its profits back to the schools and directly to the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). This has been a win-win for everyone as it allows us to get our foot in the door and in front of our ideal prospects, while providing the school with important and necessary funds, as well as educating students on the topic of bullying.

We have also been successful in growing our clientele through corporate self-defense workshops. Businesses can provide their staff and employees with self-defense training, that not only makes their staff feel safer, but also provides a unique opportunity in team building. It fosters an environment of teamwork, building trust, and an overall healthier lifestyle.

Through our after school programs and business to business self-defense workshops, we have created a system that targets sustainability. It also allows us to give back to our community in a way that many other business cannot. At Pride Martial Arts, community lies at the heart of everything we do and strive to be!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

We knew that opening a brand new business, selling a service, in a new market, Social Media and an online presence was going to be our number one driver for creating a successful and sustainable model. We focused on our brand and its reputation from day one. We focused on our after school programs, our community events, and our self-defense workshops to help drive a positive brand exposure of what our programs have to offer. Holding these community based events helped drive a viral experience with pictures and videos being posted of both the programs we offer and the family atmosphere we created. We also encouraged our students and their families to share their experiences through online reviews and testimonials of their experience which helped drive our organic public reputation. This allowed us to quickly become the safety experts in our Clarence community!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://buffalokickbox.com
• Instagram: http://Instagram.com/buffkickbox
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/buffalokickbox
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BuffaloKickBox
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/pridemartialarts
• Other: Email – [email protected]

Image Credits
Impulse Guide