How I Went From Burnt Out Martial Arts Instructor To Million Dollar Course Creator - and how you can too
I followed the same draining routine every day for nearly six years. I’d wake up at 7 AM, teach Martial Arts from 9 AM till 10 PM, clean my school, before heading home and trying to recover ready for the next day.
One night, waiting for sleep, dreading my alarm. I realised I’d started to hate teaching.
No time. No Energy
When I was young, single, carefree, teaching martial arts for 12 hours a day felt like I was living the dream. Life moves on. By 2013, I was married, with children and ZERO free time or energy to spend with them. I knew something had to give. Teaching seemed like my ONLY option. Without teaching, how could I pay my bills and support my family?
That was until my friend Leigh changed my life (far right in pic).
It came after Leigh had listened to me bitch and moan for an hour about my troubles. Leigh flippantly said: “Why don’t you sell a product instead of your time.” I knew he was right.
My Part-Time Business Supports My Family
In 2001, I opened a full-time martial arts academy in Loughton, Essex, UK. With over 400 members, it was very successful but after 19 yrs I was fast approaching burnout. Since that conversation with Leigh, I launched an online business that not only allows me to share my knowledge and passion for martial arts, but is also flexible and allow me to earn a great income, even when I'm not teaching.
My new mission is to show people just like you how you can turn your PASSION into PROFIT, just like I did.
Most Martial Arts Instructors Trade Time For Money
The biggest problem with teaching is you trade your TIME for MONEY. That’s fine in the beginning, but as your life changes and you need more money, your ONLY option is to work more.
This can lead to a vicious cycle of spending all your time teaching, burnout and resenting what you once loved.
Thankfully there is another way, as Leigh suggested. Sell products instead of your time.
An online product is made once and can be sold forever.
I’d regularly trawl the internet looking for new techniques and drills to keep my classes fun and challenging. So I thought perhaps there were other instructors who’d benefit from my drills and buy the videos I created.
Only problem, I had NO IDEA how to sell videos online.
Learning To Sell Online Freed Up My Time
After a few weeks of frustrated searching on how to do this, I stumbled upon a guy who’d made over £10,000,000 online. And as if the internet gods had answered my prayers, he was holding a special three-day course in London on selling online.
The course cost £3000, which was £2999 more than I had. But I was miserable and knew something had to change. So after a little dutch courage, I maxed out my credit card and signed up for the course...
(i'm somewhere in this pic having my mind blown)
My First Product
I learnt a lot over the following three days! My mind was crammed full of so much new information and I could finally see a way to make a product and sell it online.
I was itching to get started.
After a few weeks of putting what I’d learned into practice, I filmed, edited and launched my first course....
Basic Focus Mitt Drills
Armed with the product, and a super basic website I’d built for it, I sat back and dreamt of how I was going to spend my millions.
After three months, I’d sold zero copies of my video. I had fallen for the classic “Field of Dreams” mistake. You know the one,
“If you build it, they will come”
No one came.
Undiscouraged, I realised it’s no good having a product sitting on the internet like an island. You have to tell people where it is and invite them to the party. I invested more time on social media marketing, I made a Facebook page and shared video clips on YouTube.
After six months, I still hadn’t made any sales, but people were starting to take notice and comment on my videos. It gave me belief I was doing the right thing. So I continued filming videos and putting them out there.
A Year’s Worth Of Work To Get My First Sale
One sunny morning in July, I received a notification on my phone. I’d made my first sale for the staggering sum of £7.99 / $8.99. It wasn't going to buy me a Ferrari, but it felt incredible.
After making only one sale in a year, most normal people would've given up.
But I thought “if one person want's my videos then there must be others.” Martial Arts training had taught me a lot about discipline and perseverance. So instead of quitting, I doubled my efforts and shared more content online.
Gradually, a few orders trickled in and over the next six months, that trickle of sales slowly turned into a consistent stream. I wasn’t quite able to buy my dream house yet, but I realised sharing my passion online was becoming a viable business.
A game changing event occurred when I woke up from a good nights sleep and saw I'd sold a £100 / $120 worth of online courses without having to lift a finger. BINGO!
I realised that you can create an online product once and sell it 24/7, 365
Break Free From Trading Time For Money
This positive change in my attitude was obvious to those around me. Several of my friends asked me to share my secret so I started teaching them how I did it.
Here are a couple of reviews from people that I’ve taught...
“Matt’s training is packed full of helpful, relevant information for anyone starting out in online selling. The course is well structured and delivered in an easygoing manner. Highly Recommended”
~ D Holloway
“Really enjoyed the workshop. Great material, lovely people, nice venue, top notch. Highly recommended.”
~ D Breed
“I am not skilled with technology, so I was quite apprehensive about the course. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to follow it was and how helpful the staff were. I would highly recommend this course.”
~ C Burch
Flash Forward To Today...
Life today is very different
After three years work my online course business brought in as much income as I was making from my Martial Arts school. And after a lot of thought I decided to sell my school to my friend and business partner.
That left me free to grow my online business and focus on helping other instructors to build online incomes
Since those early days I'm proud to say that my little online business has passed £1,200,000 ($1,500,000) in total income
Who would of thought after a year struggling to make a single sale it would grow to this point.
Guess it just goes to show what you can do with a plan and persistence
No Skills. No Ideas. No Money. No Problem.
Now, you may be thinking; "That's all good for you Matt but I’m not technical.”
Nor am I, I can barely use my smartphone. That’s the great thing selling online, you don’t need to be tech-savvy.
There are dozens of simple ways to sell products online right now. It doesn’t require much technical skill.
And It's not limited to martial arts. You can be into anything and set up a successful online business. I know people who do it through Yoga, Rock Climbing, and Guitar Lessons!
Anyone can do it.
So, why think small?
Why only focus on the few hundred people in your local area who want Martial Arts classes?
With an online course platform, you can sell to everyone, everywhere, at any time. A few simple tools and a tiny investment of time will allow you to reach 7 billion potential customers!
However, don’t think this is some get rich quick scheme, it’s not. You will have to put in time and effort just as you did to become an expert in your field.
But. I’ve done most of the hard work for you and made all the mistakes so you don't need to.
If you follow my system, you’ll be able to reclaim your freedom, time and energy much faster than I did.