Making money from Martial Arts

How to Monetize your Martial Arts expertise?

We live in an amazing time period, where we can literally make money off of anything and there will always be money to go around to those who are passionate, and driven enough. However, as always there must be a balance or a moral compass in which drives us as instructors in order to always be providing the very best education, support and training we can for our students. Those of us who have dedicated our entire lives to martial arts are posed with numerous pathways to monetizing our passion, from stunt work and acting to becoming an instructor or blogger but, please remember to always maintain your integrity and remember why you started in the first place or some of the incredible instructors you have been under.

Some examples of why instructing might not be the best path

A famous well accomplished Martial Artist I won’t name here told my instructor once, that there is no money in Martial Arts and would always be selling t-shirts to us at his seminars for his grandchildren's college fund.

A well-respected instructor of mine once said that “The very best instructors, teach to pass on their love for the arts” and I have taken these words to heart.

One of my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors would always be trying to upsell private and group classes to his students which cost quite a small fortune in order to provide for his family. Having witnessed these things,

I personally have decided to never try to make teaching a primary income for myself and even more so if I must provide for my family. To each their own as I always say and if you’ve decided to pursue this revenue stream, then all the best to you. Remember, that not everyone will connect with the first instructor they meet, and I believe just like love there is an instructor out there who students will connect with which might be you so don’t give up if there is a few or even more schools nearby. A peer of mine recently gained instructor certification in Ludosport and began instructing classes here, there are niches everywhere so find yours!

Social Media and the Internet

I personally enjoy listening to Gary Vaynerchuk who continually advises everyone to begin their personal branding. Creating content is hard, documenting the progress and building your own personal following by doing the things you do or being yourself is a lot easier than brainstorming blog topics/social media posts. The best time to start your online presence was most likely ten years ago, however, the next best time to start is right now. Just start and see what happens, if fear is keeping you from pursuing your dreams I recommend completing a fear setting exercise that was introduced to me by a TEDxtalk performed by Tim Ferris.

Law enforcement and Military training

Not many of us are skilled enough, or have the background to offer our services to the armed forces however, if you do there is money to be had. I am not recommending becoming a mercenary unless that’s your path in life, but, there are many opportunities for instructing personnel both within their respective systems and out. Just remember that these individuals will most likely see the very scenarios they are preparing for. I hope you have the sense to teach within your limits, teach what works, and not be ashamed to admit if you don’t know what to do in a certain scenario they might have in mind for “winging it” might possibly cost them their life.

As I mentioned there are a plethora of opportunities out there, but you must be there and capitalize on them. Good Luck!