I didn’t start my career in tech — I started by trying to sell martial arts to parents who didn’t want their kids learning to kick stuff. This is the story of how I learned to sell outcomes, not features — and how that lesson still drives how I do product marketing today.
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When I started out, I didn’t know how to sell.
I didn’t know how to market either.
All I knew was I wanted to be closer to home and spend more time with my daughter.
So I left a career in IT and partnered with my best friend, who had just bought out our martial arts school. He ran the classes. I ran the business. And business wasn’t great.
The problem? We were great at martial arts. Not so great at getting people in the door.
We had no marketing strategy, no sales process, no recurring revenue model — and definitely no budget to experiment. But we believed in what we were offering. So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.
Learning Sales the Hard Way
At first, I was doing private trials and trying to close families on month-to-month memberships — at a price point so low, it barely covered expenses.
Then we changed the model. We introduced 12-month contracts — and immediately hit a wall. From everyone signing up at a low rate to no one signing up at all.
So I became a student of selling.
I took sales trainings. Went to conferences. Tried and failed. Learned and iterated.
Eventually, I got better — and our business turned around.
In the end, I wasn’t just signing people up — I was teaching other martial arts school owners how to sell.
The Sales Problem You Don’t Learn in Books
Our biggest customers were about six years old.
They wanted to be Ninja Turtles. They wanted to jump, kick, and break stuff.
But the people I had to sell to were their parents — and they didn’t want any of that.
So I started listening.
Reading books like Positioning by Jack Trout and Al Ries, I began applying what I was learning to our audience. I talked to hundreds of parents. I observed behaviors. I asked questions. And I realized:
Parents weren’t buying martial arts for self-defense.
They were buying:
- Focus
- Discipline
- Confidence
- Respect
- Social development
So I rebuilt our entire experience around those life skills.
A Sales System That Worked
I created a two-lesson sales process.
In Lesson One, the kids had fun. They learned a few exciting moves, but they also learned to stand at attention and follow instructions — the behaviors parents actually wanted to see.
While that was happening, I talked to the parents. I asked what mattered to them. I connected their answers to what their child was already demonstrating on the mat.
In Lesson Two, the kids tested for their first belt and, if successful, got to break a board — something we had pre-framed as a huge milestone. It created excitement, confidence, and buy-in from both child and parent.
While the child was proudly holding their board, I would walk the parents through the next step — showing them the belt path, anchoring the commitment with time (not just price), and focusing on the year ahead.
Eventually, I went from no sales… to a better than 50% close rate on day two, with many more returning weeks or months later.
Turning the School into a Growth Engine
That shift changed everything.
We became a life skills-first school, not a self-defense club. We licensed an actual life skills curriculum. It differentiated us, allowed us to charge more, and lowered our churn significantly.
Local public schools invited us to run assemblies and workshops. Something most martial arts schools are banned from for fear of them selling to kids. We were adding value for them.
We hosted events which filled the martial arts school with hundreds of future students at a time.
And in the process, I started getting noticed for something else: our online marketing.
This was the early days of SEO. We had a video of a “pizza party” event ranking for local pizza searches. A parent found us while looking for dinner and was blown away. He asked me to help with his business marketing.
That conversation turned into my first agency client.
From Basement Dojo to Digital Agency
Over time, I fell in love with the marketing and sales side of the business. I sold my half of the school — which had grown from a basement club to a prominent, successful storefront — and launched a digital agency.
And that was the real beginning of my journey as a product marketer.
And In The End
Every product has two buyers:
- The one who wants to feel something
- The one who has to say yes
Whether it’s a six-year-old who wants to break a board or a stakeholder who wants to “get promoted for picking the right tool,” you have to sell the outcome, not just the features.
And that’s how I’ve approached every sales process and product marketing challenge since.
It’s not about tactics. It’s about understanding what people want, showing how you help them get it, and doing it in a way they’re excited to say yes to.
That lesson started on a mat. But it’s what guides my work every day.
P.S. I hate typical blog endings—especially now that AI ends up writing so many of them. Section headings like “Summary” or “Final Thoughts”? Meh.
And since it’s my blog, I’ll use my wrap-up section titles as a nod to the greatest musical group of all time: The Beatles.