Uechi-ryu Journal Blog

I get comments about this subject on a regular basis…Typically once every couple of weeks someone will email asking about where I stand on ‘commercialism’ in teaching Karate.

Here is an interesting story from just a few days ago….

With a background in marketing, one of the products I offer (for free) is a short course introducing concepts of writing effective text ads to promote Karate classes. There really isn’t too much available on this so I know I have a cornered market.

My product is good, free and teaches others how to get a bigger impact for the ads they place. While I could see how people might say I am promoting some form of commercialism with this ebook… if no one came to your classes, how long would you be open?

Getting back to the story…

I received an email the other day from a teacher in Iran who is working on opening a school. She sent an email thanking me for the free ecourse as it has opened her eyes to writing ads that have an emotional appeal.

An evolution of thought to better promote Karate from a commercial product - Sounds good to me!

Even with naysayers who think to be commercial in any capacity cheapens Karate; it is an important part of most dojo operations. If you are collecting money in exchange for teaching…yup; you guessed it, you are ‘commercial’.

Sure I do sell products to members & visitors on the website; sales help keep the Journal running & allow the site to stay active promoting Uechi-ryu.

All major bonuses I say; I have no problems staying traditional in my Karate while using a commercial means to spread Uechi-ryu.

Oh, the free course on writing effective Karate ads I mentioned can be found on http://www.iknowkarate.com.

Train Hard!

Scott