The Art of the KO

    This will be my last blog post for the year.  I hope everyone has a healthy and happy new year and look forward to connecting with you in 2017!      Is there a Gold Standard in Education?      I would have to say that this is subjective, based up on to whom you are talking to.      You see...as soon as one sets the "standard" for all to follow, they are outdated and/or the next person who comes along builds upon what the previous generations have done and hopefully does it better.      They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this could not be more true when it comes to education.      Everything can look great when it stands alone, some not so great when compared to others.      When people make claims as being the best, the first, the greatest, I never have a problem with that because they should believe that since ...

     There is that old saying, "Ask and you shall receive."      Yes, I agree that you will receive something, but what that something is can be based on the wording and/or interpretation of the question.      People think that this time of year is about giving and/or receiving.  You give, you get...right?  Not exactly.      You can give and give and that does not mean that the person on the receiving end understands what you are giving or if they can even use what you have been giving, based on what you asked for.      Let's look at a quote attributed to Jesus.  "Give a man a fish he eats for a day.  Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime."      Most people don't know what they want to begin with...myself included at times.      Earlier today I was looking at an app for my iPad Pro.  It looks great!...

As you move from one technique to another, the goal is as smooth a transition as possible.   This takes time, patience, and being in the "now" as you practice to firmly install your techniques. Today I want to talk about Transitioning to Online Learning. FIRST...this is in no way a substitute for hands on learning with a qualified instructor in the art you want to pursue. WHAT IT IS... - A supplement to your current training - A way to get back into training or find those with similar interests as yours - You don't have anyone you care to train with in your area, but can now start or restart your journey. There is more, but you get the point. Now with the internet being more and more prevalent in our daily lives, you can learn anything from the internet these days.  I learned how to peel a pomegranate faster over the weekend...less mess, more pomegranate! What are the pitfalls of online education? The main thing I would say is that it is hard to ...

Growing up my parents had a friend from Ohio that they had met in Barbados.  He would keep all of us entertained all day as we hung out at the pool with him and his wife and then the whole family would go to room 105 for drinks and canned cheese and crackers. Uncle Wil would tell us story after story about him growing up and the trouble he got in growing up during the depression.  He kept us in stitches and to this day, when someone in the family starts part of one of his sayings...someone else is sure to finish it. "What's the matter Wilbur (Uncle Wil)? Got rocks in your feedbag?" I guess this was the depression era equivalent of asking someone if they have just have too much clutter in their attic So what does this have to do with Kyusho and martial arts training in general? There are many different ways to train martial arts...as you already know.  When I first started on this journey, and I have spoken about this in the past...there were many in ou...

Should a product speak for itself or the other way around? Everyone must market their material or else no one would know about it.  Anyone who markets anything is doing so to: 1. Solve a problem (perceived and otherwise) 2. Fill a void in the marketplace (based on their perception) 3. Make money There is more that can be added to the list, but I think you get the point. For the sake of brevity...lets look at this from the above list. 1. Solve a problem Many products are developed to solve a problem or perceived problem in the marketplace.  Some actually solve a problem that people did not realize was a problem until it was pointed out. Lets look at the martial arts world..more specifically Kyusho...something near and dear to my heart. One issue for many is that they want to learn more about this, but cannot find a competent instructor to study with directly so in the past they were relegated to one off purchases via video tape, then DVD, now video downlo...

 Is your product or service a commodity like sugar, coffee, etc? or Do you have something unique to offer the world? We all think we have the best this, the most effective that, etc., but do we really know? We actually do not, until we put our "stuff" out there and see what the marketplace says. I know from experience because I have been marketing my materials for over 20 years with almost 150 published titles & a hugely successful online Kyusho Education Program being studied in 30 + countries. I started with VHS/DVD and then moved into the purely digital world a few years ago and continue to expand on that. We all want a good deal...me included. There are just some things where what you get is sometimes more important that what you pay...within reason. Years ago, a student told me what an instructor from another school in our area said about the tuition I was charging.  This instructor said that I was too expensive and that they charged 1/2 of wha...

People like to jump around from today's "next best thing" to tomorrow's "next best thing." This is true from the fitness industry to the martial arts industry and actually is just about every phase of our lives.  This is not to say that I am downplaying progress. This whole "next best thing" is marketing. So why do you think that people jump around so much?  Are they bored?  Easily distracted?  Just not serious? These could be possible answers.  What about the fact that those marketing the "next best thing" could very well be just regurgitating anything and everything to make a buck with that being their only strategy...a short term one?  This too could be a possible answer. From the development side, sitting down and developing a strategy...AND THEN STICKING TO IT (but flexible enough to pivot when necessary) is really important. One reason I believe that people jump around so much is that the promises of expertise repe...