Episode 318 - Kyoshi Jim King
Kyoshi Jim King is a martial arts practitioner and instructor who innovated afterschool programs. He is the founder of Altamonte American Karate Academy in Florida.
My priority is not making money... My priority is teaching martial arts and giving good service and then the money comes. It works that way. I provide a service and I do it.
Kyoshi Jim King - Episode 318
Today's guest is a former professional dancer who worked at different shows in Las Vegas as well as in Europe. Kyoshi Jim King never took a break from the martial arts while he was dancing. He prefers not to use much of technology of today that makes him enjoy his life in an old-school way. Kyoshi King is a dedicated martial arts instructor as he made programs specifically for children after school, therefore, making him the forerunner of this system. Kyoshi Jim King has quite interesting stories to tell from his days he met his wife to his bouncing gig at nightclubs. Listen to find out more!
Show Notes
Kyoshi Jim King
If you want to find out more about Kyoshi Jim King's programs, you can find his websites here:Karateonline.comAfterschoolking.com
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below or download here.
Hey there! Thanks for coming by. This is whistlekickmartialartsradio, and I am Jeremy Lesniak, your fortunate, host the founder of whistlekick martial arts, and today I’m joined by like Kyoshi Jim king, man we are getting some good stuff. If you're new to the show, you might want to head on over to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com check out the show notes, links, bios, 317 other episodes all available for free and I bet you there are some names in there that you've seen before. Of course you are a check of the things we make you can find all of them at whistlekick.com we're constantly rolling out new products, new services new things to help you and your lifestyle as a martial artist. That's what we do we support the martial arts community. My guest today is Kyoshi Jim king. A man that many of you may know as a forerunner in the movement to bring afterschool programs to martial arts studios. He's well known for this but we talk about a lot more than the business side of martial arts. This is a man who doesn't pull any punches at least figuratively and we get into some heavy topics. I think you'll enjoy this one I know I did, so hang on here we go with Kyoshi Jim king. How are you sir?
Jim King:
Oh I was just getting ready to call you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You would've been able to call me.
Jim King:
Well then there you go.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Our system doesn't take incoming calls. It routes through skype and all kinds of techy stuff.
Jim King:
Yeah, you're too techy for me. How old are you?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm 39 sir.
Jim King:
Yeah, millennial.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No. No. I like avocados but not that much.
Jim King:
I tried to give you preemption cause I’m old-school. I'm not on any social media anywhere, I’m all aware of it. My wife does it but I don't need to so, I don't do it. I don't text, I don't to email blast for everybody and sign up people online. Cause I get kids come in here were two heads you know. Can't count to three. Everybody has come to our school first before I sign anybody up. I wouldn’t ever sign anybody up online, I would never do it. Got to meet you, got to be in your classroom gonna look at you and see if you're able to learn to pay attention for an hour, you wanna be here before I sign you up.
Jeremy Lesniak:
The beauty with communication is you only have to use the methods that get you where you need to go. I could learn Greek, but if I don't have any I could speak Greek to, what's the, you know?
Jim King:
My priority isn't making money, my priority is not making money. My priority is teaching martial arts, giving good service then the money comes. It works that way, I provide service, I do it I don't just send out like I know these guys that set out these emails and blanket and get all these people have forms, you can sign up online with your credit card, but I never set anybody up like that, it's old school. I put out a product. I put out students. I have nobody under sixteen in here wearing a blackbelt. That's silliness in my opinion.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, let's talk about that that's kind of a hot button issue in the martial arts.
Jim King:
Well we just start, I got your little thing right here 1 to 13 in front of me, you want to go down on it in that order or any way you want to do it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, I expect where gonna hit all that stuff but when they
Jim King:
I just want to have some kind of synopsis or some focus on point so we don't go adrift that’s all.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Actually, I love when we go adrift. That's where the best stuff is. The only... One of my favorite sayings and the listeners of heard this is: the best stuff is on the edges. The reason we provide the framework is if one of us, you know isn’t getting where we need to go, that gives us a place to fall back to and
Jim King:
Where does this go anyway? You say martial arts radio, I’ve never heard of such a thing.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So it's a that is the title for podcast.
Jim King:
Okay I’ve ever seen a podcast, go ahead.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So we post it on our website and it goes on YouTube and it just a kind...
Jim King:
I don't go on YouTube and I don't go on and I’ve never taken a picture of my hamburger and upload it and show everybody what I got that you don't got. And when we go to dinner with guest of mine, I go with dr. Dennis and his wife and my life and we go to dinner, just no phones. Don’t bring your phones into my restaurant. We're going to a restaurant, leave it in your car. Mine is at home because I have no calls I need to make while I’m at dinner tonight. I don’t need to take a picture of a lobster, I don't need to do it. And you think I’m kidding,
Jeremy Lesniak:
No I don’t think you're kidding, I completely understand and it's, what I’m laughing at is the..
Jim King:
If I’m going to dinner, I don't want your phone at my dinner plate. I'm sorry. For an hour and a half, let's have a conversation like adults.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What's funny about it to me is that because it's been such a slow creep, there are plenty of people who aren't going to see it that way. But if you really if you take a step back, if you think about it in the context of even 10 years ago. That's exactly what would've been would've been so bizarre for someone to... I mean, nobody ever brought you know a film camera to dinner and took a picture of their meal.
Jim King:
But you know what 10 years ago it was rude, it's rude today. When you go to a fine restaurant, you go out to Norman’s at the Ritz-Carlton or [00:05:45.21] you don't take pictures of your.. You just don't do that, just don't do that its rude. It is rude. You need you consider the people next you, everybody else probably have a quiet dinner and all that to me it's just rude. It’s like wearing a hat indoors. I would never wear a hat indoors in a restaurant that's just the way I was raised. Just don't do it. I don't blow my nose at the table if I have, I leave, I excuse myself to go to the restroom blow my nose. Clean myself up and come back.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now that's one that drives me crazy.
Jim King:
No worse than that is people let their little kids run around because they think it’s their house if you were [00:06:23.13] and they’re run up and down the aisle and they come over and bugging me. Tame you child and then I give them my card.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Is it fair to say this based on the last couple minutes that you are are a man who doesn't pull punches in the figurative sense.
Jim King:
Probably. All depended on who you are talking to.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay good. So let's go but let's go back to that question. 16 year old blackbelts.
Jim King:
[00:06:56.28] you're talking about my system, what I do here you mean?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah you made a pretty strong statement that you don't have any blackouts under 16 years old.
Jim King:
Well I started when I was 22 years of age and I didn’t start at five things like they do now, when I started January 1973 there were no kids of martial arts. There were no safety pads out there. Jhoon Rhee didn’t come out with the safety kicks safety chop yet. And along the way, probably 10 years ago I did a demonstration with Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee at Disney but I’m getting ahead of myself. When I started, I started judo [00:07:29.29] and my karate teacher was the great mike foster, Yoshikai and his teacher [00:07:36.19] Yamamoto. I didn't know I was among legends, I’m a little white belt, I got a picture good you know Soke and Hanchi and [00:07:47.29] was the all japan open judo champion at that time and for a Japanese guys pretty big 5'10, 185 I was probably weighing 155 and yeah he would body slam me, boom. But Judo wasn't fun to start with I’m tell you but I was doing the Yoshikai karate. I got my first belt in summer camp over in Daytona beach from mike foster's dojo where you sleep on the floor and your gi was your sleeping bag for three days. And you run over the Daytona beach over the inlet, over the bridge down to the water at six in the morning and all the other people doing kata at sunrise. I was so new, back then it was just white green brown black. You go a year as a white belt. He did break into four belts for kids who all won everything, now you just go forever so we were knee-deep in the ocean fighting out people. I beat five guys in a row and because I had a chip on my shoulder, mike foster, he's a fighter, he just wants you to fight so I get the ride back in the back of the truck and two people were promoted at camp out of the whole group. One guy got a black belt, I got my greenbelt. I came back to my instructor hido zagita, too soon, too soon! And took my belt a way and me not knowing anything about martial arts I should've just gave it to him, and said okay whenever you think I’m ready but I did know so I went to start training with bill [00:09:19.11] goju karate. The only true sensei in Florida back in the day, mike foster and bill [00:09:27.25] of USA goju who was from new York, who trained under peter urban who trained Goguen Yamaguchi who trained with chojun miyagi the founder of gojuryu karate, so I got to be three or four from the top even though I was training with a great back then. And they [00:09:48.12] tournaments with him and goju and what have you. And took me as a green belt what have you and then I went to tournament with him and saw people fighting, in the Davis armory up here in Orlando and I saw these guys with this patch on the beats everybody butt. And it was called Olympic karate association, it's actually IKF taekwondo, Wayne Lawrence and I went over started training with him went on to get my blue belt, brown belt there and what have you. I was a teacher at that school, and doing tournaments and one of my instructors there [00:10:21.04] whose a Sifu in kung Fu under [00:10:25.29] and was a black in tae kwon do and he trained me how to fight. So I was a green belt for like five years and he and I were, cause trained three different styles already and we traveled all over the state justify to fight. And that’s back when I didn't care, all I do was lift weights and my day job, I ran a health club and then I had a membership to a meathead gym and then I taught tae kwon do at night and that's all I want to do is fight. [00:10:58.10] and that's when you're at your prime. But that's how I got started, along the way I got into shito-ryu and I’ve been doing shitoryu and karate altogether for 45 years now so got my blackbelt level in Yoshikai and blackbelt level in goju and ended in a 6th Dan in taekwondo, and 7th Dan in shitoryu and that’s what we teach here at the school to this day. But I started about January 6, 1973, I just didn't know any better. But I met I met my wife along the way and I wanted to learn how to dance my parents were ballroom competitor dancers and I wanted to, I’ve had some dance but I want to learn how to dance that’s in the disco era, I want to go out and dance with everybody, like everybody else went to their studio. Ended up marrying my dance teacher and she was the united states Latin ballroom professional and she was part of the top dance team of the united states that time, I didn’t know. And I was driving a Cadillac whenever we go out dancing, it was like stealing so I got rid of my one of my jobs, I was doing construction just to dance and the martial arts. Made a career out of it we ended up selling our house after we put a company together here in central Florida at [00:12:21.00] station. We moved to Vegas, we danced out of Vegas and we worked at all the casinos back in, oh my god the early 80s, that's back when I was still family owned so to speak and 2 lane highway there, I was back with Sahara and Riviera and sands and silver slipper and landmark begins almost casinos. We used to open for frank Sinatra, Robert Goulet, Angela Bofill at the Hilton stuff like that. An then we went to Europe and [00:12:53.19] Portugal and worked for Julio Iglesias and that [00:12:57.10] ballet there and we came back to Florida, I retired actually. I was doing martial arts all that time, all that time, all that time. I was taking three or four classes week. So it came to a point I had to make a decision, but I had to retire from dancing in '86, I could do anymore two shows a night, six nights a week in Vegas. Two shows a night in Europe’s seven nights a week Portugal with a third show on Sunday. I probably got that to 29th or about 30 you know, and all you did was eat protein there, fish, steak, eggs. There's just no junk there's no pizza hut you know, just work came back to the states and basically I didn't know what to do and I went to work back at health clubs again where I started cause I know how to do that. I ran the bally health clubs here at central Florida, I was general manager sales manager in each one of them, they'd move me around between the four of them and my wife worked there too well and that I actually taught her karate and she taught me dance. I'm still going to karate four days a week taking classes and I shook hands and quit a six figures. I just get tired and made it to the top at bally and I just don’t want to be there anymore. So I love doing martial arts night sold everything I had, both my cars, motorcycles, my boat, and bought one car, a new one and we carpooled. Took a second mortgage in my house, build out a karate school and still here to this day. And I got a 7000 square-foot, we have 15,000 square-foot building but have 7000 feet of frontage school. But my wife got in the martial arts, she teaches and she’s a third degree black belt as well, she didn’t get into it for the rank or what have you but she competed here in Florida with me. Because I was a dancer in Vegas I don't have great martial arts fight stories like all the people I train with. I use to train with Calvin Thomas [00:15:06.24] what have you and I don't have because you see when I’m dancing and getting on stage, I can't go out there with a broken hand or broken eye or a broken lip or something. I had to go on, so I would compete in kata and weapons and when I was in Vegas in '83 I was state champion in weapons and breaking. No in kata, in forms and breaking in 83 so I won the Nevada state championship in '83 doing that. In Florida, I started competing again 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 I was four times state champion in Florida in forms and weapons. I could go out just were dancing, I get hurt, we don't work, we don’t eat and so I don't have fight stories [00:16:00.27] like Bill Wallace and played golf with him and all the other people that are great fighters out there, I read about a ball along. My run the street I was a bouncer along the way at a nightclub and mind in either Danny’s killing the party after dancing all night. If you go to a restaurant in the morning and getting in trouble in there and stuff like that were my fights, fi was more reality-based martial arts as working in nightclubs.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Tell us about that.
Jim King:
There's too many fights… too many fights, just too many fights. I worked at that this nightclub on the trail here in Orlando the front rooms of las Vegas showroom and had a singer in beautiful girls in the band I mean, it wasn’t naked or anything it was like a las Vegas showroom and dinner but in the back is a strip bar with pool tables, hard-core and the bikers ran their girls through there, and drugs to the back. You can't, you don't cross the bikers, I don’t wanna even mentioned the gangs, I know who they are and I never cross them because you can't win. Never fight a battle you can't win. It's just crazy. The book the art of war. Come back another day, but you still could come back and beat those bikers. Though every time there’s a fight jump off, I was always fighting in there and making sure cause I knew everybody and I knew these guys and make sure I was on their side. And then the owner saw me, he hired me I work for a lousy five bucks an hour I think that was 74-75 I just remember there's many fights two or three a week. But one stands out in my mind where I learned about thinking before you start a fight. I'm in the back room somebody's flipping a bottlecap set the girls was brought there, I asked this gut to leave and he stood up, he's drunk he's probably weighing 230-240, like humpty dumpty and then I grabbed by the arm, said lets go he snatched it back and took a swing on me, I blocked it I put them in a bend over headlock at you know, I had him bend over from the waist, I have a [00:18:16.21] under his throat and there is no kicking okay guys, all your tae kwon do is useless at a bar. Any kind of high kicks or anything, were talking elbow to elbow crowded back there and I’m trying to drag this guy out and I’m having to wear a sport [00:18:30.10] cause this supposed to be a [00:18:33.24] club what have you. I had a flexible athletics for coat [00:18:39.24] 40 top and a 30 bottom and I had a pop off tie smart enough on that but I didn’t take my sport coat off before I went in the back and it was like fighting in a straitjacket. So I got this guy, drag him to the front door between people, everybody's still drinking and partying, they don't care. And then I didn't realize his little brother which I didn’t know at the time he jumped over from behind and jumped on my back and I had like this animal in my back had me a choker so I just took my chin so he couldn’t choke me out, I drag him out with his brother on my back, about 50-60-70 feet to the front door into there that I can release his brother and then I could kick him, and then I just flip this other guy over my back on the floor and pancake him, and bobby and me the other doorman there basically took him out of his done. But now the owner and the bar back bobby with a blackjack which is leather loaded led area is illegal they beat these guys mercifully. I mean they weren’t even fighting and then I threw them out the door. And then about two weeks later, they got back out the hospital I wasn’t at work in the front door that night, bobby was, and the other doorman and they came in with a piece of rebar and crack him across the skull, broke his skull, went to the hospital, he's never been the same since. I quit it's not worth, five dollars an hour if you hire us to take these guys out after we beat them up and you guys kick them when they're down and stuff like that, that's not right so I quit that job. At lots of fight like crazy like that Denny’s at two in the morning. It's just crazy, go thereafter dancing all night we were dressed nice back then, if you remember the old disco days we were in sport coats and pullover shirt and I’m at Denny’s it maybe 1:30 2 o'clock in the morning, that’s when people still smoke in the restaurant but they have special rooms for it. So we started going to backroom, it was just family back there. [00:20:32.19] and I walked back in there and I’m (cough) I don’t smoke, I couldn’t breathe this [00:20:39.11] here stinks so evidently this was a big family, Hispanic family, came all out and all gathered around and the father who I thought was an older guy, older in his 40s because I like 27-28 I don't know, came and put his hand in my throat just threaten me and all those big sons or whatever right behind him, I’m thinking I can take this guy out so many ways in one second but as soon as I do that I’m junk, so I pushed him away and did punched a guy by my left, punched a guy in the right and the fight was on and with another guy in there and then before eight guys and that Denny’s at two in the morning and looks funny on TV where people are throwing things and barroom fights, but those are fake things that toughest person that fight was the daughter and she's yelling in Spanish she threw a wood highchair at us and hit a people sit down and she threw a glass of milk, I mean that was scary, it will crack your face and so that was, that was a hell of a battle that the rest my friend showed up in a black Cadillac out front, there's five sheriff cars coming down lee road, they said get out here they threw us back in the Cadillac, and we got away and I think about three days later I have sheriff come to my house supposedly, these people made a complaint cause I beat a couple of them up really bad what have you. Truly, there were eight of them, when I went to the police departments who were out complain, the seven never went anywhere. But I mean there's just too many that crazy stuff back then and I let it all roll off my back now no road rage not saying they live in harmony and share a coke. You know, I’m lucky to be alive I was in a pop festival in celebration of life Louisiana 1969, this is before karate if I’d known any martial arts then, I would've been killed cause I probably thought I could've done something. Three bikers are asking for my ticket we'd snuck into the celebration of life and I said who are you? I didn’t know they were running ramrod like the hells angels did in California, this was another group called the galloping goose and they surrounded us and this guy pull a gun, put it right in my head, another guy sucker punched me knocking front teeth out. Threw me in the back of the truck started driving off to the the thousand acres back there, I already knew four people had been killed in that pop festival, I said this isn’t right I can smell the beer, I jumped on the back that boomy truck about 15-20 miles an hour, I ran back to the 400,000 people were there, put myself in a lot of stupid positions growing up, a lot stupid a position, I’m lucky to be alive. I really am. Clubs and nightclubs, stupid stuff. Yes some people learn late in life and grow up later but like I said, I didn’t start martial arts till I was 22. It’s an anchor, I’ll be 69 in September. So, I’m doing 45-46 years.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How do you think your life would have been different if you started earlier? You've mentioned that a couple times, that you started martial arts later.
Jim King:
It wouldn’t have started early because there was no martial arts around when I was younger, there wasn’t any around.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let’s pretend there was. Let’s you know, let's take an alternate timeline through the universe.
Jim King:
Jeremy it'd be hard to say, I can't second-guess how it is. I know this there's a great song, I forget who it is, god bless the broken road that led me straight to you, you know our lives all, I did a lot of stupid things in my life and maybe you have too, I don't know but you know what whatever I did led to my wife and had anything else been changed, I might not have met [00:24:28.00] we've been married 40 years. Okay, we work together all those years in the karate at bally she was division manager I was general manager, we were a dance team and adagio team, a lift team, so like you see with Olympic ice skaters okay that to all the tricks to pairs, just like that but without the skates, that's the level we were at and so I would've met her. And you know we have this great career because we get no children and we've been working together for fourty years. I mean, we own everything our home, all our vehicles, our RV, we have investments what have you, I’ve actually sold the schools that I’m sitting in right now to operations manager Chris [00:25:11.23] and he's fifth Dan shihan now under me and the guy that answer the phone he's been moving since 11, he’s 36 and you know, he's got the school I just keep a 400 square-foot office in here and work my program out here for for martial arts coolers nationwide. I teach in here maybe, twice a week [00:25:37.06] Tuesday and Thursday night because I like it. Hour and a half class because I enjoy it, I don’t have to, I have 78 by blackbelt teachers on staff here but it’s basically a Chris’s school now but it's just so expensive I’m financing it for him and take three more years to pay it off and I’m making sure that he's able to, I can wean him and where he can do all this what I do the marketing and sales and developing people that can take my place here. I've talked to kids here in 10-15 years, we have a really large afterschool program, that’s the actual program I developed here and nationwide, the afterschool martial arts program would be doing that for what since 1991? 26-27 years and that's what I do now, I do some light martial arts school owners call me every day all over the state, I have had 1500 people, 1500 school owners that I know of across united states, Canada, united kingdom. Where in Alaska, Hawaii showing other martial arts school owners how to set up a transport afterschool martial arts program. We have BJJ, kung Fu, taekwondo, karate it doesn’t matter. Just how to structure do it right, it's constructive alternative to childcare our programs and necessity all martial arts schools including this one the evening program is a luxury and when times get tough like in 2008, 2009, I think there were about 2000 schools that went belly up united states that didn't have an afterschool program this life insurance for schools, so even if you're laid off, [00:27:26.02] working or what have your looking for a job your kids are still going to school and need a place to go after school, your options are extended day of school the cafeteria throwing spoons daycare little ones with diapers, you got an eight-10 year old boy in there with this little one, or babysitting at home or [00:27:46.03]. So if you weren't, if you had lost your job completely you're still working, you're kids still had to be somewhere after school, its life insurance for school owners. That's why I’m so successful financially is I brought a big school program here. I mean, we've run as high as 172 kids in our afterschool program here but we have seven vehicles, we have our own on transportation company I use outside professional drivers, [00:28:18.13] school drivers so instead of my staff. My staff are black belts, teachers but drivers and drivers, operations manager manage school so everybody's good at what they do. I do the front-end sales and marketing and all that now Chris’s taken over all of it, basically that he's been running school for me all these years, I’ve had a great life the last 10 to 15 years. I play golf I come in several times a week, I’ve been going RVing and what have you because he enabled me to have a great life but I developed my staff, I surround myself with people. I was in college studying business, I knew I hated it, with accounting so I have a great account, I have a good attorney, you know I have a good manager and I surround myself with people that can do things better than me. Like I was telling you all the things I don't do, I do it too I can text, I don’t want to text, I don’t wanna text. It's just crazy it's like going back in time to the flintstones little bird pecking out a thing on a tablet flying to, why don’t pick up the freaking phone. It is sad I get people email me, how much is your afterschool program? Send me prices I’m like what? Seriously, dear anonymous please simply pick up the phone and call me I’ll be happy to help you, I’ll tell you features, benefits and price over the phone. Two out of ten will do it because they're all used to growing up without communication skills with other people and they don't want to get down in the trenches with a bayonet, they went at bottom for 50,000 feet up, they just don't want to converse with people.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I want to unpack that for a bit. Because as someone who's been teaching involved in martial arts for a long time, you know, you've a transition not only in the world and in people but in martial arts and not only have you seen a transition the way martial arts is presented, you've been responsible for some of that. So you mentioned, someone emails you and ask for prices, most people are gonna write back hundred percent of the time with the information that the customer needs to make their decision and you're saying, you write back and say no, and only 20% will actually call you. Why do you do that?
Jim King:
Why because they grew up texting, living on the phone that don't have communication skills, they don’t want to talk to someone, that might be a salesperson, that they don't really want to know or it's another school shopping or what have you, but is usually the first one not the latter, is they just don't want to get involved. They just want you to, they just sent me by staff now the uber their freaking lunch okay. They call on uber eat, and they call some place and have uber bring them by lunch, I just made my lunch today I brought it with me here, I went by [00:31:00.15] to get some boar's head ham and cheese is made myself a lunch with cherries for dessert. I am a different generation, I don’t need to piss away money and plus it doesn't work for me, it just doesn't work for me. I want to talk to somebody, here's why here's why. Okay jane said, please send me all the info on your program but okay so I said you what, 9.95, is that a good number? No, you don't sell on price and if you do shame on you, you don't buy anything like that. I drive a Mercedes I didn't by it on price, I bought it for the features and engine, heated massage seats, yet all those things in it, I don't buy for prices, but that's not why I buy something and that's not why people buy something for a price if you really think about it. Yeah well somebody's coming online and they’re asking me how much is your, just send me all the info and the prices, they want to talk to a human. I don't roll that way. Cause I wanna ask you, because first of all, how many kids do you have? A. B. How old are they? C. Do they have any prior martial arts experience? D what's your interest in coming to our school? What are you hoping to get out of it okay? Are your kids off the wall you want to fix your kids with structure and discipline, I mean they might be adhd, odd, pdd, Asperger’s, all that. I need to know all that they have any learning disabilities or take medications or had be kicked out a six day cares now you're calling me. I don't find people, I need to talk about that first of all I want to what school they go to see if it’s even in my service area or were wasting our time anyway okay. So, I’m gonna tell them features and benefits and then I’ll tell them price of all my programs right over the phone, but I’m going to ask you those questions first. Qualifying questions if first are we even go to that school and pick up, we pick up 20 schools okay but you might be in south Orlando, and just got me on google or something I’m wasting 5-10 minutes with you typing to you or talking to you and then not gonna be able to service you anyway. And then you talk about the afterschool program but you might be a stay-at-home mom that don't need afterschool program anyway, you would be in my evening program because I don't co-mingle those two. The afterschool program, we run to 150-170 kids here after school depending and I don't put my evening students or traditional students or term students, six months a one year students in my afterschool program that's dedicated just after school. Those people have paid 3 to 6 times evening program in every state so they’re paying three times by monthly rate for afterschool and six times monthly rate for summer camp. So that valuable real estate out okay and they’re here five days a week, it's a better student. I don’t care what your teaching, dance, gymnastics,[00:33:55.07] a if you're doing it five days a week, an hour each day, you're gonna have superior students that's why the school was named top competitions school for the state of Florida back when we were competing cause the 32 kids that my wife and myself around the state of Florida, we compete about 15 tournaments a year on the same circuit the later in the kicks circuit, and we just outperformed everybody because I’m that great, it's basically because we outworked everybody. But I competed myself I know what it takes to win and I know what it takes the judge and I have a dance background, I teach technically. I have a ballet bar here in my school, instead of doing [00:34:36.28] arabesque we're doing kicks at four counts at one kick, front kick, sidekick, round kicks. And I work with people on I kick line’s, footplates and stuff like that I’ve got to junior blackbelts over here last night from my Shotokan school which is sister if shitoryu, never heard the word foot blade in their life. Their kick lines are awful okay they move real great, very respectful, have a lot of good things but they don’t have basic technique. I don't care what style you teach, there's an alphabet everyone. They're made up of blocks, punches, kicks and stance all styles are. You have to all forms all kata, that are made up of block, punches kicks and stance, and if you don't have basic good alphabet good school figures then how do you think that you're going to group those together in a kata or a form and it is going to be any better cause it’s made up of those, so I break it down just like my dance instructor did come up on top of me took my butt under and make my [00:35:34.18] come up and all that, it makes sense to me. So I have a ballet bar up here and I’m making everybody do their kicks with foot plays and I look at their kick lines, it’s all lined up, everything is made up of that. It's like teaching kata without bunkai. It’s like a treasure chest without a key. That's why people don’t like kata cause they don’t understand it, they’re just moving around. Its good exercise by itself, helps you turn and move and punch and block and kick its good rope memory, but there's fighting techniques passed out whether its tae kwon do or karate within the forms, and if you bunkai them, then there’s like a lightbulb goes off, that’s what peed on you on down there, [00:36:14.27] I never knew that no kidding, you're not gonna know unless somebody shoes it to you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That’s another hot button issue. Forms and whether they, there are schools out there that will brag that they no longer kata or forms depending on your know your language choice.
Jim King:
If it works for them it's great. You can cut them out and just do a street fighting that's good. You can just do tournaments sparring, tournament sparing is a game, it’s a sport there’s a referee there. There's rules, there's no mommy fighting for real. I know I was on the street I know what fighting is okay, never wear a jacket to a fight, I can still remember that to this day, it's like I bowed up and I was I was really good shape then, I had like 43 inch lat spread and I had a 30 inch waist and had his athletic jacket on the right moves a little bit, but when you fight it was a straitjacket. So I learned a valuable rule that I survived that fight, I never got hit once between the two of them. And that's what I take away from that fight. It wasn't 10 to 2, 5 to 3, he broke my nose, black in my eye, but I knocked him out no, is it was like 10 to 0 that's how I like my fights. I don't like getting hit. I've clawed and I’ve been maced but I never got beat up other than that time at gunpoint in Louisiana. But I mean, I hear click click I look at him and I get a sucker punch right in the mouth you know. Forms are good exercise first of all okay. You can look at them just by themselves it just I like jumping jacks right, if you do forms you do it for 3 times, 3times move on. There's is 52 kata in shitoryu karate, I only do 35 of them myself, but the trick to it is to take fighting techniques out of those kata, that bunkai that's the application if you teach them that then it makes sense to your student. If you're not, it doesn’t make in a sense the reason a lot of people don’t do forms anymore, is because that teacher never learned bunkai. That teacher never taught them the application of those forms to them is like dance and if you just do a movement, that's dance and I was a professional dancer for nine years okay. I know that is, we had a dance company and we traveled and performed everywhere, dancing straight but if you doing kata like that you're dancing if you're not showing applications what these moves are then your dancing and what happens is when you do take the time to learn it yourself and then teach your students you, actually teach them the kata. You don't know a kata until you can one, know where it originated, who formulated it okay and but the interpretation from Japanese to English or from Korean to English what it means okay where it was formulated and two, got a be able to perform it, perform it well and number three you need to be able to break it down and teach them bunkai the application of those moves, or you never really learn the kata, you’re dancing. And there’s nothing wrong with that so if the guys I think that are dropping it is because they don't understand it themselves and don't know the application and don't know how to teach it so they just knock it out, they just wanna a fight so to skip it's okay, just skip them and go straight to fighting that's okay just teach spine drills and fighting drills is nothing wrong with that all I used to kinda put my nose up because I’m a traditionalist at that yeah extreme martial arts, I called exhibition martial arts but you know what, they're very very talented and I watch people do that and musical kata, musical forms. It's not what I do but I really appreciate the talent skills and athleticism and it, I know Mike Chat and I’ve seen it I really appreciate, I have a whole different view on it these days that as I watch him do weapons and all that. I'm a traditionalist, I tell people go online and look at the world championships in and Paris 2012-13 -14. Look at what wins there, look at the Japanese female kata team when they do a group kata, and if that doesn't turn you on, I think you're in the wrong sport. And watching to the bunkai at the end of their kata, if that is and amaze you that then karate is not for you. It just isn’t. I watch them do weapons, but I teach when I was state champion in weapons, every move I do with my bow every move I do with [00:40:53.09] has bunkai, has application we do both [00:40:59.00] knife in the school and we do bow to bow kumite, we do [00:41:03.19], we do bodasai kumite, all the blocks strikes all are done. We break it down and teach it. Now it makes sense its real application. If you're to spit on your bow, like a baton twirl I’m just gonna do a lunge and jab you right in the throat. With my bow while your spinning yours like a baton twirler. But I look at athleticism and ability to be able to spin a bow like that and do all those things, they can obviously do the basics with the tube but we are in a block parry strike, we waste no movement. Every movement we do has application, that's just my take and I like to see the traditional martial arts done at the highest level. I always tell people look at the world championships, get on your YouTube and what have you and look at it in Paris and then watch all those people do forms. Watch the [00:41:57.18] fight, they still do hook kicks to the head, and jump spinning back kicks. We still do all that too. But I appreciate the extreme martial arts up and all that as well. Is just, if that's your way to get in the martial arts and that's wonderful. If that's what turns you on that's great in any way they can do that advance type of forms what have you could learn how to do the traditional stuff or maybe learn all the traditional stuff first then took off to another level. It's all good.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's an interesting time because we have so many options so many different styles, so many different ways of them being presented and what I appreciate..
Jim King:
It wasn’t around when I started, Mike Chat wasn’t born.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I wanna come back to to some your experience coming up cause there was something you mentioned that was really different than what I’ve experienced, but I wanna come back. But one of the things I appreciate in what you're saying is it your articulating this is not my way it's not what I want to do, but I see the value in it.
Jim King:
For me it’s not what I’m putting on you or the other people, what works for you is great. Just like in the movies, just like in the movies. When I watch old movies we all grew up watching Bruce Lee or David Carradine in kung Fu, if you're old enough, you go back to Arman flint with James Coburn where they do a little karate chop, come up behind the back just a little chop at the back of the neck the fight was over, I said it was so cool! That's before we even knew what karate was. I grew up and all that stuff, but I watched those old movies and then when I grew up and got older and started taking it myself, looking at, a lot of it's just silliness. When I watch these old flights from enter the dragon and fist of fury, you kick it, as old as I am, if I kick you in the head Jeremy here going unconscious my friend okay. If I elbow you in the head, you're going out okay. I’m gonna kick you 16 times in the head, hook, round, drop kick, Kentucky fried movie did a great parody where he's, a guy playing Bruce Lee beats up you're like starts beat them on the back will try and start stacking them like cordwood, they're like 10 feet high and that he hit the tank and cuts the tank in two you know that's my take on that. But I appreciate what he did for martial arts, but the movies made him into bigger than life than what he was but that brought it all to a lot of us, the guy that’s involved in martial arts, that are David Carradine who really wasn't in martial arts I met him in las Vegas it was David chow doing all his fight scenes, but they got us involved in whatever it takes to get you involved in. But what I look at a fight scene I’m looking back some of the stuff that I appreciated, one of them was crouching dragon hidden tiger, or vice versa
Jeremy Lesniak:
Crouching tiger, hidden dragon.
Jim King:
I couldn’t watch that movie. I watched a few, you know I can't watch fake, I’m sorry. I can't do it. I can't teach, I put out a hundred state champions, national champions, junior Olympic champions, I never gonna teach my people to run up a wall and jump off a building or sway from trees, the tops them and fight people with the swords. I said this is absolutely obnoxious, ludicrous, even though it won the Oscar, I can't watch that. I watch the fight scene in one of the Steven Seagal’s fights back in the day when he’s a little bit lighter and younger and it just, he was come out of a bar fighting these guys and he was screw face or whatever age does a little 45 to be side kick which I teach my wife going to yellow belt, to the knee and that the fight was over the guy said you broke my leg, he just walks by him. Two hits, the choreography was great as it was slap hit bang you're done. But it’s not six minute fight to the death and everybody's hitting each other 19 times in the head, fights just do go that, I like reality. I just like reality stuff. But I like watching all of the Jean Claude van Damme and all of the great but I don't like fake, I just don't like fake it drives me crazy.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I can see that.
Jim King:
The epitome of that was that crouching dragon, crouching tiger hidden dragon, that was the epitome of fake.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let's go back I mentioned there is something else I want to bring up, you talked about in the 70s training in three schools at once, you were the first person I’ve ever heard enough to talk about cross training in different styles at that time. I thought you know, and forgive me, cause I’m genuinely ignorant my understanding of that time was not only was that not done it was very heavily restricted that instructors would. Can you talk about that?
Jim King:
You're correct. I didn't make myself clear. I finish at one school. I got out of the house at 18-19 I was working, I work my own way through college, I bought my own card was no college fund, my dad said go down the street turn right get a job, so I work as I was 13. I bought a motorcycle I was 14 and drove at the school had a job, I’ve always worked all my life. Nothing was ever given to me so when, I was driving to college where I move, I’d live in apartment on one part of Orlando then I moved to another apartment a part of Orlando, and I’m working in the health club industry back it and going to college at night and I’m carrying I think 12 hours of working about 60 hours a week and trying to get ahead. So I had limited time and so that the gojiru to school was how [00:47:49.03] okay and then the tae kwon do school was in the colonial plaza mall, and so I didn't I wasn't training at the same time in the schools extremely hideo zagita for a while and left Yoshikai. Then I went to [00:48:09.18] for a while back in '76, I was back with him and training again in 86 but I wasn't at two different schools at the same time at any time. I was 100% at one school at time and 100% and another school time and for years I was with the Wayne Lawrence and [00:48:29.03] with the Olympic karate to hit three schools, they were teaching ITF tae kwon do and we only want to open tournaments. There was no Koreans in town, there was no bibs, there was no you can't punch in the head in Florida, I don’t know if you would know this because your age, in Florida I think Texas too, groin was a point you get kicked to the groin my friend okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I’ve heard that.
Jim King:
That's a point. You didn’t dropkick him, either do a snap kick in there. You get that point or it makes your hand go down if you're a man, he is back fist him in the head okay. We were in a tae kwon do school but when we did our forms we did a [00:49:07.25] but when we thought it was just open karate tournament rules okay. Most was that were pads, they were just coming out and the most was didn’t do that. I wore a [00:49:21.04] a little cloth pullover [00:49:21.06] intercept a cup and a mouth guard and put white adhesive tape from a knuckles. And you can do around kick at Rollins college on the gymnasium floor, you can catch that round kick sweep the sporting leg drop him and bounce him off that hardwood floor and follow-up with one point with a punch. You get point for the sweep and a points for the punch and groin was a point yes you can punch to the face. But didn’t go to any of the I would go to any of the taekwondo terms, there were no Koreans in town, there wasn't WTF we were ITF, international taekwondo federation. But no I didn't know any better, I didn't know any better like I said, I’m learning and I had good fighters, they were the best fighters in central Florida came out of Olympic karate all over [00:50:07.22] we used to win then and then Ben Parker, Roland Pincus and all the people, all women at the us open, open tournament out here in [00:50:18.25] these are fighters that that are proven on the circuit. And so I won if I like them, my best fight was back them, but I wasn't having to go on stage and worry about fighting, I had to curtail my fighting experience along the way, as my wife and I became successful that became our career I couldn't get, I said whoa. Had my brown belt test, I did a spinning back kick at this guy named norm I know his last name, he scooted in and did a reverse punch [00:50:51.02] to my kidney and I continued fighting that day but it stung like a bee, okay, not like a normal part later that night my wife and I went to a contest, a disco contest at the park avenue disco, it was like studio 54 here in Orlando and we won that contest, it was 500 buck, I mean I was planning to go to that when all the adrenaline wore off that night my back hurt so bad, I was peeing blood, he displaced by kidney and I told to my wife I can go to hospital. She always saw me getting banged up, getting cut and getting stitches all the stuff. Honey I gotta go to the hospital, I know when I got to go, I was there in for four days with an IV, it knocked my kidney, I didn’t know there was a thing such as the displaced kidney.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I've never heard of that.
Jim King:
I never heard of it either. There’s a little sac that your kidney sits in, you can knock it out. You can punch right out there you'll pee blood okay. And you know, they gave a drug called Demerol and my god, that’s the best thing ever made. And then here's what's sad I got out here I thought I was all better, about three weeks later I work on [00:52:06.00] he's a great sweeper, he did a scorpion sweep, if you know what that is. He would just drop to the ground and swing his rear foot around and took me right off my feet. I went a straight up in the air probably has some hangtime, hit the ground on my butt right away I could feel it come out of the, I could feel it and Roland drove me to the hospital were in our gis. I think I was a brown belt at the time and I was really hurt, really hurt and I was in the hospital again for about, three or four days for a displaced kidney. Nobody even hit me that time. He just swept me and I had hang time, I land on my butt and I that kidney came right out of socket again.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let's talk a bit more about the afterschool program. You know, we've heard a ton about you today and you know this was a lot of fun because you made my job easy. I just got to stand back and listen to you.That's what you wanted so that's what we did.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's right. Hey, get out of the way right? Let you do your thing and you did.
Jim King:
Well I read your form here in a kind of basically went over some of the things over
Jeremy Lesniak:
You ticked almost all of the boxes. It was great yeah love it. But now...
Jim King:
As far as reading book, the only thing I’ve ever read is the Tao of jeet kune do. Usually black belt magazine growing up, you probably did too and probably kung Fu illustrated, anything about karate it was all magazines there weren’t any books out back then that we know about just magazine. You know and when you went to seminars, there's nothing online, there was no online I grew up without computers. We had payphone. You would be in a karate tournament and usually people carry flyers as the seminar coming up in six months and Soke blargin and Soke joseph ruiz will be there or whatever it is. And then it was 25 bucks which was pretty good money back then we'd go to seminars like that, it was just word of mouth and flyers and you go train. Now, you can buy DVDs and and videos and go online and learn from everybody so it's really great you can learn so much more now from great masters that you might not be able to travel to japan. I met Morio Higaonna he came here I train with Morio Higaonna but and some great karate masters in the day and [00:54:22.01] who is, I would love to train with now he dudes 92, his son [00:54:26.13] came here to this school several times to japan, I flew him over he ranked me in all my black belts and made us jump through the hoops but let's continue with what, you had a question about.
Jeremy Lesniak:
The afterschool program which is the thing that you're known for as pioneering that I mean, there is still plenty of schools that are looking at that and considering it as an option. There are still plenty of areas in the country where afterschool martial arts programs really aren’t done they are uncommon versus I’m going to assume, especially around you because of the influence you've, it is far more popular how did you come up with that idea let's start there.
Jim King:
Well, I’m not the first first come up with that idea. I would bet there's somebody you know, karate or martial arts is what? Thousands years old bodirhama and what have you and Funan province with the Chinese fist and all that what have you, really old. Karate is a couple hundred years old karate used used to be called this unante and te Okinawa from [00:55:35.19] and naha and Okinawa all karate started there and came to japan basically. So it’s really that all but I’m gonna bet you probably 200 years ago somebody was on oxcart picking up kids from a school and taken the somebody's house and backyard on a dirt floor like they do and the Laos and would have people learning kickboxing what have you and Muay Thai, they're training in the backyard but their parents were in fields working okay. Somebody's watching all those kids. I bet you somebody was doing that, that's probably where it started but I didn't get their book I did get the DVD, nobody there can tell me of the children families and exemptions so I was with actually Calvin Thomas and we got together in his little 1200 square-foot dojo about 900 square feet in there and he actually was doing a little afterschool program so to speak picking them up in his own toyo van with no brace and my wife's Lincoln and after running bally health clubs and all this, I went in there I said this is how to do this okay and within a month 33 kids in their place was full then we moved to opened another place 5000 square ft that we had a business divorce and I [00:56:56.25] what have you and I don’t believe he is either but it was mutual business divorces I went my way so he kinda he just basically picked up kids after school in his vehicle there was no program to get or any way to do it. And back then there was nothing and this was 1990, 1991 and back then I was the only guy around actually doing things professionally just before I wrote my first book. I used to, in my first book I said, he who has a higher ladder wins I used to put my afterschool signs on telephone poles and this before I learned the code enforcement. But I because in bally we use to have lead boxes out, leave boxes only work if you have a sales team and then they're not allowed to have any fun in traffic. They're not allowed to take walk ins they're not allowed to answer the phone. They have to make and develop their own info’s and referrals what have you. That's what leave boxes are for, they're bigger obtrusive, leave them in places. I have a brochure racks in 30 businesses and brochure racks in over 20 schools okay I’m business partners for all the schools okay. I'm on their day care provider list, I’ve signs at their school, I’m in their school newspaper, so I’m in the schools. I wrote on seven turbocharged [00:58:14.07] because I am not on Facebook. I just read in [00:58:18.05] magazines that 87 or 89% of all schools advertise on Facebook. I'm not I’m very successful I’m where the [00:58:25.27] I am at the schools so come in the school you walk in my brochure racks there, if you asked for a daycare provider list, what do they have afterschool other than their [00:58:35.28], I’m number one on it okay. If they have a school newspaper, PTA newsletter, I pay advertising in it. On the way out if the school will permit I have my sign on the way of the school. So that's the king five right there, I have all that, but I don't have any objection to be on Facebook and were going to do it as well too, I just have never got to it. I'm basically a semiretired if not retired. But I’m gonna keep doing after school program I wrote a book back then called task force. Transport afterschool karate that was my first books. It was in black and white with pictures and then it had a VHS to go with this and I those back in and help people get started and then I learned about the proper children families and codes and exemptions here and another state. And I’ve had hundreds of battles in other states helping clients getting exempt because they’re doing stuff they're not supposed to do like fun Friday. We don't have class, that's a euphemism for unlicensed childcare on Friday. You can't do that in any state of the union okay you just can't do that, you need to take class whatever it is where dance, gymnastics, or martial arts each and every day you were there or you are providing childcare. Just like you had a parent night out or ninja night and you accept money for that, that's the definition of childcare. You can do it but can I charge for food and beverage and no fee for the actual watching the kids these are little things that I okay. And a lot of people just have no ideas, I am not a daycare I am a martial artist we teach, listen you can holler that Jeremy from mount Everest and won't hold water okay. It doesn't matter we have x amount of other people's kids for y amount of hours, there's rules regulations to follow every single state of union. Anywhere here in Florida needed [01:00:23.02] like Florida 65c– 22.00 8. There's six things you gotta follow we can’t do field trips during the counter school year in other words, spring break, winter break, Martin Luther King day, you can’t do field trips people for to do it all the time their operating I would say the vast majority of schools united states to have an afterschool program are operating illegally at this phone conversation, they’re flying out of the radar of department of children and family. That’s what they’re doing and the department of children and family say their overworked, underpaid and understaffed so they don’t get to everybody until there’s a complaint made them by law they have to come in and check it out. And that's when people call me in the 11th hour or the 12th hour. Like somebody call me from Missouri 20 years, 20 years’ operating a type of afterschool program and then they were told to cease and desist. I got involved, I got hold the state to be six weeks I got a written letter of exemption with task program then they’re exempt. I would much rather people start out correctly from the start and not ever hope the department of children and family and come in. In other words it's easier to build a new house from scratch that remodel the house that has a rats in the attic and termites in the basement it is just hard to do. Because there is transportation issues or amount of hours a day what are they doing before and after class. Department of children and families love what we do, they love the martial arts, that were teaching kids. My first book was called the task force after that I wrote a program so amp, might have heard of that Grandmaster Kim who's not my instructor, were not martial arts peers, he's a marketer and I travel with him for four years around the united states and Canada doing seminars, I learned how to do seminars from him. He learned how to do the afterschool martial arts program for me and made a lot of money doing all that we had a business divorce, I still call him and talk to him and go to lunch with him but he has his own program. He have a difference of opinion. The way I do it week to week with no contract okay. Because our market is daycare it’s an extended [01:02:35.04] it’s all week to week with no contract. There is no contract Jeremy in your school or my school, if you have a school that's going to hold something if they wanna leave they're gonna leave. And most people are going to sue him for a lousy 9,12, 1500 bucks whatever it is for a year whatever it is, it’s just not worth. The only thing that’s gonna hold people to you is service okay. I give them what they want for what they're paying for and its customer service. So my program is week to week because our market is extended day of school and kid care and stuff like that, this is all week to week the difference is with me, if you're not with me in a week you don’t have to pay for a week to hold your spot for services not rendered like a daycare. When you're out of school all day long for like in-service day, Martin Luther King day no extra charge all day long. If they get sick only with me one or two days, they'll have of credit to the next week three days or more constitute a week. I don't sell partial based, partial week. I know people that count how to parents, they do whatever they want. Want them do homework, I make sure he does his homework, homework can be part of your program in any state okay. It just can’t be part of your program, they can be incidental too okay but not part of your program. You can advertise and market to help with it I shall let you childcare a tutor time. These are kind of things that I knew of.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You've articulated a number of, a few things that you do and we have ton of school owners are listening right now. So I’d love you know, we're gonna post the links to your websites,
Jim King:
So what is now the latest program I wrote is what you get is Tasma transport afterschool martial arts and its now in its fifth edition and it can be I looked at online at afterschoolking.com my school website is karateonline.com I don’t have a fancy website because remember I’m not jiggy with it with all the videos and with all that all that but you know what, this little one school year five days a week were not open on the weekends okay. We have a ready finish 12 classes a week, and 15 with the summer can we gross the highest 750 grand in the school in one year, we've never got below six 600 grand in one year its basically part-time except summer camp and it’s just the way we choose. We could, I used to have 29 classes a week, I cut it back and I actually make more money work less, no weekend. And when I spoke in Las Vegas at the super show was with sentry for about 5-6-7 years. I used to go to the super show to do a PowerPoint presentation I raised my hand up there, how many you guys like working on weekends raise your hand. And the school owners were there of course they want their instructors there in the weekend. But if you could be off for the weekend would you like a couple hands. And nobody likes working weekends, you do what you gotta do to get it going. I used to do it. Actually I did I was in tournaments, and Chris ran the school on weekends that's why he now owns the school. But you can do it my way and work less and make a heck of a lot more money one of my people that help me with this program in marketing Tim [01:05:40.28] he is the afterschool program when were in Tampa, he works from 230 to 630 only he does is after school. No weekend, no evening class and nothing. He makes a great living, his whole family works there. So you can do it in it, you can put just 25 kids extra into your program make another hundred grand a year or you make your program big like mine, most people are 75% traditional 25% after school, I’m just the opposite I’m 75% Tasma and 25% evening students. Only have about hundred evening students but you know, 75 kids at six and but 25 adult at seven because I never promoted it the money isn't there if you're going to be a miner, if you're gonna go dig, you can dig for coal, copper, silver, gold, I dig for diamonds. I'd go to south Africa if I was gonna be a minor.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Might as well. Alright so were gonna drop those links at the show notes whistlekickmartialartsradio.com for anybody listening and might be new to the show and if you know, I think it's pretty clear at least it is to me, if you have more shorts when you're not at least considering an afterschool program, here's a good time to think about it, we talked a lot about that today you've got some resources.
Jim King:
It's life insurance Jeremy, it just is and was proven in 2008, 2009 the people that had afterschool program stayed over the people that didn’t bellied up. Unless you have a really really big school you know and cut back. So you know, we all had to tighten up, I had to tighten up here. I have a big afterschool program, I got like down to like 90 kids after school program, I was at 150 160 so you know if you only had 15 after school you might have bellied up anyway. I'm just saying that's where the future martial arts is to transport it after, a lot of people love after school but they don’t have a transport afterschool martial arts program where you go get the kids or have your service go get the kids. We outsource for 16 years with transportation company, they work for me exclusively for me that I bought the company I have my own transportation company. I keep it separate from my my escort, to separate LLC from liability and for other reasons it's the way to do it, separate church from state and I don't want my instructors or me on stuff I used to I did it I did everything but I have professional drivers now. And once you get to the level I’m at, and you do a profession I try to start people out from the start be professional separate church and state. Like you can use outside drivers instead of staff if you can, try to keep everything completely a separate, keep instructors as instructors and managers, managers and drivers as drivers. But you can do it different ways I’ve done it different ways myself, I even used by wife's Lincoln back in a day in 1991 but we have for school buses at 315 passenger van we have outside drivers, we use six of those vehicles keep one in the rears for breakdown and then we use six outside professional drivers. So nobody here is out slipping kids and when you have a large amount of kids being dropped off somebody has to pee on the floor right? And my kids are never out of control ever. I have people come over here martial arts look and couldn’t believe how controlled, I can't believe that you think that that something because what are your kids doing? You know, our kids aren’t allowed to talk in the bus or they're van there never out of their seats, they can whisper if they hear you, if the bus driver hears you, there's gonna be writing okay. That's the way it is, I have a what do you call like hall monitors we call them snitches on the bus then they let me know who did what and they all now you can't do that. All my buses have seatbelts, my vans have seatbelts. If you use buses of the private sector let everybody know you gotta have seatbelts, that’s federal law. Even if the school doesn't do it if you do it in private practice, you have seatbelts in your buses, seatbelts on your van, and kids are now allowed to get out of their seats and go to one seat to another throw things up or down, climb under over the seat, my kids are very well trained and disciplined. That's the beauty of this is at your point of enrollment, everything is, we do is 30-45 minute orientation with parents so they know what are policies and procedures are and parent responsibilities are and what kids are we talked with the kids, we have orientation with our children here's how were going to act. Here’s how we're not gonna act, before we go to a field trip before we pick you up all that is discussed, everybody knows. You just train them. That's what we do, we train. I have a dog that's used to sit on my desk here, okay a little chihuahua he's trained. If I can train a dog with a goodie, I could trade a five-year-old kid theoretically they’re smarter than my chihuahua. So we do real well with children. We can take 100+ kids to the bowling alley and people turn around because you know what, you can hear your heartbeat, you all walk-in line up against the back wall with instructors and when they go up to get their shoes, five at a the time, please and thank you. Now when your ball and you can be a kid but when were, coming there and leaving it absolutely quiet. Absolutely, people can't believe how we do it. I can't believe that they can't believe that we train children, that's what we do. I’ve got the only brochure rack at the bowling alley from an outside entity, because one would bring a lot of money and two he loves how we train the children. You bring that many kids in there and they’re not out of control. Yet two women in their way, it could have been two men, not a sexist remarks, but there were two women and were about 70 kids from daycare completely out of control because they're not paid to train them, their paid give back alive child at 6 o'clock with shoes. That's the definition of extended day or daycare.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You've shared a lot of great stuff today and I appreciate that. Just, my head is almost reeling and this is one of those episodes I think...
Jim King:
Oh so sorry.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Don't apologize it's great. I suspect this is one of those episodes that I’m to get feedback from people, I had to listen to it twice or three times.
Jim King:
You’re talk to an old person who's been around on me as
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know some stuff but
Jim King:
I have been around, I met everybody in the martial arts everybody, I have had [01:11:55.12] a lunch Chuck Norris to play golf with Bill Wallace, I met Joe Lewis pictures on the wall here was hanging out with him in Las Vegas, you know, when you get all, you get to meet everybody. I go back to a lot of people, people that know martial arts know who mike foster is and Yamamoto and [01:12:12.09] and those kind of people back in the day. When I was in Vegas I got to train with Osama Ozawa, was the first highest-ranking occidental united stated in Shotokan, I used to sneak out of the tae kwon do dojang I was at over there to go train with him and then they start, I was at the very first tournament at the Riviera hotel is the ozawa championship, that was big time in Vegas. The ozawa championship is big time. I was at the very first one and Kenny blanch and Nancy Anderson was there and so when you'll get to know a lot, they’re all dropping like flies now, he's gone too.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I wanna ask you one more thing, just one last little bit. Parting words. Words of wisdom whatever you want to call it send us out with something of a high note.
Jim King:
I'll be honest with you. I know I talk a lot about it but if you have an afterschool program you can contact me, I can see if you're operating illegally and correct as you could be flying under the radar either knowingly or unknowingly. And I know the codes about every state. And they change and they change from time to time. Georgia's codes change, Florida’s the codes change, we change a lot. Virginia ourselves, we change the law in Texas okay. But I would say if you don't have an afterschool program, consider it. And it's hard for people to change some time cause they're successful in what they're doing there's nothing wrong with that and if you're happy with what you doing then be happy. You might be able to put, like I said it after school program in your school in a small way. Get one van, maybe do two trips to get 25 kids that's another hundred grand a year. Who wouldn’t want another hundred grand a year? But I would think if you're running a martial arts school like most people and you don't have an afterschool program running on seven cylinders. You're not running on eight cylinders. I just think you should have a transport afterschool martial arts program because the difference is, our evening programs are a luxury okay. People don't have to take martial arts we love it we do it but the afterschool program is a necessity. These kids absolutely positively have to be somewhere after school after summer camp that being daycare, extended day or babysitting, why not be with me and you learning a talent skill it’s a no-brainer. It's just a no-brainer. And they pay 3 to six times what everybody's evening a student does that's a fact of life. So I was a considerate take a look at my site call me and I can tell you what the codes are in your state, what you'd have to do or not to do it before you take a jump, I would never sell anybody a program anywhere that could legally operate my program in their state. So the people out there selling programs and I ended up cleaning up their mess I don't have to mention who they are and it gets me new business but I just would never sell a program or somebody could legally operate per code in the state. I just wouldn't do it. But I’d consider the just doing an after school program because it's life insurance for school, that's a fact.
Jeremy Lesniak:
If you've been a long time listener, you know that there episodes where to do a lot of work. I have to coax the stories out of the guest, I have to keep them talking. Well, today you noticed was not one of those times. Kyoshi king was so generous with everything he talked about and I got to just kinda hang out and listen almost in the same way that you all did. And that's a lot of fun for me, it's different and it gives me a much different perspective on how the show runs and gives me a different angle on the guest. So Kyoshi, thank you so much for your time, thank you for your stories, your wisdom really appreciate having you on the show. If you want to find the show notes with links to the things we talked about, Kyoshi king's school, his afterschool program information all of that. You can find it whistlekickmartialartsradio.com and of course you can find all of our products from our spring year to our apparel at whistlekick.com. Thanks for tuning in, until next time. Train hard, smile and have a great day.