Red Belt Podcast: Martial Arts School Business and Growth

Brian "Barn Cat" Debes
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  • Entrepreneurship
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The Red Belt Podcast, hosted by Brian Debes, features real conversations with martial arts school owners about what it takes to grow a successful academy. Discover how school owners are getting more students, improving retention, increasing revenue, building stronger communities, and overcoming the challenges of running a martial arts business. Real school owners. Real strategies. Real growth. For more information about Red Belt Software, please visit us at https://redbeltsoftware.com/

  1. 5d ago

    Danny Duckworth using the power of AI to grow your gym | Red Belt Podcast 30

    In this episode, our first podcast guest, Danny Duckworth, returns and we talk about his full entrepreneurial journey from building his gym to selling it, we talk about optimizing class schedules and then about the right way to use AI in your gym, how to use it to eliminate the need for data entry and such work for your front desk and how to automate posting quality content to every major social platform. Want to hear more interviews? Subscribe and hit the notification bell to join us on this exciting journey at the intersection of martial arts and entrepreneurship! Red Belt Podcast is a production of Red Belt Software, making student retention easier for gym owners. For more information, visit us at https://redbeltsoftware.com/ #martialarts #businessadvice #brazilianjiujitsu #RedBeltPodcast #BJJBusiness #MartialArtsEntrepreneurship

  2. Oct 16

    Building a Martial School Empire with Mike Stewart | Red Belt Podcast 29

    Mike Stewart started with around 100 students and broke the million dollar a year mark with his first school the first time he was a guest. Now he has 7 schools and a second one is on track for a million dollar year this year as well. Meanwhile, Mike is mainly just doing what he loves in the gym and has built a properly incentivized, well paid team that carries most of the work load and ensures excellence. We talk about those structures, the 5 key areas a school needs to focus on to have enormous growth and much more! Want to hear more interviews? Subscribe and hit the notification bell to join us on this exciting journey at the intersection of martial arts and entrepreneurship! Red Belt Podcast is a production of Red Belt Software, making student retention easier for gym owners. For more information, visit us at https://redbeltsoftware.com/ #martialarts #businessadvice #brazilianjiujitsu #RedBeltPodcast #BJJBusiness #MartialArtsEntrepreneurship

  3. Oct 9

    Becoming an Intrapreneur in a Martial Arts Gym with Stephan Miller | Red Belt Podcast 28

    Stephan Miller is a coach at Mike Stewart's, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA gym. It's a seven-figure gym, and he was with Mike as they grew to five locations, and in this episode, Stephan talks about how you can better make your own living as an employee by better serving the gym. Stephan is able to make six figures as an employee with different hustles and commissions within his gym without being a gym owner and without having investment and risk. Red Belt Podcast is a production of Red Belt Software, making student retention and acquisition easier for gym owners. For more information about Red Belt Software, please visit us at ⁠⁠https://redbeltsoftware.com/⁠⁠ Join us on this exciting journey at the intersection of martial arts and intrapreneurship! #martialarts #businessadvice #brazilianjiujitsu #RedBeltPodcast #BJJBusiness #MartialArtsEntrepreneurship

  4. Jul 3

    The New School Way to Grow Your School with Dave Kovar | Red Belt Podcast 27

    Dave Kovar owns 18 schools with over 5000 students in total. His main facility has reached over 900 students by itself. Today Dave talks about how things have changed in the martial arts industry and what it takes to be successful today as well as specific strategies to engage students and keep them coming longer. Don’t miss this one! Red Belt Podcast is a production of Red Belt Software, making student retention and acquisition easier for gym owners. For more information about Red Belt Software, please visit us at ⁠https://redbeltsoftware.com/⁠ Join us on this exciting journey at the intersection of martial arts and entrepreneurship! #martialarts #businessadvice #brazilianjiujitsu #RedBeltPodcast #BJJBusiness #MartialArtsEntrepreneurship

    The New School Way to Grow Your School with Dave Kovar | Red Belt Podcast 27

  5. Jun 26

    Changing the Way We Speak to Students to Transform Them with Joe Vitale | Red Belt Podcast 26

    Dr. Joe Vitale was once homeless. Today he is the author of over 90 books, star in over 30 movies, including the hit movie The Secret, and he is a musician with 15 albums out. He received the US President Lifetime Service Award in 2024, and the Los Angeles Tribune Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. His own movie, Zero Limits, released in 2025 and won 27 film awards. It just today surpassed one million views. He has helped millionaires and billionaires, royalty and presidents. At the age of 71 he began MMA training and by age 72 received his Blue Belt. Red Belt Podcast is a production of Red Belt Software, making student retention and acquisition easier for gym owners. For more information about Red Belt Software, please visit us at ⁠https://redbeltsoftware.com/⁠ Join us on this exciting journey at the intersection of martial arts and entrepreneurship! #martialarts #businessadvice #brazilianjiujitsu #RedBeltPodcast #BJJBusiness #MartialArtsEntrepreneurship

    Changing the Way We Speak to Students to Transform Them with Joe Vitale | Red Belt Podcast 26

  6. Jun 19

    Converting Parents of Kids into Adult Members with Farshad Azad | Red Belt Podcast 25

    Grand Master Farshad Azad has been teaching for decades and he has a system I’ve never seen before for turning parents of child students into members and in doing so both adding more students and increasing retention for the whole family. He also talks about the nurturing process of how after he gets students in he checks in with them, keeps in touch and monitors their at risk status with an “ABC” grading system and has a very tight system for bringing the best customer experience every step of the way! Don’t miss this one! Red Belt Podcast is a production of Red Belt Software, making student retention and acquisition easier for gym owners. For more information about Red Belt Software, please visit us at ⁠https://redbeltsoftware.com/⁠ Join us on this exciting journey at the intersection of martial arts and entrepreneurship! #martialarts #businessadvice #brazilianjiujitsu #RedBeltPodcast #BJJBusiness #MartialArtsEntrepreneurship

    Converting Parents of Kids into Adult Members with Farshad Azad | Red Belt Podcast 25

  7. Jun 12

    Building the Systems for a Super Gym with Nakapan Phungephorn | Red Belt Podcast 24

    Nakapan Phungephorn is a lifetime martial artist who teaches BJJ, Muay Thai and MMA. His single location has over 600 members and is on track to do 1.7 million this year. Remarkably his spend on marketing is quite minimal and he instead leans heavily in referral systems and grass root marketing efforts. On this podcast Nakapan talks about how he structures his referral reward system, exactly how he runs booths at local events, how he has optimized local AI search locally for his gym, how he has built systems that work without him and which ones you should work on today and way more! Don’t miss this one! Red Belt Podcast is a production of Red Belt Software, making student retention and acquisition easier for gym owners. For more information about Red Belt Software, please visit us at ⁠https://redbeltsoftware.com/⁠ Join us on this exciting journey at the intersection of martial arts and entrepreneurship! #martialarts #businessadvice #brazilianjiujitsu #RedBeltPodcast #BJJBusiness #MartialArtsEntrepreneurship

    Building the Systems for a Super Gym with Nakapan Phungephorn | Red Belt Podcast 24

  8. Jun 5

    Using AI and Progress Report Systems to Grow Huge in a Small Town with Dan Tyrrell | Red Belt Podcast 23

    Dan Tyrrell lives in a town with only a couple of thousand residents but has over 200 students. In this podcast he talks about using AI systems to give better customer service and experience and also how he uses systems of progress reports to keeps students engaged and to show parents that the martial arts school is more than self defense for kids, it’s a partner in parenting and can demonstrate constant progression in a child and adults live over all. Red Belt Podcast is a production of Red Belt Software, making student retention and acquisition easier for gym owners. For more information about Red Belt Software, please visit us at ⁠https://redbeltsoftware.com/⁠ Join us on this exciting journey at the intersection of martial arts and entrepreneurship! #martialarts #businessadvice #brazilianjiujitsu #RedBeltPodcast #BJJBusiness #MartialArtsEntrepreneurship

    Using AI and Progress Report Systems to Grow Huge in a Small Town with Dan Tyrrell | Red Belt Podcast 23
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The Red Belt Podcast, hosted by Brian Debes, features real conversations with martial arts school owners about what it takes to grow a successful academy. Discover how school owners are getting more students, improving retention, increasing revenue, building stronger communities, and overcoming the challenges of running a martial arts business. Real school owners. Real strategies. Real growth. For more information about Red Belt Software, please visit us at https://redbeltsoftware.com/

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