As an MMA school owner, you may have opened your business because you love coaching students and connecting with the martial arts community. You’re probably really good at it. Your students love you. ​And at the beginning of your entrepreneurship journey, being the best coach you have is the business.

But the goal isn’t to stay there for the long run. Because coaching 25 classes per week while responding to DMs and doing payroll at 10pm on Sunday nights isn’t the dream. That’s the role you’re eventually looking to delegate so that you can transition into CEO.

It’s not a personality change, but instead a series of operational decisions made in the right order. And it can take you from the burned out MMA school owner to the powerful leader of your successful business. Here’s how to do it.

MMA School Owner 12-Month Transition Plan

Before you dive into the plan, just a heads up that you’ll notice the time frames are flexible. Every martial arts academy is different, which means trajectories and outcomes can vary. Use this as a suggested timeline and make adjustments as needed, based on how each section goes.

Month 1: Track Your Time and Tasks

Imagine a student complaining that they’ve been training on the mats for months without seeing results. When you ask what they’ve been doing, they say, “I’m not really sure. Just… working on technique.”

In the same way that progression tracking is a key part of learning new submissions, advancing in belt ranking, or even getting more physically fit, tracking what you currently do as an MMA school owner is the first step to becoming CEO.

For the next four weeks, write down every task you do. And for each of those tasks, make note of how long it takes and whether it absolutely requires you personally. From coaching classes to answering students’ questions to social media strategy, put it all on paper.

At the end of the four weeks, sort your list into two columns. Label the first, “Only I can do this” and the second, “Someone else could do this with the right training or tools.” Most academy owners are shocked by how short the first column actually is.

When you transition into the CEO role, your job is to make decisions, set direction, build a rock star team, and protect the financial health of the business. All of which is easier when you’re not coaching your fifth class of the day.

Create and sort a list of all the tasks you do in your martial arts school.

​Month 2: Document So You Can Delegate

Initially you might be thinking, ‘How does this differ from listing my daily tasks?’ It helps to think about this one as the things you know, versus the things you do.

The reason it’s not uncommon for an MMA school owner to be unable to delegate properly is that everything lives solely in their head. From the business’ mission and vision to the fact that Steve’s membership hold is ending Tuesday, it’s all stuck in one place. And if that place is your brain and not on paper, how do you hand it off?

​First, clearly outline your school’s vision and mission. You might know exactly what you want your culture, community, and long-term goals to look like. But someday when you have a full staff, how will they know these things unless you tell them?

Next, pick a few important systems or processes that are essential to the successful operation of your business. Examples include new student onboarding, class check-in and no-show procedures, handling cancellation requests, and even cleaning responsibilities. For each, write each as an SOP (standard operating procedures) document. This can be as simple as a one-page Google Doc with numbered steps. You don’t need to create a full manual if it’s not warranted. What you need is something that a new hire could easily follow without having to call you.

Once these things are documented, you can begin to delegate them.

Months 3-4: Hire Your First Coach (Before You Feel Ready)

Fair warning: This is the scariest one for an MMA school owner. If you feel like you don’t have the revenue or that your students only want you to coach classes, you’re not alone. But rest assured, for the long-term success of your school, it’s the next necessary step.

Think of it this way: Waiting until it makes financial sense isn’t the play. Because hiring a coach gives you time back to do things that actually grow the business. In other words, if you’re paying yourself to coach, you’re already paying for those hours because your time is incredibly valuable. The strategy is to redirect that cost toward someone who does the coaching while you do the CEO work.

You can start small, by bringing on a part-time coach to cover four to six classes per week. Take the needed time to train them properly, and try to put them into a variety of time slots. This gives all of your students a chance to build a relationship with someone that’s not you. And as long as you’ve hired the right person, you’ll probably be surprised at how quickly clients adapt.

Months 4-8: Create Your CEO Schedule as an MMA School Owner

You’ve found a reliable coach to cover your classes and you’ve documented systems to delegate some of the key operational systems. Now it’s time to do the CEO work, which sounds obvious, but is much harder in practice for an MMA school owner to do.

Start by blocking two to three hours per day, two to three times per week, for business-level work only. Put these blocks in your calendar as if they are classes you’re coaching. You wouldn’t cancel a class because you were handling admin, so don’t cancel on your CEO time either.

During those blocks, gather important data, explore some SEO tips for your martial arts website, design or improve your marketing strategy, consider potential local partnerships, etc. Remember, this is not time to be used for coaching, student requests, or admin tasks.

Make a list of strategies and tactics that are solely focused on the growth of your MMA school.

​Months 6-12: Start Making Data-Driven Decisions

If someone asked you today about how your business is doing, would your answer be based on data or… vibes? Because there’s a massive difference between “retention is okay” and “churn rate has averaged 3.8 percent over the last 90 days.”

Choose four of five key metrics to track every month for the next six months. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Total number of active students
  • Monthly churn rate (number of cancellations divided by total students at the start of the month)
  • Average revenue per student
  • Number of net new students (number you’ve added minus the number lost that month)
  • Monthly profit (revenue minus expenses)

Once you have the data, you can use it to make smarter business decisions. For instance, if your churn rate is high, that tells you to start with your school retention tactics. Or if your average revenue per student is low, you could explore different pricing models for martial arts or upselling opportunities. Ultimately, the data shows you where to focus your time and energy.

Pro Tip: Wodify has custom reporting that makes it simple for an MMA school owner to get a snapshot of exactly what’s going on with their business. Book a demo with a member of our team to learn more.

Months 9-18: Build a Dependable Team

During this last phase, your job is to build a team that can handle the day-to-day operations without you being the bottleneck. Decisions should no longer need to run through you. Problems shouldn’t always land on your desk to solve.

Here’s what this looks like in real life:

  • Your coaches should be able to run a full week of classes
  • Someone on your team should be able to handle any students’ issues that arise, and even give you a brief summary at week’s end
  • Your academy management software should be able to automatically handle billing, scheduling, and lead nurture and student communication, without your direct involvement
  • You should finally be able to take that vacation you’ve been dreaming of

That last one is the true test. At the end of your transition to CEO, you should be able to step away for a week or two and still have a fully-functioning business.

The MMA School Owner Mindset Shift

For an MMA school owner, stepping away from the mats can sometimes cause feelings of guilt. It’s not uncommon in this transition to feel like you’re abandoning your students, or losing what made your academy feel special in the first place.

But the truth is, if you burn out, you can’t increase revenue. If your business doesn’t grow, your students lose their school entirely in the long run. The best thing you can do for yourself, your team, your students, and your business, is to build something special that outlasts your willingness to work 80+ hour weeks.

Remember, you can still coach and be present with students. As you transition to CEO, you’re now doing them by choice, not as the default. And at the end of the day, that’s the difference between owning an MMA school and running one.

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​More Reading: No-Shows in Your Martial Arts Classes? It Might Be Your Schedule

​Pro Tip: Most MMA schools are great at teaching skills on the mat, but can be inconsistent when it comes to the business side—especially enrolling new students. If you’re trying to figure out how to get more students, this free playbook is for you. It gives you a 10-step guide to leveling up your sales process that’s easy for you and your whole team to implement. Download the “Mat to Member Playbook” today!