This YouTube video (Feb 13, 2020) follows Chris Collins and an "elite" cohort of service managers who meet to study other businesses. The group uses experiential learning—driving/visualization exercises and a visit to Swordplay (Hollywood Actors Combat Academy)—to draw parallels between fencing/choreography and business: customer hooks, free trial conversion, monthly subscriptions, and disciplined practice. Founder Tim Weske (started in 1992) explains the academy’s teaching approach and retention funnel while the group practices fencing.
Questions this video answers
February 13, 2020.
Managers who are over 30% into gross, have the highest CSI, and have won the advisor comp and managers comp.
1992.
A free introductory session followed by a lower-priced trial, then conversion into monthly subscription classes.
Hollywood Actors Combat Academy (Swordplay in Burbank).
Chapters
Sensei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, once said, iron is full of impurities that weaken it through forging, it becomes steel and can be transformed into a razor sharp sword.
Human beings develop in the same fashion.
We have two different types of coaching groups in our program. We have normal coaching and then we have elite. And how elite came about is a lot of the managers were coming to the meetings for years and they're like, you know, we're really good at net to gross. We're really good at hiring techs. We've got all that figured out. It's our superpower now. And although in the beginning it can seem hard, after a while, once you've done it and you've had success, it doesn't seem hard anymore. And so we'd like to have a different sort of meeting. And so we decided, hey, this is what we're going to do. If you're over 30% into gross and you have the highest CSI and you've won the advisor comp and managers comp, then we're going to create an elite group and have a different sort of meeting. And so in these elite meetings, we don't talk about net to gross or ELR or things like that because these managers have already achieved that at a very high level. What we do is we go into other businesses and start study other businesses and see like, hey, what can we learn from restaurants and bars and entertainment businesses. And so this meeting we're actually going to go in and study a fencing academy. The company is called the Hollywood Actors Combat Academy. And we're going to do a deep dive into that business and understand how it runs, how their revenue is created, their profitability, everything. We're here at the elite meeting. We're headed to fencing. But I had an idea because Damon was talking so much trash yesterday. Can Canadians drive here in the US.
I had the idea that he's gonna drive the jeep there so he can try it out so it'll be his to lose kind of. Because I think once he drives it and visualize it being his, he's gonna have an unfair advantage against everybody else. So let's see how Canadians drive. Let's go.
Oh, here it is. So.
You see how it's lifted now.
The next step in this is now we have to get the new rims and tires. How bad does that look? Looks good.
Oh, Canada.
Damon, you can't turn right on a red in America. This isn't Canada, where you can do whatever you want. Lib laws. We. How does it how does it drive so far? Drives smooth.
Better than I thought it was.
Yeah, right.
You probably don't have freeways like this in Canada, huh?
My drive on the single highway that we have In Edmonton is 13 minutes to work.
Traffic is if the stop light turns right. Yeah, he's got two. He's got two modes. Full on gas or stop.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Those bumps, that's the lane, son.
I'm just getting used to the size of this thing.
Are the lanes bigger in Canada?
Yes, they are. They are.
Just driving by braille.
So does this help you in visualizing Damon, like driving it? Does it help you like, are you absorbing the senses? Like how it feels, how it smells, how it drives? Like so you can visualize?
I've been visualizing since August.
Is it different though when you're actually in it?
Yes, to visualize now it's real.
Cuz you have a very powerful subconscious with that. Like you can visualize things into reality. So does this help or hurt it?
It helps it completely.
Cuz now it's real. I can feel it. I can touch it. I know.
I'm worried about. I'm worried about your strategy coming back from Tom. Tom.
I haven't lost sight of anything.
This thing is a beautiful.
So here we are at Swordplay in Burbank with the elite group. Let's go inside.
This is my Bruce Lee working jacket. I got my Yashi Yakimoto. I'm ready to fight.
The sun rises in the east as we find ourselves at the Hollywood Actors Combat Academy. The founder Tim Weske teaches us his business strategies and the ancient art of fencing.
We started this and I started this one in 1992. I wanted to do, you know, competitive fencing. I like that. You know, at the time, I like that I'm still doing it, but. And I wanted to do choreography for film and television with the sword stuff like we're gonna do. You're looking into that area.
With that guy that's that specific guy that wants to come, come here, but he just kind of doesn't know. He does, gee, I'm going out there and I'm the only one and whatever the hell it is, you know, all of a sudden there's all these like minded people and you just go, holy cow. This is kind of cool. There's you know, other things out there and I can enjoy this. And then you have the difficulty of.
What we're about to embark on.
And of course you have to overcome that too with, with different, different things because it's not that easy to do. It's not like all of a sudden, oh, you just pick one up and you become Errol Flynn. You know, the guy with the mustache.
You saw it, Gisbo.
I always respected people so much that walk through the door of a place they've never been with people they've never been all by themselves, looking at a sport they know nothing about. And they're going to get out here and they're going to try. You see, that's. I think when a person wants to buy something, whether it be shoes, cars, fencing, whatever, they're taking that risk.
The hook is the one on one. Then you're analyzing them in that. You're getting to know them, you're teaching them some things that make them want more because they're learning, they're growing and progressing, so they want more. So then you sell them into a monthly subscription, basically.
Yeah, basically. That's what it comes after the first one, when they decide they want to do it. Then they come back and they. After their free one, then they come back and then they have a lower price, try it out kind of thing.
Well, let's. Can we do it?
Can we?
Yeah, try it.
The wise teachings of Tim show that the might of sword fighting is like the mind of business. They require practice, discipline and control. An open mindset and willingness to try new things will guide you down the road to victory.
So the legs, the body and the head are the ones that are most available here to make the blind.
So we're cutting here so the.
You're holding your sword, you're all holding it correctly, right?
