Name: Sam Shawa School: District Martial Arts – Arlington, VA Years Running: 9 One thing I’m currently navigating as a leader: Continuing to grow the business while maintaining a strong culture and high-quality instruction as our school expands. https://districtmartialarts.com

If I had to pick one would be continuing to grow business in regards to sales. This one keeps the lights on.

The cost of living has gotten pretty wild. We currently charge between $199 and $259 per month on average. We also offer upfront payment options, where members can pay for the full year at a 10% discount; this applies to about 10% of our membership base. We considered raising prices further but decided against it given the current economic climate. The combination of higher living costs and increased competition definitely makes things tougher. On the positive side, it has pushed us to level up our product and improve the way we run our business overall.

We recently started a retention program for members who are on month-to-month or twice-per-week memberships under a monthly agreement. If they switch to a 6- or 12-month term contract, we give them the 5th month free. This has helped improve our retention quite a bit, which has been especially valuable in this type of economy.