We had the good fortune of connecting with Tim Flynn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tim, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
Well, the 1st thing you need to do is to remember why you started in the 1st place. Ask yourself these questions: What will be the outcome of following through with what you started? Will you become a better person for quitting? Or, are you quitting because you took on too much you can handle? I think you need to sit back and ask yourself these questions before deciding whether to keep going or pull the plug.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I started Kato Karate in 2016 with zero knowledge of how to run a business. I started Kato Karate part-time, running three classes a night, 3x a week, while working a Full-Time job with on-call at Mayo Clinic in Mankato.

In my first year in business, I started very small. I rented out a 600sq ft classroom out of an old catholic school in North Mankato. When I first announced I was starting my own business, I started to get many people supporting me over social media. But then I also started getting people that would message my Business Facebook page trying to discourage me or calling me “Fake Martial Arts,” and etc.

I would stress over the negative feedback. Even though I had more positive feedback, I always got worked up over the negative. It even came to a point where I thought about changing my Business name because I apparently upset the “True Karate People” by using the word “Karate” in my business name as I actually taught Tae Kwon Do. Kato Tae Kwon Do didn’t sound appealing to me as Kato Karate, so I eventually just got over it and kept Kato Karate as my business name.

In my 2nd year in business, I decided to take the jump and go all in full-time. I left the church location and leased out commercial space. This was when my business had its “ups and downs.”

My 1st up: I started getting more students. Moving into a commercial space brought more visibility for my business. I started getting more students and was finally able to leave my job at Mayo Clinic. It was a great feeling knowing that your school was growing, and I had a blast teaching larger classes in a nicer space.

My 1st down: Charging a cheap rate to please other people but not making enough to pay myself. This was one of the most expensive mistakes I made in business. I would let people dictate how much I should charge. I was scared to charge anything over $100 a month because I thought people couldn’t afford that. How this thought happened in the first place was my own parents telling me, “This is too expensive,” when I had to raise my prices. Long story short, those people ended up quitting anyways.

After two years of not making any money, I decided to hire a business coach. This was expensive; I had to use a credit card to pay for this coach. But, I learned so much about business, especially when it came to pricing out my programs. The best advice I got was, “When you charge more, your clientele changes and you get better clients!”To this day, this is so true. People looking for FREE and Cheap are not people I want in my school as clients. I want the people who need help, who want their children to succeed, and who want top-notch instruction.

Once I had my price point in place, I had to give people a reason why they needed to choose me over other Martial Arts schools in my area. That was when I joined a program called SKILLZ Worldwide. A child development approach to teaching kids martial arts. I even took a 2yr intensive Child Development certification that was heavily focused on the science and psychology of kids and their brain development.

As of this interview, Kato Karate is the only Martial Arts program in the state of MN that is a Licensed SKILLZ Child Development Center. We use Martial Arts as a tool to help improve kids Physically, Intellectually, Emotionally, and Socially. We have a one-of-a-kind Evaluation process that helps me to work with kids where they are at, and not expect kids to be like everyone else at their rank.

My last challenge was class and time management. I hired a coach who works for SKILLZ Worldwide to help create the best learning environment for my families in my program.

Besides having the only SKILLZ school in the state of MN, I was also named one of the top Anti-Bullying experts in the country by the Martial Arts Museum in Burbank, CA, for all the anti-bullying work I do with kids.

The lesson I learned in the past 7yrs: Do what is best for you!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Mankato is a small community. You could probably see all the neat spots in one day. We have great parks, art, and a nice entertainment venue. We have great mom-and-pop restaurants, gyms, and other unique businesses.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people. My success was a group effort. First off, my wife, Marya. She agreed to take the risk with me to start my own business. I left a good-paying job in the medical field to pursue a dream of mine that I always had.

Secondly would be my SKILLZ family, especially during COVID. We all worked together as a network of schools to help each other come out of the shutdowns still running our business.

Third would be Eric the Trainer, and the ETT Mecca Family for all their support and encouragement. Eric was the one who made me realize that the pain we experience in life has value to it. As funny as it sounds, I need to embrace that negativity and turn it into a positive by helping others who may be experiencing the same issue I did with bullying growing up.

Website: www.KatoKarateMN.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katokaratemn

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-flynn-9124b6278/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katokaratemn

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@katokarate7045

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