I started training at the age of seven in Shuckokai Karate. The reason I started to train was because my school friends had already joined at a local school and so I tagged along, all my friends gradually stopped in the first year, but to me karate had become much more than a hobby and I continued training there until I reached the level of black belt at the age of fifteen.
My instructor at the time decided to leave John Lynn’s Academy and go solo, and therefore resulted in me having to stop training as the nearest John Lynn’s academy then was at Rhyl, 30 miles away. As soon as I got my driving licence I made two weekly journeys to Rhyl for my training sessions and quickly got back in to the swing of it. The Rhyl Academy were already members of the EFC at that point and I was the 25th member as a student, The school kept growing from strength to strength.
In the year of 1999 I got my 2nd Dan and I also qualified as an instructor. I was already working full time at this point, stacking shelves in a supermarket, I wasn’t earning much money and didn’t have a sense of achievement in my life, except in karate. I decided I wanted to open my own club. I held my first class on 8th of February of 2000 at a school hall in my local town, charging £2.50 for an hour. I only had one class for children then on every Thursday evening but the class gradually grew larger and I decided to have another night for children. Although I thoroughly enjoyed teaching I never thought that it could become a career, so I carried on like this, with my two lessons a week for the next year.
At the beginning of 2001 Master Lynn approached me regarding the EFC, at that point I knew all about it as I was already a paying student and a fellow instructor had already joined. To be honest, my first instinct was “no way, it wouldn’t work in my town”, but over time I gradually got interested in the monthly billing procedure so I sat down with Master Lynn and he explained the values and benefits of the system and that I could make a career out of teaching karate. This all seemed very fascinating but I still didn’t believe that I could make it happen especially making a living out of it. I had reached a stage in my life where I was looking into making a career for myself, but I had also just bought a house with my girlfriend Gemma, so the idea of having a mortgage to pay made things look complicated.
At the time I was also going through the procedures of joining the police force, my application had been accepted, I passed the fitness test (obviously), two written tests, an interview and awaiting a date to start the cadet training. Although things looked promising I had what Master Lynn had said in my mind “ you can make a career of karate, earn a good wage and become a full time instructor”, if it would work it would be a dream come true, teaching a hobby for a living. I was in a state of confusion, becoming a police officer, a decent wage with a good pension and a secure career ahead of me, or take a chance and attempt to become a full time Academy owner. By now I had a gut feeling and something swayed me towards instructing. To make things more difficult my family and friends advised me to take the safe option, as I had a career in my hands, but with the inclination I had and the support of my girlfriend Gemma, I decided to look into the EFC further. I arranged for a meeting with Master Lynn and Lynne and invited my parents to come along and we discussed the possibilities. Everything became clear, Master Lynn and Lynne explained the process I had to take, that I already had my students all I needed to do was transfer from a cash club to a professional Academy, and with my existing students paying on a monthly basis I would automatically earn as much as I was at that point anyway. The only doubt now was that would it work in our town, it was explained that it’s worked in other places so with hard work and dedication why not. They persuaded me, I’d made my decision there and then and I had now also gained the respect of my decision from my parents, and as always had their full support.
Looking back we all laugh at the fact that the meeting ever took place, what was there to discuss? So there it began, I joined the EFC as school 221 and signed up 83 out of 84 of the existing students I had. Things looked promising, and it was, from then on I worked closely with Master Lynn and attended the EFC UK Meeting of Minds Seminars, gained knowledge of how to run an Academy in all areas, classes, marketing, finance you name it, I was told everything I needed to know and I quickly transferred from a karate club to a professional Martial Arts Academy.
By the end of 2001 things were on the up, the academy was growing nicely and I was earning well, I decided to give up my work and focus on my school full-time. I’ve never looked back I set myself goals and worked hard in achieving them, there is a great sense of achievement in seeing my name in the “All –Stars”. Master Lynn and the EFC showed me the way, but every instructor knows that it’s you that’s got to make it happen. You can get all the information you need on paper, but to make it work you need to put it into action. I believe I have done that and I have come a long way but I still have a long way to go yet to reach my goals. With the continued support of Master Lynn and EFC I will achieve it.
I am now the proud owner of two schools with 250 students, I have one full time instructor, and three part-time employees including my wife Gemma, I have classes running every day, teaching Karate, Kickboxing and Koshin ki to all ages from 4 to 57. I’m currently holding my classes in a rented room in the Leisure Centre, and my office is based at home, It’s sometimes quite difficult, having to carry all my equipment with me every day and it takes an hour a day to set up the room with my posters, notice boards etc. I’ve been looking for my own premises for quite a while, but there’s very limited places in the town and nothing with enough floor space, but hopefully with a little patience and positive thinking something will turn up soon. I can’t wait to hold the ‘Meeting of Minds’ at my own Academy.
As I stated earlier I feel I’ve achieved a lot since joining the EFC but there’s much more that I’d like to do in the future, get my own premises, hold more classes, employ more staff, hopefully taking on my wife full-time. I’m going to keep attending the meetings and summits, working closely with school owners to improve my student service and more importantly, Extensions, Extensions, Extensions!
As an Association all of the John Lynn’s instructors met our goal by becoming no 1 in the top team standings, as a single school owner I set a deadline for myself to reach a certain level, I made it into the supreme grand master in the summer as the no 3 single school and I’m working for that next slot!
Taerigi-Do does not have contracts! We use our EFC agreements as an assurance, to our students, that we will provide them with lessons for the next twelve months. In return, they agree to pay for their tuition. If the student’s circumstances change they may cancel the agreement upon discussion with Master Harrison.
