Secret #3: Social Media Doesn’t 

Take Money & Time. It MAKES Money &

Time.
If you have an internet connection, you’re rich.

Because being rich means having options.

And the amount of options you have available at your fingertips, 24/7, on the
internet, is insane.

Nothing keeps me more productive than social media. And when I say productive, I
don’t mean busy. I mean efficient.

The reason is simple: I’m a producer, not a consumer.

That’s when the time and money you spend on social media becomes an
investment. Not a cost.

Let me tell you a story...

In 2014 I decided to teach my first international Karate seminar. I had been

traveling and learning a lot of cool stuff from different masters, and I really wanted
to share that with people.

The problem was, I had never taught a seminar outside of my own dojo before.
And definitely not in English. I was like: “should I say punch, hit or strike”?

This was not gonna be easy.

I wanted to deliver an unforgettable experience, because I had attended many

seminars myself that were pretty disappointing.

For example, I once attended a seminar with a Japanese master, where the only
thing we did was stand in a sumo stance and punch for hours.

Now, I’m not saying that was a bad seminar. It was a great work-out. But I wanted
my own seminar to be a "work-in".

A learning experience.

I decided to call it The Karate Nerd Experience (KNX) and it was going to be unlike
any training camp people had ever attended.

The question was how. "How could I make my first international Karate seminar
epic?"
The answer was social media.

I simply asked my online community to share their best and worst seminar
moments with me. When the answers came in, I analyzed them and discovered 16
key ingredients that an unforgettable seminar needs.

For example:

1. It needed too be small and intimate. People want personal, individual attention.
So I put the limit at 45 participants and made everyone eat, sleep and train at the
same place to maximize the social connection.

2. I also needed to mix theory and practice - not just punching and kicking - but
history lessons, japanese calligraphy, sports psychology, zen meditation.

3. And last but not least, the pink belt. You see, everyone wants to feel equal. A
black belt doesn’t always want to practice with a white belt. And a white belt
doesn’t always want to practice with a black belt. So, imagine if they don’t know
what belt anyone has. Suddenly, the ego that we attach to belts disappear - and
magic happens.

If it wasn’t for social media, I would NEVER have known these things!

Now, all I needed was to announce this seminar and pre-sell tickets.

As a result, people from 25 different countries attended the first Karate Nerd
Experience.

It was insane...

Not only did social media save me tons of time and money in the planning, but it
made me time and money after the execution.

This momentum has made it possible for me to organize it it every year since then
in a new country; Germany, UK, USA, Japan.

And it always sells out.

Without social media, I would never have been able to pull this off. All because of
it’s power to connect likeminded people.

Because when you plant a seed on social media, other people water it for you.
That’s what social media does. It amplifies, and multiplies.
The time and money social media saves me, can now be invested somewhere
else.

That’s called "being productive".

Team work makes the dream work.

Again, it's just like the mountain of martial arts. Sure you can try to climb it yourself.
But it won’t be easy. You will waste a lot of effort trying to figure our the best path
alone.

Why not let other people help you, with their experience and expertise?

It doesn’t cost you anything...

Just humility.

I promise you, the view you get from the top is far more enjoyable when you can
share it with others, and say “we did it together”.

Like the African proverb goes: “If you wanna go fast, go alone. If you wanna go far,
go together.”

That’s what social media does.

It doesn’t TAKE money and time.

It MAKES money and time.

But only if you use it right.

Now...

Let me ask you a question:

I you follow what I told you in secret #1, and cared less about the likes and more
about what matters, then you did what I told you in secret #2 and decided to stand
out by just being yourself, and finally you did what I told you in secret #3, which
was to leverage the time-saving and cost efficient nature of social media...

...do you think you could be successful on social media too?

If the answer is yes, that means my mission is accomplished!

Because I truly believe that anyone can be successful on social media, if they use
it the right way.
 It just requires a shift in mindset.

What worked for you in the past, might not work for the future. Times are changing,
and if you don’t follow along, your gonna get left behind.

Luckily, you’re not alone. We’re all on the same path, climbing that mountain.

Now I gotta be honest...

 The bad news is: you might not reach the top.
 The good news is: maybe it doesn’t matter.
Because as a martial artist, you know that the journey is far more important than
the destination. The goal is never guaranteed.

It’s not about the finish line. It’s about the race.

It's not about perfection. It's about progression.

The destination is finite. But journey is forever. And what’s right today, might be
wrong tomorrow. There’s always more to learn.

That’s why martial arts is a lifetime study.

And I’m convinced that social media can help you along the way. 

By now, you should be convinced too.

Good luck - and thank you for listening.