Action:

The other day I went to train with a Jujutsu instructor who teaches in the Vancouver area. He teaches a different style and has some of the most powerful joint locking techniques I've ever experienced. As such, I try to go in and train with him when I get the chance.

Like my own dojo, the owner of the school finds that he has a great retention rate, but doesn't get the huge influx of students that more competition oriented styles seem to enjoy. I figured I'd do something to help him out, so I wrote a review of his dojo. I suppose he's technically the competition, but he is really good at what he does, and I think he deserves to be featured positively in the community.

Action:

Last night we hosted our annual dojo Xmas potluck party. As always, lots of people came and enjoyed all sorts of merry-making. Everyone brought some sort of food item and our household made a number of dishes to add to the meal, including cranberry salsa, meatballs, a cheese ball, sugar/gingerbread cookies. 

In addition to the food, we made and gave a variety of different festive drinks, including santa shots (as seen on the right), gingerbread cookie martinis, and even our Pacific Wave Amber beer (named for our dojo). Most people brought their own drinks, but sometimes it's just nice to play the host and give openly (in this case by opening up our liquor cabinet).

Action:

Yesterday I went to train at a local Jiu-jitsu instructor's dojo with my husband. This guy is a joint lock master and we always get something out of our training there. This time, I got a tweak in my upper back. I guess I was a bit tight from having done strength training the other day and something tweaked when I was locked up. It started hurting a little during the class. 

The Sensei (instructor) cracked my back a couple of times to release some of the pressure during class. And after class he did a little shiatsu work on it to help ease the injury (woke up much better today btw). Anyway, I asked for some business cards of his so I could share them with people who might be interested. I plan to put some in my card holder at my dojo too because they are a good target for this sort of thing.

Action:

I provide plenty of useful information on my blog, so I guess that means that I'm always giving on there every week. But I have never mentioned it here, so I'll talk about a cost-savings idea I posted about on my martial arts blog this week. I shared the idea of using hockey tape instead of medical tape for taping up joints.

Using hockey tape is over 4 times cheaper so it's a great way to save money if you use a lot of tape for this purpose.

Action:

My ex is in a bit of a state of transition right now. I've been taking care of his pet bunnies for several months now while he figures out where he will settle down next, but things haven't shaken down exactly as he would have liked. He recently asked me that if he were to move back to Vancouver, could he rent a room in our house temporarily while he finds a more permanent place to live. After making sure it was ok with my husband, I said yes.

He later asked me whether we were going to be around for the holidays. I told him we would indeed be here and that he and his girlfriend (if she's in town) are welcome to join us for Christmas dinner. I wasn't sure if he actually wanted that, but he later got back to me, thanking me for the offer because he has really been missing his bunnies and would love to join us if he does come back to town. He's currently waiting to hear back about some call-backs (he's an actor), the results of which will affect whether or not he'll be back in Vancouver.

Action:

I have a new student at my martial arts school who just finished her first trial class who wants to sign up to train. I don't currently have any special offers for new students, but I usually do a free uniform/groin protector offer in January. Since it would really suck to sign up mid-December only to find out that you could have gotten some great freebies if you had waited, I decided to give her the free uniform/groin protector deal now.

I know there is nothing that says I have to do this. And she probably would have signed up anyway, but I just try to treat students the way I would like to be treated as a customer. This is probably part of the reason I don't make more money off my dojo, but at least I feel good about what I do.

Action:

The other day I found a scuba diving clip while on one of my dives to earn my Advanced Open Water Diver certification. It's a great quality clip and I was tempted to keep it for myself, but I really don't own much in the way of my own gear yet and have no real need for this type of clip. I did notice, however, that one of the diving lights we borrowed from my husband's cousin was really rusty and barely operational.

I figured it would make a nice thank-you gift for having lent us a bunch of his gear so we would save money while doing our certification.

Action:

Over the weekend, my husband and I did our Advanced Open Water scuba diving certification together. On the first day, on the very first dive, I discovered I was given wet suit gloves that were too big for me. On my first dive, there were pockets of frigid water swashing around in my gloves making my hands, and as a result, the rest of my body very cold. When I got out of the water, I had no dexterity in my hands and couldn't even undo zippers, let alone the prep work for our next dive. 

My husband very kindly told me to get in the car, turn on the heat and warm up while he took care of all my gear for me. Before putting me in the car, he even took my icy cold hands and warmed them on on his own belly flesh to get them started. I was really touched by how much he took care of me when I really needed him. I didn't think I was going to be able to get back in the water to continue my dives, but thanks to his efforts, I was got warmed back up, and with a improved glove system that was given to me to keep my hands dry and warm, I was able to finish the rest of my dives.

I know this blog is supposed to be about me giving, but he was truly the super star that day. So my gift was to let him know how much it meant to me. On the ride home from Porteau Cove, I told him that he really came through for me and that it was really great to know that I can count on him when I need him most. He seemed to appreciate hearing me say that. We should always be sure to let people know how grateful we are when people go the extra mile, especially the people we might be inclined to take for granted like our spouses.

Action:

Earlier this month, I remembered a great idea I came across for generating leads and making a bit of extra money around the holidays for martial arts school owners. The idea is to hold a "Parents' Night Out" event on a Friday during the holiday season in which parents would leave their kids at the dojo for a few hours for some event (foam weapon sparring, Nerf wars, movie & pizza night, etc) for a nonimal fee, then the parents could to out and get their Xmas shopping done with ease. It is also a potential lead generator for people who run kids classes, which can help get kids to associate going to the dojo with having fun.

I never ended up running a kids class at my dojo like I had originally planned, but it was still a good idea, so I shared it on a private Facebook group of martial arts school owners that I'm a part of. I also emailed the idea to other dojo owners I know that weren't in the group. Everyone was really grateful for the idea because most of them do have a kids program.

Action:

Today I went to pick up my gear rentals for a scuba diving course I'm taking this weekend. I knew ahead of time that the shop was collecting food donations for the Vancouver Food Bank, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to make a donation myself.  I found a bag of rice cakes and took it along with me. I knew we'd be eating rice cakes as snacks between our dives on the weekend, so I thought it would make an appropriate donation, considering. 

It's nice to see so many businesses doing their part to take in food donations for people who really need them. It's something you always see over the holidays, but this kind of giving spirit is important all year long.