“Having worked with all the top professionals in this field, Mr. Graden’s reputation stands alone as the martial arts business leader above all others.”– Joe Lewis, Martial Arts Legend

In the past two-decades no single person has had a more powerful and positive impact on the martial arts business than MATA Executive Director John Graden. An 8th degree black belt under Joe Lewis, Mr. Graden was an accomplished international competitor before he realized that he could not deposit his martial arts trophies in the bank.

Mr. Graden began to study martial arts schools that fulfilled two criteria:
1. The school had to produce excellent black belts.
2. The owner had to have a personal income of $100,000 or more from the martial arts school.

He studied martial arts schools meeting that criteria and learned certain key, consistent strategies that were in place regardless of the school’s location or style. He applied these principles to his own “Dungeon Dojo” and within a year mushroomed to over 600 students in two locations and surpassed the $100,000 income mark in 1992.

In 1993, he wrote Black Belt Management, which described those strategies. The book was a bestseller. Mr. Graden sold his martial arts schools and created the first martial arts school professional association and trade journal. For the past 15 years, he has helped tens of thousands of martial arts school owners around the world to achieve success without selling out.

John Graden’s Martial Arts Career Timeline:

• 2008 – Author, The Impostor Syndrome: How to Replace Self-Doubt with Self-Confidence and Train Your Brain for Success
• 2006 – Founder, Pro-Star Mixed Martial Arts
• 2004 – Founder, Martial Arts Teachers’ Association
• 2003 – Author, The Truth About the Martial Arts Business
• 1998 – Author, How to Open and Operate a Successful Martial Arts School
• 1997 – Founder – American Council on Martial Arts (ACMA)
• 1995 – Founder – Martial Arts Professional Magazine
• 1994 – Founder – National Association of Professional Martial Artists (NAPMA)
• 1993 – Author, Black Belt Management