AIO PackageAIO Package M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0 9 - a i k i d o i n t r u c t o r s . c o m

2

Adult and child advertisements/posters

included for external marketing.

Evaluation Program detailed to increase

adult student retention.

Establishing a manageable children’s

program curriculum: Rotating vs.

Traditional Curriculums discussed.

Creative use of dojo promotional gifts to

increase retention, new sales and

student satisfaction.

Children’s Camp Curriculum described.

Dojo Times Newsletter for dojo

members!

Andy’s next email tip arrives in June!

And MUCH MORE!

A Sneak Peek at AIO

Consulting Package 3 Coming Soon!

Member teleconferences to meet &

discuss pertinent topics related to

running a dojo.

Y. Yamada, 8th dan, Shihan, Chief

Instructor of New York Aikikai &

Chairman of the Board of the United

States Aikido Federation, sits down with

AIO to discuss his experiences in Aikido

and business.

Michael Veltri, Chief Instructor & Owner

of Okinowa Aikikai, Washington D.C.

shares the story of how life’s path led

him from a successful business career to

creating a thriving dojo of over 200

students in downtown D.C.

An in-depth look at various software

programs available for Aikido dojos to

help save time and increase member-

ship.

Creating a children’s testing for-

mat that promotes success, reten-

tion & revenue!

And MUCH MORE!

Life is about setting goals. We strive to achieve these

goals; however, many times we are unsure of how to begin. Numerous dojo owners face the same challenge. The goals are clear: to increase student body, to keep more students, and to spread aikido. The question is “How do I reach these goals?” The transition from a concept to a system can be a long one if you do not have a clear plan. Advice you hear often from AIO is that continuing education is imperative towards achieving your goals. Many professions already mandate continuing education, such as physical therapists, account-ants and teachers. Continuing education, whether man-dated by law or done independently, allows individuals to gather new ideas that can help one reach personal and business goals. For a dojo owner, there are various sources for martial art business consulting, such as Aikido Instructors Organiza-tion. Through AIO, members learn different methods and strategies to implement in their dojos. To meet their goals, however, effort is still required. An idea is only successful if it completes the trip from a concept to a working system. So let me lay out a clear roadmap to help you achieve your goals, and to break the procrastination that keeps so many dojos from being prosperous and thriving. Step 1: Choose your system. The first place to start is by selecting one idea or system that strikes a nerve with you personally. It should be one that you support 100% and honestly believe you will complete. Step 2: Research your system. Whatever the idea is, you will need to gather as much information about the topic as possible. AIO has researched each of its systems and im-plemented them in an aikido dojo which, as an AIO mem-ber, will decrease your need to spend significant time on this step. By not having enough information to implement your system, even the best idea can fail. Step 3: Analyze the system. Now that you have the infor-mation you need, decide if you think any part of the system requires some customization for your dojo. Maybe you would like to implement a specific referral program, how-ever, the program is geared towards children and you offer adult only classes. You will need to customize the system to suit your adult oriented dojo during this step.

Step 4: Plan on how to implement the system. Write down clear steps that are simple and easy to follow. Give your-self a timeframe for completion and stick to it. Caution! This step is often where many great ideas stall and never get started again. Over analyzing a plan can lead you into analysis paralysis, as it is often easier to ana-lyze the plan than to implement it. Be honest with yourself and resist the excuses that accompany change. Remem-ber that any change can be difficult, but change can also be what separates a failing dojo from a successful one. Step 5: Communicate with your staff and volunteers. Whenever you make a change that affects your student body, clear and positive communication is critical. Keeping your staff and volunteers involved will assist you in imple-menting the system. Effective communication will also keep the students informed of the positive changes and eliminate any fears the students may have regarding the change. With that said, too much communication can sabotage the change before it happens. Some dojocho feel the need to poll the students for their opinion about every decision be-cause they are afraid of change. Unless the dojo is owned by its members, decisions should be made by the owner(s). Students may express their opinion, but, when it comes down to it, students want the head of their dojo to take the wheel when business changes need to be made. Step 6: Track the success of the system. Many business owners do not keep true statistics regarding implemented programs. Because of this, many dojocho inaccurately estimate their successes and failures. Tracking your pro-grams enables you to make adjustments to the program for maximum results. Some systems will work perfectly upon your first attempt; others will need little changes to increase the level of success. You may even wish, after analyzing your results, to scrap a system all together. Without keep-ing data, you will never know what system is helping you meet your goals. Making your ideas come to life is more than wishing it to happen. Success comes from taking the time to implement your ideas, and then allowing the ideas to evolve with the needs of your dojo. Stop procrastinating. Attack an idea, make it your own, and start implementing your next system today!

3

Editorial

AI JournalAI Journal B Y A I O P R E S I D E N T , S K I P C H A P M A N

M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0 9 - a i k i d o i n t r u c t o r s . c o m

Improving your dojo one step at a time.

4

Affiliated Acceptance Corporation Answers Your Questions.

Over the years, dojochos have asked us for our opinion regarding billing companies. Choosing

whether or not to use a billing company is a personal decision for each dojo owner. However, the

decision should be based on fact as opposed to misconception or rumor.

To shed some light on the topic, AIO went directly to Affiliated Acceptance Corporation, a well

known billing company in the martial arts community. The intent of this interview is to answer

your questions, alleviate your concerns, and to reveal the truth behind how a billing company

processes dues payments.

AIO would like to thank AAC for taking the time to answer our questions, and for providing infor-

mation on the inner workings of a billing company. The information provided in this article details

the process related directly to AAC’s billing protocol. Because billing companies vary with their

procedures, we encourage you to contact various billing companies, including AAC, to see which

company meets your needs. After reading this article, you will have the knowledge to efficiently

compare billing services and to make an educated decision for your dojo. We greatly appreciate

the assistance received by AAC and its exceptional service to create this informative article for

our AI Journal readers.

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AIO: Hello and welcome to another edition of AIO Live! I am your host, Andy

Politi, and today we have the long awaited and controversial topic the Aikido

community has been waiting for; outsourcing your billing: the Truth, the Myth,

Friend or Foe. Today we will shed light on this topic with our very special

guest from Affiliated Acceptance Corporation, Melissa Leeman. Melissa, wel-

come.

Melissa: Thank you.

AIO: Melissa, I understand you brought some guests with you. Would you like

to introduce them and tell me a little about their role in the company?

Melissa: Yes, I have Jeff Reynolds with me, who is from our IT department.

He oversees our software development. I also have Sabrina Reems with me,

who is in our sales department.

AIO: Welcome, Jeff and Sabrina.

Sabrina: Thank you.

Jeff: Thank you.

AIO: All right, Melissa, why don’t we start with you? I’d like you to give me a

little background about yourself, what you did prior to joining AAC, and what

you are doing now with AAC.

Melissa: I’ve been with AAC for eight and one-half years now. Before coming

to AAC, I managed a couple of tanning salons. Currently, I am the floor coor-

dinator. I oversee daily operations out on the floor and coordinate what’s go-

ing on with Jeff in the software department.

AIO: Great. Jeff, a little bit about you?

Jeff: I’ve been with Affiliated for 14 years. Before that, I ran a martial arts

school. I have always been involved in the IT industry and, because Affiliated

was moving into the martial arts market, I was able to come in and help them

with some of the software programming to make it more useful for dojos.

AIO: Well, that’s excellent and how lucky we are to have a martial artist with

us for this conversation, right?

Jeff: I thought it would be interesting.

AIO: (laughing) Yes. It brings a nice perspective to the table. Sabrina, a little

bit about your background for our readers.

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AIO: Excellent. Melissa, Sabrina, would you like

to chime in?

Melissa: He covered most of it right there.

AIO: (laughs)

Melissa: Basically, we do the dirty work. We col-

lect the money and we make sure they (the busi-

ness) is getting paid.

Sabrina: We also give the client more time to fo-

cus and grow their business while we take care

of their billing.

AIO: And that has certainly been an issue in the

Aikido community; the issue of not interrupting

the teaching on the mat with the professionalism

of running the dojo. It seems like the two some-

how always get in the way of each other.

Jeff: Well, one of the things that also comes up

is the worry that maybe we are not going to han-

dle the students with the same level of profes-

sionalism as the instructor would. We have cer-

tainly addressed that issue, and all of our staff

have been trained to be kind, but firm, and to

follow proper procedures. We can also alter our

behavior according to what the instructor needs,

or wants, to be done and how they want their

members to be handled.

AIO: I couldn’t agree with you more. Would it be

safe to say that, by adding an outside billing

company, you’ve added professionalism to the

dojo?

Jeff: I absolutely think that it did. It gave my wife

and myself time to work with those individuals

and not have to fight with them over past due

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Sabrina: I’ve been with Affiliated Acceptance for

three years. I started off in customer sales and cli-

ent services; now I’m in the sales department. Most

of my previous employment background has been in

the sales field.

AIO: Melissa, I’ll put the first question to you. When

was AAC founded and what, specifically, are the

services you provide?

Melissa: We are actually celebrating our 20th anni-

versary this year, so we’ve been in business since

1989. We cater to health clubs, martial arts schools

and tanning salons.

AIO: Any services above and beyond what you just

mentioned?

Melissa: We have software for the businesses, and

we also complete the collection efforts on billing for

their services. Outside of just those three indus-

tries, we also help with daycares, some car washes,

and just about any industry that would require a

monthly billing option. We are capable of handling

all types of businesses in need of billing services.

AIO: Great. And, Jeff, since you have experienced

both being on the martial arts school side of billing

as well as working for a billing company, what are

some of the benefits you see with using a billing

company?

Jeff: Well, having used AAC at my own dojo, I found

that separating the business part from the teaching

part was a big help. I found it very difficult to work

with students on a daily basis and then have to

chase them down to discuss money. Once I turned

that over to AAC, it relieved that burden and we

were able to focus on teaching, rather than all the

behind-the-scenes money and collections efforts.

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they want done and you are just following their lead.

Is that correct?

Jeff: That’s correct.

AIO: There’s always been the talk, when you out-

source something, that you lose control. It applies

to all aspects of business, in that people feel if

they’re not doing it in-house and they are letting

somebody else do it, they are losing control. Now, I

necessarily don’t agree with that, but I want to hear

it from your standpoint, about the control that you

maintain when outsourcing something.

Melissa: I think

that the way we

make sure that

the client stays

in control is that

we provide them

with reporting.

They are able to

see comments

made on every

customer’s ac-

count regarding

the conversa-

tions that they

have had with our reps. We send them emails

whenever we have phone conversations with their

customers, if there are any issues. The dojo stays

in full control. They tell us how, when and where to

handle their accounts. They set all the guidelines

for us to follow.

Jeff: The software that we have available lets them

see all of the things that Melissa is talking about: all

of the comments, every transaction, and every letter

that we send on their behalf. They are able to see

and respond to whatever is happening. We have

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payments. It really does help to just get yourself

in a different mindset.

AIO: Good. Melissa, anything to add? Sabrina?

Sabrina: I let the client know that they set the pa-

rameters. We just enforce the procedures that

they want followed. As far as interacting with

the customer, we are enforcing what they have

advised us on how to handle the account which

takes the load off them.

Jeff: And that can take a lot of burden off of the

instructors.

We can handle

the accounts if

they allow

freezes for

medical rea-

sons, if there is

a cancellation

due to a relo-

cation,

etc. Many

things occur

when manag-

ing an ac-

count. De-

pending upon what the instructor wants, we can

set up those procedures and follow through with

them, which keeps the instructor from having to

handle those specific calls.

AIO: Well, you both led me into my next ques-

tion. Some questions that the owners of dojos

in the Aikido community have asked are: Will

they lose control? Do they have any say in how

things are run regarding billing? It sounds like

what you both, Sabrina and Jeff, said is that the

dojos can actually set the parameters of what

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the facilities in place for them to send us a quick

note on a specific account, and to let us know any

additional information that will help us in collecting

that money. Moreover, they can let us know when

to back off, because there are definitely times in a

martial arts environment where it is better to save

the account and let somebody slide through. We

can do that too.

AIO: So, the dojo can make special circumstances if

they need to so that, although the majority of their

accounts are being handled one

way, they can have exceptions to

the rule. Am I hearing that right?

Melissa: Right.

AIO: Okay. I’m going to go out

on a limb here. Based on what

I’ve been hearing from the three

of you, and correct me if I’m

wrong but, it almost sounds like

they are going to have more con-

trol by outsourcing then by trying

to do it in-house. Am I stretching that a bit?

Melissa: Basically, what they are doing is hiring. We

have a staff of about 100 people right now. So they

are hiring a staff of 100 people to help run their busi-

ness and they are adding those people on for a very

low cost.

AIO: (laughing) A hundred people. Jeff, if you had

100 people to run your dojo, what would that have

done for your business?

Jeff: (laughs) Well, I wouldn’t be here. There is no

way you can even hire one person for the cost that

we’re talking about and have them do all of the bill-

ing on a regular scheduled basis following a set pro-

cedure that has been proven over twenty years.

It is hard if you have your own family working in

your dojo or if you are hiring students. Talk

about not having control! That is when you don’t

have control. So, yes, we feel like we do pro-

vide a really good service while keeping every-

body connected to what is going on with the ac-

counts. The dojo is definitely not going to lose

control.

AIO: So what we have at this point is that the

owner of the dojo, the chief in-

structor, can concentrate on

teaching his students and spread-

ing his art on the mat. He has, in

effect, hired a professional group

of people, in your case of about

100 staff members, that knows

how to do billing, allowing him to

spend more time on the mat.

Melissa: Correct.

AIO: Okay. We’ve got that point

now. That sounds all well and good, and here’s

a question we have been asked many times.

Some dojos are still in the growing mode and

they do not have many students. Is it expensive

to hire a billing company, even for smaller dojo,

and, typically, what are the charges? If you had

three students or ten students, does it make a

difference, or is it only when you hit a certain

number that you should go to an outside

source? Is there a critical mass number, or is it

open to any number of students?

Sabrina: We have found that it actually makes it

easier if the dojo starts with a low number of stu-

dents.

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“It felt uncomfortable

to ask the student for a

payment when I just wanted

to teach.”

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AIO: Really?

Melissa: Then they can grow their business and

have control of the billing from the begin-

ning. So as far as cost-wise goes, our EFT

drafts are 25 cents. If they can get a student to

give them a checking or savings account num-

ber for us to draft from for the payment, that is

only going to cost them a quarter a month.

AIO: So for 10 students, if they are all going to

sign up with you as the billing company, you

would typically only charge the dojo 25 cents per

student for all 10 students per student. For

$2.50 a month you will handle the billing?

Melissa: Correct. And that is the reoccurring cost

for them each month.

AIO: Does that include everything? Does it in-

clude any reports they might get?

Melissa: We have a $20 monthly service fee

which gives them access to our website. There

they can pull up all of kinds of reports, load con-

tracts, cancel customers, make changes to cus-

tomer accounts, etc.

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AIO: Is that an optional charge or is that part of the

contract?

Melissa: It’s part of the contract.

AIO: Okay. So now they can go onto your system,

load student information, edit it, and look at all the

reports. By reports, I assume, Jeff, from an IT

standpoint, reports meaning what you billed out,

who has paid, who is delinquent, and the length of

their delinquency.

Jeff: Absolutely. And then it goes even further than

that. You can access renewal and expiration re-

ports so that you can see the remaining term of the

student’s membership. Even more than just the im-

mediate financial information, we are giving the dojo

everything they need to follow their accounts receiv-

able. They can see projections needed if they are

trying to get financing. They can show their banker

what is going to happen in the next 6 months, 12

months, etc.

AIO: That’s excellent. So, if a dojo is looking to

grow or change the space that it is renting or buy a

space, your projections are coming directly from the

students’ dues payments, which can be given in fi-

nancial format to their banker to see if they qualify

for a loan. Is that correct?

Jeff: That is correct.

AIO: All right. Melissa, do you want to add any-

thing? Sabrina?

Sabrina: Only to say that we are full service which,

compared to some of the other services that are out

there, means that we follow up on the customers

that may have had a financial situation.

an online system to pull your reports, it sounds

more than reasonable; almost too good to be

true.

Melissa: Another offer that we have is that we

also report to the three major credit bureaus.

So, if they (the dojos) are signing up students

on term contracts, we are able to report to the

credit bureaus on those as well.

AIO: Oh, you are?

Melissa: Yes.

AIO: Okay, if you are reporting to the bureaus,

you are not acting just as a third party collec-

tion source. You are still acting as the upfront

creditor versus, let’s say, a collection agency,

correct?

Jeff: We offer full service collections and that is

something that is optional. It is a choice that the

client can make. The fact that we report to the

credit bureaus in the long term is going to allow

the dojo to have a revenue stream ten years

from now, whether they are teaching or not. The

students at some point are going to need to buy

a car or a house and that is when the money is

going to start flowing back into the dojo. Again,

that is something that is optional if the dojo

chooses to do that. It really can help balance

your business in the long term.

AIO: So again, the dojo here has the control.

Melissa: Correct.

AIO: That’s excellent. The more that I am hear-

ing from the three of you, the more it sounds like

the dojos control more than I thought they would

before we started this call. It sounds like that

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AIO: Excellent. I assume you have some competi-

tion in the industry. There are other billing compa-

nies that may be doing something similar. Is there a

large varying of price differences? Is everyone

around the same price? Do you really choose a

company on the level of customer service, or is the

pricing all over the place?

Melissa: I think the pricing is probably more all over

the place. Our pricing is based on how you run your

business.

Jeff: We really try to charge based on transactions.

You are picking how you want things done. That

means that there are certain things we are always

going to do on an account, such as sending out a

welcome letter. However, there are a lot of things

that the dojo can do to control costs. The fact that

we charge a flat rate and not a percentage of fees in

the martial arts industry is a huge thing.

AIO: I agree. If you have just five students and you

hear that, with the cost of 25 cents (per student) and

$20 at the end of the month, you will have your bill-

ing taken care of for you, as well as have access to

11

they have all the say in the world with how this

program is going to work, especially with Affili-

ated Acceptance Corporation.

Melissa: That’s correct.

AIO: Sabrina, let me ask you something. You

are in the sales environment, is that correct?

Sabrina: Yes.

AIO: When you are out there talking to martial

art schools, what are some of the objections you

are hearing. What are some of the fears that

they have?

Sabrina: I would say the control issue is a con-

cern. They want to know exactly what we are

doing for them and what that includes. New

members who have never really interacted with

a professional billing company are hesitant to

fully turn everything over. Turning over their

customer’s contract, being unsure of what ex-

actly happens, and how these customers will be

taken care of are frequent concerns.

AIO: When you’re talking with them, some of the

ways you overcome some of these objections

would be . . .?

Sabrina: How they are the ones that actually

manage the account and that we just enforce it

for them. That they set up the parameters and

we follow through with them for the dojo.

AIO: Okay. Now let me ask you this; how diffi-

cult is it to get started or to enroll a student? Is it

a big process? Are there a lot of steps? Run us

through a little bit of what it takes to enroll some-

body.

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Melissa: Basically, what we do is send you a packet

of about four or five pages that require the dojo’s

authorization. Once we receive that package back,

along with one customer agreement, your account is

set up in our system and you are ready to go that

afternoon.

AIO: What do they need internally to get started?

Hardware, let’s say.

Melissa: There is no hardware required. They only

need access to the internet. If they do not have a

computer at the school, they can access the website

from their home.

AIO: Could you go through the process of signing

up a student? Is it cumbersome? Is it simple?

Melissa: When the member comes in to sign up,

the instructor signs him up on a month-to-month, 6

month, or 12 month agreement. That agreement

would then get loaded into our system. That same

day we would send all new customers welcome let-

ters letting them know who we are, and that their

account will be drafted for a specific dollar amount

on a certain day.

AIO: A letter of introduction so that there are no sur-

prises. You are proactive. You let them know

ahead of time who you are and what’s going to be

taking place.

Melissa: Exactly.

Jeff: The dojo owner can even customize the letter

so that they can promote any special event happen-

ing in the dojo. We try to not just send form letters.

AIO: So again, the dojo can customize and have

control on what you say in these letters.

current without harassing the customer. If the

dojo wants us to call them, we can do that as

well.

AIO: Are there additional charges to have the

customer called?

Melissa: No, there are not.

AIO: Okay, so you are very passive. You send

them a letter, and certainly 72 days is more than

enough of a grace period for payment. So after

72 days, do you automatically report to the dojo

that a payment has been missed? Is there a

special report that you generate automatically?

Melissa: We have an auto-generated email that

notifies them of the delinquency.

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Melissa: On the welcome letter, that’s correct.

AIO: I’m keeping track here. I’m up to number 19 of

things the dojo has control over! (laughing) Here’s a

question for you that is very important, both in com-

munity and in public relations. Does the dojo have

control when somebody goes delinquent? Are they

automatically put into collections? Can you tell me

what happens when somebody goes delinquent?

Melissa: We have three different phases. Phase 1 is

when a customer is 1 to 72 days late. What we do

is mail the customer a letter explaining that we have

set them up for a special draft to bring them current.

They are notified of this draft via mail. We try to not

make too many phone calls to them because we

prefer to give them a chance to bring the account

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AIO: Oh, you do? Okay. Now, let’s say you

have tried to collect the dues a few times. You

have sent letters and the person is not respond-

ing; you just cannot get them to pay. Are they

put into collections? Do you go back to the dojo

and ask them what they want to do?

Melissa: At that point, the customer is in Phase 2

and they will stay in that phase for 103 days.

During Phase 2, the customer receives more

letters and we begin making phone calls. After

Phase 2, when the account is over 104 days

past due, the customer receives more frequent

letters and calls. Sending a customer to collec-

tions is always an option for the dojo.

AIO: Okay.

Melissa: Again, the dojo has full control over how

their account is managed. If they do not want us

to handle delinquent accounts after they go 72

days past due, we can cancel them out of our

system and the dojo can handle them in-house.

AIO: Martial arts schools in general are very

concerned about their reputation in the commu-

nity; it is very important to them. I know you

cannot speak for other billing companies, but I

would ask, in general, what are some of the

steps that a billing company takes to ensure that

the dojo and its members are satisfied with their

billing experience?

Jeff: You are absolutely right that it is an issue.

You work very hard to build your reputation in a

community, and you do not want it to be ruined

by somebody who is harassing the students. By

the same token, it is our responsibility to collect

the dues. So we try to walk that line between

becoming overly pushy but firm enough to col-

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lect the money for the dojo. You talked a lot about

the owner having control and we work closely with

that owner to determine how he wants to set up his

membership billing, whether it is open ended with-

out terms or term memberships that renew as

terms. It is an important consideration. It is just a

matter of us working together with the dojos and

understanding their needs in the community.

AIO: That certainly is important and I echo your sen-

timents there. If you could, please clarify for our

readers the difference between a payment proces-

sor and a billing company.

Melissa: What we do differently is that we, as a bill-

ing company, are going to handle the back end of

the account for you. We are going to make the

phone calls and send out letters when a payment

does not go through. We are always attempting to

get that payment, even after it declines the first time.

AIO: And a payment processor?

Melissa: A payment processor only processes the

payment one time and then they are done with it.

AIO: They are done?

Melissa: That’s right.

AIO: Okay, so they are more of a mechanized ma-

chine, more of a mechanical thing. They just do one

thing and that is it?

Melissa: Exactly.

AIO: Okay. If you had to pick or describe the single

largest benefit of using a billing company versus

processing payments in-house, what would it be?

Melissa: The ability to focus on and grow

your business instead of having to worry

about the billing. We do that for you while

you focus on getting new members and

building relationships with your current mem-

bers.

Jeff: For me personally, it was the ability to

have a teacher-student relationship that

wasn’t being interrupted by finances. That

was about the last thing in the world that I

wanted to do as an instructor. We were a

small group and we were all very close. It

felt uncomfortable to ask the student for a

payment when I just wanted to teach.

AIO: Absolutely. Thank you. As we come

to a close of this segment of AIO Live, I want

14

to give my very special thanks to Melissa, Jeff and

Sabrina, and most importantly to Affiliated Accep-

tance Corporation for helping us bring new infor-

mation to the Aikido Community. Thank you all.

AIO Live brings the news and business informa-

tion you want to hear to make you successful.

Yesterday’s a cancelled check. Tomorrow’s a

promise for a note. Today’s the only day we have,

so spend it wisely.

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Frequently Used Billing Terms

Term Billing: When a student enrolls for a length of time greater than a month-to-month member-

ship. Frequent terms for billing are 3, 6, and 12 months.

Open Billing: When a student enrolls for a membership that does not have a term. This type of

membership is typically a month-to-month membership.

Renewal Billing: When a student has completed their initial term membership, their billing goes into

renewal. The renewal billing can be month-to-month or term periods depending on the dojo’s dues

options.

Payment Options:

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) - Funds are directly debited from a checking or savings account.

Typically the least expensive way to process dues.

Credit Card - Dues are automatically charged to a specific credit card provided by the student.

Coupon Book/Statement - A student is mailed either a coupon book or a monthly bill to submit pay-

ment.

Freeze: Where a student has suspended their membership for a period of time.

Notice: A period of time required by the billing company to freeze or cancel an agreement.

Andy Politi - Sales Consultant: Andy has been training in Aikido since 1995 under Chapman Sensei and holds the rank of Sandan. Andy has specialized in business development and

sales training for the past 29 years in various indus-tries including banking,

finance, asset management,

biotech, pharmaceutical, and

martial arts. Andy attributes

his success to the support of

his loving wife and three

daughters.

Come visit our newly improved

website & learn more about what

AIO has to offer you & your dojo!

www.aikidoinstructors.com

Have Questions?

Contact us today and an AIO

representative will assist you

immediately!

Our mission is to help you every step of

the way towards achieving your goals.

info@aikidoinstructors.com

Talk to Us!

Aikido Instructors Journal welcomes

your input and feedback on topics re-

lated to Aikido, AIO, business, the

marital arts industry, or any other topics

that appear in this magazine.

Please send your letters to

letters@aikidoinstructors.com

Advertisers! Have an interesting product

or service? Spread the word

by advertising in AI Journal!

For more information, please

contact Aikido Instructors Journal 732-674-9753

info@aikidoinstructors.com

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