Black Belt Banter: Martial Arts Business Podcast
Welcome to Black Belt Banter, the best martial arts business podcast for instructors, school owners, and entrepreneurs who want to increase their profits and generate substantial revenue. Whether you're running a single studio or scaling a multi-location empire, we break down the strategies, stories, and systems behind profitable martial arts businesses. From student retention and marketing hacks to leadership, curriculum, and community building, we cover it all. Tune in for weekly insights from Master Chan and Master Jimmy Hong, who’s been in the trenches and come out kicking.
Email us at jimmyhong@blackbeltbanter.com
Black Belt Banter: Martial Arts Business Podcast
#17 | Fighting with AI: The Future of Martial Arts Studio Owners
World TKD Lab
https://www.world-tkdlab.com/saas-platform
Master Nickie Quan: Quanscience@gmail.com
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Our first live session kicks off Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 10 AM PST, with a powerful topic: 🔥 10 Must-Do Marketing Events to Explode Your School in 2026!
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Stop losing precious teaching time to front-desk chaos. We sit down with World Taekwondo Lab to unpack a practical way forward: a voice-driven AI assistant designed by lifelong martial artists to manage leads, message parents, schedule intros, and even update inventory while you stay on the mat. No jargon, no tech detours—just real operations made simpler.
Beyond daily admin, we dig into the growth levers owners care about: automated marketing across Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube; localized optimization for different regions; and clear reporting that tells you what happened and what to do next. We also explore modules for events and tournaments that remove the grunt work from registrations and logistics, so coaches can focus on performance and safety instead of spreadsheets. For multi-location leaders, the platform standardizes best practices while staying flexible for local needs. For solo owners, it’s the front desk you wish you had, at a price closer to one student’s monthly tuition than a full-time hire.
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with Master Tony Chung
Join ASA Live - monthly, interactive coaching.
- 10 Must-Do Marketing Events to Explode Your School in 2026!
- First live session kicks off Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 10 AM PST
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In this week's episode, we'll discuss the topic Empowering Taekwondo Schools Through Innovation, a talk with World Taekwondo Lab. Welcome to Black Belt Banter, the best podcast to help your martial arts school increase profits and generate substantial revenue. I'm Jimmy Hong, and my co-host is Master Tony Chung. We are joined by our premier partner, World Taekwondo Lab's Chief Marketing Officer, Master Nikki Kwan. Here at Black Belt Banter, we're very selective about who we collaborate with. We always put our audience, the school owners, instructors, and martial art professionals first. We only work with organizations that truly add value to your journey. And World Taekwondo Lab does exactly that. They build a powerful platform, a game-changing tool designed to help Taekwondo schools operate more efficiently, attract more students, and simplify day-to-day management. Master Tony Chang, Master Nikki Kuan, welcome to the show. Let's dive right in. Master Kwan, starting with you, could you start by sharing with our audience what Taekwondo Lab is all about and more importantly, how it can help martial arts school owners run their dojongs more effectively?
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much for having me. This is super exciting. This is actually the first podcast I've ever been on outside of my own little dojongs, fun little social media clips that we make. So a little intimidating to be with you guys because I'm a big fan of the podcast. I love what it's all about. And this was my first year attending ASA also since its inception. Before it was called ASA, there were many other things, and there were many other seminar groups and stuff. So to be among the giants is very kind of full circle. Because I remember being a coming up instructor, and my grandmaster would send me to these things to go learn more, see what's out there. And I was just that quiet kid in the corner, just kind of taking notes with my little pad and stuff, and expected to go back and make millions of dollars. But we we grow up in the industry, the industry treats us really well. We we feel a lot of the ups and downs. Every little thing that happens, I feel like it we're kind of like the barometer for society as Taekwondo instructors, small business owners. So yeah, what coming fast forward to now being at World Take Wonder Labs is really all about people just like us who are in the same industry as us, collaborating together, just like how ASA functions to improve and uplift. You you said it perfectly, give more value back to everybody involved, school owners, eventually the students and everything. But World Take Mondo Lab specifically is focused on technology and how to use technological innovation and use all those new tools that are available to. It seems like every company out there is using it. You got your Amazons, you got your Teslas, you got Google owning everything. Why not the martial arts industry? Because we're some of the fastest minds, the fastest at agile, agility. We we can move, we can shake, but to be honest, we can't program really well. We and we don't push buttons and do ones and zeros really well. And we shouldn't. We're that's not what our passion was, and that's not what we trained all our lives to do. So with AI and technology all on the cusp, um, the founder Kim Deung knew that he couldn't do it himself. And he's actually even less tech savvy than I am. But the two of us together make one really non-technological dude. So he set out because he had this vision of, oh no, I want, I want basically technology to run my schools, and that way I can just be. I don't know if you've ever met him, he's a very hyperactive, very energetic, charismatic man, great teacher, great coach. And he just really, because of that, that that mindset that he has, he really deep dives into stuff. And then when he was deep diving into technology and stuff, he realized there is actually a spot where I can't do this, and I need to go find the best people. I'm the best at Taekwondo, but I need to find the best people at at technology. And then once collaborating with them, they're with all the the technology that I say Amazon, Tesla, all of them have, the technology required for Taekwondo business is not that much. So when you talk to people who are used to making rocket chips and you're telling them this is what my school needs to be successful, I've been doing it manually and with a large staff training system in place for the last 10, 20 years, then they look at you and they're like, we can do that. Yeah, AI could totally do that. And then and that's kind of where it started. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And Dead Young is so awesome. We had we had been in North Carolina when I was there. It was a big world summit for martial arts, specifically Taekwondo. They had people from Korea there, and then that's where I reconnected with you, Nikki, and we we got a deeper conversation. And Ted Young, you know, every time we get together, there's so many national champions or Korean team members. And Ted Young is so nice, you know, Master Kim. And he's the badass. He's like Sam's some former pro team member. It's like he was at but you guys trained together and you guys were in young at Young In together, correct? I believe that's correct. Yeah. I mean, kind of bring us back. So these aren't obviously your successful school learners. I think Master Master Kwan, you have a a third location that you just opened up recently.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, we have three schools. I'm the head of 10 locations.
SPEAKER_02:Holy moly.
SPEAKER_00:So, I mean, I I started to take one to much like a lot of people I feel in the industry. I was a six-year-old kid. I've been with my grandmaster the whole time. So it's coming up on almost 40 something years now. That's so scary to think about. And then uh of all the instructors who came up with him and worked together with him, they're all my seniors, and they all left open schools. My grandmaster wanted to keep me longer. So he sent me to school, sent me to conventions, he paid for my college, said, you know what, you go do Taekwondo business. This is what you're this is what you're gonna do. And he's basically groomed me to do this. One of my sounds sounds like our father's. No, exactly, right? My grandmaster is not my actual father, but definitely he is that same, since we have the same vibes for sure.
SPEAKER_02:So and I was talking to you, I was like, Is is it quan like KWOM? I'm actually ethnic Chinese, yeah. No, you but you're more Korean than I am. You lived in Korea, trained in Korea. Wait, right, right. When I saw him, I'm like, is he Korean?
SPEAKER_01:Wait, did you did you say Chinese? Because I thought Kwan was uh Vietnamese. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So so funny story. So I am this international super spy. So my parents were ethnic Chinese living in Vietnam. War happened, they were both, they were actually both people, they were refugees. I came to America, I was born a year later. We we grew up in Camero, which is a very back, especially back then was like it's a cowboy town, it's agricultural. It's uh you may be familiar with Ventura County, sir. But you know, Grandmaster Shin was literally one of the first, was the first uh Taekwondo school, but but one of the first Taekwondo masters in California.
SPEAKER_01:So wait, your your grandmaster's grandmaster's yeah, grandmaster Yung Xin. Yeah, yeah, I think my father and and grandma's Shin are are very good friends. Right, right. Oh, I didn't know.
SPEAKER_00:No, totally, absolutely, absolutely. So, I mean, and that's kind of the other thing where I was I I call it a legacy school. Like you so our school is 45 years old. I was one of the the first kids there before there was kids' classes. I went to adult classes because that's what there was. And uh, all the instructors ended up opening other schools, other branch locations. And then Master Shin sent me to school to learn how to run the business better. And then we opened six schools together. And then when he retired, he retired off those locations to those the those masters that were running them. And then I went and opened my locations after that. And so we're all still under the same uh Grandmaster Shin, and he's you know not in the picture anymore because he's enjoying fishing and golfing. Um, I'm sure you can relate. But uh, and now I've been set with the charge of carrying us into the next 40 years, which we're not gonna be able to do with our hands and our feet only anymore.
SPEAKER_01:So hence that's a that's a small world because I met Grandmaster Shin so many times, and my father are friends with him, and I didn't even realize that you were with Grandmaster Shepherd.
SPEAKER_00:He's kept me under wraps for a while. But and then part of the part of the part of the process too was sending me to Korea. So I right after high school, I was very competitive and really enjoyed California as a competition scene, and we had national team being up with Grandmaster Shin and being around the US national team a lot. There was always a lot of inspiration, a lot of opportunity there. So I knew early on that if I'm gonna do this for real, I need to go do this for real. And uh, he sent me to Jong-in and I got an opportunity to go, and that was right out of high school. So incoming freshmen, me and Kim Der Young were roommates.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, how is that? And I didn't know at that time that he was literally the GOAT and arguably of that of our generation, the greatest competitor athlete. So I learned a lot about the whole the Korean competitive system, the Korean collegiate system, and it it's wild how robust and just it's amazing how far the world has come catching up competitively to Korea, considering how amazing their setup is. But yeah, no, if growing training with him over there, I mean I'm gonna be honest with you, we weren't friends in the beginning. If anything, he was annoyed as hell by but this American kid that he was forced to take care of. Take him around, show him stuff, don't let the seniors pick on him too much. But then little they know he's picking on me.
SPEAKER_02:But uh can you quit? I'm so sorry. Can you tell that story real quick of when you when that other university visited and you guys were fighting? And he's like, Hold my glasses. Such a badass moment. Because Daniel won't tell you. Daniel is so humble and quiet, but everyone that knows he's a badass.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right, right. No, for sure. There, so going to Korea, I I wasn't a slouch either. I was pretty good. I I won states, one blah blah blah. And I thought I was, I thought I was good. And then you go there and it's immediately humbling, like day one. The first run in the morning. I'm holy crap, they run a lot. And I'm behind the girls' team. Right. I'm the last guy. Coach is following and like in his car, just driving by, and he's about to like, is he gonna hit me? Is he gonna run me over? He wouldn't run me. Oh my god, he's really gonna run me over. It's it's and it's hell for the first couple of weeks. I'm just trying to just survive and and keep my stomach together. And then then you go to sparring practice, and and that's ex-your expect- I that's it. I I had no delusion that I was gonna spar really well with everybody. So I'm getting beat up by everybody, especially the girls. They're all beating me up. And but I'm just I'm going there with the attitude of I just, I'm just gonna stick with it, I'm gonna earn everybody's respect, I'm gonna get beat up, take my licks. And uh, and then one day, in in in university, uh a lot of teams come all the time. It's the sparring partners, a lot of people, little city teams, professional teams, uh, other colleges, they scrimmage a lot. And one day this this team came in, and I didn't I can't I didn't I can't tell the difference between what who who's who or whatever, and we're just sparring around, but they're all just ruthless and just trying to kill me and pretty much doing it. I'm I'm and I'm I'm like I'm a freshman in college, I'm not gonna cry, but I'm like really good, I haven't been beat up in years. And so I'm like, I can't take it, I can't take it anymore. I sit on the side, I just got my my my stuff kicked in, and he was just sitting there on the side kind of watching me. And we're talking about him, but I in case people don't know, he's a flyweight, so he's not tall, he's not big, he wore glasses that were pretty thick, very unassuming dude. And then he he watches this whole thing happen, and and he walks over to me and he he takes off his glasses and he says, Hold this. Oh, the other reason why they stick us together is because he could speak a little English. He was he was studying English in in school, so he really wanted to practice. So they're like, Okay, you you go with Nikki, he's from America, have a good time. And uh so he hands me his glasses. I take his glasses, and I'm like, all right. And up until this time, I feel like he's just been kind of cold shouldering me ever since I got to Korea. But then he takes the guy that was just sparred with me, he calls him, was like, hey, let's go. And then just literally in the matter of 30 seconds, does everything that guy did to me and he smashed him so hard, and he's shorter than he then was up to here on me. And he smashed him so hard, and that guy was just basically all done, beat up. And then he took not even a sweat. He just turns around and looks at me, and he goes this to take his glasses back. So I give him back his glasses, and he just and he puts him back on, and then he just walks away. He's he's he's bad boy.
SPEAKER_02:I love about Ted Young. Ted Young is very he's he's a great martial artist, obviously super humble, but then he'll kind of surprise you. So when I had met him in North Carolina, we were doing some kind of a Cobra Kai stunt seminar kind of stunt session with the black belts at the World Summit. And that's where I reconnected with you, Nikki. And then he was, how much do you bought AI? And I was like, Oh, well, what's impacting film? It's something I've been using Chat GPT and and this and that. And then he kind of told me a little bit about what you guys were doing at World TKD Lab. And that uh and then when he kind of went into it, I was like, whoa, this is this is actually, you know, I'm an analog person. I don't want to to memorize new things. And he is a very is he runs successful programs, he knows what he's doing. He's a he's a competitive martial artist, a traditional martial artist, and he's found a lot of success here in the US, as you have. And then he just knows how to bring people together. So it just I had a very similar moment, but I just um there's two different types of people. There's the kind of people that as you get to know who they are, it's a little bit of a letdown, and then that's the majority. And then there's the other type that they surprise you. And yeah, I just I just wanted you to kind of touch into that because we we hear about experts talking about this and that, and they're software-based or AI-based or some kind of machine learning or data, this or that. They don't know our industry and they're not martial artists or fighters. You you don't even have to be a fighter, but just just to understand the day, the the in and out part of the day of how it works. But that's what I love about what you all are doing at TKD Lab. I don't know enough about it, but it's it's just making everything from running the school in Thojiang easier, even staff development, marketing stuff, of course, or to running a tournament. It has a little bit of everything. So if you could just touch on that.
SPEAKER_00:So, yeah. What what what does it do? So I think it's it's super important. How Master Chung just said it. We even though we were from different sides of the globe, we still share the same stories, just like just like we do, even though we're both we're all in America, our stories are very similar, even though our programs could be vastly different. And the the whole reason why like seminar networking is a good thing is because we share all the same experiences, but we have different insights about best approaches for it. And a little bit from you and a little bit from you, and a little bit from me makes something really well. So that's the analog version of World Taekwondo Lab. World Taekwondo Lab is basically that same thing with technology for the purpose of networking all of Taekwondo schools together and to make the if we everybody, if there was possible to have one brain for all Taekwondo industry that everybody could pull from, then a lot of the guesswork is done. And a lot of that, that's the thing that keeps up the studio owners or school owners up late at night trying to think about what's a better way to market, what's the how am I gonna get into the schools? How am I gonna get into stuff? It's already in the cloud. It's already it's already in there. So rather than Grandmaster Shin asking me, hey Nikki, I need you to come up with 10 new ideas to increase enrollment or an improvement for tension, right? Now we're gonna have we have a little avatar guy we call Mugungi. And we're still working on the name because I think Moo Gung E is too hard for American people to say, but but I like Moo. Moo's cool, but he's adorable. I don't know if you saw him at Awsa, but the little avatar guy is cool. He sits on your screen just like avatars do, and then you just say, Hey Moo, what do I gotta do today? Or hey Moo, how many people signed up last week? Hey Moo, like I want to do a parents' night out ad, pump it out.
SPEAKER_02:And it's yeah, the way the way I'm so sorry to error, but the way he was describing it and the way I see see it work, it's very similar to Siri. You know what I mean? I don't I don't want to activate Siri on my phone, but when you start asking questions, it becomes a personal assistant. It's not the Google search engine, it's not another thing to do and another thing to type. I don't know about you, but a lot of people that I know that have schools, they if we were to be categorized, we we're almost ADHD. So we'll be in the middle of something and I'll have a thought, and I'll be like, oh, I need to remember this, and I'll I'll use Siri to make notes or you you you but that's what that Moogly that interaction is like. It's it's this personal AI assistant.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and that's exactly what Master Kim is. Darungi is like so ADD. He's so he's the was the he's the fastest fighter I've ever been with. And it that applies to every aspect of his life. His brain moves super fast. If you ever talk to him about anything, it's too fast. You have to kind of slow him down. And uh, he runs the schools that kind of the same way. He does everything, he's so high energy. I'm sure he's in Korea right now, and that's why I'm here instead of him. And I don't know what time it is in Korea right now, but he does, and I'm sure he's awake. They never sleep. Oh, your your volume just cut out.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, if you haven't seen him fight, YouTube, dead young Kim Tekwondo. You can watch a couple of his matches. You can instantly tell when he fought, he didn't just whoop them, he schooled them. He's kind of like an and one, like back in the day, like Harlem Globetrotter. He's just breaking ankles and just he's he's morally defeating the coach through the fighter. It's just awesome to watch. But that's how he runs the schools. He he's very thoughtful. Like even we had it's a it's a it's a sidebar, but it's I I do work in film, and everybody in America is is in is in enchanted by Korean film because the way they do it, they're so intentional, and the thought process of storytelling and the fights have meaning. They're not just action-packed, uh, but Koreans this is how I heard it, because TKD Labs is is is is is is also part of it's based out of Korea. So the whole concept is Koreans has they have such great film, they have such great design, and even the technology, it's because Koreans complain the most. They're and they they're not quiet complainers, they will scream, right? So so I love that TKD Labs is just it's birthed out of a generation, um, generations of people that they will tell you if it sucks. What I mean. So TKD Lab is that's why it's called TKD Lab because it's a constant experiment. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Wait, oh I'm sorry, so it's voice activated. You're you're speaking, it's yes, you you you can instruct it in voice, you don't have to type it in.
SPEAKER_00:The same way that you can talk to or Tony Stark talks to Jarvis, that's how I think about it. And the same way on ChatGPT for me, I I do the voice talk one. I don't type stuff in, it's just easier, and I just like that that interaction a little bit easier. But also the thing is it can do multiple languages. So the if you're if you're Korean from Korea, and originally I was thinking about I always refer back to my grandmaster because I remember when CRMs went to the internet, process computer processing. We used to, I remember sitting in the office and and printing out statements and then folding them and mailing them out to get everybody to pay their tuition fee. And I hated it. There's gotta be a better way. And then it was, oh, we could do ACH or we could do credit cards, whatever. And my master said, No, for all the reasons I'm sure you guys know why they've never wanted to do that. But then, no, it it's it's it'll be faster, better, we'll build more, we'll collect more, it'll balance out. I promise, right? Talked him into that, and it was great. And then the internet happened, and we're like, okay, we're gonna do everything online. He's like, no, what happens if the power goes out? And so there's all these obstacles that are legitimate in their mind, but look where we are now. So originally when he was pitching it to me, I was like, uh yes, sir.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt. So, what are some of instructions that you could give it, voice or or type in that school owners right now could that will be the most popular feature that you're telling it to.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, the most popular features are honestly gonna be the features that people already are familiar with. Anything that you do on on I use KickSite, Spark, all those, anything that those things are doing, that's gonna be the most popular because that's what people are familiar with. That's what they already know. What's my class attendance? What's my receivables this month, what are who's past due? Those kind of things. Those are gonna be the things that people are gonna use right away because they are already plug and play. But but I think the things that they're gonna get excited about is gonna be front desk admin, because that's what I'm excited about. Because I remember when I went off and opened my own school, it was so exciting. And you got that first student or that first 10 students on the floor. Oh, I'm doing it, I'm doing it. And then somebody walks in with a with a stroller and a kid, and they just want to watch class, and you're in the middle of it, and you're just like, I'll be right with you. And then hopefully they stick around long enough and so you can go talk to them and get them to enroll. But now, I mean, the same thing when you walk into a fast food restaurant or or anywhere, you have the kiosk. Oh, if somebody comes in, you have to put your order in on the kiosk, and then there you go. I know you used to call whenever you call a credit card company or whatever, it's a call center and then this and that. But now it's literally a chat box. So those things already exist too, and we know the benefits of them, but this is a little more personalized because it's AI driven. Our little avatar guy is gonna talk to the student, our little avatar guy is going to build a dossier around their needs, get to know them, and then set that appointment for you, and then follow that student's progress throughout their journey. On your end, they will report back to you. These parents came in, their kid is five years old, they're really looking for discipline. I went ahead and got them an appointment for next Friday. They're coming in for their intro class. You're you have six, seven uniforms in stock. They're they're a size zero. I've I've deducted one from inventory.
SPEAKER_01:Wait, how how are they going to talk to the avatar?
SPEAKER_00:The the parent, the student?
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So when they come in to your school, you'll have a little kiosk, little iPad kind of thing. Yeah. So and then sort of seven, so you go, oh, I'm teaching class. Somebody walks in, and then you're like, oh, could you go ahead and just go to that kiosk and put your info in there? And I'll get right, I'll I'll be with you in a moment teaching class right now. Sort of.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, what I like about it in my understanding is that again, I'm not an expert. I just I'm a multiple school owner. So I I'm always you're always looking for ways to create efficiencies. You want to stay personal, but I I'll be honest with you, I don't like a whole bunch of AI, but I use it nonstop. I'll use ChatGPT, I'll use Alexa, what I mean, and your Google assistants and stuff. But the bottom line is with AI, specifically for martial arts, um, how my understanding is from learning and talking with the group at World TKD Lab is you have this knowledge base of how to run a martial arts school, just generally speaking. And then that knowledge base basically, once you have that, you have this agent or you have a group of agents that you deploy that you stress test. So imagine you have this group of schools in America, group of schools in Korea, and there's a knowledge base that they generally use as a group. And then specifically they start training these agents. And then obviously Moogly, that that is some level of an agent. But then my understanding is that you can customize it. So what time is your what what age do you start little ninjas? Do you guys teach adults? Those are things that are more specific to the location that you can further enhance the knowledge base. So that assistant not only is tapped into the life knowledge base of all of the schools on the platform, so you kind of know, hey, I'm gonna call it MooGo, I'm sorry. Hey, Moo, how how were enrollments across all of the schools last month, across the knowledge base, not just for my five schools or Master Nikki's three schools, or the hundreds and thousands of schools across the US and in Korea? It could give you a level of predictions based off of market trends, you know what I mean? And this will will give you tons of data that is pertinent to your specific business. So I personally don't have the time, energy, and resources to go out there and train my own agent. I I would like to take an agent and customize it for my specific schedule and and product offering. And then more importantly, have it help me with a walk-in, even if it buys me three minutes, even if it buys me five minutes before my staff member gets there, or if I'm a call over the weekend or getting a lead over the weekend to interact with them within that first few minutes and not somebody overseas that is learning a script or you know what I mean, something that is a little more specific and it's more robust, and it's not a part of something that has to work with another part of my business. It's it's an all-in-one system, is my understanding. From running tournaments for high-level competitors at my school all the way to a new trial or a new walk-in and everything in between. It's and then as I use it more and as other people use it more, the knowledge base increases and it becomes more customizable for my particular need.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, absolutely. You hit it right on the head. Right. And um, that was that was that was awesome. So thanks for that. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02:I own no interest in this company. I just, you know, I'm excited to use it. You know, I just wait to get it.
SPEAKER_00:And actually, because we're still in we finished round one of beta, which my my school was a part of, and we're going into round two. But just to speak to you what you just talked about, that's exactly what just happened to me in the beginning, too, where I had it's all inclusive. So it starts from the website. You have your website in the leads and all that stuff that comes in. It it starts communicating with them, and this is all benown to me. I don't know what's happening, and then I get reported back to. So I get, oh, these people had questionnaire fill out, we had this conversation. It has a conversation script, and you can read through it. So it says, Oh, I can help you. And then it's oh, I want lessons. I'm an adult and I have some experience or whatever. And then it responds like an AI would respond based on that knowledge base that it already has from the industry as a whole. And you're reading it, and and there were some things that it said that were great, exactly how I would have answered. And then there were some things that weren't really matching my actual school. I my I'd have 13-year-olds go to the adult class right away because it's you're a teenager, go train with adults. I don't need you in the kids' class anymore, nor do the kids want to be. But that's just my demographic out here. They're very mature, they're they all kind of hang out. I have more teens than actual adults in in there. But the the answer the AI gave was a little bit off as far as time schedule to age group. So then I I I talked to Moo Goo and I was like, hey, that's actually not right. The class time is this. And then it it says, okay, adjustment made. And then from now on and forever shall be until I change it again. That's how it's going to answer from now on. At another situation where it was, it asked me, the the person was, I have a five-year-old, how much are classes? And I don't know why. Remember, I'm beta, but it said classes are$50 a month. And I was like, whoa, guys, stop that. Why why are you telling them it's$50 a month? Who told you that? And I'm I'm arguing with Maku now. But then I realized it's a robot. So I just told it, don't answer with the price right away, get more information, set that appointment. After that appointment comes in, then we'll talk to them after they've done a trial, and the trial is free. So really emphasize the trial's free. Next thing I know, I have another little dragon, it and it responds that way. So you can imagine trying to train your 16-year-old staffer and you're and you're trying to groom this person. And hey, this is the script, this is how you talk to people, this is how you sell, this is how how, unless that person's a talent out the gate, how long does that take to get them to be confidently? I'm gonna leave you in the dojong by yourself. I'm gonna go to Asa convention, I'll be back. Let me know how many students you sign up, versus look you have the AI just do it all for you and and give you money. So okay.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I feel I always have so many questions, Master Tony. Whenever we have these awesome guests, I'm just I've got so many questions. Because okay, you're so you're not typing in, hey, don't do this. You're just telling them by voice, hey, don't the the class schedule is this or the price is this. So is that is that correct? Is that the correct assumption?
SPEAKER_00:The same way the the the easiest way to describe it if you haven't seen it yet, because obviously nobody's seen it yet, is how Chat GPT is just like blank screen and with a whole thing. Yeah, what do you want to do today? So it's yeah, and then I know what your your current dojong's management system looks too, and no matter how good they are and better they get, they're all cumbersome. All of them, my my grandmaster looks at and like you do it. And that that's always how it is. So so with that in mind, they set it up to be it's just that little screen, a little little avatar, little, little moo there. And uh and yeah, there's there's obviously menus and pages you can go to to look at specific things, Google Analytics, YouTube, your class descriptions. You can do all that. You can look at your website. Yeah, there's you can click into confusion if you want to, because some people still need that. There's that definitely, I I always say there's two people that are gonna really benefit from this. The people who who are totally good at letting go, relinquishing control and delegating, they're gonna love it because it's like AI, do all these things for me. And the control freak, the other end. The the control freak is gonna love this too because they're gonna be able to customize it and and have it act exactly the way they want it. It's gonna take more time because they're gonna be so precise with everything and not trust it to do its thing. But at the same time, those two people are successful for different reasons. The delegator is very successful. The the control freak's also very successful if they recognize when they get to a point where they need to let go a little bit. But yeah, the screen's just gonna be blank with a little avatar guide, and then you can click a button to talk or you can type. But again, if you're from Korea and English isn't that good, you can put it in Korean mode and you can just speak Korean, Spanish, Chinese. It's uh every language that's in the current AI realm, which is almost all of them, but there are I have run into a couple that aren't available yet. Kozak is not in there yet, but there's Russian and all that stuff too. So it'll be it'll be Definitely for the world to be able to function on the same level as everybody else who's who may already have an advantage by being native here.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, a lot of our audience is our I mean our Koreans because we're right Taekwondo based. I think it's would you say Master Tony? English is there first, but I I do know several who's more more comfortable with Koreans. So that would definitely be helpful with that. But going back to I'm sorry, going back to the speaking with a customer, how are they is the customer calling and then the avatar is answering the call?
SPEAKER_00:So that that's another module that'll happen in the future. To totally honest, we're not there yet with that part, the the MoGu specifically answering your phone. But Mugu does answer emails, MooGu does answer, what is it? Oh, like uh lead capture, gotcha. Yeah, that stuff. So so the response will come through them and then of course report back to you on the admin end. The going back to the front desk admin, it's it's the same thing. You're at a kiosk, you're gonna type in your info, it'll be how old are you? And you just give it an answer. What are you looking for? It's just text messaging, and it will and it will text directly with with the the person. And that's where I'd said it's it's unique because there are chat bots, obviously, and kiosk and those things all exist. But I think having oh, like with chat, you can have an ongoing conversation and you can go back to it and pick it up where it left off, kind of a thing. Same thing with if you were getting a text message from the studio from your school, or I don't think any of us should are having text messages with our students regularly, all the parents and stuff, but there was probably a time when you did. There was probably a time when when you were closing people via text, or oh, I'll meet I'll see you guys on Friday, or how's Jimmy doing? That's our game. We want to do that black belt program or not. There was a time when that practice, and it wasn't bad, we just knew it was problematic. It was okay and it got the job done, but there was a slippery slope of other problems that could happen. So now you have this AI agent, we call the the A the step AI manager or MooGoop, and they can do that, and they can totally have an up-to-date relationship with the student the same way you would, because he talks just like you. He acts just like you, he says what you want to say. He has your personality if given enough interaction with you.
SPEAKER_02:As long as he doesn't destroy your business. Because he's I don't like the way you talk to me, Master Chung. I'm always like super abusive to like uh Chat GPT. I'm like, if you don't give me the proper answer, I'm gonna freaking go to I'm gonna go to Gemini or Perplexity, and they're gonna destroy you. Nobody can how can you not get this chat GPT? And then yeah, as long as TAD Labs doesn't like partner with Tesla or another one of those robotics like Boston Dynamics, because they'll come in and open a school across the street and shut me down.
SPEAKER_00:And that's also the reason why I got involved or or I believe in it, because I I'm not I'm not a tech guy, like we said, and but I believe in I believe in Master Kim, I believe in the team that he put together over there, I believe in the mission. And I I do believe that no matter what, whether whether it's with with lab or with someone else, if we don't do it for the Taekwondo world, then Amazon's gonna make something or or Tesla's gonna make something that we're gonna have to purchase. And we're gonna have to run it, we're gonna have to run their stuff. And when we run their stuff, it'll it'll be good. Of course, it's gonna be good. That's that that's what they do, but it's gonna be cookie cutter and it's gonna marginalize us. We're just gonna be some kind of niche of something that they do. So it's not gonna be personalized, it's not really gonna be, I'm not gonna find out about what Master Chang is doing, I'm not gonna find out what Master Hong is doing. It's not gonna be comparative, it's just gonna be general. And it's and that you probably notice it with using chat anyway. How many times do you ask it to do something specific for your school and it gives you some general uh answer that's not special at all? So doing it with Taekwondo schools, doing it for Taekwondo schools just makes it that much more useful and and that much more valuable to it. Because yeah, this is not gonna be something that the the the jujitsu guys have.
SPEAKER_01:You know what I mean? So but are they gonna be your market in the future? Are you gonna go or are you is this specifically for the taekwondo market? Or or are you trying yeah because did did this launch in Korea first? Yeah, or are you launching it?
SPEAKER_00:It's it's a so this is a US project, yeah. Uh it's with the Korean company. Yeah. For for the main reason being that our market is just so so much bigger than the Korean one, even though there's tons of practitioners, the actual economics of the US martial arts market, you guys know. Make it big here, you make it big everywhere else afterwards. Then then we can go into Europe, then we can go into Asia. And but but for now, US is the target because I think US is going to be the first adopter of stuff. So but this is a a student management. Student management is a module of it, it's actually uh uh school management. Yeah, the for the in for the entire school. So it's like we were saying it starts with the students, of course, but then you have your events, your your tournaments and stuff because the the smaller school is unable to do that. You need a lot of know-how and and data entry, and you got to be able to do a lot of things to make a successful tournament runner. And I'm just using tournament as one example, but there's tons of take one to events that happen. And a lot of guys need, especially out the game. I'm talking I'm really talking about your young staff or that guy who who was the world champion and says, I want to coach people for a living. And then he realizes real fast that, oh man, you can't just know how to coach people for a living and kick and punch while to run a business. And so taking a lot of that legwork out and a lot of not even the legwork, but the study time, the time involved in learning how to do stuff. I'm still trying to figure out property taxes, man. It's it's it's rough. And I wish I wish there was a way. And I actually did ask chat, how can I make this easier? Just doing my taxes is hard enough. And so imagine the guy that just graduated from Korean University that came here on internship and is I love America, I want to open a school, but without a competent manager to do it with him, there's there's no way. So the scalability for big schools that have large staff is huge because now you you do have that one competent guy that can go out with this AI agent and and manage and run a school if he can teach well, instead of trying to make pairs of people or whatnot.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, if I could, if I could figure out how to train this uh AI bot to to speak on my behalf or on the school's behalf for retention items or for attendance items, or but some you always have those students who ask you about stretching routines or how testing works or what with some specific thing. That way I could get back to my core just delivering classes and all of the staff just spending the majority of our time teaching uh ideally great classes, even if it just reduces the amount of emails and and phone calls and just connect connection communication points. Those are those are huge. And you know, I think that would be great. And then is is there uh is there a launch date that you guys have in mind and a price point?
SPEAKER_00:No, totally. Ironically, the the thing is with using more technology, what our goal is is to try to get more of that human interaction back to Taekwondo. Because without the technology right now, the masters, you're the guys who opened the schools and had the dream, the entrepreneurs, have actually less and less human face-to-face interaction with each and every student. Like you everything gets delegated, everything gets down, I got to go work in the office. You guys go do class with my student who has now become my instructor. But if I didn't have to do any of that office stuff, just like you said, if I could get all those hours back from all my retention work and paying the bills stuff, I'm a teacher. I'm a teacher. And that's and that's what I do. And and how much better will your students become because you're the teacher? And at the end of the day, how much more are you gonna be able to charge because people are getting grandmaster's attention all the time? You're you're you're on the floor all the time. You're you're teaching, nobody sells it better than you, nobody teaches it better than you. That's why you're the boss. But your staff will see that. Your staff will just get better because you're spending even more time with them, and your growth up to you at that point. Or if you want to be multi-school, if you want to just have a really rock solid team, that's what it's for. The January is the launch date for STIP AI manager, which is the first module, like we said, which is how it starts. And then other modules are going to be attached onto it, like you equipment supply, inventory control, event management. I we do, I'm doing a uh we do a tournament every year in California. It's in February, and we are adding, we're beta testing that module. So, so this is the first year that World Take Wonder Lab is going to present the the TR Cup, which is the underday Mar tournament. It's our 44th month. So hopefully that all goes well in testing. In November, so end of this month, and this is the Pastor Kim called me. I don't know what time it was. It was 1 a.m. over here. So Marho, when you talk to them, make sure you let them know. So the second round beta testing is gonna be specifically pulled from Awesome members. So he's so they're gonna send, they're gonna send a uh uh Wait, we're we're Awesome members. Yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Audience for the for the audience I don't know, ASA is an American School Owners Association. It's a organization that Master Tony Chung, Master Chan Li, and I are board members with with a few of other other people are board members on, and and it's a governing body nationally in the US to network and and work with school owners. But I'm sorry, go ahead, Mr.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, sir. Yeah, and then there was a great event in Vegas last this month or last month. Well, time escapes me. But and it was really good. That's where we basically first gave the drop the seed of Take 10 Lab coming onto the scene, and we're looking for second-round beta testers, mainly because with the and we didn't even talk about it really, but the the other thing that AI is doing besides managing your school is it's marketing your school and your online channels at the same time, too. So so your YouTube, your website, your your Instagram, your Facebook, all that stuff, it is it is running around the internet and and doing ads and doing all the online marketing for you. So you don't have to figure it out.
SPEAKER_01:So you just tell it, hey, run a foot Facebook ad of my school. How does how does that work?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, but but but it does because also, yeah, because because I will say because I'm I'm just first round beta, and and so they they've they chose them geographically so that way they because it's different. LA demographics and how YouTube works is very different than Michigan's, is very different than North Carolina's. So I think I want to say it was 10 schools that that there that was round one beta, and and and and again, I didn't do anything other than give them permissions, open up the permissions for for MooGu to do his thing, and and then you start getting inquiries like oh yeah, and I and I have no idea.
SPEAKER_02:Do your ads have six-finger knife hints?
SPEAKER_00:I was gonna talk about that earlier too, whereas I watched this reel the other day, uh, two days ago, and it it was the evolution of of AI uh to now, right? It was like the last like five years or something. And and five years ago, it was man-eating spaghetti, and it was it was jacked up, it was ugly. And then it was like four years ago, it was a little better, three years ago, whatever, whatever. And I came to today and it looked real. It looks a real, a real thing. It's kind of scary, but at the same time, that's how fast it's moving. So everything we're talking about right now, what World Take ED Lab aims to do, and just knowing Master Kim and the team, there's no doubt in my mind that this time next year, I don't know what this conversation is gonna look like, but I know it's gonna be really different, and we're all gonna be like, this is amazing. This is amazing. If people understand it and use it. I think the thing about AI too is the more we use it, the better it gets. So if we can get Taekwondo people to understand the necessity to get it involved in our industry and start using it more, because even even Chat GPT is better than it was before when you ask it specific questions. So yeah, I think the in November, an email is gonna go out to all the ASA members with an invitation link. And it then we're not gonna do everybody, obviously, because the ASA is huge, but geographically they're gonna choose schools of different sizes, schools that are small, 100 people, because they want to see how what the benefit of MooGoo is for a small school. And then those for those mega dojons, we that we're gonna pick one of those two because it can it handle the size and and and everything that a mega school has to offer to. And then, of course, geographical locations for their let's call Google Analytics because that's what I know, but whatever their their online channels are and online marketing needs are, and seeing if it's if it's capable of doing all that. So that'll be what yeah. What is this gonna cost for school? So right now, and again, we might edit this, you know, he was totally wrong, but right now it's supposed to it the goal is obviously to make it way cheaper than a staff member. And and also because it's new and we're the first of the industry, it also has to be kind of a no-brainer, too. So we're looking at like 200 to 250 price point per month.
SPEAKER_02:That's great.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's that's what average uh student basically. Totally. But what's your average staff price? Staff member. I I listened to your podcast, sir, and you're seven thousand a month.
SPEAKER_02:Seven thousand a month. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You're you're you're more than the rent. Rich, no, but but it's but that's great. But at the same time, too, I'm not saying I love my staff.
SPEAKER_02:My staff will enable me to pay the staff member better and then and then to get to get rid of the number twos and the number threes and make more primary teachers. What I mean, that's that that's the goal.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I I heard you say it in your podcast where I love my staff a lot and they're they work really hard, and I want to train them to be great better than me, even. And but if I had to choose between making them great business people or great martial artists, I think having them be great martial artists, great teachers would serve them better. And ultimately the school. The school would be better if everybody were if I had 10 Bruce Lee's out there versus 10 Elon Musks. Right.
SPEAKER_02:Arguable, but when you and when you have a staff meeting or staff training, you're training.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Yeah, I love it. Plus, having 10 Elon Musk, you're gonna get a lot of headache because 100%.
SPEAKER_00:Right? Yeah, totally, totally. I would be in better shape too. So it would be good. So yeah, that's that's that's what we're trying to do so. Hopefully, a lot of people respond positively to it, try to be beta second round testers. The faster that we we fill those spots, the faster MoGu will get smarter and grow. How do they find you?
SPEAKER_02:How do they how do they become a beta tester?
SPEAKER_00:Or so if they went to the ASA seminar, they have contact info that MooGoo has captured.
SPEAKER_01:That you that you'll contact them. Okay. So and then what we'll do is we're gonna obviously put your information, World Tech Window Labs, on our information and links on our show notes and YouTube description as well. But but let's let's conclude. I mean, honestly.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:I didn't know that. Yeah, I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_00:That forward thinking and and uh and desires, there's there's room for everybody. We want to grow this board too, because right now, Master Kim, me, we're the Taekwondo guys, we're that we have the the relationship that is unique in that I have no loyalty to Korea. He has no loyalty to USA, Taekwondo, or anything. There's no governing body for us other than our friendship that was birthed through competition. We were athletes, competitors, fought with each other, fought for each other. But that that I think is a very interesting relationship that Taekwondo people have. You two gentlemen are Taekwondo masters, and I'm anytime you guys want to do another one of these, I will be here back and call. We have actual synergistic relationship because of our way of life. And I know Master Kim's personality so well as an innovator, because again, if he came up to anybody and was, I want to do a tech company, it makes no sense whatsoever. But for some reason, because I know him and I know his accomplishments, I know his personality, I know how he is so driven and stuff. And he is a guy that can change the way things move. He can take us into the future with innovation and technology too. Because it's they're doing a I'm not gonna discredit all the hard work that they're doing in Korea on that front. The our technol our technology wing of Take One of Labs is amazing. They're so smart, and not because they know how to program stuff, they know how to explain stuff to me, to be like I understand it. They can tell to me like I'm five. They they are really good at at making you not feel dumb, even though I know nothing about the space. Um, and uh and so they're doing hard work and everything like that, but I really think it's it's getting the the taekwondo community educated on it and trusting it. Just like my I had I had to convince my grandmaster to be okay with the internet, right? And and having online billing and stuff like that. And and look, here we're here now. So now this is just the next the next step, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And this this great this podcast is I was imagining this podcast was like, oh, what is Taekwondo Lab? But uh the backstory of of you and every it I think it got very interesting, and I'm kind of glad that our conversation went went this way. But let's let's conclude here. Again, like I said, that was an incredible conversation. A big thank you to Master Tony Chung and Master Nikki Kwan from World Take Wonder Lab for joining us today and sharing such like valuable insights. It's it's always inspiring to see leaders in our industry pushing the boundaries and helping school owners grow through innovation and technology. If you'd like to learn more about World Take Wonder Lab and how their platform can support your tojong, visit world-takewonderlab.com. Um, we can all I'm also going to put it put that information and links in our show notes or YouTube description as well. As always, thank you for turning in, tuning in to Black Belt Banter. Don't forget to subscribe, share this episode with a fellow instructor, and stay connected with us for more conversations that will elevate your school and your mindset. Until next time, keep training hard, keep leading strong, and we'll see you in the next episode.