The Powerful Words Story…as told by Dr. Robyn Silverman
POWERFUL WORDS WAS FATED TO COME INTO EXISTENCE…
My husband and I met one cold night in November after he was honored with a Martial Arts award in Rhode Island. Although we had not really met officially as adults until then, our families had known each other for decades and my mother had even been the one who had taken Jason to nursery school with my brother all those years ago.
It Started Over Dinner …
While sitting at the Peach Farm Restaurant in Boston’s China Town, Jason told me of his aspirations to own and run his own successful martial arts academy and get out of the world of finance. Martial Arts was his passion and spending 11 hours on a trading room floor trading bonds each day at the World Trade Center in Boston was most certainly…not.
That same night I told Jason that after being a victim of bullying as a child, I was out to help every young person find their confidence and realize their dreams. Building my skills as a PhD candidate at Tufts University’s Eliot Pearson Department of Child Development, my goal was to open an academy where children could learn and grow along side their families. There, they could receive all of the resources that they need to succeed in life. I truly believe, though it was only our first date, that we already knew the reason that God lead us to one another.
It Really Got Started Over Dinner …
Jumping ahead a few years, after my husband’s 10th year Anniversary in the Corporate America Rat-Race, we sat at our own dinner table eating humble pie. “I can’t believe that this is still what I am doing with my life,” he shook his head, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” “Then, don’t,” I replied. “We are married with no children (seems like a lifetime ago now!), we have a roof over our heads, we have enough for food. Let’s do what we were meant to do. Let’s open up our own personal development center-you teach the martial arts and run the business end of things. I’ll work with the children and families on the character education / social emotional learning side of things. We can do this!”
I Remember Jason Looking At Me.
I Remember Me Looking At Him.
And For The First Time, We Realized That It Was All Possible.
After opening EEMA Fitness & Martial Arts in Weymouth, Massachusetts, we learned a whole lot about making mistakes and fixing them: We flew by the seat of our pants. I remember the whole first year, running onto the training floor at the end of the class just having had figured out moments before what I was going to say to the children about building character.
- It was not well planned.
- It was not well executed.
- It was not at all systematized.
- I hated the feeling of being unprepared knowing full well that martial arts teachers, especially considering the quality of our school, were expected to teach children about building character.
- It made me feel sick!
The Problem Was That There Was No System!
Just like everybody else in the industry has probably done at some point, I turned to different martial arts billing companies and consultants for support. I received multiple sheets about things you could say to children about character from this company and that.
There were always a lot of holes, and quite frankly, nothing I found offered the quality and professionalism that I knew our students deserved.
I found myself needing to:
- Depart from the sheets to engage the children and find lessons that were really meaningful.
- Write letters to parents to clue them in as to what was going on that month.
- Create projects of the month so that children could carry the lessons of our school to the home where families could use the lessons as springboards for discussion in their household.
- Create Bulletin Board Displays so that when prospective families came in, they would see the bulletin board display and realize that we were much more than just some “kick and punch” school.
- Answer a lot of questions about character development which lead me to write a column in our school’s newsletter each month.
Of course, the families of our students expected (and deserved!) the #1 Character Development System for the Martial Arts on-time, every time, EVERY MONTH.
I Had No Choice But to Become Systematized
I started by cataloging all of my Powerful Words of the month by Powert-chat, bulletin board display, newsletter column, letter to parents, project of the month, and later, letters to teachers and community events. I knew a year in advance when each word would become the word of the month. I planned all of my events accordingly, including our library programs, teacher appreciation weeks, bullying seminars, charity drives, yearly Punch-a-thon, TV appearances, and child abduction awareness nights.
The Results Were POWERFUL!
- Student retention was up
- new enrollments were up
- drop-outs were down.
- People were coming through our door and joining because they had heard about our comprehensive martial arts AND character development program from their friends!
- On top of that, it felt so good knowing exactly what I was going to say and do every month without having to worry about it, EVER.
But the True Test Came When I Got Sick…
I had always been the one who taught our character education program. But one January, I couldn’t even get out of bed. I had been knocked off my feet by the flu. One of the other teachers needed to take over my role as character education teacher. Because everything was systemized, everything was written in an easy to follow fashion, and all the lessons were clear and thorough, the other teacher made a smooth transition into the role. It didn’t matter who was teaching the lesson. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t a child development specialist. The exact same words were being spoken and the exact same lessons were being taught as if I were teaching the lessons myself. It went off without a hitch.
Success Leaves Clues…Smart People Find Them!
Friends at other martial arts academies started to catch wind of our character development program. When hosting martial arts events at our school, owners would see our bulletin boards and our newsletter and ask if they could use our program too. One of our finest students moved all the way across the country and opened his very own martial arts academy – He couldn’t imagine teaching martial arts without the Powerful Words system. (He’s one of our top notch Platinum Level Powerful Words SuperStars) Calls came in from people we didn’t even know asking about our character program.
We even had parents who wanted to know if extra projects would be for sale so that they could start their youngest children on the Powerful Words path before they began elementary school.
The Martial Arts Industry EMBRACED OUR PROGRAMS!
- MA SUCCESS Magazine asked me to write a whole series of articles to benefit our Industry…which I have been honored to do…and continue to do! To date, I have written “Beyond Kicking & Punching – How to Transform Your School into a Personal Development Center”, “I WANNA QUIT – Strategies for dealing with students that want to quit”, and “Helicopter Parents – How to professionally manage over involved mommies and daddies”, “Character Education – One Size DOES NOT Fit All!”, “Hang Up the Pink Tights – Why Martial Arts is so Great for Girls”, and my husband, Guro Jason Silverman also wrote, “Grand Re-Opening BluePrint – How to ReInvent Your School for Greater Attraction and Superb Retention”
- Mr. Greg Silva invited me to present at the United Professionals Convention to help share my message about Transforming a School into a Personal Development Center
- The Martial Arts Industry Association has asked me to present a seminar at every single one of their “SUPER SHOWS” since 2007 to help spread some more information about how to truly become the best instructors possible!
- Soon we started to see interest from the Dance Industry, the Gymnastics Industry and the Cheer Industry.
We have SYSTEMIZED EVERYTHING!
We have THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING!
We have TESTED EVERY PIECE OF THE PUZZLE FOR 15 YEARS!
We are the ACCEPTED LEADERS IN CHARACTER EDUCATION!
Even if you had the time, the qualifications, the expertise and the desire to, WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO TRY TO DO THIS YOURSELF?
The Powerful Words System has been perfected for YOU. We’ve created it, tested it, tweaked it and tweaked it some more so that you get the exact results you’re looking for…every single month, without having to become a PhD in Child Development or an Expert in Character Education Curriculum Development. Simply by joining the Powerful Words Family, you get yourself an internationally acclaimed Child Development Expert (Odds are, your students/parents have seen Dr. Robyn on the Tyra Show, the NBC Today Show, the CBS Early Show, Good Morning America and Nightline – you’ll be able to capitalize on having a CELEBRITY STAFF MEMBER!) I’m willing to bet that probably NONE of your competitors have their own PhD in Child Development working for their school, that qualifies them as a Personal Development Center, right?
If you’re serious about making THIS YEAR, be the year you Achieve Your Goals, Impact More Lives, Create the School of Your Dreams, and be able to Live the Kind of Life You Truly Deserve…It’s Time for You to Join the Powerful Words Family of SuperStars – Most of the World’s Top School Owners Choose Powerful Words for a Reason…You owe it to yourself, your school and your students to deliver the very best in Character Education. Powerful Words is for you!
Are YOU Ready to Take Advantage of the World’s Leading Character Development System PROVEN to Increase Enrollment and SuperCharge Student Retention? If so, we’ve got a fantastic FREE GIFT for you…Plus, Powerful Words is 100% RISK FREE with a Money Back Guarantee. Give yourself, your school and your students THE System you’ve been looking for. Click the get started now button below to join the Powerful Words Family!
PROVIDE THEM WITH AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE IN LIFE
with POWERFUL WORDS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Amazingly Effective & Easy yet Powerful Solutions for After School Activity Center Owners
(Martial Arts, Gymnastics, Dance, Cheer, Music, Theater & Sports)
Check Out What These Owners Have to Say about Their Powerful Words Experience!
Professor Carlos Machado
Master Pedro Xavier
Coach Talon
Professor Tim Creuder