Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Knight.
Jason, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I remember being interested in traditional Japanese culture from a young age. I loved to watch videos of stoic samurai poised to strike. I also remember being very interested in the Renaissance ideal of the well-rounded person and committed to creating this experience for myself. I was studying psychology in college when a friend of mine shared with me about an amazing karate class that had become his new obsession. I took my first class and was immediately struck by how a traditional Japanese karate class taught the student how to attain tremendous personal growth by learning Bushido – “the way of the warrior.”
From those early days, over 24 years ago, I have been studying ancient martial arts and modern positive psychology and learning how to combine the two philosophies. After years of teaching privately and at afterschool programs, I took the plunge and opened the doors to our karate school. The community has responded amazingly and I am now able to devote my full effort to sharing my mission with others.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The response from our neighborhood has been so great, that we had to be creative in meeting the needs of our customers as we quickly grew. Some of the solutions have included creating an instructor training program focused on recruiting talented individuals with prior expertise in movement and niching the curriculum to meet the developmental needs of students at more precise age groups.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Pacific Martial Arts of Los Angeles – what should we know?
We teach developmentally appropriate, character development focused martial arts classes for the entire family. We are known for our focus on personal growth as well as our ability to teach martial arts to traditionally underserved groups (i.e., woman, young children, special needs children).
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
We are successful in large part due to a community of support that helped build our school and continues to sustain it. My wife supports me on a daily basis, Shody Chow at SBA SCORE helped me build our business plan, my main karate instructor Jerry Devine gave me my foundation of karate-do knowledge, my current Aikido teachers – Mark Moore and John Brinsley support our growth and development through their instruction, my instructors – Lori, Deanna, Lydia, Jessica, Vito, Nikhil, Lisa, and Tiffany bring inspiration and enthusiasm every day, and very importantly, all of our amazing, supportive families have made it possible with their dedication.
Pricing:
- We offer a $19 Private Lesson Orientation
Contact Info:
- Address: 2614 Arthur Street, Suite D
Los Angeles, CA 90065 - Website: www.pacificmartialarts.org
- Phone: 323-314-3743
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: pacificmartialartsla
- Facebook: PacificMartialArtsLosAngeles
- Twitter: PMAofLA
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-martial-arts-los-angeles
