Case Study: Colby Winkler — From $30K to $65K a Month in Mankato, Minnesota, Including $200,000 Cash in 45 Days

Master Colby Winkler, a sixth-degree master instructor, has owned and operated Lee’s Champion TaeKwonDo Academy in Mankato, Minnesota with his wife Melissa since 2001. He runs his school in the kind of market most owners use as an excuse: a small, blue-collar service-and-manufacturing town. As he jokes, there are only a couple of Ferraris in the whole area — and one belongs to a retiree who laughs that the martial arts school is the reason he can’t afford a new one. No tech corridor, no wealthy suburbs, no “premium demographic.”

When Colby joined Stephen Oliver’s Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, the school was grossing around $30,000 a month. Sharing his numbers at a recent mastermind, he’s at $65,000 a month — with about ten new enrollments a month. Do the math Stephen did in the room: $65,000 ÷ 10 new students means every enrollment is worth roughly $6,500 in average student value. For comparison, a $100-a-month drop-in model would need hundreds of active members to produce the same gross that his school produces with a fraction of the headcount — in a town where that many prospects don’t exist.

The $400 tutoring desk that changed his pricing

The turning point wasn’t a marketing tactic — it was a conversation at a tutoring center. Colby wanted extra math help for his son and asked the high-school-aged desk attendant what it cost: $400 a month for two sessions a week of sitting at a desk with worksheets, with someone walking around to answer questions.

He was charging $125 a month — to personally teach children respect, discipline, focus, concentration, and goal-setting. “If he’s great at math, maybe he becomes an engineer. If he’s not, he’ll survive. But which one takes him further in life?” That, plus a Stephen Oliver mastermind moment — “who in this room is charging less than $125 a month?” and his was one of only three hands — ended the underpricing for good.

What he changed

Killed the everything-for-everybody menu. Drop-in fees, three-month, six-month, and nine-month contracts — gone. New students now take two trial lessons and enroll in a twelve-month program. Colby admits he thought nobody in his town would sign a twelve-month agreement. They do — because the presentation follows the system, step by step.

Installed tiered programs with real price integrity. Two years ago his top program was $125–$150 a month. Today: basic at $187, Black Belt Club at $287, and Leadership at $387 — with 46% of his student body in the Leadership program. Existing students on old rates were grandfathered; every new family enrolls into the new structure, and renewals move legacy members up: “You’ve been with us forever — here’s what I can do, but it comes with a longer-term commitment.”

Marketing pillars that fit a small town. Facebook ads plus relentless local presence: trade shows, marathons and street festivals, birthday parties, and programs inside the school system — Lee’s Champion has been a Partner in Education with Mankato’s public and private schools since 2001 — the kind of face-to-face pillars that out-punch digital in a community where everyone knows everyone.

The $200,000 renewal blitz

The headline number came from one focused campaign. Following the renewal system, Colby and his program director sat down face-to-face with 265 families — conference after conference, day after day — and in about 45 days collected $200,000 in cash. His summary: “You’d sit and talk with families for a month too if it meant $200,000.” No new marketing spend. No new students required. The revenue was already sitting in the student body — it just had to be asked for, properly.

The part that isn’t about money

Colby tells on himself about the years before joining: he’d seen Stephen Oliver at industry trade shows and written him off — “that guy’s all about money.” What changed his mind was admitting what he actually wanted: to teach martial arts at the highest level and give his family a good life. The proof came on a recent extended family vacation, standing on a used-car lot with his kids, laughing: “What we’re spending on this trip could have bought any car on this lot.” A few years ago, the trip itself would have been impossible.

His two biggest lessons for other owners: stack small successes — momentum comes from singles, not home runs — and don’t leave renewals “hanging out there.” His current focus: tightening the renewal window so upgrades happen before the first belt test, when excitement peaks, instead of six or eight months in.

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Running a school in a “nobody will pay that here” market? Call or text National Director Bob Dunne at 1-720-256-0208 for a free school growth evaluation. More member results: client case studies and the pricing psychology behind the numbers.