Case Study: How Paul Prendergast Kept Enrolling in Brick, NJ While Other Schools Were Down 50%

In the spring of 2020, when the shutdowns hit, most martial arts school owners went into survival mode — down 50% or more, frozen, just trying to hold on to whatever students they had left. Paul Prendergast, who runs a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai academy in Brick, New Jersey, did the opposite. While his peers were paralyzed, Paul was off by only about 10 to 12 percent — and still actively enrolling new students on full 12-month programs, including one family that paid nearly $5,000 in full. His explanation for the gap between him and everyone else comes down to one word he keeps returning to: leadership.

Watch Paul Prendergast’s story

Down 10%, not 50%

Paul got on a Zoom call with about six to eight other school owners who wanted to know what he was doing. As he described his plan for reopening and staying open, they thought he was crazy — and, in his words, “scared to death.” Then he dropped what he calls the bomb: he was still signing people up. Students were trickling in, nothing dramatic, “plugging a couple of holes here and there,” and his numbers were off by only about 10 to 12 percent.

“Their mouths were hanging on the floor,” Paul said. “You did what?” And when they asked whether he was signing people up on a two-week program, he told them no — he was enrolling them on 12-month programs. They couldn’t wrap their heads around it. The other owners, meanwhile, were all saying the same thing in the same breath: “We’re down 50%” and “we’re just trying to maintain what we’ve got — we’re not even thinking about new students.” They were down by half, and they didn’t want to try anything.

Still enrolling — including a $5,000 paid-in-full

Paul wasn’t just theorizing about staying open. He was closing enrollments in the middle of the shutdown. He did about six programs the previous month and another four or five in the weeks after — and had a family pay close to $5,000 paid in full. He’d enrolled three people virtually, moved all of his classes onto Zoom, and had his whole team working on getting existing students back on the rolls.

His daycare was reopening, too, and the numbers there told the same story: 60% of families were coming back the first week, and by the fourth week he was projecting 90% back. That’s not luck — that’s the payoff of a school that stayed in contact, kept teaching, and led its families through the disruption instead of going dark and hoping.

“Ask for forgiveness, not permission”

Paul credits Stephen Oliver, Dr. Greg Moody, and World Champion Jeff Smith — and the group as a whole — for the mindset that carried him. He leaned on two lines he picked up from the coaching. When the other owners questioned how he could even consider reopening, he told them: “If someone tells me to close, I’ll close. But for now, I’d rather ask for forgiveness than beg for permission.” And on the question of whether to fight for growth or just hunker down, he put it plainly: “You’re either green and growing, or ripe and rotting.”

Paul is candid that he had only recently come back to the group — “I came late to the party… I’ve only been back with you guys for about a month now” — and already had a wish list of goals mapped out for the rest of the year. The turnaround in his mindset, and his school, was fast.

The tell: other owners’ staff were texting Paul

Here’s the detail that says everything. Some of the owners on that Zoom call had brought their employees on to listen. After the call ended, those employees started texting Paul and his team directly. Their message: “I wish we were doing what you guys are doing. My owner doesn’t get this — he’s not understanding it.” And then they used the exact word Paul kept coming back to: “We’re not getting any leadership in our schools.”

That’s the whole lesson in a sentence. The staff at the struggling schools could see it clearly. The difference between the school that kept enrolling and the schools that were down 50% wasn’t the market — New Jersey was locked down like everywhere else. It was whether the owner showed up as a leader: to their students, telling them it was time to come back and train; and to their staff, telling them to keep enrolling and keep serving families. Paul did. Watching it even empowered his own team — they came off the call, in his words, “pumping their chests and standing up straighter.”

What Paul’s story should teach you

• The market is rarely the real problem. Paul’s peers blamed the lockdown; Paul was in the same lockdown and stayed nearly flat while they fell 50%.
• Keep enrolling — on real programs. He didn’t downgrade to survival-mode two-week trials. He enrolled on full 12-month programs, and even landed a ~$5,000 paid-in-full, in the middle of a shutdown.
• Lead your students and your staff. Reach out, tell families it’s time to come back, and hold your team accountable to keep signing people up. That leadership is what fills the school back up.
• Green and growing, or ripe and rotting. When everyone else pulls back, the owner who keeps moving forward takes the market.

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• The BJJ Academy Enrollment System: How to Convert Trials Without Feeling Salesy
• The Leadership Ladder: How to Build the Bench That Lets Your School Scale
• Case Study: How Tooke Mixed Martial Arts Fixed Retention in Houston

Frequently asked questions

Who is Paul Prendergast?

Paul Prendergast owns a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai academy in Brick, New Jersey, and is a member of Stephen Oliver’s Martial Arts Wealth Mastery coaching group.

What did he do differently during the 2020 shutdowns?

While other owners were down 50% and only trying to hold on, Paul stayed off by roughly 10 to 12 percent — moving classes to Zoom, keeping his families engaged, and continuing to enroll new students on full 12-month programs, including a family that paid close to $5,000 in full.

What does he credit for the difference?

Leadership and mindset — showing leadership to his students (telling them it was time to come back and train) and to his staff (holding them accountable to keep enrolling). He credits Stephen Oliver, Dr. Greg Moody, Jeff Smith, and the Martial Arts Wealth Mastery group for the coaching and drive behind it.

Lead your school through anything

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About the Author

Stephen Oliver, MBA and 10th Degree Black Belt, is the Founder and CEO of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, CEO of NAPMA (National Association of Professional Martial Artists), and Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine. A martial arts school owner since 1975, he and his coaching team — including World Champion Grandmaster Jeff Smith and Dr. Greg Moody — have helped owners across the country build stronger, more profitable schools and $1M+ businesses.