The Millionaire Mindset: Fixing Your Relationship With Money

Updated October 21, 2026

One of the most important topics I’ve ever put in front of school owners is the abundance mentality — what I call the millionaire mindset. It’s why I once brought in performance coach Lee Milteer to work with my Mile High Karate staff and coaching clients on the subject. Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: most martial artists carry deep hang-ups about money that quietly cap their income.

Three Money Hang-Ups That Hold Owners Back

1. Believing it’s wrong to make money teaching martial arts. That’s as silly as saying a singer shouldn’t be paid for concerts or an athlete shouldn’t be paid to compete. You provide enormous value; being well-compensated for it is entirely appropriate.

2. Believing students are paying “too much.” This rests on three false assumptions: that charging what families are happily willing to pay is somehow too much, that charging more than other schools is wrong, and that not serving people who truly can’t pay is somehow unfair. None of those hold up.

3. Believing that being “in it for the money” conflicts with being a great instructor. It doesn’t. The most financially successful owners are very often the most dedicated teachers — the income funds the quality.

Finances Are Not Finite

You have to convince yourself that there is as much money and opportunity available as you expect, need, and ask for. We live in an abundant society, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t receive a healthy share of it. The scarcity mindset — treating money as a fixed, shrinking pie — is one of the most expensive beliefs an owner can hold.

Practical Ways to Build an Abundance Mindset

Mindset isn’t just affirmations — it’s built through deliberate habits:

• Carry more cash. It sounds trivial, but most owners walk around with almost nothing in their wallet and a vaguely “broke” feeling all day. I tend to carry a few thousand dollars in cash — and the person who feels flush recognizes opportunity faster and panics far slower when a small crisis hits than the person who feels broke. Stop feeling poor every time you reach for your wallet.
• Make friends with people who earn more than you do — ideally much more.
• Take a millionaire to lunch and ask how they think about their business.
• Spend time where wealth gathers. Rather than always defaulting to the cheapest option, occasionally put yourself in environments of abundance — it recalibrates what you believe is normal and possible.

“That’s Why”

Mark Victor Hansen, of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame, once told me about asking Tony Robbins why Robbins was earning hundreds of millions while Mark, at the time, was earning one to two million a year. Tony answered with questions of his own: What’s your mastermind group? Who are your professional and personal acquaintances? When Mark explained that he mostly spent time with people earning about what he earned, Tony simply replied, “That’s why.” Tony spent his time among billionaires. That should make every one of us think hard about the company we keep.

Related Reading

• Let’s Talk Frankly About Money (Part 1): Can You Really Get Rich in Martial Arts?
• The Broke-School-Owner Mindset (And the CEO Shift That Fixes It)
• The 1% or the 99%?
• Powerful Commonalities in Our Differences: What the Top 5% Share
• Case study: How the Sullivans built a $1.3M school from a $7.42 start

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it wrong to want to make a lot of money teaching martial arts?

Not at all. Being well paid for delivering life-changing value is no different than any other professional earning what they’re worth — and a profitable school can deliver far more value than a struggling one.

What is an abundance or “millionaire” mindset?

The belief that money and opportunity are plentiful rather than scarce. Owners who hold it recognize opportunity faster, price with confidence, and make calmer decisions under pressure.

How do I actually develop a wealthier mindset?

Through deliberate habits: surround yourself with higher earners, learn how successful people think, put yourself in environments of abundance, and stop reinforcing a “broke” feeling in small daily ways.

Ready to Add 100 Students to Your School?

Pair the right mindset with a proven plan: get your free copy of Six Simple Steps to Add 100 New Students to Your School at SimpleSteps.com.

And to build a program valuable enough to charge what it’s worth, study Extraordinary Teaching at ExtraordinaryTeaching.com.

Stephen Oliver, MBA, is a 10th Degree Black Belt, the founder of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, and is known industry-wide as “The Millionaire Maker.”