Most school owners would be happy with a 200-student gym. Nakapan Phungephorn runs one with about 660 active members, in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. His roughly 10,000-square-foot academy sits in Washington DC, within view of the Capitol. It has operated for about 18 years and teaches Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, MMA and other combat sports. Rent runs about $25,000 a month, the revenue goal for this year is about $1.7 million, and a second DC location on Capitol Hill is opening.
Phungephorn has trained for about 35 years and still competes in jiu-jitsu, judo and Kudo, a Japanese hybrid combat sport. Before opening the gym he worked as a corporate controller and finance director, and he holds an MBA and a CPA license. He also runs the Black Belt Syndicate, an affiliation and mentoring group for jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai schools. On the Red Belt Podcast with host Brian "Barn Cat" Debes, he explained the systems that let a school this large run without depending on him.
A Team That Gives the Owner His Life Back
Phungephorn opened his gym to escape a corner-office job, but early on the school trapped him too: he taught, sold, ran consultations, and handled IT and HR. A team got him out: today about six full-time staff and 14 to 15 instructors and part-timers. That frees him to connect people, set the vision and train one to two hours every day.
He named three things that separate schools that scale from schools that stall: real passion and a clear reason for doing the work, systems that run without the owner, and a working understanding of business and money. He does not think owners need an MBA, which he calls overkill, but they do need to read a profit-and-loss statement and a balance sheet.
Build Systems Around Your Biggest Headache
Phungephorn decides what to systemize with one question: what is causing the most grief and wasting the most time? Membership changes are a good example. Requests to cancel, freeze, upgrade or downgrade used to reach instructors and front desk staff in passing, with no record and no follow-through.
Now every request goes through a Google Form that records the reason, and each case is audited until closed. Instructors no longer handle membership questions on the mat, and members cannot say they told someone and were billed anyway.
Two principles shape every new system he builds:
- ✓Every system needs a feedback loop. The owner has to be able to audit and observe a process to confirm it is working before stepping away from it.
- ✓Expect months, not days. Most fixes take about three months to test and certify.
He is happy to borrow frameworks from other successful owners, since that saves time, but he expects to adapt them for his market, his styles and his members.
The Retention Math of a Large School
Phungephorn explained attrition in plain numbers. A school losing 5 percent of its members a month must enroll five new students per 100 members just to stay even. At his size, a 5 percent rate means about 30 new members a month just to break even. His moving average sits near 5 percent, which he counts as a win, though summer months spike and July has reached 9 percent. The gym used to focus almost entirely on the front end. Now retention is the priority, with the goal of keeping attrition under 5 percent.
Referrals, Reviews and AI Search
Phungephorn spends only a few hundred dollars on paid ads. He finds that social media ads interrupt people who are not looking for martial arts, and the lead quality is poor. His main lead sources are referrals and in-person, grassroots marketing.
A simple referral offer. After a conversation at a Kovar event, he doubled his referral reward from $50 to $100. Both the member and the friend get $100 off, applied in the second month after the new member's payment goes through. A QR code in handbooks and on posters lets a member enter a friend's name and email, which triggers an email inviting the friend to a free trial. Members also tend to stay longer when a friend or relative trains with them. He keeps the offer simple so instructors and members can remember it.
Showing up in AI search. For about 18 months, the gym has worked to become the school that tools like ChatGPT and Gemini recommend when someone asks where to train in DC. A Google search used to show ten results. An AI answer may name only one or two schools. His main tool is reviews, especially keyword-rich reviews that mention specific programs, and reviews that include a photo, which he believes carry much more weight. During one campaign, members earned one raffle ticket for a review and three for a review with a photo. "Anything you're putting out there with stories and successes is always good," Debes added.
Booths with an activity. At community events, staff challenge passersby to throw 30 punches in 20 seconds, then spin a prize wheel for anything from a sticker to a free week. People enter their contact information to claim the prize.
Close on Day One and Don't Leave Newcomers "Naked and Afraid"
The gym's website offers a single free class. Phungephorn dislikes free weeks outside of events because they are hard to track and create no urgency to join. His reasoning is that "You're the most excited you're ever going to be" right after a first class, so the team asks for the enrollment that day. Same-day sign-ups come with an incentive, currently a free gi that normally retails for about $150. He likes physical items because a gi at home keeps reminding a new member to train. A prospect who is not ready to join is invited to try another class or another art.
Front desk staff earn commissions, with bonuses for same-day and paid-in-full enrollments, paid only after a checklist for each sign-up is completed and audited by the program director. Senior managers have bonuses tied to overall gym performance.
For a quick win, he points owners to enrollment and lead follow-up; many schools chase new leads while neglecting the ones they have. He tailors each tour to the prospect's goal, so someone who wants to get in shape hears how the drills and mats build fitness, and he hands every newcomer off to an instructor or classmate.
Key Takeaways
- ✓Systemize your biggest time-waster first, and build an audit or feedback step into every system.
- ✓Do the attrition math: your monthly churn rate tells you how many sign-ups you need just to break even.
- ✓Make referrals simple and generous, and automate the follow-up with a QR code and email.
- ✓Ask for keyword-rich reviews with photos to improve your visibility in Google and AI search results.
- ✓Ask for the enrollment after the first class with a tangible incentive, and tie staff commissions to a completed checklist.
- ✓Tailor tours to each prospect's goals and introduce every newcomer to someone before class.
Listen to the Full Episode
Phungephorn also stresses making your gym unique; his includes a small martial arts museum with QR-coded displays about the art's legends. Hear the full conversation on Spotify or watch it on YouTube.
Whether you have 60 members or 600, Red Belt Software helps gym owners build the CRM, follow-up and retention systems that let a school grow without depending on the owner for everything.