‘Don’t work with family’ – that’s one of them.
Married East Midlands couple Sean and Julie Hutton are guilty on both counts, but they really don’t seem to care.
Like all successful start-up schools they had to overcome the pitfalls, like disenfranchised instructors and mentors that didn’t seem to follow their distinct family ethic.
“That’s the reason why we left our original instructor,” Sean says, “We were pulling in different directions. For him it was all about getting in as much money within the first few months as he possibly could, and making them sign contracts that they couldn’t get out of. That’s not fair.” Such integrity spurred the couple on to go independent, and set up their own schools in their East Midlands home, with numbers increasing at such a rate that they currently operate three different schools in Loughborough, Coalville and Shepshed.
“Our roots are in Taekwondo,” says Sean, “But we wanted to teach a more varied curriculum, so we’ve introduced elements of kickboxing, traditional Taekwondo, Ju Jitsu, and recently we’ve enrolled a Judo instructor.” Sean likes the aspect of creating the ‘well-rounded’ martial artist, fluent in all trades: “Taekwondo and Karate are very stand-up martial arts, but what happens when you go on the floor? With us we’re addressing that by learning Ju Jitsu and Judo as well, and its more fun,” a concept that certainly appeals to the many families that enrol in their schools.
“We don’t teach the foreign languages,” says Sean, “There’s too many for a start!” he jokes, referring to their credentials as a multi-style school teaching martial arts from Japan, Korea and China.
The couple love the fact that their organization appeals to so many families, with their students’ ages ranging from 5 to 60, with regular competitions and a demonstration team for the pupils to get involved in.
“We’re enhancing and developing children, teaching them courtesy, respect, and discipline,” she says, “I think that’s the qualities that our school brings to families in the community.” “We teach them leadership and communication skills, simple things like meeting and greeting people,” says Sean, on how their style of teaching is having a positive affect on the next generation.
“As a family school,” Sean adds, “We make sure that the parents get involved. Even if it’s just making them hold a shield or bag. They feel like they’re doing their bit, and the parent’s get a real buzz out of it. Once they get into it…” Sean pauses as Julie says “…they put their hand up again and again,” in that endearing way that married couples have of finishing each other’s sentences.
Humble family values could only come from a couple that have a close-knit family of their own.
“We go as a family, we train as a family, and we teach as a family,” says Sean, “Yes, it’s work, but ultimately, we’re all together.” They know precisely how children behave and families react because they’ve been there themselves.
Julie’s love for the martial arts was even given to her by a member of her own family, her young nephew, who first showed her the ways of the mat and since then she’s never looked back, coaxing the rest of her family to get involved, including her husband Sean.
“To be successful you have to work as a team,” Julie says, “You have to both make sure that you’ve got the same qualities, to be able to meet and greet, to be able to enroll, and also to be able to teach. Because we did our training together we’re on the same wavelength, we know exactly the line in which we want our business to take.” This integral body of trust has made them a great asset to the pupils that train there, developing a great communication with the students who feel that they have become a part of the Hutton family philosophy.
I ask them how the pupils respond to their teachers’ being married, to which Sean replies, “I think it works well. There’s a greater element of trust because you’re a family. People are more comfortable and relaxed knowing that it’s a family run school.” But how does Sean feel about the widely held belief that teaching the martial arts is a predominantly male-dominated role? “That’s precisely what’s different about us,” he says, “With most couples it’s the guy who does the teaching and he gets his wife to help out doing administration. Here, we have the advantage that Julie is almost as good an instructor as I am!” Endearingly, they both laugh.
“We came to them as a ready-made package,” Sean says, “We needed a little bit of backup, to add some… what’s the word?” Julie interjects.
“We do everything ourselves,” says Julie, “From the advertising, the promotion, the administration, the enrolling, the teaching, we do everything.” They are the epitome of hard work and hard graft, with a sincere, unselfish and solid family spirit.
They even get members of the family to take over when they’re away on holidays, someone that they can trust almost as explicably as each other, which must be a difficult prospect to measure up against.
Julie doesn’t hold back on her long term plans, she tells me that they hope to eventually train up students who can run their own satellite schools under the family-patented East Midlands name, which sounds logical enough, but she insists that whoever they pass the mantel onto, they will have to meet the tried-and-tested Hutton family values.
“We tend not to attract the real hardcore ‘fight school’ type students,” Sean admits, “We tend to attract families because we’re not that sort of hardcore martial arts school.” This isn’t offering them a disservice, as their many pupils are clearly happy with how Sean and Julie manage to balance things.
What advice would they offer to any budding young enthusiast who wants to settle down and start up their own business? “It depends on their own background of teaching and what support they’ve had from their instructor,” says Julie, “But if anyone has the desire to do what we’ve done, I think it’s a gut feeling that you get that you just have to take. As long as you work together, and you can trust each other, and make sure that you share everything to balance out the pressure.” Judging from the sought-after business that the couple have managed to achieve, and in such a short space of time, those who claim that working with family doesn’t work would do well to take a leaf out of Sean and Julie’s book.
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