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Energy Is The Edge: Protect It, Prioritize It, Lead With It.

Lead like a Chief Energy Officer, crush campaigns, and get in the room where real momentum starts.

Author

Adam Kifer
August 05, 2025

Hello, kickers!

⚡ The Kick is Here: Energy First, Everything Follows

This week’s edition is about protecting the resource that fuels everything—your energy. Our main article dives into why your job isn’t just to make decisions and drive growth—it’s to lead like a Chief Energy Officer, setting the emotional tone of your business and operating from clarity, not chaos.

We’re also celebrating a big win from @Matt Rosalez, whose campaigns are already pulling leads for just $11 across two locations. You’ll get fresh fire from social (Arce, Sinek, Jhana, Kovar, and more), a new women-led movement taking shape inside martial arts, and a book that proves multitasking is just disguised distraction.

Plus: tickets are now open for IMPAKT Mastermind Live: Scottsdale this November—if you’re ready to stop grinding and start operating, this is the room you need to be in.

Let’s jump in.

📍 Next Stop: IMPAKT Mastermind Live — Scottsdale, AZ

November 7–8 | The Room Where Clarity Meets Action

If you’re serious about building a school that scales without sacrificing your sanity, you need to be in this room.

IMPAKT Mastermind Live: Scottsdale isn’t a seminar.
It’s a full-throttle, no-BS, build-the-machine workshop for school owners ready to break ceilings, level up leadership, and finally operate like CEOs.

🧠 Clarity on your next phase
📈 Systems that scale
🔥 Marketing that actually converts
🛠 Tools, playbooks, and strategies you’ll implement before you leave

This is where breakthroughs happen—and where school owners become operators.

🎟 Tickets are now live → impaktmastermind.com/scottsdale

Seats will go fast.
Bring your questions. Bring your team.
Leave with the plan you’ve been missing.

⚡ Energy Is the Edge: Protect It. Prioritize It. Lead With It.

You’re not just the CEO—you’re the Chief Energy Officer.

Most owners obsess over systems, staffing, and strategy.
But the one resource that drives everything—your energy—gets ignored until it’s already gone.

This week’s message is direct:
You can’t scale your business if you’re running on fumes.
You don’t need more time. You need more capacity.
And the highest-performing leaders know: energy is the edge.

When your energy is strong, your leadership is clear.
When your energy is scattered, everything slips.

🧠 The Real Job: Chief Energy Officer

You’re not just managing operations.
You’re managing emotional climate, decision-making focus, and the intensity of your culture.

That’s not about how many hours you work.
It’s about how you protect, allocate, and recharge your energy.

As the leader, your energy leaks downward:
If you show up burned out, reactive, or foggy—your team and students feel it instantly.
You set the tone for urgency. For calm. For confidence. For momentum.

And if you don’t manage it intentionally, someone else will manage it for you—with distractions, demands, and drama.

🔋 Why Energy Outranks Time

We’ve all had days where we worked 10 hours but got nothing meaningful done.
And we’ve had days where 90 minutes of locked-in focus moved the entire business forward.

The difference? Energy.

Time is fixed. Energy is fluid.

If you want to win more in less time, you don’t need a new calendar—you need a new operating rhythm.

⚠️ Symptoms of Poor Energy Management:

  • You start the day behind… and never catch up

  • You’re easily irritated by your team or family

  • You “work” all day but avoid hard decisions

  • You can’t unplug without guilt

  • Your best ideas come when you’re nowhere near a computer

If you checked two or more of those—you’re not lazy, disorganized, or broken.
You’re depleted.
And it’s time to fix that.

🔑 5 Moves of a Chief Energy Officer

1. Audit Your Inputs

Every time you say yes to something that drains you, you're stealing energy from something that matters.
→ List your top 3 energy-giving and energy-draining activities this week. Do less of the latter. On purpose.

2. Design Your Recharge System

Rest isn’t something you "earn." It’s something you schedule.
→ Block non-negotiable time each week for recovery—walks, workouts, unplugged time, connection.
Your nervous system is your growth engine.

3. Stop Leading From Overwhelm

Leadership energy isn’t intensity. It’s intentional presence.
→ Show up to meetings, classes, and hard conversations with the energy you want your team to mirror. Calm urgency > chaotic hustle.

4. Move Your Body = Move Your Mind

Energy stagnation shows up as mental fog, short tempers, and low motivation.
→ 20 minutes of daily movement isn’t fitness—it’s performance fuel.

5. Choose Your Daily Identity

Before you check your inbox or calendar—ask:
“How do I want to show up today?”
And then make decisions, block time, and control inputs to protect that version of you.

💡 Energy Is a Leadership Skill

We train marketing. We train systems.
But we don’t train the thing that powers them all: how to manage ourselves.

You don’t need to “push through” anymore.
You need to upgrade how you operate—so that your default energy becomes calm, focused, and powerful.

Because that version of you?
That’s the one your team follows.
That’s the one your business scales with.
That’s the one your future is waiting on.

Final Word:

You can’t scale chaos.
You can’t lead with burnout.
And you can’t keep asking more from others if you’re running on empty.

So this week, act like what you are:
The Chief Energy Officer.

Your presence is the strategy.
Protect it. Prioritize it.
And build everything else around it.

🥋 WOMEN IN MARTIAL ARTS: THE MOVEMENT IS BUILDING

You’ve seen it.
Women coaching. Teaching. Organizing. Managing.
Running the backend and holding the line out front.

But for too long, the spotlight has skipped over them.

Not anymore.

The Women in Martial Arts: The Unseen Leaders community is growing—and it’s here to give women in our industry the space, voice, and visibility they’ve earned.

This group is for the women who:
✅ Lead the room without asking for permission
✅ Manage the mission behind the scenes
✅ Want connection, conversation, and a community that gets it

Whether you run the school, support the team, coach the class, or carry the vision—it’s time to step forward.

⚡ Join the free community now:
Women in Martial Arts: The Unseen Leaders

And if you know a woman who's been quietly crushing it—invite her. Tag her. Back her up.

Because this movement isn’t about making noise.
It’s about making space.


🔥 What’s Kickin’ on Social

This week’s scroll reminded us that sometimes the most powerful moves are the ones that hit you in the gut—and make you think twice before reacting. Here’s what stood out:

Mike Arce
“Busy” doesn’t always mean productive.
Sometimes it’s just a disguise for procrastination. If your calendar’s full but your business isn’t moving—this one’s for you.
👉 Watch it here

Simon Sinek
Have 8 minutes? That might be all it takes to keep someone from feeling completely alone.
This is your reminder to lead with presence—not just answers.
👉 Watch it here

Jocko Willink
“There’s only so much you can do.”
Jocko disagrees—and so do high-performers. When it’s hard, that’s when you double down.
👉 Watch it here

Jhana Li
Are you throwing money at the wrong problem?
This one hits hard if you’ve been investing in marketing, tools, or team—but the root issue is your leadership or clarity.
👉 Watch it here

Dave Kovar
Want perspective? Listen to someone who’s been there.
This one’s about the overlooked wisdom of experience—and why “old school” might be exactly what you need.
👉 Watch it here

🧠 Takeaway this week:
Don’t confuse noise for movement.
Slow down. Ask better questions. Lead with clarity.

😂 Martial Memes

These memes hit home for all of us martial artists and gave us a good chuckle. Click on the image to view the original account that posted each meme. Enjoy!

Have a MEME that you want featured? Send them to us at [email protected] or tag our instagram account @thekicknewsletter.

📚 What We’re Reading: The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw

Spoiler: You're not multitasking. You're just switching focus—badly.

In The Myth of Multitasking, Dave Crenshaw takes a sledgehammer to one of the most common productivity lies: that doing more things at once helps you get more done.

Truth is, it doesn’t.
It slows you down, drains your energy, and costs you time.

This book isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about attention management in a distracted world. It’ll challenge how you lead meetings, manage your team, run your day—and even how you listen.

💡 Key Takeaways for School Owners:
✅ Task-switching isn’t productivity—it’s performance sabotage.
✅ The best leaders create “alone zones” for deep work and protect them like gold.
✅ Multitasking kills presence—and presence builds culture, connection, and clarity.

If your days feel chaotic, scattered, or like you’re constantly reacting—this book might be your reset button.

📖 Grab your copy here: The Myth of Multitasking on Amazon

📈 Relentless Results: Success Stories from RMA

🌟 Client Spotlight: Matt Rosalez 🌟

Matt Rosalez is on fire right now—and the numbers prove it.

Last week, he launched his Back-to-School + August promos across both his kids and adult programs, and they’re already pulling in leads at an impressive $11 CPL. 🔥

But he didn’t stop there...

🚀 Matt just launched ads for his second location this Tuesday—and they’re already generating leads out the gate. No delay. No warm-up lap. Just traction.

This is what it looks like when the right campaigns meet consistent execution—and we couldn’t be more pumped to see Matt building momentum across multiple schools.

👏 Keep it rolling, Matt. Big wins ahead.

👉 Want to get results like this?
Book your RMA Discovery Call here.

📬 Have Something That Is Kick Worthy?

We know our readers have great ideas, insights, and stories to share! If you’ve got something that’s "kick-worthy"—whether it’s a success story, a marketing tip, or something that’s helping your school thrive—submit it to us at [email protected]. Your content could be featured in an upcoming edition of The Kick and shared with martial arts school owners around the world!

🔥 That’s a Wrap for This Week!

This issue was a reminder that growth doesn’t just come from doing more—it comes from managing your energy, your focus, and your leadership with intention. When you show up grounded, clear, and present, everything else starts moving faster—with less friction.

Whether you’re dialing in your campaigns, leading your team with sharper presence, or finally putting yourself in the room at IMPAKT Scottsdale—remember:
You are the system behind the system.
Lead from that place, and watch what happens.

Stay intentional. Stay energized.
And as always—stay sharp, stay relentless, and keep kicking forward. 👊🔥