Odds and ends

A couple of updates…

• I received an email from Youtube to join their Partner Program, took a look and then went ahead and joined them. This allows me more freedom when making videos for my Youtube channel, along with more exposure for them. Right now, I’m looking into how I can make the most of this so you can expect more videos coming your way. Also, I added another background to my channel page. take a look here.
• Speaking of which, I made a video especially for a guest blog post on another site and it goes live tomorrow. I’ll let you know when the link is live and post some additional information here too. The title is “How to increase your striking power in five minutes.” Stay tuned for more…
• I’m going to expand the resources page a bit with a selection of fiction books I think you might enjoy. Some of these will be about martial arts and self-defense. Others might be interesting for other reasons, e.g.: the psychological aspects other things. I posted about this in the past and think it’s an enjoyable way to learn more about these aspects. Even though it’s all fiction, there are some very important messages in those books.
• Starting this off: right now I’m reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It’s an older science-fiction book but many of the things in it came true in this day and age. In short, it’s about the training of a child to become the best strategist in the world to defeat an alien army. Sounds silly but I was impressed by how the author described the psychological aspects of violence. Another aspect is in how he captures the essence of learning to think strategically. I highly recommend this one.
• I’ve begun working on a series of blog posts of which the title will make you cringe: “How to make money with martial arts.”  But instead of the usual hyper-commercial and internet-marketing nonsense, I’m trying to do something unheard of in that niche: tell the truth. Given as I’ve been making a living of teaching martial arts for the last twenty years and have seen all sorts of deceptive products that claim to teach you how to do this, I’m going to enjoy roasting a couple sacred cows… This will take time though, as I want to be thorough. So bear with me as I put this all together.
• On a final note: Paladin Press is doing a huge sale for their 42th anniversary. They’re giving you 42% off on all your purchases until 9/21. Type in the code “PALADIN42″ as you check out and you’ll get the discount. If you’re interested, check out my Pad Man video. at 42% off, it’s a steal.

That’s it for now. Drop me a comment on my Facebook page if you have any thoughts or ideas.