I remember in the early 90s I didnt have a logo. My flyers and brochures never really stood out and I wasnt doing anything to brand the image of my martial arts school. It wasnt until about 2002 that I started researching logo design. When I received the first draft of my logo I didnt really like it. I asked my artist to do a lion inside of a triangle with a jiujitsu gi on it. The logo I received wasnt exactly what I had asked for. It wasnt a lion it was a panther and there was no jiujitsu gi and the logo was wrapped in a cricle and not a tirangle!! I received an invoice for $300.00 and I freaked out! At that time I didnt even have $300.00!

The graphic artist basically told me that I teach martial arts and he does logo design. He said he wanted to brand my company with a logo people would recognize and also a logo that would appeal to many different people. I said well I wouldnt like it if you came in to my gym and tried to show me how to teach martial arts so I agreed to pay him and use the logo.

Looking back that may have been the best 300.00 I ever spent on my business. I made the money back right away when I sold out fast on my first t-shirt order. Fast forward to 2009 and I can not even tell you how many thousands of dollars I have made off of merchandise with my logo on it. More important than the money made off of apparel sales is the name recognition I have received from my logo. In a city of just around 20,000 people I think my martial arts logo is just as recognizable as McDonalds or Nike.

I hope you are working hard on branding your image in your community. You can start with a simple logo design from www.mmasuccess.net