Handouts

After sitting down and performing some very basic arithmetic I came to the stark realisation that I was financially broke. The simple problem was this; I had become so single minded about practising and teaching martial arts, that I’d forgotten one simple factor - I still had to earn a living. This was in October 1986, six months after starting my first martial art Club.

Having to sign-on for unemployment benefit didn’t sit well in my mind. I remember as a kid my father finding himself in a similar situation. Working as a builder’s labourer and experiencing a long hard winter, the extreme weather conditions brought his work to a complete standstill. For several months he was left with no other option but to claim benefits to support our family. My mother, obviously protecting the family pride, strictly informed me not to mention this to anyone. In those days it was considered an embarrassment to be claiming social handouts.

For myself, I felt totally ashamed that I’d gotten my family in such a predicament. I can hardly recall a time in my life that I experienced such depression. However I also realised that I was lucky to have an understanding wife and a very supportive family. One other thing that I also discovered, that when the chips-are-down, often someone surprisingly comes along to help fight your cause; a knight-in-shining-armour if you like. In this case it was the owner of the local leisure centre where I rented my martial art room.

One day, we just happened to be talking about how my club was progressing when he suddenly presented me with a proposal. He suggested that together we should organise a special fund-raising session, which might benefit us both. His idea was to hold a disco/dance for my members. The entrance fees collected on the door would assist our club funds, while in return he would make money from the bar receipts. It seemed like a fair arrangement and a win-win situation for the both of us.

We proceeded in making arrangements and the event soon came around. Students invited their friends and family members and the event was extremely well attended. As the night progressed there were lots of people dancing, drinking, laughing, all having such a wonderful time. The leisure centre owner was also having a great time as well, gaining plenty of drink sales. I on the other hand was feeling very insecure about my future, secretly I worried about how I was going to make ends meet.

The day after the event I met up with the leisure centre owner. After talking about the success of the previous evening, I recognised that he was someone I could confide in and I informed him about my monetary problems. As a knowledgeable businessman he immediately recognised my plight. He informed me that it wasn’t unusual for many young homeowners to go through similar financial difficulties. In fact he said that many years ago he’d also had cash-flow problems himself but somehow managed to get through them.

After our talk, I felt so relieved about sharing my problems. I'd often heard it said that a problem shared is a problem halved and in this case it was absolutely true. The helpful leisure centre owner then proposed to me another solution. He insisted that I should actually keep the money raised from the disco event to help provide support for my family. It was a very kind offer and one that I’d never even thought about. He also pointed out the following fact; that fundamentally I was the heart of the club and my own stability, whether financial or otherwise was paramount to the club's own survival.

Once again I felt really uncomfortable about receiving the handout, however at the same time I was truly grateful for the support. I understood that this was a lifeline that I could ill afford to ignore. Despite much soul-searching I eventually decided to accept the £30 door receipts to help pay the family food bill for the forthcoming week. It was a charitable donation that not only provided me food for my table, but also much needed food for thought. 

I came to the conclusion that what I'd experienced was a very tough lesson indeed. I sat down and thoroughly analysed my situation.  I then solemnly vowed to myself that I would never ever put my family in such financial jeopardy again. This was definitely the wakeup call that I needed and one that would act as a catalyst to drive me forward to achieve greater things... Again this was to be another major turning point along my journey.