Life got in the way and turned Jeffrey Kim’s life all around. And it turns out, that’s a good thing.
A native of Elgin, Illinois, Jeff left Elgin to go to college and to study law. He became a lawyer and had a great job in Minneapolis. He was working as a corporate attorney for a tech company.
Towards the end of 2000, Jeff’s father called and told him his mother had cancer and he needed to come home to help with her care. Within a month, Jeff quit his job, packed up all his belongings and moved back home.
And then his life turned around like a boomerang.
Jeff’s father came to this country from South Korea in the 1960s. He was a black belt in several martial arts styles and he opened his own studio. As Bruce Lee had done, Jeff’s father started combining styles and cross training. He ended up creating his own style, which he called Kyuki-Do™ martial arts. In 1979, he formed an organization for the martial artists who taught Kyuki-Do, named the American Kyuki-Do Federation.
The American Kyuki-Do Federation is the certifying, sanctioning body for the art of Kyuki-Do.
Jeff basically grew up “on the mat,” learning martial arts as a toddler and teaching it in the studio before he left Elgin. He continued to train during his college and law school years.
Once back in Elgin, while helping with his mother’s care, he started getting back into training and teaching martial arts. He regained his passion for teaching and sharing martial arts with other people.
Fourteen years later, Jeff is now the president/manager of the American Kyuki-Do Federation and also owns several martial arts studios.
Jeff’s passion is identifying instructors, trainers and students who have a passion and a love for teaching and sharing Kyuki-Do martial arts with other people.
The Kyuki-Do program offers two avenues for someone who loves the art and who would like to earn some money.
A mainstream career would be to own a Kyuki-Do studio, a brick-and-mortar location, where the former trainer/student is now a business owner who trains other students and eventually hires staff to teach with him.
A second program, a favorite of Jeff’s, is a part-time business opportunity for a Kyuki-Do student to teach the art within a Parks & Rec type system. They don’t need to have a brick-and-mortar location because they are using other facilities, such as school buildings. This is usually done on a part-time basis, allowing someone to have a full-time job while they train students in the evenings or weekends.
Many of the people who choose to follow one of these two paths are usually already instructors at the studios they train at. They want to take this a step further and the Federation provides the training to do that.
The owner of a studio is usually not trained in owning and operating a business and the Federation fills this gap. These members of the Federation are known as affiliates.
According to Jeff, “There are a lot of affiliates out there that have been in business for over thirty years but they don’t have systems in place for how to train or how to identify those who want to go further. I do a lot of work with students and also with affiliates on figuring out what their ultimate outcome is in their own life, because in my mind, that’s where they need to start. If their ultimate outcome is “I want to share and transfer knowledge and teach,” then, I can say Kyuki-Do could be that vehicle for you.
The Federation has certified instructor training programs that are run to help people determine if operating a Kyuki-Do studio is the right fit for them. If it is, the Federation can help train them on the business aspects they need to be successful.
The Federation provides affiliates with a teaching curriculum that instructs them on how to teach the classes. The curriculum not only teaches students how to kick and punch, but it also shows the affiliates how to teach, how to encourage people, how to motivate them, how to change their state, as well as how to improve their concentration and their focus.
The Federation runs training events and seminars which students can attend. They are also developing an online training program available for those who can’t travel to the live events.
Jeff is a true believer in the Kyuki-Do style and has a real passion for seeing people take the martial arts and incorporate it into their lifestyle where it helps them improve their lives. He has personally seen so many peoples’ lives changed through the practice of the art of Kyuki-Do.
He especially enjoys the benefits of the business side. It is gratifying for him to see those he has helped start their own programs blossom and grow when he coaches them – and they then become a coach and mentor themselves.
Jeff feels strongly that being a business owner allows someone to have control over the direction of their business and the flexibility of not having a 9-to-5 job with a boss. Using martial arts just might be the vehicle someone needs to get where they want to go with their lives. They can create a new life where someone else isn’t telling them what to do. They can create their own world.
Martial arts and the business of martial arts has been a positive influence in Jeff’s life, as well as his family’s. It now allows him, his wife and their children the freedom to pursue other passions for helping others. A recent volunteer and donation recipient is an orphanage for teenage moms and their children in Cuzco, Peru, which Jeff and his wife Margaret helped to start called “Kyuki-Do Wasi”.
Jeffrey Kim’s life revolves around helping others in all ways.
To learn more about Jeffrey Kim, visit the American Kyuki-Do Federation.