South Austin Aikido, Austin

What services does your business offer and what makes your business stand out from the competition?
Aikido is more than just a system of defense, and we do not train simply to defeat opponents. We train to understand ourselves, to improve our response to adversity, and to grow through our practice. The progress of each individual student is nurtured and celebrated by everyone at our dojo.

What was the inspiration to start or run this business?
We are a non-profit school devoted to the purpose of teaching Aikido to the Austin community, founded and run by a non-profit educational organization. We are a group of individuals with many years of Aikido practice and teaching experience, who are dedicated to spreading the principles of Aikido.

What do you love most about your job?
Since we are a non-profit, all of us teach out of love of the art. It is not a job to us, and we don't receive any income. We teach to make the world a better place.

What is the best reaction you've ever gotten from a customer?
We don't really think about our students as customers. We're not selling a service. All of us pay dues (teachers included) in order to support the dojo so that we can continue to train, learn, teach and move towards our personal goals of improvement.