By Patrick Washington | The Dallas Weekly
When Steven Lewis began searching for a business opportunity four years ago, he wanted more than another way to make money. He wanted something that could serve his community, grow into a long-term enterprise and potentially become an asset his children could inherit.
That search led him to Premier Martial Arts and, eventually, a multi-location operation serving families across Dallas and Arlington.
“I was looking for a business opportunity that could impact the community,” Lewis said, “as well as something that I could possibly build long term that my children could possibly inherit and take over and run.”
Lewis, who owns the business with partner Monnique Glass, initially discovered Premier while researching franchise opportunities. The company’s emphasis on focus, discipline, respect and character development resonated with him not only as an entrepreneur, but as a father.
Both of Lewis’ daughters, ages 8 and 12, participate in the program, and his oldest earned her black belt in June.
Lewis and his partners initially purchased Premier Martial Arts territories in West Arlington and Cedar Hill, opening the West Arlington school in January 2023. That July, they expanded by acquiring existing locations in Lake Highlands and Lakewood, which together had about 250 students at the time.
The expansion wasn’t simply about adding locations. Lewis saw an opportunity to create efficiencies by sharing instructors and other resources among the schools.
“We felt like it would give us some leverage from a business standpoint to have multiple locations,” Lewis said. “Strategically, it made sense for us to leverage the resources in multiple locations than just to be relying on one location.”
But Lewis believes the real value of the business extends beyond martial arts.
Most parents, he said, aren’t enrolling their children because they expect them to become competitive martial artists.
“I mean, 95% of the kids that come to us, they’re not there to be martial artists,” Lewis said. “They bring them to us because they do need help in focus or they do need help in discipline.”
That makes character development as important to the Premier model as kicks, forms and self-defense.
“We want to build good people at the end of the day,” Lewis said.
Students may remain in the program for a few months or continue through black belt, but Lewis wants the lessons learned inside the school to remain useful long after they leave.
Premier reinforces that philosophy through an “intent to promote” process that extends belt advancement beyond physical performance. Parents can weigh in on whether students are demonstrating discipline and respect at home, while teachers can evaluate their performance and behavior in the classroom.
A student who has mastered the physical requirements may still have work to do before advancing.
“You can be a great tactician in martial arts, but not be a very good person,” Lewis said. “We like to build those that are just opposite of that. You’re a great person, whether you’re great at martial arts or not.”
That approach also shapes how Lewis views Premier’s role in the communities surrounding its schools.
While the company’s locations serve neighborhoods with different demographics and economic circumstances, Lewis said many families arrive with similar concerns, including confidence, focus and bullying.
“We don’t teach kids how to fight,” Lewis said. “We teach them how to protect themselves and to have situational awareness.”
Students learn how to recognize difficult situations, protect themselves when necessary, seek help and respond when they see another child being bullied.
For Lewis, the issue is personal. As the father of two girls, he wanted his daughters to develop the confidence to navigate potentially dangerous situations.
“I wanted them to be confident,” he said. “I wanted them to be able to protect themselves.”
Lewis also sees martial arts as one way families can counterbalance children’s increasingly digital lives.
For the 45 minutes to an hour students are inside a Premier school, he said, they are expected to put distractions aside and focus completely on what they are doing.
“We’re requiring them to be 100% focused on what we do,” Lewis said.
But Premier’s long-term vision may be where Lewis’ business and community goals intersect most clearly.
Five or 10 years from now, Lewis hopes some of the children currently entering his schools as white belts will be among the people running them.
Students can progress from martial arts training into leadership programs and eventually become instructors, program directors or other members of a school’s staff. Lewis said he has also seen owners sell schools to former students and instructors, creating the possibility of a pathway from student to business owner.
“You would hope to see that person that came in, they’re on the other end pouring back into kids the way that they were poured into,” Lewis said.
For Lewis, that would complete the cycle he envisioned when he first went searching for a business capable of producing something beyond revenue.
“If we can change a life or get one kid out of a situation, or be the reason why a kid got to college or a kid got out of being bullied — or saved a kid’s life ultimately,” Lewis said, “of the hundreds of kids that we’ve come across, if we can have that story in one of them, I think it makes a difference.”
For Lewis, the goal is to build successful martial arts schools while developing the people who may one day lead them.
Contact Premier Martial Arts at https://premiermartialarts.com/texas-dallas-lakewood/
