The Future of OKI

Where This Site is At

As this site approaches its two year birthday, I wanted to give everyone an update of where it is at, where it is going, and how everyone can help. When I started this site in 2010, it was my ramblings about karate class and I expected about five readers (that was all the bigger the class was). Within two months it had grown at a pretty rapid rate. By the end of the first year I had a co-writer (who does a fantastic job), a lot more viewers, and some pretty regular comments. Since last year, I have gained a second partner on this site (who is off doing amazing things in the military at the moment), some money coming in, and a lot more viewers.

Right now, the big strengths of this site are:

• Philosophy
• Lifestyle
• Kata (Videos)

Our big weaknesses are:

• Application
• Weapons
• Organization of the Site

Where I Would Like to Be in May

For those of you who don’t know, I will be graduating the United States Air Force Academy in May of 2013. It will be the end of a big chapter in my life and I think it will both open and close doors in my karate training. As such, I am planning everything with this site on the premise that I may not be able to continue running it after May of 2013. Ideally, I will, but I treat this like a book – and I want to finish the story while I have the time.

Some big things I would like to get finished before then are:

• Complete Section on Okinawan Kobudo (Weapons)
• One Article for Each Technique in Karate
• Videos of A Lot More Application
• Reorganization of the Site by Rank

That last one was suggested by someone on my recent survey. If it was you – please take credit for it in the comments, it was an awesome idea.

How You Can Help

One of the biggest limiting factors of doing everything on that list is the fact that I am a full time college student and on active duty in the military. Everything you see on this site is the product of my free time and the help of readers like you who got involved with this idea.

I would like to start dedicating more of my time to creating videos explaining the application of techniques in kata. I think that is something a majority of people who read my site mention they want more of. In order to do that – I won’t have much free time to write articles.

If I could get a few other karateka who read this site that would be willing to create articles about the hundreds of techniques in karate, I feel pretty confident that this site will be a comprehensive  guide to learning practical karate by May.

I Would Be Willing to Write an Article – How Do I Start?

Leave a comment or email me directly. I will create you a login for the site and explain the very simple instructions to creating an article.

Do I Get Credit for My Work

Of course! I love showing off the great community this site has become. All of your articles will have your picture and bio at the bottom (similar to the other guest writers).

Do I Get Some of That Money You Mentioned

I know at least one person was thinking about that, so let me address what I do with the money. It all stays within the site. I use the money I have been making on this site to pay for hosting, give away things when I have extra, and for the digital camera I use to take photos and shoot video. None of it goes into my own pocket, so I hope that seems fair that none of it will be going into yours either.

This site isn’t over running with random google ads and I try to keep it that way. Being sponsored and getting money lets me do a lot more, but my primary goal is to provide quality karate information to everyone for free. Can’t do that if this whole site looks like one big advertisement.

I Want to Help But Don’t Have the Time/Ability to Write

Make sure to leave suggestions then. As I said above, treat this site like a big book. If you read it – what would you wish was included in the book? Let us know and hopefully we can get it added.

One comment I want to make on the “ability” part – I am not a professional writer. No one who has ever wrote for this site is. If you are willing to write, but don’t have “ability” – try a short article anyway and I can fix any grammar problems and give you some feedback on the article. Any help goes a long way because editing articles is easy – starting from scratch is a bit harder.

A Big Thanks

It wouldn’t be right to end such a big request without a bit of thanks. First, thank you if you are still reading this. Secondly, thank you in advance for any help you can give to this project. I think Noah and Billy will agree, its a lot of fun to treat this as a small team project, but I am realizing there are a lot of people who read this site, know a good bit about applicable karate, and could help spread this message of “karate isn’t just for kids” a lot faster than just the three of us can.

Hope to see you in the comments.