An Inspired Chat with Skyler Zoppi of Sammamish

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Skyler Zoppi. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Skyler, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
About a week ago, my oldest daughter Emelia earned her 1st Degree Black Belt after over eleven years of training. She started when she was three years old and she is now fourteen years old and a freshman in high school. I’m so proud on her for working hard, persevering through many challenges, and having a great attitude towards overcoming the rigorous testing. Her Grandparents started the school over forty years ago. So, there is a little bit of extra pressure and expectations that people have towards her. Emmy never met her Grandpa Tom, but I know that she was able to feel a connection to him through this experience. That makes me very happy and proud!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello, my name is Skyler Zoppi. Along with my wife, Angie, I am the owner of True Martial Arts in Sammamish, Washington. We are one of the biggest and longest running martial arts studios in the Pacific Northwest. True Martial Arts was founded in 1982 by my parents, Thomas and Laurel Zoppi.

In 2001, my father passed away rather unexpectedly from a heart attack. At that point, I was two months fresh out of graduating from college. My mother soldiered on through her grief and kept running the studio. I began helping out at first as a part timer and eventually making it my full-time career in March of 2002. We continued running True Martial Arts together as a mother-son team until Angie and I became second generation owners in 2019.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who taught you the most about work?
My parents taught me everything I know about work.

My father had a rough childhood where he was raised by a single mom. He never had any advantage or hand up; he was entirely self-made. He worked his way up in an auto parts store and eventually landed another job as a Vice President of Finance for a large company that did government contract work. He would go to work early in the morning every day and come back home long after I’d be home from school. At this point, he’d either be playing basketball with his kids, coaching us on a sports team, or going to teach martial arts classes at the martial arts studio he started on the side. Once he was more established, I saw him leave multiple higher paying jobs because he thought the boss was unethical, or because he wanted more freedom to see his children, and eventually because he wanted to follow his dreams and become a full-time martial arts professional.

My mother was a full-time parent to three children while working part-time jobs at doctor’s offices and fast-food restaurants. She was so selfless. She always had time to help me with my newspaper route at 6:00 AM or drive us to school on a rainy day. There was no job that was beneath her, and she did everything at a very high level. When the martial arts studio started to grow and the number of classes increased, she was the one who would be signing everyone up, teaching the classes, and keeping everything clean and organized.

When did you last change your mind about something important?
I don’t want to get too specific, but there are some members of my family that I’ve been having a hard time with. Some of the decisions they were making were hurtful to myself, my wife, and our kids. I was feeling ready to either tell them off or distance and go separate ways. But I heard this quote that said “Why do we have families? Because it teaches us to love people we hate sometimes!”. And I thought that was a humorous and insightful way to look at it. Like yes, you might be completely fed up with them, but there is no finality in that. At the end of the day, they are still family. We have to get through it, realize we can’t control other people, and just love them and accept them for who they are. You can control how much space they occupy in your mind and how much they stress you out. If you don’t try to change who they are or change their mind, I think a lot of the stress and conflict just naturally melts away.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
I think the biggest lie that the martial arts industry tells itself is that it’s okay to upsell Black Belt programs to students. The particular type of program I’m referring to is where students pay a large but discounted up-front cost to join a Black Belt program, and they are given extra training time and priority status in return for an expectation that they can complete their Black Belt training within a relatively short time period.

Earning your Black Belt in Martial Arts is not what is most important. It is who you become along the way that matters the most. It is a journey that is unique for each person for their unique skill set and life challenges that they encounter throughout the training. One student might have a relatively straight line to Black Belt. While another might have injuries, real world problems, learning differences, or physical limitations to overcome. In my opinion, you can’t guarantee a specific amount of time that Black Belt will take to be achieved. The journey typically ebbs and flows.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
As a youngster, I never had a strong sense of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I couldn’t name a dream job, and I didn’t have a bunch of people telling me what I was destined to be someday. Something I did have was my father’s example of leaving higher paying, more glamourous jobs for a chance to have more freedom, be his own boss, and do what he actually loved to do. That left a lasting impression.

I decided to major in business with the hopes of working for a smaller company to start out and eventually owning my own business. Joining a bigger company didn’t appeal to me because I thought I would just become a small cog in the wheel. I also never had any desire or thoughts of succession with my parents’ company. When I was younger, I was very short-sighted and thought they’d probably be doing their job for many more years; no room for me!

I stayed in college for an extra year, because I felt no hurry and no pull to leave and start something new. When it was time to begin my job search out of college, I can tell you that none of the opportunities excited me. But I thought, ‘Hey this is normal. Start from the bottom. Try a bunch of jobs you don’t like early on. Work your way up. Find something you love eventually’.

When my father passed away one month after my college graduation, I was working for a sporting goods company as a manger trainee. I was mostly running to the back area to find matching shoes or unloading new merchandise off of the supply truck at 4:00 AM and putting it out on the floor.

I started teaching a couple of martial arts classes a week at the studio, just to pitch in and help my mom. It was therapeutic and a good way to stay connected with my dad, while I grieved his loss. During this time, I moved on to another job in advertising sales that lasted a week, and then another job in sales for a package delivery company. I was about to flame out yet again on my third job in nine months since college graduation when my mom and I started talking about taking on a full-time position at True Martial Arts.

I’d love to tell you that once I went full-time, I hit the ground running, but that wouldn’t be true! Paying taxes, processing payroll, balancing a check register, managing employees, and learning bookkeeping software all added layers of frustration. All of this was new to me and it all of it took time and growing pains to learn. But once I got past the “learning” stage another stage came that was a total blessing. This was what turned everything around for me and made me realize I was now doing what I was born to do. This was the “creating” stage. Taking processes and systems and making them my own. Modernizing, reinventing, and innovating brand new. This was total freedom. I love what I do!

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