Work With Stephen Oliver

Stephen Oliver speaking at the Music Industry Success convention in New Orleans, Louisiana

There are four ways to work with Grand Master Stephen Oliver: coaching for your school through Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, his free book, booking him to speak, and media interviews. This page explains each and how to get started.

Who the coaching is for

Stephen Oliver coaches professional school owners — traditional martial arts schools, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies, MMA gyms, Muay Thai gyms and Krav Maga schools. Members range from single-school operators building their first profitable location to established multi-school organizations doing $1,000,000 and more a year. If you are serious about building a more profitable, higher-impact school, the coaching is built for you.

1. Coaching through Martial Arts Wealth Mastery

Martial Arts Wealth Mastery is the coaching and consulting organization Oliver founded in 2000 as Stephen Oliver’s Inner Circle, continuing the coaching he began in 1985. It combines high-level coaching, peer masterminds, quarterly in-person sessions, monthly problem-solving and staff training. Oliver coaches alongside Grand Master Jeff Smith, Chief of Instruction; Chief Master Greg Moody, Ph.D.; and Bob Dunne, National Director. Read how the coaching works.

2. Start with the free book

Six Simple Steps to Add 100 Students is free at FillYourSchool.com. It is the simplest way to see how Oliver thinks about enrollment before you talk to anyone. His other books, including The Way of the Mile High Maverick, Everything I Wish I Knew When I Was 22 and Extraordinary Teaching with Jeff Smith, are on the Books page.

3. Book Stephen to speak

Oliver has been a keynote and lead speaker at martial arts industry conventions and business seminars since 1985, and has shared the stage with Dan Kennedy, Brian Tracy, Jay Abraham, Tony Robbins and Chuck Norris, among others. Topics, approved bios and photos are in the speaking and media kit.

Stephen Oliver speaking at the Music Industry Success convention in New Orleans, Louisiana
Stephen Oliver speaking at the Music Industry Success convention in New Orleans.

4. Media and podcast interviews

Producers and journalists can find his approved bios at three lengths, high-resolution photos and past interviews in the media kit. Please style his name as Grand Master Stephen Oliver and his rank as 10th Degree Black Belt.

What to expect from the coaching

The work is practical and specific: marketing that generates enrollments, pricing that supports a real business, curriculum and instruction that keep students long enough to reach Black Belt, and the operational systems that let an owner run a school without living inside it. It is built on five decades of owning and operating schools — including growing Mile High Karate from $10,000 to more than $1,700,000 in annual revenue (approximately $5,200,000 in today’s dollars) by age 25 — not on theory.

What members say

Read member reviews and testimonials on the Martial Arts Wealth reviews page, and detailed accounts in the case-study library.

Contact

  • Office: (720) 256-0208 — ask Bob Dunne about a free school evaluation.
  • Address: 825 Neville Lane, Golden, CO 80401
  • Online: contact page

Frequently asked questions

Does Stephen Oliver coach school owners personally?

Yes. As Founder and CEO of Martial Arts Wealth Mastery he personally coaches members, with Grand Master Jeff Smith, Chief Master Greg Moody, Ph.D., and Bob Dunne.

Do I need to teach a particular style?

No. The systems apply to traditional martial arts schools, BJJ academies, MMA gyms, Muay Thai gyms and Krav Maga schools.

Where is Stephen Oliver based?

Golden, Colorado.

Get started with Martial Arts Wealth Mastery →

Last updated: October 2026

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The Impact of Martial Arts

Stephen Oliver speaking to a large crowd at a Mile High Karate Black Belt Graduation (Extravaganza)

Grand Master Stephen Oliver has taught martial arts since 1974 and personally promoted more than 1,000 Black Belts, aged 5 to 76. Across those five decades one idea has shaped how he teaches, how he built Mile High Karate and how he coaches other school owners: martial arts training changes people, and a school that takes that seriously is also a better business.

More than physical skill

Martial arts training develops confidence, discipline, focus and resilience — qualities that outlast any particular technique. A child who learns to set a goal, work through frustration and finish what they started on the mat carries that habit into the classroom and, later, into work and family. Oliver has built his teaching career around that premise since opening his first school in 1975, at age 15, and it remains the organizing idea behind Mile High Karate’s focus on character development for children and families.

Stephen Oliver speaking to a large crowd at a Mile High Karate Black Belt Graduation (Extravaganza)
Stephen Oliver addresses a Mile High Karate Black Belt Graduation (Extravaganza).

The school as a leadership academy

Oliver’s instructional philosophy, set out with Grand Master Jeff Smith in Extraordinary Teaching, Volume 1: Transform Your Martial Arts School Into a Leadership Academy, holds that a martial arts school does its most valuable work when it operates as a leadership academy rather than simply a place to learn to kick and punch. Students learn goal-setting, perseverance, respect and the habit of finishing what they start. Instructors learn to teach those things deliberately, class after class, rather than hoping they rub off.

The companion Extraordinary Teaching Implementation Workbook turns that philosophy into a 90-day plan for a school’s instructors. Both are listed on the Books page.

Retention is a teaching problem

Schools that teach this way keep students longer, produce better Black Belts and build the kind of family loyalty that no marketing campaign can manufacture. That is why Oliver tells school owners that retention is not a marketing problem: it is a teaching problem, and it is solved on the mat. Marketing brings a family through the door; the quality of the teaching decides whether they are still there at Black Belt.

Why the business side matters

Oliver’s core conviction is that great martial arts and great business are inseparable. Profitable schools survive, attract better instructors, serve more families, maintain higher teaching standards and create more Black Belts. A school that cannot pay its instructors properly or keep its doors open helps no one, however good its intentions. That conviction is the reason he has spent forty years coaching other owners through Martial Arts Wealth Mastery.

In the community

The impact reaches beyond the students on the mat. Since 1983 Mile High Karate has been a contributing school to Chuck Norris’s Kick Drugs Out of America, has supported The Children’s Hospital Foundation, and raises funds for local elementary schools through Educational Foundation Outreach and Fostering Leadership.

Grand Master Stephen Oliver with Grand Master Jhoon Rhee at the Mile High Karate Black Belt Retreat in Breckenridge, Colorado
Grand Master Stephen Oliver with Grand Master Jhoon Rhee at the Mile High Karate Black Belt Retreat in Breckenridge, Colorado.

A lineage of teachers

Oliver learned this from his own teachers. He began training in 1969 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the Jhoon Rhee lineage, and received his Black Belt from Grand Master Jhoon Rhee in 1978. Jhoon Rhee taught that the martial arts should build the whole person, and that idea runs through everything Oliver has taught since. Read more on the lineage page.

For school owners

If you own a martial arts school, BJJ academy or MMA gym, the curriculum and instructor-development work described here is part of the coaching inside Martial Arts Wealth Mastery. Start with the free book Six Simple Steps to Add 100 Students at FillYourSchool.com.

Read next: Meet Grand Master Stephen Oliver · How the coaching works · Full biography

Last updated: October 2026

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Cover Magazines Featuring Stephen Oliver

Martial Arts World News cover featuring Stephen Oliver and Jeff Smith

For more than three decades Grand Master Stephen Oliver has written for, appeared in and published the martial arts industry’s business press. This page brings together his magazine covers, his columns and the publications he has led.

Publisher of Martial Arts Professional

Oliver has served as Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine since 2007, when the title came to him with the acquisition of NAPMA, the National Association of Professional Martial Artists. NAPMA was founded in 1994 by John Graden; Oliver has led it as CEO and Chairman since 2007. Martial Arts Professional is the industry’s business and management trade publication, read by some 23,000 martial arts professionals. His long-running back-page column there is The Final Word.

As NAPMA’s CEO he also published Mastering the Martial Arts Business, NAPMA’s monthly member magazine and companion to Martial Arts Professional. Archived issues from 2010 and 2011 remain online, including the May 2010 transitional issue, Martial Arts Professional Presents: Mastering Martial Arts Business, and an interview feature with Brian Tracy and Tom Hopkins.

Cover appearances

Martial Arts World News cover featuring Stephen Oliver and Jeff SmithMartial Arts Extraordinaire magazine cover featuring Stephen Oliver and Jeff SmithGo2Karate magazine cover featuring Stephen OliverMartial Arts Business magazine cover featuring Stephen OliverMartial Arts Professional magazine cover featuring Stephen Oliver

Oliver has appeared on the covers of the industry’s business and trade publications, including:

  • Martial Arts Professional Magazine
  • Mastering the Martial Arts Business
  • Martial Arts World
  • Martial Arts World News — including a cover shared with Grand Master Jeff Smith
  • Martial Arts Business
  • Martial Arts Business Information
  • Martial Arts Extraordinaire — including Issue 13, with Grand Master Jeff Smith
  • Go2Karate — Issue #4 (June 2024) cover story
  • EFC Eagle Express
  • EFC All Stars

During Mile High Karate’s years of rapid growth he was also featured in Black Belt Magazine and Tae Kwon Do Times.

Columnist for six publications

Oliver writes for six industry publications: Martial Arts Extraordinaire, Martial Arts Professional, Mastering the Martial Arts Business, GoTo Karate, Rev Marketing and Martial Arts World.

Selected Martial Arts Professional columns

  • How I Opened Five Schools in 18 Months
  • The Non-Compete Clause
  • The Pulse of a School
  • Is Martial Arts Instruction a Real Job?

Selected Martial Arts World News columns

  • The 10 Things You MUST Do to Thrive (Vol. 20 #1)
  • Does Your School Have the X Factor? (Vol. 21 #4)
  • Is Everyone in Your Boat Rowing in the Same Direction? (Vol. 22 #1)
  • Just Sell Something (Vol. 22 #4)
  • Wealth vs. Lifestyle (Vol. 23 #2)
  • Everything Is Negotiable (Vol. 23 #4)
  • Fire Those Who Suck the Life from Your School (Vol. 23 #6)
  • Constructing Your Marketing Parthenon (Vol. 25 #5)

Go2 Karate

  • Issue #1 (March–May 2023): Success Tips by Stephen Oliver
  • Issue #2 (September 2023): Heighten Your Expectations
  • Issue #4 (June 2024): cover story
  • Issue #6 (March 2025): The First Rule of Marketing Your School Is Simple — Hustle

Television and newspapers

During Mile High Karate’s multi-school and franchise expansion, Oliver’s schools and events were covered by daily newspapers in Denver, Orlando, Maryland, Utah and British Columbia, including the Rocky Mountain News (January 5, 2004); by Denver’s CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX affiliates, including Chuck Norris’s visits to Mile High Karate, which also appeared on Entertainment Tonight; and nationally on The Montel Williams Show.

Books

He is the author of twelve books on direct-response marketing, school operations, leadership and character development, starting with one of the first books on internet marketing for martial arts schools in 1999. See Books by Stephen Oliver.

For editors and producers

Approved bios, photos and booking details are in the speaking and media kit. Please style his name as Grand Master Stephen Oliver and his rank as 10th Degree Black Belt.

Read next: Full biography · Achievements and awards · Read Martial Arts Professional

Last updated: October 2026

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Martial Arts Coaching Business

Grand Master Stephen Oliver, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Grand Master Jeff Smith at a Martial Arts Wealth member event at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York

Grand Master Stephen Oliver has coached martial arts school owners since 1985. Today that work is delivered through Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, the coaching and consulting organization he leads as Founder and CEO. This page explains where the coaching came from, what it covers and who it is for.

Forty years of coaching, one body of work

Oliver began coaching other school owners in 1985, while he was opening his first Denver-area Mile High Karate locations. In April 1987 he was elected to the first Educational Funding Company (EFC) Board of Directors, and over the following years he became EFC’s lead keynote speaker and seminar leader, presenting at its conventions and at business seminars across the United States. He served on that board through 2001.

In 2000 he formally founded the coaching organization as Stephen Oliver’s Inner Circle, later rebranded Martial Arts Wealth Mastery. Coaching since 1985 and formally organized in 2000 are not two separate starts — they are one continuous body of work. In 2007 he also became CEO and Chairman of NAPMA and Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine, which run in parallel with Martial Arts Wealth Mastery.

Operator-first coaching

The coaching is built on what Oliver has done himself. He opened his first school in 1975, at age 15. He founded Mile High Karate with $10,000 in August 1983, opened five schools in eighteen months, and reached more than 2,500 active students and over $1,700,000 in annual revenue (approximately $5,200,000 in today’s dollars) by age 25. By the late 1980s Mile High Karate had passed 3,500 active students, and it kept growing through international franchise locations.

His approach is to build and test systems in real schools, then teach what actually works. His core conviction is that great martial arts and great business are inseparable: profitable schools survive, attract better instructors, serve more families, keep higher teaching standards and create more Black Belts.

What the coaching covers

  • Marketing — direct-response lead generation, digital advertising and referral systems.
  • Enrollment — intro lessons, conversion and program agreements.
  • Pricing and profitability — program structure, value ladders, upgrade paths and the financial controls behind them.
  • Retention — curriculum, instruction quality and student progression to Black Belt.
  • Teaching quality — running the school as a leadership academy, from Extraordinary Teaching.
  • Staff development — hiring, instructor training and leadership pipelines.
  • Operations and growth — systems that let an owner run a school without living inside it, and multi-school management.

How it is delivered

Martial Arts Wealth Mastery combines high-level coaching, peer masterminds, quarterly in-person sessions, monthly problem-solving and staff training. Member events have been held at venues including the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Grand Master Stephen Oliver, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Grand Master Jeff Smith at a Martial Arts Wealth member event at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York
Stephen Oliver, former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Grand Master Jeff Smith at a Martial Arts Wealth member event at West Point, NY.

Who it is for

Martial Arts Wealth Mastery works with serious owners of traditional martial arts schools, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies, MMA gyms, Muay Thai gyms and Krav Maga schools. The systems for lead generation, enrollment, retention, staff development and profitability apply across styles. Members range from single-school operators building their first profitable location to established multi-school organizations doing $1,000,000 and more a year.

The coaching team

  • Grand Master Stephen Oliver — Founder and CEO, 10th Degree Black Belt.
  • Grand Master Jeff Smith — Chief of Instruction; 10th Degree Black Belt and the first PKA World Light-Heavyweight Champion. MasterJeffSmith.com
  • Chief Master Greg Moody, Ph.D. — 8th Degree Black Belt.
  • Bob Dunne — National Director.
Left to right: Chief Master Greg Moody, Grand Master Jeff Smith, Hung Cao and Grand Master Stephen Oliver in Annapolis, Maryland
Chief Master Greg Moody, Ph.D., Grand Master Jeff Smith, Hung Cao and Grand Master Stephen Oliver in Annapolis, Maryland.

Results

Member results, in members’ own words, are collected on the Martial Arts Wealth reviews and testimonials page, with detailed accounts in the case-study library.

Beyond martial arts

Oliver applies the same direct-response marketing, client acquisition and practice-building systems to financial advisors and wealth managers through Advisor Wealth Mastery.

Frequently asked questions

How long has Stephen Oliver coached martial arts school owners?

Since 1985. He formally founded the coaching organization in 2000 as Stephen Oliver’s Inner Circle, now Martial Arts Wealth Mastery.

Does Martial Arts Wealth Mastery work with BJJ and MMA gyms?

Yes. It works with BJJ academies, MMA gyms, Muay Thai gyms, Krav Maga schools and traditional martial arts schools.

How do I start?

Start with the free book Six Simple Steps to Add 100 Students at FillYourSchool.com, or see the programs at MartialArtsWealth.com.

Explore the coaching programs →

Read next: Work with Stephen Oliver · Full biography · Books

Last updated: October 2026

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Achievements and Awards

Stephen Oliver receiving his Official Induction certificate at the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame ceremony, August 15, 2026, NY/NJ

Grand Master Stephen Oliver’s recognition spans three careers that ran side by side for more than five decades: martial artist, school owner, and coach and publisher for the martial arts industry. This page lists the honors, ranks and milestones on record, with dates.

Rank

  • 10th Degree Black Belt — promoted April 2026 by Grand Master Jeff Smith.
  • Ju-Dan (10th Degree) — Uechiryu Butokukai, by unanimous approval of its Senior Master’s Council under Grand Master Buzz Durkin; certificate dated April 29, 2026.
  • 9th Degree — October 1, 2016, by Grand Masters Jeff Smith, Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, Pat Burleson and Joe Corley.
  • 8th Degree — October 21, 2006, by Grand Master Jeff Smith.
  • 7th Degree — 2001, by Grand Master Jeff Smith.
  • 6th Degree — May 22, 1994, by Grand Master Jhoon Rhee.
  • 1st Degree Black Belt — 1978, from Grand Master Jhoon Rhee, with one of the highest scores recorded on the Jhoon Rhee Black Belt Exam.

The complete timeline, including his first instructors in Tulsa in 1969, is on the lineage page.

Grand Master Jeff Smith presenting Grand Master Stephen Oliver with his 10th Degree Black Belt diploma at Mile High Karate
Grand Master Jeff Smith presents Grand Master Stephen Oliver with his 10th Degree Black Belt diploma, April 2026.

Halls of fame

  • Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame — Lifetime Achievement induction, August 15, 2026, at the ceremony held at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City. (This is the international hall of fame founded by Gerard Robbins, not World Taekwondo’s own hall of fame.) Read the announcement.
  • Masters Hall of Fame — 2014 inductee, Golden Lifetime Achievement Award, presented in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 7, 2014, “for recognition of excellence and great contributions to the martial arts.” The certificate is signed by the Hall’s CEO and by its ambassadors J. Pat Burleson, George Minshew and Tony Lopez.
  • Battle of Atlanta Hall of Fame — inducted into the Officials Hall of Fame as “The Black Belt Leader” on June 22, 2012, presented by Joe Corley American Karate, for years of mentoring and service to the competitors of martial arts competition. The certificate is signed by World Champion Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Joe Corley and World Champion Jeff Smith.
  • U.S. Martial Arts Association Hall of Fame — inducted 2000; also recognized as the USMAA’s #1 multi-school operator.
Stephen Oliver receiving his Official Induction certificate at the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame ceremony, August 15, 2026, NY/NJ
Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame induction, August 15, 2026.

Lifetime achievement and industry awards

  • “The Most Influential Man in Martial Arts” — Martial Arts World Magazine.
  • Go2 Karate Lifetime Achievement and Recognition Award.
  • Educational Funding Company Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • AMAA Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • Martial Arts Extraordinaire Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • Ranked among the Top 200 school operators internationally by Andrews International.
  • ASAMCO Award Bushido (Premium Gold) — March 14, 2025, from ASAMCO Martial Arts (Italy and Brazil), honoring the seven virtues of Bushido; signed by Roberto Nochang Carneiro, 10th Dan, Supreme Guru of ASAMCO Brazil, and Grand Master Michelangelo Ramunni, 9th Dan, Ambassador of ASAMCO Italy.
  • ASAMCO Grand Master Diploma — March 14, 2025, from the same two ASAMCO signatories, honoring him as a “living example” of the highest values of the martial arts, whose work leaves “a legacy promoted by the martial art for its school, for society and for the civilization process.”
  • Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior Award — June 15, 2018, presented by PKA Warriors in concert with Joe Lewis Fighting Systems, in memory of Joe Lewis, the first PKA World Heavyweight Champion, “in honor of the warrior spirit you have shown the world for these many decades, fighting one more round, whenever called to action.”
  • Sport Karate Museum Dragon Image Fighting Award — July 1, 2013, “for long and dedicated service to their chosen martial art.”
Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior Award certificate presented to Stephen Oliver by PKA Warriors in concert with Joe Lewis Fighting Systems, June 15, 2018
The Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior Award, June 15, 2018.

Leadership roles

  • CEO and Chairman, NAPMA (National Association of Professional Martial Artists) — since 2007.
  • Publisher, Martial Arts Professional magazine — since 2007.
  • Founder and CEO, Martial Arts Wealth Mastery — founded in 2000 as Stephen Oliver’s Inner Circle.
  • Founder and CEO, Mile High Karate — founded August 6, 1983.
  • Board of Directors, Educational Funding Company — elected to the first board in April 1987, served through 2001.
  • NASKA Board of Directors and National Sanctioning Director — 1989 to 1999.
  • Youngest-ever branch manager, Jhoon Rhee Institute, Washington, D.C.

Business milestones

  • Opened his first martial arts school in 1975, at age 15.
  • Founded Mile High Karate with $10,000 and opened five schools in eighteen months.
  • More than 2,500 active students and over $1,700,000 in annual revenue (approximately $5,200,000 in today’s dollars) by age 25.
  • More than 3,500 active students and roughly 50 staff by the late 1980s, with growth continuing through international franchise locations in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
  • More than 1,000 Black Belts personally promoted, aged 5 to 76.
  • Founded the Mile High Karate Classic in 1989, a NASKA World Tour event from 1989 to 1999.

Publishing and media

  • Author of twelve books, including one of the first books on internet marketing for martial arts schools (1999). See Books.
  • Columnist for six industry publications: Martial Arts Extraordinaire, Martial Arts Professional, Mastering the Martial Arts Business, GoTo Karate, Rev Marketing and Martial Arts World.
  • Featured on the covers of Martial Arts Business, Martial Arts Professional, Martial Arts World, Martial Arts Extraordinaire, Go2Karate and others. See magazine covers.

Education

  • National Merit Finalist.
  • University of Tulsa — University Scholar, two years on full scholarship.
  • Georgetown University — A.B., cum laude, International Economics, 1982.
  • University of Denver — Executive MBA, Executive Program at the Daniels College of Business, 1992; served on the Entrepreneurship and Venture Management Board.

Community

Since 1983 Mile High Karate has been a contributing school to Chuck Norris’s Kick Drugs Out of America, has supported The Children’s Hospital Foundation, and raises funds for local elementary schools through Educational Foundation Outreach and Fostering Leadership. In a signed letter dated November 21, 1995, Chuck Norris thanked Stephen for his effort to develop a long-lasting relationship between the Educational Funding Company and Kick Drugs Out of America. In a second letter, dated November 29, 1996, Norris thanked Stephen for raising $18,267 for Kick Drugs Out of America, and in December 1997 Norris’s T.E.A.M. News reported a further $15,000 contribution. On December 8, 1997, Norris wrote again: “I was very happy to learn that you had contributed the most this year.” See the original documents. Winning the 1997 top-fundraiser prize, which he had proposed himself, put him on the set of Walker, Texas Ranger as referee and fight choreographer: How I Ended Up on Walker, Texas Ranger.

Frequently asked questions

What rank is Stephen Oliver?

10th Degree Black Belt, promoted in April 2026 by Grand Master Jeff Smith.

Which hall of fame inducted Stephen Oliver in 2026?

The Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame, with a Lifetime Achievement induction on August 15, 2026.

Is Stephen Oliver the founder of NAPMA?

No. NAPMA was founded in 1994 by John Graden. Oliver has been its CEO and Chairman since 2007.

Which halls of fame has Stephen Oliver been inducted into?

The Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame (August 15, 2026), the Masters Hall of Fame (June 7, 2014, Golden Lifetime Achievement), the Battle of Atlanta Officials Hall of Fame (June 22, 2012) and the U.S. Martial Arts Association Hall of Fame (2000).

Read next: Full biography · Meet Grand Master Stephen Oliver · Speaking and media kit

Last updated: October 2026

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Meet Grand Master Stephen Oliver

Grand Master Stephen Oliver in a blue Mile High Karate uniform

Grand Master Stephen Oliver, MBA, is a 10th Degree Black Belt and the Founder and CEO of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, one of the martial arts industry’s leading coaching and consulting organizations for professional martial arts school owners, BJJ academies, and MMA gyms. A martial arts school owner since 1975 and business coach since 1985, Oliver has spent more than five decades building, operating, and advising successful martial arts schools. He also serves as CEO and Chairman of NAPMA (the National Association of Professional Martial Artists) and Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine. A Georgetown University cum laude graduate, he earned his Executive MBA through the Executive Program at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. He was promoted to 10th Degree Black Belt in April 2026 and inducted into the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame in August 2026.

Beginnings in Tulsa

Stephen Oliver began training in 1969 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during what martial artists of that era call the “Blood & Guts” years. His first instructors were Bob Olinghouse and Gran Moulder, Black Belts in the Jhoon Rhee Institute system, in the lineage that runs from Grand Master Jhoon Rhee through Allen Steen and Pat Burleson. He began teaching in 1974 and opened his own school in 1975, at age 15. He received his 1st Degree Black Belt from Grand Master Jhoon Rhee in 1978, posting one of the highest scores recorded on the Jhoon Rhee Black Belt Exam. The full rank history is on the lineage page.

He also studied at the University of Tulsa for two years as a University Scholar and National Merit Finalist, on a full scholarship, before transferring to Georgetown University.

Washington, D.C.

While at Georgetown, Oliver served as head instructor and branch manager for the Jhoon Rhee Institute in Washington, D.C., then the leading martial arts business organization in the world, and became its youngest-ever branch manager. He worked directly under Jhoon Rhee, Nick Cokinos (later chairman of the Educational Funding Company), Jeff Smith and Ned Muffley. He graduated from Georgetown cum laude in 1982 with an A.B. in International Economics, then spent a year at the Library of Congress and the Small Business Administration studying direct-response marketing, management and sales.

Grand Master Stephen Oliver with Grand Master Jhoon Rhee at the Mile High Karate Black Belt Retreat in Breckenridge, Colorado
Grand Master Stephen Oliver with Grand Master Jhoon Rhee at the Mile High Karate Black Belt Retreat in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Building Mile High Karate

On August 6, 1983, Oliver founded Mile High Karate in Lakewood, Colorado, with $10,000, bringing the Jhoon Rhee system to the Rockies. He opened five schools in eighteen months. By 1985, at age 25, Mile High Karate had more than 2,500 active students and over $1,700,000 in annual revenue — approximately $5,200,000 in today’s dollars.

By the late 1980s the organization had roughly 50 staff and more than 3,500 active students, and it kept growing beyond that through franchise locations across the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Oliver has personally promoted more than 1,000 Black Belts, ranging in age from 5 to 76.

Sport karate

In 1989 Oliver founded the Mile High Karate Classic, which held NASKA World Tour status from 1989 to 1999 and drew competitors from all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti. Over the same decade he served on the NASKA Board of Directors and as its national sanctioning director, and Mile High Karate produced more than 110 intramural tournaments.

Coaching the industry

Oliver began coaching other school owners in 1985, while opening his first Denver-area locations. In April 1987 he was elected to the first Educational Funding Company (EFC) Board of Directors and served on that board through 2001, becoming EFC’s lead keynote speaker and seminar leader. He earned his Executive MBA through the Executive Program at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver in 1992.

In 2000 he formally founded his coaching organization as Stephen Oliver’s Inner Circle, later rebranded Martial Arts Wealth Mastery — one continuous body of work that began in 1985. The same year he began franchising Mile High Karate internationally. Since 2007 he has served as CEO and Chairman of NAPMA, the National Association of Professional Martial Artists, founded in 1994 by John Graden, and as Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine.

Author and columnist

Oliver wrote one of the first books on internet marketing written specifically for martial arts schools, in 1999, and is the author of twelve books, including The Way of the Mile High Maverick, Everything I Wish I Knew When I Was 22 and, with Grand Master Jeff Smith, Extraordinary Teaching. He writes for six industry publications. See Books by Stephen Oliver and his magazine covers and columns.

Rank and recognition

Grand Master Jeff Smith promoted Oliver to 10th Degree Black Belt in April 2026, and on August 15, 2026, he was inducted into the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement induction. Read the 2026 announcement and the full list of achievements and awards.

Grand Master Jeff Smith presenting Grand Master Stephen Oliver with his 10th Degree Black Belt diploma at Mile High Karate
Grand Master Jeff Smith presents Grand Master Stephen Oliver with his 10th Degree Black Belt diploma, April 2026.

Today

As Founder and CEO of Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, Oliver personally coaches professional school owners — traditional martial arts schools, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies, MMA gyms, Muay Thai gyms and Krav Maga schools — on marketing, enrollment, pricing, retention, staff development and operations, alongside Grand Master Jeff Smith, Chief of Instruction; Chief Master Greg Moody, Ph.D.; and Bob Dunne, National Director. He applies the same direct-response systems to financial advisors and wealth managers through Advisor Wealth Mastery. He is based in Golden, Colorado.

Read next: Full biography · How the coaching works · Speaking and media kit · Coaching with Stephen Oliver

Last updated: October 2026

Standards and Responses to Criticism

Some critics have called the business systems Stephen Oliver teaches a blueprint for the “McDojo.” His answers are collected on Criticism and Responses, and the standards he teaches are published as Coaching Standards and The Mile High Karate Standard.

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