How Ashley Heafner is Making a Difference in her Community

Ashley Heafner is a 4th-degree black belt and chief instructor/owner of the Mount Pleasant Taekwondo school in Cabarrus County. Ms. Heafner started Taekwondo in 1998 and has been training/teaching for 22 years now. She is a level 4 instructor and one of the best competitors in the organization. She has been ranked first in the nation 4 times throughout her career.

Ms. Heafner opened her Taekwondo school in the rural community of Mount Pleasant. This forced her to get creative with saving on big costs, getting her first student, and marketing to a small community. Her biggest piece of advice to someone starting a small business is to keep costs low at the beginning or you will not be able to sustain your business. When she first started her school, she used part of a dance studio to train her students. This allowed her to keep her rent low and save on utilities. She was also able to gain more students through family members of the dancers. This dance studio allowed her to build her school up before she was able to rent a place. What Ms. Heafner did before going to the dance studio was essential to the start of her business. She was able to build a relationship with the town leaders and they allowed her to put an ad for her business with the bills that they sent out. She officially started her business at the beginning of the school year along with the dance studios classes which made it easier to sign students up. The easiest way to market in a small town is by word of mouth. This is free and does not take much effort from Ms. Heafner.

In the 10 years, Ms. Heafner has spent as a small business owner in Mount Pleasant, she has made an impact on so many. She has had over 400 students receive a belt of some level. Every student has been impacted through the time they have spent in her school. For some students, Taekwondo has been life-changing. Ms. Heafner said the students that make the biggest impact on her as an instructor are the special needs students. At her school, there are over 20 kids with special needs. These students can take more patience when teaching, but when they succeed it is the best feeling. Each student has something that they struggle with, and seeing them succeed is what makes Ms. Heafner love what she does.

Not just the students know about Ms. Heafner’s Taekwondo school though. She is an active member of her community in a variety of ways. Ms. Heafner teaches multiple classes a year to different groups of people in the community. She has taught self-defense classes, workout classes, classes at the middle school, and 100 kindergarteners at once in years past. Ms. Heafner is in every single 4th of July and Christmas parade. She is a participant in all of the community festivals.

In the past, present, and future Ms. Heafner strives to make a difference in the people around her. She wants people in the community to know about her Taekwondo school so that they can experience what doing a martial art can have on someone. I can personally vouch for Ms. Heafner as I am one of her longest taking students and have seen her grow as a student, instructor, and business owner in my 10 years of training under her.

Here is the link to her Website https://www.mpninjas.com/

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