Starting a martial arts school

[Karrie Bowen]

This goes to all you instructors out there who have put in your blood, sweat and tears into becoming a successful MA instructor. I imagine the road was long, and rather ardous, with challenges which made you a better teacher. Okay, I'm on the cusp of opening a satellite school here in Burlington, VT and am feeling a little lost. I do, however, have the help of one of my Sensei and the support of three of my Sensei, including the owner of the school which operates out of Rutland, VT. My question is, where did you start training, how did you find a place to put your schools? Finances are a little low for me now so I'm leaning towards church basements for the time being until I have students to carry me through to the next step, my "dream dojo". Gordon, I know you have a school right in downtown B-town. How did you start? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Gordon White]

There is so much to to talk about with this topic I don't know where to start...lets see. I will talk about Burlington and opening a school, but I also would encourage you to really look inside yourself and ask WHY you want to open a school? There are as many good reasons to open a school as there are bad.

As far as opening the school - there are books and books, 1000s of pages written about this, but here is my stream of consciousness.

The killer is over head. With out any doubt. I would recommend finding a place where you rent for cheap, (no lease) or better yet borrow space on a regular basis, to build up a student base, then look for something more permanent. The first group of students you get will be the toughest to pull in the door, word of mouth is where you get students and if you don't have any students...word of mouth does not work well. I do a yellow page ad @ $80/month and I am not sure its worth it. Seven days Classified is a good way to go, but their prices have gone up and if you run every week, its almost the same as the yellow pages.

I am in no way trying to dissuade you from opening a school in Burlington, I love downtown Burlington, and always dreamed of having a school there. However, the downtown Burlington area, (even though I have a school there) is not a great place for a martial arts school Why? People (80% of them any way) sign up for martial arts classes based on the following - in this order:

1. Convenience of location - unless you live downtown, Burlington is not convenient
2. Convenience of Schedule
3. Price

After that, they consider, style, instructor etc. Exactly the opposite of they what the order they should be looking.

I am forever hearing people complain about the parking in Burlington, which is something to consider. Also, its a little daunting to think about the number of schools already in burlington, and how many have come and gone. Pine street has an Aikido school, and down the street from that is a Taekwondo school that meets in the church twice a week. The BJJ school was also off of Pine but they moved to Williston. There is a Tai chi School on church Street, I am on Main, and the UVM Taekwondo club seems to do a good job at keeping the UVM students going there and not venturing off campus for martial arts. The Burlington YMCA offers Karate and Judo, free to kid 10 - 12 and teenagers I think, and there was a guy teaching Taekwondo out of Edmunds middle school, not sure if he is still there. There was a Japanese Karate school on lower Main street for a while a man named "Blanko" I think, he moved out to the Williston Sports and Fitness place.

So...not to be all doom and gloom - there are many schools in Vermont that do well, for a state with less then a million people I don't know how all the schools survive, there are tons of them. If you can find a niche, build a reputation, and can be happy with slow growth and small classes (initially) I would say go for it. To give you an idea, I have been in business for 8 years, and have about 75 students, the gym is open Monday - Thursday evenings and on Saturday. I had between 15 - 30 students the first two years I was open and lost about $2500 each of those two years.

If you want to stop by my school and chat some time, I would be happy to talk to you about it some more.
Gordon

[Bob Patterson]

One of the masters in my former taekwondo collection of schools got fed up with commercial and arranged a deal with a community college. They give him practice space and all he has to do is worry about students.

He still collects nominal fees to compensate for testing expenses (boards, belts, etc.) but it's a much better deal all the way around. He's also not make a profit and doing it for the love of teaching.

Colleges and universities are an option too but then you have to worry about a lot of red tape. If you go this route make sure the school lets you open it to the public. Or you'll have a transient student problem. Our tkd club was at a university and there are down sides to that model as well. I served as president for almost two years so sabum v II did not have to worry about anything other than teaching. It was a learning experience to say the least!

[Michele]

My husband started a school due to the pure love of teaching. The dojo is connected to the house (a converted bar/restaurant). We thought about moving the dojo several times to an off-site location because it is not highly visible. It never worked out due to high cost of a lease and utilities.

Gordon is right...the first students are the hardest to get. I still remember the two young neighborhood boys who were the first students. Word of mouth has been the best source of new students for us.

Good luck!

[Karrie Bowen]

Ah, thank you so much! Gordon, you make a lot of valid points, and the main reason I want to teach is for the love of teaching and passing on what I know to others. I'm not interested in large classes. This is new to me and I want to take BABY steps. I'll definitely be stopping by your dojang for a visit, and maybe a class, too! Bob, colleges are an option since they are a dime a dozen here in Burlington, but then there's the red tape. I have a lot of foot work and research to do, and it's a little overwhelming right now. There's a certain amount of fear surrounding this, and some doubts about myself as a teacher in the martial arts. Thing is, my "higher ups" feel I have what it takes and that's why they are putting in the time and energy to get me going on this. Thank you so much for your comments. Support rocks!

[Mokuren Dojo - Patrick Parker]

Another possibility is work out in streetclothes using whatever portable equipment you need and find a park to practice in. No rent, free publicity, and automatic niche market - fitness and practical street application. Could be torturous in cold weather - you might find a semi-enclosed place like a pavilion at a park, or even a basement dojo.

I have found that you probably need a half dozen students before observers want to play with you. You need a core group of near-fanatics. Best place to recruit this corpus is from among your close friends.

[Dave Chesser]

If you're doing it for the "love of teaching" then you aren't talking going commercial, I assume? If you're not going to open a commercial school, then things should be much easier for you. I've taught successfully (non-commercially) in the parks near me. There's no overhead and it's very informal. It's only when you go commercial that it's really a hassle.

[Karrie Bowen]

At some point I would like to have a dojo of my own, so I guess I do want to go commercial. Thing is, I live in Vermont, so practicing outside anytime after today (October, that is) will be quite brutal. In the summer it's not a problem. If any of you have been to VT in the winter you know that it can go below 0 often if it's a cold winter. These are all fabulous ideas and my brain is already heading in a great direction. Thank you all for your wonderful input!!

[BlackBeltat50 (aka BBat50)]

OK. I'm just a student and have never had to think thru the economics and realities of schools. But, let me put in a plug for learning about this stuff with my head instructor - Steve Lavallee - and his MAUI group (martial art something something). Steve Lavallee - or Kyoshi - has around ten schools. He also runs some sort of confereration of martial school operators which get together a few times per year to discuss and learn about the issues of running a school. This includes training, finance, marketing and stuff. It sounds like the sort of cooperation with others that I try to do in my professional life. I'm not sure who it is open to but it appears to attract people from all over the country and from a wide range of martial arts.

You could google him and MAUI if you are interested. Or you could follow the signature link to my BlackBeltat50 blog where I just posted about Kyoshi and MAUI with links.

[Karrie Bowen]

Thanks BBat50. I'll check it out. What is going to happen is that I'm setting a goal for next summer of fall to begin a school. All of this information is great!

[John W. Zimmer]

Hello Karrie,

Back in the 80's when I was looking for sites for my school (I eventually bought one from studio owner) I was part of the Tracy's system. They had us looking for locations that had high residential populations by getting population density maps from the county. Also we were looking for high-traffic locations with popular chain restaurants (like micky D's).

My instructor told me since I was a single I could live in the studio to save money (live like an animal was his quote - I'm not sure why that appealed to me).

The finance part was what I did not really know very well. I was 25 years old and had never run my own business. I was coached by the Tracy's system with the books and sales system but I did not really know how to run a business. When the economy took a downturn and I got married. I started taking too much money as draws and also wanted to spend time home in the evenings with my family. I ended up having to sell my studio in two years but it was the most rewarding two years of my life.

I've never had such a fun job since and really miss what I took for granted then - helping people and staying in great shape! Getting up at 9:30am and getting to the studio by 10:00am was not too bad either!

I would if I had it to do again have some business management classes or experience under my belt and really understand (and dissect) the activities that will build a studio and not do the activities that will hurt the school. I guess that should go without staying but I did not understand that at 25 (no formal education or really any experience to draw on at that time of my life.

I would also look to successful examples that you can try to replicate such as your sensei. He or she will probably gladly assist you in a business plan... plan for the worst case and work towards the best case and you will probably do ok.

For the first six months of my studio I had to do lots of leg work putting out flyers for seminars (you know pump up the spectators and give out coupons for discounts or free lessons). It was worth it as at the time I owned a studio I only needed to clear $600 - 800 a week to make it. Make sure your plan is realistic working towards your break-even point (when you are finally profitable).
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By the way a club is a great transition towards a school... that way you can have some income on day one. I would try and have the club near where you want to open a school (so all of your student will move with you)... another idea might be to find other business that will rent out space such as a heath club or dance studio... kind of the haircutting style of breaking into the business (renting a booth).

Good luck!

[Richard Kimura]

Karrie,
Allow me to put my 10 yen worth as I come from unique experience of having a dojo in a foreign country and without a parent headquarters in Japan. It was non-commercial and practice was held in a gym of a local Japanese elementary school. As far as I know I may have been the only "gaijin"( foreigner) to have a dojo in the city. Never the less, it was crucial to have insurance to start off. You can imagine what it was like to try to get insurance as a foreigner. This was cleared by having one of the adult students do the paperwork for the Dojo. It cost 500 Yen approximately $5.00 a year per student. The students paid for their own coverage. The insurance covered not only the actual training but the commute to and from the dojo. Dues of $10.00 were collected to cover equipment and annual testing and functions.
The rent was free as the activity was under the umbrella of community service. Here in Hawaii, I am paying $35 per hour and half for use of a temple facility. Insurance is bit higher. I tried City run facilities where rent was lower but the "golden times" were all taken. You also had to be registered as a Non profit organization (no problem there).
The biggest challenge of running a Dojo for myself is whether you accept children or adults with disabilities. Unless you have an extensive background (majored in college and certified) in handling persons with disabilities (i.e.Attention Deficiency) you may experience a lot of frustration and problems. Also not to mention potential legal problems. Parents of such children, often want their children to become "main stream" and expect martial arts to be part of the solution. I have had such students and without a good assistant it would be difficult to run a class.
Just Food for Thought.
Aloha
Richard

[Oldman]

Karrie,
Transitioning from student to teacher can be challenging. Transitioning from employee to entrapneur can be even more difficult. You might start withreading Michael Gerbers "The E-Myth". It gives information on what grows some and kills most small businesses. My current situation is a bit unique but works well for me, my students and my family.

I currently teach in two locations. One is in the fitness center of the corporation I work for. I have a small group of commited students. It works well. No commute time, no overhead. I teach Mondays and Thursdays 4:30-5:30 then I go home. A few years back I shared with my wife the idea of renting or buying a space. Her response after seeing the costs was "Have you consdered the Basement?". Of course I had but she didn't know I had. So "she" came up with the great idea of building a dojo in the basement! All I had to do was "agree" with her great idea. The dojo was as good as built. So now I get home at 6:00 eat dinner and have a class on the same night at 7:00. So I get 4 classes in on two days during the week. I also teach at my teachers school on saturday morning and host a BBJ exploration group at my home on Sunday afternoon. So I have a conveinient schedule, no overhead., a great student to teacher ratio. I carry appropriate insurance and am liscensed as a small business by my village.

So I guess what I'm saying is, take your time, be creative with options, think outside of the box. Also you have the invaluble suport of teachers and friends. If you begin to talk with people about the about your dream you will be surprised how many will want to see you succeed. Keep in mind you will be the one that will determine what sucess looks like for you. Best of luck.

http://prairiemartialarts.blogspot.com/

http://www.oldmansboobishi.com/