# Common mistakes and problems in running a school



## Kittan Bachika

It sounds like fun to teach a martial art that you love for a living. But my guess it is not always a bed of roses. I am interested to hear what type of issues you have encountered.


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## Twin Fist

hard economic times means luxuries like martial arts training fall by the way side


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## Kittan Bachika

Twin Fist said:


> hard economic times means luxuries like martial arts training fall by the way side



What about issues that occur when the economy is doing well?


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## seasoned

When training friends, they line up just like everyone else.

Never show favoritism.

Make the classes interesting, exciting, and realistic.

One size does not fit all, Men, women and children may all have different 
reasons for training, and they should feel that their needs are being addressed.

The above is a good start.:asian:


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## Bill Mattocks

Kittan Bachika said:


> It sounds like fun to teach a martial art that you love for a living. But my guess it is not always a bed of roses. I am interested to hear what type of issues you have encountered.



I am not a martial arts instructor, but I have owned and run my own businesses, and I think some of my experiences apply to any business.

First - doing what you love is cool, but many people forget that it is a business, not a hobby.  That means that your first concern is not teaching martial arts, it is making a profit and keeping the doors open.

Second - the skillsets needed to run a business are not the same as the skillset needed to teach martial arts.  You are generally a one-person operation, which means YOU are the accounting department, the marketing department, and the planning department.

Third - you do not get a vacation or time off.  Unless you start off with a cadre of trained students willing to work for you on  apart-time basis, you will teach every class, from beginner to advanced.  You open up, you lock down.  You don't get to be sick, you don't get to be too tired to show up.

Separate category: liability.  Martial arts training means students get injured from time to time.  Liability waivers do not stop anyone from suing, they only serve to discourage lawsuits and to prove to a court or jury that the person suing you knew what they were getting into and choose to accept the risks.  You must have liability insurance unless you wish to run the risk of losing your home, or having any other income you may earn attached.  Depending on the type of judgment, if you lose a civil liability lawsuit you may or may not be able to bankrupt out of a judgment against you.

There are many dojos which are not run as a business, at least not with a business model in mind.  Many of those are sidelines; the instructor has a day job already.  Some are legitimate full-time businesses, and they thrive because of the quality of instruction, the instructor's reputation, and other intangibles that cannot be counted on when one decides to open a dojo for the sheer love of it and not with a profit-making business in mind.

Many a photographer dreams of opening a studio.  It becomes less fun when it is discovered that running a photo studio is 80% about running a business, and 20% about taking photographs; and 0% about the quality of those photographs.  Everybody thinks if you're good, you'll survive.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Good businesspeople survive.  Great photographers who are not good businesspeople go bankrupt.  I suspect the same would be true of martial artists who wish to teach.


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## Hollywood1340

I've heard a saying "You can run it like a martial arts school that happens to be a business and have no business, or you can run it like a business that happens to be a martial arts school and have business" of course that's only if you want the business!


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## Blade96

Whats wrong with favoritism?

My mom's a teacher (jr high) and she says all teachers, even martial arts ones, will have favorites. its only natural that they like certain students more than others, for whatever reasons. Maybe they are hard workers, maybe their personality, maybe they are hard workers and talented. maybe all of it.


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## Grenadier

You can be the best teacher in the world, and it won't make a hill of beans, if you don't have a business left to run.  

Bill hit the nail on the head, when he explained how it's important that one realize, that it's not entirely about what you love to do, but rather, what kind of sacrifices are you willing to make in order to do the job.  As a researcher, I'd love to simply be able to carry out my research, being oblivious to the funding situations.  Unfortunately, the way it works, is that I *do* have to be aware about such situations, and that in order to keep doing what I do, it's always a constant battle trying to secure funding.  

The same thing holds true with the martial arts world.  Those of us who teach, do so because we enjoy it.  If money weren't of importance, many of us would love to be teaching full time, and not have to worry about a school closing.  

If you have your own school, you're going to have to be able to make some tough choices, and many times, you're going to feel like you're the bad guy for doing so.  For example, when it comes to collections, there will always be situations where someone is late with their tuition payments.  You have to be able to ask them for the money, and if they don't pay, then you're going to have to play the hand that was forced onto you, and insist on collecting.  

It's NOT a fun task being the collections guy.  You're going to leave some hard feelings, and sometimes, no matter what you do, you're going to feel like you just crushed someone's dreams.  

Basically, if you're not up to the task of having to be the judge and jury, then you'd better hire someone who can handle the job.  Otherwise, you'll be facing many thousands of uncollected $$$ that are rightfully yours.  

The above example is just one aspect of business that can be less than pleasant.  You have to decide if you're willing to make the comittments...


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## terryl965

Running a schol is alot of hard work, you never really get anytime off and when you do it is pronaly because you are sick. You must love to be hated ate times and you must be willing to be a mother or father at times as well. Teaching a martial art is harder than what people want to say if you intend to be a instructor and school owner remember your life has become a 24-7-365 day a year job.


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## Joab

Bill Mattocks said:


> I am not a martial arts instructor, but I have owned and run my own businesses, and I think some of my experiences apply to any business.
> 
> First - doing what you love is cool, but many people forget that it is a business, not a hobby. That means that your first concern is not teaching martial arts, it is making a profit and keeping the doors open.
> 
> For some it is a hobby, they have a second job that pays the bills. I took a Krav Maga class wgere the teacher told me it was a hobby for him. We wrote out our checks to the Jewish Community Center where we trained not him, only our belt tests payments were directed to him.
> 
> Second - the skillsets needed to run a business are not the same as the skillset needed to teach martial arts. You are generally a one-person operation, which means YOU are the accounting department, the marketing department, and the planning department.
> 
> A Wing Chun Sifu I had had his wife do most of that. Another teacher had an accountant do all the accounting.
> 
> Third - you do not get a vacation or time off. Unless you start off with a cadre of trained students willing to work for you on apart-time basis, you will teach every class, from beginner to advanced. You open up, you lock down. You don't get to be sick, you don't get to be too tired to show up.
> 
> Yes, but many do have advanced students who will do that. The same Wing Chun Sifu had advanced students teach while he was going to a business class. A tae kwon do teacher had his wife and/or daughter teach at times.
> 
> Separate category: liability. Martial arts training means students get injured from time to time. Liability waivers do not stop anyone from suing, they only serve to discourage lawsuits and to prove to a court or jury that the person suing you knew what they were getting into and choose to accept the risks. You must have liability insurance unless you wish to run the risk of losing your home, or having any other income you may earn attached. Depending on the type of judgment, if you lose a civil liability lawsuit you may or may not be able to bankrupt out of a judgment against you.
> 
> Yes, you do need to buy insurance. Non contact styles have less injuries than full contact and some styles, tae kwon do for example, seem to have more injuries than normal from what I have heard and experienced. Nothing keeps anyone from suing, and you can't sign away negligence, but it is assumed there is an element of risk involved in participating in such activities, so that will be taken into consideration, and that is from an Ivy league educated lawyer.
> 
> There are many dojos which are not run as a business, at least not with a business model in mind. Many of those are sidelines; the instructor has a day job already. Some are legitimate full-time businesses, and they thrive because of the quality of instruction, the instructor's reputation, and other intangibles that cannot be counted on when one decides to open a dojo for the sheer love of it and not with a profit-making business in mind.
> 
> Many a photographer dreams of opening a studio. It becomes less fun when it is discovered that running a photo studio is 80% about running a business, and 20% about taking photographs; and 0% about the quality of those photographs. Everybody thinks if you're good, you'll survive. Nothing could be further from the truth. Good businesspeople survive. Great photographers who are not good businesspeople go bankrupt. I suspect the same would be true of martial artists who wish to teach.


 
This is a bit silly, of course the quality of photos had something to do with it.


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## Grenadier

Joab said:


> This is a bit silly, of course the quality of photos had something to do with it.



Not necessarily.  

Many companies thrive, simply because they were the last one left standing, and not because of the quality (or lack thereof) of their products.  

Creative Labs, a sound card company, is a prime example of this.  Their competitors would produce products that gave superior sound, when compared to the Soundblaster lineup, yet, through some ruthless manipulations, and buying out their competitors' chip suppliers, they drove them into oblivion.  

Soundblaster cards were OK, but hardly a high quality product.  

The same holds true for the martial arts.  There are always going to be schools that don't give that good of an education compared to others, but because they made some shrewd decisions, they've managed to survive and thrive, while their higher quality competition goes under.


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## JohnASE

I'm not a school owner, but our martial arts supply company deals almost exclusively with school owners, and we hear things.  Here are a few.

First, I agree with Grenadier.  We hear a lot about collections, both in bad times and good.  People can't or won't pay.  We hear stories of people dropping off their kids a block away from the school so the instructor can't ask for payment and won't turn the kid away.  This even happens with parents who live in million dollar homes driving expensive cars!

Many customers are very happy to _not_ pay rent.  Some teach for park and rec programs, after school programs, or in community centers or churches or health clubs.  Some pay hourly for their space or get paid to teach by the health club or park and rec department.  The ones that switched from a retail location rejoice at not having to cover that big monthly nut.  Not many of these make a decent living at it though.  It's more supplemental.

Finally, try to build up a student base before opening your own location.  Try the places like I listed above.  If you start paying rent first, who knows how long it'll take to start turning a profit?  Supporting a school without students for 3 to 6 months or more can be expensive.


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## Narges

Blade96 said:


> Whats wrong with favoritism?
> 
> My mom's a teacher (jr high) and she says all teachers, even martial arts ones, will have favorites. its only natural that they like certain students more than others, for whatever reasons. Maybe they are hard workers, maybe their personality, maybe they are hard workers and talented. maybe all of it.



There's nothing wrong with liking some of your students more than others, specially if they work harder, but _showing_ favoritism is the mistake. You shouldn't make it obvious that a certain pupil is your favourite, because there may be several unpleasant aftermaths:
1- The favourite pupil might not be so humble afterwards
2- Others may feel jealous
3- Others may feel a lack of inspiration


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## Bruno@MT

Blade96 said:


> Whats wrong with favoritism?
> 
> My mom's a teacher (jr high) and she says all teachers, even martial arts ones, will have favorites. its only natural that they like certain students more than others, for whatever reasons. Maybe they are hard workers, maybe their personality, maybe they are hard workers and talented. maybe all of it.



Favoritism is wrong because it discourages and annoys other students.
Especially if the 'favorite' student gets promoted or gets extra techniques while other students are working harder or are just plain better.
It is normal to like certain students more than others. When my sensei's wife was still a student, I would assume he liked her better than the rest of the class.  But he never showed that during class or treated her differently or let her do her first exam when she was not ready.

In a dojo, it does not matter who you are or what your relationship is. Everybody gets treated the same, with the only differences that matter being skill, aptitude, dedication, etc, regardless of who you are.

For example, my sensei is getting 'fast tracked' to black belt, meaning it won't take him 10 years like most students. And I've heard people talk about that. But then I point out that he is not 'getting' his BB. He is earning it by simply working thrice as hard and long as anyone else, and that is not even couning the time he spends teaching us.


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## Bruno@MT

Grenadier said:


> Not necessarily.
> Many companies thrive, simply because they were the last one left standing, and not because of the quality (or lack thereof) of their products.



McDonalds.


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## ArmorOfGod

Problems:

Enrollment dips drastically at most schools around new years and early summer.

Local schools do not get along.  Martial arts teachers are like people in soap operas and constantly have something against eachother (sad, but true).

Kids quit when they find out they have to learn and test and not just run around traffic cones and kick shields.

AoG


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## WC_lun

One of the most common mistakes I see is owners letting thier ego dictate what they do in the school.  The focus should first be what is best for the students, then what is best for the school (bussiness.)  If a person wants to open a school so they can strut around like an over-sized peacock, bad things will happen. 

Students will come and students will go...even the best students.  Do what you can to help them when they are there and wich them luck when they leave.


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## tinker1

Bill Mattocks said:


> I am not a martial arts instructor, but I have owned and run my own businesses, and I think some of my experiences apply to any business.
> 
> First - doing what you love is cool, but many people forget that it is a business, not a hobby.  That means that your first concern is not teaching martial arts, it is making a profit and keeping the doors open.
> 
> Second - the skillsets needed to run a business are not the same as the skillset needed to teach martial arts.  You are generally a one-person operation, which means YOU are the accounting department, the marketing department, and the planning department.
> 
> Third - you do not get a vacation or time off.  Unless you start off with a cadre of trained students willing to work for you on  apart-time basis, you will teach every class, from beginner to advanced.  You open up, you lock down.  You don't get to be sick, you don't get to be too tired to show up.
> 
> Separate category: liability.  Martial arts training means students get injured from time to time.  Liability waivers do not stop anyone from suing, they only serve to discourage lawsuits and to prove to a court or jury that the person suing you knew what they were getting into and choose to accept the risks.  You must have liability insurance unless you wish to run the risk of losing your home, or having any other income you may earn attached.  Depending on the type of judgment, if you lose a civil liability lawsuit you may or may not be able to bankrupt out of a judgment against you.
> 
> There are many dojos which are not run as a business, at least not with a business model in mind.  Many of those are sidelines; the instructor has a day job already.  Some are legitimate full-time businesses, and they thrive because of the quality of instruction, the instructor's reputation, and other intangibles that cannot be counted on when one decides to open a dojo for the sheer love of it and not with a profit-making business in mind.
> 
> Many a photographer dreams of opening a studio.  It becomes less fun when it is discovered that running a photo studio is 80% about running a business, and 20% about taking photographs; and 0% about the quality of those photographs.  Everybody thinks if you're good, you'll survive.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Good businesspeople survive.  Great photographers who are not good businesspeople go bankrupt.  I suspect the same would be true of martial artists who wish to teach.



ALL really excellent points.  One more thing though.

Protect yourself with a "corporate veil" through an LLC or S-type corp.  You can see a lawyer for this, it's not very expensive, and it WILL save your house,  your possessions, and your savings should you be sued.


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## tinker1

Joab said:


> This is a bit silly, of course the quality of photos had something to do with it.


Not necessarily... look at walmart.


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## ddurden

COME TO LIFE ZOMBIE THREAD! LOL!

Okay, I just opened a school three months ago after teaching at other schools for over a decade. Here's some quick tips.

Don't let a vocal minority drive your class.
Have a firm and posted set of requirements for belt promotion
The student is the CUSTOMER.  Keep the focus of the training about them.
Teach what the students needs and not what you "want" to teach.
Keep training realistic.  You may consider the Insanity Workout to be something fun to do before going to the gym to break a sweat, and that's wonderful.  The somewhat overweight 35 year old mom of 3 who got mugged last week and wants some self-defense lessons is probably NOT going to last through a Beachbody workout followed by 400 jumping thrust kicks (with each leg).  Keep classes appropriate with the physical level of your students.  If you ARE going to insist upon a strenuous workout in group class, be ready to tell some people "no" when they ask about classes.
Never lose sight that you are a business.  If you open a BJJ school and in the first 4 weeks, thirty senior citizens come in and ask about self-defense lessons, you MIGHT want to look into some supplemental training so you can accept such requests and give good service.  This is ESPECIALLY true if your group class consists of five people, 2 of which can't roll because they're injured.  And two of the others are behind on their bill.  Never offer or train something you're not qualified for, BUT be ready to expand your knowledge in order to service your potential customers.
Establish a realistic and survivable pricing schedule, and STICK TO IT!  When you open, you'll learn that EVERY OTHER school around offers free uniforms, the first 3 months of training free, free promotions, and a lobster buffet every Thursday.  Oh, and their normal rates are about half yours, and there's no contract.  Get ready for it.  Don't fall for that line.  Stick to your guns.  Find a reasonable price you can live with, and stick to it.
Avoid "deals".  This is a classic.  "There are three of us, and if you'll knock 20% off the price, I can get all of us to sign up."  Sounds good, but what happens when your other students find out you're willing to offer discounts?  You'll end up having to offer discounts to everyone.  Now, if a club or organization wants to bring in 5 or 10 people, maybe that's a decent application.
Avoid "trade offs".  What I mean is "train my kid for six months, and I'll paint the inside of your dojo".  Sounds good, BUT what I've seen more times than not is after the six months is up, they'll want another trade off to pay for lessons.  You'll end up with the coolest dojo in town with the nicest stereo, network, and website . . . that went belly up because they couldn't pay the rent.  
Avoid high dollar advertising.  I don't know about anyone else's experience, but the best marketing tool I've found is have a nice sign on the school and be in a good location.  Newspapers, television, and whatnot hasn't seen much success for anyone I've been around.  You guys may have seen something different.
Those are just some things I've run into along the way.  Remember, you're a business FIRST, and you can't successfully teach and propagate your art without plenty of students who pay money.

Good luck!


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## CK1980

One of the most interesting schools I went to was in a guys garage in his back yard...  Yeah, you can think what you want, but this guy actually knew his stuff.  He didn't teach to make money.  He taught because he love the martial arts.  His little Dojo never got bigger than 4 students because of this.  He did not charge a monthly fee.  He did not even charge a testing fee.  He would ask for donations to help cover the cost of supplies (belts, uniforms, etc), but even that wasn't something that was a condition of him teaching you.

This man loved his art and loved sharing it with others.  The point is, if you are trying to run a successful business, then you need to follow the advise of the business people that posted here (as well as other successful business people).  If you are trying to teach others something that you love- then find a cost effective way to do it :-D


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## monk64

I suspect a lot of people who love the martial arts and want to teach it would be better off going through a local community ed program or community center, rather than opening their own school.

I'm curious - where is the money in martial arts today?  I suspect it's in:

- young guys, and they move a lot, generally have less discretionary income, and chase fads.  Maybe viable if you're in a large city or near a college.

- kids, which in a lot of cases is "I need someone to watch my children after school for a couple hours".  One of the more financially successful schools I've seen was one where they had a bus that picked up kids, and they also did summer camps.  The adult programs were kind of a separate business line - a very different type of business to operate than the traditional dojo.


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## ddurden

monk64 said:


> I'm curious - where is the money in martial arts today?  I suspect it's in:
> 
> - young guys, and they move a lot, generally have less discretionary income, and chase fads.  Maybe viable if you're in a large city or near a college.



Not in our area . . . at least not in any numbers.  What you tend to get is 100% dedication out of ONE young male, but that doesn't pay the bills.  Lots will START an MMA class, but when they realize how much work it is, they drop.

Some won't start a "traditional" martial art because they perceive MMA is the only thing to take "for real".

Also, as a former "young man", I can tell you I didn't have much disposable income, and my tastes changed with the wind.



> - kids, which in a lot of cases is "I need someone to watch my children after school for a couple hours".  One of the more financially successful schools I've seen was one where they had a bus that picked up kids, and they also did summer camps.  The adult programs were kind of a separate business line - a very different type of business to operate than the traditional dojo.



Yeah, you can make money with kids, but it's getting harder and harder to compete with off-season sports (summer football, fall baseball, etc . . . ) and what we call "soft" sports like gymnastics.

What I see as kind of ironic is that the public will have a giant rally to support the young people of the community in efforts to prevent and discourage bullying.  They'll have a cookout, invite speakers, and all get cool t-shirts.  Then they drive by 3 karate schools on their way to a fact finding mission meeting to see what they can do to help their kids with bullying.  Yeah . . . we need more t-shirts parents . . . and more rallies . . . and a website with a hot line . . . and some stickers . . . and a some fund raisers with more t-shirts . . . and stuff.  *sigh*  Those scare off bullies from what I can tell.


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## WaterGal

Kids/families are where a lot of the money is at, yeah.  I bought some used gear from another school owner about an hour away, and he said that picking kids up from school and doing aftercare is the only way he keeps the school open, but that he's making good money because of it.  I'm glad we don't have to do that, it seems like a big headache and I'm not looking to be a daycare worker.  But around 2/3 of our students are under 18, and half of the adults are parents.


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